Fun Friday Finds #26

Welcome back to Fun Friday Finds!!

A friend from church and I went yard sale-ing yesterday so I have some fun finds to share with you.  We didn't find very many sales, they're kind of sporadic on Fridays around here anyways, but it had also been rainy all week so I think that may have scared a lot of people off.  We drove through three different towns in our search.  One place was like going 'round Robin Hood's barn trying to find it as the arrows on the signs pointed in opposite directions.  Then once we finally found it, after following some other randomly placed arrows, we had to be careful where we stepped so as not to fall through the floor of the poor 'ol trailer.  I think the bike they had that my friend wanted (that was NOT for sale) was nicer than the entire home and its contents combined.  Yikes!

We finally saw another sign in the 3rd town and I almost didn't even go to it because the sign was in a not so nice part of town.  But my friend convinced me to forge on ahead because it said the sale was 4 miles down the road and she said there were nicer homes further on down.  So on we went.  And boy am I glad we did!!  It was the vintage jackpot!  And they were making some serious deals.  I probably could have bought and resold everything they had if I had been so inclined.  Well, all except for the vintage Playboy magazines that is.

I got these license plates for $1 each, one even still has an old reverse light still attached!  I've been wanting a few more to put in my son's room, but they're usually around $10 each most places I've seen them.

Fun Friday Finds #25

I wasn't even planning on going to any yard sales today.  I have family coming in tonight and I had lots to do to get ready for them coming and the kids and I were just going into town to get groceries.  Believe it or not, yard sales hadn't even crossed my mind.  BUT...on the way to the store we passed a yard sale sign and I whipped out a u-ey right quick.  Before the kids even realized what had happened we were pulling in the driveway and they were saying "Oh mom!" :D

It turned out to be more of an indoor estate sale.  I found a couple of things and dickered back and forth with the guy on the price and finally settled.  I dug out my $1's and scrounged for quarters and paid him.  As we were walking out I noticed the table and chairs.  I figured he would be asking at least $150 for the set, but out of curiosity I asked him how much.  "Wellll...my wife was really wantin' $65 for 'em, but she ain't here so I guess I could take $50."  "For the whole set?!?"  "Yap."  I poked and prodded and checked for wobbles, I looked for a brand (found an original paper tag under one chair) and decided this was a really good price.  And it just so happened that I had exactly $50 cash left.  I almost never have that much cash on me that isn't already designated for something else, but there was some left from a check I had cashed from one of Hubby's side jobs.  I figured he wouldn't mind.  :)

Fun Friday Finds #24

Welcome back to another edition of Fun Friday Finds! 

 I was excited to get out in search of some yard sales today as I had read about a big one being held in an old factory/warehouse a couple of towns over.  The ad said "truck loads of stuff" and they weren't lying.  There really was a lot there.  The kiddos and I headed out right after breakfast and we had a productive morning.  I didn't find a whole lot of great vintage treasures, but still found some other fun things and things that we've been needing and all at good prices.  

On the way to the warehouse sale we stopped off at a few other sales we came across.  Some were a bust.  Like one, where they had so much junk in their yard you couldn't tell what was for sale and what wasn't.  We just got back in the van and left. 

But at another sale we found this beautiful costume dress for only $1.  My daughter loves to dress up and I thought this would be a fun addition to her collection.

At another sale I found this great set of wooden stamps for $1.  I have a similar set already, but they're a much smaller font so I was happy to find them in a larger size.  These sets are originally about $18.

At the same sale I also found this great wooden bowl for $2.  It's not antique or anything, but it's still beautiful, don'tcha think?

And still at that same sale I also got this DVD player.  Our other one broke months ago and we've never replaced it.  With money being tight it just wasn't a priority.  But I found this one with the remote and all the cords for $8.  I've spotted other ones before at other sales, but they've always been a little sketchy looking, or they seemed to be missing wires, or didn't have a remote, or I just didn't feel like I could trust the person that claimed it worked.  But on this one it had all its components and I felt the man could be trusted.  And I was right, it works perfectly.  I had to snap a quick cell phone picture of it when we got home because my kids were so anxious for me to get it hooked up so they could watch a movie on it.  : )

I always give each of my kids $1 of their own to spend on something they want.  It keeps them occupied and happy to look for things they can spend their money on.  Well, when we finally made it to the warehouse sale we spotted this little car mat right off the bat.  My son has been wanting something like this for a long time.

He was SOOO excited!!  I wish you could have seen his little face and heard his enthusiasm when I spread it out for him to see and told him it was Radiator Springs from the Cars movie.  He was ecstatic!!  With a huge grin on his face he rolled it up and hugged it tight the rest of the time we were in there.  He wasn't even interested in anything else.  He found a dime on the floor and I told him he could probably find another toy on one of the tables for 10¢, but he said, "Nope, I don't need nothin' else.  I got my rug!"  

At the same sale we also picked up this adorable little car light for 25¢.  I want to do his room in an automotive/cars theme and I thought he'd really enjoy this.  

They had TONS of books and they were priced 10/$1 so we got a big stack with some for each of us.

One of them I found was this old book about the world's greatest detective, Big Max, and the King of Pooka Pooka.  As soon as I saw the pictures the memory came flooding back that I had had this book as a child.  I had completely forgotten about it, but as soon as I started flipping through it I instantly recognized the pages.  Funny how that works after probably 25 years or so.

The last item I picked up from the warehouse sale was this big metal storage unit for $5.  They actually had 3 more of various configurations that were $10 each, but I only had room for one.  I texted pictures to Hubs asking if he wanted one for his workshop and he said yes, so we lugged this baby in there.  Actually, there was no "we."  I just watched as 3 strong men loaded it for me.  :)  Hubs wants to have his own mechanic shop/business some day so this will be a great piece for holding various odds and ends of tools and such.  Who knows, we may end up going back again tomorrow and getting the other 3 if they still have them.

My last find of the day was this little excavator for only $3.  My son absolutely lives for digging in the dirt!  Whenever he's outside he's got his cars and trucks and little loaders and backhoes and he's digging up some roads or some such thing.  We've seen these kind of things at parks before, but they've always been too big for him to operate.  This one is just his size and the tracks actually move.  He can sit in the seat and put his feet on the tracks and move it around by moving the tracks back and forth with his feet.  It has a crack on the back of the seat, but it doesn't affect the function of it at all and I knew he wouldn't care a bit about that.  All he wants is to dig!  It was pouring down rain when we got home so he couldn't try it out and he just stood at the window staring longingly at it outside asking when he could play with it.  : )

Well, that's it for me today!  No great vintage treasures, but still a very productive morning and I'm most happy with our finds.

What about you?  Have you found anything great this week?

                                                             

Fun Friday Finds #23

Hey everyone!  

Welcome back to Fun Friday Finds!  I know I've been a bit absent lately, but I promise I've got a couple of new posts in the works that I'll be sharing soon.

If you follow me on Facebook then you know that my kids spent their first week of summer break with their grandparents, so a friend and I took advantage of my child-free status and went thrifting for an entire day.  We hit up a few different thrift stores, a couple of consignment stores, a Goodwill Outlet, and our last stop was at an antiques mall.  It was a FUN day!  So let's get to it shall we?  Here's what I found on my spending spree.  : )

My first purchase of the day was this adorably funny mug.  When I first saw it I couldn't figure out what it was supposed to be, but when I picked it up and turned it around I realized it had an opening for you to put your hand in the mitten.  It was too cute to pass up and at only 50¢ I decided to take it home. 

At another thrift store I found this vintage nursery scale.  It was marked $20, but everything was half off that day so I got it for $10.  I already have two vintage scales so I plan to list this one in my Etsy shop.

At yet another store I spotted this bowl on the bottom shelf, kinda dusty, and hiding beneath a stack of other bowls.  I almost didn't dig it out, but something about it caught my eye.  When I turned it over I saw lovely copper!

And when I looked closer I started to realize that the holes were not symmetrical, the edges weren't smooth, the turned rim was uneven and flattened in some places and I realized, I'm pretty sure this is handmade!  It was marked $20, but I didn't want to pay that much so I asked a worker if that price was correct.  She didn't think so and went to ask her manager.  She came back and said, "Our antiques lady priced this that's why it was so high, but my manager said you can have it for $10."  So I bought it.  I'm not sure yet if I'll keep it or sell it.  I have to think on it some more.  : )

I also got this cute striped pillow for $2.  I've been working on a cozy little relaxing area in the yard and wanted it to bring a pop of summer colors to my swing (more on this area coming later).

One of the stops we made was at a Goodwill Outlet.  I've been to one of these a couple of times before and they are an experience for sure!  It's nothing but huge bins full of the leftovers that didn't sell at other Goodwill stores and you pay by the pound.  You have to be willing to do a lot of digging, but it can sure be worth it.

One of the things I found in a bin was this cute fall wreath.  It needs a little "fluffing," but all in all it was still in pretty good shape.

I also came across this vintage sheet.  I already had the two pillowcases to match it at home, so I got the sheet to help make a set.

While I was digging through a bin I happened to look up and across the room towards another bin.  I spied a colorful quilt sticking out.  I've been wanting to lighten up the look of me and Hub's room and this looked perfect for the look I wanted.  I maneuvered my cart through the crowd as quickly as I could and dug it out. It looked to be the right size and it was in really good shape...score! I kept digging just to see what else was in there and came upon a matching pillow sham for the quilt at the bottom of the bin. Wow! Score again! Ok, so if there's one pillow sham then it stands to reason there should be a 2nd one. I said a quick prayer and asked the Lord to please help me find the 2nd sham, because it's quite literally like finding a needle in a haystack. There were probably 20 bins of just linens and these bins are about 3.5 feet deep by 3.5 feet wide and they are STUFFED full of randomness! I started to dig around searching for the 2nd one when I got the feeling that I should look around at the other bins first. And there it was. About 3 bins away, peeking out right on top. Say wha?!? MAJOR score!! I fairly dove across the bins and snatched it up. If you've ever been to an outlet store then you know the sense of urgency that is required to get what you want.

 I was doing a little happy dance in my head and thanking the Lord for answering my silly little prayer and for doing it so quickly.

Isn't it purdy?  I love all the colors and patterns!  Comforters are a fixed price instead of being by the pound so I paid $5 for this set.

I also dug up this cute quilt/comforter for $5.  I've been needing something for my son's bed so I put it there for now until I find the one I really want for his room.

While digging through the linens I found one of these adorable pillows and thought, ''Hey, that would be really cute in Halie's room."  I put it in the cart and kept digging.  At the bottom of the bin I found the 2nd pillow.  :D  I couldn't decide for sure if I really wanted them, the colors/style were just a little bit different than what I had originally been thinking for her room.  But they were just SO cute, and they had pink in them plus the aqua that she wants to add more of.  I knew they weren't going to be expensive so I just got them figuring if I ended up not using them I wouldn't be out much.  Better to have bought them than to regret it later.

By the time we finished up at the outlet store we were starving and decided to stop for lunch.  We drove a few minutes away and had soup and salad at Olive Garden.  Yum!  Then, once we were refreshed and re-energized we hit the ground running.  We drove a few more minutes and went to a different Goodwill.  An actual Goodwill this time, not an outlet store.  And low and behold, what do I find in the linen section?!?

The matching bedskirt to the two pillows I had just bought from Goodwill Outlet!!  Woo hoo!  Another score!  

I was on fi-ah!

Towards the end of the day we weren't sure we could make it to another thrift store before they closed, so on a whim we stopped at an antiques mall we came across.  My brain was on overload by then, but I did manage to find these fun croquet balls.  I've wanted some for a very long time now, but I only ever find them in full sets and they're always so expensive.  But these weren't too bad at $2 each.

And last but not least, another thrift store find was this patriotic bunting for $2.  It's really big, about 5 feet across, and it looks very festive hanging from our front porch.  I saved it for last because I like the picture so much.  : )

So that does it for me.  I was pretty happy with all of my purchases and consider the day to be a success.  Those of you on Facebook already know this, but for those of you who aren't, I've been painting my daughter's room while she's away.  The ugly depressing orange color is gone and replaced by a pretty soft pink.  I'm almost finished with the last of the painting and I can't wait to get the new pillows on the bed and add in the new bed skirt.  I even realized that with the new pillows I'll be able to use the curtains I made for her when we lived in Ohio.  I didn't think I was going to be able to.  She'll feel like she has a brand new room when she gets home!  

And of course, I'll be sure to share some pictures.  : )

                                                                   

Fun Friday Finds #22

Let me just start off this episode of Fun Friday Finds by being up front and honest with you right from the start.  I didn't find anything too terribly exciting this week.  It has rained most of the day today and there were only 2 sales to be had, and the thrift store pickin's were kinda slim as well.

But I did find a few things.

Before I show you my first find, which involves dishes, I have some 'splainin' to do.  (Who else besides me always hears Lucy and Ricardo in their head whenever you say you have some explaining to do?  "Luuuut-sy!  You have some 'splainin' to do!")  :D   Ok, back on track now.  Dishes.  Ah yes.  I have had our Pottery Barn style dishes for several years now and have just loved them.  They are knock-offs that I found at a thrift store, and they're big and chunky and heavy duty and I've loved them.  But in the past year they've been developing some icky krazing going on as well as mysterious brown spots appearing.  It's really gross and there's no way I would put this out in front of a guest.  

So the mystery spots combined with the fact that several of the dishes have been broken in the past few months (and no, it wasn't on purpose, lol!) has led me to start searching for new dishes.  I've found a couple of sets that are nice, but haven't truly fallen in love with any one set that I want to dish out the money for.  (Haha!  I totally just un-intentionally made a pun!)  So I gave up on the idea of a "set" for the time being and decided that I also enjoy the mis-matched collected look of having lots of different dishes of different patterns.  So I've been watching thrift stores and yard sales to find patterns that catch my eye.

This sweet set of vintage dessert plates I found at a thrift store fit the bill for sure!

Aren't they adorable?!?  

The two on the left are the only ones that have a repeating pattern.

I think they're just as sweet as they can be!

Then today I found this set of plainer white dinner plates at a church rummage sale for $4.  I like the basic-ness of them and they're sturdy and in good condition.  Plus they don't have icky brown mystery stains on them, so that's a win in my book!

They have a pretty design around the edges.

At the same sale, I also picked up these two coffee mugs for 25¢ each.  They don't match the design of the plates, but that's fine with me.  I ain't skeered.

I like a big fat sturdy mug for my coffee and these are just that.

I also picked up these two vintage pillow cases for $1.  I just saw {this} idea on Pinterest and loved it and so I had that in mind when I purchased these.

I'm not 100% sure what this little gadget is, and neither were the ladies who were selling it, but I'm assuming it's a pasta/noodle cutter.  I've tried making my own egg noodles before, but found the process of trying to keep them uniform in size when cutting them to be very tedious and time consuming so I've never tried them again.  But now....it's game on!  (I'm also assuming the sort of serrated blade will make wrinkly edged noodles, kinda of like lasagna?  If anyone knows for sure, feel free to let me know!)

And last but not least!

I found this sweet little chippy ladder back chair at the one yard sale that had braved the rain.  I asked him if I could peek under his tarps and he was more than happy to let me so I braved the drizzle and found this lil' cutie for $5.

I promptly put it on the front porch and placed my galvanized container garden on it.  Granted, the plants need a lil' work, but hey, you can only do so much staging in the pouring rain.

Any-who-zees...those are my fun finds for the week!  

How about you?  Did you find anything great this week?  Feel free to come over to the Facebook group and share a picture or two and tell us all about it!

                                                                 

Fun Friday Finds #21

 Welcome back to another edition of Fun Friday Finds, where I share all my secondhand treasures I've found throughout the week.

I was able to stop in at a couple of yard sales and a couple of thrift stores this week and I came away with a few fun things.

I found this great little ironstone style bowl for $1.  I actually have a graduating set of 3 of this exact same bowl that my mom gave me and I love them.  Why not have one more?  : )

This cute milk bottle was at a yard sale for a dollar.  It has a sweet cow on the front and on the back it says "Pure Milk".  It's also marked "Made in Italy" on the bottom.

This is a collection of things I found for my daughter's room.  We gave her our double bed since her room will also have to serve as a guest room, so she's been needing some bedding updates and just decor updates in general now that she's getting a little bit more "grown up."  She wants more aqua added in with the pinks she loves so dearly.  We're going for a collected, mis-matched but yet still goes together, vintage kind of a vibe.  I found the great old mirror for $2 at a yard sale (it's heavy!!...and needs a good cleaning), the aqua Better Homes & Gardens throw pillow at the thrift store for .99, a pink ticking striped bedskirt for $1 at a church rummage sale, and the dainty sweet tablecloth for $9 at a junktique store.  She has two windows right together in her room so I plan to cut it in half and sew a long valance out of it.

I had a dentist appointment on Thursday and so had left my kiddos with a sweet older lady from our church who watches them for me from time to time.  She always tells me to take my time and don't rush back and to get a little shopping in before I come pick them up.  Sweet right?!?  Well, I had done a bit of shopping, had picked up lunch and went and ate with Hubby on his lunch break, and stopped and checked out some free kittens (we're on the hunt for one).  By this time I was running short on time and needed to get back to pick up said kiddos so my littlest one could get his nap.

But as I was sitting at a stop light I could see the other thrift store I hadn't gotten to yet.  It was calling my name...and telling me there was a treasure inside just waiting to be discovered!  Have you ever had that happen?  You just get the feeling that there's something great you'll be missing if you don't go?  I've had it happen before, and it's usually right.  So I decided that I would skip the clothing and just check out the "stuff" superdeeduperdee quick.  That's when I found the aqua throw pillow as well as this beauty.

A great old vintage tablecloth for $2.50!  It has very minimal stains and no tears so it's in pretty good condition.  At first I thought I might try to do something with it for my daughter's room since it has the pink and aqua/vintage theme going on.  But when I looked closer I realized it has martini glasses on it and I decided that wasn't quite appropriate for a 6 year old's room.  These style of tablecloths have always sold really well in my Etsy shop so I was excited to find it and have something else to get listed.

That's it for me this week!  

If you haven't already joined the Facebook Group be sure to stop in and do so.  Other readers have been sharing pictures and stories of their fun Friday finds, so come join the fun!

                                                                

Fun Friday Finds #20

Happy Spring everyone!  

Welcome back to another edition of Fun Friday Finds.

 I have some great things to show you this week.

Hubby ended up having to work this past Saturday so the kiddos and I headed out for some yard sales and a local quilt festival.  It was a fun day and I made a few good discoveries.

First up is this large glass cookie/candy jar I found at a yard sale for $2.

It's really big.  I set my phone up next to it so you could get an idea of its size.  I haven't decided yet if I want to keep this or sell it.  Either way I'll probably give the lid a coat of paint to freshen it up.

There were a few booths at the quilt festival that had vintage and antique items.  Some of the booths were charging antique store prices, but a couple of them were affordable.  I got this stack of vintage towels for $7.  So it came out to $1 each.

This set is a soft thin flour sack type material.  Isn't that red edging just the sweetest?!?  It feels sort of Swedish Farmhouse to me.  I might keep one and sell the rest.

This French linen towel looks like the real deal to me.  No faux wannabe's here.  Just look at that texture!  Gorgeous!

Also at the festival I found this German license plate for $6.  The man asked me if I had a German car I planned to put it on.  I said, "No, I'm planning to hang it on the wall."  I'm not sure if he knew what to think of that.  : )

The next fun find was totally unexpected.  If you'll remember back in my post about the DIY Grain Sack Shower Curtain, I used a homemade overhead projector to trace the image.  Even though it worked, it was still kind of difficult to do and the lighting had to be just right.  I had considered going ahead and investing in an actual projector to have for future projects, and maybe to make some things to sell, but decided against it when I saw they were running around $50 plus shipping on eBay.

Well, guess what?  I now have one of my own!  The kids and I were running errands one day and I stopped by the Hospice thrift store to drop off some things for donation and I spied this projector sitting right inside the door.  I asked if it had been a donation (yes), would it be for sale (yes), and could I buy it right then before it ever went out on the sales floor.  They had to get a manager to approve this, but long story short, they let me buy it right from the back door and for only $10!  It works SO much better than the homemade setup!  Now I just have to come up with some projects to use it for to justify its purchase.  :D

Now, on to the finds from today's adventure.  

I wanted to get a few groceries at Publix (LOVE Publix, but it's 35 minutes away so I don't get to go often), so the kids and I just made a morning of it.  It took us all morning to get there because we stopped at every yard sale we saw plus one thrift store and a small flea market, lol!

I got this selection of kitchen items at a yard sale for $2.  There were also some shower curtain hooks in the mix as well, but I didn't think you'd care about those.  : )  I thought the old ice cream scoop would make a cute scoop for something else, maybe in a big jar of oats or something.  The honey swirler thingy (technical savvy lingo) is to keep as well.  My husband was given a big jar of fresh honey from some local beekeepers after he helped them out, and I thought this would be so cute sitting down inside it.  (Well, until we eat it all that is.  It's some good stuff!)  And aren't those little measuring spoons just the cutest?  I already have a metal set for myself, so these will probably get listed.  The copper mold will be listed as well.

I found this great old antique brass hotel counter bell for $2.  It's solid brass and very heavy.

It even has a cast iron knocker/ringer thingy-ma-bob.  

(I'm very knowledgable in antiques lingo as you can see.)

This little silver plated dish caught my eye too.  It needs cleaned up, it looks as if it was used as an ash tray (oh the horrors!).  At first glance it might not look like much, but what drew me to it were the intricate details that lay beneath the grime and ash.

Isn't that pretty?  I forgot to take a picture, but it has an insignia on the bottom for Middletown Plate Co, Middletown, Conn. with the number 200.  Not sure what the number means, but I hope someone will appreciate this beautiful little piece as much as me because I plan to list it in the shop.

I came across this old Royal typewriter at a yard sale for $7.  I already have one of my own that I found last summer, so I plan to list this one.

Ok, now for my favorite find of the day.

This was the very first sale we stopped at this morning, at a local ranch a couple of miles from here.  I had already paid for my other items and was about to walk away when I noticed a section of boxes that I hadn't looked through before because they had just been setting them out.  When I moved away some paper towels and a few old musty sweaters I discovered this beauty.

A very large yellow enamelware bucket.  How often do you see yellow enamelware?!?  I'm not sure I ever have.

I love its sweet wooden handle!

I set the phone up by it again so you could see how big it is.  Awesome sauce, am I right?!?

And how much do you think I paid for it?

A big ol' whoppin' $2!!!  

I left there with a huge grin on my face!  I'm really in love with it so I think I'll be keeping it for now.

Well, that's all for this week!  

Be sure to share a picture of your Fun Friday Finds over in the Facebook Group.  We all love a good deal so come share what you've found!

                                                                  

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The Scoop #111 - Cedar Hill Farmhouse