Welcome to my blog about things I love to collect, refinishing furniture and decorating using flea market finds (with a few crochet projects now and then).Thanks so much for visiting!




Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Big Bertha & Little Bertha

Please excuse the poor picture but I finally did something with the old medical cabinet that I picked up a year ago. (It has nothing to do with Bertha yet)
It's missing 2 of it's 3 glass shelves and I planned to have 2 made, thus why it's been sitting empty. I recently came upon a lot of old bottles for a good price and thought they might look nice inside, seeing as it was originally a medical cabinet with all sorts of medical bottles, why not try it out!

I really like how they look, the light hits the glass bottles and makes them shine a little since there is glass on all 3 sides of the cabinet. Now I don't have the extra expense of having 2 more shelves made to fit.  I'd like to add a few more bottles to fill it up a little more.
The cabinet is rusty and crusty but that's the way I like it.


The green and lavender oddly shaped bottles to the lower right are arsenic bottles


And 2 more of my bargains at the flea market, the vaseline glass lamp with it's original shade $20 and the wood bird cage...no price on it so when I inquired, holding my breath and expecting a high price since I have seen the same exact cage only larger on Etsy, the woman tells me $15...Oh yes! And it's in perfect condition!


Now the reason for my title of Big Bertha & Little Bertha, meet Big Bertha!
This is an exceptional cactus that I have wanted for years. My favorite nursery, B & B cactus Gardens in Tucson, just happened to have a few in stock. They nicknamed it Big Bertha because the flowers are huge.


The blossoms measure 6 inches across and it is very fragrant, very sweet. It opens in the evening and each flower lasts only 24 hours. You can see a bud on the lower left which opened the following evening.

Below, the bud just as it begins to open.

(Tricholobivia hybrid)

And now for Little Bertha!
We have an outdoor Farmers Market and Artisans every Saturday morning.
Once in awhile there are a couple of vendors selling just stuff.

I saw this faded and dusty dressform, the woman said $25. I was being cheap I guess because I walked away thinking what do I need another dressform for and it's so faded and dirty.


I went back to her booth later and it was still there so I asked her if she could come down and she said how about $20 so I took it thinking I was being foolish spending 20 bucks on this. Well, I emailed my "expert vintage anything to do with sewing" friend Stephanie and she wrote back saying "WHAT???? And you walked away from it for $25!!! They sell here at flea market for no less than $165!!!!"

I emailed pictures to her and she said to leave the jersey cover off, dust her off and keep her!

I wrapped a piece of old lace around her neck where she is so faded, otherwise the jersey cover kept the rest of her from fading so badly.


So I'm thinking if I don't like this purple cover, Stephanie said I can also remove the material down to the cardboard and I could decoupage something over it. She gave me a ton of ideas so Yes, I'm keeping her and I named her Little Bertha since she is a small size.

Yesterday was 90 degrees! It's easier to take than I expected and since Mr. Wild said we just got 6 more inches of snow in Minnesota last night and that it looked like a blizzard and he could hardly get up the driveway....I'm thinking I'm staying a while longer. 
The mornings and evenings are like paradise here and no mosquitoes!!!

Thanks for stopping!

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18 comments:

  1. Beautiful cactus blooms, I don't think I've ever seen one bloom. (maybe because I'm from Missouri!) You did get a good deal on your dress form, I like the lace collar. Have a great week! Gina

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  2. Awesome cactus!! What does it smell like?! Very cool medicine cabinet and I do love old bottles.
    Nice dress form!!! I bet you are glad that you bought it! Yes, you might as well stay where it is warm and nice! I would!
    Thank you for the birthday wishes.
    Warmly,
    deb

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  3. I have a medicine cabinet on my "wish list" just like yours. Ooh, are you lucky to have found one. Rare find and yours is just perfect.

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  4. You did great...getting to be an expert shopper...what a steal. Yes, decoupage it! You could use old patterns.

    Love the cabinet and those bottles are beautiful. That cactus....wow!

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  5. Hi, Love your cactus and love your dress form but the thing I love most is your old cabinet. Wonderful finds...

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  6. The medicine cabinet is gorgeous and the dress form is a great find! My daughter has been wanting one, and I had no idea how expensive they were.

    I love that cactus flower; I recently removed the close up of that particular species in my header!

    Shoot! We have mosquitoes here, because of the canals and open irrigation.

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  7. I love all your finds and you got some really good deals. Love Big and Little Berthas. I would take 90 over snow, too. Stay put! I would wait until July to head back.

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  8. I love the old medical cabinet, filled with those wonderful bottles & the cactus is awesome... but the Best is that fabulous dress form, you sure would have kicked yourself if she had been gone ~ guess she was meant to go home with You.
    Thanks for sharing,
    Cheryl
    zany-mayd.blogspot.com

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  9. Love your post today,...i see beautiful things....love from me...xxx...

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  10. That medicine cabinet is gorgeous with the bottles! Love the dress form...such a find...and the dress form is wonderful! Enjoy the nice weather, it HAS been crazy here, but sounds like this weekend will really warm up!

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  11. Hi, Faye... all I can say is that I am drooling.. yes, drooling .. over the medicine cabinet. What a fabulous find!! Those legs. That rust. The distressed white! Oh, MY! Love that you put old bottles in them. The perfect touch!

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  12. And.. I'm your newest follower! Woohoo! If you get a moment, come on over to my blog and sit a spell. Would love to have you! Do you prefer tea or coffee??!

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  13. Loving the old medicine cabinet filled with bottles Faye!
    As for the dress form...I had one similar and took the purple fabric off. I sold it at last year's white show, if you want to see how it looked let me know and I will send you a link for photos!

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  14. Beautiful cactus! Love all your new finds! New Follower.

    Jody

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  15. I love the glass bottles! I want to find some lavender ones myself. Lucky find on the dress form too. I have one that is pink plastic that I'm going to decopauge at some point.

    Thank you for sharing at What We Accomplished Wednesdays. Have a great weekend!

    Hugs,
    Deborah

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  16. The glass bottles in that old cabinet look great. Now I wish I had one.
    Farmhouse hugs,
    Cindy

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  17. Your cabinet is AMAZING. I'm so envious. I've never been able to find one at a price I could afford.

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  18. Love little Bertha but love your medicine cabinet even more, especially with your bottle collection!

    I have just half a cabinet – mine looks a LOT like yours but it's missing the base. It also didn't have shelves and one side window was broken out. I spent a fortune on the glass but I love the look. Now if I could only find a matching base, sigh...

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