A Fall Rummage Sale in Far Hills! Who doesn't love a good rummage sale??? They are my all time favorite events to go to, finding all those lost and forgotten treasures discarded by many, waiting to be purchased and brought back to life. The saying is true one man's junk is another man's treasure, especially for me, who recycles everything and brings it back to life.

Mom and I were ready to go at 9am and headed out a half hour away to the sale, which is held twice a year in Far Hills and organized by the VNA. If you have bever gone here before, it can be overwhelming for first timers, who get lost in one booth and forget about the others, eventually winding up with the many who come to buy and stand on line to enter the booths for awhile.After 7 years of attending twice a tear which brings me to 14 times, I have become the pro, learning more and more each year. First off I slip out of my good shoes and put on a pair of chic rubber boots, so I can avoid ruining my good ones from mud and dirt and pack a large tote to carry items on my shoulder.Then I go to the sale at exactly 9:30am, no later or earlier, and head straight for the Holiday Booth which never has a line. I take my holiday bought purchases back to the car and go back to shop, next stop the kitchen and house ware section, which usually has a small moving line, after I find my wares, again I head back to the car.Now its off to the trims and fabrics, tatting stuff, followed by the books. If I am not exhuasted I head over to the other booths or leave and grab lunch, normally we are there for about 3 hours, by that time I am ready for food.After lunch we head back to my house and admire our wares, this year I made an extra stop on the way home to an Estate Sale in Long Valley, buying another box of shine bright bulbs, metal cigar tin, wooden toy pull and trims w/ a basket.Then we made it to my house and checked out all our treasures. I bought old canning jars w/metal lids, apothecary jars, spice jars, candy jars, test tube containers, sterling silver platters, teapots and cake stands, Bailey's Moon Mugs, vintage books, loads of trims, lace and costume goodies, shine bright bulb sets, vintage mercury glass, tinsel, and more.

Hope you enjoyed my Rummage Sale Adventure!
xo!
Lisa!

Tiara Chronicles Meeting!
The day after the Ranger Warehouse sale, My mom and I trekked back down to South Jersey just outside Tinton Falls in Ocean, NJ to Suze's fabulous studio for the next installment of Tiara Chronicles. It was Suze's turn to create a project and boy did she, we did encaustic wax layering using the melting pot and creme brulee torches.Okay one time using a creme brulee torch and you will go out and buy an army of them, they are so easy to use, love them and the melting pot, well that has got to e one of my favorite tools I use it for melting wax, utee, and anything that can be safely melted in it, sometimes I have 3 melting pots going at once, lol.For this project we coated a thick wood square w/a resin base wax, using a wax brush, then layered colored encaustic wax over it, followed by more base wax, then another layers, etc., we detailed the pieces with poured wax molds from Suze's molds, added more wax and colored in using the wonderful Pan Pastel chalks, these chalks are so rich and brilliant, a must have for any artist.The result 3-d and detailed encaustic wax paintings, for mine I used my doll mold which I colored in w/pan pastels chalks and added some stickles too, of course it would be a dollie, lol!For today's meeting, Patti came by for a bit and the rest of the group was: Suze, Joan, Bonnie, Michelle, Debbie, Teresa, Linda and Me. Each of the finished pieces were the result of everyone's character and ideas. I mean you couldn't pick a favorite, I fell in love with each of the girls piece. After seeing Suze's new bird wax pieces, I became instantly hooked on birds again, just like I was last year, lol.

Suze will be teaching a similar style class at the Art Opera 2010, held in Red Bank, NJ April 7-10, 2010, Linda will be teaching 2 classes, as will Joan, plenty of surprises to come.Before I left Suze gave me a beautiful dress form which I have been wanting forever, my old one broke which is now used for table top display, but now I have a new and beautiful free standing one, I am sooooo happy.

Afterwards Mom and I headed over to Shrewsbury to Anthropolgy and neighboring stores for some sales and finds, completing our day, I bought a cute tank top long dress shirt and a cute paperdoll pattern book, my mom picked up her fave perfume next door. What a fabulous way to end the day!
shhhhh, its a secret, another edition of the Tiara Chronicles await to unveil its adventure to you....