Adventure in Vintage Findings

Because I love, love “old” things, the use of vintage ephemera in art (journals, canvas, birch boards, tags) is so much fun for me.

I decided, in my infinite wisdom, that we (my hubby and me) needed a getaway, and my “excuse” for a trip was to find some vintage things that I could use in my art. Now, this is different from “going antique-ing” in my mind, because we weren’t looking for “antiques” such as furniture or household items to refinish. We were searching for vintage books, music, postcards, etc.

Our stops included some shops in northern Illinois and in Clarksville, MO (where the flooding of the Mississippi River gave us more adventure than we had actually anticipated). We were in seven shops in all, and I was so tickled that we were actually able to find exactly some of the things I was looking for. Here are some pics of our adventure, including my “haul.”

First stop—always a Starbucks!

Carter’s Cottage in Dekalb, IL

Authentic Mediterranean food is one of our favorites! Mediterraneo in Dekalb.

Decisions, decisions!

The Orange Blossom Lemonade was to die for!

Authentic Gyro, yum!

Hawala and Baklava

Another shop in Dekalb

Headed to Clarksville, MO—this can’t be good!

Eight miles out from Clarksville, we realized we were going to have to be creative. But finding alternate routes around Missouri highways has never been too challenging for Russell!

We had to walk around the sandbags to get to this one! It’s right down close to the river—too close, actually!

And here’s the haul:

Helen of the Old House is actually a 1st Edition, a novel by Harold Bell Wright, copyright 1921. He was most known for Shepherd of the Hills. I got it for $5. I will not be tearing it apart to use on collages!

Some of these pieces of music are too special to tear apart for collage art also! Package of 20 pieces of original sheet music: $5.00!!!!

I was especially glad to find some postcards with writing on them! I believe this packet of post cards was $4.00.

(inside the miniature Sears catalog)

(inside the “pocket calculator”—love this little book, about the size of a #8 tag! Hmmmmmm)

This was an unexpected find! Mother’s Dessert Rose Franciscan Ware came to me, and I was thrilled to find this little piece, in perfect condition.

These buttons are “new” but very old—as is obvious by the pricing on them. I paid half the “list” price for them. Most of them were originally $1.10 to $2.00 per card. I also picked up a couple of vintage photos—I have tons of my own, but I will not be tearing apart or painting over any of my own. It always makes me sad to see old photos like this in an antique shop, though—someone’s family should have these photos!

The two-book music library is something I will keep in my Music Room—these were published by Silver Burdett in 1914.

(inside the reading book—love the color pictures)

(inside the do-it-yourself book)

And, so, the weekend getaway was good for the soul—and for the crafting supply inventory as well!