April Showers bring...Atomic Finds!

It was a rainy day in Michigan today, but that's a good thing -- you don't have to shovel rain! I managed to get out to my local thrift store and picked up 2 wonderful Atomic things!

6 Syracuse China plates with a wonderful star pattern in chartreuse, rust and teal

A fantastic melmac platter in pink, blue & gray (I think I have to keep this one)!Yesterday was 'Dealer Day' at the antique mall and after Bargain Hunter and I finished updating the booth I walked around to see what other people had for sale. I found a Pyrex bowl I just couldn't resist -- it's my newest passion: Flamingo Pink. I think it's actually a casserole missing a lid, but I don't care. Look at how good it looks with the melmac platter!

I had just picked up a Flamingo Pink round cake pan, which is already in the cabinet with the pink striped Pyrex mixing bowls. My British readers might recognize the royal coach tumbler from Queen Elizabeth's coronation on the second shelf. I might share pictures of all my coronation souvenirs (no, I wasn't there...) some day, but that's another post.

Thinking About a Giveaway...

I've been thinking for a while that I'd have a giveaway when I get to 50 followers and then, perhaps, when I hit my 100 post blogoversary -- really, any excuse will do. Now that there are 40 followers, that day is getting closer, so I'm starting to make plans. I'm wondering, though, what to give away and would like some reader feedback. If you're reading this, you might well be a follower, so you might well be one of the people entered -- so why not ask your opinion?

What's your favorite kind of giveaway -- something vintage and collectible, something vintage and unusual or something homemade (creative)? I'd love to get your thoughts!

Kid Stuff!

My friend Bargain Hunter always says (about sales), "Sometimes you have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find a prince." She's right!

I went to a sale this morning that was advertised as a 'Moving & Estate Sale'. It was only 2 or 3 miles from my house, so there wasn't much gas or time involved -- good thing, because it was really a frog! The sale was literally 2 short shelf units and 1 small table in a garage -- one set of dishes, some glasses, a pyrex measuring cup and some clothes. That's it! It wasn't even worth getting out of the car for. The funny thing was that there were 3 women 'working' the sale (they must have been expecting a crowd)!

Then I went to another local (10 or 15 miles) sale, run by a real estate sale company. It was mostly new, rather than vintage, but the lady had been a great collector of toys. I was too late for all the Barbie items (missed the Dream House - so sad) but I got some great 70s Fisher-Price, in very good condition and a few odds & ends!

Some aluminum garland, a tree topper & an old tinA pretty blue Vernonware sugar bowlAn F-P doctor's kit with the eye chart (really hard to find)!7 wooden toddler's jigsaw puzzles

An F-P musical radio and an instamatic camera (what 21st century kid is going to recognize this?) that has little pictures inside, like a Viewmaster

Well, I have to go now -- it's time to go do some puzzles...

A Quick Trip to the Thrift

I made a quick trip to the thrift store and it was my lucky day! I found some great vintage & pyrex stuff...

A vintage bathroom rug - unused, with the tag still on it. It goes perfectly in my pink bathroom with the wall art swans I just listed on Etsy. Too bad I'm not keeping either one...

A yard cut of fabric, for use in quilts & yo yos. When I got it home I found that it had been hemmed and had actually been used as a tablecloth.A set of Pyrex Butterprint mixing bowls -- just missing the second smallest one.

A gorgeous blue Pyrex divided dish (unfortunately, no lid) and a small brown casserole. I don't normally like the brown Pyrex, but I really like the simplicity of the white flower pattern. I'll need to look up what it's called.Hopefully there will be some good estate sales to hit tomorrow with my friend Bargain Hunter. I'm really looking forward to the warmer weather coming so there will be some garage sales to go to, too!

'Wish I'd Thought of This' Wednesday

One of the great things about blog-surfing and shopping on Etsy is seeing all of the really creative things that other people have thought of. I found Fancy Lamb on Etsy recently and just love what she does with old books. If you aren't interested in collecting old books and just want to see what she makes, skip the next paragraph or two and go right to the end!

When I was in high school, I started collecting 'antiquarian' (old) books, buying them from a wonderful store in downtown Cincinnati called Bertrand Smith's Acres of Books. It was an wonderful early 1900s building with 3 floors and a basement filled floor-to-ceiling (12' ceilings) with books -- all old and all priced the day they came in. Since it was open for over 50 years and the books were never repriced, there were some real treasures! There's nothing left of the Cincinnati store -- it was torn down to put up a parking lot (literally). The owner (no longer Bert Smith) had only a few days to salvage what he could with the help of volunteers. All the rest of the books were demolished with the building and ended up in a landfill -- what a waste. I lived several hundred miles away by this time and was heartsick thinking of all those ruined books and knowing that I couldn't go help save them!

Anyway, back to the treasures... My first book cost a quarter and was a 'Complete Works of Shakespeare' with tissue thin pages and pictures of old actors in their Shakespearean roles. It's still one of my favorites!Most of the books I bought from Acres were what are called 'gift editions' and most were published between 1860 and 1920. They were classics and poetry collections with beautiful cover work and usually had gilt edges; published with the intention of people giving them as gifts. These mostly cost me about $2.50-$5 and were easily affordable. Soon I started collecting illustrated children's books. The last children's illustrator I bought was a few years after I had children and cost well over $100. When I bought that one and paid that much (with a young family) I realized that it was time to quit! That book was Peter Pan in Kensington Garden, illustrated by Arthur Rackham, who's still my favorite children's illustrator. His books are hard to find in bookstores (though easier on sites like Ebay) and keep going up in value. Now to the 'wish I'd thought of that'... I love old books so much that I've always been what I think of as a book purist -- I don't like the framed illustrations torn from them or feel that they should be defaces. So I was surprised to find that I really like what Fancy Lamb does with hers. She takes common mid-century hardcover books (even textbooks), cuts off the covers and makes journals out of them. She even sprinkles some of the book's original pages in the journal for interest. They're nicely bound and just the titles on the covers give me lots of ideas of who I could give them to for gifts. That brings a whole new meaning to 'gift edition'! Visit Fancy Lamb's Etsy shop and see all of her nifty journals!

Harlequin (Not the Romances)

I finally broke down and joined the Homer Laughlin China Collectors' Association (or HLCCA). They put out a little magazine called 'Dish' a few times a year and offer some HLCCA members-only Fiesta items that Homer Laughlin makes for them. Other than the magazine and deals, I'm not sure what the benefits are, but I don't really care. I just like looking at the pictures in the magazine. Should I even admit that?

My first copy of Dish came yesterday and after looking at it I've realized that I like Harlequin the best of all the HL patterns. I have some egg cups and a sugar bowl that I bought years ago, but now I wish I had gotten much more back when it was cheaper. Here's my wish list (pulled from google searches, because they're not in my kitchen:

TeapotCreamerGravy boatSalt & Pepper

Unfortunately, it's all really expensive and hard to find at sales. HL only made it for Woolworth's, so there isn't as much Harlequin out there as garden variety Fiesta. Oh, well -- that should just make the hunt even more fun.

Do you have a favorite Homer Laughlin pattern?

Junkin' Finds Friday

It's been a busy sale week -- there were over 40 sales to choose from! My friend Bargain Hunter and I headed out yesterday to an estate sale out in the country. It was so much fun! As soon as we pulled up and saw the old farmhouse and barn, we knew it would be a good one.

I got lots of the usual things: aprons and glassware, pottery and kitchen stuff. The whole front room was dedicated to paper ephemera -- I was so excited to see it all!

Old cookbooks from the 1930s - 1960s and some child-rearing books from the 1940s
Two needlecraft books -- McCall's 1955 & an Embroidery book 1936
A Speed-o-Weave loom from the 1970s with box

A lot of old patterns that were mailed to the farm wife in the 1930s as premiums

Lots of monogram patterns in different sizes
Some little advertising grocery lists from 1955, complete with the list pads and pencils and some old seed packets that still have the seeds in them. This red plaid cloth covered binder is so cool (I know, I'm such a nerd...)

Here are the three favorite finds of the day (I know at least half of you will roll your eyes at these!):

2 orange corduroy throw pillows -- one with tucks and 'berries' and the other heart shaped. It will be SO HARD to part with these!3 hot pink plastic resin swans to hang on a bathroom wall.
I just flat out love these -- they're so tackyA black cat desk piece -- he has a hole at the back for a pen, wire spirals for letters and a tiny dish at the front (for paper clips, I guess)

The day wasn't without its 'buyer beware' moments (I think I have at least one of these at every outing -- you'd think I'd learn!):

> A Harker Cameoware casserole that was in the garage should have stayed there! The dirt and stains are permanent and it has a crack I couldn't see through the dirt.
> 3 'Colonial Pattern' aprons new-in-package turned out to be plastic instead of cloth.
> An apron I bought turned out to be a button-on apron bib that was missing its skirt. At least the fabric is a neat yellow with cherries on it, so I can cut it up for something
> The dealer charged me .50 per pattern when the box was marked .25 each (and I was too intimidated to argue with her because the line behind me was so long

Oh, well -- live and learn (and have fun thrifting)!