Vintage Market Days

bringing the vintage experience to you…

Amy — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 17:38:46 +0000

This year has been so much more than we could have ever hoped for! One of our dreams from the beginning was to bring the Vintage experience to other communities. We are so excited to be able to expand the Vintage Market Days family to Joplin/Springfield, St. Louis and Oklahoma City…with many more locations about to be announced! Each event will have the same Vintage Market Days feel but with it’s own special touch. We still have the same goal of providing an event that is a charming weekend getaway, where you can shop for unique Vintage items in a relaxed, beautiful atmosphere. We hope that you will follow Vintage Market Days and our new licensees as they come to an area near you. If you would like more information about any of the new Vintage Market Days events in an area near you, please click on the links below:

Vintage Market Days – Joplin/Springfield…Owners ~ Tisha Rote & Marcie VanHoose www.springfield.vintagemarketdays.com

Vintage Market Days – St. Louis…Owner ~ Chanda Hakerson www.stlouis.vintagemarketdays.com

Vintage Market Days – Oklahoma City…Owner ~ Stacy Gray www.oklahomacity.vintagemarketdays.com

Dianna's Vintage Story…

Amy — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 23:39:48 +0000

When Amy asked me to write a little something about myself telling my “vintage story”, I have to admit my first thought was to hire it out(giggle)! Its really hard for me to explain how my love affair with vintage began because it’s always been there. I can remember as a little girl going to neighborhood garage sales looking for something special for my doll house that I had received from Santa himself. It didn’t stop there. Once I found something for the dollhouse, if it wasn’t exactly what I wanted I just painted it. I didn’t realize it then but I guess I was ahead of my time. If I redecorated my childhood room once I did it 100 times using items from all over the house in unique and different ways. Who new stackable milk crates had so many uses! My childhood backyard had more concrete than grass because my daddy liked everything clean and easy. He thought there was no reason anyone should have to walk in the grass to get to the shed 100 feet away. To him that concrete was all about easy maintenance to me it was the perfect foundation for my pretend “house” stretched from one end of our yard to the next. It wasn’t just a simple walkway it twisted and turned, engulfed a huge tree, and widened at the most perfect places. The best part of all was the little bit of grass in the center. Made a perfect yard for my “pretend house”. One summer afternoon guess who decided she had nothing better to do than to create a little house just for herself. Nothing in the garage or the shed or the neighbors yard for that matter was off limits! Leaving no detail undone I created my version of the perfect decor. To me that backyard was a blank canvas, to my parents, well….!! I’m sure for them it was exhausting living with me, come to think of it my sweet husband often says something very similar hmmmm! To be fair, My house is never done, I’m constantly exchanging one treasure for another! My husband has had only one request over the years when it comes to decorating our home, “could we please just go to Mathis Brothers and buy a matching set of something.” Poor guy, that will never happen. You can’t take the Vintage out of the girl. That’s what I say.

Anywho back to the story, at the last Vintage Market Days I had an aha moment. One of my favorite songs was playing over the sound system, Dream, by Priscilla Ahn. When I heard these words by Priscilla , I was reminded how full circle my life had come. “I was a little girl alone in my little world who dreamed of a little home for me. I played pretend between the trees, and fed my houseguests bark and leaves, and laughed in my pretty bed of green.” Those words took me back. Back to that little girl who loved creating vintage style but didn’t know that’s what it was called. Thinking outside the box, finding beauty in something someone else didn’t want, making something old new again.

There I was right in the middle of Vintage Market Days people everywhere, wind sweeping down the plains, exhausted!!! But at that moment I forgot how crazy the wind was and how very exhausted I was. I was reminded of that little girl back in her backyard playing “house” vintage style. Only this time it wasn’t pretend it was real! All those treasures made new again,all that concrete, the grass and those beautiful trees and……. that song, DREAM. At that moment I had no doubt, Dreams really can come true! I was right where I was supposed to be. Loving all things vintage.

My vintage story is simple, it is just something I have always done, it is something I will always do, it’s a large part of who I am.

Lucy and Ethel

Amy — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 20:05:19 +0000

Dianna and I get tickled sometimes at how God put us together to do this business. She likes to say that we are like Lucy and Ethel (I’ll let you guess which one is Lucy and which one is Ethel!). Things get a little nutty during the events and the comedy relief is well, just that…A RELIEF! We joke that there are times you might just find us hiding out on top of the building. But in all seriousness, we love what we do and I couldn’t have chosen a better person to take this journey with if I had chosen her myself! So thankful that we can depend on Him to have it all worked out.

Learning to love Vintage…

Amy — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 19:19:02 +0000

Dianna and I are asked frequently what made us start Vintage Market Days. The truth is… it was just God’s timing. That simple. But we both fell in love with Vintage in different ways, and like God does, he brought the two of us together with different pasts to start this little venture that has become something we love and cherish. The two women in this picture are the reason I learned to appreciate things with a past. My Mom and my Great Aunt Deana.

Aunt Deana’s beautiful Blue Hobnail Depression Glass collection

I spent many, many Saturdays with both of them going to the Tulsa Flea Market looking for Depression Glass. I loved listening to the history behind the pieces and watching a collection come to life! But more than that I loved being with them and learning from these two amazing women. They lovingly started two collections for me – Pink Open Lace and Fireking. It was their opportunity to share a piece of themselves with each other and with me. To hand down an appreciation of beautiful and simple things.

Even as a teenager I was mesmerized by the men and women vendors at the Flea Market who took so much pride in their treasures. They were friendly and interesting and you could see a real passion for the things they sold and collected. I loved getting away from normal life and slipping back in time to when things seemed much simpler. As a teenager, college student and later young adult, it was therapeutic for me to walk around the Flea Market adding to my collection and dreaming about what some of the other interesting items could become with a little love. I soon found myself convincing my sweet husband to spend weekend evenings with me at the Haskell Auction.

I’ve always been amazed at how God takes events from our lives and neatly ties them all together. I don’t know if I appreciated it enough at the time but what my mom and aunt gave me was priceless. Looking back on those times reminds me of how precious those very simple “outings” were. We could have never known what God had planned much later down the road…but I am grateful.

That is my story of how I learned to love Vintage. Next up…Dianna!

We would love to hear your stories and hope that you will share them with us!

Bringing the Vintage Experience to you…Amy

My sisters and me with Aunt Deana and her amazing collection.

office organizing with Vintage finds

Amy — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 19:56:19 +0000

My office is a mess! Am I the only one that can’t keep my desk clear of “stacks”? I really do try my best to keep everything in it’s place but the crazier things get with Vintage Market Days, the more out of control my desk gets! Today I decided is THE DAY that I’m going to sort through the chaos. What better way to organize than to utilize unique Vintage items. I decided to scour the blog world for ideas. Here are a few I found:

Love the old wire baskets, vintage containers and drawers! And bringing a vintage desk to life with blue paint…beautiful.

Courtesy of Country Living

Milkglass is used to hold pencils, paintbrushes, notecards and envelopes.

Vintage toast racks for organizing mail…cuteness!

Love the industrial lights above the “worktable/desk”.

and last but not least…if you don’t have a designated spot for an office,

look at this repurposed side table or this TV cart made into an “office cart”!

*Seeing all of these ideas makes me even MORE excited about Vintage Market Days in November!!!!

Now back to work…wish me luck! Once I have it all put together I’ll post what I came up with.

We would love to see your “Vintage” offices! Don’t forget to post in our comments below.

xoxo…Amy

a little touch of burlap

Amy — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 22:47:20 +0000

Can you ever get enough BURLAP? Burlap adds texture to a room with soft colors. It is inexpensive and extremely versatile. Sometimes burlap can be a little messy so washing and drying it with a fabric softener before using it can cut down on the shedding.

We love the look of burlap with all things Vintage and we’ll be posting DIY ideas that we just can’t keep to ourselves!

The other day I took a little trip to Hobby Lobby and couldn’t resist buying a few yards of burlap. It’s getting harder and harder to find burlap so when I see it, I have to grab it! I had a few projects in mind that I wanted to make for my booth at River City – and for RED BARN BOUTIQUE! We sure hope you’re going to join us for this amazing event in Stillwater September 13-16!!!

Okay, back to BURLAP! (Sorry, I am easily distracted!) So here is the first project I worked on. I saw this linen garland on Pinterest and just knew I had to try it in burlap. Please visit A Beautiful Nest (and tell her we sent ya!). She has a great step by step tutorial on making the garland with linen. The concept is basically the same with burlap. By the way…how cute would this garland be around your tree at Christmastime? …love.

Look at this sweet linen garland on A Beautiful Nest that was the inspiration for my burlap garland…

Now it’s your turn! We hope you’ll share with us all of the ways you use your burlap (or linen) garland!!

My finished product! I tied ribbons made out of torn white fabric on the ends.

A Dream Come True…

Amy — Sun, 01 Jul 2012 17:15:08 +0000

We have just finished wrapping up the details from our very first Vintage Market Days – “Down South” event. What an experience! Dianna and I were overwhelmed by the talent of all of the vendors who attended (over 70!) and by the support of our local community. We had the most fun standing at the gate, meeting the many people who traveled several hours to attend. The 3 day event brought over 4,000 women and close to 3,000 men and children! Our dream was to have an “open-air, Paris Flea Market” style event where our guests could escape their busy lives and slow down for a bit. We had amazing live music by Laron Simpson and yummy food & treats! The guests at Vintage Market Days overwhelmed us with the donations they made to DaySpring Villa, a charity we felt honored to sponsor. DaySpring is a faith based non-profit who supports women and their children who are victims of domestic violence. They are also a refuge for women whose lives have been devastated by sex trafficking. Thank you to all of you who supported DaySpring and Vintage Market Days!

Now we are off to plan our next Vintage Market Days…A Holiday Affair! If you missed the “Down South” event, we hope you will join us in November for a fairytale-like holiday event with twinkling lights, hot chocolate and Vintage charm!

xoxo, Amy

One of our amazing vendors, Doris. Her darling pillow says it all…

we are thankful for the blessings!

The Winding Down of the School Year

Amy — Mon, 07 May 2012 23:01:44 +0000

I don’t know about you, but for me this time of year takes a close second to Christmas when it comes to busy schedules. There are times I look at our family calendar and feel confident the whole thing is going to spontaneously combust! Schedules are so full, it can be overwhelming. The blessing is that our homes are filled with precious little people who bring us all so much joy.

As Dianna and I near the homestretch with our Vintage Market Days planning, we are constantly reminded that there is so much left to do to make this an event to remember…and the clock is ticking. We have had the best time gathering up amazing vendors (new friends) to share with all of you. From repurposed architectural salvage to handmade jewelry to the most darling decorated cookies, our Vintage Market Days vendors are going to amaze you! The talent is truly unbelievable. They are all busy collecting and making their unique treasures and are so excited to meet all of you.

And for us, we are putting the finishing touches on the event layout, advertising, sponsorships, and all the fun details that will come together to create a weekend where we can all slow down for a few days and enjoy a charming weekend together. We hope by June 22 your calendars will only be filled with these three words…Vintage Market Days!

Bringing the Vintage experience to you!
Amy

Welcome!

Amy — Fri, 04 May 2012 22:51:33 +0000

Starting a blog feels a little like opening a storefront. I want to unlock the door, put up the OPEN sign and set out little pastries. We have so much to share with you! We hope that you will come in, see a few things you like and stay awhile. This blog, just like the Vintage Market Days event, is a way for Dianna and me to share what we love. We are thrilled that our dream is becoming a reality and look forward to sharing this little venture with all of you! We hope you feel at home here and will visit us often…

Bringing the Vintage Experience to You!
Amy