Vintage Market Days Finds

Vintage Market Days came to town last weekend and it was amazing!  It was held at the local fair grounds in the livestock barn and the place was filled to the brim with wonderful booths full of vintage goodies, handmade crafts, and all kinds of fun stuff!
If you haven't heard of Vintage Market Days, don't worry, it's a new concept that just got started in 2012.  Two women came up with the concept in Tulsa, OK, and now independent operations have started branching off into surrounding states.  To learn more, click here or to learn more about the Northwest Arkansas events, click here.
The best way I can describe it is like a traveling antique/flea market, but you walk through the booths like a craft fair.  There were all kinds of vintage items, some really pretty furniture, and unique handmade items.  There was also new stuff (I found some really cute shoes for only $12!) like clothes and jewelry.  I have an unyielding love for anything vintage so I was in heaven.  I went after some smaller items and here are some of my favorite finds. 

These dish towels are my favorite!

The lady at this booth was so nice!  These vintage dish towels are screen printed with some cute sayings.  The first one says 'Pass the biscuits, pass the tea, thank you Lord for blessing me.'

The middle one says 'southern as sweet tea.'

And the last one says 'nothing says lovin' like something from the oven.'

 The owner uses real vintage dish towels and I love this one that has a little piece of embroidery on the back.  It was really stained and I didn't think I wanted it until I saw that sweet little mailbox and flowers. How precious!  

 

I also found this vintage cross stitch that was framed.  I have another one in our bedroom that says 'Life is fragile, handle with prayer' and I think they will look great together!

There is something so special about vintage items like this I think.  Maybe it's because I was so close to my great-grandmother and I can just imagine her using these dish towels, or working on that cross stitch.  I just can't help but thinking about the women who used these items.  I think about the hard work they put in making three meals a day for their families.  I think about the little mouths they cleaned off, and the strawberry jam that was cleaned up.  I think about the tired hands that practiced embroidery and then sat back and admired their work.  I feel like it's living history in my home, and I'm proud to give it new life and a longer story to tell.
But, maybe that's just the romantic in me. :)

Thrift Store Finds- June 17

I love it when you find unexpected treasures at thrift stores.  I went to a couple today looking for a treasure chest (I have a feeling it's going to take a miracle to find one) for a baby shower I am hosting.  I ended up finding this gem out of the blue.  Best part- it was only $5!  They are usually at least $15-$30 at flea markets/antique stores and even more than that if they are decorated. 

I already have two old windows but I'm always looking for more.  This one has (ugly) paint on it, but I was able to scrap some of it off with my nail in the store so I knew it would come off easy.  My plan is to take the paint off and either use it to hold pictures like the other two windows I have or maybe hang it outside on my back porch.  I've been itching to fix up my back porch but I've got to be able to find the right pieces at the right price. :)

 

Then I found this cute little pitcher.  I've looked at these for years and for whatever reason never talked myself into buying one.  I see them at flea markets and antique stores all the time for around $10-$15.  I even saw one at this same thrift store before for like $2 and didn't buy it.  But I'm kind of glad I waited because this one was only 75 cents!  Yay! 

I like going to thrift stores during the week because they are usually not as busy as on the weekend plus it's a great time for new merchandise to be out.  Also, thrift stores often do sales during the summer months.  I think a lot of thrift stores get more donations because people often have yard sales during the summer and donate what doesn't sale, or they spring clean and make donations.  Plus, if the kids are out of school for the summer I know some parents take that as an opprounity to have help cleaning out the house!  

I've seen several sales the past few weeks like buy one get one free on books; National Geographic magazines 10 for $1; records 10 for $1; buy one get one free on clear glass; 50% off TVs and furniture.  Be on the lookout for sales like this.  Also, be sure to 'like' or 'follow' any thrift stores in your area so you can see any sales or discounts they have going before you head out.

Also, heads up that Hobby Lobby has rows and rows of merchandise for 66% and 80% off!  There were some really neat items, that I didn't need, for just a few dollars.  Lots of glass items, canvas pictures, metal signs, mirrors, all sorts of little decorations.  Take your time because there were items spread throughout the store.  

Well, I'm off to work on my window.  Happy hunting! :)

Kitchen Projects!

I am so excited about these two new projects that I am telling anyone and everyone about them. We are working on updating our kitchen/dining room (more to come on the other projects).  I haven't really done much to decorate our dining room because honestly, it is the least used room in our home.  I like to decorate my dining room table with fun tablecloths and decorations, but as for the walls or any other decorations, there isn't much in there.  Well, that is about to change.  I have said it before, and I'll say it again, I love vintage items and I have always wanted a vintage drink cart.  I love the look of them but since they are vintage that usually means they are expensive ($60-$250).  About a year ago I almost bought one for $40 (that was a lot cheaper than I had seen), it was a little wobbly, but I thought I could handle it.  I ended up passing on it and I'm glad I did because a couple weeks ago I found one for only $20 (half price!) and it is super sturdy!

It was this horrid blue color 

but we changed that quickly with some spray paint 

and now it is a lovely yellow!

I'm not sure what  I'm going to put on it, we don't drink so it's not going to look like the typical drink carts, but I think I can fancy it up.  Now, I just need to find a picture for one wall and add in a few more decorations.  It's a work in progress, but I have learned to take my time and get items in the colors I really love and to wait to get things I will love for a long time.

The next project I've been working on was so much fun that I didn't want it to end.  We are working on updating our kitchen cabinets, and I started thinking about the decorating possibilities for above our kitchen cabinets.  I measured first and we have about a foot of room between the top of the cabinets and the ceiling. The only issue I have it that we have about an inch difference between the top of the cabinets and where the molding is on the outside of the cabinets; so whatever we sit up there, it 'looses' about an inch of the bottom if it.  I think I can work around that though.  So, of course I went straight to Pinterest to get ideas, and of course I got almost overwhelmed.  There are so many cute ideas but after I found some cute kitchen printables, I narrowed down what I wanted.  I found a lot of framed pictures (with free prints you could download) and canvas prints with kitchen utensils and cute sayings, like a mixer that says 'whip it, whip it good.'  Well, I either didn't like the coloring or didn't want to buy the canvas for $75 (crazy!) so I thought, I can make my own!

All I did was open a word document and the internet.  I started off by searching for utensil silhouettes (fork, spoon, egg beater, spatula, etc) in black (there were a few I had to put in paint and make black).  Then I downloaded a few cute (free) fonts.  I inserted the utensil, centered it, then added my text, and printed.  I did about nine different documents in about 20 minutes.  I then found some document frames at Deal's for only $1.  My husband helped to spray paint those to our kitchen colors (yellow, red, teal, and green).  I inserted the printed documents into the frames and viola! instant cute decor!

On the right is the $75 canvas where I got my idea 

and on the left is my re-imagined creation. 

The printed documents. I kept it simple with just black text

 because I wanted to the frames to have the color 'pop.'  

This one is my favorite because my husband says this all the time.

The collection!

I have a couple ideas of how I'm going to position these above the cabinets.  The great thing about document frames is that you don't have to worry about resizing your printed document, but the bad thing is they don't have easels on the back so you have to get creative.  I loved this project and want to do some more, but I ran out of cute sayings.  Any ideas?

:)
Miranda