Out Thrifting

Back with a vengance!

2011-06-16T20:21:00.001-05:00

Don't let the long hiatus fool you - I am thrilled to be blogging again! There was unfortunately a lot of upheaval in the last year, what with starting a new job that was a 45 minute commute (that's one-way), the joys of home ownership, AND getting married... Amongst other things. I felt like I never had time to do anything, or I was too tired, and my thrifting outings became non-existent. But no more! Thanks to a lot of thrifty living and boring bill-paying, along with Jason's hard work earning him some nice raises at his job, I have taken the leap - I left my job to stay home and make junking my new full-time career! I'm on week two and it is going great - I now share two booths with my mother-in-law Kathy, one at The Rose Too in Rogers and our newest booth at Home Town Flea Market, just a few blocks away.

I don't know if the hot weather is the cause, but summertime has also brought a LOT of great stuff out into the thrift stores lately. When I had been getting out on occasion there wasn't much that I saw to pick up, but perhaps the thrift gods are welcoming me to my new career - since I've been going out more there has been piles of good, cheap stuff to buy! So keep checking back for more updates - with all these goodies to photograph, I won't be neglecting the blog again. :-)

Jason and I went out thrifting last Friday and we scored some great stuff. We had to work hard for these pretties. I think we rummaged for at least a good 30 minutes in the kitchen utensil file cabinet drawers at the Rogers Salvation Army. I feel pretty confident that I found all that there was of this great set. I've wanted a set of starburst flatware for a while now. These are marked 'Stainless Steel Japan' and are marked with the brand 'Sapphire'. I wasn't able to find any info on this particular brand of starburst silverware when I did some research on the internet. At 25 cents apiece I'm happy to keep these and hope I find some more!

I picked this Kmart Spice of Life coordinate 'Sim R Pot' up at the Rogers Salvation Army also. Appliances were half off, so I actually only ended up paying $2.50 for this, and it was tested and in working condition! Sweet. It has a nice milk glass bowl for the inside. It was pretty stained from chili or beans or some such, but bleach water took it all right off. The Corning lid that came with it is a little chippy around the rim, but I don't know that it is original anyway, it seems a hair too large. This is going with the rest of the Spice of Life items that I have at The Rose Too.

This old Sears and Roebuck vaporizer was marked $3 at the Salvation Army, but thanks to that half-off appliances sale I paid just $1.50. Very cool to actually find this with the white plastic cradle. Unfortunately we got it home and I started having a weird allergic reaction to something - I was sneezing, eyes watering, throat itching, the works. Jason cleaned out the vaporizer - there was a some kind of white powder and some yucky grease inside, he told me - and that seemed to solve my problem. The perils of thrifting!

Two Saturdays ago Jason and I stopped for a church sale - great decision! There was a large round table FULL of blue cornflower dishes. The lady was super nice and marked everything down for me. I also got two roasters, a 4 qt. dutch oven with lid, and lipped saucepan with spout that aren't pictured here. Oh, and some vintage cookbooks for a dollar apiece. The 8" square pans were $5 each (I got 3 total) and the pie plates were $4 each (also 3 total). When we were chatting I mentioned having a collection of vintage Better Homes and Gardens cookbooks, which of course she then tells me they had piles of earlier that morning. Ah! It always kills me to hear on what I just missed out on! She very nicely offered to keep my name and number because she had many more items from her mother that she had yet to dig out. I hope I hear from her again!

Our trip to Springdale's Council of the Blind was pretty fruitful as well. These cute Disney melmac dishes were $2 for the set, and Pyrex Drink-Up is a nice addition to my mug collection at 50 cents.

I love finding these Couroc of Monterey pieces at thrift stores so far away from California. These were the third and fourth pieces that I've seen, and at $2 for the cypress plate and $2.50 for the large round roadrunner plate, I wasn't going to leave them at the Council of the Blind!

I was excited to find the Couroc, then I rounded the corner and saw this Corning Ware electromatic skillet base! It was marked '$4.50 works'. It went in my cart immediately. There was some stuck-on food debris, but with the super-smooth surface and a little Bar Keeper's Friend it wasn't too hard to get off.

I hit the motherlode of books at Helping Hands. While Jason loaded up on several nice cheap speaker sets that he is going to resell on Craigslist, I loaded up on Better Home and Gardens cookbooks for $1 each. Most of these I already have, so they are going to be at my booth at Home Town. The Playboy Bar book ($1.50) is also out at Home Town and has a ton of delicious-sounding drink recipes. I bought the Singer sewing book for myself for $2... which I suppose I'll never forget as they decided to just go ahead and write on the cover of that one with black marker. :-/ I really hate it when the thrift store ruins items.

I've always wanted an old cell phone like this, so I picked this one up at the Bentonville Goodwill for $3. The Tupperware (50 cents) was found by Jason who loves these containers for sleeves of crackers.

Finally, of course I had to go around and shop the other booths after I moved into Home Town last week. Two booths over, I found the Corning 'Season's Greetings 1963' 2.5 qt. casserole for $6. I had never heard of Corning making anything like this, but the design doesn't appear to me to have been added afterwards. The pattern is actually in a pretty shiny silver.

Jason found the four Couroc bird bowls, and I was a little iffy about buying them because they have been treated pretty roughly and lost all of their original lustre. Some of them even have a couple of chips. Jason talked me into it, as he hopes he can possibly restore them. I decided to go for it at $1.50 a bowl.

I haven't found a nice piece of Pyrex that I wanted to add to my collection for a while. This is a cute promotional 'Spices' that I don't have, and still has nice shiny paint and no damage. It was only $5, so I scooped it up.

Moving Blogs...

2010-04-07T18:46:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone, this is Jade, formerly of Thriftaholic. It seemed like it was time for Leilani and I to separate our posts into our own blogs. Our collecting styles have developed over the years, and with our different locations and many collections we thought it was getting to be a little too much for just one blog - besides the fact that two authors was a little confusing to some readers. So here I am! I hope you enjoy Out Thrifting. Now that I've wrapped up most of the business from purchasing my first house (an ordeal that has taken me since November to square away actually buying, moving into, unpacking, and getting my tax credit for the place), I finally have free time to devote to thrifting and blogging again! For my convenience (but also possibly for yours) I have copied all my previous posts from Thriftaholic to this blog, so everything I've written is in one place.

I hope you enjoy the new blog! It will be a work in progress for a while as I design it. Please follow me, and look forward to more posts in the near future!

The Rose Too, also

2009-11-07T17:26:00.000-06:00

Well, the weather in Arkansas has certainly turned to fall, and it has gotten cold enough lately to make one fear that winter is even closer than you thought. However, today was lovely and sunny and warm, and I just got paid, so it was the perfect day to go out thrifting! ... Too bad the thrift stores were pretty dry today. I couldn't find a thing in any of my usual haunts in Springdale! I had to drive all the way up to Bentonville/Rogers to get a little love. I think I might do better to hit the thrifts next week. There should plenty of new items donated from all the yard sales everyone is having this weekend because of the lovely weather.

So I found nothing to buy in Springdale today, and even going to Rogers started off dry at first. The Council of the Blind seems to be semi-permanently or permanently closed. I haven't been able to shop there in months, and there are no signs to indicate why. At the Benton Co. Women's Shelter thrift I did find one wood Christmas ornament for 50 cents. Woo. But then things started looking up when I got to visit The Rose Too, a new expansion to my favorite flea market/antique mall.

I got two new additions to my camera collection, both Brownies - a Starmeter in the box for $12.95 (it still has the original price tag of $29.50 on it from Dale's Rexall), and a Starlet for $6.99. I also couldn't pass up an aqua Swingline pencil sharpener with the mounting bracket for $5.99. Because that is just too awesome. And to top off my lovely shopping experience, all my purchases were rung up by none other than my future mother-in-law, Kathy, who gets to pay her booth rent by working part-time a few days a month. I actually got on the waiting list so we can possibly get a larger booth together and split the cost. If we do, local readers please do check it out! I am so excited at the possibilty of finding some of the treasures that are piling up around my house a new home. Let's make the thrifting addiction work for me. :)

Up next was The Rose, original edition. I got the largest Pyrex round casserole in Woodland that I was missing for $7.95. The same booth also had a Corning petite pan that I needed in Country Festival, with the plastic lid for $6.95. My favorite find is the Pyrex tableware saucer in the Green Leaf pattern. Green Leaf is my favorite tableware pattern, and this is my first time seeing it in person. Bonus - it was only a dollar. There is a discussion here that Green Leaf is a harder to find pattern, and I think this dish is even more unusual because it has the old Corning glassblower backstamp rather than the tableware backstamp containing the usual info and item numbering. Oh, and there's that ornament I mentioned before. It's a harp!

My last stop of the day was Helping Hands in Bentonville. I know there are big fans of the 70s merry mushroom themed kitchenware out there. The whole set was just $6.50, so I picked it up for resale or a possible trade. They all appear to be in mint condition. And although I already have this Glasbake Blue Onion square baker, I thought it deserved to come home with me for just $1.

Florida Goodness (and I don't mean the oranges)

2009-10-03T15:45:00.000-05:00

Once again, I apologize for the lack of posts on my part... although you probably didn't even miss me because Leilani has done great keeping the blog going! I've had pictures ready but just no time to write about them. But I have been busy with something of a vintage/thrifty nature... I have been working on buying my very first house!!! I just got an offer accepted earlier this week after going back and forth with the bank that owns it. It's a great deal, and it's of a nearly vintage mint - built in 1988. I hope that once we move in, I can start some retro renovations and really make the house great! So in the future you all can expect a few more vintage furniture/decorating/remodelling posts, and hopefully some pictures of how everything looks in the new house. Advance warning however - my closing date is in the middle of November, so I apologize in advance for not posting. I'll be moving a lot of stuff. :)

I thought it was high time to post some of my finds from my trip to Florida earlier this spring. While it didn't turn out to be the vintage Pyrex heaven of my dreams as it has for some people I've seen, it was consistently good thrifting. On the drive back to Arkansas we stopped at a large Smiley's antique store to look around, and I found this bowl. I was so excited! It looks like the Terra brown and orange striped bowls, but unlike Terra the bowl is glossy, and the stripes are fired-on rather than grooved in the paint. This bowl seems to be pretty rare, there's only 1 other person on the PyrexLove Flickr group that has one. The best part was, it only cost $3! :)

I picked up this Pyrex sugar and creamer set on a day trip to St. Petersburg. We stayed right by Orlando but went to St. P to catch a Rays game, and I managed to find some thrift stores on the internet to stop by on the way. I found a really great thrift store that had quite a few vintage kitchen items. I was amused because almost everything I got was $1.99. This cute sun/starburst set was $1.99 for both. The gold is in perfect condition, and since I had never before found a sugar that matches the little tiny carafe/creamers, I had to pick them up.

From the same St. Petersburg thrift store, I got this vintage Norelco coffee bean grinder. I usually think of Norelco making shavers, so this grinder seems a bit funny to me. Even better, once we got it home I realized that it was quieter and ground beans better than our other grinder that we got at Wal-Mart a few years ago. I love vintage appliances. It was also bought for just $1.99.

I absolutely adore this Vacron turquoise insulated pitcher and cup set. I wasn't sure about it at first. The set was very grey on the white parts, and the inside of the pitcher was quite brown. At the St Petersburg thrift store, the set had $1.99 stickers all over it. I was afraid that each piece was $1.99, but that was actually the price for the whole set! Once I got it home, it cleaned up great. Magic eraser took off the grey, and bleach water solved the staining issue. Hard to see in the photo, but it was so dirty that I couldn't tell until I cleaned it up that the white parts are actually speckled.

Another thrift store in St. Petersburg was also a winner. I found a couple of vinyl records and some vintage kitchen items, one of which was this Corning Cornflower Blue Bake, Broil tray. These larger Corning pieces are usually more expensive or harder to find, so I naturally had to snap this one up (even though I don't usually collect it) as it was only $5.95. This and my matching open roaster would be great for Thanksgiving in my new house... Although I might have to wait a year to get the house ready. :)

Also at the Smiley's antique mall on the way home I got this promotional Pyrex 4 qt bowl known as "hex signs." I never wanted it bad enough to get it off ebay, but when I saw it for $16.95 in good condition I decided to go ahead. I always thought the design looked suspiciously similar to a certain controlled substance... ;)

Summer is here, and so is thrifting

2009-06-24T16:18:00.000-05:00

Well, Leilani and I may have died off on this blog for a while, but we've still been getting out there and finding all kinds of goodies to photograph and post. I know Leilani's been busy with school (even right now during the summer she has class, aw!), but I don't have as good of an excuse. I take pictures and then neglect to post! Well no more!

With the arrival of summer I definitely always feel like the "good stuff" is more plentiful. There are tons of garage sales every week, and the estate sales are picking up too. Like Leilani, I'm starting to prefer going to the source and trying to get things at estate sales. Well, around here there are more estate auctions. Which is great because they are entertainment in itself. But, since I haven't posted in a while, I'll share some of the things I found earlier this spring.

I've been getting worse. I knew I didn't need this retro orange electric coffee perk. I have plenty of Corning coffee perks. But I get to where I just can't leave things behind. This was $4.00 at the Benton Co. Women's Shelter Thrift.

This recipe box was just worth getting for the old cards. None had any recipes to try, however. I love the cute aqua design. I could do with a nicer box though. This one is just a dark avocado green, not too attractive. 50 cents from Second Chance Thrift.

Yes, I gave in and I collect Woodland now. I didn't find brown very attractive before, but it has grown on me, I'll admit. Plus my mom had Woodland mixing bowls (she actually still uses them), so I was partial to this pattern anyway. This is the largest round casserole. Found at the Salvation Army for $1.50 I believe? I also managed to get a hold of a nice lid for it locally for $1.00.

I picked up this vintage Dormey handmixer at The Council of the Blind. I had never heard of Dormey, but they made a great mixer. It still works. In fact, it works so well that I'm getting rid of my Hamilton Beach handmixer that I got from Walmart. I've really started to switch over to all vintage for my kitchen appliances. They just work better, even after all these years.

Vintage bun warmers. Very 70s. I bought the orange one 1st at Samaritan Thrift, then when I came back, they had put out the other one. I snapped them up, naturally. I think they might have been around $5.00 apiece. They both have their original cords and they still heat up. Kind of an odd buy, but I have a dream to one day host a large Thanksgiving dinner, set up entirely with vintage cookware and prepared with vintage appliances. So I have to get these things now! Bun warmers would be perfect for a buffet setup.

I can't remember how much I paid for this clock at the thrift, I think it was a couple of dollars. It's a cute little desk clock that plugs in. I couldn't resist its atomic goodness. The side with the atomic star also lights up.

Usually estate sales in my area aren't that great, but I found these at one in Bella Vista (it's where the older folks live). Stuff was a little higher than I would've liked, you can see the $1.50 price tag on the mug. But I needed that one for the Pyrex mug collection! The old spice tins were about 50 cents apiece, I think, and the atomic carving set was $2.

Quite a while ago I found a nice vintage green autograph album that had never been used. Then a month or so ago I saw a very similar photograph album at the Council of the Blind for $2, so I had to get it! The photograph album has a ripped page, but otherwise they were never used.

I've definitely developed an appreciation for mid-century modern style and dutch modern furniture. I had to get this shelf when I found it at the Salvation Army because it totally fits the bill! In this picture we were using it in our entry hall, but now it's been re-purposed (read: taken over by me) for Pyrex displays. :)

Massive Holiday Update

2009-01-27T15:08:00.000-06:00

Well, today in Northwest Arkansas is icy and cold, and for the first time in quite a while I get a "snow day"! No work for me, so I have no excuse not to blog. :P

EDIT: This is a kind of ironic beginning to this blog. As I was writing this on January 27th (today is Feb. 9th), the huge ice storm that came through the area caused my power to go out, and it was out for over 28 hours. We were actually pretty fortunate, many people were without power for a week or more. We had friends staying with us because their homes were so cold or the roads were so treacherous. President Obama declared Arkansas a state of emergency, it was so bad. Because the lab that I worked at had to close, they had us work through the weekend, and I haven't had a chance to finish what I started til now! However, barring other natural disasters, I will complete this post tonight! Warning: Since I haven't posted in a while, it's going to be mega-long... that's my own fault, I suppose. :)

This photo was taken all the way back on November 9th. (I was trying to get a November post going but didn't quite get around to it.) These were all finds from The Rose in Rogers. The Designs or "Arches" casserole was a good deal at $7, and I got a non-original lid for it. Woodland, even though it is brown, has started to grow on me, and I've decided to start picking up pieces for my everyday kitchen use. I got the smallest round casserole with lid for $5. On the left, the blue flower "Corning" is actually from the Netherlands - it's labeled "Pyroflam". It's the exact same shape as US Corning. I thought it was a neat buy for $8. The casserole on the right looks a lot like Corning, but it was actually made by Anchor Hocking. I had no idea they made a similar material. I picked it up for just $4. CindyMuffin on Flickr said that when Anchor Hocking produced these pieces, they were sued by Corning. Corning won, so these AH dishes weren't made for very long and are probably fairly rare.

These were buys from ebay a while ago that I've neglected to post. I got a mint set of "blue butterfly", and I had to get the red snowflake beaker when I saw it, even though the pattern is pretty scrubbed. I haven't seen the snowflake beaker before... The snowflake is the same one seen on the turquoise and black Pyrex dishes.

I got these a little while before Christmas from the Salvation Army. The one in Fayetteville almost never has kitchenware anymore since they cleaned that section out several months ago. I did manage to find this Black Trefoil casserole there for just $2, though. According the the Corning guide they are rare, as only 3 or 4 different dishes were produced with this pattern, so I couldn't resist buying it. The handmixer is from the SA in Springdale. I like the more ergonomic angled handle on it. Unusual for vintage wood-handled utensils, this one is painted black.

Ever since I was little, I pined for a rotary phone. Now I have two! I really am starting to love 70s colors - I adore the mustard-colored phone. Hey, looks kind of like the one the PyrexLove folks have... :) It was $7 at the Council of the Blind. The black phone is a little older. Instead of the standard phone jack on the base, it has a cord attached that has to be connected to a converter box before it will work with a standard jack. Luckily it came with all the parts for just $5 at the Peace at Home thrift store.

Here's some things I received for Christmas... I requested vintage, of course. ;) I was soooo excited when Leilani found the Gemco Old Town sugar and creamer. They seem to be unusually hard to find in that pattern, even on ebay. I was about to break down and buy some online (the price held me back) when she surprised me with them. She actually found them locally while she was visiting. Jason's mom drew my name for the family gift exchange, and I got the Gemco Country Festival S&P shakers that I needed. I had the salt, but not the pepper. She also gave me an extra metal jar opener that she had. She got one in her utensil color, so I got the extra, yay.

Leilani also got me these lovely snowflake glasses with the original cradle. I love these glasses, now I can have a whole winter theme with my snowflake Pyrex. I really like the Tupperware cake keeper also. I had a plain one that was broken, and I like the design.

These were ebay buys, but I prefer to think of them as Christmas presents to myself. I've done really well cutting out ebay, so I got a few things before Christmas that I didn't think I could find "out in the wild." I got a Country Festival loaf pan and dutch oven, and an old Pyrex 1-cup measure that is actually for dry ingredients rather than wet.

Jason's mom also came through and got me a couple of the Corelle serving pieces that I was missing from my Old Town dish set. I got a large serving bowl and a platter. This was definitely one of the best Christmases I've had!

I found all these when I was out with Leilani the day after Christmas at The Rose antique mall in Bentonville. These are all part of Corning's line of Rangetoppers, which have metal bottoms. I really bought these for my mom, this is her pattern. I couldn't believe that almost the whole set was in the same place at the same time! They're all in excellent condition, the metal bottoms don't even look like they were used, and they all have nice lids. They were all really reasonably priced too, ranging from $7 to $16 each.

I also found more Corelle coordinates at The Rose when I picked up the rangetoppers. I have a set of Spring Blossom Corelle also, and the Gemco oil and vinegar cruets and Pyrex margarine tub complete my set. A week or two after our trip to the Rose, I was out with Jason and got a nice restaurant-style napkin holder from the Springdale Salvation Army for $2. It was marked $4, but the lady I see there when I go thrifting almost every Saturday gave me a discount because she didn't see me before Christmas. Awww, so nice!

These are the rest of my finds when I went out with Leilani. This was all pretty cheap. My personal fave is the snack set... The colors are just so great! It was at the Homestead antique mall for just $4.50. It only has two cups, and one of the 4 plates is chipped, but it was too cute to pass up. I found 3 of 4 matching Fire King mugs in the same day. Two were found at Helping Hands, and one at the Rose. They were a dollar apiece. The Joy Glasbake mug was also a dollar at Helping Hands. I also got a set of 70s fondue forks at The Rose for $2.

This is what the Spring Blossom coordinates were taken on in the earlier photo, :P. I finally got a vintage dinette table! They come up so rarely around here, and usually they get snapped up pretty quick. Someone had one in the paper and I managed to be the first to call about it. I got it for $100 on New Years Day. I'm hoping that it might be a sign of good thrifting in the year to come.

In January, Jason and I went out thrifting and we got a great haul from one thrift store - the Council of the Blind in Rogers to be exact. For about $7 I got this partial set of Mikasa. I found on ebay that this is the Montclair pattern. I'm hoping that I might be able to resell some of the pieces.

We also got this nice nutcracker bowl. Jason likes to get nuts in the shell, and it wasn't too bad at $4.

I picked up some saucers that I liked the pattern of, and lo, more Mikasa! The pattern is Veracruz in the Mediterranea line. It's so cute I bought all 3 even though I thought they were a little high at .75 cents each. I also got a brown Homer Laughlin mug to go with. And because I need another napkin holder (read that part ironically) I picked this one up for $1.

Ah, le pièce de résistance! Major props go to Jason for finding this Noritake china bowl. I really love the piece, the flowers are lovely, and it's still in great shape. According to the Noritake Collectors Guild, this stamp dates to 1918. A good deal for $5, I think.

The finds didn't stop at the CoB, however. I added more mugs to the milk-glass mug collection. From left to right: a pedestal Mickey mug, Fire-King Kimberly mug, Fire-King stackable flower mug, Hazel-Atlas 'I Love Grandma' mug, and an avocado Federal mug. I was in a bit of a spendy mood, so when we visited the Bella Vista Flea Market I decided to spring for a turquoise sieve for $5.

One more find with Jason was this 1986 Corelle Christmas plate. It's not quite my year (1985 would have me super-excited), but I picked it up. Christmas stuff was 50% off or I would have left it. Grand total: .75 cents.

On Saturday, January 17 I swung by the Second Chance thrift store to cheer myself up after paying a $6 cover charge to go to a sale that turned out to be totally lame. I ended finding a bunch of nice Mason jars, although I'll admit, what got me were the vintage lids. I included a picture of the marshmallow fluff lid, because I find it amusing for some reason. Everything was only .25 to .50 cents, so I only ended up paying $3 for all of it. Better than that dumb sale, for sure. [Oh Leilani, that bowl is for you. :) ]

Jason and I discovered Ken's Auctionhouse in Springdale one Saturday, which is where we got these old military buttons. Jason wanted these and won them for $4. We actually did pretty well, and we're planning to go back soon. We got a huge box full of old board games for just $2. I didn't want to bother trying to photograph everything we got, but there was a 60s Candy Land and an old Yahtzee. We had fun there for a couple of hours watching the bidding. It made me like auctions better -- I've been leery of them since Leilani and I went to an outdoor one in the middle of summer a few years ago and about killed ourselves from the heat.

Lastly, I wanted to mention these although they aren't vintage. Leilani put me onto these utensils at Tuesday Morning. They're good quality, nice and heavy utensils made by Cuisinart called "Retro-Look". Tuesday Morning had a cream color and aqua, and I got all the aqua I could find. Nearly every piece cost $7. I fretted over the price, but Jason (who is my culinary expert) told me that utensils of this quality would usually cost much more than that. Eh, if I can justify it as a deal, I'll take it. They are nice heavy metal, and I like to get newer things for everyday use so that I don't have to worry about damaging vintage ones. I was amused when I went to the checkout. The lady was impressed that I was able to find so many of the same color in the mess of their kitchen section. Hey, digging for kitchenware is what I do!

Belated September Finds

2008-11-17T00:33:00.000-06:00

Sorry guys, it's been a while since I was intending to post about my birthday. Unfortunately, I was recently involved in a car accident. I'm fine, but my car was totaled, and I've been going through the process of getting a new one. That and getting my new job, and then having to adjust from training on 1st shift to working on 2nd shift, I haven't been doing too much on here. Finally, everything has settled down, and I've managed to get my photos taken and uploaded to Flickr. So, here it goes...

I got these back in September... The 'Green Wheat' promo was a local find at the Tontitown Flea Market. Jason bought this for me as a birthday present. It was about $20, still better than the internet. The 'Golden Classic' dish was an ebay buy, and kind of a present for myself, I guess. :) I really wanted it, I love the deco-style graphics and the pretty yellow color.

These were thrift and antique store finds from August 30th. I got the Flamingo pie plate for $3.50 at Samaritan thrift store. I then found the Golden Hearts casserole for $7 at Plantation House antique store. We drove from there to Rogers, where I got the Country Festival coffee perk for $7 at Homestead antique store. The white 401 is my first true Pyrex opal mixing bowl! It's marked only with the mold number "7" on the bottom. It was just $3 at the Bella Vista Flea Market. Country Classic Antique mall had both the Old Town blue sugar bowl and Chelsea JAJ dish. The JAJ was $7.95 and the sugar bowl $2.75. Lastly I got the Bride's casserole (which I absolutely adore) for $9 at the Tontitown Antique Mall, which was another birthday present from Jason.

This casserole was another ebayed present. This came from a seller in Charleroi, PA. They called it 'Golden Thistle', which is a good enough name for me. I fell in love with the big, bold thistle pattern. I haven't seen one like it before, and I had to fight to get it. It's getting harder to get good deals on rarer items on ebay than it used to be. More and more collectors are getting on there, and I know some people who want to buy every single piece of Pyrex just to say they have it all, I guess. I just try to get what I really love, and it gets frustrating to always have to come up against someone who seems to have no other life goal than to throw all their free time and all their money into buying up Pyrex on the internet, and then act like they know everything about it. All they know is how to use PayPal. Sorry for the rant, but it just irks me because I don't see how it's rewarding, and it's certainly not impressive.

I watched items on ebay for a while until I found this casserole, lid and stand for a decent price. I had seen several previous to this go for quite a bit of money, but I lucked out and the market had settled some. I really wanted to add this dish to my turquoise collection. The cradle is super-retro, and just so fab. This dish also came with the original care booklet.

Here's all of the Corning Country Festival pieces I've found so far. Everything was found locally, yay! Amanda got me the two casseroles on the left for my birthday. She also spotted the square baker they're sitting in when we were out at the Tontitown Antique Store together.

I got these the day before my birthday. I found the Tang pitcher at the Salvation Army and the turquoise thermos at the Council of the Blind for $2 each. Everything else was $1 each at an antique store's parking lot sale. I found the teapot in the 4th edition of the Mauzy guide, pg 91. Apparently it was made by Glasbake but with Pyrex glass. A teapot with the lid has an estimated value of $75-85. Not too shabby... now to find that lid!

I found these Spring Blossom coordinates at a Prairie Grove thrift store on September 13th for $10. I got a Gemco sugar bowl and S&P shakers, and a Dispensers, Inc. syrup pitcher. The unmarked milk glass zodiac mug was thrown in for free.

Here's the last of my September finds. I got these mugs at Country Classic Antique store on the 27th. I got 6 Federal glass zodiac mugs for my collection. I still only have 6, but I replaced two I already had that were in shabby condition. Only 6 more to go... :) And I added another one of the Corning-style Pyrex mugs to my collection. Still plenty of those left to get.

A Whole 'Lotta Stuff, Part 3 - Home Again

2008-09-07T01:31:00.000-05:00

This is the conclusion to my three-part Tennessee trip - the return home. Happily, I felt like I kept my roll going from TN once I was back home. Of course, this isn't going to include everything that I've found since the middley/end of July until now (since that's a crazy amount), but I'll wrap up July's finds. Next post will be my August scores and my birthday presents (my birthday is actually tomorrow... but it will be today by the time I've published this blog, woo). Although, it seems like everything I've picked up for the past 3 weekends my boyfriend has claimed was part of my birthday present, so my "gifts" will take up a lot of my next post. :-P

Here's a few of the random kitchenware items I picked up at the thrifts and antique stores after I got back. One of my favorites is the Dispensers, Inc. syrup pitcher in the middle. It was $2, and even though I don't collect it and don't really need it, I just had to get it. So cute. It's quite thick and hefty too. I also picked up the Hazel-Atlas container (top middle) for $1, which is in good condition. It's missing it's clear hard-plastic lid, but I've seen some and they usually get all worn and broken and look like poo anyways, so I'm not too sad. The rest are just random mugs... I thought Eve's Supper Club was cute, and not badly priced at 50 cents. I had been wanting the Irish Coffee mug for my collection, and there were some for $3 at the Council of the Blind, but I refused to pay that much. I got this one at the Hospital Auxillary thrift for 25 cents. Pays to wait. The Avon train mug was dollar, and I got another jadeite Tupperware container for $2 (with the plastic grate still inside). The most I paid for any item was the Razorbacks Fire-King mug at the Springdale Salvation Army. Overpriced, but it is my alma mater, after all. How was I to resist? :)

These mugs were found at the antique stores in Tontitown. I was pleasantly surprised to see that these mugs weren't overpriced, they cost about $1 for each one, plus tax. The middle Fire-King was marked down at a booth in Yesteryears since they were going out of business. By the time we got there, the pickin's were mighty slim. I got the other the two Glasbake mugs at Country Classic right down the road. They were just cheap to begin with.

I found these matching pieces on the same day. The bowl, marked Corning with the old glassblower stamp, was in a booth in Yesteryears that was half-off, making it $6. It has a chip on the rim, but these old pieces are harder to find, so I got in anyway. Then when we went to Country Classic, I found the handle-less "watch" mug or "handwarmer" mug for $5. From other discussions on PyrexLove's Flickr, I knew that the mug was from the WWII era, and that Corning made them for military use. The bowl looks like the same material and had the same backstamp. Jeffpyrex on Flickr, who is quite an expert on Pyrex restaurant ware, told me that he thinks that the bowl is a transitional piece from the military line (introduced during World War II) to the Commercial Tableware line (introduced in 1953). Neato!

I know it's definitely pretty clear from my posts that I'm a vintage kitchenware lover. I'm not just completely one-track when I go out shopping, though. And here's a couple of really random thrift finds to prove it! ;)

It's a POWER CELL, in case you didn't catch that. The battery was from K Mart. It's so hilarious, I had to get it. I figured it would make a good emergency flashlight once the battery was replaced, and it was only $2. The price tag the thrift store put on it is really what made it for me: "$2.00 Needs new battery" Um yeah, ya think?

Know what this little gem is? It's my personal belief that no home office/study is ever truly complete without it's very own... microfiche machine!!! This one still works and everything. The Hospital Auxillary thrift had this for $10, but we talked them down to 5. Why get it? Because I can. We'll find some use for it... and if you have some film with no way to look at it, worry no more! I can hook you up.

A Whole 'Lotta Stuff, Part 2 - Tennessee Edition

2008-08-25T20:27:00.000-05:00

So yes, I suppose it's about time to post what I found during my vacation to Tennessee, woo! The thrifting there wasn't too bad at all., a little better than NW Arkansas, I suppose. I was ever-so-slightly disappointed, but that's only because it wasn't the super-cheap Pyrex haven of my dreams. ;)

I did, however, notice the same trend in Tennessee that I've seen here. I believe Leilani mentioned it in her last post. It seems like this year the pickings are pretty slim at the thrift stores. I really find most of my good stuff now at antique stores. Leilani and I were discussing this a while back. It seems that finding quality items at the thrift is harder, and the prices are going way up. On the upside, though, the antiquing is picking up. For not too high prices (in fact, some antique store booths can be as cheap as the thrift) I've been finding a good amount of nice quality items. We've definitely noticed this trend in the South, but from what I can tell on groups on Flickr that's not the experience for everyone. While I would jump on a nice piece of Pyrex for $6 at the thrift here, I see people posting on PyrexLove that find several items for half that. At least the thrift gods are smiling on them... Hmmm, what with me antiquing and Leilani estate-saleing, the name 'Thriftaholics' is becoming a little less applicable. But the 'Antique Store and Estate Sale Enthusiasts' just doesn't have the same ring to it. :P

So here's what I found at the thrift stores... it was all pretty cheap.

A lot of it was even cheaper than marked, because at this one store that I visited twice the guy at the counter ringing people up kept giving discounts. I'm not sure if it was because he just didn't want to add things up, or couldn't, or what. He would just look at your pile and give you a number. When I got the cookbooks, he only charged me for their marked price ($2), and gave me 2 mugs and the nutcrackers and cake server for free, basically. It was sweet.

The pink saucers are Pyrex. They are actually marked Pyrex in the mold, usually these had a gold stamp. I got those three from a thrift/resale shop for just 88 cents. And that was with tax. Those are officially my best thrift store steal. The mugs were either 50 cents or free from various places.

Mugs from left to right: Pyrex, Pyrex (Snowflake Blue), Hazel Atlas, Glasbake, Galaxy.

Cookbooks: Better Homes and Gardens Cooking With Whole Grains, Good Housekeeping's Cookie-Jar Cookbook.

Now onto the the antique store finds! This is actually a picture of just all the Pyrex I got in Tennessee, so ignore the mugs and saucers from the previous picture.

I think my best find was the double boiler. I've been wanting one for my baking projects, but they go for so much on ebay. This one is in great condition (just missing the lid) and was only $10. It's one of the more rounded ones with a blue tint to the glass and a green flame marking - my Pyrex book says the green stamp is from the first 10 years of Flameware production, 1936-1946, and the double boiler was first introduced in 1937.

I also got a replacement primary blue fridge dish for $10 (my old one was chipped), and it came with a lid, too! This one is in great condition, with an older stamp that matches my other primary fridge dishes. The lids on these dishes chip easily, but this one is still perfect.

I got also got the Zodiac casserole I had been wanting for a while. I couldn't believe I found one with a good lid (the gold tends to come off easily) and the candle warmer. The gold on the casserole is in excellent condition also. It was $20, which was better than the ones I lusted over on the internet.

Lastly I got the Pyrex measuring cup and matching Pyrex-branded beaters. I found the same one on page 40 of the 4th edition of the Mauzy guide. This one wasn't much of a deal ($60). I really wanted it but balked at the price. Jason decided to get it for me though. :) Good man.

A Whole 'Lotta Stuff, Part 1

2008-08-09T21:12:00.000-05:00

As shameful as it is for us to admit, Leilani and I haven't been posting as much as we would like on this blog. That's the bad news, the good news being that the lack of posts hasn't been because of lack of material! I have enough for one extremely long post. But, since I know no one wants to slog through all that in one go, I've decided to break it up into 3 parts. I went on a week-long vacation to Gatlinburg, TN in the middle of last month. My first post (er, this one) will have everything that I found before my trip that I neglected to blog. The second will be the swag I got in Tennessee, and the third will have everything I've gotten around here since coming back.

So this post is one of my favorites because I can reveal (dum dum DUM) my brand-new PYREX HUTCH!!!!!!

I absolutely love my new hutch and shelving unit. The hutch is gorgeous, Dutch Modern style made of all teak wood, lighted with sliding glass doors. The hutch isn't brand new, of course. It's vintage! Even better! I found it on Craigslist for only $100. As Jason's mom would say, it was a "screamin' deal." We picked up the black bookcase from a booth at the Rose that was going out of business and selling everything. We got the solid-wood bookcase and two black wood cubes for $120. I was ecstatic, and still am. I thought I would have to use bookcases for a long time before I ever found a hutch I liked, much less one I could afford. I got super lucky. All my glassware is now either displayed or stored in the cabinets.

Up next are some Pyrex casseroles that I got a while back. You can see them all displayed in the previous pictures somewhere. :) This one is dubbed 'Frost Garland'. This was an ebay purchase. It was one of the last aqua promotional pieces that I needed, so I finally just gave in and bought it. It's a 1.5 quart rather than the usual 2. It's a cute little round casserole.

This on is referenced on the PyrexFiles. On there it's listed under the very generic name of 'Floral'. I really wanted to get this piece, because it matches very well with my Golden Honeysuckle casseroles. Yet another ebay purchase.

I couldn't resist this dish on ebay since it had the great box. Even the packaging of Pyrex is pretty! This pattern is called 'Embroidery'.

This is my last ebay purchase. This piece doesn't have the usual color scheme that I gravitate towards, but I really liked it, and I hadn't seen another one like it. It's a big 2.5 quart oval casserole with brown and orange floral print. It wasn't on the PyrexFiles or PyrexLove's pattern reference. When I got this casserole, I was struck by just how vivid the orange on this dish is. I decided to name it 'Tangerine Floral'. The moderators of PyrexLove actually added my picture and my name to their reference!

I got this Gemco server in the 'Country Festival' pattern from an antique store in Tontitown. If I remember correctly it was priced pretty well, around $6. I'd have to say Country Festival is my favorite pattern on Corningware. Typical me, since it is harder to find, as it was only sold for 1 year. ;-P So far all I have to go with it is a teapot.

I got these from an antique store neighboring the one where I found the Gemco server. The Hazel-Atlas mug was a couple of dollars, which is more than I usually pay, but it's so pretty and I have a pink one that matches it. The Federal syrup pitcher was right next to it, and was about $5, I believe. I couldn't not take it home! :)

I got this promotional divided dish (also known as Floral, ugh) at the same antique store as the Gemco server. It was about $14. Not super cheap, but better than ebay. I had been admiring this dish that other users had posted on PyrexLove's Flickr group, and thought it was one I would like to find someday. So when I saw it "in the wild" shortly afterwards I decided to go for it.

This Pyrex casserole is called 'Midnight Bloom'. I got this one from Yesteryears antique store in Tontitown. The antique store wasn't too bad, but unfortunately the last time I went a couple of weeks ago, I found out they were going out of business. I got this casserole before all of the going out of business sales, however. I always liked this piece. It's a hard one to photograph - it's difficult to portray the true color. The lid is a pretty purply-black, and the base is lavender/periwinkle. I never expected to find one of these in Northwest Arkansas, so I gladly paid the $22.50 to make it mine.

I got both these casseroles at the Rose when we found the black bookcase. The vegetable dish is English, marked with the crown, my first JAJ piece. The pattern is called Tuscany. It was actually 50% off in the booth that I got the bookcase from. The other dish is a promotional Pyrex casserole for Heinz. I think the deal was if you bought Heinz stuff you could send off and get this dish. It's a special shape, and a unique dark green/teal.

I got this Cornflower Blue electromatic coffee perk at the same antique store as the Gemco server and the Floral divided dish. I wish I could remember that places' name! This perk was really cheap, just $7 I think, and it came with all the parts, even the hard-to-find black plastic underplate.

My last find for this post... I got another vintage Sunbeam mixer! This one was sitting right at the front of the appliances shelf at Helping Hands in Bentonville. I was shocked no one had bought it, it was only $15! This one is a slightly different model than the one I already had, I think it might be a little earlier. This one was a steal because it came with the hard-to-find juicer attachment. That alone if I were to resell it would get me back my $15, easily. I haven't decided which mixer I'm going to keep (but I'll probably just end up keeping them both, heh).

Great Pyrex Move of '08

2008-06-04T18:19:00.000-05:00

Oh dear, we've nearly been a full month without a post from either Leilani or myself! I've finally found some time to edit and upload photographs of some of my finds from the past month. A bit of an exciting update (exciting for me, anyway) - I just got done moving into a new, much bigger and much nicer apartment! Now I'll have plenty o room for my vintage goodies. And as soon as I get some shelves for my Pyrex, I'll finally be able to photograph my collection of Pyrex all together! Actually, I already took a few group photos before we moved in...

My Pyrex collection was the first thing I took to the new apartment. I put a lot of the dishes in the kitchen cabinets for safekeeping, so there was no possibility of them being broken as furniture and the like was moved in. I took the opportunity while they were briefly displayed to take those pictures. Sadly, that's not even all of them.

This table also goes along with my new apartment - I now have a patio, and I needed a patio table! I fell in love with this one at Famous Hardware Antique Store in Springdale. I was considering buying a similar tile mosaic metal table at Bed Bath & Beyond that was smaller, with all-white tiles, for $45. Then I saw this one - larger, handmade, and with a pretty design, for $65. Worth the extra $20, I think. A few of the black edge tiles were missing, but it was easy enough to find the same ceramic tiles at Lowes, where they even cut them down to the right size for free. Now I just need to finish grouting, and it'll be good as new. The best thing about the table is that the two creators signed it on the bottom. They even named it - "Born to be Tiled." Cute!

I think the table is going to be my new dedicated photography spot. :P I took another picture of my set of Pyrex Desert Dawn yellow dishes. I finally managed to get the proper lid to the 2 qt. round casserole (the knobbed lid rather than the one with the flat top). Now I feel like that set is truly complete. And the cake dish can have the old lid as a bonus! I got two of the knobbed lids off eBay for .99 cents, plus shipping.

Another mini-set has been completed! I just recently thrifted the middle percolator (6 cups) at the Council of the Blind in Springdale. I got it for $5, which is a good price considering it looked like it had never been used, literally. The 6-cup percolator goes great with the 9-cup and 4-cup that I already had. That same day I also found 6 Tupperware coasters. I had considered buying a set that I found in an antique store, but I just couldn't pay the high price tag. I found these for just .50 cents at Second Chance Thrift.

This Foley flour sifter is one of my favorite finds. I found it in the antiques and collectibles corner at the Peace at Home thrift store in Springdale. It was $5, I could hardly believe it was so cheap. Usually anything that they even suspect is collectible is marked way up. With the great turquoise color, I could see this going for $20 at antiques stores around here.

These melmac plates are thrift store finds from before I moved. I've found quite a few plates in this size with varying patterns. Random patterns in sets of 3 to 5 show up at the thrift stores around here pretty often. They're hard to resist because they're usually pretty cheap at .10 to .25 cents per plate.

In my last post I posted a picture of the Pyrex Cracker Barrel that I found in an antique store in the Bentonville/Rogers area. Not too long after that I found its mate at another antique store in the same area, and it was pretty reasonably priced. The gold leaf on the cookie jar is in a little better condition than on the cracker barrel.

This promotional Pyrex casserole called "Lace Medallion" is one I had been wanting for quite a while. I actually didn't even end up finding it- kudos goes to my good friend Amanda who found this dish on eBay. She went a little too crazy buying Pyrex on eBay and had buyer's remorse after getting this dish, because the color didn't go with any of her pieces. I paid her the full price plus shipping costs, and I threw in an extra $3 Pyrex Bake-A-Round that I found at the Salvation Army. So thank you thank you thank you Amanda for buying this and selling it to me! I love it! :)

This last dish was part of my mother's day present to my mom. She's had her set of Wildflower Corning Ware casserole dishes for 20+ years. When I saw this microwave dish, I had to get it for her set. I found this in a small antique shop in the Bentonville/Rogers area. It was $15, and came new-in-box with the dish, glass lid, plastic storage lid, and care instructions. As for the gift aspect, I think my mom liked it. :)

What's Better Than Vintage Kitchenware?

2008-04-18T21:36:00.000-05:00

SETS of vintage kitchenware, that's what! I noticed a trend when I uploaded my pictures to Flickr... I actually seem to have completed or acquired a lot of sets recently, rather than getting a bunch of random pieces. I'm quite proud of myself, actually. I vowed not too long after my descent into thriftmania and pyrexia that if I was going to be a kitchenware junkie, I was not going to have a completely random kitchen! I've managed to stick to my vow and I have only collected in my patterns in color palate (with only a few minor indiscretions). I'll start with my favorite:

The rectangular space saver dish on the very bottom of the middle stack was my last, elusive piece... I finally found a nice one on eBay and I had to get it. I just love this pattern, something about the color and the snowflakes just sucks me in! Oh, and I'm officially getting a larger apartment in a month, and it has a dedicated dining space (!) so they will be on display properly very shortly.

I had to get this carafe when I saw it on eBay... It started at $4.99 and I was the only bidder! It came with everything - candle-warmer, care instructions, original box, and even the tea ball! I loved that it had the same snowflakes on it as my turquoise snowflakes, also. I didn't realize it in the auction, but it has a combination of gold and white snowflakes, which is really pretty. When I got this beverage server, I really felt like my snowflake collection was complete!

I thrifted this carafe and candle warmer quite a while ago. I found out on PyrexLove and saw on eBay that it originally came with 4 mugs as a beverage server set. I had found the matching mugs at a few local shops, but they were in poor condition. The brown paint didn't seem to hold up very well, and forget about the gold design. I finally turned to eBay for these. I managed to get a deal by buying another set of mugs that I needed from the same seller, so I got combined shipping at least!

I only pictured one of the Peach Shell mugs, but I actually found 7 of these at an awesome garage sale for only $2! I happened upon the sale when Jason and I were driving to Pea Ridge to see his parents. The guy running it had a huge garage full of stuff! I also spied this adorable Fire-King mug. What a cute little mouse!

This is another cool find from the large garage sale. These disposable placemats are very 50's. I love how the packaging enumerates the many reasons why disposable placemats are such a good choice ("saves cost of laundering linens" "longer life for linens" "makes food look more appetizing" "decorates table" "saves work"). We actually got a lot more from this sale that I didn't photograph. Jason found himself an awesome vintage Atari with 2 controllers and paddles, with several games and even the original box for just $15! He's becoming quite the little thriftster himself. We also got quite a few LPs for our record collection, and a nice vintage Yamaha record player with groovy faux wood so we can actually listen to our collection now!

I've been wanting a Pyrex gravy boat for a while now, and I was lucky enough to find this one at the thrift store. It's not my pattern, but it is my mom's, so when I do get the one I really want, I can pass this along to her. She always serves mashed potatoes out of her Woodland mixing bowls, so the Woodland gravy boat will be perfect! I actually only thrifted the boat of this gravy boat, I had to go to The Rose antique mall in Rogers to get the underplate. This is how bad I am - when I saw the boat at the thrift, I knew immediately exactly where I had seen the underplate sold separately before, and exactly where it was. All together I paid $7.10 for it, which is not too bad, I'd say.

I got these from an antique store that Ifound with Leilani during her visit this winter. I hadn't been to it since then (I kind of forgot where it was), but I re-discovered it last Thursday. The Pyrex Cracker Barrel was actually there the last time I visited. I passed on it before, but I decided to go for it this time. It was $4.95. I also found a great Federal glass syrup pitcher for $4.99. I've seen a lot of these in some pretty blah colors, but I had to get this one with the orange lid. A lot of the kitchen gadgets that I've been getting are this color orange. By far the best deal was the Pyrex Pink Daisy dish. It's in good condition, and it was only a $1.99! I question the pricing at that store.

It doesn't seem like it because I haven't photographed it as much, but I probably have as much Tupperware as Pyrex at this point. I got a pasta holder in orange, which has edged it's way into my aqua-jadeite-yellow palate. I got another pitcher because they are just so handy. This one, although a little beige for my tastes, has a nice design on it rather than just being plain.

My last few finds are all additions to my mug collection. I picked up two of these mugs at the Council of the Blind in Springdale. Although they look very similar, the one on the left is Pyrex Tableware, and the other is Anchor Hocking. There were 3 of these together on the shelf. Two were Anchor Hocking with backstamps that dated to different time periods. jeffpyrex on Flickr, who is quite the expert on restaurantware, told me that Anchor Hocking made their line longer than Pyrex did, and because they were so similar many people used them as replacements for their sets.

I'm keen to get all the Pyrex cups and mugs for my collection. This pattern is called Burgundy. It was one that I had been on the lookout for but I hadn't seen it anywhere. I finally got this one for 25 cents at Helping Hands. Woo!

This makes Federal glass zodiac mug Number 2. Technically it's #3, but I have two Scorpios, so I don't count that. Only 10 more to go! :P

My last mug is also one of my funnier stories. I was driving down Main St. in Johnson, and I passed an empty lot that earlier in the week had sale signs up, but no sale. But that day tables were up, so I pulled in. The only good thing was this Fire-King mug. However, I couldn't find anyone to pay. Other people had pulled in after me and were browsing the tables. We all kept asking each other, "Are you running the sale? Do you know who is?" It looked neglected, it had rained the night before and things were soaked, like they had sat uncovered all night. I wanted this mug, so I even dared to go across the road to a rather run-down house and ask if the sale might be theirs. No answer. The people browsing were getting frustrated and leaving. I considered just taking the damn thing, but it felt too dishonest. So instead I went to my car and got a pen and a scrap of paper. I left a note "50 cents for mug" with 2 quarters on it on one of the tables. A lady that was leaving asked me "Did you leave a note?" I told her "Yeah, I figure if they're not going to man their tables, I can make my own price," which she found quite amusing. Someone probably came along and took their stuff and my money, but oh well. At least I rescued a Fire-King mug. :)

Arkansas Spring

2008-03-27T21:10:00.000-05:00

You never know with Arkansas weather, it's so unpredictable, but I think it's finally safe to say that spring is here! And thank goodness. I haven't posted in so long because I have to take most of my pictures outside - my apartment makes for an ugly backdrop, and the lighting is terrible. But every day off I've had since my last post, it was always gray outside! It's been frustrating, but I finally had a sunny day off and photographed all my finds from about the last month or so. I hope now my posts can be a little more frequent!

I found this Corningware teapot a little while ago, as you can probably tell from the snow on the railing (I got frustrated with the gloomy weather and photographed some of my finds regardless). :) It's hard to tell from the picture, but this teapot is a lot bigger than the 6 cup Corning teapots that you usually see around, this one is actually 2 quarts, and rather hefty. I got it from the Salvation Army in Springdale for $8.

I really like this Gemco salt shaker. Gemco made a lot of products that coordinated with Corning and Pyrex patterns. This pattern is 'Country Festival'. I normally don't go for a very 'country' look, but I think this one is adorable. 50 cents at the Springdale Salvation Army. The Fire King measuring cup isn't in the mintiest of condition, but I had to get it for 75 cents. Until I found this one, I hadn't been able to find a vintage measuring cup that wasn't completely destroyed - completely worn lettering, major chips, scratched to death... usually a combination of the three. This cup has nice red lettering, light scratching, and no chips. That's all I ask...

This is a find not from one of my usual haunts. I decided to make a trip up to Gravette, east of Bentonville, where my boyfriend and his family used to live. Jason told me a tale of a really good, really cheap thrift store there, and I decided to go on one of my days off. Well, when I got there, the store was CLOSED, I was literally 8 minutes late. But my hour trek wasn't for nothing, because right across the street was a small flea market! That's where I got this cute Androck flour sifter, for $4.

I love owls! I found this Avon owl container at the same Gravette flea market. It was just a dollar, so I scooped it up. One negative - I got it home and opened it up, not realizing that it still had some old rank perfume inside. Oh lord, the smell made me physically ill, and I of course spilled it on myself when I opened it. I soaked the owl but it still smells bad inside and around the seam. :(

This Kodak Instamatic was my last find from the Gravette flea market. It was $4, which is a little higher than I usually pay for my cameras, but it had flashcubes and the box, so I got it. I've actually got quite a few cameras in my collection now. I'm going to save them all up for a later post.

I got this Kodak Automatic from the Second Chance thrift in Springdale - if you go back in the posts, it's where Leilani got a shot of me in the chrome of that vintage toaster. :) Not a bad find for $4.

This is my first piece of Pyrex that I thrifted in the box! I got this crazy Bake-A-Round from Second Chance as well, for just $3! It has some very delicious-sounding bread recipies on the paper insert that I want to try. It cracks me up - it's an old "As Seen On TV!" product.

More finds from the Springdale Salvation Army (which has definitely surpassed Fayetteville's). First are the Spring Blossom Pyrex sugar and creamer. I wanted the sugar bowl, and was considering buying it on eBay, but I actually thrifted it first, woo hoo! Only $1 per piece. When I went to the counter to buy the Pyrex, inside the case I saw the autograph book. It's never been written in. A $2 spur of the moment purchase. :D

This is a find from Springdale's Samaritan thrift shop that I found a while back and forgot to photograph. Mmmm, icing and cookies.... It still had all it's pieces. I think I paid about $5 for it.

I also found this Tupperware at Samaritan. I love the big orange container, it's a perfect lunchbox. I want to start packing Jason's lunch in it. :) All the pieces were sold together, $5 for the lot.

This dish is a little rough around the edges (literally), but I picked it up from Samaritan anyway. It's a 'Maid of Honor' casserole. This is the first one I've seen at the thrift. I've only seen one other Maid of Honor brand dish, at an antique mall. The glass on this dish is really thick. Picked it up for $5.

I picked up this unmarked milkglass mug at Samaritan also. The graphic is pretty crazy - if you can't tell, it's a bull. It's actually a zodiac mug, with information on Taurus on the other side. The Tupperware cookbook is from the Council of the Blind in Fayetteville. Just $2, and it has a bunch of good recipes and pictures of all kinds of Tupperware.

More Tupperware! I found these at Peace at Home, just $4 for all 8 pieces. I was really excited to find these because I have the canister set in yellow. Now I have the small canister too... and 3 extras! Hehehe. I've noticed lately that I'm deviating from my yellow/aqua/jadeite kitchen color trifecta to include orange accents. Which leads to my last find...

... a Toastmaster ice crusher in vintage orange from the Springdale Council of the Blind. Only $5, and it still works. I love the vintage appliances...

Now for some of my naughty internet buys... The yellow primary refrigerator dish I actually thrifted, but on the rest I broke down and got on eBay. My favorite way to buy is to get the cheap auctions where they sell misc. dishes in a big lot. People don't bid on them, you get a couple of good pieces cheap, and the rest you can resell or give as gifts.

This little refrigerator dish is from the same misc. eBay lot that I got the primary blue dish from. Initially I was going to get rid of it, but Jason wanted it. I gave him one of the chipped lids that came with the lot, and now it's his candy dish for his nasty black jelly beans. :P

I'm SO happy - I finally managed to complete my yellow Desert Dawn set! I had the hardest time finding the 2 quart round casserole. I searched for months on the internet, apparently they're pretty rare, but I found one on eBay Express in the end.

I also got another Pyrex dish with it's serving basket. I really like this dish, it's a very convenient size, and it's a gorgeous deep blue color. I've used this dish for baking several times already, I'm glad I invested in it.

Last but certainly not least... my aqua promotional Pyrex sickness. I just can't resist them. I got the Bluebird, Meadow and Balloons this past week. The Balloons chip and dip set is definitely my favorite. I'd been wanting to get it for a while, but I wanted to wait until I could find the bowls in good condition that actually still had the bracket. There were a lot of bidders, but I won in the end. :D

The Vintage Thrifter-ator!

2008-02-11T16:51:00.000-06:00

I have to apologize for my lack of posts recently. My internet has been trying to die on me, and on top of that I just got done working 6 days in a row (ick). I was exhausted, but now I'm feeling much more rested, and I've finally found the time (and daylight!) to photograph the rest of my finds from the past week.

It was a really good week for me with all the kitchenware. I found some really nice, minty pieces, and the prices were pretty reasonable.

These Old Town Blue Pyrex mugs were my first find. I only photographed one of each style, but I actually found 6 of each at the Salvation Army, for 50 cents each! It was perfect for me, because I have a set of 12 Old Town Blue Corelle dishes, teacups, and saucers, but I only had 6 cups and 6 mugs, so these complete my set!

Sorry for the poor picture, I need some plate stands! These are the largest and second-largest Corelle plates in Old Town Blue. I found 8 in each size at the Samaritan thrift store in Springdale. I already had all I needed in the largest size, but some of mine had rough edges, so I replaced 8 of my old ones with these, which are in better condition. I actually didn't have any of the second-largest plate size at all, so now I am well on my way to having 12 of those as well! They were a little expensive at a dollar per plate, but I was willing to pay more to complete my collection. It's still cheaper than eBay or the antique malls...

This was another great find from the Springdale Salvation Army. I found this at the same time as all those Old Town cups and mugs. It's a very minty Pyrex Snowflake Garland round casserole, 2.5 quart size. It was $8, which is a little more than I like to pay for a thrift store, but I'll probably never see one like this in such good condition at a thrift store here again!

Two more additions for my mug/cup collection - on the left is a 'Morning Blue' Pyrex cup, and on the right is an unmarked milk glass cup with fired-on yellow. I got both of these from the Bentonville Council of the Blind for 50 cents each.

More mugs! On the left is a steel blue Pyrex mug, found at the Second Chance thrift store in Springdale. I think it cost about 25 or 50 cents. I think this Pyrex mug is interesting - a lot of Pyrex mugs have the diagonal handle like my Old Town Blue mug, but these are more like the shape of the mugs made out of Corning material. On the right, the pink mug is Hazel-Atlas, and was only 25 cents at the Bentonville Women's Shelter thrift.

I love this canister, it's so cute and retro, and goes with the yellow part of my kitchen theme. It was $2 at the Peace At Home thrift store in Fayetteville. It's marked 'Corning Brand Glass'.

This juicer is awesome and hilarious! How can you not love it, it's the Acme brand Supreme JUICERator! Hehe, now my blog title makes a little more sense. I have yet to try it out, but I suspect it still works - this thing is heavy and built like a tank. I also found this at the Peace At Home thrift store. For $5, it came with all it's parts, the manual, and the original box. I may get a bigger kitchen soon, and if I do, this sucker is going right out on display on the counter.

This is the last mug, I swear! I paid $1.50 for the 'Grandpa' Glasbake mug at The Rose antique mall in Rogers. Normally I wouldn't pay that much, but I'm going to give this to Jason's mom. I picked up it's mate ('Grandma') at a thrift store last year, and gave it to her for her birthday. Now she can have the set! Both mugs come with a cute little poem printed on the opposite side. On the left, for about 25 cents I got another Tupperware measuring cup from the Salvation Army in Bentonville.

The rest of my finds are from The Rose antique mall. I found quite a bit of Pyrex there, and it actually was pretty reasonably priced. This Pyrex dish is promotional, called 'Constellation.' I actually had this dish already, but I didn't have its candle-warmer. For $13, I had to get it! The whole thing is quite minty, and I figured I could sell my extra dish and recoup some of my cost.

This 2.5 quart casserole was actually from the very same booth in The Rose as my Constellation dish! The seller's prices were pretty good. This is a regular Pyrex pattern called 'Daisy.' It's really sunny and happy, and it was also $13 - I couldn't turn it down. I've seen some of the original dealer adverts that some members have found and posted on PyrexLove's Flickr, and they show that some of the Daisy oval casseroles came with these wicker baskets. It seems like these baskets get separated from their casseroles pretty frequently, so I jumped on this one.

It's another piece of English Pyrex! It's the same pattern as the ones I found over Christmas. I found out from a member on Flickr that this pattern is called Woodland. This one is the same size as the smaller one I found before, but this one has it's original brown lid. I got it for $7.

Last but not least, I got another Golden Honeysuckle Pyrex casserole (it's on the bottom), in a 2.5 quart size. I found it for only $7, and it's very minty (with it's lid, even!). I already had the 1.5 quart on the top of the stack. I found it last summer, it was actually the first Pyrex casserole I ever thrifted, ~tear~. Now it has a friend! :)

Snowflakes in January

2008-01-21T13:40:00.000-06:00

The weather has been quite cold lately, and for several days I've woken up to find little bits of snow on the ground. Of course, the snowflakes that really got me excited showed up in the mail:

Yes, I've been on eBay again. I feel it was justified though, because these were a great deal. They were each .99 cents, and sold by the same seller so I got combined shipping. When it was all said and done, the dishes were only about $9 each - and they're in great condition with the lids. Not too bad at all.

This, I have to say, is one of my favorite thrifted kitchen items ever. I found these in the "antiques and collectibles" corner of the Peace At Home thrift store in Fayetteville (which means they think it could be valuable so they mark it up). When I first saw these geese, I had no idea what they were. When I picked them up to check for markings, I realized the undersides of each goose had measurment markings. They're little plastic nesting geese measuring cups!!! Soooo cute! There were only three, 1/3 cup, 1/2 cup and 1 cup. They cost me $3, but I thought they were well worth it.

Here's another great thrifting find. This is a very large (2.5 quart) oval Pyrex casserole that I picked up at the Springdale Salvation Army for $5. The lid is really scratched and chipped, but the dish itself is ok. According to PyrexLove, this is a promotional casserole from 1965 called 'Empire Scroll Filligree'.

I picked up this little dish at the Samaritan thrift store in Springdale for $3. It's unmarked Glasbake in their version of the blue onion pattern. It goes with the mug I got during Christmas! :) Sorry the dish isn't very clean, all the brown crud is what was left even after I scrubbed it with Bar Keeper's Friend. When I get paid this week I'm going to pick up some oven cleaner to hopefully take the rest of the baked-on crap off. I'll let you know how it goes.

Lastly, another eBayed item - the largest bowl in the Pyrex New Dot set. It was pretty expensive ($41 before shipping), but I was a woman on a mission. I tried to buy this bowl on eBay around Christmas, got a good deal, but it arrived shattered. It was the saddest thing when I opened the box and heard the tinkling sound of bits of broken glass. So damn the cost, I had to get me another one! I just sit around and hold it sometimes, I love it.

Recent Thrifting Finds

2008-01-14T14:50:00.000-06:00

This past week I had a few days off work, and I was able to get out to some of the local thrift stores in Springdale. I didn't get too many things, but I did find a few choice items to add to my various collections.

This is a french Arcopal mug with what looks like a stylized blue onion pattern on it. I had to get it because 1) it adds to my mug collection and 2) I like to get any different variations on Old Town Blue that I can find. I think it was only 50 cents.

This is an unmarked Glasbake mug that I picked up at the Salvation Army. I love the football design. I'll have to bring it out for the Superbowl. :)

I found all these records at a thrift store in Springdale called Auxillary that I haven't been able to get to in a while, because they're only open on weekdays. Now that I have more weekdays off, I'll be able to hit this one up more! I found these three Monkees albums. The records themselves are pretty minty, and the cover art is in great condition. They cost me a dollar each.

My last find was also from the Auxillary thrift store. I got this Polaroid camera for $3. It is from the early 80s, I believe. It came with the manual, but it was taped to the camera, and it ripped the cover a bit. I hate how thrift stores can end up damaging items with careless taping, or my personal favorite, writing on things directly with Sharpie. Why people, why?!

A Very Vintage Christmas

2008-01-10T01:02:00.000-06:00

Christmas '07 was a boon for me in terms of receiving vintage items, whether they were gifts or purchased by me. I hadn't had much luck in the previous months finding very much Pyrex out and about at local thrift stores. I swear Leilani is a good luck charm, because when we went out together we found some lovely vintage goodies, including quite a bit of Pyrex. My friend Amanda also contributed to my Christmas Pyrex haul quite a bit. She "rediscovered" eBay right before the holidays and got slightly addicted. She bid on quite a few Pyrex items for my Christmas gifts as well. This Christmas alone has very nearly doubled my Pyrex stash!

As Leilani mentioned in one of her posts, we still haven't figured out the 'Read More' code, so this will be another rather image-heavy blog.

This little guy was given to me by Leilani when she arrived. Instead of holding a gift card, she made a certificate entitling me to $40 of Pyrex/miscellaneous kitchenware when we were out thrifting. Needless to say I made full use of this offer. ;)

This is A Pyrex butter dish in the 'Snowflake Garland' pattern. It was a surprise gift from Leilani that she brought with her from Chicago. She actually thrifted this when she visited Wisconsin for Thanksgiving, which is apparently an untouched thrifting mecca.

Another surprise gift from Leilani were these vintage apothecary jars. I had seen several like this when I had been out thrifting, but I had never seen any in green, only cobalt blue.

This is a Desert Dawn 8 inch square dish made by Pyrex, given to me by Amanda. I collect the yellow version, but it also comes in dark pink. The only difference between Desert Dawn and solid yellow or pink is that Desert Dawn has a fine spray of darker flecks that coat the surface of the dish. I like this pattern not only for the color, but because they come in some more useful baking dish sizes that some of the other patterns just weren't made in, the 8 inch square being a good example.

Two more Desert Dawn dishes, a round cake dish and an oblong baker, that were eBayed for me by my boyfriend. Desert Dawn seems to be a little more uncommon. Although I thrifted my first piece of Desert Dawn, I haven't seen any more out at any local thrift or antique stores, and all the rest were bought from eBay, and even on there they are unusual.

Amanda eBayed this small Pyrex Butterprint refrigerator dish and extra lid for me. The lid is a replacement for the medium sized Butterprint refrigerator dish that I had thrifted.

Another eBayed gift from Amanda, this time the Pyrex Old Town Blue butter dish. I have a very large set of the Old Town Corelle dishes that I thrifted, and my latest goal is to get all of the Pyrex coordinates that match for a complete set! (I only need one more S&P shaker and the gravy boat now.)

More Pyrex goodness in another one of my all-time favorite patterns - Turquoise Snowflake. The bottom dish is a 2 quart rectangular 'space-saver' casserole from Amanda. The top dish is a 1.5 quart oval casserole that Leilani bought for me while we were out at an antique store.

While Leilani and I were out at the Rogers Salvation Army, I found this 1.5 quart Pyrex primary yellow refrigerator dish. No lid, but it was in amazingly good condition (especially for the Salvation Army). Leilani got this for me, I cashed in some more of my Pyrex gift certificate.

Another find from the same place as above, a 4 cup Corning carafe with a pretty gold-leaf starburst design. I had seen one just like this except it was 6 cups at an antique store earlier that day. This one was a much better deal than the inflated antique store prices, however!

A Federal mug that Leilani picked up for me when we were out together. I love to add all kinds of milk glass mugs to my collection.

The mug on the left is made by Corning, the pattern is 'Oriental Wood'. The mug on the right is unmarked, but I believe it is Glasbake by the shape. It's a lot like Pyrex's Old Town blue pattern.

Another addition to my cup/mug collection, this one is actually Pyrex tableware, in the 'Bluegrass' pattern.

Saving the best for last, this is one of my favorite pieces that I got this Christmas - English Pyrex! I was shocked to find some out in the wild in Arkansas. I haven't been able to find the pattern name online, but I call it 'Wildflower' for obvious reasons. I recognized the distinctive handle shape from the pictures of other English Pyrex pieces that have been posted on PyrexLove's Flickr group. They were quite cheap at a couple of dollars per casserole.

Vintage Ornament Finds

2008-01-01T22:40:00.000-06:00

Unlike Leilani, I haven't struggled for years to find good Christmas items thrifting, as I only started fairly recently, and my main obsession is kitchen items (namely Pyrex). Leilani and I went on a thrifting adventure last week, exploring some new territory in the Bentonville/Rogers area. At one of our stops, the Rogers Council of the Blind, I did find some Christmas ornaments that I just couldn't pass up...

I adore these mice ornaments, they are just too cute. They are made of felt and pipe cleaners, and they are each holding a different kitchen item, made of plastic. I really wanted to get them after I saw that there was a set of three - I had to keep the family together!

These ornaments make me feel very nostalgic, because my parents have collected an assortment of ornaments over the years, and they have many wood ones that look to be from the 70s, like these. I was especially drawn to these ornaments because, though I'm not sure, I think my parents might actually have some just like these. I know at least that they have a Santa almost exactly like this with the pipe cleaner beard, but I can't remember if it has a drum or not.

Leilani picked all these up for me with the other items she purchased as part of my Christmas present. The chick, toadstool and santa ornaments that she found (the first picture on her post) were part of the same haul.