Black Friday Sale!

WHAT: 20% off everything in the shop

WHEN: November 27-30

HOW: Use coupon code BLACK20 at checkout

Folks, I promise this blog isn't going to turn into a sale announcement forum, even though that's what it may seem like recently. I have a few posts lined up that have nothing to do with hocking my wares, so stay tuned for those.  In the meantime, Happy Thanksgiving to those celebrating! I am having a potluck Friendsgiving this year followed by a ping pong tournament and a screening of Elf on a giant projector.  Feeling good about this whole thing.

Fall Shop Sale!

Lots of goodies added to the Sale section in the shop this week, plus I am offering an additional 15% off for all items in the shop. Use coupon code 15PERCENT at checkout!

Stilliben

I discovered the beautiful Danish shop Stilliben via Ilemarini's Instagram feed this week. Located in Copenhagen, the shop is run by two ceramicists and features hand curated items from Danish and international artists. The aesthetic is right up my alley and I feel in love with so many items in the shop. Below are a selection of my favorites, but there's much more to see in their online shop. Enjoy!

So Many Fairs

I've been going to festivals and fairs this year like it's going out of style. Between 3 Brimfields, the Topsfield Fair, Colonial Fair, Boston Calling, the Salem Spice Festival, American Field, Octoberfest, Hemp Fest, and probably a few others I'm forgetting, I've been totally on top of the fair circuit. And why not? It's fun!

Below are some shots from the Topsfield Fair, which I attended yesterday, and the Colonial Fair of last weekend.

Topsfield
Every fall the Topsfield Fair takes over an open meadow about 45 minutes north of Boston. Today was my first time attending, and it was the typical country fair routine: farm animals, carnival games and rides, kettle corn, prize produce and flowers, fried dough, crafts. You know the drill. The highlights for me were holding a baby chick, eating my first pumpkin pie slice of the season, and watching the dock dog competition (Where dogs jump off a dock into a large tank and swim feverishly to catch a toy at the far end of the water. Endlessly adorable/entertaining). Per usual I was too busy gawking at everything to get many shots, but what I did get I'm sharing here!

 

 

Colonial Faire
My good friend Annie plays the fife and is a regular on the fife and drum muster circuit. Last weekend her corps performed at the historic Wayside Inn during the annual Colonial Faire, so I made the drive to see it because 1) first and foremost, I needed to meet Annie's new baby, June 2) I appreciate a good period costume event, and 3) There was good antiquing on the way to and from the fair. Baby June was the highlight and totally won me over, as all of our friends have told me she would. Who could resist this sweet, smiling face?

The setting was very fitting for a colonial fair, with historic buildings and performers in period garb marching to and fro.

I stuffed my face with kettle corn, perused the vendors, and snuggled baby June as much as possible. It was a great way to spend a Saturday! Next weekend I'm off to the Weston Craft Show to peruse the goods and say hello to my old weaving teacher who will have a booth there. Very much looking forward to that!

New in the Shop

After a good run of thrifting this month I've got lots of new goodies in the shop. Stop on over and have a look-see!

Items below: hand carved wood bear / Hudson Bay 4 point blanket / copper mug set / Yoruk kelim rug / display cloche with wood base / vintage book set / Poison Register (the perfect guest book for a Halloween party!) / mid century Monserrat School painting / wood inlay lamp / art deco lamp pair / green wire basket / nautical signal flag

American Field

Last Saturday we took a little trip out the American Field pop-up market on the Boston waterfront. American Field is a once a year show featuring all American made clothing, accessories, goods, and furniture. The show was chock full of hipsters, so thank goodness I happened to be wearing my plaid flannel shirt that day. I would have felt unbearably uncool otherwise.

The selection of goods was fantastic for a small sized show, with a concentration on great items for men. Trends included beautiful leather goods, handmade shoes, waxed canvas bags of all types, candles and tonics in manly scents, and camp-inspired clothing. Crafty cutesy markets don't do it for me, so I was psyched to see a more modern selection of goods. Below are a few shots from the show, enjoy!

Below, said stylish folk

Colorful moccasins from Itasca Leathergoods. I may still snatch up a pair of these, They were beautiful and the leather was so soft.

Handmade shoe demo booth from The Brothers Crisp

Artisan painted canoe paddles from Sandborn Canoe Co.

The market was held outside an industrial building on the waterfront. Someone was giving men's haircuts and shaves in the back of Ball and Buck's old F250 truck.

Hand tooled leather bracelet workshop

Last Brimfield of the Season

Last Friday I woke up at 5 am to catch a flight back to Boston from LAX. I needed to be home in time to get a good night's rest. After all, Saturday morning was my last trip to Brimfield for the season! Below are a few items that caught my eye at the show. I wish I'd taken more photos, but generally I'm too distracted gushing over everything, stuffing kettle corn in my face, making sure Riley doesn't pee on any antiques, and carrying too many bags of purchases to spend a lot of time taking photos.

[images below: a huge, Tudor style dollhouse, one of the vendor's storage trailers, keys, mid century chair, industrial ticket booth, mannequin heads, a Craftsman style dollhouse, odds and ends sorted into divided drawers, a typical booth, buy!, Riley passed out in the back of the car on the way home from the show]

Little Dog in Yankee Mag

Last summer Yankee Magazine invited me to participate in an article about upcycling. You know, finding old things and giving them new life. Right up my alley, you say? That's what I thought, too, so I heartily agreed and a few months later met a Yankee writer and photographer at Todd Farm to hunt for a project. The idea was to get before and after shots of a DIY upcycle project to feature in the magazine along with a bit of detail about my process. The magazine came out this month, and while I do love the writeup, it doesn't include any "in process" pictures, so I thought it fitting to show some of those here on the blog.

I selected an old drawer box that looks similar to an apothecary chest, but was probably intended more as a tool storage box when built. Here it is in a fuzzy Instagram shot along with some other projects that sat around in my Vermont workshop for a while but eventually were finished...

The box is plywood and somewhat beat up - which I love - but wasn't appropriate for refinishing so I chose to treat the outside with a white pickling stain and leave the drawer faces unfinished for contrast. Pickling stain gives wood a whitewashed look while still letting the grain show through.

Next I swapped out the simple wood drawer pulls for brass card catalog pulls found for $1 each at a salvage shop. They were still on their original wood drawer fronts and had plenty of dirt and tarnish to go around. I used a screwdriver to remove them from the old drawer faces, then polished the brass with a baking soda/vinegar mixture and a fine grade sanding block.

Lastly, I wanted to add old industrial caster wheels to the bottom so the piece would be easy to roll around, but found that 4 piece sets of vintage caster wheels are not the easiest to find. Yes, it's possible to run into them at a flea market for a steal, but it just never happened for me. I turned to Ebay and Etsy, only to discover that the type of set I wanted would likely cost me $75. Too much for this project. I ended up buying metal caster wheels at Home Depot for $5 each and spray painting them a matte black color. Hindsight I wish I'd gone with more of a rusty brown, but in the end they turned out pretty well so I am happy with it.

Instead of selling the box as I usually would have done, I decided to keep it to store my lamp rewiring supplies that had long outgrown the small tool box I'd been stuffing them in for the past few years. Many of the drawers have divided sections, so it's perfect for sorting out small hardware like finials, washers, and the like.

 

It was a blast thrifting with the folks from Yankee, fixing up the chest, and eventually seeing the project in a magazine. Thanks Yankee for getting in touch. It's been a big thrill for a little shop like mine to be featured so!