Kalissa and I took Friday as a no kids day…well no kids for about 5 hours while we ran away for the day. One of the local junk/vendor shows was on and we decided to go.
We had a great time together. First we went to the junk/vintage shop in Sumner Iowa that I love. Then we went to the Amish. We typically hit up the bent and dent grocery stores there. They sell products that were damaged in production and overstock items. A box of cereal might have a dented corner or they might be selling candy that was produced for Halloween 2021 sales…the stuff is a lot cheaper but the availability is very unpredictable. A person really can’t go there expecting to buy Cream of Chicken soup. They might have it…they might not. Things are still cheaper there but…their prices have risen much higher as well. For example, candy bars were 25 cents each. The are now 35 cents each. I ended up picking some Rolos up so I could use them to make THIS recipe…they are a family and kid favorite.
From there we went to White Barns…I snapped a few pictures.
I was tempted by these shelves but ended up passing…
I liked this old quilt and I thing I might reproduce it. It’s really simple but would use up some scraps.
Here’s another quilt that I saw. Pretty.
These were unique plant stands. They were welded together with a stand to hold the plant between them. The outside of my house is more formal so not for me…still I really liked them.
For the most part, I wasn’t really impressed with the show. Kalissa and I both said that we likely won’t be in a rush to go again. It was $5 to get in. The food prices were high. I’m sure it’s just me being cheap but I won’t pay $8 for a bloody mary. I won’t pay $6 for a bag of popcorn. I won’t wait 30 minutes to get food from a food truck. If I want to go to a gift store, I’ll go to a gift store…booth after booth was very “gift store-ish”.
I’ll show you the two booths that Kalissa and I were excited about…This one had some cute vintage toy sewing machines..
The prices weren’t bad..I just didn’t need any.
The booth that won the very unique award was this one from Carryville Country. It’s the booth that persuaded me to part with some of my money. They have a Facebook page and you can find that HERE.
They had a very large well laid out booth.
Let me show you how it works…
You pick a board/stand. There are many colors and many different sizes.
You go around and find the pieces you like…you slide them into the slit and create your own unique piece. Here Kalissa is making one for a gift.
She has a good friend that is getting her nurse practitioner degree. She chose items from this area. 
They have many pieces that could be put together for most any person in the medical field.
They had all sorts of other things to personalize the pieces.
Kalissa talked me into buying this one with the bird… This one had a kids’ flashcard with it.
Seriously there were cutouts so a person could create one for EVERYONE.
Do you have a hairdresser in your life…
You could make a small one like the photo above or a bigger one like below.
Next to the hairdresser, I saw…SEWING!!
Oh, how fun. The best news…these were priced so reasonably. I ended up putting one together and bought it.
You can see what I picked in the picture below.
It priced out like this…
Baseboard $3.50
Spool and Thread $2.50
Scissors $2.35
Star $1.75
Sewing Machine $2.00
So the total cost was $12.10
I thought that was totally reasonable and even cheap.
If you’re a 4-H family, here’s one for you.
One for a farming family.
Need something for the hunter?
Is someone you know in the service?
Is someone a team fan?
I saw several people making designs with their family name.
I thought the mermaid was so cute!
There were people making them for wedding couples. It was going to be decor for the wedding but then gifted to the couple.
I was at the register to pay and stopped. I couldn’t leave without the nativity…so I bought that too.
There were 11 pieces to the set. There were two boards to hold it. The total cost was $41. I thought that was priced reasonably too.
I love it as storage will be so easy. I’ve outgrown my days of wanting to carry and deal with box after box of Christmas stuff.
That’s the booth we spent our money at. Other than that, we bought nothing.
That was our Friday…all in all a fun day. We loved the Carryville Country booth but other than that, shopping wasn’t too exciting. By far the best was getting to spend time together child-free.
By the way, I told the owners at the booth that I was a blogger and planned to blog about their booth. I asked if they had a website. They don’t but said they do sell through Facebook. So if there was something you were interested in, you could contact them there. Again, you can find them HERE. Tell them the blog lady from the White Barns show sent you.
Are those wood cutouts? Looks like it would be fun to put one together.
Jeanine, The cut outs are metal.
Very creative decor you featured. It was so fun to vicariously shop with you. I haven’t been thrifting or going to antique malls for a few months now. When real life is this expensive I just don’t do it. Thanks for the trip lol!
OH, That Nativity scene!! Gorgeous!! What a wonderful group of choices that booth provides. How Fun!
What you call the bent and dent store my family calls the dent and bang. Everyone seems to come up with a slightly different name for these stores. There was a fabulous one I used to get the chance to go to around 20 or more years ago. It would carry a good assortment of both healthy and unhealthy food. Some of these stores seems to lean heavily toward unhealthy foods but not this one. Pricing was say 10 cents for a Cliff bar or 10 cents for ICE sparkling water etc. But we had the most fun buying a $2 full banana box of unlabeled canned goods guaranteed not to be cat or dog food. Sometimes a can might be beef stew, another time sauerkraut. We had so much fun making a game of having to cook up whatever was in the unmarked can. Much laughter and many good memories from that store.
LOVE those cut-outs!!! What a neat idea – and reasonably priced. Will have to check out their FB page…
Your bent and dent store was called Bargain Depot in the town where my sister lives. My mom loved that store. It was always a surprise at what you would find in the store. Sadly, it went out of business about seven years ago. The Carryville Country booth’s use of flash cards sparked several ideas for me. I have several boxes of those old school flashcards that were printed in the 1960’s. I love your posts.
I am having the best time with my personal shopper Ha, he ordering my stands, blog lady Jo, thanks. Also those Decorah gals are so pleasant and always send a thank-you when they receive anything. I needed encouragement today..
I am having the best time ordering the cutouts. The owner is now my personal shopper! Also those Decorah ladies are so nice and appreciative and always send thanks. I needed it today.
Glad you two were able to spend some kid-free time together, Jo!
“I’m 56 years old and can make a decision about ironing all on my own.”
ROTFLOL!!!!!!!
Jo, I am so sorry you get “meaned at.” It is not fair and you deserve better.
Thank you for ‘doing you.” It is refreshing!
My cutouts and stands came today. So cool.