Gathering Dust

What I Brought to the Antique Mall

Almost every time I do an antique show, I have customers ask if I have a "shop".  And I always answer "No, but I have a booth at the antique mall". 

And then I hand them one of my cards and tell them that they can check my blog because I often show pictures of what I'm taking to my booth.

Until today- that's never been true. It was just something to say to get them to take my card....

But I took my camera to the mall with me today- and here's some of the vintage goodness I brought in.  A BOXFUL of jewels.

Silverplate.

In anticipation of spring, a shelf full of green and white- along with a great shabby chair.

See those roses on the wall behind the chair?  Karla painted those years ago when we shared the booth and were in our pink roses/shabby chic phase.

This pretty set of green and gold books fit in nicely on my sort of spring shelf.

As I was putting the books on the shelf, one of them seemed a little bulky.  I opened up the book and found this:

How sweet- I left the pressed flowers (carefully wrapped in paper) in the book.

Besides these opalescent eye cups, I've also got a bunch of amber eye cups.

A multi-multi loop and button wedding dress- and handmade/homemade veil.

And in the supplies dept, bags of paper ephemera to inspire crafting projects.

Check it out- you can find my booth here.

Packing it Up for Another Antique Show

I know some antique dealers go from one show to the next, week after week but I don't know how they do it.  I sold at the Old Summit show on Jan 21 and I'm selling this weekend (Fri & Sat) at Bottoms Up and I'm scrambling to find stuff to sell.

I decided to pull everything off my mantle and sell it including my favorite (and only) poultry trophy.  This will free up my mantle so I can paint it.  After the kitchen makeover, I'm in the mood to make some more color changes- like painting the fireplace wall a shade called Fudge Truffle and painting the actual mantle the same color as my kitchen cupboards.

From the other side of the mantle, I'm selling this cute little bridal couple and a mish mash of Florentine tole, too.

I've scrounged up some bling...

and made some tea stained lacy bags- ironically photographed in black and white.

If you haven't been to the West Bottoms in Kansas City on the First Friday weekend, check it out- I think you'll be amazed by all that's going on.  New shops and food trucks pop up every month.  Hope to see you there!

More from the Old Summit Antique Show

Just so much to love and so much to share from last weekends antique show.  Beautiful old clock and even older needlework.

Ribbon work pillow.

A reminder that spring is almost here.

Complete with vintage seed packages.

Yo yo flower pillows.

I'm not sure what these are- I mean, I know they're balls made of  leather or cloth, but I'm not sure of their purpose....but I still LIKE them.

REAL history- a family bible with clippings, lace and locks of hair.

And of course, no group of pictures from a good country antique show would be complete without a cupboard of ironstone.

Next weekend, I'll be selling at Bottoms Up Antique Market.

Here's a little peek at some of what I'll have to sell. It would be great to see you- if you're in the Bottoms, come by and say "Hi".

Old Summit Antique Show Part 1 (sigh...)

The Old Summit Antique Show that I sold at on Saturday was wonderful. I sold very well.  I've got great customers who get me and the sometimes weird things I have to sell- scissors, flash cards, eye glass lenses. old tool chests and string...things that in their time were meant to be functional, not collectible, but today they make us "sigh".

Before the show starts, I like to get some pictures of things that make me sigh- like this big old pile of doorknobs from Chris & Diane Ripper.  Just like candy to an antique dealer.

Or this stone fruit- which is just like... stone fruit to antique dealers- and more expensive than organic fruit at Whole Foods.

The simplicity of this little vignette caught my eye.

Beautiful hearts made from old books by Ginger Schrader.

A whole bowl full of beaded whimsies.

Melinda Dennis of Tres Melinda always has an eye catching set-up to

compliment her pendants made from repurposed materials.

A stool stack, wonderful crazy quilt and an owl perched on concrete table.

I've got more pictures- there were so many pieces and vignettes than made me....sigh...

Sunday at the Antique Mall

If you've read my blog for very long...well, thank you...

...and if you look closely, you can probably see my life has a sort of routine- Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, I work at my desk job; Tuesdays are craft day, Friday and Saturday are junk hunting days and Sundays are for restocking at the antique mall. 

Oh sure, sometimes I shake it up and go the antique mall on Tuesday, or craft on Fridays, but this week I followed my regular pattern, and restocked my booth.  I brought along my camera and took a lot of pictures- I'll divide them up over a couple posts because I don't want this post to be as long as Regis' farewell year.

These first two pretty vignettes are from my friends at French by Design.  Gwen of French by Design also runs the  Bottoms Up Antique Market.  Check out their Facebook Photo Albums for some great antique eye candy.

Great collection of all kinds of vintage ornaments.

Pretty pastels.

This guy caught my eye because he's so...different.  I'm guessing he's  homemade, maybe Star Trek inspiried?

Love the little flock trees, but I'm intrigued by the paper mache tree at the back- I don't think I've seen one of those before.

These pictures are from my booth- I don't have nearly as many vintage Christmas items as I've had some years, so I've tried to get a holiday look by having some bright colors and whimsy.

A girl and her dog...

Oh...why do we love baby and doll shoes so much?

Just like I love tattered books..

This quad plate cracker container is one of my favorite new finds.

I have more pictures- my next post will be my letter to Santa letting him know what I'd like in my stocking.

Quick Close Ups from the Antique Mall

 
I remembered to grab my camera last week when I restocked at the antique mall.  I don't have any pictures of the whole booth- on the whole, it's not very photogenic- it's too busy with too many little displays.

But hopefully all those little displays make shoppers think "there has to be something in this booth I must buy".

None of the merchandise in this picture is likely to make you think "I must have this"- but I like the fallish look.  The trim on the cards is old store stock- i think its either for making hats or upholstery trim- it seems too stiff to be on clothes.  The "Panorama" envelope is full of postcards from Belguim.

 
Almost anytime I can buy a group of similiar items that have any decorative value, I'll snap them up.  Even the strangest things can look awesome when you have a lot of them.  A group of clocks is a pretty standard display...but I've also done displays of metal advertising thermometers, yardsticks and rulers, gavels, and big scissors and tin snips.

 
This is a group of old glass magnifying glasses accented with a pewter rattle and a couple of buckles and buttons that pick up the pewter color.

 
A different rattle, nestled in a length of flapper bead trim.

 
Green is not always an easy color to sell- but  I really liked this tole painted dresser box, and green looks nice with the long cream and green celluloid photo album.

That's about 2 % of my inventory, but are you intrigued enough that you want to step into my booth and look around at the rest of it?  (I hope so.)

What I Saw at the Antique Show- Pictures from Bottoms Up

 
Cubby Love

 
Locker basket full of erasers

 
Can't get enough of those vintage office supplies.

 
Basket full of paper and feathers- French wallpaper in the back of the cabinet.

 
Sunflower vignette.

 
Prison/Tramp Art- made from Camel cigarette packages.

 
Great mini column

 
Harvest Table

 
Pretty spools of ribbon (My So Called Junky Life)

 
Altered Art Supplies.

 
Ironstone.

 
More ironstone.

 
Same ironstone, different view.

 
Yeah, I've kind of got a thing for ironstone....

Weekend Dittying and Restocking the Antique Booth

 
With the temperature at right around 100 for most of the weekend, I really just wanted to spend the weekend at home in air conditioning- but I know that the only way to have a successful booth at the antique mall is to restock and "re-verve". 

 If I ignore my booth, it ignores me.

 
On the way to the mall, I spent 30 minutes in road construction to travel about a mile and a half.  Somehow, looking at people working out in the sun, on the asphalt doing heavy lifting made me think "what am I complaining about?"

 
After all, when I got done with my work in an air conditioned antique mall, I got to walk around and take pictures.  Like these from is Gail Trittin's booth.  Her booth is one I've shown before- because she always has awesome stuff.

 
Like these turtle shells.

 
Another one of my favorite booths- Susan Greer Walters.  I know this isn't a new trend, but you see a lot of antlers at antique malls these days.

 
Great shrine made from an old clock case.

 
More bits of nature- starfish table decor.

 
Cork collection from French by Design.

 
Paint brush collection- if you saw them in someone's garage you probably wouldn't notice them, but displayed on a black table, they really catch your eye.

 
Travel display.

 
Think Pink- the display that greats you as you walk in the front door of the mall.

 
When I got home from the antique mall, it was so nice to know that I didn't have to leave the house- so I had a chance to sink into my craft chair and sew.   Finished a journal and  some ditty bags- you can find them in my Etsy shop Gathering Dust .

I {Heart} Texas (and Paper Cowgirls)

 
The Paper Cowgirls art retreat was great.  I swear, people in Texas are the friendliest people on earth.  Cindy, Jennifer and Ann Denise did an incredible job of putting together the event and making everyone feel so welcome.

 
But before Karla and I went to Waxahachie, we stopped in McKinney Texas to do some shopping.

 
McKinney has so many of the qualities that I love about Texas towns- quaint old brick buildings, ornate public buildings, outdoor cafes and a lot of charm.

 
I've got a lot more pictures and stories from Paper Cowgirls, but first I thought I'd show you some of the great vignettes from antique stores in McKinney- it seems like Texas antique dealers are born with a green thumb for great displays.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
More about Paper Cowgirls later in the week.

A Few More Favorites from River Market

A few more pictures from our trip to River Market Antique Mall. 

 
An entire deer is so much more interesting than just the head and antlers.

 
Can't resist those little white baby shoes.

 
Even better- a whole jar of baby shoes.

 
Beautiful plaque- Greek goddess or nymph?

 
Springtime greens.

 
Just in time for spring planting.

 
I'd love to kick my feet up in this chair after a hard day antique shopping. 

Looking at these pictures makes me want to get out shopping again- I think I'll check out Bottoms Up tomorrow.  See you there?