I Love Transferware

This has been a good couple of weeks for me at the thrift store. Don't you find it goes like that - either hot or cold with what you find. Well I have definitely been running hot, as last week I found some green transferware dishes and this week I found some blue ones.  
Although I didn't set out to collect transferware dishes, it appears that I have an official collection!  

I can never decide which colour I like the best.  They each have their virtues.
Let's see, there are blue-and-white dishes - always have loved blue-and-white.  
I bought the Blue Willow plates at a promotion our local grocery store was having a few years ago. The plates were one dollar each.  Good deal, eh?  Since they were so inexpensive I bought twelve of them so we can have a matching table setting when there are lots of family and friends over.   
The blue-and-white dishes look so pretty on a table set with yellows or neutrals.  Spring flowers look beautiful with them as do wintery whites.

My latest crush is for the new green ones - one green serving bowl, four bowls, and four side plates.  I love the scalloped pattern on the plates and the pretty border on the serving bowl

The four red dinner plates (which actually look pink with all the white on the plates) are used frequently because they match so many different tablecloths, flowers, and occasions.

My one brown dinner plate is special because ... well there is only one.  And it has an awesome castle on it.  It looks great on a fall table with other earthy colours.

The one black serving dish and one black bowl are extra special because I love not only simplicity of the black and white, but also the pretty floral design. I found these two on separate thrift store trips and would buy more if I could find them.  
Happiness is snagging the black transferware bowl for my breakfast cereal - I figure it is a good way to start the day.

But do you know how I like my transferware dishes the best?  With something delicious on them!

My unexpected collection of transferware dishes is a collection I can get into - lots of variety of colour and pattern and something we use on a daily basis.  Have you ever found yourself with a collection of something that you hadn't really planned to collect? 

The $20 Thrift Store Challenge (give or take a dollar)

I'm always game for any excuse to go shopping at a thrift store with $20 in my pocket.  So when the Young House Love Macklemore Thrift Store Challenge came along I was ready, willing, and in my car.  Around my neck of the woods the thrift stores are not huge ones like I've seen on some American blogs so I took a few liberties and made a couple of return visits to spend my entire $20.  I'm dedicated like that.  Also I was looking for some specific items and it took a few tries to get enough of them.
So let's begin.
Here's my favourite thrift shop, although there are a few others that I also frequent.  I love to go at lunchtime on Fridays as my little treat.

These are my two favourite sections to check out - the dishes

and the tablecloths.  Yes, there are some who would say I have found enough of both of those treasures, but then again what do they know. 

You can find other goodies like luggage

and wedding dresses (yikes), but I generally stick to my two favourite areas.  They provide me with plenty of temptation as it is.

I've been hankering to collect an informal grouping of brass candlesticks to decorate the mantel or arrange in the middle of the table.  I was after that aged brass not any of that shiny 1980s brass.  So the thrift store challenge seemed just the time to start the hunt.  I needed a nice grouping - aka - five different, but coordinating brass candlesticks.  Of course, it had to be an uneven number so it looked aesthetically pleasing and three would seem too few and seven would be too hard to find on such short notice.  So five it was.  It took me three trips to different thrift stores to find these five, but here they are.   

Ain't they purdy!

I also thought I might be able to get a tablecloth and make a pretty tablescape.  I used to find great tablecloths at the thrift stores, but over the past year or so there haven't been many for sale.  This week, though, I was lucky and found two that tickled my fancy.  

And finally, I found this pretty little platter for only $1.99.  Couldn't you see it on the Christmas lunch table or at Valentine's Day.

So lets see what we have:
5 Brass Candlesticks: $10.95

2 Tablecloths: $7.98
1 Platter: $1.99
GRAND TOTAL: $20.92 (not including taxes)

Oops.  I'm roughly in the $20 range.  Right?  Are you with me on this? Close enough wouldn't you say? Can you blame a girl when it was my lucky week at the thrift store.  
As any self-respecting blogger would do, I got my new things out and played around a bit and had some fun creating this fake Valentine's table settings. 

I sure wish it was light in the evening as it is impossible to take any photos these days, but there you have it - my real treasures found during a real thrift store challenge posed in a fake dinner situation.
... and a few photos I managed to snap this morning in daylight.

Linked to Macklemore Thrift Store Challenge at Young House Love,
Weekend Bloggy Reading at Serenity Now

My Lucky Day at the Thrift Store

Since I started reading blogs a few years ago, I've been going to thrift stores to see what treasures I can find.  I've snagged some good deals, although I swear our thrift stores have higher prices than the ones that I read about on the blogs from the southern States.  Anyway, I always keep my eyes open for original art, so that I can find a valuable lost masterpiece like they do on Antiques Roadshow.   


A few days ago when I popped into the thrift store I saw a picture that had one of the world's ugliest frames - a brilliant gold frame with a pink mat - around a picture of a some men at work launching a loaded boat.

I was so blinded by the frame that I almost put it back, but then I noticed that the signature looked like it was done in pencil and the blue background wash extended behind the mat, which probably meant it was an original. 

So right there in the thrift store I opened up the back of the picture to check.  Sure enough there were sketches on the back of the paper and it had obviously been cut by hand.

Bingo - it was an original pen and ink sketch.  I paid my $2.99 and took it home.  Once I had removed the picture from the awful mat and frame, it looked so darn cute.

I haven't decided yet how to frame it, but it won't be in a gold frame with a pink mat.  Sheesh!  I love little pieces of art and I'm looking forward to finding a great home for it.   

Linked to Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style,
Flaunt it Friday at Chic on a Shoestring,
Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home,
Frugalicious Friday at Finding Fabulous
Junkin' Finds Friday at A La Carte
Thrifty Thursday at born-again crafter
Nifty Thrifty Tuesdays at Coastal Charm
Twice Owned Tuesday at House of Grace

Bits and Bobs and Dogs

A random assortment of happenings -

1)  We started the advent calendars yesterday.  I sent ones to the kids living away from home (which you can read about here), but frankly I was tired of cutting envelopes and punching holes and tying ribbon so for William, who is still at home, I used the felt snowman advent calendar that we used when they the kids were young.  In case you were wondering what a 16 year old boy wants to find in his advent calendar, have a look at the photo below.  It looks like I stuck a bunch of treats to the wall.  He's happy though.

2)  I've been rather lucky recently in finding treasures at the thrift store and antique store.  I found this Villeroy and Boch pitcher with a sweet little winter scene on it (the lid is missing, but I can live with that),

 this old blue canning jar ( now I have two - yeah!),

 some vintage (or possibly just vintage-looking) Christmas ornaments,

and these lovely old gingerbread trim pieces.

I was thinking of putting them above the sliding door as I have always thought it looked a bit bare up there.  What do you think?  Should they be resting on the trim or hung a few inches above the trim???

3)  And finally, you just never know what you will find at Eddie Bauer these days.