It's a sickness

You know it's a sickness when you like something so much you just keep buying it again and again. That's how I felt when I bought home these canisters from one of my favorite local antique stores.

Coffee here has seen better days, and the sugar canister is missing altogether. I already have the complete set of these as far as I know - which is flour, sugar, coffee, tea, and a cookie canister the same size as this largest-sized flour canister. I've never seen any sign of anything else, like spices, salt, pepper or a grease jar. But who knows, they could still be out there. Anything is possible!

I've also picked up one lone tea canister in this turquoise color that has silver lettering. In person, I've seen (and have) white lettering & silver lettering. But in pictures I've seen gold as well as black. And as far as colors, I personally have pink, turquoise, white and pale butter yellow. I also had an avocado color once upon a time. In pictures I've seen what appears to be bright yellow and red colorways.

I seem to have luck finding these unmarked canisters. Must have been local favorites. I've learned from the fabulous blog Farmgirlpink.blogspot.com that these canisters are Stanley Home Products. Always great to solve a vintage dish mystery!

I picked up these two Glasbake pieces the other day. I adore the bird pattern. I'd only ever seen in on blogs before now. I suspect this pattern was only available as bakeware. I've never seen any evidence of mixing bowls. I think - but don't know for sure - that several Glasbake patterns were only sold as a box set of bakeware with different variations on what all came with. I think this particular pattern might have come with glass mugs.

I wish Glasbake held up as well as Pyrex. Some of the patterns are really great. I just don't think the glass itself has survived the years with nearly the prolificness of Pyrex.

And finally, a couple more thrift store treasures. You can never have too many refrigerator dish lids. It had a chip I smoothed out with super fine grit sandpaper. I also picked  up this small round Horizon Blue casserole. It was 6 dollars at the thrift, a price I was so not thrilled about paying.

And after I washed it up and put it in my daily users cabinet, I noticed I could make this little configuration here.

It's like a fantasy primary set! The colors of course are a bit off from the original primary bowls, but I couldn't resist putting them together. From top to bottom here are Horizon Blue, Friendship, and Daisy, just in case you are like me and get confused about the solid color pieces.

Well, that's all for now.

Hope you're junk runs have been productive and cool!

Happy Thrifting!

Happy Birthday to me and Friendship set complete(ish)

My birthday is tomorrow, but my husband and I got out and shopped a little today. In the last little shop we stopped in (but don't usually find stuff in) this pretty pink set was just waiting for me.

What an awesome little set! This really beefs up my pink ripple collection. And the lady I bought them from had seen what they sell for on ebay, and scoffed at the ridiculous prices, and priced this set much more reasonably. I told her my birthday was tomorrow and that I was thrilled to have this as my present! Really nice antique dealers really do exist!

I rearranged my cabinet and moved my shakers and grease jars to another shelf. So this is what my cabinet looks like now.

Even though this guy is no longer shiny, I was glad to pick him up from another antique store today. My Friendship Pyrex has been really slow to piece together. I still have issues with finding the decorated opal lids on some pieces and replacing others that aren't in the best shape, but I'm happy I'm just one piece away from the whole collection.

In fact, when I started gathering pieces for this group photo, I thought this orange bowl had finished my set until I remembered there's also a decorated promotional piece with underplate that I do not have. So for now my set is complete(ish) and I'll add more when I'm lucky enough to find a new piece. The 503 refrigerator dish is also new, an early present from my husband who bought online. Thanks, honey!

And I've still got tomorrow to shop. I really don't have any money left after today, but I can enjoy the eye candy, right?

Hope you're finding thrifty treats and treasures!

Happy Thrifting!

Re-Ment miniature Hazel Atlas Ripple

I've seen pictures of these miniatures online for probably 5 years now, but I only very rarely buy anything online ever. So these sweet miniatures went on the back burner.

But mine and my husband's anniversary was coming up and I wanted him to order me something I wouldn't normally buy for myself, but was still thrifty enough that we'd still have all our pennies and dimes to spend on his week-long vacation, which would hopefully include trips to antique stores we'd never been to before.

So these Re-Ment figures suited me just perfectly. Here's the box:

and the contents:

(had to include the little foldout booklet!)

And here they are, stacked up sweetly. So cute! And really well done for such tiny things.

And here they are, worked in with my Fire King and the actual-sized Hazel Atlas Ripple.

The best scale shots I managed to get out of my wildly out of date camera (that also hates my dark house).

I am attempting to refrain from trying to buy a whole stack of these dishes to match my hoard stack of their real life counterparts. They are just so cute and precious.

There are other odds and ends in these sets that I want too. Mostly the pieces that resemble Pyrex bowls and Fire King mugs. I don't know if that will happen anytime soon, but there's always Christmas :-)


As for our actual anniversary, we had a good time going outside our normal areas to shop. Found some incredibly expensive stores, expensive furniture and of course, expensive Pyrex. I bought a few pieces that complete (or nearly-so) patterns for me, so I'll get around to posting them in another post.


Hope you're finding thrifty treats and treasures!

Happy Thrifting!

Lucky Day

Seriously, yesterday was my lucky day.

At my first stop, I picked up this poor lidless LuRay pitcher from one of my favorite flea market vendors. It's the first piece I've added to my inadvertent collection I bought all at once as a boxed lot. I joke that me finding good deals is like the 50 cents that will make me spend 50 dollars, because I'm downright compulsive about putting sets together once I find a bit of something I like. I don't just want a piece or two, I want ever color they came in!

But that was just the beginning of the day. Next find was this dreamy turquoise canister set

I'll be honest, they have numerous cosmetic issues. The coffee canister is cracked, they are all stained and discolored even after a nice soak, and the lids are a marriage of two different sets (and I'm not entirely sure which ones are the right ones).

But I still love them. Completely and utterly smitten!

They are marked Cols. Plastic Products, which if I'm not mistaken, stand for Columbus Plastic Products of Columbus, Ohio, parent company of Lustro Ware.

Here I've taken a picture of the largest and smallest canisters from my new turquoise set with my marked red Lustro Ware canisters. Interestingly, each of the red canisters are one size larger than their turquoise counterparts.

Then at the next stop I found only my second new in box Pyrex!

I picked this up for the nice price of $15.00.

It looks like it's never been used. And even has the care booklet.

Quote from the CARE section:

"PYREX (c) ovenware is dishwasher safe; however colors or decorations on the outside surface of the ovenware may fade with repeated washings."

This is the first acknowledgement I've seen from Corning that dishwashers can indeed fade a/o ruin the finish. (Which, unfortunately, all us collectors have witnessed firsthand in thrift and antique stores all over)

And a detail I never realized before. This 474 casserole since it was sold as a single is the darker shade of gold from this version (Butterfly Gold II). When the 474 was a part of the 3 piece set, it was the lighter yellow shade. Meaning there are 3 different Butterfly Gold 474 casseroles.

As my husband and I were heading home (with one last stop at Goodwill in mind), I was just saying how awesome today was. I found really neat things, but I stayed on budget and felt like I still had a little change in my pocket for next time. We stopped at GW, walked though all our areas of interest and were fixing to walk out empty-handed when a worker who was stocking the shelves rolled out with a new cartful of goodies. I couldn't believe my eyes.

A vintage forest green Fiesta coffee pot for 2.99.

And it cleaned up perfectly. Absolutely mint. And probably the most flawless piece of Fiesta I have.

I am truly amazed. The coffee server and mixing bowls are my absolute favorite pieces of vintage Fiesta. This is my third coffee pot, and amazingly enough, the second one that's come from a Goodwill. My other is a yellow with a broken finial I picked up for 5.99.

Such an awesome day, with fabulous treasures!

Hope you are finding splendid treats and fabulous goodies!

Happy Thrifting!

Flea market finds

All of these are flea market finds, except the semi-tragic Kit Kat Klock I hemmed and hawed about coming home with. And mostly, they were all cheap and cheerful, my kind of prices!

I added a Country Calico tray to my CC/Heartland horde, small fridgie lid, and two sweet little pieces of green depression glass for just a couple of bucks.

Spent a little more for this turquoise mixing bowl and unusual - at least to me- Pyrex Corning belt buckle.

Didn't have a chance to clean it up yet when I snapped this picture. I'm not sure what the 42 commemorates. Though I did see that the 'reverse dollar sign' symbol is actually the letter "P" for Pyrex on top, with the letter "C" for Corning below it.

The "C" begins right above the bottom of the "P", so that is actually two little lines instead of one straight across. I feel silly now that I never released that's what the 'reverse dollar sign' actually signified!

My one antique store purchase, this poor (formerly) pink Kit Kat Klock. I thought someone had bedazzled it themselves but once I got home with it I see that it's actually orginal. It doesn't work, is missing a hand and tail, and the jewels just put it over the top, but it's going into my crazy clock collection regardless. At least it was really cheap!

And finally, a couple more cheap and cheerful flea finds. Another Language of Flowers Glasbake mug for my unintentional collection, a sweet somewhat rusty unmarked Ransburg match holder, and two Pyrex lids. One is square and belongs to the old 1920's refrigerator dishes. I've never seen the bottom of one for sale but this lid will go into my stash because you never know what you'll see at the thrift.

Hope you're out finding snazzy treats and treasures!

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!

Yard sale & thrift finds

My favorite find in a long time!

I had no idea these canisters came in pink! Hubba Hubba! I held my breath when I saw them, worried they'd be expensive. But they were 5 bucks - same price as I paid for my turquoise set a while back. I've been lucky finding these sets so reasonably priced. Love 'em!
 

I bought all this from a lady who told me her cabinets were full of this pattern and she was ready to let it go. I asked her how much she wanted for all of it and she said 25 dollars. And I said "Sold!" I'll split these with my mom. I didn't mean to collect this pattern for myself at all, but I wouldn't be surprised if I had about as much as she does by now! Ooops :-) I was amazed that every single piece had a lid, and other than some dust and grime that washed away, they're all in great condition, just a single buggered up lid.

And my very first Gurley candles! These were 50 cents each at the thrift. And just in time for Halloween!

I found lots more goodies yard sale-ing, thrifting, and antique store shopping, lately - I've just been really slack in posting them. And of course I'm hoping to find more this weekend!

Hope you're finding nifty treats and treasures!

Happy Thrifting!