Some Small Bits

One of the things that I love about estate sales, and one of the reasons that I sort of ditched yard sales for them, is that they go all year.  Up here in the frozen north, that counts for a lot.  The bad thing about estate sales in the winter is that everyone and their neighbor turns out. Nobody has anything else to do.  The first day lines are terribly long, and most of the stuff is gone by the second day.

Basically as soon as I remarked that people weren't scooping up vintage Christmas stuff like in years past, they started doing it again.  I jinxed it.  For some reason they are leaving behind the mercury glass garlands, which I'm grateful for.  Vintage Christmas is one of my main reasons to haunt estate sales.  Attested to by the fact that I still have 50% of my Christmas decorations up.  In February.

But this whole winter has been whacked out anyway.  Last week we went to the park for a walk without jackets.  Today it's going to reach 60 degrees. Tomorrow it will snow.  This crazy, windy, bi-polar weather generally doesn't happen until the end of March.  I'm very excited about what that might mean for the start of spring!  Shhhhh!  Don't jinx it!

Anywho.  I've been faithfully going to sales and the thrift store, and am coming up pretty empty handed.  Just a bauble here or there.

I got these strings of vintage mercury glass garland for a buck each and the silver plated spreader for a quarter.  I remember when everyone was hot on the trail of silver.  People would run to the silver, push each other out of the way, scoop it into their arms, and run for the checkout.  Now it's all going for a quarter.  I like having mismatched silver.  Like a (super cheap) treasure I've amassed through many adventures.

This was the bounty from another sale.  Pretty slim pickings.  The earrings (beach/tiki) were $2, the silver spreader was a quarter, the pillbox was $1, and the Christmas flower was thrown in for free.  There was a pair of ridiculously obnoxious wooden watermelon earrings that I passed up and now cannot stop thinking about.  #regretsy

This gorgeous little gift box is from my mom.  It's vintage, of course, and will look spectacular displayed with my stuff.

On a trip to the thrift store I picked up these rad plastic sweet pea flowers.  Man, I love a plastic flower.  I want a fake flower that knows it's fake.  I like the ones that aren't out to fool anyone.  The ones that revel in their fakeness. Plus, look how great they look in my pink shell vase!

So, In Summary:

#getherespring

Mid-Century Blah Blah

Heather and I went to an estate sale that had a ton of mid-century modern furniture.  Everyone and their dog is going nuts over this type of furniture these days.  I couldn't give a fart less about mid-century modern furniture.  It's not my personal style.  Too plain.  Too doctors-officy.  Not warm or inviting in my opinion.  But, everyone else wants that junk.  So when a sale is advertised like that, people come out in droves.  The place was picked over when we arrived on the second day. But, everything under $50 was half price, which was great.

I did find a few little treats, though.  A home made Christmas corsage done in pinks.  Even the pine cones are dusted in pink metallic paint.  The orange corsage is my favorite, though.  It will look spectacular in my someday tiki bedroom.  The mushrooms are Christmas tree decorations, clip style.  On each clip one mushroom is blown glass and one is plastic.  The plastics are probably replacements for the delicate glass ones that break so easily.  I found some of them back in 2014 and even though those are partially broken I still display them on my tree.  I love the graphic appeal of toadstools in red and white.

Here are a few more tiny things that I found.  I do love the smalls.  A teensy flocked Christmas owl holding an itty bitty sprig of holly, a vintage Hallmark brooch of a Christmas Owl, a candy cane with a stick pin on the back found in a box of candles with a bunch of others like it.  I'm guessing it's to decorate a candle with? (going in my shadowbox) And the coup de gras: A vintage Florida (Disney) Orange Bird keychain.  I love Orange Bird so much!  He's ridiculously adorable.  Disney has brought him back in the past few years and I cannot get enough!  His orange head and his tiny leaf wings!  Gack!

I also hit it big in the vintage bar sector. My first Whistle Stix and they are in the original package!  So cute.  I think the straws have actual metal (copper?) threaded through them.  Love the box for the Party Straws, obviously.  I also found two Old Crow stir sticks with tiny top hatted crows on top! 

A closeup of the straws.

I also got this embroidered leaf picture.  It looks great hanging horizontally or vertically and will look 100% great with my fall decor.

So, In Summary:

2016 has a long way to go in giving back. 

RIP Jareth & Snape.

Thrift Storia

I just went to the thrift store for the first time since my injury in August.  That is a long stretch for me to go without a thrift hit.  It felt real nice to get back out there.  And as an added bonus I got quite a haul!

Check it out!

I'll only go into detail about the stuff I bought for myself, though I did score quite a few special gifts and some great stuff for my Etsy shop.

At this particular thrift store I always check out jewelry first.  It's right at the front of the store.  I almost always find something worth while. I found a vintage Avon Pin Pal IN THE ORIGINAL BOX for ONE DOLLAR.  I already have the pin, but the box art is half of what makes vintage Avon so appealing.  I'll be putting this adorable dude (Chicken Little) out with my Easter decor.  The pink garland was a buck as well.  I'm going to rip off the weird styrofoam eggs and use it to embellish some decorations.

Next I hit up holiday, because it's next in my line of sight.  I was surprised at the amount of Christmas stuff that they still had.  Tons!  But, they have all holidays out all the time at this thrift store.  I bet they make more money that way.  Lots of thrift store junkies are also decorating junkies.  Not that I'd know anything about that.

This honeycomb santa is new, but I'm not above mixing old and new, alike! Display all the honeycombs!

The Elf stocking is vintage (from the 80s) Avon.  I really did hit a treasure trove of vintage Avon, which, as you know, is one of my favorite things to find!  We had this particular tidbit when I was a kid, and it made me ever so nostalgic.  My parents had lots of decorations and I was the one to put them out, as far back as I can remember.  So, basically, I blame them for my madness.  Look how cute this dude is!  I need to find some vintage faux candy canes to jam in there.  Or some vintage floral pics!  OR BOTH.  All of these finds were $1.

This little ceramic medallion is "sugared", or coated in clear glitter.  Man, I love that junk.  It will need a new ribbon soon.  I'll probably swap the green velvet out for something red or candy striped.

One of the last things I hit is purses.  They are on my route to the checkout when I'm all done with the rest of the store.  I found this little gem! $3 for a vintage shell decorated tiki purse?  Yes ma'am!

A close up of the tiki action and a pair of 80s heart earrings that I found for $1. I can't wait to use this purse on vacation to somewhere sunny and warm, preferably with a swim-up bar.  A girl can dream.

So, In Summary:

Watch out, 2016. 

I can walk and need to make up for lost time!

Whoomp!

I'm back in the saddle again, as it were.  I'm able to walk around unaided, have one pair of shoes that fits correctly on both feet, and can navigate stairs.  That means it's estate sale time, people.  And boy, did I sniff out a good one to start back with.  A great one, in fact.

Heather drove us across town and we both got a great haul.

We went straight down to the basement, where more often than not, our favorite vintage Christmas and holiday decorations are relegated to.  Everything in this sale was boxed and labeled by the previous owner.  You could tell that she took a lot of pride in her decorations and wanted them to be stored well and safely. Everything had a tag written out in fine old lady handwriting.  We always feel kinships with people like that.  Which makes us super happy to take home some of their treasures.  To keep safe in our nicely labeled bins, and to display with pride with our seasonal decorations.

This sale was what is referred to as a "digger sale".  This means that everything is just sot of out, or in big tubs, and almost nothing is tagged with a price.  So you just sort of find something to stick all the stuff you want in, and then hold it out and say, "how much for this many?"  Almost everything I bought was 50 cents.

This first photo is of some rare treasures indeed.  Crafted Easter bonnets, made from condiment cups, construction paper and bits of ribbon and flowers.  Each one is unique and endearing.  I just thought they were such a hoot!  I have NO idea how I'm going to display them.  But as we collectors know, that is not a question for now. I'll figure that out come April.  Right now I just have to follow my gut.

This vintage honeycomb pumpkin is giant.  It's like 9" tall.  The paper snowman is a vintage, flocked, Hallmark gummed label.  I think I'm going to put a card stock backing on him so that I can display him along with my Christmas stuff.

This huge stash of tiny mercury glass ornaments and floral picks was given to my mom.  I'm nice like that. 50 cents.  I did take out the wired red flocked balls for myself.  I'm nice, but I'm not a saint.

The jewelry was $10 per piece, marked down to half price.  Both multi-strand necklaces are made of wooden beads.  Tiki mama here I come!  After this score I went home and started watching Golden Girls nonstop. 

Here are a few more tiny Easter joys.  Vintage chenille easter chicks with bonnets and parasols, a vintage Easter bunny with a cotton spun head and some plastic dudes, too.  I can hardly even stand that tiny white plastic chick with his itty bitty orange wings.

All crafts in the 80s had shiny red apples.  Trust me on this.  I used to hate them.  They were everywhere.  But now that we've had some distance, I might be able to get on board with a few shiny red apples to be displayed with my Jadeite.  I also found a tiny vintage Hallmark Easter bunny for the shadowbox and a pretty crafted red and green ornament.

Vintage Christmas corsages are among my most favorite treasures to find. Next to Muppets.  And paper lanterns.  And Jadeite. These were found in the basement, underneath a table of wares, in some ratty old cardboard boxes filled with crumpled bits of paper.  The silver floral pick on the left is made with real metal!

I do apologize for the quality of these photos.  They were taken with my phone, and the camera isn't great.  But, it is very convenient. 

So, In Summary:

Tag team, back again.

Christmassy

It was very slow going this year, taking down the fall decorations and putting up the Christmas stuff.  It took so many weeks that I transitioned from crutches to being 100% weight bearing.  So, my dream of decorating my Christmas tree on my own two feet, being able to walk around it, came true!!  I'm teetering around like a toddler learning to walk for the first time, but I don't mind.  WALKING!!  That's the really important part!

It's finally all up, though.  And boy howdy, do I have a lot of Christmas decorations.  Thankfully, I've met lots of people on Instagram that have a ton more than I do.  So it makes me feel better about the amount I'm trying to cram into our small space.

I know I'm years late to the party on Instagram, but I'm hardcore addicted now.  I found it durning the months that I wasn't allowed to stand up.  Tiny pictures of other people's decor and thrift/estate sale finds really helped me get through some of those long, painful, 3:00am hours.  I'm also finally feeling well and steady on my feet enough to start tackling estate sales again!!  After a 4 month hiatus!  

So anyway, here are some pictures of my Christmas stuff.  :)

You know you've found a kindred spirit when that person decorates their bathroom for Christmas.  No space left un-jollied!!

This is the epicenter of the crazy.  I can admit that.

So I might have added one or two (hundred) more things this year.  So what?

More kitchen stuff.  Disregard the bags of dog treats and the dog brush.  They are not Christmas related.

The Santa garland and my brand new (to me) Santa honeycomb!

I love this tree that I picked up at the Ronald McDonald sale a few times ago.  It fits so well on my kitchen window ledge.  And the tiny pups are from my awesome friend Daria!  They are a salt and pepper set - with scarves!!

Shout out to my friend Karl who is always on the lookout to add to my (insane) Muppet collection!  These are two Muppet Christmas posters from his childhood that he gifted me.  They are hanging in my living room for the season!

There are lots more thrilling pictures on my Instagram account, which you can find a link to at the top right of my blog.  Also, lots of pictures of my dog.  ;)

So, in Summary:

My house lost the war with Christmas and I'm loving it!

Fall 2015

Surprisingly, even with my injury, through the help of friends and lots of eye-rolling, glitter fearing help from the husband, I was able to decorate The Snug Bungalow for fall!

This gives me a lot of joy, every day, because, let's face it, I'm not going anywhere.  So, even though I'm stuck at the house, at least it's gorgeous and festive!

Shall we take a look?

First, the dining room.  My ever faithful, antique cabinet.  Fit for displaying all manner of collections.  It has a few new additions since last year.  One of my delights is to count the number of new things I found over the past year that haven't ever been displayed yet.  Though, I don't keep a tally of items culled from the collection in order to make room for these new treasures...

Now for the inside of the cabinet's three doors.

A favorite new item is the vintage honeycomb pumpkin I found at an estate sale this year.  I cannot get enough vintage honeycomb decor!

The vintage Lefton pumpkin & cat candleholder that I just got at the RMD sale looks great in the cabinet!

The husband had to help me with this display since you have to climb up on a chair to reach the shelf.   He endured many glitterings at its hands.  Being glittered is not his favorite thing. Though, in this house, it's a risk you run most days.

Still loving my drinking straw wreath!

A great spot for my "new" vintage black cat to survey the room from.  Velvet with jewel eyes and a rhinestone collar.  

Bats, cats, and skelies!

My tiny Peanuts Halloween town on the bathroom shelf.  The Peanuts characters were gotten at last year's October RMD sale.  I just cannot tell you how much I love these tiny Hallmark figures! Merry Miniatures for the win!  Plus, if you are a dude, they are eye level with you when you go pee. A nice little tableau for you to ponder whilst you do your business.  Ya welcome.

My shadowbox has many new residents this season!

The green monster wreath I made from an idea I found on Pinterest.  He lives on our bedroom door.

This is a blurry picture of my burgeoning graveyard. 

"There's always room for one more!  Hurry baaaacck!"

I do up the mantel very similarly every fall.  When you get a classic look that lasts, use it!

So, In Summary:

Thanks to everyone who helped get my house ready 

for the beginning of the Holiday Season!

The Ronald McDonald House Sale I Did NOT Miss

Thanks to my wonderful husband, I was able to go to the fall RMD sale, even in my crippled state.  He pumped up the tires on the scoot (I'm not even kidding, he wanted me to be at peak performance!) and carted us off to the sale.  He waited in the car for an hour with me, before cutting in line with our friends (I don't have the stamina to wait in line for an hour and then shop for an hour) and hauled around my three bags of stuff for an hour and a half. (New record for me on the scoot.  A straight hour and a half!  I was sore after, but it was worth it.)  He was very good at weaving in and out to get something that I'd pointed at across the room.  And, adorably, he turned out to be an awesome good luck charm!  I hit a Mother Load.

I had to alter my usual plan to maximize my time on the scoot.  No doubling back.  Which meant that I had to do holiday first, since it's right by the entrance.  Oh holiday!  How I love thee!  I'd been worried about making it around the tiny Halloween room on the scoot.  But, I was able to do it with no trouble. There were significantly less people there this time, and it made for easier movement.  Jackpot.

I scooped up some delightful vintage treats in the Halloween room!  Small stuff is my favorite.  The Snug Bungalow is obviously not a large house, so I can have many more decorations if I keep them tiny!

Look at these awesome pompom spider dudes! Ack! 50 cents for the pair!

This skeleton man is either made of a shoelace, or knitted. I don't have the expertise to know what is knit, crocheted, tatted, etc. What I do know is that at 50 cents I could not pass him up!  I love a skelly!  The plastic pumpkin and cat decoration to his right was one of 10 that I got in a bag for 50 cents! I think they are vintage cake decorations.  I almost did a one legged happy dance when I found the little bag of vintage Russ/Hallmark merry miniatures back there. One dollar of happiness for my shadow box!  The pumpkin man is doffing his hat (top of his head) to you!

The boxed Hallmark ornament section wasn't as well stocked as usual, but I did find one cutie!  A kitten in a red "Chuck".  $2.  The two felt ornaments were from a "fill-a-bag" area.  Generally the fill-a-bag" ornaments are crap.  But this year I found two awesome vintage hand made felt ornaments.  The tiny mouse on a little scoot to commemorate scooting around the sale this year, and an awesome mobile-esque tree created using tiny bits of fishing line. $3.50 for the pair.  The photo doesn't do justice to the fruit in the middle.  It's a gorgeous blush fading into a creamy yellow color.  Topped with white mica. I got this in the new, very awesome and well stocked, "Vintage Christmas" area. Delicious at $3.

The two trees were also in the Vintage Christmas area.  The wooden tree is hand made, imperfect, and yet perfect for me.  I love that it looks so illustrative.  Like it could have popped right out of a vintage Christmas storybook. $2.  The stocking tree is something that I've only ever seen on Pinterest.  Seen and yearned for!  They had a bunch of them, but I like to have just one and move on.  It's made of stocking, wire, glitter (yeah baby!), and mercury glass beads. $5.  The silver mercury glass picks were $1 and will be a fun addition to my Christmas displays.

I have a Pinterest craft that I want to do with tinsel garland so I picked up an unopened bag of magenta Country Living (Country Living is my JAM!  How did I not know they made Christmas decor??) for $3 and a bag of silver on the inside, green at the tip, garland for $1.50  The Tootsie Roll santa was spotted from across the room and the husband sprang to action! He grabbed it in no time flat.  It's cardboard with a plastic top.  I've spied it on Pinterest and thought how cute it was. $2.  The pumpkin cat piece is a Lefton candleholder! The paint is peeling off in spots but it was $2!  Yes, please!

Yeah, that's right.  THREE Muppets to add to the collection!  TWO of them talk, sing, and move!  Then there's Gonzo.  Weirdo.  Santa Kermit was the second thing I found at the sale.  He was hiding out in Christmas.  You know how much I love it when Christmas and The Muppets join forces!!  He was just hanging on the wall with some other sad holiday toys. $3, WHAM!  The other Kermit was in the toy section but NOT with the Muppets.  He was with some other noisy toys that need batteries.  $5, BAM! Gonzo was in the regular toy/Muppet section. $2, Thank you ma'am!

I got a picture frame for a small poster that needs to be reframed. $2.  A group of styrofoam wreath forms for 75 cents.  And a worn out old paper towel holder for a Pinterest craft wherein you spray paint it and then store bracelets on it.  I have too many bracelets.  They are taking over all of the space in my life.  They need to be wrangled.

So, In Summary:

Thank you, husband. 

From the bottom of my collecting-crazed little heart.

This was one for the books! <3