It Begins Today!

Good Morning, Friends!

Hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving and your bellies are recovering.  We had the lowest key holiday ever at our house.  Normally, we host 20+ friends and family but this year it was just the four of us and my mother in law.  Absolute heaven I tell you!  I think we have started a new tradition of a quiet Thanksgiving.  It's a good way to get ready for the wonderful Christmas Chaos that starts today!

I'm going to let you all in on a little secret....I actually started decorating on Wednesday.  Now, it was only my dining room window but I had an idea involving vintage stockings and an awesome piece of vintage fabric I found at the flea market and I couldn't wait to execute it!  So right next to my Thanksgiving decorated dining room table is a Christmas decorated window.  It looks awesome!  But it won't be a lonely window for long.  Today the rest of my holiday decorating frenzy begins.

But before all of that, I need to continue on with my finds from last weekend...

Today's stop....The Plucky Maidens Holiday Junk Fest!  After chatting with Miss Magpie Ethel in the line, Brian and I forked over our $10.00 early admission fee and headed in to the frenzy.  Plucky Maidens is a small venue but boy do they pack it in!  I circled the show quite a few times and always seemed to find something I missed before.

There are two lovely ladies at the show who always have lots of tote bags made out of vintage tablecloths that their mom makes.  I always buy one.  This is the first time I had seen the Christmas ones!

Maddie is convinced that this tin is an old movie reel holder and I think she is right!  I couldn't get a good enough shot to show you that the bottom part is painted the perfect shade of green.  This tin will be an awesome display piece.  I am forever on the hunt for these Pyrex Holly mugs during the holidays.  I have only ever found 3 at the thrift store so I was thrilled to find two at Plucky.

I hate chocolate covered cherries but I couldn't pass up the sweet graphics on the candy box.  I have a small collection of ornament hangers so I picked these boxes up to add to it. The sweet little deer and pixie called out to me.  I heard them.....I swear!

My two Plucky partners, Sister & Maddie, had to miss out this year.  But I didn't forget them!  I bought Hanna a deer like the one I got for myself and Brian bought her a Plucky wine glass (what, you thought that was for Maddie?).  Miss Madelyn loves to collect the furry accented animals and she has several of these puppies but none with hot pink fur. 

Brian and I both stopped and back tracked to the Christmas themed milk bottle.  Funny how minds can work alike?  I guess that after being married for 13+ years that can happen.  Hanna, maybe there is still hope for Matt!  The napkin at the top is from a set of 8.  I know I won't actually use them as napkins but I'm sure I will come up with some fun way to display them.  Maybe a cute banner?  I got the table runner from the same booth.  I don't think you can ever have enough Christmas linens.  The tin is for a new collection that I started just this year.  It's fun to have something new to hunt for, don't you think?

There was not only Christmas at this show.  When I picked up the Swanky Swig, Brian said "I can't believe I missed that!".  So evidently he is a Swanky Swig hunter now.  The tray, napkin holder, and Lefton bluebird creamer were all in one really packed booth.  Brian was already in it when I walked up and he said to me "Do you see anything in here you want?".  He just grabbed what I told him to.  I think I may take him back with me next year.

It's still dark outside so I can't get out to my shed to start bringing in Christmas decorations yet.  Dang, guess I will just have to have some pie.  What do you think?  Lemon Sour Cream or Chocolate Cream?  Both you say?  I knew there was a reason I liked you guys.

Linking up with....

Have A Daily Cup of Mrs. Olson for SYC Thursday, The Cottage Market for Junkin' Joe, & How Sweet The Sound for Pink Saturday.

Happy Holidays!

~Erica

A Little Vintage Thanksgiving

Like a lot of you, I only have a small amount of vintage Thanksgiving.  It's not that it's hard to find, but it doesn't seem like a whole lot of variety was made.  Pretty much everything I have is the same stuff you see on other blogs this time of year.  But it's still fun to look at, right?

Lot's to do this morning so I will just let the photos speak for themselves....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Thanksgiving from The Thrifter Sisters & Maddie!

 

 

~Erica

 

 

 

 

 

What A Weekend!

Happy Thanksgiving Week, Everyone!

This past weekend was AWESOME!!  On Friday, Brian and I headed up to Portland for the night.  Our plan was to hit up a couple of my favorite shops, do a little thrifting, and go the Plucky Maidens Holiday Junk Fest.  Then Sunday was our local flea market.  It was a vintage Christmas weekend to remember!

Before I start to show you all my finds for the weekend, I need to say a couple of things about my awesome husband (Hanna, this is where you may want to tune out or work on your gag reflex).  Not only did he agree to go up to Portland with me even though he knew it was going to be strictly a vintage holiday extravaganza, he actually found quite a few things for me that he knew I already had tons of but would love to add to my collections anyways.  He is a total enabler.  He carried things up to counters, loaded the truck, and didn't bat an eye when I purchased my 14th (not even kidding) Santa mug of the weekend.  He even found some for me!  All this without one single complaint about the quantity being purchased, money being spent, or college football being missed.  Not many guys out there like him, I'll tell you that.

Okay, enough of that.  Let's gets onto the junk!  I am going to break this weekend up into a couple of posts because there is a lot of it.  Are you ready?

Our first stop was the Monticello Antique Marketplace for their Vintage-Inspired Christmas Show.  If you ever get a chance to visit Portland, this is a must stop for any vintage lover.  Their Christmas show is the best that I have ever attended at any antique mall.  Plus, I got to see Amy & Laurie's booth.  Amazing.  Enough said.

I have never seen so many boxes of Shiny Brites in one place in my whole life.  Stacks of boxes were in just about every booth!  But, I have a really hard time paying retail when I can pretty easily find them at the estate sales and thrifts.  I did buy this box of ornaments because A) it was cheap & B) the graphics on the box are perfect for displaying.  Do you ever buy things just for the box?

I finally bought myself one of these Empire Santa cookie jars.  I can't tell you how many times I have passed on them.  The tree topper will be added to my collection.  I'm pretty excited to start hauling out all of my Christmas decor.  I'm sure I've forgotten a lot of what I have!

Here you see the first of many Santa mugs from the weekend.  Now before you think I am spending millions of dollars on Santa mugs, let me tell you my strict rule.  I will never pay over $1.50 per mug.  Ever.  Most of the time I find them for under a dollar.  I just can't stop buying them!  I love how they look all grouped together.  The card box is empty but with perfect graphics.

Lot's of Gurley candles, including a pair of Thanksgiving candles and a red elf.  With the more common Gurley's, like trees and snowmen, I also have a self imposed price rule of no more than $2.00 per candle.  This time of year, Gurley candles are EVERYWHERE so you don't have to pay a lot for them.  I will pay a little more though for uncommon ones like the candles and elf.

I bought these sweet spun head girls because they reminded me of Hanna & I.  I played the violin when I was in 4th grade and Sister still likes to break out her guitar every now and then.  Just when you thought you knew everything there was to know about the Thrifter Sisters....

Vintage cards are one of my weaknesses even though I have no idea what to do with them.  There are about 40 here. 

When I picked up this blow mold, Brian said to me "Don't you already have a Santa blow mold?".  I told him that I had several, but none holding a blue package!

 
My only non-Christmas items from Monticello were this Fire King creamer that I already have the matching sugar bowl for and the green handled cookie cutter for Maddie's collection.  I mean, come on.  Doesn't every girl need a hatchet shaped cookie cutter?

That's all for now.  After I show you all my Thanksgiving decorations later in the week, I'll post my Plucky Maidens finds.  I have a lot more to share!

Linking up with:

Sir Thrift-A-Lot for Thriftasaurus
A Living Space for The Nifty Thrifty
Mod Vintage Life for Mod Mix Monday
We Call it Junkin' for We Call it Olde
Coastal Charm for Nifty Thrifty Tuesday
Thrifter Maker Fixer Farm for Thrifter Share

Have a great day!

~Erica

Some Out of Town Finds

So as I mentioned in my last post, I did a little bit of thrifting both on the way to Astoria and on the way home.  I always like to hit up the out of town stores, especially this time of year when all the Christmas stuff is starting to come out.  You just never know what it is you will find!

My first two stops yielded lots of ornaments for wreath making.

As well as some Shiny Brites.

At one point, I had the full set of the Oregon souvenir glasses but Alex fell into the box they were in while changing our air cleaner filters and broke a few.  I was happy to find one that I needed at the Albany Goodwill store where I almost always find vintage glassware.  I can't wait to find some time to check out all the awesome pictures in the Farmhouse book.  49 cents!  And for whatever reason, I have begun to seriously hoard vintage sheets.  They just look so pretty folded up and stacked together.

I bought a huge two dollar bag full of miscellaneous Christmas crafty stuff just to get these trees.

As well as all of these Japan marked plastic nativity figurines and random deer.  I think this is a complete set minus the actual manger.

I also found this nativity scene in it's original box.  The box still has it's original price tag from the Meier & Frank department store for a whopping $2.47!  I need to find an angel.

 

 

I was intrigued by this box that I found at a Goodwill in Portland.  A quick peek inside showed me that it was an artificial green tree.  For $1.99, I decided to take the risk and buy it without actually taking it out of the box and checking it out.  If you look at the box, it says it's a complete set containing the tree with stand, assorted colored glass ornaments, a glass tree top, and 9' of garland.

No garland, glass balls, or tree topper but at least the tree is cute!  I think I will let Maddie decorate it and put it in her room.

Since her room has a rustic cowgirl theme going, it would look really cute in this old metal bucket I found at St. Vinny's, don't you think?

That's all for now.  I have been out at thrifts again the past couple of days and have another box of stuff to unpack and photograph so stay tuned!  Tomorrow, Brian & I are headed to Portland for Plucky Maidens.  Unfortunately, Hanna won't be able to meet me in time to go so I am going to just have to drag Brian with me.  Oh dang, he may have to buy me something for all his troubles.  HA!

Linking up with:

Coloradolady for Vintage Thingie Thursday
The Cottage Market for Junkin' Joe
The Thrifty Groove for Thrifty Things Friday
Jann Olson for SYC Thursday

Have a great day!

~Erica

Treasures From A Thrifter Sister Weekend

Hi Everyone!

When I opened up my computer to blog on Friday, imagine my surprise when I saw that Hanna beat me to it.  What a sneaky sister!  So I think I've given her post enough time in the spotlight so now I can share with you what I found during my fun filled weekend in Astoria. 

I left early on Friday morning and started my 4 hour drive to Hanna's house.  I did stop both on the way there and on the way home to do a little out of town thrifting but I will save those finds for next time.  This post is all about what two Thrifter Sisters find when they are together!

As Hanna mentioned, when I was almost to her house I saw that the Yankee Trader antique store was FINALLY open.  I say finally because in the four years that I have been visiting Hanna in Astoria, it has never been opened when I was there.  This is going to be huge for me to say considering I've been to some pretty great antique stores, but this is my absolute favorite one hands down.  Like, when Hanna & Matt move out of Astoria, I will still drive there just to visit this store.  Each booth is decorated in it's own color scheme and theme.  Every single thing is vintage.  No "new but made to look old" at all.  The coolest thing is that it is all owned by one wonderful lady who takes great pride in her displays.  So much so that she closes down her store from December to May to completely redo the whole thing.  It's a huge store too!  Plus, she is also really crafty.  She makes the cutest whimsical creations out of vintage materials kind of but not exactly Magpie Ethel-ish but on a much larger scale.  If you ever get the change to visit this store, you won't be disappointed!

There was a huge stack of these ice cream containers but I only bought three.  I think I am going to have Hanna pick me up a couple more before she comes to visit next time.  I heard some rearranging going on in one of the booths and found Sister pulling this turquoise bridge tray out of a stack of dishes.  After looking it over, it only took a split second for us to realize I needed to buy it.

We tend to get a little wild when we are crafting or playing games while enjoying delicious cocktails.  This tray should save my furniture.

I spotted the Rainbow Stripe 403 but walked by it because Hanna has forbidden me to buy any Pyrex until after Christmas.  She assured me that she hadn't bought this for me.  Yay!  Only need the 402 to complete the set.  I love the red leaf pattern on this vegetable bowl. I have the same bowl with the blue leaf pattern.  The weird thing is that this bowl is marked Fire King while my other bowl as well as all of the plates I have in the same pattern are marked Pyrex.  Who cares!  I love both Pyrex and Fire King.

Want to see what I bought that still make me absolutely giddy?

 

 

 

How absolutely amazing is this old laundry bag dispenser?  I fell in love with the graphics and thought it would be the perfect addition to my laundry room remodel. 

Hanna twisted my arm into buying these sweet pink snowflake glasses (HA!).  I normally don't buy full sets but I figured that I can use these just during the holidays and in the winter time then pack them away.

Since Hanna only has one Goodwill that she visits sometimes twice a day (she has a problem, I know) we race each other to find treasures.  It's a sick competition.  I have decided that I really like vintage Christmas tins so I think I am going to start hoarding them.  The bulbs and garland are for wreaths.  I am going to try a tinsel garland and bulb one this year.

We both almost walked right by this Shiny Brite red mercury glass garland.  It's a good thing I spotted the label otherwise someone else may have found it.  Can't have that, can we?

Pretty fun haul, huh?  I had the best time thrifting with Hanna.  I just wish we had more time together to do it.  Friday is Plucky Maidens and I will be there.  Keeping my fingers crossed that Hanna makes it to meet me.

Linking up with:

Sir Thrift-A-Lot for Thriftasaurus
A Living Space for The Nifty Thrifty
Mod Vintage Life for Mod Mix Monday
The Cottage Market for Junkin' Joe
We Call it Junkin' for We Call it Olde
Coastal Charm for Nifty Thrifty Tuesday
Thrifter Maker Fixer Farm for Thrifter Share

Happy Monday!

~Erica

The Pickings From Last Weekend

Happy Friday, Hanna here!  I had so much fun with Erica last weekend between the thrifting and antique finds, to the lazy trash tv and wine in bed (just wine for me, Erica wasn't quite up to partaking two nights in a row.)  I got a very excited phone call from Erica on her way up Friday exclaiming that Yankee Traders was open!  I've been there one other time where I found my creepy pixie shakers, you can read about them here.  Yankee Trader can have some funky hours but is totally worth the trip if you  are on the North Oregon Coast.  It is right off 101 between Seaside and Gearhart and the owner has an AMAZING collection.  They are open May-December and then she closes to completely rearrange the store.  This place is jam packed with treasures that I know all of you would love.

If you are a reader, you are aware I have an affinity for deer.  They just need to come home with me!  Well, I was browsing the store and happened to peak out a window to see a cement deer sitting outside.  When I asked the owner about the deer she explained it had been her mother's.  She was so sweet and offered it to me, but I wasn't quite sure (I'm the person that fills her cart and puts everything back.)  I told her I would take a look at her when I was loading up Erica's treasures and decide.  She wasn't going to be at her store the next day but said I could come by and just take the deer and come pay later. What a sweet and trustworthy lady, right?  Well when I locked eyes with this sassy little bambi, my heart stopped.  She had to be mine.  I ran back inside and paid right away.  Now she has a home with my other 2 and I can officially say I have a cement deer collection!

 Isn't she sweet!?!

Some of you may be wondering what all my deer are doing in the house.  Well, I live in the rainiest place in the state and I just decided they will have longer lives if they come in for the winter.  They sit in front of my fireplace right now but I'm going to have to find them another spot because every morning when I come down stairs they scare the crap out of me!

Erica also bought me a few little gifts:

Weird, another deer!  The Ovaltine tin is because A) our Dad loved Ovaltine and B) orange is my favorite color.  Thanks Sisterita!

I also thrifted a few Christmas treats.

Who knew that orange Shiny Brites existed!  The Santa on the candy tin is on the loose.  I bought the small box of ornaments because the graphics were so great.  The knee hugger was another gift from Erica.  I was telling her last week I didn't own a single knee hugger and that I really needed one.  I really do have the best Sister.

Here's a nice close-up of my new little friend.

There was one tragedy last weekend.  One of my sweet neighbors was moving into a retirement living facility after living in her home for 30 plus years.  When I spoke to her last week she seemed upbeat and ready for a change, so I was happy for her.  Her son was having a sale for her Saturday morning. The tragedy was that only one Sister was able to get herself to the sale.  It was probably for the best, Erica always gets the good stuff when we go to sales together.  I had been praying since I heard my neighbor was moving that her house was bursting with Pyrex.  Well, it wasn't bursting, but the 2 pieces she had did come home with me.

 I felt so lucky to find a piece of Christmas Pyrex this time of year, let alone with its original lid and a cradle!

 This is my only pink 043, I can't decide if I will keep it.

I'm a sucker for cameras, and this Kodak Tourist II doesn't even look like it was ever used.  I also bought a hat box and all for $10, not bad, right?

Well, thats all for me!  Matt and I are off to take Miss Piper truffle hunting in this beautiful Oregon weather tomorrow, so wish us luck!

Always a Pleasure,
Hanna