I Didn't Even Know It, Baby

I stopped into the biggest thrift in town today.  They have been making a lot of changes - some good - some not good.  They have expanded the sales floor to accommodate more merchandise.  The store has been awfully bare the past few weeks since the changes, but today it was chock a block full of stuff.  But, nothing really spoke to me or intrigued me.  It was all just sort of newer random things.  part of that might be because Lara was there yesterday and bought all the goodies.  I KID!

Several weeks ago several vintage baby planters showed up on the shelves.  Every week I pick them up and consider buying them.  But, baby planters are a hard sell.  But, man they are adorable!  Each week I left them behind.   But today - well, today - I bought them.  They had reached the 75% off price which made them 50¢ each.  That's cheap enough for me!

This sweet little *NEW BABY BUGGY plays music.  How about that little baby in the basket?  

The opposite side features a lamb.

This one is my favorite.  It's the oldest one, too.

The details and the flowers are three dimensional.  

This cute little crib with the cute little bear is, uh...cute. :)

Baby rattle and safety pin on the back side.

And my favorite - a beaded baby toy on the end.  

Three makes a collection.  

Uh Oh.

But, I already have these two.

And this one.

And this adorable one too.

Plus a couple more sitting her on my desk.

Huh.  

I guess I collect baby planters.  

Who knew!  

The Weekend in Junk

Well, now.  It's been awhile since I was able to post with that title, hasn't it?  Friday was carved out as a day for The Bean, so no sales or thrifting for me.  (And BOY did I pass a heck of a lot of signs along the way.  I just kept chanting in my head, "Be a good Mom, be a good Mom...." as I passed sign upon sign.  We went to see "Divergent" which was very good then the movie arcade from some friendly competition.  Seeing my boy with a machine gun isn't something I enjoy.  But, he was shooting Zombies, so that's okay.

So, flash forward to Saturday - I got up and went looking for sales!  I found an unadvertised Church parking lot sale, two yard sales and hit two thrift stores.  I din't find a lot, but that's okay.  It was more the therapy of getting OUT and looking for JUNK that I needed.

Church Sale Finds:

Or rather, make that Find as in singular.  There wasn't much left but I found this in the bottom of the box of stuffed animals.  When I went to pay, everyone wanted to know where I found it because no one had ever seen it.  I swear this happens to me ALL THE TIME.  Does it happen to you or is it just me?

Next stop: Super Cheap Thrift:

I love these old "Mother" pins.  This one has an actual rose on it from Oregon.  It's a bit different, but it will go with my collection.  

Some junk for the booth.  People love those "vintage" cracker tins.  They are from the 80's and that is not "vintage" to me.  Yet, I will sell it to them.  :D

I picked up this brand new security blanket hoping it was one of those that is worth hundreds of dollars.  It wasn't.  What is up with people having that kind of cash when they have babies?  Dude, we could barely afford diapers and formula - not a couple hundred bucks for a security blanket!  Jeepers!

Second thrift store:  

A Red Wing gravy boat.  When I went to pay for it, the lady took it over to the window, held it up to the light, said, "HUH!" then brought it back over to the register and said, "Somebody glued that bowl to that tray!"  She decided that 50¢ was a good price since it was "damaged".  Silly lady.  That is my second favorite gravy boat story.  Here's my first.

Last stop:  One more yard sale.

A heavy old Swingline Stapler, a Elementary School Dictionary and a local HS Yearbook from 1960.  I have gotten many chuckles from the groovy hairstyles and cat-eye glasses.  

I spotted a box under a table that said "Christmas" on it, so I drug it out for a looksie.  There were new strands of lights and an ugly tree skirt, but there were two boxes full of ornaments in there too.  I decided to spring for the whole box since it was only $3.00.

I ended up with a bunch of plain Shiny Brites, a honeycomb bell, a tree topper and some flocked ornaments.  Not really awesome old vintage Christmas, but I am hoping it is just a teaser of things to come.  

I wish I had found more or something AMAZING.  But I found some things to use in crafts and to sell, so I guess it was a win-win for me.  

It's Spring Break and that is usually a good start to the yard Sale season.  Bring on da junk!

It Might Seem Crazy What I'm About to Say

Sometimes when the thrift stores haven't been very nice to me and I am feeling sorry for myself, I drown my sorrows in Etsy and eBay. I don't make it a habit to buy things on either of those places since I have plenty of stuff around here.  But, sometimes, I keep a bit of my eBay selling money in my PayPal account and treat myself to a goodie or two. Shhhhhh!

The first item was a box of Cupcake decorations.  The seller told me that her Mother remembered her mother putting them on cakes for the holidays.  They are cupcake decorations, I suppose, but most importantly, they are spun heads.  

There are Santa's for Christmas.

Two varieties of snowmen for Winter.

One sweet little Valentine.

Four big eared Easter Bunnies.

Two what I assume are devils for Halloween.  I have never seen any like these before so they are fun to have.

These are my favorites.  I know they aren't "politically correct" in this day but that is what dates them and show how old they are to me.  I'm not sure what holiday or event that these would be appropriate for.  They are like brand new, so maybe "mom" never really figured that out either. These are a first for me too.

The second thing I bought was also advertised as a box of  "almost 100 " cake decorations. I was intrigued and the price was right, so I bid and won.

When I got them, they were all the same pinkish white color.  Lots of different boys, girls, men and women in different poses and styles of clothing.  They didn't really look like cake decorations, so I did a little research. 

That's when I discovered that they were really "100 Little Dolls" from an ad in the back of comic books in the 1960's.  You sent in the coupon, $1.00 and 25¢ for postage and, in return, you received a box of 100 Little Dolls.  I actually like them even more now that I know what they are - I want to put them in a printers box or shadow box of some sort.  

Lastly, this chubby little jewel arrived in my mailbox today.  

A Sunruco Rubber Baby Doll with Squeaker Whistle.  She is hardened with age, so no squeaking or whistling.  Nothing but adorableness remains.

Rubber toys are safe!  

Original price from FW Woolsworth - 39¢.

Adorable.  

Did I need this?  No.

Did it make me happy?

Yep.

Some days you just have to make your own kind of happy.  And if that means a rubber baby or some cake pics will do it and the price is right - then you must get HAPPY!

"Happy"

Clap along if you know what happiness is to you!

Pinch ME! No, Wait - Don't!

It's St. Patrick's Day.  That is the one holiday that I don't usually do anything for - no baking, no celebrating, no decorating.  I do wear a touch of green to ward off those pesky "Where's your green?" pincher people. Oowie.

But, last year I happened upon a yard sale with boxes from "Grandma's Attic" and I found my first St. Patrick's Day decorations.  So, I pulled it out this year and gathered up whatever green things I could find and built myself a wee little display.

 I literally looked for anything green and threw it up on the cabinet.  

I bought that ladder not long ago and it was in the "to be painted" pile, but green was just the right color for today.  I bought a bunch of old Dennison seal books a few years ago, but I never realized I had a St. Patrick's Day one.  A horse ribbon is mandatory in the decorating department, I am told.

I bought the gold tree after Christmas for 90% off  I figured if I could get it that cheap (89¢), why not?  Gold is so not my thing.  I borrowed our green Mardi Gras Beads that we got at the parade and threw them up there willy nilly.

Every body uses an old truck in their decor, so why be different?  But, who else adds a giant button and some tiny toadstools than me?  

Spotted these two dolls in my very own booth last week, so I brought them back home.  

Shopping at it's cheapest.  

There were three funny leprechauns in the bag of things I bought.  

This one is my favorite.  Maybe he will take a spin in the old VW in the background.

Ever the faithful fan of my letter cards - I added NO PINCHING to an old green chalkboard.

A little bit of fun in this time of not much going on the way in decorating.  I'm anxious to see my Easter things since I wasn't able to decorate last year.  I won't get it out for a couple more weeks though.  But, I can't wait.  Vintage bunnies and chickies OH MY!

Saturday Finds: Dolls, Books and Bookworms

*(Optional title:  LOOK AWAY EDDIE, LOOK AWAY!)

This morning I managed to get out of the house about 9:00 am which is SUPER EARLY for me.  I am so not an early morning person.  That doesn't mean I sleep until noon- it just means that I am not social early in the day.  Just ask the people that live with me.  :)  I went to two rummage Sales, an Indoor Sale, the Super Cheap Thrift and a huge garage sale plus my own flea market and I was  back home by 12:30.  Not bad!

I've been looking for an old Arkansas metal plate to turn into a clock to sell in the booth - happy to have found this one for 50¢.  A Glasbak cup, Holiday Inn Ashtray, Piece of stoneware, a wee pitcher and a lovely little green pottery pot.  

A pink Fenton (I think) toothpicker, Ouja board doohickey for crafting, a LOUD train conductor whistle and two pretty rose plates.  

 I don't buy plates as a general rule but these are awfully sweet.  They would be nice on a plate wall.  

This is quite possibly my favorite find of the day.  Sadly there was only one.  A wee little velvet mouse clip on earring.  He has little beaded (note - beaded - not BEADY!) eyes and he is just really adorable.  

The pot isn't marked, but I can tell it's good old pottery.  I already planted a small cactus in it.  

I picked up this old marionette at the Library Rummage Sale. She's a Fortune Teller and has Tarot cards on her lap.  I love all her bright colors and her funky teeth.  :D  

(This is not why you shouldn't read, Eddie - it's still coming...)

This is all handmade - the Grandma doll, the chair, her clothes and all.  I think the little boy getting his pants mended might be store bought.  Anyway, I think it's sweet.  

Several old packages of Martha's Transfers.  I always pick these up, but I don't know why.  I've never sold any.  I keep thinking that I will think of a clever use for them someday.  Thinking...thinking...thinking....

(Oh! A hint for Eddie - did you see?)

A big bag full of packages of doll hair in all sorts of colors.  Something else to add to the craft drawers should inspiration hit and I say "I WISH I HAD A BAG FULL OF BLACK DOLL HAIR!" and BOOM I do!

This is a vintage Razorback squirt gun.  Hard to see in the cellophane.  

Three vintage boxes of Angel Chime candles.  Two of them are in German which is sort of interesting since most of those chimes are from Germany.

A stack of Reader's Digest books with new to me covers.  I have a rule about washing, tearing apart, getting rid of packaging, etc. from sales as soon as I get home.  I always do it immediately.  I worry about cockroaches and other ICKY things.  I came thisclose to NOT cutting the covers off these books today.  I started to put them in my office with some other books until another day.  But, at the last minute, I took them outside and slit the first cover to reveal REAL LIVE ACTUAL BOOKWORMS.  Ackkkkk!  I started to pitched them, but I ended up cutting off the covers and they were fine - the rest of the books are int eh recycling bins.  I did put the covers in a Ziploc bag and stuck them in the freezer overnight.  Stuff like that gives me HEEBIE GEEBIES.  

This huge Rubber Duck is about 15" tall.  Wouldn't it be fun to have him floating in your pool?  I don;'t have a pool, so to the booth he will go.  

LOOK AWAY EDDIE, LOOK AWAY!

At the last sale of the day, I was digging in boxes of toys (with a little three year old girl that kept asking me , "Why is you in these toys?") and I kept pulling out vintage dolls.  There weren't any prices on them, so I just gathered them all up and figured I could just ask later.  

There are old dolls, vintage dolls and  vintage Effenbee story Book dolls.

They all need a rubdown with a Magic Eraser, but other than that, they all seem to be in okay condition.

Maybe not "collector" condition, but good enough that someone might want to pick one up because they had it as a child or to give to their daughter or grand daughter.  

This one is my favorite.  Her wig is a bit askew in this photo.  Whoopsie.  She is very old and has the open mouth.  She's got a lot of character, if you like that sort of thing.

This one has a talking box in her tummy, but I haven't been able to make it do anything.  

You will be happy to see that out of all of the things that I bought today - these are the only keepers.  Candles for my collection (plus we use the candles), the pottery pot for the cactus, the whistle just for fun, the earring to add to a craft project and the new blue bowl for my Ramen Noodles.  

It's nice to see a few sales creeping in slowly.  Spring is coming and Lara and I are chomping at the bit for YARD SALE SEASON.  Between the booth and a couple of upcoming venues, we both are on the hunt for merchandise.  

*Eddie hates dolls.  Eiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee he will say!