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Thursday, September 27, 2012

Nothing To Do....

Do you ever have one of those days where you really don't have anything to do?  Let me rephrase that.  You don't have anything that you have to do.  The laundry is done, this house is (somewhat) clean, and you are the only one home?  I have been having that type of day. Don't be jealous, readers.  This happens once in a blue moon.
I found these old cookbooks at St. Vincents yesterday.  Maddie and I still have our plan to make something once a week out of one of the cookbooks that we bring home. But we are still experiencing abnormal summer like weather here so it makes it hard for me to get in the kitchen and bake.  I love to cook and bake but only when the weather makes it hard to go outside and do anything else.
I also got this cute set of vintage cards.  They are for when someone is sick, you send them a different card every day of the week.  Inside are puzzles and corny 1960's jokes.
I admit it.  I am a vintage jar junkie.  I have them lined up in my kitchen and they hold sugar, cookies, drink mixes, whatever. 
This is the first chenille baby blanket that I have found that was both reasonably priced and in excellent condition.  This may or may not make it into my baby box for Sister.
Another McCoy pot for my collection.  I picked this up at the same sale as the jar and blanket.  It was in the laundry room.  You never know where you will find treasures at estate sales.

There you have it.  Some of my exciting finds from the last few days.  I have slowly been making my way back into the thrifts since the garage sales have been so bad and end of season-ish.  Still no good Pyrex, though.  Unless you like dishwashered and overpriced. Then you may just get lucky!

Sister Hanna Update:  Thanks to all of you who sent Hanna get well wishes!  She does have a minor concussion and was ordered to basically do nothing that requires her brain to work.  No reading, watching TV, or teaching.  She lasted for one whole day.  I'm so proud of her.

Linking up over at Vintage Thingie Thursdays.  See you there!

Until next time...

Erica

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

The Good Sales Are Dwindling

While there are no shortage of sales around town on the weekends, all of the good sales are definitely becoming a distant memory. Gone are the days of trying to figure out how I am going to get to three amazing estate sales that all start at 9:00 am.  These days I'm lucky to find one every couple of weeks.  Oh well.  After the amazing finds I have come across this summer, I definitely can't complain.
I can't even begin to tell you how excited I was to find these Jadeite shakers and refrigerator dish at an estate sale last week.  I was actually going for something else that I saw in the online photos and didn't get to these until about 10 minutes after the sale started. CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT THEY WERE STILL THERE?!!  Ready for the shocker?  The shakers were $10 for the set and the dish was $8.00. Amazing.  Those of you familiar with Jadeite know that these are excellent prices.  A few days later, Sister & I were at the flea market and someone had the same set for sale for $85.00. I got the Alpine Chalet mug for a quarter.  Love the cute graphics.
This is what I was going for first.  Like I've said before, it's pretty hard to come by vintage Halloween so when I saw this in the photos, I knew I had to try and grab it.  I wasn't the only one looking for it.  I had one lady offer to buy it from me.  This is not the first time this has happened.
I've picked up some amazingly bright and perfect vintage hand towels and tablecloths lately.
I got these for my fall decorating. There were tons of the cans of pumpkin seeds in the basement of the sale for $8.00 apiece!  They were still full and sealed but I managed to find the one empty one in the bunch for a dollar. 
My husband found the pink shaker at Goodwill.  It's unmarked so I'm not exactly sure what it is or if it is even old.  It's pretty (and pink!) so I better keep it.  Want to hear something really bad?  I can't remember where I got the vintage drinking glass and match holder. 
I got this sheet music cover from the flea market.  I thought the graphics were super cute and it would look really good framed in my kitchen.

I know in the beginning of my post I was complaining about the lack of good sales.  After looking at all of this great stuff you are probably wondering what in the world I have to complain about.  Yeah, you are all probably right.

I'm going to link up at the Thriftosaurus Thrift Haul party & with Sue for Rednesday.  See you there!

Until next time...

Erica

PS: Everybody try and send Sister Hanna some good wishes.  Her crazy dog Miss Piper Doodle head butted her the other day and she is really dizzy, nauseous, and has a possible concussion (waiting to hear back on the scan).  I wish she was closer so I could take care of her!





Monday, September 24, 2012

Maddie's First Solo Project

After watching her dad and I do projects all Summer, Maddie decided she was ready to try one out on her own.
She found this  cute metal lap tray at a benefit garage sale down the road from our house.  It was only a quarter.  How in the world are people supposed to raise money when they charge such low prices?  My husband gave them a dollar.  What a guy.
Here she is spray painting it with Krylon's Blue Ocean Breeze. Of course, I totally forgot to take a photo of her doing the first step of priming the tray.

After about 3 layers of spray paint, we added a cute vintage flamingo decal that I purchased from Magpie Ethel's E is for Ethel etsy shop.  Now she has the perfect place to do her bead and button projects.

I think I have created a project monster!

Until next time...

Erica

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Saturday Night (Link) Parties!

Hi Everyone!

I have been banished to my bedroom.  No I haven't been misbehaving.  Evidently I make too much noise and disturb the boys while they are trying to watch football.  So here I am watching a Storage Wars mini marathon (I love Barry!) and taking a few minutes to hang out with my blog buddies!

Check out this pretty drawer liner I got at an estate sale on Thursday.  It will be perfect to line my two "new" bedroom dressers!
I got these cute striped ornaments at Pic-A-Dilly last weekend.  It's a good thing that Sister was distracted by her little deer or I may have had a fight on my hands, especially with the $1 price tag.
When I first found out that this cookbook existed, I didn't realize just how hard it would be for me to find. I finally found one on eBay a while back.  What is really neat about this cookbook is that it tells you exactly which size and number of dish to use when you are making a recipe.
I got this set of bird prints at an estate sale.  I actually got them a while ago but I haven't been able to decide just where to put them in my house.  I always do that.  I buy things that I love not knowing what in the world I am going to do with them.  I figure it out eventually, though.
I finally found the yellow Pyrex pie plate!  I got it from The Pyrex Lady's booth at one of our local antique malls.  Now I have the whole set!
This beautiful little pink Pyrex 401 bowl is my ticket into the Pink Saturday Party over at Beverly's and into Melissa's new party, Friends & Family Friday.  My BFF Rachel is hooked on Pyrex (thanks to us).  This is the first piece of Pyrex that she found at a garage sale.  So I'm pretty sure I don't have to tell you all what an awesome friend she is to have given it to me!  She knows that pink is one of the colors that I collect plus she knows that I will definitely pay it forward!

So be sure to head over to Beverly's for  Pink Saturday & also check out Melissa's blog I Love Vintage Housewares.  You can't go wrong with a blog by that name!

Until next time....

Erica

Friday, September 21, 2012

Meet Hazel Atlas

The weekend before last, some new Hazel Atlas arrived at our house


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No it wasn't these gorgeous plates


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Or this cute little pitcher


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Or these amazing tumblers

No, our new Hazel Atlas came in the form of this super cute and tiny 3 week old Panda Bear Hamster

We got her to replace our dear, departed Black Bear Hamster, Peanut.  Maddie named her Hazel (as in nut) but I call her Hazel Atlas.  Just seems fitting in my house. 

She is a little wacky.  Where Peanut would let you pick him up and hold him with no issues, Hazel Atlas rolls over onto her back and plays dead whenever we try to pick her up.  She is just not as lovey as Peanut.  Maybe it is because she is a girl.

No readers, contrary to what my BFF Rachel thought, she is not dead.  This is how she sleeps.  I told you she was wacky.  Must be why we call her Crazy Hazy.

Until next time...

Erica

Thursday, September 20, 2012

To Keep, or Not to Keep, That is the Question...

Don't get too excited, but it's Hanna here, blogging twice in a week.  I know, unheard of.  When Sister and I were at the Coburg Antique Fair there was something there that I definitely thought I needed at the time.  I was drawn in to the bird pattern of course and it was something I had never seen.  It was an entire "Pantry-Mate" set by Alladinware.  The guy was asking $10 for it.  Sister, being the ultimate barter stepped in and offered $8, but the guy wasn't budging.  I hung around for a few minutes and pondered the purchase, made a few comments like, "I'm not sure if I need it..." and the guy finally walked up and said, "I've got to get rid of it, if you really want it, I will take $8."  How exciting!  I ran away really fast with this cute little set before he changed his mind.





 The napkin holder still has it's original sticker even!  This guy had an interesting mix of items, and this set definitely seemed out of place, so I am happy he gave me such a great deal.  Now here is the dilemma.  I really love the set, but I don't need it.  I could rotate it with my other stuff, but I just need to be realistic.  My tiny house can't hold much more and I think the husband may leave me if I continue to keep so much stuff.  The only thing like it I can find online is a juice pitcher that matches.  I'm leaning towards listing it on Ebay, what do you guys think?

Heading over to link up at Vintage Thingie Thursday!

See you soon!
Hanna

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Some Cute Stuff!

Hi Everyone!

I'm still recovering from our massive sale last weekend.  It was definitely a whirlwind but worth it 100%.  Want to know something pretty bad?  Sister and I both have already started boxes for our sale next Spring!  Seriously, we could have a sale every couple of months and still never get rid of it all. Normally, when you watch Hoarders, the people portrayed are older that 26 and 36.  Should we be worried?
I found these awesome dishtowels a while back.  Of course, we don't use them as dishtowels.  I'm pretty sure the sound of me screeching "OMG DON'T TOUCH THOSE!!!" when my husband tried to actually dry his hands on one was enough for him.  I think it is safe to say that he will stick to paper towels from now on.
Vintage Valentines, honeycombs, and paper doilies will never be passed up by me!
Really?  Who can resist the cute graphics?  What am I going to do with them?  I'm not a scrapbooker.  Any ideas?
I have been obsessed with these salt and pepper shakers ever since I saw a similar pair on Sherry's blog Back 2 Vintage.  After not searching eBay or etsy for them for quite a while, I punched in "kissing cowboy salt pepper shakers" into the search bar on eBay and these were ending in 7 minutes with no bids.
Meant to be, don't you think?
Can you believe that I found these books at St. Vincents?  AND they weren't in the collectibles case.  Somebody wasn't paying attention:-)
My vintage Halloween collection is slooooooooowly starting to grow.  I know I've said it before but I sure wish it was as easy to find Halloween as Christmas!

That's all for now.  Be sure and head over to Sue's for Rednesday.  I will be linking up over there and checking out all the other reds.

Until next time....

Erica

Monday, September 17, 2012

Animal House

Sister Hanna here!  It has been way too long, I apologize.  I've been lucky enough to be with Erica two weeks in a row.  It was great, but also really tiring.  It's a 3 1/2 hour drive to see Sister and after teaching all week, it's even harder.  I hate to say it, but I am thankful that I will get a weekend at home this week so I can finally put away all my treasures.  Plus, I get to see Sister in Vegas in less than a month, so I have something to look forward to!

There has been a definite theme to what I've been purchasing lately and that is animals.  I am an outdoor girl and studied fisheries and wildlife science in college, which I use as my excuse for this animal menagerie I've acquired.  I also try to stick to birds, deer, and squirrels, with a random donkey here and there.  Yes, sometimes I stray, but how can a girl resist.

First off, at the antique festival in Coburg 2 weekends ago I was on a mission to find some bookends.  These beauties are solid wood and now are propping up my favorite bird and flower books on one of my end tables.  I don't know anything about them, but am exicted to do a little research.


I also picked up some salt and pepper shakers to keep me company in the window sill in the kitchen.  I was most excited about my Shawnee owls that Sister got me.  I've been dragging me feet on purchasing these little guys for a while and now they wink at me while I'm cooking; it's too cute.


At Pick-a-Dilly this Sunday I picked up a few little deer that I knew needed to move in with me.  The tiny guy is new, but I already had his mom.
And, how could I resist this dopey guy?

Last, but not least my Sister in Law got me these adorable measuring cups for my birthday.  I love that they stack into a tree, it's so clever!  Although they aren't vintage, I'm totally in love with them and they look just like me.  She is really good at finding me prizes that fit my taste!

Well, I must be off to the life of a school teacher (lots of grading and maybe a glass of wine.)  I think I will link up with Sir Thrift-A-Lot too!

Until Next Time! 
Sister Hanna

Sunday, September 16, 2012

It's Been Crazy!

This weekend we finally had our garage sale.  I'm telling you that this sale was 15 years in the making!  It should have been done waaaaaaaay before now.  It took my husband and I all day Thursday to set up and we were supposed to open at 10 on Friday but ended up opening earlier because A) we were ready and B) as I was coming up the driveway after running a quick errand, I had three cars sneak in the gate behind me before it could shut.  Dealers.
 
One reason I kept putting off the sale was because I couldn't stand to miss a weekend of going to the sales myself!  I figured that if I waited until the end of the season, I would have fewer competition for my sale and I wouldn't miss anything too great.  WRONG!  There were 241 sales listed on Craigslist alone.  Lucky for me, my favorite estate sale company started their sale on Thursday so I was able to go to that one and on the way to run my errand on Friday morning, I was able to sneak off to another estate sale that was right by my house.  Going to a sale when you are supposed to be running an errand for your own sale?  Okay, maybe I do have a problem.
 
Since this sale had so much accumulation (our stuff, some of Sisters stuff, and our dad's stuff), we did really good.  Is it tacky to tell you how much we made?  I think it is the only way to tell you just how much we had to sell.  Ready?  $2,200.00 in two days!  Most of the items were 25 cents to a dollar with the exception of a set of tires, my bedroom set, and Maddie's quad.  I'm sure you won't be surprised to hear that every single piece of Pyrex flew out the door.  When you price it below $3 a piece with some in the below a dollar range, that is bound to happen.

I did get a ton of stuff at the two sales I managed to go to but that is still sitting in my bedroom waiting to be dealt with.  So I will show you some other things I haven't gotten around to sharing yet.

My first duplicate vintage tablecloth.  This may go into Sister's new collection.
More vintage cookbooks.  Maddie and I have made the plan to start making one item a week out of one of our old books.  We'll see how that goes!
I know we have all seen the rooster versions of this salt holder, but have you ever seen a bird?  And it's pink!  She is way to pretty to sit by my stove so I have her in my bedroom.  I put my wedding ring in it at night.  I also got Sister this old clear refrigerator dish with vegetables embossed on the lid.  I bought her the smaller version at Goodwill in Washington.  The birthday candles were another Free Box score.
I found the big glass jar with the lid (which is kinda rare) at the flea market.  Sister missed out on this pink metal trash can at a sale we were at together (bummer!), and the yellow napkin holder is now pink (of course).  It was only 10 cents!
A couple more flea market finds.  This is an awesome cookbook and it is huge!  There are some great recipes in it too.  I figured it would go good with my Vintage Rustic Farmhouse theme I have going on.  The recipe box has the original price sticker on the bottom (59 cents).  Not sure if it was ever used.
This was a birthday gift from my mom.  Every year, she struggles with what to buy me.  I have a tendency to buy the things that I want/need so I can be hard to shop for.  Sister told her to buy me something old.  So she headed to an estate sale by her house and picked up this awesome, heavy pink depression glass pitcher for me.  Good job, mama!

Well, that's all for now.  I need to go wake up Sister (who is in town for the second weekend it a row!  Yippee!!).  We are headed to opening day at the Piccadilly Flea Market.  We are paying the higher price to get in 2 hours early.  The dealers have had all Summer to find new treasures and we want to have first pick!  If I have learned anything in my foray into the junking world, it is that the early bird does get the worm!

I am going to link up over at Pink Saturday for Beverly's party and then over to Sir Thrift-A-Lot's when he gets his party started.  Oh & Apron Thrift Girl just opened Thrift Share Monday so I think I will head over there too.

Until next time....

Erica