Gearing Up For a Garden Party

The Garden Party at JB Knacker is a mere 2 weeks away and boy, do we have our work cut-out for us...the turning of the soil, the sowing of the seed and the gathering of the vintage goods!  Mark your Farmer's Almanac for Saturday, May 28th from 10am - 3pm rain or shine!  Until then, check this blog daily for the JB Knacker deal of the day...it's our countdown to the big Garden Party and will be a fun teaser of what's to come!

                                ~ Saturday (5/14) deal of the day~
                                       vintage silverware garden marker just $2.00 each

One of the most delightful things about a garden is the anticipation it provides  ~ J.E. Johns

                                   

Charm Bracelet Workshop at JB Knacker

trinkets

some of Sarah's rings in a cute display at the shop

anagrams & keys and so much more can work as charms...be creative!

We would love to see a full room at the shop this coming Friday night (April 29th).  JB Knacker will be hosting a great charm bracelet workshop from 6pm 'til 8ish pm.  Sarah Dorn from Mama Peacock will be leading the workshop and I will be assisting.  If you've never met Sarah before, this will be a treat.  She has a wealth of knowledge in creating fabulous pieces of jewelry, and lights up a room w/ her positive uplifting outlook!  You will learn joinery techniques in putting your one-of-a-kind charms onto your bracelet as well as a few new techniques in altering charms such as stamping metal, inking and collage.  I have been squirreling away fun little trinkets in preparation for this workshop, and Sarah has a wonderful stash of new and old lovelies to choose.  The cost is only $35.00 for the evening and all supplies are included.  And you go home w/ a beautiful charm bracelet that you created.  This is a fantastic price for this workshop as I usually see these bracelets sell for upwards of $50.00 at shows and shops!  We will also be stuffing our faces w/ angel food cake, whip (as my kids call it) and strawberries...tea and wine will also be served.  How do you sign up?  The old fashioned way...just call the shop at 233-2600 and we'll reserve a spot for you!

Record Breaking and Dangerous

 

March was a record-breaking month for JB Knacker!  Thanks to all of you who had a part in that in a big way or even some small way...I appreciate all of you!  The last 2 weeks of March saw all sorts of cool vintage come into the shop and then fly out as soon as I placed 'em.  But one can revel in success only so long or it's back to "square one."  So...

 

The shop will be getting another overhaul in the next 2 days to gear up for April.  Wire and metal and old glass...a plethora of vintage science models that would make the most talked about art...big sturdy functional lockers in the best color...darn good ephemera...lots and lots of sturdy metal lab stools...old thick bubbly glass science bell jars/cloches (one on a funky metal pedestal)...and gym locker baskets, yeah we got'em!

 

You'd think we dismantled a high school...well, we did play a part .  It was bittersweet to walk through this once majestic 4 story school in NW Iowa...and it wasn't even my alma mater.  Listening to alumnus talk about the good old days and which room was Mr. Hinkle's...who, by the way, had a science room to die for! For the life of me, why wouldn't you take this stuff to the new building...wasteful...but I guess that's how the junk cycles.

 

I am not a normal junker when it comes to auctions...hate 'em and try to avoid them at all costs.  Well, my husband thought better on this one and dragged me along.  It was an all day deal (who has all day to spend at one of these?) and crowded (at my age, funny things are happening to my hormones making me unnecessarily panicky in a crowd)!  So I would wander off away from the crowd to let my husband bid on the skeleton in the lunchroom...off to a quiet part of the building...say, the music room (deep breath...Hail Mary, Full of Grace...this prayer has helped me through a few panic attacks in my day)...lucky for me, I spy a gaggle of wire gym baskets under the stairwell.  The rest is history (or dare I say, Physical Ed)...it was a good day.  But with the good, you gotta take the bad and downright dangerous...like driving home w/ a box full of hydrogen tanks and glass vials of neon, mercury and the element that kills superman in the back of your vehicle (didn't know what was in that box when we loaded it...should they even have auctioned that off?).

 

Well, lucky for us when we arrived home w/ our van of vintage goodness, poison and explosives, our sweet girls had baked their little hearts out...rhubarb strawberry tarts and chocolate cherry cookies...yummm!  Here's to a fun, adventurous and downright "dangerous" April!

 
                                                                                                              ~ Brenda 

Have I Not Done One of These in a While?...a Sale!

I don't think I have...a good old fashioned shop sale...say, like 20% off  of everything!  Well then, it's time!    I have been plenty busy scouring the landscape for wonderful stuff and have had the honor to have some wonderful stuff come knocking on my door!  So let me throw a few pictures out...

Fun stuff abounds...and these pictures are a few days old...since then, I have had the best time in an old barn and chicken shed (don't think too much into that)!  Oh yes, the details of the sale...

JB Knacker Shop Sale ~ Saturday, March 26th from 10 am - 3pm!  Everything in the old 2 story building and the side yard will be 20% off for this day only!

I have to brag just a little...the prices at JB Knacker are very fair...so at 20% off, you've got quite a deal on some pretty unique stuff.  This is not the frivolous stuff we've been told to stay away from by the financial advisers due to the economic down-turn...this is good old garden stuff to get the kitchen garden going and sturdy furniture that will last more than another generation and true blue mason jars w/ zinc lids and metal lockers, wire baskets, real birds' nests, cement birdbaths, crystal chandeliers, primitive wood in many forms and just plain great finds to motivate your decorating spirit as spring begins.  This sale will only be advertised on this blog, the JB Knacker Facebook page and to those of you that are on my email list...so pass the word along if you're the sharing type and thank you for keeping my job so much fun!
                                                    Hope to see you,
                                                                                                  Brenda  

Spring Fever Event Freebie

Just wanted to show the fun little gift w/ purchase you receive at JB Knacker's Spring Fever Event on this Saturday and Sunday (while supplies last!).

A super cute and functional garden marker stamped into embellished vintage forks & spoons...I better get going...got a lot of hammering to do!  Hope to see you at Spring Fever ~ Saturday 10am-5pm & Sunday noon- 4pm!

                                                                                           
                                                                                             ~Brenda

Spring Fever Event

The snow has melted and allowed us to find several lost toys and a sled or two thought to be gone forever!  Yellow grass, lots of mud and a different damp cold that chills you to the bone...not my favorite time of the year!  I need to brush this pre-spring ugliness aside and focus on what is to come...Spring Fever... JB Knacker's fresh twist on all things spring and the vintage rebirth is only 5 days away!

But first, a little silliness...no, let's call it craziness.  The sun shone and the winds blew warmer air our way last Saturday allowing the 2 bigger girls a chance to commune w/ a local rodent.  Lest I remind them of rabies...but you gotta love how good those little creatures are at playing dead... and no, she didn't pet it...just staged for her Facebook!

                                               Spring Fever
"And when you've got it, you want - oh, you don't quite know what it is you do want, but it fairly makes your heart ache you want it so!"    ~ Mark Twain

                                  Saturday, March 5th 10am - 5pm and Sunday, March 6th noon - 4pm

Here's the scoop on this Saturday & Sunday, March 5th and 6th.  On Saturday, our hours are 10am - 5pm.  Spring will be plunked all over the shop.  What does that mean?  Just come on out to discover...be thinking slate, pottery, wire, chippy painted wood, moss, painted metal, bubbly old glass, bark...a very organic twist, but also a little something for every style!  There will be a fun vintage garden gift w/ purchase while supplies last.  We are open from noon - 4pm on Sunday, and we will continue with the fun gift w/ purchase on this day as well.  Yummy treats, beverages and loads of inspiration served all weekend!  Saturday tends to be a little wild at times, so if that makes you nervous, I highly recommend the slower paced Sunday.  There will be restocking done on Saturday night, plenty of treats and maybe a bit more time to chat with you about your garden, kids and latest projects.  Whatever works for you...we would love to see you!  Have a great rest of the week!!
                                                      ~Brenda



   

February Faves...

We're back to regular hours at the shop after a wonderful January of Saturdays only and then a couple of sweet snowy days to start February.  Shopgirl Kate will be at the shop today to greet you and help you w/ those special finds ( I will be home w/ a croupy, feverish 2 yr old...woohoo!). 

yummy soaps w/ the sweet smell of spring to arrive soon

The gears are turning for a special smallish event in February...still pondering it over my morning coffee.  With Spring Fever coming the first Saturday in March (JB Knacker's intro to all things spring), it's hard to know if I can fit another "thing" into the next couple of weeks.

But first, let's digest a little bit of a JB Knacker style February...

 

Enjoy this wonderful month...

                                                                          Brenda