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!

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!

Vintage Shopping - Day 3

Not sure what my problem was today but I just wasn't in the best of moods!  I did more looking than spending but still had a wonderful day.  Here's my finds for the day.

First, if this doesn't keep the hubby out of trouble for a while, nothing will:

A box full of Stuart Woods books!

A tiny little hoe?  For a dollar, must have, it's so primitive!

Spotted these from a row back and promptly ended a conversation with a booth owner to run over:

Don't worry, I went back to finish the conversation.

At an antique coop, I purchased my first two Shiny Brite ornaments!  I have a bowl I wanted to fill with them last year but resisted, now it's time to start filling it.  These two are Jack and Jill.

A nice gentleman came over and asked me if I'd like him to take them to the register area so I can continue shopping and I said okay, so they give you a number.  I told him he'd better give me a good one and he didn't appreciate the pressure I put on him!  LOL!  Oh my, he gave me a crappy number, I was almost done when I ran into him again and told him, I'm not having any luck finding anything else I want.  He asked me what number I wanted and jokingly, I said #1.  I walked around and here he comes and tells me he found #1, here!  Now go walk through the coop again!  LOLOL!  As it turns out, I did decide on something and it happened to be in his booth.  He gave me a good discount and asked me if I was going to pay cash.  When I said yes, he offered to take more off the item if I didn't go through the checkout.  Is this legal?  Do I have to meet you out in the parking lot or something?  No, the dealers do it all the time.  Okay, deal.  Take a look!

It's a roll dispenser for wax paper etc.

But it's such a different shape, I just had to have it.

It needs a good cleaning but I'm sure it won't be a problem!

In the next shop, I found more Shiny Brites!  Please note, I will NOT use these for the wreath I want to do.

The two on the left, in the center and bottom slots, are NOT Shiny Brites but I loved the subjects and graphics.  Um, only $1.00 each!

Now, I tried to be patient.  But after waiting a while and these people were not getting out of my way, I couldn't wait any longer and decided I was about to push them out of my way.  I saw these beauties hanging on a wall, knew what they were and again, must haves.  They are the tiniest PBN's!  

Looked them up in the museum and they are only 4 x 5 1/2"!  They came in a box with another one that is 12 x 16, so now I have more searching to do for the missing on!  These are from the Painted Desert series.

After searching for more Christmas items for my wreath, I decided I have to return to the first place I visited on Thursday and really spend some time going through their misc. bags of Christmas items.  They have walls full at this thrift shop, so I guess I'll be late getting home!  :o)

Thrifting Trip - Day 2

What I lacked in yesterday, I made up for today!  I have a boatload to show you, so sit back and enjoy!

I found two new places to go today so I didn't really get started on the antique shops yet.  I stopped at only 1 and after tomorrow's flea market, I will dig in on antique shops only!

I had purchased some of this paper on a previous visit and wished I got more.  I was surprised to see they still had some.  They didn't have the multi-colored one anymore but I still love these.  They are practice sheets to learn how to print your A, B, C's, do you remember this?  I know this is older stock because there's no zip code in the addresses.

 Okay, something for the hubby.  He's so into this author, we printed out a checklist that is 4 pages long and check off any of them I find along the way.  I looked around 3 times and couldn't find any of them, a nice lady that knew the book section said she knew right where they are.  Okay, she couldn't find any either.  She says they were there yesterday, four books, they must have sold.  She was so nice, she ran back to the warehouse and searched for more and came out with these three!!  Hardback books for only $1.00 each, can't beat that with a stick!

Of course, it wouldn't be a trip without at least one paint by number!

Children's tea set, love the cake server!  

 Have you ever seen something and you don't know why, but you just have to have them?  These were that way for me!  There's 21 total small ones, 4 of the next size up, 3 of the larger ones and 1 large one.  Why was I so fascinated with them?  They are plastic!!  I love you can throw them in with the dishes and wash them right up and no need for the iron!

I thought this was an old candy container:

The blue things inside are just little plastic things the seller put inside it.  Take a look at what it once had in it!

I found this next Tupperware item and immediately thought it was time for another bird feeder when I saw it. I'm sure it's supposed to have a lid but I doubt the birds will mind if it's missing.  Now I have to find another chair leg to mount it on!

And yet, another Tupperware piece.  I've never seen one like this before and this one looks like it's never been used.

What is it?  It's a multi-server!

Check out the date on the paperwork.  And is that lifetime warranty still in effect?

Called Dealer's Choice Ash Trays, this comes with it's own little rack!

I don't get to see this pattern too often, I do have a large bowl that matches in my shop and the pattern is just so cheery!  

Now, let's take a look at the price!  Woohoo!  I felt like offering them MORE for it!

 This is the business card I picked up in one of the new stores I found today.  What a neat place and she just opened a second shop that I'll need to visit some day.

I found this pin at Uncle Funky's:

It's so cute, I can hardly stand it!  It's a busy little Poodle, open wire work, twisted wire work, tiny blue stones and even little faux pearls!

 Not totally sure what this next item is.  

Does anyone have any idea for sure?  We are thinking it might be for a cape?  Some type of cape closure?

Remember the souvenir pillow covers?  Tacky!

Since I picked up some Christmas ornaments yesterday, it was just a matter of time until I started picking up more.  I'm giving thought to making a wreath, so I better stock up!

The two Santa's are sweet.  The red one still in the original package is flocked.  After I picked it up, I found a few more in the antique store and they wanted $10.00 each for them, I paid .50 cents.

 And if I make a wreath, I definitely need these to fill in empty spaces.  

 Take a quick look at these and see if you know what they are!

Yep, seals balancing balls on their noses!  I think they are just plastic charms.

Every time I come on one of these trips, I swear I'll get back to the hotel and write down all the prices etc.  That always lasted all of one day!  This time, I'm saving all my receipts and getting back to the hotel and using those to write what each item is and have the prices right there.  So far, I've done it for two days now! Will it continue?  We'll see.  Flea market tomorrow and they aren't known for handing out receipts!