My 2nd Love

I  really  should  call  it  an  obsession--flea  markets!  I  love searching  for  forgotten  items  from  the  past  and using  them  again  giving  them  a  new  life  in  my  art.

When  I  find  these  (especially  the  vintage  photos),  I  want  to  know  more  of  their  history,  and  who  are  these  people  in  the  photos??  Why  did  they  end  up  in  a  flea  market  of  all places?!  I  want  to  take  them  all  when  I  see them, but  unfortunately  it  would  be way  too many  for  me--so  sad  to  see  these  vintage  family  photos  tossed  aside  like  this.

All  of  these  collage  fodder  goodies  pictured  here  are  courtesy  of  the  Brimfield  Flea  market  that  I  went  to  a couple  of  weeks  ago.  Oh  my  goodness--22  fields  of  flea  markets  all  in  1  place--over  4000  vendors.  It's  6  days  long,  and  we  went  for  3  days--not  nearly  enough  time  to  see  it  all.   If  you  like  flea  markets,  and  you  live  near  Massachusetts,  then  go!

Here's  the  booth  where  I  found  a  lot  of  these  'art  supplies'  in  Brimfield--

....you  can  probably  guess  that  this  was  one  of  my  favorite  booths...

And  as  an  added  bonus,  it's  only  a  couple  of  hours  away  from  New  York  City.   We  spent  a  few  days  there  and  visited  our  son  who  lives  right  in  Manhattan.  He  takes  us  everywhere--a  great  tour  guide.

You  can't  go  to  NYC  without  experiencing  Times  Square--at  least  once  :-)

So  needless  to  say,  we  had  a  great  week!

And  when  I  got  home,  I  was totally  inspired  by  all  of  my  finds--

...and  see  those  images  of  the  vintage  people  in  the  houses?--courtesy  of  Tim  Holtz  Paper  Dolls--

--even  though  they're  not  the  original,  they  come  in  great  for  that  finishing  touch--already  pre-cut,  and  in  different  sizes  too...

they  were  perfect  for  my  latest  box

And  another  find--

Before  and  after  pic--I  found  4  of  these  9 x 9  wood  boards  at  a  booth  (that's  all  he  had).  I  really  like  them  because  of  the  raised  center  that  they have--for  $2.00  each,  I  would  have bought  whatever  he  had  available,  since  wood  is my  favorite  surface  to  work  on.

And  another  one--

I  got  a  lot  to  keep  me  busy  for  a  while!    I  really  love  this time  of  year  around  here--the  weather  is  warmer,  which  means  garage  sales  and  flea  markets  are  starting  up  and  going  strong--makes  me  happy!

Back From Highway 127!

It's  so  good  to  be  back  in  weather  where  I'm  not  melting  anymore.   We  had  a  good  time,  but  it  was  very  very  hot,  and   for  the  most  part  rainy--but  none  of  these  factors  stopped  me  from  doing  some  serious  shopping.

This  is  what  we  saw  for  miles  and  miles--these  clusters  of  flea  markets  jam-packed  with  soooo   much  good  stuff--it  was  overwhelming.

I'll  show  you  some  of  the  best  that  I  found--

....vintage  items  from  the  past  that  have  been  forgotten---I  always  want  to  rescue  them--especially  the  photos--who  gives  away  their  family  photos  anyway??

...more  fun  "rusty  gold"  items--I'm  a  sucker  for  old  hardware--I  have  pounds  of  it--enough  to  last  me  for  2  lifetimes...

....and  look  at  these  large  spools  and  bobbins---I've  never  seen  a  booth  like  this....he  had  every  size  and  shape  of  spools  and  bobbins  that  you  could  imagine--I  wonder  if  I'll  ever  see  this  booth  again...

.....and  please  help  me.....I  can't  stay  away  from  children's  blocks.....I  Love  them!!

There's  more....lots  more....but  these  items  were  my  most  favorite.  

They're all  put  away  now--I'm  becoming  very  organized  with  storing  everything,  which  I'm  really  proud  of.   These  are  my  art  supplies  and  tools  for  helping  me  make  pieces  like  these--

I  mix  the  old  and  the  new  to  make  these  fun  little  shadowboxes....and  they  all  started  out  like  this--

These  6 x 6  gallery  canvases  flipped  over  to  become  the  shadowboxes  that  you  see.

And  before  I  leave--I  also  wanted  to  show  you  where  we  went  in  Nashville--no  flea  markets,  but  other  very  cool  places--

For  you  American  Picker  fans--this  is  Antique  Archaeology--Mike  and  Frank's  second  store  that  they  opened  up  in  Nashville,  and  yes--you're  seeing  this  right--a  line  to  get  in--the  place  was  too  crowded,  so  we  had  to  wait  about  20  minutes.  I  saw  some  of  the  actual  items  that  they  picked  on  the  program--very  fun  place!!

The  Hermitage  Place  (aka  Andrew  Jackson's  plantation)  Photography  wasn't  allowed  inside--too  bad,  because  it  was  beautiful, and  95%  of  the  home's  furnishings  were  authentic,  right  down  to  the  wallpaper  on  the  walls.

...and  finally  a  backstage  tour  of  the  Grand  Ole  Opry--Loved  this!!---What  a  great  history  to  this  place!

Tennessee  is  a  beautiful  place  to  visit,  and  we  had  a  fun  time.....and  the  Highway 127  sale  was  just  icing  on  the  cake!

Still Blue...but...In a Different Way

First  of  all...thank  you  all   for  all  of  your  caring  comments  and  support--what  a  world  of  difference  a  few  words  can  do---thank  you!!   I  feel  better  and  am  not  looking  forward  to  the  Dr.'s  visit  this  week  with  Leo,  because  I  know  the  outcome.   Actually,  the  Dr.  was  preparing  me  last  week  for  this,  but  I  wasn't  ready  to  listen,  but  now  I am  and  I'm  listening  to  Leo,  and  it's  time  for  me  to  finally  let  him  go.   This  is  going  to  be  a  hard  week.

Okay...enough.....I'm  tired  of  feeling  sad......I  want  to  talk  about  about  what  makes  me  happy....ALWAYS---art!

And  Kristin's  Summer  of  Color--this  came  at  the  right  time,  and  the  color  this  week  is  blue  (oddly  enough).   But  blue  is  also  a  very  soothing  color,  and  those  are  the  hues  I  chose  to  work  with.

So  I  started  out  with  this  cigar  box  from  my  local  tobacco  store,  which  by  some  strange  coincidence  also  started  out  as  blue--

and  here's  how  it  ended  up  when  I  finished--

 

....and   let  me  show  you  the  details..

....one  of  my  favorite  techniques  that  I  use  alot--Golden's  soft  molding  paste  over  a  stencil,  and  then  when  it  was  dry,  I  randomly  stamped  over  it.   It's  a  great  technique,  in  that  it  doesn't  have  to  be  perfect  and  you  still  can  get  a  lovely  result.

....lots  of  vintage  photos  that  I  transferred  with  gel  medium  and  also  Lazertran  decal  paper.

And  sometimes  I  like  to  use  personal  photos  in  my  artwork---just  adds  that  special  touch  to  the  piece.   This  photo  is  on  the  top  of  the  box,  and  it  most  definitely  has  special  meaning  to  me...

....my  Grandmother,  my  father,  and  my  Great  Aunt...

And  I'm  always  on  the  look-out  for  old  knobs,  handles,  whatever  I  can  find  for  the  top  and  bottom  of  my  boxes--

 

So  there  you  have  it...my  blue  piece  for  Kristin's  Summer  of  Color---please  go  visit  her  blog  where  you  can  find  many  more  blue  art.   I'm  always  amazed  at  what  everyone  creates  when  given  just  one  word  to  work  with.   This  is  what  makes  this  so  fun.   Thanks  Kristin!!

...and  BTW...you  can  still  participate  too--you  have  all  of  this  week  to  join  in!!

My Weekend

The weekend here was pretty drab--cold and rainy, but I had a good one.  Yesterday I played around in my room and on Saturday I went to the local antique show that  we  have twice a year here. I actually didn't have to travel miles to go to a good antique show--it was just right across town. 

I love going to these antique shows.  It's just a whole different world.  Everything here is someone's history.  Some talented lady took the time to hand crochet  these doilies and placemats--

Someone used to wear this jewelry, and all of these buttons (you can never have too many buttons) came off of someone's shirt or whatever.

And how about these--

These are metal interlocking stencils.  I don't know if I'll use them as stencils or just use the stencils themselves as collage items--whole box of them for $2.00.

There  was  also a vendor who had 4 or 5 old suitcases just filled to the brim with old cards, postcards, photos, booklets--you name it. If I looked though them all, I'd still be there.  I found these there--

He told me that he thought that they were given away in cigarette packs. They're famous people from way back when--I love them!  Also these--

I always feel a little sad when I see family photos just thrown in a big pile of stuff for sale.  They should be with the family they came from in a photo album or frame or if anything , just a box of other family photos.  I couldn't resist getting it--I love this photo! And check out the postcard.  This person had so much to write, that he started on the front and continued on the back. It's all written in a different language--I think German, but I have no idea.

One of my favorite purchases--

It's a 160 page song book from 1893, and it's the size of  regular sheet music.  Look how perfectly aged these pages are--I couldn't have done it better myself.  I paid $5.00 for it, and I probably would have paid more.

And of course, I was on the look-out for boxes, which I found, and I even found the "legs" and "knobs" for them--

I LOVE these old children's blocks--$5.00 for the whole bag!

One more thing I wanted to show you.  I found some more faces for my face collection--

These are oil and vinegar ceramic bananas--love em!!

So our plan was that when we were finished to go for a walk at our beach area which is right there by the show.  Well, it's more than a beach.  It's Presque Isle State Park, which is a 21 mile peninsula that goes into Lake Erie with 12 beaches.  It's a very popular tourist site.  You can hike, bike (10 mile bike trail), boat, swim, birdwatch, etc., etc. All the out of town people call it Presque Isle, but everyone hear just calls it the beach. We love walking on the bike trail, and that was the plan (I was going to take photos), but it was 42 degrees out and sleeting.  Okay its Spring and I'm not complaining or anything.  And I know all about the April shower and May flower thing, but 42 degrees---really??