More and more I find myself hunting down good paper items at the thrifts for my SMASHing stash - I'm finding some great stuff!! It's always nice to have lots of stickers and embellishments to use but SMASHing can be done with just magazines and such. Last week I found these two great old children's books, I have no qualms about cutting them up for pages that I plan to do, I paid only a few cents for each book and they're thick ones, it was really worthwhile.
The French encyclopedia is full of the sweetest illustrations...
I also came home with a couple of old knitting patterns, I was only looking in this section because I have seen people use old sewing patterns for SMASHing, I was sure surprised when I saw these patterns, I bought them and I SMASHed them because Mom made these caps for me and my children.
Here are a few more pages that I've done recently, all with bits and pieces from thrifted books, magazines and catalogues. Some of you that follow me via Jill's Little Bit page on Facebook or Instagram have probably already seen these pages, but I know a lot of people out there are not on either one and like to see this type of page. Click on any pic for a closer look!
I found this pack of unopened Peanuts Valentines, I gave some sheets away and used some for SMASHing.
Thrifting and SMASHing - it's a great combination for me.
I have been taking part in a month long photo challenge on Instagram, hosted by Fat Mum Slim, there is a different prompt for each day - I've tried it before but never carried through, yesterday the topic was "something I made" this is what I posted on Instagram yesterday - if you're not on Instagram, you're missing the fun!!
I used to do needlepoint back in the 70's and into the 80's - I can't knit, crochet or sew but I could do needlepoint. I loved it - I made them for myself, made them for gifts - I always had one on the go. Dad would make the frame for me and I was all set. I think this one is one of my favourites that I have left - I haven't looked at in in ages - they're packed away, maybe I should get a new frame on this one and hang it up! These prints are all a nice size, the one above is approximately 16x20, they're all similar. There was a lot of work involved in these prints!!!
This one I made for Carla
I was always kind of partial to this one, I loved the pinks and greens together. I remember my grandfather made this frame for me - it's birds eye maple wood. All of the frames have seen better days now - but the canvases have stayed really nice.
I don't know, is needlepoint still popular??
Thrift finds have been few and far between so far this year, I went back over my posts just to see how many I really did, three in January, one in February and this will be my first in March - it all seems pretty junky out there to me and not that I need much either but still....
Anyway, yesterday my husband and I headed for the "flee" market, it's in a big old two story building and is closed over the winter, well, it's still winter,by the feel and look of it around here anyway, the bottom floor was heated but upstairs was another story, my fingers were hurting when I went back downstairs and of course, that's where all the dishes are!!!
My big find was a piece of Pyrex - the Moon Deco casserole - I already have one of these, my son gave it to me the other Christmas and he paid a pretty penny for it, I'll just say that is is easily my most expensive piece of Pyrex! Most of my pieces are thrifted except for the odd one here and there. Well, there were a few pieces of Pyrex upstairs in the cold but this was the only one that caught my attention, I couldn't leave it there, I just couldn't - it was less than $10 - can you believe it? There was a red hostess bowl there and it was marked higher and wasn't in such good shape as this one was. I haven't quite made my mind yet what I'm going to do with it, but I know I don't need two, although they look pretty cute together!
I also found this set of coasters made by Johnson Bros. of England - I bought these because this type of dishes belonged to my grandmother, then Mom, now they're mine. I don't think I'll be using them as coasters but they'll be great to put jewellery in or anything small like that! I think they're pretty cute.
Remember when the schools used to give us school supplies for free? The market had a few bundles of these scribblers, I bought one bundle for $1, I don't know why but I guess they just reminded me of long ago...
A Peanuts book for 50 cents, of course, I would buy it!!
Here's a couple of sweet pages from it, it was hard to choose, I like them all!
Over the past few weeks, I've actually found three Vera scarves, but one scarf does not a blog post make!! They're all the wing tip ones, I wish I'd find a really pretty one soon, the striped ones aren't the most exciting. I know, beggars can't be choosers!!
I bought these weeks ago, why I don't really know, just because the box was old, I guess - you must do that sometimes too? The box says - one of a series of genuine cocktail signs - cocktail sticks - they are from England - the location of the hotel or inn is on the reverse of the swinging sign. They're pretty flimsy and I don't know what I'm going to do with them!!!
I'm happy to have finally found something - I think that Moon Deco find was a fabulous find!!!
It's my birthday on Friday so I thought I'd share a few of these old cards that were sent to my parents and I when I was born. I like to pin old cards on Pinterest, so I thought someone else might like to pin one or two of these.
There were also a couple of first birthday cards in with them. I like the second one, it has a feather!!
And, here I am on that very first birthday - and a picture taken of me last summer - still with that same round face!!!
Linking up my vintage cards with Dawn over at We Call it Junkin
This past Saturday we made chicken wings in the deep fryer for the very first time - oh, my - they are just like you would have in any wing joint - delicious and crispy. Now, I know it's not something we will be having that often but what a treat - my husband got to take four leftovers wings for his lunch today, lucky him is all I can say.
We never really thought of doing wings in the deep fryer before - pretty much all we use it for are egg rolls, calamari and fish for fish 'n chips, we've been making our chips in the oven for a few years now - light and fluffy - now, that is another great recipe! I had been making wings in the oven up until Saturday and that recipe is nothing to complain about either, I blogged about these tasty carmelized wings, it's a great recipe to try as well! I don't think over the years I have even made wings that much, except back in the 80's - I made my wings with Shake 'n Bake BBQ - which my kids never liked!!! I know they would like these though!!!!
The original recipe for the Crispy Honey Garlic Chicken Wings comes from Rock Recipes - just click right here and you can see it - we followed this recipe exactly - I used the split wings and we cooked each batch for approximately 20 minutes.
Here they are - all coated up and ready to go in the fryer!!
Cooked and tossed in the honey garlic mixture - they are sooo good! We rate them a 10 out of 10!!! And, don't they look nice in Pyrex??
This past week I drove to my daughter's for an overnight stay - of course, my first stop upon arriving was to check out the thrift shops - I went to four - all my purchases were made at the Salvation Army and all were paper, vintage magazines to be precise, they were just in a pile with the regular magazines, the posted price was 3 for $1 - I took every magazine there was - twelve in total. Anyone that follows my blog, knows that I love to find these old magazines!! I felt anxious when I went to the cash that they would really be some ridiculous prize, but they weren't - 3 for $1, just like it said. I know some shops would have these behind glass - it was my lucky day.
So, this will be a photo heavy post but those are ok, every once in a while. The magazines were all from the 50's and 60's - they're full of great illustrations, old ads - all the things that I like to look at!! If you follow me on Instagram, you have already seen a couple of them, but if you're not following me - why don't you? Right here! I took mostly individual pictures, just in case you would like to pin them, the covers are just so sweet!! Don't you agree?
You know that I always like to do posts from my old magazines with ads, so here's just a couple for now that took my interest.
I don't remember ever seeing a fridge with a coloured inside like this one!!
Look at all that pretty milk glass!
It sure looks like Loretta has a Pyrex bowl on her table!
There seems to be no end in sight for winter around here so here's something that can help us remember the lazy days of summer...
I also found a couple of vintage Wonder books, it was bad enough I started buying vintage Christmas books for those future grandchildren (there are none in sight) now I am buying Easter books too. Oh, no.....
