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Good morning, everyone!

This morning I'm recovering from having 13 teenage boys over for dinner last night.  Every season, one of Alex's coaches has the team over for dinner a couple of times. Well, Alex decided to invite everyone over to our house for one of those dinners.  He is super proud of the barbecue that Brian and I and put together so I guess he wanted to share it.  Thankfully I have two leaves for my dining room table so we were able to cram all of the boys in one spot.  I have a teenager so I am well aware of how much they eat but add 12 more to the mix?  3 racks of ribs, a 14 pound pork shoulder for pulled pork sandwiches, macaroni salad, smoked macaroni & cheese, coleslaw, cheesecake, red velvet cake, and 3 gallons of sweet tea GONE!  It's a lot of work but Brian and I really do love it.  Brian loves to hear about how awesome his food is and I just love to see all the kids together.  Alex is a Senior this year so times like these are few and far between.  Oh and the best part of it?  Not one single one of my vintage treasures was harmed in the chaos.  

Speaking of vintage treasures...as you guys know, Brian and I were in Seattle last weekend.  Well, first thing Saturday morning, we high tailed it out of town.  Not because we wanted to but because we figured we should to the mass amount of people rolling into town for the football game.  I wanted to stay but Brian was ready to get away from all the people and chaos.  So we compromised.  I told him I would leave early but he had to make some junk stops along the way.  Deal.

 
At the Visiting Nurses Thrift Shoppe in Centralia, I found this.  It's an art deco enamelware piece made by Fiesta.  Does anybody have any info on whether or not it is old or new?  It's turquoise so me buying it was a no brainer, vintage or not. 

We stopped at this little antique store that actually ended up being inside someones house but you would never know it until the lady inside told you.  She had the whole bottom floor set up with all the goods and the stairs cordoned off because that was the part of the house that she lived in.  Kind of weird but she was a super sweet lady.  The only issue was that she was very obviously a smoker.  Her voice sounded like the lady on that commercial who has to stick the thing in the hole in her throat to talk and the whole house had the stifling smell of cigarettes.  But she had such great stuff that I held my breath and soldiered on.

 

 

A few weeks ago, I found a tin exactly like this at the flea market. I wanted it SO bad but the seller would not go a penny below her $18 asking price. The worst part was that she had left the 25 cent garage sale sticker on it.  I was super excited to find another one at this antique store.  The lady told me she collected them over the years and finally decided to sell them all around Christmas.  She said she started out with about 70 and this one along with 5 others was all she had left.  She was asking $25 for it.  Why are these dang things so spendy?  But when I told her my sad story about the flea market, she dropped the price to $15.  Okay, still a lot to pay for a tin but I really wanted it and besides, Brian was paying!

 

 

She had so much stuff that I love to collect.  No a single piece of Pyrex though but I made up for it with everything else I found.  Brian really like the Prickly Pear jelly glass.  He's from Arizona and his mom and grandma used to make it all the time.  I found a Swanky Swig that I didn't already have too.  The Christmas tin was on the front porch and I think it had been out there for a while.  I had to use WD40 to get the lid off.  The graphics still look really good though.  The lady told us that using something called Colorback which is a polish for classic cars does a really good job of restoring old tins too.  I need to find some. Oh, and did you all know that I started another new collection?  Old games.  The graphics always draw me in.

 

 

I bought this Tala Icing Set for the sweet graphics and the fact that the handle is pink!

 

 

She had stacks of linens.  Most of them were in really good condition but you can imagine the smell.  I wasn't about to let that stop me though.  That's what Oxy Clean is for.

 

 

 

I picked up a couple Mexican themed dish towels too.

 

 

Love the donkey on this one.

 

So not a ton of stuff but definitely enough to make me happy. I also found something for Hanna and told Brian it was for her birthday but I really don't think I will be able to wait until August to give it to her.  Maybe Valentines Day?  The best part was that the nice lady gave us 20% off of our whole purchase because she said we bought so much.

 

Hope you all have exciting plans to find some good junk this weekend and that you are all staying warm!  It was almost 60 degrees here yesterday which is definitely not normal for this time of year.  Maddie and I are headed out tomorrow to do some out of town thrifting and antiquing.  Anything to dull these winter blues!

 

Linking up with:

 

The Cottage Market for Junkin' Joe & How Sweet The Sound for Pink Saturday.

 

Until next time...

 

~Erica

 

This Week At The Flea...

Happy Monday, Everyone!

It's a no school day today and even though I crave routine, sometimes it's really nice to have an extra day just to catch up.  It's been a pretty frantic weekend around here.  As you know, on Friday Brian & I headed up to Seattle to see Justin Timberlake (yes, again). We got home on Saturday night then it was up early Sunday morning to head to the flea market.  So this morning, I have no place to rush off to so I can have that third cup of coffee and share with all of you what I found at the flea market yesterday.

I love going to the flea market when it's around a holiday.  I bought this huge bag of vintage valentine's for super cheap.  I have quite a collection of them already but these are the perfect size for the banner that I am hoping to make today.

These table runners have just the right colors for either Spring or Fall.

This tablecloth has no holes but a few stains so the seller sold it to me for cheap.  She told me she hadn't tried to clean it yet so I'm confident I can get it looking new again.

One seller had these two pieces of Fire King Jadeite marked $2 each, as is.  For the life of me, I couldn't find anything wrong with the bowl.  There was a yellow stain on the mug and while I was waiting for my change, Maddie whispered to me that she was able to scrape the yellow off.  Score!

I found lots of little kitchen things from one seller.  I am going to put a decal on the shaker.  The aluminum cup next to it is marked "Smoothie Shaker".  The sweet pink Humpty Dumpty cup will go in my box for my future niece or nephew.  **Disclaimer:  Hanna is NOT pregnant (yet) which I'm sure you all gathered since she is in Vegas.

I also bought these cute cake toppers for the future baby.  I hope to collect enough that I can put them in a cute jar to display.

I bought the Doctor Doolittle's Garden book for my Halloween display.  I actually found the Fiesta latte mug from Goodwill on my way home.  It's a rare occasion that I find Fiesta at the thrift.

There is a seller at the flea that mainly sells small Ziplock bags full of vintage trinkets.  He also has old tins full of dice, Monopoly game pieces, poker chips, etc..  I love buying stuff from him.  He is super nice and always gives a good deal if you buy more than one thing.  That is the way a flea market seller should be!

I got this sweet little guy from him too. It's my first pinecone gnome.

I know it looks like I got a lot but believe me, it took a lot of work to get it.  I always pay extra to get into the flea early but unfortunately, they let the sellers in at the same time.  So I spend a lot of time circling the market waiting for all of the goods to get unpacked. 

Here's a fun story...as I was leaving, I ran into one of my estate sale friends.  She just so happened to be with a fellow blogger, Evie from Evie's Haus!  It's so fun to meet other bloggers and be recognized.  Be sure to check out her blog.  She loves all of the same amazing vintage things that we do, especially Pyrex!

And speaking of Pyrex, check out what I bought on Society 6

I mean, what Pyrex lover doesn't need a Balloons iPhone case & coffee mug?

Fun weekend & fun finds!  Our seats at JT were AMAZING!  If you follow me on Instagram, I took a photo from our seats just before the concert started (Shara, are you conscious yet?).  Brian got some awesome videos that I am going to have Maddie upload onto You Tube.  They are that good.  3 solid hours of singing and dancing from my absolute favorite performer ever (or as Hanna calls him, my boyfriend).  I will post a link when the videos are up.

Linking up with:

Sir Thrift-A-Lot for Thriftasaurus
A Living Space of The Nifty Thrifty
We Call it Junkin' for History & Home
Coastal Charm for Nifty Thrifty Tuesday
The Cottage Market for Junkin' Joe

Have an awesome week!

~Erica

A Few More Shares from 2013

Happy Thursday!  Hanna here!  Erica and I are both getting ready for some very exciting weekends, but I want to share a few things I've had on the back burner first.  I guess I should say, as of January 16th, I have thrifted 0 new items in 2014.  Can you believe that?  To tell you the truth, I haven't been out looking as much as usual, but still, the number of times I've left GW empty handed is alarming.  I even went one day and had to turn around and come home because their power was out.  Not a good sign, right?

Well, before Christmas, actually on the same day as Crafty Wonderland, Erica, Maddie, and I took a stroll through Stars Antique Mall in Portland.  Almost immediately Erica spotted a highly coveted prize in a small booth that an older man was sprucing up.  Neither one of us had seen it in person before, so exciting!  What was it you ask?  The Fire King Tear Drop Mixing bowls!  He was asking A LOT for them, even after a discount, and they were delphite, not jadeite, so Erica decided to pass.  Lucky enough, while browsing in the book, we spotted something else that I'm sure we would have missed otherwise.

Well, I knew I was in the clear because Erica obviously already has this set.  I have the 444, but not the 441 and bracket, let alone the box!  I of course assumed it would be super expensive, considering the Pyrex Balloons Chip and Dip is not the easiest to find.  But, to my surprise he was asking $19.95!  This was definitely an instance where I didn't have to think twice.  As we gathered up the set, he said, "Make sure to take the box too!" I couldn't help but chuckle as I took my prize to the front of the store.  Let me tell you I about died when the woman checking me out tried to pick up the box by the torn handle, I'm pretty sure I screamed.  But as you can see, it has made it safely home just in time for Super Bowl Sunday.

I also forgot to share a few other little treasures Erica gifted me for Christmas. 

 So Erica picked me up a few vintage postcards that I've framed.  Oh, I don't think I've share my toy blocks I found a long time ago either.

 I obviously needed one with cats having a party.

But my most favorite is this one is,

Alice and the Cheshire Cat.  I love Alice in Wonderland, for multiple reasons.  There is a long, paranormal story surrounding Alice and Wonderland and our Dad passing, it made my husband a believer and many people I tell the story have converted also.  It is a nice reminder of him, plus anything whimsical makes me smile.

Lastly, a missing deer update:  I've searched high and low.   I even unpacked and repacked all of my Christmas decor.  There is some scared deer vase out there wondering why on earth I left it behind.  I can't wait to figure out what happened to it.  Let me tell you, it is driving both Erica and I crazy that I can't find it.

Well, if you are wondering where Erica and I are this weekend, I'm sure you will just need to check our Instagram accounts.  Erica is off to see her boyfriend, Justin Timberlake in Seattle, and I'm off to Las Vegas for a quick weekend of well behaved fun.

Maybe thrifting will turn around for me soon, in the mean time, I'm going to continue to search for that darn deer!

Always a Pleasure,
Hanna

First Finds Of The Year

Happy Sunday, Everyone! 

I hope you all are having a good start to finding amazing junk this year.  It's still just a little bit slow in the thrifts in my neck of the woods but it usually is this time of year.  I have found some things but I have also had to resort to making some purchases online in order to feed my addiction.  That's okay, though.  Some things are just worth paying the shipping for.  I'm all about the hunt but I'm also all about instant gratification. 

I have always wanted to collect vintage sour cream glasses but they are so hard to find.  I have only ever seen one in person and I bought it thinking it wouldn't be hard to find more.  Was I ever wrong!  I bought these two online so now I have an official collection.  There are so many patterns and colors out there.  Let's hope that this is the year that I come across more in the wild.

Behold my first official thrifted finds of the year.  Out of all of the St. Vincent de Paul stores in my area, I have the best luck at the one right down the road from my house.  I picked up the silver plate tray for a project.  The lone small yellow dish for the Pyrex Hostess set was only 29 cents!  And they had the Fire King grease jar in with the figurines.  I can't tell you how hard I looked for the matching shakers.  I've been back every day since to see if they've been put out.  Maybe they were out first and I missed them or maybe they were never donated to begin with.  In the past, I've put together a full Butterprint refrigerator set and a full yellow Hostess set in multiple trips to this same store.  Why can't they just put it all out at once?

Doesn't finding good junk at the thrift just put you in the mood to hunt for more?  After heading to the Goodwill right down the road from St. Vinny's (no luck), I impulsively pulled into a small second hand store that I've only been in to once or twice over the years.  I've never had any luck at it so it's never been in my regular rotation.  It is under new ownership now so I figured it would be worth the trip inside.  After picking up this Yellow Dots bowl and four Made in Germany ornaments for under 5 bucks, I know I will be back again.

One of our local estate sale companies rents out a barn where they sell the leftovers from the sales that they have put on.  They open up the barn on the weekends that they aren't doing sales for other people.  Maddie and I hit it up last week and bought a pile of old cookbooks.  Some are duplicates for me but I couldn't pass then up for what they were selling them for.

In this post, I have shown you things I purchased online, things I've thrifted, and things I've found at an estate sale.  Now I am going to show you this awesome tablecloth that I found in the cargo space of my very own car!  I have a huge bag in there that holds all of my reusable grocery store bags (which I never remember to actually take inside the store).  I was digging one out the other day and pulled this beauty out instead.  I vaguely remember purchasing it at a garage sale in the Fall.  I dumped that bag out but alas, this was the only treasure hiding inside.  How in the world did I forget about it?!

That's it for now.  The boys are going to see The Lone Survivor today so I think that Maddie and I are going to head out to our "Antique District" to see if by chance there isn't anything for me that doesn't cost a million dollars.  Wish us luck!

Linking up with...

Sir Thrift-A-Lot for Thriftasaurus & The Cottage Market for Junkin' Joe

Until next time, Friends!

~Erica

The Thrifter Sister's Fave Finds of 2013

Hi Everyone!  It's Hanna & Erica together again for another joint blog.

After seeing everyones Favorites of 2013 posts, we decided it would be fun to join in on the action.  We both came to the conclusion that the thrifting of 2013 wasn't nearly as good as the year before but we both still managed to find some pretty amazing things.  It's definitely quality over quantity now that we are more educated and have a better idea of what exactly we want to collect.  So maybe we are just becoming better treasure hunters!  We will start of with Hanna's favorites.  Here they are in no particular order.

 

In early March I managed to get the hubby to stop at an estate sale on our way to Portland, where I found my cute cement deer that was the start of my new collection.  My second came from Erica and Maddie for my birthday.  Then in November, I found one while Erica was here for a visit. I officially have a cement deer collection that now resides in my bedroom (I know, a little strange, but I love them so much!)  Yes, I know this isn’t a single find, so I guess I should say this is my favorite new collection of 2013.

 

In April I shared my finds at Plucky Maidens, which included my second owl pitcher.   I’m still on the hunt for number three so I can call them a collection.

 

At the end of May I got my amazing china cabinet and also a stained glass window for a steal at the same estate sale.  I would have to say this was my best weekend of finds, and probably my favorite weekend of finds in 2013.  You can also see my beautiful Pyrex Saxony in this post, my all time favorite piece (I cheated though, it was from Ebay!)

 

Gosh, I’m such a liar!  I have to take back my last comments because Erica and my visit to the auction was definitely my most favorite weekend of the whole year!  To remind all of you, Erica and I visited our first auction in June where I got crazy and bought my Lawyer’s bookcase, which has become one of my most prized possessions.  I admire it in my office every day during work and put all my most special vintage treasures inside.

 

Lastly, in July I got my lazy butt to an estate sale where I found vintage Oz books and an old Ouija board.  Although I sold all these items, they were really cool finds for sure.

I’m sure I’m forgetting some other things that are favorites, but gosh it is hard to pick!!!!!  Over to Erica to share her favorites!

Well, I had a lot more picked out but Hanna decided to enforce a rule on this particular post.  We can only post things we have found, not been gifted.  She wants to save the favorite gifts for a post of their own.  They deserve it!

I found several of my favorites from Farm Chicks last year.  It's bittersweet to look back on those posts and see all of the amazing treasures I found since I won't be able to attend this year.  Alex is graduating that weekend and I suppose I better be there!  At first, I was planning on using this turquoise sink as an amazing hanging basket but found out that it works even better as a....Sink!  It now has a permanent home in my laundry room and is perfect for soaking all of my vintage linens.

Speaking of vintage linens, I found my all time favorite tablecloth while at Farm Chicks.

Isn't this the most beautiful print?

 

Pyrex Eyes set also from Farm Chicks.  I paid a whopping 30 bucks for these beauties which as any collector knows is about 1/5 of what they can go for minimum.

My last favorite from Farm Chicks is this amazing old quilt.  The seller told me it came out of a 1940's farmhouse.  It is the most perfect shade of Jadeite green.  It have it folded at the end of my bed so I can see it everyday.

After Hanna had a little too much wine one night and decided that she needed to spend quite a large amount on a Pyrex Saxony (Tree of Life?) casserole, I was determined to find my own.  Well, a few months later I was rewarded for my self control for not buying on online by finding one at an estate sale for $5!

Early on in the Summer, Maddie and I got to a sale 3 hours early because the ad had the cryptic "Vintage Kitchen" description and I just had a good feeling.  Well, my radar was right on because I swooped in on this almost full set of pink mixing bowls for $10.00.  You may remember that this was the sale that the dealer that was hot on my heels let out a string of four letter words after I grabbed these.

Another one of my favorite finds would have to be this pink pie/cake carrier that I got when Hanna and I attended our first ever auction back in June.  I waited around all day for it to be brought up and finally the auctioneer told us to bring up anything that hadn't been sold yet that we were interested in.  I was the only bidder and won this cutie for 2 bucks!

Not one month after I complete my Pink Rainbow Stripes set, I found another mint set at the Coburg Antique Fair.  Why does that always happen?  I'm not complaining though.  It's always a good idea to have a backup!

One of my other favorite finds also came from the Coburg Antique Fair.  I have had the pink version of this salt and pepper shaker set pinned on my Vintage Pinks board on Pinterest forever.  I was thrilled to find it in turquoise.  It was definitely one of those things that I had never thought I'd see in person.

The last favorite I want to share is this awesome laundry bag dispenser that I found while visiting Hanna in November.  We hung it right above the turquoise sink in the laundry room.  It looks amazing!

Wow, looking at Hanna's favorites compared to mine is like night and day!  How can two such similar people have such different tastes when it comes to vintage treasures?  I guess that is a good thing though because I would hate to take my Sister out over a piece of pink Pyrex!

Hope you all enjoyed our look back at 2013.  Here's to hoping that 2014 is even better!

~Erica & Hanna

Happy Vintage New Year!

Happy New Year, Everyone!
 
I hope that everyone is enjoying this last holiday week before things get back to normal.  I sure am ready for the kids to go back to school!  Since they missed a whole week of school prior to vacation starting, it seems like my kids have been on Summer vacation instead of Winter!  I need to get back into a normal routine.  Treasure hunting and blogging have taken a backseat to putting my house back together and my newest obsession, Instagram (thanks, Melissa @ Andromeda Vintage!).  If you want to follow Hanna & I, just click on the button on the right side of the page. 
 
I normally love to give gifts way more than receiving them EXCEPT when it is Hanna giving me gifts.  She is the BEST vintage gift giver ever (well, except for me).  Just look at what she gave me this year...
 

 
Just when I think that I have all of the turquoise Pyrex there is out there, she surprises me with these Foulard mugs.  Aren't they awesome?  They are not small at all which is normally my issue with vintage mugs.  And of course I would need the Betty Crocker Party Book!  You just can't be a proper party girl without it.
 

 
Not one but two Fire King tulip bowls.
 

 
And just the two I needed to complete my set!  Don't worry all of you OCDer's.  After I realized that the bowls were not lined up perfectly, I got out my ladder again & fixed them.
 

 
You may remember seeing this on Hanna's blog post a few weeks ago.  She found it at Goodwill and evidently my whining to her about not having it worked!  She wrapped it up and gave it to me.  Thanks, Sister!!
 

 
So this Pink Daisy Space Saver was actually an early To Me From Me gift.  I bought it when Brian and I had our vintage weekend back in November but since Hanna gave me a strict no Pyrex buying until after the holidays rule, I had to hide it until after we opened gifts.  I just couldn't pass it up and I needed it!  I figured if she gave me the same one for Christmas, I would just give her one too and let her think we had bought each other the same gift.  It would have been pretty funny had it worked out that way, don't you think?
 
Come back next time to see what Hanna & I have picked as our Top 10 Favorite Finds of 2013.  It wasn't the best year for vintage treasures but I'm sure we can each come up with 5!
 
Linking up with Junkin' Joe at The Cottage Market & Pink Saturday at How Sweet The Sound.
 
Until next time...
 
~Erica