At The Flea...

Good Morning, Everyone!

Sunday morning was our local flea market.  My sidekick Maddie is battling a nasty cold so she stayed home.  So after grabbing a quick coffee and robbing Brian of all his small bills, I was out the door, hoping to find some good things.

I've mentioned before how much I love the flea market when there is a holiday coming up.  I found these nut cups and old candy containers just in time for Valentines Day.

I've wanted one of these silverware trays forever.  I was super excited to find one but I just don't know what I am going to do with it yet.

I have a serious problem with buying children's chairs, especially when they are in my colors!

And if there is a cute vintage decal on it, done deal!

A seller was actually using this tablecloth as part of her display but happily sold it to me.  Aren't the colors amazing?  And I will never pass up blue mason jars, especially when they are only a dollar apiece.

Have you guys ever seen canisters like these?  I am in love with them!  They are unmarked but I wonder if they were made by Lustro Ware?  They are pitchers with flip top lids.

I bought this Pyrex Barcode casserole and Fire King Delphite chili bowl from the same seller as the canisters and mason jars.  I think this seller digs their items out of the dirt because everything I have ever bought from them was absolutely filthy and required a large amount of scrubbing.  But you will hear no complaints from me!  They are the nicest people and their whole family comes and hangs out at their table.  Plus, their prices are dirt cheap (pun intended).  I got all the jars, the canisters, the Pyrex, and the Fire King for 7 bucks.  You absolutely cannot beat that!

Quite a few sellers were offering 50% off had dollar bins.  I guess they are getting ready for the treasures the Spring garage/estate sales will bring.  I found all of this from the dealer that I have known since I was a baby. A dollar apiece?  Sold!

I also bought this old pencil sharpener from him to add to my vintage office supply collection.  It was made in Rockford, Illinois which is where our dad was born!  There was another seller who had a red one but every time I went to their table, they weren't there.  Plus, they were asking 12 bucks.  Oh well, you snooze, you lose!

I was really hoping to find some vintage decals at the flea.  I need some for some old jars, a bread box, and some shakers.  I found these and although they won't work for the projects I needed them for, I will add them to my stash for future use.  I'm sure I'll find something that needs a fruit decal at some point!

 

 

I want to make a banner out of old postcards for Maddie's vintage cowgirl themed bedroom.  I dug through tons of postcards and found these to start with. 

And like I was going to leave these donkey ones behind!

I didn't buy these at the flea market.  I actually found these a while back at an antique mall in Portland.  I just wanted to share them with you all before I showed you my Valentines Day decorations.  I could not pass these boxes up, even though they were empty.  Aren't they adorable?

So good stuff at the flea last weekend which makes me happy.  On the way home, I stopped by my local Goodwill and St. Vincent's and came out empty handed, as usual.  The glassware aisles at SV was crawling with dealers picking up and flipping over everything that looked remotely old.  This is so discouraging!  So this coupled with the lack of thrift finds for months has made me decide to take a cue from some of my fellow bloggers and go on a thrift store hiatus.  I'm done feeling frustrated and wasting my time and gas. I am going to focus my efforts on the flea markets, shows, and the upcoming estate sale season.  If I am going to take time out of my schedule to hunt for treasures, I need to know that I will find at least something to give me my fix!  This is not to say that I won't ever thrift again.  If I am in the area of a store because of something else I am doing, you can bet I will stop!  I'm frustrated people, not dead!

Linking up with Sir Thrift-A-Lot & We Call It Junkin'.

Until next time...

~Erica

When Thrifting is Slow

Happy Super Bowl Sunday, Hanna here.  I have to say, I think January was the slowest month I have had for thrifting since this madness began.  Last week I went to my thrifts every single day, and the only thing I came home with was a pair of children's snow shoes (not vintage mind you, but I can at least sell them.)  I actually only purchased a single vintage item from my Goodwill in January.  So what is a girl to do?  Well, the few other items I did find were from out of town, but even then the pickings were slim. So, I've finally done it.  I have had to turn to online shopping to fill my void.  I haven't purchased anything crazy, but having  a few new items coming into my house per month seems to be a requirement at this point.

First, let me share what I've thrifted.

 The woodpecker made in Japan shaker was my only find at my local Goodwill and I absolutely love it.  I was visiting my in laws yesterday and picked up this sweet ceramic pair of parakeets, its actually one of those wall vases.  I never leave behind pieces from the Federal Glass water fowl collection.  When I showed Matt the shot glass he said, "Awesome, I can never have too many of those."  I wish he said that about Pyrex!  He really does love his set of these glasses and we use them daily (not the shot glasses of course!)

I added my new bird friends to my rookery in my office.  Sorry for the strange angled shot, they really do sit up really high in my office.  I love my strange little bird collection!

 Well, you know I'm desperate for a Pyrex fix when I start buying Early American Pyrex.  I usually save this pattern for Piper's water bowls, but I decided that I use 043's all the time and if something happens to this, I wont be devastated.  Plus, $1 is hard to pass up.  At the same store I also found a  lid to the promotional Blue Floral piece.  I have found this lid in the past and sold it forever ago and mine and Erica's garage sale.  Being desperate, I bought it again, for 25 cents.  Knowing I would never find the bottom to this piece in the wild, I decided that it was time to do a little Ebay shopping and fulfill my need for some vintage prettiness.

Here she is all complete!  If you follow me on Instagram, you have of course already seen this.  I got the bottom for a really reasonable price and am so happy I broke down and purchased something online.  It fits in well with my Scandinavian theme I have in my kitchen.

My one other online splurge has not joined my household yet, so you will just have to wait.  I'm headed to Portland tomorrow and am hoping to have some thrifting luck.  It honestly will just be nice to go to a different store and not be looking at the same junk that has been on the shelves for weeks!

Well, I'm off to go make some treats, which will include some fresh Steelhead sushi, thanks to my catch from yesterday:

My first steelhead of the season!  It is always great to spend quality time with my husband and father in law and then show them up with the only fish of the day!

Always a Pleasure,
Hanna

Outta Here!

Super early on Sunday morning (and I'm talking before sunrise), my little trooper Maddie and I headed out of town to a flea market that we had only visited once before.  Their early bird entrance hours are way earlier than my regular flea market but since I know how quickly things get picked over, I wasn't taking any chances.  I gave Maddie the opportunity to stay home but she really wanted to go.  So with her bag packed the night before (snacks, iPad, and blanket....priorities), we were out the door.

This flea market is held indoors but it may have well been outside.  The manager of the building forgot to turn the heat on.  It was FREEZING.  We weren't layered up like we usually are for our local flea so poor Maddie's teeth were chattering and I bought a coffee just so she could hold onto something warm.  Just so you don't think I was torturing my child, I did trade her my North Face down jacket for her hoodie. 

The last time I was at this particular flea market, there was a seller in the very front room who had tons of smalls and linens.  I remember that I bought a bunch of stuff from him for super cheap.  He said he was really wanting to just get rid of this stuff so he could quit coming to the flea.  Well guess what?  Two years later, he was still there.

 
I bought two pie birds for my collection.  Maddie convinced me that I didn't already have the blue one.  She was wrong.  But what could I expect?  It was still dark outside!

Love the colors on this apron.

The Morning Glory design on this tablecloth matches my tins and breadbox.

After we made our first pass through the front room, we headed into the main part of the market.  I spotted this at the farthest point of the room and just about broke into a full sprint to get to it

Do you guys know how long I have searched for one of these for?  I was willing to pay any price for it but luckily I bundled with some other stuff and the guy gave me a deal.  Three times I set it down while looking at other things and each time, someone picked it up.  I finally put it in my car.  I wasn't taking any chances!

I bought these two Hazel Atlas child's mugs from him too.

The Cookie Jar was also something that I have had on my list for a while.  The 4 cup measuring cup is by Anchor Hocking.  I can always use another measuring cup and I love the shape of this one.

I bought the Swanky Swig on the off chance that I didn't already have it.  Well I didn't!  The tape tin is for my collection that I bring out at Christmas and Maddie picked up another plastic pig bank for her collection. 

I bought this dish towel and tablecloth from the sweetest little old man who insisted he wrap them both in tissue paper for me because they were "really old".

This is my second chenille baby blanket.  The weather really needs to warm up around here so I can wash it and hang it outside to dry.

 

Not one to pass up anything donkey related, even if it is a little goofy.

It has been forever since I have found any matchbox holders for my collection.  These two were in a $3 grab bag along with this old box of matches.

With the mass quantities of vintage valentines out this time of year, I only allow myself to buy singles of the ones I collect, donkeys and cowboys. 

I bought this cute framed valentine collage from woman who told me they were hers when she was younger.  Who gets rid of things like that?!  She also had another cowboy themed card for me.

How cute are the graphics on these old lightbulb boxes? 

 
I bought a box of old cards for a buck hoping for something cute. 

Always happy to find vintage Easter. 

 



Last but not least, some Halloween picks to add to my jar next Halloween.

I think it is safe to say that I got my vintage fix for a while but don't think for a second I am going to take a break!  Our local flea is this weekend but this haul will be pretty hard to top. 

Linking up with SYC Thursday & Junkin' Joe.

Until next time...

Erica

First Estate Sale Of The Year & A Few Thrift Finds

Yay!  On Friday morning I headed to my first estate sale of the year.  It wasn't the best sale in terms of vintage but my unlucky streak has been broken!  It was given by a couple of very nice antique store owners who buy out estates then rent a space close to their store to sell the goods. You may have remembered me mentioning them last Fall.  They were the ones giving the sale where I got my Saxony/Tree of life casserole for $5.  If you want, you can relive my excitement here.  I almost always go to their sales and am happy to say that the dealers around must be deterred by the fact that the sales are being given by dealers too.  I never have any of the regular competition when I am at these sales.

Most of you know that I have tons of these old soda crates.  I have several Pepsi ones but none with this type of script.  I have a certain price that I am willing to pay for these and will always buy one if it is in good condition and within that range.  I love old cookbooks too.  Especially ones with a county fair or somewhat similar theme.

Not too much in regards to kitchen stuff except for the dish towel, drinking glass, and two white Fire King bowls.  The large white bowl is one of the Colonial ones and I would love to find the two smaller ones that go with the set, especially at the 50 cents I got this one for!

There was a large box peeking out from underneath one of the tables and this was on top of it.  The whole box was full of Christmas stuff, some old and some new.  I am in love with this Christmas card box.  No cards but it did have some other fun stuff in it.

This old Santa cutout has the handwritten date of December 25th, 1923 on the back.  There was also about 15 of these unassembled little boxes.  I put one together so you could all see it.  Here is one side

And here is the other side.  The instruction say to add a hook and hang it on your tree.  Does anybody know anything about these?

I was also able to find two boxes of ornaments. 

The ornaments aren't in the best condition but I love the box and do you see the little spun head Santa?  Totally worth the buck I paid for the box.

I got these for a dollar too which I think is pretty great because the original price was $1.19.

Not a ton but better than nothing, right?  I also did a little bit of thrifting last week.  Still pretty slim pickin's out there but I am keeping my fingers crossed that changes soon.

This set of Early American was purchased out of sheer desperation.  I can't tell you how many times I've passed up these same exact bowls at various thrifts and estate/garage sales.  In my defense though, these are in mint condition and the three combined cost me 8 bucks.  I packed them away with my 4th of July stuff.  I figured they can be my patriotic bowls.  Now I just need to find the 442.

I took the photo of this before I cleaned it up and now it's in pristine condition.  This makes 4 lime pie plated that I have thrifted now.  They don't take up a lot of room so I just keep adding them to my stack.

I haven't found any vintage pillowcases in a while so I was happy to add these two to my collection.  They were $1.99 each but the checker at Goodwill thought that was ridiculous so she charged me 99 cents each.  At least some of the Goodwill employees recognize price gouging when they see it.

Now onto my absolute favorite find of the week.  I actually took my time and Goodwill the other day and walked down every single aisle.  Well look what I found in with the sports equipment.  True, it is a bowling bag but wouldn't it make an even better purse or small overnight bag?  It is in wonderful condition with the exception of one of the handles just about ready to detach.  I found someone to repair it so soon it will be good as new. Have you seen the prices of tooled leather?  I will take the $7.99 I paid for this beauty any day.

Things are slowly but surely picking up around here so no complaints from me!  Hope you all have been having some good luck too!

Linking up with Sir Thrift-A-Lot, We Call it Junkin', The Nifty Thrifty, and Nifty Thrifty Tuesday.

Until next time...

~Erica