More Wednesday Thrif-tiques

I'm so glad that Hurricane Irene is pretty much over, and it was downgraded to a tropical storm. I hope all of y'all are safe, and you didn't have too much damage.
I'm also thankful that God kept our son and his family safe. They live very near Atlantic City, and were without power from 8:30 last night to 6:30 this morning. Thankfully, they had no damage to their home.
My three-year-old grandson was a bit concerned when the lights went out, but he got his very own flashlight to play with and was fine with that. The baby slept through it all, of course.

Here are a couple of things I didn't get to show you on my last post. All of these are from local antique malls.

I couldn't pass up this Avon Scenes Palissy creamer. It's from the same shop where I got the Mason's ming jar.
It's holding sweetgum balls from my friend's yard.
I have a thing for sweetgum balls and pinecones...go figure.

An English pudding mold...I think this is from the 1930s.

...and an antler. 
Behind it is a framed print I got at a yard sale a couple of weeks ago for $1.50.

They're on one of the shelves in my secretary. I'll show you the secretary another time... but now I'd like to show you the vintage game board I found.

The tag on it said it's a skee ball game board. I've never played skee ball, but I like its vintage.

I bought some wooden balls at Michael's so we can play. I rubbed the balls with lemon oil, hoping they'll darken to look more vintage...maybe another coat? What do ya think?

I set some games up on the coffee table and a couple of non-healthy snacks. Shame on me. :)

Football season has started, and I'm stocking up...Go Dawgs!

I won't be able to join in all the fun parties this week, because I'm taking a short, fun bloggy break.
Tell you all about it on my next post.
Thanks for stopping by. 
Hugs,
Babs

Thrif-tiquing Wednesday

Even though I felt guilty about going shopping because I had that huge dental bill, I couldn't stand it any longer.
I went out this morning with shoppin' on my mind.

I hit GW first and found three things. Then, on to one of my favorite antique malls in a little town near me where I found 3 more things. Yay.. I was on a roll.

Sadly, some of the antique shops were no longer in business, but I tried a new place just down the street, and was surprised to find 3 more goodies.  Whoo! Hoo!
What's the old saying? Good things come in threes!

Here's a mini vignette of 3 of the things I found, plus one from last week.

At GW, I found  a set of 4 napkins, brand new, and a Revere bowl with a liner. Now, I know these bowls are "a dime a dozen" at GW, but I love them. They are so handy for many uses, and I like to use the liners with salty things, or something that might react with the silver.
What I can't figure out is...why are there are so many  Revere bowls at GW? Almost every time I go in a GW I see one.
 
The olives look sort of odd with the other things, but I didn't want to show an empty bowl. I got the whole box of faux olives last week for $2 at a consignment shop.

One of the things that I am really happy with is this  Mason's Vista Ming Jar.
It was only $14.00 !

It's hexagonal and has little feet. Sorry, I didn't get a good shot of the little feet. I was trying to hurry  and get the photos before the sun went down.

Since I had to run errands today and got home late, I didn't get a chance to do vignettes for the other items.

 I'll show you those another time.

Here's a little closer look at the lid.  I also found two more pieces of transferware today--one blue and white, and the other brown and white.  I'm in transferware heaven.

I hope y'all are having a great week.

Thanks for stopping by. I'm always glad to see you.

Babs

Let's join in the fun with Diann@TheThriftyGroove for

Thrifty Things Friday.

Dog Days

It seems like the Dog Days of Summer are still here, (sigh) and it's still hot and sultry. Speaking of dogs, the other day when I was dusting, I  realized how many dogs I actually have. 
 I don't really have a collection exactly, just over the years I keep finding them... sort of like strays.
None of them have much value, but they make me smile when I see them.

This is the oldest one. I've had this little boy, with his little brown dog, since I was a child. He's very top heavy and poor thing fell over  and his head popped off. I was in my teens when I made the repair. Musta been goood glue for it to stay on this long.

For some reason, I have a thing for terriers. I won these two on Ebay.

 This one reminds me a wire fox terrier we got when we were first married. He came with the name of "Bingo Von Breitenfeld", but we called him "Bingie".  

I found this at an antique mall years ago. It's made of metal and very heavy. I guess it's supposed to be an ash tray, but I use it for paper clips.

These two little terriers are metal, also. I've had them so long I don't remember where I got them.

The bird dog with a pheasant is from a flea/tique shop.

This is my favorite, a little Staffordshire. I found it at a really "low end" thrift store for $2.  You never know where treasures will turn up!

This little black and white spaniel is a reproduction, of course.


                                                                    ~~~~~
I love this picture with the two puppies. We found it several years ago at a furniture store that was going out of business.

 Just Good Friends, by Lucy Dawson (aka Mac).

 Lucy Dawson (1877-1958)

British born Lucy Dawson (aka Mac) is known for her paintings and etchings of
dogs. There is very little about her on line, but you can see a little more about her, here.

 Do any of you have dogs that have followed you home?

Hope y'all have a great week.

Hugs,

Babs

School Memories

I had hoped to get a new post for you to see before today, but it's been a crazy week. To top it off, Wednesday night, I was looking at some of your posts and munching an almond granola bar. Wouldn't you know, I crunched down on an almond and the side of one of my molars broke off!  Just what I wanted to happen... NOT! 

After a trip to the dentist for new crown and a hefty dental bill, I felt guilty about going shopping, so I decided to use some things around the house...again.

The trayscape started out differently. You know how it is when you change things around and end up with something totally different from what you began with?

I started with the gray/green fuzzy succulent thinking I'd do a gray/silver theme, but I saw my old ruler, and the books tied with string made me think of old school days.

I'm thinking in sepia tones for an old effect.

Does anyone remember Blue Horse composition books? 

We always had them for school, and the Coca Cola Company gave free rulers to school children in the 1940s and 50s.
On the front of the ruler it says, "A Good Rule...Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."
I think it's still a good rule.

On the back was "Compliments of The Coca Cola Bottling Company." This one was one I had in school, and the Blue Horse composition book is the kind I used for years.

This Blue Horse belonged to my grandmother...not when she was in school, of course. Her handwriting is still in it with genealogy notes.

The old wooden shoe form reminds me of walking to school and home again.
The candle reminds me of  studying and "burning the midnight oil". I know, I'm stretching it, but it was fun thinking about my old school days.

The plant doesn't remind me of anything about school. I just like to have live plants in the house and move them around a lot.

Oh, an update on the Disc plate hanger...

It's still hanging!

I put a basket and pillow under it the first few days in case it fell...but it's been a couple of weeks now and still holding. So, thumbs up for the Disc plate hanger.
Hope y'all have a great weekend.
Thanks for stopping by. I always enjoy your visits.
Babs

Little Fall Changes

Like so many of you, we're still getting temps in the 90s, with little or no rain, but I'm starting to think about Fall.
Here are a few changes I made last week.

There are almost no flowers left in the yard, so I filled my SL pitcher with Autumn Fern, a bit of Sedum Matrona and fried
Oakleaf Hydrangea.

One of my favorite decor books is Scottish Country, with lovely rust colors on the cover photo.


I rarely show the mantel, because it isn't the most handsome mantel in the world. It's '80s style and almost 6 ft. high.  The wall and hearth are brick from wall to wall. 
Lately, I've been saying I'm going to call our carpenter, and see what he can do with it. Actually, I've been saying that for years.  Somehow, I feel it's going to be messy and expensive to change it.
I'll show you that challenge another time. I'd love some suggestions.
Here's just a glimpse of what's on there now. It's usually neglected. The only time it's "decorated" is at Christmas.

When I do put something on it, it's usually light or bright things because of the dark brick.
The champagne bucket, bowl and PB wine cooler are all thrift store finds.

That's about it for the living room, now let's go downstairs to the family room...

...right now, I'm kicking myself because we got rid of so many vintage things at our yard sale last year.

Now, I'm "borrowing from Peter to pay Paul", and moving things around just to fill the shelves. I'm not really unhappy that I got rid of so much, since that gives me an excuse to go shopping.

On the first shelf, I made a wine theme with an old wine box, a bottle from Target and a small pottery bowl.
In the middle, I turned the books back around, since they have a bit of orange/rust on the covers.
I love the simple alabaster book ends which I showed in an earlier post. They have a wonderful patina which, unfortunately, doesn't show well in the photos.

The last shelf has a bundle of old dried plant material that I've had forever. That's only temporary, as it's starting to shed after so many years.

The very bottom shelves hold storage baskets.  The large one, with a lid, holds Christmas books.

This is the right side, which really needs more work.

 The bottom shelves on this side, hold books, dominoes and game boards for checkers and chess. I've thought about putting something else there, but the center section, under the tv, is stuffed with dishes, so there's no place to put the games.

On the top shelf on the right side, a Johnson Brothers  teapot holds the faux hydranges that I used before, and of course, my green birds. I like the way they bring out the little bit of green in the teapot and hydrangea.

I really need to tweak a couple of the shelves, but I wanted you to see what I'd done so far.
I'm still working on changes for the secretary in the living room, but I'll show you them later.

That's all for now. I'll see you at these parties:

Marty@AStrollThruLife for
Kim@SavvySouthernStyle

Personality Unlimited

I was cleaning out one of the bookcases this morning and found one of my mom's old books called "Personality Unlimited" The Beauty Blue Book, by Veronica Dengel, copyright 1943.

 This book covers everything from proper attire and beauty care to the proper gloves to wear. 
 Chapter 15 has the interesting title of Grooming the Thoroughbred.
One of the topics it discusses is choosing the proper brassiere and corset.  (When is the last time you hears those words?)

Here's an excerpt:
" If your figure is overweight, you must wear your girdle or corset all day and every day. Without it, your figure  will spread as you grow older."

Oh dear, so that's what happened to my figure.

My mom actually believed this, and wore her boned, one- piece corset every day for as long as I can remember.

I remember looking at this book when I was a teenager, and trying to do some of the exercises. They are funny today, but must have been the latest thing in the '40s.

Ladies, now grip the top of the door and stretch and pull and kick.  :)... Now call the carpenter to repair the door...

Now it's bicycle time... huff, puff...
I noticed some of the pages had a little check mark at the top. They must have been some of Mom's favorite exercises.

...careful that you don't turn over in the chair...

... and from the straight chair to the rocking chair...

...now on the bench...

... now hit the shower. Love that beachy wallpaper?

Careful now, last one. Don't slip. (I think I'd try this one outside the tub.)

Mind you, I'M NOT RECOMMENDING ANY OF THESE EXERCISES OR CORSET WEARING!! :(  

But, I got such a giggle reading parts of this book, I wanted to share them with you for Vintage Inspiration Fridays

I know this isn't the usual Vintage Inspiration, but I hope you enjoyed it.  See you at Debra's Common Ground party.


Hugs,
Babs