Today I’m joining with “Thrift Store Upcycle,” a favorite group of like-minded bloggers! Together we repurpose something “new” once a month using a thrifted find, but of course, it doesn’t have to be a thrift store find. It can be anything really…an estate sale find, a yard sale treasure, or even a curbside find. I absolutely love mine which is a combination of curbside find, shopping my house, and an estate sale find. Found forgotten junk makes a sweet vintage vignette! I enjoyed putting this together and I hope you’ll like it too! There’s no limit on how much we spend. My whole vignette cost only $1.00.
The Rules:
- Upcycle an item(s) from a thrift store, resale store, or garage sale into a new piece of decor.
- There’s no monthly theme.
- There’s no budget to stick to.
Meet the Hosts
Amanda | Domestically Creative Michelle | Our Crafty Mom
Vicki and Jennifer | 2 Bees in a Pod Pili | My Sweet Things
Angela | Simply Beautiful by Angela Kim | Made in a Day
Lindsay | Crazy Organized Marie | DIY Adulation Ann | Duct Tape and Denim
Denise | My Thrifty House Jeanie | Create and Babble Debra | Shoppe No. 5
Shirley | Intelligent Domestications Victoria | Dazzle While Frazzled Lora | Craftivity Designs
Maureen | Red Cottage Chronicles Jeanee | Centsably Creative
Florence | Vintage Southern Picks Deborah | Salvage Sister & Mister
Make sure you follow our board on Pinterest for more upcycled decor inspiration!
I found a pile of old snapshots at an estate sale last weekend, so picking out my favorites from that became a part of the vignette.

Others are personal photos from a vintage album my mother put together for my brother and me, and one is a vintage cabinet card. I’ll explain more as we go along.
I love using unusual vintage objects to display photos! Here are a couple of unlikely junky, rusty pieces that make up the “found forgotten junk,” which you can see above too.

You’ll never believe where I found these unlikely pieces! The soap dish is from the estate sale, and isn’t a part of the vignette. The other two pieces came from an automotive storage yard. I have no idea what they were. Because the grate is made out of soft metal, it was pliable and easy to bend into shape. I fashioned the metal plate on the vice to form a photo prop. Then I simply glued it to the grate with E6000. It worked even though there wasn’t much surface area for the 2 pieces to join. The vintage metal clamp was in my stash, and the rose at the top is a bit of jewelry scrap, which also came from an estate sale. It now makes the perfect little easel to display vintage photos!
Here is the final look! I’ll show the individual parts below.
You see vintage wooden sewing spools are holding the 2 photos on the left.
You can also see part of my vintage brooch collection.
Who are those people on the left?
My Mother at 8 yrs old in 1918
And me at 8 yrs old! You can see how tall I was! I’m wearing a Halloween costume my Mother made for me (which I didn’t appreciate at the time because I looked vastly different from all the other kids.)
I used to get dirty looks from parents whose homes I went to for trick-or-treating with my friends.
Years later I understood why.
Here is “The Couple.”
One of my favorite photos from the estate sale.
Are they at a prom? A sock hop? Church?

I’ve seen photo displays in glass jars. Here I’m using a glass chimney from an oil lantern.
Displaying 2 more favorite photo finds from the estate sale….
I call her “Wistful”
And “The Babies” look like they’re in their Easter finery.
Look at that boy’s expression!
I’m not sure he trusts the photographer!
And a final way to use the Found Forgotten Junk Easel…
…is with this vintage cabinet card
Hope you’ve enjoyed the sweet vintage vignette! I’ve enjoyed showing it to you!
More projects below!
And now for more thrifty goodness!
Check out what my fellow upcyclers created below!
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Florence
Latest posts by Florence (see all)
- The Latest Vintage Hauls - February 10, 2020
- A Vintage Fall Haul - November 3, 2019
- September Sales on Etsy and My New Antique Booth - September 30, 2019
- Camping Trip Thrift Store Haul - August 2, 2019
You are so creative! We love vintage photography too. Your vignette is fun and unique and really showcases the photos. How fun to highlight you and your mother too – very sweet!
Thank you Vicki & Jenn! Appreciate your kind comment!
Oh, I love these ideas!! I am a HUGE sucker for any type of creative photo display with vintage items.
Thanks Lora! I appreciate it!
I adore everything about this vignette! I love seeing creative ways to display photos and this is one of my favorites!
Thanks so much Jeanie!
I seriously don’t think I could love this anymore! The rose clip…..brilliant!
Thank you Deborah! Appreciate your sweet comment!
Great way to use old photos, which I love. Love the various photo holders you made. Visiting from Thrift Store Upcycle.
Thank you so much Victoria!
Florence, I loved this! I really loved the beautiful pictures of such interesting people you found! The photos in a glass vase was a truly inspired idea!
[email protected]
Thank you Jeannee! Appreciate your sweet comment!
I love old pictures. Now I need to go dig out the picture of me in a Halloween costume when I was about 8!
Now let’s see that photo Ann! Thanks for stopping by.
I love these Florence, so creative! The pictures of you and your mom are sweet.
Tania
Thank you Tania! Appreciate you coming by!!
Such a sweet vignette. Love the creativity especially using the Hurricane globe. Using the photos of you and your Mom is a nice touch. Interesting Halloween costume and I know the photo brings you fond memories. I don’t think I have ever seen a photo of myself in a Halloween costume. My Mom made things for me too.
Thank you Shirley! That was an interesting Halloween costume, if I do say so myself. Thanks for your sweet comment!
What a fabulous collection! I always love these old photos!
XOXO
Jodie
http://www.jtouchofstyle.com
Thank you Jodie! Appreciate you dropping in to comment!
I love what you made from those rusty scraps! Very clever! Cool pic of you in your Halloween Costume!
Kim
Thank you Kim! I was happy with it…so much so that I’m keeping it! Appreciate you dropping in to comment!
It is a romantic, museum worthed vignette! I love old photos, I have kept a lot also from my grandparents both sides. You can see how people looked like during early years of last century. It is history!!! You did excellent work Florence 🙂
Thanks Christina! I’m happy that you think so! I love it so much I’m leaving it out to enjoy for a little while. I love the old photos too!
What a beautiful vignette. I love looking at vintage photo. I really like al the unique ways that you found of displaying them. My favorite is the little easel with the rose clip.
Thanks Linda, for the sweet words! Yes, that little easel is my favorite too! I just love it!
Florence, this photo display vignette is beautiful!! I Love the clever ways you displayed the pictures!
Thanks Keri! I loved it too, even if I do say so myself.
This is a sweet and lovely way to display photographs. I love how you displayed the old photos from your family with the ones you found. I really like the rusty grate and how you created the vignette.
Thanks Debra! So kind of you to say so. I appreciate it.
I love this! It is so creative! I’ve pinned and shared
Thank you so much Linda!
Florence, I love the photo holder that you made! I can’t imagine someone getting rid of old photographs. But I see it all the time. I am glad you saved them from the trash pile.
🙂 gwingal
Thanks Nikki! I found these in an old musty basement at an estate sale. I was thrilled to get them. Thanks for dropping in!
I have this thing for vintage photos Florence, I love them!!! When I paint miniature portraits for exhibitions it’s so difficult to find photos to use that haven’t been copywritten. Vintage phots are the easiest to use because all copyright falls away once the photographer has been dead for 75 years or if you have the original. Do you find photos often at estate sales? I’d be so keen to take a few off of your hands and the postage shouldn’t be too bad. It’s kinda like a letter? Sorry I’m being very selfish nattering on about myself. I do so love the way you’ve used rusty bits to put them on display, the bits you’ve used are perfect for displaying all those memories
I run into them sometimes Michelle. Just lucked up onto these, but like snapshots, some not great quality. I’ll email you.
Thank you <3
You really went to town on this challenge and hit a home run! I love how you used rusty junk to create a photo holder that’s perfect for vintage photos! Thank you for sharing at Vintage Charm! Pinned!
xo Kathleen|Our Hopeful Home
Thanks so much Kathleen! Love Vintage Charm!
Florence, I love this vignette. Old photos are so awesome. I was commenting the other day that everyone looked like a movie star in old photos. Although we have developed photography so much, we don’t look like movie stars anymore. I love wondering about who the people in the images are. Yours are so interesting. And I really like how you created the rusty photo holder and used spools. Really fun and cool. Great job.
Thank you Nikki! I appreciate your sweet comments!
You have a wonderful collection of vintage photos. Your put together a lovely vignette displaying the photos in so many creative ways. Thank you for sharing at Snickerdoodle.
Thank you Sharon! I enjoy sharing at Snickerdoodle! I appreciate you coming by.
Really great ideas Florence I love how you have added the photos into the various thrifted finds.
Thanks Mary!
I love this, Florence! Vintage photos are just the best. My mom has some old photos of my grandparents when they were young on display, as well as some photos of herself and my dad when they were kids. All of the ways you came up with to display the photos are so clever! I never would have thought of most of them myself. I love the spool stand. Great job!
Thanks Amy! I appreciate your comments! It makes my day! Old photos are fun to look at and treasure.
Florence, I’m so impressed with your vision! How you turned those pieces that seemingly didn’t go together into a photo stand is incredible! Love vintage photos, I could stare at them for days and imagine how life was back then.
Thanks Jas! Appreciate those kind words & especially you dropping in to comment!