Keep Calm and Thrift On

My life has been more crazy than usual this past week. I'm just trying to get through everything and still find time to go thrifting. Dear Handyman is just getting over a cold but he insisted on coming with me to a sale this weekend.

My favorite find was this ceramic dog figurine. The little guy has wire glasses, lenticular eyes {eyes appear to change depending on the angle of view} and is holding a book. Hmmm.... I wonder if my dog could learn to read if she had glasses?

I also love finding vintage Halloween items. Here is an old, tin Halloween noisemaker.

We found a few vintage Christmas pieces. One appears to be a tree-topper but the base is rather small.

I also found several glass items. The Swan Bowl is a very thick, opaque glass. There was also some Fire King bowls and a milk bottle marked "Comalac". I don't know about the green vase but it looked interesting.

I will definitely get some of these items into my Stuff to Treasure store as soon as time permits.

Hope everyone had a great day of thrifting.

Spring is in the Air

Another glorious day in Southern California but I'm not packing up the jackets just yet. But the glorious sunshine feels like Spring has arrived!

After buying the Feather and Spun Cotton Birds last week I decided that they would look nice in a Spring cloche display but the only cloche I had was rather large. So with a bit of thrifting serendipity I came across a glass cheese dish cover that worked perfectly as a small cloche when paired with a vintage cake stand and old lace doily. I just wish that the birds didn't look so realistic because I feel like I have them trapped under glass.

The only other item I thrifted was a very sweet pink aluminum covered cake tray with a silhoutte of a boy and girl. I would guess that this is from the 50s or 60s by the way they are dressed.

I hope everyone had a great day of thrifting. I'm going to go outside and play now.

Love is Inspirational

I wanted to make something a little different for Dear Handyman on Valentine's Day. I had an idea of using a vintage ruler and a saying like "I love you this much" but I thought that a 12 inch ruler didn't really express exactly how MUCH I love him. So I decided that I would have to design something using a tape measure. And I didn't want it to be too "girly" but it couldn't be too masculine either.

I started with the Sizzix Box, Heart die designed by Eileen Hull. I first adhered some simple Basic Grey paper to matte board and then cut and assembled the heart box. I used some pale pink and brown Distress Inks to add a bit of color.

I placed a vintage tape measure inside of the finished box with just the tip sticking out of the bottom of the heart. I glued a piece of vintage jewelry to the end of the tape measure to bring attention to the tape and to keep it from disappearing back into the box. I'll add a gift card {to a hardware store of course!}

I guess it is a little more "girly" than I originally planned but what's Valentine's Day without a few flowers. Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Dies used:

Box, Heart

Tattered Pinecone {flowers}

Festive Greenery

Tattered Banner

Typeset {alphabet}

Mini Hearts Set

Mini Old Jalopy and Arrow Set

Base Tray

Thrifting in the Dark

We went to one very dim estate sale today. For some reason there was very little lighting both inside the house and in the garage. This was the first time I wished that I had a flashlight with me.

My favorite find was a vintage, unused, anthropomorphic, Smiling Kitchen dish towel in lovely turquoise and lime green. There was also an identical second towel in used condition but just as cute.

In the dim garage I found an aqua and white glass vase. I am not sure if it is a vintage Swedish glass piece but it is such a perfect color.

I found an old Ball Mason jar with a Hellmann's Mayonnaise lid {we only have Best Foods Mayonnaise here in California} and inside were two unidentified objects. Luckily the jar had an old label that read "Cotton and feather birds belonging to Virginia W." I love the little birds but who is "Virginia W." and I hope she doesn't want her birds back.

We found another red wooden utensil tray filled with old "bulldog" clips in various colors. These trays would work well as display shelves.

The last two things I grabbed in the dark garage was a mother-of-pearl handled wick trimmer and a checkerboard pattern darning mushroom. I couldn't see these very well but the shapes looked interesting in the dark.

Everything will be posted in my Stuff to Treasure store as soon as possible. 

I also want to give a warm Thank You to Janee of Yellow Bird, Yellow Beard for featuring my Stuff to Treasure store on her blog. She is a fellow Storenvy seller with a really beautiful selection of fun items. Check out her store for some sweet inspiration.

I hope everyone had a great day of thrifting. Hope your hunting was brighter than ours. 

This is linked to:

Its a Very Cherry World and Stylish Once Again

A Perfect Thrifting Day

This was one of those perfect thrifting days; great treasures, good prices, friendly people and not too crowded.

I had three favorite finds today. My most favorite find was a set of old alphabet blocks. Some stack together to create figures but the alphabet silhouettes are my favorite. Behind the blocks is a real slate chalkboard.

My second favorite find was an old Czechoslovakia, Stars & Stripes glass ornament. I've never seen these before. It is a bell shape, flocked and has a piece that dangles below. 

My third favorite find was a duck sewing box. A pair of scissors creates a beak. The wings are pin cushions. There is a little drawer to hold notions and pegs to hold thread and a thimble. This would make hand sewing such a pleasant pasttime.

There were so many other great treasures. Lots of sewing notions with boxes of buttons and cans of wooden spools. Some of the spools had carved patterns on the ends. 

We found a stack of crochet doilies. These can make such a nice colorful display.

The wooden blocks came in an old wire basket, seen here with a wire card display.

There were several vintage glass containers: a Libbey Pinecone Carafe and an old fish bowl terrarium.

I've seen antlers before but buyers usually scoop them up before I can get them. This time I was lucky.

And lastly I found an old Samsonite suitcase that matches one I had bought over 20 years ago at the Rosebowl Swapmeet. This one is a lot bigger and a lot cheaper. If I wait 20 more years maybe I will find a matching Train Case and have a complete set.

Finding these treasures was so much fun but the very best part was chatting with such nice people while waiting for the sale to start. I like days like today. It was a perfect thrifting day. I hope everyone had a nice day of thrifting. I will get some of these items in my Stuff to Treasure store as quickly as I can. 

Thrilled to be Featured at:

Stylish Once Again

This is linked to:

Coastal Charm, Hey What's For Dinner Mom?, It's a Very Cherry World, Mod Vintage Life, Savvy Southern Style, Sir Thrift a Lot, and Stylish Once Again