Flea Market Finds

At a flea market, I bought two awesome items. First, I got this utterly unnecessary compact mirror…but it’s so cute. I love the simple blue, white and gold design that feels very 1950s (but I’m not sure how old it is).

When it’s opened there’s obviously the mirror and a place for the puff.

There’s a little button that opens to the powder compartment below. Everything is intact, but the outside closure is slightly askew so it has to be closed “just so.” I got it for $10 and I’m not quite sure what to do with it. It’s not the most usable item, as I don’t need to carry around a heavy mirror/compact.

I also got this metal paper organizer for $10. I’ve never seen anything quite like it. There’s a clasp at the top that can be raised so the organizer can be expanded out. It has metal tabs to organize vertical lettersize papers. It’s so simple and utilitarian—I love it.

Trashed Tin

Throughout the month of December there was a fairly steady influx of holiday food at work; there were fruit baskets and boxes of chocolates and baked goods, and while some came in disposable packaging, others came in reusable ones.

More than likely, most (if not all) of the packaging got thrown away. Most of it I wouldn’t have had an issue with it being disposed of (e.g. anything made of paper). However, one afternoon I opened the trash can to throw something away and I saw this tin sitting on top of the pile and thought, “Why is this being thrown out? It’s perfectly good." 

I’m not very interested in metal tins in general, but I thought it was quite wasteful to throw this one out. It’s a fairly cute and festive tin; it’d be great to use as packaging for Christmas presents or to hold homemade cookies. So I salvaged this trashed tin, washed off the coffee grinds from its exterior and brought it home. This coming Christmas is quite a ways off, but I’ll be ready for it with my “new” tin.

Letterpress Letters

Recently I went to an estate sale that had a lot of paper goods (e.g. old books, magazines, posters and other paper paraphernalia), as well as old designer items. I’m sure it was pretty picked over by the time I got there, but I did get some wooden letterpress letters that I thought were cute.

There letterpress letters were in boxes that were pretty grimy; there was a layer of dust and ink residue on the letters (so my hands were rather black by the time I was through handling them). There were different sizes of letters, some fairly small (around an inch high), while others were larger (around four inches high). So it was difficult to find letters in the same height, and there was definitely a surplus of certain letters, while others were practically non-existent.

My main plan was to have the letters “X” and “O”, but somewhere along the way (after I’d paid for them), I lost my “O.” [Pause.] Super lame. Oh well. [Sigh.]

In addition, I picked up a metal letterpress piece. There were boxes of these too, likely for advertisement (I saw logos and vintage clip art). I picked out a discount stamp that I thought was pretty cute. Once again, I don’t need any of this stuff, but I do think they’re interesting.

Vintage Printing Plates

My friends and I ended up going to an estate sale (my first one ever) and I could easily see how attending these could become an addicting habit, because every one is different and treasures could be found at any one of them. I admit it was a bit strange walking into someone’s home and looking through belonging that had been kept, used and perhaps even cherished; and while there were moments of discomfort (since death is never comfortable), overall it was an interesting experience.