Thrift roundup

Haven't been out thrifting much lately, though I have picked up a few things most times I've stopped in.

This yellow Pyrex Desert Dawn baker is a duplicate for me but I was not going to pass it up. Bakeware seems to be in high demand these days (and pricey!), so I'll scoop up every thrift find I can.

Felt like I'd hit the motherlode the other day at GW. This is also one of the Goodwills I suspected only sold damaged stuff in store and shipped off everything else. Well, for whatever reason, I found 3 pieces at once, all between 3-5 dollars, in nice and shiny, undamaged condition.

A ReStore find and another piece of Pyrex from GW. Couldn't believe it.

Also picked these up, a White Lace bowl for my mom and a Corningware Floral Bouquet baking sheet for myself.

And finally, my one antique store purchase, the pink lidded Kromex grease jar and salt & peppers. I need a product to shine these guys up with but all the things I've tried either don't work or carry a warning about using them on aluminum. Anyone know any tricks?


That's all my treasures for now. Hopefully I'll be dragging out my Christmas stuff any day now and feeling a little more in the Holiday spirit.

Hope you're finding thrifty treats and treasures!

Happy Thrifting!

Turquoise Pyrex paint match

Made a neat discovery the other day while looking for a nice turquoise paint to paint my newly purchased thrift store knick knack shelf.

Valspar Color Radiance paint in Nautical

I've always wanted a paint color that was the same shade (or very close to) solid turquoise Pyrex. I just didn't want to actually take a piece into the store with me and have it color matched.

When I saw this spray paint at Lowe's, I was afraid of getting my hopes up too high that it was what I was looking for. In the store, it struck me as possibly being too green, like it had some pistachio/jadite tones. But when I got home with it I couldn't get over how the paint cap was practically identical to the top on my lone turquoise Kromex canister. 

I also think this paint is neat because it's paint and primer in one and is good on wood, metal and plastic.

Had to get out some of my pretties just to show the colors. Has it ever bugged anyone else that the original solid color turquoise bowls and bakeware are not the same shade of turquoise on Butterprint, or the square hostess chip/dip set?

As much as I love this color, turquoise on turquoise like this doesn't exactly make the display pieces pop. When I get this shelf secured to the wall, I'm thinking about only displaying Butterprint and red & white items so there's more contrast.

Just wanted to share with all the turquoise lovers out there - I think there's many of us!

Happy Thrifting!

Heart Day

Hope everyone had a happy Valentine's Day!

My husband and I delayed our trip due to questionable weather conditions. It was warmer, and possibly safer, to have waited a day, but we still ended up driving through a small, sudden snowstorm that, frankly, my nerves could have done without.

And guess what? I did not buy nary a single piece of Pyrex.

There was some, but not a lot. There were reasonably priced pieces in patterns I'm not dying to collect, and wildly, wildly, massively, heart-stoppingly overpriced pieces in patterns that I do.

How about $175 for a Horizon Blue Cinderella mixing bowl set? Or $75 for a single Friendship oval casserole? Any takers?

Here's my few glass finds: 

I had the pink Hazel Atlas Ripple saucer already, just needed the cup. Wasn't wild to pay the 5 dollar price tag, but at least I have a little set now.

The McKee Ships refrigerator dish is chippy, but it had a perfect lid. Go figure. It was cheap enough I thought it would make a nice display piece.

Had such a hard time photographing this small Fiesta heart bowl. I pick one up every time we are in the area. I'm on my 4th one now! I wanted one in the most recent color, Lapis, but they didn't have one. So I bought this Peacock one instead.

And now for my biggest finds of the day - more Kromex!

These guys were *not* the super cheap bargain price I got my pink set for. But they weren't horribly priced, either. I'd never seen yellow or turquoise in real life before, at any price, and I bought as much as I could afford.

Sadly, I had to leave behind half of canister set and a set S&P shakers. Was just too much $$$$

Kromex family portrait

And right before we left town, we stopped at a bookstore - which is usually where my husband does the money damage. This time, we both bought stuff. I did more damage buying records than I did Kromex. But they're some of my favorites, and it was our Valentine's Day, so we're both excused.

Hope you had a happy Heart Day!

Happy Thrifting!

Way to start out the New Year!

I was so happy yesterday. I could not believe the great things I was finding at one little Goodwill. And on half-off day, no less!

I only have two pictures. My camera batteries need replaced and I keep forgetting about it. So forgive the even-worse-than-usual quality photos I did manage to take.

First up, these dishes were all taped together in a stack, marked 3.99, and they qualified for the half-off.  (They've started excluding the current week's color from half-off sales.)

I looked right over them until something in my brain connected the dots that these are actually unmarked Fiesta from 1970's. The dinner plates are the only marked pieces. They say Casualstone by Coventry, and Made in USA. Here's some more information from a Homer Laughlin book.

I found so much stuff. I was just so excited! I found a few more vintage items I didn't get to photograph, and just general cool stuff I don't blog about. For instance, I got a pair of polka dot Converse for 4 dollars, a pair of jeans, Harry Potter Clue, a couple of books, my husband found a couple of things, and we walked out spending less than 25 bucks. It was a New Years miracle! :-)

But the craziest score of all is something I very nearly overlooked altogether.



Yes, that's pink Kromex. Again! And the crazy, crazysauce thing about it is, I was missing the tea canister, and the sugar canister from my 8 dollar antique store set is cracked, right down between the u and the g.

And the bad thing is, I didn't see them! They were pushed right up against the wall, with something else in front of them on the shelf. I started to walk out of that area, when I noticed there were two silverware tubs on the bottom shelf that I might want to rifle through. So I walked back over. Bent down, I was face to face with pink Kromex. I couldn't believe I found them, and I couldn't believe I very nearly didn't! Ack!!!!

And I about died when I saw the prices. Sugar canister, 99 cents, tea canister, 59 cents. Really?!! I couldn't even begin to tell you the last time I bought anything *ANYTHING* good at this GW for 59 cents. It reminds me of when I first began going to thrift stores on a regular basis. The days when I used to pass on perfectly good pieces of Pyrex, Corelle, and all the other stuff that I now crave with the bloodlust of total crazy-person.

The sugar canister doesn't have even a scrap of black left on the lettering. It looks like it never even had it to begin with. These guys are a little more rough around the edges than my antique store set. And since my camera is dead (at least for now), I can't get a proper family portrait of them all reunited. Hopefully, next time I post, I can take a picture of them all together. And I believe I'll take advice from Farm Girl Pink and fill in the lettering with a Sharpie (or nick one of the hubs Prismacolors).

What a way to start the New Year!!!

Hope you are finding fantastic treasures!

Happy Thrifting!

Surprise antiquing

The goodies

Yesterday hubs & I treated ourselves to a shopping trip that we usually only go on once or twice a year. Last time we'd been in the area was on my birthday. This time there wasn't any particular reason to go, except we had some Christmas shopping in mind. I was just tired of all my usual places & high prices, and thought that if I was going to fork out some cash, I might as well spend it in an area with several large antique stores. Increase the odds. Usually, it's some occasion like birthday or anniversary, and we know in advance we're going, so we try to save up some extra money. But this time was completely spontaneous, no extra money to spend really, just our regular pocket change.

The irony was, I got a lot more for my money than I have been closer to home. I was happy to find some neat pieces for reasonable prices, I'm just sad that my immediate area is so high priced. And there's no real reason for it either, except for the fact that the stuff mostly is selling at these prices. I'm just not the one buying it, most of the time.

One last rant before I go on to the loot shoot: Yesterday I saw some Depression Glass Hoosier cabinet style jars that were actually in my price range. I didn't buy any of them because I would have blown through my budget in two pieces. But still, boy were they were tempting. There was a large green Hocking jar, sans lid, that I would have bought anyway, but it had a crack along the bottom I didn't see at first. About broke my heart.

I don't have a lot of Depression Era stuff for one simple reason: I can't afford it. What pieces I do have came to me via thrifts and auctions at well below retail or ebay prices. I love my Pyrex, but I am hitting a collector conundrum: Do I spend 15 dollars on my four hundredth piece of Pyrex or do I put five or ten more dollars with it and buy a single nice Depression Glass canister? If Pyrex prices continue to skyrocket and Depression Era pieces become more available, I think my choice will be clear.

Rant over, on to the loot!

A Moon Deco and a Zodiac in the same day! What are the odds? Neither one of these pieces came with lids or cradles, sadly. And unfortunately, I think with these specific pieces it's the bells & whistles they came with that kind of make them cool. But on the plus side, they were cheap, so I couldn't pass them by. The Zodiac was 5 bucks, and the Moon Deco was 8. I passed up a lidless Moon Deco for around the same price when I first started collecting. I thought it would bother me that I didn't have the lid for it, so I let it go. I thought it was funny that the same piece cycled back around at the exact same price as before. So I bought it. I think this time I can use it without being bothered that it doesn't have it's snazzy deco lid. Maybe I'll find one some day.

These were also antique store purchases, but it felt like I was at the thrift. This is pretty much the closest to opal Pyrex that I ever find these days. I spent 7 dollars between the two pieces, which is also on par with thrifts in my area.

Everything in this picture I bought because it was cheap, except the Snowflake Blue casserole. It completes my 480 casserole set. I rarely see Snowflake Blue in person. It ranks right up there with Friendship in terms of scarcity/desirability. I'll pay a premium for a piece I don't have. And like Friendship, I might just break down and finish my sets by buying online.

And finally, all I can say is, I'm not worthy.

Oh my stars

These are so special to me. It had never even crossed my mind that I'd ever own a single one of these Kromex canisters. I've only ever seen them online, in the collections of people who own all sorts of other-worldly-levels of beautiful things. It never crossed my mind that I'd even see them, much less own them, much less have paid 8 dollars for the set of 3.

8 dollars.

This set is missing the smallest Tea canister. And the Sugar canister is cracked, right in between the u and the g. And they have some fading & yellowing compared to the flawless pink color on the inside of the lid.

But all that is like, who in the world cares about that! It's pink Kromex! They are beeyooteeful. I've been considering replacing the Sears Chicken canisters that have been my photo backdrop since I began this blog.

I dunno. As much as I love these pink beauties, I'm sentimentally attached to my chickens. So they stay. I have no idea where I'm putting my pink beauties, but it needs to be somewhere where they can be seen but aren't subjected to direct sunlight. No more fading on the lids if I can help it.

Finding these amazing, unexpected surprises are why I usually don't buy online. I try to save my pennies for adventures like these. Last week I'd very nearly spent my fun money on a Pyrex set online, but ended up letting it go. 18 dollars for shipping was just too big of a killjoy to me. I would have enjoyed the set, I'm sure. But like I said to my husband, if I'd bought it, I wouldn't have had the money to spend yesterday. Things work out for a reason, I believe.

I hope you're finding fantastic treasures!

Happy Thrifting!