Make Mine Vintage...Clinton Olde Towne Market

My friends, Larry & Fran Gatewood are the proud owners of "When Pigs Fly", a delightful little shop full of vintage items in downtown Clinton, MS. If you've never been to "Olde Towne", as Clintonians call it, then you've missed a treat. It's just like being in a Jan Karon fictional town! Recently Fran invited me to come to the downtown merchants once a month market and show some of my "re-constructions" of vintage items. This month's theme was "Make Mine Vintage".

So off I took (BY MYSELF...I might add...Hubster had the state track meet...grandson was busy...and old Grandmother had to put on her big girl drawers and drive, load, unload, set up and demo and knock down ALL BY MYSELF!) I am happy to report that I handled it all quite well, thank you very much. My only real problem was that I didn't have too much time to shop. I couldn't desert my demo post.

Here's a shot before I got everything placed.
The wind was quite brisk and I was prepared for a rather hot day, but it was downright cool all day. The market lasted from 9am until 1pm. Much to my delight, my booth was situated right across from watercolor artist, Wyatt Waters' studio. I got to meet him and he is such a nice person. It made me like his art work even more than I already do. BTW: he and Chef Robert St. John are collaborating on a new cookbook. If you've never seen their books, run, don't walk, to a bookstore and purchase one. They are beautiful!

I took anything that had "old" connected to it (including myself) and that had been repurposed...for instance, the flag stand is composed of three old pieces of wood; the pictures you've seen before and were made of old patterns, tissue, papers, beads, etc....the little red chair is an apple crate that was made into chairs for the little girls in my Grenada, Mississippi, Merry Morning Kindergarten class...I mean I actually sat in that little red chair as a 5 yr old...I put my ballet slippers and tap shoes in the little area underneath! An old Ball jar holds vintage tomato pin cushions and strawberries.

The felted chicken pin cushions were bought on Ebay from the seller, Prim Penny, and sit on an unfinished quilt square and a miniature hooked rug.


Pictured above was the "pink" table...pin cushions, pillow, and shadowbox and memorabilia frame.

This Crazy Quilt pin cushion was a Mother's Day gift for my mom.

She kept in on her dressing table.

Below is an old cigar box with tiny matchbox drawers and the items related

to sewing were a big hit.

I found this plaque at HOB LOB and re-purposed it...Christmas ornament from sheet music is on the left and my business cards in the little bird holder. I am hoping some of the ladies that took my cards will join us on the blog! BTW: the new word for re-purpose is UPCYCLE.

1930's Sheet music wreaths, etc on this table. Do you see the MOD PODGE hiding in the upper left corner? Couldn't do a demo without the Nectar of the gods...ha!

My booth "neighbors" on my left were the Hackney's who made wonderful honey...Spring and Autumn. I have posted their card, so if you are interested, you might contact them.

BTW: I bought Spring...yummo! They also have goat's milk and honey soap and lotion.

My neighbors to the right were the Sumrall's. Johnny Sumrall has written a great book on Rock and Roll in Mississippi! A fun read and a super friendly couple...

BTW: I bought a copy of the book.

Also available is a CD with Rock and Roll songs from the 50's through the 1970's. Mrs. Sumrall and I had several laughs and she watched my booth while I scouted out the merchandise.
The day was perfect! Cool, sunny...but not too sunny... and I met some of the nicest people you'd ever want to meet. I hope next time Clinton has such a gathering, you will take the time to drive over and enjoy the day. BTW: the day's events were coordinated by Tara Lytal, and she was one busy lady...but I never saw her without a smile on her face.
I'd like to thank Franster (aka Fran G.) for the invite...she provided my tent and a much needed cardtable. Make sure you go visit Fran and Larry at "When Pigs Fly"....you will thank me, if you do!!

Hope you like "Vintage" as much as I do,

Angela

Yard Sales with Grandson

A few housekeeping notes before my post:

1. I LOVED the Royal Wedding...just bought a magazine about thei couple's lives...don't care if anyone thinks I'm nuts...I LOVED it from start to finish!

2. Neutrogena DISCONTINUED my Healthy Skin Rejuvenator machine and pads! I popped off a "hot" little email letting them know exactly how I feel about them and their new replacement, The Wave...horrible little waste of money machine! I just cannot take another discontinuement of anything!
3. Back to CVS Drug Store...still trying to replace discontinued Revlon #110 Blush Chrome lipstick. Have moved on to another brand...will report result in several days.
4. Sephora has told its clerks that it plans to DISCONTINUE my Sephora Primer. Is this a vast worldwide conspiracy? What is this world coming to?! Bought Bare Minerals Primer...was so disappointed...will NOT pay $38 for Smashbox.

Now................. I feel better. This hasn't been a great week...I felt in great need of encouragement and guess who came to my rescue?! My 14 year old grandson....what a wonderful young man!

Do you have any idea how great it is to have your grandchild ASK to spend the night with you?! I told him that if he'd go with me to a few yard sales, that I'd give him some "seed" money and he could put some things in my Flea Market Booth...well, I taught him a few tricks and guided him in the direction of his first acquisition, a Fiesta platter, and he was off to the races!

Here's our haul for the morning...we each spent about $25. We can't wait to see if we can at least double our money...I seized on the teachable moment...re-counting your change to make sure it's correct...the art of negotiation on an item...the correct placement of price tickets on an object...and the arrangement for maximum exposure in the booth!! Oh, what a fun morning!

Some of our fun plates...Great Smoky Mts. ; Tennessee; 2 cute Dog Plates; Fiesta and a wonderful woven basket that is now residing in my basket collection area!


An ET glass (1983) and a Mississippi glass!

This little rocking chair was put together with NO NAILS...like a puzzle. A friend rescued it from the garbage and gave it to me...3 Gail Pittman Valentine's Mugs and a precious angel Bear...


A Miss Bunny dummy board...to set by the front door next Easter!

His big purchase, a perfectly good electric Black and Decker hedge trimmer.

He also found hedge clippers (which needed a little de-rusting, but he decided to keep the price low and let the new owner "fix them" up himself and a child's bench and tennis racket.

Cute wooden molds...

A coconut owl with rope eyes...love it...

He remembered "old grandmother's" advice...anything with horses or dogs...

Then we hit the Motherlode...our piece de resistance....two rocking horses...that nayed and clippity clopped when you squeezed their ears...they retailed for $100 each!! Oh, happy day!

He bought the black and white one...I, the unicorn (which had never been used...not ridden once!) We were in Yard Sale delirium!!

After a Root Beer and some chocolate chip cookies baked by the ladies of the church where we were shopping, it was on home. We priced in a frenzy to get things to the FM by noon!

A nutritious Sonic Chicken nugget lunch and we were finished for the day!

Can't wait to see our earnings next week!

Hoping you had as great a Saturday as I did,

* Trying to Not Fly the Coop!

Apparently, I am going to have to return to work in order to get any rest...Spring Break almost did me in. In addition to cleaning up the yard & back porch (which included fighting pine pollen), cleaning out the garage and attic, cleaning up the house...I also got a new Flea Market booth up and running. I had forgotten how physically taxing that is...I had to keep going "over" the security gate in order to unload my car because I couldn't remove the heavy metal gate and put it back in place by myself...I haven't "hopped" that high in 15 years and my poor old calves are a quivering hot mess!

I was excited to have done quite well in terms of items sold on my "opening" days of the the market. If you'd like to know more about the Magnolia FM, read here.

I introduced the market to my annual "You're No Spring Chicken" sale and I found the perfect coop for these ladies. I will do a post later to properly introduce them to you. (Each one is different and is named appropriately!) The crochet pattern is over 25 years old and I still love them, especially done up in all the specialty yarns that we have on today's yarn market.
I'm cutting this post short. Five a.m. comes early and I am so worn out that I can hardly type...boy, the Ole Gray Mare, she ain't what she used to be...many long years ago....

May your pine pollen be a mere dusting,

Give Me Your Forlorn, Your Raggedy...The Encouragement Factor

Before I go on my rant about encouraging others, look at my weekend Flea Market finds!
I rather dread the polishing process, but I know this silver bowl/compote will be lovely!

The white wrought iron plant stand will go on the porch beside the white rocker...can't wait to put a pretty pink geranium in it! The old drink box is the real reason I went to the FM in the first place. CanNOT wait to show you what I'm doing with it...hint: it's getting close to "chicken" time!
More "wabbits"...

Yellow daisy ...

Pink daisy...


White daisy...

Blue hydrangea...

Tiny daffodils....

Something for the boys...Little Bunny Blue
Now, on to the subject at hand!!

There is something very satisfying in rescuing the forlorn, the could-be's in this world...excuse me, I sound like the Statue of Liberty, don't I? However, I have always had a special place in my heart for taking the raggedy and making it, well, lovely.

Once, in high school Home Ec. III class, my mother let me re-purpose a large storage closet off our kitchen and turn it into a pantry/laundry room for my assigned "home project". I painted it sunshine yellow (more stop signish yellow..ugh) and made black and white flowered curtains for the windows. Remember: this was in the heyday of Flower Children. I worked like a trojan on the room and in the end was delighted with the result. (Nobody in my family, except Mother, was as delighted.) I pressed on.
To this day, few people in my family get fired up about my "nonsense" except possibly my Granddaughter.( I believe I see a spark of artsy in her...I can only hope and encourage.) Does their lack of "loving what I do" discourage me? Strangely, no. It used to disappoint me greatly. I'm saddened that people don't see certain aspects of the world like I do, but it's ok...I choose to continue to press forward. (Excuse the dramatics.)

The re-purpose (aka: helping others) factor is what I love so much about blogging. There are so many creative women out there who daily tackle projects that nobody even thinks about, much less does! This spirit is very important to families...it needs to be passed on to a generation that is on the fast track to little if any exposure to "the good ole American spirit" of Can Do plus WILL Do.

(Check out http://www.incourage.me/)

There is something satisfying in not only knowing you CAN be helpful but in actually putting your shoulder next to someone who is struggling and "pushing" along with them.

When asked "Why do you do such and such?"

My answer is twofold:

1. Because I CAN;

2. Because I WANT to.

Folks, it's not just about re-painting and re-purposing furniture or making a Spring basket!

To me, it's infinitely more satisfying to see a "student" excel than to "top out" myself. One day, I'll be a memory, but a little of me will continue on if that student chooses to pass on "the help & encouragement factor". You can never underestimate the far reaching arms of the encouragement factor.

Now, let's go forth and encourage!