Catching Up

I've been to a lot of sales this past month and have yet to catalog any of them, here on my blog.  So let's just jump right in, shall we?

I went to a sale at the house of an honest to goodness hoarder.  It was claustrophobic.  I've never seen such small walking paths in a house. Check out my Instagram account for pictures of the inside of the house! @thesnugbungalow  Even though it was an exercise in self composure to walk around that place, there was some good digging to be had!  Especially in the basement, where the vintage Christmas was hiding.

I unearthed three strands of green mercury glass beads, two Christmas corsages, and a tiny ceramic poinsettia girl what is also a bell.

I bought this Donna Parker book for the amazing color and graphics.  Looking forward to putting it in our new bedroom, once it's done.  The thing on the right is something I've wanted for ever so long.  Even if I don't technically know what exactly it is.  I've seen them on Instagram and in magazines, in photos of holiday decor. Mercury glass bulb...trees?  At any rate, I'm super glad to have found one for my very own, after years of yearning.

I also found a few Easter cuties.

Then I went home and scrubbed myself and my items down. Because there is nothing like a hoarder sale for making you feel unclean.  And also, a little bit better about the magnitude of your own collections.

Next up is an exciting adventure! My friend Noah had never been to an estate sale before, but was interested in attending one.  Enter, me.  Noah showed up even earlier than I did, and when I arrived we got our numbers.

Not too shabby!

We stood in line, and it was sunny, thankfully.  Not truly warm, but at least we didn't have to wear winter coats. That's a thrill in May in NY state.  

I was hot on the trail of a table of Miss Piggy items that I'd spotted in the online sale preview pictures.  I took off like a shot, got to the table first (Of corse, since there is never, ever anyone else heading to the Muppet stuff at these sales.  Though the amount of stress dreams I have might lead you to believe otherwise.) and scooped up all the items that I didn't already have. (Minus a set of over priced watches.)

I got a Miss Piggy hand puppet, a cute little Hallmark cookbook with amazing photos throughout, and a heart shaped Miss Piggy puzzle.  All vintage!

I did get a few other tiny things.  A tiny Hallmark mouse Christmas ornament and a little rabbit Merry Miniature.  I do love itty bitties!

Noah got what he came for, too.  A juggling set.  Here he shows off his juggling prowess whilst simultaneously talking on the phone!

We went on a trip to Virginia and while in Richmond I stopped at a bunch of thrift stores.  I didn't come away with a lot, but what I found was quality!

A ceramic flamingo light switch cover for our new (tiki) bedroom!  The bedroom isn't ready for finishing touches yet, but I'm very excited for the moment it is!  He has a little chip out of his tail, but at 49 cents, I'm not trying to care.

A few weeks after that, I went to an estate sale, hot on the trail of some Muppet items.  Things I'd never seen in real life, and things I knew to be worth a pretty penny.  I was the 8th person through the door, and (as always) I had no competition for the Muppet stuff.  I was able to grab all of the vintage Muppet towels with no trouble!  They are in gorgeous condition and were a great price! I also scored a little ceramic Miss Piggy ornament that was probably part of a craft kit. So happy to add these to the collection!

After I had the towels safely in my basket, I felt free to wander the sale at a leisurely pace. All of the linens and scarves were in the room with the Muppet towels.  I browsed and found this vintage gem for @lockportjazzshoes Mermaid scarf!  The pink feather nest in the corner is actually a headpiece.  It works like a headband and makes it seem like you have outrageous pink feather hair! I can't wait to have an event to wear it to.

In the next room I found a few things to list in my Etsy shop.  Eventually.  (I have quite a backlog of items.)

There were lots of tables full of knick knacks in the living room and I found a few bluebirds for @hmcamma and an Easter chick for me!

The holiday stuff was relegated to the basement, as it so often is.  I dug around for a while and found quite a few treasures. Some ceramic Christmas vases for my mom, along with a tassel necklace.

Fall leaf hankies are among my favorite!  I also found a teacup full of teensy tiny mercury glass ornaments.  I need some to repair a vintage Christmas corsage I bought earlier this year.

Near the checkout there was a table full of jewelry. It was all carded, and bagged, and priced cheap!  I picked up quite a few pieces.  Man, is it fun to dig.

On the way home, just for kicks, I stopped at a yard sale. I found some sweet ass parrot earrings to add to my growing collection.  Some fishies and a pair of plastic clip ons with glitter, too!  At 50 cents a pair, you really can't go wrong.

OK, I'm all caught up.  And you know what that means!  Time to go to an estate sale!

That's What She Said: #1 I'm Not Very Good At This

Ann (@magicsummervintage) and I have been friends for a long time.  More time that I'd like to readily admit.  Because, then we'd have to talk about how old we are.  And neither of us are doing that. 

When we were younglings we had a website devoted to selling toys from the 1980s.  We went to thrift stores and yard sales to rescue said items, and then spent lots of time washing, photographing, and putting them online to be sold.  We had an e-commerce site far before many of our peers even had email addresses.  That's right.  Bad ass.

The summers we spent on the hunt became known as Magic Summers. Hence the name of Ann's Etsy shop: Magic Summer Vintage. 

As adults we have jobs and families and all kinds of crap that gets in the way on a regular basis.  But, come summer, we have Fridays off.  A whole day of Magic Summer each week!

Let me tell you, the thrill of the hunt hasn't subsided just because we are now adults. We still get chills and butterflies just as often.  Still looking for the next great score.

We've decided to blog about our antics.  Me from my perspective, and Ann, from hers.  A she-said / she-said kind of a thing. Hopefully it will be fun to read.  You can take a look at her post over at Magic Summer.  I'm warning you now that I'm terrible at this.  I'm too excited when sale-ing to be "in the moment" and to do things like "remembering to take photos" and that we're trying to "document the experience".

Check her matching blog post out here.

We rolled up to the first sale just as the line was going in.  It was a church sale, and we all know those are the cheapest and best. I'd stumbled upon the sale last year and was well prepared when I saw it in the listings this week. Previously I'd found a few cute vintage dresses for Ann, and a $1 Pez dispenser (no feet) for my brother, who collects, as well as a smattering of vintage holiday decor and kitchen kitsch for myself. This sale is not to be missed!

To keep everything civil and fun, we have one main rule.  If we both want a thing, but one wants it to sell and one wants it to keep for their personal collection/use the personal use wins.  We don't want to be snagging good stuff from each other to make a profit.  It almost never happens, because we have very different taste, but when it does, it's nice to have the rule.

Once inside, we split up immediately.  Ann always hits the clothing first, and I go directly to holiday.  Diana (Goddess of The Hunt) was with us and the first thing I unearthed was on my all-time want list!  This little dude!

Vintage Hallmark Halloween owl Merry Miniature guy!  Last year I scored the honeycomb version.  I think all I have left to go is the pin!  My goodness, he's adorable. I dug him out of a box on the floor, under a table.  It pays to be thorough!

I tried to get Ann to buy this, but she said no.  She has a really cool coconut head guy, and I thought he needed a friend. Even though he didn't come home with us, we still listened to what the coconut monkey was trying to tell us.  We did, little monkey dude.  We totally did.

Meanwhile, Ann was busy loading up on dresses.

She got some great stuff, including an Old Navy does vintage novelty print dress, a modern Lily Pulitzer, and this fricking amazeballs rainbow dress that everyone in the world is going to be jealous of.  The colors! The 80s! 😍🌈 Behold:

That's the face of success, people!

Here is what I ended up with.

Slimer was gifted to me by Ann and I'm going to use him for fall / Halloween decorating. The rainbow assortment in the back is an Ikea set of stir sticks.  Tiny clothespins, elephants, and swordfish.  Two Hallmark Merry Miniatures - an Easter bunny in a basket, and the cute owl guy.  The Florida spoon rest has googley eyed gators! (This item was found at a later sale in the day)

I scored these items from the church sale for my Etsy shop.  I have quite a backlog, but they'll show up sooner or later.  Speak now if you'd like a price on anything!

We looked around for jewelry but there was none to be found.  We asked a worker bee and were told that no, there wasn't any jewelry.  Now, this is a church sale.  Church sales take donations from the people who attend the church.  And you know there was jewelry donated. WHERE DID IT GO?? We want the jewels!

After the church sale we headed to an estate sale.  Neither of us got anything.  Ann took a bunch of pictures and I just took this one.  We've had so much rain this spring that Lake Ontario (One of the Great Lakes) is flooding.  And there is lots of water laying around, like this:

(Note the awesome flamingo shopping bag!)

Our third and last sale was to benefit a local animal rescue. A cause near and dear to both our hearts.  When we first got there, it looked pretty crappy.  Just a few tables of stuff in a yard and some tires. I did find this cute MCM wire stand for my mom, but that looked like all there was.

But, wait!  The sale continued inside the building!  Wahoo!  Rooms of treasure waiting to be unearthed!

We stepped into the first room and it was heavily laden with jewelry.  Old and new!  And oddly, the vintage pieces were cheaper than the new!  Don't worry.  I didn't do anything so stupid as to take a photo to show you.  You'll have to skip over to Ann's blog in order to see it.  Because I'm real good at this blogging the experience thing.

Later, when we got back to the car, I did snap a photo of this beauty!  Vintage pop-bead necklace with matching earrings!  Totally looks like glass beads, but is in fact, soft plastic!

I also wanted to snag a picture of this vintage looker.  When I showed it to Ann she made primal, guttural noises. Noises her dogs would have been terrified of. Noises that sent me into hysterics.

I had her recreate the feeling here:

You're welcome.

Here is a closer look at the spoon rest that I found at this sale. Look at them peepers!

Since the sale was to benefit an animal rescue I thought it was fitting that there was an entire bin of tiny animal costumes.  Who wouldn't want their Chihuahua or kitten to dress up as Bert?

There was also a giant collection of vintage skunk items.  Super cute, and I thought about getting some to re-sell, but I tell ya what, I hate shipping breakable items.  Hate, hate, hate.  So I just took a photo instead.  So much cute!

After all the sales, we ate lunch outside in the sunshine and warmth and about died of joy.  We'll be back sale-ing in a few weeks.  

Until then you can shop our great finds here:

Snug Bungalow Vintage & Design

and here:

Magic Summer Vintage