Richmond Ad Show and Yard Sale Bonanza

I do NOT recommend partying hard into the late hours of the night and then getting up at the crack of dawn to have a yard sale. Though, the delirium does make for a fun time! Last Friday night, my coworkers and I had the pleasure to represent PadillaCRT and receive some well deserved awards from the Richmond Ad Club. I’m not one for formal events or large gatherings (unless it’s a flea market) but this year, I was receiving my first ever  Richmond Show award for some illustrated work I had created for a campaign for Amtrak Trains. Plus, the event had a theme…1920’s!! How fun is that? So I scored this awesome flapper-esque number on sale from White House Black Market. Now all I need is a reoccurring role as an extra on Downton Abbey!

Aren’t we a great looking bunch? I’m so lucky to get to work with such an amazing group of strong, smart, funny and talented women!

And here I am, showing off my Cannonballs (that’s what the trophies are called….I know what you were thinking!).

I woke up the very next morning at 6am for our yard sale….and let me tell you…that was ROUGH! Here I am in a delirious haze, having a little too much fun with a twirl stick from the 1980’s, that my pal Emaleigh had in her vintage toy collection that she was selling. The sunglasses were hiding all of that glamorous eye make up that I probably couldn’t wash off the night before.

I’m always amazed and interested to see what people collect and what they shop for at yard sales. We had to guys that showed up BEFORE the yard sale to look through Emaleigh’s vintage toy collection…and were fighting over who was going to go first. I’m sure they wanted first dibs to grab some goodies to sell on Ebay or Etsy. That’s where I am seeing a lot of vintage toys being sold these days. It’s amazing how popular that stuff is again!

And here’s Emaleigh before her early morning cup of coffee sporting the Little House on the Prairie costume that her mom made her when she was a little girl. How cute is she? Looking good Em!

The toys went fast! The other item that was a huge hit at the yard sale was the antique tool box FILLED to the brim with antique tools that The Mr. picked up an estate sale a few years ago. We’ve had this thing sitting in our shed forever, so we decided we were going to keep the wonderfully primitive tool box and sell the contents inside. We even had a gentlemen from the Richmond Antique Tool Society visit us and purchase a few old tool treasures!

 

Prior to the yard sale, I did some purging of larger items such as an antique cast iron bird feeder, a cottage style wicker headboard and a cute iron patio settee. This bird feeder would look amazing in a bright turquoise or hot pink!

 

When the yard sale was over, there were a few vintage toy items that I was able to snag for my daughter (Thank you Emaleigh…you are awesome!!). The Mr. always says that he thinks I have more fun playing with these retro items than our little one…and he’s probably right! I have definitely been on a toy craze lately…more about that later…but for now I wanted to share this amazing Playskool Big Big Tool Bench (even though it’s very little), which probably dates from the early 1980’s. Emaleigh’s toys were in almost new condition…so the fact that she even had the original packaging was a real treat! I love the retro colors, typography and photos on these boxes!

 

How cute is this thing?? Words cannot express how much Sunny loves playing with this too….she loves that the mini tools actually drive the plastic screws and nails into the real wood boards. Looks like I’m going to teach Sunny to love restoration projects and home improvement at an early age! Ha!

So, happy spring ya’ll!! I can’t wait to share with you the other big projects that we have going on around the house right now! Lots to share!