A museum where everything is for sale!

This past weekend Ben and I traveled to the Catskill area of New York to watch his brother get married. The wedding was a blast and what made the whole thing even better was that there was a huge antique center right next to my hotel! Yay! Ben was the best man so he spent the day getting ready with the bridal party (or groom party?) while I went antiquing with their dad and step-mom.

The Antique Center in Coxsackie was huge! And the vendor booths seemed like Museum exhibits. One fabulous thing carefully displayed after the next. I took some photos of some of my favorite goodies, which were unfortunately too overpriced for my wallet...but hey, admission was free!

One display case has two shelves filled with antique Christmas ornaments. They were to die for!! I wanted them all, instead all I took home were their photos.


Some of these photos would have worked great for my cake toppers, but again...these babies were off limits.

Remember the holiday dolls a couple of posts back? I bought them all for less than this one...granted mine are all broken...but still!

This girl is too cute! She reminds me of the work Laurie Duncan does, which I absolutely love!

And who could resist tiny bisque dolls and animals?! But these would have broke the bank had I indulged myself....sigh...maybe next time! :)

Who said gourds don't have feelings?

Introducing.... Gourd People! I just completed these jolly cuties and will be offering them for sale in my Etsy shop! Candy Corn Kid has a little acorn page boy cap and is holding a vintage pumpkin "balloon". The little girl below is holding her prized gourd (the irony of a gourd holding a gourd makes me chuckle a little bit) and a flag that says "Surprise!". They both bobble a bit which makes them even jollier!

I also just completed this spun cotton Halloween octopus. He's a figure and an ornament at the same time and is probably one of my favorite creations. Let me know what you think! :)

Look at what I found!

About two weeks I was home visiting my parents in New York. I lucked out big time because it happened to be the weekend of the Washington County Fairgrounds Antique Fair, which I've missed every year since moving to Boston. I actually showed cows there at the fairgrounds during the holstein show every year when I was a kid (so many memories)!

Anywho! I completely forgot what a great show it is! I found lots of goodies, but my favorite were these dolls I picked up for a song. They're fabulous! I've never really been a doll person. When I was a kid I stuck with the stuffed animals. But these dolls are irresistible! The seller had lots of them and I almost wished I had bought the whole lot, but instead I picked out the brides and those decked out in holiday dresses and hats.

Two of them were bride dolls, including a gorgeous large one with a long veil. I also found two Valentine's Day dolls, two St. Patrick's Day dolls, a July 4th doll and a doll dressed in black that I figured could pass for Halloween once I make her an orange party hat and witch broom!

Most of them need a little fixing with their arms and heads coming apart, but all the pieces are there. I just need to figure out how to restring them. (That'll be for a rainy day.)

Do you have any fabulous holiday dolls? I'd love to see them if you do!! :)

Mini Craft Show in Jamaica Plain

It was raining and thundering and we set up inside, but the Boston Handmade gals and I had a nice time hanging out during our mini Thursday afternoon show yesterday. We were pretty much alone until about the last hour when people started coming in. It was sort of nice because I got to talk to people a little longer than when there's a big crowd. Here are some photos from of my table! :)

My mother made these needle felted babies...aren't they amazing!!

More Fairies!

These are some of the other fairies I've completed for my fairy series. They include a Saloon Fairy (complete with hobby horse), a Tooth Fairy (she sports a tooth wand), and a variety of smaller pixie fairies. These are all sold, but I'll be making more and will list them in my Etsy store hopefully within the next few weeks. All of the fairies are one of a kind, so if you want one of these fairies, you can buy them pretty soon in the very lovely Pippastrella's store. Plus she's got all kinds of great reproduction and original items to choose from. It's a great place to shop!

Anyway, yay for fairies! :)

Holy Mermaid!

And I mean HOLY MERMAID! Last weekend I met up with the fam in Cape Cod to do a little vacationing. My little sister Suzi (she's 10) and I spent some quality time together strolling down the sidewalks of Chatham, checking out what their little stores had to offer. Suzi spotted a mermaid sign on the front of a store from a mile away and made a B-line for it with me in tow (what little girl doesn't like mermaids?).

"Mermaids on Main" is the name of the store and what a fabulous store it is! Holy cow! My favorite two colors, a specific shade of light blue and white were everywhere! The whole store was chock full of seashells and sea glass and cast iron mermaids. It was gorgeous!! Suzi had $10 for cleaning the kitchen back home and she cleaned up in this store. She bought some sharks teeth to fool our other sister into thinking she found them on the beach. Then she picked out an old fake pirate coin to fool our brother. The coin and sharks teeth really were gifts for them, but not so straight forward. She's gotta have some fun with them first and of course I played along. She really is such a generous girl and loves giving gifts for people. I'm so proud of her for that and for many other things. She goes to AC Moore and collects the broken fake flower pieces off the floor and gives most of her stash to me to use wherever needed. I'm saving up the large blossoms to make her a spring time flower wreath (sushhh...don't tell her!).

So. If you ever find yourself in or around Chatham, MA...be sure to stop into Mermaids on Main, especially if you're with your sister, big or little...you won't regret that you did!! :)

Here's Suzi