Thrift Thursday

One of the things I love best about visiting my grandparents is the opportunity for some small-town thrifting, and this latest trip didn't disappoint! I visited 4 different thrifts and found something to buy at each. Because they're all small and independently run, prices were pretty darn cheap, something I don't see much around these parts! That made shopping even more fun. Here's what I was able to find in between bouts of wrestling with Maren:

The two planters were $3 each, but I think the round one was actually 50% off that because it is green (in honor of St. Patrick's day, I guess). Heck, maybe the other one was too--I can't remember! The round one is really much more green than the aqua that I prefer, but it has enough blue to it that I think it still looks okay. I do know that the two rolls of gorgeous vintage ribbon were $1 each. There were more and I was tempted to buy them, but I refrained because I couldn't think what to do with them. Someday I'll regret that, I'm quite sure. Here's the neat old label on the ribbon:

Pretty, right? These next items were from a thrift shop which is right next door to the one where I bought the above items. They are both church-run and both opened up last August. I can't imagine how they both stay in business, especially considering there's another thrift about a block away--and all of this in a town of about 4500 people!

The cheesy souvenir plate is for my guest room wall and was 25¢. The little green ceramic piece had a label on it from an antique store stating that it was a wall pocket and with a price of $14.30. The thrift store had it priced at $1.43! There's nothing wrong with it and I think it's just darling with the little blue birdie on the front. I also bought something else fun at this thrift but I don't have a picture of it yet. The prices in this thrift were amazingly cheap--I wish I could have found more to buy!

Then it was on to thrift #3. It was small but absolutely jam-packed. I started out by looking at the collectibles & dishes and was quickly discouraged when I found that they had anything that was collectible or old-looking priced very high. Most of everything else was just junk, and I thought I would be leaving empty-handed--that is, until I found the craft section! It was a mess so I had to dig while trying to keep one eye on Maren, but I managed to find all of the cards of seam binding and the package of unopened twill tape. The cards of rickrack and rolls of ribbon came from store #4.

I also found this cool old crepe paper lei and the old floral picks--little green hats for St. Patrick's Day and hearts that say "Mother" as well as

All of these fun Easter picks! I adore the little chenille chickies with feather tails! If only Easter weren't so early this year, I might be tempted to open an etsy shop just to sell these cuties! Maybe next year.
This bag of flower pins was $2.00. The yellow and pink roses are made of velvet and the stems are made of some weird green plastic tubing. I thought they might be pretty pinned on a bag. And the last things from that thrift were these:

An old shaker jar of green glitter and two very old printed nut cups. I only found these two and they were with the Easter stuff, so I wonder if maybe there weren't more lurking around somewhere. They were flat when I found them but they fold up rather ingeniously. When I put them together to take the photo I realized that they are damaged. If you look closely at the cup on the right, you can see a girl's shoes and the bottom of her dress--so there was a little girl there that sadly has since been torn off. Rats! They're still quite pretty and maybe I can think of a way to use them without that part showing.

Store #4 is actually a sister store to #3, just in a different town. That thrift store has an antique shop attached to it so they immediately cull any donations they receive of anything remotely old or of any value whatsoever and mark it up to sell at the antique store. Now, I realize that this is their prerogative and it makes them more money for the charity they support, but it still drives me nuts because that means that the stuff that makes it to the shelves is 98% pure JUNK. Really--it's pretty yucky stuff. They used to have a section up front with all their holiday items year-round, which was rare for me because all thrifts here just put out holiday items before the corresponding holiday. This is what enabled me to score a $4 vintage tinsel Christmas tree there a couple of summers ago, but when I went back last weekend they'd cleaned it all out and only had a few lame Easter items displayed. I did find the rickrack and ribbon pictured above and a package with several large rolls of colored thin metal foil--all of it for a grand total of $1.00.

On my way out through the attached antique shop, I saw this:

I first spotted this item in that store at least a year ago. I know it was there in February 2007 when I was in town and I saw it again last August as well. It was originally priced at $5 and because I am cheap, that was way too much. When I went in again last weekend there it was, marked down to $3. Still probably too much, but I figured that maybe because it has been there all this time and has caught my eye every time, that it was meant to come home with me. :) Here's what it looks like spread out:

I'm really not sure what it's supposed to be--there is fringe on both sides so I don't think that it's supposed to be a flag. Whatever it is, it will be cool with my 4th of July decorations this summer!

The last treasure I brought home was actually a gift from my Gram who understands and shares my love of vintage Christmas ornaments.

Gram bought all of these at a little antique store in town around Christmastime. Do you see the big ball that is red with turquoise and silver stripes? Perfect! They're all beautiful--the lanterns, the indents, the stripes, the bells--they are like jewels to me! Oh and Dad--I'll split these with you, but I have dibs on the red & turquoise one. :)