New Bike!!

My husband is, more or less, a magician. I'm convinced of this now more than ever. He took this bike:

plus, this bike:

and made this bike:

Magic, right? That's my new bike. And, I love it! I've only gotten the chance to ride it a couple times, though. We've been crazy busy and hello! It's been about 150 degrees out every day for the past month!

The Longaberger mailbox baskets are my favorite part. Even if they do make my butt look big...

You can find more awesome vintage/thrift stuff over at Apron Thrift Girl and Her Library Adventures

New Booth!!

We've been on the waiting list for about a year to get a booth at Paramount Antique Mall. This was finally our month! Roger and I have spent past week or so scrambling to design, build and stock our new booth. And, we're pretty pleased with the results. It still needs more stuff, but it's off to a great start! We definitely need to utilize those big blank walls.

 I will freely admit that Roger did most of the work. I don't build stuff and he won't let me paint. Plus, someone has to stay with the kids while he's building and painting and laying down tile. Those black and white tiles were originally purchased for our camper. We're going to have to buy more of them...

Roger built that amazing shelf out of wood and airplane flaps. It is perfect for displaying his pedal cars! Not to mention the fact that it's very eye catching! I'm just amazed that he designed and built it himself. He does that kind of thing all the time!

This is an old victrola cabinet that we picked up off the curb. Roger gave it his version of a shabby chic paint job and it makes a perfect display cabinet.

I love how bright and cheerful the booth is! Roger pointed out that as you're walking through the mall, it's like flipping through the channels on the tv and suddenly hitting the kids' channels. I've been referring to our booth as Cartoon Network!

Be sure to stop in at Paramount if you are ever in the Wichita area. It is worth the trip! There is so much to see! We're at the West side location!

See more vintage goodness at Her Library Adventures!

Adding to My Collections

This past weekend, Roger and I took some time away from home and the kids and drove down to Eureka Springs, Arkansas. If you've never been there, you should go. Especially if you're within driving distance of it. Such a pretty place and so many neat little shops and restaurants. But, you need to bring your walking shoes. Some of those streets are at 45 degree angles!

Anyway, I got the chance to add to some of my personal collections while we were away!

This piece of mod dot Pyrex was on my list of "oh my gosh if I ever see this and can afford it, I will have to buy it." Lo and behold, in the mall where every other piece of Pyrex seemed a bit high priced, this one was marked at $30. I checked my Pyrex book when I got home and it said it is valued at $100. Now, of course, value always depends on where you are, the current market, blah, blah, blah, but it doesn't matter anyway. I'm keeping this baby!

I found this 2 1/2 quarter covered casserole in a booth marked 40% off! It's a wonderful piece and so nice and big! This is one that I will actually enjoy using!

This recipe box and unmarked bowl will fit nicely into my "red" collection.

I haven't added anything to my pincushion collection in quite some time. This week I added three! The cactus on the left is a vintage crocheted cushion. It even has a little pocket on the right there for a thimble. I just love the hand in the center. It's tomato pincushion has a little paper tag hanging from it marked "made in Japan". The one on the far right was purchased in a shop called Something Simple. The entire shop was done in neutral shades, and the owner was such a fun lady! This is a pincushion she made out of bits and pieces.

A back view of my hand. Love that nailpolish!

838 Ways to Amuse a Child. I guess they couldn't come up with 840 ways. This one is going into my vintage craft book collection.

We covered a lot of antique stores this past weekend. One thing I learned. All that effort I put into cleaning up my finds before I tag 'em and drop 'em in the booth? Worth it. There were at least two items we probably would have purchased if the seller had taken the time to clean them up a bit. Sorry, but I don't want a melmac picnic set with the original picnic still attached. And, that mouse nest in the ammo box? Yeah. Probably should have removed that before taking it down to your booth... There's patina and there's dirt. Remove the dirt, please.

Sally's song

Sometimes, you have to make a rainbow!

Sally's song

Yes, our daughter is adorable.

Tuesday Night Auction

Found a nice Tuesday night auction to attend this week! The weather was beautiful! Sunny with just a slight breeze. Not a big sale, but enough treasures to make it worth the couple hours we spent out in the sunshine.

That fella in the cowboy hat is Van, auctioneer extraordinaire. He is fast! He blew through this auction in 2 hours. Other auctioneers would have taken twice that long. I have seen this man go from 9:00 in the morning to late in the afternoon and never take a break. Not to eat, not to rest, not to pee!! He is a ROCK STAR! I have a handful of auctioneers that I like to follow, but he is definitely near the top of my list. (and he's not afraid to sell something for a dollar if he has to.)

This was the prize of the night. That, my friends, is a child-sized retro chrome dining set! It is adorable! Frankly, I took a picture of it before it went up for sale, because I was pretty sure I'd want to tell you about "the one that got away". But it didn't! It's mine, all mine! (You know, until we clean it up, fix it up and put it up for sale.)

And, this is what our trunk looked like after the sale. Crammed full. The sad part is that the majority of that is stuff I didn't want. It was lumped in with stuff I DID want, but I won't complain too much. I did get the table and chairs, after all.

Linking up with Thrift Share Monday. (Yes, I know it's Wednesday. I'm behind.)

Mother Lode

This past week was Spring Break for my son. The chances of us being able to afford a vacation this summer are pretty slim, so Roger and I decided to take the week off and just enjoy the time off. I thoroughly enjoyed it - vintage-style.

There was an estate sale advertised in the medium sized town where I work. We don't have a lot of estate sales there, so I definitely wanted to check it out. I am so glad I did! I've never had this kind of reaction at an estate sale. I walked in, and it was like a time capsule. I'm not sure these people had bought anything new since 1977. And the prices were wonderful!

I think I may have been pretty near hyperventilating as I went through the first apartment. (Yes, there were TWO of these time capsules!) And, then when I went to pay, I realized that I only had ONE check blank and not nearly as much cash in my wallet as I thought. I had to hold myself back in the second apartment, but I was already scheming in my brain to come back.

These two photos are of my complete haul.

I only read about Le Creuset on other people's blogs. I never see it. I saw it on Wednesday. And I saw it in abundance! I grabbed these three pieces on my first trip through. I had decided to get more when I came back, but they were already gone. The orange piece is actually a Cousances piece. From what I've read, I believe the Cousances company was bought by Le Creuset back in the 1950s.

Beautiful pieces of enamelware! I love this bright sunny yellow color. And those enamelware refrigerator boxes stole my heart. I should have bought some of the larger ones, too.

A couple metal boxes with their keys securely attached.

This tray is HUGE! I had one very similar to it last year with a rooster on it. This one is all about coffee!

I don't usually buy vintage purses. Mostly, because I know nothing about them, but this one was red and quite clean. I figured it was worth the chance.

Another thing I only read about and never find is anything Vera. Well, what do you know? Vera scarves! The middle one is silk. The scarf on the left is Pierre Cardin, and I couldn't resist the bright lime green color!

The previous owner was a science professor, I believe. Lots of science related stuff!

Not my usual Pyrex finds, but I wasn't complaining!

Even the glass stopper on this bottle is clearly labeled Pyrex!

I had to ask and was told that this little jar was used for dying microscope slides. Makes sense! The little ridges on opposite sides would have perfectly held slides, and the glass lid is still tinted pink.

And, oh my word! Vera china!! Twenty-eight pieces, but two of them were damaged. These were in the second apartment where I didn't have any more cash. I was so thankful they were still there when I came back!

All in all, a pretty worthwhile morning, in my opinion! And I spent about half of what Roger spent at his auction on Saturday. A very good day for me.

Follow me over to Sophie's for more vintage finds!

On His Own...

Every once in a while, I have to let Roger go to an auction on his own. This is is troublesome in a couple ways. First of all, I hate to be left out of the action. As our two year old is currently fond of saying, "No fair!" Secondly, I am a cheapskate. When the bidding goes into the double digits, I tend to back off. That's right, kids, I really am THAT cheap. Roger is not afraid of the double digits. So, he probably spent more than I would have, but he did get several pretty awesome things.

In and of itself, this is a pretty adorable (albeit dirty) bull dog. But, then you take him apart and he moves into the realm of awesomeness!

The spoon is his TONGUE!! The bottom is marked "Gold Castle handpainted Made in Japan". There's also a word that kind of looks like "Chikusa" if that makes any sense. If any one has more information for me, I would really appreciate it. I found information on Gold Castle china, but nothing like him.

Hurray for tin toys! We're suckers for them! The top has cute cowboys and cowgirls riding around the top. When you get this puppy spinning, it makes a whistling noise, because of holes cut at intervals all around it. Do all tops do that? I've never noticed it before, but maybe I wasn't paying attention.

This little bucket has slightly bizarre yet cheerful graphics all around it.

A Dick Tracy Target by Marx Toys made in the 40s. It's in pretty great condition. It originally came with a gun and ammo.

I love silhouette pictures, although my taste leans more toward the romantic scenes. These two are advertising pieces. The one on the right with the elk says, "Season's Greetings for 1942; Home Oil Company; H. R. and Lola Shaw; Plainville, Kansas". The one on the left has us a bit bemused. We have the pioneer man on his horse leading his ox drawn covered wagon through the dessert. (We know it's the dessert, because there is a cactus.) However on the right hand side of the picture is a red and white ringed circle of blue sky with an airplane in it. There's also a thermometer and a banner that says "Land of the Free". It's like the advertising department couldn't make a decision, so they decided to do it ALL! This piece is from Carpenter Grain & Stock.

Two store displays for hair nets! The DuroBelle display on the left is made of metal. The Rovina display on the right is wood. Cute! I love vintage stuff that can serve practical purposes. If I had a dedicated craft room, I would totally use these to store stuff.

More toys! We can't pass them up at the right price! The two wooden trucks at the back were made by the Cass company. The red and yellow truck in the middle reads "Super-X" along its side. The bottom is marked Arenwal Products.

Love this adorable peacock! We are drawn to peacock items anyway, and since this was also a tin toy, it was a double whammy! He seems to be missing his feet, but he makes up for it in pretty tail feathers!

Another Marx toy! This one is in fabulous condition!

I saw these Laurel and Hardy chalk figures on the auction website. I figured they were about 6 inches tall. I was wrong. They're almost 16 inches tall! They really are fantastic! The bases are marked "Paula's, Inc. St Paul, Minn". There might be a date that says '71, but it's hard to tell. I have found nothing about this company. I suspect it was a small local business that no longer exists.

Their faces are so expressive and interesting. I love looking at them, but it's getting a little creepy, so they'll probably be heading to the booth.

I have to say he did all right. There wasn't anything that made me say, "What the heck were you thinking?" although, I did raise my eyebrows at a couple of the prices. Fortunately, there were enough good deals to return my eyebrows to their normal position. But, next time, I'm not staying home.