San Diego Flea Market Finds

In my last post I took you on a tour of the San Diego Vintage Flea Market.  Today, after a bit of delay, I'm here to show you my purchases.  

First up are these vintage flower frogs.  I myself had never even heard of a flower frog until my friend Amy from While Wearing Heels wrote about hers in one of her Goodwill Hunting round-up posts.

Now I'm not really much of a flower arranger, but as Amy pointed out in her post, flower frogs can be used for more than just flowers.

In fact, I decided to use these flower frogs to display some of my other flea market finds: vintage postcards sold in bundles of ten for a dollar.  Normally I wouldn't have given them a second glance but this postcard from Ft. Lauderdale happened to catch my eye:

My husband and I lived briefly in Ft. Lauderdale and are huge fans of South Florida in general. The fact that my oldest daughter was born there makes the sunshine state especially dear to my heart.  (Look closely at the card above and you'll see a little red X on the coastline.  That is -- roughly -- where we lived, though this picture was taken about 50 years before our arrival.)

The card below is currently on display in my den, and yes, I am using one of the flower frogs to hold it up.  It is such a beautiful Miami scene and the green in the flower frog complements it perfectly.  

This next card is truly my favorite.  The caption reads, "On Las Olas Sound, Fort Lauderdale, Fl."  I loved Las Olas sound so I was thrilled to find this card among my purchases.  

Making it even better is the back (yes, many of the cards I bought had been written on and mailed).  Check out the postmark:  1936!   And how about that address?  All the way from Florida to Maine, and all she needed was the recipient's name and her town.  No street number, no street name, no zip code.  My how the world has changed.  

I included the next card because it is from a place called Moonlight Beach here in San Diego.  I am actually supposed to spend a beach day there later this week.  This image is from the early 1960's.

Another fun find was this muffin tin which I got for $1.  My picture is kind of washed out, so it's hard to tell that it's been painted with a minty green chalk paint.  Sure, I could have made one myself but I do not actually own any chalk paint  (shh!  don't tell the other bloggers) so it was cheaper for me to buy one that's already been done.  I'll be using it in my crafting lair to store bits and pieces.

This clock was $5.  To be honest with you I don't think it's really vintage but I don't particularly care.  It's substantial, it's pretty, and it's going to look great in my living room.

I was really excited to find a bunch of vintage silver flatware for $1 apiece.  I have been dying to do some silver stamping ever since I bought a silver stamping set from Pick Your Plum.  (Look for that project sometime in the near future.) 

The knives actually came "pre-stamped" with a letter E which I naturally loved.  

My final purchase was kind of an impulse buy.  It's a vintage glass cutting tool and I couldn't resist it.  I've seen lots of cool projects made from old bottles so with any luck this isn't the last you'll seen of my little red friend.  

I just realized that I forgot to take a picture of one of my favorite finds (probably because it is already being used in my living room).  It's a Moire Glaze Kyes hand wrought enamel tray similar to the one shown HERE.  Looking at some of these resale listings I could probably made a pretty penny on this $5 find but I love it too much to let it go.  I guess I'll just have to look for one next time.  

If you have any interest in attending the next San Diego Vintage Flea Market be sure to like their Facebook page found HERE.  They will be announcing the next flea market date as soon as it's set.

The San Diego Vintage Flea Market!

Back in October, when I went to the Rose Bowl Flea Market, I came back to San Diego wishing that we had something similar.  

Then, a few months ago, I heard about the fledgling San Diego Vintage Flea Market.    This past Sunday I was able to attend and boy am I glad I did.  

Admittedly, it can't compare to the Rose Bowl in terms of scale, but there was still plenty to look at and the quality of the merchandise was fabulous.  (Check out the eye candy below to see for yourself.)

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These jars are the work of the talented ladies at Stitched.  Walking into their booth was like walking into your favorite Pinterest board:  it was filled with tons of vintage items, many of which had been repurposed or reinvented.  

I think this bird cage light fixture was also from the Stitched ladies, but I'm not 100% sure.  I had to include it though, because isn't it fun?!

The magnets below were from LottieHop's booth.  I just love the idea of repurposing old buttons as magnets.  The best news is that you don't have to live in San Diego to buy from her because in addition to selling at the market, she also runs an etsy shop (found HERE).

This next booth from The Salvaged Home was also totally swoon-worthy!  Check out the terrarium and the fun burlap wine bags.  (Or pick up your own at her etsy store, found HERE).

I do believe these rolling pins were hers as well, but I might be getting confused.  (There was just so much good stuff to look at.) 

Again, I'm not sure which vendor was displaying the vignette below, but isn't it fun?  I especially love the phone.   

The next seven pictures are all from the same booth.  I was a little obsessed with it and bought several items there.  Unfortunately the woman who ran the booth has no website or etsy shop to link to.  Her name is Karen and her wares were a-maz-ing!  

I mean seriously, check out these succulent arrangements (planted in old colanders).  If that isn't the mothership calling me home, I don't know what is,  (Check out my own succulents planted in thrifted milk glass found HERE.)

Or how about these guys planted in an old boot?  (Okay, it might actually have been a planter made to look like an old boot, but still, it's a whole lot of awesome!)

She also had this giant letter U which appears to have been decoupaged with old book pages (?)  If my name were Ursula, I would totally own that thing right now. 

Also seen in Karen's booth was this lovely vignette.  Check out the painted mason jar.  Looks like something right out of Mason Jar Crafts Love, doesn't it?  The stool was pretty nifty too.

I believe the items below were also from the same booth though, again, it was hard to keep everything straight.  

Of course, not everything was so shabby chic.  There was also plenty of mid-century modern goodness to drool over...

Not to mention vintage appliances painted in cool colors...

Vintage turquoise oven?  Yes please!

And y'all know how I like to recycle old frames.  (Wait, you don't?  Click HERE if you're interested.)

Much like at the Rose Bowl, there was no shortage of vintage suitcases...

And if you're going to buy a vintage suitcase, you need to have something to put in it...

Sold by Charlotte Del Rose

(Don't forget to pack your dead stock bikini.)

See at The Girl Can't Help It's booth.  Click HERE for their website.

('Cause if you're going to skip the housework in favor of Vegas, you want to look your best.)

This fun tray was being sold by the people who run the whole market.  You can check out their etsy shop HERE.

So that's it folks, just a small taste of the wares at the third San Diego Vintage Flea Market.  

(And you can bet all of your Vegas winnings that I'll be attending number four!)

To see what I actually purchased at the flea market, follow THIS link!

The Midas Touch

Have you heard the news?

In the blogosphere, gold is the new burlap.

More popular than paint chips, or chalkboard paint, or (dare I say it?) even mason jars...   

Okay, maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration, but gold (be it in home decor or fashion) has become quite popular.  

And while I don't necessarily embrace every trend I see, I am totally down with the gold.  

Exhibit A is this $1 plastic elephant that I found at the thrift store.  A few coats of spray paint and, voila!, instant decorative accessory!  

Exhibit B?  Shells from a recent trip displayed in a gold-lidded mason jar:  

Look closely and you'll notice that I painted a few of the shells gold to tie the whole display together.

Spray painted shells have been kind of a "thing" for me lately.

Last week my daughter and I made "silver" earrings out of painted shells.

This week I sprayed some of my larger shells gold...

...with a surprise pop of turquoise on the flip side:

I am absolutely loving the way this one turned out.

The last of my recent gold projects is Pinterest-inspired, and I totally "cheated" when I made mine.  It's a "Miniature Mounted Menagerie".

If you visit the original source (found HERE), you can read all about how she painstakingly cut the plastic animals in half to make her display.

I'll admit, I've always loved this project, but the thought of cutting the animals in half kept me from doing it.  (Knowing me I'd probably lose a finger in the process.)

But then I found the magnets pictured above.  (You can buy your own set by clicking HERE.)  I simply paired them with this metal display board (purchased for about $2.00 on clearance at a local shop) and I had myself a knock-off mounted menagerie.

With gold heads, of course, because that's how I roll these days ;)

Hello Apartment Therapy!

Hello Apartment Therapy readers!  If you're stopping by today, I assume it's because you want to see more of the Red Carpet Themed birthday party that's featured there. 

The best way to do that is to visit the actual party posts which can be found by clicking HERE (for the photo booth)...

...or HERE (for the photo booth props)...

...or HERE for the popcorn cupcakes.

Also featured at the party (but not on the blog) were these cute favor boxes.  I used paper popcorn boxes from the grocery store, wrapped them with cellophane, and tied them with baker's twine.  It was a convenient way to contain all the little knick-knacks that the party-goers took home.  

And if you're interested in this, I can only assume that other party-related posts might be of interest as well.

Click HERE to learn more about my younger daughter's sleepover birthday cake.

Or you can click HERE for one of my most popular posts, the punch box tutorial.  (It's a great alternative to a pinata!)

And if you like what you see, consider signing up to receive my blog via email.  (I promise not to spam you or share your information.)  Just enter your email address in the form below.  And thanks so much for stopping by!

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