Day 23: LB Antique Market Part 2.

A lot of what you come across at the LB markets are sellers that have a good mix of vintage finds. It makes the hunt harder because you have to really have a good eye - especially if you have a stroller and a 5 yr old in tow. But the hunt is actually a lot of fun. I tend to get pretty excited when I find something cool. However, I do love it when I come across the sellers that specialize in a particular item. Like clothes or beads and jewelry. Makes it much easier!

Racks and racks of cool vintage clothes... heaven.

Tables full of yummy beads!!

Vintage clothes are certainly a favorite for me. The beads I love but I don't consider myself much of a beader and cant take on another new hobby just yet (although I would love to). But my favorite thing to hunt for is vintage containers. Cigar boxes, tins and kitchen canisters. Which I will have to round up and do a post on soon. And of course my daughter has a treasure that she hunts for - my little pony's. And the LB antique markets often have many! We have quite the collections going... Of course the things I like and my daughter likes are random and you really have to hunt for.

So let me know if you come across any antique dealers of strictly vintage "containers" or "my little pony's." My daughter would freak out if there were a antire table of ponys, but I doubt we will find that at the markets... We will just have to continue the market treasure hunts!

Day 22: LB Antique Market Part 1.

My favorite antique market is Long Beach. Last time I was there I managed to get a few pictures of some funny things. I was speechless when I saw this Chucky painting. What kind of person painted this? And what kind of person would actually hang this on their wall? More importantly, WHY is it priced at $200.00? Maybe if I was filthy rich I would have one random house that I would fill with stupid things. Just stupid, ugly, nonsense things. It would probably be the guest house for "certain relatives." But I'm not mentioning any names. I would probably buy a lot of etsy items featured on regretsy:

Chucky.

This big tire would probably wind up in the backyard of the stupid house. I would have to find a tree large enough so we could hang it up and use it as a giant swing.

Over sized Tire:

(I'm pretty sure you could fit an entire family in there)

Amongst the strange things I stumbled across (this was a small portion) there was as usual lots of great finds. I will have to post more on those later.



Vintage Canisters - But New To Me

Last weekend I picked up this set of vintage tin canisters at my local antique market. The seller had marked down the price from $15.00 for the set to half off so I got the entire set for just $7.50. I guess I thought it was my lucky day and couldn't understand why no one else had snatched them up before me. Sometimes I have to remind myself that just because I see beauty in something doesn't mean everybody else does.... but I certainly see the beauty in these.


So I brought them home, gave them a quick clean to get the dust off and set them up on my kitchen window sill. My husband came home from a snowboarding trip that night and I was half waiting for some kind of comment/joke from him about bringing home more junk... But it turns out he likes them (this is not the norm with my husband and my antique/thrift store finds) so I guess they are here to stay for a while!

What is really cool about these tin canisters is that they had an original Sears price tag attached, and they must be somewhat old because the price tag says $1.97. What can you get for $1.97 these days? Not a whole lot.

The tins are still empty, I'm just trying to decide if I should put kitchen items in them or craft supplies. Leaning towards craft supplies for when I do crafting in the kitchen.

Thrift Store Purse Quick Fix and Supporting The QLD Flood Victims

I picked up this cute bag at my local thrift store recently. Its quite functional and was still in great condition so I decided to embellish it with a few rosettes. I used some solid green cotton fabric to create three rosettes then glued them onto the bag using my hot glue gun. I decided to donate the bag to the silent auctions being hosted by Your Creative Journey! The donations from the auctions are going to help support the QLD flood victims. Being a Queenslander it was really hard to watch the floods in the news and see all the suffering especially when one of the major floods was in my home town of Brisbane. Brisbane and the other parts of QLD that were affected by the recent floods have a long road to recovery but if I know queenslanders I know they are tough, and they are survivors. Sherry Mendoza is the lovely lady behind Your Creative Journey and I recently (finally) met her at CHA. She is doing amazing things these days, in particular organizing the Prima roadshow down under. Anyhow this is one of the projects that I donated to the auction. Gotta love a good thrift store find and transforming it into something cute. Visit Sherry's blog to learn more about her and the auctions to support the QLD flood victims.

Before:

After:

Home Decorating - Front Door View

When I walk down our downstairs hallway this is my view. And its also the view that you get from the front door. So when we moved into our house this one spot was really, really important to me.


I didn't want to put just anything on this wall so I decided to try and wait it out until I found just the right piece for the wall. Well I waited about 3 months and couldn't wait any longer. Luckily I picked up this colorful canvas at Ikea for just $50 which I love and although its not exactly what I visioned, it will fill the spot for the time being until I find "THE" piece that was meant to be. Hopefully I will find it... Anyhow, this spot for some reason makes me very happy for a couple of other reasons. The vintage crates. I seriously love these crates... I saw them at the Irvine antique market a number of times before I finally gave in and bought 2. I love how they add some vintage character, plus they are all kinds of awesome for storing books and puzzles! One other flea market find from Irvine that brightens up my day is the red pillow with the ruffles. It cost me just $2. Yep! It isn't vintage but certainly a deal for $2. I'm gradually working on the rest of my home (very gradually these days) but like I said earlier - this was one part of the home that need attention before any other. First impressions last so I like to open my door to my family, neighbors and friends with a good view.

Little Touch & Sew

So i decided to go back to my favorite thrift (the one that's closing in 2 weeks..) to see if there was much left.. Everything is still 50% off, soon to be 75% off so you can imagine my reaction when i came across this mini Singer for $5 which ended up being $2.50 with the 50% off discount. I seriously feel like i hit the jackpot.


Every time i find i deal like this at a flea market or thrift store i almost want to pinch myself. I actually look around to see if anyone else is eyeing the same thing and about to try and snag it from me.

And then i just count my lucky blessings. My thrifting karma.

So this beauty is battery operated. I will be giving it a whirl this weekend to see if it works. But if its doesn't I'm not the least bit bothered. Because for $2.50 even if it doesn't work it will simply just look amazing as a funky piece of home decor.

Vintage Goodness - Mary Had a Little Lamb

Sadly my favorite local thrift store is closing... But the good thing about the store closing is that they are having an amazing sale to clear out the store. So when i found this stack of vintage children's books from the 50s i was just a tad excited when the store attendant informed me that "normally children's books are 60cents but with the 50% off sale they are just 30cents each." What!!!!


I know not everyone is as addicted to thrift stores and flea markets as some of us are, and i know there are people out there that just don't get it and think that things like this are "junky" but for someone like myself, coming across a find like this simply makes your day. I love how tattered and well loved these books are, it just makes them all the more special.


I haven't decided what to do with them or where to put them yet (ideas are appreciated). For now I will just stack them on the dresser in my daughters bedroom, and read them to her, but that may be a struggle since the stories don't involve Disney characters! Maybe I will end up using them for baby shower gifts, who knows?


But these well love books will most certainly continue to be well loved in their new home.

Pure Vintage

I recently acquired a few very cool vintage dresses and they have inspired me so much that i decided to have a very special friend model some. This dress (and this photo) are by far my favorite. This particular dress is so feminine and just seems so pure. Gotta love a good vintage find..

The Robin Egg Blue Typewriter....

I discovered this typewriter recently on a trip to my favorite local thrift store... It seems to be in good working condition but I just need to find some tape for it! Even if it doesnt end up working well I know its going to look super cool just as a decoration. And I love that fact that the color is robin egg blue!