Freecycle and Thrifting

Freecycle is a fantastic Yahoo Group! I joined about 3 weeks ago and I have already picked up some great items. The first item I got was our sweet bunny, Floppy (see the previous post). Next I picked up a serger, just needs some maintenance, going to the shop next week.

This weekend I chanced upon this wire closet shelf/organizer. We are using it in Holly’s flea market booth to hang her vintage clothes. I just need to buy two support brackets and screws. Holly is re-doing on of my flea market booths. She is using her extraordinarre’ decorating diva skills to turn a ho-hum booth to Classic Retro Vintage wonder.

So join your local Freecycle Yahoo group and see what treasures you can find. I am purging my closet so I am giving away a sack of clothes on Freecycle soon. The person who wants the item emails the giver, the giver emails back his/her address and confirms pick up(unless it is already gone) and then wantee picks the item up. Usually items are just left on the porch for pick up. Lots of fun.

Here are some furniture items I recently thrifted at a moving sale. A wooden chair for my living room, needs to be re-glued in a couple of places and the seat needs to be recovered.

A nice bamboo folding screen, $10.

 

A vintage child’s playpen, great condition, $5.00. It folds up for storage and the mattress is in good shape and has the cutest animals on it. The playpen has pastel wooden balls that are on springs and can bounce if pushed down. It has the seal of approval from Better Homes and Garden Magazine!

An estate sale sign lured me to stop the other day, I tried to ignore the urge, really I did! I drove a few blocks past the sign but I broke down and turned the wheel into the no-return land of estate sales, oh, the shame! Here are just some of the spoils, two large trash bags of vintage 1950’s & 1960’s clothes, $2.00 dollars each. (you can tell I am remorseful, right?)

A 1950’s Brown with Turquoise blue polka-dots with a blue silk hankie in the pocket. A housewife would look very snappy in this dress while fixing her family’s dinner.

A 1950’s red sweater with a crochet collar trimmed in white. It looks like something for the soda shop scene.

Here come the 60’s! A purple geometric print knit jacket. A slim white or black sheath dress under the jacket and hair teased to perfection for the office crowd.

Another geo print knit dress with a matching belt. Groovy, man, groovy! Perfect with brown chunky heeled shoes for the date on the town.

Much, much more. All of these vintage clothes will go in Holly’s new booth.

Join your local Freecycle Yahoo group! Let me know what you pick up or give away. Share the wealth is my philosophy.

$1.00 A Sack!

Holly called last Friday afternoon and told me about a huge church rummage sale in Tulsa, that she had just attended. AND that the next day about 10:00am the price went to a $1.00 a sack!  I decided that Alex and I would be making a trip to Tulsa the next morning. Alex is my TIT (thrifter in training). What did you think it was!?. I could not pass up a $1.00 a sack sale, come hell or high water (well, maybe high water, hell, no sweat)!

We got eight sacks stuffed full of treasures! I got two high$ silk dress pant suits, a dark blue and a ivory. The pictures below are a few of the treasures I picked up. There are two items that I picked up at a sale on Friday morning, I put the price of beside each.

• Two Green Vintage Fabric Throw Pillows (colors match my bedroom)
• Two Velvet Dark Green Throw Pillows
• A Vintage 60’s Twin Sheet Set (I will use as fabric)
• A Vintage Sage Green Velvet Needlepoint Pincushion (hangs on wall)
• A Pink Depression Ware Candy Dish (Scotty Dog) ($1.00)

• Vintage Art Pottery Umbrella Stand, RRP Company, Roseville, Ohio ($5.00)
• Fruit Contact Paper
• Plastic Resin Trivet (grapes)
• Clear Glass Flower Frog
• BH&G Desserts Cookbook
• Complete Works by Shakespeare (looks like a Bible) 1924
• A “Good Morning” Toast Press (just for fun)
• A Honey Dipper
• 3 Dark Brown Art Pottery Bowls
• Pottery Incense Burner
• Complete Book of Roses (1956)
• Reading for Enjoyment (1950)
• Ceramic Cow Jar (Made in Germany)

One of the books that I found extremely funny was the  ”The Care & Feeding of Executives” by Millard C. Faught and Laurence Hammond, Copyright 1946. This book in written in a very tongue- in- cheek manner. In this copy, on the cartoon pictures of the executives, the company or the executive that owned the book had the “real” guys of the company sign by the caricature. Love some of the names of chapters like How To Pound A Table and How To Win Friends-For 15%.

This is the inside back cover.

This cartoon page is in the chapter “How To Engage A Secretary and Keep Her Happy With Your Work”. Some days I feel like the one in the middle! Especially the days I don’t wear my “lift and separate” bra! Can you relate?

AND, I got to spend some quality time with three of my most favorite girls, Holly, Alex and Ruby!

I could not have asked for more of a perfect day!

Princess Thrifting

This week I really did not do much thrifting because:

• Worked two days at the Flea Market
• Cleaned one of my flea market booths from top to bottom
• Moved my small flea market booth into another space, cleaned, organized, etc.
• Cleaned house, done laundry
• I had one of my princesses to watch a couple of days
• Family Reunion
• etc, etc

However, I had to have my thrifting fix, so Mr. Nice Guy gladly went with me to a few sales. I found my princesses some dressup clothes (1.25).

Last weekend Princess Alex bought a make-up bag (.75) at a sale. She requested her own make-up like Mommy’s, so off we went to buy some make-up. She filled the make-up case with all the necssary princess stuff when she got home.

Princess Alex got some Strawberry Shortcake Houseshoes (.50), a Disney Princess Sleeping T-Shirt (.50), a denim short outfit (1.50).

Princess Sweet Pea got two dresses from Baby Gap. The first one is a cotton peasant style (2.00).

Look at this baby corduroy dress with pink crochet look edging (2.00)! Both dresses have a diaper cover. Speaking of Princess Sweet Pea, she pulled herself up and stood alone for a milasecond for the first time last nite! My, how they grow up fast, slow down, please.

• 3 –  70’s brown juice glasses (.25)
• 2 old blue bottles (.10)
• Vintage Decorating How To Book (for Holly) (.50)
• Vintage Bar Measuring Glass (.25)
• A Flow Blue Sugar (in bad shape, but I reeeaaallyy like it) (.15)
• Frankoma Pottery Robin Egg Blue Child’s Cup (.05)
• LOVE Cookie Cutters (.10)
• Vintage Green Glass (Vasoline) Vase (.15)

Thrifting was all about the princesses’ this week. Way to much cuteness going on here!

Well, this hayseed is holdin’ it down!

FREE!! 8 Miles

This Saturday, Grandad watched Alex while I went to a couple of yard sales. He thought I needed a break after being so sick all week, the antibiotics kicked in fast! One of the sales was about 8 miles out, I followed the signs. As I got out of my car, a gentleman said “Take any thing you want on those trailers, its all free. If you don’t take it, I will have to haul it off!” There were three flatbed trailers with boxes full of junk, oh, I mean treasure. Well, I found a few little treasures.

• A crochet doily, which actually matches the fabric,
• 5 yards of really unique flowery fabric,
• a little vintage toy Pink Poodle that collapses when you push in the bottom,
• Clothing for Women, Copyright 1941

3 Round Souvenir Trays: Oklahoma, New Orleans, Illinios   

• An Arts & Crafts Sewing Bird. This needs to be reworked, I will show the after project when I am done. Many a boy made these for his Mom in wood shop.
• A great little unique china jar, I love the bird and flowers. It has a chip on the lid, but I liked chipped items. It usually means it has been loved by someone. 

 

• A vintage fruit canister, it will fit nicely into my kitchen,
• Some great 60’s books with really neat pictures, maybe something decopaged from the pages??

Some of my other finds:

• 2 new still in the package walnut hammer handles
• A vintage glass waterer for chickens (hard to explain, unless you have been around farms with chickens.)
• Macrame Books
• A 70’s vintage glass canister with a wheat design
• A vintage tupperware spaghetti container with a orange lid 

That’s all the free stuff! Some of my other buys were:

• A George Foreman Grill $2.00
• A spare coffee pot $1.00
• A huge wreath with flowers/greenery for my front porch $3.00
• Several nice jackets/shirts .25 cents each
• A vintage bamboo lamp $1.00
• A bunch of F-P Pop Off toys for Alex $1.00

A nice morning thrifting!

I wish all of you many nice mornings, whether you are thrifting or just enjoying a cup of coffee.

The Thrifting Gods

Sometimes when you go thrifting, the Thrifting Gods are smiling upon you and sometimes you forgot to make a sacrifice to them so the Thrifting Gods frown upon you. Is that how it works for you? When they smile, the whole world smiles with you. Right? Well, the other day the Thrifting Gods were smiling and I found a few things. I found some really cute magnets. A couple of the flower ones are going on my refrig in the garage. I think the magnet with the mouse and hummingbird is adorable. I bought the little shells magnets for Holly. Look at the two little mice, penguin and owl, cute, cute!! 25 cents!! Oh , almost forgot the large pieces of vintage gold chenille, .50 cents. I think some pillows or purse would be a good use for the chenille???

The Japan Wood Recipe Box .25 cents. The two vintage crochet hot pads .75 cents . The silver spoon, the teak wood handled bar tool, the vintage reamer and the neat little plate holders are were in a plastic sack with other kitchen misc. for .50 cents. I am keeping these for my house and putting the rest in my flea market booth.

The little vintage flamingo plate is for Holly, she collects vintage flamingos, .10 cents. The oriental style picture, .50 cents. The Japan two little cups and saucers, .50 cents each.

Look at this set of 70’s sugar, creamer, salt, pepper, vinegar and oil containers, $3.50 for the whole set.

I have a collection of vintage hand mirrors and brushs, the left one has little plastic roses, was .10 cents. The middle brush and the flower pattern one, .50 cents each. I am going to hang a arrangement of the mirrors and bruches on my bedroom wall. When I am done I will post a picture.

The vintage aprons were .25 cents. I like the brown flowery one. There are four new large pacthwork squares, 1.00 for all.

The best little find was this vintage blue pottery pitcher, it matches my back porch mosaic sewing treadle table. I need to repair the grout in the table, I found this table at a Estate Sale for $10.00, the top was handmade mosaic and the stand is a old metal sewing machine treadle. I have several pottery pieces that coordinate with the tile, I display thos pieces in the warm months.

I found three 50’s vintage dresses for .50 cents a piece. The material is worn and shows some fading but the styles are fabulous. I thought maybe Holly could use the dresses as patterns. One of the dresses still had the size tag attached.

I hope the Thrifting Gods are smiling upon you!

Easter Surprises

The Easter Bunny came to my house! Basket full of surprises for all the kids! Ham dinner with all the trimmings! Holly made a Easter Bunny Cake. It was delicious! Strawberry Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting! Little Ruby got her first taste of frosting from her Aunt Rachael, she thought it tasted good!

 Two little hands wanting to get one of those cupcakes!

One of the items that the Easter Bunny left at Aunt Holly’s house for Alex was a chick that hatched out of an egg. Just put the egg into water and within 24 hours (give or take) a baby yellow chick hatched out! It was very realistic, the shell cracked up slowing and the chick’s head came at first. Alex sure was interested in that egg.

A very nice Easter! However, we missed Jeremy, he had to work! But I guess somebody has to work!

Holly, Ruby and I are going to Neosho, Missouri this weekend for the City-Wide Garage Sale! The19th Annual city-wide sale. It is the largest in Missouri, more than 300 families have garage sales, begins at 7:00am rain or shine! The town doubles in size that weekend! Everyone is encouraged to make hotel reservations early. We always stay with my sister-in-law, her husband goes to the lake that weekend to escape the madness. We have a map, drinks, snacks and a plan! I will have some things to show you next week!

Here are some things I have found thrifting lately, just wanted to give you a little taste.

I collect the green depression glassware.

A Jungle Animal Pop-Up Book and a set of Animal Dominoes for the girls.

 

Two vintage patterns, one for baby clothes and one for teaching dolls.

The local Relay for Life had their annual book sale. I spent $10.00 and could barely carry out the box of books I purchased. I found many great books, here are a few. A 1964 Better Homes and Gardens Famous Foods from Famous Places. Recipes from the hottest restaurants of the day. 

Two of my favorite kind of cookbooks, collections published by local groups. These books are where you will find the recipes for home cooking! The orange one has all chinese dishes!

Recently I have become interested in making Artist Trading Cards. I found some old aged books in Russian, French and German to use as backgrounds for ATC’s at the book sale.

My score of the week were the copies of old pictures of little girls holding dolls, .25 cents each. There is actually one old picture on a postcard. I bought the pictures to make copies to use in making ATC’s, no copyright. I liked the whole girls holding dolls theme. Here is the great part (the surprise), the copies have written on the back:

1. Olive Stokes Tom Mix First Wife
2. Olive Stokes Mother
3. Greta Stokes Olives Sister

I did not realise what was written on the back until I got home and looked at the pictures! The old postcard shows both girls holding their dolls. Wonder what was on their minds?

Tom Mix was an Cowboy star from 1910-1935, silent movies to talkies. Before Mix became a movie star, he had several odd jobs in the Oklahoma Territory. He was a performer in the famous 101 Ranch Shows. The 101 Ranch held big productions in a huge old stadium in Dewey, Oklahoma. Dewey has the Tom Mix Museum. Research indicates that Olive Stokes was his third of five wives. He and Olive had a daughter, Ruth, born July 13, 1912. 

Many good surprises! Go to your local thrift store and see what surprises you can find!

Changing of Hands

 

The scientific name is Lycoris Squamigera. This lily has several common names, such as Naked Lady Lily and Surprise Lily. In the Spring the green leaves come up and look great for about a month or two. The leaves then turn brown and die. In August, up pops a stalk (no leaves) with buds that open up pretty pinkish purple lillies. Thus the name Surprise Lilly.

Well, this shopkeeper is open for barter! I am going to be posting a Changing of Hands entry once a month, so keep checking back, you may find something you can’t live without. Here is March’s Barter Goodies!

A Wooden Paper Doll with attachable (velcro) clothes. This cutie is 13 inches tall and has a 21 piece wardrobe.

                    

Sharing Time. A big person/Little Person Project Book. Some of the projects are:

1. Build a Box Playhouse
2. A Puppet Stage
3. A beautiful Daisy

A total of 40 projects.      

Vintage Full Size Strawberry Sheeting. Strawberry Fields Forever, maybe curtains.

    

Sew & Go Baby. A sewing book for Baby Gear. Everything from Baby Announcements to Recycling  Sweaters, Dad’s Shirt, etc. into baby clothes.                              

Metro 7 Blouse XL. I bought this new, never wore it. I love the blue/brown combo.

            

Faded Glory Blouse. Ladies 16/18. The blouse’s bust line did not really fit, so it is yours! The beading detail is nice.

      

Vintage Crochet Books. Any combo set or all. The Annie’s Showcase of Needlecraft (24 crocheted cuddly critters), Learn to Knit Combo and the Ouick Fashion Sweater Combo.

                

 Let’s see what do I need???

• Vintage Material
• Buttons/Ribbons/Trims
• Old Magazines (1920-1970)
• Colored (Medium Tone) Wool Felt 
• Your offer

If you see something you want, just email me with attached pictures of your barter items. We will see if a Changing of Hands can happen. If so, we will barter and exchange addresses.

Do you like to recycle or make old into new? I like to recycle clothes, furniture and new packaging(bottle caps, etc.). As a culture we throw away to many useful items! The earth’s resources are not unlimited. I have a big surprise to announce in about three weeks, so please check back, you might be interested!

Do you like thrifting? Thrifting is a big part of recycling. Check this out. I love the retro graphics!

This is one of my dream get-aways.

I would really love to hear from you about your recycling projects. Email me with the story and pictures and one entry a month will feature Your Recycle Projects.

Look around your house today to see if something old can be made new again! After all, it is Spring! 

Parsimony Friendship

Remember the tiny clothespins I bought at the $1 store? I mentioned that I had a project in mind using them, well, I am mentioning it now! These dish soap aprons were my Grandma Bertha Belles. I remember the aprons being on the Ivory Soap and she changed the aprons every week. I really like the seersucker 40’s fabric apron, don’t you!

These aprons can be made from scraps of material and seam binding in your stash. These make great housewarming or bridal shower or welcome to the neighborhood gifts. I plan on putting a couple in a basket with dish soap(environmental friendly), scrubbers (made from strips of netting), kitchen hand towels, nice hand lotion, a coouple of delicious tea bags and a cup. There are many more “homey” (no, not like in my homies) items I am sure that you can think of to add to the basket. If you want the pattern and three clothespins, send a $1.00 (to cover postage, envelope). I have how to make PDF files on my list for learning, but I cannot PDF the clothespins to you. Simply just email me and I will send you my address.

Friendship Breads and Starter

Have you heard of a Friendship Starter for baked goods? This recipe comes from the Amish, it is based on their traditional sourdough baking, sweeter tho’. The friendship part comes from sharing the starter as it grows. Often, the starter is given to a friend with the recipes and a loaf of friendship bread. While I cannot give you a loaf of bread, I can give you the record keeper sheet and the recipes and thoughts of  friendship. Just drop me a email, and I will send the attached recipes so you can print them. I had a starter at one time but it was forgotten and I did not keep up. I found the starter recipe a couple of months ago and decided to try it again. Here’s is the recipe to the simple Friendship Starter.

Friendship Starter

1. Day 1 Mix 1 cup milk, 1 cup flour and 1 cup sugar in a glass/cereamic bowl or jar. Be sure to stir with wooden spoon.  Cover loosely with plastic wrap. Leave on counter.
2. Days 2-5 Leave it alone to bubble.
3. Day 6 Stir once.
4. Day 7 Feed with 1 cup sugar, 1 cup flour and 1 cup milk. Mix first, then add.
5. Days 8-9 Stir once each day.
6. Day 10 Feed with 1 cup sugar, 1 cup flour and 1 cup milk. Mix first, then add. Today you can take out 1 cup of the starter for baking and 1 cup to give to a friend. Continue to maintain the starter.

Maintainng Your Starter: Leave out on counter. Stir it once every day and feed it every 5th day with the 3 ingredients-1 cupsugar, flour, milk. I am going to keep track of the every five days on my kitchen calendar. A pattern of every five days is easy, 5th, 10th, 15th, 20th, etc. You may have to skip a day or so, that will be fine. The starter can be used any day you want for baking or to give to a friend, just be sure to leave a cup in the starter. Managing your starter is not complicated, if you do not need any starter, just take some out and discard it.  Every month transfer your starter to another container and wash and scald the container before putting the starter back in. I just use the boost heat setting on my dishwasher.

I have made a record keeper where you can keep track of the starter. I also have other recipes that can be made from the starter, such as, Fruit Nut Friendship Bread, Pancakes and Cinnamon Rolls. There is a Fruit Starter, also, which makes yummy moist cakes and bread.

Weekly Thrifting Pleasures

This is a fantastic bowl that I will use for dips, like Summer Fruit Dip. The wonderful leaf pattern will be prefect to set in the center of a white platter for my famous (well, in my husband’s family, anyway) Fall Caramel Apple Dip. I use golden and red delicious apples for a nice color contrast. For you collectors the bottom reads, Carefree True China by Syracuse, Woodbine(pattern), Made in USA.

This Teapot Set is made by Target Home Neo Asia, the pattern is Indonesia. The colors and flower design is honorable!

Friendship and recipes are always good to share!

Birds Singing, Bees Buzzing and Flowers Blooming

 

Today is one of those days when you know God exists! C.S. Lewis believed that a person could see and become closer to God when viewing God’s handiwork in Nature.

While cleaning house today I found two children’s books that I am going to read to Alex, since it is Spring. The first one is Baby Animals (A Change-A-Picture Book), Larry Shapiro, Franklin Watts, 1980. There is a ribbon that you can turn to change the picture from baby animals to adult animals. This one is the Deer page, first picture shows the baby fawn, turn it and it shows the doe and buck.

The second book is Why Do Birds Sing?, Chris Arvetis, Carole Palmer, Field Publications, 1988.

Holly, Ruby, Alex and I went to an Estate Sale last Friday, one of the items I picked up was 4-8 oz. Anchor Hocking Fire King bowls.

Do you ever go to Estate Sales? Sometimes when I go, I think wonder what people will think when going to my Estate Sale? Probably, some will say “Boy, this lady was a pack rat!!!!!!”, others (like me) will say “This lady sure had some neat things!!!!” I tell my family that when I die, I what to be cremated and my ashes sprinkle at Garage Sales! Heck, I really do not care, I will be long gone and maybe coming back as a Buddhist Monk, or maybe just visiting with my deceased loved ones, or maybe heaven is like one really huge Estate Sale!

Go outside, take a deep breath and really look at the world around you, and just maybe you will catch a glimpse of God!

A Chance Encounter

Yesterday I went to two sales in the small town near where I live. It was an cold early blustery March day, 36 degrees and the wind was blowing, I had on gloves. The first sale was where the chance encounter happened. A young girl about 10-12 came out of the house when I pulled up and got out of my car. Just outside the front door of the house, there were a few tables set up with dishes, etc. I pick out the cups I wanted and sat them in front of the girl, who very carefully wrapped each cup in a plastic sack. She told me .25 cents , I gave her a dollar and told her to keep the rest of the change for her. She asked me if I could wait a minute because her mama was printing off a pamphlet about their home business, I said I could. I really wanted to get back in my warm car! But my inner voice told me to wait. The pamphlet was about their home baking business, the baked goods inside sounded delicious. I told her thank you and went on my way. Now about the chance, I have not been able to stop thinking about the young girl and her mother. The house, the sale, the young girl and the mother brought back to me the days of being a single mother of two young girls and trying to make ends meet. My inner voice is telling me to go back and help them with their business.  I usually listen when I hear that small inner voice! Their business will be the first pro-bono (if you will) business I will highlight in my Nowata blog. Since December I have been trying to decide the business I was going to offer my free blog services. I needed an example of a business blog entry to show prospective customers.  May all of us be blessed in this venture!

By the way, here are the marvelous little cups that led the way to a brighter tomorrow. The markings on the bottom of these cups are Aphart 5th Ave. Hand Painted 2211.

I love this little eggcup, the pattern is Sheridan and the maker is Noritake (Japan ceramics). Lefton China made the Cardinal Christmas Cup. I am keeping both these cups.

The next sale I went to was an Estate Sale, I was looking through crochet pattern books and the proprietor offered me a deal I could not refuse! $5.00 for over 500 crochet books! I do not crochet, tried it once, did not enjoy it. However, I could not refuse the deal, so now I am going to put all but a handful on Ebay. March’s give-away will be at least ten crochet pattern books for making a comment on my blog! When you make a comment, mention what you like to crochet (because there are books on everything and anything you can crochet!) I also purchase two needle-cases with the needles inside and I haven’t a clue to what one can do with any of them. My grandmother has made exquisite crochet tablecloths and afghans. 

We are each given special gifts to share with others, whether you are an artist painting a masterpiece to be enjoyed down through the years or you can bake a cake that the first bite satisfies the soul. Share your gifts!