where the fleas are

Outdoor yard sales are over but in this country flea-markets are organised and kept indoors so we can hunt for treasure during the 6 months of snow and darkness too.
They are indoor spaces where sellers can hire a unit and are given a number to write on each price ticket, so the stalls don't need to be manned. Opportunities for haggling are seldom but things are usually cheapy cheapo anyway.

Above is an exceptionally nice example of an indoor flea-market near us - the rest of the local hunting ground is more utilitarian-looking.

So what's been hunted lately? Well, I'm gonna show you some random fleas.


I scored a great big 60's woollen blanket for a fiver - outstanding quality, great colours and spotless too!
It was made in Finland by Villayhtymä Oy and designed by someone called Aune Gummerus.

Look at that great big home crafted coat hanger with the hammered iron hook - I was amazed to find it in the take-for-free bin...!
My eyes were drawn to its irregular shape and accented woodgrain. I swooped down on it straight away and only admired it extensively at home.
It is a lovely object, the photo doesn't do it much justice... The other hanger is there just for scale.

I've been looking for interesting orphaned crockery and cutlery ever since we've got an own kitchen here. These espresso cups and saucers make me quite proud of my mismatching skills...

The 50's cup with the gilded handle is unmarked but is a fine bone china - it's my fave cup to drink my morning espresso hit from. The chunkier cup is Tams of England. The blue rimmed saucers are German porcelain, the red rimmed ones are Czechoslovakian.

Then I got some things that I don't usually get: a couple of wide 80's hair bands. The reason is that I found some decent sized pieces of soft-as-butter merino sheepskin and decided to make some earmuffs for myself and possibly as gifts.
Hopefully I can marry these items together into earmuffs - it's already subzero and snowing over here!

I also found a length of mustard cotton jersey - I'm planning to make it into a top.

The kitchen is always good to thrift for - this painted wood handled potato masher, a cheese plane and a french Mouli cheese grater (just like the one Amélie uses in the film) will be used well surely.

The kitchen utensils were practically free because we bought them alongside a rag rug from the local antiques dealer. When my boyfriend comes with me to shop at this dealer's store, we always get lots of discount - it seems to be a man's world in there...

We had a runner for the hallway on the wishlist for a while now and were happy to find this 3 meter long rag rug for a tenner.
I show you the corner of it - our hallway is very dark and the pictures didn't come out well.
Next thing to thrift is a good overhead lamp, I guess!

flower art from Poland & from New Mexico

I've been lucky enough to win wonderful things - have I mentioned that yet? wink, wink... 

And not just any lucky thing, but beautiful art made by amazing artists, and both in a flower theme!

Julia's parcel to me was filled with pressed flowers, tiny hand-painted stickers and handmade paper.

She writes her dreamy blog The Sheer Stories about delicate photography and nature-inspired creativity. 

She gave away a wall hanging that she and her equally talented carpenter boyfriend made. It's now hanging in our living room, adding a touch of Polish country home like hers to the thrifted eclectica of ours.

Julia is incredibly creative and she shares all of it on her blog. See how she makes citrus peel candles, or different things out of flowers like natural ink or ice cream.

Shortly after, I received  another piece of flower art - this time all the way from New Mexico - and what came through my letter box was an original watercolour by the amazing Geninne!

She was giving away this unique piece of hers, with a bar of gourmet chocolate and a sweet paper posy in tow, to celebrate her birthday on her blog.

I'm very excited to own a piece by her; I'm looking for the perfect frame to frame it in.

The pink pepper chocolate is delicious! We've been enjoying it with friends and family. I still have a few squares left but probably not for long, it goes too well with my afternoon coffee....

If you ever wondered what does the creative space of a modern New Mexican artist look like, see Geninne's sunny home studio here.

One bloggie thing I always look forward to each month is her calendar wallpaper, always illustrated with her favourite flora & fauna.

She collects vintage postal ephemera which she uses ingeniously in her art.

Thank you both Julia and Geninne for your amazing giveaways! All of your precious handcrafted gifts have come to a very appreciating home.

a bird, some bearded ladies & Soviet crockery

Today's finds are about simple pleasures. 

I've found a sweet little hand carved wall plaque capturing a bird perched on a twig. The wood is extremely lightweight, I wonder what sort of wood it might be... balsa? I find its naivety and obvious hand-craftedness lovely and interesting. 

On the reverse, there is evidence of the carver practicing his or her craft; plus a resourceful example of how to hang pictures: piece of leather and thumb tacks.

The following pieces of tableware were found on separate occasions, but I photographed them together because they seem to mark the beginning of a spontaneous collection...

They are all by the Russian Konakovo Porcelain Factory and most bear the stamp Made in USSR.
I like certain Soviet Era designs, so I was quite happy to come across plates and bowls this lovely.

They seem to pop up quite often around here and are not very pricey at all - each piece were between 50 cents and a euro - so I'm hoping to be able to grow my collection without restraint.

We love our coffee. We love our espresso in the morning and our decaf americano in the afternoon. And we like to store our precious ground beans in good airtight tins.

I picked up this gem from 1976 for cheap - I suppose it was priced down due to the tarnish.
But guess what - on the inside it's perfectly impeccable and the tarnish on the outside is in perfectly funny places.

This way we get our coffee from not just a lovely vintage tin adorned with lovely art nouveau ladies - but from a lovely tin adorned with ladies who sport a 'tash and a beard!

What a great thing to be looking at first thing in the morning - they make me smile every time.

zombie come, zombie go - the Texas-Pori exchange

I've signed up to a creepy craft swap back in August. Namely, the Zombies in Fairytale Land swap hosted by countess Val de YarniGras.

Like a good mad professor I laboured over my zombie with a mix of love and obsession, then sent it on its way to Texas. The deal was that someone else in Texas will do the same and replace my crooked creature with their very own mad creation.

And that is exactly what happened.
You've already seen a sneak peek here - let me fill in the gaps now and finally show you the creature that I have brought to life from my ghoulish master plan with my skill of monstrous design.

 

So can you guess which fairytale character I made into a zombie? Clue: her proof of identity is half a pair of glass slipper....

Then the postman came and handed a HUGE box to me. Presenting the goodies inside was zombie Snow White who has the best Tim Burton-esque stare and the softest knitted hands - she is very attached to her poison apple even though I told her she probably ended up dead because of it...

The Texan mad professor was Kerry Ann and she revealed how she crafted her creature in this account here. There were many more creatures in this swap; you can view the zombie line-up over here.