04-11-08

Tonight, Maren and I will bundle up (it's COLD here!) and head to the church for our ward's Talent Show, in which I will be performing because I am shameless and love to be the center of attention. I'll be reciting this poem, which is one that I learned in high school and have never completely forgotten. Initially I thought I'd go all out and find a costume and props but as it turns out, I have no idea what an Alaskan gold miner from 1910 would wear or if such apparel would be available at the local thrift shop. So instead I'll just brush my teeth and put on some lipstick and hope that's good enough. Quin has to work so I'm going to have someone video my performance, and maybe if it's not too humiliating, I'll post it here as well. I am shameless, after all.

For a photo today I want to show you something I bought back before Valentine's Day. I was browsing a local antique mall and found a booth where everything was marked 50% off, including this old dresser. I bought it completely on impulse--in retrospect, I think I paid too much, even at half price--and even managed to wedge it upside down into the back seat of the little compact Mazda I was driving that day.


The dresser is small (you can see how large it is in comparison to Maren) and from the hand-written measurements I found on the inside, it appears to be homemade. I think it must have been stored outside at some point because it's in pretty rough shape. And once the weather here warms I need to take it outside and paint it with a coat of polyurethane because every time I move it, the paint flakes off and it's probably full of lead.

As it was an impulse purchase, I really didn't have an idea of where I'd put it--I usually buy first and sort that part out later. :) I still haven't figured out the perfect place for it, so for now it's in my front room, decorated with an old oak-framed vintage mirror and various thrifted ceramics in aqua blues and green. I have been looking for some sort of a console or buffet to put in this spot but haven't found anything perfect, so this will do for now. It's not ideal but I do enjoy having another horizontal display space to fill with my thrifted goodies.


Time to go brush my teeth and find the lipstick--wish me luck!

04-09-08

It never fails when I buy bananas that there are 1-2 that we just don't eat before they turn black and yucky. The customary remedy for this problem is to make a pan of banana bread, but I will admit that I have only found one recipe for banana bread over the years that I really love. That's why I was thrilled to find this recipe several years ago. It's a perfect way to use up those black bananas on your counter top in a way that is different from a traditional banana bread. The recipe is called "Marbled Banana Bars" but in texture it's closer to a moist coffee cake than a bar. I like to add chocolate chips to the chocolate batter--no set amount, just toss in whatever looks like enough to you. I especially like to use mini-chips if I have them.

Marbled Banana Bars

Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter -- softened
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas -- (3-4)
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
Powdered sugar -- if desired

Instructions:

Heat oven to 350°F. Combine sugar and margarine in large mixer bowl. Beat at medium speed, scraping bowl often, until creamy (1 to 2 minutes). Add bananas, egg and vanilla; continue beating, scraping bowl often, until well mixed (1 to 2 minutes). Add flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; reduce speed to low. Beat, scraping bowl often, until well mixed (1 to 2 minutes).

Drop 1 1/2 cups batter by spoonfuls into greased 13x9-inch baking pan. To remaining batter in bowl, add cocoa; beat on low speed until well mixed (30 seconds). *Add chocolate chips if using.

Drop spoonfuls of chocolate batter in pan over banana batter. Swirl chocolate batter through banana batter using knife. (DO NOT OVER-SWIRL.) Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely.

Just before serving, sprinkle with powdered sugar. Cut into bars.

Yield: 36 bars

Nutrition Facts (1 bar)

Calories: 80 Fat: 3 g Cholesterol: 5 mg Sodium: 105 mg Carbohydrates: 12 g Dietary Fiber: 1 g Protein: 1 g

I love this cake! It's quick, easy and makes a whole 13x9 pan so it's a good thing to make if you need to take a treat to a meeting or play date. That is, if you can keep from eating it all before you get it out of the house!

And because every blog post needs a photo, here is a picture of the cute wreath I bought at the thrift last week for $3.83. I was looking for something to spruce up the outside of my house until it gets warm enough for flowers, and this pink faux berry wreath is just the ticket!

03-26-08

Sorry for the blog absence. This has been me for the past few days:


In case you are unacquainted with the brilliance that is Homestarrunner.com, that fellow there is the Poopsmith. We're dealing with possible Salmonella issues for Maren (still waiting on the lab results) that have resulted in me feeling like all I've done for 5 days straight is shovel sh*t, if you know what I mean. I'll spare you all the gory details, but suffice it to say, it hasn't been pretty.

Enough of the poo talk! Lets see something sparkly:


I found these pretties last week when I had a rare solo trip to the thrift on 25% off day. Now, normally this thrift prices anything sparkly at a minimum of $5.95 (for earrings, pins are usually $9.95 and up), regardless of quality. I noticed their prices that day were significantly lower so maybe they have somebody new doing the pricing, and if so--hurrah! and I see more jewelry purchases in the future. The leaf-shaped pin and the flower pin were both $2.95, the tiny turquoise pin was 95¢, and the necklace was $4.95, all less 25%. The necklace is perfect--great AB crystals and milky white glass beads, and I know I'll be wearing it often because it will go with a lot of different outfits. I may be a SAHM but that doesn't mean I don't wear bling! I had spotted the crown brooch when I was in the week before but didn't want to pay full price. I was quite surprised that it was still there when I returned, so I snapped it up. It's not vintage but who can resist a sparkly crown? Maybe wearing a rhinestone crown brooch will take some of the drudgery out of Poopsmithing in the days to come.

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. :)

While I was visiting my folks last week I thought it might be fun for my dad and me to hit an estate sale (or perhaps even a garage sale, if the weather held) so I popped on Craigslist to see if any had been listed. Out of curiosity I also checked the 'collectibles' section, to see if anything interesting was posted for sale. I did find a listing for a few days previous for a collection of Jadeite that a woman was asking $125 for. I checked it out, but figured that since it had been a few days it had probably already been spoken for.

On Friday morning I checked again and there was a new listing for the same Jadeite, but this time the seller had brought the price down to $100! The listing was for 20 pieces of Jadeite, so that made each piece $5--a bargain, considering the prices I'd seen on the Jadeite items at the antique mall the day before.

However, we had guests coming and I didn't have time to contact the seller until after lunchtime when they'd gone home. I was just sure that someone else had beat me to it but I called the seller anyway to check. To my surprise, it was still available! My mom and I loaded Maren into the car and ran to the ATM to get cash, then headed down to the seller's house.

The seller was a sweet woman named Lynda who lived in the coziest little pink and green apartment. I can see where her Jadeite collection fit right into her decor! She told me that since I had spoken to her, she had found a few more pieces of Jadeite that she would add at no additional cost. In fact, as I was leaving she spied a vase on the table, pulled the flowers out of it, and plopped it into the box in my arms! We visited for a few minutes and I told her how tickled I was to find this collection. She told me that she could tell it would be going to a good home, and I assured her that was definitely the case.

So, do you wanna see what I bought?

And this isn't everything! It's just what I could manage to stuff in a carry-on to bring home with me. There are still 4 or 5 large bowls, a drippings jar and another small covered jar that I had to leave behind at my parents' house until one of us drives to visit the other. I thought I was going to have to leave it all until a few minutes before we had to leave for the airport when I had a flash of inspiration. I dumped all of Maren's clothes into my suitcase so that I could pack hers with my bubble-wrapped treasures, which I then carried on to the plane.

I love, love, LOVE my new collection! I've been looking for Jadeite for a long time but have never found anything. I take that back--I once found a chipped dinner plate at a thrift store but I didn't buy it because of the condition, and even then they wanted several dollars for it. Now I have an instant collection! I love that there are a variety of shapes and sizes of items. I think my favorite is probably the large pitcher--won't it look gorgeous with flowers in it? I also love the shape of the small green vase. Now, I have a suspicion that some of the pieces might be reproductions. I'd have to do some research to find out for sure but even if they are, I don't really care! They're for me to enjoy, not to sell, so market value is irrelevant.

If you want to see some closer photos of the items, you can find them on my Flickr page.

Thrifting on the road

While I was in SLC we found time to do a little thrifting, of course! We stopped at a couple of thrift stores and though the pickings were slim, I found a few items worth making room for in my suitcase.
The glass jars are nothing more fancy than old olive or caper jars, but I think I can gussy them up with ribbons, rub ons and pretty treats and they'll be darn cute. None was more than 50¢. The Martha plate holder was also 50¢; I always pick those up when I find them cheap because I use them in my guest room to hold my souvenir plates. This one actually has some nice little details. The old red-handled ice cream scoop was less than a buck and will go with the rest of my collection of Old Utensils with Painted Handles That I Have No Good Way to Display But Cannot Seem to Pass Up. The neat old number stamp in the front was found by my dad somewhere and has a cool green metal knob on top and will be displayed on my desk.

My dad and I made the ambitious (or foolish, you make the call) choice to attempt the antique mall with Maren in tow. I don't think I've ever said "Hold hands!" and "Only touch with ONE finger!" so often in such a short period of time. Still, in between the frantic admonishing I was able to find a few goodies. I was chiefly looking for aqua-colored things to flesh out my new vision for my front room.On the left is a cream soup dish from the Franciscan Coronado pattern. I love the color and the graceful swirls! On the right is a little planter. It's a bit chippy and has a few pinpricks in the glaze but those imperfections don't bother me one bit, and they brought the price down to $2.00! I love color, the roses, the shape of the handles--it's perfect to me! I wrapped them both up in lots of bubble wrap and tucked them in my carry-on bag and thankfully, they made it safely home! I love thrifting on the road!

Good heavens! I didn't really intend to drop off the face of blogland, but that's what seems to have happened since I haven't posted in almost a week. Yikes.

First, the winner of my little tag giveaway is........ Miss Paula!


I already notified her and a little packet of Happy Mail is winging its way toward Oregon as I type. Thank you all for your comments and your entries! I have another fun giveaway planned for the future.

Many of you commented about the cute pink purse I showed in my last post. My mom bought it here at Bella of Cape Cod online. They have quite a few very inexpensive but very cute purses, bags, and other accessories. If you know someone who needs a sparkly pink purse, you know where to find it!

Last week I had an unexpected free hour and a cooperative child, so we stopped at the thrift shop to see if the Easter goodies have been put out yet. They haven't but I found a few other things that I couldn't leave behind:

This pretty little jar was only 40¢, which is surprisingly cheap for this particular thrift. I think it's new but it definitely looks old and has a pretty pinky-copper metal lid. The Madeline book was $2.42, the Stinky Cheese Man was $1.81 and I think Horton was somewhere in between. They are sitting on this:
My newest vintage tablecloth! It's red, so it will be perfect in my kitchen. Do any of my fellow vintage tablecloth-loving peeps recognize the pattern? It reminds me of a Wilendur and the flowers look like poppies, but the Wilendur poppy tablecloth is different. It had a few yellow spots but I used the bleach pen on them and I think all but one came out. Hooray!

Tomorrow Maren and I headed to visit my folks in SLC for a few days. Maren has been asking all day, every day for a week now if it is time to go to the airport yet! We're both excited. :)

Valentine's Day wrap-up

I had such a great Valentine's Day! Maren and I started out the day by making "Balentimes" for Daddy:
We even used glitter glue, at Maren's insistence. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, eh?

Quin brought home this beauty for all of us to enjoy:

It is from Edible Arrangments and it was delish! The chocolate-dipped pineapple in particular was especially yummy. They use dark chocolate to dip the fruit and the contrast between that and the sweetness of the fruit is wonderful. It was a fun alternative to flowers, and something we've all been able to really enjoy.

I attempted to make strawberry blossoms:


They didn't turn out as pretty as I had hoped but they sure do taste good! Between these and the fruit arrangement it's pretty safe to say that we've all met the suggested daily fruit intake for the past two days.

For dinner I attempted Middle Eastern food. Quin traveled to Jordan in December and raved about the food there. I chose a few recipes off the internet and gave them a whirl but I was at a disadvantage since I didn't really know what the food was supposed to taste like! I thought it was okay, but I know I can do better. Time to head to the library and the local middle eastern restaurant (complete with bellydancers!) for a fact-finding mission. Dessert got postponed until tonight, as I read the recipe rather hastily and forgot the vanilla ice cream, a key ingredient. It was no big loss as our bellies were full of chocolate-covered strawberries anyway. If the dessert is good tonight I'll post the recipe tomorrow.

For my RED installment today, I have a photo of some vintage crocheted potholders that I thrifted very recently.

Actually, the basket with the rose is an old find but I thought the photo needed three instead of two. I picked up the two round potholders last week and I love them! I see crocheted potholders all the time in thrifts but I'm very particular about the ones I will buy. Anything red gets tossed into the shopping cart, post haste. The small red one has a tiny circle of the palest spring green in the middle and I really love how it looks with the red; such a great contrast. The larger circle is very nicely done and in perfect condition. I was tickled to add these RED cuties to my kitchen!

It was so nice to have Quin home today. I was able to go to JoAnn's and Target all by myself, which qualifies as a huge thrill for me these days. I'm excited that we get a free day tomorrow too, and I think we'll spend the day getting some of our piles of items ready for listing on eBay. I've also got a few crafting projects that were shoved aside in order to get all my swaps done that I'd like to finish up and get off my desk. I'm sure I'll find plenty of ways to keep busy!

Sweeney Todd & Thrift Tuesday

First a Sweeney Todd review: Well, it was pretty gruesome. I'm familiar with the stage version, and although I knew the subject matter is dark as dark can be, it is far less....squirty...than this movie version is. It was like Tim Burton took the "Tim Burton" dial and turned it up to 11. The bleeding was really quite over the top, as was the scene with Mrs. Lovett's demise. The movie itself was visually striking, even though all of the colors were very grayed out. I loved the pop of color in the "By the Sea" number, and covet Mrs. Lovett's kooky red striped dress & stockings.

I was surprised at how well Johnny Depp sang, especially considering that he had no voice training at all for the movie. Helena Bonham Carter was adequate, but her voice was thin and it was obviously a big stretch for her. The music is quite difficult anyway, but a more accomplished singer might have sounded stronger. I was disappointed that a portion of my favorite song, "A Little Priest" was cut--that's the funniest part of the whole show and I think the lyrics are brilliant, so I was disappointed at so much of the humor cut out. I also think they could have played it a lot more manic--on the stage, it's played up for the laughs, and Sweeney and Mrs. Lovett are terribly amused with themselves. I thought in the movie version was a lot drier and just really missed out on how sickly funny the whole song is. Also, much of the really great harmony was cut, although I suspect that's because it was just too difficult for the actors to sing.

Overall, my feelings are mixed. It was really quite gory--from the spurting blood to the way the bodies are unceremoniously dumped from quite a height straight onto their heads, to Mrs. Lovett's fiery end. If you're squeamish, this is not the movie for you. It is dark and sinister and not the least bit uplifting. I quite like the music, and I enjoyed the actors' performances. I don't know that I'd want to see the movie again, although I am hoping we can get tickets when the most recent Broadway version of Sweeney comes to Denver this summer.

In other (less bloody) news, I went thrifting yesterday! I've been on the hunt for Valentine candy boxes to use for my swaps so I've hit all the local stores in the past few days. I was lucky and found one box, which I'm working on to send to Amy, and I've got my fingers crossed that I'll find another before the next swap is due out. I found a few other fun things as well: The dishes are the salad bowls that match my Christmas dishes. I don't have any, which I realized earlier in December when I offered to host a table at a church Christmas dinner and had to use another set of non-matching salad plates. I only found six dishes (I have service for eight) but I think six is better than none, and they were only 50¢ each. The vintage cards are unused and were only 80¢ for the stack. Not like I need any more vintage cards, but when I see old cards I am powerless to resist! I love the one on top with the bear and the red & aqua color scheme. Also shown are two pair of sparkly vintage earrings. They were more than I usually like to pay but they're really pretty and I'll put them to good use.

When I saw this fun old Coke bottle carrier, I grabbed it as fast as I could before anyone else had a chance to see it! It isn't terribly old--there's a date of 1976 on the inside--it is a fun piece, great bright red, and it was only $1.99. Not sure what I'll do with it yet but I couldn't leave it behind for that cheap. I also found these books for Maren (with the CDs still sealed), a darling pair of cherry-print linen Ann Taylor LOFT pants for Maren (did you know they had kids' clothes? I didn't), and a gorgeous vintage dress for me that is so fabulous that it deserves a post of its own.

If you signed up for the Sweet Goodness Hanging Hearts swap, you should have your partners by now! Be sure to email your partner and introduce yourself! I'll be back tomorrow with some Silver Bella projects that I finally finished.

All is Shiny, all is Brite

Vintage Shiny Brite Christmas ornaments. They're like crack cocaine to me--I think about them, I dream about them, I simply cannot get enough! I found my first Shiny Brites back before I was even married with a tree to put them on--I had been garage sale-ing with my mom and scored several boxes of the solid colored glass balls, mostly in shades of turquoise and hot pink. When I finally got an aluminum tree (an early Christmas gift from my sweet parents), the turquoise and pink looked perfectly retro with all of that sparkly silver!

Since then, I've been on the never ending, voracious hunt for Shiny Brites. In my experience they've been hard to find so my collection is still small, but one look at the zillions of Shiny Brites for sale on eBay tell me that they're still out there, waiting to be found. The difference is that I wouldn't dream of selling them! I still have mostly plain glass balls but slowly I've been finding more and more of the 'special' ones--those that have stripes or glitter or are a different shape. When I find those at a garage sale or thrift, I don't think I could be more excited if they were diamonds and rubies! They are truly treasures to me.

All of the thrifts around here wait until after Halloween to put their Christmas donations out for sale, so I have to wait to search. Ever since I got home from Silver Bella I've been on a bit of a thrift bender, and I've been lucky in the vintage Christmas department! These were all in one big bag. All of my local thrifts just throw a bunch of stuff in a bag and price it, a dangerous situation for delicate glass balls. Sometimes I get very lucky and find a whole bag full of good stuff like this, but mostly it's a whole bag of crap and one or two good things. Not all of these are Shiny Brites but they are all vintage. I especially love the small boxes of feather tree ornaments.


For me, the graphics on the old ornament boxes are just as appealing as the contents! The ornaments inside this box are nothing special, but the box is great! The dipsticks at the thrift store had crisscrossed the top with clear packing tape and I took a chance, hoping I could use some Un-Du and get the tape off without completely destroying the box. I was mostly successful, but you can see on the edges where the red paper lifted off despite the care I took. Oh well, it's still great and once I glue down that errant flap and fill it with "good" ornaments, it will look great!



More wonderful old graphics! I don't know how, but I very nearly overlooked these at the thrift store. They should have jumped right out at me, as different as they are from all the modern boxes of ornaments they were stacked with. Thankfully, I looked again and snatched them up as fast as I could! Good thing, because there were treasures inside:

A few of these are plain glass balls, but most of them are really neat! There are even three that I think are made out of spun cotton and are quite old--need to get a close up of those to show you later. The only problem with these is that it looks like someone hung them on the tree and then sprayed the tree with that awful flocking stuff from a can, so several of the ornaments have white yucky stuff on them. I think that if I'm careful I can get it off without damaging them too much.

If you want to really drool, search "Shiny Brite" on eBay and look through just a few of the 1400 listings that come up. Whoa, nelly. I used to think that buying off eBay was cheating, but knowing how hard it has been to find the few ornaments that I do have, mostly one and two at a time, eBay is starting to look a lot more appealing. If I had lots and lots of money, I think I'd be bidding just as fast as my fingers could click the mouse. Chasing the Shiny Brite dragon. Yikes.

This year I have enough of the special ornaments to decorate my tree, and I'm so excited to get everything out and see how it looks! I'm a little nervous about the potentially catastrophic combination of fragile glass ornaments + curious toddler hands but I'm going to risk it. I can always buy more on eBay, right?

Silver Bella--what I bought

I'm not going to lie--the shopping part of Silver Bella was every bit as fun as the classes and meeting everyone! Heck, that's why Teresa arranged a special shopping night just for us Bellas at Second Chance, which I talked about a few posts ago. Second Chance was just amazing--a one of a kind type of place, and it was so fun to shop there and across the street at Fairmont Antiques. There was also some good vintage stuff to be had during our own Vendor Night! Here are photos of the goodies I brought home:

I didn't set out to buy so much pink stuff, it just happened that way. It's funny because the main areas of my home are done in reds and blues, so all the pink and aqua stuff that I am attracted to does not match at all and I have nowhere to put it. Does that stop me from buying it? Not apparently! The Moderntone sherbet cup and Ripple tea cup came from Fairmont and the Moderntone salt shaker and Ripple saucer came from Second Chance. I have one aqua Ripple saucer that I thrifted long ago and it is a dream of mine to someday have a whole set of that stuff, but I never see it. In Second Chance I found a whole stack of saucers ($1.50 each) and luncheon plates ($3 each I think) but I could only bring myself to buy one little saucer to match the pink cup I'd just bought. Someday I'm going to regret not buying the whole stack, but I just couldn't justify buying more at that point. The sparkly earrings were a splurge for me at $12, also from the magical basement at Second Chance. They are particularly enormous to be worn as earrings but the way they are made, they'll make great buckles when I get around to figuring out what to do with them! Here's a close-up:


All of these were from Second Chance. From the left, a vintage plastic tree-topper that was $2. I bought an identical blue one from a thrift right before I left. The bag of green mercury glass bead picks was $4, and I wish I could have found more. They're one of the things I'm always on the lookout for but this is the first time I've ever found any. The aqua and silver tree topper was in the box but I do not believe it is original to the box, although it is vintage and still has its West Germany label. The box is in perfect condition and may just be my favorite purchase of the weekend! It's Shiny Brite and I've never seen another like it, though I have many Shiny Brite ornament boxes. The box & tree topper were $6, which I think is a steal.

This box of Shiny Brites was $4 at Fairmont. I saw it early, before most of the Bellas had gotten there and I know it would have been snapped up by someone else if I hadn't gotten to it first! That's a great price for a whole box of glittered vintage ornaments--I'd be awful lucky to find them around here. The atomic design isn't my absolute favorite but there are a few with snowflakes and I couldn't pass them up at that price. They'll go on my tree this year. The Santa box was $3.50 and has great vintage graphics. Did anyone see the article in the newest Home Companion about collecting vintage wrapping paper and Christmas boxes? I read my mom's copy on the airplane ride to Omaha, so it was fresh in my head when I spotted this!

From left, a vintage cardboard and net stocking, $5 from Manto Fev on Vendor Night. The magazine is from Second Chance; it was also $5 and is the December 1950 issue. It has the greatest ads and graphics inside! My grand plan is to scan them so I can post them here on my blog for your enjoyment as well as using them in my artwork. The sheet of vintage metallic Christmas wrap was $2, as were the gold medallion thingies--both from Manto Fev.


From left: a November 1948 issue of Household magazine, $2 from Second Chance. I have the same plans for this as the other magazine. Let's hope I actually get that far! I do not have a great relationship with my scanner right now. The vintage flash cards were $1 each from Manto Fev. Not sure what I want to do with them but I had to have them! The old photos were from Second Chance and were less than $1 each--they show scenes of snowy houses that I think I can make into something interesting for Christmas. The little round dark thing ($5 at Second Chance) is a very old, very tarnished copper dish (ashtray?) with an image of this, which just happens to be where I got married. I'm hoping I can clean it up with a little lemon juice and kosher salt; it will go in my travel-themed guest room when I'm done. The vintage buttons are also from Second Chance and cost anywhere from 10¢ to $1 per card.

Vintage wallpaper samples from the 1950s, $1 each from Manto Fev. I may have mentioned before that I want to wallpaper the panel on the old-door-turned-headboard in my guest room. I bought these papers for that project, but this is just a start--I'm going to need much more!

Love the sparklies! The snowflake pin and the flower bouquet were both from Fairmont and I bought them specifically to hold on my sash at Bella Gypsy night--I had forgotten to pack any of my vintage brooches, so I had to go buy some, not that I minded! LOL They were inexpensive at $7 each, which is much less than my local thrifts would have charged, and I will definitely wear them again. The other pieces are old single earrings. Second Chance had boxes full of them for us to choose from--they had advanced notice that Bellas are much like magpies in their love of anything shiny. :) These were from the $1 box but they are great! Again, my local thrifts would have charged far more, even for earrings with no mates. If they see even one rhinestone in a piece of jewelry, they automatically mark it up to $9.95, with no regard to the quality--many times the pieces are missing stones or are just plain ugly. It was such a treat to be able to choose from so much, so reasonably priced at Second Chance--the jewelry selection was definitely one of the highlights of the store!

One other thing I bought but didn't photograph is a vintage feathered headband. It is various shades of bright pink & fuschia and it is slightly ridiculous, but I love it so much! I have NO idea what I'll do with it or where on earth I could possibly wear such an over-the-top thing, but I knew that if I didn't buy it, I wouldn't be able to stop thinking about it and I would regret it terribly. I'll have to fix my hair in a 40's chignon and model it for you--it's a hoot! Looks like it was made from some poor, unfortunate flamingo. It's awesome.

Even with all that I bought, I've still had a few pangs of wishing that I had bought more--more jewelry and old photos at Second Chance, more stuff at Vendor Night. I'm not sure that even if I had bought more I'd be satisfied though--I always want more! So I'm just going to be happy with the treasures I did find; I think I got some pretty neat stuff!

Brains....braaaaains!

Thank you all SO much for your advice on the blue jeans! I went through all of your helpful comments and wrote everything down, so now I have a great long list that I can refer to when I go shopping. Next time I can steal away sans toddler, look out--I'm a woman on a mission! Several of the stores on the list I never would have even thought of for jeans--Eddie Bauer, White House/Black Market, Coldwater Creek--so thanks for mentioning them. I'm on the hunt and I will leave no stone..er..pants..unturned! One other thing--Sam mentioned a website called Zafu.com where you can answer 8 questions and then it brings up a huge list of jeans that might fit you. It's really neat, and it also does Plus size jeans and Bras (they're currently doing research on pants). Head over there and see what they have to say!

Lots going on around here. We're hosting a Halloween party tomorrow night so I'm running around like crazy trying to round up food, decorations and costumes. We're doing a mad scientist theme and among other things, I'll be making these delightfully disgusting cupcakes. I hope they won't be so disturbingly realistic that people won't eat them! They kinda give me the heebie-jeebies, but I think they'll be perfect if I can get the frosting consistency just right! Can't decide if I'm going to give them a cream filling or leave them plain. Maybe a red jelly filling? Ack, now I've really grossed myself out.

I mentioned a few posts ago that I found a fabulous vintage dress at the thrift, but had to have it tailored. I was finally able to pick it up this week and I have to show it to you! (Click on it to enlarge) It is a gray wool sheath and the armholes and neck are completely lined with iridescent beads and rhinestones--the older kind that have to be sewn on individually by hand. It's quite ornate and nicely done, although I couldn't find a tag inside so I don't know if it's store-bought or homemade. When I bought it, the arms and bust and neck fit perfectly but it was too big around the middle, so I had the tailor take it in and put some darts in the front and back, and now it fits great! The dress itself was $5.99 and the alterations were $45, which is a little more than I had hoped it would be, but I still think it was worth it! In the photo I'm wearing a black long sleeved t-shirt but I think I'm going to take that back and try a mock turtleneck instead. I also have some fun black tights to wear but I couldn't be bothered to squeeze into those just for a quick blog photo. :) I love it, and I can't wait to wear it!

And last, a Friday Fiver:
1. What makes you feel exposed?
Looking at photos of myself, thus seeing myself as others see me. I swear I'm cuter in the mirror than in photographs.

2. What do you have to force yourself to do?
Clean the bathrooms, and get a babysitter for Maren. I have the hardest time getting her a sitter, I feel like I'm imposing on people.

3. Where do you like to spend your time outdoors?
The beach! On a boat in the middle of a lake with my family. Geocaching with DH.

4. What surprises you?
How quickly Maren picks up new words and concepts. We can say something once and she'll be repeating it in no time. Better watch what we say from now on, huh?

5. Friday fill-in: Late at night I'm ____.
First, let's define Late. Anymore, late for me is about 10:30 p.m.--not the same as when I was in college and late was into the a.m. hours! Late at night I'm usually getting my second wind. I'm not nearly the night owl I used to be but I still find myself getting really productive starting at around 9:00 p.m., just in time for DH to want to go to bed (he gets up at 5:30 a.m.)

Hello again

My goodness, I didn't realize it had been almost a week since my last blog post! No wonder my mom was worried about me. :) Do you ever have things to post, but just feel lazy about it? That has been me for the past few days.

I received a fabulous, out-of-the-blue Halloween package from my friend, Miss Thrifty Goodness herself! Rebecca knows that I adore Halloween so she sent some wonderful goodies to help me celebrate! She included the cutest woolly bat, one of her darling handmade paper rosette pins, two of the cute 'crackers' that she blogged about today, sparkly little spider candle holders, a neat enamel sign, a Glitterville ornament, and the most adorable little cupcake picks and paper umbrellas! Her package was a surprise and it was such a treat! Rebecca was one of the very first bloggers that I ever connected with and is one of the most generous, creative people I know! Thanks again, Rebecca! :)

I did a bit of thrifting on Saturday morning and found some neat stuff! I decided to look through what the thrift store deemed "Halloween costumes" and actually found some really great clothing items. I don't normally look at clothing in the thrifts because I just don't have the time when I'm shopping with Maren, but this particular morning I was alone so I was able to take my time and try things on. I ended up with this Pendleton wool plaid cape for $5.99. I'm not sure it is particularly old--it has a "Dry Clean Only" tag attached--but I thought it was neat and you can't beat Pendleton for quality and classic styling. I was tickled to open up my November Country Home magazine the other day and find a feature on plaid! How au courant. :)

I also bought a great vintage dress that is currently at the tailor being fitted so I can wear it. I'll show a photo when I pick it up next week. It's a gray wool sheath and around the armholes and the neckline and down the front it is lined in sparkly rhinestones and iridescent beads. It's really very pretty and very unusual, and for $5.99 I couldn't pass it up! I hope the tailoring goes well because I think it has really great potential.

The last thing is a length of vintage fabric with a border of the sweetest little pink cherubs. I have no idea what to do with it, but it leapt in my cart and I brought it home. I am curious as to what it is intended to be made into--the fabric width is rather narrow, so it seems unlikely that it would have been for a baby blanket. It is thin, smooth cotton--reminds me of sheeting, actually. Any ideas?

Somebody thinks I rock! :) More about that tomorrow!

Thrift Thursday

Last October we had Maren's portraits taken, an experience so stressful that we haven't had professional pictures made since. One of the backgrounds they used was orange with fake pumpkins and Maren was dressed in a cute little black onesie with a white spiderweb on the front. I want to hang up one of the prints as part of my Halloween decor this year, which means I have to find a picture frame. For reasons that escape me now, I had the portrait printed 11 x 14, so if I want a frame with a mat I'm going to need one that's what, 18 x 20? All right, that's just ridiculous. I really don't want to pay retail on a frame that large that I'm only going to display for one month each year (not to mention I don't know where I'd even put a frame so large), so I headed to the thrift store this morning to see if I could find something suitable, or something that I could even paint black in a pinch.

I didn't find any frames, and I think I might have better luck if I go back to the photographer and have them print me an 8 x 10 instead. Honestly, what was I thinking? My trip to the thrift store with a wild toddler was not completely in vain; I did find a few other treats to bring home.

My best find was the pie pan for $1.00. I don't know if there's a name for this pattern but I love it and I snap it up whenever I see it--so far I have a muffin tin, a heart-shaped cake pan, a neat fluted tube pan and now this pie pan. I can't get enough! I also found a pom-pom maker for 99¢ (seriously, who calls them pom-poNs?) and a brand-new boxed set of E.B. White books that includes Charlotte's Web, Stuart Little and The Trumpet of the Swan, all books that I loved and read many times as a child.

Under my finds you can see my Halloween tablecloth--does this count as a Tablecloth Thursday post? My sweet mom sent me this gorgeous cloth from our favorite store. It is two layers, one of orange and an overlay of sheer black with flocked spiderwebs. The edges are bound in black velveteen and there are tassels at the corners! Each spiderweb has a sparkly bead sewn in the middle and the bottom orange layer has jack o' lantern faces embroidered on it. It's beautiful and I love it!

Flea Market Adventure & I only have EYES for you

Thank you all for your kind words about my project! I must admit I'm still pretty tickled about it; I keep going into the closet just to look at it again. :)

Today Maren and I went on an adventure to the local flea market. I've read with envy about all the neat goodies Sarah finds at her local flea and I've been meaning to go for months now. The weather forecast for the day was good so off we went! The Mile High Flea Market is open on Wednesdays and Saturdays, all year-round. I'm sure their big day is obviously Saturday so I was surprised to find as many cars in the parking lot as there were. I'd say more than 50% of the permanent booths were closed but those are the ones most likely to be selling ugly hoochie mama clothes and cheap crap from China, so that didn't bother me. The open air spaces are where anyone can pay a couple bucks and unload their yardsale leftovers, and those were where I looked for treasure.

Honestly, there wasn't much. Lots of junk that I can't believe someone would actually take the energy to pack into their car and schlep to the flea market. There were a few booths with folks selling vintage or antiques but they were few and far between; I'm sure there are more vendors on Saturdays. It bothered me that in most booths, most items were unpriced--I'm a timid haggler so I hate asking for prices. I did manage to find one treasure:

Another beat-up old window to add to the pile growing in my garage. This one was only $8.00, which I consider to be an excellent price, especially since the architectural salvage place in town has their windows priced starting at about $20. One side is chippy old white paint and the other has been painted a really unattractive shade of mauve. Normally I'm okay with pink but this particular shade is just horrible! I'll be using it with the white side out, although at present I'm not sure what exactly I'll be using it for. See, there I go again with the unfinished projects! I think they might actually be breeding out in the garage.

And now, for a little Halloween decor. This is inspired by a similar photo I just saw in a magazine, BH& G maybe? I can't remember.

The silver tray is thrifted, the sticky eyeballs are party favors from Target and the hotel silver fork is from my collection. As I was unwrapping all the eyeballs and placing them in a pile on the plate I have to admit to finding myself completely grossed out. Perfect! Effect successfully achieved! LOL

Transformation

On Friday I was headed to the library when I saw a big YARD SALE sign. The car swerved (of its own accord, I'm sure) and turned down the street indicated by the arrow on the sign. The first thing I saw when I got out of the car was this:

A beat-up old piece of wood. They're wanting 50¢ for this? I thought, and then I turned it over:
I could not dig two quarters out of my pocket fast enough! Would you look at that perfect, chippy, scuffed aqua-green paint? Yum. Oh, I have plans for you, my pretty.

I got it home and the first thing I did was take off the casters. Then I used a screwdriver and a hammer and pulled apart the three other small pieces of wood attached to the painted board, and pulled out the old nails. I gave it a good scrub down with Murphy's Oil Soap and it was ready to go.

I bought a wood appliqué from Home Despot and painted it with cream-colored acrylic paint. I rubbed umber paint into the recesses and wiped off the rest to make it look aged. Glued the appliqué on with my trusty Gorilla Glue, screwed in the cool Anthropologie letter hooks I got from my brother last Christmas and I had this:

Ta-da!! The perfect place to hang all the thrift-store necklaces I've been accumulating. My brother gave me the hooks because I'd asked for something to hold my necklaces and said that he thought I could find an old piece of wood to attach them to. I've been meaning to go to the architectural salvage store and look for some old molding for oh, about 9 months now, but this board ended up being exactly what I wanted in the first place, and for a whole lot cheaper than it would have cost at the salvage place.

I love how it turned out, and I'm pretty darn pleased with myself for actually starting and finishing a project in just three days! As my long-suffering DH will attest, I have a garage full of 'projects' that I've been ignoring, some for as long as three years now. I can't promise to finish any of those in just a weekend but at least I didn't add this one to the pile!