Secondhand News: Treasures from the Nashville Flea Market

A little while back I shared some photos from my adventures at the Nashville Flea Market. I found some great things and thought it might be fun to share some of my new treasures with you! I've been sourcing books for my Esty shop (excited to open soon— ahhh!) and I definitely hit the jackpot this time around. I really haven't been spending much money lately but I did find a few other small things while I was out, too.

1. The Three Musketeers— a gift for a friend
2. Handkerchiefs, a beautiful serving spoon, and a page from an old book
3/4. Some beautiful books for the shop!
5. A vintage valentine I sent to my best friend
6. An awesome wooden crate
7. Even more lovely vintage books

Needless to say, I'm on a book buying restriction currently. But I had to acquire a good bit of stock because of my ~creative process~. Instead of making one book or journal at a time, I like to take 5-10 books and complete phase one on each, then phase two, and so on. Then I feel really productive because I finish a handful at once— kind of like an assembly line.
(For those of you that are new here— I make blank journals and sketchbooks using old + repurposed materials. I know not everyone approves of "destroying" books or vintage goods, but I see beauty in taking old discarded items and breathing new life into them. These covers and inside illustrations are so beautiful— I hate to think of them spending the rest of their lives on a sad thrift store shelf. I love that I can carefully dissect and refill them with fresh crisp pages so they are ready for someone new to love them. . . At least that's my sappy dream!)
Side note from thrifting: I'm having a lot of fun working on branding + packaging + photo ideas for my shop. It's been a goal to sell my handmade books for a long time now and it feels nice to finally see it all coming together. I can't wait to keep sharing this journey with you! (Anyone have any smal business tips for me?!) Or have you found any good secondhand finds recently? Let me know in the comments— or if you've blogged about it then leave me a link so I can see all the vintage goodness!

Secondhand News: Our Vintage Sectional

Hello, hello! How do you guys like this vintage sectional we found recently? Nick and I have been looking for a new couch since we moved to Nashville (uhhh— ten months ago! eesh, time flies!) and we finally decided to narrow our search to only sectionals a few months back. We still had a hard time finding anything in our price range + style though so we were beginning to think there wasn't anything out there for us.
Then we found this bad boy on Craigslist and fell in love! It's worn around the edges and the tinsel is missing in some places, but we love it just the same. Two wonderful ladies sold it to us— they bought a giant new sewing machine and didn't have room for this anymore. They originally purchased it from someone in the neighborhood who owned a lake house and told me it was made only a few hours away in Chattanooga, Tn.
I found some neat tags in the couch and immediately set to researching (. . . that's my fancy name for googling). I haven't found any info on the Jackson Manufacturing Co, Inc or the Nashville Chair Co. yet though. But I did have some luck when I started to look for "Celanese" upholstered pieces. This is some type of fabric that I am guessing was popular around the time this couch was made.
So once I started looking for that is when I found this Sears ad from 1961. I don't think mine is the exact couch— the triangle markings are kind of similar though. Also, the four pieces that make up the sectional are shaped exactly the same as the orange couch so it's just something neat to ponder!
So there she is! We've lived here almost a year and finally decided to put in some effort to make the space feel more like "us". I can finally say that we are creating a fun and inspirational place to live. I recently mentioned that I wanted to share more personal things with you on this blog, so this is the beginning of a new series called "Secondhand News". It's named after the Fleetwood Mac song of the same title and will feature vintage/used/new to me goodies that I find.
Buying vintage + used is a huge part of my life so it's going to be fun to share all the neat things I find on a regular basis. Plus, it's always fun to peek into someone else's home and see where they live. So welcome to my home, I can't wait to see you again!

Ps— If you post about your thrifty finds then you should join Sandra's twice monthly linkup to find fellow vintage lovers! Happy thrifting! 

The Lone Ranger: A Pop Up Book

Last summer I took a bookbinding class that focused on pop ups, interactive, and moveable books. It was taught by Carl Barton so it was not only incredibly fun— but extremely informative as well. Ever since then, I've made it a point to keep an eye out for neat pop up books when I'm out thrifting so that I can "study" them. They're mostly children's books so far, but I have a small growing collection of pop ups in my studio now. I thought it would pretty selfish of me to keep them all to myself, so today I am sharing one of my favorites with you! I'm sorry if this post takes awhile to load for you— there are four animated GIFS I made to show you how some of the interactive parts work so you'll have to scroll slowly— I promise it's worth it though!



How do you feel about pop up books? I just think they are incredible! Sometimes I feel a teensy bit bad for buying them all up from the children's books sections butttttt they are kinda like textbooks for me. But like really fun, inspirational textbooks that you actually want to read. I want to I'm going to create a series of pop up greeting cards so I can practice specific paper engineering techniques and learn how to better incorporate them into books. I'm pretty excited about it and they'll be available in my Etsy shop when it opens!

Ps. Do gifs remind anyone else of the newspapers in Harry Potter? (omg i'm obsessed. . . )

My Favorite Thrift Find Is . . .

How amazing is this handmade pin cushion chair? You may have seen it in these photos of my studio. I found it at a thrift store while searching for glassware so I could make my own cake stand. At first I thought it was made out of paper but once I turned it over I was pleasantly surprised. . .

Somebody made this from a soda can! I started researching and discovered that I'm not the only person smitten with these tiny furniture pieces. Apparently they are relatively easy to find but rarely sought after. If you want to learn to craft your own then unfortunately you'll have to spend a lot of money on one of the only books that tells you how to make them— womp, womp. However, if you just want to snag one for your own desk (or dollhouse!) then you can search for a vintage one on Etsy.

This little guy is perfect for me since I bind my own books and practice embroidery. I can keep all my needles off the floor and in one place. He seriously might be my favorite thrift find ever. Have you thrifted anything neat and useful lately? Leave it in the comments or join the linkup below so I can check it out!