Vote for MOM!

I am not a pushy person by nature so excuse me for asking a big favor of you, the reader. I am honored to have one of my projects selected as a finalist in the Crafts Unleashed National Craft Month Linky Party. It really is a big honor just to be selected as one of the top five projects.

But here comes the favor, they will select the winner based on a vote on Facebook. So I am asking all of my dear Followers to click on this link: http://on.fb.me/Hir995 and "Like" my Mother's Day Coupon Book project.

Voting ends on Friday, April 6th at noon EST so I would greatly appreciate your support.

Thank you and remember "Vote for MOM"

Another L.A. Sunrise Estate Sale Adventure

First off I have to say that Dear Handyman is such a good sport. He was up and out of the house for today's adventure when it was still dark and our local Starbucks wasn't open yet. He's a Keeper!

We decided to drive into Los Angeles today to check out an interesting sale listed as a two-day, Saturday/Sunday sale. Shame on the estate sale company for not mentioning in their ad that they had a pre-sale for their email list clients on Friday. So we drove all the way into L.A. for a picked-over sale. Some of the things we specifically went for were already gone but we still found some great stuff.

My favorite find was this 1953 Mattel tin toy in excellent visual condition although it does not work mechanically.

Personalized Gift Tags

I gathered together two boxes of gifts and goodies, one for my friend and one for my sister's birthday. I wanted to make a personalized tag for each of them. I began by using some simple decorative techniques using Distress Inks and finished by embellishing with vintage/thrifted treasures.

Here are the two finished tags.

I began with two die cut Tags and applied Distress Inks in a random pattern.

The one on the left was embossed using the Leaves Textured Impressions by Sizzix. I then used an ink applicator and applied more Distress Ink to highlight the raised edges. Along the bottom I "gathered" Tissue Tape and a piece of thrifted lace, both were colored with Distress Stains. I attached a thrifted rhinestone earring, a shell button and an old metal button that says Hawaii. My friend is from Hawaii so it was the perfect embellishment.

The second tag is for my sister as part of her birthday present. Because birthdays are a way of measuring time I decided to use the Pocket Watch Texture Fade to enhance her tag. I used the Ornate On The Edge die to add a decorative edge along the bottom of the tag.

I embellished the tag using several objects that remind me of my sister. First, her birthday is in March so I used a piece of the Tissue Tape that has a March calendar. Next, she collects Squished Pennies so I added one from an out-of-the-way store called Charley Brown Farms in Littlerock, CA. I'm guessing that she doesn't have a squished penny from there. She is also a good calligrapher so I attached an old pen nib that I thrifted. And to balance the design and add a little bling, I added a piece of a vintage earring.

As a finishing touch and to keep with the "measuring" theme, I used a piece of an old fabric measuring tape as a ribbon. 

I'm going to go add these to their gift boxes and get them ready to post. I hope they enjoy their tags as much as I enjoyed creating them.

Defining My Collections

If you had asked me a few days ago I would have said that I collect only a couple of things. Everything else were just one-offs of what I happend to find interesting while out thrifting. But today I realized that I have more collections than I realized.

My favorite find was this 1965 world globe with atlas. Vintage world globes are one of my admitted collections and the physically largest collection. I love old world globes because you can study them to find Countries that no longer exist and determine their age. This globe was easy to date because the atlas has a publication date.

Another admitted collection are my old Christmas ornaments. I bought only two that I thought were unique plus a vintage pink Christmas corsage. I now have three old corsages and am wondering if this constitutes a "collection" now.

We also found these old new stock, Shiny Brite "stems". The green one is dated 1967 and all are labeled "Made in Japan". I am not quite sure what they were used for. They appear to have a wire stem that is folded at the bottom. If anyone knows what they are then please let me know because I've never seen anything other than glass ornaments made by Shiny Brite.

I don't know if you could say that I "collect" old buttons and wooden spools but I do gather them when I find them. I especially like old button cards which could be the start of a collection. I love the graphics on the Lady Washington Pearl Button card below.

I also tend to buy vintage cotton bandanas when I see them. I already have several with the idea that I am going to use them for a craft project. Today we found a lot more. I don't really "collect" these but I do have enough to be considered a collection.

We found this wind-up, tin Popeye speed boat. I do have a few old wind up tin toys but it isn't something that I consider a "collection".

We also found this Napco {National Potteries Co.} mallard duck planter. I do like ducks but I don't intend on starting a collection {except for this collection here}. I like Napco pieces and this happened to be a lovely piece.

I decided that I need to redefine what I consider a "Collection". I used to think that three or more of anything was a collection. But in this age of eBay where you can amass a collection all at once, I now define a collection as a group of objects that I enjoy gathering and displaying. I enjoy displaying all of my world globes and my vintage Christmas items. I do not display my bandanas so they are just pieces of fabric.

I only ponder this concept of "Collections" because I don't want to rapidly gather masses of any one thing but rather to enjoy the slow hunt of objects on my thrifting weekends. And it is because I don't want masses of any one thing that I surprised myself when I stopped to consider the number of objects that I truly do like to collect and display.

Anyone have any thoughts about their collecting addictions?

Hope everyone had a great thifting weekend.

Flea Market Observations

After yesterday's gloomy day of thrifting I was hoping to go to the local flea market today. It rained all night and was very cold {by Southern California standards} so I wasn't sure if we were going to venture out today. Dear Handyman was such a good sport and agreed that we needed to get out of the house. Yay!

I only bought two things today. One was a vintage glass juice squeezer for my brother-in-law. The other is this amazing 1965 school map of the United States. I love maps and globes but could never afford a large school map until today.

It is printed on paper which is adhered to a canvas backing. This allows for the map to fold. Each rectangle of this map is about 11" x 15" to give you an idea of how large this is. The unfolded map is about the size of a queen size bed.

I had some interesting observations at the flea market.
1.) I saw several sellers that were the same people I had met while waiting in line at local estate sales.
2.) Knowing the cost of things at estate sales and seeing what people were asking at the flea market gave me a better idea of how to price items.
3.) It would be very easy to start a new collection of something at a flea market. I considered starting a collection of vintage aquarium figurines or miniature billiard balls after seeing several at the flea market. I don't need to start another collection but it was tempting.

Although it was cold and soggy, the weekend turned out great.