Thrift Thursday

I didn't actually thrift the items in this picture: they were thrifted for me. I love getting thrifted gifts! My mom found some of these goodies in the small town in Southern Colorado where my grandparents live. We've only had the opportunity to go yardsaling there a couple of times but it has always netted us good stuff! On the left is a very cool vintage coloring book about all of the different states. I love the way the mom is dressed! At the top right is a flag-shaped Jello mold from the only thrift store in town, and on the bottom are an old aluminum heart mold and a huge American flag-printed silk scarf, perfect for my patriotic decor.

Mom also found these goodies at a garage sale. On the left is a very old Loto game (it looks to be the same thing as bingo) and it has the neatest old game boards and wooden number tiles! They'll be great for an art project. The Loto box is falling apart so it was stored in a neat old vintage Christmas card box--bonus! The other item is a vintage jigsaw puzzle of the United States, with a map to show you where everything goes. It was packaged in a vintage box that held ladies' stockings.


When I was visiting in Utah a few weeks ago I went to an amazing yard sale. It was held by a woman who goes to my mom's church who was moving out of her home and needed to both downsize and make some extra money. She has some MS and some other health problems so some of the people from my mom's church helped her clean out her house to get ready for the sale. My mom tipped me off that there might be some neat things, but that I would have to dig, which is fine with me. That usually means there are treasures to be had.

Folks, this was one amazing yard sale. I have never been to a yard or estate sale for a single person where there was this much stuff. In fact, I'm not quite sure that the owner doesn't have a bit of a compulsive shopping thing going on, combined with obsessive hoarding. Whoa. When my dad told me they had filled 24 long folding tables with stuff for the sale and that was only scratching the surface, I knew it would have to be seen to be believed. Nearly everything was in multiples...2...3...12...20. Stacks and stacks of identical picture frames, still in their plastic with the prices on. Multiples of ceramic figures. Probably 20 hanging light fixtures and enough lamps to light up a mansion. Enormous piles of brand-new throw pillows. Boxes and boxes and boxes of unopened Christmas decorations. Most of the stuff still had tags from T.J. Maxx, Ross, and Big Lots. Unfortunately for me, there wasn't much vintage stuff, which is what I was really looking for.

I managed to spend $10 on the old Martha Stewart book, a box of reproduction vintage Christmas ornaments for my dad's tree, a sparkly rhinestone flag pin, a pewter trinket box engraved with an M (for Miss Maren's room) and 3 strands of vintage glass Christmas garland. I did see a huge Annalee Mrs. Santa but it was in pretty rough shape and it was so large it would have been a pain to ship, so I passed it up. One thing I missed that I'm still kicking myself for was an old photo of a little boy on a horse. It was in a large oval frame and had convex glass and the lady in front of me bought it for $5! Ack. Maybe that's my karma payback for the aluminum mold-snatching incident! The other thing in the photo is a set of vintage painted turkey salt and pepper shakers from another yard sale, along with an item for my Summer Fun swap partner.

Harry Potter countdown: T minus 2 days! Not that I'm counting or anything...