I've been "Flea-ing" Despite the Heat

       I've come to a conclusion after a lot of recent junking excursions, and that is....... I need a TRUCK or a trailer or quite possibly, BOTH!
      What's a good junker to do when she goes to the flea market and finds an awesome vintage industrial rack, only to find it won't fit inside her SUV?  Well, after calling her sister (and business partner), Elaine to lament her problem and contemplate how and who could she bribe to come get this gem, she eyes the situation and decided, that rack will fit on TOP of her car and she has a ratchet strap to hold it up.
     Only problem is, I don't have a luggage rack and don't particularly want to scratch my roof.  So, I engage two of the security guys who work for the flea market to help me with my dilemma and we come up with a plan.
     As any good junker should, I at least come prepared with a bed sheet in my car to put under the rack and one of the guys and I hoist this baby up and over the top of the car! Voila'! It works, but they suggest I get another strap to secure it since I let them know I had over 40 miles to drive home.
    Thank goodness, I'm at a flea market, because just about anything you can imagine can be purchased at a flea, so I went in search of another strap or strong bungees..... Bungees it was and once secure, I was on my way!
     Beverly Hillbillies.... you have nothing on me!!! I can load a car with the best of them when leaving my treasure behind is NOT an option!
      Of course, I filled the inside of my SUV up with treasures as well.  It was HOT and I was not a pretty sight when I left the flea, but I was smiling and nodding with satisfaction sighing the mantra... "Where there's a will, there's a way!"
     Just in case you wondered, here's the rest of my great finds on this hot Wednesday morning at a Texas flea!
   

I got six of the these great industrial light fixtures which I was told came from a Wendy's.

I found one of these awesome aluminum, vintage patio loungers before and sold it immediately, so when I spotted this one and the price was right, I snapped it up.

These aren't antique and most likely not vintage, but I imagine the corrugated tin used to make these decorative flags was vintage.

Thankfully this display cart folded down flat with the shelves removed for packing.  It's a royal blue.  Do you think I should paint it a different color?

I got these wooden crates from a vendor we met when Elaine went with me to the flea earlier this month.  I love our business because we meet some of the nicest people, everywhere we go.  I think his name was Pablo and he remembered us and was a delight.

I found this cool industrial basket which is becoming harder to find at a decent price to resell.  I love the handles on it.

Although the sales of luggage has fallen a bit lately, I couldn't resist this vintage American Tourister round case.  The inside is in mint condition and I'm a sucker for the shape.
 On a personal mission, I found my sweet Mom this walker with good wheels and more importantly, a seat for when she gets tired.  She loved it and especially the price compared to the new ones.


So there you have it, despite the heat, treasures can be found at the fleas in Texas in the Summer...
Word of advice........ start very early and take a frozen bottle of water along.  By the time you're thirsty, it will have melted enough to give you refreshing ice water!

Happy flea-ing my friends.
Betsy

A Traveling Tale of Two Sisters

      We Sisters have been busy this past weekend and this week.
    First of all we spent the weekend at Fredericksburg Trade Days where we changed up our mini "rooms" with different vignettes. (Of course, I not being a photographer person, didn't get pictures of all our changes). 
    We decided to go out of the cowboy boot business (at least for the time being), so we had a big clearance sale on our boots outside and  the boot area became a vintage wedding space.

  I lugged our two TALL manni's up from my house in my car and thankfully wasn't stopped for the  kidnapping of two inanimate "women" in the back of my SUV! ha!
   We dressed them and our cute vintage  "girl" in a 50's wedding dress and matching bridesmaid and flower girl dresses. (A woman bought the little girl dress for her grand daughter to go as Marie Antoinette for Halloween).
  

We created some vintage bridal vignettes on our "boot" shelf.

We even included some vintage items for the groom, like this awesome white dinner jacket with cumberbund and bowtie.

After Trade Days, Elaine and her hubbie, Ray hopped on a plane to Florida Monday morning for a family vacation with all her guys.

I spent the last two days "fixing" our booths in Uvalde (Tuesday) and Seguin today (Wednesday).

     Thankfully we've sold some things in both places and brought back metal and "stuff" from Trade Days to add to our mix.   Here are a few pictures from our space in The Vintage Market- Home & Garden (Uvalde).

And here are some new looks at Aunt Maudie's Attic (Seguin).

Wow, I'm tired and we're only half way through the week! (tee hee). 

I think it's my turn to go a vacation next! (That will have to wait until next month though)

Thanks for "traveling" with us!

Betsy and Elaine.

Oops, We've Done it Again!

     If that got your attention and you're wondering what those two wild and crazy sisters are up to----

Well, wonder no more!!!  After swearing off spaces in antique malls at the beginning of this year, we not only retracted from that statement by becoming vendors at Aunt Maudie's Attic in Seguin, Texas.  You can read about that venture here.
      Our good friends, Patty Jett with Old Gold and her daughter Megan Thomas with Salvaged have a wonderful speciality antique mall in Uvalde, Texas called Vintage Market- Home and Garden.

    I (Betsy) got a call from Patty at the end May, shortly after we had signed on with The Attic, and she told me a space was coming open at the first of July and did we want to rent it???  This is such an awesome shop and the ladies who co-own this do such amazing displays with their booths, we decided to say YES!
      So yesterday, (Saturday) I moved in with the gracious help of my good friend Patty.  She not only helped my with moving my things in that day, she came over on Friday with her trailer and helped (she basically did most of the work! ) loading her truck and the trailer.
       After working all afternoon on the space, I'll reveal our inaugural photos of our space.  We went with a lot of garden iron and some great antique and primitive pieces then I added some romantic touches that we are known for.  Here are the results (so far):

We love the colors of the beach and summer, so we added lots of shades of blue along with our chippy whites.

    We have more metal birdcages along with a great primative shelving unit.  This is the Garden theme area.

    I love this zinc wash tub (minus the stand).  It would be awesome built into a potting bench or a patio serving area for cold beverages.

           Here's a better picture of the fab 50's motel chair and a cute little corner shelf I painted.

Here's a different view of the birdcages and bird bath.

We got this wonderful chair from the Curious Boys (you know how we vendors just pass on our merchandise among us).

This side shows more garden items and cool blue things.

How about some mid century office/industrial items?

Industrial/farm/primitives are in this corner.

I recently purchased this awesome early 30's to 40's kitchen cupboard from our friends Betty and Willie Mund of D'Hanis.

We also got this gorgeous early 20th century oak vanity dresser.

Our other corner, but this might need more work!

One last picture of the chippy cabinet. IT HAS ISSUES though, so it's coming back home.

Come see us at the Vintage Market- Home and Garden shop.  They are open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 am to 5 pm and occasionally they open on Sundays.

We're in this Business to Sell.....so why is it SO HARD to Let go??

    Why oh why is it so hard to part with rusty metal???
           Every piece in this picture including the 3 tiered garden rack in the back and the bird bath AND the rusty metal chair in the back left are all SUPPOSE to be for sale.  BUT they all look great in my front yard so I try to rationalize keeping them with lame escuses like, "I've wanted a glider forever!!! It's so hard to find ornate wrought iron garden sets at a good price!!  I could use that three tiered plant stand for my succulents!! and the escuses go on and on!!! However, I'm suppose to be trying to make a living with this antiquing business, so what I buy Is suppose to go to one of the shop spaces to sell!!!!
     

Today, one of my pickers called to say she had a few things I  might be interested in so these were my purchases.  Even my cat, Trouble, thinks I should keep these finds!! ha!

I already have three rusty 50's motel chairs but I'm thinking that these two new ones would look great with them!!! The kid's adirondack chair is adorable and will probably get a coat of old white ASCP.  The little rusty terrarium on the bench needs new glass, but it's still cool.  The bench came from an estate sale I attended on Wednesday and despite my love of all things old and rusty, I'll have all these things available at one of our spaces SOON.

Speaking of spaces, our newest location, Aunt Maudie's Attic is having a Grand Opening shindig tomorrow, June 22 from 9 am to 5 pm.

If you're in the area, please check it out.  All the spaces are full and it's worth it see what new things

The Curious Boys have added to their space. It's always fantastic.  Plus Beverly with Glory B's space always knocks my socks off (and my wallet cash)!!

Here's a montage of our space:

    So, am I the only one who hates to part with their business purchases??

Have a wonderful weekend and I hope you find lots of wonderful vintage "junk"!!  Hopefully, if you're in the selling part of this business, you won't have as hard of time as I do, letting go!!

Happy hunting... I'll be out there too!

Betsy

We're back in an Antique Mall.. Aunt Maudie's Attic

     A brand new antique mall has just opened in Seguin, Tx, so before its opening, Elaine (who lives near Seguin) heard about it from one of our favorite vendors and a great friend, Beverly of Glory B's.  When we heard she and the fabulous Curious Boys were going to be vendors there, we decided to give the mall business another shot! 
       Lynne is the owner, who has relocated from New Hampshire.  She didn't even advertise for vendors and was almost full at opening time which was this past Friday.
      We basically gave our space a "primitive-vintage" theme, with several fabulous pieces of primitive cabinets.

  Elaine found this fab, antique pie safe with its original metal screening in Brady (I think).  I have a real weakness for pie safes and cabinets although, I own zero!!
       The first picture is our flagship piece that Elaine's son, Dan bought at a local auction. He added the beadboard back and reinforced it and we left it the gorgeouse orginal aqua finish.

   This picture shows the color better (although I did enhance it a bit! )
      

This mid century buffet has some beautiful bakelite drawer pulls.  The great egg baskets on top were purchased from a dealer couple from Iowa.

This is part of Glory B's space. I always am in awe of Beverly's style with Glory B's.  Her vignettes are drop dead gorgeous!

I WANT this cubby, but I think it's for display only!! (hangs head and puffs out lip in sadness! ha!)

And then there are the Curious Boys... I'll let the pictures do the talking....

Theresa Cano with Garden Antqs Vintage got those 2 great gold stacking tables.

This metal display thing is a wow item to me and the wire grid thingy in front of it is fab.

These donut-like rings are made from out rusty metal ducting (I think).  Love them.

Our "neighbor", Sarah has fantastic frames at great prices.

This is the top half of our other piece of furniture, a chippy kitchen cupboard with pull out bins at the bottom.

We hope if you are in the area of Seguin, Texas, you'll make a stop at Aunt Maudie's Attic at 519 Austin St..

  Thanks for coming by,

Betsy and Elaine