Nifty Thrifty Finds

The weather has been nice here, so I have been able to get out quite a bit. We are trying to enjoy the outside by walking trails, digging in the muck at the lake, etc. But, I almost always manage to squeeeeze in a thrift stop along the way. When there is a will - there is a way!

Here are the recent finds:

A vintage Safe-T-Cone Ice Cream Dipper, two salt dips and a "Beans" pot.  I bought the "Beans" pot for The Bean to store his pens and pencils in - I thought it was cleaver, but I am not sure that he feels the same way.  :D

Three small artist signed pottery pieces - the tallest is only 2" tall.  I love miniature pieces of pottery.  These were 50¢ each at the Salvation Army. 

A vintage "Punch-O-Dex".  It is a two hole punch that makes index cards fit perfectly into a "Roll-O-Dex".   This was 50¢ at the SA, and I thought that seemed terribly cheap, so I happily picked it up.  When I checked out, the lady said, "What is that thing?"  So, I told her.  "Well, I gotta try that out!", she said.  So, she grabbed a postcard and started punching away.  "Woohoo, I could do this all day!" she said.  Okaaaaay.

Someone had donated their entire collection of Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls at the Salvation Army today.  There were about 40 of them in all sizes - handmade, store bought, old, new, etc.  They looked really cute in the window.  If I had my own shop, I would have bought them all.  But, since I don't have a shop, I only bought this older Raggedy Andy Doll.

I was surprised to find this sweet little girl at the SA - I rarely ever find anything truly vintage there.  She was the sweetest face!  I have absolutely ZERO Graduation items and I do not intent to buy any.  But, this little girl had to come home to me!

There is an old house up the highway that puts things out in the yard almost every Saturday. I usually don't go to those sort of places, but I have had some good luck there. The first time, I got a bag full of chandelier crystals and jewelry for 59¢ (he only took the change I had) and the next time, I bought a shoe box packed full of old jewelry for $10.00.

This past weekend I saw the yard full, so I stopped to have a look.  I picked up this Shoney's Big Boy Bank.

There was a big Rubbermaid tote full of old men's ties and out of habit, I stuck my arm in to stir them up thinking I might spot a handpainted one or a Nudie lady (!).  But, instead, I pulled out a bolo tie with a beaded slides and ends.....then another one...and another one.  I asked the man how much the ties were and he told me $1.00 each.  Then he said, "I like the one with the flags" referring to a silk one.  I told him that it was a nice tie, but I was more interetested in the string ties.  "Oh, well those, those are........(...my heart thrumping waiting for a fat price...) 50¢."  They really should have been a lot more than those old cloth ties, but who am I to argue?  :)

I grabbed a box and started sorting through the cloth ties, pulling out more and more bolo ties.  Turquoise, inlay, stones, handpainted ones and lots of different ones.  An older man walked up right as I walked away with all those ties on my arm - he sucked in his breath and uttered a swear word under his breath.  (Sorry dude.) 

I also picked up these four concho belts that were priced 50¢ each.  I found a clay flower frog (that I forgot to take photo of now that I think about it...) and he said, "You can have that - if you tell me what the heck it is!  The wife and me been trying to figure it out for days!"  When I laid out the goods for him to price, I knew I had over $10.00 in priced things as well as a few other things that remained to be priced.  "Oh, gimme five bucks", he said.  I tell you what, he is my kind of guy!  You can bet I will be stopping there until they run out of stuff to sell.

This last item is a thrifty after Valentine's Day find at Walmart.  They are marshmallow cupcakes and they are not something I would ever consider eating.  They have a terribly strong fruity smell and a thick not-what-I-would- call marshmallow consistancy to them.  But, they are adorable!  And, they ere only 75¢.  I put them in this old blue jar and put them by my vintage birthday candle collection.  They had marshmallow donuts and marshmallow chocolate covered strawberries too.  I think any of them would be cute in a jar on display.  Who wants an old bottle of vinegar and oil on the counter when you can have a big jar of cupcakes?????  From the looks of them and the list of ingredients, I think I may very well be able to pas this jar down to my grandchildren and those marshmallow cupcakes will look just like they do today. 

There is what appears to be a very promising Estate Sale near me on Thursday.  I love Thursday sales and this particular one starts at NOON.  Woohoo, no 4 am wake up call for moi.  I think I see a lot of things that look awesome.  It says prices are reasonable - but we will see about that.