Tin (Wo)Man

Hello! Nothing too unusual in my vintage finds this week. 

I will often find myself wishing for something unexpected, though--

and I found something to add to a new collection!

That was nice. 

Here is what I found:

Some cute trim with little pink flowers and kittens...

my daughter loved it, of course :)

A cute Mikasa plate. I LOVE vintage dishes

and Mikasa is a favorite brand, so I was really happy to find this.

A cute lil towel with a donkey on it, and a

very chirpy bird on her tail.

These recipe cards aren't vintage of course,

but I love items of this sort with the funny sayings.

And the pack was only 50 cents :)

Vintage wrapping paper!

I love vintage wrapping paper!

That's starting to be a collection in itself, hee hee.

My last few finds are all tins. 

I've said it before, but I never would've thought I was

the sort of person to collect tins.

It sounds sort of...grandmotherly :)

But I can't help but love certain vintage ones.

I love to imagine not only what they once held looked like...

lotion, chocolates...but also, what someone stored in them afterwards.

Old buttons, photographs, love letters?

I always think of my favorite movie, Amelie, and the treasure

she found!

This tin is so 1930's looking.

I am guessing that is from around that time. 

It once held Helena Rubinstein face cream.

The type on the back for the directions is so charming.

Although this tin isn't as old, 

I love the shape of it and the image on the front.

This is my "prize" find for this week.

I found it at Goodwill, hidden behind a bunch

of other old tins. As soon as I held it, I knew it was "special!"

Sigh.

An old box that once held "Artstyle Chocolates."

The colors on it are so lovely!

And it is so Art Deco all around.

So, I've decided that I now collect vintage candy tins :)

I've been rather drawn to them before...

I already have these, which I've shared in the past:

...too bad I decided to part with this one,

before deciding upon my new collection:

Oh well. Live and learn!

Linking up with Sophie at Her Library Adventures.

Thrifting...in Californ-i-yay :)

You know what they say...when in California, go thrift shopping. So that is just what I did ;) Thanks to my mom and sis, I got more flea-market and thrift-store action in than I have in a looong time. Mainly, that has to do with these three little monsters (and the golden word, babysitting): 

And yes, that is a frog toilet peeking out mischievously in the background.

Apologies. 

I bought quite a lot of stuff. As usual, my hubby was nice enough to just smile

at my ideas for how I will use the vintage stuff I bought. He's used to it by now :)

Here is what I got:

(Correction; here is a part one of what I got):

I'm always smitten with vintage figurines, mainly

of the Virgin Mary. The rose is a little wall plaque I found

at a thrift store that I loved. And the tiny books

are really fascinating to me--they are Irish religious booklets

for children from the 1930's.

I love the type inside, the pictures/graphics,

and the fact that they were meant for children

makes them sweet.

I've always been drawn to vintage kids' stuff.

This is a cute book I found.

I really liked the cover, and the pictures inside were cute.

(I'm a total dog lover.)

My daughter would love to do this!

This is another cool one, that I bought for $1.

Again, cute cute inside. A lot of classic stories,

like Winnie-the-Pooh--and a lot of poems.

This dad is so 1950's, don't you think? :D

This was the clincher in buying it. 

I found this poem so cute.

This is a more quirky find. Mail art.

A letter from the 80's--filled with little odds and ends...

a game piece, a sticker from Death Valley.

This is my favorite bit:

And here is the "letter."

Funny huh?

Does anyone else like things like this?

Now on to owls.

One made of string--

the other ceramic.

I am always buying cute mugs these days.

Maybe it's the much colder than California weather

here in Oregon, lol. 

A tiny tiny illustration scene of Italy...

...and an equally pink and equally tiny souvenir plate

of San Francisco. 

I've been there a few times but never enough.

Whoa, I guess I like pink, huh? :D

This is a vintage curtain panel made of the prettiest fabric.

It's really silky and vibrant.

Jewelry.

I thought the bangles were fun,

and I really like the rose brooch.

I really liked this photograph as soon as I saw it--

and it was SO cheap.

The guy selling it asked me, "Now what do you want with

an old photo of someone else?"

I just smiled and said I love vintage things...

and hey, if he can't appreciate it, I'll gladly take it!

What's funny is that I didn't notice this sneaky little boy

peering out from behind the fence until much later.

Lastly, this chalk portrait.

It was in a really big, kind of ugly frame,

which I promptly (accidentally) broke.

But luckily, it was able to survive the 

12-hour drive back to Oregon with us

without getting smudged like heck.

It is quite large. I really love the colors,

and the jewelry she wears. She looks almost regal.

And she kind of reminds me of one of my favorite 

poets, Anne Sexton.

I hesitated about getting it, but I'm glad I did :)

And it was only $4!

I am linking up with Her Library Adventures.

Steppin' Out...a Snazzy Easter Link-Up

So, one of my favorite blogs ever is called Harper's Happenings (Harpershappenings.com). Mandy, the super-funny and all-around-awesome mama who writes it, holds a weekly link-up called "Steppin' Out Saturday." It's pretty much meant to be a call for us mommies out there to dress up nicely at least one day a week, which I would completely do were it not for the fact that I'm always too exhausted to do so :) (That, and the fact that my "nice clothes" has all either been outgrown and/or been made obsolete.)

The kids? They're always another story, especially on a holiday. Who doesn't love dressing up their kiddos? Here are a few snaps from Easter, in all their Grandma-gifted finery ;)

Hope you had a nice holiday!

(ps, as we are in CA still on vacation, I'm using the blogger app for the first time ever to post this--we'll see how it turns out!)