Blankets…

Ok, we Blackbird girls love us some wool blankets.  We kinda don’t like to sell them…because we want to keep them!  But we’ve listed some in the shop, and thought maybe ya’ll could love them, too.  Especially with this cold snap that’s hit.  So here goes — some available blankets for you to cozy up with on a chilly October night…

Vintage Tartan Travel Rug by Rally-Klad

Red, Yellow, and Black Plaid Wool Throw

Red Tartan Plaid Wool Blanket

And we’ve got many more in our personal collection…but those are just for us!

xoxo…Susan

 

Treasury Thursday: The 12 Days of Christmas

OK, so I have been a major blog slacker this week.  It was Fall Break, so I didn’t have to teach anybody and I planned a Etsy shop/Christmas shopping junk day.  It was FAB!  More on that later…

The treasury for this week is the 12 Days of Christmas.  I wanted to get a jump on holiday merch, but also, I thought it could be a fun twist on a treasury.  Here’s the highlights:

Drummers Drumming from Vintage Jewels and More

Ladies Dancing from Coming Up Roses

Partridge in a Pear Tree from Nachokitty

12 Days of Christmas Card from Crafted by Lindy

And don’t forget to buy all your Christmas and holiday gifts from Etsy!  I know the talented and AH-mazing artisans could use the support, and buying vintage is not only cool, but good for the environment!  And one of a kind!  And cheaper (sometimes…)!
Here’s the treasury, take a look! http://www.etsy.com/treasury/OTY4NDYyOHw5MjQ4MjYxNTg/on-the-first-day-of-christmas?ref=pr_treasury

Ciao! Susan

Treasury Thursday: The Mighty Oak

Fall is here, and I’ve been thinking a lot about oaks and acorns.  So for this week’s Treasury Thursday, I decided to focus on the oak.  I love the saying, “Mighty oaks from tiny acorns grow.”  It can apply to family –how the roots of our individual heritage start with one couple and expand from there — or it can apply to history — look at where the world has progressed.  And so on.  It can be translated to so many meanings because nature — not to sound too “Colors of the Wind” on you here — is the root of it all.  We all started from the tiny, the insignificant, the building blocks of life.  And we became so much more.  Here’s a few of my favorite selections from my treasury:

Vintage acorn brooch from museum of drawers on etsy.com

Vintage acorn tray from Splinville on Etsy.com

Vintage buttons from AddVintage on Etsy.com

Vintage Trees book from mitzyedith on Etsy.com

Here’s the link to see the rest of the treasury:

www.etsy.com/treasury/OTY4NDYyOHw4ODAwNTU4NjE/mighty-oaks-from-tiny-acorns-grow?ref=pr_treasury

Cheers,

Susan

Our Anniversary!

We’re very excited today at Blackbird Antiques.  It’s our one year anniversary!  We opened our shop one year ago today.  We’re so thankful to all of our customers that have made this past year really great.  We hope that we can keep the momentum going for years to come!

XOXO

Trends: Alligator

Ok, so have you heard about Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen’s alligator handbag that “flew off the shelves”?  And it was $39,000?  What??  One person was quoted in the article as saying it was “an investment piece.”  Uh….you think?  I’ve always been an alligator fan — I love the pattern of the skin.  But if people are paying that much for it, then I think we’ll probably see alot more of it around in the coming months.

Well, if MK and A can sell $39,000 alligator bags, then surely these Etsy vintage examples should fly out of the shops!  Take a look at the Blackbird Girls’ picks for best gator pieces:

1940s purse from Retro Kitten Vintage on Etsy.com

Faux alligator sunglasses from ifoundgallery11 on Etsy.com

Alligator pumps from tammym1972 on Etsy.com

Alligator handbag from mysweetiepiepie on Etsy.com

And in case you want the real thing:

From ASalvageCollection on Etsy.com

Treasury Thursday

The Blackbird Girls are going to start a couple of new traditions with this blog.  The first unveiling of a new tradition  is of Treasury Thursdays.  We LOVE treasuries on Etsy.  If you haven’t done one, you should.  It’s so much fun!  And addictive!  So, we are going to feature our treasuries on this blog every Thursday.

We pride ourselves on the fact that we have an unerring nose for trends. Generally, if we like it now, it’s going to be big in 6 months to a year.  We’ll see it in Country Living without fail.  It’s our weird talent — what can we say!  (Now, getting dried beans to actually cook all the way through — that, I cannot do.  To each his own, I guess.)

So for our first post, I present “A Grim Suitor”.  Inspired by Emily Dickinson’s poem, “Death.”  Oh, also kind of in honor of Halloween.  It’s our favorite holiday.  I’ll give a few examples of what’s in the treasury, and then I’ll give a link at the end.

Antiques Doctor's Bag from bellusvanitas on etsy.com

Key Pocketknife from mrd74 on etsy.com

Antique Beaver Top Hat from Nevermore Antiques on etsy.com

Pocket Watch from Time Travel Tea Party on etsy.com

For more goodies, take a look at the treasury!

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/OTY4NDYyOHw4MzY2MDI2NjA/a-grim-suitor

My rug featured on HGTV!

Ok, so in my previous work life I was a rug designer.  That career was cut short, but… we won’t get into the gory details.  Anyhoo, I was just casually watching a show that my dvr randomly taped on HGTV, when lo and behold! What do I see?  One of my designs being rolled out onto the floor!  The show was The High/Low Project with Sabrina Soto — you know that chick that shills her stuff for Target.   My rug was used for the high budget room design.  Designed for Biltmore, the rug is Orchard House Florali in Barley.  My working name was Floralie, but the suits thought it was better to drop the “e”.  I think the “e” makes the name prettier…oh well.  Back to the point — MY DESIGN WAS ON HGTV!!!!!

Biltmore wanted some soft contemporary/transitional rugs in easy on the eyes colors to spice up their mostly traditional catalog of products.  They thought it would be cool to take inspiration from the Montford area of Asheville, North Carolina.  Montford is an arts and crafts style neighborhood near downtown.  It’s gorgeous.  We Blackbird girls took a trip to Asheville to help me get inspired for the project.  We went to Riverside Cemetary in the heart of Montford, and there found tons of lovely headstones and other bits of carving and ironwork.  I found this Tudor rose motif that I thought could be used in a more modern, yet soft way.

So here’s where I started:

And here’s the rug:

And here’s the video:

http://www.hgtv.com/video/the-ultimate-bedroomoffice-video/index.html (the rug shows up at about 2:28)

–Susan

Fun and games!

We’ve been seeing quite a bit of vintage board games around lately.  They seem to be trending!  We, the Blackbird girls, have collected games for a while now — board games, as well as game accessories like billiard balls, bowling pins, and chess pieces.  We’re crazy about the look and motifs.  Here’s some great finds from other Etsy vintage sellers that we just LOVE!

Here comes Fall!

We’ve had a bit of a cold snap here lately.  This past weekend was just beautiful — just in time for the 39th annual Asheboro Fall Festival.  We both work at the antique mall and we were right in the thick of the action!  We had fried apple pies and cotton candy, and enjoyed watching all the people go by.

I think Mother Nature just wants one of our new coats that we’re getting ready to list in the shop!  That’s why she’s brought on the chill!  Look for these to be posted in our shop in the next few days–

     

Wow! Just getting started…

I’m teaching a multimedia class this fall, and I thought that, hey, while they’re busy with a blog, then I should finally start our blog. My friend, Rebekah, and I are the proprietors of a very busy etsy vintage shop, Blackbird Antiques NC. We also both work at a large antique mall in Asheboro, North Carolina on the weekends. To say that we like antiques and vintage would be an understatement. We LOVE anything old, strange, and dusty. If it happens to be red, well, then that’s just a bonus!

You could say we collect a few things…well, hmmm, a lot of things! Between the two of us, we have about 35 different collections. And almost all of them can be linked. For example, I collect vintage cocktail and barware. She collects trays. Now we have cocktail trays. It’s addicting, but it’s so much fun!

We want our blog to be a place where we talk about collecting, new inventory in the store, tips for getting those great vintage finds, and the sheer joy to be had from old junk.

Hope you come along for the trip with us!