Treasures

I just noticed that I haven't written a post in a couple of weeks, but to be honest, I felt like I didn't  really have much to write about!!  But, today I do!!  Last Wednesday I tagged along with my husband who had business in London - no, that's not London, England, unfortunately it's the other London, in Ontario.  He had meetings so that left me on my own to scout out the thrifts and antique malls - it was great!  On Friday, we headed to Buffalo, NY for the weekend - lots of shopping and sightseeing too, we went back to Niagara Falls, NY on Saturday evening to see the American Falls, which we had never visisted - what a view!!!!  

Sunday morning we were up early - I had found this flea market online - now I know what all you American gals talk about when you mention a flea market - I had never been to anything like this before.  It was called Antique World & Flea Market in Clarence, NY - New York's largest indoor/outdoor market  - people are set up at storage units, some booths are right in the unit, some are outside,  we want to go back again in the summer when it's operating in full force.  There were bargains to be had and things that I had never seen before, I'm happy to say I found some things that I've been wanting for a while!!!

No trip would be complete without finding a few Vera scarves  - I found nine!!!  

  I have never found a teen magazine, they are always ladies magazines, now I have a 1968 TEEN magazine, it was cheaper than all the rest that were there because it said a coupon was missing, it's funny, they typed out the missing words on a piece of paper, it's attached to the page.  I can't imagine a cover like this now on a teen magazine!!

If you don't like vintage Christmas, there is no  need to go on any further because that's what I brought home...

I bought this in Canada and then saw it later at the NY flea, it wasn't priced but I just bet it was less than what I paid.  It's so kitschy cute!!!  I had it lit this morning, it's even prettier than I thought, love bubble lights!!

I first learned about Gurley candles from the blogs, I wanted just one so bad, I had to resort to buying a couple on Ebay.  Then, this summer, I found two at a yard sale, unheard of for around here!!!  Well, I have plenty now.  

The candles were wrapped in paper, they're in perfect condition.

How cute are they?

I was in the land of Gurley candles and didn't even realize it, I was buying two from a lady at the flea market, she said those are more, they're the ones made in Buffalo, you know, well, yes, they are!!!  They were first made in Buffalo in 1938 under the Tavern name, that is what this box is so they're old, in 1949, the name was changed to Gurley Novelty.    I saw a lot of them at the market - no Halloween though, Easter, Thanksgiving - I should have bought more!!!  

The choir boy is about 7 1/2 inches tall.  The reindeer actually says Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer on the bottom.

Another pack of Christmas hangers...just think, only 7 cents at Kmart!

I was so happy to get a real Shiny Brite box, I have never seen one out there in the wild before and bonus, it's full of pretty shiny brites.  In case you're wondering, no, I did not pay 50 cents for it!!

We're on our way back home on Sunday afternoon, my husband spots a flea market, he said do you want to stop, before I could get the words out of my mouth, he had taken the exit.   It was freezing, we were walking around quickly, it wasn't bad actually, then he says, look at this - oh, my, I walked fast to the table.  It was a whole table of vintage Christmas, I could have had the whole table but I didn't want it, here's what I did want and got them all for $20, plus the spun head snowman.

I can't imagine how they sat there the whole day.  What a happy family of knee huggers, they sure made me happy!!  They look like they were never used, the material is clean, the Japan sticker is still on the back of many of them.  The big guys in the back row are about 8 inches tall.  I had bought one of the small  ones earlier in the week, he is in rough shape compared to the rest, but I love them all.  It was definitely my favorite purchase!!

I love to get away on these excursions, it's so much fun to find treasures like this!!!

Linking up with Joann at Vintage Bliss Tuesdays and Sir Thrift a Lot at Thriftasaurus - two great Canadian link ups!!

Christmas in July

The other day I came upon a fundraiser that was running all week, if I would have known about it, I would have been there the first day.  You could donate what you wanted, I came home with some Christmas goodies, some went straight to the garbage but I ended up with a few things and for that I'm happy.

This is what I saw right away, knee huggers, well, of course, I have to buy any of these I see and a dwarf, he's pretty cute too!!  I am feeling really lazy today, I couldn't be bothered to get my good camera out, these pics are all taken with my iPhone, for anyone following me on Instagram, a couple of them have been on there already. 

More cute vintage Christmas 

The angel isn't in the best shape, but her face was so cute, I can use her for something.

Finding some Made in Japan reindeer is always good!

I just love this picture I took of this Santa - I know a lot of people out there think these Santa's are creepy, personally, I like them!!!

Not too bad for a stop on the side of the road!!

I also bought this book which even though it's a teen book, I'm going to read it.  For any Canadians out there that grew up in the 70's, they might remember this CBC television series, "Adventures in Rainbow Country" which ran in 70/71 - the thing that is amazing to me now  is that I now live in the area where this show was filmed, "Rainbow Country" is close to where I live now - it's the North Channel area of Lake Huron -   that was a world away from Prince Edward Island at the time.    I opened the first page and there were local place names, this was a fun find!!

Joining in with Thrifty Things Friday ,  We Call it Junkin and Thriftasaurus

My Favourite Posts from the Year

My favorite posts from the year are not necessarily my most popular ones but just ones that I like - it's amazing when you go back and check the stats and see what really was your most popular one for the year - for me it was Everything Cookies are so Good that I wrote about in October - I think I owe Pinterest on that one!!

So, here we go - starting off with January - we had just started making homemade egg rolls, it was worthy of a post, in February I joined in on the SMASHing craze with Do You SMASH? and in March it was all about Vera - Scarves were Everywhere -oh, that was a grand day, finding all those scarves!!!  

In April I found some beautiful Red Haired Mermaids - Lefton ones to be exact.  I found the best brownie recipe in May - it's the only one I make now - you should try it too - right here.  In June, I blogged about my old Barbie and her clothes - Loved Barbie!

We went "home" at the end of June so I blogged about The Place I Come From when I got back in July.  It was hard to pick one post from August, but I chose $1 Spent Here, $1 Spent There - Pyrex was involved!  In September I wrote about Mom's Depression Glass - looking for help on identifying patterns and I got it!!

Carla came home for the weekend in October to SMASH - that was definitely my favourite post.  In November I highlighted my 1966 Woman's Day Magazine - that was a very popular post, it was a fun one to do too!  It wasn't easy making my December selection but I settled on This is Really Christmas Kitsch - I didn't like having to pack that beautiful piece away today!

It's been another great year of blogging for me - thrifty finds are not as plentiful as they used to be - but if there isn't anything to be found, there is always something in the wings waiting to be written about.  Thank you so much to all my followers - I know there are a lot of blogs out there to read, I appreciate that you stop by here to see what I've been up too and maybe leave a comment - comments make my day!!  

Happy New Year - from 1935

This is Really Christmas Kitsch!

I now own the most kitschy Christmas thing I could ever hope to find!!!  Feast your eyes on this beauty..  Click on it so you can see all it's wonderful kitschy goodness!!

I spotted this on a shelf above the clothing at Value Village, I saw it from afar, I started walking very fast, just hoping that no one would put their hands on it before I got to it.  As you can see, I was successful and now it's mine!!  I know some people don't like knee huggers and I know there are a few of my readers out there who are going to go crazy for this!!!!

The guy on the top must have been holding on a bit too tight, the star is a bit wobbly, but that's easily fixable.

There are four elves around the base.

I don't know why I like these knee huggers so much, I don't remember them from my childhood, I know we never had any of them.  

As you can see, it was a music box as well, I wound it a little and it would give off a little chime every few minutes but it's definitely not working.  It was made in Japan and cost $6.29 - I looked online and could not find anything like this, have you ever seen one?  It measures 18 inches from star to the base.

When I first spotted it, I thought about ripping it apart and using just the knee huggers, I'm not, it's just too cute the way it is!  This more than makes up for the $10 blue knee hugger that I didn't buy a couple of weeks ago!!

I'm linking up this fun find on Dawn's We Call it Olde ,You're Going to Love it Tuesday and Share Your Cup

Tree #2

Here's Tree #2  -   our tree is a mismatch of ornaments - old ones, new ones, family ones, gifts - just a little bit of everything and that's just the way I like it!!  I like a lot of ornaments on the tree - can you tell??  Click on the picture for a closer look.  I have one more tree to share with you yet....

I'd sure like to have more of these wooden beads, I've had them for a few years now - the last ones we found was a few years ago and we had to paint them to match the old ones.

That's one of my new shiny brites

We always had that type of bird on our tree at home

This is one you really need to click on - see the little gold tag on the top  - it says Vera, yes, it's a Vera Christmas ornament - my dear friend, Carol, who has been my penpal since we were young girls sent them to me - she's my fellow Vera collector!!  And, this isn't the only one, there was a whole box!

And, this week, Erica sent me an Annalee doll - how cute is she, with her little candycane dress?

Another one of my shiny brites from the boxes I found.

Those knee huggers are so cute - this is a newer one, I found four the same last year

Mom made these ornaments for Carla and Darcy when they were little

This Santa is made out of a starfish

This old ornament was in with the shiny brites, I don't think the lights are hot enough to make the inside spin

Carol sent these another year - with all our initials

I bought this tobaggan at Zellers a few years ago - I guess in the years to come I will be able to say I bought that there, as the store will be no more soon, I don't think I will have fond memories of Zellers, like I do of Eaton's

One of Mom's old honeycomb bells - you can see the Made in Japan sticker is still there 

Carol sent me this cute snowman this year.

The top of the tree.