I went to four thrift shops yesterday, struck out at one but the others yielded me some vintage Christmas and it was all half price - that made me real happy!!!
I haven't had much luck at Value Village at all this season but yesterday was different, I came out of there with three things and I only paid $3.
This Noma tree topper box is in perfect shape, the angel looks like she was well taken care of, definitely, she was coming home with me!!
I debated on taking the angel but I'm glad I did - these chalkware figurines were made in Korea.
Mom had a box made of old cards so I was taken by this - but, I'm not really sure if it's old or not, it just looks too perfect and in such great shape. Anybody see one like this? It doesn't matter if it's old or not, it has a vintage look and I like it!!
Next stop - three more items...
My first reflector box - full of reflectors.
I like this little planter, I think the Christmas bouquet might have been replaced, it looks just a bit too new.
One lone poinsetta - I bought it because Mom had a bouquet of these that she always put on the table, well, now I have a bouquet of one!!
My last thrift stop was the shop where I bought the ornaments the other week and paid $2 for two boxes, last week I was in and they had another box but it was marked at $5, no way was I buying them for that, yesterday I got them for $1. SCORE!!
I never expected to find anything much this close to Christmas, it made my day!!
I signed on with Laura who pens the fun blog Hey Mom What's for Dinner to take part in her Christmas blog hop, formally called Thrifter Merry Christmas Blog Hop- what was I getting myself into it, I had never done one before and at Christmas, no less, didn't I have enough to do. Well, I did it!! I'm focusing on Christmas in my livingroom - I could share my kitchen and my family room too or outside, but lets face it, you probably don't want to look at all that stuff and I don't have time to photograph it all!!! Just a click on the picture will get you a closer view!
That's the two angles of my livingroom. I won't be sharing anything about my fireplace as I've already blogged about that and everything that's on top of it, in case you want to read the story of how my husband made that beautiful piece, here's that blog post.
As you can see I have two trees in this room, our main tree and in the corner is my memory tree, a tree that is full of decorations that belonged to my mother and grandmother and a couple more vintage ones on there as well. My main tree is mostly all vintage ornaments, either from "home" or thrifted - this is my second year for a tree like this, I used to have a primitive type tree with dark colors, now I've switched to all that kitschy Christmas stuff, I like it so much better!!
I have two corner shelves, both full of vintage Christmas. These shelves are a godsend to me, my husband made them, out of doors. I have a larger one in the kitchen, they hold so much stuff!! It's great to have a handy and crafty husband!!
There's a shelf dedicated to old lights and light boxes. I love that Shiny Brite wreath just as much as I did last year when I made it!!
The bannister is all decked out too - with an Annalee at the forefront!!
I took so many pictures for this post, it was really hard to pare it down, it was so hard to decide which ones to use. It was fun though and now, on to visiting the other gals! Why don't you link up some vintage Christmas?
I can't go to the city without checking out the thrift stores, even if I'm supposed to be Christmas shopping, there just might be something wonderful, lately, though, the chances of that happening are not very good, it's all junk!! I had checked out my three usual stops - nothing, there was one left, which I go to sometimes, but it's not a regular like the others. I'm glad I pulled in. Everything I bought I love!!
This is my second one of this particular cup.
I love this set of salt and pepper shakers!! So cute!! No markings on them but after researching, looks like they're Josef.
This little figurine still has the silver Giftcraft sticker on the bottom. I can never remember which company the "G' surrounded by leaves is - it's made in Taiwan.
This stuff was all up front in the Christmas display, of course, I took a walk around the shop, at the back they had some merchandise that hadn't been priced, oh yes, I picked up these two boxes, how much I ask, $2 for the two boxes she says, then she got looking at them and remarked that they were old, I just said, I guess so, I just wanted to leave in case she changed her mind.
I was especially happy to find that Santa one in the middle, I don't have one like that!
Woolcrest - the old Woolco brand, we Canadians all remember what our Walmart was at one time! These ornaments apparently don't belong in this box, they're too mismatched - they were made in Wales, I wonder if any of these were.
I was so happy I stopped at that shop - a good $8 spent!!
Joining up with Thrifter Share today! Laura at Thrifter Share is hosting a blog hop next week, I'm taking part - it will be full of all kinds of Christmasy kitschy fun! What will I share?? You'll be able to link up next week with all your treasures - keep it in mind!
Things must definitely be picking up at the thrift stores, I had something to share last week and I do again this week! It's a miracle!!
Even though I found a few things, the things I am looking for are few and far between. I really do have enough so I should't complain!!
I hope there are more Santa mugs out - I walked by this one first but went back and picked it up - it's marked Ron Gordon Designs Inc. 1983 - I've seen another one since that had some candy cane striping on the handle, so I wonder if this one could be the same.
It always pays to look closely at those junk bags, if you have the patience!! It's not very often you see a knee hugger in one of those bags, I already have the rest of the bag ready to be donated back, I'm only out a $1 and I got a knee hugger!!
A partial box of ornaments for 50 cents!
I think it's going to be a Vera drought over the winter, it seems that this year most of the thrifts have only winter scarves for sale - now, that's just not right!! The one on the left if the first one I've found in ages, or so it seems! My blogging friend Sir Thrift a Lot sent me the other one - thanks so much for picking that up for me!!!
I don't usually buy Fire King and I really haven't been buying any dishes much at all, but I saw this utility dish in the Wheat pattern at Value Village, I wanted it and I bought it. That makes two pieces of Wheat for me, I have the loaf pan which I use often! I only have one Pyrex flamingo green dish that size and sometimes you jut need two, especially around this time of the year! It's in perfect shape - there was an address label on it and also the owners initials on masking tape, stuck on the bottom. I think this dish was probably taken to a few church functions, it's kind of sad to see something like that, why couldn't they take the label off?
Right beside it was sitting this little Pyrex individual casserole, in lime green, now I have the green and flamingo!
I'm happy to find anything nice this time of the year!!
I am so thankful for a crafty husband!!! We admired and talked about the vintage cardboard fireplace kits..
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How could we get ourselves one of those - well, when the husband is crafty, all is not lost, we now have our own vintage style fireplace!
I am so excited to share this - he did a beautiful job on it and it looks so great surrounded with vintage Christmas!!! He made it to fit perfectly around our little display shelf.
It took him about a week to complete it, I can tell you it was a very stressful project, at one time he was about ready to give up, he just couldn't get the facade figured out. He started with cardboard boxes but that was quickly changed - it's constructed with a light metal/wood frame covered with thin wood panelling. His first idea for the facade was brick wrapping paper - but two things going against that, it's too flimsy and you can't find that paper anymore!! His next idea was brick design panelling - no good either - too expensive! His next idea was with stencils made first from wood, then cardboard with spray paint on the panel but that was no good at all - it looked terrible with the paint getting under the stencils. This is about where he thought his great idea was all for nothing - he wondered how he had got himself into this mess!! Finally, his brainwave was to use painters tape and after a couple of coats of white background, laid out the entire brick pattern by hand and then 2-3 coats of red brick paint - removed the tape and we had a fireplace! We were amazed, it looked so good!! It's totally modular so it can easily be disassembled and stored until next year. He mounted two low wattage lights in the mantle section to give a great effect of the display case below. His only regret is that he didn't make one for our children when Santa needed to get down that chimney, but we'll have this forever, so hopefully, some grandchildren will get the thrill of waiting for Santa to arrive from this magical fireplace!!
I just love the way these things look on top - here they are from left to right!
I am so happy to finally have a real Shiny Brites box!!
We bought this big Santa blow mold at a yard sale this summer, we plugged it in, poor Santa looked like a monster, he had been painted over, he was so creepy. He won't ever be plugged in but he looks great here! This old truck belonged to Dad, this is my first year for that, I love it!!
The knee hugger music box tree is probably my favourite thrifted item from last year, who cares that the music box doesn't work! I put some little red lights on it this year which adds some nice Christmas red. This year I have a real box of Gurley candles too - which I have been wanting for a while too. Isn't there always something we need to add to our collection?
I just put up my little memory tree this morning, it is all decorations that belonged to my mother and grandmother. The corner shelf is all vintage as well. I used to have all primitive type decorations, I've switched everything over to red and green - I like this so much better!
I think I'm way ahead on decorating, it must be because of the all the early snow we've had - Christmas is coming!! I took this on Thursday, the trees have been laden with snow all week!
We went on a little road trip on Saturday, I was hoping to find more than I did - like a different Christmas blow mold but I did come home with a Halloween one which I paid a whopping $1 for - it's a TPI blowmold from 1989.
My husband got ahead of me at Value Village, he makes his circle of the store way faster than me, he comes back and asks if I saw that Santa jug - no, I didn't even get to that section yet - so, he went back - what a great find - I have a few cups but no pitcher. I had this posted on Instagram, I knew once I posted it on there someone would know what it was, two other people shared their pitchers which were the same - apparently it's a Josef!!
I don't really think people have been donating very much at the thrifts in the line of vintage Christmas, maybe it's too early yet - I was at three shops yesterday, I bought nothing. I did buy a box of old ornaments last week, for fellow Canadians, the Eaton's tag is still on them, didn't they have the best Christmas displays and merchandise?
I've been on the lookout for Ideals books, they have the greatest pictures in them for SMASHing, especially the Christmas ones. I was happy to find "The Most Beautiful Tree in the World" but I should have checked it more carefully, two pages are missing, so that'll be going by way of the SMASH book. I always like to read a Christmas book at this time of the year, so this Awesome book will be the one!!
Here's a SMASH page where I used the Ideals book, it's the poem and picture on the right. The picture on the left I took last week, after the big snowstorm!!
It's time to link up with Thriftasaurus, Thrifter Share and Vintage Bliss Tuesdays. My apologies to anyone that follows my blog and Instagram, I know some of this is a repeat, oh well....
I always check out the vintage games, just like everything else, there doesn't seem to be as many around as when we first starting buying games. But, the other day I scored this old Monopoly at the Salvation Army for $2.50 - I really only wanted it for the pieces as we had no wooden ones. It made me want to learn more..
I don't know much about identifying games but I have learned that the method used for Monopoly is the patent year and number - the patent on this game was Canada 1936.
The board isn't in the best of shape and it's standard, it looks like any other Monopoly game.
The Chance and Community Chest cards are quite plain. The mustached tycoon we see on the cards now was introduced in 1936, he used to be called Uncle Pennybags - in 1999, Parker Brothers changed his name to Mr. Monopoly.
I noticed that the property cards for the two blue groups are different shades of blue than they are now, the rest are all the same though.
The money hasn't changed much either..
All of the pieces are wooden, that's why I wanted the game to begin with - I think the white milk bottle doesn't belong with this set and there is extra dice, the wooden dice belonged with this game but apparently, one is missing.
Monopoly was such a great game - have you played lately?
Just a few Monopoly facts to finish off this post...
Monopoly debuted in 1933.
Wooden tokens first showed up in 1936 when demand for Monopoly grew so fast that Parker Brothers couldn't keep up with the production of the metal tokens, and again during WWII, after a ban on the use of non essential metals was imposed.
The six original metal tokens were iron, cannon, thimble, ship, shoe and top hat. At one time the tokens had holes in them, you could buy a bracelet at Woolworth's and wear your tokens!
$15,140 - total amount of money in a standard Monopoly game
The length of the longest Monopoly game was 1, 680 hours (lasting over 70 day) Oh, my!!!
I did some reading on Monopoly in my book "Timeless Toys" - I haven't had it out for a while, I need to go through it again...
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