Kitschy Cats Vintage

I'm very excited to announce that BJ and I now have a space at Auntie M's in Hopkins, MN! We're calling this little shop Kitschy Cats Vintage. We move in on February first with some great Pyrex and other vintage kitchen items. I have big plans for a super fun display, but I won't be able to get it up until my birthday weekend at the end of February. Not to worry, we found some temporary accommodations for our wares and plan to work with that for the first few weeks. I'm happy to finally have a reason to be a professional thrifter! Not to mention all the space I'll get back after I get all that awesome junk out of the studio, which is slowly becoming a walk-in closet! >_<

As I've told you before, I'm a saver by blood and could easily cross the hoarder line. Some Most of the things we pick up will be going to our shop space, but there are a few things that need to be part of the Misco personal collection. Last weekend we hit an estate sale, scored big on Craigslist, and visited Stillwater for the first time together! The estate sale was a pink sale! I found a full set (minus lids) of pink Pyrex fridgies, but the 501s were DWD beyond recognition. They were what you might call fauxpal, so they stayed behind. The 502 is pretty bad, but the 503 is decent enough to display. I chose this sale for this poor Pyrex set and a gorgeous Westinghouse roaster. The roaster appeared in an original airing of the Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour (The Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse Presents the Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Show.) I really wanted it!

Isn't is beautiful? It was waaaaaay out of my price range, but probably fair retail. It didn't have any of the loaf pans, but did have the original instruction manual. The cart was also on my list, but I'd never pay what they wanted for yellow; it just doesn't match my color-scheme. Boo estate sales with antique store prices.

Saturday morning we headed out to Wisconsin to pick up New Dots and 444 Friendship from Craigslist ads that I've been eyeing for the longest time. Seeing as how the Friendship bowl lasted from at least the end of last summer until we finally picked it up in January, I was confident that a Starburst with a big price tag would last until we came up with the money to buy it. That was one of the big things in the works I mentioned earlier. Well, it's gone and my Pyrex dreams did not come true. I can't even pretend that I'm not crushed about it, but I have to move on I guess. I did complete my pink gooseberry set so that's something. When we went to Auntie M's to make our vendorship official, I caved and got a pair of cat eye glasses.

I was hoping to find the cups to match my atomic flower (aka 50's pot leaf) snack set I got at Arc's last year. I actually found a bunch in Stillwater, but they were all being sold with plates that I don't need. I may have bought this NOS set if I hadn't still been holding out for one of my holy grail Pyrex pieces, but I didn't know then that it had slipped through my fingers. Sigh...

We managed to find a few neat things for the shop during the two 50% off MLK sale days at Arc's. The day before the sale started, I found a really old clear, etched Pyrex with the dollar sign logo and a cradle. It's amazing that something made of glass can still be in such beautiful condition when it is nearly 100 years old!

I didn't manage to start on my gossip bench yet. We went to Menards but couldn't find the staples or sandpaper for manual sanding. We should be making another trip this weekend and hopefully it is more successful. It's one of those places that you can go to with a list and leave with everything but what you went for. I've got the added project of the shop display. I can't wait to post about the progress of both projects! It will be a busy weekend for us. We've got Twinsfest and the I Love Lucy stage show, and maybe even an estate sale tomorrow morning. Thankfully, it's supposed to be warm!

Can't Stop, Won't Stop Craigslist

That beautiful baby above is what started my affinity for Craigslist. One morning, after scrolling through pictures on Instragram and noticing someone's super awesome Pyrex score from Craigslist, I thought to myself "why didn't I ever think of that?!" So I decided to do a little looking myself with my favorite keyword. I almost died when I saw this listed for only $8! I even picked up a few Shiny Brites while there.

Of course, it can't be all great. This past week someone was a complete b-face and sold something I had already agreed to buy from her to someone else. Because I couldn't go and pick it up that night she thought it would be polite to pretend to have to speak to her husband to set up another time and increased the price of the listing $10, then gave her address to someone else who was able to go to a creepy neighborhood in the dark with cash. She had obviously planned to just not contact me again, but I really wanted these bowls (Butterprint Cinderellas) to complete (and upgrade in a couple cases) my set. I'll definitely remember not to deal with her in the future. The rest of her Pyrex was brown and ugly anyway, so good luck with that ish.

I thought I'd search for an old chair I could use at the computer in my future house. Imagine a heavy wooden rolling chair from a smokey PI scene from a 40's film Noir. I passed on one from Urban Cottage way back, but the only one I found on Craigslist was about 3 times as much. Pass again! For some reason, this cute little gossip seat came up in the search. The price was right so we picked it up. It needs some major TLC and has obviously been recovered at least once, and will be again. There is an excessive assortment of staples, furniture tacks, and push pins- that should be fun! >_< I've got Menard's giftcards so I might pick up some staples this weekend. I'll try to remember to take in-progress photos to document the process.

I've learned something about Pyrex indirectly through Craigslist. There was a baking set made to coordinate with the Horizon Blue bowls. It came with a light blue loaf pan which a lot of eBay sellers try to pass off as turquoise, knowingly or not. I found a comparison picture of them side by side and the colors are quite different. Beware. Since I saw so many listed as turquoise/aqua on eBay, I thought one I found on Craigslist was just that. The seller thought it was light blue. He was right. I'd never seen this set before and only found the loaf pans listed turquoise/aqua. I found a picture of the set with the original box in a completely unrelated search and remembered he had the other two pans in the set for sale. For whatever reason he just had to sell two loaf pans as a set together instead of keeping the true set together: loaf, cake, and lasagna. I felt really bad, but we had to call off the deal because I didn't want to pay retail for pans I didn't want in my personal collection. Sorry, man.

Since we were out in Burnsville for the chair, I thought we might as well go to Unique (Valu Village.) Lucky for us it was 25% off day because everything was priced so crazy that I needed a discount to even consider making a purchase. Not a piece of Pyrex in sight, but I did find these cute canisters. The design looks like Franciscan Bursts. One can has a scratch across the front and they all have some minor rusting inside, and they're yellow. I wasn't sure if I wanted them because they were all priced separately and according to size, bleh. I decided with the discount I could at least get my money back if I end up not wanting to keep them. This thrift store was actually trying to get $3 for empty LalaLoopsy mini boxes. Sometimes people donate garbage they don't want to throw away themselves, it doesn't mean you have to sell it...

But the day was made all better because we made a last minute trip to Arc's before heading home and found a Butterprint fridgie!

Well, I'm off to go cry in the most exterior corner of the apartment because I'm tired of listening to my neighbor howling. There's no place like owning a home, there's no place like owning a home, there's no place like owning a home.

This Is Why They Make Long Underwear

Today most schools across the state are closed, except for St Paul- they made it optional. Do you see this? Feels like -30 degrees Fahrenheit. I only live here because I can't afford to leave. Thankfully I'm sitting in a nice warm southerly sun. If it weren't for the fact that I'm human and can't hibernate (and also abhor sleeping,) well then I'd be doing just that because this is terrible! I received two pairs of thermals for Christmas. At first I thought it a bit strange because I most certainly didn't put long underwear on my list, but of course they come in handy.

We decided to visit both Richfield and Bloomington Arc's over the holiday weekend. Someone who collected shakers must have recently bought the farm because I found a ton of cute made in Japan sets. The people who package them for the floor are geniuses- most of them were broken because they were put together loose in a plastic bag then thrown in a tote with all the others. The little pandas(?) in the back left of the picture were too cute to leave behind, but one of them is broken in two places and was already repaired in one of the spots before. Because of that, I think I'll repair it again. The stump is a little sugar dish with a spoon!

Do you remember when I was going through withdrawals because someone picked up a butterprint 403 at Arc's and that someone wasn't me? I found a super nice one in Hopkins that came with a 401 and 402 so I think this will end up being the better deal anyway. Now I just need to tell myself that I really, seriously don't need doubles because my apartment is getting smaller.

I found two Franklin Mint outfits for my Lucy doll that my mom gave me a million years ago when it came out. I always wanted the trunk and the dresses, but they were crazy expensive. I'm fighting the urge to take out the jewelry and play with her. 

I decided to take one last look around before checking out and I'm so glad I did! This Lucy Show paper doll set is so much fun. It doesn't have the stands and seems to be missing some of the clothes, but it's still perfect for my collection. I picked up a frame for it on clearance from Michael's and hung it up next to my I Love Lucy comic and People magazine from her death. I think I'm going to put Lucy and Viv in another frame because they simply need to be seen!

Guess who's finally going to see the I Love Lucy stage show at the end of this month?! I've been waiting for them to come here for years and was almost ready to just go see it in Chicago until I got notice that Minneapolis made the tour! 

There are some exciting things that are in the works that I hope all pan out. In the meantime, I need to go get in shape for the warm months I'm dreaming about.

Artist Promotion!

New year, new artist promotion! There is free worldwide shipping over at my Society6 shop until January 11, 2015 at midnight Pacific Time. Free shipping excludes frame art prints, stretched canvases, wall clocks, and rugs. I've added a new design inspired by pink stems Pyrex. Go check it out! (Only available through link.) 

Adios 2014, Hello Motivation?

Here's that picture of the finished wreath I promised too long ago. It did take much too long to actually get around to making and dying the trees, but I got it put together once the dye dried. I'm satisfied with the results.

I had a surprisingly decent holiday, with only one melt down to speak of. I didn't mention it, but I've been doing a fancy meditation that I learned at a sort of retreat in April through the Isha Foundation. I truly believe that my daily practice is what got me through the challenges of this past year. I've sort of abandoned it the last couple of weeks when holiday prep got down to the wire and I'm feeling it in my sleep.

Backing up to Christmas, the picture above is my vintage bounty! I really can't wait to change my hutch around to display my new pieces. Wait, there's more!

BJ took me to an estate sale the day after Christmas. I saw the Holt Howard cat in a picture and it was still there when we arrived. I also found a Fire King jadeite swirl, a McKee jadeite fridgie sans lid, and a Pyrex 502 lid, which I can always use. Then we went to Arc's and I found a cool vintage bracelet and a neat-o metal table (not shown) which perfectly houses my dead plants. I'm still keeping hope alive that they'll come out of their brown states.

We had planned on attending another Christmas on Saturday, but per usual, there was a snow storm which made the roads icy. It would have turned a 3 hour drive into a 4-5 hour drive and of course the rear breaks just started going out. Thanks, Car. So instead of risking life and limb, we decided to stay home and had a nice brunch almost alone at Pizza Luce. No body wanted to go outside, which meant fast service for us! (Shocking at the Richfield location.) Then we went to Hopkins to check out a few antique stores later in the day. Despite living in the Twin Cities for nearly a decade, I've never actually been inside the city of Hopkins, and what a shame that is! We had a really fun afternoon looking through all the shops and found a bunch of great treasures. We picked up a huge snowflake Pyrex, the Holt Howard candle holders, and the Christmas kitty at Auntie M's which was packed to the gills with amazing stuff. Then we tried our luck at the Minnetonka Goodwill where I found the space saver! It has a pretty big chip on the other side of the dish which I didn't notice until I left the store, but it was cheap and displays nicely from one side, so whatevs. I was just super stoked on seeing a space saver live and in person.

My mom and sister bought some crafts from me and this is what I bought with it, so thanks, Family. I understand that this is an addiction. BJ said that this will be the everlasting fruit salad bowl for next year.

As we wrap up 2014, I have met my goal of reading 52 books this year, and am about to exceed it by one book. This next year, I'm hoping to be more motivated in meeting and exceeding other goals that I set for myself, but I think I'll set them as needed because sometimes setting a lot of big goals at the beginning of the year makes it too hard to fit it all in without feeling overwhelmed. In 2015, I'd just like to be happy and confident wherever life takes me (hopefully to Portland. >_<) Have a happy and safe New Year, everyone!

Christmas Around the House

I was planning on making this post sooner, but I have had a pretty craptastic past few weeks, literally and figuratively. We got food poisoning here this past Monday night and my dear little protector, Annabelle, was very worried about us. She pooped on the floor. Just what anyone with nausea needs, right? >_<

Anyway, I had to play a lot of catch-up since I was out of commission for a couple of days. I've been meaning to make a Christmas bag since November and finally got around to finishing it. I always end up doing the inside zippered pocket different. This time I used a tutorial that I would modify to sandwich the zipper between the fabrics instead of having it exposed on the inside of the pocket. I used the same fabric as the outside of the bag to make the pocket and it ended up being upside down and it was too late before I figured it out- oops.

I started getting that Christmasy feeling right after Halloween this year, and tried my hardest to wait until Black Friday. Now everything is up and ish has happened and I've kind of lost the spirit. :( We haven't been sticking to the planned advent activities due to illness or laziness or lack of time. Bleh. In any event, here's a peek into this year's decor. (I realized that I have a lot more Halloween than Christmas. Halloween couldn't even all be packed away this time around... :\ )

This is my Christmas display inside the hutch, all lit up!

I made little snow scenes with some of my deer and cheese domes/cloches for the center of the table.

Here's the other side of the tree with Annabelle underneath eyeing something. I found two of the red and silver curly spinner things at an estate sale this fall. They look so cool when the light hits them!

This is the piggies' old table. The tablecloth is just fantastic!

I got my Santa addiction from my mom, but I don't think I have quite as many as she has yet. I'm still trying to figure out when this deer thing started though...

This is Annabelle's favorite spot, under the coffee table. I bought a tablecloth just for her. It has to be put up every night, though, or else everything on top of the table will be on the floor by morning.

I brought in my cart for the winter and this is where my Christmas softies hang out with some oversized lights.

And finally, my small Disney tree that I wish desperately was an aluminum pom pom tree instead. Hopefully next year! That's all for now!

Putzing Around

This week is the beginning of advent! BJ and I wrote down an activity to do every day until Christmas using a Very Merry Advent by Heidi Kenney and Amanda Krueger. I'm really excited about all the fun things coming up this month- there are a bunch of vegan meet up activities and old Christmas movies at AMC!

To start out the month we decided to finally make some bottle brush trees- I've been dying to try making my own for a couple of months and we kept putting it off for some reason or another. Then I saw the new December issue of Martha Stewart living and knew that this had to be on my crafting list! The author of the how-to article says that vintage putz houses are easy to find and inexpensive. I don't know what world that person lives in, but it certainly is not in Minnesota. I have seen one vintage putz house in person my entire life and it happens to be one of my most cherished ornaments from childhood. These ornaments are probably what sparked my passion for vintage Christmas.

Needless to say, my childhood putz house is not being sacrificed for craft and I don't have any others to make up the wreath. That means I have to make some! I looked online for a while to find some that tickled my fancy, but I couldn't find any that were ornament sized so I went into my printer settings and was happy to find that I could shrink them! (I have a printer that is nearing 10 years old and usually hates me, so this may not be a revelation to most of you, haha!)

I decided on a couple of designs- a Mid Century Modern design from Retro Renovation and the Little Charmer design from Little Glitter Houses. I just printed out the designs to cut out and put them together however I wanted without reading the directions because I don't like following directions, so they look a little different. I used old food boxes that I've been saving for the project and tried to use the folds in the boxes for the folds in the houses when possible. I also used old plastic packaging for the windows instead of using tissue paper or red cellophane, which was my original plan. If you already have it, it's free and saving things from the landfill is always the best option!

I just happened to use mostly Martha Stewart products because I love them- it actually was not planned. So I started by cutting out all the pattern pieces, tracing them onto the cardboard, then cutting them out. Then I painted the pieces, trying to get full coverage over the boxes' designs, which I put on the inside of the houses. Once dry, I cut out little pieces of plastic for the windows and glued into place. If some of the hot glue squishes out, it kind of looks like ice, which only adds to the look, but I cut or pulled off the dried pieces if I didn't like the look of it.

Then I glued the houses into shape and onto the bases. When that's all taken care of, it's time to decorate and make a snowy scene!

I used Sparkle Texture by Martha Stewart as the snow. I found this in the clearance section of my Michaels about a month ago. I've been thinking about making putz houses even before this wreath project and knew that it would be oh so perfect- and it is! I recommend using a palette knife to put it onto the houses. It is really thick and will take a while to dry. Projects that require patience- ugh! At least it is one of the last steps before assembling the wreath. I've got bottle brush making and dying to do before assembly anyway, so I've got something to keep me occupied. If you can seen it in the picture, I also made little icicles out of hot glue. I'm excited to show you the end result in a couple of days!