The White House Girls: November 2013

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

The Mother Load of Dumpster Diving!

{photo courtesy of Missy Kautzman photography}
Its been a good month. A good month of digging in trash that is. Yep other peoples junk is the White House gals treasure. My neighborhood has been doing a lot of renovating. Its a neighborhood full of old beautiful fixer upper homes. One of these beautiful homes threw out these wonderful spindles. I am assuming they were for a small railing that was on the second floor of the house leading to an outside lookout. Stunning! They have such great patina.

Another house in my neighborhood has seemed to have been abandoned for a long long time! It is a another beauty that was hidden by a large amount of trees; to my surprise one day all the trees had been cut down and this beautiful tall blue house stood with so much character. The next day I spotted a giant dumpster in front of the house on the road! YES! So from that day forward I was a stalker of the blue house on the corner. For a couple of days, I noticed around 4 to 5 people carrying trash cans full of stuff and dumping it into the dumpster with masks over their faces all day long. I became that much more interested. My mom, sister, 7 year old niece, and I decided to check it out. My mom was the first to approach the dumpster and she immediately started to yell "Oh my gosh" "oh my gosh!" We knew it was good. But we really had no clue the treasures we had came across until we got home. We filled our car full twice! And spent the whole day searching through our amazing finds. At some points we were screaming and very very close to crying due to being so gosh darn excited! In other moments we were in aahhhh!

We were sad that these were going to be lost if we hadn't rescued them but then so excited that we saved them from going to the dump, lost, with no more stories behind them. So here are some of the treasures we found in the dumpster my friends.

This was our most prized treasure, pictures of the cathedral in St. Paul, Minn. being built. We emailed the church that night to inform them that we have these pictures and this was thier response:

"Thank you so very much for salvaging these precious photographs! We do not have any photos in our archives that show the actual mockups that Leon Hermant (the sculptor of the facade) used."

So The White House girls are making a trip to The Cathedral to deliver the pictures along with other amazing finds! We are so excited to hear their stories and history behind what we have found! We will keep you posted!

What amazing history right?

{photo courtesy of Missy Kautzman photography}

There was truly no shame in our game on this wonderful dumpster diving day! It is a day full of memories & laughter between the White House Girls, a day we will never forget! We will make sure to keep you posted on our St. Paul Cathedral Story!

xoxo The White House Girls

Photo courtesy of Missy Kautzman photography

Thursday, November 7, 2013

Feather Christmas Ornaments {DIY}

Another easy Holiday Do-it-yourself-er. I have had a crush on feathers lately so I figured I better add them to my holiday décor! This one was super easy and fun to do with my daughter! We purchased clear bulbs at Hobby Lobby!

Purchased a couple bags of feathers while we were there {there are so many to choose from} but of course the ones with polka dots caught our eye! We brought our goodies home and truly it's as easy as removing the top of the bulb. stuffing in the feathers of choice. Adding the top back one and what do you know! You created a feather ornament! I LOVE them! I picture them on an all white tree with just these ornaments and rhinestones! Be still my heart! Happy Junking Holidays! Now go get your craft on!

Vintage Marquee letters {DIY}

I kept seeing vintage marquee letters everywhere, and was in LOVE! But they were of course WaY to expensive for my liking! But then I came across these giant letters at JoAnn's Fabric Store and thought to myself that I am going to make my own the cheap way! With a little trial and error and help from my hubby I created my very own Marquee letters! And if I must say so myself they turned out pretty darn cute!

Here is what you need:
Paper Mache Letters
a serrated knife {to cut out the back of the letters}
round bulb patio lights
Pencil

I found my paper Mache letters at JoAnn's Fabric store! They are large and a decent price! These ones were $10.00 a letter and they have coupons where you can purchase them for 40% off!
I first counted the amount of lights I had on the string and then decided how many lights to a letter. Then I used my pencil to mark each spot so I knew where I would be punching a hole for my lights! {something to remember is when marking where the lights go make sure that they mimic each other on opposite sides, it will give it a real marquee look!} Then I cut an "X" mark on each spot where light is going to be inserted. I then took the end of my knife and poked it through the "X" preparing the spot where I pushed the l lights through!
Once complete with all that I turned the letters around and cut the back out {not along the seam but inside the letters} The reason for this is because I inserted the lights from the back of the letter so the cord will be hidden! Make sure to start with one side of the string of lights and start from the bottom corner of whatever letter you may be working with! Unscrew all the lights so you have just the socket to work with....****make sure your lights are not plugged in during this time **** push them through each hole!! Continue with the path you created with your holes! Once you have finished your letters then screw in each bulb! Plug in! & ENJOY! These have so much potential! Holidays, Christmas cards, birthday parties, last name in house, in a kids room! ahhhhh the possibilities are endless!! Thanks for stopping by until next time!!

Monday, November 4, 2013

The Vintage Carnival

The Vintage Carnival is in its second year! We couldn't be more excited for this Junk Fest! Over 30+ junk loving vendors under one roof! Does it get any better than that! Our 2012 show was a hit and we are predicting out 2013 show will be even bigger and better then the last. It all started with The White House Boutiques sales in Thief River Falls. Two daughters and their mother ventured out from their sales on the farm and brought it into the Armory in Thief River Falls, MN all due to their father not allowing a sale on his farm during hunting season. Hunting season, women, & shopping is the perfect recipe for this event. There is no better time to get some holiday shopping done while the men are roughing it!! Just think of how much stuff you can sneak by them that they will never have to know about!!

The Vintage Carnival is filled with the best pickers of funky junk and antiques in the upper Midwest {all under one roof people}! The merchandise is filled with jewelry, reclaimed furniture, trinkets, salvaged material, etc.

The Vintage Carnival will be the host of an exclusive 30+ vendors, all with a different look and approach to one of a kind vintage finds.

During the event we collect $1.00 door fee which is being split up to the local food shelf in Thief River Falls & the other will be given to our Aunt Marsha who is recovering from her 6th brain surgery. Last year because of your generousity we were able to give $600 to the Stand up to Cancer orginization and $500 to the local food shelf! This event wouldn't be a success that it is today without our truly TALENTED vendors & all of your support! Hopefully you can come out, grab a Bloody Mary {thanks to "The Rusty Nail Bar"}, & fill your trunks with junk! Merry Junking everyone and we will be seeing your pretty faces soon! Make sure to stop by our facebook pages and {like} us to get up to date with all our current creations!