We Went to an Auction

We went to an auction yesterday, there were lots of goodies and lots of people!  I had my eye on only one thing, I really never expected to get it, but I did and for only $15

It's a Napco "Miss Cutie Pie" cookie jar - how cute is that?  The only other bidder was the lady in front of me - she stopped bidding, yay, for me!!  I can't believe I was lucky enough to get it - I know these are worth a whole lot more.

I have this Lefton "Miss Dainty" piece that I found in the US a couple of years ago,  I like it a lot even if it doesn't have a lid.  Do you have any of these cute pieces?

Went Away - Shopped!

Last Tuesday, I tagged along with my husband, he had two days of meetings in London, Ontario, I had two days of poking around down there and then Friday we headed for home but crossed into the US at Port Huron, Michigan and drove the length of the state until we were back in Ontario again.  I'll just say that the weather was not great, especially Saturday, high winds, snow squalls and slippery roads did not make for good driving, it was tense at times!!!

I hit quite a few thrifts in London, along with a couple of antique shops - I picked up a few things, if I had been actively looking for Pyrex, I could have probably purchased something at every shop I was at - it has to be pretty special for me to buy a piece now, unless it's a fridgie!!!  

I went to one thrift in Michigan, it was in and out pretty quickly!!  But, the antique malls and shops that we went to, oh, my - we went to the largest one in Michigan in Bay City - it was huge and definitely the biggest one we had ever been in - there was just so much to look at - I wish I could go there every few weeks!!!

My plan was to show a few pics from my trip as well, that will wait for another post, I'm afraid I might loose your attention, it would be too long, so here it goes with my purchases.  I kind of went crazy on the Christmas.....

This is definitely my favourite purchase of all - this is just the cutest little planter - and he's stamped on the bottom - 1962 - Napco, Bedford, Ohio - Japan, it has also a sticker on it - National Potteries, Cleveland, OH - I hardly want to put this away!!

Is this guy a gnome, an elf? I'm not sure but he caught my eye right away - he also has a sticker on the back - Brite Star - Japan.

Finally, I don't have to be jealous anymore, I have my own spun head - stamped Japan on the bottom!

Every shop had baskets of shiny brites and various ornaments, I looked at so many and this is the only one I bought, I think I didn't know what I was doing!!  This one is really pretty though!

Some plastic Christmas is always good!!!  Made in Hong Kong.

This package is for display, I don't think I'll be taking the cookie cutters out.

I am always hopeful I will find another piece of Christmas Pyrex, but once again, no luck.  But, this will do, it's a McKee bowl, I assume it's a punch bowl,  I think I might leave it out for a while yet.

Both of these books are older, from the 50's  - I posted a picture on Instagram yesterday of a young girl making spaghetti and meatballs, they're some monster meatballs -here they are - are you on Instagram?  If you're not, you should be!!!!

It seemed like every shop had tons of Little Golden Books but not an Eloise Wilkin that I didn't have, I looked at so many.  This book was at the last shop we stopped at - the illustrations are so sweet...

This one is my favourite in the book!

I bought Little Swimmers because I had that when I was a wee girl.  The Mary Poppins is missing its record, after seeing Saving Mr. Banks, it got me to thinking about my Mary Poppins book that I had and gave away, so until I see that one, I have this copy! The Golden Book is an old one, anytime I see an old Golden Book,  I usually purchase!

My trip was complete - I found some Vera too - and one different item - a pink necktie - Vicky Davis - made for the Vera Companies, I've never seen one of these before.

We had a great time, even if the weather was not so great,  I came home with quite a few vintage things and a pile of stuff for SMASHing - I'm happy!!

Today I'm linking my finds up with Sir Thrift a Lot of Thriftasaurus fame and Dawn at We Call it Junkin

Red - The Color of Christmas

I finally have my corner shelf  decked out in all the beautiful red shades of Christmas - but when I was setting it up, it seemed like I had a whole lot more vintage Christmas than I did last year, I didn't think I accumulated that much but apparently I did, so much that my husband made me another corner shelf yesterday.  They are just the greatest shelves, that will make two in the livingroom, one in the kitchen, and two in the gameroom.  If you want a closer look, just click on any picture!

  Here it goes - the top shelf..

Every item on this one is thrifted except for the reindeer and the Santa and the chimney, the chimney came all the way from Holly in Newfoundland!!  It's so cute, this is the first year on the shelf for it.  I've had the deer since the 70's, my penpal, Carol was from Red Deer, Alberta she sent that to me at her Mom's urging, it has been in the house at home, now it's here with me once again.  Carol and I have been friends ever since, actually, she just sent me a new bell for the "Red Deer".  I was asked if he was a Dream Pet, I don't really know anything about Dream Pets, although I know I do have one that I'm sure of - this one is made of a rubber or faux leather material - Carol says that the city was selling them as a way to promote the city.  Were Dream Pets made of this material?

Not so many thrifted items on this shelf - the Santa and the sleigh belonged to Mom, it was made in Japan.  The Santa and sleigh behind it belonged to my great aunt, it has the original sticker on it, Thames, hand painted, made in Japan.  Everything else was purchased except for the classic Night Before Christmas, a trade from Molly, we did a fun trade back in the fall, check out her blog - We Have No Enemies

This shelf is pretty well all from home - the Putz houses, bottlebrush trees and little guys at the front were all Mom's - I found the knee hugger this summer at a yardsale.  

I am going to do a little video on Instagram some day soon of the music box in the back, it belonged to my grandmother, I still have the original box, it holds a candle but there is no room for that on here. It's the cutest thing, it plays Silent Night and was also made in Japan, as is the Santa.  I actually finally have a couple of Gurley candles, I have never ever seen one of those around here, I had to order one on Ebay, I was that desperate!!   Last year I found the little mouse, it's a Josef Original.  Thanks to Erica, that's Golden Egg Vintage Erica for her creations at the front, so very cute!!

Erica is so good to me - I love the Annalee Santa in the sleigh.  Everything else is thrifted in this pic.

My only new item on the bottom shelf is the plastic Santa and sleigh.  The little girls  with hair are all Napco, made in Japan.  I bought those years ago on Ebay, I guess another "Jill" owned it, her name is written on the bottom!  I didn't know at the time that I had found a Bradley doll, but I guess that's what she is.  

I have become crazy for all this vintage Christmas red, I decorated the tree yesterday which I used to do with mostly primitive type ornaments - wood and dark colors, I used none of those this year, everything is shiny and bright now!!  I'll be sharing some of my other vintage Christmas shelves in the days ahead but today I'm linking up with a special party - Vintage Christmas at Organized Clutter and also Thriftasaurus.

This shelf is close to the corner shelf - I changed it up this year and made it about the lights, because I found myself with quite a few boxes of lights!  I just hope there is no door slamming though or everything on it could come crashing to the floor!  I like it!

Have a great day - hope you're displaying a little bit of vintage Christmas too!

First Bit of Decorating

We are hooked on the "door shelf" - you could look a long time for a cute little corner shelf like this - it's the greatest idea!   Gary bought the door used, made the shelves, painted and all I had to do was load up the shelves, but you know, that's not so easy - you stand back and something just doesn't look right, I did this numerous times.... I could still be moving things around!  This is my second shelf, he also made one for Carla which she took home this weekend, I think he should go into shelf production!!  This is also the first Christmas decorating I've done, except for buying a Poinsettia and I guess that doesn't really count... 

I think this is perfect post for Rednesday - bet there's some Christmas posts over there already...  I am also linking up with Vintage Thingie Thursday , Share Your Cup Thursday and Thursday Favorite Things Blog Hop  If you haven't entered my vintage Christmas draw - please come on over and enter here.

I've probably blogged about most of these items, I found a lot of them in the past year and brought quite a few from home.   I've never made a vintage shelf like this before - I love it!  You can click on for a closer look at any picture.  I just want to stare at the shelf, it looks so pretty.

I didn't have a Santa knee hugger, he just arrived this week, some things you just have to buy online.

Putz houses from home

I love the music box, it belonged to my grandmother, it should have a candle in the middle but I didn't get around to buying that yet.  I blogged about my little "hair ornaments" last year - if you want to read it - well, here it is

Don't worry, this is not the music box I'm giving away, the other one is packed safely away in the closet.  I love the Santa with sleigh, this also came from home, it was never my Mom's, I think it belonged to my great aunt.

Shiny Brites in Pyrex, I like it!!  I used Mom's old corsage and a Christmas hankie from her collection too.  

I blogged about the doll a while ago, I didn't know what she was, turns out she's a Bradley doll, from the 70's.

So many people seem to have this same blow mold!    

Mixed Bag of Goodies

Finally, the shelves are beginning to fill up at the thrifts with Christmas, you have to look long and hard though to find anything good - there is just so much junk and dollar store merchandise that they are often trying to sell for way more than the original price.  I did find something nice  and I'm sure all of us that are on the hunt for those vintage decorations will start to find some neat things in the weeks ahead.  I imagine there'll be some Christmas goodies over at the Thriftasaurus Link Up - check it out!  I'm also linking up with The Nifty Thrifty and Thrifty Things Friday

I think this was probably under priced at Value Village,   I paid $3.99 for this sweet little music box that plays Jingle Bells - it has a wooden base, made in Taiwan, imported by Giftcraft.I wonder if it's Napco?  She's just in perfect shape, not a chip and not faded at all.  

50 cents for this guy 

The Wonderful World of the Music Box, Bells and Chimes - I tried it out, nice....

I read that Christmas stitchery kits are popular for resale on Ebay, I saw this so figured I might as well give it a try.  Last week I had eight scarves listed and not one sold...that is not good at all!

JAJ Pyrex - it's a different style of bowl, it has a little lip on one side -  it's about six inches across, the price was $1.99

A Prince Edward Island mug - of course, I had to buy it!!  

Four Vera's - the one on the left I found at Value Village, the rest I bought on Ebay, three ladybugs, all nice.