Friday, July 17, 2009

Amazing Finds!

The past two weeks of treasure hunting have been very fruitful to say the least! And I'd love to show you all about it!

All of my recent treasures have come from one of three places. A couple are from ebay, some are from a fabulous road trip Ben and I took last weekend through the Berkshire Mountains, but most are from my trip to the Brimfield Antiques Show a couple of days ago.

Above is a collection of old celluloid animals. I love their brilliant colors! The canoe with Mr. Easter Bunny is actually a bright fushia, but my camera thought it looked better in red. I even found a little Santa with an antlerless reindeer (maybe one day we'll find those darn antlers).

This chubby paper mache Santa was a steal from a very preoccupied and snooty dealer!

I enjoyed chatting for a bit with the lady who sold me these Santa heads. You'll see my spun cotton characters happily holding them come December.

This lot of fabulous old Christmas goodies came from all over. A great selection if I don't say so myself! I can't wait to use them in my work!


I have such a thing for crepe paper. This bundle of old stock was too great to pass up. It will make fabulous clothing for my figures. :)

I managed to scope out tons of millinery too. Most will be used on wedding cake toppers and pretty little girls, but some of it I'll be selling in my Vintage From Crystal Etsy store.


Great millinery also comes in hat form. Although I buy them for the flowers, I can hardly bear to tear them apart. They'll end up hanging above my studio window for quite some time before I put them to use. And some I'll be selling in my shop. :)


These pretties were found in a set in the Berkshires at a little shack of an antique store. They are so delicate and feminine...just gorgeous! One of them is mink however...fur trapping was horrible in it's heyday and still horrible today. Thank goodness it's out of fashion!

And these wonderful puzzles were such a find!! A Brimfield dealer sold them cheap because two of the 7 puzzles were missing pieces. That leaves 5 intact puzzles for framing and hanging in my future children's bedrooms (maybe if they're good I'll even let said future kiddies play with them from time to time). :)

And these puzzles have treasures hidden within them...animals and people shapes!! At first I thought this puzzle contained only two shapely puzzle pieces, but then I kept finding more! The details toys had in the past are rarely matched in today's play things.


This is another piece from that shabby shack in the Berkshires. It's an adorable little "cook while camping" kit. Some lightweight metal tins are used for cooking over a fire. There's even a little plastic cup and a pot with a lid. They all stack up and fit into a smallish canvas tote. So cute! It almost makes me want to go deep woods camping! You'll find this in my shop soon too.


These cuties I found on ebay. That little rabbit planter is so crazy with his bug eyes it makes me laugh every time I see him! I'll have to find a real special plant for him to take care of. And these tiny African folks are made from crepe paper! They were handmade way back when and are just charming. I have a huge crush on crepe paper and just had to have these.


I haven't shown you my Wade England collection yet...but I will one of these days. These little guys are my newest additions. The horse and piggie are from the 50's. They are made in England by the same company (Wade) that makes the figures for Red Rose Tea. I've been collecting them since I was a kid and have quite a few now!!


I am a terrible sewer, but now I have to make a cute stuffed animal of one species or another to wear these adorable tiny shirts. I believe they were both made by hand and each have ric rac sewn here and there.


A few weeks ago Ben and I were riding our bikes on the minute man trail outside of Boston. We stopped off in Lexington for some ice cream and I spotted an adorable antique store a few doors down. I peered through the window and saw this topper. Unfortunately the store was closed right then. I memorized the name of the store (Fancy Flea Finds) and called them the next day. I paid for it via credit card over the phone and it was mine! That store was our first stop on our little road trip last weekend. Not only did they have the amazing cake topper...everything in that store was very much to my liking!

And last but certainly not least. This was my very last find at Brimfield. It was nearing 6 pm and most vendors had closed up for the night. One guy was still packing up and I spotted this endearing couple in his messy showcase. Two dollars he said. Sold! A little tip when antiquing...grisly men give really great deals on girly things. :)

3 comments:

laurie - magpie ethel said...

Great finds! Totally jealous of all that glittery, shiny Christmas stuff. I have been in estate sale limbo lately - last Friday I was touring Caltech with my son Ben in Calif (no sales). Today I had to drive my daughter to camp on the coast (thus no sales again). Next week I am DETERMINED to hit a sale...it is MY TIME!

Shara said...

Such wonderful goodies. I dream of piles of Christmas items like you found, but I have to scrounge them up one by one at different sales - just like you did. LOVE that crepe paper African couple. I collect things exactly like that - CUTE!

Barbara said...

All of this makes me want to faint. It's lovely. I wanted to mention to you that I have a couple of old Santa and reindeer figures that had old pipe cleaners as the original antlers. After seeing that - I figured pipe cleaners were a pretty good substitute for missing antlers. There's nothing like a steal when somebody's snooty, is there?