vintage | A Thankfully Imperfect Woman

Oct 24

A Grease Monkey, Family Heirlooms, and Barb Kellogg Photography

The Grease Monkey is me…yes I shop at the St Louis County Mall (aka the dump) and yes, I grab greasy treasures! I have a little too much fun cleaning up these treasures…thank you Dawn dish soap, or as my husband puts it “If it’s good enough to clean ducks, it’s good enough for this”. (Obviously referring to the oil spills, the affected waterfowl, and the Dawn dish soap commercials.) I had GREAT fun cleaning up the pulley!

And yes, my husband thinks I’m nuts. Oh ye of little faith…but then he sees the finished product and says “Well, that’s cool!” 🙂

In the featured LOVE picture, the first two items were dump (oops Mall) finds. The V is a folding tape measure that was Tim’s Grandpa’s. And the two clamps I picked up at my friend’s garage sale…I needed an E…what can I say?

And here’s a collage of the rest of the wall! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it! Read more

Sep 23

2 Comments

Monday’s Here…Bring on the Coffee!

Gasp…Gasp…crawling out of the weekend into another week…

Lots accomplished this weekend. Garden harvested and cleaned out, fall decorations up, spray painted new/old goodies and furniture, birthday dinner and cake for Miss Alex, sewed in some clothes (for Gabi), cleaned up the house…etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.

And, Alex, Tom and Louis came up Thursday night for a visit! Mr. Louis had surgery (snip, snip…and hernia) on Friday with our favorite vet, Jen. He was quite a trooper and back to normal by Saturday afternoon. More stories to follow, of course as he and Motzy had loads of fun.

And…while they were here, Tom and Alex helped Tim put in our new fire pit and dig out an old sidewalk. Tim and I jokingly called it the sidewalk to nowhere…it didn’t go all the way to the shop, and it didn’t match up with the garage door. Gone, gone, gone!

There was a bonfire, toasted marshmallows, a game of Horse in the dark (with a light up basketball). There were naps (ok, not by me…), visiting with the babies, and more craziness sprinkled throughout the weekend.

Pictures of the harvest, fall decorations, recipes, maybe a little story of the sewing swear session (I hate sewing machines), and more to come.

Sorry for the absence, this blogging thing takes a lot of time and I’ve had ENERGY. More energy than I’ve had in a year…guessing it’s a thyroid thing…whooo heeeee!

Talk more soon!

Patty O

Thank you to Women Get it Free for sharing the photo!

Jul 26

8 Comments

Patty’s Attic

Today I bring you a touch of beauty via recycling. Flowers and herbs planted in some fantastic, vintage pieces that I purchased. They’ve been scraped, washed, and poly’d or painted!

They’ve all lived a good life, and I’ve re-purposed them so they may enjoy a NEW life! Join me – 2 doors down from Ely’s Annual Blueberry Festival in Whiteside Park! Will you give one of these lovelies a new home?

Well loved strainer now a fantastic planter!

Fantastic Vintage Mop Bucket with Wringer filled with bush and ferns.

Red Toolbox with Strawberry Plants and Hens & Chicks

Red Wagon filled with herbs: chives, sage, and peppermint, and sedum.

Red Wagon filled with herbs and sedum, Red Metal Toolbox with strawberry plants and hens & chicks.

Fantastic Galvanized Metal Bucket with label and flowers

Painted Vintage Metal Tea Kettle with flowers

Vintage Cast Iron Tea Kettle spray painted with flowers

Vintage Galvanized Bucket painted soft sage green with flowers

Vintage Rusted Minnow Bucket with flowers (Sprayed with a Poly Finish)

Vintage Galvanized Bucket with flowers

Vintage Tea Kettle with Pink Geranium

Antique Metal Box Fish Locator with Fern

Vintage Metal Teapot with Geranium

Fantastic Milk Cooler w/ writing on the lid: Don’t Forget Milk, Butter, etc… planted with Calla and Spikes.

Vintage Milk Cooler w/lid and wood holder

For pricing, you can look at my Facebook page: A Thankfully Imperfect Woman!

Thanks for reading! I promise to be back with fun stories soon!

Have a GREAT weekend!

Patty O

Jul 10

6 Comments

Welcome with a Little Vintage

If you were to come to my house, and come through the garage (which is the most used entrance), you’d find this fun little vignette. It’s a bit of an ode to summer here in the Northland…

A few fun drink coolers for your water, or lemonade, or kool-aid for picnics.

A fun little lantern which is perfect for those summer nights…it reminds me of going night crawler hunting with Dad. (For those of you not from northern Minnesota, the night crawler (worm) is great bait for fishing!) Read more

Jul 8

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Flowers and Cows and Worms – Oh My!

My father-in-law has said that I make things more complicated than they need to be.

Well…

Sometimes I guess I do.

Like when it comes to our yard…

It takes me days to “decorate” our yard and my gardens every year. It’s ever evolving in a manner of speaking…new junk = new garden decor. Remember the old saying: ‘Your garbage may be someone else’s treasure’?

Yes…my yard is living proof. I have dilapidated bird houses, old pans, old faucets, a few faded decor items…you name it. But they look lovely now! I love repurposing things, giving them a new home, and showing them a little love…even though they’re old, faded and worn out (hmmmm…maybe I’m describing myself?). Read more