bubbledog blog

last thrift and flea market days of the summer

Well, another summer has just about flown by and I am in the final weekend before the beginning of the school year.  I decided to end the summer of 2015 in a blaze of thrift store and flea market glory.   It turned out to be a pretty good "blaze" as I managed to find a lot of stuff without a whole lot of hunting!

I spent Friday afternoon hitting up as many thrift shops that I could get to in the Bethlehem, PA area.  I managed to pick up a few cool pieces. The giant avocado green swung glass vase was my most exciting find - I used to be able to pick them up all over and haven't found one (for cheap) in a long time.  There were also some cool (and clean) Tupperware items at one shop and that is where I got the set of primary colored cups and the "pickle keeper" that you see in the back.  A couple of character glasses, some Poppy Trail plates, and a Pyrex bowl rounded out the day.  Total damage = $23.

For a normal person, that would probably have been enough vintage knick-knacks for one weekend.  Not me though; I also planned on going to the Blue Ridge Flea Market (today) in Saylorsburg, PA.  I almost opted to sleep in this morning, but forced myself out of bed.  Well, I am glad I went because it was awesome!  There was so much to get and I went a little crazy...

 

Lots of ceramics today: a Holland Mold scary (yet excellent) elf head cookie jar, a turquoise ceramic fish sugar bowl, a little bird planter, and then that awesome green and turquoise Sequoia Ware dish.  Other treasures are another mid-century glass vase, an enamel pot , and then a Hazel Atlas mixing bowl.  Besides all of that, I also found (drum roll please)...   

... all of these character glasses!!!  I don't know why I get so excited over these.  It is starting to get to the point where I can start offering a free glass to guests at my house.  I don't care though... if they are $1 or under, I will always buy them :)   These needed a lot of washing (as you can see in the picture), but it was worth it!  Total cost in Saylorsburg = $51.

So, that is it for the weekend.  I have already found a place for most everything (it seems hard to believe).  The elf cookie jar has found a temporary home in the living room:

... and the vases are joining their counterparts on the mantel:

Everything else is tucked away for another day!

pyrex score

This morning I went to the Blue Ridge Flea Market in Saylorsburg, PA.  I had never been to it before, but have always heard good things.  It was an interesting mix of vendors as some had new items and some had old; some had antique store prices and some had bargain basement garage sale prices.  The market itself was huge and it took almost 3 hours to check out the whole thing... though it was crazy hot today and I think could get that time down without frequent stops to drop things off at my car.  I managed to find everything in the pic above:  a three tier shelf that comes apart and folds up (perfect for my craft shows), two vintage mini red desk lamps (they actually work and work really well), an ET glass, a blue enamel teapot (I've never found a blue one before), a white wall lamp, an old cardboard Snyder's Pretzel container, and (count them) 9 (yes I said 9) pieces of Pyrex!  I was actually going to only buy two of the Pyrex bowls, but the dealer said that I could have them all for $2 each if I bought the whole lot... SOLD!  All in total, the day cost me $36.50 and a good amount of storage space in my house :)

I normally don't collect product packaging, but the Snyder's container was in great shape and I loved the design with the yellows and browns.  I have to think of a way to display this that it won't get damaged!

holiday weekend flea market finds

I went to a flea market in Belvidere, NJ on Sunday and wasn't sure what to expect with the holiday weekend.  I figured it would be empty or packed; in actuality (and luckily) it was closer to the latter.  There were lots of vendors and I had a lot of fun looking through what they had to offer, but I only left with a few items: a primary blue Pyrex mixing bowl, a Pepsi Collector's Series Yosemite Sam glass, a Masters of the Universe Man At Arms glass (this was probably my favorite find... never had one before), a Boynton mug, and vintage pack of long matches in a Santa container complete with puff ball nose and hat topper.  Total expense for the day = $8 :)

more thrifting

Stopped at two thrift stores in Bethlehem, PA yesterday and managed to find a couple of vintage goodies.  It was apparently a very 1970s earth toned day for me.  At the first stop, I found the Pyrex Crazy Daisy bread pan, the squirrel wall hanging (already mounted in my office), the Fire King bowl, and those three tall floral glasses (which happen to complement the three floral glasses from my last vintage finds).  The second store had tons of stuff in it, but not much that I was interested in.  After two searches, I managed to find the little golden planter, the wooded cat sculpture, and the clay bird sculpture.  Neither the cat or the bird have any markings, so I know nothing of their origins, but I just thought they were kind of cool.  Total cost for the day = $16.

fork and spoon

I have missed so many yard sales over the last month and it has really been killing me.  My job has been spilling over into nights and weekends and has really taken the "merry" out of the month of May.  That being said, today was a 100% day-off and I was able to hit a fairly large town-wide yardsale in Alpha, NJ.  I was a little rusty, but I still managed to score some goodies:

The bounty includes a little vintage desk lamp, some Amish figurine banks, three ceramic "baby" planters (I think two are from the 70s and one from the 50s), a ceramic squirrel/nut canister (I can never seem to get enough of these), three mod floral glasses, a set of Burger King Simpsons dolls, and six Raffiaware melamine ice cream dishes.  The "piece de resistance" is this decorative carved wooden fork and spoon set... I can't wait to figure out where to hang them... they are each like a yard long:

When all was said and done, the total damage for these items was $11.00! 

 

thrifting again

I haven't been to a flea market, garage sale, thrift store, or antique store in about six months and I have really been itching to get out there and do some shopping.   Pair that up with recently learning about The Pineville Tavern (which is a 45 minute drive from our house) and you've got the recipe for a thrifting expedition.   After mapping out as many thrift stores that we can find along the way, we headed out for what turned out to be a five hour adventure.  It was totally worth it... we got some amazing handmade ravioli and a lot of cool old stuff!

At the very first stop, I got my favorite purchase of the day... this amazing swag lamp.  It was a decent deal, but I picked it up at an antique store, so it was only reasonably priced... not a steal.  I am still figuring out where to hang it in my living room and I can't wait until it is up and glowing.



Some of our thrifted goodies can be seen in the next picture.  I can say I am happy with any thrift store outing that ends with another piece of vintage Pyrex making its way into my house.  I am also in love with this ridiculous owl cookie jar.  Not sure if the glass is vintage or not, but I will add it to my random colorful drinkware collection regardless.



When all was said and done, we hit two antique stores, five thrift stores, and the tavern for lunch midway through the day.  To our surprise, our last thrift stop was near a bakery that we had never heard of called Eet Gud in Trenton, NJ.  I've been to that thrift shop dozens of times and this is the first time I ever saw this bakery (thank yelp!).  They had some really good treats and it was a sweet ending to the day!

 

garage sale finds

I was pretty happy with this group of vintage goodies that I picked up at a garage sale a few minutes from my house.  I already have the floral tea pot (found at another sale), but it has a small crack in it and I am replacing it with this one.  Not sure if I am keeping the two juice glass sets... they were too nice to pass up though!  The blue and green floral placemats are G.R.O.O.V.Y and will be put to good use on my back porch.  The Family Circle Christmas magazines (1962 and 1967) will be tucked away until Christmas time as I love to read through old Christmas recipe and craft magazines... the ideas can be cute from time to time, but more often they are just gross :)  Total cost of this haul = $6.75!

thrift store finds

I've stopped at a few thrift stores over the last few months, but have walked away empty handed at just about every turn.  Today, I managed to find a couple of things at two different shops.  My first stop was a small shop that I rarely go to because it never has anything good. That being said, today I found the two wooden owls you see in the picture, the two little pop top containers, and the large pink and mint green Boonton melamine platters.  The second store had lots of stuff to look through, but not many treasures to speak of... though, I did manage to find the Ronald McDonald glass and the large Superman glass that you see in the picture.  I've never seen this particular Superman glass before... it's huge!  Total expense for the day was $6.42 with tax included :)

garage sale finds

I've missed so many townwide garage sales this year that I was ecstatic when I finally made it to my first sale yesterday.  It was HOT yesterday, but I braved the heat and spent a few hours searching past endless amounts of unwanted baby clothes and toys, vhs cassettes, and old computer equipment to find some real treasures.  I didn't buy tons of stuff, but I am really pleased with what I did find: a set of McDonald's collector series glasses, two ceramic birds, some orange Tupperware, a green Pyrex mixing bowl, and  a MEGO Wonder Woman in the box and marked "$2.00 FIRM!".  Of course, the Wonder Woman was the find of the day... I've never seen an old Mego doll at a garage sale, let alone in an original box!  Total amount spent for the day... $9!!! 

vintage elf ornaments

This past summer, I was on the hunt for knee-hugging elves from the fifties and sixties.  I picked up a few, but while searching for them, I also found a bunch of old elf-like ornaments.  Here are a few that I was happy to add to my collection this year.  I think the angel on the left might be missing some arms (maybe if you have wings you don't need arms), the snow bunny in the middle is decked out in a little corduroy outfit which is awesome, and my favorite is the little mushroom figure on the right.  I love them :)