On the Road Again!

Hey gang! It's Laura, oldest daughter of Richard and Linda... coming to 'ya from Carmine!! Lawson and I are running the store today, Thursday.

Folks are on the road again... headed to Oklahoma City, vicinity of "The Paseo Arts Festival 2010." To all our loyal customers over the years in OK - go see Richard and Linda and ALL THE NEW STUFF they have.

For those of you here in Texas, let's sell out this store before they get back!

Unique Teacher Gifts

Funky Folk Art

Things you have NEVER seen before...

OPEN ALL WEEKEND

THURS, FRI, SAT 10-6pm, SUN 12-6pm, MON 10-6pm

ranch owner

a local ranch owner recently became a new satisfied customer!! Actually he almost carried off the entire store! Thanks to all our great customers!

Great and Crazy Customers

Like we've discussed - there's the storefront, behind it our 400 sq.ft. living quarters, behind it our outdoor workshop. Last Monday the store was closed, as usual, and we were "hard at it creating." Around the corner pops a little head. She says, "Excuse me, are you open today?" I almost said, "Well yes, we are as a matter of fact that's why the sign says CLOSED." But, I put on my Jesus face, smiled and told her we were closed Mon, Tues and Wed.

One thing led to another and right before she hit her knees to beg ............... I caved, opened the door and turned on all 64 lights. It paid off for both of us. She gave me money and I gave her lots of smiles, a few laughs and lots of art.

Thank you great and crazy customers!!

Gypsy family comes to town!!

A new band of gypsies rolled into town the other day. (not sure exactly where they set up camp but we could feel the wind change). While they hardly need any publicity from us, we are so excited about welcoming the JUNK GYPSY family . These photos are tobacco barn tin airstreams commissioned by the junk gypsy clan. These original pieces are fun and current and are for sale on their website @ gypsyville.com.

GoD BLeSS buttermilk BiSCUitS..and the hands that make ‘em.

GoD BLeSS buttermilk BiSCUitS..and the hands that make them.

rough day at the office

Billboard in Giddings

Hey fans! If you see our new billboard in Giddings (headed our way) LET US KNOW!

Dixie Bird

meet Dixie Bird. Dixie Bird lives in Carmine, Tx., with Richard and Linda Hamilton at TEXAS TRASH AND TREASURES. But you can adopt her for $69.00 Richard and Linda will mail her to you at no charge for shipping if you call them and ask for her!! She has 49 brothers and sisters but there is only one Dixie Bird.

to be honest

today i am sorry i started blogging. i knew it was a committment, and while one doesn't have to update daily, i was having fun doing so. i felt it kept my blog fresh. TO BE HONEST, you don't need to know these things, but it's all part of our rollercoaster ride. TO BE HONEST, this week has been extremely slow sales wise. we are really good at making great stuff, just not so good at sitting behind the counter waiting for someone to buy it!! so who wants to blog when they are down? i just can't figure it all out. i don't understand alot but this i know, Jesus loves me this i do know, for my bible tells me so...........

paying customers

paying customers make our world go round. sounds weird, but it's reality here at TEXAS TRASH AND TREASURES. these gals were so much fun. they got to spin our "wheel" for free merchandise and sure hooped it up!! thanks ladies!

the bakery

like fresh baked bread cooling on the racks at the bakery, our freshly painted tin flowers are put out to dry in the hot texas sun.

The Billboard

THE BILLBOARD

We are one of maybe ten shops on a very short stretch of hwy 290 between Houston and Austin. Most are fine antiques and good junk. Being funky and folky, I don't fit in very well.

In an attempt to "pull in our customer," we have leased a billboard 9 miles before our shop to educate the potential shopper on what to expect. It will state plainly that we are a fun, funky, folk art store.

That way the next time a sweet old gentleman walks in, makes a beeline towards me behind the counter, passing by all my great wonderful creations, (without even glancing at them), and asks, "Do you have any ANTIQUE TIRE TOOLS?"... I can scream at him saying, "DIDN'T YOU READ THE BILLBOARD?" Or maybe I'll say, "DOES IT LOOK LIKE I HAVE ANY ANTIQUE TIRE TOOLS IN HERE SIR? THIS IS ART BUDDY. A - R - T !!!" And I'll glare at him as I spell it out.
Or perhaps I'll smile and say, "No I don't sir, but if you'll buy some of my stuff, I'll tell you who does." Sure hope the billboard works, don't you!?!

bird of a different color

Welcome the new birds on the block! I'm in there somewhere, see me??

Today I completed 50 of these adorable creatures, our latest new design. Each one will be signed by me and I'm going to give everyone of them their own name.

Gosh they are special... don't you think?!

content and comfortable

residing in 400 sq. feet in the back of our store has it's benefits. this morning i cleaned the bathroom, brewed coffee and made the bed without taking a single step! some who know the situation think we are nuts and talk about us behind our back. i suppose we could go and get a big house mortgage if we wanted to. for now we are very content and comfortable brushing up against one another alot. it's just part of our adventure and we are amazed at how much we don't have need of.

on the road again

another pickup load of TEXAS TRASH AND TREASURES left our store in carmine at 5am, headed to a little parking lot show in austin on south congress, a cool place! we'll see if anyone in austin on congress appreciates texas trash from the turquois building on 290 in carmine!!.

Rocky Top

Hey that's not fair! No one warned me this was gonna be "I miss Tennessee day". It just snuck up on me kinda like a holiday I had forgotton. I never saw it coming. Maybe it was because I picked out a mother's day card for babysitter/adopted grandmother who helped us raise our two youngest girls. One of the most wonderful women on the planet, Ms. Pat, was the hardest to leave. How fortunate we were to have spent ten years there. It seems like yesterday we loaded up the truck and moved to Tennessee. There were others. Pooner our mechanic who became a dear friend, Francis my neighbor, brother Bruce our pastor, Rory the tin man and his wife Mary, and so many others. Maybe it snuck up on me cause I spoke with old friends in Nashville. They said they missed us, I said likewise, fighting back (happy) tears. Or maybe it's because Richard and I have been discussing where we will take our grandkids this summer. We've decided on San Marcos, New Braunfels and the blue hole in Tennessee. Just kidding Laura. No matter what the reason, today was indeed, "I miss Tennessee day". And now we begin the next leg of our adventure. But rocky top you'll always be home sweet home to me, good ole rocky top........

take time to smell the roses

a quick trip to the antique rose emporium yielded a wagon full of great plants for our shop porch. we had fun. the emporium is beautiful, a little lacking in the customer service department, but definitely worth the trip i thought. a reminder lesson to us to make sure our customers always feel welcomed and glad they walked through the door.

frugal shop owner

four days a week i turn on about 65 light bulbs in my store. not only is it necessary, but i believe lighting is important and my customers deserve the best. the electric bill is high. sometimes i'll turn off half the lights and if a customer comes in i say "oh come on in, i am just changing a few bulbs. let me flip the switch back on". i'm not a liar, just a frugal shop owner trying to figure it all out while i give it all i've got.

life's highway

"sun is up, times at hand, there's a stir across the land and so begins another day on life's highway. there is hope with every turn, a bridge to build, a bridge to burn, here's hoping you never go astray on life's highway." if ever there was a theme song for us and our business, this would be it. thank you STEVE WARINER.

Tickle Tickle!

Fun & Funky!

advice

the best advice i can give you is... EXERCISE, EAT RIGHT AND BUY ART.

Go Fish

Come to Carmine for some fun and funky fish art!

Texas Live!

Check us out in TEXAS LIVE. Thanks to the folks there for showcasing our story and our store. Be sure to check out TEXAS LIVE on the net at http://www.texaslivemag.com/.

good mexican music

richard took a truck load of our goods to sell at wimberlly market days. he left at 5am so its always alittle weird trying to go back to sleep. i didn't, i rose and did the same thing i do every morning, walk past the sales counter, (yes we live in the back of our store), turned off the fan and on the radio. my usual christian station was fuzzy so i started flipping and landed on a spanish station playing that good old fast mexican music. i had forgotton how much i love that music so i cranked it up and did alittle jig. you know what i mean. when the disc jockey came on it was really weird. i mean i'm a texas girl so i can speak alittle broken spanish but this guy was rattling it off so fast it was unlike any thing i had ever heard. he was coming at me rapid fire and i could not understand a single word he said! but i kept listening as if i did. i went on about my morning duties; coffee (for one), bedmaking, i even did my pushups to it!! he ranted on with a good song thrown in every now and again and i was indeed captivated. another language another tune, you should try it sometime. but be sure to turn it up real loud, that makes it even crazier and sends you into a different zone. hey come on!!! i'm a middle aged, over worked, under paid woman living in carmine tx. I NEEDED THIS!!! after about 2 hours, i'm not kidding, it was time to open the doors of the store. i considered leaving it on for the customers to enjoy.....maybe not.....adios amigos!!