A Road Trip to Friendship - Girls Weekend in Northfield, Minnesota

​There are moments in life when an ordinary day transforms into something unforgettable—when a simple visit to a garage sale opens the door to a friendship that blossoms into a cherished adventure. This is the story of how my best garage sale find turned out not to be an object, but a wonderful friend. A few years ago, I met my sweet and wonderful friend Terri at her garage sale in Northfield, Minnesota, an amazing small community that once served as the backdrop for a Hallmark Christmas movie.

From that first garage sale meeting, it felt as if Terri and I had known each other forever. We instantly bonded over our mutual love of vintage items, antiques, and the thrill of shopping for hidden treasure. This past weekend, I embarked on another road trip adventure to Northfield—the perfect destination with its small-town charm, historic streets, and fun vintage shops. I was excited to visit Terri, shop together, get creative in her wonderful craft room, and stay up late chatting into the early morning hours.

While we didn’t solve the world’s problems during our visit, we did create some amazing trees from a vintage basket quilt and spent time stamping to our hearts’ content. It was a weekend filled with creativity, laughter, and the simple joy of being together.

I wanted to share some ideas that might inspire you to create something special for your home. Terri and her husband Danny have a home filled with warmth, charm, and plenty of white buttons—Terri collects them and places them in the most surprising spots. Their house is brimming with great ideas and creative touches, and I know you’ll love meeting Terri.

As I packed up the car for the journey back home to Iowa, I reflected that the greatest treasure I ever found at a garage sale wasn’t a lamp or a vintage mannequin, but a friend who became one of my best companions and co-creator of both chaos and crafting.
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Here’s to many more adventures, spontaneous crafts, and the joy of discovering true friendship in the most unexpected places. Sometimes, the greatest treasures are the people we meet along the way.

Layering/Creating Vignettes

Terri is a master of layering objects. You can still see each one, yet they blend together like a work of art. Terri's style is rustic, cottage, vintage. This layered vignette has an old mirror as the base, an amazing clock face around 12", an architectural element, vintage books, a jar of keys, florals and a feather, and a beautiful gold rose. This sits on a shelf above the couch and it looks stunning when you walk in. This vignette contains something from each of Terri's styles. 

What things do you have that might look better grouped together? 

Hot item - Clock faces, or vintage clocks of any kind. These have become highly desirable for decorating. They don't even need to work to be coveted. So, if you see a vintage clock, or clock face...you may want to get it! 

Pro tip - If you don't like the mirror with gold trim, you can easily paint it. You could also paint out the mirror to be a chalk board. 

Frames and Vintage Spools - The perfect combination

This beautiful one-of-a-kind craft created by Terri hangs on the door of her AMAZING crafting room. Terri is an excellent 'thrifter'. She thrifts lots of things to use as needed. This vintage frame is fantabulous. She covered the part where a photo would go in with some craft or wallpaper, and then added in the vintage spools.

Terri is also an excellent seamstress. This shows both her love of sewing and creativity when you enter her craft room.

Hot item - Both vintage frames and vintage sewing spools are being snatched up quickly. There are so many things you can do with both.
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Pro tip - There are so many things you can do with frames. Don't pass these up. Not only are they perfect for many craft items and decorating, they can be painted or distressed to your liking and style. ​
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Amazing Memory Board

All those little cards, letters, notes, and small keepsakes you've collected over the years are perfect for this project. Terri took an old dresser piece that was missing the mirror and turned it into a work of art! It is amazing. She has so many great memories on this board, including a few things from her sister and her mom, that have both went home to be with Jesus. This is a great way to display your memory items. You can use a smaller frame if that suits your space better. 

Hot item - Small vintage paper good items; small vintage items like keys, advertising pencils, and small coin purses. These are items that are sought after and they are great for your your Memory Wall, or photo area
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Clocks that aren't just clocks

In Terri's living room you will find this display of vintage clocks. She loved vintage clocks long before they became a coveted item among vintage lovers. These aren't just clocks. Terri created a handmade tag for each one with the name of her grandchildren and the date they were born. The clocks are set to the time that each grandchild was born. ​It is a beautiful reminder of the life of each one of her grandchildren. 

Restyling a Space

While I was at Terri's we restyled some of her living room and dining area. The corner need a small lamp for a little lighting in the area at night for ambiance. The only lamp we could find was small, but by placing it on a small riser (you could also use a small stool) it gave the lamp the height needed and the lighting was perfect.

Vintage boxes look great filled with white chippy architectural elements and Terri has quite a collection. 

We added a sprig of greenery and a white flower to give it a Christmas look, but also create a winter feel so that it could last through January.
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​Pro Tip - We moved this painted washstand into this corner in the dining room. Just above the washstand notice the smaller vintage framed picture inside of the larger vintage picture frame. By doing this, the smaller picture looked big enough for the space. 
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Our Favorite Craft Project! 

Terri had an idea to take a vintage basket quilt she thrifted and turn it into Christmas trees. She cut a pattern from brown paper and we made these adorable trees. We added a muslin bow and stamped a big 25 and placed it on the bottom corner of the tree with a rusty pin. These were adorable. 

Bonus...after Christmas the 25 can be removed and they actually look wintery. Keeping our space cozy during the winter with little effort of 'un'decorating for Christmas. 

My BEST Garage Sale Treasure

This is Terri and me during one of my visits. We got so busy during this visit with shopping, crafting, eating fried chicken, moving furniture (more classy called restyling), and just talking for hours...we didn't get a photo. 

Terri is truly a one-of-a-kind garage sale find. We won't tell her husband Danny...but he is too :)