I think I used up all of my luck this past weekend. Friday night I was searching for sales to go to in the morning. I spotted turquoise Pyrex at a yard sale that happens most every weekend. I think the guy must be an eBay seller or something because he always has tons of crap and fancy signs he puts all over the area. I don't usually stop there because I went once and found it to be too expensive for my taste. After seeing the turquoise that I didn't get in my kitchen lot Craigslist purchase, I was so sad that I hadn't looked for sales the night before because it started Friday morning. BJ had to work and I didn't really feel like riding around town on my bike and try to safely transport things home in a basket, so I didn't even bother to look. I told myself that it would be our first stop of the day and crossed my fingers that it was still there. I didn't see it when I walked up and got that defeated feeling. There were cool Eames style mid-century chairs on the lawn and I thought I'd just take a look because I knew I wouldn't be able to afford them. And then there was Pyrex! UGH, I paid low retail for it... but it is in really nice shape with only a few nicks in the paint and no dishwasher damage.
I think I made up for the retail price on the 403 when I found a Lace Medallion 045 with lid and cradle at an estate sale (2 hours after opening if you can believe that!) for a total of $15! It is super DWD, but I can forgive that for the price with cradle. I picked up a Red Owl promo needle kit with most needles still intact and a little cold cream jar with turquoise lid for a buck each at the garage sale of one of the dealers from Urban Cottage. The cute Christmas ornament box came from a yard sale run by two nice older ladies and was also only a dollar.
As I said at the beginning, I used up all my luck. My life turned back into a pumpkin by Monday with the usual craptacular stuff that always happens to me. My rear bike tire seems to be trashed, but I can't be sure of that because I'm just a stupid girl. I see the tire itself as having tears in it, but BJ thinks it is probably just the tube inside, which I can't see because I'm just looking at the obvious unstable condition of the rubber on the exterior and he didn't look at it at all. Obviously he knows best. I think I'll err on the safe side and just replace both. Now to actually accomplish this before I have to bike to work on Friday.
I'm off to do housework, bleh.
First off, my Spoonflower proofs arrived and all designs are now for sale! I'm a little late on posting this, but if you follow me on Instagram then you probably already know that. Also, Society6 now has leggings. I've made my pink and turquoise Pyrex design available for this product. There is free shipping this week if you're interested in anything!
I've been really very busy lately. I've basically got one day off per week and that is spent cleaning apartment and recovering from 6 mile daily uphill-both-ways bike rides to/from work where I do physical labor and take approximately 17 thousand plus steps a day. I hope that explains my absence. I died my hair for the first time ever several weeks ago. Just the tips- and I went bold with blue/turquoise/now turning greenish. My mom did not comment on it when I saw her over Mother's Day weekend so obviously she thinks it's stupid, but I like it. Most days my hair is back in a braid so I don't get to appreciate it as much as I'd like.
BJ and I decided to visit a flea market for the first time. A lot of firsts recently, I guess. We drove all the way down to Le Sueur for the annual flea. I found a photo on a blog from last year and there was a huge Pyrex booth and I had my fingers crossed that it would be there again this year. There was a Pyrex booth, but everything was priced well above retail. $30 for a DWD Friendship 401 as an example. I did walk away with a green wheat for $30 simply because I'd never seen it in person and I didn't want to leave without a piece of Pyrex. Hopefully I can trade it for something I'd rather have some day. The day wasn't a total bust, though. I got two McCoy planters for a dollar each, a lady head vase, several Japan tchotchkes, a yellow Miss Priss creamer, a deer planter, and a chalkware apple. It was fun, but I don't think I'll go back next year because it's too far of a drive to look at farm equipment and antique store prices.
We've been finding good patterns/colors of Pyrex at the thrifts lately, but sadly most of it comes with at least minor DWD. I found a full set of pink bowls at Goodwill, completed my cinderella Butterprint set with a 443 from a flea market in Anoka, and found the 402-404 unnumbered primaries to complete that set at Arc's all in the same weekend! I took a chance on a large lot of vintage kitchen junk on Craigslist. The seller called the bowl she had as part of the lot "medium aqua Pyrex," but the picture looked green. I thought maybe it was just bad lighting, but no, it was an unnumbered green primary. I guess that explains the use of medium, but not how she could mistake plain old green for aqua when she owned it in all forms of lighting. I'll make my money back and then some, but I don't know that anything in the lot is a quick sell...
I'm not a fan of the new trend of antique store pricing at garage sales. Last weekend, we skipped an estate sale that had Friendship (probably over priced) and went to a garage sale in Coon Rapids that had what I thought might be Bakelite bangles and Jadeite plates. I was right on both counts. The plates were in a lot of 7 green plates (2 were green depression glass Pyrex dinner plates, one a junk ceramic dessert plate) for $7. Right when we walked up a couple of guys picked them up and I was very disappointed. They put them down. All the jadeite was chipped, but I don't leave behind dollar jadeite! I couldn't find the box with the bangles and was worried the lady who was there before us had bought them, but they were just not put out in a shop-able area. The ladies running the sale called them "World War II Bracelets" and said they were brought back from France in the box they were being sold in. They were plain maiden sized tubes and I felt that she was asking too much for something she clearly didn't know anything about. I did find a bakelite handled icing knife at the flea market later though.
Since I have to work all the time during spring, I plan for sales well in advance so that I can request them off when I submit my availability for the season. Unfortunately, BJ wasn't able to get all the city-wide sale days off when he got his new position. Luckily we got to hit most of the sales I picked off the map and scored a bunch of great stuff. No notable Pyrex, sadly. I did get a 473 and 474 Woodland for the lids. Everything I got was a super great deal. The fan, which works, was only $3! I went to another sale after that which had several vintage fans for $100+ each. I got a handi holder for free at that sale and the little rooster planter because I felt bad just taking something from the free table without buying anything >_< I scored big at one sale that didn't have anything priced. The seller seemed flustered and didn't know what to price anything on the spot and threw out a dollar a piece on everything I had- this included a Griswold cast iron muffin pan! She looked at her daughter and said she wouldn't really be getting anything for the pan if she priced it that way and asked her if she wanted it for camping. All things that definitely should have been thought over before setting something out for sale, right? The daughter said she didn't want it and offered a $2 price tag, which, duh! So for $12, we got the cast iron muffin pan, 7 ball jar lids with glass inserts, a NOS box of Ball Jar rubber seals, a jadeite saucer, and a Hazel Atlas refrigerator jar. There was a really cute scrolled pink window with a screen that I doubt was priced which I regret not getting, but where the heck am I going to put that right now?! I could have gotten it for a steal though, maybe I'll see if it's still there tomorrow.
The only non-vintage Halloween that I'm allowing myself with no guilt is Boney Bunch from Yankee Candle because I love skeletons and they're too cute! Boneys are basically gold to those who collect them because almost everything sells out. That means they aren't usually found anywhere but eBay with high prices. I was shocked to see one for a dollar at a charity garage sale! I squealed. I can't wait to get some watch batteries and see what her crystal ball looks like illuminated!
That's all for now. I miss my babies and they miss me, so I'm going to get in a long snuggle sesh, watch Grimm, and then more garage sale-ing tomorrow morning!
Last Friday, it was snowing flakes so big it looked like snowballs were falling from the sky. Minutes later it was the sunniest day we had had in a week and the snow all melted. That's spring in Minnesota for you. I've spotted my first daffodils and a handful of garage sale signs. I also started my plant merchandising job quite randomly this week. I guess life is about to become unbearably busy, so before burnout strikes, I thought I'd give a little update on what's been going.
Of course we hit an estate sale early last Saturday. We were hoping to score a full set of Jadeite swirl bowls, but they were marked a mid-level eBay price, which was double what we had wanted to spend. They were over the price threshold for 50% off day, so we didn't even bother going back the second day to see if they were still there because it would have still been above our max price. I did pick up a nice assortment of vintage Christmas, a big pink plastic vintage bag, a pink Borg scale, and a mint condition air-way vacuum attachment holder. I put that in the bathroom and stuck my various brushes and combs in it.
We were invited by our favorite cashier to attend a friend and family shopping event after hours at our main thrift. I found a cool art deco candelabrum, two beautifully embroidered Christmas pillowcases, a vintage clutch, and a picture frame with domed glass. We also scored a friendship 442 and Salem North Star serving bowl from Craigslist. We stopped at the shop and were pleasantly surprised at how well we're doing this month. I'm really excited that things are finally coming together for us! To celebrate, I picked up some cute boomerang fabric that I'm going to use as the back of a brooch board I'm planning on making once I find the right frame. I also found a couple Bakelite bangles for a steal!
I started working on Tuesday, which meant my first bike ride of the year. It was really hard and just emphasized how fat I really got over the winter. Bleh. Luckily I was able to get a ride home- probably the last time this year, so I better get in shape fast! I actually went to the thrift store twice in one day, once with my mom and then with BJ later, and had some excellent scores. I didn't want to go out the second time, but it was very worth it as we found snowflake and butterprint at Goodwill for shockingly good prices. Then I found a Shawnee lucky elephant cookie jar waiting for me at my main thrift. It gave me hope that one day I will find my holy grails in the wild. I asked a mystic golf ball at the thrift store and it told me I will find both Eyes and Diamonds. Please be soon!
BJ came walking up to me with a turquoise Club pot and I was amazed that it wasn't $30 because that is the general lowest price for dutch ovens. If it is a brand they recognize, they will put $60 on it. There is a Martha Stewart enamel cast iron one with the enamel chipped off everywhere for $40. They. Are. Crazy. What blows my mind even more is that people actually buy them, but I can't talk because I just bought a dead DWD Heinz promotional. I'm not proud of it though. The addiction is real. I don't know how BJ missed the Lustro-Ware canister set, but it was such an amazing price. The coffee and tea canisters are inside and were not separately priced. I think that person needs to work everyday, please! I also got a 'UFO to Go' sandwich maker which I plan on hanging in my vintage kitchen as soon as we get a house. (Please be soon, too!) Yesterday we found a DWD red casserole hostess Pyrex, so now I have both sizes. I broke down and got a turquoise fade mug on eBay because I haven't found a good mug in the wild in too long and I've been lusting after all the ones being posted on Instagram.
I've been working like crazy all day on fabric designs. You can see them on Spoonflower. They aren't for sale yet, but will be soon. I've got a bunch more designs in my head that I want to make before ordering so that I can order all the swatch proofs at once. My goal for ordering is by the end of next week, so expect them all for sale in about two weeks!
FREE worldwide shipping through this link on your order from my Society6 shop! Offer expires at midnight Pacific time April 12, 2015. *Excludes framed art prints, stretched canvases, wall clocks, and rugs. Check out my new Bakelite themed design available now!
Sorry, it's been a while- again. Life took me down, but I'm trying to get back up. I've been working on some new designs for Spoonflower. I plan on ordering proofs soon so that I can put them up for sale. So far I have a bakelite design and a new Pyrex design in addition to the mugs/tumblers design that I made for a contest a few weeks back. You can see the designs by clicking the link above. I'll be sure to post once they are for sale.
Since the incident a few weeks ago, I have had enough good luck at estate sales to feel better about going to them again. We've decided to commit to getting there very early in an attempt to get good numbers and it has been paying off. We were actually 2 & 3 in line a couple of weeks ago and got a very old Hamm's beer bottle with original stopper. We're starting to collect Hamm's stuff in honor of our guinea pig, Hamm. Since there is Twins cross-over, it really works out! I wanted a mirrored shadow box shelf, but it was marked more than we wanted to pay for it, so onto the next. Last week we hit it big! I got 4 vintage Halloween Beistles. The cat is my favorite!
We also picked up a striped Hazel Atlas bowl, a cute vintage tablecloth with cats and dogs, a vintage red Cosco chair, and a couple of pixies at the same sale. Then we went to a second day sale and got a bunch of things for the shop. This past weekend, we got nearly everything we went for, except two old jack o lanterns that I think lit up. I did score a tiny jack pail the lady didn't see, though! Yay! In an effort to not be a hoarder, most things will be going to the shop eventually.
The main reason I picked this past week's sale was for the WWII era Shiny Brite ornaments. I scored a lot of great vintage Christmas items. They've already been divided up into keep and sell and packed away safely.
That's all for now. I'm going to try harder to get into a routine that works so that I can be creative and post regularly. Things are going to start getting busier when spring really starts to take seed here. We hope to have some really big news soon enough!
First off, let me tell you that there are daily deals happening on Society6. Sorry to be late on this, but this way you get to put all the deals into your cart and pay once. 20% off throw pillows, tote bags, and phone cases. 15% off shower curtains and duvets. $5 off art prints. Starting tomorrow (Saturday 03/14/15) $5 off mugs! Ends Saturday at midnight Pacific.
Now that we've got that out of the way, let's move on to some of my recent adventures in Pyrex. Last weekend I went to the new outlet mall in Eagan. Normally I would think, "UGH! Outlet mall! >_<," but there was a buy 2 get 1 free on Pyrex lids at the Corelle/Corning/Pyrex store and I was surprised to find that there was one near me. Two of the lids that I wanted weren't in stock online when I ordered the 100 anniversary dots bowls. Someone on Instagram posted a picture last year of her vintage bowls with new plastic lids and I've been wanting some for myself. They really do fit, Everybody! They are marked 7401, 7402, and 7403 and fit the 401-403 bowls respectively. I bought a larger lid that didn't have a number on it just to see if it would fit the 404, but it didn't so I guess I have to make a trip back to the outlet mall... and buy more lids and dot bowls? They are on sale for a while, too.
Speaking the dots bowls, I got mine in the mail today. They didn't have all of the colors at the store, but hopefully they have more when I go back. I decided to be conservative and just buy the colors I liked for my kitchen- red and turquoise obviously. They have an old ad (my fave and I actually just got the original as a b-day present to myself!) on the lid sticker. The bubble wrap that they used for packing is seriously the best I've ever seen in my life!
Backing up, I did finally get my radio TP dispenser. It was delivered on a Friday and I didn't actually get it delivered to my door until Monday- outside the door where people can pick it up. Ugh! I haven't tried it yet because I don't have a 9v battery and they're expensive. I'm not using this until we move into a house because the one in the bathroom here is permanently attached. :/
BJ and I went to our first auction a couple Mondays ago hoping to get a jadeite colored Hamilton Beach milkshake mixer, but starting bid was twice our max, so we left. Luckily there was an antique store open late across the street and we found a ton of pink stuff! That was unintentional. BJ picked up a cute cast iron white kitty bank, oval daisy casserole with the wrong lid, and pig shakers. Everything we got was on sale! I got a pink necklace and a super cute polka dot/striped apron. Then we went to Arc's just to see if there was anything and walked out of there with a small handled swirl Fire King and a framed vintage ad of ladies in dresses that claim they'll need to fight men off of them! One of the dresses has snow flakes reminiscent of Pyrex so, duh.
The outlet mall is on the other side of the river, so we decided to make a day of it and go to the antique stores in St. Paul. There was a couple of women ahead of us in the big score store looking for turquoise and Pyrex (boo,) but I was able to find a black snowflake space saver! We also picked up an amazing diner clock that matches my vision of the kitchen perfectly. I got a necklace and atomic burst screw back earrings. Died. I found a Heinz applesauce baby food jar at another shop that was totally confusing on where to pay. I've never been to an antique mall that didn't have one checkout for all vendors, so weird. I left behind yet another set of Glasbake Lipton soup mugs because I just can't bite the bullet on the price...
I also left this beautiful gazelle bowl behind because it was marked $125 and I couldn't...
We had some pretty nice scores lately to go into the shop. I had intended to keep the two Federal gazelle drinking glasses and sell the two swan glasses, but the cashier stacked the glasses and one of the swans broke so I think it will stay with me. I was so mad and haven't quite gotten over it yet! I also picked up a few more records for the player that I still don't have.
We do have a record player that doesn't work now though! The on-going sale out of someone's garage (nothing is priced and you can't get ahold of her) was finally open last weekend. I'd originally wanted to go there to get a vintage Bakelite TV, but we left with this radio/record console instead. I'm still thinking about the TV, but it's missing knobs and I don't have room for it right now. We sold the old outdated entertainment center and replaced it with this. The old one fit a surprising amount of stuff though, so now I'm left with boxes full of stuff I don't know what to do with. If I wasn't a hoarder, I'd just give it away. Here's to hoping a house is in our immediate future!
Lastly, Penny finally got her own fridgie! Now I just need to find her the pink and turquoise crinoline from Re-ment.
You remember this from a while back, right? The shelf is now finally complete! It was kind of serendipitous that we didn't install it into the booth last weekend because it needed a little bit more work. Enter Martha Stewart Stencils and a whole lotta muscle.
Again, I'm really bad at thinking to take before shots, so here's a crappy basement picture of it before everything else was painted. It is made out of two salvaged doors, scrap wood, and a couple of shelves I found at Goodwill. I painted the large door, but had to leave the rest of it to my mom and her boyfriend since we don't live close and it wouldn't fit in our car. I really love how it turned out! I definitely got questionable vibes when I decided on pink paint, but no other color ever crossed my mind. My mom didn't paint the backside of the smaller door with the swirl on it, which was a problem because it would be exposed since we don't have a corner space. It had some drips that would have looked thoughtlessly unfinished instead of intentionally shabby.
It was also really dirty because it was farm fresh. I washed it up and painted it pink to match the other door, leaving a little section of stencil in the middle with the original wood. I also painted the edges of the shelves silver and stenciled them with atomic stars to look like a 50's countertop since I couldn't get my hands on any laminate.
The next day, the door still needed another coat and some stars to match the shelves. Then a brilliant idea took over my mind and I just had to execute it. Salem North Star inspired atomic bursts. Duh! So I used the rectangles from one of the stencils to make the fatter parts of the bursts and dabbed a sponge brush to make the thin black lines. They obviously don't look as refined, but I think it still looks really awesome. After spending two days making this display look even more irresistible, I started really thinking about how I could make it work in the apartment. We have very limited space. Originally I thought about just getting rid of the couch, but it holds so many memories of my Babie Marie that it would be too heart breaking. It will also make a great studio couch for BJ once we move into a house. Then it hit me. Take it apart!
This couch weighs at least twice as much as me and it was such a pain trying to figure out how to get the bars holding both sides together unscrewed, but I did it all by myself! Not only did I take it apart, I moved it into place, AND moved the super duper heavy door from one side of the room sideways to upright where I wanted it, then put it all together!
The big door weighs a ton and it is top heavy due to the extra shelves attached around the window, and the glass, too, of course. My cats almost got crushed several times during this entire rearranging ordeal, which only added to the stress, but we got through it unscathed. BJ helped me finish securing the shelves with the hooks underneath. I didn't want to spend a bunch of time fighting to get them in only to take them apart if he hated it. Luckily, he wanted to keep the shelf at home just as much as I did. I think my hoarder tendencies might be rubbing off on him. At the very least, he's becoming a collector.
In the midst of the mayhem, I got a knock on the door from the caretaker. He asked me if I forgot a package in the stairwell between the second and third floor. Uh, no, definitely not. Reason number 472 why I hate living here. There has been mail theft here that resulted in a stolen credit card. The mailman very frequently delivers mail to the wrong apartment. I wonder how much mail I haven't received because I have the laziest, crappiest neighbors of all time. Whatever happened, I'm annoyed. I'm glad he caught it because I've been waiting for these cuties very impatiently! These babies came from an Instagram seller. I'd been drooling over them and thinking about them constantly since the second they were posted for sale, but they were a lot more than I usually spend on white cats. I really like to only spend thrift store or less on them. Probably the reason I have an overgrown collection. I have a package that has been marked delivered to me today which I've yet to receive. Ugh! I hope this one turns up, too. It's a vintage pink radio toilet paper holder. So necessary. Haha!
Anyway, here's the shelf all loaded up with vintage goodness and my little Gooseberry peeking around the corner. She's handling the new arrangement like a champ! I've got spaghetti sauce on the stove, oatmeal cookies fresh from the oven, and I'm ready for the weekend! We're hitting up an estate sale tomorrow which promises to add to my heard of cats. What are you up to this weekend? If you're handy and have access to salvage, this could be a fun weekend project!
