My New Adventure...The Polka Dot FLEA!

I can finally tell you about my NEW adventure!

I am Organizing and Promoting (drum roll please)
...

 Polka Dot Flea

Orlandos first INDOOR (Air conditioned) Vintage Show!

at 
The Central Florida Fairgrounds

JUNE 7, 2014

9am-4pm

I'm so excited about this venture and I was dying to share it with you all!

Here's how it all started...

The last show I was a vendor at was totally rained out and I thought to myself... "I'm never doing another outdoor show". 

 Yes, Orlando is in the Sunshine State, but...we still have rain. 

 Most shows are at least an hour drive in any direction out of Orlando and very few of them are indoors.  Local bloggers, junkers, and FB friends have tossed around doing an Orlando show for a couple years, but it never got off the ground.  So, I thought: "Why don't I start a show?"  The more I thought about it, the less I could convince myself not to.  Why not?  Orlando is the perfect location!

What is the POLKA DOT FLEA ?

The Polka Dot Flea will be Orlando's first indoor (Air conditioned) vintage show selling the best of vintage, funky, shabby, refurbished, antique, rusty, repurposed, quirky, industrial, and well-loved, home and garden goods.  

It will feature the "Best of the Best" in friendly vendors with attractive, well thought out booths.  Since vendors are the heart of the show I want them to feel pampered, supported, and know they are appreciated.  This will be a well organized event with plenty of Polka Dot Flea support staff.

The show will be held in the heart of Orlando at the Central Florida Fairgrounds just three miles from downtown Orlando.  

The space I have rented is Craft Hall, a 7000 sq feet building on the Fairgrounds.  I have all sorts of plans for dressing up the front and inside (stay tuned for those).

  The beauty of holding the Polka Dot Flea at the fairgrounds is that there is plenty of space to grow and it has virtually unlimited free parking.  I have tentatively scheduled the second show for the first weekend of December...Yep, I am thinking big...Two shows a year....Maybe two day shows!?

A huge motivation for starting the Polka Dot Flea was the unbelievable local support I have received from other vendors, customers and businesses.  

When I was telling my friends at Barr Display about the Flea

They said "We want to sponsor you!"

They are the store I have been working with aging and transforming their dress forms.  They have a huge Orlando show room where they sell store displays and fixtures along with everything a show vendor would need for displaying their products.  What an honor that was!

BUT WAIT!!!!  

Then Adjectives Market said we'd like to sponsor you too!!!  What? really?!  

Adjectives is a cool vintage market with 93 vendors in 12,000 sq ft. space.  The store is open 7 days a week and located in Altamonte Springs, a suburb just north or Orlando.   ...AND  OMG!!! ...They are going to host a private after party at their store the evening of the Flea.  The party will be for vendors and shoppers from the Polka Dot Flea.  Admission to the party will be vendor lanyards or wrist bands from the show.  This will be a fun way for everyone to kick back and socialize in a relaxed environment with music, drink, food, and fun! 

YEP...June 7th, 2014 is going to be a...full, fun-filled Saturday!

  The best part for me is that I am going to be a vendor...That's how this all started after all.  I wanted a place indoors to sell my wares. Of course, I will still be blogging about my DIY and craft projects.

I am so excited to take you along on this adventure and I have so much to share with you! 

Stay tuned for my next post and I will let you in on everything it takes to start a show...there were so many times in this process that I thought "Forget it...I can't do this".  But...I just could not give up and now I am ready to make it happen!

I would LOVE for you to check out the...  

Polka Dot Flea website

AND 

Polka Dot Flea FB page

  I am just starting my search for vendors, If you are interested be sure to check out the 

Vendor Application page

OK, I'm holding my breath... I can't wait to hear what you all think of this new adventure!

Happy Crafting

Carol  

Step One In My New Adventure...Close my Antiques Booth

I hinted last month that I have a new adventure coming this year. I promise I will tell you about it in my next post, but first I have to say good bye to my antiques booth after almost 12 years.

I'm a pretty high energy person, but I am also really good at not stretching myself to thin.  I am so excited about this new adventure and in order to give it my all, something has to give.  So, for now I am saying good by to my booth

I loved the years I spent at Orange Tree Antiques.  Oh my gosh, I was so green when I started and learned so much over the years with the help of the owner Sherrie and the rest of the staff.  Thank you, Thank you!  

My new adventure requires that I do all sorts of upcycling and furniture transformations.......So of course I will be blogging...I love it so much.  As a matter of fact, I am busting at the seams to start blogging about this new adventure....And even more excited to take you along with me!

Happy Creating

Carol   

Oh My Gosh...It was an Italian Florentine!

You were right!  A couple weeks ago I did a post on some of my "Fabulous Finds"   One of the things I showed you was this little gold chest that I was so excited to paint

The gold was not my taste and I envisioned painting it a creamy white with French blue drawers

Then your comments started rolling in

I listened to you and brought the cabinet into Orange Tree where I have my booth.   The owner Sherrie said "That's the real deal, an Italian Florentine and it's really popular now"

So..... I priced it 9 times what I paid for it thinking it would never sell and then I could take it home and paint it........Guess what........

It sold in 20 minutes!!!

So....Thank you to my wonderful readers who are so knowledgeable and willing to share!  If you ladies ever get to Orlando I owe you lunch.

Happy Creating!

Carol

The Queen Of Hearts

Meet the Queen of Hearts  

She is in Orange Tree Antiques store window.....And I had a little to do with dressing this gorgeous lady.

Sherrie the owner of Orange Tree had an idea for a Valentines store window display.  She gave me the mannequin, black corset, rhinestone belt, three decks of playing cards and a Christmas tree Skirt

Sherries vision was to dress the mannequin up with a bodice covered in heart playing cards.  Thats where I came in. 

I altered the corset top to get a tight fit, then brought out the glue gun and glued and glued heart playing cards onto the corset. Then turned the Christmas tree skirt inside out, added the rhinestone belt and brought her back to Orange Tree where Sherri added the top hat and shoes and put her in the store window

 She had the queen of hearts playing card blown up at a local printer to hang next to her.

Cripes you have no idea how many times she startled me as she stood in my living room for a week.  She's about 7 feet tall and every time I turned the corner I jumped....Glad she's in the store window where she belongs lol!

Happy Creating!
  

Carol

Fabulous Finds

It's been a good week for finds.  Brenda a local blog reader emailed to say she was cleaning out some treasures and asked if I was interested in taking a look.  I have the nicest readers, it's so fun to meet them in person!

I could not believe when she offered me a whole bunch of porcelain flowers  that had been chipped off nick nacks.

I use these on all sorts of projects, like on the top of my Sweet Shabby Cabinet 

The tutorial on chipping flowers off Nick Nacks is HERE

Brenda also had some linens

  

And at one time she was a wedding coordinator so, she had a huge collection of candle holders.

  Those of you with booths have probably seen the trend of brides and their Moms shopping antique malls for items to use in their Vintage Themed Weddings.

Brenda and I had a huge conversation about this antique rocking chair.  I told her I didn't want to buy it because I knew I would need to paint it for resale.  She said she wanted to paint it too, but just could not bring herself to do it.  She said "Go for it".  She was given the chair from a friend who had it sitting out in her backyard and was going to throw it out....So, I will upcycle and save it!

My last picture is finds from my new Honey Hole!!!  

I mentioned on a previous post that my Mom had recently moved into her 5 star independent living digs......OMG....They have a thrift store open a few hours a week!!!! 

I'm envisioning the gold cabinet painted in heirloom white with French blue drawers....What's your vision for the cabinet....Be warned, I might steal your idea?

Happy Creating!

Carol

Transformed Doll Cradle/Plant Holder

A friend asked if I wanted this cradle, I can't turn anything down that's free, even when I know it will take a lot of elbow grease. 

 So, in between the hubbub of the holidays with my Moms move into her new digs and my 17 and 21 year old niece visiting for  9 days (We had soooo much fun...I love them) I worked on this cradle off and on.

This is what it looked like when I got it....Someone got sticker crazy!

Oh my gosh, have you ever been half way into a project and thought...Shoot me?  There were layers of stickers.  I used a ton of paint striper and scraped and scraped.  

Then sanded and sanded.  Finally I was able to add some of my homemade plaster appliques..Tutorial HERE

This cradle was lovingly hand crafted and my vision was to make it look like it was a 100 years old.

 I used one coat of chalk paint, then sanded the edges and used a coat of clear Minwax followed by a coat of Annie Sloan dark wax.

I achieved the overly aged, antique look I wanted.

I can see someone buying this and thinking... A good coat of paint and this cradle will look perfect lol!

I'm sorry, I know so many of you are in a snowy deep freeze, but here in Orlando it was 83 today and I was out buying some new flowers.  I couldn't resist putting them in the cradle.

How cute is this for a patio plant holder?

Stay safe and warm my northern friends!

Happy Creating!

Carol