New for the Cooperage, Yard Sale and Flea Market Happies!

Well, I was feeling crafty the other evening.  Not enough to make my own creations, but enough to put together some inspiration kits for other artists to use for their own creations.  I put together generous collections of old paper items from varying sources that I've collected over time and they are now for sale at the Cooperage.  Here's a peek:

Each has items such as pages from a 1918 ledger; pages from and 1940's rent log; pages from multiple old dictionaries, atlases, and encyclopedias; old air mail; vintage magazine ads; recipes and illustrations from vintage cook books and more.

To test the waters, I put together four kits and priced them at $8.00 each, which I think is pretty fair.  I'd buy them!

So creativity aside, I had hoped to hit a couple yard sales Saturday morning, but life got really in the way as it sometimes can, and plans changed.  I did, however, stumble upon a yard sale on the way home from an outing on Saturday morning and picked up a couple of worthwhile finds.

This little creation was free at the yard sale. (My kind of sale!!)  Looks like long ago, two nightstands were melded into one drawer unit.  I'll give it a new top, a piece of moulding down the center gap, a distressed paint job and new hardware, and off it will go to the next Market in July.

The little brass stencil set is nearly complete (missing only the "I"), the little dessert glass is etched with little stars and it one of 10 (I already washed and packed the others at the time of this pic), and the domino set is really, really nice.  It is old, from the 50's, I think and the dots are carved in and there is a raised gold bead at the center of each one.  I also suspect, they may be ivory as they are cool to the touch, heavy and very silky smooth.  Not quite sure how to find out though.  Probably should before I sell them, since it will no doubt effect the price.

Next is the Sunday morning flea market in Hollis, NH.  I tried to go early, but my body declined the early rousing and I didn't get there till 7:15 again.  I've no doubt that the dealers had already snagged the best stuff coming off the trucks an hour before, but I am quite content with my small haul of happy treasure (as always, some to sell and some to keep).  Hey, this way I avoid all the eager early commotion and don't have to have regrets about what I missed out on, since I'm not there to see what I'm missing.  I guess it's a win-win.

So I got a vintage wooden ironing board, early 1900's rolling and collapsible baby bed (great for quilt displays), a small table to paint, a thermos, a vintage garden claw, yard stick, three different style vintage custard cups, vintage covered min loaf pan, a wooden cigar box, a set of brass numeral tags, a vintage child's game, vintage Dick and Jane style unused workbook from the 40's, vintage lotto cards, vintage bingo calling chips, two vintage glass canisters, small glass serving plate, vintage doily, great green and black enamel pot (went into my kitchen tonight to act as an ice bucket to keep juice boxes cold for tonight's company for dinner), some totally fantastic paper vintage paper plates from the 40"s (I happen to have a matching, unused paper tablecloth that matched them from an estate sale a couple years back), a wooden silverware tray, some mini clamps, a small cup sized sifter, and finally, 5 opalescent dessert dishes.

The cigar box is really neat.  It has a little locking clasp on it that slides opened and closed.

I love the little brass numeral tags.  Wonder what they were from.

Aren't the plates pretty?  There's probably about 25 or so.  Two of the stacks are unopened in original labeled cellophane wraps.  Sweet!

This is one of my favorite pages from the workbook.  I love the dogs!!

So that's my weekend's treasures in a nutshell, allbeit a very detailed nutshell!!  Hope your weekend had happy surprises too.  If the weather cooperates better this week than last, I'll have lots of painting projects to report on to you over the next few days.  Wish me luck!

Flowers Lift Me Up!

Well, I had planned to work outdoors all day today repainting some worn metal chairs that make their home on our deck, but two big obstacles got in my way.  One - it rained ALL day, a situation I had not counted on.  Guess I need to watch the weather forecast every night as the extended forecast I seem to plan my week by, has not been proving very accurate lately.  Secondly, I felt really YUCKY all day.  I recently weaned off of a medication I'd been on for a year plus and am doing a whole body cleanse with herbs and diet to detox my system.  Days 3 - 5 of a cleanse can be really unpleasant as all of the toxins start to leave their hiding places in your body and float around inside looking for the way out.  So.....for both reasons today ended up being a nap a lot, rest a lot, watch a lot of Walton's, lay on the couch a lot kind of day.  I'm finally feeling a bit better now that the day is almost over, and unfortunately, it is still raining and it looks like it will be in the forecast for a bit to come.  So a perk up was in order!  I found it in this batch of pictures I've been taking around my yard and garden as things are growing and blooming.  Hope you like them too.

I have one bird bath for the birds to lolly gag and splash around in, but this one is for flowers.

I recently added the vintage tulip shutters to this planter.  I love it!!

The old self proclaimed Yankee I bought this wheel barrow from a few years back was aghast to learn it was for flowers.  His comment, "Boy gal, your man must really love you to let you plant posies in this old workhorse."  Yes, he does love me lots, but I bought it, so I get to determine the use, and Fritz likes it like this too!

When my Grandma was alive and came to visit, she always talked about these coral bells and how she and her mom grew them in their garden in Nebraska long ago.  I love them all the more since learning that.

Blue hydrangeas waiting to be born.  I have more young flower clusters this years than ever before!

A quiet place with vintage flair to relax off to the side of the vegetable garden.  It's a great place to shell peas and shuck corn.  When the rain stops, I think I'll just head on out there.  Until then, wishing us all happy moments found in simple pleasures!

Strawberry Bounty and Sunday Morning Flea Market

So the strawberries are in!!!  I went out one morning and pow, what was green was now red and lots of it.  In about  two minutes flat I had picked enough berries to fill my pretty turquoise colander and eat them for breakfast.  Aren't they so pretty?

Later the same afternoon, I went outside, grabbing the closest thing at hand (a large Rubbermaid under-the-bed bin) and started picking.  Forty five minutes later, I had 13 pounds of berries picked!!  Ooooooh, all organic, all luscious and all MINE!  Well, not really, I share, but I grew them in my garden and didn't have to venture to a pick your own field and worry about chemical sprays etc.  SO HAPPY!

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We ate shortcake with crushed berries and cream flavored with a little agave nectar and almond extract; crushed up a bunch and froze them in pint containers for use on waffles, ice cream and such; made two pies - one for Fritz for Father's Day and one for the freezer; and I will be making jam tomorrow.  And there are still more to come!!  I feel like a kid in a candy shoppe!!

Sunday morning, despite being tired from so many strawberry projects Saturday evening, I got up and went to the flea market in Hollis, NH.  I got there a little late.  In my sleepy state, I drove half way to the dairy when I realized I was not supposed to be going for milk.  (That is tomorrow's errand)  Anyhow, I still got there about 7:30 and took my time poking around the different dealers I like to frequent and I still got some good finds.

A book case and little side table in pretty good shape - a coat of paint and some distressing will make them wonderful to sell at the Cooperage.  A vintage chenille bath rug, a vintage Bissell carpet sweeper (still works great).  A metal bread box insert for a Hoosier.  (I'm hoping this fits my Hoosier as mine is missing this insert.)  Some old cookbooks and story books.  A sweet old "walker" doll with several little dresses.  I will clean her up and restore her hair to better condition.  In the end, I may end up keeping her for my little collection.  Vintage yard stick.  Vintage oil cloth seat folding travel chair.  Nine etched wine glasses.  Four vintage parfait glasses that look like mini malt glasses.  A brass lamp with pull chain.  Some old newspapers.  Two great ledgers from some business long ago.  Old kitchen utensils.  A sweet vintage homemade stuffed elephant toy.  Two little bells.  Two little mirrors for a ladies handbag.  Two vintage glass serving plates.  A vintage whisk broom.  Two hair scarves (for me).  Two vintage magazines from the 40's.  And an old garden pruner for my garden tool collection.  Not a bad haul!

Love the old perfect penmanship.  Check out the date in the top left corner.  Wow!!

I never realized how long Bissell has been around.

It has been a really nice couple days.  Great weather.  Great berries.  And great fun at the flea.

Farm Girl Joy

Don't know if you remember, but earlier this spring I bemoaned the fact that I could not find the winter hiding space I had tucked my "Farm Girl" sign.  Well as you can see, I found it!  I love this sign.  I found the letters at an antique store in Petterborough, NH.  The owner cuts old license plates into the individual letters.  I bought these to spell out "Farm Girl"  for my garden sign.  It hangs at the forefront of the main garden.

The plants are all looking great.  So far, no pests, diseases or visiting wildlife.  I'll keep my fingers crossed that with my diligent care, that will stay the same.  It is amazing how fast things are growing.  We've had  a good dose of rain and sun, and the plants seem very happy.

Berries in my patch last week.  Oooh so much promise!!

Berries in the patch this week.  Ooooooh sooooo luscious!!

Broccoli last week.  Nice strong leaves and stalk structure.  A nice head starting to grow.

The same broccoli head this week.  Amazing how fast it is growing.  I can taste it now, steamed with garlic, sesame oil, sea salt and a little Brag's Liquid Aminos (a little like soy sauce, but much healthier).  Yummy!!

These are blueberry flowers.  The bumble bees have been busy pollinating these bushes.  Blueberries are just around the corner, I think.

Oh look......we are growing sweet Honey puppies in the garden, too!  The best crop yet.

Happy gardens, happy me, happy bellies!

Market Place Blowout!!!

Okay!!!  This past weekend was the second monthly antique market at the Townsend Harbor Church put on by the Spaulding Cooperage where I have a booth.  I didn't have as much stuff as I did for the first Market and so I rented only half a space.  Well......let me tell you, I was blown away, literally.  I must have had what people were looking for this time around.  We opened at 10 am Friday and by 11:15, I had sold over half of my stock, and by the end of the weekend I returned home with only about a quarter of what I went with.  I think I made more money this time with half the space and stuff.  Crazy!!  Fun crazy!!!  As you look over the pictures, you'll no doubt notice pieces I've blogged about before from Brimfield and Flea market/Estate sale finds.  Some scrubbing, or painting or stripping revealed some real treasures.

The library card catalog came from my Brimfield day.  A good sanding, some white paint and distressing gave it great new life.  The light blue crate came from the flea market full of old glass-topped canning jars.  I painted the "Cottage to Let" sign along with any other little signs you'll see.  I hand enlarged letters I liked, painted them and then distressed them to blend with the old painted wood background to create an old looking fun sign.

Rather than alphabet letters or numerals, I stamped the words for numbers one thru six on vintage manila paper and labeled each drawer.  It gave it some great charm.

I used an old coal bucket and lunch box amongst other things not seen here as creative planters.  The table the old sewing machine is sitting on was a side of the road find.  I de-rusted, sanded, stripped, stained, painted and waxed.  And here it has become a lovely display base for a very vintage Singer sewing machine.  Funny, how a little paint changes things.  The little sling stool in the foreground was at the last sale and in my space all month after, sitting unsold.  I added the turquoise stripes with a little paint and painters tape and it walked out the door within 20 minutes of this sale!

This green cubby shelf was a flea market find.  You may remember it as all gray.  I stripped off a good deal of the gray, revealing a lovely green underneath and stamped on numerals using a vintage rubber stamping set.  Now it is a charming shabby chic shoe cubby/bench in its new home.  Also sold in less than half an hour!

Here is the petite German enamel file cabinet I picked up in Brimfield.  A good scrubbing, additional hardware to where it was missing some before and labels on vintage manila paper stamper with vintage rubber stamps helped to refurbish an old classic.  It lasted 15 minutes before selling!

This is a bench I built using Heidi's old headboard and foot board from a vintage Jenny Lind style bed she used to have in her room before the makeover.  I cut the foot board in half and mounted it to the headboard and built a bench seat spanning the opening created.  A nice coat of almond colored paint, a six inch foam cushion and upholstery sewn custom by me using vintage 30's fabric all worked together to create a sweet bench (if I do say so myself.)  This piece did not sell yet, but now looks lovely in my Cooperage space, where I half-heartedly hope it sells.  I wouldn't mind if it didn't as I love it so much and would not mind having to eventually find a home for it in my house!

I added this to the space on Saturday afternoon.  I call it an inspiration board.  I made it using a repainted old frame, a cork insert, vintage measuring tape segments, decorative upholstery tacks and vintage ephemera.  Very Happy!!!

This is my space on Saturday.  I brought in the bench from outside to fill in empty space.  I scrounged around my house and brought in the black cart to hold a few items I came up with.  Much of the remaining items in the photos belonged to other dealers.  We merchandised with other people's stuff to fill my empty space.

What a great sale it was.  I think everyone did well.  I am still blown away with how fast my space emptied out.  It was a great morale booster for me.  We all need a good dose of success now and then.  And happily, I learned at church on Sunday that some of our volunteers who are leaving for the mission trip to Kenya in July are still trying to get their funds in order.  This great sale will give me a good tithe to pass on to help them out financially and ultimately be beneficial to the children in Nairobi we support though these mission trips.  What a bonus.  I am soooo happy all around.  Thanks for smiling with me.