Hello everyone! Happy Friday! Everybody ready for another weekend? I am definitely ready to relax. I don’t have a whole lot on the plate for the next few days, and I couldn’t be happier. A little packing, a little mindless tv watching….perhaps a bit of dining out………..think that’s about all I’m good for. 
I have been quite busy in the old scraproom this week, trying to work ahead on projects for the several weeks that we will be gone to California on vacation. I’ve got some fun things brewing, including lots of cards and even a few other goodies, but all those will have to wait. For now, I thought I’d share photos of my latest “treasures” I found antiquing last weekend. I just love perusing the antique stores. They are always so filled with potential and nostalgia, and I love the thrill of the hunt. You never know what you will find. Lately, I’ve been seeing all sorts of things that remind me of my childhood, be it toys that I had myself or dishes we had growing up, and what a trip down memory lane that is. You know what that means………
I’m becoming a collectible! 
Now I don’t know why, but I found this old sign to be absolutely hysterical. Knew right away that Pete would love it, too. We have, beyond a doubt, the same sense of humor. And as much as I knew Peter would adore this, I also instinctively knew how much Nik would NOT like it. So this little baby is all Peter’s………and I sneak in occasionally to have a peek and a bit of a chuckle.
My other find of the day was this trio of old glass insulators. Glass insulators are a popular collectible. They come in many shapes, sizes, colors and price ranges. They are beautiful to display, and have great historic appeal. The earliest insulators date back to before the Civil War. Insulators were first used extensively in the mid-1840s with the invention of the telegraph. They were necessary to prevent the electrical current passing through the wire from grounding out on the pole and making the line unusable. Over time, glass manufacturers would produce hundreds of designs; millions of insulators were made of glass and porcelain, then later of rubber, plastic and other composite materials. Here’s a diagram of the typical parts of a glass insulator and a photo of how they looked in use.
As telegraph lines traced the westward expansion of railroad lines across the states, the need for glass insulators was a rapidly growing market. As a result, these old treasures are fairly easy to find, although prices are beginning to increase as more and more people collect them. But still, these are a fun little piece of Americana for not a big investment. And they make a nifty do-dad, too.
So that’s about all that is going on these days, except to share a fun bit of scrappy happenings for me this week. I was so excited to see that I made the What’s Hot list over at Embellish Magazine for their color baby challenge.
Woo Hoo! Thank you so much ladies!
And thanks to all of you for stopping by today! You always make my day!
