Springfield Flea Market & Vintage Junk Extravaganza

Sorry this has taken me a few days to get posted, but being a wife and a mommy comes first so I've been working on it as I have time.  This week has been a little busier than usual, too, because I've had a few Etsy sales so I've been spending more time than usual doing packing and shipping.  Exciting!

But....I just had to share a little about the Springfield Flea Market & Vintage Junk Market Extravaganza!  I had SO much fun!  9 hours of Junker/Picker heaven!  We hit a good majority of the booths in those 9 hours, but no way did we see them all.  You really need a good 2 days for this. 

My friend and I both love junkin,' so months ago I told her we should plan a trip to the Springfield show since we're only an hour and a half away.  She knew of 2 more friends that would love to go and we made a day of it.

That's me on the far left, my junkin' friend, her sis-in-law, and on the far right is Rachel from The Olde Farmhouse on Windmill Hill.  If you haven't visited her blog before you must stop by soon.  She does some really great projects and recently did a gorgeous master bedroom makeover.

There were thousands of booths and SO much eye candy to admire, but I think I had the most fun digging through bins and bowls of rusty crusty junk.

We found the Junk Market tent and there sure was some cute stuff there.  I love their Junk Beautiful books and I even came face to face with Sue Whitney, but while I was working up the courage to ask for a picture with her she scooted off to the Folk barn for a vintage Bingo game they had planned.  Lesson learned - never hesitate, just go for it.  : )

I snapped a few pictures of beautiful things I would have loved to bring home with me, but if I had any hope of continuing to have a happy marriage they had to stay put.  Hubs made it very clear that we have a big move coming up in a year and I should not be "dragging home any big junk."  : )

This wooden seed box with metal trays was to die for.

I loved all the little compartments on this and the mix of wood and industrial looking metal.

My favorite piece of the whole day was another combination of wood and metal, vintage and industrial.  I didn't take a picture because the guy who made it was standing right there and I didn't think he'd want me taking pictures of his creation.  But it was SO awesome.  The bottom had drawers and cabinets that were made by the Hoosier company and it was about 6 feet long.  Then they had run metal pipes up and over it and had two industrial cage lights hanging from the pipe.  Hard to explain, but very cool.  I would have loved to have it as a kitchen island.

This old elevator door was so cool and would have made the neatest headboard, dontcha think?

I found the Folk barn (done by Folk magazine).  It was full of lots of neat things.

Including this old truck.  I love old trucks so I couldn't resist snapping a picture while I sat on one of their hay bales resting my poor aching feet a bit.

I came across this piece at the very end of the day and LOVED it!  Y'all know I love red to begin with, and I love me some old soda crates, and I love when things are repurposed in a unique way and in this case the old crates were made into drawers.  It combined all of my loves and I was wishing upon a star I could "drag" it home with me.

Maybe some day I can attempt to make something similar.

I didn't get any more pictures than that for two reasons: 1) I was too busy having fun, & 2) my camera was in my backpack and the further the day went the more my arms got sunburned and it hurt to take it off and on and have the straps scrape over my sunburn.  But I did suffer through the pain a few times just for you.  Don't you feel special now?  : )

So, here are all my treasures from the day.

A little wooden drawer - $5.  I bought this with the intention of putting wide mouthed canning jars in each divider and using it as a utensil holder in the kitchen.  Turns out it was a bit too big and chunky for that, but I'm sure I'll find another use for it's cuteness.  

The other box has vintage Pyrex test tubes - $4.  I've seen some really cute things done with these so I intend to keep a few for myself and list the rest in my shop.

Old baseball - $3.  Someday I'd like to do my son's room in a vintage baseball theme and this would be perfect for that.  

After dinner mint tin - $2.  It was just one of those things that I don't know why I liked it but it appealed to me and the price was right.  

Old keys and rusty crusty hardware (I have more, I just didn't add it all to the picture) - $8.

Feed sack - $4.  I like that it's Ohio themed because I like for my decor to have memories and meaning and someday this will hold memories of our time in Ohio after we've moved away.

Minnow Bucket - $6.  I saw tons of these but most were priced in the $15-$25 range, so I snatched this one up for only $6.

Galvanized flour bin - $4.  I'm thinking this would make an incredibly cute container for my homemade laundry detergent.

Canning rack - $4.  Again, most of these I saw were priced $15-$20, so I was happy with $4.  I plan to put it on the porch with some little potted plants.

Metal paper bin - $4

Bingo cards - $2  I saw these used in different displays throughout the day and thought they were so cute.  Right after I paid $1 each I found them for .25 each in another booth.  Oh well, you win some, you lose some.

Old thermometer type thing - $4 (I see a reoccurring theme here with the $4 price tag.  I guess it was because most of these things were marked $5 and I offered $4.)

I say "old thermometer type thing" because that was what I thought of it as when I bought it.  I had no idea of it's value or even what it really was, I just knew I liked it.  Turns out it's an antique French Baume Hydrometer, used for measuring the density of liquids compared to water.  I'm still not sure of it's value as I can't seem to find anything that's identical to it.  We found similar ones, but with American/English writing on them, whereas this one has what I'm assuming is French.  If anyone has any info on it I'd love to hear about it.

Admission - $7

Price of food for the day - $23.

Total spent on treasures - $50.

A day spent with friends and junk - priceless.

P.S.  I'm hosting my first giveaway!  Join in the fun {here}.

                                           

Linking up to:

Saturday Nite Special - Funky Junk Interiors