Antique Mall Fun!

Finally I have a moment a {short one that is} to share a tidbit about what I have been up to these last couple of weeks.

Recently a new antique mall opened in a nearby community, and since my daughter attends school in that town, we are there everyday. I took advantage of a little free time I had and paid a visit to this new place, and found a fabulous treasure trove of goodies.

Located in a historic building in the town of Redmond, Oregon, it's a must visit place if you are ever traveling through the Central Oregon area in the Pacific Northwest. Redmond has several antique stores, and malls but this one is by far at the top of the list.

Redmond Antique Mall 

is downtown, easy to find, run by a sweet amazing family that has brought a fun, positive energy to the industry in our area, and has a great group of vendors...

 I am loving it!

Redmond Antique Mall

Business has taken off with such a bang, vendor spaces filled up fast and there is a waiting list for spaces. However, on that note...I was lucky enough to score a display case space where, along with my mom we will be selling collectibles, housewares, restyled items, funky junky stuff, and restyled items. We also made sure our names were on that waiting list for a booth space.

A few things we have stocked our case with so far...

Forever Flowers - made from vintage jewelry and silverware

Hall China and Hand Painted Jars

I will have more pictures to share soon, we had a vendor's meeting this week and everybody is cool with me snapping photos and sharing so stay tuned. If you want to see some of the fun now check out the mall's facebook page Redmond Antique Mall Facebook

God bless and have a great day.

More Rustalicious Fun And Finds

I know I've mentioned this before...I'm not sure where my fascination with rust comes from. I am always drawn to items that are rusty, or have the patina of blues and greens that goes along with rust. I just really enjoy the endless color combinations.

Recently I shared a blog post I came across on how to rust and patina small metal objects like keys, from a sweet lady by the name of Barb at Treasures From The Heart.

So I just had to give it a try . . . and here are the results.

Now what to do with these rusty little gems, I'm sure there are some craft projects that will come up. Keys and little metal pieces like the spring will definitely be on my list of things to look for at yard sales now, and I'm sure if I keep digging around here I will come across more somewhere.

Check out the tutorial at Treasures From The Heart here, and give it a try.

Other rusty goodies I thought I'd share

I found this rusty gem of a gas can holder at a yard sale and paid a whopping $2.00 for it.

It will eventually become a shelf somewhere around my home.

I love the blue and rust combo.

 This rusty little bullet hole filled bucket I found up in a tree at an old homestead site,

it just had to come home with me.

My daughter thought I was crazy for buying this super rusty oven,

but for only $4.00 I just couldn't pass it up.

I will always be on the hunt for rusty goodies, and I will definitely be doing the Rust and Patina How To again. What kind of special rusty things or projects do you have? I would love to hear about it.

God bless and have a great day.

New Name . . . New Look, and Here's Why

"So why do some of your photos say "Toodlefetties Restyled and Rusty" on them?"

That's a question I have been asked, as I have recently been in blog redesign mode.

When I started my blog a couple of years ago, Toodlefetties was a name that I made up, it didn't really have any special meaning to me, and I could never come up with an image that would work for me. As a former graphic designer, I had more than one hair pulling out, frustrating moment while I was trying to create an image for that name.

So, recently I decided to rename, re-brand and redesign everything from my blog, to my facebook page, to my Esty shop...I know crazy, right?

So where did the name Coonie and Bees come from you ask?

Coonie is the nickname my sweet grandma had when she was growing up, and it always caught my attention when I would hear her talk about it. Bees for some reason sounded good with Coonie, and reminded me of Aunt Bea from Mayberry. Do you remember that old t.v. show?

This would be my sweet grandma Coonie

 her name is actually Thelma Jean, she is in her 90's now, and in the advanced stages of Alzheimers.

She is as beautiful as ever....

this picture is Grandma Coonie with my dad and grandfather
taken in the early 1940's

There are some very interesting stories to be told about my Grandma Coonie and Grandpa Ray, so when deciding on a name change for my blog, I knew that I wanted it to become more than just sharing my latest junky finds, and fix-up projects. I have a very rich family history, (and by rich I don't mean monetarily), and since I have a knack for, and get the urge to tell stories I decided I wanted to incorporate family stories, current happenings, my penchant for making up stories, and all things home, family and faith into what I do each time I sit down and hammer away on my keyboard.

So with that said, the image that is slowly developing in my head is..."a back in the day wholesome family time", when life was simpler but harder all at the same time. A day before the technology of today, when family was the focus, and people worked hard for what they needed, and reused what they already had.

A day in time before society became so disposable.

The actual look of the blog will probably remain for the most part as you see it now, but I will be changing the header pictures out on occasion depending on my mood and posts. It's the graphic designer in me, I can't resist the urge to play with my photo editing program to create collages and other fun stuff,  it should keep things interesting.

My hope is to have a fun, and interesting blog that readers, and blogging friends will want to grab a cup of coffee or tea, sit down, scroll through, and spend a little time with me. I hope I will be able to share things of interest, (I will be doing lots of that rusty, junky, restyling stuff I promise), things that will make you laugh, and maybe even things that will bring a tear to your eye.

So as we venture into { 2 0 1 3...Happy New Year } and Welcome to

Coonie & Bees Tales and Tellings