bubbledog blog

happy new year

boston terriers

These new Boston Terrier pillows are now available in my etsy shop.  Last year, I offered Dachshund pillows and I have worked very hard to add new breeds to my shop this year.  I now offer Beagles, Boston Terriers, Chihuahuas, Dachshunds, Maltese, and Pugs.  I hope to add at least that many more next year and be up to a dozen breeds by the end of 2016!

we will miss you poppy

Our sweet Poppy passed away quickly and peacefully on November 19th at the age of 17 years and 4 months. I was able to spend the entirety of the last two days of her life with her and I am so thankful for that. It is very hard and sad to see her go, but I am happy knowing that she lived a long and healthy life. She was a hearty, loyal, and extremely intelligent dog with a tenacious personality. Though her body slowed down over the last two years, it was only in her last week that her will seem to change. She was my first dog and was in my life just about every day since I took her home on September 28th of 1998. She will be sorely missed and fondly remembered.

2015 holiday craft show schedule

I have been busy at work getting ready for my last three craft shows of the year.  All look to be awesome events... check them out:

TRENTON PUNK ROCK FLEA MARKET HOLIDAY EDITION
November 8th, 2015   10 AM - 5 PM
Historic Roebling Machine Shop
675 South Clinton Avenue
Trenton, NJ  08611
 
INDIEMADE CRAFT MARKET
December 5th, 2015  10 AM - 5 PM
Starlite Ballroom
1221 S. Front Street
Allentown, NJ  18103

HANDMADE ARCADE
December 5, 2015   11 AM - 7 PM
David L. Lawrence Convention Center
Downtown Pittsburgh, PA

last thrift and flea market days of the summer

Well, another summer has just about flown by and I am in the final weekend before the beginning of the school year.  I decided to end the summer of 2015 in a blaze of thrift store and flea market glory.   It turned out to be a pretty good "blaze" as I managed to find a lot of stuff without a whole lot of hunting!

I spent Friday afternoon hitting up as many thrift shops that I could get to in the Bethlehem, PA area.  I managed to pick up a few cool pieces. The giant avocado green swung glass vase was my most exciting find - I used to be able to pick them up all over and haven't found one (for cheap) in a long time.  There were also some cool (and clean) Tupperware items at one shop and that is where I got the set of primary colored cups and the "pickle keeper" that you see in the back.  A couple of character glasses, some Poppy Trail plates, and a Pyrex bowl rounded out the day.  Total damage = $23.

For a normal person, that would probably have been enough vintage knick-knacks for one weekend.  Not me though; I also planned on going to the Blue Ridge Flea Market (today) in Saylorsburg, PA.  I almost opted to sleep in this morning, but forced myself out of bed.  Well, I am glad I went because it was awesome!  There was so much to get and I went a little crazy...

 

Lots of ceramics today: a Holland Mold scary (yet excellent) elf head cookie jar, a turquoise ceramic fish sugar bowl, a little bird planter, and then that awesome green and turquoise Sequoia Ware dish.  Other treasures are another mid-century glass vase, an enamel pot , and then a Hazel Atlas mixing bowl.  Besides all of that, I also found (drum roll please)...   

... all of these character glasses!!!  I don't know why I get so excited over these.  It is starting to get to the point where I can start offering a free glass to guests at my house.  I don't care though... if they are $1 or under, I will always buy them :)   These needed a lot of washing (as you can see in the picture), but it was worth it!  Total cost in Saylorsburg = $51.

So, that is it for the weekend.  I have already found a place for most everything (it seems hard to believe).  The elf cookie jar has found a temporary home in the living room:

... and the vases are joining their counterparts on the mantel:

Everything else is tucked away for another day!

pyrex score

This morning I went to the Blue Ridge Flea Market in Saylorsburg, PA.  I had never been to it before, but have always heard good things.  It was an interesting mix of vendors as some had new items and some had old; some had antique store prices and some had bargain basement garage sale prices.  The market itself was huge and it took almost 3 hours to check out the whole thing... though it was crazy hot today and I think could get that time down without frequent stops to drop things off at my car.  I managed to find everything in the pic above:  a three tier shelf that comes apart and folds up (perfect for my craft shows), two vintage mini red desk lamps (they actually work and work really well), an ET glass, a blue enamel teapot (I've never found a blue one before), a white wall lamp, an old cardboard Snyder's Pretzel container, and (count them) 9 (yes I said 9) pieces of Pyrex!  I was actually going to only buy two of the Pyrex bowls, but the dealer said that I could have them all for $2 each if I bought the whole lot... SOLD!  All in total, the day cost me $36.50 and a good amount of storage space in my house :)

I normally don't collect product packaging, but the Snyder's container was in great shape and I loved the design with the yellows and browns.  I have to think of a way to display this that it won't get damaged!

holiday weekend flea market finds

I went to a flea market in Belvidere, NJ on Sunday and wasn't sure what to expect with the holiday weekend.  I figured it would be empty or packed; in actuality (and luckily) it was closer to the latter.  There were lots of vendors and I had a lot of fun looking through what they had to offer, but I only left with a few items: a primary blue Pyrex mixing bowl, a Pepsi Collector's Series Yosemite Sam glass, a Masters of the Universe Man At Arms glass (this was probably my favorite find... never had one before), a Boynton mug, and vintage pack of long matches in a Santa container complete with puff ball nose and hat topper.  Total expense for the day = $8 :)

more thrifting

Stopped at two thrift stores in Bethlehem, PA yesterday and managed to find a couple of vintage goodies.  It was apparently a very 1970s earth toned day for me.  At the first stop, I found the Pyrex Crazy Daisy bread pan, the squirrel wall hanging (already mounted in my office), the Fire King bowl, and those three tall floral glasses (which happen to complement the three floral glasses from my last vintage finds).  The second store had tons of stuff in it, but not much that I was interested in.  After two searches, I managed to find the little golden planter, the wooded cat sculpture, and the clay bird sculpture.  Neither the cat or the bird have any markings, so I know nothing of their origins, but I just thought they were kind of cool.  Total cost for the day = $16.

fork and spoon

I have missed so many yard sales over the last month and it has really been killing me.  My job has been spilling over into nights and weekends and has really taken the "merry" out of the month of May.  That being said, today was a 100% day-off and I was able to hit a fairly large town-wide yardsale in Alpha, NJ.  I was a little rusty, but I still managed to score some goodies:

The bounty includes a little vintage desk lamp, some Amish figurine banks, three ceramic "baby" planters (I think two are from the 70s and one from the 50s), a ceramic squirrel/nut canister (I can never seem to get enough of these), three mod floral glasses, a set of Burger King Simpsons dolls, and six Raffiaware melamine ice cream dishes.  The "piece de resistance" is this decorative carved wooden fork and spoon set... I can't wait to figure out where to hang them... they are each like a yard long:

When all was said and done, the total damage for these items was $11.00! 

 

thrifting again

I haven't been to a flea market, garage sale, thrift store, or antique store in about six months and I have really been itching to get out there and do some shopping.   Pair that up with recently learning about The Pineville Tavern (which is a 45 minute drive from our house) and you've got the recipe for a thrifting expedition.   After mapping out as many thrift stores that we can find along the way, we headed out for what turned out to be a five hour adventure.  It was totally worth it... we got some amazing handmade ravioli and a lot of cool old stuff!

At the very first stop, I got my favorite purchase of the day... this amazing swag lamp.  It was a decent deal, but I picked it up at an antique store, so it was only reasonably priced... not a steal.  I am still figuring out where to hang it in my living room and I can't wait until it is up and glowing.



Some of our thrifted goodies can be seen in the next picture.  I can say I am happy with any thrift store outing that ends with another piece of vintage Pyrex making its way into my house.  I am also in love with this ridiculous owl cookie jar.  Not sure if the glass is vintage or not, but I will add it to my random colorful drinkware collection regardless.



When all was said and done, we hit two antique stores, five thrift stores, and the tavern for lunch midway through the day.  To our surprise, our last thrift stop was near a bakery that we had never heard of called Eet Gud in Trenton, NJ.  I've been to that thrift shop dozens of times and this is the first time I ever saw this bakery (thank yelp!).  They had some really good treats and it was a sweet ending to the day!