This past Saturday some of my gal pals, Sue & Cathy, and I took a road trip just south of the Twin Cities.  There are some great shops down in that neck of the woods that I have always wanted to check out.

We stopped in Carver first for a visit to Carver Junk Co.  I had met the owners of Carver Junk at the Miss Mustard Seed retailer training that I did last winter.  I’ve always wanted to check out their shop.  Carver is a tiny little town with lots of charm.

Look at this fab gas station.

And this gorgeous house.

I got some great stuff at Carver Junk Co.  A scarf, some earrings, and this fab vintage book.

I’m not sure what I’ll do with this book, but I just loved the different fonts on the pages.  I hope I can come up with a cool idea for using these pages.

Unfortunately I didn’t get any pics inside the store, but they had some really gorgeous furniture pieces, many of them painted in Miss Mustard Seed milk paint of course.

Our next stop was Shop 501 in Chaska.

I could have spent hours digging around in this shop.  I’m sure there were lots of treasures that I overlooked.  I did pick up a dyed grain sack from this pile though.

I’m not sure yet what I’ll do with it, but it looks pretty good just draped on an old ladder.

They had tons of great vintage pieces in Shop 501 …

including some great vintage toy trucks.  I’m always on the look out for one in my fave aqua color.  I’d love to have one for display at Christmas time.  My friends spotted one for me, unfortunately at $92 it was way out of my price range!

This one was sweet too.

We had a beautiful sunny day for our road trip, and it was interesting to see what other people are doing with their furniture makeovers.  I came away with some fun finds, and some ideas for future projects.