Monday, December 31, 2012

Saturday, December 22, 2012

Friday, December 21, 2012

Thursday, December 20, 2012

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Saturday, December 15, 2012

Happy Holidays!


Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!


Love you guys! In a totally straight way!

Friday, December 14, 2012

Friday, December 7, 2012

Yankee Candle Trip

Recently, I visited the online shop for Yankee Candle and boy, were they having some great sales!  I'm still waiting for that order and it occurred to me, I need a gift card that I didn't put in the order.

I have a Yankee Candle store nearby me, so I decided to just run in for one item and leave.  I have a love/hate relationship with that place!

Here is what I walked out with.

First, here is the gift card, how freakin' cute is this?

The card is slipped into a cardboard holder that looks like a shopping bag!

The card itself looks like one of their candle jars!

OMG, look at what else I couldn't leave without!
Santa pants!  I put some Sparkling Cinnamon votives in it.  Hey, it was on sale!

Next is this cute thing.
What is it?

It's a trapper cap that covers the lid to your jars!

Hey, it was on sale!  They had Snowman and Santa caps, too but this one is a gift for a hunting family, so I thought it was appropriate.

These are just the gifts I got, have one more in my order I'm still waiting for and just a few items for myself!

Monday, December 3, 2012

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Black Friday Thrifting

I stay  far away from any of the craziness of Black Friday so my hubby and I decided to take a trip out to New Holland for a visit to my favorite thrift shop!  At first, I was very disappointed, I went through most of the store and found nothing.  OMG, we drove all the way out here for nothing?  But the last remaining rooms were to uncover a lot of items for me to bring home and make the trip all worth while!

My hubby was the first to find something, he found another Stuart Woods book that he didn't have and he was thrilled at the price, only .50 cents!  LOLOL!

Then, I was off and running.  In the craft room, I found these two rulers.  I have quite a few of these older wooden rulers and especially love the ones with advertising on but these are both without the advertising.

Then, in a room that seems like it is a misc. collectibles room, I found this laying on the floor.  
The thing that interested me most with this were the graphics.  I wasn't even sure what it was.  I thought it was an object to keep the sheets tucked in around your feet while you are asleep.
When I got home, I did some research on it and realized it makes a "tent" out of the sheets or blankets on the bed to keep them off your feet!  According to the patent number on it, it's from the 50's.  

Baby toys:
Baby rattles:
An old copy of the game PIT from late 1910's!  I'm not sure if all the cards are there but think it's a neat display piece or for scrapbooking pieces:


Then, next to the reading room, I found these on the magazine racks:
These are amazing little magazines called Pack-o-Fun!  They are magazines of crafts to make from things around the house, such as paper rolls, cans, Christmas cards etc.  I got 60 of them total!  I started to go through each one but it was taking so much time, I had to stop.  There's a lot of things for group leaders to do with kids, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts etc.  Even skits at times.  They date from early 1950's to around 1964.  I love some of the advertising, too, like a magazine on What to Do with Marshmallows!
Some fantastic graphics!  The earliest ones are before staples!

I got some more bookends.  Which we'll need with all the Stuart Woods books the hubby is collecting!
And my favorite item!  A covered bridge paint by number!
And the last two items I got downstairs:
Majorette pin:
And rhinestone Christmas stocking pin:
We decided to go upstairs to pay.  This register is never open when I'm there normally but it was that day.  We went ahead and paid, the hubby headed for the car and I decided to take one more look through the toy section.  I didn't get out of there without finding more.  

First are these cars and trucks, which I want for a project and they are always too expensive but here, they were only .50 cents each:
And I couldn't resist this:
It is a wooden boat and when you twist the paddle wheel around with the rubber band, you could let it go in the water and it will unwind and propel the boat.  I think it's handmade and I'd like to think it's by a loving grandpop for his grandchildren!

We took a ride over to Shady Maple for their buffet and had a nice lunch.  There's way too much food at that place so from now on, we'll visit the lunchette downstairs!

I took him over to the new pond store that opened up about 2 years ago and he's never been there and then we headed home.  It really was a wonderful day.

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Bakelite Buttons

Have you ever purchased something online that seems to take forever to get to you?  I'm like a little kid when it comes to these purchases, I want it and I want it now!

With online businesses expecting their sellers to supply buyers with estimated delivery times, it's hard on the sellers.  I know it is.  I'd rather not know and of course, the sellers have found a way around it.  One such seller takes the time to supply you with a tracking number the day after the purchase, however, there's been no movement on the package, including it being scanned at the post office.  What does that mean?  Most likely, it hasn't even been sent yet.  Why?  Because if it was sent and let's just say the post office failed to scan it, someone along the lines would have scanned it OR I'd have it by now.  Not the case with one seller that has this beautiful "fast 'n free" icon by his name.  He got that icon by pretending to ship immediately.  So much for the fast shipping!  Anyway, back to the subject.

I collect Bakelite realistic/goofy buttons.  Most times, I buy one at a time and it takes time and money to purchase this way, so when I found a full set on eBay, I decided to watch them.  I realize they are black and black isn't the most desirable color but hey, it's a full set!  And something told me there's more to them.

Imagine my surprise when I won them on eBay for a total of $10.54 including shipping!!!  I paid, I waited and waited until the estimated time went by and still no buttons.  Email the seller and she had sent them but it was 5 days after I paid.  Um.  I ship the next business day, no excuses but I guess not everyone is like that.  I wait, I wait and today was the day!!!!  

The card isn't worth writing home about but it's still neat.

Woohoo!  I now have a full set of Bakelite fruit and veggies!
I love that Made in U.S.A. part!

But wait, there's more!!!  My gut told me there was, again, let's take a closer look!
YEP!!!!  A full set of BLUE, not black, Bakelite fruit and veggie buttons!

Doing the happy dance!  And the full set for under $11.00!  Well worth the wait!

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Day 4 of thrifting, antiquing and flea markets

While on these adventures of mine, I start out each day thinking to myself, what will I look for today?  Today was an outdoor and indoor flea market so I thought, CHRISTMAS!  That's what I'll shop for today!

I didn't really think I'd find much, I am a price watcher.  Not priced right, I am more than willing to walk away.  Not even halfway down the first row, I came across a table filled with Christmas items.  In order to find out if it's worth rooting through everything, I find something and ask about the price, right price and I'll root, not the right price, keep walking.  Well, her price was right and she tells me she wants to get rid of this stuff.  Music to my ears.

I started out with the ball ornaments and she says to me, feel free to mix and match, take things out of one box and put them in another one until you have a full box of what you want.  Okie dokie then!  She's watching me and says, now that I see what you are looking for, I'll go through this huge box under the table and look for more you might want!

Now I've gone through all the ball ornaments and I have one full box and two partial boxes, where am I on cost?  She gives me a price that I almost fell over and she says, hey, I'd rather see them in YOUR car than mine!

 I'm going to keep going!  She had the set of angels, some small boxes of tiny ornaments, some tinsel bells and tinsel plus a large Poland ornament.  I asked her what she wanted for the Poland ornament and she tells me she has no idea, name my price. At this point, I ask if I could bundle a few items.  I picked out the angels, ornament and tinsel.  OMG, she gave me such a good price, I then moved to the tinsel bells and three small boxes of the mini ornaments.  This is what I walked away with:

You can see, it's filled to the top and it's a large shopping bag!
Still not giving too much away!  Let's get a closer look.
I love the two on the left, these will be perfect for my wreath!
Two of the mini ornaments, perfect for filling in the wreath and bowl.
Partial box of mini ornaments.
Crazy lot of tinsel bells.  One has a paper tag that says Japan on it.
These are larger ornaments and part of the boxed deal she gave me.  The top 6 are Shiny Brites and 4 of them say Merry Christmas on one side and Seasons Greetings on the other side.  (This is a close up of the box above)
Last one is Made in USA, which I love. (above)
(Above)  I love the first one, great graphics!  These are Shiny Brites.
Above is a close up of  a few of the Shiny Brites.
I even love the boxes, look, Uncle Sam meets Santa Claus!
One side of the Poland ornament.
Loved the trees on the Poland ornament.
And finally, the angels I talked about earlier.  Red one has candles, white one has a bottle brush tree, green one has a present and the pink one is missing what ever she is supposed to have in her hands.  Plastic faces and marked Japan on the bottoms.

That's everything I got from the first table I stopped.  I went to another table and this caught my eye.  It was in a baggie with another more modern ornament.  
It's glass with tinsel inside it!  The lady says to me, just take them.  What?  Just take them, you are the first person to show it any interest.  I can't do that, I replied, she took them from my hand and put them in my shopping bag!  On the other side of the fence, she had some of the tiniest little glass ornaments in another zip lock but I felt those were priced too high, when I asked her if she could do better, she takes $1.00 off and points out she did just give me something.  LOLOL!  I stuck to my guns and said I'd think about it.  GET THIS.  I walked the rest of the flea market and went back for the tiny ornaments.  In the time I was gone, she marked the bag UP!  Well, she told me I could have them for the lower price so I bought them.
Again, great fillers!

I was looking at these two boxes and the seller walked over and made me an offer I couldn't refuse, I didn't even look at them too closely but you'll see what I couldn't resist:
Look what was tucked in the lower right corner:
Another glass one with tinsel in it!

Now, I'm finished outside.  I swear some people tried hard to make me miserable, but I refused.  LOLOL!  First, I found 3 boxes of ornaments and one box said 3 for $30.00.  That's not bad but I really only wanted the one box.  Seller, no where to be found.  I make a mental note of the booth and keep walking.

I found a wonderful paint by number of a clown, but it had a hole in it.  For the right price, I'm still willing to buy it.  No price on it.  Seller comes over and tells me $20.  HUH?  I said, it's a paint by number and has a hole in it.  He didn't believe me that it was a PBN and tells me it's a watercolor.  Some times I don't bother with people like that but he annoyed me.  So, I showed him the lines that prove it's a PBN and he walked away.  LOLOL!

I find more ornaments and the man was totally outrageous on the prices so I thanked him and am about to walk away when he says he has something he wants to show me.  Okay.  He pulls a box out of a case and it's 3 glass pigs ornaments from Russia.  They are fairly new but somewhat cute.  He gives me a price, no thank you but I appreciate you showing them to me.  He lowers the price, now I say, let me think about it.  As I turn to walk away, he lowers the price again, sigh.  Okay, fine, I'll take them.
I'm guessing these are probably from the 80's.  They need some research.

Close up:

Now, I'm finished with the inside so let me go back to the booth with the boxes that said 3 for $30.00.  I really didn't want all the boxes, but wanted to see if she'd take $10 for the one box.  Or do better on all 3.  I find the booth and luckily, the seller has returned.  I ask her what the best she could do on them.  She picks up one box and says $25.00 for this one, $20.00 for this one and at this point, I stop her and say, why does this box say $30.00 for all three?  Her reply to me was, I have no idea why I put that on there.  Well, okay then, good luck selling those!  LOLOL!  

Now, here's the challenge for you!  I was very careful NOT to give you any prices, your challenge is to take a guess at what I spent.  :o)  There's nothing in it for you but it will give me an idea how I did on the prices!  Isn't that reward enough for you?

Keep in mind, some of the photos are duplicate photos or close up photos of items.  Put your thinking caps on and let me know!