Home Again

We arrived home from our vacation around midnight last night and we are all still dragging today. But I wanted to get some pictures up of the goodies I picked up while having a wonderful day shopping with my sister Jenny. We drove around to flea markets (what I would call indoor collectives) just south of Springfield, Missouri. If we were driving back home to California, I would have loaded up- the prices out there can’t be beat- but since we were flying and the airlines really get you on number and weight of luggage, I was pretty limited.

The first thing I found was this darling navy blue suitcase with an authentic vintage luggage label for $12. (I’m a sucker for vintage luggage & labels, so be sure to visit again this week for THAT post!) This case was just a bit larger than a train case and I decided that I would fill ’er up and stop there. And so my tiny frugal haul for the day included:

Little Jello molds (as shown for sale in the basket) for making Tidy Mom’s Espresso Brownies. They ranged from $.39 to $1.00 each.

Joys of Jello recipe booklet, you know, to go with the molds, $2.

An old doctor’s office apothecary jar with the “applicators” label pressed in glass, $8 (STEAL!) I’ll find so many uses for this. After photographing, I filled it with Q-tips and it’s now in our bathroom. (UPDATE 4/21: First use by kid…lid dropped and broke. In my head I heard my mother’s voice saying, “Why Cant’ I have anything nice?!” LOL. Looks like now it’s heading to the studio to hold rulers.)

A small vintage faceted jar, free from a nice dealer. It’s just begging to be filled with a tiny nest or something interesting, I’ll let you know.

Vintage Meyercord flower decals. Two bucks a piece, unheard of.

A couple of antique doll heads with moving eyelids, $6-$8. Not sure what’s with the attraction to the heads. It’s sort of a sweet-meets-creepy-meets-artsy thing.

And finally, a vintage blue pillow case, $1.50, and some fabric my mom gave me (shown in 2nd photo) that I will use to make more pillow cases. My sister covers all of her pillows in the most crisp vintage pillowcases and nothing is dreamier or prettier to sleep on. And it will always be in my nature to copy my big sister.

We had such a great time visiting my family in Missouri and Arkansas. It’s always a blessing to be with my mom and sister Jenny. The kids got to spend some time with their gramma and aunt and I was finally able to meet my sister’s grandaughter Lillian and share in her very first birthday. It was also a bittersweet reunion for my daughter Sarah and her brother & sister in Arkansas. Here’s a great shot of my late sister Shelly’s children, Bobby and Nicole (the oldest ones) and my kids, Bennett and Jamie, and the daughter we both share, Sarah (center).