Thrift finds

January and February have been busier than usual thrift months. We've been on a quest to find canning jars and when we have we've either purchased them or followed them according to tag colors and sale dates. 50% off is always better. We've been lucky enough that they've been on the shelf still when we go back as much as a week later. That to me is the universe saying they were meant to be ours.

It seems that more have been available in January than in past months and we've wondered if it's because everyone was donating at the end of the year to get taxable donations. These are more that we added to our stash and we've found all sizes. The two aqua Mikasa bowls were an extra because they match my daughter's set she has been building.

Another Saturday stop yielded us four dozen more jars including a brand new case of old stock eight ounce jars with lids. Again it was a nice variety of sizes.

Living in a small townhouse apartment doesn't actually give you a lot of room for storage, but my daughter used a target gift card she received for Christmas and bought a shelf that fit in an empty corner. It was perfect for all the jars, crock pot and some of her collectible Pyrex. She made the curtain from a vintage "thrifted" sheet to match her color scheme for the dining area. She says she has enough to add a border to a table cloth she wants to make. I have a good supply of jars to keep me going for a while and yes, I've already used some.

There were other thrift finds too. Candle making supplies, Wilton silicon molds for her soaps and lotions, books on herbs and aromatherapy, double pointed knitting needles, Popsicle molds, fabric, vintage sheets, Vera scarfs and a vintage roll of whimsical kitchen wall paper.

Books had taken a way back seat for the two of us. We both enjoy reading and we had resorted to using the library because storage space for books was scarce. However we have rekindled our love of owning a few good books and started picking up those we can use or read and move on, but some will stay on the shelves here. My younger daughter took me to a book sale and I came home with only 10 books because I was quite choosy. I also have a difficult time carrying heavy items so I limited my selections. My favorite find has been the American Woman Cook Book from the Culinary Arts Institute that was printed in 1938. Found at Good Will for $3.98, but purchase at 50% off. It is a complete encyclopedia for the time. I am enjoying it so much, but I haven't tried any recipes yet.

This cutie is a hand made ceramic. The painting was so wonderfully done and yes he was a thrift store find. His face just spoke to my daughter and his color pallet matched her decor so home he came and sits lovingly on her shelf. I think this may be the first in a new collection of Gnomes.

I say that because of this. She has a vintage shelf with collected and thrift store Angels and several other thrifted collections around the townhouse. The wooden Angels on the bottom are hanging from the shelf and the sign says "Angels Gather Here". Yes they do and it's so wonderful to have simple "small" collections to brighten up our home. 

Thrift finds and creations from the sewing table.

Thrifty goodness.

I have Spring fever. I think all the items with Spring colors has made this happen. More Mikasa coffee mugs this week, Vera napkins and a collection of Daisy flower pins.

Fell in love with this bright orange and gray geometric and floral scarf. The Christmas puppy is a Josef and we also found a great bundle of canning jar rubber rings. I'm keeping some for my older style jars I use for storage and the rest I will list for sale.

And from the sewing room this week where we are continuing to use up the bits and pieces comes a Spring pillow cover, a cup cozy and a set of four mug rugs. Thank you for stopping by and I hope everyone has a wonderful week. 

Time out to thrift shop.

Enjoy life and do things slow. That's my new motto. I've just stopped pushing and wishing things were different and so far it all gets done and along the way I'm having some fun. Well let's put it this way I am slowing down because the body says to. I had to make a drop off at the donation center so we took the time to do a quick walk through. We found a few new items for the store.

First to be rescued were these two very lovely all hand embroidered, and well done if I do say so, cloths. After soaking what seemed like one hundred years of dust out of them we discovered the beauty of these pieces that must have taken forever to do. They are done in black and red and even the borders were hand hemmed and embroidered. 

Also found was a vintage Vera scarf and two Christmas print napkins. The Vera scarf has the lady bug on it.

We found a pair of Danish style wooden candle sticks and some purple Mikasa pieces. I loved the lavender on the shelf and when my daughter picked it up and it was Ben Seibel Mikasa she got excited. We looked for other pieces but these were all we found. It's simple and attractive. I also went out to an estate sale and found a few small items for myself, like brand new slippers and a pair of vintage webbed lawn chairs that need some serious cleaning, but for $1.50 each I can take my tired bones outside next summer and sit in something of comfort. The webbing on them is in good shape but they are the kind of chairs that you can take the old webbing off of and replace easily by just loosening a screw. They also have the kind of legs that don't dig into the ground and leave you off balance. (Oh I so just blamed that on the chairs). So hopefully with a little WD-40 and some cleaning I can bring them back to awesome condition. One more thing on my list of to do's. 

Mikasa, Fabric, Up Cycled and Service Pieces

Thrift finds this week were so much fun.

Aqua and silver were the finds in this group of Mikasa coffee mugs, a Mikasa Ben Seibel bowl, a beautiful silver cosmetic case that has already been embellished (up cycled) and a beautiful aqua glass with silver embossed flowers. I know a lot of people who are drawn to the color turquoise. It's beginning to grow on me too.

Another turquoise serving tray, oval serving dish and vintage oval casserole with flowers.

This group is the bright colors. First a vintage snack container and pretty vintage fabrics. Fabrics are my favorite finds. Who can resist the colors. Please stop by the stores to see what's new.

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