Jennifer Perkins of Naughty Secretary Club shares her Top Five Tips on how to get the most out of your flea marketing experience. Visit her blog for even more helpful hints.

Elizabeth Holcombe creates intricate yet playful pincushions using vintage fabrics, millinery flowers, and even toys. I love when utilitarian items are turned into works of art like these.

We've seen lovely creations by flickr user ~aorta~ on CRAFT before, but I've never seen such a lovely necktie! These squiddy ornaments come in a variety of fabric and tie combinations, and each one is unique! Check them out over at aorta's etsy shop. What a great idea for father's day! Via the CRAFT Flickr Pool.

Related:

• Octopus Skirt

• Drunk Octo-Shirt

Sweet Jessie created this colorful panel to hang in her dining room, which features pieces of vintage wallpaper samples pasted to a large piece of plywood using PVA. This would be a great impermanent decorating solution for someone who rents their place, or who likes to switch up their interiors frequently.

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This week's CRAFT Video Podcast features Cathy Callahan who shows you how to create vintage straw flowers from a loom. Cathy draws her inspiration from vintage crafts and I love how she brings these vintage straw flowers back to life with her own special touch. You can catch up with Cathy and get more vintage inspiration from her blog.

I bought one of her kits earlier this year and love the way she packages the vintage looms and straw. Visit her Etsy store to pick up a kit or other vintage supplies or crafty goods she makes.

Here's Cathy recently at Maker Faire Bay Area where she demoed how to work these vintage looms to make these beautiful flowers. More pictures here in my Flickr photos.

The retro-fabulous Lala-a-Gogo has just opened up her Kitschy.net shop, which is full of kooky finds like the "Bag O' Kitsch" (full of flea-market goodies like 1960s dolls, faux flowers and vintage beads), ribbon and button combo-packs, and jewelry made from '50s and '60s notions.

Cindy Moore is rewriting lace patterns from the 1897 book The Art of Knitting, modernizing the terminology and charts used in the patterns. You can buy greeting cards with the patterns on her website (great Mother's Day idea), and look at her altered book full of swatches.

These stuffed animals are made from vintage terrycloth reclaimed from towels and washcloths from the 50s through 70s. I love how the patterning is composed on the animal form. Via Cool Hunting.

Caitlin Holcomb of Nice Etc. just unveiled her new line of lampshades fashioned from repurposed vintage doilies and lace. I can see these working with all kinds of decorating styles--they'd be especially sweet in a nursery or craft room. Doily and Lace Lampshades

Related:
• Recycled Calendar Lampshade
• HOW TO - Revamp a Lampshade
• HOW TO - Make a Slide Photo Lampshade

I'm a huge fan of Lala-a-Gogo, the colorful and super-fun site dedicated to all things retro and bubblegum-cute. There are sections devoted to thrifting, toys, and now back by popular demand: a Vintage Crafts Archive full of projects like beaded bedroom curtains and patchwork tote bags. Lala-a-Gogo Vintage Crafts

I've posted about Claire Louise Milne's attractive storage solutions before, but I'm newly smitten by her recent blog post about sprucing up her matching secretary desks using vintage wallpaper. So fresh and inspiring! Vintage Wallpaper Secretary Desks

Flickr user Tudo de Trapo created this beautiful quilted footstool using a variety of vintage fabrics--and the machine she used to sew it is 100 years old. Vintage Footstool

Related

• Plastic Grocery Bags into Knit 1950's Outift - Link.
  
• Plastic Bag Crafts - Link.
• Plastic Bag Crochet - CRAFT Video Podcast - Link.

I love Cathy of California's work because it looks like it's straight out of a fabulous '60s-era craft shop. She's just created a new line of craft kits, which she puts together from vintage and "new old stock" materials. As she explains:

If you read my blog you know that I am just nuts about loomed flowers. The thing is that the supplies to make them are super hard to find. In fact most of the stuff is not even made anymore.

That's why I have decided to seek out all of the vintage and new old stock flower looms that I can get my hands on. I've made it my mission to spread the word that making loomed flowers is one of the best crafts around and I hope to be teaching classes very soon.

The materials included are in great condition and should provide hours of fun. You can turn the flowers you make into brooches, use them in shadowboxes or attach them to a handbag, or just fill a bowl with them and admire your work. FYI, Cathy's mushroom pincushions are on sale too. Link.

A lot of crafters enjoy using repurposed materials in their projects, and now Handmade Parade is hosting a Vintage Pillowcase Challenge. Just create a project using one standard size vintage pillowcase and send your pattern and pix in by February 15. Then you'll be in the running to win a $50 gift certificate from one of three great online fabric stores: Superbuzzy, Reprodepot, or Sew Mama Sew! For full details, visit the Handmade Parade blog. Link.

Retro Clean is a powder created especially to remove age spots and and enhance the colors in your fragile and faded vintage linens. I can see this product coming in really handy for thrift-happy crafter types! Simply soak your items in Retro Clean for up to two days--it works best when exposed to sunlight, yet won't bleach the fabric. Check out their website to order Retro Clean by the pound and to check out before and after testimonials. Link.

It may be snowy, rainy, and/or grey where you are right now, but these adorable bikinis by Etsy seller VintageVacation will get you ready for warmer times (or maybe a winter getaway!). Each suit is handmade from vintage terry toweling fabric and arrives in a vintage lace drawstring bag. Link.