Surprise Saturday shopping

Being the total rebels that we are (lol), we spontaneously decided to tear off to some antique stores we generally only go to once or twice a year. Hubs had a giftcard from Christmas he'd never used for another store nearby, so away we went. I'm a planner type, but even I've got to admit sometimes it's so much more relaxing and less stressful to just grab a few things, run out the door and have fun.

I've been obsessed with Snowflake Blue Corelle lately? I don't even understand it myself. I get fixated on a certain pattern or color, and either my patience runs out to find them in the wild, or it seems to manifest them right before my eyes.

This doubled my collection. I was especially happy to get some dinner plates and the sugar and creamer -complete with the elusive glass lid!

I added 18 pieces to my collection of 19 more, and I'm now pretty darn close to a 4 placesetting set! Yay!

These Country Calico items were from a nearby thrift store. I got these, a clock, and my husband got a board game for 5 bucks total. Not bad!

Fire King! These were my biggest purchases for the day. I have a long term goal to collect all the patterned Splash Proof Fire King mixing bowl and range sets (Tulip, Modern Tulip, Stripes, Red Dot, Black Dot, Apples & Cherries, Kitchen Aids).  The two grease jars I'm missing I believe will be the hardest to find - Black Dots and Kitchen Aids. And I still need a ton of the matching shakers and mixing bowls.

I had a chance once to buy the Black Dot grease jar for the price of one arm, one leg & a first born child - but instead I paid a slightly smaller fortune for Red Dot mixing bowls. An anniversary splurge I don't regret one little bit :-)

And hey, there's some Pyrex! The universe enjoyed having a laugh at my impatience. I just bought a set of Horizon Blue refrigerator dishes online not more than a few weeks ago. Now I find the largest 503 for 6 bucks! The good thing is, I wanted one set to display and one set to use (that also serves as klutz insurance!)  and now I have a spare of my favorite one!

The pink I hoard, period. If its pink or turquoise, I don't care how many I have at home, if I can afford it it's coming home with me. Is that horrible? I sure hope not.

Both of these pieces I'm 99.999% sure are Glasbake, but neither are marked as such. The casserole was just too sweet. It's actually marked on the bottom as Sears ovenware, but it has all the telltale characteristics of Glasbake.

The honey whip jar came in a ton of different colors. Goodness, I have such a soft spot for giveaways.

And finally, on the way home, we stopped at Goodwill. I haven't seen opal Pyrex at this GW in so long now I've suspected they were sending it off to go to the website. I paid too much for it. My trouble is, I just can't pass things up - especially coming off a winter were there really has been nothing for months. If I find some good Pyrex for cheap at yardsales or such, maybe it will set my mind back where I'm able to let it go at the thrift it I think it's priced too high.

Anyways, I had a blast yesterday, and renewed hope & enthusiasm that there's still good stuff out there to find!

Hope you are having good luck as well!

Happy Thrifting!

Hazel Atlas

I love Hazel Atlas glass! I don't have the huge collection of it like I do my Pyrex, but I really love what I have. I just don't see it very often. In fact, I was surprised to see I only have 8 HA mixing bowls, half of which I only recently purchased. 

Both of the patterns on the left (the turquoise Kitchen Aids/Utensils and red Candy Stripe) are also full dinnerware patterns.

I have a lone mixing bowl and some of the glasses. The glasses I bought as a set of 8, for basically a dollar apiece, but 5 of them are dishwasher damaged. I still thought it was a good price just for the 3 undamaged ones.

This Ivy pattern was a decoration used on a wide range of items. I suspect it was used a lot for promotional items. The little glass once contained sour cream.

These adorable little milk pitchers were a Kix cereal promotion. Kitchenware author C. Dianne Zweig talks about them here.

 The apple and strawberry jars are also reported to be a Kix cereal promotion from the early 1930's.

Hazel Atlas Ripple and a very small amount of Macbeth Evans American Sweetheart in Monax (the forerunner to opal Pyrex)

Finally, my favorite Hazel Atlas - Pink and Turquoise Ripple.

This set is more popularly known as Crinoline, but it's listed in my Hazel Atlas book as Ripple, owing to the discovery of original factory boxes.

I lucked into a 30 piece set of the turquoise all at once, and am really glad I ended up buying them. My pink collection is much smaller, pieced together one at at time, except one lucky time I bought 6 dinner plates together for $15.

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As for the company itself, here's a good history of its appearance before the United States Supreme Court, and ultimately its assimilation into Continental Can Company and Brockway Glass.

New green Ball jars

I was wondering if you guys had seen these yet?

Apparently, this is the second color of a three color series they are going to do - last year being the blue re-do's that were only available in pint jars.

This time, they made both pint and quart, and I just now noticed the boxes carry the Made in the USA label, so that's always nice.

I'm not sold on the color. Put in a flattering light, I'd call them "Spring Green". But I really think of it as Easter Grass or Dill Pickle green - which is fine - but I woulda shoved Gramma outta my way to buy case after case of these jars if they were true Depression Glass green.

Here it is with last years blue perfect mason- style jar. I use these pints as drinking jars. I put a couple of the quarts in the cabinet for me and my husband to also use as drinking jars, but once I realize how kinda ridiculously big a serving that would be, I put a 'water-only' stipulation on them.

I got my hopes up dreaming next years color would be pink. That would be sorta the holy trinity of vintage colors right there, but my husband burst my bubble reminding me that it's more likely to be a yellow or amber jar, if they are indeed really modeling these after their original jars.

Way to go, hubs. Way to go bursting a girls dream like that.

Lol.

Anyways, I like these just for the sheer fact that I really do think I'm going to try my hand at water bath canning this year. Today's new stuff may pale in comparision to my love of the vintage, but I'd never can with vintage jars, so I'm thankful to have something kinda cool of my own for my first year's canning attempts.

On the thrift front I've found nothing...nada...zilch. I've got a birthday coming up in May, so I'm trying to convince myself that all this nothing-to-buy is just saving up for my birthday trip.

Anyways, hope you are finding nifty treats and treasures!

Happy Thrifting!

Thrift and Antique Store Roundup

Yesterday was the anniversary of my husband & I's first date. He had to work, so we only really had time to rush right in and right back out of a local antique store. We hit the Goodwill, and had dinner at the same place as our first date.

I bought these Colonial Mist casseroles on impulse. They cost too much, but I was feeling both spendy and rushed, so I didn't have the time I'd talk myself out of them like I usually would. I do like them, I just don't like the desperation/willing to overpay mentality that contributed to this purchase. I'm trying to shake any negative vibes off my feelings about them and enjoy them as an anniversary impulse buy.

Today, my husband was off work, so we hit the small town thrift store we recently discovered. There's antique stores along the way, so we stopped at them as well. I found these 3 Snowflake Blue bowls for less than I paid for the Colonial Mist casseroles, so I was very happy.

I only needed the smallest 441 to complete the set I've been piecing together literally the entire time I've been collecting. Funny thing is, I had a spare 442, so now I've got a totally complete set and another that is missing the same 441, so I'm still looking for a duplicate of the exact same piece! Haha. At least I now have a lovely complete set.

I also found a couple of Snowflake Blue Corelle luncheon plates and Centura cups. Inch by inch, I'll have that Corelle set!

My new favorite thrift store had these Arcopal dishes the last time I went, but I didn't buy them. I had this same set in black for a long time. I see the same black version every so often at the thrift, I always comment that I had that set, but never buy. Finally I decided to bite on this white version. It was very cheap, so if I change my mind about it later, I wouldn't feel too bad donating it back.

These were also too cheap to pass up. I think the Ribbon Bouquet Pyrex mugs will look sweet with grey dinnerware saucers.

I found the Charcoal Snowflake Pyrex divided dish at the thrift for 4 dollars. I just picked up a spare divided lid not to long ago, so I was glad to find it. Plus it was a piece I don't have already. The Butterfly Gold casserole I've bought numerous times before - twice for me and probably twice for my mom who collects this pattern, but it was just too nice to pass up for 3.50 from an antique store.

 And a couple more finds. This magazine rack was just a dollar. I LOVE this thrift store.

And finally, this little puppy planter hasn't even been cleaned up yet, but I had to include it. It's crazed all over, but I just couldn't live without it.


Overall, today's finds give me hope for the Spring & Summer to come.

Hope you are finding lovely treasures!

Happy Thrifting!

Thrift Desperation

I'll say again, the thrifts have been bleak. My husband swung by GW while out on an early morning errand and returned with this Autumn Harvest Pyrex bowl. He knew I'd tell him to buy it, even though it's not a favorite pattern, and he was right.

I picked up the mug stand and the Centura Butterfly Gold mugs on a different day. I love this kind of mug stand. Since it's my third one, I guess it's become a collection all by itself. But the Centura mugs I probably shouldn't have bought. I feel like I've come full circle with collecting Pyrex. I bought a ton of stuff like this in the beginning, then decided it just wasn't for me and I donated it back. Now, after watching the supply dwindle down to these little pieces only every once in a while, my desperation  hoarder tendencies is getting the better of me.

Two small items for patterns I deliberately collect, a Heartland vegetable bowl, by International China.

And another tray in Country Calico. I keep these with my Heartland collection, they are so much alike. Might have even been donated to the thrift from the same household. This little cow is my second tray, but my other has all 4 of the farm animals on it. I just keep finding pieces I didn't know existed. And I've always found them cheap. Not something I can say for a lot of the other things I collect.

I bought this sweet little piece of Depression Glass believing it was a lid, but apparently it's a tray. Made by Jeannette, also in green and in patterns. I have to say, I was disappointed to give up hope there was a base piece out there in the world that I could possibly reunited this with. It's such a pretty pink.

And as for it being a tray, it's just too tiny! I put it against a large Pyrex 503 refrigerator dish lid. Same width, but quite a bit shorter. Oh why can't you be a fridgie?

And finally, speaking of fridgies - a rare online splurge. Lovely Horizon Blue refrigerator dishes.

I've had all these pieces in my hands at different times over the years. I either thought they were overpriced or that I wasn't collecting this pattern. Well, I paid every penny of yesteryears prices for them, plus shipping. But I'm very glad to have them to add to my very small selection of Horizon Blue pieces. I've come to decide this is one of my core patterns that I will allow myself to hoard even after I've purged some of my less rewarding purchases.

I think I need to take a break from my usual thrift stores. Garden prep and a little bit of planting are consuming more of my free time for the foreseeable future. Thrift trips have left me feeling like I'm totally wasting my time. I have a gardening blog mostly just so I can in theory keep up with exactly when I've planted what. I've done a poor job keeping it updated, but right now it's getting more of my attention than this one here. So if you like gardening, feel free to stop on by!

Hope you are finding swell stuff!

Happy Thrifting!

Red Rose tea figurines

Thanks to an online group I read, I've recently discovered Red Rose tea and Wade figurines/ Wade Whimsies.

This kind of thing is right up my alley. I have a weak spot for vintage premiums/promos/giveaways, and I'm disappointed that they are mostly relegated to a bygone era. How cool would it be for our ordinary grocery items to still come with or inside a free piece of sweet decorated glassware?

So when I read that there was a tiny, cute little figurine inside Red Rose tea, they just totally bought my consumer loyalty. Lol!

(Don't ask me how many Good Seasonings cruets I've amassed over this same loyalty business. Just don't.)

The current series is Nautical theme. I don't necessarily love nautical themed items, but I think these little figures really are just the sweetest. AND I am totally excited that I now collect something that I can display and keep in a vintage printer's tray! My husband collects vintage Fisher Price Little People & Adventure People figures and they display perfectly in printer's trays hung on the wall. I've always been a bit jealous that I never had anything cool that would be small enough to fit in one of my own.

Now I do, but I will have to drink a LOT OF TEA before I'll have much of a collection. With just these two figures I have a stockpile of 200 teabags I'm going to have to get to work drinking, lol!

There's so much neat history and info on the Red Rose tea site that I won't recap it here, but I did want to try to get a picture of both the Wade mark and the underneath of one of the figurines. These are match strikers, though I doubt I'll ever use them for this purpose.

Incidentally, my husband had spotted some figures from the Calender line in a local antique store before we'd ever heard of Red Rose tea or Wade figurines. He showed them to me, wondering if they were related to the Wizard of Oz (May is a violet girl & September is a scarecrow, which almost pass for Dorthy and Scarecrow figures!).

The antique store wanted 10 dollars apiece! Many figurines from previous series can be ordered from the website for 2 dollars each, and they have very inexpensive shipping on them as well. I might just break down and buy a previous series just so I have more than just two little figures to put in my printer's tray display.

And of course, in my excitement for the figurine I've totally neglected to mention the tea. I haven't had a single cup of it hot yet, but I brewed a pitcher's worth a couple of days ago and have been enjoying it iced. It's a nice tea. I'm no tea pro who can capture culinary particularities with poetry, I can only say it's a nice drinking tea. I do love the smell though. I'm not sure if I've just never paid attention to the scent of a freshly opened box of tea or if this particular one is extra smell-goody.

In fact, it reminds me of a perfume I used to wear in High School. This particular perfume stumped the entirety of the internet, ebay included, but I did finds its brother and sisters, Gummy Bear and Cotton Candy.

The perfume I used to wear was Parfums de Coeur Juice Bar and the scent was Long Island Ice Tea. Cannot find a picture or reference to its existence, but I KNOW it did. I had a friend who used to wear the Gummi Bear scent and it would walk into the room before she did. And of course we couldn't wear the same flavor perfume, that would be just unacceptable. Har.

I still love lemon-based scents. I drown myself in Love's Fresh Lemon from time to time, and I'd totally rock the Juice Bar Long Island Iced Tea scent if it still existed.

And as for vintage shopping and thrift scores, life has been brutal. I found a new thrift store a little out of the way. It's not a GW or an affiliated thrift, just a local church thrift. I bought a few pieces of Butterfly Gold & Spring Blossom Corelle for my collection, passed up a few pieces of Corning Ware, but not a drop of Pyrex in site. My area is just bleak for Pyrex right now. I don't know how much better it will be when yard sale and estate sale season starts, but I'm fearing that the vintage ship has sailed. Around these parts everyone, their cousins and the family pet is an "antique dealer".

Hope the sun is shining your way and you're finding better stuff than I am!

Happy Thrifting!