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!

A few thrift store scores

I find something I want at the thrift so rarely lately that every time I do, I get this thrifter's high. Like I've won a contest. Like I bested Goodwill by actually pulling something out of there that I might actually want, when they seem so bent on not having a single thing worth buying in the store except maybe clothes.

Are other people's Goodwill's the same way, like they are trying to be 90% clothing and 10% broken stuff that came from the Dollar Tree they want twice the original price for?

I have this pitcher already, but I buy duplicates when I can, because the last two vintage pitchers I've been really fond of have each cracked right at the place where the top of the handle connects to the body. I took this pretty home for 3.99 and am glad to put it to use.

When I saw this gold metal cradle, I thought I knew what it was. I was hoping, hoping, hoping I was right. Then I came across a couple of Pyrex lids, which gave me even more hope I was right. And I also picked up this little Glasbake bowl along the way as well.

So when I got home, I tried this:

Yep! I think it's a match.

I've never been that excited by Pyrex cradles. But this was an odd one to find. And Pyrex in general has become much more competitive over the years than it used to seem to me to be, so every time I find something I don't have, I'm super excited.

And finally, a few more thrift scores.

Homer Laughlin Riviera for 99 cents each!

Riviera is by far my favorite Homer Laughlin line, but over the years I've come across much more Fiesta to fall in love with, so my Fiesta collection far outpaces my tiny Riviera one.

The teacup is perfect, but the saucers have varying degrees of fleabites to significant chips, but they are all on the underside and not very noticeable.

The plates underneath are actually another HLC line, Harlequin. I don't collect Harlequin at all, but I couldn't help picking these up when I found them all as a stack. They also have chips, so for now, they are going into a project box. They may get repurposed if I ever get crafty enough.

That's all for now.

Hope you're finding fantastic treasures!

Happy Thrifting!

Thrift finds this week

Found this incomplete canister set at a consignment store that doesn't really deal vintage, but I've found a few vintage pieces at before. It was sitting on a discount table and I got it for 99 cents!

They are butter yellow with silver lettering, and missing the largest flour canister in the set. I think I'm on a mission now to find out just how many colors they were made in. Once upon a time I bought a partial set in avocado green for a quarter at a yard sale but only one was in decent condition, so I donated them when I was going through one of my periodic 'stuff' purges.

Here they are with my other keepers. I hope I can find a silver pen and possibly fill in the missing lettering. I'm afraid I'll do a bad job at it but I'd like to try especially since I have the other canisters to use as guides to see where I need to fill in.

 

My other thrift finds: a wildflower canister for a buck, snowflake blue teacups and saucers for 39 cents apiece for my set, some corningware cradles, and more Butterfly Gold casseroles I could not pass up for 3 and 4 dollars each. And they even had their lids with them.

And finally, I paid 4 dollars for this sweet, unmarked turquoise bread keeper at a hole-in-the-wall thrift store I'd never visited before. My husband also found a really nice stack of records, so we are definitely aiming to go back sometime soon.

I kinda missed posting about my husbands birthday trip, so hopefully I'll get to that next time.

Hope you are finding cool loot!

Happy Thrifting!

Thrift finds

Almost all of these are thrift finds. I really haven't been out much, but I think I've picked up more in the last couple of trips than I've previously found all winter. The nice weather must be responsible for it.

Couldn't resist the red. The little Glasbake casserole has the beginnings of dishwasher damage, but it had its fin lid. Also picked up the little Zak strainer bowl - you can't tell it in this photo but it's shaped like a strawberry - and it's the perfect size to rinse a small package of berries all at once. 

Picked up yet another damaged vintage Fiesta mixing bowl - an Ivory #3 for 3 dollars at a nearby antique store. I can't pass up vintage Fiesta mixing bowls at a good price, even when they are really damaged.

Another set of Heartland items I'd never seen before - 23 knobs and one pull. Someone must have had a whole kitchens worth of them. They were absolutely filthy when I bought them and they have no mark, so you just either have to know they are Heartland or just so happen to like the pattern. I have absolutely nowhere to put them, so they are living inside the last Heartland casserole I bought. This pattern never ends, lol!

Military medical mess hall dishes are the one style of restaurant ware I let myself pick up. Only the platter is new, I just photographed it with my two other pieces. It's huge! Kinda wish now I had another place settings worth so my husband and I could each have a set to use once in a while.

And finally, my Pyrex finds:
 

My husband found the Spring Blossom bowl for me at Goodwill, and it is literally the first piece of opal Pyrex I've seen there in two years. It set me back $5.99.

I also found this marriage of a Pyrex lid with an opal Fire King body at the same Goodwill, different day.

I might should have passed on the very dishwashy Heinz baker, but it was two dollars and in good shape other than being dishwashed, so I thought I might try to clean it up.

And finally, my antique store purchases. These came out of a new booth in a local antique store, 9 dollars for the space saver, 10 for the Butterprint fridgie with lid, which is now what I'd say is well below average price around here now. (Everything I see nowadays in antique stores is pretty much 25 dollars+,  sadly).

A dealer who was working that day, who knows I collect Pyrex, exclaimed exasperatedly that she had meant to buy these and just forgot about it. I'm not sure if she was genuinely trying to get me to not purchase them for myself, but I pretty much refused to give them up. I was nice about it, apologetic even, but it kinda bothered me that a dealer was more interested in getting the good deal for themselves than being helpful to frequent customer of their store.

Hope you're finding nifty treats and treasures!

Happy Thrifting!

Thrift scores and a day on the town

This Caboodle is one of those 1980's childhood nostalgia items that came home with me despite having no idea what I was going to do with it. It might replace the train case I'm currently using to hold makeup. I actually still have my childhood one (it's light pink and purple) but I couldn't resist this black & white one with hot pink interior.

Continuing the trend of finding my entire American Sweetheart depression glass collection via thrift stores, I got these sherbets with metal holders for $1.99 a piece. To my knowledge, these are the only clear pieces in the American Sweetheart pattern, though MacBeth Evans did produce other patterns and colors with these same metal holders. I wanted to show one out of the holder and flipped so you can see how the glass was actually made. 

Since my husband and I were a bit disappointed with our big trip out this last Wednesday, we took the opportunity yesterday to go in a different direction and go to some other out-of-the-way antique stores. I bought this empty Shiny Brite box for two dollars to hold some of my smaller, loose ornaments. I didn't photograph it well, but I love the detail of Uncle Sam shaking Santa's hand.

Truthfully, I paid a small fortune for both of these pieces, but as my husband said to me in the antique store, I'm getting to the point in my collection where pieces I want, but don't have already, are becoming harder and harder to find, and they are probably going to be fairly expensive when I do.

I got the turquoise 2 quart baker (my first piece of turquoise bakeware!) for 30 dollars and felt rather bad for being willing to pay so much. Curiosity got the better of me, so when I got home I checked ebay for what they were going for, and pretty much immediately changed my outlook. Now I feel like it was practically a steal. (Well, maybe not a steal, but a good deal, nonetheless :-)

The 2 1/2 quart Snowflake Blue casserole was the first time I'd seen this piece in the wild, so I went for it. Merry Christmas to me! I'm getting pretty close to a complete collection of this pattern - even the matching Corelle. I love it!

I also have a couple of items still soaking in a nice, warm bath that I'm saving for another post!

***

I'm so grateful to have the opportunity to get out and hunt for this stuff. Every trip my husband and I take together is a memory I won't soon forget. I frequently complain on this blog about prices, prices, prices, but in truth, I still love collecting Pyrex. It's been a really fun hobby. Thrift shopping and antiquing are something my husband and I really love to do together. And though we are looking for different types of items, so many times he's spotted something for me that he knows I like, and I just enjoy that so much - seeing him with something in his hands he knows I'm looking for. And he's actually pretty darn good at it, too!

I'm grateful that we have had the health to get out and go places together. And that we've had the disposable income to set aside purely for enjoyment. That is a real blessing and a true gift.

I sincerely wish everyone a very *Wonderful Christmas* Happy Hanukkah* Happy Holidays*, and a much blessed and prosperous *New Year*!

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!

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!

Stress-terday's Thrifting

So yesterday was more like stress-terday. I went to a new Dr, and much anxiety ensued. So the hubs and I hit up a few thrifts to blow off the tension.

This incomplete Primary set was waiting for me in the fancy-shmancy case, complete with a fancy-schmancy price. But it's one of the older sets - a style that is my very favorite. I wish these thicker bowls had been made in pink and turquoise, but they seem to have already changed the style of them by then.

This Early American bowl was behind the counter with the Primaries. Had it been by itself, I might have talked myself out of it, but I was in a splurge-y mood, so it came home with me. I collect the brown and white pieces of this pattern anyway, but I had picked up the smallest gold & brown bowl from the Chip and Dip set some time ago. So I either have a chip and dip set without a bracket or the beginning of a Cinderella set.

So much for me cutting back, huh?

And the other day, I came home from thrifting pretty much empty handed - except for 14 random pieces of this starburst silverware.

I've mostly avoided buying silverware at thrift stores. It's always in some tub with about 14 metric tons of random pattern butter knives. And riffling through it makes an epically loud clattering ruckus that can be heard from everywhere in the store.

I just never want to be *that person* who stands there for 4 hours, digging through silverware like I'm going to find some solid silver surviver from the Titanic or something.

But anyhow, I do poke around from time to time. I decided a while back that I liked atomic star patterns - any of them- and it might be cool to piece a set together, even if it's mismatched.

This is the one I found, Americana Star by International. Miracle of miracle, there were even a few forks! (Hardly ever find forks. Just billions upon billions of butter knives, lol)

I really like the way it looks with my Snowflake Blue.



Hope everyone finds fabulous treasures this weekend!

Happy Thrifting!

Last nights thrift finds

We almost didn't go out last night (I've been saying that a lot lately). We're still broke from our Valentine's Day splurges. But the only thrifts that were open were Goodwill, and I had some loyalty points burning a hole in my pocket, so we went anyway.

I couldn't resist these seahorses. So sweet and so utterly tacky. My husband kept accidentally calling them sawhorses. I told him that these sawhorses might just be hanging up on the bathroom wall when he gets home from work ;-)

Funny thing about the chicken mug stand - it's actually a matching Sears Chicken Little item to the very canisters behind it! Believe it or not, I didn't even put that together in my head until this morning. A little poking around the net led me to this page from the 1976 Sears Big Book. This page has tons of cute stuff, including a whole range of Merry Mushrooms items.

It was Corelle night. I bought the stack of hook handled mugs all taped together with the matching creamer. No sugar bowl. I always wonder when I find odds & ends like this if there was more donated and someone else just beat me to it, or if these were it. Worse still is when the cashier says something like "Oh, someone else just bought a whole bunch of this earlier."

Isn't that just the pits? I just try to smile it off, knowing that there are times I'm sure I was the other side of that equation.

Like when I bought these bowls, the cashier said "Oh, I know someone who comes in here looking for this very thing." I'm not sure if she meant the Spring Blossom pattern specifically, or if she meant Corelle in general. I didn't ask. I felt somewhat guilty, like I was buying the phantom other persons Corelle bowls.

I have never even seen the larger of the two bowls before. It's the same diameter as a dinner plate. HUGE bowl.  Even if Crazy Daisy Spring Blossom Green isn't my favorite pattern, it sure is useful. In fact, I'm certain my husband prefers to mix/heat things up in Corelle serving bowls when possible, just so there's no chance he breaks one of my Pyrex mixing bowls.

And finally, Oh my very Goodness. I could.not.love.these.more.

These so-sweet little Glasbake custard cups were all taped together for 99 cents. If bowls were as cute as baby kittens, they'd be these bowls.

Huh?

One is in better shape than the rest and one is more worn. These will probably never be used again. They are just too precious. And it's unfortunate, because I'd use them in a heartbeat, but some of these vintage treasures just do not have the ability to withstand everyday use and wear.

This pattern dates back to the late 1930's as seen in this amazing advertisement. And this site itself is a fantastic resource for vacuum coffee maker fans like myself :-)

Anyways, I'm really glad we got out. Now I'm cash-poor and with no more loyalty credit until payday!

Hope you are finding the snazziest stuff!

Happy Thrifting!