Thrifty Tuesday

One of my local thrift shops was having a March Madness sale this past weekend.  On one table I spotted several of these thread cones.

5 thread cones for $1.00

For $1.00 I thought I couldn't go wrong.

This is a picture of one wall of my craft room (this is a rare photo of a clean space).

I thought that the addition of the thread cones to the top of my antique cubby would fit right in with my mother's Singer featherweight sewing machine and the other sewing notions I had displayed.

I found three cute black numbers that I purchased at a thrift store awhile back and added them to the thread cones with simple straight pins. 

Here's what the top of the cubby looks like now (I elevated the 2nd thread cone with a lid from one of my silver sugar bowls).

I really like how this simple project finished this area off.

I decided to play around with my remaining two cones using fabric.  I printed a letter "J" on fabric and cut it to size.  I backed it with a colorful coordinating fabric, and with straight pins and some buttons, attached it to the cone.  I finished it off with a ribbon and more buttons (I think three of these cones spelling out BOO will be a fun decoration for Halloween).

My last cone was used for one last Easter project.  I found a vintage Easter image at The Graphics Fairy and printed it on fabric.  I attached it with the straight pins and added a big, colorful bow to the top.

I found one of my silver bowls, placed the Easter thread cone in the bowl and added some paper shreds and a matching egg.

I had so much fun creating with these cones that I ran back to the thrift store and bought all the cones they had!  You will probably be seeing ideas for every holiday.

I'm joining Linda @ Coastal Charm for her Thrifty Tuesday party.  Please join in on the fun by linking back to Linda's blog.

Jane

Vintage Easter

Joan @ Anything Goes Here is hosting a Vintage Easter Blog Hop.  Do you have any vintage Easter pieces that you would like to share?  Link back to Joan's blog and join in on the fun.

This was my family in 1965.  Quite the crew!

My Mom made the dresses that my sisters and I are wearing and hand embroidered the flowers on the front.  Since black and white pictures were the norm for this time period you can't see that each dress was a different color.  I am on the left (with my Toni perm) in a coral color dress, my sister Theresa is in the middle wearing a lavendar dress and my younger sister Peggy has on a mint green color dress.

I'm mentioning the color of the dresses because the vintage Easter item I want to share today is the rosary I received that Easter to match my dress.

This rosary was a special gift from one of my mother's good friends.  She had this rosary made for me and one for each of my sisters to match the color of our dresses.  I've had this rosary for 45 years and it is a very loved possession.

This year I decided to display the picture and rosary as part of my Easter decorations. 

I have a tall, flat vase that I used as the foundation of my display.

I framed a copy of our 1965 family Easter picture in a vintage frame and placed it in the vase on top of a bed of orange paper shreds.  I made a small "Easter 1965" tag and placed it on the frame.  I added a ribbon and vintage belt buckle to the bottom of the vase and then draped my rosary over the front of the vase.

A simple Easter display with a lot of wonderful memories.

For other vintage Easter items link back to Anything Goes Here to visit all the participants.

Have a wonderful Sunday.

Jane

Boardwalk Bragfest

Great News!  Jan @ Bobbypins Boardwalk has brought back her Boardwalk Bragfest.  Anything goes at this Bragfest so link up to the party and let's see and hear what you're bragging about.

This week was an easy "brag" post for me.  A couple of weeks ago I was the lucky recipient of a "just because" gift from one of my blogging buddies, Patti @ Pandora's Box.  I was so thrilled to receive this fabulous gift from Patti and I want to brag about what a wonderful talent Patti has for creating.

Here's the handmade card that Patti included with the gift.  It's a beautiful layered card, handstamped and inked, embellished with little colorful stones, and wrapped with fibers.

Look at this gorgeous box that Patti also created.  This box is the size of a deck of cards.  The box was completely handmade and look at all of the attention to detail.

And inside the box....

Two pieces of jewelry made from dominoes.  The first piece is a beautiful pendant.  I love the combination of words and the image of the woman stamped on this pendant.

And the second piece is a lovely lapel pin stamped with vintage time pieces and embellished with little beads.  You all know I love old clocks so this pin is perfect for me.

The last item in my box of treats was this cute little pillow.

I did a post not too long ago about my collection of game pieces. Patti must have taken note because she made this wonderful little pillow out of "games" fabric, complete with dice and dominoes.

And look at the lock and keys tied to the ribbon (another one of my favorites).

She also added a handstamped tag with a perfect vintage image.

Patti, I can't thank you enough for all of the wonderful gifts! 

Please drop by Patti's blog to check out all of her fabulous projects.

Jane

Nifty Thrifty Tuesday - Platter Control

It's time again for Nifty Thrifty Tuesday hosted by Linda @ Coastal Charm.  Link back to Linda's blog to check out all of the thrifty purchases this week.

I have a collection of vintage platters that I have found at various thrift stores.  I love the look of the crazed, old platters and I've picked them up for a few dollars apiece.  Here's just a few of the pieces I have in my collection.

A Homer Laughlin platter:

W S George, Derwood platter

Anthony Shaw & Son platter (small) and unmarked platter (large)

My intention is to hang some of the collection in my dining room but I still have several stacked on a side table that needed a better storage solution.

While out thrifting a couple of weeks ago I came across this wood piece.

In it's former life I guess it probably was a magazine holder.  I saw it as a solution to my platter storage.  I got out some paint I had from another project and painted the piece red to match the colors in my dining room.

Here's what it looks like with the platters

And here's where I could use some advice.  I think the holder looks a little plain.  I was thinking that I need to add something to the middle of the holder (possibly a monogram) and maybe some little flourishes to the rounded corners.  I'm not a decorative painter but I think I could find a suitable stencil. 

So, what do you think.  Leave it alone or dress it up?

Thanks for your help and happy thrifting!

Jane

Spring??

Today is the first day of spring and this is what it looked like outside my back window this morning.  Yes...it snowed 3" overnight and they're calling for another possible 4-6" throughout the day.

So today was a good day to watch some basketball and to put a little project together.

I found this egg holder at my local antique mall this week.  From what I can gather you put an egg in the holder and lowered it into boiling water to soft or hard boil your egg.  The handle made it easy to lift the egg from the water after it was properly boiled.

With Easter right around the corner I pictured this as a perfect holder for another one of my vintage Easter postcards and a decorative, painted egg.

This was a super simple project.  I attached my postcard to the top of the holder with a vintage clip earring and then added some "grass" and a painted wood egg.  I painted this egg and several others in 1992 and had to really dig around my basement to find them.  I paired it with a bunny I also found in my bin of Easter decorations and created a little display for the living room. 

Now....back to more basketball!

Hope you're having a wonderful weekend.

Jane

Boys and Their Toys

Time got away from me this week and the project I thought I was going to post for vintage/thrifty Thursday had to be put on the back burner.

So my "vintage" husband graciously agreed to show off his "thrifty" new toy so that I could join Leigh @ Tales from Bloggeritaville for Thrifty Thursday and Suzanne @ Coloradolady for Vintage Thingies Thursday.

Since my husband can no longer ride his bicycle or go for long walks, he acquired this new scooter last week so that he could still get out and enjoy the nice evenings while I walked.  Tonight was a perfect night to get out and I snapped this picture after we got home (he wanted to make sure you all know he wears a helmet, he just didn't want to wear it in the photo).  This scooter gets over 100 miles to the gallon so it will definitely be a thrifty ride!

Hope everyone had a Happy St. Patrick's day!

Jane

Silver Sunday Easter Decor

It's time for another Silver Sunday!

Thanks to Beth @ Gypsy Fish for hosting this now monthly meme.  Please be sure to link back to Gypsy Fish to join the party and visit all of the Silver Sunday participants.

Today I had a little time to put together a couple of Easter displays.  I don't do a lot of Easter decorating but I had a good time combining some of my silver pieces with my Easter decorations to bring a little bit of the holiday into my home.

My kitchen table centerpiece, a thrift store rabbit sitting in a grass filled pyrex dish/silver stand (both thrift store finds):

A thrift store bunny wearing a vintage silver pin sitting in a silverplated creamer is ready for her place in the living room:

Some silver for the dining room, a metal rabbit that resembles a chocolate foil bunny:

For the kitchen, a vintage egg basket lined with a hand-embroidered dresser scarf:

And my personal favorite.....silver foil covered Dove chocolate in a silver gravy boat:

Happy Silver Sunday.

Jane

A Little Bird Told Me

I was in my hometown on Saturday and had some time to stop at Nell Hill's, a wonderful home decorating store.  I love to shop at Nell Hill's, not only for fun accessories, but for great decorating ideas. 
The first thing I noticed when I entered the store was the the abundance of bird related items.....bird's nests, eggs, birds, bird cages, bird plates and bird framed prints.  I purchased a bird's nest ($4.00) but knew that one of my latest thrift store purchases would help me pull the rest of my look together.

While out thrifting last week I found this book.  The Birds of America by John James Audubon, published by the MacMillan Co. in 1946.  This book was full of 100's of images of birds.  The book had seen better days and several pages were loose so I felt it was suitable to buy to use some of the pages for framing.

I have a HUGE collection of frames I've purchased for family pictures and projects.  Within that collection is a smaller collection of vintage swing frames.  I love the look of these old swing frames and I will buy one when the price is right (usually around $5.00-$8.00). I have several displayed around my house with old family photos.

I picked out two of the frames, combined them with two of the bird prints, added the bird's nest I purchased at Nell Hills (sitting on a small pedestal I made from a glass plate and candlestick) and I now have a new spring vignette for a side table in my living room.

I'm joining two of my favorite parties today....Thrifty Thursday hosted by Leigh @ Tales from Bloggeritaville and Vintage Thingies Thursday hosted by Suzanne @ Coloradolady.  Please head over to their great blogs to check out all of the vintage and/or thrifty items.

Jane

Fabulous Easter Pillow @ Ribbons Undone

I saw the cutest pillow @ Ribbons Undone tonight and I just had to share it with you.

Victoria @ Ribbons Undone just started her blog in February.  She posted tonight about an Easter pillow she created and I fell in love with it.  I love the vintage Easter image, the colorful fabric and the fun ball fringe.  It's a perfect Easter accessory.

If you have a chance please hop (no Easter pun intended) over to Victoria's blog to see additional pictures and some of her other wonderful projects.

Hope you're having a great week!

Jane

A Thrifty Photo Holder

It's time again for Nifty Thrifty Tuesday hosted by Linda @ Coastal Charm.  Linda's inaugural party, held last Tuesday, was a great success.  There were over 50 participants and a lot of thrifty inspiration.  Please be sure to link back to Linda's blog and check out all of the thrifty finds.

While out thrift shopping last week I came across a couple of small oil lamps.  The lamps were priced at $1.00 apiece.

I thought the lamps would make simple, easy photo holders.  I took one of the oil lamps and filled it with some jelly beans.  I tied a ribbon around the top and inserted one of my vintage Easter postcards in the "teeth" at the top of the lamp. 

A quick, simple photo holder for Easter.

Happy Nifty Thrifty Tuesday!

Jane