You know I love my orange ......... you have all seen my orange plates and orange mushrooms and will be seeing (subjected to) more of those orange beauties. So it is rather surprising that for Halloween I prefer a more subtle black and white scheme. Today I thought I would share a display a la Tim Burton from my shop. It is black & white, of course vintage and all so very thrifty, perfect for Linda @ Coastal Charm for Nifty Thrifty Tuesdays. (Please click here or on Linda's button on my sidebar for your invite to the party) So please join me for the tour.
I used several smaller tables in the shop all placed together to create one large display but with different levels. This photo shows hobnail milk glass, vintage ladies hat with black veil and a pair of paperweights.
The paperweight on the left is the Courthouse, Toledo, Ohio. The one on the right shows a man and child in a cemetery.
I am mesmerized by this one. The man appears to be wearing a World War I uniform and there is crescent moon in the upper top right ....... very eerie. These two paperweights were found at a church sale for $1.00 each. (I know it feels like I am stealing from a church.)
These fun loving little ghosts are sitting on top of a vintage black hat box. Both the box and the ghosts were Goodwill finds. You might remember the shoe flower piece as decor from the Bridal Shower I did last Spring. (Please click here for instructions) It seemed a perfect fit for my black and white tablescape and a very thrifty re-use. Yes that is an actual skull in the background. It is a coyote skull from a neighbor's woods.
More milk glass vases and lamps and candlestick holders. Several of the pieces are marked Fenton. Also from the shower, I have re-used the large black Gerber Daises.
I couldn't find white pumpkins so I painted Dollar Store mini pumpkins to achieve the look I wanted. (Very thrifty) Here is a cute pair of carved owl figurines. I am not sure what they are carved from, they are quite heavy. Their eyes are glass.
Another shoe design and white plates. The bottom three plates are Ironstone.
These Buffalo China plates are sitting on a small, what would have been boring otherwise little table that I painted with blackboard paint. Boring no more. All these dishes were Goodwill finds.
Here is a side view of the middle table. I thought the fringe of the shawl was reminiscent of a spider's web. The shawl was a lawnsale find for $.50 cents. The small skull that you see, belongs to a raccoon. That one came from my back woods. I remember when my daughter, at the time 7, and her little friend made this discovery one year after a spring thaw following a wicked brutal long winter. As spring progressed into summer, nature took its toll on the poor little creature. By fall we ended up with just the skull, so of course it needed to become a decoration. What else would one do with a raccoon skull? Do you honestly have to ask.
The vintage M.I.T. plate shown below, (Goodwill) already sold. It was from the 1960's. The woman who bought it, her dad was at M.I.T in the 60's. I never get tired of hearing these stories.
A close-up of the skull. I just love these silhouette pictures of the little boy. A lawnsale find for $2.00 for the pair.
This plate is also a favorite of mine. Purchased at Salvation Army for $.79 cents. It is Harkerware from Harker Pottery. I love anything with pine cones, being from the State of Maine. After all, the White Pine Cone and Tassel is our State's flower.
The black berry and mini witches hats wreath was a Goodwill find. The sparkly spiders were 6 for $1.99 at Wal-Mart. If you are going to use spiders, make sure they are bling worthy.
These two platters are Homer Laughlin, and lawnsale treasures.
Black licorice "spiders legs".
I forgot to mention that my cloth on one of the tables has black roosters and pumpkins, kind of a toile feel, and perfect for my display.
More flowers, spiders and skulls, oh my.
Speaking of skulls, I have saved the best for last. Allow me to introduce you to Georgette.
At first I thought it was George; however, an Anthropology major up at the University informed me that George was in fact a she. Isn't she beautiful. You may be wondering where does one find a human skull. Believe it or not, at a lawnsale. For $20 dollars, she was mine. Usually the lower jaw, being detached from the rest of the skull, is missing. She is gloriously intact.
Now I am not sure if the skull constitutes being thrifty, but for my $20, I think I got a good deal.
I just discovered a new party that I am joining today as well. Please be sure to say Hello to Selena @ Apron Thrift Girl for her party Thrift Share Monday. (I bet no one else will have a skull.) Have a great day everyone and be sure to stop over at Linda's and Selena's parties for a little thriftiness.
Got it at Goodwill
Sherrie
Today I am joining Sue @Its A Very Cherry School World (Please click here to visit or on my sidebar) for Wednesday is Rednesday and showing off a little repurposed treasure, a Red repurposed treasure. For those who have visited my blog before, you know I love all things vintage and I enjoy giving things a new purpose.I recently found this metal stand at a lawnsale for $2.00. It was painted black and pretty dinged-up. The black paint hid the details of roses. Yes as you will recall from last week, my love of roses ....... (Oh my luv is like a red red rose......remember to say it with a Scottish accent!) Anyway I thought it only fitting to paint it red, to jazz it up a bit.
Next I added an old metal strainer and a vintage New England Flaky Crust Table Talk Pie $.10 cents deposit Pie Plate. I have 2 at home that are in constant use.
I put apples in the strainer, but you could have it hold your kitchen utensils, other fruits or vegetables or even a plant. The pie plate could also hold a plant or a trio of wine bottles or candles. Actually for the photo and it being Wednesday is Rednesday, I had wanted to stack a pyramid of Campbell Soup cans, tomato of course, but didn't have any. I thought this could work in a kitchen, a bathroom or perhaps out on the patio filled with plants.
I already had the strainer and pie plate. The oil red paint was a quart of $4.00 oops paint purchased at the local hardware store. This is the third thing I have painted so I am definitely getting my money's worth.
Please be sure to say hello to Sue and check out all the fun of the party.
Also I wanted to thank everyone that left comments for "How do you let go of a treasure". I received some great advice. Thank you.
Got it at Goodwill
Sherrie
Well this weekend's sales were so much better than last week's, although the temperature was still just as hot. I filled up the car with goodies which is easy to do as my car is so small. Fortunately, it is 4 doors and I can creatively pack my treasures. It is like watching a dozen clowns come out of the small car at the circus when I start to unload, and unload, and unload.
My first sale of the day was at the Lion's Club annual sale. It started at 7:00 and I arrived there at 20 minutes before. I pull in just in time to see a truck pulling out, their first customer of the day. Now I still found a ton of treasures there so it makes me wonder just what other goodies I missed. Oh well. That is what I get for hitting that snooze button the second time. For the next 15 minutes I had the sale all to myself and found an old meat grinder, dishes, books, pottery and so much more, all for $20. The gentlemen running the sale were all in the 70's and they were cracking jokes and other such silly banter. I asked them if I should pay extra for the entertainment. They were delightful.
Okay, if you read my last post about my "sputnik" dishes and fried devilled eggs, you will recognize these plates as being the same pattern. My heart skipped a beat when I saw them, 10 plates for $.50 cents. Unfortunately, no cups. Nonetheless I was still pretty giddy about this find. I just think it is so funny that this is the second time that after posting about a certain collection, a week later I find more of that collection! I might have to post some of my other harder to find collections and see if it works.
The guys thought it was funny that I was going through a box of coat hangers that they were tossing out. I collect wooden hangers. The top hanger is from a store, sorry I didn't get a close-up of the store label, the bottom one is just a nice simple wooden hanger, and the fancy white one in the middle is my favorite.
It actually had a sticker on it marked Nevco Japan. The guys just gave me the hangers, after all, they thought they were just throw aways.
The photo does not do this vase justice. It it textured, gold, tan and white, the blue sticker you see at the top is marked West Virginia glass. Vase $.50 cents.
I love love love suitcases and will be using stacks of them in my shop for display. I got 2 suitcases, both Samsonite, both beauties, both for $1.00 each. They are in excellent shape and more importantly, no musty smell!!! That is one of the drawbacks to finding old suitcases.
I have been looking for an old lunch box for a vignette that I have planned and found this plaid beauty. It is solid; however, there is a lot of rust on the inside. But it will look perfect with my collection of Stanley Thermoses. The little bottle with the red metal cap was in a box of rusty nails and tin cans. Honestly, the whole box looked like trash, but that is why you have to be willing to dive in and dig. I took the photo before I had a chance to clean up both pieces.
This was my favorite find of that sale and for the whole day. A Philco radio. All its parts are intact and I should have taken a photo of the backside of the radio, the tubes are really cool looking. The radio can be tuned in for overseas and displays settings for Rome, Japan, South America and London. I didn't care if it worked, but was assured that it did. I plan on cleaning up the wood and knobs and using it for display only, anyway. I am researching the piece for the year it was produced. I then thought I would pull up historical information from that year, by certain dates and print it out as news bulletins to go with the radio in my shop. Just something for fun. The radio was $3.00.
This next piece came from a neighborhood lawnsale in Scarborough, that was a true neighborhood sale, with over 25 houses participating. I am not as familiar with the town and inadvertently went down the wrong road. The homes on this road overlooked the salt marshes and were easily all multi million dollar homes. When I saw the homes, I knew I had missed my turn, as these places didn't look like they did lawnsales. Oh my, can you imagine the treasures.
One of the houses from the neighborhood sale, was only selling plants and some garden stuff. The plants were nice; however, I knew that if I bought any, it would drastically reduce my cargo space in the car. Just as I was turning to leave, I noticed in the garage a shelving unit filled with the owner's own garden supplies, tools, gloves, plant pots. I could see this gorgeous blue and knew it was just not a pot from the Christmas Tree Shop. I asked the lady if she would be interested in selling it, that I just loved the color. She said yes and guessed that the price would be $1.50 like the other pots (the Christmas Tree Shop pots) that she was selling. I gave her $2.00 and told her to keep the change. I was feeling a little guilty. Here is the hard part. I love this color and it will look fabulous on a white table next to a glass jar filled with white shells, in my home. Or does it go in my shop?
Pickle server in its original box. $.25 cents. Church sale. To be the hostess with the mostess, one needs a pickle server, doesn't one.
My last find of the day. Neighborhood sale $8.00. Sewing machine base. I knew I could get it in the already stuffed-not-one-spec-of-available trunk- space-car, I knew I could, I knew I could. I would love to find just the right piece of wood, perhaps an old wooden sign, to make the top.
Yes, Saturday was a good day for lawnsales. Thanks for letting me show you a few of my finds. I am joining these fine ladies for a few vintage/thrifty finds parties. Won't you join me?
Just click below for your party invitation.
Rhoda @ Southern Hospitality for Today's Thrifty Treasures
Linda @ Coastal Charm for Nifty Thrifty Tuesdays
Diane @ A picture is worth a 1,000 words for Second Time Around Tuesday
Suzanne @ Colorado Lady for Vintage Thingie Thursdays
I got it at Goodwill
Sherrie
WHAT TO MAKE FOR DINNER?
I am faced with that question every day, no different from the housewife of the 40's, what do we prepare for our family to show them how much we love them? Well Fried Devilled Eggs and Upside Down Ham Loaf certainly comes to my mind.
I found this recipe in a 1945 cookbook published by Crisco. I paid $.25 for the cookbook which is the same price that it first sold for in 1945. As I was leafing through the recipes I came across this one. I love a good devilled egg, but fried? It sounded so sinful, that I had to try it. It is pretty darn tasty. Hard to describe, the texture, the taste, just plain yummy.
The Recipe:
We all know how to make a Devilled Egg. I usually mix a little Dijon Mustard, paprika, salt and pepper with the mayo. This recipe calls for vinegar and salad dressing with salt and pepper, enough to form a thick paste. You then put the mixture back into the egg half, leveling off the mixture for a flat surface. Next dip the egg into finely ground bread crumbs, then in beaten egg, and then back in the crumbs. Then fry. Of course the recipe calls for Crisco but I use oil. I love the suggestion "For an attractive luncheon plate serve with hot asparagus and fried tomato slices." As if the fried Devilled Eggs weren't enough.
Such a recipe needs to be served on the proper china. I have a fondness for cream, tan and aqua/turquoise dishes. The cup and saucer is one of my favorite pieces. There are some dishes that even for their age, you just keep finding them at every lawnsale or church sale. I will usually collect enough of the pattern to serve 12, and then sell the set, and start collecting all over again. But this one design that I simply call "Sputnik" has taken years to find the few pieces that I do own. It has no markings but I suspect because of the Atomic-theme design that it is from the 50's. The Pyrex casserole dish (Butterprint Amish) was from this weekend's lawnsales ($.25 cents) and the dish/planter is a Bauer piece from a lawnsale last summer, under $2.00.
Here is another cream/aqua piece that I have shown before, $1.99 Goodwill.
This next recipe is also from the Crisco cookbook, Upside Down Ham Loaf. I am not sure why it is named Loaf, it is cooked in a skillet on the stovetop. I haven't tried this particular recipe. Once again it is suggested to be served with Asparagus. Was Asparagus the "In" veggie of the 50's, because I know, that nothing says party like Asparagus.
Here is one complete place setting that I have managed to collect, cup and saucer, dinner plate, fruit bowl, and smaller plate. I have 7 dinner plates, 2 luncheon size plates and 3 fruit bowls, along with just the one cup and saucer. That has taken me 5 years to find. I have found some at lawnsales and the rest at Goodwill. It is interesting to note that the Goodwill pieces were not all at once, but rather here and there, mostly for $.99 cents. The cup and saucer were the most recent find at the new Goodwill store for a whopping $3.99. More than what I usually spend, but just had to have them. I It is the thrill of the hunt.
I always enjoy seeing notes written in the margins of a recipe. It usually means that the recipe was well received. For this Yellow Cake Crisco recipe, the penciled in notes indicate it is being more than doubled in size. 2 cups cake flour is being changed to 5 cups. Maybe for use as a Wedding Cake?
I hope that you enjoyed your little snack with me today. (We won't talk about the cholesterol.) I am joining up with all these fine ladies for a few vintage/thrifty finds parties and some good cooking. I hope that I made enough asparagus for all the guests. Enjoy.
Just click below for your party invitation.
Linda @ Coastal Charm for Nifty Thrifty Tuesdays
Rhoda @Southern Hospitality for Today's Thrifty Treasures
Cole @ All the Small Stuff for Tuesdays at the Table
Diane @ A Picture is worth a 1,000 words for Second Time Around Tuesday
Suzanne @ Colorado Lady for Vintage Thingie Thursdays
Got it at Goodwill
Sherrie
Good Monday Morning to all. Well it was hot this weekend, so hot that even at 7:00 a.m. on Saturday morning at the lawnsales, I was wishing that I had put on shorts instead of jeans. I'm afraid it was a bit of a disappointing day for treasure hunting and of course the most disappointing sales were the ones that were the furthest out of my way. I wanted to ask "Really, you actually paid to advertise this sale, not even free Craiglist listed, but actual payment to a newspaper, for this, THIS sale!!! Really?" Maybe it was the heat talking, but I don't consider sales limited to 10 boxes of baby clothing/toys and tables full of old video games and bottles of new shampoo as "something for every one" sales. Who has 30 bottles of shampoo to sell? Perhaps the ads were a little misleading?
Of course there are the sales advertised as "Huge Neighborhood Sales" when its only 2 houses participating. Don't even get me started on lawnsale signs being prominently displayed, left over from sales that took place a week ago or more, signs that you see and automatically follow, like Pavlov's response, only to be sadly disappointed and cursing the laziness of the people who put up those signs. Oh it is all well and good to get your cardboard announcement of your sale tacked up to every telephone pole in town, enticing buyers to your house, eagerly anticipating the money you will make from a day's worth of sales. But, at the end of the day, before you count your dollar bills and quarters, how about collecting up all those signs you posted? I have a confession. I would love to go knock at the door at 8:00 a.m. and when greeted by the owner in their pj's, innocently ask if the sale is inside as I don't see anything set up out on the lawn and wait for them to stammer out an explanation that the sale was last weekend and they forgot to retrieve their signs. Yup, it was hot on Saturday, the kind of heat that makes a gal crazy.
Recently I have had a few comments as to the progress of my shop "2nd fl Thriftiques - Vintage Finds & Repurposed Treasures" so I thought an update was in order. The shop was set to open for June 26th, this Saturday; however, the landlord of the building was delayed in getting the floors refinished which set off a chain reaction of other delays, pushing things back a week. Since the next weekend is 4th of July and I can't compete with fireworks and barbecues, I pushed it back to the following week, July 10th. I'll admit, it is a little frustrating, but that does give me more time to get ready, to make everything perfect.
My family can't wait to have our dining and living rooms back to normal. I am using the rooms as a staging ground of final inspection of all items going into the shop, for cleaning, pressing, pricing and packing.
Fortunately, there is another empty space in the building that the landlord is letting me use as storage, while my space is being renovated. It makes it a lot easier to bring up boxes and furniture bit by bit over the next 2 weeks. Here is what I have brought up so far. Please disregard the office chair, photocopier and water cooler, not mine, and certainly not for the shop. As you can see, my display pieces of furniture are all being painted cream or ivory to all blend together. I want the merchandise to be the pops of color.
I have been busy painting bookcases, a 3 panel screen, several smaller shelving units, 5 tables, and a bench, so far, to be used at the store. I am getting used to cream color paint on my fingernails that doesn't seem to come off in the shower. Oh well, I call it my version of a french manicure.
Here is a little piece that I found at Goodwill. It is an ashtray and was only $1.50 (50% off sale). I knew it could work as a display piece.
So after removing the handle, and a bit of sanding, and a fresh coat of ivory paint, here it is.
I have the perfect little round table that I just bought this weekend for $4.00 that would go well with this stand to be placed on top. One of the first collections that I will showcase on this piece will be my vintage wedding pieces including cake toppers and other decorations, hats, pearls and gloves. The stand kind of looks like a tiered wedding cake, so I think it will make a perfect display piece.
I will be posting for my official Open House, but in the meantime, here is the info for the shop.
2nd fl Thriftiques
2nd fl 8 School Street
Gorham, Maine 04038
thriftiques@yahoo.com
207 839-8147
Consignments welcomed. Thanks.
Got it at Goodwill
Sherrie
Hello, my name is Sherrie. It has been 2 days since I shopped at Goodwill or had a thrift-find-fix. I have a problem.
Apparently, from the fun responses I received from my last post, I am not the only duck needing a Junking Intervention. I am in good company!
Fabulous Find For Free Club
You all admitted to hoarding fabric, pretty bottles, cookbooks, dishes, and scraps of ribbon and paper.
All are in agreement that Thriftiques , as Sissie over at Sissie's Shabby Cottage calls them, beat out fancy & pricey mall boutiques any day.
Even better are the lawn sales.
Yvonne Quarles at Ink Spillers Attic, reminded me that we are doing our part for the 3 R's. I mean what better way to Recycle than a lawnsale? Who knew us little duckies were so good for the environment.
And not only are we saving items from landfills, we are a vital force in saving the economy. Mimi at In the Middle of Nowhere pointed out that with her purchases, it was her duty to keep the economy going. Almost patriotic, don't you think?
Who knew the power of one little Junking Duckie ........ Just how important we were, crucial even, to saving both the environment and the economy. It is a heavy burden that we shoulder, but I know you can do it. So fellow ducks, and you know who you are, lets unite and save the world, turning one ugly blue chest of drawers found curbside into a thing of shabby chic white beauty, one drawer at a time. Quack! Quack!
I used several smaller tables in the shop all placed together to create one large display but with different levels. This photo shows hobnail milk glass, vintage ladies hat with black veil and a pair of paperweights.
I am mesmerized by this one. The man appears to be wearing a World War I uniform and there is crescent moon in the upper top right ....... very eerie. These two paperweights were found at a church sale for $1.00 each. (I know it feels like I am stealing from a church.)
These fun loving little ghosts are sitting on top of a vintage black hat box. Both the box and the ghosts were Goodwill finds. You might remember the shoe flower piece as decor from the Bridal Shower I did last Spring. (Please click here for instructions) It seemed a perfect fit for my black and white tablescape and a very thrifty re-use. Yes that is an actual skull in the background. It is a coyote skull from a neighbor's woods.
More milk glass vases and lamps and candlestick holders. Several of the pieces are marked Fenton. Also from the shower, I have re-used the large black Gerber Daises.
I couldn't find white pumpkins so I painted Dollar Store mini pumpkins to achieve the look I wanted. (Very thrifty) Here is a cute pair of carved owl figurines. I am not sure what they are carved from, they are quite heavy. Their eyes are glass.
Another shoe design and white plates. The bottom three plates are Ironstone.
These Buffalo China plates are sitting on a small, what would have been boring otherwise little table that I painted with blackboard paint. Boring no more. All these dishes were Goodwill finds.
Here is a side view of the middle table. I thought the fringe of the shawl was reminiscent of a spider's web. The shawl was a lawnsale find for $.50 cents. The small skull that you see, belongs to a raccoon. That one came from my back woods. I remember when my daughter, at the time 7, and her little friend made this discovery one year after a spring thaw following a wicked brutal long winter. As spring progressed into summer, nature took its toll on the poor little creature. By fall we ended up with just the skull, so of course it needed to become a decoration. What else would one do with a raccoon skull? Do you honestly have to ask.
The vintage M.I.T. plate shown below, (Goodwill) already sold. It was from the 1960's. The woman who bought it, her dad was at M.I.T in the 60's. I never get tired of hearing these stories.
A close-up of the skull. I just love these silhouette pictures of the little boy. A lawnsale find for $2.00 for the pair.
This plate is also a favorite of mine. Purchased at Salvation Army for $.79 cents. It is Harkerware from Harker Pottery. I love anything with pine cones, being from the State of Maine. After all, the White Pine Cone and Tassel is our State's flower.
These two platters are Homer Laughlin, and lawnsale treasures.
Black licorice "spiders legs".
I forgot to mention that my cloth on one of the tables has black roosters and pumpkins, kind of a toile feel, and perfect for my display.
At first I thought it was George; however, an Anthropology major up at the University informed me that George was in fact a she. Isn't she beautiful. You may be wondering where does one find a human skull. Believe it or not, at a lawnsale. For $20 dollars, she was mine. Usually the lower jaw, being detached from the rest of the skull, is missing. She is gloriously intact.
