Rummaging Around...

Annual rummage sales have great vintage items for dollars or less.

Oh yes, they do!

  

Tis the season of the Rummage sale, and I just attended an annual favorite yesterday at the Greek Church in Manchester, NH. Some tables are dealers, some are church members, and some are just people who twice a year clean out their collections and sell them for very little money at the church. Although Jenny was otherwise occupied, I had an absolute ball and limited myself to twenty dollars. I got a slew of vintage fabric samples that are perfect for small projects or just to use as small surfaces or swatches for styling... for just ten dollars! I got another larger piece of 60's mod fabric in white with a teal and chartreuse graphic pattern that I will likely stretch over a canvas as wall art and then a few small liqueur glasses with gold flecks on the outside. I have found that these make amazing votive candles for all types of occasions.

Now, here are my tips for rounding up a lot of loot:

1. Check Thursday's newspaper for the listing and make a map of which sales to attend.

2. Start early and be in line when the doors open.

3. Bring dollar bills and quarters, as many things are priced in that range.

4. Bargain and make deals... ask for a group or quantity discount.

5. Bring those canvas or recycled bags for all your purchases.

6. Drag a wife, husband or friend to canvas the area better and help take purchases to the car.

Oh,and give me a wide berth, because I move down those isles like bull in a china shop with a palpable mantra in my head:  "mine, Mine, MINE!"

(posted by Matthew Mead)

**************************************

Oh, and head over here for a give-away I know you will love!

Looking ahead to a very special HOLIDAY!

Matthew Mead, is an expert at celebrating the holidays and bringing out the beauty of the seasons. Back in 2006, Matthew - as a style editor with Country Home magazine - launched his first issue of Holiday with Matthew Mead via Meredith Publishing. However, as many other projects, commitments and books filled his schedule, Holiday got put on the back burner. Still, Matthew always dreamed of bringing it back to his readers and bringing his focus back to his love of the holidays and sharing the many creative ideas that occupy imagination.

Over the years, and following the success of Flea Market Style, Matthew's fans wrote many letters and emails asking him to bring back Holiday and all its goodness.

And he listened.

I am thrilled to announce that Holiday with Matthew Mead is coming back for Holiday 2010. I am pleased to be involved and and will help Matthew and Jenny in their quest to bring you a magazine that has been lovingly conceived and will be sold online via his new website - and limited quantities will be sold and delivered straight to your mailbox this October. So, head on over to Holiday with Matthew Mead.com and learn how Matthew wants to include YOU and a chance to have your home featured in the magazine!) and discover our very special guests/features (hint: a very famous and much-loved blogger who has survived a life-threatening experience and is working hard to regain her life as a busy wife and mother).

Head on over and see what all of the fuss is about. Discover what Holiday 2010 entails and how you can get one without the usual seek and search. Who knows, perhaps you will even find yourself in the pages of the magazine!

******************************************
Oh, and stay tuned to this blog for news about the possibility for future issues of Flea Market Style. No promises yet, but the future looks bright!

Stamping...from old to new!

Junk expert Ki Nassauer has been attracted to vintage rubber stamps for as long as she can remember.  She snatches them up on her regular junking trips to antique shops, flea markets, and garage sales. She is particularly drawn to the ones displaying quirky business names, and those with great emblems on the handles. Long past their intended purpose in life, Ki has reinvented these hard-working stamps and pressed them into service as great photo, business card, and ephemera holders. Featured in Flea Market Style, we are now offering up a close-up of the project and how you, too, can make these handy and charming photo holders!

Follow Ki's directions and reinvent your stamps:

1.Remove the rubber lettering at the bottom so your stamp will sit flat.

2. Drill 2 holes in the top of the handle 1/2" apart and 1/2" deep. (I used a 1/16 drill bit)

(Tip: Make an indentation with a nail before drilling to keep your drill bit in the correct spot.)

3. Wrap 18 gage wire around a fine point Sharpie one and a half times to achieve the perfect round.

4. Snip with a wire cutter leaving 2 tails approximately the same depth as your holes.

5. Add a tiny bit of glue to the end of the wire and insert into the holes.

Your wire should look like this:

6. Add a photo, place card, business card, or small sign.

A great way to repurpose a once-used stamp!

Do as we do!

We have received some great feedback and letters from readers of Flea Market Style. Two that recently came to our attention shared a desire to recreate the cheery yoyo flowers found on page 13 of the magazine. Here are their takes on the project:

Erin from Creek Bed Threads:

and from Mitzi's Collectibles:

What were your favourite features in the magazine?

Join us on FMS Television!!

Life should be fun. Filled with fun! And I don't like any moment to pass without fully engaging that feeling. Itis what makes me get up in the morning in such an excited and chipper mood. CARPE DIEM! I say. It is in that spirit that the attached video was made. Wanting to share the launch party for the magazine with all of you was paramount to me. Jenny and I purchased a new FLIP camera and set out to bring you some of the experience. The video is a real, raw, behind the scenes look at the making of the event. We are new to this technology but really wanted you to glimpse some of the FUN that goes into to our adventures. This version is accompanied by music only, but a more professional cut is coming from a source at Company C. For now, sit back and enjoy our crazy antics as we gather our flea market finds, prepare our presentation and do a little dance that I call THE FLEA MARKET. Grab a lampshade and join me.... and as always, we would love to hear from you.

Best,

Matthew

The Making of Flea Market Style in Pictures...

What a Trip!!!

A Flea Market Style Love Story...

A little story about Flea Market Style magazine...

(used with permission and written by Misha of From My Front Porch in the Mountains)

"I have been waiting forever for this magazine. So many of my favorite mags went by the wayside in the last year. When I first heard about Flea Market Style,I began counting down the months until it would hit newstands.

I put their link on my blog roll

(Flea Market Style Mag blog)

I hung out there,

I drooled over the web pages,

I counted down the months...

And finally, the big month was here!

The release of Flea Market Style Mag

hit the news stands!!!

But, I couldn't find it :(

In this little mountain town there are not a lot of shopping options.

But, each time I had to venture into town,

I would scour every retailer in hopes of filling my heart

with glossy pages of glorious junk style!

And poor J.

You see, when I become obssessed with something,

I chat about it.

Over

and

over.

He had listened to me chat this for almost one year.

Chat

chat

chat.

He loves thrifting as much as I do.

He loves doing allll those projects I pick out for us!

(at least I am pretty sure he does)

I would ask him if he was as excited as I was

that somewhere,

someplace,

OUR

new mag was waiting for us to find it!

I now was chatting about the magazine being

within my reach...

But, to no avail could it be found.

And then it happened.

I was driving home about to pass a little store I don't usually go into. I made a beeline for their parking lot.

I walked in with purpose in my stride. I went to the magazine aisle, just knowing once again I would leave in defeat. But there it was. One single copy on the top shelf. I hugged it. I told the clerk my little story

(chat, chat, chat!)

She smiled as I paid and I think she was glad to see me leave...I couldn't wait to exclaim to J,

"I found it!!!"

I smiled about it the whole way home.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Every day J leaves our home at 6:30am

to make his way into the Big City to attend school.

He always calls when he is on his way home to see if we need anything.

I had just walked in the door, when he called.

I could hardly contain myself, but I didn't squeak a word of my good fortune!

When he got home we chatted about my day, the horses, the dogs, the cats....

Since that is pretty much our life.

I asked him about school,

about the Big City drive,

and then he asked me to close my eyes.

And I knew....

I just knew that somewhere on his drive home from the Big City he had stopped to find the magazine.

He told me I could open my eyes, and there it was. Our second copy of Flea Market Style Mag!

Good Golly Miss Molly!

From not being able to find it anywhere to having two copies!

I hugged him.

And I kissed him.

And I thanked him for loving me so much that he would exit four

 lanes of interstate traffic to make the search!

I then hid my copy.

Because it touched my heart so much that he went to that trouble,

I just didn't want him to know I had found it too :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day I posted my Spring Giveaway.

I decided since I had two copies of the magazine it would be nice to share one.

On Saturday morning J was up at daylight as always.

It is his weekend time to drink a pot of coffee, and get caught up on email and the blog,

before we head to the barn.

When I emerged from slumberland, J was sitting on the couch reading the blog.

I said goodmorning. He said he was gonna kick my behind!

He started on a spiel about how he couldn't believe I would give away something I waited on for so long!

I went to the bedroom where I had hid my copy.

I showed it to him. I told him just how much it meant to me that he actually searched for the magazine.

Because it did.

I don't write often enough about my Love for this man.

Finding this magazine is just one of a million things like this that he does for me.

And to think it me years to see this before I said, Yes and married him!

The magazine in the giveaway is the one I bought.

The magazine that J bought for me will eventually get tucked away, in a big, old trunk where I keep all things precious to my heart. If anyone else were to search through the items in that old trunk I am sure they would wonder why some were in there.

But each thing has so meaning.

Like a magazine bought for me with pure, utter Love....

I hope you have this kind of Love in your life...."

xo,

Misha

*******************************

(Misha's give-away is now over)

Dear Readers,

I've had the most amazing time out and about doing events and book signings and television appearances for FMS, and what a lovely and warm and enthusiastic response we have had; old friends, really... just like sitting down with old friends.

Shoppers and dealers recognize Jenny and me all the time as we are out shopping and hunting for treasures. I always enjoy chatting and catching up, especially when readers have such fond memories of certain stories or feel like they know us. To me, its the whole point of it all: to connect and reconnect with like-minded people who have and feel passion for the very simple things in life. Thank you for contributing and gathering and reveling in what we created in FMS.

Life is like a market basket, and we choose all the things that we want to taste and experience. The flea market holds the same possibilities. We hope that we have opened your eyes to those possibilities, and that you turn the pages over and over again to see and feel all it has to offer. And please, if you see me in a shop or in the field collecting items for my next great project, don't hesitate to engage a conversation...

I never mind catching up with old friends.