My birthday gifts

My birthday was almost three weeks ago, but these days seems very difficult to do things just for fun, so I kept postponing taking photos of all my gifts this year. But I really wanted to have a post about my birthday haul, because I enjoy looking back at these sort of things and I always like reading about other people’s gifts, too. So, finally I post about my gifts, even if most of the photos are blurry phone pictures.

For one year already, I have a closet for my art and embroidery supplies and other such things where I had only one shelf. The rest of the closet was one huge pile of stuff, of boxes built on top of each other. I was ok with it for a while, but lately it was driving me crazy. When I needed something in a box below, I had to take out the whole pile of things and then put everything back. So, one of my birthday gifts this year was shelves for my closet. I don’t have a before photo, but this is how my closet looks like now (even with the shelves it looks kind of cluttered, but now I know where everything is and I have easy access to all my things.)

And here it is my friend Maria installing the shelves for me.

She also gave me a nice, vegan and organic hand cream (that I didn’t take a photo of) and this great black Dala horse for my collection!

And tiny succulents. 🙂

The fluorescent nail polish is from Oana, who also gave me this bunny watch that I am wearing these days.

Rodica made me this beautiful pencil wrap, were I keep my Policromos pencils. Souris likes it, too.

I also got a lot of clothes this year (from Rodica and Alina).

Oti gave me this nice notebook, with drawings of flowers inside.

I kept watching online this Edwardian bangle for a few year now. It is hallmarked for 1911 and it’s really beautiful. I bought it with birthday money from my mother. I think it belonged to the same person as my other bangle from the same period (I bought it from the same seller).

And finally, my uncle bought me these very expensive watercolors. I already started using them a bit, but I hope to find time in the second half if November to really paint with them. The colors are so beautiful and vibrant. The pocket brush was included and I was relieved to see the hairs are synthetic.

I was got chocolates from my friend at work, but those are long gone before taking a photo of them :).

 

New old things

It’s summer and so hot these days and it seems hard to me to find the motivation to do much. I almost finished some job related things and now I am free to do whatever I want, but somehow the days pass and I don’t do much. Summer is often like this to me, I feel locked out from myself, with a foggy and scattered mind. So, for now, I will only post some new things I have found, in a rare visit to the flea market, online and in a vintage shop I visit quite often.

This is a pretty needlepoint bag, in a really good shape. I’m not sure if it is from the twenties or thirties or it’s something newer (the sixties?) made in that spirit. I am actually inclined to believe it is from the twenties, but never really used or something. I will keep it in my bag, holding embroidery stuff, when I go to work in the park (I do this sometimes, meeting friends in the park and stitching while we talk and it’s one of my favorite things to do).

This is a lucky flea market find, an Egyptian scarab ring, something that I kept hoping to find. It has Egyptian hallmarks, but I didn’t research them yet. I think it’s from the forties of fifties.

Another pretty ring, made of bakelite and some sort of silver alloy.

And a snake, found online.

I added another piece to my Art Nouveau collection. This is a brass necklace with mother of pearl (a very cheap flea market find).

And a cute brass dog ring.

Button, maybe

I bought this silver object some time ago from an vintage shop. I’m not sure if it is really a button or some sort of clip or fastener for clothing. It has a hinged system on the back, that could maybe hold some fabric in between the two movable parts.  I kept searching for something similar, to see what could have been its purpose, but with no luck. I have only found a listing for quite similar objects and the seller calls them “buttons”. I wear it as a pendant and I like it a lot.

Time

These are some old hand woven fabrics we have received as gifts from a ninety years old relative of my friend. Some of these fabrics belonged to her grandmother, woven sometimes around mid-nineteen century. Really fine, intricate hand woven and died fabrics that used to adorn the heads of these unknown women or were displayed in their homes. More than 150 years old. Made by women living in a different world.

Running my fingers through the different textures and hoping that there will still be someone around on the planet 150 years from now, trying to imagine my life, my time.

First flea market in a very long time

I didn’t’ t go to the flea market in a very long time, maybe since November? It was a cold and busy winter and I didn’t have the energy or the motivation to go, even if it is one of my favorite things to do. But this Sunday was nice and sunny. It was a very good flea market day, with some good finds for my collection, with some relaxing time walking around and looking at stuff and also with some friends met there.
These are the things I have found:
An antique gold plated locket in a very good condition, with the two photos (of mother and sun, maybe) still inside under the clear celluloid). It’s my new favorite from my collection.

An old pocket watch winder that I’ll wear as a pendant.

A glass brooch ( I think it’ from the forties).

This unidentified thing (maybe some fastening for a jacket?). I don’ t know what I’ll use it for, but I liked the acorn like shape and it was very cheap, of course.

An old wood and brass knitting doll for my collection.

And a pretty silver ring.

 

Rings today

Art nouveau, art deco and a child’s ring from the eighties (or the nineties?) found in a button tin at the flea market.

Bear

This is one of the very rare toy finds in this busy time of the year. It’s from a junk store I used to like a lot, but it’s not so great anymore (too many stuff piled together and sometimes ridiculously high prices). But this old wooden bear was very cheap (around 2 Euros) and I think it’s from the twenties or thirties. It’s a nice addition to my toy collection.

After a long break

… I have finally visited the flea market again this weekend. We usually have training with our dog on Saturday lately and Sundays are the only days I can stay at home, so there didn’t seem to be a time for the flea market. I kind of missed it, even if I do have enough stuff and a break from collecting more is very useful. But this Saturday we didn’t have dog training and as winter is approaching, we thought it would be nice to have a look at the market. I have found a few very cheap things for my collections.

I have no idea what this Avios brand used to be (a quick search online shows only some flight points), but this watch keeps correct time, even if it is so scratched and seems to have been used a lot. Maybe it is from the seventies? Anyway, I really like its small size and old fashioned design, so this is the watch I’m using these days.

Two more snake pieces of jewelry. Snakes are my favorite motif, so I was glad to find these. Both are silver and old, I think. 

A new piece for my brass Art nouveau pendants and brooches collection. This is a very tiny pendant/charm.

I don’t think this bracelet is vintage, but it is nice. I gave it to my friend.

Linking up with Vintage Bliss Tuesdays.

Snake

I bought this ring online this summer to reward myself for an exam I successfully took. I looked at it for at least one year before buying it, even if it wasn’t expensive really, but somehow I couldn’t justify another ring that it’s not  a bargain. It has two mystery hallmarks, that I don’t know how to research, so I cannot be sure how old it is. Maybe it is from the seventies? Maybe older? Anyway, it is really nice and very comfortable to wear, it didn’t leave my finger since I bought it.

Linking up with Vintage Bliss Tuesdays.

Rat

I have bought this little figurine a long time ago at the flea market. The seller had a few different ones, with different Chinese zodiac animals. I chose the rat because I really like rats. Now, I regret not buying a few more, they were really cheap. By accident I had stumbled across an online listing of the rest of them. The re-seller listed them as malachite with silver and says they are from the twenties. I don’t know what to think about their age although they might be old. I am almost certain the metal is not silver even if it does have a Chinese hallmark, but the green stone could maybe be malachite. And the details are really nice. Anyway, I like having this rat on my book shelves.

Linking up with Vintage Bliss Tuesdays.