Like I said, I’m becoming a resident vintage and antiques expert at Listia. Recently I was helping identify an item listed as “Tell Me What This Is” — headlines like that will always pull me in. *wink* I immediately knew what it was, as I own several of these items myself. It’s a rug making [...]

A vintage kit for making paper Valentines, circa 1940s, from Gibson, the greeting card company. This kit was to make eight different Valentine’s Day cards doe “kiddies.” Inside the box (with charming graphics) there are eight cardboard bases for the cards, eight lace Valentines, two sheets of die-cut graphics to decorate the cards with, and, [...]

If you’re like me and enjoy collecting and have a creative streak, you’ve probably faced the issue of balancing your delight in making things with your collector’s desire to keep the integrity of your antiques and vintage items. While this clash of interests often presents a quandary for all artsy folk who collect, my primary [...]

If you haven’t already heard of Listia, let me introduce you to your next obsession. Listia is a relatively new kind of online auction site — where you bid on other people’s stuff using credits instead of real money. We make it easy for you to give away stuff you don’t need anymore and get [...]

At an estate sale I recently was lucky enough to get this little, unassuming, antique book… Plain brown boards, penciled notes and a math problem… A slim 6 and one-half inches 3 and one-half by inches.   It may not seem appealing to you — and that, likely, is how I managed to procure it. [...]

I don’t only dig through stacks of old magazines and papers; I go through them, page by page. How else would I find this page listing Virginia Lakin publications? (More scans from that booklet here.) Found inside this 1977 Standard Doll Co. catalog, along with this page of Kate Greenaway postcards, miniature patterns, dollhouse items, [...]

Two things that are always plentiful at thrift shoppes… Partial tidbit trays or plate holders / servers… And unwanted vinyl records. (And by “unwanted” I mean they are either badly scratched or recordings so common, they are only destined for recycling or worse.) So why not put them together and make a retro-styled display piece? [...]

I have very mixed feelings about modifying or changing antique and vintage things, but when I saw this project converting plates (and a candlestick) into a jewelry holder I thought it would be a wonderful way to salvage china pieces, bring them out of the boxes and shadows and back to life. I’ve seen this [...]

People don’t always know what I mean when I talk about pencil crayons. I thought that was a pretty universal term for them. Someone assumed I was talking about regular crayons, wax crayons. But, pencil crayons are coloured pencils, not made out of wax. I’ve had pencil crayons since I was a kid. We did [...]

At Design Sponge, Haylie Waring shows us how to make sewing notions displays. Waring’s examples use ribbons and buttons, but this project could also be done with beads, lace, fabric swatches, etc. — as well as jewelry, shoe clips, pinbacks, and other bits and bobs. Beautiful to look at and, as Waring says, this offers [...]

At a local antique mall, the Moorhead Antique Mall, I spotted another idea for salvaging vintage china pieces: turning tea cup saucers into nightlights. I’ve also seen old cups (with and without saucers) turned into night lights (or night lamps), like this one by micah7: But I think that since the vertical saucers are flatter [...]

I shared this at my other blog, Things Your Grandmother Knew, but I figured those who collect cookie cutters might be like me, always looking for ways to put them to good use — when not baking. Because most of my cookie cutters are vintage, I’m still protective of them and am not interested in [...]

I like to use my vintage things, where appropriate (and sometimes I make up uses for things). I feel it really continues the life of old things. I also don’t like to let anything go to waste, even if it’s broken or damaged; but I’m especially reluctant if it was a part of my collection. [...]

Our whole family collects records, so when we see crates and boxes full of them at rummage sales we’ll often make an offer for a deal on the whole lot. Of course, when you do this, you often end up with records that can’t be enjoyed. If the records are scratched, or have schmutz on [...]

I’ve seen and sold a number of items from Saalfield Publishing Co., Akron, Ohio, before, but I’ve never seen anything like this uncut oil cloth with cats printed on it dated 1913. The entire sheet of oilcloth measures 36 and 1/2 inches by 24 and 1/4 inches. It has three cats which are to be [...]

Often at estate sales you’ll find bags of vintage hosiery; women, especially those who learned lessons of thrift from The Great Depression and wartime conservation, didn’t throw anything away. When one stocking was laddered (had runs) but its mate was perfectly fine, a lady typically kept the mate for the day when a similar situation [...]