Collecting: Ovenex Starburst pans

Yesterday I showed you a vintage Ovenex starburst pan that I bought at an antique store--the latest addition to my little collection.

I first saw an Ovenex starburst pan in the pages of either Country Home (RIP) or Country Living magazine, in the form of a muffin tin. I thought it was so pretty and vowed to find one just like it, even though I had no idea of a maker.

In my thrifting, I somehow managed to find just that--a muffin tin! I found that it was marked Ovenex, a popular company that made baking pans that I believe is still in business under the Ecko name. That led me to do a little more research and I found that this type of pan is commonly called sunburst or starburst.

Since then, I've been able to expand my collection. I try to only buy pieces when they are nice and shiny and not rusty. That fluted pan from yesterday was an exception--it has some rust but is still mostly shiny.

In all, I have found the following pieces: two heart-shaped cake pans, a fluted pan, a fluted pan with a hole in the middle, a muffin tin, two different size loaf pans, a pie tin with a fluted edge, two regular round cake pans and two round cake pans with a release arm. The two fluted pans are my favorites!

I'd love to find an extra-long loaf pan like Sarah has, or a big cookie sheet like this one currently for sale on eBay. Wouldn't that look neat hanging on a wall as a magnet board?

If you are a reseller, these pans do sell, especially the larger or more unusual sizes (check out this completed auction!) and especially if they are in good condition (shiny, no rust) because as far as I know, there isn't a good way to clean them. Ovenex also made bakeware in another pattern that looks like a waffleweave, but I don't think it's as desirable as the starburst pans unless it's really shiny and like new.

Weekend junk finds

I must make a confession: these junk finds aren't from this past weekend. They're not from any weekend in the past month, actually. I still have some junk finds saved up from my insomnia-induced blogging break so I wanted to share those since I didn't get out junking this weekend.

These finds are from a variety of sources. The cute scalloped Ovenex pan was from an antique mall, but it was such a good price that it came home with me. I have a small collection of these Ovenex starburst pans that I plan to show you later. The darling vintage Hazel Atlas nut chopper with the red wood ball handle was from a thrift store. For Valentine's Day I filled it with festive candy corn and it looked so cute on my windowsill!

Last, the old green Coke bottle was from another antique mall. It was only $1 so I grabbed it, because they're usually priced much higher than that. I love the pale green color and I have it on my desk holding some cute little flags. One think I noticed when I was moving it around to take photos--that bottle is heavy.

I found this lovely vintage tablecloth at the thrift store in nearly perfect condition....until I washed it with something red. {smacks forehead} Can you believe that? I've been doing laundry for how many years?--definitely long enough to know better than to make that mistake! And the sick thing is, that was the second time I dyed something pink in the wash in about a month, so I should have been extra cautious. In my defense, I washed the items in cold water so I didn't think there would be a problem. The white cloth now has a very pale pinkish hue, not enough to make it ugly, but enough to remind me that I won't make that mistake again!

And last an assortment of vintage earrings to replenish my crafting stash. I think my all-time favorites are anything with those pretty aurora borealis crystals like the ones in the middle. I love them, so much that I have a hard time parting with them and actually using them in my creating.

Speaking of hoarding, I realized this week why I still haven't watched the last 3 episodes of "Downton Abbey" that have been patiently waiting on my DVR: I'm afraid to watch them because I know that when they're over, there won't be anymore for another year! Yes, friends, I'm hoarding "Downton Abbey."

Did you get out junking this weekend? Did you find any treasures? Have you ever hoarded a book or movie or am I just a total lunatic?

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

Doily painted and reverse-applique Valentine shirt

If you don't have young kids in your home, you probably don't get Family Fun magazine, so you probably will have not seen the darling doily-print t-shirts they had on the cover of the February issue. Let me catch you up:

So cute, right? I knew as soon as I saw that picture that I wanted to make a shirt for Maren. Back when I made her Christmas reverse applique shirt, I botched my first attempt and had to buy a new red t-shirt. This left me with an otherwise-perfectly-good red shirt with pen marks right in the center, and what better way to cover them than a cute stenciled doily heart?

If you don't get Family Fun magazine, you can find the instructions and another photo here. And a warning--the color red freaks out my camera so my photos are all a little bright.

Before I made the shirt, I spent a good while with an Xacto knife, making sure all of the little holes in the doily were clear of hanging chads. It took a while, but it was worth it because the final product had a nicer pattern.

To adhere the doily to the shirt while you paint, the instructions advise you to put a light coat of glue stick on the back of the doily. I suspected that this was a bad idea--the doily would act like a cheese grater and glue would come up through the holes. I was right--even though I applied the glue stick sparingly, I still had to use a toothpick to poke chunks of glue out of the holes before I could paint.

Once the doily was adhered, I used white fabric paint and a foam stencil brush to daub paint carefully over the doily. I found that the wet paint caused the thin paper doily to curl and move, so if I didn't get a good coating of paint the first time I wasn't able to really fix it. I also had to be careful not to use too much paint and have it blob through the holes and lose the delicate lacy pattern.

Here's how the shirt looked after I removed the paper doily. The puckery part in the middle is where the glue grabbed onto the fabric and pulled as I removed the paper.

I had so much fun, that I grabbed an old shirt of my own and a handful of doilies and went to down. I went a little bit overboard, but I think the effect is cool and I like how they look like snowflakes on the gray shirt.

Remember how Maren's shirt had inkstains in the middle that I needed to cover? Well, some of them still showed in the unpainted middle of the heart, so I had to do something else. Reverse applique to the rescue! It took me about 15 minutes to fix while we watched the Grammy awards on Sunday night. I used a scrap of pale pink fabric and white embroidery thread and just followed the inside of the heart with my stitches. I love how it turned out and with the addition of a fancy hairdo

she looked perfectly sweet for Valentine's Day!

Weekend thrift finds: jars, jewelry, and Fire King

Back near the beginning of my bout with insomnia, I had a Friday where Porter was gone and Maren was at school all day--so I was ALONE for 6.5 hours! I had hoped to go visit some estate sales since I finally had a Friday morning free--and wouldn't you know it, there weren't any! Sheesh. I had to make do at the thrift stores and then topped off my day with a massage. I hadn't slept much the night before so I felt pretty much like a zombie and couldn't enjoy my free day as much as I would have liked. Mostly, I just felt so lonely! Hard to believe, since I spend many days hauling a kicking-and-screaming toddler around and wishing I had Mary Poppins so I could just go buy groceries BY MYSELF. Here I finally had the chance to do it and I was a basket case.

Well, at least I found some good junk to make up for my emotional state.

I am physically unable to pass up blue glass canning jars. Even when they look as, um....fancy...as these did when I found them. As soon as I got home I ripped off all the icky lace and fake pearls and flowers. It took some scrubbing and a liberal application of Un-du, but I was finally able to remove all of the old glue and now I have four more jars to add to my collection. I was especially glad to find two of the small pint jars, since those are so much harder to find around here.

The large gold anchor pendant is perfect for feeding my nautical fashion obsession, which is awakening to plenty of lovely navy-and white-striped Spring fashions after Winter hibernation. I've been looking for an anchor necklace for months with no luck! I don't love the shiny gold, so I'm going to see if I can't tone that down a bit. The cat brooch was cute, though I don't know if it's truly vintage. I do know the fantastic owl head is, though! I love his big blue sparkly eyes.

These aren't vintage, but they're close enough for me! They're Christopher Radko Shiny Brites and they're just as pretty as the old ones. These were actually on 75%-off post-Christmas clearance at TJ Maxx.

And the big find of the day--a Fire King tulip grease jar and salt & pepper set! I was beyond excited to find these. I think they'd just been put out, and when one of the employees saw me taking them out of the glass case and putting them in my basket she stopped and remarked that she'd been thinking about buying them herself. The prices were not super cheap, but based on what they're going for on eBay, I still got a heck of a deal. The only bummer--the paint on the tulips was in pretty near mint condition to begin with. However, some nitwit put the price stickers right over the tulips on the S&P set and used cheap packing tape to tape the lid on the jar. Even though the stickers and tape peeled off very easily, they still managed to take off a few tiny flakes of paint on the flowers all over. Not mint anymore. :( Oh well! I won't be selling them anytime soon so I suppose it doesn't matter and they still look great to me, minty or not.

Did you find anything good this weekend? I'm linking to Apron Thrift Girl's Thrift Share Tuesday!

Valentine's decor 2012

Just wanted to share a few glimpses of the Valentine's decorations around my home before I pack them up for another year..

My Valentine for The Mister. I used three rolls of Rolos covered in red paper and a silver pipe cleaner folded at the top to look like the fuse. I found this idea on Pinterest (my pin) but the original source is here.

I had some friends over and we made these cute pennant flags. So easy and festive!

75¢ thrifted vintage Relpo Valentine planter. Was going to sell it but I love it too much!

I don't love how the top of the china cabinet turned out, but I was too tired to do anything about it.

A different kind of wreath: a giant pinwheel made of pleated rectangle doilies, a red and white 4th of July fan, and a shiny red heart doily.

I also made a few smaller pennant flags using stripey straws instead of skewers for the sticks

Love that giant thrifted spool of red thread! Perfect for pinning a vintage heart doily.

I used my estate sale pink Lu-Ray plates to add color to my china cabinet.

Festive candy corn in a thrifted vintage Hazel Atlas nut chopper

Rigatoni Ottavio's recipe

Just in case you want the recipe for your own special dinner:

Rigatoni Ottavio's

Bolognese Meat Sauce

1/4 c. finely chopped pancetta, salt pork or bacon (about 3 slices)
1 lb. ground beef
1/2 lb. ground veal or pork (an additional 1/2 lb. of ground beef can be substituted)
1 (28-oz) can diced tomatoes
1 c. onion, chopped
1/4 c. carrot, finely chopped
1/4 c. celery, finely chopped
1/4 c. parsley, snipped
1/4 c. tomato paste
1/2 tsp instant chicken bouillon granules (I use 1 chicken bouillon cube)
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/2 c. dry white wine
1/4 c. water

In a large saucepan or Dutch oven, cook pancetta (or other meat) until crisp. Add ground beef and veal or pork; cook until meat is brown. Drain fat.

If desired, pass undrained tomatoes through food mill or sieve. (I don't do this) Add undrained tomatoes, onion, carrot, celery, parsley, tomato paste, bouillon, nutmeg, salt and pepper to meat mixture. Stir in wine and water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat. Boil gently, uncovered, for 45 to 60 minutes or until desired consistency, stirring occasionally.

Rigatoni Ottavio's

2 c. ricotta cheese
1 c. Romano cheese, grated
2 c. mozzarella cheese, shredded
2 1/2 c. heavy cream
1/2 c. parsley, chopped
1/2 c. fresh basil, chopped
1 pound rigatoni pasta, cooked to package directions
1 batch Bolognese Meat Sauce
additional mozzarella

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

In large pan, heat Bolognese Meat Sauce. Add cheeses, stir until cheese is melted. Slowly stir in cream. Add in parsley and basil. Simmer for 10 minutes. Toss with cooked pasta. Transfer to a greased baking dish. Top with additional mozzarella. Bake until cheese melts. (this amount makes enough to fill both a 9x13 AND an 8x8 dish. I bake the large pan and put the smaller one in the freezer before baking to use another time.)

Queen of Hearts Valentine dinner

I knew that this year I wanted to make a special Valentine's Day dinner for my family, and was delighted when I found this cute idea with free printables for a Queen of Hearts dinner. You can even watch a video segment about it HERE (it won't let me embed for some reason). The Queen of Hearts is significant to The Mister and me (it was the first Valentine I ever gave to him!), so I knew that I wanted to use the ideas.

For our dinner, I made a special meal. There was a local restaurant in Provo called Ottavio's that The Mister and I loved to visit while we were dating, and my favorite dish was called Rigatoni Ottavio's. A few years later, I was able to get the recipe through a column in a local newspaper that would contact local restaurants for readers. The dish is a lot of work, expensive, and has about a zillion calories so it's definitely a special occasion food! I'll post the recipe separately because it's long.

To go with the Rigatoni Ottavio's, I intended to make garlic bread, but then remembered that at Ottavio's they served fresh focaccia bread with olive oil and vinegar for dipping. I've never made it before and am generally scared of making yeast breads, but I was able to find an Easy Focaccia bread recipe that truly was easy and turned out great! It tasted just like the bread we used to get at the restaurant.

For dessert at Ottavio's, we always used to order the enormous slice of chocolate cake. I didn't want to make a huge cake this time, so I made another treat that I've been craving: individual Molten Chocolate Cakes. I've never been able to make the little cakes before because I didn't have any ramekins. A quick trip to Home Goods the other day solved that problem!

Because of the cute ramekins, I didn't bother unmolding the cakes. One thing I did from another recipe was to coat the dishes with white granulated sugar after I buttered them--this gives a slightly crunchy texture to the outside of the cake that contrasts nicely with the gooey chocolate center.

As it turned out, I didn't go as much with the Queen of Hearts card theme as I had originally intended. I was so busy cooking all day and I didn't have a pack of cards that I was willing to use up! I think it all looked nice anyway and I know my family appreciated the good food and my hard work, and I was happy to do it to show my love for them!

I'm back!

Helloooooo!  Good heavens, I don't think I've ever gone so long without blogging in the seven years I've been doing this!

I'm happy to report that I believe I have the insomnia thing licked! I don't want to say it too loud and jinx myself, but I've been able to sleep throught the night since last Saturday without any problems falling or staying asleep.

Last week was a bit hairy--Tuesday I went in for my first acupuncture appointment. I am pretty scared of needles and once passed out in a college class where we were watching a movie about acupuncture--but at that point, I was pretty desperate for anything that would help with the insomnia. That night, Tuesday night, was to be my first night without Ambien in several weeks. I had been so afraid of trying to go without it that I had put it off and put it off.

On the previous day, I happened to be reading one of my favorite blogs and Melissa, the author, posted this scripture:

 For God hath not

given us

the spirit of fear,

but of 

power

and of

love

and of a

sound mind.

-2 Timothy 1:17

And it went straight to my heart, because she doesn't know me, but somehow she posted it just for ME. I had been so, so afraid of trying to go to sleep without drugs, and had actually used those same words in speaking with my massage therapist that very afternoon. Tuesday night was hard--I didn't sleep for the entire night. The whole thing. But even though I felt physically horrible, mentally I was okay, because I kept reciting this scripture over and over. It brought me such comfort and strength and truly kept me from freaking out over not sleeping. It was so powerful! I truly did have a sound mind.

On Wednesday, I held it together pretty well with the help of a friend here who took Porter for a few hours so I could get a massage and another friend who brought me dinner. I posted on Facebook that morning after not sleeping and so many of my kind friends and loved ones expressed their sympathy and sent their prayers. Wednesday night I actually slept through the night without drugs for the first time in 4 weeks. I'm sure that sheer exhaustion had something to do with that, but it was wonderful!

Thursday night, I had a hard time falling asleep but thanks to my new favorite scripture, I wasn't afraid! I finally fell asleep around 3:00 am and got about 3 hours of sleep. Friday night was about the same.

Saturday night was the best! I actually slept THE WHOLE NIGHT and had NO trouble at all falling asleep! It actually took me completely by surprise--I woke up at 4:30 am to take care of Porter and couldn't believe it was already so late, and then was able to fall asleep again for 3 more hours. It was wonderful and just knowing that I could fall asleep on my own (without even trying) and sleep all night was such a relief!

I've slept every single night since then. I had a little harder time falling asleep on Sunday night and did lay awake for about an hour, but it wasn't bad at all. I've been sleeping in the guest room but I think I'm ready to move back into my own bed. I know that I could have a bad night again but I truly feel like I have the tools to deal with it now without panicking.

I can see now that I've been blessed through this whole thing. I know that so many of you have expressed your good thoughts and prayers for me and I have felt every single one! Knowing that so many people would take time to do that for me has been humbling and very comforting and I appreciate it so very much! You are the best!

And now, I'm SO ready to get on with my life! I finally downloaded my photos after weeks of letting them sit on my camera. I finally have some energy to do fun things again and hope to be able to start posting regularly again, because I've missed you all! Thank you again for your kindness and support during this hard time for me!

Who needs sleep?

Hello again, friends! I know it has been a long time since I've posted. I've been struggling with pretty severe insomnia for the last three weeks and I just haven't felt like myself. Insomnia, as you know if you've ever dealt with an extended run of it, is pretty much mental and physical torture. You feel rotten because you're not getting any sleep, and you get stressed out about trying to sleep because you don't want to feel rotten anymore. And over, and over, and over.

I finally saw the doctor last Thursday and his advice was to take Ambien for the next seven days, which was really not what I was hoping to hear. I've followed his advice because I don't know what else to do and because I was about to lose my mind, but it hasn't gone as well as I had hoped. The last three days, I've taken my Ambien at night but then have woken up in the early morning and spent the hours from then until 7 a.m. drifting fitfully between wakefulness and sleep. This morning, it was 4 a.m. I have no idea why the Ambien has stopped working--I had been taking it off and on in the two weeks before I saw the doctor and it always knocked me out for a good 8-9 hours. Though even when I was actually sleeping until 7 a.m. with it, I never felt good and rested during the day; it was just enough to keep me going. I've noticed that as soon as the sun goes down, my energy levels plummet too.

I truly believe my body has just gotten itself into a really bad sleep habit and that somehow I can break the habit and relearn the good sleep habits I had before the insomnia started. When the insomnia began, I was falling asleep just fine but waking up in the middle of the night for hours. Then it progressed to being unable to fall asleep. When it hit the low point a week ago, I actually spent one entire night without being able to fall asleep for one single minute, which was pure torture.

I'm worried what will happen when my seven days of Ambien stops--tomorrow is supposed to be the last night. The doctor prescribed that hoping that seven days of sleep would 'reboot' my body and things would get back to normal. I am afraid that I don't think he will be correct. I'm trying to think positively because I do believe that's a huge component in beating it. However it's hard to be positive when I'm exhausted but every time my body finally drifts off to sleep, I jerk out of it. For HOURS on end.

I've been kind of a zombie for these past three weeks. Lack of sleep has robbed me of the desire or motivation to do much beyond the very basics to keep my family and my house together. I hate feeling this way, and I just want more than anything to get back to normal and not have sleep be such a big ugly monster looming every single night. I want to get back to doing fun things and crafting and thrifting and all the things that I normally share on my blog. So Friends, if you are the praying or the positive-thinking types, would you mind sending one or both my direction that I can get things straightened out? I would appreciate it so, so much.

Sweet Potato Corn Chowder

I made this soup last night for dinner and liked it so much that I ended up making a pot to take to a friend today. She had a baby in the week after Christmas and just last Tuesday was back in the hospital for an emergency appendectomy! Poor girl, I know the last thing on her mind right now is making dinner, so I hope she enjoys this soup as much as we did. My kids even ate it, which is significant because they're picky little stinkers! Here's the recipe as written; I'll make note of my changes at the end.

Sweet Potato Corn Chowder from Midwest Living magazine

• 12 ounces andouille, kielbasa or smoked pork sausage, halved lengthwise and cut into 1/2-inch slices
• 1 large onion, chopped (1 cup)
• 2 stalks celery, chopped (1 cup)
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic (6 cloves)
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder
• 1 teaspoon Cajun or Creole seasoning
• 6 cups chicken broth
• 1 16 ounce package frozen whole kernel corn or 3 cups fresh sweet corn kernels
• 2 cups 1/2-inch cubes peeled sweet potato (about 2 small)
• 12 ounces skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cut into 3/4-inch pieces
• 1 cup whipping cream
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions

1. In a 6-quart Dutch oven, brown sausage over medium heat for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add onion, celery and garlic. Cook and stir for 5 minutes. Stir in flour, cumin, chili powder and Cajun seasoning. Cook and stir for 2 minutes more. Stir in chicken broth. Bring to boiling.
2. Add corn, sweet potatoes, and chicken. Return to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, covered, about 20 minutes or until sweet potatoes are tender. Stir in whipping cream and pepper; heat through. Makes 8 to 10 main-dish servings.

**Heidi's alterations:
*Most importantly, I halved the recipe. Half was plenty for my little family of 4, with about 3 bowls left over.
*I didn't want a lot of heat so I used smoked sausage made of turkey, beef and pork. I cut the pieces into quarters rather than halves so it would be more evenly distributed throughout the soup.
*I didn't have any Cajun or Creole seasoning, so I added a bit of paprika, dried onion powder, dried garlic powder, a tiny shake of cayenne, and some black pepper.
*I used drained canned corn instead of frozen or fresh.
*I just used one chicken breast, and didn't weigh it.

When I took it to my friend today, I accompanied it with a pan of Marie Callender's cornbread, which is my favorite. Usually I use a copycat recipe for it, but last week I found bags of the dried mix at Costco for around $3.00. Each bag makes 5 batches, so that's cheaper than I can make it from scratch!

It was a good winter meal, and one I'll definitely be making again!

Tebow Treat Time: Football Oreo Truffles and Embellished Soda bottles

Saturday was a big day here in Denver--the Denver Broncos played the New England Patriots that night in a big playoff football game. We've enjoyed cheering for the Broncos and especially Tim Tebow this year, so when a friend invited us over to watch the big game, I decided to make some fun treats to take along.

These are Oreo Truffles, rolled into the shape of footballs instead of regular round balls. I first saw these on Bakerella's blog WAY back before she hit the bigtime--probably around 2004-ish? It was on her old blog and there is 2008 Football truffle post on her current blog, but not the original one. When I first saw these way back then, I was blown away--I had been making Oreo Truffles on my own long before I ever saw them on her blog, but it never occurred to me that I could make them in other shapes! I've never had a good excuse for making them until now, and they were a big hit at our party.

If you've never made Oreo Truffles, you should! I like them far better than the cake balls or cake pops that Bakerella is famous for making popular. Oreo Truffles are made of two ingredients: a package of Oreo cookies (not Double-Stuf! it throws off the proportions) and a brick of cream cheese. Process the Oreos into crumbs, then add the cream cheese and process until it makes a thick paste. Roll them into balls (or footballs!), chill, then dip into chocolate. I use chocolate almond bark for dipping (not a fan of the Wilton melts in general unless I need colors) and vanilla almond bark with a teeny tiny #2 Wilton decorating tip to pipe the stripes and stitches.

Several months ago I was shopping at Marshall's and found 4-packs of this fun, bright-colored Jelly Belly soda. I bought the only two boxes of orange soda, intending to embellish them like I did in 2010

to give to Maren's teacher this past year for Halloween. However, I completely forgot about them until after Halloween! I couldn't just keep them for next year because they have an expiration date sometime this summer, but I really wanted to do something fun with them besides just, well, drinking them. When we were invited to the football party, I knew just what to use them for!

I didn't have enough of the Jelly Belly soda, so I ended up buying a few 6-packs of Orange Crush at Wal-Mart. I went very simple on these, since I knew they'd just be put in the recycling bin, and just cut strips of blue scrapbook paper and attached it to the bottles with double-sided tape.

They looked especially cute all lined up in my vintage Hires soda crate with orange lettering! Wal-Mart also carries 6-packs of Strawberry Crush, which you could similarly embellish for Valentine's Day.

In addition to the truffles and the sodas, I also took guacamole & chips (Wholly Guacamole gussied up with fresh chopped tomatoes & cilantro) and a batch of these delicious Strawberry-Rhubarb Bars. That may seem like a really out-of-season dish for January, but I have rhubarb in the freezer and strawberries were on sale this last week at Sprouts, so it wasn't strange at all! They were delicious.

Tebow and the Broncos lost spectacularly to the Patriots, an outcome which we didn't find altogether surprising. Still, it was fun to get together with friends and fun to have a chance to make cute food!

Weekend Junk finds: vintage Christmas, milk bottles and rhinestones

In the week after Christmas, I got to go antique shopping with my girlfriends, something I've always wanted to do! We went to a huge antique mall across town that is in an old grocery store space, so it's ridiculously huge. By the time you get halfway through, your eyes start to glaze over a bit, but it's a great place to go if you're looking for something specific--with so many vendors, you're bound to find it.

Because it was after Christmas, most vendors had sales in their booths and I was definitely motivated to help them unload their wares. ;) I was of course on the lookout for vintage Christmas:

And found these great old boxes with the items still in them. Someday I'd love to have a great Christmas packaging display like Shara has, but I've got a long way to go! I also bought a great box of vintage ornaments for $1.50 (hooray for 75% off!) but I didn't get a photo of those before I put them away.

One thing I was looking for on that trip and successfully found were milk bottles:

Because I'm starting a dairy. ;) Okay, no, but I have something in mind for them! I'd been looking on Etsy and eBay but since they're glass and heavy, shipping was always a killer. These were all discounted and less than $8 each, which I think was a great deal. The one in the middle I actually found on a different antiquing trip later that week, and it was only $2! Couldn't leave it behind for that price.

I hit the thrifts hard the week before Christmas when they put all of the Christmas decor on sale, but I didn't come up with much. I didn't have any BIG vintage Christmas thrift scores this year like I have for the previous two, so that was a bit disappointing. On one trip, I did find this gorgeous brooch:

It wasn't on sale and the full price was definitely more than I'd like to pay, so I woke up early on Christmas Eve morning and went back to the store because everything was 50% off that day. Well, almost everything, except--you guessed it--the brooch! Phooey! But I had been thinking about it constantly for two days (and dragged myself out of bed at 7:00 on Christmas Eve morning) and so I decided to treat myself to an early Christmas gift. It's absolutely gorgeous! You can't tell from the photo, but it's easily as big across as the palm of my hand. The stones are clear and beautiful and it sparkles like crazy! It's not marked but I can tell it is a nice quality piece. I paid more for it than I have for any of my other pretties, with the exception of Viola's jewels, but I think it was worth it.

The upshot is that while I was at the store buying my brooch, I found FIVE of the "It's A Wonderful Life" village houses that Melissa mentioned just a few days prior on 320 Sycamore. I would totally have passed them by if I hadn't read that post, but thanks to Melissa I knew to scoop them up (at 50% off, no less!) and now they're tucked away until I put them on eBay next Christmas. I think when I sell those next year I'll make enough to call my pretty brooch a true gift!

And just so that you don't think all I ever drag home is silly vintage stuff:

proof in the form of three Henckels knives that cost me an average of $1 each. They probably retailed for $30-45 apiece. A quick trip through my knife sharpener, and they are as good as new! My main chef's knife is a Henckels so finding these was a true score to me.

What's on your junking wish list for 2012?

Confession time, vintage ornaments and more stripey straws

Confession time: I did NOT get the tree or the last box of ornaments put away yesterday. I was too busy spending time with some girlfriends, hitting the thrift store, getting cupcakes with Maren, playing Just Dance 3 with my family and buying frames for our family portraits. Would you have wanted to give up one of those fun things to clean? I didn't either, which is why the tree is still standing in the front room! TODAY....I swear....

When I was taking off all of my beautiful vintage ornaments the other day, I couldn't resist snapping a few beauty shots:

Yum. And that's not even all of them!

Also, I forgot to show you all the cute new Christmas stocking that I ordered this year:

I ordered it from this Etsy shop: Bebe Sniklefritz. She's somewhat local so even though I ordered it late, I managed to get it in time for Santa to fill it up on Christmas morning. I've loved her stockings since last year and this year I finally gave in and ordered. The stocking is nicely sewn and I am IN LOVE with the retro print and of course the aqua and red!

I'd love to order coordinating stockings for the other three in my family but I'm not sure I can get Maren and The Mister to go for it. Rats! Porter's not old enough to have become attached to his Pooh stocking, which was a last-minute Target buy a few years ago because I needed something. Maybe I'll just order one for him now before he knows any better!

One more thing, before I go back to the ornament mines...remember the bowl of paper straw bits that I had leftover after making my Striped Straw Wreath? (which, by the way, I'm totally leaving out for Valentine's Day!)

I knew I could make something fun out of them rather than just toss them in the recycling bin. I actually tried to get Maren to do it because I knew it would be easy enough for her, but she wasn't interested so I just did it myself. I used some yarn and some red plastic faceted beads from my stash and made this cute garland!

I just strung the straws and beads on the yarn preschool-style. It took no time at all, and I had enough straw bits to make a good 10 feet of garland. I hung it above a window, but next year I'm going to use it on my Christmas tree. I love how the straws look like peppermint sticks and the facets of the beads catch the light and add just a little bit of sparkle. Not bad for 'trash'!