Thrift Finds: September 7th thru October 9th

I haven’t really had to chance to go thrifting as often as I use to. There just hasn’t been much wiggle room in our schedules or wallets. I’ve been getting ready for shows and the holiday season, and as a family we’ve been saving up for vacation.

I was able to sneak two quick thrift stops over the past month and did find a few neat things…

I found an awesome, single drawer, metal card catalog case at a new shop two weeks ago. Other than some paint chipping here and there, it’s in awesome condition. No rust! I have a few double drawer models that I use to store random stuff, mostly tape. I plan on using this one in the kitchen to hold random little things. I figured it would add a little industrial feel to my kitchen (which really doesn’t have much personality of its own). I love card catalogs, wooden, plastic or metal. Something about the little drawers all lined up in a row is so neat to me. One day I hope to own a huge, multi drawer unit. One day, maybe when the craze dies down.

I also found a few milk glass McDonalds mugs (we had four, but JC gave away one, and I lost the other). I would have found more, plus a Stuckey’s mug but the lady standing next to me at the shop snagged them all. She was super nice though and told me about her collection at home and how she goes to all the local shops looking for glasbake and pyrex pieces. Basically, I have competition. Ha.

On another trip I found the six pyrex bowls. I already have six similar shaped bowls in a different pattern that we use all the time. So i was super excited to find these! Now I’m on the hunt for matching plates and tea cups.

CT really loves the thrift shops just as much as we do now. She knows the layout of each one and knows where to look for the cool things. On one of our trips she picked out the globe pictured above. She loves mine, and apparently wanted one of her own. She told me she was going to keep it in her bedroom, right on her dresser. So thats exactly where I put it, and it’s exactly where it has stayed! She’s very gentle with it.

Our local goodwill apparently got a lot of Borders stock when they closed, because we have been finding piles of brand new, never been used books for $1 a piece! CT’s Dr. Seuss collection has grown very fast, and so has my craft book collection. I would show a picture, but there is just too many.

I’m really hoping things will calm down soon, because I really do miss “treasure hunting” at the thrift and antique stores.

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Thrift Finds: August 28th thru September 6th

What started as “lets just go to one yard sale, the one right down the street” turned into an all day thrifting adventure! We stopped by the yard sale down the street, which wasn’t that great and then we drove around looking for more. We figured we were already passing by some of our favorite stops, so why not look around? In the end we stopped at every Flea Market, Antique Store and Thrift Store within our, normally 20 minute, drive to Frederick.

I found a bunch of great stuff, but I didn’t buy it all! I’m getting better!

First off is this awesome embroidered yarn deer art already framed. I passed by in several times trying to figure out if I had room for it in my house. I finally just put it in my cart and decided I’d find room later. I have a lot of deer artwork in my house, It fits right in. I’m actually thinking of putting it above the hutch in our library.

The Raggedy Ann piggy bank and the Mickey and Minnie salt and pepper shakers were no brainers! They go great with my collections. I’d seen them a bunch of times at the more expensive antique shops each going for more than $15 a piece. So of course I picked them up when they were less than $3.

How neat is this industrial lamp I found? I have been dreaming of one of these for my sewing room for awhile, but they were too expensive online. Especially for a room that only I see. So of course I was excited when I found this one for $15! It’s in great condition, it just needs to be re wired. (I may ask my brother in law for help with that). I can’t wait to hang it!

Of course no thrifting post is complete without some Pyrex! I also found some more holly leaf Corelle to go with my other pieces. I may just have a complete set by the holidays. My favorite find is that blue and white casserole dish in the middle. I had stopped by the Re-Store to look for some cabinets for our mud room. I was just walking around and saw this out of the corner of my eye in their dishes section. It was $2! Tasha helped me identify it too, she said its a Meadow casserole dish.

I don’t know how much thrifting we’ll be doing these upcoming weekends.

  • I have very large plans to finish CT’s room (that I will share along the way)
  • I’m making her a few princess dresses for our upcoming Disney trip (plus a totoro dress, hopefully).
  • I’m switching our art room and our guest room soon to make it more efficient for everyone. One is upstairs, one is in the basement.
  • I want to finish a few of the quilts I have half started
  • I’ve also started a bunch of handmade gifts for Christmas, I want to be done early this year so I can actually enjoy the holidays!

The list keeps going past that too, apparently I’ve given myself a lot to do. :) I’m totally fine with that, I like being kept busy.

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Thrift Finds: July 27th thru August 27th

We have been trying to stay in a bit more lately, to save money and to just have calmer days. I’m getting a load of projects done, CT is getting in more play time and my husband is getting really good at Minecraft. We actually went TWO WEEKS without going to a thrift or antique store. Amazing! We slipped back into the thrifting craziness the day we went to the aquarium. We had dinner with my mom to give my brother back and stopped by one of the shops near her that we always love! It just snow balled from there.

Here’s some of our finds…

I found some more Plasticville houses at a local antique mall. These are a smaller scale than the last set I found. Those were H scale, these are HO. There were a bunch in boxes  and just two already assembled (and cheaper). I usually only like houses, but I thought the five and dime store would be a cute addition. I’m up to six little buildings now, which means I need to find a home for them. Collections are always nicer looking when grouped, in my opinion. I feel it brings order and looks less hectic. Now to find some empty space! ha!

As usual, I also found a bunch of Pyrex. A few piece that are neat, and a couple that are just plain awesome. The two large pieces in the first photo were found on my birthday!! I had been looking for both pieces at a reasonable price since I started collecting and I found them both on the same day (at two different shops). I was so happy!! The red and orange piece is from the Friendship series and one of my favorite series. It didn’t come with a lid sadly, but I do already own the plate that goes underneath!! two out of three aint bad. The only name I know for the pink one is Pink Daisy. Pyrex people, is that right? Anyway, I really wanted a pink piece and was very happy to find one!

All of the other pieces are very neat and Im happy to have them as part of my collection!!

Along with collecting Pyrex I also collect Corelle dishes. I actually got excited about Pyrex because I found out that some of them matches Corelle pieces I already owned!

I’m not normally a person who has holiday themed mugs, plates, glasses, etc that only come out during the said holiday, but when I saw the above set I changed my mind. I found the whole set for $5! I’m totally keeping an eye out for more now. There is two different size mugs, both sets milk glass (by Corning) and five dessert plates.

Have you ever seen these before? Do you think it’ll be easy to find more?

Of course there is more travel plates for my collection! I’m crossing my fingers I have enough time to work on hanging these this weekend! The wall I’m going to put them on needs to be painted though. During our one year walk thru for our house (its new construction) they fixed some nail pops. Well they used the wrong paint color. I didn’t want to go through the hassle of having them repaint again, so I need to paint over the brownish blotches before I can hang anything.

These chairs were the last finds from this past weekend! First off is two mini plastic schools chairs that match our dining room chairs, and are the perfect size for CT. I’m going to put them downstairs as part of a little art center I’m thinking of putting together.

The other find was this awesome, solid wood, mid century school chair. It’s a 1968 Buckstaff chair that apparently was used at St Marys College of Maryland. (I found all this info on the bottom of the chair! Ha, no google needed) It was $7 and is a perfect fit for our library. I’m trying to decide which books will be going on the bottom shelf. I think it’s a perfect place for those books that don’t fit properly on a regular bookshelf.

Whew, that was more than I expected to type! I even edited some of it down! I was just to happy worth everything we found. I also found a few other Pyrex pieces (that I’m putting aside for trades) and a really nice heavy duty tripod that aren’t pictured. I’m slightly angry at the tripod. I dropped it on my foot after purchasing it and it seems one of my toes may be broken. Thrifting can be dangerous, especially when wearing Vans that have zero protection for your feet. Ha!

Did anyone else find something awesome this weekend? Did you write about it? I’d love to see!

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Thrift Finds: July 15th thru July 26th

Our thrifting and antiquing trips haven’t been happening as much as they use to. It’s just too darn hot out, and most places don’t have efficient air conditioning!

Even with the heat, I have found some neat things during our short trips.

I have been searching high and low for a Plasticville model set that was ready for assembly for months now. It all started with that little yellow house I bought back in April. I found a cute little diner at my local hobby shop that I picked up, but I really wanted a house! I just love building houses. I found this one at a local shop for $5! They had a bunch. The rest were $20 or more, and the assembled ones were even more. If I really love assembling this set, I MAY go back for more. Building things is very therapeutic for me, and $20 is cheaper than a therapy session, right?

Oh and if your interested in little plastic houses too, check out my Pinterest board I started!

Of course it wasn’t a successful week, unless I found some Disney items! This time around I found another plastic Mickey and a Donald Duck to match my red Mickey from last time! My husband found me this awesome Small World 7″ record with read along story book insert. I’ve looked through every page and can not find the illustrator, but they are seriously awesome looking! Were planning a Disney trip for the fall, so weve been getting CT all excited about the rides and such, so things like this def help!!

I’m planning on showing all of my Disney memorabilia next week as part of my collection series, so if your interested please check it out!

The little blue guy was a funny find, it’s a rubber version of “Sulley” from Monsters Inc. The funny part about him is hes SKINNY! he’s not supposed to be skinny, he’s a big chubby monster. It was so weird we had to bring it home.

Oh and the random Brunswick soda bottle? We have been accidentally collecting soda bottles, and thought this one was neat since we live in Brunswick, MD. Simple.

As with the Disney stuff, I can’t seem to leave a place without at least one travel plate. This time I couldn’t seem to leave without TEN travel plates! They were mostly theme park and tropical island themed this time around, and not a single one cost more than $2!

I finally found a place to put all of them in the house! Once I’m done hanging ALL of the plates, I’ll make sure to share it here!!

Do you have weird compulsions to buy certain things at thrift shops? I’d love to know I;m not alone.

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Thrift Finds: June 26th thru July 14th

We’ve been having some great luck at the thrift shops and antique malls lately. Maybe it’s because we go more often? Or on better days?

 

So first off we found an awesome globe with all the current countries in the correct places for $5! CT loves it. I found some glasbake soup bowls, one says “souper bowl” and the says “soup’s on”. Their a great weight and really big! I also found a teeny tiny plate for my plate wall!!

We stumbled upon a load of books at our local Goodwill, all new and in perfect condition!! Most were around $1 some or the larger ones like the Martha Stewart cooking book and Weird US were around $2.50. The pile shown is mine, my husband had a pile all his own but he put them all on the shelf as soon as we got home! No pictures! I also found a few vintage Raggedy Ann (and Andy) books with beautiful illustrations inside, plus a  Raggedy Ann paper doll kit, also in great condition. I LOVE Raggedy Ann, and Andy, since I was little. I had a few dolls and books, plus 3 foot tall stuffed versions!! (they went great with my 3 foot tall smurf that I STILL own). I now wonder how I wasn’t scared of them as a small child??

Last weekend we took a day trip up to a few spots in PA and thats where I found the awesome vintage Pyrex pictured above! I finally have a square casserole AND a snowflake piece. Plus I picked up a Mickey Mouse Club glass and an Avon bottle in the shape of the Capital!! (I love travel related stuff, plus I’ve lived close to DC my entire life). CT found a bunch of Pez she didnt have, and has already incorporated them into her collection (shes up to about 116 pieces now!!)

The bright red mickey shown wasn’t from a thrifting trip, I found him on Ebay, I just really wanted to share him! He looks like he came out of one of the Mold-A-Rama machines back in the day. I’ve loved those machines ever since seeing one in the show Wonderfalls. Ive only ever seen one in person, and it was at the Field Museum in Chicago, I got a green dinosaur! Does anyone reading this live near one of these awesome machines?? Or does anyone live near Rotofugi in Chicago? (they have a machine now with a TIM BISKUP design in it!!!!) Let me know, I’d love to trade some jewelry or such for a molded wax figure!!

Ah, and again last on my life of finds was from my mom! I saw these at a thrift shop near here house a few weeks back, but it was all bundled up and I really only wanted to shakers. So I passed on them. I regret it about 30 minutes into our drive home so I called her to see if she could pick them up. She went back the next day and bought them, and they were even cheaper!! She just dropped them off last week and I am so excited to have them!!! :) Though I’m only keeping two, I’m giving the other set to a friend who has a way bigger Pyrex collection than I could dream of!

Due to the Fab sale, I probably wont be doing much thrifting for a bit. When I do start again I’ll of course share it all here!

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Thrift Finds: March 30th thru April 18th

The weather is sooo much nicer, and it hasn’t rained super hard in awhile. It has been perfect weather for going to thrift stores, flea markets,yard sales and antique malls. I’ve been documenting my amazing finds on Instagram, but I thought it would be neat to show it all on here too!

Be warned, it’s been a good couple of weeks, so there’s a few photos!

As you can see, my pyrex collection, that WAS small, has grown A LOT! Plus I found a bunch of travel plates for my plate collection, a cute little desk for CT, a mini house for my house collection, a set of mugs for my Disney collection, an awesome silver plated jewelry box and THE KARATE KID (with arm chopping motion)!!

I think I may have said the word “collection” a few too many times, but I’m that kind of girl. The collecting kind.

 

oh and if anyone wants to see my daily finds, the day I find them, my Instagram user name is jesseesuem.

 

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