Kane County Flea Market – with pics

I’m really going to talk your ears off this week.  I have Kane County flea market goodies to show off today.  Then Thursday I’ll be posting about some Japanese sewing (and food) that I’ve gone gaga over.  For Friday I’ll show you the 2 dozen fabric brooches I made up while playing around over the weekend with tips on how ot make them, and I’m also writing a post on some yarn fabric creations I’m playing around with.  And as SOON as Wisconsin gives me some sunshine, I’ll photo shoot the new studio since it’s looking pretty good these days.  (Even the husband came in last night to gush on how well the room is turning out)

Kane County flea market

I just love scary baby dolls. There’s something poignant about them.

But on with today’s post…The Kane County Flea Market in St. Charles, Illinois is said to be one of the larger flea markets that still specializes in antiques and collectibles.  I’ve been staying away from thrift stores just to save my money for Kane County.  They are open once a month from March through December, so this was the first market of the year.

It was SUPER crowded when we got there around 1:00 PM (an hour after they opened).  Shoulder to shoulder people.  It’s like those termite swarms in cartoons!!  They come in, buy all the good stuff, then they’re gone a couple hours later and the place is empty.  So I couldn’t take many photos because of the crowds.  I managed to get a few booths and their displays.

Vintage purses and home decorating…

Kane County flea market

I liked these wooden table legs on the ground, but they were $15 each!  Crazy high prices for junk.

Kane County flea market

Of course there are booths where people fix up vintage and junk, then sell it all pretty and shabby chic like this booth…(that’s me wearing the hat in the mirror taking the photo, kinda neat how that turned out.)

Kane County flea market

Here’s an old spinning wheel which I think was marked at $65, so you could haggle it cheaper.  I want to learn spinning fibers like my sister Lynda.  Or I would like to have this just sitting around, looking cool in my house.  Then I could say “why yes, I am a fiber artist” and people would be all “wow, that’s so cool”

Kane County flea market

There was really only one booth that snagged my attention and I bought most of my stuff from her.  She had vintage sewing items, linens, and other girly home economics things (like vintage tupperware).

Kane County flea market

Kane County flea market

Kane County flea market

So let’s finally get to the part about what I bought to take home with me.  There are about 9 yards of lace and trim here, along with a rhinestone buckle (maybe for that rhinestone cowgirl outfit I dream of?)

Kane County flea market

More wooden spools that I like to display in jars around my studio.  I think I’m done collecting these now.  I have enough.

Kane County flea market

I loved this metal belt and thought it would be better taken apart so I can use the links for other projects.

Kane County flea market

More vintage buttons, this time with some rhinestones and some rust.  Those rusty buttons are very crusty curmudgeons.  You should hear the things they said to me when I took this photo.  Curmudgeons, indeed.

Kane County flea market

And of course I bought some fabric-y stuff.  A little bit of vintage pink cottons…

Kane County flea market

A couple of flour sacks and a salt sack.  In all my thrifting I never find this stuff, but have always wanted to play with these textiles in a fabric collage or incorporate them into a larger project.

Kane County flea market

Speaking of kitchen things, my last 2 treasures were vintage aprons.  There is a sheer white, dainty one…

Kane County flea market

And this purple, white and green apron with these ladies printed on it.  The ladies caught my eye and I knew I needed this for something, someday.

Kane County flea market

And that winds down my treasure hunting at the Kane County Flea Market.  I spent around $40 on merchandise which seemed a little higher than what I usually pay at thrift stores and antique malls,  but it was also stuff I don’t usually find very easily.

After we left the flea market, my daughter and I stopped at the Mitsuwa Japanese mega-market in Arlington Height, IL for some exotic groceries.  I got more than groceries, I discovered Japanese sewing magazines!  But you’ll have to check back tomorrow for that blog post.  (I’m so excited about the Japanese stuff!  My voice gets all high pitched when I talk about it and the dog comes running like I’ve turned into some high pitch dog whistle or something.  My family is making fun of me.)

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Costuming Alice

Since I haven’t seen the other crafty sites talking about this, I’ll fill you in.

Costume designer Colleen Atwood talks about the costuming for Alice in Wonderland which comes out this Friday, March 5th.

And here’s another bit of Tim Burton trivia for you.  He has already teamed up to direct the movie version of this book which just came out this week.  Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter sounds pretty interesting.  Even though we’re all sick of vampires (those of us who started with Anne Rice have been through enough, haven’t we?)  This one peaks my interest anyway.

Now if I can just find that book used or handmade, so I don’t have to cheat on my Dottie Angel challenge.

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A list of 11 rose making tutorials

Today I’ve decided to share a list of 11 different tutorials for making and crafting roses from various materials.  Read on to see links and photos off all the lovely roses you can make… Read more…

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Etsy front page love

Toot, toot!  (that’s the sound of my own horn I’m tooting on)

The screenshot below is the front page of Etsy from last Thursday.  See the 3rd column, 2nd row?  That’s my neck ruff perched upon my daughter’s neck.

022510

After selling on Etsy for over a year, it’s still nice to finally get some front page love.  I gave up on it a long time ago.  So the reward is even sweeter now.  (I’m feeling like Sally Field with her “you like me, you really like me” speech.  Maybe because the Oscars are next week?)

My lips are getting numb, so I’ll stop tooting that horn now.

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The dark before the dawn – studio makeover progress

The dining room to studio transformation is nearing the end. The walls and ceiling are freshly painted, the baseboards are refinished, there is a new light fixture and new electrical outlets,  as well as new cabinets and shelves.  This weekend the furniture was moved in.  Now the real work begins.

studio remodel in progress Read more…

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And the rosiest winner is…

There were so many entries for the “One World, One Heart” giveaway that I decided to choose 2nd and 3rd place winners on top of the 1st place winner.  So here are the 3 commenters chosen by the random number generator…

#123 – winner of 10 roses – Gina from Threads of a Tatting Goddess blog

#51 – winner of 5 roses – Lorri from Artivity blog

#195 – winner of 3 roses – Amanda from the Amanda’s Thirty-one blog

I’ll send an email to each of the winners tonight asking for color choice and mailing address.

roses

Thank you to everybody who stopped by these past few weeks on your magic carpets.  What a whirlwind of a ride!  Hopefully some of you will come again and play for a while.  I’m now subscribed to dozens more blogs and regret I couldn’t visit all of the 1088 participants this year.

And for those who didn’t win my giveaway, there is always the free tutorial to make roses of your own, or stop by my Etsy shop and I’ll do the work for you.

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Being original on Etsy

Whether you have an Etsy shop or dream of having one someday, perhaps you should check out Gary’s fine jewelry and Stuff on Etsy to see how things should (or shouldn’t) be done.  He gets the most points for originality on Etsy, that’s fer sure.

He seems pretty touchy about his images so I won’t post any here.  (I don’t want to aggravate his rampant alcoholism or smoking habit)   Just go to his shop, read the shop announcement and look at his items.  His attention to detail is awesome – even his tags and materials are well thought out.  When life gives you lemons – make lemonade, then make a necklace out the empty lemonade can like Gary did.

Gary’s fine jewelry and stuff on Etsy

(Best laugh I’ve had all day – Thanks to the Plumb Pretty blog for pointing this out!)

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DIY roses – materials on sale this weekend at Jo-Ann

I just thought I would mention this for anyone making their own DuhBe roses.  Jo-Ann Store has the materials on sale this weekend only. Read more…

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Temptations – Progress on the Dottie Angel Challenge


Dottie Angel challenge

  • I took the Dottie Angel Challenge:
    1 month, 13 days ago
  • So here’s my status on buying only used or handmade items for myself and my home for a full year.  It’s been pretty easy so far, but this week was the ultimate temptations because I went to iKEA.  Ack!  That was a real test for me. Read more…

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    Etsy Weather Report Graph – December 2009

    As per my usual, I keep graphs of the sales statistics that Etsy publishes each month.  Etsy calls this their weather report.  I just update this post each month when Etsy publishes their sales figures.

    Sales in dollars :

    Number of items sold:

    And as always, here is the link to the spreadsheet where I keep those numbers on google docs if you want to copy and play with them yourself.  All I ask is that you link back to me if you publish what you use.

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