Summer Thrifting Finds

I still haven't haven't been able to get out and do any thrifting lately, but I brought home a lot of stuff last year that I never posted about, so I'll show some of it now.

I know, lousy picture, but we're going back in time, so everything's supposed to get a little fuzzy, right?

As you can see, I've acquired a few more aluminum jello molds. 

Do I need more jello molds?  

Probably not.  

But they're fun...

and useful...

and shiny!

Plus they're a heck of a lot cheaper than rhinestones.

I especially like the one with the roses.  I had been looking for one like that for a while, so was happy to see it at Goodwill for half price - $1.50.  The two copper ones were garage sale finds for 50c each, much more my speed.  Have I mentioned I'm cheap?

How could I pass up this giant crab mold?  It's both ridiculous and fantastic.  It's a whopping 14 inches across.  I had never seen one like it.  I couldn't even find a picture of one online.   And for once, the Goodwill price was a shockingly reasonable $1.99.

I'm still looking for the lobster.

The next two finds were items off my thrifting wish list and I found both of them at Goodwill on the same day.

This is a Foley rolling pin.   My mom has one, and I've wanted one of my own forever.  What's so special about them?  They have ball bearings, so they roll very smoothly, and they're built to last.  I've seen other brands at estate sales, but they were never as nice as Mom's 40 year old Foley.   Goodwill price - $3.99.

 

Recognize this little piece of loveliness?

It's the Exciting new Pyrex Flameware Teapot!

Some of you may remember this 1941 Life magazine ad I found last May. 

I happened to go to Goodwill the very day they put the teapot on the shelf, and I snatched it right up.  I didn't even blink at the $7.99 price tag.  Usually I think their prices are crazy.  But I guess that day I was crazy too.   Pyrex crazy.  It's a thing.

I found this cutting mat at Goodwill last summer also.  

It was in pretty rough shape, with two large splits and some staining, but it was really big (23 x 35 inches), so I figured I could salvage something from it.  A new mat of this size costs over $50, so I paid the Goodwill price of $1.99.  I thought I would cut it down into smaller mats, but I ended up putting some duct tape on the back and using it as is.  I still want a new mat, but I'll have to save my pennies.

I went to a garage sale with my folks one Saturday.

Two 50c sweaters for unraveling; 1 wool, and 1 wool/cashmere/angora.

The 25c colorful wool hat will make some really fun felt.

These Pyrex casserole lids were free.  I couldn't let them go to the landfill.

Snowflake Blue

Spring Blossom

Someday I'll find a casserole to put them on.

Mom bought this cookbook for 25c, mostly because Dad's favorite meal is meat topped by meat with a side of meat, but also because it has a recipe for Roasted Raccoon.  She says it goes with her Community Center Cookbook from North Dakota that has the recipe for Jake's Muskrat Stew.

I saved the best for last.

Westinghouse chrome double waffle maker

1940s maybe?

It works, but I don't know if I'll actually use it.  It gets awfully hot, so you have to be careful, and I wouldn't want to ruin the chrome.  I just like looking at it.  The lady who was selling it said it was a gift to her daughter from a boyfriend.  When they broke up, she didn't want it anymore.  I guess she didn't want any reminders.  I paid $7.00.

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog.  I hope you've enjoyed today's post.

I'm linking up to these parties.  Please stop by and join the fun
 Roses of Inspiration
Vintage Bliss Tuesdays
Let's Talk Vintage
Share Your Cup Thursday

Vintage Charm

Thrifty Gift Basket Ideas

Remember the trip my friend Rachael and I took to The Bins last month?  You can read about it here.

We were searching for some raw materials to use for an annual fund-raiser my church does.  Every year members of the congregation make up gift baskets for Mother's Day and auction them off.  The proceeds go for scholarships to send people to our church camp.

I thought you might like to see what we made.  Remember the green book with the nice library binding?

I used the cover for a blank journal.

I kept the pocket in the back just for fun.

I made this set of coasters using sharpie markers and alcohol.  Aren't they pretty?  I will be writing a post later showing how to do it.   I also decorated a glass candle plate in the same colors and added a jasmine and coconut pillar candle.

These were all part of a Meditation themed basket.  It also contained a large mug, an assortment of bagged and loose teas, a tea diffuser, and a gift certificate for 2 lbs of coffee roasted to your preferences by a friend and her husband.  I'm sorry I don't have a picture of the finished basket.  I just didn't have the time between assembling the basket and the start of the auction.  This basket was the hit of the auction and quite a bidding war broke out. Some people REALLY love their coffee.

Remember this shadow box frame?

I spray-painted it white...

and used mod podge to add a piece of scrapbook paper to the back and waterproof it.  Then I glued the back on to turn it into a tray or shelf for use in the bathroom.

It became part of a bathroom basket that included my homemade body scrub (coconut oil, sugar and cinnamon), 6 crocheted face scrubbies and a crocheted "loofah" bath pouf, all made by Rachael, 3 bottles of Revlon nail polish, a bottle of nail oil I blended myself (apricot, baby oil, and orange essential oil) and several face masks.

I bought these pieces of silverware to turn into herb markers.

I already had these Currier and Ives pots that we got at the bins 5 years ago, so I filled them with herb starts.

Basil

Mint


Lavender


 Rosemary

The pictures are a little fuzzy, but that hides the bad job I did with the stamping (and that I misspelled lavender, oops).  This was my first try.  I'll get better, right?



These all became part of this kitchen basket.  I made some Tunisian crocheted washcloths and a trivet/hot pad.  I added a jar of my Mom's spice rub for vertical roasted chicken, some decorative recipe cards and a piece of vintage Tupperware: a "Sweet Savor" for storing syrup or cream.



I added the Tupperware because Mom and I made this.

It's a travel recipe notebook.  We used a vintage Tupperware brochure we found at an estate sale.  We laminated each page, so they could serve as dividers, making six sections for recipes, and filled it with about 100 lined pages.  The pages of the brochure actually had some handy information about how long you can keep foods and what freezes well, etc.

I carry a notebook with a similar purpose to this in my purse.  I can take my recipes to my friends' houses when I cook for them and I can share my recipes when someone asks me for one.
 I hope whoever received this notebook likes it as much as I like mine.

I had the actual baskets in my room holding beauty products, so I swapped them out for 3 dollar store totes.  As you can see, we were able to put together three gift baskets, without having to spend much actual cash.  I hope this will inspire some of you to do the same when you need a gift or a prize. 

I'm linking up with these parties:

Show and Share
Tips and Tricks
Vintage Inspiration Party
Roses of Inspiration

Look What I Made - Notebooks!

I recently finished making some notebooks using thrifted items.

The first one I made as a gift for my friend Wendy.  I found a Little Golden Book version of "Peter Pan and Wendy" at a local thrift store, and cut it apart.  I started with the front cover,

 kept all the pages of the book

and mixed in plain paper pages

 

that I cut from copier paper.

Then I added the back cover

and bound the whole thing with wire.

Wendy was thrilled with it.  

This is the machine I used.

It is a Bind-It-All binding machine.  

Mom ordered it online from Wal-Mart around Christmas.  She saw a youtube video of someone using it to make a journal out of a vinyl record and was pretty impressed.  She couldn't find it for sale locally so she chose to order it from Wal-Mart because of their easy return policy.  We're still not sure if we are going to keep it.  I'll admit we've had some trouble mastering it; there's a bit of a learning curve, and $50 is too much to spend on a tool we're not super comfortable with.  But we're getting better at it, so we'll see.

I made another little notebook using a postcard I found at the Goodwill Outlet for a few pennies.

This postcard shows the Monsanto Hall of Chemistry, which was an exhibit in Disneyland from 1955 until 1966.  

"Where Creative Chemistry Works Wonders For You."

That's a pretty crazy slogan, concerning Monsanto is now known for bringing lawsuits against farmers for "stealing" Monsanto's patented GMO seed because pollen from the Monsanto plants drifted into the farmers' fields and pollinated their crops.

I just cut the card down the middle, making a front, 

and a back.  Then I added about 50 sheets of plain paper, and bound it at the top.  Sorry, I don't have a picture of the finished notebook.

Mom took my teen-aged niece to Goodwill to find something to make into a journal, and Niece picked out a set of  "Your Baby Can Read" sliding word cards.

They look something like this.

Here's the one she chose for the front cover.

 

She used graph paper from a composition book for the inside pages,
and the back cover is the "tongue" word card.

Next up will probably be a recipe notebook using something like

nuclear peaches


recipe comics
or

mmmm... pie.

We also have some VHS boxes to experiment with and we haven't tried the vinyl record yet.  So many possibilities...


I'm linking to the following parties:

Show and Share at Coastal Charm

Roses of Inspiration

Think Tank Thursday
Tips & Tricks
 Frugal Friday
Bouquet of Talent

Thrifty Finds & Vintage Recipes

Sometimes I find just WHAT I was looking for, but not WHERE I was looking.

I was out running errands the other day and Mom called to tell me about a great sounding estate sale she found on Craigslist, so I hustled on over and found...

nothing I wanted.

But as I was driving away, I passed a yard sale, and thought, "Why not. I'm already here." And boy, am I glad I stopped.

Pretty, pretty, Pyrex. The large Pink Gooseberry 404 Cinderella bowl, a 401 Scroll bowl, and

TWO of the Spring Blossom Cinderella bowls (441,442). All on my wish list. All for $12.00. They have some scratches, but are still shiny. The seller also gave me a Butterfly Gold butter dish for free.

A few days later, Mom and I went to an estate sale and bought...

an unopened can of baking powder and
a half a bottle of 409 cleaner (to test for bakelite).

Whoopee! (not)

But once again, as we were driving home, we stumbled upon another estate sale.
This is what we got:

I had been looking for a cake pedestal and dome for months. The only place I could find one was at the antique malls, and they wanted at least $28 - too pricey for me. This dome is not quite as big as the pedestal, but for $5, I'm very happy.

We also got: a pressed wooden cheese plate that can also be used with the dome, a little pink pitcher to hold toothbrushes in the bathroom, a little blue stool, 2 small shelves (not shown), a ricer, a salt & pepper set, a Campbell's soup spoon, two wooden pestles, and some free vintage magazines, pamphlets and cookbooks.

I love looking at vintage recipe books. This one is quite unique.


Printed in 1960, it seeks to capitalize on the popularity of tv, by photographing each recipe as it is made, "just like the recipes that you see demonstrated on television." Some of the recipes are quite appealing, such as:

height of sophistication... celestial concoction... perfect...
(I guess they didn't worry about raw eggs and salmonella back then.)

Others are quite appalling:

Tempting combination of flavors... Cottage Cheese and Kidney Bean?? Who are they trying to kid? Tempting to hide it in a napkin... tempting to slip it to the dog... as if he would eat it... tempting to throw it in the garbage...

And this:


Appetizing... Aw come on! What did we Irish Americans do to them? Italian-Americans have pizza and pasta and marinara; Mexican-Americans have tacos and enchiladas; Asian-Americans have egg rolls and lo mein; Irish-Americans have... well, one dish, and they have to go and muck it up. Why? Were they mad because Kennedy was running for President? Was this some sort of a political plot?


A cookbook featuring Campbell's convenience foods - meaning food in a can...

like barbecued beans, which can be used as a base for:

Beans & Franks Apricot Garnish - okay, franks & beans, not bad...

Or Skillet Chops 'n Beans - a little heavy on the beans, but still pork + beans, ok...

Mexican Bean Burgers - what the heck? Since when are pork 'n' beans Mexican cuisine? And pork 'n' bean sandwiches?
Oh, I get it. A burrito has beans in it and it's kinda like a sandwich, so we'll just call it Mexican and nobody will notice how stupid...NO, NO, NO!!

Barbecue Bean Salad - Holy Mother of Pearl!
Salad greens topped with cold beans, then topped with mayonnaise...YIKES!

In fairness to Campbell, I should mention we received a free cookbook from them a few years ago and the recipes have improved greatly over the years.

We also got the Dec 1966 issue of Good Housekeeping Magazine.
Here's an ad for Fisher Price toys.

I love that toy iron!

And a very interesting Kraft cheese ad.

Putting a little girl in a bubble bath to sell cheese...hmm... Not sure they'd do that today. But I am loving that cool modern bathtub. I wonder if it's a real tub or just something invented for the photo shoot.

And look at this 1943 Kerr Home Canning Book.

Apparently not all the government research was channeled into nuclear weapons. It would appear the National Nutrition Program was creating peaches as big as a human head. Yowzers!

I am linking this post to:
Thrift Share Monday
Nifty Thrifty Tuesdays
Thrifty Thursday at Bloggeritaville
Debbiedoos' Garage Salen Party
Come join the parties.