A $2 dollar day

Well, Saturday here in my town is yard sale day! It is the beginning of the season. So... I set out this am looking for some deals!

First stop- lots of stuff cheap!!! The only thing I had to have was this strawberry jar:




















* 50 cents


Next couple of stops nothing. I really like old vintage things. My last stop and this is what I got:




















* $1 for the milk container ( I will put flowers in it and place it in my garden) * 50 cents for the rusty shovel that will go on my porch this winter with greens on it!

Tomorrow is half price day at goodwill. Wish me lucky on some thrifty finds!

Welcome New Writers!

I want to introduce you guys to two new ThriftFinds writers.

First is Kim H. Kim is a good friend of mine from my stamping world. She is a crazy brilliant designer. HERE is a link to her blog where you can read tons about her and what she does. One thing she does is hit thrift stores and garage sales. She gets all these wonderful odds and ends that she turns into great art. So of course I want her to share that stuff with us at Thrift Finds!

Second is Jeffrey Brown. Notice the last name? Yes? This is my step-brother. He's got a super fun eye for finding really, REALLY cool stuff. Seriously, he found a huge wax horse head a few weeks ago on the beach! Who finds that? Mom wouldn't let him keep it, apparently it was sticky from the sun. Anyhow that's the sort of awesomeness Jeffrey will be bringing us.

Friday's Thrift Expedition

Friday was great. I took off with thrifty friends Marion and Patricia. We filled up the trunk of our car with goodies. Marion focused on clothes and got the capris that match the slacks, jacket and top she already had so she was lucky. She got lots of other bargains too. Patricia really cleaned up with all kinds of stuff, including a vintage hat stand/potential topiary form, beautiful glass lamp base.....

And I, naturally, found more art. I also got some great glasses (shaped like artichokes on stems), a robe, shoes (still for sale at Mephisto for $335, but I paid $5!!!), books... but yes, again, the art. I am obsessed with landscapes lately. Some of them seem magical to me like the huge oil I posted about two weeks ago. I agonized in Goodwill over two neat watercolors. One I loved, the other was clearly by the same artist but wasn't my favorite. But for $4.99 each I had to drag them home. Tonight I tore off the duck tape on the back of the frames, and realized it was there to cover rusty old nails. Got through that, got the back off the frames and found the paintings held in by masking tape, and something that looked like rotted electrical tape. You can see from the photo how the tape leached clear through the matting. I may have saved the art just in time. Anyway, flipping them over, they are signed D. Hill, Levittown NY 1951. Very cool since Jack had family there and still has one brother on Long Island that we visit from time to time. These are also identified as being studies of Nissequoque NY, which is very near one of our favorite towns on the north shore of LI, Port Jefferson. I'll be framing these up properly this week, and looking for wall space for them. Enjoy!

Vintage Aprons

For my birthday my mom got me all these vintage aprons. Not vintage style aprons, actual vintage aprons:

*forgive my fat boobs, I gotta get back on loosing weight*

Florida Melodies

Jack found this one yesterday when we stopped at the Hospice Thrift in Ft. Pierce after a morning of beachcombing. Twenty five cents, a steal just for the cover art! We still play our old vinyl on a turntable so there are crates and crates of old records here. About every other month we fire up the old "record player" and play the oldie but goodies. Even better for the light scratch or blip you hear now and then.

The back of the album is just chock full of information. This album was copyrited 1964 by YG records, Ft. Lauderdale and arranged for the 1964-65 World's Fair exhibit, "The Fabulous State of Florida". The jacket typos are great too, an example: " this album........."will long be remember for their hamonius cast......" two typos in one sentence! We are going to give this hamonius baby a spin this afternoon!

Heirloom paintings update

We just got the family paintings home from the framer, and she did a fantastic job. The "Oriental Beauty" my mom did ended up with a handmade gilded frame, and I'm showing a painting Erin did as a teen, which they also framed beautifully. Some day Stephen or Ethan are going to love having that cemetery angel their mommy did! Syd, check out the frame on Mom's painting!

Monogrammed silver flatware

Today's find, International Silver Company, 1950 Signature (also called Signature Rose) flatware. It's in great shape, and monogrammed. Service for eight (16 teaspoons which is nice) silver plated for less than stainless from a box store. The man at the Old Curiosity Shop even gave me a big discount when I pointed out that although the whole set is monogrammed "L", four teaspoons oddly are monogrammed "S". I figure since the L is for Linda (instead of my last name), the S is for my sister Sue when she comes down. We will have a tea party with the cups Erin got for me and Sue gets her very own monogrammed silver.

What is that oddly shaped spoon to the right of the knives for? I don't have another like it! Have I been serving some food incorrectly all this time???

Pillow (Cleo coming and going)

Yes, Cleopatra inspired this purchase! Unless there is something really, really entertaining going on (note the crab climbing her pool cage) , it's impossible to get a photo of her from the front. So I saw this orange/pink/black batik pillow at Dogs and Cats Forever and had to have it. All handmade, it says "Ciao Baby" upper left, and is signed "Lane 92" on the lower right. "Lane" must have a Cleopatra!

More Paintings

I found these two this morning at a thrift store on my way home from the framer's shop. If I keep this up, I will have to take up framing as a hobby! Anyway, the wonderful landscape reminds me of home in the Berkshires. It's just beautiful. It's signed "John" with a red circle after it. Whoever he is, I thank him. He made my morning. The landscape measures 20 X 29 and was a major investment at $4.00. I was thrilled!

The second painting looks to be acrylics. I am not a fan of the barn and the basket thing they sit on, but do love cardinals. I will live with this one in the spare room for a while, until my sister, who also adores cardinals, talks me out of it. I suspect she will really want this one. Sue, when you read this, e mail me and let me know if I can put a reserve on it for you! The cardinal painting came already framed and measures 16 X 18.