Vintage Finds of the Week #4

Can it be Thursday already?

Where does the week go?

 

We are heading into the weekend

and that means another chance

to look for some awesome

vintage and retro finds.

 

Below are the items I've slowly

 been working on, adding them

to the shops here and there.

Minus the Nutcracker music box!

He is already reserved for Bebe's

 7th birthday party which is

supposed to be a Nutcracker theme.

 Since he was only $3.00 I'm

not going to be too upset if

she changes her mind. We

still have five months to go!

 

If you are a LuRay Pastels dinnerware fan then you will recognize the pink gravy boat. I was so excited to find it and then turned it over and saw that it had a chip. Bummer! I'll probably keep it for my collection.

The baby shoes will get a makeover of some sort. The last pair I found not too long ago sold already!

I'm hoping a golfer will enjoy the "Caution: Golf Cart Crossing" sign... it really came from a golf course.

The book of rose recipes was actually the biggest deal of the day! This lady had a tarp set out on her lawn with a sign that read "Free" and that is where I found it.

But I still found other goodies like:

vintage suitcase

matching goblets

glass cake stand

Catherine Klein print

condiment or jam jar

antique booklets

Mod faux fur coat

pair of bedroom lamps

and more!

 

I've got enough to keep me busy

for awhile... love being

able to work at something I

enjoy doing!

 

Linking to Ivy and Elephants for

 What's It Wednesday and
How Sweet the Sound for
Pink Saturday.

Enjoy the weekend!

 

Let's Talk Vintage #29: My First Attempt at Painting the Eiffel Tower

Last week I joined a friend for a local painting event.

 

I had seen them advertised for a while

and my curiosity won...

 

My friend Patti and I decided to try it out.

 

Our subject, Paris at night, our

focus, the ever famous: Eiffel Tower.

 I decided this would be a fun topic for LTV!

The Eiffel Tower is definitely vintage...

my painting, vintage inspired!

 

Let's see how the evening went:

 

 

Everyone is seated pretty close to each other.

See all of our blank canvases ready to go?

 

 

 

 

Here I am, all set!

 

 

I missed taking a photo of the first step...

wetting the canvas so it accepts the

paint better. Never knew that!

Love learning something new.

 

Next up ... painting the background blue,

then adding the "city scape" on top.

 

We were painting a mixture between

abstract and impressionism.

 

At least, in my mind I was!

 

For my first time, I think I did okay!

I LOVED painting!

 

 

The two gals across from me really liked pink.

I was starting to wish I had added more.

 

Here we are!

Mine is cut off a little

bit but I love this

photo the assistant

took of us. 

 

Now here are this week's features:

 

 

Ann Marie of "Musings of a Vintage Junkie"

shared her latest finds...

this set of luggage is fantastic!

 

 

 

and Gina at Victorian Wannabe

highlighted her lilacs and

her antiques together.

What a lovely combination!

 

 

and Angela at Mrs. White Twig

painted this awesome desk

and brought it from drab to fab!

 

 

 

 

Now it is your turn: Let's Talk Vintage!

 

 

An InLinkz Link-up

Thinking Pink with Bella Rosa Antiques

I'm capping off this week with

a little bit of my favorite color.

 

Below are some of my finds

since the beginning of spring,

with a dash of pink.

 

And these are my finds from today:

Whoop! What is that? A vintage bracelet in blue?

Well, you know the saying, something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue!

Was happy with some of my finds today... the hat is so feminine and light... the brooches are classic...my favorite is the ballerina, of course.

The floral vase is different. Three different holes for buds, I suppose. A mini epergne? I will be listing them all in either of my shops. Bella Rosa or my retro shop, Antique Retroactive on Etsy.

Well, super busy as usual...I have Bebe's ballet class to go to tonight while last night I went to one of those "Paint Nite" events at a local restaurant. Our subject, the Eiffel Tower! Will share with you all next week how that turned out... ooh la la!

Linking with Pink Saturday. Au Revoir!

Vintage Finds of the Week #3: From Architectural Salvage to Trophies to Nancy Drew

Today I am listing items in my retro Etsy shop. Sometimes I have to separate my two shops like this, listing in one on one day, and then do the other the next day. If I don't, I ultimately get confused and start listing stuff in the wrong shop! Oh the worries of an online seller.  It is a tough life, I know!


This week I am sharing some of my more rustic and less refined items.

(This one is listed in my Bella Rosa Etsy shop)

 

I almost had to give this wonderfully rusty metal architectural piece back to the woman who was selling it... she was having second thoughts...and we know why! 

Here is a group of items I put together...

How about the old yellow and green handled slotted spoon...very happy to see it was made in the United States of America. Yay! Gotta love vintage even if it is just for that reason!

What were you doing in 1973? I was probably in Kindergarten... when we lived in Florida. Those were the days! Anyway, someone received a trophy but I have no idea what it was for. I think someone is going to like it for the birth year or for decorating purposes.

I also liked the small postal scale. If you have a small office space, this could be your "industrial" piece.

And a funny little Mother Goose book. In what they call "Hieroglyphicks." Quite clever!

And in this grouping, I have a vintage purse decorated with colored wooden beads, a deviled egg dish that doubles as a salt and pepper shaker set (I love deviled eggs and can't resist a way to show them off, I may have to keep this one!)  

More antique Nancy Drew books, an acrylic handled and mirrored vanity tray, an old pretzel tin, and a vintage blue necklace.

I think I'm set for the week with all of my finds. Now if I could just find the time...

Linking to:
What's It Wednesday from Ivy and Elephants

Let's Talk Vintage #28: My Geeky Pin Collection

Let's be frank. I really think there is an inner geek inside all of us.

And what makes me a total geek is my advertising pin collection.

Yep. I love to collect these little pins and stick them to this "Tonight Show with Jay Leno" denim jacket.

It was given to me by the NBC Network when I was the Promotion Director at a small NBC TV station in the early 1990's...when Johnny Carson was stepping down and Jay was taking over the reins. It was incentive for us to promote the network as much as possible during our own local air-time.

 

So after awhile, I started putting some pins on it. Not sure now why I did... I've probably ruined the jacket with all of the little holes!

I guess my career in television is what started the whole pin collection in the first place. Advertising pins and the promotion job kind of went hand in hand.

 

Now everywhere I go, I try to find a souvenir pin to add to the jacket. Some pins are on the jacket for nostalgic reasons. Like the "Swatch pin" near the top of this photo. I was a teenager in the mid eighties
and these watches were the "it" thing to have back then.  

 

I obviously went to a lot of Hard Rock cafe's!

The Nascar race car pin is not because I like Nascar racing... it is a combined promotion with

M & M's. Chocolate, not car racing. See? Quirky. 

 

When I was in TV I was also responsible for the Public Service Announcements so I received

 a lot of promotional stuff from organizations

hoping to get some free air-time.

 

Sometimes if I have a double of one of my pins,

 I will trade with people for one of theirs.

(It was easier to find people who had them when I

worked in television!) 

 

Gosh... it was a fun time in my life and I have

my geeky little jacket filled with many memories!

 

And I must confess, this is not my

only collection. Yes, I am a serial collector.

More on that for another day though!

 

 

Now let's get to this week's

LTV features:

 

 

 

Diana of Adirondack Girl at Heart showed

us how to do a graphic transfer...

with a twist.

 

and Jacqueline of Cabin and Cottage

shared her gorgeous picnic 

set up using vintage goodies. 

She's inspired me to plan one, very soon!

 

 

 

and Brocante Treasures took us to a

champagne tasting in France, oh yes!

 

and Joy at a Vintage Green shared

with us how she revived

this awesome display cabinet!

 

 

Now it's your turn, Let's Talk Vintage!

 

What do you collect? Go ahead and

share it with us or anything else

vintage you have this week.

   

An InLinkz Link-up

Bella Rosa Antiques: Vintage Finds of the Week #2

Welcome to my second "Vintage Finds of the Week." 

Today I'm sharing some of my more industrial finds. Usually I'm surrounded by vintage jewelry, porcelain dishes with roses, and antique ephemera. Don't get me wrong, I also found those kinds of things but today I wanted to show you my other side.

The gritty. The grungy.

Not convinced yet? Me neither!

 

Just to let you know, I usually bring along my vintage lovin' sidekick: The Hubs.

He is just as into antiques as I am. He's just not into selling them! Which works because I need someone to carry all of my junk, I mean, treasures. 

I'm just kidding!!! We help each other out at local sales with questions like "Should I get this?" or "What do you think of THIS?" Our code word answers are: "I really like it," if we think it is a great find or, "I don't really like it."  The latter can mean anything from "please don't bring that junk home" to "I think it is priced way too high!" 

We were both surprised to see this vintage Coca-Cola soda crate still sitting around. It received an "I like it!" and we snapped it up as soon as we could.

The hubby was excited to pick out some license plates. There were a lot of them at this one sale we went to and he bought four from the fifties.

I couldn't pass up the wooden picnic basket.... went round and round with the Hubs about why I had to have it. I kept getting back :"I don't like it."  I ended up winning with "But I REALLY like it!"  I also just noticed it is positioned backwards in the photo. Ah well! 

Then there was the metal cash box. Oh yes! Love that it still had the key in the lock. I also found satin hangers (they look mysteriously like hangers from a "Victoria's Secret" store) and a sweet old sewing box.

I also purchased these two paintings... not a Renoir or a Monet but there is some appeal to them. I might bring one to the lake house. The master bedroom has a "ship at sea" theme.

Can't wait to see what this weekend may bring! I love finding something we've never come across before....even if we aren't sure what it was made to do. It's like a scavenger hunt and what makes buying and selling vintage stuff, fun!

Linking to What's It Wednesday, Share Your Cup Thursday and  Vintage Inspiration Party.

Let's Talk Vintage #27: It's All About the Features

 

Oh my! I must have selected the wrong date last week when I started working on my "Let's Talk Vintage" post. My apologies for the party happening a day early! It is supposed to run Tuesday mornings at 9am.

Now that it is already out there, let's just have fun and go with it.

This past weekend I found a bunch of neat items but in this post, I am focusing on you! I'll get to my finds later on in the week. I'm curious to see what you found, created, or were inspired by.

So let's get to it... here are this week's features:

Debra at Common Ground shared her frame makeover which really gave this print the perfect
home.
 

Cecilia of Thrift Store Addiction shared pictures from her trip to Texas Antique Week. It was hard to pick just one photo from her trip but these little dresses made from vintage linens had me at first glance. Adorbs!



Two bits, four bits, hey! Six bits, a dollar! Melissa of Melissa's Antiques went to an auction and hauled in these vintage high school megaphones. Since I was a cheerleader in high school, these touched a heart string! "Three Cheers for Melissa!!"

Now it's your turn. Let's Talk Vintage!

An InLinkz Link-up

 

 

Linking to Share Your Cup Thursday and Vintage Inspiration Party

Vintage Finds of the Week #1

Welcome to my first edition of "Vintage Finds of the Week!" From now until Fall I will be posting what I find each week in some shape or form. (Collage or single photos...only time will tell!)

It is spring and we've started going out each week looking for new finds... and I really enjoyed myself as you can see:

From the beautiful "Pavia Pink" Gorham china teacup to the gold shabby baby shoes, I was very pleased with my finds which will go into my Bella Rosa shops. The .com as well as the shop on Etsy.

The brass sconces were made in Spain. I will need to do a little research before I list these.

If you love tea then the stacked teapot set will tickle your fancy! I loved the bright floral chintz pattern. It is called "Bermuda Island Flowers" by C. Holding.

The very first item in the collage fooled me at first. I thought it was a vintage lace collar. They are quite common. What I discovered after touching it, was that it is made up of all beads. Yes, beads!
A beautiful piece for someone who appreciates beadwork.

The baby shoes were found in the bottom portion of the original box. It looked like someone tried to imitate the "bronzed baby shoe" look. Instead, they have this awesome shabbiness about them. I added the pink seam binding as "ties." So sweet!

The following items I will be listing in my "retro" shop:

 

A happy find!

LuRay pastels salt & pepper set

 

Did this apron once belong to

a happy homemaker?

 

Too darn cute. Where were these cake

toppers when I was

planning Bebe's Carnival party?

I will probably keep these for the lake house.

Remember playing this game?
This version is from the 80's.
I would have played with one from the
 70's but we'll keep that one quiet.

 

Another great week of vintage shopping.
These are so fun!

 

Can't wait to see what we find this weekend....

Until then... happy hunting!

 

Linking to Vintage Inspiration Party
and Pink Saturday

Let's Talk Vintage #26: A Few Unique Vintage Finds

Hello and welcome to Let's Talk Vintage!

This week I am sharing some unique vintage finds.

Things you just don't see on the hunt everyday.

Finding something different, no matter the value, is always a bonus for me.

 

An opportunity to learn something new.

 

The crystal beaded necklace above is not your average piece.  It intrigued me because it was one long consistent strand with a large bead on each end. Turns out it is a lariat. You just simply fold the one end over the other and let it dangle or get creative and try a double wrap around. Love it!

Then we have the cast iron double ink well. So unique! There's a tray for your pens and the two squares slide open to reveal the glass ink wells.

Then we found what I believe is a leather bound photo album or scrapbook. Since it is leather,  it's not your ordinary run of the mill item.

And lastly, a find we have saved for a few years, this Grace Putnam baby doll. Definitely not something you see everyday. They were the first "realistic" looking baby dolls back in the 1920's. If you are a collector, I apologize for saying this but this one looks a little creepy! I'm still researching this one. I'm finding information on them but sometimes it is conflicting.

 

Now let's see who is featured this week:

Donna of Distressed Donna Down Home worked some magic on this primitive chest.

Rita of Panopoly shared how she cleverly used her newly expanded booth space.

And Gina of Victorian Wanna Be shared her amazing Easter themed collections... from milk glass eggs to gorgeous ephemera pieces.

Now it's your turn.... Let's Talk Vintage!

An InLinkz Link-up

Linking to Vintage Inspiration Party at My Salvaged Treasures