old stuff

I love this little spot on my shelf in the craft room. I got the globe at the flea market for $2 and I found the plastic lion buried in the garden. I love it when I find bits of my childhood out in the dirt (usually it's old Matchbox cars!).

weekend finds

On Sunday my mom and I went to the flea market. It was a little slow, but here's some of what I found:
I found a couple more vintage puzzles for $1 each. These make me really happy. I'm in love with the illustrations on the one with the numbers.

And look! Some of the deer puzzle pieces are fun little shapes. Adorable!

I also found two embroidered doily things.. I love the simple look of the flowers. They look sort of modern.

flea market tips

Ok, here are my techniques for getting a good deal at the flea market. Hopefully you'll find them helpful. :)

1. First of all, I haggle. The vendors expect it. The ones that completely refuse to go down on their prices usually don’t get my business. Plus it’s really fun.

2. It never hurts to ask. If something’s not priced and I think it could be a little out of my price range, I ask anyway. Sometimes I’m shocked at how low their price is.

3. Offer a price you think is fair. Again, it never hurts to ask. They just might take it.

4. I go often. The more I go the more I’m familiar with average prices on the items I’m looking for so I can spot a steal (or a rip-off).

5. When I’m looking for something in particular, I’m very stubborn and patient. I spend a few weeks (or seasons, in some cases!) pricing the item I’m interested in and wait until I find it at a really great price.

6. Sometimes it’s good to walk away. I've had vendors call me back and accept the price I offered them (after they turned it down at first).

7. I try to control myself when I’m really excited about spotting something I love. I ask about a few other things first. I've found that if they know I love something they’re less willing to go down on the price – they assume I’ll pay their price because I love it.

8. I don’t ask them if they can go any lower on a price. Usually when they give a price it’s still a bit too high for me (um, I’m really cheap). Instead, I give them a price that I’m willing to pay.

9. I show them the money! If I think they might be unwilling to haggle, I like to have the exact amount out and in my hand when I name my price. It seems like they don’t say no as often when they can see it.

10. But I make sure they don’t see all my money… if they see a couple of $20’s I don’t think they would negotiate as much.
11. I bring lots of singles. If I ask if they’ll take $3 on something priced $5, I wouldn't hand them a $5 bill.

12. If I see something I liked but the vendor turned down what I offered, I go back to it later in the day. They may be willing to negotiate so they don’t have to bring it home.

13. You find good stuff early in the season and early in the day and good deals late in the season and late in the day.

14. When I’m looking for furniture, I basically ignore the condition. Instead I focus on the shape. Things like chipped or ugly paint, missing drawer pulls, wobbly legs, often greatly reduce the price and those things are easy (and fun) to fix.

15. Finally (and I think most importantly!), I make sure I’m nice. I tell them good morning, smile… make eye contact, maybe chat a little with them. They’re more willing to make a deal with me if they like me.

rain out

I had plans on Sunday morning to go to the flea market for the first time this year but it was closed due to rain (and then of course it cleared up and was beautiful for a while and then it rained again. If you don't like the weather just wait 5 minutes right?). Anyway, I was bummed.. I'm itching to do some serious haggling. They don't negotiate prices at thrift stores, you know. I've tried before. hehe... (Later this week I'll share some tips that I've found helpful for getting good deals at flea markets. Exciting!)
So for Plan B my mom and I went to an estate sale, where I found a few little treasures: vintage handkerchiefs, a linen dish towel, doilies, a set of cute little painted trays, an old canning jar (for a terrarium of course!), an old frame, and a vintage suitcase... all for $5! And if that wasn't enough, as we were leaving my mom spotted some amazing moss growing in the cracks of the cement and I took some. Is that considered stealing? Wait 'till you guys see this stuff before you judge me.. I think you would have done the same thing. :)

10 things I love...

1. Finding a bag of wooden acorns at the thrift store:
2. Black Apple's beautiful new kitchen.

3. These faux bois blocks from something's hiding in here:

4. This fun fabric that was delivered to me today. :)

5. Old sheets swaying in the breeze
6. Instructions on how to develop film using coffee and vitamin C... where was this when I was taking all those college photography classes?!

7. Sharon Montrose's fantastic photographs:

8. Babies!:

9. This ingenious craft from How About Orange.

10. Oh, and the sun, the sun, the sun! It's out and it's warm!!

... have a great weekend!

my first thrifted silhouette

Oh, I love this. I may need to start a collection. Yes, I said need. :)

I'm going to take the day off from blogging tomorrow... I hope you all have a wonderful holiday!

napkins? coasters?

..I don't really know what they're for, but I love them. Look at the mermaid!

More lovely things I found: vintage sheets, linen napkins, an awesome crochet pot holder (Brian hates it, hehe), and a few more linen napkins. One cannot have too many linen napkins! :)
A vintage stuffed dog and cat sewing pattern and a tin of buttons:
And finally, one of my favorite finds from the weekend:

isn't it sweet?

a weakness:

vintage aprons. I found these at an estate sale on Saturday.

(I love the rick-rack on this one.)





I'll post more of what I found tomorrow..

more thrifted finds

Last week I found this cute little Polish doll:
And a box full of vintage ribbons. I really love some of them. Others, not so much. :)

I love it when I find paintings at the thrift store

Have a great weekend!

estate sale finds

Here's what I found on Sunday..
Two paint-by-numbers.

And I saw this old falling apart envelope that looked to still have fabric in it.. I thought it might be pieces of the aprons.

But it was the entire piece! All three tea aprons, including waistbands and teenie tiny pockets for each one. I couldn't believe my luck. It wasn't even ever washed, so when I washed it it faded a lot, but I actually like it better this way.

(I think Henry likes it too.)

eco-friendly gift wrapping ideas

I've mentioned this before, but this year I'm trying to reduce the amount of waste that we create over the holidays. One of the ways I'm doing this is to eliminate paper wrapping. Instead, I'm using mostly fabric wrappings, which can be used year after year.

I made a few bags by folding a piece of fabric right sides together and sewing the sides up. Then I just hemmed the top so it looks nice. I'll tie them closed with ribbon or cord. They're really simple but cute. Or you can go all out and do something like this. Fancy! :)

I also cut some fabric into squares and hemmed all four sides to create what I call a wrapping cloth. The Japanese call it Furoshiki. I love this idea so much. Here's an awesome PDF that you can download from the Ministry of the Environment in Japan that has different wrapping ideas. Here's those same images in black and white, because that green is kind of annoying.

And here's a video. I mean really, why wrap gifts in paper?! I made most of my squares 18" and 28" and they seem like good sizes for wrapping a variety of gifts.

Anything that you can put a gift into would make a great alternative to paper, and often the container can be a gift in itself.

Here's a little list of ideas of things you can use:

- handkerchief

- bandanna

- fabric napkins

- table cloth

- apron

- tea towels / hand towels

- baby blanket

- lunch bag

- tote bag

- reusable shopping bags
- purse
- make-up bag

- picnic basket

- sewing basket

- old metal lunch box

- old tins

- cigar boxes

- hat boxes

- decorated altiod tins for small items or gift cards (they fit perfectly!)

- photo boxes

- jewelry box

- recipe box

- old suitcase

You could buy these items new but I prefer vintage! :) Check thrift stores, estate sales, flea markets and garage sales.

I also knitted a few bags out of cotton and wool yarn. I got the directions from this book.

Finally, here are some more great ideas:

Top 10 Green Gift Wrap Ideas

Green Package Wrap Ideas

Eco-Wrap Your Holiday Gifts

little houses

I started this collection of vintage cardboard houses a couple years ago and I love them so much. I found some on eBay and some at the flea market. I have a funny story about the flea market ones. Well I don't know if it's funny exactly, maybe just weird. I heard a woman ask a vendor, "how much for the houses?" he said $15, she asked if he would take $10. He said no. The woman walked away. I didn't see the houses yet when I heard that little exchange. When I saw what houses they were talking about I knew I needed them (yes, I needed them). I really believe that it doesn't hurt to ask, so I asked the guy how much he wanted for them. Of course he said $15.. so I offered $10. And he took it!! Crazy right? So I got seven houses for $10. Not a bad deal at all (if you do a search on eBay or Etsy you'll see what I mean!) I did feel bad for the other woman though..

Oh and the bottle brush trees I've also been collecting from flea markets and garage sales over the summers. They can be priced pretty high sometimes (too high in my opinion!) so just hold out for cheap ones. You'll find some eventually!

I have most of them on the mantle. *sigh* love them... :)

The garland, the merry star thing, and the blue fake feather tree I got from various stores' after Christmas sales.