What's Better Than Vintage Kitchenware?

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

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!

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! :)