A little flea marketing...

Forgive the bad pictures, I have been hammering and missed my opportunity to get some good pictures before the next storm rolled through tonight!

 

Even with all the hammering I have been doing, I am still managing to squeeze in a little vintage treasure hunting! The September Nashville flea market was this past weekend, it was ok, but not the haul I hoped for. Again, I was surprised at how many vendors were missing. I also managed a quick trip to my favorite indoor flea market a couple Saturdays ago and a lunch time run to the local thrifts last week.

 

Since my "big score" lunch time score this past August, I really have not had any luck on my lunch time runs to the thrift stores, not that that will stop me from trying! It is such a nice stress reliever in the middle of the day, well, even better stress reliever if I actually score something fun.

 

Last weeks thrift score, this cool milk glass bowl. I have no idea if it is vintage or who the maker is, it says something "France" on the bottom, hard to make out, but I really like the pattern and it is a great size. Also grabbed these two Fire King green cereal bowls with the black rim at the Nashville Flea Market this past weekend, I happen to have the set of mugs that match it so I was pretty tickled to find them.

 

 

My mom and I puzzled over this at the Flea Market. I thought it was really cute, but was not sure what it was, Mom solved the mystery, its a baby bottle! Too cute!

 

 

And my "purple bottle guy" talked me into two more bottles, stupid cheap because he had not had the time to clean them after digging them up. Ok with me, I let them soak in denture cleaner, that seems to work.....these are pretty filthy so it maybe several soaks in denture cleaner!

 

Back in the day when I first started collecting, I collected lady head vases and planters, really every kind of planter and figural vase imaginable, McCoy, Hull, Lefton and Royal Copley all came home with me. And even though I do not pick them up very often anymore, every once in awhile I see one that I just cannot pass up. This Royal Copley mama and fawn vase has been on my watch list for years! Have seen it only once or twice in the wild, passed on them because of price both times. But when I saw it at the Nashville Flea this weekend, I decided it was time to come home with me. 25.00 for the vase and the two Fire King cereal bowls. I call that a decent buy, plus, I kinda have a thing for deer, I have a lot tucked around the house.

 

 

I found this cute little plant shelf at my favorite indoor flea market. It is the perfect size for my 1960's arm chair I have it sitting next to. Notice the tiny travel clock? This was another indoor flea market fine. This tiny German made clock does not work, but I can get the alarm to jingle away! One of these days I need to get my collection of clocks fixed so they all run!

 

 

 

Not a thrift find, by my dear Auntie was cleaning out her cookbooks and sent me a couple from her collection. They were given to her years ago, she thought they were cool...and I do as well. I love old cookbooks, such fun to read and see how our entertaining and eating habits have changed over the years! Most things have changed for the better, but not all! There are some pretty interesting recipes that I am really excited to try! I will let you know how they turn out!

 

I think this one is my favorite, so cool!

 

 

I always look for the dirtiest page in an old cookbook, if the page is splattered on, you know they cooked that recipe often! I also always look for clips saved in the pages and any notes in the margins. Granny cooking knowledge gold!

 

This one is so fun! Check out that price! Expensive book for the 40's!

 

 

I managed to finish all my herb markers AND the wine bottle charms this week. Next week the Garden themed sentiment spoons are on the agenda. I am putting off the Christmas ornaments and trees as long as I can, I am not one to like to think about Christmas until AFTER Thanksgiving! But if I am going to have Christmas product to sell for the show in November, I better suck it up and deal.

 

Hope you are having a fantastic week!

 



Blood blisters, sweat and profanity....

Mid September and It is still hot here in Middle TN, but despite the heat I have stuck to my schedule and have been  hammering away at making a new batch of my basic stock of herb markers.

 

It took two blood blisters, about four gallons of sweat and a string of profanity to get down to 12 herb markers in under two weeks, but...I am almost there.

 

I am not even sure how many there are. This is only some of them.

 

 

So once there are complete, I move onto a smallish batch of garden sentiment spoons, Christmas ornaments and wine bottle markers. And there is more!

 

Remember my super cute herb marker planter boxes?

 

 

Not a single, solitary one sold.

 

So, plot twist! Some are coming back with Christmas trees tucked in them!

 

 

18" trees tucked into these cute boxes. I found tiny strings of battery operated lights and will add a cute Christmas theme spoon to the box.

 

And I will have smaller ones as well. I accidently ordered 8" trees. This will teach me to shop on Amazon after 10:00 on a Friday night when not wearing my glasses.

 

It all works out in the end, I had some cute vintage aluminum cups that I picked up at the flea market years ago, the tiny trees fit perfectly inside. Off to market they go!

 

I managed to get some flea marketing in as well, but I will show you those along with (hopefully) a nice haul from the Nashville Flea Market coming up this weekend!

 

Until then, apologies to my neighbors for the hammering every night!

 

Have a great week!

 

 

It's Pumpkin Spice Season...

Apparently Pumpkin Spice season officially kicks off September 1st here in the South. Don't get me wrong, I love fall as much as the next person, but I am not a big pumpkin spice lover, I don't like to burn pumpkin spice candles, buy out Mrs. Meyers pumpkin spice cleaner (although the Mum scent this year totally got me) and I certainly do not like pouring pumpkin spice creamer over everything. I love a good earthy spice scent, but I am more of a wood smoke, leaves and pine kind of person.

 

But pass a pumpkin muffin under my nose? I am there!

 

So for the pumpkin spice lovers out there, I hope you enjoy these!

 

Literally...pumpkin spice.

 

All dropped off at "The Basement" in Mt. Juliet this past Thursday night. While we were there, we grabbed some lobster at Cousins Maine Lobster food truck who was there for the Shop late evening. We really love lobster and their lobster rolls and lobster tacos are to die for!!

 

 

I have not had any luck during my lunchtime thrift store adventures the last couple weeks, but I did get a couple deals off Ebay.  Hoping to have some good luck at the Nashville Flea Market this month, September is usually a good month!

 

I love the Hazel Atlas Bee hive spice jars. This is my first from the Range top set. Will be hunting the salt and pepper next!

 

 

My obsession with vintage children's dishes continues. I just love this Hazel Atlas circus set! And at 15.00 including shipping, even for Ebay that is a decent buy.

 

 

So pumpkin spice season or not, Bruno and I are trying to enjoy every last minute we have in  the pool before cooler temps force us to move it back inside!

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So, now serious prep for the Home for the holidays show will kick into high gear! I will start preparing all new herb spoons, but that is not all, will have all new stock of Christmas ornaments and some other fun ideas I cannot wait to share with you!

 

Hope you have a great week!

Slow progress is still progress right?

I did really well and kept on task all last week, hammering one to two sentiment spoons each evening to bring to the Basement before Thursday when they have the shop late event, and this Saturday when they have a pop up craft market. But then the Holiday weekend hit, and my hammer stopped. I still think I can get a few more together and dropped off by Wednesday night. Then I need to really get serious so I am ready for November!

 

One thing I never have to work at is thrifting! I cannot believe I have not posted about this Thrift market find from one of my lunch time runs a couple weeks ago. Dove grey Pyrex plates. Three dinner plates, four salad plates and two bowls..12.00 total. From what I am seeing on Ebay, that is an excellent price. But because I always have to get a full setting, well at least place setting for four, I am on the hunt for another 9" dinner plate and two bowls. But I love the hunt!

 

 

 

And this flame orange Fire King casserole jumped right off the shelf into my basket! Love the color!

 

 

See the sweet potatoes? MJ Farmers market purchase, once we got them home and took a look, we noticed one of them looked a lot like a stomach and intestine.

 

 

This will not be fun to peel, LOL.

 

I also had a little luck on Ebay. I have been watching for some of the Shenandoah pattern Pyrex bowls. I seldom see them locally so I have been looking around on Ebay. Found this great set two bowls, just under 20.00 shipping included.  I would have paid that if I had found them at the Flea market for that price so I call it a good deal.

 

 

So what did I do all weekend if I was not hammering? We shopped, did some work around the house, slept in, ate good food and watched WAY too much TV (If you liked the book Ordeal by Innocence, skip the mini series on Amazon, they got the title right and that is about it) Being an Agatha Christie fan, I was not amused at how they changed a story that did not need to be changed...rant complete.

 

Oh and I swam and read magazines and lounged in my she shack,  Bruno and I love to relax in the backyard. But as much as I enjoy the beautiful summer, I am looking forward to cooler temps and crisp fall evenings.

 

 

It will be back to hammering tomorrow, I will make sure to get some pictures to show you what I have prepared!

 

Until next time! Hope you have a wonderful short week!!

Sometimes you need a kick in the pants.....

For the last 18 months  or so, I have been struggling to be creative and keep my little blog and micro business going. A super busy, high stress job and long difficult commute were the biggest drain on my time and energy, really wore me down and made it difficult for me to spend time working on new product and ideas, I would get spurts of energy, but could not seem to keep the momentum going. But now one month into the new job with a much shorter commute, I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. But I still have not been creative. I sometimes need a kick in the pants to get me moving. Well, I got that kick, decided to go ahead and participate in the Home for the Holidays show in November, will be my fourth year and I am pretty excited about it.

 

It will be back on our usual weekend (November 10th) my mom and my friend Kim, (who makes amazing concrete planters and wine chillers) along with several other crafters are going to join me in the booth.  Should be a fun event, and it was just what I needed to get me going again.

 

So when I hit the Nashville _Flea Market this weekend, you know what I came home with!

 

 

And not much more!

 

August is a toss up month for me, If I did not need the flatware in my stash, I may not have bothered, There was not much to be found. Other than the spoons, I only came home with a couple treasures.

 

I almost passed on these salt and pepper shakers because the vendor was beyond rude, So rude in fact that I will not shop his booth again.

 

 

And this scrapbook (empty) probably circa 1940's caught my attention. I will probably use for some of our own family photos.

 

 

I totally forgot to show you this Nashville flea market find from a couple months ago. This has been on my wish list for a long time. Love it! It is very old and has obviously been used a lot! I love that as well.

 

 

I have had some luck at the local thrifts lately. Like this Turkey platter, old and beat up, but I still like it!

 

 

And this darling gravy separator.

 

 

And a random green Pyrex casserole.

 

 

Huh....I must have Thanksgiving on the brain already.

 

Next months Flea Market should be a really good one! But I will be hitting the thrifts until then!

 

So off I go into a new week with a bunch of new projects and ideas swimming around in my head for the Home for the Holidays show, I think it was just the kick in the pants I needed to get back in the groove!

 

I will check in with you soon hopefully with some new ideas to show you!

 

Hope you have a great week!

Catching up and getting back into the groove.....

It has been another busy week happily training at my new job but now it is time to start getting back into the blogging groove!

 

These finds were from the July Nashville Flea Market, I have also had a couple successful trips to the thrifts that I hit during my lunch hour, but we will get to that next week!

 

July and August are always a toss up for me and the Flea Market, again, not a full market, lots of vendors do the mile long garage sales, but I still found plenty of treasures to make it worth my while!

 

My favorite find of the day? The Hazel Atlas Robin Hood glass. Spotted it from a few tables away and immediately made a bee line for it! So happy I did!

 

 

Now of course I need to find the plate that goes with it! Always love a new addition to the flea market thrift list!

My son loves the Fire King Game Birds dishes, I found these two dinner plates for 2.00 each to add to his collection!

 

 

I grabbed this medium sized yellow Pyrex bowl.

I grabbed two of these Woodland pattern Pyrex custard bowls, we already use them constantly!

Ok, confession time. I have always had a thing for these goofy frog sponge holders, but I never found one that I really loved, they were usually just too creepy, goofy or hippy chick for me. But this guy is perfect for me,  a pretty deep green glaze, I really liked him.

 

 

Sales are going well at the Basement, some fun events are coming up there in the next month, I will let you know more as we get a little closer. I will definitely be doing some more hammering to get some new, fun products out there before the sale events. And I will most definitely be doing some more lunch hour thrifting!

 

Will be back to show you some of my recent lunch time flea market run finds next time!

 

Hope you have a great week!

 

 

Another hiatus seems to have occurred.....

I honestly had no intention of taking so long in between posts!

 

It is not that I have not been hammering or buying more flatware (I have) and not that I have not been hitting the thrifts or the flea market, I certainly have, and it is not that I have not been working on any  projects, I sure have, but I guess things just kind of got away from me.

 

First off, I started a new job. It was time, between the long commute and the increasing work load, it was burning me out, with no chance of anything changing in the future of that job, I decided it was time to go. I was thrilled to find a position back on my side of town doing a job I really enjoy. Plus, with the location of my new office, I am right back near my favorite thrift shops! Now I can hit them on my lunch hour again! Woot!

 

I still need to get some pictures of my recent thrift and flea market finds, hopefully I can get to that this week. So, what can I share? I have been working on a project for my Mothers "reading room" at her house, basically a big collage of snapshots of some fun vintage books that we have collected over the years. I have the pictures taken and printed, now we just have to assemble.

 

I enjoyed taking pictures of some of my favorite books, and am excited to see the project all put together!

 

I have also been on a mission to get a decent picture of a hummingbird this year, getting closer! This beautiful boy comes to visit my feeder often! He is gorgeous!

 

So now that I am bouncing back from the brink of exhaustion and working close to home again, I will be making it a priority to get caught up on getting pictures of the new stock I am bringing to the Basement, and all my thrifting treasures from the last couple months! Also, it certainly is not too early to start thinking about the holiday craft shows! And I sure need to get hammering for that!

 

Talk again soon! I promise!!