Back to the thrift store!

Oh I have missed the thrift store, my local Salvation Army to be exact. I haven't been blogging or doing much of anything for a long time. I got sucked into something else and ignored my crafting. I have to admit the depression bug hit me and I was having a hard time dealing with some family illnesses. Fall is my favorite time of year and I seem to have gotten a little second wind when normally this is when the fall/winter blues start for most. Of course I'm not like everyone else, lol. Last Thursday I got the itch to go to the TS. One day late of the Wednesday 50% off sale that they always have. I figured I would take my chances as I know I don't have the same tastes as most people as I'm looking for items I can prim up. Here is what I found. So excited!



Isn't this adorable? I never find anything already my taste. This is a small plate, probably about 4 inches or so. I don't have to do a thing to it! It's perfect.



Wood slat basket, a little drawer with dividers that I will probably use in my craft room for buttons and such. The long wooden box says 'recipes' on it, but it's going to get a paint job and will be used as a table centerpiece I think. I found these three daisy doilies and couldn't pass them up for 99 cents. The only problem: they are starched. I washed one and it didn't really get much better. Is there a secret to removing starch or is it impossible?



3 recipe boxes. I just love the metal! I love the look of the box on the left, but not the words. I don't know what I'm going to do because I love the color of the box. Hmmm. The other two will probably get painted and a punch needle design on the top or front.




A tiny shelf. Really tiny! Probably 5 inches wide. It's a nice burgundy color so it just needs a little sanding and staining to age it a bit.



This isn't handmade, but I couldn't pass it up. The cork is in good shape and there is a picture frame spot at the top. The glass will get removed and I will add either a punch needle piece or a wool applique of some sort.

 So I got all of this for about $8! I'm so excited. It was blue sticker day so everything with a blue sticker was 50% off, so I got the little 'plant love' plate for 25 cents! Steal!

Happy Halloween!

A quick makeover



This was my first attempt at making over a thrift store item. I used too many coats of paint and didn't watch my sanding, but she is cute anyway. She was an orangish-brown color underneath with polka dots, and even with a few coats of paint you can still see the polka dots and I kinda like that. I like that you can see that color along the edges where I sanded. She had a grungy blue bow that I changed to a raggedy piece of cotton. Here is the original:

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Every time I walk past the fireplace I get a nice whiff of those grubby candles from Tonya. My son even commented on how great they smell. Yum!

~candles, doily, berries, and paddle~



A few trips of thrift store finds

So I found a few things at our local thrift store when they were having 50% off day, but I really scored some finds when I discovered our Salvation Army. I went twice and cleaned them out of anything wood that I thought I could prim up. Here are some pics of items from one thrift store trip and two Salvation Army trips, one on their 50% off Wednesdays (love that!). The SA prices are already so low that I just couldn't resist some things on Wednesday.



Not so sure on the wicker tissue box, but we'll see after a spray of black paint. The pineapple thingy was cracked along the leaves so I got it for 20 cents cheaper. Nothing a little glue won't fix. Love the rooster and chicken! The sifter will be used during my first attempt at a shoofly cover. Little kitty will get a coat of paint for sure. I love expandable coat racks, so I grabbed two. One will go in my craft room for embroidery hoops and what not.




I couldn't resist these guys as they were already so warn. Unfortunately when I got home I saw the
handles stamped 'Taiwan' but that's okay. I will find a place for them near the fireplace in the living room.




Lots of painting to do here. I will be on the lookout for some prim honey labels for the little set. Love the mail slot
 box in the back right. It even has hooks on the side for keys. Maybe hubs can keep track of them!




The mug was interesting. I figured for a few pennies I will give it a coat of paint and see what happens.
Yes, that's a cheesy ice bucket, but with some love it will be the closest thing I will ever have to a firkin.




I have no clue what the original intent of this little guy was, maybe keys,
but I'm going  to hang salt dough ornaments from it.

 So that's about it. Oh, I did get a well-loved wooden trash bin that needs cleaned and some love, but he is out in the garage. My husband's aunt paid a bundle for her's, so I couldn't resist the $2.99 price tag at SA! Hub's was even happy with that purchase and wants to makeover that. : )

Enough collecting for a while, now it just needs to warm up so I can get to sanding, painting, and staining!

Have a good weekend.

~Michelle

Consignment Store Finds

I've been working a different schedule this week, helping out at one of my part-time jobs. I couldn't say no even if gas for the car is an arm and a leg! Today I'm home with a sick kid instead of working, so I thought I would blog. : )

I have had some time to kill between getting home from work and picking the kiddo up from track practice after school, so I've been roaming around town. I went to a shop I've driven by tons of times, but only stopped in once when they first opened a year or so ago. It's called Pieces. My tastes have changed since then and I thought I would see what they have that fits my new design tastes. Wow. I was tempted, but only walked out with a small $8 item this time. Here are some of the things I was drooling over, taken on my cell phone......



Old crock with a 5 on the side. 5 gallons?



These lamps reminded me of Pfaltzgraff. They look nicer in the shop and need shades. They are Ethan Allen.



I couldn't move back enough to get a full shot. Just an old box.



Wooden tray

Wow! This would be great to have as a decorative piece, but I have no place for it.



Little stool with a drawer.


One of my problems is that I don't know what's a good price for some items. They also have a tag system at the shop where as time goes on the price goes down, but you risk losing the item if someone else stops in before you get back and falls in love with it too!

The crock was around $50 and will go down to $33 at the end of April if it's still there. I have no idea if it's worth $50 or even $30, but either way I couldn't get it. I don't think I could have lifted it to get it in the car anyway, lol.

I almost bought that little stool with the drawer. It was $12. I would probably paint it and change the knob out, but I wasn't sure if I should spend $12 on it. So silly. So instead I spent $8 on a piece of "punched tin" that isn't handmade or probably even made in the USA. Oh well. I will stop in another day and see if the stool is still there.

Isn't that stove great? Oh how I wish I had a place to display it. I can picture a small crock of old utensils and other kitchen goodies displayed on it. I think it was only in the $200s which I thought was a good price. Again, not really a clue though, lol.

I'm glad I stopped in the shop. Lots of things to look at. There were even some matching pieces to the little Pfaltzgraff creamer that I found at the thrift store for 50 cents. She had the sugar and creamer for $6 and a bunch of other cups to match. I'm not sure yet if I want to collect more of this design, so I kept my wallet firmly snug in my pocket.

I do want to grab the lamps. I can't remember their price and I can't zoom in enough to see the tag. I do remember seeing that they are Ethan Allen and I wasn't shocked at the price. Maybe I will have to make a stop of there in the next few days. Our living room will be painted blue this summer, hopefully, and they would look great. The one table lamp we currently have is green metal and just doesn't fit. It's a hand-me-down from my in-laws and is actually kind of dangerous as it has these leaves wrapped around it that can be painful if you bump against one. I could use a lamp in my craft room so it will move up there when we paint.

I stopped into the thrift store yesterday and it was 50% off the entire store! I will post about that another day. Now it's time to check on the kiddo and fill my coffee mug. We have had nothing but rain for the past few days and I've managed to keep the headaches from attacking. Hope you all are staying warm and dry. : )

This week's thrift store finds

I have to pass the thrift store when I go grocery shopping (that's another reason why hubs is the grocery shopper in this family!) and of course couldn't help myself!

Not too many finds this time. A Pfaltzgraff milk bottle that is a soft yellow color and a Yorktowne creamer for $.50 each! No chips on either one. The creamer will probably be saved for after we paint our living room blue. Strange place for a creamer, but it will probably hold something else or just decorate a shelf. I can't find anything about the milk bottle online, but it is marked 'Pfaltzgraff Mexico' on the bottom so maybe it's not a popular thing here in the US.  Looking up the pattern name on the creamer, I fell in love with Village. I will be keeping an eye out for this pattern in the store from now on!

I also grabbed four small dessert-size wooden bowls (3 the same, 1 different) for $.90 that I can't wait to paint.

Since it was 50 cent day (on Mondays, a particular colored tag is only 50 cents), I checked out the wool sweaters as well. Two really nice men's sweater vests for - you guessed it - $.50 each. They felted/fulled up beautifully and will be the base of a few penny rugs in the near future.

I wanted to pass on this tip to anyone who felts/fulls sweaters. I ran them through the washer and dryer, and one of them didn't seem to budge. Hmph. 100% Merino Wool on the tag. I remembered something I read somewhere to cut the seams, so that's what I did. I cut up the sides on the seam and threw that sweater back in for round two. Ta-Da! It shrunk up nice!

My first thrift store finds!

Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh!!! I'm hooked! Check out what I got:



First trip: $19

  The three tier shelf on the left is poorly made in China, but thought it would look great on a table with lots of fun things on each shelf, maybe decorated for the seasons/holidays. The washboard is just a decor item as it has geese and a heart on the other side, left over from 80s country I'm sure. The large shelf in the back is well made. I can imagine everything painted black, brick red, and mustard and hung on the walls. We have absolutely nothing hanging right now. The hubs even wants to help sand and get things ready for me to paint! Yay!! We need something we can do together and this will be great. We are even going to try and make some small furniture pieces this summer as well. I'm so happy! I was afraid of what he was going to say, but he was pleased with my finds. He just wants me to be careful in my future purchases, make sure that I'm not just buying to buy something. Whew! Thought I was in the dog house.

Can you believe that spool was only $1.50?!?! I almost died when I saw it. This thrift store is very popular for clothing, but I never imagined finding an old spool there. It's 11" tall! I bought two smaller ones in Amish country for $7 and $6 and they are about 6" tall, so this one would have been at least $20 in Amish country. They did not know what a treasure they had on their hands at the thrift store! I thought I was on Candid Camera or something. I grabbed it up so fast...right after I put my eyeballs back in my head.

My find is on the right with the small spool I found in
Amish country on the left for size comparison.

I wasn't sure if the scale was an antique, but grabbed it anyway as I've seen some of you with scale collections. I figured if nothing else, it would look good on display in the kitchen or dining room. I can practically hold all of my prim decor items in both hands, so I was happy just to add to the collection and start decorating our home.

I could have strangled the person who labeled the scale. It's dusty and a bit rusty so a price sticker wouldn't stick, so they just grabbed a Sharpie and labeled the tray! Wha???

So that was  my first trip into the world of thrift store makeovers. A big thanks to all of you who have shared your makeovers and addiction.    : )