Antiquing in Springfield Ohio

Mom and I hit the road last Thursday night and headed to Springfield, Ohio for their June Antiques Show at the Fairgrounds Friday. We got up early Friday morning and arrived at the gate just after 8am. We were worried that it would get very hot and humid so we scoured the outdoor vendors first and then hit the three inside buildings.

It was a little smaller than the show last year but I still had a great time! Actually, it was just the right size for me. We were pleasantly surprised that it never did get too hot or uncomfortable, gotta love Ohio! Tim reported that it was miserable and too hot to even mow the overgrown grass back in IN.

After we finished up the show Friday afternoon, we had just enough time to hit the first antique mall (there are three large ones right near each other). We chose the AAA- I70 mall since it's the smallest. We found some treasures of course and closed them down at 5. Went back to the hotel briefly and had a great pizza at the Hickory Inn, a local restaurant in town that had the largest and most diverse menu I've ever seen! They were packed! After dinner, we made a quick stop at Big Lots but they didn't have any Thickers I hadn't already found in Louisville! Fell into bed exhausted and geared up for another big day of malling!

Saturday we did sleep in a bit and took the back roads in search of the junk shop we had discovered last year! Found it as we turned a corner and it was just as bad, worse actually, as last year! But bad can be good! I found some great stuff there and got a box full for a great price. The downstairs isn't too bad. The upstairs, well, they shouldn't even let customers up there! It literally is like going into someone's attic! The owner apparently buys out houses and estates and just throws the boxes of stuff up there. A toppled bookcase and about 15 boxes piled in front of the book area prevented me from getting to dig through their great books and magazines this time. That was disappointing! I managed to find a few on the floor though, including several wonderful old Book of Knowledge reference books!

I spent an hour there digging and then we went on to the Springfield Antique Center. It's always been a nice mall too and is right behind the AAA-I70 mall. We were in there about 4 hours! We were so hungry when we left! Headed down to the Heart of Ohio mall and had a quick and yummy lunch at their little cafe. Then shoppped till 7:10pm! We had just enough room left in the car for our purchases although I had to empty one box and stash books here and there in the car!

Then began the grueling trip home! Tired and weary, the last hour was the worst and poor mom admitted she was a little scared with my driving it! We did make it home safely though and fell into bed!

I have managed to sort through most of my treasures and get them somewhat organized! (thrown in the basement until further notice) No, actually I have put some things away and I can almost see the front parlor table again!

Most of my purchases will go in my etsy shop eventually! One small grouping (the one with the trims and Dennison label books) are definitely keepers. The other goodies I found for my collections went home with mom and will make a reappearance under the Christmas tree this December!

Mom did find some things for her collections too but I don't have any pictures! She found two beautiful wedding cake toppers, a mannequin head, some cookbooks, a white victorian lawn dress and some vintage hats!

I Hadn't Planned on Buying a New Cell Phone This Week

But that's exactly what I ended up doing! Mine decided to jump off my pjs Sunday night and go swimming in the (fortunately clean, or as clean as one gets) toilet! I quickly retrieved it and opened it out to dry it off. Nothing. The next day still nothing and when I called Verizon they suggested putting it in a bag of rice for 24 hrs as that might draw the moisture out. I tried it. It didn't work. Off to Costco I went today and now I'm the owner of a new cell phone. At least they had pretty eye candy flowers!

It's Polly Time!

Just up the interstate is a wonderful treasure from the past- Polly's Freeze! Located in Georgetown, IN, the walk up ice cream and sandwich stand has been around since 1952. Tim and I treated ourselves to soft serve cones last Saturday night and enjoyed the nostalgic atmosphere!

Friday Finds

Friday morning I ventured out to a yard sale nearby that sounded pretty good. Antiques, collectibles, etc....it wasn't bad but the lady must have once been a dealer as she had some good old stuff but her prices were way too high! I did pick up an old Clue game, children's tracing set and a set of paper dolls that didn't match the folder they came in! I paid way too much but I just couldn't seem to put them down! I wanted a 1930s boxing magazine/booklet with great ads and illustrations and a girl scout book but they were just too overpriced! I stopped by another sale and picked up the embroidery book.

Next stop, a favorite thrift store in town where I stumbled upon what I thought was an old Yahtzee game. Imagine my surprise when I opened up the crumpled paper bag inside and discovered a great set of old scrabble tiles! Woo hoo! At the same place I happened to peer into a box in a corner and discovered a huge lot of vintage wrapping paper! Mainly Christmas but a few bridal and general thrown in the mix! I'm keeping a lot of it but some may wind up in my etsy shop eventually!

During the Thickers hunting expedition, I managed to hit one more favorite shopping venue and found 4 boxes of scrabble jr! YAY!

Happy Father's Day Dad!

My Name Is Elizabeth And I Am A Thickers Addict

Being the Thickers sticker addict that I am, I was absolutely thrilled to discover that Big Lots had a batch of these for $2 each. They originally retailed for $5 at Archivers. I hit the 3 Big Lots in New Albany, Clarksville and Jeffersonville and then decided that Friday I would go on a Thickers expedition to Louisville. I managed to hit 4 more Big Lots (and 1 thrift store) in the time alloted. Considering they were all over that place, I think I did pretty well. I scored big at all of them! Each one had different sets, some had a few of the same but it was definitely worth going to them all and I bought some multiples of my favorites!

I love the different textures- foam, vinyl, fabric, felt, chipboard, etc! I shopped for mom too so she is now well stocked in the Thickers dept too!

Yay for Thickers and Big Lots!

New Scrapbook Stuff

Webster's Pages
Cosmo Cricket Early Bird
K&Co, Creative Imaginations, Prima Flowers and New Chipboard Letters from HL
Love the Anna Griffin Cirus Papers!
Fancy Pants
Sometimes I go for weeks or months without finding any good scrapbook stuff! Then all of a sudden....there is a lot of good stuff to be had!

I saw the Webster's Pages cooking line on a website...the one piece with the lady holding her cookbook was in a scrapbooking kit and I just had to hunt it down! Mom and I each ordered the collection for A Peek Into Yesterday! Another favorite was the new Cosmo Cricket Early Bird collection! We got it just out of the box at Archivers and ordered 3 other sheets of the Elements from A Peek so we'd each have a set, back and front! I love the vintage style graphics! I always get sucked into K&CO at Michael's and was happy to have a 50% off coupon for the paper pad and a 20% off entire order for the coordinating embellishments! I loved the layouts at Dee's using the Fancy Pants kraft line and the CI papers with the dress form and dress so I purchased them and need to pop back in to take pictures for future reference!

Antique Village Article

I wrote this article recently for Vintage Indie. This mall is one of my favorites!

The Antique Village located in historic Hanover County just north of Richmond, Virginia offers 10,000 square feet filled with booths, showcases and independent shops. Approximately 50 dealers provide a spectacular variety of paper ephemera, glassware, jewelry, primitives, Civil War memorabilia, advertising items, old store stock, toys, vintage clothing, furniture and more.

The mall originally opened in November 1971 and will be celebrating its 38th anniversary this year. It was the first multi dealer antique mall in Central Virginia. Three dealers have been with the mall since 1977 including John Whiting of Whiting's Old Paper. The original owner sold the mall in 1980 to a couple who now lease the mall to Joe Lipscombe, a dealer and the mall's manager. The building is well lit and offers a rest area for weary shoppers complete with vending machines, a water cooler and hot coffee.

My personal favorite shop within the mall is Whiting's Old Paper. Packed full of everything paper related, Whiting's is known as "the oldest, largest and most complete paper memorabilia store in Central Virginia." It definitely lives up to that title. Whiting originally taught college level history when he started collecting picture postcards but the seeds were planted in early childhood. His sister Suzanne says, "Your shop is like a giant version of your bedroom from when you were a child." In 1976, Whiting opened his paper business originally setting up at shows. After awhile, he realized he needed a more permanent location and opened his shop in the Antique Village.

Shoppers will be amazed at the variety he stocks. Vintage magazines, post cards, posters, catalogues, trade cards, newspapers, advertising, labels, books, photographs and greeting cards are just a few of the many items overflowing his shelves. Set decorators have often called Whiting's in search of old letters, receipts and magazines for regional as well as Hollywood movies. Several 1950s magazines and scientific journals were purchased by a set decorator for the movie A Beautiful Mind. Whiting states that he is "as eclectic as his shop and once a collector always a collector."

Two other dealers offer an extensive collection of vintage post cards. Another dealer, Sylvia Regelson, has the best African arts collection in the area as well as collectible art pottery.

Location: 10203 Chamberlayne Rd., Mechanicsville, VA 23116 (U.S. Rte. 301- 4 mi North of I-295)

Phone: (804) 746-8914

Hours of Operation: Monday - Friday 9-5, Saturday 10-6, Sunday 12-6, Closed Wednesday

Special Events: Antique Village has an annual anniversary weekend sale every November including a pancake brunch and visiting dealers set up outside the building. The mall also hosts a Patrick Henry Birthday weekend in May with sales, a pancake breakfast, outdoor vendors and a band. Several dealers have also conducted Antiques Appraisal Fairs to benefit local non-profit groups.

Estate Sale Sunday!

The estate sales around here are only okay. When I lived in Akron, OH, they were all great. I was sure to find plenty of vintage Christmas stashed in an attic or any number of other collectibles just waiting for me to scoop them up! It was always a treasure trove. I've only recently started going to the ones in the Louisville/Southern Indiana area and while I have gotten some good things, it's few and far between!

So, I had seen an ad for one this past Sunday at noon. Mom had other plans but when they got changed she decided to come along with me. We arrived at 11:35 and went to line up on the driveway. Two other people jumped out of their cars and lined up with us. Apparently, the estate sale conductees were ready so about two minutes later they let us in. Now, it was good for us...very good. But I felt sorry for the people who arrived promptly at noon since they advertised NO EARLY SALES in the paper as well as on their big sign in the yard! One guy was pretty upset and I would have been too because by noon we had a huge pile accumulated by the cashier and it was the best of the best!

I found all sorts of treasures! Pristine cookbook pamphlets, cookbooks, other promotional booklets from the 1930s (the lady had been a teacher!), fortune telling cards, a great old ledger/accounting book, a 1970s Sears catalog, children's books, wonderful old Dennison seals including Halloween and red outlined gummed labels, vintage office supplies, vintage doilies, linens and tablecloths, 2 coverlets from the 1950s or earlier, ivory? dominoes, a box full of old merchandise tags, 2 vintage refrigerator drawers, a box of unused dresser hardware and a great old hall tree/coat rack which I needed to replace our broken one to name a few of my finds! The coat rack was a true bargain at $5 and just needs to be cleaned up! The family who was running the sale was super helpful and carried our loot to the car which was very appreciated.

Spent hours last night sorting through everything and discovering some things I didn't even know I had in the mix! What fun! (Click on the pictures to enlarge them for detail!)

Junkin' Saturday

Mom and I went back to a yard sale Saturday morning that I had been to Friday. The seller promised she'd have fabric and notions. She did have fabric and some old patterns which I got for a great price! Then we headed over to Louisville to an estate sale with "70 years accumulation". I don't know about that but they did have a few good things including books for 25 cents each (mom found a couple of cookbooks and I got a neat old typing book and someone's personl recipe book), some old photo frames including an art deco frame, a hand, a vintage tablecloth and dishtowel and a couple of stands and shelves! I ended up with a whole bag full of old brass photo frames that I am hoping to someday fill with collages (when I have time, ha ha).

We stopped at a thrift store along the way and I found a great pair of vintage shoes to sell and mom found a beautiful vintage bride doll and an old wedding cake topper! Then on to a couple of flea markets where I scored a batch of old postcards, a sewing tin, ric rac and appliques, an old Avon bottle to decorate, vintage Christmas, old books, and a great box of 1960s Spanish flash cards!