August 2015 Thriftcation In Review

BJ and I were on thriftcation last week. We didn't do anything particularly exciting and didn't get out of town, but it was a good time nonetheless. We started out on Saturday with the goal of going Halloween Haunting and were successful! To start the day, we went to the Mall so I could buy BJ his birthday present. Along the way we stopped at Hot Topic to stalk the Pop! vinyl wall for the newly released Munsters and Agent Carter. They had only received Eddie and Lily of the Munster clan, but Agent Carter was there as well. The store is always buy one get one half off and we had a coupon on top of that so everything we got was a steal of a deal. We stopped by the Disney Store and I got a Mickey rib cage t-shirt. Our trip to Home Goods was not all that I had dreamed of, but we did get a box of Shiny Brite Halloween ornaments and a giant skull mug that reminds me of Central Perk if it catered to the spooky crowd. I was so excited to come home to some happy mail from Luxulite. I've been wanting to buy a brooch for so long and finally decided to pop on a Halloween one. It was packaged to perfectly and I received it quickly!

It was oppressively hot and humid for at least 3 days straight and I'm positive that I suffered from heat exhaustion. Sunday was BJ's birthday and we went to a Twins game. It was really uncomfortable with the heat, humidity, and lack of wind. I was also lucky enough to be seated next to a child who had never been taught how to act like a human being. She kept kicking and elbowing me and never once apologized. She also kept smacking and crunching nachos right in my ear because half of my seat was hers apparently and that isn't rude. She ate slowly and got a second helping halfway through the game... By the time we left I was boiling literally and figuratively and welcomed the overly air conditioned and empty train ride home.

We headed over to Goodwill on Monday where I found a bright orange bookend Bakelite bangle with a blue tag, which was half off! ZOMG! O_0 Nothing else of note, but dollar Bakelite is enough of a score. How was this still there for the second half off day?!

After the stretch of heat, we got 3 days straight of rain and a 20 degree drop in temperature. So strange. We went to Joann's and I was in awe of this pumpkin display. It was buy 2 get 1 half off, but the smallest ones are $5.99 so I can't image that I will ever bring any of them home. I resisted buying anything, but it was hard! They have so much fun stuff this year! We went back to Gordmans and I got the creepy pumpkin and vintage inspired Happy Halloween sign I had my eye on last time and that's it. So much cute stuff that I have to resist bringing home!

I found 4 Bakelite bangles at my main thrift. I can't believe these weren't in the case with a crazy price!!! I got the 3 black matched set on Thrifty Thursday for 25% off. I didn't get the yellow one that day. It looked and felt like Bakelite, but it was weird colored and smelled like beef jerky. We went back the next day and I just couldn't let it go, so I went around testing all of the bracelets with a cotton swab. I was unsure if the yellow one was testing positive or if the paint was coming off, but I think it finally came clean enough after all the rubbing and friction that I finally got the smell. Then I reconfirmed with hot water at home. Wait. It gets better.

On Saturday we went to a thrift we don't usually go to and found a bag of green bangles for a quarter. Once in the car I cackled in delight that they were in fact Bakelite! 5 for a quarter!!! What?! I had just said to BJ that I didn't have any green ones and then we found them!

I had received my order from Brighter Bakelite that morning (right) and opened it on the way to find the green ones. In the afternoon we went to the little vintage jewelry store in Hopkins where I found an unrestored match (left) to the bangle I had just received! It was super cheap, too, so I had to get it. I found so many that I wanted and told BJ he knows where to go shopping for Christmas. It was a really Bakelite thriftcation.

Friday morning we went to a couple of estate sales. We didn't wake up early to get in line because we weren't sure there would be anything good enough to justify it. It turned out to be a good choice because there was still everything we wanted minus the BS of waiting around! A turquoise 232 Pyrex for $2!!! I picked up the black cat blowmold in the dark basement and discovered only after we got to the car that it is a Don Featherstone! There was SO. MUCH. HALLOWEEN. at that sale. Most of it was new and gory which I'm not really into. I left behind a stack of jack o lanterns blowmold and a GIANT Santa which I'm still sad about, but we have zero space. I got two cat candles and the skull candy bucket, so I'm very happy with that sale! The next sale I got a few Christmas things: a box of paper  and wood bead head angels, the little spunhead Santa above, a hot air balloon carrying two kneehugger elves with original box, and a vintage egg carton with mercury ball ornaments inside. I got it just for the box because the chicken is so cute.

We went to Animal Ark during the week and I just couldn't believe that I found the nest that goes with the bluebird shaker I bought exactly 6 months ago! I searched and searched for the other bird, but he wasn't there... I also picked up the white cat scrubbie/soap holder and we got an Are You Afraid of the Dark? board game free because it had been there since 2013! Other notable finds are the flocked red skull bank, butterscotch 501 with lid for .79, and the original full length Addam's Family movie with the original characters on VHS!

Here are before pictures of the turquoise 232. It was really gross, but it doesn't have any dishwasher damage and now looks good as new after a long soak and a lot of elbow grease!

All in all, I'd say that thrifting and Halloween haunting went very well. We also spent some time reorganizing and toting up shop stuff to make the studio a studio again and not a non-walk-in closet. I'm hoping to get back to sewing and refresh my Etsy shop. I've got some ideas and hopefully can come up with more. I'm trying something new and hoping it sticks. Now I'm off to go make a disaster because Halloween goes up TODAY!!!

First Time for Everything

A few things happened this weekend that I never expected! It started on Thrifty Thursday. I spotted my first piece of Dansk in the wild. I didn't buy it though because it was priced well over the sold prices on eBay and I'm trying to limit the incoming junk and outgoing cash. So, although it was so high priced, it was still gone the next day when I was hoping to use my $10 off coupon to bring the cost into a more reasonable zone. The same thing happened to a crazy priced McCoy planter. Don't buy it and they will stop pricing at high antique store prices! Ugh! I was disappointed about the Dansk, but knew I had a good sale coming up on Saturday.

We were late for being as early as I had wanted to be for the sale, but it turned out that we really didn't have to be. For the first time ever, we were the first people at the sale! We looked and looked for someone with numbers. Up the street, around the block, no one. Luckily we had a deck of cards and a pen in the car to make numbers and we used a reusable produce bag that we had in a bag of bags. We obviously were not prepared for this to happen and certainly would never start handing out numbers if someone else was already doing so. Not only is that rude, but I have debilitating social anxiety so the idea of tens of people coming up to the car window and taking a number makes me really nervous. I brought a book, like every week, hoping to make a dent in it, but I was too worked up to focus on a story line. We got there at approximately 5:24 am and no one else showed up until around 6ish. At around 6:30 this professional a-hole showed up, parked in front of us, got out of his car, and said, "Oh, we have double numbers. I don't like that." Instead of coming up and talking to us about this supposed "double numbers" he went and talked to the jewelry lady who got there second. This guy pulls this crap every week. He pays his friends to hold good numbers for him so he doesn't have to get up so early. It's really annoying. I guess his friend didn't make it to the sale before we did so he was shit out of luck and left like a booboo baby. Seriously, never a week goes by without some kind of drama. Yet we continue to go...

This week we went to a "moving" sale. I think the house is owned by a younger hipster couple because there were ultra high heels galore in a fancy-schmancy house, but there was a bunch of vintage and vintage reproductions. We left with a big ghost blowmold, a large celluloid Santa head light, a tabletop aluminum tree, a flocked Santa/elf ornament plus 2 vintage bottlebrush trees, a red unnumbered 404 that I've learned was sold as an add on to the primary set in 1949, and a vintage Christmas apron. I found BJ 2 Twins patches and a sticker. I don't know if they are vintage, reproduction, or both since they have started using the old logo again. 

Here is a detail of the apron. It has ornament shaped hot air balloons carrying skinny Santas, carolers, and reindeer with penguins free falling with the presents being dropped. It also has pockets!

I didn't get a second chance on the Dansk at the thrift that day, but I did find this cool lucite bangle with bugs in it. It makes me gag looking at it, but I'm sure someone will love it! I'm always looking for Dansk and had never seen it in the wild before that day. Who would have thought that we would find other piece that same weekend?! BJ found a red lasagna pan. I love it, but there is a chip in the enamel on the bottom edge inside, so it apparently is no longer food safe. 

Halloween hunting was kind of a bust. There was some stuff out at Home Goods, but nothing to die for yet. I went to two different Michaels in search of specific items I've seen on Instagram, but they don't have them and don't look like they will ever have them. We stopped at Menards and they only had candy so far, but we did buy a movie collection called Scared Silly with a bunch of horror comedies and a Lucille Ball collection for only $5 each! I think we will make a trip to a Tuesday Morning store this week. I've never been to one so I hope it doesn't disappoint! In the meantime, I think I'll start taking out Halloween slowly because I love to spend as much time as I can with my decorations. I ripped off half of my right ring finger nail last night, so I'll fit right in! So gross and painful. Next week we are on thriftcation, hope it's a good one!!!

To Grandfather's House We Go

We met my mom at her father's house on Sunday for a visit and to help her move some things into a trailer to take home. He's getting on in age and wants to get rid of things beforehand. If it were up to him, I think we would be left with nearly all of the contents of the house, but there is only so much space. My mom took one of his table and chair sets, a hutch, an organ, and a horse collection. I, gladly, left with much less, and two things I swore I would never own!

My grandpa seems to be a clock collector. He said he owns more than 50 cuckoo clocks, but doesn't wind them anymore. BJ's parents have one cuckoo clock. We said we would never own one, but, now we have two! I have acquired somewhat of a clock collection over the past year, is this hereditary? He insisted that we take his electric dog clock that he says is from the 30's or 40's to sell in our shop. He also told me to pick out one of his cuckoo clocks to keep, so I chose the most elaborate one that has a water mill and couples dancing. It came from the Black Forest. Before we left, he said we know where to come if we ever want more, so I took another tiny one that got me with its mushroom and deer. That one looks to be missing the thing needed to wind it. Not that I plan on winding them because, noise pollution. I get enough of that from the road and highway traffic, planes, olympic swim team on one side, and The Reverend Wannabe Ric Flair on the other.

I was immediately drawn to this beautiful hanging lamp. I won't hang it here in the apartment because everything I've tried to hang in the ceiling has eventually fallen out. I'm pretty sure this place is built out of cheap drywall, asbestos, lead paint, and a dream. I don't want to risk breaking this beauty, so it will wait for our forever home. (Please be soon!) I also took a few plastic doilies that were everywhere.

His late wife had been a doll enthusiast. This is the only doll I decided to take for keepsies. He is a Madame Alexander 1967 "so big" baby. His face is just so adorable with the chubby cheeks and curious expression! When he is held, he looks like a real baby because his head is so heavy compared his his soft body.

We're going to have to go back on a Saturday sometime because most of the junk stores in town were closed. There was one that I saw was open as we left. The window caught my eye with Jadeite, but it was too rich for my blood. There was a Miss Priss set that I really hope is still there next time. The only thing we left with was this little deer shaker and bowl set. 

That concludes our awesome weekend. This week I look forward to a big delivery of fall plants at the Depot and hopefully some successful Halloween hunting!

A Great Weekend

BJ and I had a really great weekend. It didn't start out so promising, though. The estate sale I picked out turned out to be in a farm house that was at the end of a road in a suburb not far from where we live. The barn looked like it was ready to cave in with a slight breeze, and the yard was filled with garbage and debris. We got numbers 5 and 6, but so few people showed up to this "digger" sale that the guy in charge decided to let everyone in with no regard for numbers, so the waiting game was completely pointless. If I'd known that, I would have shown up an hour and 45 minutes later than we had... I was still able to get the golden grapes 444 with chip bracket that I went for, but the other things I'd had in mind were either too expensive or taken. We found a Hamm's bear for only $5. I don't know if he was handmade or what, but he's cute either way. I also picked up a little something special for someone and a little vintage Christmas knick knack. By the time we left, things had turned around!

We did the Dr. Oz 3 day fat flush Wednesday through Friday, so by Saturday I was more than ready to eat! (BJ lost 8 pounds! Me, not so much...) We had breakfast and after a while headed out to tackle the long list of chores/errands. Of course we made a pit stop at the thrift store! I picked up this cool old beer sign mirror for a song. Then it got even better. BJ came up to me holding a 475 Gooseberry in great condition!!! I always like to look at all the aisles, even if BJ has already looked, because he often misses things. Huzzah! A 501 delphite!!! No lid, sadly, but I really didn't think I'd ever find one in the wild, so I'm happy. I got to cross two things off my wish list in one trip.

We took care of business at our garden plot. We have to pick before things are ripe because someone keeps stealing our tomatoes. We also have an infestation of squash bugs. I think we have a handle on it now, but I don't know if my baby boo plant will survive.

There was a Christmas in July half off sale at one of the stores of a local chain thrift on Saturday. I thought originally that it was just half off Christmas stuff that they would put out for the day, but it turned out to be the whole store! I scored a big granny square blanket, two nursery planters, a pirate teapot, a few Christmas records, a huge package of Fire King plates and cups that was crazy cheap before the discount, and a NOS circular knitting needle. 

Sunday evening, we went to our favorite spot before closing. I scored 6 skeins of teal yarn, a 404 Gold Butterfly, a cool Federal Glass tumbler, and a 20% off entire purchase coupon just for being a regular! We decided to hit up a couple of Goodwills before we went home and came home with a hen in nest candy dish, a mug to match the teapot we found, and a Cabbage Patch piggy bank. Earlier in the week we picked up a grab bag with the deer, poodles, and elephants. We also found couple 470 lids for .99 each and a red and a yellow hostess.

In addition to those finds, I also picked up 5 Blendo glasses from the candle holder section at Goodwill, and a bunch of mason jar lids on a string from our favorite place for only 49 cents! I think I'll try making some pumpkins out of the lids.

The fun doesn't end here. We paid a visit to my grandfather's house and left with some treasures. Check back soon!