Friday, July 6, 2018

Flea Market VS Thrift Store Part 1: The Flea Market

  So last Saturday Ivy and I got up early and drove an hour and a half or so to a flea market. It was called the Picker's Paradise,and was supposed to be HUGE. I say, 'supposed to be'. It wasn't nearly as big as the ones Lori and I go to. I don't know if it was just not full this year because of the weather,or if the advertising exaggerated.
  When I say the weather,I'm referring to the rain we  had nearly every day for three weeks. The sky was black and practically every day it rained on and off,if not all day. Even though the flea market was quite a way from here,the rain was there too. We got rained on on the way there, and once there the flea market was deluged with rain. Most people covered their stuff up to protect it, so there wasn't much to look at. The buildings were so crowded  with people who were just tramping around in a circle,not even looking at anything, that those of us who wanted to look at the stuff couldn't. The ground was nothing but deep puddles and mud. Ivy wore boots,so she was ok. I don't own any boots except a pair of pale gray faux suede ankle boots I bought for winter. So my feet were soaked and my shoes were covered with mud. When we tried to leave, much earlier than I would have thought,we got stuck in the parking lot and had to be pulled out by the flea market bulldozer.
  But back to what I found. I went around the flea market for ages before I found anything. We did pass a table that was covered that I could see boxed Barbie's peeking out from. I said to Ivy that we'd try to come back when the rain had stopped, but I doubted we'd find it again. As it turned out,the place wasn't so big that we didn't find ourselves back there eventually. But the first thing I found,(Finally!), was this.


Isn't it cute? It's an actual Radio Flyer mini tricycle. It's the perfect size for 18" dolls.  I have a wheel problem. My front wheel needs turned around, but it's stuck.
  I got some more little 1/6 scale vases at the flea market. 

There were ten of them,but I was able to buy just the six  I like. One of these days I am going to put together that 1/6 scale antique store,and all my tiny vases and plant pots will come into use.
  We did eventually come back around to the lady with the Barbies again. The rain had stopped by then,so she had uncovered her stuff. She had some pretty good prices. Her stuff had the original clothes and accessories,but most of the boxes were damaged or dusty. I don't care much about the boxes anyway. I bought a very pretty 'big eye' Skipper.




She's Cool Tops Skipper.
 

She was from a line of dolls that had little Reebok covers for their shoes, to make them look like Reebok sneakers.The 'Cool Tops' must be all those shirts she's wearing.

How eighties is she?!



It's way too hot for that many shirts!


 




The same lady also had some older stuffed toys in a basket. The poor things had been soaked in the rain. I found this girl buried in the bottom of the basket.


She's a Fisher Price Lap Sitter doll named Audrey.

She needs her hair done.
She was made in 1973. The Lap Sitters were a series of soft bodied dolls with vinyl heads and hands,and some removable,and some made-to-their-body clothes.


Audrey has removable bibbed overalls. You may have seen my Lap Sitter Joey in his Doll-A-Day post.


  The only other thing I bought at the flea market,(besides the funnel cake with strawberries and whipped cream,that Ivy and I split.),was one vintage hanky. I was tempted by a plastic version of the Pity Kitty paintings by Gig that I loved s a kid. It had it's original hang tag and old piece of rope around it's neck.

Like this picture I had in my room growing up.

I wish I had bought it actually.
  After we left the flea market and been towed out of the mud to the exit by the bulldozer,we decided to try for the nearest Toys R Us. We'll hear about what happened after the flea market in the next post.

Friday, June 22, 2018

Antique Store Haul: Great 1/6 Scale Stuff!

  While our girls were away on their trip to Canada and New York to see comedians Dylan Moran and Simon Amstell,we were looking in on Emma's cat, Cowboy. Emma's town is full of antique malls,so while we were up there I took the opportunity to stop in one that usually has a stall that sells a lot of miniatures. I'm doing a trade with a Flickr friend in Finland, and I was hoping to find something for her. She has everything a person could want for their 1/6 scale dollhouse,and it's all great,so I'm having a hard time figuring out what to send her. It all started because she wanted one of the barbecue grills like I got at Target recently,so I know I'm sending her that. It's the 'what else' that's causing me a problem.
  Anyway,I was hoping I'd find something for her, (And I might send her something out of it.),but I ended up finding things I loved myself! Here's most of it.

I just got the stuff on the rug, but I got the rug a few weeks ago at the same antique mall. It's not too thick,so it's nicely in scale.

Here are the goodies with Made To Move girl for size comparison.



 The vase is wooden,and has a three dimensional cabin on the front. The pitcher and the plates are Limoges.


It's hard to see how 3-D it is. 



It's made in Germany. I can't read the other stuff. Anybody?


There were two different blue plates and one green one. I only bought these two, because I was trying not to spend as much. Two blue plates would have looked nice on a mantel or something. I prefer the green plate though.



Ok. First of all, I didn't realize until I looked at these pictures when I was editing them that one of the tiles is sideways! I was in a hurry and not wearing my glasses.
   
My favourite is the top one. It says Limoges on the back, as does the bottom right one of the other four. It's slightly bigger than the other three, as is my favourite.


The other three only say 'France' on the back, except for the big one that says 'France France'.(??)

My favourite.
The pitcher is really pretty, even though it's very simple.


There were also these little things.

They look like little tiny bowling trophies.

They could use recoating. The gold is very worn.
I'm not sure what they originally were, (Looks like there might be something missing from the one side?), but I think they would make great little bowling trophies, or a set of bookends. I'd need to add something to the side with the groove for the books to lean against. What do you think?


I am so senile. It took these pictures the very next night, and thought there was something missing...There was! My favourite thing!


I love this little pot! The lid really comes off.   

The leaf and grape detail is really pretty.

 

Ivy was offended that I bought something ceramic, since that's her love. She made me these:




I keep trying to talk her into making more miniature things, but she loves to make bowls and cup/mugs. She actually bought herself a potters wheel and a small kiln. I am going to have a go making something tiny myself soon, when we get the stuff set up to use.

I also saw another set like this one I got at a flea market a while back.

The lids really come off too. These have bottoms, so I got them. I turned down some other pieces that didn't have bottoms, like a coffee pot. That kind of made the people selling them laugh, but I do like realism!

 While I'm at it, I also got these that day.
 

The chair is a picture frame with storage under the seat.

 I also got this plant pot recently at Goodwill. It would make a good outdoor plant pot, because it's a bit big. It looks like stone though, so that will work well.


Lori and I haven't been to a flea market for a while. There was one a couple of weeks ago, and we were going to go. But Lori decided it was going to rain and be too hot anyway, so we stayed here in town and just had lunch and went to the movies,(and Dairy Queen!). Ivy and I are thinking of going to a flea market tomorrow. It's about an hour and 40 minutes away, which is putting us off a bit. It's a long drive. Worse than that, it would mean we'd have to leave the house about 7:30 to get there at a decent time when all the good stuff hasn't sold yet. Ivy's out of school until she starts college in August, so she wants to sleep in! I am always tired, so I always want to sleep in! But we'll see. Maybe we'll go and find something fun. She never wants to go do anything with me, so I hate to waste it!

Monday, June 18, 2018

Titans Paul McCartney Beatles Figure and Happy Birthday Paul

  If you read the blog you'll know I'm a Beatles person. To celebrate Paul McCartney's 76th birthday today, we're going to look at a present I got for my birthday,back in March. My friend Lori got me this Paul McCartney figure.

He's the black and white version of one of the series of Yellow Submarine figures Titan has done. He's posing in front of a photo I took in 1986.
Titan has made several different series of Beatles Yellow Submarine figures,in various sizes and outfits.

He has the Titans mark and the yellow Sub on the bottoms of his feet. 
Titan makes these stumpy cartoonish figures that bear more of an actual resemblance to their subjects than similar figures by Pop Vinyl. You may have seen Emma's titans figures in my posts on her collection HERE and HERE.

His head can turn side to side. He's in front of another of my photos.

His arms can move too.





He measures about 3" tall. 

 


Lori assures me the matching John Lennon is on his way,but he has never shown up.


You may have seen my other posts on my Beatles figures and dolls. If not, and you care to check them out,you can do that HERE, HERE,HERE,HERE,and HERE.

Saturday, June 16, 2018

Tammy Gets A Guitar Lesson,and Happy Father's Day

  Tammy wants to explore,but Wally goes to help her down from the rocks she's been climbing."Come on Tammy. It's time for your next guitar lesson." "Okay Dad."


"Are you ready?" Wally asks. Tammy hesitates. "I guess. I really want to play music, but I can't understand. It's just really confusing." "Don't worry." Wally assures her. "That's why I'm helping you."


Wally shows Tammy some chords. "You remember what we did last time,don't you?" "Yes. You know I've been practicing." "I heard you." Says Wally. He  plays her a simple tune.
 

Tammy concentrates and watches Wally closely.


"Do it again." Tammy says. Wally plays it again, as Tammy tries to take it in.


Tammy changes sides and watches Wally's chording hand closely.


"Do you think you're ready to try?" Wally asks. Tammy is hesitant. "Uh,I guess."


"It's awfully big." Tammy says. She perseveres though,trying to wrap her tiny hands around the neck of the guitar. In the end,with Wally's patient instruction, she manages to get a recognizable tune out of the instrument."Great!" says Wally, "You did it! That was really good!"


"I don't know." says Tammy. "That was pretty bad." "Don't worry," Wally tells her. "We'll keep working on it, and you'll be good in no time." "You think?!" Tammy asks happily. "I'm sure you will be." Wally tells her. "It just takes practice."


"Thanks for helping me Dad." "No problem." says Wally. "That's what I'm here for."
  Happy Father's Day!