Wednesday, August 04, 2010

Vintage Day on Vacation

Every summer my family visits the beautiful village of Ogunquit, ME. One of the fun things to do in Ogunquit, especially on a rainy day, is to hit the antique and vintage shops. They have everything from very high-end places with Chippendale furniture to the great "junk" malls where you can buy a box of metal thingies for $2.00. Because I've been sick, we haven't hit the stores in the past few years, but this year, even with the gorgeous weather my sister and I managed to squeeze in a visit to our favorite place, the Blacksmith's Mall, right on Route 1/Main Street. I have coveted the bench out front for years, but I'd have no place to put it. I love these antique malls where vendors rent space because you can often find similar items and compare prices. Now, I'm not going to show you everything that caught my eye, because that would be the longest post in history! I'm going to spread it out over several posts, with little themes. This post will be about the things we actually bought.
My sister stumbled upon a gorgeous example of a Wallace Nutting print right away. It was hanging in a window and she had to climb into a tiny space to see it. I've written about our Wallace Nutting collections in a past Vintage Thingies Thursday. Since it was the first thing we saw, and she doesn't like to spend money anyway, we left it and decided to go back later.
In our wanderings, I came across these great little packages of unused Christmas cards from the late 1950s in a big mixing bowl. I definitely got one of these! Don't know what I'll do with them, because you know I'm sure not cutting them up for crafts!
Meanwhile, K had stumbled on 2 more Nutting prints. One was much larger than the first, but not as pretty, and the other wasn't in as good shape. The first one we saw was not only the prettiest and in pristine condition, it was the least expensive! That was definitely a sign, so K scooped it up, and was very pleased with her purchase, knowing just where it would hang. I'm glad she bought it, because if she hadn't I probably would have gotten it even though I have no place to hang it and money is very tight for me right now. It was a good shopping day where we didn't get out of control, and each got something we really liked! Upon returning home, my sister realized she had one more Wallace Nutting print than she had thought, and the "perfect" spot to hang the new one in the grouping isn't going to work. Now a complete re-arranging of the living room artwork is underway!
For more great vintage items, be sure to visit Suzanne at ColoradoLady, our Vintage Thingies Thursday hostess!
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16 comments:

  1. I am not familiar with the artist on these prints. I really do like them. I love pretty art work. I would love to have been along with you on this trip.

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  2. Great finds! I love the Nutting prints and the vintage Christmas cards~ they'd be fun to scan and make holiday projects!

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  3. Love the cards! You can always scan them in and cut those images up.

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  4. Pretty print and I hope you'll show us the cards this winter. :)

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  5. I love the Christmas cards. It is almost that time of year. I love the Nutting prints, but they are so high in our area. Very collectible item here. Thanks for sharing, Sherry

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  6. I'm so glad you got to have an outing to one of your favorite places, that's always good for one! Love the vintage cards (read that as LOVE LOVE LOVE)! Do like Sweet Bee Cottage says above, scan them and then have fun playing with the images, over and over again. I do that all the time, love using vintage images for cards and tags.

    Happy VTT,
    Sally

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  7. WHat a fun trip. I am like you Elizabeth, I purchase vintage cards when I find them, but can not cut them up or even use them....I just save them! I can not wait to see more of your trip! Have a great VTT!

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  8. I like vintage cards. I have bought a few to use, and some to just save.

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  9. Thanks for sharing, and I'll have to look for this place the next time I am up in Maine.
    Happy VTT.

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  10. woo-hoo what fun! Very pretty print.

    Jocelyn
    http://justalittlesouthernhospitality.blogspot.com/

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  11. Nice finds. I love the cards. Hmmmm... I must get up to Maine. Haven't been yet this year.

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  12. I love Ogunquit! I try to make it up there every year--if only for the day....my family lives in the Haverhill MA area so when I go there to visit, it's an easy drive up!

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  13. I would so love a trip to Maine! Thanks for sharing your trip and finds. I love vintage cards - I definitely would have scooped some of those myself. I don't know the first thing about art/artists, but I do like that print.

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  14. I'm always on the lookout for Wallace Nutting, too. Have just one, but so enjoy it.

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  15. Love the cards! You can always scan them in and cut those images up.I like vintage cards.

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  16. Ogunquit is such a great town. Haven't been there in 10 years though!

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