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!

Butterfly Blue

My husband and I headed out yesterday to an antiques district we generally only go to a few times a year.

When we both began the prowl for vintage we used to find tons of treasures - more than we could  afford! But these days, there's more stores/booths than ever, but just not what we are looking for, and hardly anything actually vintage! So much decor, TJ Maxx-style home furnishings, and repainted furniture. I am no longer a fan of chalk paint/milk paint or any other distressed-look style. I've just seen far too much of it in the last couple of years.

So hubs and I left almost empty handed. In fact, we spent more on lunch at Cracker Barrel than we did shopping, and that's counting both of us combined.

I love the things I did get though!

This is a small stack of scratch-and-dent Homer Laughlin pieces. The rippled edges are Riviera and the small round plate is Carnival. They were a dollar a piece, and I just couldn't pass them up at that price, despite small chips and glaze skips. Riviera and Carnival are my two favorite lines in Homer Laughlin to collect. It's much more rare for me to pick up a new piece of either than it is to find a tempting piece of Fiesta, so I basically collect it all. My dream is to buy either a geniune vintage medical cabinet stand to display my pieces in or to get the one they currently sell at Ikea in jadeite green.

And here's some Butterfly Gold I know for a fact that my mom doesn't have. And I'm not giving these to her because they are just too weird and cool.

According to pyrexlove and corellecorner, these were a gift item in 1977, commemorating Corning's first patent. Corelle corner references original packaging, but sadly, I can't find any pictures of what that might look like.

My husband thought they were the Blue Cornflower Corningware pattern when I showed these to him. I wouldn't have known what they were if I hadn't seen them several years ago via the flickr group. These are definitely my favorite Butterfly Gold items!

Hope you are having great luck and finding most excellent treasures!

Happy Holidays everyone!