Blue on Blue

My favorite color has always been aqua blue.  I find myself being drawn to it when I shop for clothes, bed linens, towels and well, just about everything.  I use a lot of it in my eclectic decor throughout my house.

I recently put together a little vignette using those colors on a small table in my guest bedroom.   Birds, a scarf - turned table cover and a Victorian couple all have bits of aqua.  But my most favorite of all is a little Fenton ruffled dish that belonged to my Mother.  I use it to hold mismatched earrings.  I've found so many little one of a pair earrings in box lots of jewelry that I buy at auctions or yard sales.  I can't resist the bling - even if it doesn't have it's match.

You'll find another touch of aqua blue used in my kitchen in this post titled Vintage Linens on the Line.

There's just something about that blue that makes me happy!





 Linking today with Anything Blue Friday

Flea Market Saturday! Joseph Originals

We had a beautiful 70 degree plus day in the Carolinas today - one of those perfect days for treasure hunting at the Barnyard Flea Market right outside Pineville.  Hubby and went off on one of our short day trips yesterday and when we do that I usually feel like I've missed a day of my life!  Even though I'm having fun, I'm not home, therefore, a real day hasn't gone by.  I know that doesn't make a lick of sense to you, but indulge me please.  Also, neither of us has slept well this week and were very sleep deprived this morning - we're normally up and at the market by 8 a.m.  It's not necessary to get there earlier because it's a late market.

This morning, being sleep deprived, I didn't wake up until 8:56 - sounds much better than saying 9 o'clock doesn't it.  I wouldn't want y'all to think I'm a sloth!   I came in to my office and got on my computer just taking my time about waking Hubby up.  I even looked at the local weather feature on Yahoo and saw that the weather for today was to be in the 70's and the weather for Sunday would be a little cooler, but still nice.  And I wondered why they just skipped from today (FRIDAY - in my mind) to Sunday.  Why didn't they include Saturday I thought.  For those who don't know me, I am a true blonde, mind you.

Hubby finally drug himself out of the bedroom at 9:30 and said, "Why didn't you wake me.  We should have already left for the flea market?"  I thought to myself - wow, something is wrong with him, he's too groggy to know what day it is.  Then it hit me!  It IS Saturday - Duh!  So we both got ready and headed out to the market with low expectations - all the good stuff would be gone.  And we were beginning to think we were right - couldn't find a thing!

As we were walking through the last building, we walked by the booth of a vendor we had known slightly who had died suddenly about six weeks ago.  There had been a wreath on the pull-down door for several weeks in a row, but today there was a new vendor inside.  I just wandered in to see what she had and got very excited when I saw a lot of the old "Made in Japan" Victorian ladies and couples that were sold back in the late '40's and early '50's.  I'm a sucker for those things!  And it's all because of the story I told on the blog I wrote last year titled Time Travel - Favorite Things.  There were lots of things I wanted to buy, but with me trying to clear out some things, rather than bring in things, I now only buy to sell - mostly....  There's some things you just gotta' have!

The first thing that caught my eye was this lady with a parasol.  As I was turning her upside down to see her hallmark, the lady gasped which made me quickly realized that the parasol was a separate piece.  If I had broken that little parasol, I would have had to pay for a pretty piece with a broken parasol - glad she gasped!  Isn't she pretty?  I paid $10 for her and hope I can at least double my money.  If not, she has a good home here!  She's much bigger than most pieces I've seen from that time period - a whopping 12" tall!

Then there was this adorable Joseph Original girl playing the piano.  It's a music box!  I paid $10 for this one and will easily get $30 - maybe more.  She still has her Joseph Originals sticker on her skirt and one on the bottom of the musical carrosel.

 And my very favorite was this Joseph Original music box playing a lullaby!  Wouldn't this be an adorable gift for a new mom!  She'll go in my Etsy shop also.  I need to do a little more research on her - couldn't find one just like her on-line.

 And I can't forget my new picnic basket.  I bought it for $10 brand new and it's collapsible - great for taking food to church dinners, etc.  What a bargain!  And besides, it was perfect to carry all my little treasures in that I bought today.  It kept them from getting banged around in the plastic bags she put them in.

I sure was glad I got the pleasant surprise that it was Saturday and not Friday.  What a beautiful day to go flea marketing! 

A dry spell

I apologize that I haven't posted anything in quite a while.  I've started back on a novel that I had let lie dormant for a while, so that's taking up a lot of my time.  Plus it's been quite a dry winter for finding treasures at our local flea market.  I've found a few little pieces - some nice vintage costume jewelry - including these little Christmas pins.

I also picked up this adorable "pin dish" with lid.  It's from the 1950's and made by Rosenthal. 

 And I love this little Josef Original Christmas angel below.  She's missing a wing - but aren't we all...

And finally - I'm going to start looking for vintage doors and make a little outdoor sitting area in my garden like the one below. It would be the perfect place to sit on a sunny Spring day with my writing notebook.  It's made of linking old doors into an alcove with even an old door for the roof.  Doesn't that look inviting?  It makes you want to sit a spell, doesn't it?

Blessings and have a great week!

A Weekend for the "Birds"

It's getting so hard to juggle my working weekends with my love of treasure hunting, but this past weekend I hit the jackpot!  Well, maybe just a small jackpot, but I was pleased nonetheless.

This is the last weekend we'll be opening our seasonal business at the coast and things were slow enough Saturday that I could leave Hubby in charge and run off to a church yard sale.  I found several neat things, but here's two dishes that I really loved.

This one is part of a seasonal series of decorative wall plates by Ganz.  They made one for each season and this one's called Winter Forest Tree.

This next one is a dish with a Hen & Rooster scene that I've seen on different porcelain pieces over the years.  It's a scene by H. Arndt and the plate manufacturer is Theo Ruhn, Bavaria Germany.   I collect chicken themed items, so I was excited to get this.

And since Thanksgiving is around the corner, I'm posting another little item I found.  This is a pilgrim boy and girl figurine and I found an old glass to make a cloche scene.  It's by Sebastian and it's called Little Sister.  I have several things by Sebastian, so I was happy to get another.  It made a pretty little addition to my Thanksgiving table decor!

See, it doesn't take much to make me happy!  I'm looking forward to my free Saturdays from now through May - just so I can go treasure hunting!


I'm linking to "Let's Dish" and Vintage Thingy Thursday today!

Crystal Pine Tree, Shiny Brites and all things Christmas

It's my favorite time of the year to go treasure hunting!  I love it when I spot yard sale type vendors at the flea market downsizing their Christmas collections!  And I'm a total hog about buying and keeping it for myself, even though I'm supposedly buying it to sell on Etsy or Ebay.

Last winter as I was packing up my huge collection of vintage Christmas items, I started sorting through to see what I can do without.  Mind you, it was not an easy task.  Many things that I put in the "sell" box by the end of the day went back into the "keep" box and I ended up with only one tub of items to sell.

Here's a couple of the items that I decided to sell.  This first one I bought two years ago for a great price from an estate sale.  I listed it on Ebay last night and it quickly got it's first bid of $49.50 and it has six days to go.  It is adorable and in wonderful condition.  It's from the early 1940's and the box is so collectible because of the appeal of the vintage graphics.

Isn't it adorable!  I love how the sides of the box show different scenarios of where to display the tree!  If you're interested, it's Ebay item number 121009335816 or you can view the Ebay auction here.

I also love this old tree topper star.  It is red and white with snow flocking on the white.  When you plug it in it lights up a warm red glow on the sides and the little dot in the middle.  This I also found at the flea market a couple of years ago for $2.  Hoping it will bring at least $10.

There's also some old USA made and Shiny Brite ornaments mixed in a box.  I collect Shiny Brites in the aqua and pink colors to go on my tinsel tree, but the others I picked up over the years may just be Ebayed this year.  Here's a couple of them with the vintage boxes.  I probably have fifteen more boxes that I'm saving that I put on my regular tree each year.

I am so excited about getting back into my flea marketing adventures.  Our seasonal weekend business at the coast is about over so attention flea market vendors!  This Flea Market Junkie is back in business!

I would love to get comments on what Christmas collectibles you look for each year in your treasure hunting adventures.

Vintage Linens on the Line

Vintage doily's, tea towels, table scarves and just about any vintage linens are my weakness.  Anytime I see them at a flea market or yard sale, I gobble them up - I have drawers full of them.  And I don't just store them away, I use them.  I love the feel of the old soft dish towels - especially the ones with the calendars on them from the 1960's.

I use the old embroidered table scarves on my buffet and side table in my dining room.  I use the pretty little round embroidered linens under my table centerpieces and sometimes drape the pretty tea towels across the back of my dining room chairs.

I recently came across a blogger who was using her vintage linens in a unique way and an idea was born for using mine.  Angie, at the Knick of Time used some of her linens as a window treatment as you can see here!

I had always had a window over my sink until we bought and renovated our 1920's cottage style home.  Alas, the only placement for the sink was an inside wall since there was a huge bay window on the outside wall.  I decided to solve that problem with a distressed "window" with a rooster painted on the glass - it made it much more pleasant to be at the sink washing dishes.  Now with a little ingenuity and Angie's idea floating around in my head, I went to work making it a little more pleasant.  I added a clothesline to display some of my collection.  I plan to pick up some vintage style clothespins to give more of a "fresh breeze clothesline" look, but for now I've just draped them across the line.

Thanks Angie!  I loved the idea!  I'm no longer remorseful over the lack of a sink window.  With a view like this, who needs a real window anyway?

If you want to see some more photos of my  rooster themed kitchen, read this older post.


Linking today to a few link parties:
  Thursday's Favorite Things,  Wow us Wednesday, Vintage Thingies Thursdays, Thrifty Things Friday
 ,Make it Pretty Monday , BNOP's Met Monday,  Nifty Thrifty Tuesday  Feature Friday and Knick of Time

Vintage Jewelry Treasure Hunt

Hubby and I were off and at 'em this weekend to our favorite Saturday morning treasure hunt.  It's been a while since we've made the trek to the Barnyard Flea Market because our Summer seasonal business is in full swing, but we finally took a much needed weekend off.

I found several pieces of vintage jewelry and other things to put in my Etsy shop.  I love the jewelry of the 50's, 60's and '70's.  I'm always on the lookout for it - either to add to my collection or to re-sell.

It was not a very productive day, but there's always another time and another treasure hunt just around the corner. 

Vintage Sarah Coventry

Vintage Lisner

I found several unmarked brooches.  Vintage sparkly jewelry makes a beautiful accessory to giftwrapping for the Christmas Holidays.  For Girls Only.   Just pin one in the center of the bow.  It really dresses up a Christmas package!

This whole box of vintage Christmas stuff was only $2.

It included a Hallmark ornament of Pepe Le Peau

And a Kurt Adler circus elephant ornament

I love old church plates.  This one was done in 1965 for 1st Baptist Church of Brunswick Georgia

Love this little Oil & Vinegar set!

I went away from the flea market wishing I had a place for this lovely old sewing machine.  It was only $100 and it worked, was in excellent cosmetic condition and had all the original attachments! 

Until next time....Happy treasure hunting.


Linking to -  The Thrifty Groove's TFF, Vintage Thingy Thursday, Knick of Time,  Thursday Favorite Things,  Treasure Hunt Thursday,  Vintage Inspiration Friday. Nifty Thrifty Sunday. Knick of Time Tuesday,