Sometimes Even the Nicest People Can Fool You

We had a really fun day of thrifting. The morning started off a little disappointing but we found a lot of treasures at the second sale. We were an hour early for this second sale and had to stand around waiting. There was no crowd and ten minutes before the sale was to open a man arrived who should have been third in line behind us. He was very nice and chatted with us but later I realized that he had slowly worked his way to be standing in front of the gate the moment the sale opened. He didn't even pretend to be polite and let me {first in line} get by him. Luckily he was looking for something that I couldn't have cared less about. And he seemed like such a nice man...

Anyway, we found tons of treasures and I didn't let the not-so-nice man bother me a bit. I especially love these vintage cake toppers. They are so sweet!

I found a cool retro Blendo pitcher and tumblers in lime green. These are both trendy and retro at the same time. The ombre look is trendy and yet these are mid century modern barware. The photo doesn't show the bright lime green color well.

We found a Hall Pottery Ball Pitcher and Goebel ceramic Wren figurine. Goebel is the same company that makes the Hummel figurines.

A nice framed butterfly collection.

Lots of old glassware including a milk glass vase and several refrigerator dishes {Arcoroc and Fire King, Sapphire Blue, Philbe pattern}

I also found a lot of old glass bottles. These are two old English seltzer bottles that are really heavy glass. The other bottles have an interesting shared history as I discovered with more research.

I discovered that all of the old smaller bottles were from a town called Price, Utah. There was even an old 1941 calendar from the same town. Below is a photo of the collection

Detail of a half-pint milk bottle from Price's Dairy with a four digit phone number embossed on the bottle.

 Two bottles were for "Dr. Price's Delicious Flavoring Extracts"

 The taller bottle is from Price Bottling and Ice Cream Company.

 And the 1941 calendar with working thermometer is from Price's Market.

I had a lot of fun looking up the history of Price, Utah. I didn't even realize that they were all from the same town until I began photographing them.

I am constantly putting more items into my store so please Follow my store if you see anything that you would like.

I hope everyone had a great thrifting weekend.

Awesome Stress-Free Pre-Mother's Day Thrifting

Somehow the stars aligned to create a totally stress-free day of thrifting yesterday. The first garage sale opened early so I was in and out and on to the next sale. I found a few nice pieces and then off to the third sale just two blocks away. There were only a few people waiting to enter the estate sale so there was no rush and this is where the picking got good.

My favorite find was a large amount of vintage mercury glass ornaments. Most of these are on stems so they can be easily used for crafting.

I filled an 18" tall box with these ornaments. Included were a few hanging ornaments that are really old {two have a written date of 1915 on them} seen below hanging on the right. There is a pink fish, Christmas heart, bell and house among the oldest ornaments.

Two figural glass ornaments of Santa with a cardboard broom and a woman with an apron. I am not sure of their age.

Flocked image of a little boy and toys on this vintage ornament.

Two glass teapot ornaments. Their spouts are extremely delicate.

This is the 18" tall box filled with ornaments. The box is for an old 4 gallon Mason jar that I wish I found at the sale.

I also found these deer candle holders. The metal one is by Deptartment 56 and the two ceramic ones are by Fitz and Floyd. 

I found these metal first aid boxes and thought they could be used for a red, white and blue display or for handy storage.

The seller told me that this was Italian glass but it is actually a Blenko Compote dish. The color is Tangerine and so pretty.

I found this plaid blanket in its original bag and bought it thinking that if it was an inexpensive blend then I would use it for a craft project. Only when I was preparing to photograph it did I find the label that said it is pure virgin wool from New Zealand.

I love old toys and was excited to find an old litho print metal toy boat that was made in the USA and a Dinky Toys Police Car. The British Guard can is much newer but I thought Dear Handyman would enjoy this. 

I hope everyone had a wonderful stress-free day of thrifting. As always, I will try to get more items into my store as soon as possible. Please stop by and check it out.

Happy Mother's Day to all of the Moms out there. 

Designers Craft Connection - May Blog Hop

Welcome to the Designers Craft Connection Blog Hop for the month of May. The theme this month is Handmade Wishes. I chose to do a project that would showcase items that were handmade by others a long time ago. As always, almost all of the supplies used are thrifted.

I often find beautiful crocheted doilies at estate sales. I know these pieces take a lot of time to make so I  imagine that they hold many dreams and hopes within their intricately woven threads. I used several to create a wreath in celebration of the women who crafted these lacy pieces. This is my Mother's Day offering of handmade wishes to honor their handiwork.

I began with a wreath form and cut strips of burlap and wrapped it around the form. 

Next, I draped handmade doilies over the wreath while trying to vary the many shades of creamy white. I added lots of layers, including vintage {machine made} lace embellishments to creates  texture.

Next I draped several strands of faux pearls.

Then added handfuls of rhinestone jewelry to add sparkle. I love how this is dripping with lace, pearls and rhinestones.

My handmade wish is to honor everyone who patiently makes things by hand for the enjoyment of future generations.

Please use the DCC blog hop button on the right to view more awesome project created by a very talented group of crafters.

I am honored to be featured at:

Pieced Pastimes

This is linked to:
504 Main, Beyond the Picket Fence, Chic on a Shoestring Decorating, Coastal Charm, Common Ground, DIY Home Sweet Home, Elizabeth & Co, Faith, Grace, Crafts, French Country Cottage, From My Front Porch to Yours, Hey What's for Dinner Mom?, Lamberts Lately, Making the World Cuter, My Repurposed Life, My Romantic Home, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Pieced Pastimes, Savvy Southern Style, Sew Can Do, Sew Much Ado, Simply Designing, Somewhat Simple, Sugar Bee Crafts, The 36th Avenue, The Colorado Lady, The Shabby Nest, The Thrifty Groove, The Thrifty Home, The Trendy Treehouse and Twin Dragonfly Designs

Frustrating Free Friday Finds

I took Friday off from work because there were some really great estate sales and I had so many vacation days that I thought I should use one and I just wanted some time to relax.

It turned out to be a wee bit frustrating but I'm really not complaining because I did have a Friday off and I did get a chance to relax a bit. It was frustrating because there was only one of me and three things that I wanted at the first sale. I couldn't decide which one piece I absolutely had to have. I made my choice and lost out on the other two. I guess I did okay because I did get at least one piece.

Here is the beauty that I found. This is a heavy, vintage square cake stand by Indiana Glass in the Constellation pattern. Perfect condition, love it!

Next I went to a sale that had been open for two hours before I got there. I didn't know what to expect but I did snag a bag full of treasures. My favorite find were these Shiny Brites and Poland glass ornaments. Some were beautifully faded to shabby shades of pink, green, silver and blue and others were bright.

Then there were some orange, Poland ornaments that are slightly squat and not perfectly round. They reminded me of pumpkins. Perhaps these were meant as Halloween ornaments. I think a little more research is needed here.

I found a bunch of vintage ceramic Christmas pieces. I had pinned an image of little Santa mugs on my Pinterest board and thought it would make a cute display.

I found several vintage corsages and saw them as perfect gift wrapping accents in place of a regular bow.

Found a lot of small vintage craft supplies.

The last item I found were these four square wire hangers. They are regular wire hanger size except they are square instead of triangular. They can be used as a hand towel holder or vintage linen display. Anyone know what these were originally used for?

Since I spent my thrifting allowance on Friday I am now relaxing on Saturday although I feel an urge to check out more sales. Looking back at everything that I found, I guess I don't really feel frustrated. I had a fun free Friday. I hope everyone had a great day of thrifting!

This is linked to:
Brambleberry Cottage, Common Ground, From My Front Porch to Yours, Hey What's For Dinner Mom?,  Savvy Southern Style, The Colorado Lady and The Thrifty Groove

Nice People + Nice Prices = Oh Happy Day!

We had a surprisingly nice thing happen this morning as we were waiting for an estate sale to start. We were sitting in our car since we were so early and another car full of people pulled up. Then a third person pulled up and the driver started a sign-up list. I assumed that she put her name first then she went to the car full of people and then brought the list over to us. Well not only did she leave space for us to be the first two on the list, the people in the other car also told her that we were there first.

Wonderfully nice and honest people! Awesome!!! Then to make things even better, the seller gave us a really low price on everything. And if this wasn't good enough, we stopped at a sale that was just about to end and the seller said that we could have anything we wanted for free. Oh happy day!

So here are some of the treasures we found. I love these perfectly shabby old silk flowers.

I was excited to find these old, Victorian Frozen Charlotte dolls. They are from the estate of an antiques dealer so I believe they are the real old one.

I found a box full of aquarium gravel and just the top of the blue mermaid sticking out of it. I dug through the gravel and found all of the other aquarium ornaments buried beneath. The blue mermaid is really unique because her mouth is open like she is singing and she is playing a Bass instrument. Also in the front right corner is a small dog house aquarium ornament. This seemed like an odd subject for an aquarium piece. Finding all of these was like digging for buried treasure and discovering an instant collection .

We found some unique chandelier crystals, an old bottle marked "Nippon" and some silver tinsel ribbon. I collect chandelier crystals and I'm pretty sure I don't have a few of these styles. 

We found several glass items. I like old science glass pieces so I picked up this beaker below. The cup is by the Federal Glass Co. in the Patrician Spoke pattern. The red vase/candle holder is Italian. And the other glass piece is from an outdoor light fixture that has gone a soft purple color. 

We also picked up a Maydwell milk glass insulator, a red Anchor Hocking nut chopper and a red plaid Thermos bottle.

I would love to make some terrariums with these drum-style vintage fish bowls.

We found a bag with several mother-of-pearl buckles, some carded buttons that say they are made from Catalin and a jar filled with colorful vintage buttons. I can't wait to sort the buttons.

I have been cleaning and sorting and researching so many of these treasures. What a wonderfully fun day. Nice people make me happy! Thank you nice people!

Slowly but sure I will keep adding pieces to my Stuff to Treasure store. I hope everyone had a wonderful day of thrifting.

This is linked to:
Stylish Once Again