July 14, 2013 by ritajosvintage

Brimful of Antiques on the 45

I grew up in Wakefield. I live and breathe the words of Springfield. But my heart, my little wooden heart, belongs to Brimfield.

Sunday Funday took on a completely different meaning as my friends Katie, Jill, Jill’s unborn baby and I piled into the Jeep and took off for the largest outdoor antiques fair in the world. Brimfield takes place three times per year (May, July and September) and each show lasts six days. Today was the last day of the July show so we knew some dealers would be packing up to head home but it’s also a great time to get some deals.

What do they have at Brimfield? Everything. Seriously. Whether it’s vintage clothes, rusty awesomeness, gorgeous furniture or even vintage vinyl, you can find it at Brimfield.

I followed this sign. It brought me to an empty table. Sounds about right.

The day was warm, to say the least. It was 96 degrees. That’s only two degrees less than a terrible boy band! It was stifling. I was a sweaty mess. A swess. Jill procured not one, but two frozen lemonades over the course of an hour. But that didn’t stop us. (It stopped us briefly at times, and we may have stayed JUST a little longer in the tents that had fans…) I ended up with a small haul (for me) taking home a vintage dress & skirt (at 50% off!) and some planters but I think if I had more time and was more hydrated, I could have done some serious damage.

I wanted to buy these but I didn’t. I regret it.

Hat and red lipstick. Bodyless head after my own heart.

Brimfield is gourd-geous.

One of the shopping tips for such a huge event is that if you’re looking for something in particular, make a t-shirt that says it so folks can help you when you’re poking around their booths. If I had made a shirt for today, it would have said “creepy clowns” because for some reason, they have been cracking me up lately. And we found a few that stole our ~~souls~~ hearts.

KILLITWITHFIRE

CREEPY CLOWN CANNIBAL

Some of the booths were just so cool in an awesome cluttered, colorful and unique way.

Do these chairs only look cool if you buy 20?

Crazy for Crates!

I love birds.

Poppin bottles.

So much death. And it looks AWESOME.

I definitely want to head to the September show, maybe even for more than one day. I know we didn’t even get through 1/10 of the market today and I would love to be able to just take it all in, talk to some dealers and boost my closet and collections. And maybe this time do it with 85% less underboob sweat.

June 25, 2013 by ritajosvintage

And I Am A Material Girl

What a weekend! I got to attend the fabulous Vintage Bazaar! If you’ve never been, it’s an amazing weekend-long bazaar, once in June and once in September, featuring more than 125 artisans in tents bursting with awesome. I was the date of the lovely Mrs. M of Country Design Home. She wrote a great post about the Vintage Bazaar on Friday and I could not wait to get there and check out all the tents and chat with some of the smart and creative folks behind the scenes.

I knew I was in heaven as soon as we got there and the first thing I saw was a vintage truck. I. Love. Vintage. Trucks. If I was Madonna in the Material Girl video, I totally would have gotten in that rich guy’s old truck too, even though he only bought it knowing I wasn’t impressed with all the flashy things he was focused on before, but the effort was there and hey, vintage truck!

What the truck?

And continuing down the path of “Things Lisa Loves,” one of the first places we stopped was Fish in the Garden.

Just keep swimming.

The work of the very talented (and extremely nice) Mr. Tyson Weiss, these ceramic koi, trout, and stainless steel stripers were located throughout the grounds of the farm and made me so happy. I, of course, bought one of the stripers for Mom & Dad’s garden, bringing the total number of stripers I’ve caught this year up to one.

Shortly thereafter, while strolling across the beautiful Pettengill Farm, I exclaimed with the excitement and wonder usually reserved for small children meeting Santa or Mickey Mouse, “MRS. MATHISON OH MY GOSH IT’S THE TRAILER! IT’S THE TRAILER!”

THE Bettie B!

The work of L Kells Antiques and Log Cabin Antiques, I have been following Bettie B’s transformation every step of the way on Facebook and the final result did not disappoint! It was so cute, all decked out with vintage awesomeness and colorful kitsch. Unfortunately she was already sold, but I did scoop up this awesome mini minnow bucket. It looks great on the larger one I purchased last summer, situated right next to my vintage tackle box and lures.

Buckets on buckets.

I also had the opportunity to chat with the lovely ladies of Bel Monili and juNxtaposition. These are two artisans who know the purpose of re-purpose and do it quite well.

Brace yourself.

Bel Monili creates gorgeous jewelry made from…well…other jewelry. Here are bracelets made from vintage earrings, I scooped up one of these bracelets for myself, I couldn’t resist.

juNxtaposition also makes upcycled pieces “all made with items that others would throw away,” including typewriter keys, skeleton keys, silverware and more.

Recycling is KEY

I also snagged these awesome votive candle holders from The Flea Circus.

Croquet anyone?

These lovely ladies from Leicester made these great candle holders using old croquet balls. I just thought they were so colorful and clever, I had to have them.

(Of note, Mrs. M was quickly exposed to my shopping style, which consists of me seeing something, saying “I need that.” and pulling out my wallet. No debate. No hemming and hawing. Blink and you might miss it. But in the vintage world, blink and someone else might buy it before you do!)

Last but certainly not least, I also got to meet one of my most favorite treasure hunters, Cari Cucksey of Cash & Cari!

Cash & Cari!

She had tons of cool stuff and was super nice. I don’t even think she noticed that I was repeating “Act cool, Leese. Act. Cool.” in my head over and over in order not to gush. One thing she did notice, however, was my bracelet and asked if it was a Whiting and Davis (which it was). I basically died instantly on the spot.

Ke$ha was here?

Overall, The Vintage Bazaar is nothing short of amazing. I cannot WAIT to go in September to hopefully see some familiar faces and be inspired by the overwhelming creativity of all the folks there. And buy more stuff. Because I need it.

May 30, 2013 by ritajosvintage

Finding Your Perfect Match

When you’re a single gal, everyone will tell you, “You’ll find someone when you’re not looking.” Seriously. That’s a thing. People will say it right to your face. Just a quick heads up, that’s crap. However, when it comes to antiques and cool vintage things, it’s spot on. You never know what you’re going to find when you’re driving down the street, walking through your neighborhood or even checking out the eaves in your new house.

That’s where my Mom and Dad found this awesome brass match box case! It was in the eaves of my childhood home, right up in the attic. It’s brass and enamel with open sides (to allow for access to the striking surface) and frankly, it’s pretty badass. Especially when you think about how disposable everything is today. There was just a different level of care that went into carrying around something as simple as matches. That’s part of why I love vintage and antique items so much. There’s a pride and workmanship that goes into everything and all the items you purchased were meant to last.

I guess you could say when it comes to vintage, I’ve found my “perfect match?” (Groan.)

Have you found any treasures when you least expected it? Maybe in your house, left by previous owners (Or ghosts? Totally could be ghosts)?

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