Weekend Junk Finds: Blogging from the road

We're on a little road trip to visit my grandparents in Southern Colorado this weekend so I'm blogging from a phone and a strange computer.

This week's junk finds are from a variety of sources.

 

The vintage Christmas tablecloth was from a local garage sale, the orange prize ribbon (destined to be altered for Halloween) was from an estate sale in a $2.1 million home, and the earrings and metal animal buttons were also from local garage sales.

 

These sweet homemade pillowcases were from a local estate sale. They're so pretty and fresh for summer!

Last week I had the opportunity to go estate sale shopping with a good friend. We shared a babysitter at my house and set out shopping. I think it might have been her first time at an estate sale but I doubt it will be the last!

 

 I only bought a few things, but they were fun. A red yardstick, an old bottle of brightly colored nonpareils, a red, white and blue tape measure (perfect for 4th of July!), three pair of sparkly earrings for my craft stash, and a really fantastic pair of embroidered pillowcases with owls. They're really nicely stitched and I'm tempted to keep them because they're just so darling, but they don't match my colors so they're headed to the Etsy shop.

This last group of items was from a local consignment store that I just discovered.

 

I took in a jacket to be consigned but didn't expect them to have so many cute decor items, many of them vintage! I picked up the cool red and white pop bottle and yet another soda crate because apparently I'm starting my own bottling company. I also found the old photo of the little boy talking on the telephone--you may have to click on the picture to enlarge so you can see it better, because it's just charming! After I came home, I collected a box full of stuff and took it back to be consigned. On that trip I found a vintage 10-oz. milk bottle (a completely weird size--it's bigger than a half pint). 

This consignment store gives a 50/50 split on items sold which is a better deal than most of the other local stores, but their prices aren't high to begin with so 50% isn't going to make you rich. However, for items I was just going to donate anyway, it might be the easy way to make some money. I'll be eager to see if I make anything from this last box-full that I took in. Heck, if they keep getting in cute vintage stuff like that soda crate, I'll just take my sales in store credit and be perfectly happy!

Today I'm hoping to do a little small-town thrifting and maybe I'll have something to share with you next Monday!

Weekend Junk Finds: Father's Day edition

A few weeks ago, my dad was in town for a few days so we decided to do a little bit of one of our favorite shared pastimes--junking! There was an ad on EstateSales.net for a promising looking sale not too far away, so I ran over to put us on the sign-up sheet and hired a baby sitter for Porter.

That might have been my dad's first experience with an estate sale, aside from my Gram's estate auction last year, and it was definitely his first experience with the mad rush that is the opening of an estate sale!

We'd seen some vintage Pyrex in the preview photos and went straight to the kitchen. We were the first to reach it and my dad was able to scoop up some really great pieces at great prices! On the way into the kitchen, I spotted an item that may just be up there on my Top Ten finds, EVER:

This antique coffee jar is simply gorgeous! The glass is embossed with a diamond pattern that's so pretty. It would have been great on it's own, but it even has the original metal lid, which is in great condition as well!

It was right on the table as we walked in the door and the price was pretty amazing considering that it's in perfect condition with the lid, so I'm pretty shocked that none of the 33 people who got in the door before me didn't snap it up first!

The jar was my best find, but there were a few other goodies as well. The milk glass sugar bowl is the twin of one I bought a few months ago. I love it so much but I can't decide whether to keep one and sell one, or sell them as a pair. The silver metal trophy is in German and marked 1951.

Always love a good vintage tablecloth in summery colors! And with this addition, my vintage tablecloth drawer is now officially overflowing. Must address that soon. By finding a new drawer, not by getting rid of tablecloths, of course.

This little odd collection is two pairs of fab cat-eye sunglasses (coming soon to the Etsy shop), a pair of crystal earrings and a vintage LGB from our thrifting trip the day previous, and an odd lid. In the preview photos for the sale, I thought I recognized a blue Lu-Ray creamer. When I actually found it at the sale, it was the exact shape as my other Lu-Ray creamers, but it was unmarked and the glaze was different--it was blue with tiny speckles of brown. Elsewhere in the house, I found this orphaned lid. I recognized the knob shape as Lu-Ray immediately, but it was that same blue/brown glaze. However, I happen to have two Lu-Ray sugar bowls without lids, so I thought I could just buy this one for $1 and marry the two and be happy with it, even though they're not a perfect match. When I got home however, I found that this lid is larger than my Lu-Ray sugar bowl, so it won't fit! I'm sure it had to have been made by Taylor Smith Taylor, the manufacturer of Lu-Ray, using their molds, but I don't know about the finish. Maybe my fellow Lu-Ray lover Jillian can shed some light on this?

The last thing I bought was this big box o' Christmas junk for $10. It was hard to see what was inside but I figured even if I could find 10 good things worth $1, I'd be okay, and just peeking in I could see a pinecone elf and some mercury glass beads.

When I came home and dumped it all out, I found a startling amount of ugly plastic greenery and a few neat things.

I definitely found more than 10 good things, though not all of them I would have paid $1 for. Verdict on this box? Eh. Not a total bust, but not the bonanza I was hoping for.

Even though my junk finds were great (THAT JAR!! swoon), the best part of the sale was sharing the fun with my Dad! He's a treasure hunter at heart just like me, and knows the thrill of finding a hidden gem. It was fun to shop with him and then also to meet up later and share our finds. I wish we lived closer together so that we could shop together more often!

Did you find any good junk this weekend? Have you ever gone junking with your parents?

Weekend Junk Finds: Mother's Day edition

 For Mother's Day back in May, one of my gifts was that The Mister watched the kids so I could go junking ALL BY MYSELF for as long as I wanted! That man knows what I truly want! I hit a few antique stores and a few thrift stores and came up with some goodies.

This stack of wooden berry baskets and the vintage floral tablecloth beneath it were from a neighborhood yard sale. The cloth was dirty but came nice and clean with a good OxiClean soak, and I was tickled to find the berry baskets because I had just watched this: Studio 5 Berry Baskets video

While I was out shopping I decided to make a quick stop by the Goodwill Outlet. I hadn't actually been back there since my initial jaw-dropping foray last summer. I poked gingerly through the bins and managed to unearth a small handful of vintage ornaments and an Ovenex Starburst muffin pan. I try to only buy them when they're still pretty and shiny, but since the grand total for all of these items plus the vintage pattern in the next photo was $1.07, I thought it was worth getting.

 At the antique store, I found this collection of old flash cards. I already had the ice cream and cake cards and thought the others would be fun additions, especially for a bake sale or for use on a dessert table at a party. I can never get enough of old flash cards!

At the thrift store I found a huge white platter, an antique embossed card in an old frame, and a monogrammed silverplate baby cup.

Also at the thrift store, I found these sleeves of paper serving dishes. The white bowls will be perfect for homemade ice cream this summer and I had intended to use the cute little red boats as holders for the brownies at Maren's Bake Sale. I know I can find uses for them.

And the final thrift store find that day was this gorgeous vintage signed Kandell & Marcus NY rhinestone brooch! I've included the quarter so you can see how big this piece is.

It measures 4.25" long so it is quite the statement piece! I had never heard of Kandell & Marcus NY so I tried to research but couldn't find much information other than the fact that they made costume jewelry starting in the 1940s. This brooch must have been one of their more popular sellers, because I found several listed on eBay and other antique-selling sites. Since giant blingy vintage brooches are kind of my thing, I believe I'll be keeping this beauty. One just never knows when one might need something suitable to wear to a Diamond Jubilee, right?

Did you find any good junk this weekend? I'm linking up with Apron Thrift Girl's Thrift Share Monday!

Weekend Junk Finds: Small town thrifting edition

These are older finds, but I didn't get to do any junking this past week so leftovers will have to do!

I found these sweet trims in a thrift store in a tiny southern Colorado town. It's an independent, church-run thrift and I've found some great stuff in that little store so it's always worth a look when we're in the area visiting my grandparents. Once I bought two new-old-stock rolls of the most beautiful black and white checked ribbon for $1 each and they were one of the first things I ever sold on Etsy. When I  bought them, there were several additional rolls and I've kicked myself a hundred times over for not buying it all! What ever was I thinking leaving those there?

For some reason I am drawn to the Dutch motifs that were popular in the 1950s. I have precisely zero Dutch heritage or connection to the Netherlands, but I find the little Dutch boys and girls, windmills, and tulips to be so completely charming! The trim on the top is cute, but my favorite is definitely the intricate blue and white trim on the bottom:

Look at the detail! I bought it intending to resell but now it might be too dear to part with. I need to think of something really special to make with it so it doesn't just sit, hoarded, in a drawer.

Another thrift in small-town southern Colorado turned up this cute vintage souvenir tablecloth:

I've never been to Alaska and although I adore 1) vintage tablecloths and 2) vintage travel souvenirs, I think this one is destined for the Etsy shop as well.

A few other odds and ends:

The sweet divided child's plate was from Goodwill. This particular GW store is downtown, smack in the middle of Hipster-ville where they know their vintage, so I paid more than I would had I found it at my local, suburban store. The box of vintage Dennison labels, unusual wooden ruler, and box of old straws were from estate sales. Nothing super exciting but fun little finds that made me happy!

Tonight we're having some friends over to have dinner and watch the season premiere of the British version of the TV show Top Gear. I don't care a whit about cars, but I'll take any excuse to throw a party! These Oreo cream cupcakes are on the menu--yum!

Did you find any good junk this week? Do you watch Top Gear?

As usual, I'm linking up with Apron Thrift Girl's Thrift Share Monday!

Weekend Junk Finds: Vintage Tablecloths

Today's junk came from an estate sale that I mentioned a few weeks ago. It opened on a Thursday afternoon, which I (mistakenly) thought meant it might not be so busy as a Friday morning sale. The kids were out of school that day, so I hired the neighbor to babysit and drove over.

I arrived at the sale about 10 minutes after opening, but there was no line--they'd let everyone in at once. Normally I hate that practice because it's just painful to stand outside in line, imagining that the people in front of you are scooping up all of the goodies while you wait and leaving you with the junk. In the case of this sale, I think letting people in a few at a time might not have been a bad idea! Surely, if the Fire Marshall had seen the place he'd have shut us down fast! It was a tiny old house and it was just unbelievably crowded and DARK.

Despite the hordes of people and the gloom, I managed to find a few treasures. In one bedroom I found a pile of vintage tablecloths. Even in the dark I could see that they were stained, but honestly couldn't tell how badly or if I thought the stains were removable. However, they were priced cheap--cheaper-than-the-thrift-store-cheap--so I thought I'd take a chance.

Love the aqua scalloped border on this one! The pale pink dye on the roses is pretty faded, though.

Pretty red flowers with blue-green leaves.

This one has a label--St. Regis by Springmaid.

This tablecloth was not with the others--it was wadded up in the top of the linen closet. This linen closet was at the end of the hall, flanked by bedroom doors on either side. It was so crowded that it was nearly impossible to even get the door open--and then if it was open, you not only blocked the hallway, but both bedroom doors. Truly, it was ridiculous. The estate sale company should have been smart and just taken the door off the hinges. There could have been gold bricks under the sheets & towels in that closet and nobody would have been able to get to them! This tablecloth is in better condition than the others and I think the aqua and orange color scheme is unusual and fun.

This tablecloth was with the others, but in much nicer condition. It features a motif of those cast iron trivets in the middle, and copper gelatin molds around the outside. (And I swear I ironed it--where did that ugly crease come from?). The copper molds remind me of my Gram, since she had a whole collection hanging up in her kitchen. The colors aren't my thing, so this one will end up in my Etsy shop.

I soaked the cloths in Biz and hot water, but unfortunately most of the stains stubbornly stayed put, so I officially have cutters. Maybe I can find more chairs that need reupholstering...

I'm linking up to Thrift Share Monday at Apron Thrift Girl!

Recovering a vintage chair with a tablecloth

There may be a few of you out there to whom this post may cause actual, physical pain--I will just go ahead and apologize in advance. :)

I found this old oak chair at Goodwill for $7 to replace the cute desk chair that I completely destroyed last summer.

It's nice and sturdy and the perfect size, but it had an ugly fabric seat. I knew that recovering it would be a quick fix, but I didn't want to purchase any fabric for the project. While rummaging through the VERY full dresser drawer where I keep my collection of vintage tablecloths, I happened upon this beauty:

A darling square cloth with a yellow border and a pattern of red tulips. It's charming but unfortunately is also very faded, so I didn't feel quite so guilty about cutting it up! Plus I thought it was fun with the curtains I have in the office:

A hot steam iron, a pair of shears, a staple gun and 15 minutes later I had this:

I know that to some of you, cutting up a perfectly good vintage tablecloth is tantamount to painting a mustache on the Mona Lisa! I won't lie--I had to take a deep breath before I made that first cut. I figure that this way, I can actually enjoy my pretty cloth on a daily basis instead of having it tucked away in the dresser in my guest room, rarely to see the light of day. I'm not saying that I'm going to get all scissor-happy with the rest of my beautiful collection, but I don't have any remorse for cutting this one at all!

Weekend junk finds

You know, I didn't mean to skip blogging last week, but it just kept on getting pushed further and further down the to-do list that I finally gave up. I've been working hard every day and falling in bed exhausted every night, and it hasn't helped that Porter has had a lousy week in the sleeping-through-the-night department. I'm hoping this week will be better, although I still have plenty to do.
 

I've been doing some fun Halloween crafting and hope to get it done soon so that I can 1) clean it off my kitchen counters before it gets ruined by someone spilling a glass of juice on it and 2) have something to show you all! In the meantime, I have a few photos to share of some things I've thrifted recently.

This Fire King peach lustre bowl and aqua cake plate came from a thrift store I visited in Utah back in August. I did something fun and Halloweeny with the bowl that I'll share later this week. I bought the cake plate intending to resell it, but I love it too much! I just used it tonight, in fact, for another fun craft I'll share later.

This trio of glasses also came from the thrift in Utah, a chain called Deseret Industries. DI stores seem to get picked over really quickly but their prices are generally lower than any of the thrifts here in Colorado so if you're lucky enough to be there at just the right time you can find some inexpensive treasures. I was tickled to find these CatStudio geography glasses for $1 apiece, especially since I'd just seen some for full price a few weeks earlier at the gift shop of the Smithsonian American History Museum in Washington D.C.

I found this milk glass sugar bowl last week at the thrift store. I've seen plenty of orphaned creamers in my thrifting, but never one like this. I love that it looks like a little trophy! I bought this one with a Christmas craft project in mind but I like it so much that I might just leave it unadorned.

I bought this tablecloth at a garage sale I screeched into while we were on the way to Maren's soccer game last weekend. We were out in a very rural area so I hoped maybe the garage sale was being held at a fabulous old farmhouse where they were selling all of the old stuff I love for pennies. Well, not exactly--but I did get the vintage tablecloth for $3! It was actually on a table under the items for sale, but when I asked the owner if she'd sell it, she remarked that her grandmother had given her a stack of tablecloths and she'd take $2 for it. ~ack!~ I asked if she was interested in selling the others, but she declined, and I actually felt guilty that she was selling me her grandma's tablecloth for 2 bucks, so I gave her an extra dollar. She probably thought I was a nutcase to be giving her more than she asked for.

This delicious old green stoneware bowl came from the thrift store just a few days ago. It's unmarked, but I can tell it has some good age by the amount of wear inside. It does have a crack running down one side but I plan to keep this for my own use and enjoyment, and it's barely visible so I don't mind. Plus it cost me the grand total of 75¢ so if it breaks one of these days, I'll be sad but not out much money!

This last item I bought from Etsy, but it fits in with the rest of the good old junk in this post. With the change in the seasons, I'm moving from my nautical obsession into a plaid obsession. I saw this darling little vintage Ohio Art plaid lunch tin and snapped it right up! It also came with a tall vintage plaid Thermos (a collection I'm doing my very best to try to avoid starting because I know I'll fall hard and fall fast and WHERE am I going to display a bunch of Thermoses?) It reminds me of the larger printed metal picnic baskets, but it's a much smaller version, and little things are automatically cute, right?

Did you find any good junk this weekend? I'm linking up with Thrift Share Monday over at Apron Thrift Girl!

Weekend junk finds: Jadeite, rhinestones, vintage tablecloths

I didn't get much of a chance to go out junking this weekend because The Mister was busy and honestly, I just wasn't up to hauling the kids in and out of the car at every single garage sale. Maren has turned into quite the little garage sale shopper and she's good company, but Porter is, well...not as good company. ;) So I waited until Saturday afternoon when The Mister was home and set out for the thrift stores instead, as both Goodwill and ARC were having 50% off sales.

I did find a few fun things to bring home. There was a Jadeite mug which I'm 99% sure is a repro, but it will look just great in my collection and for 75¢, I'm not a stickler for authenticity! I also found two pair of earrings for the Box of Happy, and a pair of fun sparkly rhinestone pins for my collection including one that's a peacock with a red aurora borealis body. The goodies are sitting on a first for me--a 25¢ vintage tablecloth! That one was found a church yard sale. It's soaking in OxiClean right now but even if the few spots don't come out, I don't think I mind much for a quarter.

A bit later that day at the ARC store, I found a vintage Wilendur tablecloth in a pattern I'd never seen before. After looking at my tablecloth books, I now know the pattern is called Penn-Dutch and it was produced in a variety of color combinations--the one I found was turquoise, orange, yellow and green. Unfortunately, the condition was pretty bad, and even though it would have only cost $3.00, that felt like an outrageous sum after paying a quarter for a vintage tablecloth an hour before! I left it behind.

I know I've seen  Vintage Textile Soak advertised on blogs and in magazines--have any of you used it? Is it really better than OxiClean or Biz? I've been able to get most stains out with a good soak in OxiClean, but there are a few that are stubborn--I'm looking at the cutest aqua floral cloth right now with some yellowish stains that just won't come out. I'd love any feedback that you have about VTS.

What did you find this weekend?

Estate sale goodies!

What a lovely weekend I've had! My dear Dad came to visit for a few days, we attended a pair of graduation parties where I got to visit with my extended families, the weather was finally WARM (albeit super-windy), there was outlet mall shopping, a kid-free getaway night at a nice downtown hotel for FREE, a late dinner at a fancy restaurant, pretty shoes, an unexpected estate sale, and the LOST finale. Whew! I don't know that we could have packed in any more goodness if we'd tried.

I haven't even unpacked the goodies from Saturday's surprise estate sale, but I wanted to show you what I found last week. Even though I had the kiddos with me, I was able to hit a few estate sales and came away with treasures, such as:

vintage Christmas goodies including two neat corsages (LOVE the pink & purple one!), a strand of glass beads and neat shaped ornies

vintage candles (the altar boys are Gurley, don't know about the angels & snowman--Standard Oil, maybe?)

Vintage Christmas seals, twisty foil, garland, and a Christmas card file box that contained a card that made me laugh out loud (click to enlarge so you can read it)

More vintage Christmas, including a couple of tree toppers for my collection

Vintage earrings for crafting, pipe cleaners (etsy-bound) and gold glitter

A cute aqua blue tablecloth (probably headed to etsy

 A picnic or beach towel with bright happy toadstools (headed to etsy)

And this darling bag made of a vintage tablecloth and a chenille bedspread

So if that's the loot I found with two kids in tow, can you imagine what I could have scored if I'd been solo? I actually would have bought more boxes of vintage Shiny Brites, because the price she quoted me when I got to the checkout was even cheaper than they were marked--but my arms were full of Octo-Baby Porter and trying to carry boxes of fragile glass ornaments likely wouldn't have ended well. Oh well, I found lots of good stuff, we found a fun new park for Maren, and we all got out of the house, so I'm not going to worry about the what ifs! Plus when I've just had such a good weekend, it seems more than a bit ungrateful to complain! 

Did you find any *good junk* this weekend? What did you think about the LOST finale?

It's Rednesday--vintage apron, pin bead Mrs. Claus and gratuitous cute baby photos

Yippee, it's Rednesday! I'm joining Sue's Rednesday party today.


I love this pin and bead Mrs. Claus! She's a Walco craft from the early 1970s and is reminiscent of the pin bead fruit that I collect as well.
I found her at a thrift a few weeks ago, but sadly there was no Mr. Claus to be found. I now have a mission: locate a pin bead Santa and reunite him with the lovely Mrs.!

Found at a rare weekday garage sale when I was out visiting my mom in Utah, I think these are actually from 2008 but I never blogged about them. The crocheted apron is a child's size and somebody turned the vintage tablecloth into cute red-hemmed cloth napkins.

And a favorite red (and blue) thing around here:
Would you just LOOK at that hair? Hee! It's like Muppet hair.This one's blurry but Porter is just the happiest, most smiley baby! He'll be 12 weeks tomorrow (HOW?) and is an absolute delight!