Monday Morning Thrifting

I'm thrilled to say I have lots of pictures to share today! I got up this morning and could think of nothing I'd rather do than go thrifting. It's been weeks since I've done so and just the thought of going made me incredibly happy. I only hit four of my favorite six thrift stores, but that was plenty for one morning...and I made some very exciting finds so I certainly count my morning a success. Thrift store shopping is always inspirational for me (it's one of my very favorite pastimes) and it's a pretty cheap hobby! Here are the treasures I found today:

Two tins- I love tins, they're great on so many levels. I collect vintage food tins (that collection lives on top of my kitchen cabinets), but these two tins are just for storage use. I found them intersting and they were each less than a dollar so I couldn't pass them up. I'm always looking for places to store buttons and beads and marbles and scrap paper, etc.

This was only $0.75 and it's interesting. I like things with swirls. I'm thinking of spray painting it chartreuse and using it to hold memos in my studio...and maybe Christmas cards during the holidays.

I actually passed this once and didn't realize it's potential, but then it caught my eye as I was leaving and I realized how cute it truly was...and that it was only 50 cents. It must have been used for some kind of flower arrangement because there was styrofoam in it (which I saved for the next flower arrangement I need to make) and it had rafia tied all over. Once I got rid of all that (and scraped off some hotglue gobs) it looked much better...an ideal little green tin craft-supply caddy! The stuff inside: candles- one of my favorite Goodwill's has a huge bin of tapered candles. I pick some up now and then because I collect glass candlesticks...this is a cheap way to fill them with cool colored candles. I loved these light green spirals! copper cookie cutters: I thought these cookie cutters were pretty. Cookie cutters are usually a quarter apiece- these were no exception. These are so pretty I think they may become ornaments for my Christmas tree!

A trio of things: Those beads I found at Hope's Closet- a thrift store that benefits the women's shelter here. It's great as thrift shops go...it actually smells nice, and today I discovered an entire new room there I'd never seen before! Anyway, I pick up old jewelry whenever I find it for use in my craft projects. You can never have too many pearls. The orange ones were a particularly exciting find- I'll be using them for Halloween crafts. The sweet little strawberry embroidery came from Hope's, too. $1. I plan to reframe it in a thicker red or green frame. When I took it out of that frame I was amused to find it was mounted on an old Cheerios box (picture of that below.) Usually, I check the bookshelves at thrift stores for vintage cookbooks because the pictures and colors in them are excellent sources for pastry art inspiration. While I didn't find any today, I did find an old copy of the Old Mr. Boston De Luxe Official Bartender's Guide. It's such a cool little book I had to have it. Plus, hardback books at Hope's are never more than one dollar. In addition to neat pictures on the front inside and back inside covers, there are also pen and ink drawings that I loved peppered throughout the entire book randomly amongst the recipes and some general information about different drinks. I find cocktails intriguing; it's probably all the flavors and colors. There are all sorts of interesting recipes... among are recipes for a Fine & Dandy, an Orange Smile and an Ice Cream Flip!

This is by far one of the most interesting things I've ever found on one of my thrift-store excursions and I stood looking at it for a really long time before I finally decided I'd like to have it. I've always liked ferris wheels. This one is badly tarnished (which I feel gives it considerable character) and used to be a music box. The wheel turned while playing "Around The World In 80 days". I know this because there was an old sticker that said so. It's just adorable. I think I'll paint a picture of it...only maybe a more colorful version. Perhaps Josh can fix it so it will play again. *sidenote: the green and brown checker board I used for this photo backdrop was also a thrift-store find a year or so ago!

Finally, the most exciting treasure I found this thrifting trip is this: a folding dessert server. What makes this find so unbelievable is that just LAST NIGHT I was scrolling through the pictures of petit fours on the internet when I came across a picture of some tiny cakes on what the site called a "folding dessert server". I was intrigued. I love tiered dessert stands and cake plates, but never had I heard of a folding dessert server. Anyway, I began searching for them and found several online for sale. I even found one at http://www.tenderheart.com/ (Tender Heart Treasures is worth a look- a lot of their stuff is too country for my taste, but they have some lovely, afforadable cottage-style accents) that I considered ordering for, like, three seconds. It was $15 plus shipping and I decided pretty quick that was just frivolous...I didn't really NEED a folding dessert server however cute it might be. I decided to wait-maybe I'd happen upon one on sale somewhere one day now that I knew they existed. Then lo and behold, the first thrift store I go to this morning...TADA!...a folding dessert server!! What must the chances of that be? I was absolutely shocked. Each little "plate" is shaped like what I suppose is a silver leaf. It isn't just like the one I'd picked out for $15, but at $2.50 it was well worth it and a far better deal! What's cool about these "folding dessert servers" is that they do just that...fold. This makes storing them far easier than, say, a cake plate. So here's my fabulous find:

*help! no matter what I do this pic
uploads sideways...does anyone know how
to remedy this?

So, that's my thrifting trip in a nutshell! What a happy Monday! Hope yours was happy and treasure-filled, too!

sweetly, happily, and artfully yours,

randi