A small, boring haul post!

Lol.

That's what I'm feeling most often these days when I think about this poor, neglected blog. I'm partly to blame for my lack of finds. I just got frustrated with the lack of 'good stuff' at the thrift, and the major price increases.

So I lost quite a bit of interest, which, honestly makes me sad. I still love this stuff now as much as I ever did, I just don't find much these days to actually post about.

So forgive me for my small, if boring, thrift haul.

First off, these Corelle bowls are some of my favorites. These two are the more beigey stoneware color that seemed to be their creative direction in the maybe late 70's - 1980's era, when Corning starting manufacturing different shapes and styles to compete with the stoneware that had gained popularity at the time. I'd fact check here, but my favorite site for all things Corning - the now defunct (?) Corellecorner.com site - seems to no longer be searchable. One of many valuable collector resources that no longer seem to exist online anymore. Sigh.

And these two little Fire King bowls! I was just so happy to see them. When I saw them on the shelves I had this feeling I can barely describe. Just a very sudden awareness of how many years I've been thrifting things like this, and just how long its been since the last time I had.

All these bowls were 35-40 cents each.  Now that's a price I can get behind! lol.

And finally, this isn't boring to me at all - Vintage Ornaments! But no crazy good scores, just very sweet ones. Most of these boxes cost a dollar each.

These Woolworth's ornaments are my third box now, each from a slightly different era. I'm going to do a collection post soon, and I'm looking forward to getting to play with my collection!

From what I can tell from checking online, some Woolworth's ornaments had the thin, narrow top like this. I'm always interested in knowing details like these so I can reunite sets.

These can't be vintage. They just seem too perfectly try-hard. They did not come in this box. This was one of those frustrating times when I wanted these 6 ornaments, but they were in two different boxes with a bunch of ornaments I didn't want. Plus this box was there, sold seperately, but it would hold 6 perfectly. So I bought 3 boxes to cobble together this one. Still, I don't think 3 dollars is too steep an investment. :-)

Look at these details! I'd love to know where (and when) these actually came from!

These guys just pulled me in by their simplicity. Not the oldest ornaments ever, not by a longshot, but still vintage. Or kindly put, Retro. I still think they're great.

And speaking of new vintage style, I couldn't pass up this vintage style gift wrap. $2.99 at TJ Maxx.

Shiny Brite logo!

I bought one roll to use and one for projects. Love it!


So that's my thrift haul for now! Hope you're finding fantastic treasures where you are!


Happy Thrifting!

Catching up

 Long time no post!

I really haven't been hitting the thrifts and antique stores like I used to. So goes the tale that the things I look for seem to have disappeared. But the other day, I was out of town for other things, but a Goodwill was nearby, and of course I had to pop in just in case. Lo and behold, Pyrex -AND- something else I collect too - random Starburst silverware!

This is yet another pattern I didn't have a single piece in. I think I'm up to 6 or 7 different starburst patterns. Who knew there were so many? This particular find was super exciting because it has so many forks. Forks are always the hardest to find for me. And I get to the point where I start leaving behind butter knives, because they'd outpace my forks and spoons by dozens each. Maybe someday I will have amassed a single pattern sets worth.

The Pyrex was a super surprising, super exciting find for me, no matter what the pattern. This may be the first Pyrex I've pulled out of a Goodwill in my area in two years or more. It's really been that dry. I was a little disappointed to find after I got home with it that the Butterfly Gold casserole has an almost invisible chip on the bottom. I don't trust chipped pieces to heat in any way, in case the glass has been even more damaged than the naked eye reveals, so I'm keeping this piece instead of giving it to my mom, like I typically would (it's her pattern).

And I couldn't believe it when I realized I didn't have the divided dish already! It's a super bonus when I find a piece I don't have! These guys were cheap and cheerful for 2.99 and 3.99!

And I discovered that Pyrex made another minor appearance this month in the November issue of Country Living magazine. Almost the very last page of the magazine. In previous years since I started collecting, there's been an article on Pyrex collecting in Country Living two other times, if memory serves, they've typically been the May issue (right at my birthday, so that explains why I remember that, lol!)

I also added two of the newest Pioneer Woman jadeite cake stands to my collection.

I bought myself two of the original style stands when they first came out (and were 19.96), then repurchased another single when they came out with the redesign for 10 dollars more.

Since, they've dropped the price a few dollars on the largest one and introduced two more. Each one is slightly different in how they are shaped, but they are quite similar and match well.

These two largest ones can be inverted for trifles, desserts, even a small punch. The tinest one is made the same as these but the knob of the lid is just too large to rest inside the inverted base.

As for the quality, I think these are fine for the price. The knobs are a great improvement from the first version. The two smaller are truer to vintage jadeite in color than the first one I bought, though that may have changed since I bought mine. Let me know in the comments if you have these cakes stands and notice color differences.

A few issues here in the dome. Mine have air bubbles in the glass. Both domes. And I would have loved to see the glass be more smooth and rounded-off on the way it connects to the base. It's a pretty blunt cut, not noticeable when it's closed, but when you lift it off it's just not as finished-looking. But for the price, I'm loving the fact that I have Jadeite cake stands with domes. You just can't beat it. And I love having them on the table and using them for everyday things. I'm pretty sure I made a cake the other day just to put it in the cake stand, lol!

And finally, ornaments. Beautiful, beautiful, delicious Shiny Brite ornaments to add to my collection! And for thrift store prices too! So exciting!

These boxes were a dollar each. The red Shiny Brite box contained some plain ornaments I'm probably going to redonate, and is missing it's lid, but for a dollar, I'm not going to pass it up. The plain bottom is filled with solid color Shiny Brites. I had the intention to move the ornaments to the Shiny Brites bottom, but then I found all these:

newer Radko Shiny Brites

These beeee-yoooo-tee-ful ornaments were a dollar fifty a bag! Choirs of angels singing! Haha.

I rarely, rarely find good ornaments. And when I do, they typically run around 25 a box. Lots of antique stores around here use the original boxes as staging and sell the ornaments for 2-5 dollars each. Which is why I choke a bit at ornaments wreaths and such. I can't even imagine being somewhere where these are abundant and cheap enough to use for wreaths.

But this -IS- the South, where no trip to your local antique store is complete without seeing at least one 100+ Primary bowl set, and you are likely enough to actually see things like a Butterfly Gold Cinderella set for say, $120 or so. It's nuts.

And I was so excited to try to integrate these individual ornaments to my collection I completely forgot to take pictures of any of them. I may try to photograph them when I get them out to actually put on the tree.

So those are pretty much my finds for the last month plus. Hope you're finding fabulous goodies!

Happy Thrifting!

Year End Wrap up

Another holiday season has come and gone and I've managed to go the month of December without a new post. I've gotten out a few times, but either the pickin's have been too slim or the prices were too steep, so I've counted it lucky when I've walked out with a single thing.

This pretty pink Pyrex was also pricey, but Christmas is a time for presents, after all. The pink Butterprint is my first piece of elusive pink version. It was cheaper than ebay prices by a goodly chunk but still not what I'd call cheap either.

I got comments from the dealers working the register like I was frivolous, weird or crazy for paying that amount for a small pink Pyrex dish. I wanted to defend my purchase and say something like, "Check how much these are selling for on ebay before you scoff at what I'm paying right now", but I just kept my mouth shut. I'm not saying a word that is going to help them. I can't understand dealers who would treat customers like their purchases were foolish. It makes me not even want to shop in that store any more, even though I know the dealers there are just booth renters working off their monthly rent and not the owners themselves. I could mention it to the owners, but cynically I'm afraid anything I say will just continue to give the message that Pyrex is worth big bucks now so every dealer needs to double check ebay prices before they put it out on the shelves. I just wish that when I was finding cool things I just had a positive association with it and not a negative one, you know?

I also have the hardest time making myself letting myself use pieces I think would be hard to replace. I did actually eat cereal out of it a few times before it made its way into my display, but I definely wouldn't use it in the oven or microwave. Only casual use or refrigerator storage for the pieces I feel like babying! Lol.

The same trip I basically paid 5 dollars for a Shiny Brites box. It had some ornaments in it, but no actual Shiny Brites. I was going to use the ornaments for a wreath, and put some actual Shiny Brites in this box.

This 'Uncle Sam' box is my favorite style. (Uncle Sam shaking hands with Santa Claus on the cover). I have one other just like this, but the tree is is a cellophane covered cut-out. I suspect (but don't know for sure) that since this box specific says Gold ornaments on the bottom side panel that this style was for single color ornaments, and that the cutout version was for more decorated stripes, patterns a/o indents.

Either way, I sure do love Shiny Brites. They are becoming my Christmas obsession. My husband and I visited an out of the way haunt we go to only once in a while and they had positively tons of Shiny Brite ornaments. But each one was priced seperately, usually between 4 to 6 dollars a piece. They had lots of original boxes I ooohed and ahhhhed over, but none were being sold as a boxed set. I mentioned this to my husband who I believe astutely deduced that the boxes were basically just being used as props to sell the ornaments out of. He thought that if you asked about the boxes, they'd either say they weren't for sale or that you'd have to buy the entire contents of the box to go with it  - which would have made a box of ornaments somewhere in the neighborhood of 60 dollars!

And finally, this beautiful tree topper came out of a half-off booth, making it what I think was the best 10 dollars I've spent all year.

So delicate, I hardly handle it. The triple indents are dotted with bright aqua inside. The top and bottom of the ball is pink, and there are handpainted white flowers in between the indents.

I love it so! Can you even get over the price tag - .24 cents from Sears and Roebuck! I'm not sure if the 49 is the year it's from, but that's definitely the right time period.















Well, those are my last goodies of 2015. Here's hoping for great junk in 2016!

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!