Still Kickin'! Here's a 'Haul' Post To Prove It!.....

Hi, poppits!
Since last we spoke, I've had LOADS on my plate!  Beginning to get DollyBird sussed so I can get some loverly things on Etsy for you lot to see (I was hoping for an early October launch, but it's looking like it may be November before I can get things started).  Also the worsening health and passing of my sweet Pappy and a lovely celebration of life for him.  The closing of the shop where I work.  A job interview that I'm super excited about (keep your little digits crossed for me, pleeeeeezzzz!).  The start of a collaboration with a local photographer in which I'll be doing a spot of styling and creating.  It's been a whirlwind of a month, but I've done a bit of scrounging in between all the 'chicken with its head cut off' running.

The 'Creepy-Culty-Jesus-Thrifty' where I got my Mersman table has been good to the Doll once again with some great little items, some of which I'm keeping, one of which is a prezzy, and a couple of smalls for the future Etsy shop!
As per my last 'haul' post, the following are photos I've found that are similar or identical to what I've bought.  The camera chip/usb the doggies killed has yet to be replaced!

First off...what I'm likely keeping....

A great lamp, identical to this beauty.  I can't wait to find just the right fabric for just the right shade so that I can use it!  A steal at $2!

In the same trip to the 'CCJT', I got the best Christmas present for my mother.  It was sitting in a corner with no price on it and when I asked the guy working how much, I could have died when he quoted $3!....

It's in perfect condition.  No chips or cracks and all the little bulbs are intact!  The only thing this one has that mine doesn't is the star on top...there's yet another bulb in its place.  I just had to get it for Mom because, after my grandmother (my dad's mom) died, the only Christmas decor of hers that Mom wanted was her big ceramic Christmas Tree like this.  It presided over every Christmas brunch my mom (and I!) remembered at 'Mama D's' house.  But whene we began going through things, my cousin remarked that she'd like to have it, so my Mom let her take it.  It broke her heart.  I think she'll just die when she opens this!  I'll probably give it to her on Thanksgiving though, so she can use it this year!

On the same trip, I got a couple of smalls that will end up in the 'Gilded Cage' section of the DB shop....

A pair of the above swanky golden rain textured late '60s tumblers

And a great Pfaltzgraff owl mug from the 1970's

I know, I know....how can I not keep that mug for myself and my 1970's owl and mushroom laundry?  Well, I need to put some cool smalls in the shop and not keep them all in my grubby little hands!

Besides, I got another set of mugs for myself...that I need like a hole in the head.  But hey, they're Siesta Ware.  And I LOVE Siesta Ware.  Plus I don't have any Siesta coffee mugs.  Sooo, you know.
How fab are these?

They were a 'shop closing' gift from my boss on my last day.  I'd been eyeing them for ages.  I adore them!

Another small that will be in the shop...although it's so darn lovely I've been debating the benefits of keeping it in my collection...is this great early '70s Disney World dish.  Soooo very lovely with the blues and golds!

I've also been helping the owner of another local shop with vintage clothing.  He's wanting to carry some, but doesn't know the first thing about it, so needed my help.  The other day, he rang to say he'd gotten in a truckload of vintage clothes from a theatre department and could I come round asap to sort them for him as he had no idea where to begin.  I made fast work of the piles, found a few good pieces....he had a 1970's Lanvin shift dress hiding in one pile and a couple of fantastic Pendleton suits as well as many other things that are super mod fun, made a pile of  'mine' as I sorted (which included the oldest garment in the lot, a 1950's Penny's Brentwood dress that looked too far gone, but that I've brought back from the dead with a little creative seaming and dart manipulation!...the leaf pattern on it will be fantastic for fall!), and traded him some great 1970's pieces that just won't fit in with the final DB image but will do great in his shop.
You'll see the dresses asap, along with some lovely hats I've scored...I now have a total of 46 vintage hats in my collection!  Crazy, right?  I need to get a 'collection' post together sometime!  I've also been gifted a couple of beautiful parasols and some vintage costume jewelry by one of our vendors at the shop as she was moving out!
I've also scored another Christmas gift, this one for my best friend's wife.  I'd post it, but they read this blog and that would spoil the surprise, so you'll have to wait until December for that one!

This Week's Haul--More Starbursts, Kitsch, And Weird Things From My Childhood

Hi, my bumblebees!  This week's 'Haul' post is a little lacking...I've only bought one thing...but I'm buffing it up with some of the great finds that have come from the bins full of forgotten 'stuff' I've been moving from my parents' to mine.

First, the new addition....

Set of 6 of these lovely little cupcakes!!  They kinda match the Royal China 'Star Glow' dinnerware that I got a couple of weeks ago...for $10, remember!  How exciting!.  Anyhoo, I'd seen these the same day and passed them by because of lack of extra bread that day.  But kept thinking about them and decided to go back to the shop for them...they were actually quite inexpensive!  I'm glad I did....
 

I've also realized that I neglected to include this beauty....

...that I got a few weeks ago.  I needed something like for the side table in my living room and this works a treat!  I love the colour!

Now, on to the 'stuff I hauled over the years and have now hauled to my own house from my parents'.  My love of kitsch and vintage isn't new.  I've been '50s and '60s...and even a little '70s...obsessed since I was a child.  And in the past weeks and months of slowly trucking bins from mom and dad's house, I've rediscovered some really great stuff that 'Wee Doll' had collected and saved that is pretty darn nifty!

Case in point:

Who doesn't love sock monkeys?  And who doesn't love the kitschy goodness of the shriners?  Well what if you mixed the two?  You'd get this guy...

Yep.  He's the bees.  Check out that fez!  His name's Harley because that was the name of my grandparents' friend whose wife gave him to me.  I was quite young and we had gone to visit them.  When she heard that I collected stuffed animals, she got up and disappeared into the back of the house for a long time.  When she came back, she was carrying this little nut.  I don't know if she made him or if someone else did, but he was old (the reason she was gone so long is that she had to locate him in the back of a high shelf in a back closet!) when I got him in the '80s.  I'd estimate him to be from the '60s.  Harley now sits in a place of honour in my living room!

Another cool little tidbit that jumped out of a bin at me was this little guy...

He used to sit on a shelf above my bed as a child.  He had originally belonged to my mom when she was young.  No identifiers except the red 'Japan' tag on his belly.   He's also a new resident in my living room!

One of my favourite toys from my childhood...and before that, from my mom's childhood...

.....is her 'autograph hound '.  A red cord wiener dog wearing tartan pants.  How cute is he?  That's 16 year old mom behind him!

These camels were also a tenant in my childhood bedroom....

My great grandmother brought them back from one of her trips to The Holy Land and gave them to me when I was little.  They're made of leather and are just as sweet as they can be!  I think they look loverly on the shelf opposite that palm!  They look so 'at home'!

 

 I also brought this decanter from mom and dad's.  There's a silver one that matches it that I may snag to use too.  We shall see...

Speaking of, my dad's almost finished the bar in his workshop/mancave!  It's my grandfather's original late '50s knotty pine masterpiece of a bar that Dad salvaged before the house was torn down.  I'll try and get some photos for you soon!  It's loverly!

Ok, we're gonna end with an odd and not really mid-century artifact.  More like a totally tubular, radical, gnarly '80s artifact.

I found a couple of boxes of my old cassette tapes.  Yeppers, THAT was fun in and of itself, but this thing is even sweeter.  I think.

It's in the shape of a cassette, as you can see, but.....Bam!!....

It's a game...of some sort.

It's called Slumber Party and has two blue and two red magnetic playing pieces.  The little wheels where the 'tape' would be spin like a one armed bandit when you flip the little button.  I can't figure it out for the life of me. 

Obviously I didn't play it much because I don't remember even remotely how the game 'goes'.  The fact that it's still 100% intact also proves that wee Doll didn't have much interest in it!
Anyone have one of these or want to hazard a guess as to just how you make it from one end of the board to the other?

That's all for today!  Stay tuned for a beachy '50s summer road trip post later in the week!

This Week's Haul--Birthday $$ Edition

I haven't done a 'haul' post in ages...mainly because I've not had anything to post about!  There's a shortage of good stuff and a shortage of time.  More importantly, as I live in Nowheresville, there's a shortage of money as I can't buy a decent job here.  Have I mentioned I hate it here?  Yes?  Several times?  Of course I have!

Anyhooooo....this past week saw my birthday money burning a hole in my pocket and as I had the day off and one of my best friends recently lost his job and had nothing better to do and, like me, little money to spend we decided to do a yard sale/flea market day.  Here's some of my finds...would you believe I spent less than $40?

I was apparently on a bit of a hat spree this week and didn't realize it until I began to post these photos!  This first one is the only thing not bought on our yard sale day.  I bought this red velvet beauty at the shop where I work....

I'd recently revamped the booth it was in and, as I've been eying it for ages, I decided to hurry along and just buy the darn thing knowing full well that I need another hat like I need a hole in the head...although if you have a hole in the head, you'd need a loverly lid like this to cover it up.  I'm quite pleased with my purchase.  The only other red hat I have (I THINK...lord knows I have so many I can't even begin to remember all of them!) is a red feather covered cloche-esque monstrosity that is beautiful but hard to wear on a regular basis.  This will go well with my everyday wardrobe later in the fall and winter.

On to the flea finds!!
While out looking for yard sales, my friend mentioned that he had heard adverts for an estate sale in that area.  It so happened we were on a connecting road and soon found a sign pointing us in the direction of the sale.  We drove and drove and drove...until we found a sign pointing us back the OTHER way.  We assumed we must have missed the sign for the turn off in between the two signs.  We again drove and drove back the other way, pausing at every single side road.  No dice.  We never did find the darn thing, but I suggested we drive on to an indoor flea market that I'd never been to.  I'm sooooo glad I did!

I LOVE this hat.  That's all I can say really.  I LOVE this hat.  Look at those little velvet apples and pears!  Those fuzzy little berries and leaves!!  Those little satin bows!!  Could you just die??  I almost did when I saw the price tag of $9 on it!  Yippeeee!  The hat fairie loves me after all!

This velvety peachy pink beauty was next to it priced at an even smaller pittance.  As was this eggshell linen one with the pale pink velvet ribbon!  I need an AA for hat addiction!

While on our way to the big antique mall downtown, we ALMOST passed yet another place that I'd heard great things about but never visited!  I yelled, "Whip it in here!!", and I'm uber glad I did!
The basement (which is what everyone told me I'd love!...they were right!) is basically a big indoor flea market.  Tables upon tables, shelf upon shelf of stuff.  I could spend a week in there.

I found my two favourite finds of the week there.  Here's one of them....

 Meet my new dinner ware, Star Glow by Royal China.  I've wanted starburst china forever, but as most of you can attest, it's bloody expensive.  I find the occasional saucer from random sets here and there in various thrift stores, but rarely from the same sets and they're almost always in bad condition.  Add to that, the area I live in didn't really go in for all the 'atomic' stuff (which is quite ironic considering how close to 'Atomic City', aka Oak Ridge, I live!) and most people seem to have opted for traditional everything in the '50s and '60s.
But someone had the good taste to buy this stuff!!
Best is that it kind of matches the platter I bought a couple of months ago!
Check out the mark on the back with it's lovely mid century text work....

 

And the best part?  The whole box (30 pieces...10 dinner plates, 10 bread plates, and 10 mugs...all in PRISTINE condition!) only cost me a tenner.  Yup.  $10!  Crazy!

 This little kitty also asked to come home with me....

 I fell in love with its crazy eyes.  I mean, seriously.  The thing looks like it's trying to hypnotize you....or burn a hole in your brain.  And that acid green colour!  And the smudgy paint job!  Well, he just hopped right into my hand.  I couldn't leave him behind!

I found these two sweeties at the same indoor flea where I bought the hats.....

 There was just something about the little girl and the kitten (I think I may have had that same plaque hanging on my wall when I was little?).  And Lucille....oh, Lucille.  I can't even begin to describe to you why I picked up Lucille and brought her home, so I'll just let you see the AWESOME graphics therein....

Yup.  That's Lucille.  She works on a farm plowing fields but one day the farmer's wife decides to take her out and turn her into a lady.

She takes Lucille to the shops and dresses her up.....

Unfortunately, Lucille is NOT a lady and has trouble behaving like one...

So she sheds all her lady trappings and goes back to her old ways....

The moral of the story?  Sometimes it's better to be a workhorse than a lady?  Err, something like that....

When we finally got to the antique mall, I  was low on $$, but I still did well....

This vintage pattern was only 80 cents!

And these killer hairpins were only $1 per card!  I've been needing some new bobby pins and I HATE how all the newer ones have the little plastic tips.  These are, of course, plastic tip free and cheaper than what I would have paid for new ones!  SCORE!  And the pics of Mona Freeman make them that much more fab!!

Which brings me to the real score of the weekend. 

As any of you who follow will know, I LOVE Scottie Dogs and have been collecting Scottie 'stuff' since I was a wee little girl...not to mention, I've been the proud 'mummy' of two sweet Scotties, the late Nigel as well as my current housemate, Pip.  The one thing that always alluded me though, was a vintage stuffed Scottie.  Well search no more, Miss Doll!  Might I introduce..."Fala'....

 He's too cute...a little mangy, but too cute!  I'd estimate he's from the late '40s-mid '50s.  His little head turns and he's absolutely lovely.  When I saw him on the shelf of the downstairs flea market I mentioned, I literally RAN over to him.  I just knew he'd be at least $30 up...not that I wouldn't have paid it gladly!...but imagine my surprise when I read the tag: $10.  Wha wha WHAT???  For this bonnie wee laddie???

Pip loves him and thinks I brought him home a new playmate.....

Updates--Part Deux--The Brady 'Kitschen' and Dining Room

Well the short post yesterday worked out well...aka, it didn't take me 3 hours to get my computer to cooperate.  So we'll try the same format once again, shall we?

I don't think I've posted any recent pics of the Kitschen and Dining Room.  Everything's a work in progress and even tiny changes make a HUGE difference, don'tcha know.

 To make more room in the dining room, I took the leaf out of the table and reduced the number of chairs around it to four.  I then used the two 'leftover' sweet Sculptra chairs at the breakfast bar.  I like this set up much better....and it saves me from having to recover the three stools which had been at the bar...I bloody well hated those things anyway!

 Some of my first paintings on the wall above the buffet/hutch and a sweet little aqua 'Jamaica' tea towel to cover up some of the scratches on the top of the Sculptra table until I can refinish it...poor little lamb wasn't respected and was abused before I adopted it.

The vintage barbecue pitcher I bought a couple of months ago looks sooo cute on the counter!  Needs some daisies or black eyed susans in it though!  And how cute are these little owl salt and pepper shakers?  Even though the laundry is the 'owl' room, I just couldn't let these poppits out of the kitschen!  They were my great-grandmother's and sat in her kitchen as long as I can remember...my dad assures me that they also were there as long as he can remember as well!  Their little orange waistcoats and jade jackets match the 'kitschen' perfectly!  They remind me of the old 'Owl Jolson' cartoon.....

The pantry sits in the space between the kitschen and the living room.  When they installed the laminate flooring, it made the floor so high that we couldn't get the pantry door back on!  So I have to keep the thing uber neat and tidy!

 I adore this spice chart!  It tells you which spices work best with what dish!  The date at the bottom is 1967.  Check out the psychedelic graphics!

 My birthday was a week ago.  NO.  I will not tell you how old I am.  But I WILL introduce you to our new housemate here at the Brady Ponderosa.....the sweet sago palm mom got me as a present!  Fits perfectly in the hairpin legged plant stand...which I think I'll be painting black soon.

 As I was taking these pics, I realized that I have never shown you the inside of the revamped mid-'60s Hotpoint fridge!  Well, here he is......

I soooo love the cooling panel in the back!  Looks so cool!  The shelves were quite rusted when I found them....in various places around the basement.  So I painted them aqua to match the butter panel in the door.  It's a slightly darker aqua than the rest of the door....

 Here's a closeup of the starburst and diamond pattern on the butter door.  I think it may be my favourite thing in my kitschen....

Stay tuned!  Living room tomorrow!!