I wiped away the weeds & foam. / I fetched my sea-born treasures home... Ralph Waldo Emerson







Wednesday, July 2, 2014

Thrifting-The Search for Unloved Treasures

storm coming as I write this post!
But not Arthur.
Hi everyone! We're sitting here on the East Coast wondering if the holiday weekend will feature a very early hurricane. H. Arthur
Yeesh! Probably not though, so let's move on to Fun Stuff! As you may remember I don't get to the flea market too often in the summer. Summer Sundays are family-at-the -beach days for me, plus the big market is right on the road to a giant beach area here. Picture the traffic! Exacerbated by the constantly raised drawbridges, and a flea market fan may quickly decide to just stay home til September.
Instead I have a lot of fun haunting the local thrift shops....
Excellent loot, great prices one day last week.



So many pretty things....



Large silver plate ice water or lemonade pitcher, for a project for a special customer. An experiment. If it isn't what she wants I'll love it for my own use.



You can see how pretty it will look filled with hydrangeas. Or next winter filled with pine and berries.
I'll leave it tarnished, I think---I like the patina a lot.



A small white ironstone pitcher, a creamer probably or milk jug.

 
 
English, classic geometric shape....



This plate is so beautiful, but it was very hard to photograph!
Blue beach roses?



Or prairie roadside chicory. (The blue chicory and white lacy Queen Anne's lace is blooming in the marsh edges now here at the beach.) My colors!




Bavarian china/ Germany, 1915-1930?




A very tiny, rather dark and prim, though beautifully made, shell box. Love the faded blue satin loop. [blue is rare, most are red inside] For a collector or to be a sweet little pin box.



A c. 1880-1910 Austruan serving bowl or tureen. The cover is missing but this part is perfect.



Edged with tiny pink beach roses, perfectly Shabby Chic to collect summer's treasures...

 
 
 
A string of handcarved ''ivory'' flower bud beads!
 
 
 
A tiny yelloware custard bowl. Modern but very nice---good stripes.
 


And a crystal butterfly dish or box.



For summer earrings or found pennies from the beach...


 
 
A neat mid-century aluminum star mold: Jell-O? 
 

For sorting items on my work table. Also fun filled with small votive candles as a table centerpiece next winter. Below , the stars are filled with crystals from an old chandelier, yet another find that day! 99 cents! To make Christmas baubles....
 
                            
 
Good stuff, right? Some I'll keep for myself, some things wll be repurposed for sale and other pieces with be shared in the vintage section in my etsy shop.
 
It's going to be hard to part with the crystal butterfly, I fell in love with it.
 
I also wanted to show you this large pantry box [bottom, left], which I wrote wbout a few weeks ago.
 
 
 
It came out great, I used a soft blue grey chalk paint and the somewhat counter- intuitive, counter-productive aging wax. (Why have an expensive chalk finish paint then wax it? I could get the same result with cheap acrylic Americana paints in grey blue and watered down burnt umber. But for another project, like a chest of drawers,  I would love the chalk finish and look.)
 
 
 
Mo supervised the photo shoot. He was gifted with this luxurious bed!
 
 
 
Gotta go! Time for our walk. Tell me what treasures you've recently found at the yard sales or thrift shops and what you'll do with your finds?
 
love
 
lizzy
 
...........gone to the beach
 
 
 



 
 


ships and a hurrying home sailboat,
running ahead of the squall
 
 
east southeast
  

southwest
 
 

lonely white lifeguard stand