Date-iversary finds

Yesterday my husband and I celebrated the 10 year anniversary of our first date. We ate at the same restaurant we did that day. The food is just as good, just 10 dollars more expensive for basically the same thing. And instead of hitting a bookstore like we originally did, we went antique store and thrift store shopping. What can I say, we are just exciting folks. Lol :-)

First off, I added to my vintage clock collection. These will someday soon be the decoration above my Pyrex cabinet. I finally bought my turquoise paint (a story for another day), and when I get it all shined up, I'll post it here.

The white Seth Thomas was very cheap and non-working, but the red GE says that it is (I haven't plugged it in yet). It is identical to my turquoise one. A quick google search leads me to see there is also a yellow version. But I really wouldn't be surprised if there isn't a pink one and at least one shade of green. Everything from clocks to syrups to canister sets seems to be available in that 1950's rainbow of pink, turquoise, red, yellow, and either primary or jadite green. And of course, I want them all! :-)

My thrift store finds for the day - a Heartland casserole, large glass, and a crazy daisy Spring Blossom green cereal bowl. The Heartland items came from two different thrifts. This pattern must have been absolutely everywhere, because I see at least one piece of it most times I go thrifting. I no longer buy any basic place setting pieces because I already have WAY too many. I only buy things I haven't seen before or passed up because of price.

I picked up the smaller pink and white boomerang glasses for two dollars apiece at an antique store. I've had the solid pink and turquoise glasses for a while, just wanted to show the height difference. And now I can conclusively say this is a Hazel Atlas pattern. Only two of the smaller glasses have the mark (all the rest of my glasses have only a mold/batch number).


I had it in mind to pair these with my pink and turquoise Ripple dishes, which seems even more appropriate now that I know the glasses are Hazel Atlas as well. There seem to be other colors in this pattern that I think would blend beautifully with the Anchor Hocking pastel vitrock pieces I collect, so I'd love to dovetail this glassware pattern in with something else I collect.

My only Pyrex for the day. And they were expensive - more so than I'd care to admit to on this blog.
But I'm only one large opal lid away from completing the 470 round casseroles in all-opal. The total Pyrex hoarder in me wants the whole run in opal to display and clear decorated to use. I feel the same way about Daisy. I just rarely find either pattern in the wild, so it's been a matter of using what I have or not at all.

We've had a small, nice run of warmer weather lately. Estate sales and yard sale seem to be trickling back into possibility. I'm already dreaming of the major yard sales coming in the next few months, and some birthday shopping to do as well. I'm ready to go junk!

Hope you're finding lots of neat goodies!

Happy Thrifting!

Favorite finds from 2014

Recently I've seen several folks do a recap of their favorite finds of 2014 which I thought was a great idea! So I spent a little while looking over my photos and deciding what my standout favorites were.

First off, I found my first Cathrineholm. The skillet was an unmarked Goodwill find and the bowl is an unmarked square pattern that isn't as frequently seen as the popular Lotus design. I would be thrilled to find more pieces in the wild for good prices!

I thrifted these sweet little McKee Glasbake custard cups for 99 cents total. I love polka dots!

I also found a vintage holy grail - a custard McKee dots dish! In the same antique store I found the Snowflake Blue dish to finish my round casseroles (470's) and got a fantastic deal on some pink fridgies!

On the Fire King front, I bought the blue band and pink band bowls to complete my Stripes set.

I also thrifted my favorite Fire King mug ever - a 99 cent reStore purchase.

These original ads were antique store purchases, but were inexpensive - I spent 3 times what I paid for them to frame them, lol!

I didn't realize when I thrifted this vintage Lisa Frank lunch bag just how much I'd use it and love it. It's held drinks and snacks for my husband and I on many a yard sale day/antique trek. It also seems like Lisa Frank is on a major resurgance lately. I saw so many different knickknacky Lisa Frank items at the Dollar General around Christmas this year, I requested them for my stocking stuffers.







And speaking of yard sales, this is one of my very favorite finds of the year. And it definitely wins for best yard sale score.







I wish I had the slightest idea who made these canisters. They are unmarked. Chances are good they were sold nested with only a sticker on them or a cardboard holder/box.



The turquoise set was a junk store find earlier in the year. Each set was 5 bucks! I really want to know who made these and what color combinations exist!




And on the Pyrex front, I thrifted a new cabinet (that I still haven't painted!) to store some of my favorite pieces. I've toyed around with the idea for years of taking a turquoise Pyrex mixing bowl with me to have color matched at the store, and this year I think I'm really going to do it. It might make me rethink what pieces I have on display, but that's okay with me. What I'd really like to do is turquoise on the outsides and as the drawer color, but white shelves and insides with white framing the whole piece. I'd also like to measure the backs of the shelves and have some kind of thin wood that could be painted or framed with fabric. I'd start off with black & white chevrons, but I'd also like to try just a solid lime green as well.








 I found my second turquoise bowl set in the wild, and I shamelessly snapped them up.








I also very recently added my first piece of turquoise bakeware.

I also scored my very first Pyrex in the original box!










And added a couple of great Horizon Blue pieces to my collection. I love those decorated opal lids so much!

Added two Friendship pieces I'd never seen in the wild before.
















Also recently added these unusual labware pieces to my collection. Butterfly Gold looks really neat in blue!







Finally, to round out the year, I added a couple of Christmas items that were high on my wishlist. First I found several working strands of bubble lights at a yard sale for 10 bucks, then I added 7 more boxes via thrift stores!

I also bought my favorite favorite favorite box of Shiny Brites I've ever seen for sale. I paid the price for them, but I'm totally okay with that. Love 'em!

So I think this is the longest post ever! I'm sure I've forgotten things, and failed to post some good stuff. Maybe sometime I will catch up with the rest of the world, get a smartphone and do that ole instagram thing all the kool kats and hep chicks are talking about.

I've not really gotten out so far this year. Went thrifting once. Found a lady head vase for my mom and few Pyrex mugs, but that's it so far. Hopefully we'll hit the town by Valentine's Day and find some new treasures.

Looking forward to finding all sorts of neat treasures in 2015!

Happy Thrifting!

Thrift Scores

Seems to be a running theme here that I've been absent for a couple of weeks. This time it's been because of an awful flu my husband caught first, then of course I caught it. Still not over it after a week & a half, we both just wanted to get out of the house for a little while yesterday.

So we went thrifting & popped into a couple of our favorite nearby antique stores. Here's my loot:

I cannot even say how much I love these ornaments. They were an antique store splurge, but I had to have them. This was the first time I've found a box of Shiny Brites for less than 25 dollars a box, and half of them are my favorite - indents! So I went for it.

I also picked up a copy of a Southern-based antiques magazine called the Busy Bee Trader, which also happened to have this fantastic article on the history of Shiny Brites. Found out something I never knew - that Corning produced these ornaments. Yet another Corning product I collect and never knew it!

These Friendship casseroles were together like they were a pair, and no sign of the other pieces that actually did come with originally. I had one already, with the opal version of the lid, so now I've got one of each and a spare. I just can't pass up Friendship if it's at all reasonably priced. Last time I saw a piece of Friendship in the wild, it was a 403 mixing bowl for 30 dollars. Ouch!

And here's my two thrift finds:

Couldn't get a good picture of this baby pink Rubbermaid silverware tray. I have the exact same one in turquoise already, but it was probably made a bit more recently than this one. The pink has an older, cursive script on the Rubbermaid logo, but my turquoise one has the current logo, a block script inside an oval shape.

And finally, this piece of Markley descoware has been put through the ringer, but I had to buy it anyway. I love the pattern! My husband spotted it for me. I think his hunting instincts come out when we go thrifting and antiquing. It's both sweet and maddening at the same time, because he's always racing ahead to try to find the good stuff, but he's calling me over while I'm still looking somewhere he's already moved on from. I lag behind because I'm looking for possibly buried treasure!

Hope this has been a good week for you!

Happy Treasure Hunting!

A few finds and some seasonal treasures

I had to pick up this years Halloween Pyrex at the local Target. They only had 4 of each when I went so I'm glad I got a chance to pick these up. If they have them at the outlet I may pick up some spares.

 All the different designs from the last 3 years.

Sadly, I missed out on the Christmas and Spring designs because they didn't come to any stores in my area. Except this Spring I went to the Corningware outlet store a few hours away and they said they'd received hundreds of them and they clearanced them out for a dollar apiece! I was so disappointed! Why couldn't they have just sold them at Target like the Halloween pieces? Ugh.

 I wasn't supposed to be antique store shopping, but the hubs and I stopped at a store we only go to once in a while. And of course we found too much stuff and spent money intended for our anniversary trip. Figures, right?

I hemmed and hawed about buying this red bowl, fearing it was another primary red that I really didn't need to buy. Decided to get it anyway and use it for my Friendship set no matter what.

Once I got home with it, I believe it really is the Friendship bowl I was missing. It matches my other red Friendship pieces perfectly. I now have a complete 3 bowl set. It would be just the cat's pajamas if I could find the orange 404 to officially complete the set. 

And finally, I had to buy these ornaments. Vintage ornaments are always so wildly overpriced in my area. So finding this whole bag for 5 dollars was a must-purchase.

The kissing Clauses are my favorites. So cute!

That's my finds for now. I've got my fingers crossed we'll have a fabulous anniversary trip with lots of cool swag here in just a few days. I'm so excited! I so look forward to these fairly rare forays outside our usual stomping grounds. :-)


Hope you're finding fantastic treats and treasures!

Happy Thrifting!

Mini-vacation goodies

Hubby is off for a few days, so we've actually been able to hit up some yard sales, for once.

I had the best conversation with the lady I bought these from. Turns out we collect some of the same things. She gave me a great deal on these pieces. I'm completely in love with the green depression glass mixing bowl. The blue Pyrex bowl finished a primary set that needed that exact piece. And the turquoise open baker was a piece I didn't have, so I was thrilled with all of it!  

After buying these guys and chatting with the lady for a while, the very next place we stopped had this gorgeousness sitting right there on the table just waiting for me. This is the large 475 piece - a 2 1/2 quart casserole. It even had its lid. It was ten dollars. I didn't even try to negotiate. After seeing all the 30 dollar pieces of pink gooseberry last week, I was happy to give the lady a 10 dollar bill and walk away with this prize.

And while we were driving around, we stopped at a once-in-a-while antique store. The Snowflake Blue butter dish top was sitting by its lonesome, marked a dollar. I knew just what I was going to do with it. I paid too much for the red casserole, sold with a plain lid, but I had plans for it, too. 

Voila! Sets complete and pieces reunited!

I knew the butter dish bottom I bought at a thrift store would one day pay off. It's been sitting in my lid stash for quite some time, just waiting for a top to call its own.

And speaking of lid stash, my husband found some Pyrex Friendship lids at a yard sale over a year and a half ago. They've also been sitting in my lid stash awaiting a good use. When I bought the orange dish it didn't have a lid either, so its come in very handy that he picked those up for me. I'm so happy to have completed the 470 set. Now if only I could ever find the regular mixing bowls and oval casseroles!

I was thrilled with my finds and especially happy to get to goof-off and go yard sale-ing with my husband!

Hope you are having a great weekend!

Happy Thrifting!