No tricks....just treats!

Happy Halloween! No tricks here....just wanted to share some pics of my fall/Halloween decor....AND a recipe for some yummy pumpkin cookies I found last night!
Below are some "faux" mini pumpkins I painted white and stained.

Here's a fun little trick-or-treater I found at the Paris Streetmarket in Colorado last fall.

White Chocolate Pumpkin

Cookies

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 cup butter

1 1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 cup solid pack pumpkin puree

2 eggs

1 Tbsp. vanilla extract

2 cups white chocolate chunks or chips

1 cup chopped pecans (optional)

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, pumpkin pie spice & soda.

In a medium bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Beat in pumpkin puree. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Add in the flour mixture until combined. Stir in the white chocolate and pecans. Drop by rounded tablespoons (2 inches apart) on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 300 degrees for 20-22 minutes until set.

Don't forget daylight savings time ends this weekend! Set your clocks back an hour!

Have a wonderful weekend!

A quick repurpose...and my lust for rust

Is there anyone out there who loves rust as much as me? I doubt it. When my junk sisters and I went to Minnesota a couple weekends ago, I found this white/rusty umbrella stand. I could picture it filled with tree branches cozy-ing up a corner in my house. Recently while rearranging my furniture though, I needed to fill a bare spot at one end of the couch. So, I dug out the reciprocating saw and cut off the top piece...(luv that dang saw)...

...cleaned, then sprayed a heavy coat of poly all over...added a piece of glass to the top and...ta-da!...a new side table!My youngest son asked what color I was going to paint it! Yikes. What is it with me and rust...and chippy white paint? If there's a "cure" for it, please give me a call!

Sentimental Junk

Meet my grandpa…known to all as Grandpa B. (Short for Bergstrom). He’s my dad’s dad. Many people say they have the best grandpa, but seriously, I really did! He was the kind of guy who made every grandchild feel like they were his favorite. He was a thoughtful, fun and hard working man and a caring husband and father. I loved it when he talked about his youth and farm life in Kansas. As a twenty-eight year old man he made his way from Kansas to North Dakota with a thrashing crew harvesting crops along the way. In a field by Ray, ND in August 1926 he eyed a tall, skinny nineteen year old girl working in the cook car making meals for the thrashers. It was love at first sight for both of them. Grandpa never returned to Kansas. He married the tall skinny girl in January, 1927.

Grandpa passed away the day after my 20th birthday at age eighty-four. A year later I talked my parents and Grandma B. into taking me to Kansas so I could see where Grandpa was born and raised. Relatives helped us find his childhood farm. The two story house was bigger than I had imagined. But, in retrospect, he had eleven brothers and sisters, so they obviously needed the space! Grandpa was #10 child and his twin sister #11. The farm, although abandoned, was very pretty with rolling hills and stone fences. I wasn’t into the junk scene all those years ago, but my mother was smart enough to take an old light fixture from the house. I’ve ALWAYS regretted not taking a keepsake from that house!

Fast forward to Junk Fest 2009. Two of my aunts from Ray decided to attend for the first time ever! As my aunt Connie looked at our merchandise, something jogged her memory. She remembered the old staircase banister post she had taken out of Grandpa B.'s childhood home about thirty years ago... Last weekend while in Ray celebrating my dad’s 80th birthday, aunt Connie pulled out the old post and gave it to me! She had never done anything with it after she and my uncle returned from their trip to Kansas and it had sat in a Quonset at their farm all these years. How lucky am I to have a wonderful part of my Grandpa’s childhood home?! I am just thrilled!

I can easily imagine all the Bergstrom relatives who grabbed that post for support when climbing the stairs all those years ago...especially, my wonderful Grandpa!

A French Flea, a Flea Market, and a Flea Bag.

On our recent JunkGirl trip to MN, we stopped at the French Flea occasional sale in Anoka. This shop was jam packed full of beautiful French inspired furniture and accessories. We had to apologize for drooling on a few things, but they were very understanding.

Here are a few of the fabulous creations made by our friend Gretchen, of Mimi Toria's.

Junk Goddess, aka Cassie, is checking out some fabulous handmade bags.

As I promised a while back, just a few shots I managed to get of the flea market we hosted at JunkFest 2009. I apologize for so few pictures. These were taken before the sale began, of course there was no time to hold a camera once the ribbons were cut! This is only a sampling of the fabulous variety of items available at the flea market with many were return vendors and several new. Everything from pumpkins to crafts, furniture to potatoes, and everything in between could be found at the flea market this year.Pumpkins galore!

A very fun addition this year was Janell, with Time 4 You Massage. What better way can you think of to relax those shopping muscles! I hear the neck and shoulder rubs that day were DREAMY!

A local greenhouse with some gorgeous plants!

There was oodles of talent to be found. Here is Tamra of Just For You Jewelry and Beads.

Local artisan Darcie of October's Child, with her fabulous felted wool products.

And just because I thought it was a catchy title...here's the Flea Bag! ME!! I found my dream vending machine this summer....

Another little junking journey....

Last weekend Missy (Sweet Melissa), Andrea (Junk Girl) and I were able to head over to Minnesota for a mini junking journey. Thanks to the wonderful world of blog, we were able to meet up with some friends and make some new ones! Our first stop was Anoka, home to the French Flea which hosts once-monthly sales. If you ever get to the French Flea, check out Gretchen's one of a kind jewelry designs. Known as
Mimi-Toria's, Gretchen designs jewelry out of vintage jewels and found items. Her pieces are one-of-a-kind "must haves!" Sorry, no pics of the French Flea...was too busy drooling! Maybe Andrea or Missy can share later...?
Since the opening of the French Flea, a few other occasional sale shops have cropped up. While checking out one of these, we met Laurel, a.k.a "ChippingCharm" of
Junk Market Style fame. How cool is that to get to meet a face we were already familiar with! If you haven't visited JMS's site, head over there and look at some of the great things Laurel has posted, as well as tons of other junkers from across the country. The picture below shows Laurel, Andrea, Cassie and Missy.


Next stop: Round Barn Potting Co. in Andover. I had to have this cute litte wooden bowl painted black with white dots on it.....holds a whole bag of candy corn! Of course, you can't see the candy corn, but you'll just have to take my word for it!!

I also picked up a couple of these cute little plant stakes.....can someone remind me to take them out before Christmas?

One of my favorite purchases was this piece of artwork from Sue Wolfe,

Destination Art. She sells at the Round Barn, and I was lucky enough to snag the last one of these! The pictures don't do it justice, but the detail on this piece is amazing...the texture of the pumpkin, the numbered metal tag, the glass beads hanging from hemp rope.....love it!

We were lucky enough to be in Minneapolis during "Prize" hosted by Hunt & Gather. While there, we had the great pleasure of meeting Amy from Whisperwood Cottage and Junkologie. Check out her blogs for some great photos of the stuff for sale at Prize. In addition to her fabulous photography skills, Amy has a keen eye for the coolest junk and had some great things for sale. Pictured below: Andrea, Amy, myself, Carolyn (Gretchen's sidekick), Missy, and Gretchen (Mimi-Toria's).

Below you'll see another of my favorite purchases.....one fabulous, chippy, NORWEGIAN scale!! It holds my black polka-dot bowl and that invisible candy corn perfectly!! And....I only had to go to Minnesota to get it!! Please refer back to photo 3 for a full body shot of this baby!

Amy also had this adorable little candle-sconce-turned-cloche-once-you-turn-it-over that fit perfectly on my own home-made mini candlestick cake plate. It holds the tiniest pumpkin you may ever see!

Ever heard of "Style Minneapolis?" You. must. go. Below is Shayne, who owns this incredible store. If you go, be prepared to drool. Gretchen and Carolyn (behind Shayne) taxied us over to meet Shayne and check out her shop.

Below is the chair that almost came home with me. Almost. I may have to go back and get her. After all, it does have my drool on it!

Thanks for tagging along with us on this little journey. Where have you been lately?

And the winner is....

Thanks to everyone who left comments for Andrea/Junk Girl for her birthday! The lucky winner of the birthday giveaway is Sandy a.k.a. Doris the Great! Check out Sandy's blog at Aging Disgracefully....this woman is a scream! Sandy, if you could email me your address I'll get the goods to you ASAP!!

Some of the junk girls got to go on a mini junking trip over the weekend....watch for details tomorrow!

Spookalicious!

It's that time of year, a change of seasons is upon us once again. Spooks and snow are just around the corner. Trick or treat, candy sweet, we might as well accept that summer is fading into the sunset.

I almost passed this sweet candle holder up. What was I thinking?! What a nice autumn addition to my kitchen! Instead of candles, though, how about some good old fashioned junky chocolate??? (wonder if that has anything to do with the saying..."Got Junk in your Trunk?")hmm...

But now, let's get JUNKY! I spied a little repurpose. Turn the glass sconces upside down and in an instant I had a trio of mini cloches!! Perfect for trapping those pesky spooky spiders.

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