You know, the problem with this window of mine is that no matter how great it looks in person, I just can’t photograph it through the glass.  Part of the problem that there are windows behind me, so I’m getting a double reflection.

I’ve tried playing with the saturation in Photoshop and not thing seems to work. Not even a different angle.

So I went into the office and took a picture from the back.

Pretty boring.

And I had such cute elements.  I brought my Patriotic bear that sings “O Beautiful” and propped him up on Herry, the bird sculpture that is always in my office.

Herry got a scrap ruffle bow decorated with Marine pins.

I made bunting from 4 fabric scraps that I had picked up in hopes that I could use them on the 4th of July. A couple of pieces of wired ribbon from the Dollar Tree and some mini clothes pins from my crafting stash and the bunting came together in less than 20 minutes.  Nothing was sewn.  Thanks to my partner in crime, Miss H, I attached the bunting to the blinds with just the “swoop” I was looking for.

The topiary that held little hands and crows on Halloween was decked out in red-white-blue fabric and bedecked with photos of G.I.s in uniform –  my Dad…

…. and my Uncle.

I even gave my co-workers a challenge to guess the identity of one of our other co-workers. They couldn’t.

The centerpiece of the window was the photo of hundreds of Army men on a beach in Miami, during World War II.

I don’t how the photographer who took this picture of all these men standing arms spread while wearing gas masks was able to hold the camera still while laughing.  He MUST have been laughing.

The real point of the window and the day, was to thank vets for all they did for this country.

The peace sign is one of my favorite pieces from thrifting.  It sits in my kitchen window and usually holds my rings while I’m cooking or washing dishes.

I added a picture of an eagle from a vintage 1973 calendar with beautiful drawings of birds by James Lockhart.

So, one day late, I was say once more… Thanks to all the vets for our peace and our freedom.

Salute!

Wondering if I could fix the clock myself: Challenging

Deciding to fix it myself with these tools: Stupid

Have  a wonderful man in my life that knows how to fix anything:  PRICELESS

Listening to the soft ticking of my porcelain clock made by the New Haven Clock Company:   A smile a second

Knowing I helped to save something so old and beautiful:  Satisfying

Like a tiny heartbeat…tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick

Behold… my first holiday window.  (I feel sort of like Macy’s or Barneys or one of those New York shops with the fancy window display.)

Like Frankenstein’s monster, everything comes a different source and most were not meant to be Halloween decorations.

The topiary on the left came from The Collection on Gaines and provides nests for the crows who are stashing their harvest of creepy little hands.

Mr. Scary Feet hangs with the crows. He was hiding in a antique store in Illinois.

The little skeletons were a gift from a new co-worker when she saw my Halloween window.

I found an alphabet of these cards at GoodCents, and all the words the letters spelled made me s.c.r.e.a.m.

I’ve started a nice little library of spooky books.

A bowl that once held a candle now holds shrunken skulls. The owl was a GoodCents find, of course.

My favorite addition to this year’s decorations is “Fear the Spirit”.  I folded the pages of an old paper back book creating a paper column. I topped the column with a mirror from the Dollar Tree, a little carved bird from a museum gift shop, and a squirrel skull courtesy of my carnivorous 20 year old cat.  I found the skull last summer and being the proper hoarding crafter knew that it would come into use on just such an occasion.

Adding glamour to the window are a sparkly skull, a black feather boa, and large piece of black silk as a base.

Topping it all off is my favorite item from last year’s Halloween tableau, the haunted librarian.

I hope you enjoy looking into my window.   I love my new office.  Besides great coworkers, a couple of crows keep me company.

Here’s what I see looking out.

Boo!

Costs for the window:

• Black crows (Dollar Tree) – $10 (bought them 2 years ago)
• Topiary (Collection) – $8 (used in my summer display)
• ceramic hands & feet (GoodCents) – $.50
• books – $1.50
• Owl – $2
• Old picture – $1
• Skull – $.50
• mirror-$1
• bird – $4
• bowl – had it
• boa – $.50
• silk fabric – $.50
• driftwood – had it
• picture – $.85

Grand total- $30.35 (and worth every penny!!!)

My found items came together to make a romantic tablescape displayed on the black, white and gray toile tablecloth.  Setting the romantic theme is the book “Chopin and George Sand in Majorca.”   I think I’ll take that along on my upcoming vacation.

My favorite was the vintage red velvet hat.  How do you like my vase mannequin?

Every Southern cook should have at least one deviled egg plates.  I already have two, but couldn’t pass up the “crystal” version which went so very well with the glass candlestick holding the “all we need is love” sign.  I think the pewter leaf is a note holder or paper “clip”, but I’m loving how it works here.

You can see the egg plate on the candlestick in the photo above.  They work so well together, you would almost swear they were made that way.   The candlestick can also be used as… well…. a candlestick.  Yawn….

The Libbey glass fruit bowls were brand new, and looked beautiful with the light shining through them, and filled with watermelon on my Monday morning brunch table.

Even though the mirror was missing from this cast metal swivel mirror, the frame was in excellent shape and with a little bit of scrapbooking paper, delivered just the message I want from all my mirrors.

Not quite as romantic as my tablescape, but still very useful are the other I found on Sunday.

Two never used travel mugs with an inspirational message for my son in his final year of law school. The message – Think like a lawyer.

My daughter loves the Braun Immersion Blender.  Once I give her my recipe for Potato Leek Soup, she’s going to love it even more.

And, last, but not least are some more kitchen supplies for me.  Ice cube trays (would you believe I didn’t own any?),  food service gloves (for those times I don’t feel like getting too friendly with the meatloaf mix), and an addition to my bar spoon collection.

Not shown is another box of vintage Christmas ornaments that I hope to sell on EBay.

So here’s what I bought.

1. vintage red velvet hat
2. toile tablecloth
3. 2 Libbey fruit bowls
4. cast metal (pewter?) mirror frame
5. deviled egg plate
6. 4″ glass candlestick
7. pewter leaf note holder
8. 2 travel mugs
9. book
10. food-grade gloves
11. 2 ice cube trays
12. bar spoon
13. 8 glass Christmas ornaments

Ready for the grand total.

$10.75

I’m smiling.  Happy Wednesday.

(Things I didn’t purchase on Sunday – the plates and flatware, napkins, glass vase and silver tray.)

Purchased at Good Cents for 50 cents.  A 1997 Playmobil German police car with working lights.

Sold on EBay for $10.  Profit of $8.73.

Okay, I know what you are thinking.  That’s nothing to brag about and you would be right.  It’s not a lot of money, although it was a pretty decent return on investment, IF you don’t count the two hours it took for me to take pictures, upload the pictures and create the listing, check the sale, print the invoice and shipping label, box up the car and deliver it to the post office.  When you look at it that way, then I’m in the red.

But I had fun. I learned to be on the lookout for Playmobil toys.  I helped someone to find that special item they are collecting, and I kept one more piece of plastic out of a landfill for at least a while.

It was a good day.  Hope your day was good, too.

Aufedersein (Good bye)

Is this not the most adorable baby? Well, other than my nephew, my niece, my own kids, your kids and grand kids, and my friends’  kids, of course.

Take a close look at those beautiful blue eyes and pink lips sucking on the thumb, and you’ll understand why I couldn’t let Good Cents send him to the trash.

That’s the reason I plunked down a $1 for this aptly named “Heaven on Earth” lithograph. The artist signature is M. Greiner and  was printed by Morris & Bendien. Although there is no date, I have not seen any Greiner works later than 1910.

It’s a fairly large picture at 16 x 20 and the frame and backing show the age of a print that is about 100 years old. You can’t tell from these pictures but the glass has those wonderful bubbles and waves of old glass.

I’ve tried to sell it on Craigslist, but had no takers.  I suppose now I will have to take the time to try to package it up for selling on EBay. (I hate shipping!)  But, until I find a new home for him (or her), this little bit of heaven on earth is hanging out in “for sale” closet.

Know anyone who wants to babysit for a year or two?

Seven new albums:

The Graduate, Foreigner, St. Elmo’s Fire Soundtrack.

Steve Martin Wild and Crazy Guy, Hair, Funny Girl, and Mame.

Two matted picture frames.  These don’t photograph well, but they are beautiful and in great condition.

A real McCoy bowl. (Get it… real McCoy… any way..)

I put the MOM mug next to the bowl so that you could get see the size of the bowl, but I think it backfired on me.  The bowl is MUCH bigger than the mug.

This McCoy bowl belonged to a pitcher and bowl set.  Not sure what happened to the rooster pitcher, but I don’t miss it.  It’s a creamy color with tiny brown speckles. Right now it looks pretty good sitting on my counter with bananas in it. They have tiny brown speckles, too.

One of the rewards of going to Good Cents comes from finding unique items at the bottom of a picked over bin.  It’s nice when the unique item isn’t wet or sticky, but that’s another story.  This little grouping all came from the same bin.

 The two green items in the front are vintage flower frogs.  Remind me to show you my flower frog collection one day.

Let’s get a closer look at the other bin mates.

 These two leprechauns are adorable.  They will go into my St. Patrick’s Day bin. See you in March.  Slán. That’s Gaelic for goodbye.

From Ireland we head over to Wein (Vienna) Austria.  These two are terracotta ceramics from the Anzengruber studio.

The girl is missing a thumb, but I should still get a pretty penny for them over on EBay.  Somewhere around $80 each.  Yeah!!  That’s the reason for the OMG expressions.  I’ll let you see the bottom of a figure.

Remember this brand. Anzengruber.  If you find it, grab it.  Highly collectible.

I wish I could say I found a matched set, but instead I only found one salt shaker.  Empire Sterling Weighted.  I’m hopeful I can sell it for at least $10-15.

Digging through more  bins I found all the pieces, along with the manual, of this Weston Pasta Machine.  And I believe it was new. Value $39.

Maybe I shouldn’t have said that because I’m thinking of socking this away for a Christmas present. Would you hate to get a gift because the giver got it for a song? Or would you think them frugal and resourceful?

What do you think about this silver cup?

 I think it’s supposed to be a pencil cup.  I didn’t mean to buy it.  It was holding the pieces of the pasta machine in my  buggy so they wouldn’t fall thrown the bottom.

Finally, it wouldn’t be a trip to Good Cents without a nice assortment of linens.

The picture’s a little boring,  but what you are looking at is 30 BEAUTIFUL linen napkins. And 4 yards of white duck cloth.  I’ll use it for something.

Did I show you the handkerchiefs?  Oh I didn’t. Well, they were in the same box as the Irish and Austrian figurines.

Five delicate (never used) handkerchiefs.  Three of them still have the paper labels.  The one in the middle is embroidered Mother and U.S. Navy. The folks over on EBay date this as a WWII item, but I tend to believe it’s from the 1950s.

So, that’s it. Here’s all my stuff, found in one trip to Good Cents. Okay, it was a little unusual to find it all on one day, but every now and then I get lucky.

Want to guess how much?

Fifteen dollars!!  The duck cloth alone has a price tag of $16.  I’m pretty happy with the trip.

Wish me luck on my future trips. If there is something special you are looking for, let me know and I’ll keep an eye out.

Happy Wednesday!!

Behold, the pub jug.

What’s a pub jug?  Yeah, I asked the same question when he told me that’s what it was called.  I though it was just a really big gravy boat. (It’s 7 1/2″ x 5″.)

Pub jugs are also known as water jugs and whisky jugs.

Once upon a time, back before running water, pubs kept water in pitchers, buckets or jugs, to provide water to their customers who wanted a little water with their whiskey.

Alcohol manufacturers saw this blank canvas on the bar and realized it was a great place to advertise their product.  According to PubJug.com, the official website of the Whisky Pitcher Collectors Association of America (yeah!, they’ve got one), whisky pitcher advertising started as early as 1840.

The Crawford Old Scotch Whisky pitcher Young Son found was made by Wade Regicor in England.  The Wade company has been making pottery since 1810. The backstamp identifies this whisky pitcher as made somewhere about 1962-1068.

Whisky or whiskey?

Whisky is how they spell it in Scotland, whiskey is used by the English and in the United States.

Keeping the pub jug company are collectible Fort Pitt salt and pepper shakers also found by Young Son.

Last Christmas I received, from my brother, a book on collecting salt and pepper shakers. These Fort Pitt shakers are the only shakers featured in the book that we’ve been able to locate. He even found them in the original box!!

The shakers were made in Buffalo, but Fort Pitt beer was brewed in Sharpsburg, Pennsylvania from 1906-1957.

What were once advertising objects from brewers and distillers are now snuggled up together in my china cabinet.  I love learning about when and where things were made.

What I love even more, is that my Young Son and I share a love for old and the interesting.

Here’s hoping you find such joy in the little things.

Cheers!

You might remember my first Bitossi vase that I found at Goodwill last summer.  For a dollar.

Cute little green and white vase

This was a better find (maybe).  It cost 50¢.

I would love to keep it, but it really doesn’t match anything in my house. Hmm… just realized it has sort of a garnet and gold look.  Any FSU fans interested in a bit of mid-century modern pottery?  There is one just like it on eBay listed for $95,  so you could have a matched set.

I’m listing this one for MUCH less than $95, although, wouldn’t it be wonderful to get that price!

Headed to eBay and a new home, I hope.

Ciao!

Little things that make me smile, like my ceramic monkey sweetener holder. (One dollar at the Junior League Whale-of-a-Sale.)

Peace where ever I can find it.  (Two dollars – Goodwill)

The love of my family. (Priceless!!)

Amen.