On a 60s Craft Kit and Other Fun Finds

I haven't been inclined to write very much lately or if I am inclined to write haven't been inclined to finishing anything, which means that drafts for various posts on a variety of subjects have have been piling up over the past few months.

Having been to the thrift store about a week ago for some cheering up sort of shopping, this is the post everyone is getting today.

As usual I ended up coming home with an odd assortment, the weirdest being this craft kit from the 60's that was my least expensive purchase of the day at 2.99. As you can see, it still has all the pieces, the elephant isn't even open, the instruction sheet, and horrible little foam noodles that were to be used for the filling and are in a state of disintegrating.

I have a thing for Alfred Hitchcock books and magazines (enough that they probably deserve their own post someday) and very rarely when I come across them can I resist buying at least one. In this case, I bought two. This larger sized glossy covered book published in the 60's has a nice selection of writers including Agatha Christie, Ellery Queen, and, a favorite of mine, Cornell Woolrich.

There were quite a few of the mass market paperbacks, but I settled for this one because it was the older one in the bunch and I like the way Dell paperbacks from the 60's smell. Upon flipping through it at home I have discovered that it fittingly has a spiderweb sandwiched near the middle. 

 

I don't know how old these chicken plates are, although I'm inclined to say 50's or 60's as they got my attention because they remind me of my grandma's egg plate. 

I spotted some wooden owls a little over two inches in a grab bag (Heaven forbid I make it through a visit to a thrift store or the swap meet without coming home without an owl of some sort!). The one on the right has some vision problems, but is very lovable, in my opinion.

The grab bag also had a pretty wooden egg timer and, due to the bag being so small, an unidentifiable wire thing that I reasoned I would just get rid of since I was really getting the bag for the little owls. 

Turns out it was what I'm now thinking of as a kitchen themed dangle-ly with a bunch of miniature utensils and household implements--I love it and am absolutely keeping it!

Upon getting ready to buy my items, I spotted another very shiny and appealing looking small owl, so it came home with me too.   

My random item for this trip was a miniature tea set. I've always wanted a fairy tea set and now I have one!

Other items not pictured were a few dresses, several dvds including Lost Horizon (1937 version) and The Shari Show (Lamb Chop makes everything better!), and a Big Band Romance cd.

On Some Swap Meet Finds

Since the start of the pandemic, I've done very minimal in person shopping when it comes to finding vintage treasures and, honestly, have been getting somewhat tired of online browsing, which removes the serendipity of spotting "that item" among a bunch of other less interesting things.

Before we hit the colder weather (and subsequently an increase in sickness), I really wanted to go to our local swap meet, which I hadn't been to for about three years. While the number of people was a bit overwhelming, I only went for a short while, wore a mask, and tried to stick with sellers who didn't have awnings or tents that would block off the air flow. 

For such a short time, I ended with a nice amount. 

My primary reason for going was to look for some buttons. I didn't find any vintage ones that I wanted to get, however, I certainly found buttons. 

My favorite find of the day, which was also my most expensive at $10, was this small clock! It doesn't work, so it will fit in nicely with my other vintage clocks.

Vintage brooches are always one of my favorite thing to look for since they usually only cost a dollar or two. I didn't find quite as many older ones this time. Who could resist that cute little woolly yak on the left, though? Other finds include three tiny glass animals, an owl, a pinecone scale house ornament, a collapsible wooden cat (a silly purchase, but I have always wanted one), a Laurel and Hardy card game, and a quirky framed spigot.  

I also bought a vase. I'm not entirely sure why it appealed to me so much, but at a dollar I'm not feeling too bad about buying it on a whim. And the oldest item of the day, a calendar page from 1905 that I am looking forward to getting in a UV protective frame and up on my wall.

Not pictured, I also found a vintage three inch toy poodle (I feel I should know what it goes with), a vintage handkerchief, a few sweaters, a skirt, and a dvd of the Prep & Landing Christmas specials (I'm not big on the newer specials, but I really took a liking to these ones). Overall, a very successful shopping trip! ♥

On Some Thrift Store Finds

A a little over a week ago, I decided to have a "fun" shopping trip and venture out to one of our local thrift stores. And while it was a little stressful, I mostly browsed the media section and happily came home with a few treasures.

Having an adoration for old Scholastic paperbacks (really, I could write a whole post about how much I like them), I was delighted to find a few. My elementary school library had a lot of older children's books, many which I still love, and among these were the Miss Pickerell books, which I promptly snap up when I see them. Mr. Pudgins is another title I remembered and how could anyone forget that cover!

I know absolutely nothing about The Ghosts Who Went to School or The Moonball, they just sounded fun and I'm looking forward to including them in my summer reading. 

I also found newer editions of some Roald Dahl books, some which filled gaps in my collection like The Magic Finger and Esio Trot (one needs a romantic tortoise story sometimes), a nearly complete set of Tove Jansson's Moomin books, which I'm very much looking forward to reading, and a few more contemporary reads.

Aside from the book section, I really love going through the albums at this store, since they're only a dollar and found some 45s I'm excited about, which is kind of unusual for me as the bulk of my record collection is made up of the larger sizes.

The cover of this Waltzes From the Classics box set got my attention and the fun surprise upon opening the box to check them in the store was that they're red! (the only other colored albums I have are a pink My Fair Lady soundtrack and a golden Hymns one.)

For the fun covers, I bought two Peter Pan records: "The Pied Piper of Hamlin" and "Nursery Rhymes". I'm looking forward to getting to listen to these two!

Additionally, I've long been a fan of what I think of as "mood music sets" because it's fun to see what's been chosen and, as a bookworm, finding this little two album set "Music for Reading" is pretty fantastic, in my opinion. 

I also bought the accompanying two album set, "Music for Courage and Confidence". Not as fond of the songs on this one, but still fun to think that someone chose it as a mood music theme and the inside cover contains encouraging quotations to provide an extra boost of courage and confidence (the reading one has a bio of the orchestra leader). 

By the time I was done looking through those, I really wasn't up for much more, so I did a quick glance through some miscellany and ended finding these small wooden Pilgrims to add to my Thanksgiving decorations, which upon seeing them I realized consists mainly of leaves, turkeys, and pumpkins.

I probably won't be venturing out again anytime soon for something like this, but it was nice to be able to do a little treasure hunting for random vintage finds rather than just doing a search online! 

♥ ♥ ♥

On Clip on Earrings Turned Into a Sweater Clip and Other Swap Meet Things

While visiting the swap meet a few months ago in search of a green sweater for my rose bush costume, I came across these clip-on earrings, which while not exactly matching any thing on my lamp, I decided were too cheerful to pass up especially since they were only a dollar. It also gave me a really good excuse to attempt turning a set of clip-on earrings into a sweater clip, which I've been wanting to try for a while. Aside from struggling to get the chain open with a pair of needlenose pliers because I didn't have any gold jump rings (something I plan to remedy before doing this again), it was remarkably easy to loop the chain around the hole at the edge and comes with the benefit of getting to enjoy my clip-ons without my ears feeling like they're going to fall off. 

Other vintage findings included a handful a pins, a small blue bag, and these two lovely framed prints (now dubbed Lady Grace and Lady Prudence). 

♥️ ♥️ ♥️

On Antique Store Finds!

Yesterday I stopped off at the antique store while running some errands and ended up bringing home some fun new to me things!

Last time I was there, which was early fall, I saw a velvet purple cow toy that I decided to pass on and periodically since then I've thought about how I wish I would have bought it just because it was so funny looking. It was still there and I now own this tipsy little creature (and, in honor of national poetry month, I agree I'd rather see than be one) making it my second purple cow to come from this antique store. As I mentioned to a friend, propping it up with and positioning it next to the milkmaid was completely unintentional, although she does look appropriately shocked to see it.

Here's a better look at the above lunch set, which still has its original label and is still stapled to it's cardboard backing. 

  
The final photo I have to share is this straw hat, which I love in part because it makes me think of Disney's Swiss Family Robinson. It's in great shape with the exception of the one flower, which I'll have to repair, and I'm looking forward to getting to wear it in warmer months!

Other than these I also came home with a small artist palette brooch, purple scarf, a ziplock bag of vintage sequins, and a wonderful beaded bolero.

♥️ ♥️ ♥️

On Antique Store Visit!

After nearly ten months of neither having gone to the antique store or thrift store, I've been in the mood for some treasure hunting. Despite it being boiling hot today (after a lovely cool three day start to fall, which I would like to go back to now), I ventured out to the air condition-less antique store to see what I could find.

All in all, I'd say it was a rather successful outing. A small jewelry box, a brooch, a seemingly never ending pile of vintage valentines, a flocked birthday card (that appears to be an artist whose Christmas cards I'm fond of), two Christmas postcards, three lovely old photos, two hats, and a red scarf that I'm over the moon happy about finding, since I've been wanting a red scarf, all for a little under sixty-dollars. 

A smaller version of a cat brooch I have. (Actually remembered to use the right camera setting, hooray!)

 Some lovely old photos of women in hats...

 and this woman sitting and reading a book.

 ♥ ♥ ♥

On an Enid Collins' Glitter Bug Box Purse...

...that for some reason I haven't done a post about yet.

I've had this purse since last July. One of my co-workers had gone to small antique store nearby during her  lunch and ended up buying one of two Collins box purses, which they were selling for what I considered a reasonable $27. After some thought, I decided that I'd head over after I was off work to get the remaining one. It was supposed to rain that day, so I grabbed my umbrella and made the fifteen minute walk to the store with nothing more than a little drizzle. In the short time it took me to pay for the purse, it started to rain in the annoying manner where it suddenly switches what direction it's falling, which led to an interesting trip back to my car of trying to hold the umbrella in a way that would protect that bag, trying not to drop either of them, and several near falls on some tiled areas (flip flops and tiled sidewalks are a very bad combination).  

  

I love it still has the 'Casual Corner' label!

This is one of the later ones (70's maybe) from what I've read about the logo progression over time. It's not in the best of condition; as you can see the mirror is gone and a few rhinestones are missing. The straps are also fairly worn, which would make me pretty nervous if I were to actually take it out of the house. Based on that I'm using it to store my very small collection of vintage postcards that aren't mounted on my wall. ♥

On Antique Store Finds

Okay, playing catch up here since this post was originally meant for the last week of December.

For the past few years I had been trying to make it to my favorite antique store around Christmas and this year it finally happened. They had a really nice assortment of vintage ornaments, but I only ended up getting two.

I looked at a glitter bird, forgot to get it, and then ended up receiving another one they had that I didn't see (and liked considerably better) as a Christmas present and which I'm including here just because I like it so much. 

I also came home with not one, but two hats. 

The red one, which at first appeared to be part of another hat, I bought specifically to go with my favorite dress. It's my sole hat that is not a full hat and I'm pretty excited about that for no particular reason other than it's red and has a bow. 

The floppy one I debated on, but loved the velvet trim. I do think at one point it had a bow or some other small object on the front since the velvet does have a square impression on it. 

Last, found this beautiful scarf with stars, which unfortunately does not photograph well due to being so sheer, and this gloved hand brooch.

♥ ♥ ♥