Birthday Gifts and Thrifty Finds!

Hello All!  I've got a bazillion projects, all in various stages of incomplete but I missed the whole month of April and thought I'd try starting out May with a post!   Although it's been busy, I don't know how the time keeps getting away from me.  As I sit here now trying to think of  newsy things, there really isn't much to share.  I have been working new hours at work and even though they are later, it's been hard to adjust.  I've always worked early hours - 25 years of it --so this is like teaching an old dog a new trick and you know what they say about that - Hahahaha!

I got a bee in my bonnet a couple weeks ago to clean out the garage.  It turned out the bee was bigger than my bonnet -- cleaning out the garage was a huge undertaking and I have no idea why I thought it would be a piece of cake.  It's done though and it's wonderful having it cleaned out.  Dan and I are looking into storage and organization systems but first, there's painting and flooring to do.   I never realized there were so many options for a garage that would create so much more usable space.  Hopefully there will be some share worthy progress soon.

In the meantime, I had a birthday.  It was a lovely day - a Thursday -  and it streeeeetched into the weekend - woohoo!  ;)  Jenna and I had a mom/daughter breakfast.  I went to work and my co-workers had decorated my cube with balloons and there was cake!  Dan planned a thrifting extravaganza for me for the weekend and it was awesome.   Before I get to the finds, I want to show you this...

I was crushing on these BIG TIME:

Martha Stewart china dinnerware collection, "Sky Song." *love* 

And won't these look gorgeous with it:

They are La Rochere Carat Blue Ice Cream "bowls" --so, basically they are sherbets, right?  Ok, I've got dessert covered --now how about these for the beverages:

Vintage Noritake Provincial yellow goblets.  But these aren't the only vintage glass in this table setting because I'm going to use these too:

The napkin rings were thrifted.  But the rest I got for my birthday!!!  The goblets came from EBay, the china from Macy's and the sherbets from Overstock.  So, arranging a fabulous table scape is on my to do list and hasn't made it to "done" yet even though they are sitting out and admired daily!

Now, on to the thrifty finds!

I think this is really cool.  It's a one pound butter dish OR...wait for it...a FRUITCAKE dish!  How cool is that?  What's funny is I don't even like fruitcake but totally get that this little dish would be perfect to house one :)   As a matter of fact, this was so stinkin' dirty, it looked like a fruitcake had been baked in it!  But it sparkles now and it's perfect.  It was $1

I saw this unusual shaped dish and it spoke to me.

The lovely little bubbles, the dignified flea bites, the decorated bottom, all whispered of age.  Oh, and look at the detail in the scene:

I love the vine trailing up the tree :)  McKee Brothers, Deer and Pine Tree, 1886, (also known as "Deer and Doe").  127 years old, sitting on a shelf at the Goodwill with $1.99 price sticker.  What an incredible little treasure.

So we all should have a chicken in the kitchen right?  Who's with me?
I don't know what this guy is made of but his chicken legs are metal and there's just the right amount of chippy paint to make him all the more charming

He hangs out on kitchen island.

Lemony Chickets.  The basket was a thrift find too - 99 cents.  (The flowers are from my birthday - they are looking rather wilty here.  I have them in a thrifted vintage Hoosier Glass vase).

Funny story about this.  The darling swirled glass cups with hook handles (so smart!) were dug out of a bin at the Richmond GW outlet last summer.  12....a dozen perfect little punch cups but no punch bowl.  They are Hazel Atlas (Hazelware) swirl Colonial and they were orphaned.  I decided to take them in and foster them with my plain glass Crate & Barrel punch bowl.  Then, all these months later, on Saturday, sitting on a shelf at the Village Thrift --the punch bowl!  Three dollars later, the darling little swirl cups have been reunited to their rightful match.

GLEEEEORIOUS!  I love it when a plan comes together --or glassware--ok, yeah, that was a reach so never mind.  But seriously, it's these kind of things that reinforce that patience is a virtue and that you can find anything at the thrifts :)

I was excited to finally find a rose bowl...and a rose-colored rose bowl at that!

I love the diamond optic pattern.  There are no markings and I don't collect this pattern so I'm not sure of the manufacturer.  It's the color that landed it in my basket...oh and it was 99 cents - cray cray. 

This is another thrilling find!  Bryce, Higbee and Co. Grand Pattern (c.1884). 

Such a pretty pattern!

By now you all know how I love a good chunk of glass, right?  I am equal opportunity when it comes to chunks of glass milk glass, green glass, art glass, no matter thank you, I'll take it.  Look at this stunning ginger jar shaped art glass:

It was $10.  I painted some lamps parts with Valspar outdoor paint.  Now I know I have a lot of nerve for attempting to use a yellow paint considering my past experience with yellow paint *but* this buttery yellow did not disappoint, am I right?  It looks happy against those aqua walls and perfect for summer :)

I painted the base, rod (through the center of the lamp), finial --basically everything but the harp & socket, but I've decided to paint the harp as well because just the very edge of it winks out from under the lamp shade.  Since I had all the pieces for the lamp (the lamp shade came from the lamp that usually sits in this room) and the paint is for another project (this chair) all I paid was the cost of the of the glass - $10. 

My final share is this gorgeous cerulean blue glass compote. 

It's stippled and has a pattern on the pedestal that I think looks like waves!

That's all I have for now.  I'm so excited because my sister is coming to visit next week and we're going to have a blast!  I'm looking so forward to our thrifting excursions --and oh my sister is such a hoot!  She will have me laughing until my sides ache.  She's also incredible at organization and she's up for tackling my basement store room!  Only a sibling would have my back like that :)

I'm linking up!

Bright Green Door, Get your "Garage Sale On" Linky Party

Happy Mother's Day and have a GREAT weekend!

This Week's Thrifty Finds, a little DIY and Minnie Mouse too!

I am so excited about my glass finds this week I could burst!  But before I get to the thrifting, I wanted to answer the questions about my glass finds from my post last week.  Thank you for the comments and questions - I love being able to talk with you and answer questions, etc.

Yes, the AH Wexford water goblets, Mad Men tumblers, ghost light and terracotta pumpkin came from the outlet.  The set-up in the Richmond outlet is wayyyy better (at least from a glass-junkie's perspective) versus the GW outlet in Fredericksburg ("ours").  Richmond puts their housewares in shallow, heavy duty plastic bins that are lined up (side-by-side) on long tables.   The stacking within the bins is minimal since they are shallow and they do try to group things --plates on plates, cups on cups, etc.  Our GW outlet has their housewares in shopping carts and since the carts are much deeper, there is balancing acts going on in there.  Still, I have pulled some amazing things out of those Jenga-like stacked carts :)

***

Unfortunately, this week our outlet was kind of a bust.  I did manage to find this green satin glass compote (by Indiana Glass).  Even though I didn't find a lot, I liked this piece because they look great mixed in with my milk glass collection. So, after paying pennies for the compote, it was time to head over to the retail side of GW *and* little did I know...

I was about to score the oldest piece glass I have found to date...

(cue dramatic music:  DUN DUN DUN...)

Look at this beauty:

A Bryce Brothers, Higbee & Company, CIRCA 1890, glass vase, in the hard-to-find pattern called, "opposing pyramids."  Woo-freakin'-hoooo!!!  Look at the bubbles!:

*LoVe*  Isn't it awesome?  It's so heavy; I can see how it's survived 100+ years.   It was $1.99.  Crazy.  Cool.  Find.  For a glass geek anyway :)

This next piece is antique also!

This is a 1907 Indiana Glass compote in a pattern called "Okay" (it's also referred to as "snowflake base").  Here's why:

The pattern is only in the bottom of the bowl - isn't it simple and pretty?  That's why I liked it.  It was also $1.99.

Call me quirky, but this next vintage find is just so funny and cute:

He's a thermal carafe!  See his handle?

Hee hee...That's adorable.  Thermal Penguin carafe by Metrokane (1980), $3.  He housed my coffee from this morning until I could grab a cup.  He did a very admirable job :)   I would like to host a tea party with this dapper little fellow.  He'll serve the tea and I will serve...  -   wait for it    - **** Hostess Sno balls ****  get it?  'cause he's a penguin and lives in snow-covered, cold places...  anyone with me? LOL!  I warned you I was quirky.  ~moving on~

I had to get crafty with my next sweet find.  A 1961 Holt Howard Christmas angel AT GOODWILL!  I just can't get over it.

You see, her little (right) wing was broken.  I try to walk away when something is badly damaged, but the 99 cent price tag --oh and the fact that it was HOLT HOWARD at GOODWILL -- made it easy to decide to give fixing it a try.  Believe it or not, Crayola model magic (white) did the trick!  I formed a wing, let it dry overnight and glued it on.  It worked great except that the color of the clay on the prosthetic wing (*giggle*) didn't blend with the ceramic one.  So...I glittered 'em :)  I used fast dry, clear glue and Doodlebug white sugar glitter.

You can tell the right wing is a little thicker than the other but look at that sweet face!  I love that she holds a match AND a candle!

Isn't she darling!?

I found a couple more cute vintage things at GW.  A metal mail/key holder (79 cents) which will get a makeover and go in the study:

and a 1950s pink (plastic) powder dish (99 cents) which is going to sit on my vanity.  I'm going to get a pretty and luxuriously poufy powder puff for it too :)

After GW we headed to Salvo.  Here's what I got there:

Is this a Pyrex pattern?  The dish doesn't have any markings :(  It does look brand new though and the colors are fantastic for my kitchen ($2).

I see these a lot but never in such beautiful condition ($2.50).  They were only slightly tarnished and no pitting or scratches!  They were actually simple to polish compared to some of the silver plate I've brought home.  They were made by Leonard Silver Company.

I have finally succumbed to the starburst decoration phenomenon.  I've seen them everywhere - EVERY WHERE and all. over. Pinterest.  But Salvo had this vintage metal mirror on a stand for $3 which made resistance futile:

I got my DIY on again since one of the rods fell out and 2 were missing.  I heated up the ol' hot glue gun, cut a couple wooden shish kabob skewers to size:

glued them in and now it's ready for some paint:

I first thought I would spray it ORB but now I'm thinking silver...I will have to decide once the shelves are up in the study.

Another piece of vintage glassware:

Duncan Miller divided nut dish, "teardrop" line introduced in 1936 and produced until 1955 for $1.  And finally - this awesome jar:

I love the wire and bail on it and the bubbles!  I'm hoping this is antique too but I haven't finished reading about how to date it (this website, Historic Bottle Resource, is really informative).  So those are my treasures this week :)

I'm linking up:

Her Library Adventures, Flea Market Finds
Coastal Charm, Nifty Thrifty Tuesday, No. 117
Hey What's for Dinner Mom, The Penny Worthy Project
Kathe With an E, You're Gonna Love It Tuesday #7
Cap Creations, Thrifty Love
Apron Thrift Girl, Thrift Share Monday

Just one final little tidbit - kind of a "sneak peek" ;)  I have been working on invitations for a 3 year-old's Minnie Mouse Birthday party and here is what I've made for the invitations:

I used my Cricut and the Mickey & Friends cartridge.  I'll share more deets when I've finished all the invites (they are due next week!).  I'm making a banner and party favors too but have a few more weeks to work on those but the invites have to go out ahead of time.

Have a great week! <3 Lisa