~ANTIQUE SHOPPING IN OKLAHOMA - Anniversary Bliss~

OLD THEATER - NOW AN ANTIQUE MALL

Purcell, Oklahoma

If you've followed my Blog for very long then you know that my Mr. AGPMan and I celebrated our anniversary last week! Since it fell in the middle of the week and we have a trip planned later in the month to travel South, we decided to spend the day doing something we both love!!! That would be JUNKING!

Since we only had one day we didn't want to go far...so we decided to drive towards two different Oklahoma towns! Purcell and Ardmore!

ANOTHER SWEET SHOPPE in Purcell

Purcell is about a hour from my home in Edmond, Oklahoma, and they have wonderful Antique Shoppes there! I hadn't visited Purcell in a long time and it was a huge treat!

AND ONE MORE - ALL NESTLED DOWNTOWN

Purcell proved to be an amazing place to shop. They had three different (and large) Antique Malls and the two we stopped into were simply WONDERFUL...and then we saw THIS on the front of the Mall that once housed the town's movie theater...

~~~~~CLOSED~~~~~~

No Explanation! Not lunch time. Not a Holiday. Just not OPEN on a regular day! ERRRR....

SWEET FADED BOOK - 75%OFF...TOTAL PRICE: $1.25

The two Malls that were open had wonderful sales! I snagged this sweet pinkishy old book for a little over a dollar! I'm going to read it, too! (I'll let you know if it was any good!)

I also found...

SWEET VINTAGE DRESSER - CIRCA 1925

This charming old Dresser from the mid 1920's. The date is on the back of the mirror which soooo helps when trying to determine just how old something is! Priced $95. They took $50 (must have been a slow day)

I have something SPECIAL to tell you about SOON regarding just WHERE this Dresser is going to end up!

ARDMORE, OKLAHOMA

Next we drove onto Ardmore, Oklahoma, which is about two hours from my town and about halfway to Dallas! Many years ago, back when I owned a brick and mortar Shoppe, on our way to MARKET in Big D we would ALWAYS stop over in this neat little town to peruse their antiques and vintage offerings. Sadly...the economy has hit them hard and we could only find ONE store still open! It was fabulous though...

FLORAL EASTER BONNET - ( 4 ME, PRICELESS!)

I found this AMAZING old hat complemented with the SWEETEST vintage millinery blooms! This is one I AM KEEPING! I just have THIS THING about aging HATS...especially those with flowers. I also bought lots of sweet old laces pieces (perfect for sachets and such!) and two rolls of vintage ribbon. One cream and one blush pink.

How do I find such 2die4 things?

I have no clue!

VINTAGE SEWING BOX - AGE UNKNOWN

Now, when I eyed this vintage Sewing Box it quickly set my head to WONDERING...the fabric covering it looked STRANGELY FAMILIAR to me!

So...I popped off the lid just to double CHECK to see if it was REALLY OLD!

It was...

VINTAGE SEWING BOX

Sooo~I thought for a minute...where had I SEEN this print before!???

And then I remembered...

It is THIS...

RALPH LAUREN'S SOPHIE BROOK FLORAL

I'm not SURE how I feel about Mr. Ralph and his Company marketing this charming design (it's discontinued by the way, but it was once offered up in blue stripe, taupe stripe and yellow stripe) and NOT letting us all know it was an authentic vintage print reproduced on fresh new cotton! And I only THOUGHT it was something HE dreamed up in his little head!

Hope you enjoyed the short tour! If you ever make it to Oklahoma I promise you'll want to come back for more! We have an amazing State...you'll love it here!

Blessings to you as shop for things you TRULY LOVE...Rebecca

~WHAT PAINT IS BEST FOR COTTAGE FINDS and Other Vintage Treasures?

CHARMING HAND PAINTED CABINET

I started selling my wares on eBay in late 2002 and offered up my first hand painted item early that next year. Although I primarily sold hand-sewn pretties in the beginning, I found myself growing a bit tired of only offering things made of fabric. The thought of including hand painted finds was very exciting to me... So~ that is what I did. I learned to paint!

The first few things I painted for sale were simply dreadful. THEY WERE! I'm not showing you the photos of the first keepsake box I painted because it was honestly that bad... What I have learned since that day I didn't get out of a book. Instead I figured things out through trial and error and to spare you wasted hours and heartache I'm going to share with you some of what I've learned.

1. Be it wood or metal, PRIME FIRST! I've shared this with you before and I can't stress to you enough how important it is to NOT skip this step. I use ZINSSER PRIMER for all things wood because it is the best at blocking old stains and those colors from China that ALWAYS bleed through. Nothing blocks everything, but this brand is the BEST I've found! If you are painting metal, use a metal primer from Krylon or something comparable (like Rustoleum).

2. When painting wood you have the option after priming to either use a flat paint or a satin paint. If you opt to brush paint (which I love!), almost any Behr Paint is good (Home Depot) or Valspar (Lowe's). I use Interior Paint as almost everything I paint is for the inside. But...you can use exterior...it's up to you. I personally use Satin. I like it better and it has a very soft sheen. Flat absorbs my decorative paint far too quickly for my liking~ When I use satin paint I lightly sand with an extra fine sandpaper. This helps prepare my item for decorative painting.

3. When painting metal (anything from old lamps to jar lids, etc.) remember this. Most of the quality spray paint on the market today just recently changed. Krylon (spray paint) could once be used on objects within minutes of the initial painting and then recoated as one desired. Not any longer! Now if you wait more than an hour to repaint you are instructed to wait about two days for the paint to cure before recoating again. If you don't WAIT then you run the risk of your painted object wrinkling and flaking. IT WILL WRINKLE and fixing it is a pain (and that is if you even can)! Trust me. I hate the new stuff and I rarely use it anymore. If I do then I'm VERY careful. Krylon comes in lots of colors so you'll have many to choose from. Additionally...I've grown VERY frightened by the poisonous fumes flying through the air I breathe. I value my health more than ever these days... so, if I can paint with a brush, I do! My health is worth the extra time it takes and I love the results...

BRUSH PAINTED - TRUE COTTAGE DECOR

4. I use sponge brushes! Again, I've shared this before and sorry for the repeat to those of you who have heard me say this over and over! They are cheap, give a good coating with less brush marks and when you are finished (or it gets gunky), toss it out and grab a new one. They come in lots of sizes! I like Lowe's Sponge Brushes better than Home Depot's...they are not made by the same manufacturers!

5. Craft Paint is pretty much to your liking. I use several brands but my favorite is Folk Art. I love how it blends and I love being able to custom mix/blend my favorite shades. I do not use white craft paint or other craft paints to base coat my items. I was never happy with how it covered so now I only use paint with the latex additive.

6. If you like things "shabbied up" then after your item is thoroughly cured you can rough up the edges, corners and trims. I love this look but I know some of you do not. When something is heavily distressed it will show a great deal of the wood (or original coloring underneath). Light distressing usually shows only the bare minimum of wood. You can distress metal, but be careful. Metal (even when primer is used) can sometimes chip when you don't want it too...

SIMPLY PRECIOUS CLOCHE

7. Clear coat! I use Polycrylic non-gloss sealer. If even a satin sealer offers up a bit too much shine I use a LIGHT dusting of spray sealer (Krylon). Spray sealers will change the color of most brush paint!!! Remember though...nearly all the sealers out there will YELLOW! To this day I haven't found one that doesn't! Do not use VARNISH... If you are afraid that your newly painted pretty might turn color...skip the sealer and just use wax.

8. One other option for painting your pretties is to use a paint gun. When I have lots and lots of pieces to paint this is the option I use. However, using a spray/paint gun is a huge mess and the clean-up is rarely worth the results. I still love brush painting best!

Hope you enjoying the information about painting! Now...go out and get your favorite paint and get started!

Blessings to you as you wile away the hours painting your own special finds...Rebecca