Thrifted Finds # 14 :: Penn Dutch Goodness

 

A few of my favorite finds from the past week.  A little bamboo cup, a Penn Dutch candelabra, a sweet little ceramic egg cup, a promotional Blue Lace Medallion Pyrex covered casserole dish & a piece of pottery from 1975, the second I've found from the Fred Roberts Lancaster County collection.  I absolutely love this pattern, though it's very rare to come across pieces.  I had a dinner plate last year & it sold rather quickly in the shop & I had quite a struggle with myself to let go of it.

This piece is a large canister, it originally had a lid, but I was happy just finding the base.  It would make a lovely planter or utensil holder in the kitchen.  Everything about this pattern is perfect!  I'm sure it will make some collector very happy once it's listed for sale.

I thrifted this a little while ago, but always seem to forget to take pictures of the things that I hang on the walls for safekeeping.  The look on the little girl's face really creeps Chucky out, but I bought it anyway because of her brilliant eyelashes & that cute little kitten.  It is a very large paint by number piece that I bought to resell but never got around to doing so because I just don't know how to ship something this size.

I'll get around to it sooner or later, but for now I'll continue moving it from room to room when Chucky's at work & then pretending I have no idea what he's talking about when he discovers it hanging above the toilet or in the back of the closet behind his hoodies.

A little thrifted vignette of my favorite owl bookends (a thrifty gift from my Megs), a stack of thrifted antique books & my red Woodstock mini accordion.

This is a rather large piece (18"x24") as well & I love the detail.  I found it at a rummage sale at our local Moose Lodge, those lodges always have the best stuff for sale!  It reminds me of my Grammaw's herb garden which was mostly medicinal with a culinary section.  I adore the crewel work in the center, it's been cut off so that it's fuzzy & looks like shrubbery.  So sweet.

Linking up with :
Flea Market Finds
& High On Thrifting Thursday
& Thrifty Love
& The Penny Worthy Project 
& Thrift Share Monday

Giveaway #1 :: We Have A Winner

& the winner is ...

Lisa!  Congrats m'dear!  I will send you a Facebook message & you can shoot me an address to ship the owls out to.  Serenity thought it was pretty cool that I let her draw the winning name, I promised that next time she'll get to do the same.

We're gearing up for summer vacation at the end of this week.  As of now I have Madison after school every day except for every other Friday, Sequoya every Monday, & Serenity every Friday except for the first one of each month.  Summer vacation means I will have them a bit more often & since I love being an aunt SO much, I am looking forward to it.

I've been saving up crafty projects & recipes on Pinterest for them to try out & making a list of movies to watch with each of them.  Stuart Little with Sequoya, The Borrowers with Serenity, Summer School with Madison.  Now that the pool is all clean & ready to go we'll be swimming a lot I'm sure.

I'm hoping the extra activity will help with my anxiety disorder, trying to get back to where I can work at least part-time outside of the home & supplement my Etsy income so that the fella & I can move down to Chico before the students return for fall semester & take up all of the affordable housing options.

Thanks so much to all of you who participated & followed & tweeted & liked & commented!

... & in kitten news, he has settled right on in.  The dogs are enamored of him (ferocious pitt-bulls indeed) & they each take time out to nibble at him & nuzzle him & Elvis loves to get rowdy & toss him around a bit while the kitten hangs from his ears & bites his lips.

We decided on a name & I keep forgetting to comment on it.  He is called Weasley after one of my favorite ginger haired fictional families (of Harry Potter fame, just in case you've been living under some very large rocks for the past 15 years).  He is very mischievous & a bit clumsy.  The name suits him well.

Here he is sleeping on the couch with Chucky after a long day of chasing crickets (Weasley, not the fella) while Chucky moved into his new room at Victory Tattoo.

Now I've got to get my caboose in gear & take some Thrift Haul photos for the last week.  Too many great finds not to share!

Thrifted Finds # 13 :: Spring Cleaning Pickins

First off, I'm having a giveaway & if anyone would like to participate you can find the info H E R E ... c'mon, free vintage stuff!  Who wouldn't want to win?

Thrifting lately has been pretty fruitful.  Lots of sweet & silly kitsch, tons of Mid Century housewares & SO many children's books to make me smile.  I attribute this good luck to the weather; lots of folks spring cleaning equals tons of donations for our local non-profits.

5 of the 7 thrift shops in my little town are non-profits & thankfully we have a charity minded population.  The only one I won't shop at or donate to is the Salvation Army, I don't agree with their politics or how they choose to exclude some members of the population based on their sexual orientation.

Anyhow ... here are a few of my favorites from the past week, some will stay with me, some will make their way into the shop.

An Avon concertina bubble bath bottle in its original box, a mint condition Rubbermaid candy bin, a brown glass Barrel of Beer bottle, an olive green enamel coffee cup with daisies, two tiny Funny Design candle holders, a solitary Trojan horse shaker & a UCTCI accordion playing figurine.

The graphics on this box are great & that little figurine will sit on the shelf next to my mini red vintage Woodstock accordion.

A vintage hound in wonderful houndstooth fabric, a unique milk glass dish with green platonite interior, & a crocheted pot holder.

She was hiding in a frame behind a blank piece of paper, we took the frame apart to paint it & there she was.  It's an 8x10, I just love the scalloped edge of her hat & that dress is perfection.

Surprise, surprise.  A few little 1950s books in near mint condition.  The two in the middle are by the same artist, Anne Sellers Leaf, one of my favorite illustrators & these are two I don't have.

The inside covers of The Bedtime Book make me swoon.

In other news, my husband started work at a new tattoo shop on Friday & it's the best tattoo shop in our area for sure, Victory Tattoo.   Yes, very exciting news that we held on to for a couple of weeks until he had the chance to break it to the owner of the shop he was working at.  He has wanted to work at Victory ever since he moved here & last weekend he went in to drop off a custom tattoo machine for the owner & was offered a position.  He's positively giddy & I am so proud of / happy for him.

He's down at the shop getting his room set up today, I am home watching Fresh Beat Band with Sequoya Rose & after we pick up Maddy from school this afternoon we are going to go swimming.  I've got to get myself down to try on new swim suits now that the pool is ready for the season.

Linking up with ::

Flea Market Finds
& Thrifty Love
& Thrift Score Thursday
& The Penny Worthy Project
& Thrifty Treasures

50 Followers :: Owl Coaster Giveaway!

Oh my goodness, how surprised was I this morning to see that I had reached 50 followers! I have had something special set aside for a giveaway post & I do believe that this is the perfect time.

First off, thank you all so very much for coming around to see all of the stuff I haul home on my thrifting & estate sale adventures. What a treat to know that someone is paying attention to my rambling & appreciating these things I find that I do so adore. I don't have any friends IRL who dig on vintage as much as I do & to tell you the truth I think most of 'em secretly believe I'm nuts for making a living this way.  I could bet, however, that I am enjoying myself LOADS more than I would be if I were still a Fat-Girl-Panty-Pimper (my former occupation), even though I really did enjoy that too ... well, some of it!

Anyway, there are two adorable little owl trivets which have been lovingly refurbished by myself into bright, fun coasters. One is teal & the other is Hubba Bubba (psst, your age is showing, Poppy Lynn) pink. I use mine (& I do have many) to set plants on when I bring them indoors, to hold my cups-a Joe & spots o' tea while I'm reading & they look just darling hanging on the wall in pretty much any room.

So I've never done a giveaway before, but I've participated in a few ...

To enter, follow this blog via Google Friend Connect & say hello in the comments below before next Thursday (May 17) @ Midnight.

For extra entries:

• Share the giveaway on your Facebook
• Like bliss&vinegar on Facebook
• Share on your own blog &/or Tumblr &/or Pinterest
• Tweet about the giveaway

Leave a comment for each extra action that you do!

Next Friday my lovely 9 year old niece, Serenity, will draw the lucky name out of my favorite bowl.

Thrifted Finds # 12 :: Science & Tattoo Flash

I don't know what it is about vintage children's science books, but I find them everywhere & have to buy them.  There is no way I can actually keep every children's book I buy, so I read them to my 5 year old niece, Sequoya, & then they end up in the shop as soon as she's moved on (usually after about two weeks of reading the same book again & again & again...).  They sell well, so I guess it isn't only myself who digs 'em. 

I found 11 of these Let's-Read-And-Find-Out Science Book books at a local thrift recently, all in a neat little stack on the floor next to a run down 1970s Barbie Townhouse that some child had liberally "painted" with multicolored crayon scribbles.  I actually looked around, thinking that someone had set them there for a moment while checking out something else, but there was no one to be seen & so I put the 5 second rule (usually reserved for dropped M&Ms or Wasabi Peas, but useful in Thrifting adventures as well) into effect & snatched them up quick as I could.

Here they are partying with the unblemished pink owl bookend,
(I couldn't take them back ... they are just SO pink & terrified).

Illustration from 1962, My Five Senses ... taste all there is to taste ... THE perfect motto for a fatty like me!

Tiny vintage illustrations give me palpitations, I should've stuck to my childhood dream of becoming a librarian.

 The books are dated from 1960 all the way up to 1976.  All in such pristine condition aside from the name of a teacher, Mrs. Nabors (that has been craftily transformed into the name Mrs. Wabonson) scrawled on the title page of a few of them & there are three with the title pages ripped all the way out, but that doesn't bother me.  I'll keep them around a bit until Sequoya is all learned up on senses, bats, starfish, & salt ... then I'll post what I don't want on Etsy.  Win-win.

I found so much good stuff this week, our local Elks Lodge had their annual fund raising rummage sale & I was a good girl & got there first thing on the first day.  Sadly most of their items were outside & it went from a light sprinkle to a downpour after only 10 minutes.  I rushed through, grabbing my very favorite items before everything was covered with tarps & went back the next day to look again.  There was some great stuff, including a pair of Street King Official Roller Derby skates from the 1960s in their original box (which I failed to photograph somehow).

These fancy cat mugs are amazing, their glaze looks like enamel & they're so pretty!

I got many sets of mid century playing cards, in their original swanky plastic cases.  So fun.

A set of round playing cards with wonderful graphics on both sides.

I don't know how many years Marvin & June had their coffee together, but I won't be splitting them up now!

Mrs. Carver's Tex Kringle Christmas tin ... just my kinda kitsch.

Jars for housing some of my vintage button collection.

Now these are something new in the shop this week. My husband has a thing for ornate vintage frames, especially small ones. He traces an outline of their glass onto his watercolor pad & takes it to the tattoo shop with him. In between tattoos, if he has some down-time, he draws up small pieces of flash to go in them. He's been giving them to family & friends for years; I love it when he comes home with new pieces for me!

He did some up for Mother's Day & I am sticking a few of them on Etsy.  I think they're a swell little gift to give & who doesn't like traditional style tattoo flash?!  Plus a sweet little one of a kind piece of artwork in a wee vintage frame is just wonderful to give or get!  He does them for weddings & baby showers & other occasions as well so we may put some customizable options up in the future also.

Linking up with ::
Flea Market Finds
& High On Thrifting Thursday
& Thrifty Love
& Thrift Score Thursday
& The Penny Worthy Project 
& Thrifty Treasures

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