What Happens When Two Sisters Go to a Garage Sale

Well, I was finally reunited with Sister this weekend and we had a blast.  Between working on some not so fun stuff we found the time to go to a few sales.  Bright and early Sister and I drug Miss Madelyn and my husband (Matt) out to a few sales.  Matt moans and groans, but he is always excited deep down to go have some shopping time with us.


Most of the sales were disappointing, but Sister and I did manage one thing: embarrassing Matt.  We got to a sale 30 minutes early and saw a few people already walking up, so we hopped out to check out the situation.  There was a man frantically trying to set up and there didn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it.  We stood around for a few minutes, anxiously awaiting to see what kind of loot he had.  There was a table covered in a tarp and after some pacing, Sister started to take a peek.  Then I started to take a peek.  Then the guy says, "You can go through that stuff, feel free to dig."  Dig?  Oh man, you're on!


Madelyn also jumped in on the fun.  The three of us started unpacking all the boxes, hoping we would get lucky.  In the mean time, Matt was standing to the side, just staring at us in disgust.  As I found things, I handed them to him and he was like a statue, totally mortified by our behavior.  After about 10 minutes, not only had we gone through everything, we even set up part of the sale for this guy!  Also, lucky me, I found a pink depression glass cake plate.  I was feeling timid, so Sister walked up, offered the guy 50 cents, and we were off with my pretty prize!

The rest of the sales were a loss for us ladies, but Matt managed to buy 2 bags of duck decoys and and camouflage kennel cover for Miss Piper Doodle.  I think those finds made up for how embarrassed he was of us earlier in the day.  I do have to say though, what does he expect?  Deprive Sister and I of shopping time for over a month and expect us to behave?  You have to be kidding.


Before I go, I also want to note that I have the best Sister on Earth.  Every time I come to visit, she has prizes waiting for me.  Here is what she had for me this time:

 Sister picked up this Old Fitz decanter and rainbow pheasant cup for me, she's the best!  I found the duck cup on the left for $1.50 at one of the antique stores we like, it's Hazel Atlas, what a steal!

Also, she gave me the Butterprint bowl back.  I traded it to her a while back, but she found one of her own.  I think she feels sorry for me and the lack of thrifting I get to do out here on the Oregon coast.  I also picked up the black and white Gooseberry as a prize for myself, since I'm still having Pyrex withdrawals these days.  And, look who it is!  Deer Gloria must have jumped in my bag on my way out.  I guess she wants to hang out with me and await our big adventure, the World's Longest Garage Sale in 4 weeks!


Until Next Time!
-Sister Hanna

Some Cute Stuff

Sister was here this weekend and we were so excited to hit some sales.  Since she lives in a small coastal town, her options are pretty limited when it comes to garage/yard/estate sales.  Unfortunately, the sales here this weekend were terrible.  Junk, junk, and more junk (and not the good kind). Luckily the sales last weekend were way better so at least I have some stuff to share.

I really do love vintage cookbooks and not just for the cute graphics and photos.  It seems like a lot of cookbooks nowadays have crazy ingredients that are hard to find and sometimes even harder to pronounce.  I love the simple recipes from long ago that use ingredients that I actually have in my pantry and freezer.  I have a Hamilton Beach vintage mixer so I was pretty excited to find the cookbook that originally went with it.  I bought all of these from the same sale and the lady gave me the pastry cutter for free! 

I was looking at an ad for an estate sale and saw the top bread box in one of the photos.  When I got to the sale, I went straight for the kitchen and grabbed it. These are so great for storage!  The next day, I went to an antique store that was having their Customer Appreciation sale and found the bottom two in a booth for 40% off.  The top one I have on top of my cabinets in the kitchen and the other two I am using to store kitchen towels and aprons (vintage of course).

I FINALLY got the Pyrex Butterprint butter dish that I have been wanting for so long.  I gave in and got in on eBay but I think I got a pretty good deal because the seller had it listed as "Vintage Aqua Buttercup" and I found it while searching for "Vintage Aqua".  I got it for $10 including shipping with no competition.

Just in time for barbecue season!  I found this set of Beverly melmac dessert plates and bowls at a garage sale for 50 cents. I'm on the lookout now for dinner plates.  Those seem to be harder to find.

How cute are these days of the week kitty dish towels?  They have never been used and the stamped colors are so vibrant!  My question is am I supposed to embroider over the stamping?  Is that what the stamping is there for?  Hopefully not, because am I sure I would RUIN them.  Better to just keep them as they are.

More vintage printed tablecloths.  I have a small vintage sewing table in my bedroom that these fit perfectly  But even if I didn't have a table for them, I wouldn't have been able to pass them up.  I just wish I could find one big enough for my dining room table.  I am obsessed with these types of tablecloths.  I will never understand why they stopped making them.

Hope everybody is having some great thrifting luck this week.  I haven't been to the thrifts in a few days.  I'm kind of boycotting them.  The pricing has been out of control plus Pyrex has been non-existent.  I'm pretty sure that my local Goodwill's have been sending it all to be sold on their online site.  Oh well, at least we are in the midst of estate sale season!  I have a feeling that that is where I am going to have to get my fix for now.

Quick Catch-Up Post

Hi Readers!

The weather has been getting much nicer around here lately which means that we can finally start to do some yard work and get the outside ready for Summer.  I can't wait!  The nicer weather also means more yard sales on the weekends which means more treasures for me to share with all of you.

I got these spun cotton head picks and little purse party favors from the sale that I went to where I got all the cake decorating stuff.  Do you see the little pick on the end with the pink scarf and the gloppy mascara?  She looks like Sister on Saturday mornings!

Maddy and I have been looking for a Josef June birthday girl for a really long time.  We actually found one at an antique fair a few weeks ago but the seller wanted $35 for it.  I finally resorted to eBay and got one for $7.  Maddy, Alex, and I all have June birthdays.  I'm pretty sure Alex isn't too excited about this, though.

I've actually been finding quite a few pieces of Jackson & Syracuse restaurant china lately.  Here are a few pieces that I picked up last week.  The cool thing about the Jackson china is that it is made in Portland, OR which is about an hour and a half north of where I live. 

I have a huge dining room table.  It measures 77" x 44" and that's without the two additional leaves.  So you can imaging finding a vintage tablecloth to fit it would be pretty expensive.  I do have one that my aunt gave me as a housewarming gift but it is so perfect that I would be devastated if something stained it.  So I guess I will just have to get used to using table runners.  I can usually find them for pretty cheap.  I found these two for $2 apiece.  I am not sure if they are actual runners or just big dishtowels.  Either way, they work perfect for what I need them for.

Miss Maddy LOVES The Simpsons.  She bought these for herself at the Piccadilly Flea Market a few weekends ago. But she has them displayed separate from her vintage figurines in her room because "they aren't old".  That's my girl!

Don't you love it when you find something that you didn't know you had?  A few weeks ago I was cleaning out the garage and I came across a box of framed pictures of the kids.  This was mixed in with them and for the life of me I cannot remember when or where I got it.  I was so excited to find it though.  It fits my decor perfectly!

That's all the time I have for now.  I have to take Alex to his girlfriend's softball game.  Only 2 more months until he turns 16 and he won't need his mom to drive him everywhere anymore.  So bittersweet.......

Holiday Goodies!

WARNING: If you think it may be a little too early to be looking at holiday decorations, you may want to steer clear of this post.  Remember, you have been warned.

As anyone who frequents garage sales knows, you can always come across an abundance of holiday decorations.  Of course, my favorite type of holiday decorations are the vintage ones.  Lately, I've been having some pretty good luck finding them.

I was at an estate sale at a dirty little house last weekend and I saw this bag.  I didn't take the time to open it up because I really just wanted to get out of there and get back in my nice clean car with my bottle of hand sanitizer in the glove compartment.  I noticed that there were some little birds in the bag and that was good enough for me.  Look at all the cute little treasures I found when I got home and dumped out the contents

A bunch (flock?) of the aforementioned birds.  I actually collect vintage birds and along with Shiny Brite ornaments, they are what the majority of my tree is decorated with.

Absolutely adorable spun cotton head angels.  I didn't realize that these existed.  I have seen Santa ones, but never the angels.

A bunch of miscellaneous trim that I will probably just use to fill in areas.  Aaaaaagh.  I don't even want to begin to think about Christmas yet. 

I also managed to snag this honeycomb pumpkin as I was running out the door.  Don't worry, I paid my 10 cents for it first.

It's pretty common for me to come across vintage Christmas tablecloths when I am at the sales.  I buy up any of them that are reasonably priced.  I am hoping to come across one that Sister can make into a tree skirt for me.  I have been looking for a "new" tree skirt FOREVER.  Thanks goodness I have a crafty sister who can sew one for me.

There are four major estate sale companies in my area.  Two of them are pretty reasonably priced and two are WAY OUT THERE.  I try to avoid going to the way out there ones but the other day I just so happened to be at a sale in the same neighborhood as one of the sales they were having so I stopped in. I picked up these 4 Gurley caroler candles and the two deer ones.  They were asking $3.50 apiece but I talked them into selling them all to me for $10.00.  Still pretty high but better than the $21.00 that they would have been had I not haggled.  I reeeeeeeeeally wanted the little African American carolers but they wanted $15.00 apiece.  I know I will find them for way cheaper.  Someday.

To give you a little idea of how different the companies price things, I picked these Thanksgiving Gurley candles up at one of the other companies sales earlier in the week. I got all four of these for a whole dollar.  And the Thanksgiving ones are a little less common than the Christmas ones. 

When our mom was younger, her house burnt down.  She always tells Sister and I that she had a bunch of these candles and they were the only object that survived the fire. Um okay.  Candles survived the fire?  It may be worth mentioning that our mother was a teenager during the whole flower child era.  You make your own assumptions as to how she may have gotten this story in her head.

Of course I would find even more Easter cuteness after I put away my Easter decorations.  These poor little guys came out of the bag, got their picture taken, and went into the box with the rest.  Oh well, see you next year!

I found this while browsing on eBay and it caught my eye because

Miss Maddy has the matching mouse and her baby.  I didn't realize that the mouse was missing one of it's babies, though.  So sad!

Time to go get the kids from school!  Don't worry, I still have more holiday decorations to show all of you.  I will show them to you a little bit at a time. No more overkill like this blog.  I promise.

Until next time, blogger friends!

Sister Erica

Let's Bake A Cake!

I went to an estate sale a few weeks ago and evidently the seller was pretty into cake baking.  There were two 6' long tables dedicated just to cake baking supplies.  Who should I bake a cake for?

Someone who is graduating from nursing school?

Someone with a birthday coming up?

A happy couple?

How about a pixie/garden elves theme?

Or a holiday party?

Crazy cat lady?

 Or a baby shower cake?

Sister, I know which one I want to bake for you (and it's not the crazy cat lady).

Hope you all find some great treasures this weekend!


Thrifter Sister Erica

The Pyrex Conspiracy and Some Small Finds

Well, I know Sister has mentioned it, but I want to confirm that I also believe that Goodwill has a conspiracy against us Pyrex lovers.  Divided dishes without lids for $5.99?  I know that doesn't seem that bad, but on the coast I usually don't pay more than $3 for Pyrex pieces.  I did find two cute things to share, but man do I need to move to the valley where there is more plentiful shopping (and a Sister of course!)

Here is a Royal China Jeannette Lemon Meringue Pie pan.  I don't have this one, so I'm excited to try the recipe!  Sister got me interested in these a while back and now I'm hooked!

Sorry for the wrinkles, but when you are a teacher sometimes power blogging is essential.  This cute burlap material is embroidered with my two favorite animals, squirrels and birds!  There are also deer and mushrooms that are a little harder to see, but I can't wait to make this little gem into a pillow.


I've also been meaning to share this Ebay buy for a while now.  This is the first item I've bought on Ebay since my thrifting and antiquing obsession began.  I purchased this bird drink pitcher for $0.99 with $7.99 shipping!  It matches a small pitcher that Sister bought for me a while back and it is practically perfect!

So, Sister and I have been apart for at least a month now.  I get to see her next weekend, although not for fun thrifting, but to have a shop sale and finally let go of some of our Dad's cars, motorcycles, and parts.  Not our expertise, but I think that we will do a really good job and then Sister's shop will have extra space for all our painting projects this summer!  Who am I kidding?  We will probably abandon the husbands for at least a little bit and thrift!  How could we not?


Looking forward to having an exciting share for all of you, happy thrifting this weekend!
-Sister Hanna

Just A Few Little Treasures....

Hi Everyone!

Hope you are having some better thrifting luck than me this week.  I went to a few Goodwill's around my city both yesterday and today and I kid you not, I did not see one single piece of Pyrex.  There is a major shortage going on here.  So Sister, you are not missing anything.  I promise.  In the meanwhile, here are a few of my recent finds....

I found this turquoise fan shaped pottery vase at the Piccadilly Flea Market the last time I went. It is marked Delpha on the bottom along with 3-'57.  I don't think that Delpha is a brand.  I am pretty sure that it is the name of the person who made it.  My husband, Brian found this Pink Daisy divided dish sans lid at an antique store for 6 bucks.  I already have it with the lid but he knew not to pass up a piece of pink Pyrex in perfect condition.  He's learning.

A few months ago, I found this Oregon State Capital carafe at Goodwill.  A few days ago, I found all of the glasses at SVDP.  I am a huge collector of vintage drinkware but these will have to go on eBay.  I'm running out of cabinet space.  Unless you want them, Sister?

Here are some vintage cookbooks I picked up here and there.  Okay, now for a little venting.  See the two on the top?  Well evidently these were collectible and vintage enough for the animal rescue thrift store to put in a locked case.  But why in the world would they put huge bright orange price stickers directly on the front cover?  Although I tried very carefully to remove them, they still peeled some of the paper off.  I tried to cover up the marks with a marker but you can still see them. Oh well.  They are still cute.

Some cute trays that I picked up at an estate sale.  The top one is actually a set of 5.  I got all 6 trays for $1.00.

More estate sale goodies.  I was extra excited to find the sifter because it has a turquoise handle!

And some SUPER CUTE Gurley candles for a quarter apiece!  Not bad considering their original price was ten cents!

Now, onto something completely un-thrifting related

This readers is what my son, Alex, ate for breakfast.  A huge slab of homemade strawberry cheesecake.  FOR BREAKFAST!  If I didn't love him so much, I'd hate him.

Until next time.....

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter Blogger Friends!

~Erica & Hanna, Thrifter Sisters~