have a ball

Do you have plans for the holiday weekend? For those of you outside the U.S., this weekend we celebrate Memorial Day. On Monday, Memorial Day, we honor those who have served our country through military service, usually by visiting and decorating grave sites. It also has become the unofficial beginning of the summer season. Lots of picnics, outdoor activities and family gatherings.

In the St Louis area there is a Memorial Day flea market, the Gypsy Caravan. The Gypsy Caravan is a large flea market with over 300 vendors from 20 states and raises money in support of the St. Louis Symphony. The last time I went I found matching chairs for my dining table. This year I'm spending the extra money for early bird entry for the first time. Mainly to beat the crowd and the heat, not because I'm looking for anything in particular.

I picked up this vintage croquet set at a yard sale a few weeks ago. (The day I went out with less than $20 to spend) I am always drawn to these old beauties. I love the colors and how worn they usually are. This set looks well worn and well loved to me. I imagine it's been used on many a summer's day, by a family enjoying time together, laughing and cheering each other on. Or laughing as they send the other team's ball into the neighbor's yard. Or was that just my kids who did that?

Croquet sets just say summer to me. I pick up these whenever I find them reasonably priced. I collect the balls and display them in this wire planter on my porch. For the summer months I put out red and blue, for the fall I'll switch to the black and orange, and in December I put out green and red. I googled images of vintage croquet sets, and oh, my there are some cool sets out there.
I'll try to get more photos this time at the Gypsy, and hopefully have a treasured find or two to share with you.

I hope you have a fun, safe holiday weekend,
xo
maureen

weekly finds

It's the season for yard sales, my favorite time of year. And even when there aren't yard sales, the finds at the thrift stores are much better this time of year. It's a daily treasure hunt, I never know what I might find at my next stop. I think that's part of the attraction. Well, that, and I simply love old crap.
A few weeks ago, on a Friday night on the way to dinner, I passed by a yard sale. Friday night is an unusual time for a sale, and there wasn't really all that much, a few tables, a lone rack of clothes and some stuffed animals on the ground. But I did spy a few pieces of furniture on the side of the house. There were two teenage girls sitting and chatting and 'running' the sale. I looked over the little bits of this and that, not much to catch my eye. So I strolled around the side of the house. There I found mismatched headboards and foot boards, (no side rails) and a lone dresser, a little worse for wear. I asked the girls how much. One girl opened the front door and yelled for her father, "how much for the dresser?" He finally came outside and said, make me an offer, any offer.
Gosh, I hate when they do that.

 

 

So, what do you think? What would you have offered?
Let me give you a closer look.

 

 

and this

 

 

but I did love these.

 

 

So, I made him and offer, and he accepted it.
And then I picked through the table of dollar store junk, used makeup, old scented soaps, coffee mugs, partially burned candles, you know the stuff. But I did find a few smalls.

 

 

 

 

  

I love the little Fire King dish, with the pretty blue flower pattern. It's a perfect little size to use with my iPhone.
What? That's right, with my iPhone.
Did you know you can set your iPhone in a bowl or dish and it will amplify the sound? No speakers needed? It really does work, and looks cute too.

 

As I was standing in front of the table of crap-ola I looked down into a box partially under the table and spied the wooden pants hanger.

Originally this was made with a wire hook that would allow it to hang over a closet pole. But this one has been altered to be hung on a wall. I think it would make a perfect hanging rack in a kitchen for towels and aprons.

And I'm always looking for white, anything white. I love this little vase, such pretty crazing on it, I'm not sure I'll be able to let go of this one.
So, what would you have paid for the dresser?

Want to know what I paid?

Total for all four things

• the dresser 
• the Fire King dish
• the wooden pants hanger
• and the vase

Are you ready?

I paid $10.75.
That's right, $10 for the dresser and .25 each for the other items.
Oh, the dresser is a bit of a project, but I think some elbow grease and some ASCP and it will be fabulous.

The other items in the first photo I picked up the next day. I went out on a Saturday morning to the sales with less than $20, but boy did it stretch. That's a post for another day.

How about you? Did you go to any good sales or flea markets last weekend? What do you always look for when you go? What will always catch your eye and come home with you? Like I said, for me it's white, just look at that first photo. So many of the things I picked up that weekend were projects of some kind, I hope to get them all finished soon. I can't wait to share some of them with you.

Now, for the obligatory photo of little Miss E. I got to babysit last weekend, and Miss E and Grandma had a little photo shoot.

Thanks for stopping by, hope you have a great week.
xo
maureen

 

a new week already?

Whew. Time flies, no? I've been a little distracted this past week. *grin*
Anyway.
I mentioned (what seems like a lifetime ago)  that I would share with you some projects I've done with the above items. I've been working on display pieces for my flea market booth, mainly for my jewelry. I need ways to get my necklaces easily accessible, out on the table, not just hanging against the back wall.

Source: luckettstoreblog.blogspot.com via Maureen on Pinterest

Inspired by the above display, that I found on Pinterest, I began looking around for ways to duplicate it.

I already had an old rake with a broken handle. (doesn't everyone?)

But I needed something substantial to anchor it. After looking around the house, I found this 'wheel' (I know it's not a wheel, but I have no idea what it really is) out on my back porch waiting for a re-purpose. (again, doesn't every one have old rusty machine parts laying around?)

It was a perfect fit. All I did was cut off the wooden handle on the rake, use a washer and screw to attach the rake handle to the 'wheel' and wha-la, a perfect marriage of rust for a rustic jewelry display. With the added benefit of weighting down any table and table cloth.

Still on the look out for more display ideas, I found this at the thrift store.

And I have no idea what the original purpose is. Any ideas? Especially the two pegs at the bottom.

But a simple enough transformation with a coat of white paint and I have another necklace display stand to add to my table.

Watch my Etsy shop for the necklaces, I hope to have them listed this week.

Thank you for all your sweet comments and emails welcoming Evelyn Maureen. I just had to share another photo (oh, you know it won't be the last).
Would you look at all that hair? And that bow that's as big as her? Of course I can't take enough photos of her right now.

Have a great week!
xo
maureen

the Princess is in the house

She's here. A bit early, but perfectly healthy.

I'm in love, head over heals, smitten.

We are blessed.

Welcome sweet baby Evelyn Maureen

xo

 

catching up

First, I know I said I planned to blog more regularly, but cleverly didn't define exactly what 'regularly' means. So, for now, it means more than once in two months. Whew. Glad we got that out of the way.
How was your weekend? They just fly by for me.
We have had record temps again, into the 90s both days. Hot and humid already. Blech.
I had the day off Friday, and I started my weekend with an appointment with my stylist. (the photo above was taken at the salon)
Lighten up the color, and trim off almost four inches. I heart my stylist.

Ahhhh . . . much better for the hot, humid Midwest summer weather.

Saturday at I managed to get to a few good yard sales. (and Lord knows I could use a good yard, mine is full of weeds. Bah!) I'll share some of my finds from the week of thrifting and yard sale-ing in another post.

And Saturday evening I enjoyed a 'rita to celebrate Cinco de Mayo. And it just happened to be one of the best margaritas I've ever had, yum.

Okay, in my last post I mentioned some deals I got while working killing time  . . . ahem . . . selling (or not) at the flea market. When there weren't any shoppers, I shopped. Hey, I was just being nice. But here's the thing, most all of the vendors were fed up with no shoppers and wanted to just make a sale! And most vendors will give another vendor a little better deal.
I had my eye on that chalkboard all weekend. Finally on Sunday, I asked the vendor if he wanted to make a trade. He instantly knew what he wanted of mine, I held my breath until he told me.

Whew. Deal! He wanted this little rusted hand rake. Now I finally have a chalkboard in my kitchen. I've been waiting until I could find/make just the right one. I love this one because it already has plenty of natural wear character . (It even has a hole in it.)

Next, I kept visiting with a lady who was simply done with doing fleas, and was selling off her remaining inventory. She had the cool old mirror and the flower frog on her table. The first day I admired them and mumbled about wanting them if I managed to sell some of my own inventory. The second day I was back visiting with her, and eyeing both pieces. She threw out a deal I couldn't pass up. Both items for . . .  are you ready for it? . . . . that's the mirror and the flower frog . . . . both for $5. I probably won't be able to part with the frog, but I think the mirror will find it's way into my Etsy shop.
There is another vendor who prices things on his table by the area. As in "Everything in this area is $5" "Everything in this area is $3" and "Everything in this area is $1" On Sunday afternoon the prices change. The $5 area becomes $3, the $3 area becomes $1 and the $1 area becomes FREE.

Sunday afternoon I noticed this sweet thing in the $3 section. (They put out new merchandise on Sunday.) Now, if I waited, and no one bought it, it would drop down to $1. Kind of like a game show. Should I chance it and see if I can get it for $1?
Would you?
Oh heck no, not me. I was happy to pay $3 for this. My granddaughter will need a high chair for her baby doll right?

Now, the cute little galvanized tool tote? Free. Yep. It was in the free section. Score. The little bottle was in a 25 cents box.

Let's recap. Everything in this photo cost me a grand total of $8.25. Sometimes it pays to be a vendor when the sales are down.
Wait.
No, not really. I would have much rather sold out my booth and paid more for my goodies.
I've found a flea I think is a much better fit for my merchandise, and has consistently good traffic. For now I'm on the wait list for a booth space. It's only once per month, but that's fine with me, that's about all I can handle right now.
I spent the rest of my weekend working on things for my booth, and my Etsy shop. New items arriving daily! hopefully

Next post I'll share the projects I've done with these three items.

And? Did you notice the countdown widget? On the right, at the top? Yep, I'm counting down the days. Just 17 more days until I'm a Grandma. Well, that's her due date. I hope for her sake she goes a day or so early. I went over two weeks late with one of my boys, and that's horrible. A day or two early is a nice surprise for everyone.

Well, that's it from here, for now, Happy Monday, hope your week is off to a fabo start.
xo
maureen