Vintage Junk in My Trunk

A Little Giveaway & a Lot of Thanks

The December/January issue of Country Living Magazine is out and the Blue Ribbon Blogger Award Winners are featured.

It was fun to see my name in print -- Little Miss VJIMT was amazed and wanted to know “how is that possible?”

Well, it was possible because YOU all voted for me!

Or Mr. VJIMT voted 4,000 times. One or the other.

As a small token of my appreciation, I bought an extra copy of this festive holiday issue and am giving it away. Just comment on this post before midnight EST Wednesday, November 30. One winner will be randomly drawn and announced on Thursday, December 1.

Good luck, and thanks again from the bottom of my vintage heart!

Elbows Sharpened, Eyes Peeled

The best part of working the annual school Christmas bazaar?

Getting to hit the “flea market” section before the doors open to the crazed public.

Seen here: some pretty dishes, a heavy silver tray with handles, and a Redman hinged picnic basket with plastic accessories.

No injuries to report.

Gobble, Gobble

Wishing your family
a happy and healthy holiday!

So What if I Don’t Even Sew?

Why do I keep buying vintage sewing paraphernalia?

{ Lots of vintage sewing paraphernalia! }

I really couldn't resist this huge bunch of sewing patterns. Most of them are 1940s - 1950s McCalls. There are about 70 here. I started to sort through them to buy only that era, but eventually decided to splurge for the whole pile. 

Mixed in were these fab transfer patterns to embroider.

Another day, I found this lot of sewing supplies for a couple of bucks.

Yards and yards of lace trims.

Notions of all sorts.

Button cards, of course.

And many spools of thread.

So even though I don't sew, I do like adding ephemera like this to scrapbooking and similar paper-based projects.

So, I guess it's kismet?

Vintage Junk Party 2011

So if you were wondering what I was doing all week, this was it.

Preparing for and hosting my Holiday Vintage Junk Party… and a local craft show the very next day! 

What was I thinking?

I’m pretty much exhausted, what with the glueing and the tagging (and the redesigning of the tags) and the email invitations and the pricing and the cleaning and the menu selection and the drink mixing and the setting up and the tearing down.

But it was definitely worth doing. Even if I needed some of these afterwards.

The usual assortment of vintage pedestal plates were for sale.

I had well over a hundred.

You may remember this yard sale table.

Rings and barrettes repurposed from vintage earrings and buttons were also available.

As were vintage door knobs and faucet handles converted to wine bottle stoppers.

The event started at 9am and lasted until 9pm, so these were also in order.

My chalkboard frame sign was much improved after Little Miss VJIMT got a hold of it! 

She also took the photo, so please excuse the fuzziness.

It’s Not Over ’til it’s Over

I was sure that yard sale season was over as soon as Halloween hit this year. That weekend had been rainy, cold, and blustery, and I prepared myself for a long, vintage-less winter.

Sigh.

But on Saturday, the temperatures climbed back up and so did my spirits. Because I'm still finding vintage Christmas.

Not like Barbara-finding-vintage-Christmas, but still.

Are there any sweeter words than “one dollar for the box”?

I think not.

Love the graphics on these old cards of jingle bells, and the package of golden fawn picks is unopened.

A couple of cool vintage board games.

I especially like the metal rabbits in the parcheesi game, but I don't remember the game calling for metal rabbits. Maybe I found the rare metal rabbit version!

A silver match holder, and a set of retro 1960s enamel trays.

Cast iron swinging frame, destined for chalkboard stardom.

A couple of old books, including this children's book from 1898 with some spectacular illustrations.

These aluminum canisters seem to be finding me. I sold a set exactly like these recently, another is in my Etsy shop, and a couple more are still waiting to be listed.

The lettering on these is not in as good condition as that on the previous set, but it does have a tea canister and matching salt & pepper shakers.

My favorite piece is this sweet shabby shutter (tongue twister!). I'm not crazy about the giant faux door knocker on the front (I'm taking that right off!) but I think it will make a good display for jewelry and such.

You know, for when I make the jewelry and such.

There are more finds to show you, but I'm going to put them in the next post as this one is pretty long already.

I'm trying to pace myself.

---

Congratulations to all the winners of the Country Living Blue Ribbon Blogger Awards. No, I wasn't one of those lucky enough to be voted best by the panel of judges, but your vote as the Reader's Choice is worth its weight in Shiny Brites!

Looking forward to the article featuring them in Country Living's December/January issue (on sale November 22), and the corresponding online story spotlighting all the winners.

Note to Self

Remember to take large standing globe (yard sale find) inside the house after you photograph it in the yard.

Especially if there is (torrential) rain in the forecast.

Oh, well, at least Little Miss VJIMT is enjoying her new “playing school” accessory. 

(The damage was actually minimal, after it dried. Whew.)

Lesson learned!

Drat, is it November Already?

There weren't any yard sales this weekend since the weather was more like February than October here on the East Coast.

But I still have some things to show you -- this is the rest of my haul from my Christmas in October day.

Love these red and white vintage glasses -- are they swanky swigs or are they too big for that name? -- the color is so vivid. I'd love to keep them, but I'm afraid they'd find their way into the dishwasher and I'd end up with plain old clear glasses.

I speak from experience.

Sweet little white table with curvy legs.

Ivory gloves with exquisite detailing and yards and yards of vintage lace trims.

Vintage toy coffee pot and metal mixer.

PINK! metal mixer.

Black and white enamel pin from the 1960s.

Yup, looks like yard sale season is winding down. Sigh.

Trick, No Treat

This is how we spent Halloween. BEFORE eating any candy.