Spring Cleaning!

I 've been doing serious spring cleaning and that includes going through every drawer and closet in the house.  And if that isn't enough, I'm giving our living room a makeover!  I haven't gone out of my way to trade vintage goodies, but I was contacted with offers I simply couldn't refuse. And the garden this time of year...just  beautiful.

I was offered this delphite periwinkle blue mixing bowl set in a trade.  It is unmarked but the identical in shape and size of Fire King splash proof bowls. The largest bowl in this set is 7.5" Darling little set!

Jeannette and McKee are my jadite and delphite of choice. I also received a seafoam green Anchor Hocking bowl for my collection.

Delighted to add these Jeannette measuring cups to my small collection.


I've been in a Pyrex trading group for years now and made a lot of great trades with a lot of different people.  Many of us tend to go through phases and we move onto other things and can easily give up great things to get great things.  We don't just continue to accumulate, but rotate I guess you could say.  Just an observation!  haha!

Jeannette refrigerator dishes...one of my repeat trading buddies hunted these up for me.

A couple fantastic trades!  I gave up some Pyrex and gained jadiete and pink butterpint.

Hubby wanted me to have something for Mother's day so he took me antiquing.  That is a rare occasion as we are the thrifty type!  I purchased a Jeannette grease jar and McKee chalaine blue fridgie dish at 30% off!

And more jadite goodies from one of my regular trading buddies.  Quite a few pieces in a short period of time, but it was spread out enough so packing wasn't too grueling.



And a series of pictures from my back yard....

Gettin' Things Done!

I'm late doing my spring cleaning, but this week I'm on it. Time to also part with some things as I don't do well with too much stuff!  Though I'm not big on selling, it is a great way to get some fun money back and use it towards trading (postage) for some things I'm really yearning for.

I traded for a couple Glasbake loaf pan patterns I don't have for my loaf pan collection.  My trading partner wouldn't accept an additional item from me without throwing in these Cathrineholm shakers. I'm still quite speechless over her generosity.

.
Other vintage items outside of glass have brought me some unexpected treasures through trades. Federal Circus bowls, Cathrineholm 11" lotus bowl and Hazel Atlas repro jadeite shakers thrown in just for fun.

Shakers are something I never focused on, but I love some of the graphics on many.  I decided to pick Tipp City cherries to pursue and got the spice set through trading.

I have to find a good reason to pick up Pyrex these days. I did pick up a Butterfly Gold 472 casserole to go into my small casseroles have in the kitchen for daily use.

I sold my first Pyrex bracelet and completed a second one for myself.  The charms are quite small and the bracelet is 7 inches long. I added a 1/4" to see which size I like best. I used a smaller gauge wire as well as smaller pearls and this works nicely on my tiny wrist.

And there were many request for Mother's Day...here is a Daisy set I completed.

Pyrex always in action...so happy it's the time of year I can plant and harvest greens from my garden.

I've managed to keep this post in draft for sometime haha!  On to publishing!

Colorful Water Fountain - Thrift Store Find

Found a fountain at the thrift the other day. It's something on our wish list for years now. This one appealed to us both. Pump works fine and really pushes some water. Went back out again today to find a vessel to disperse the water. The sound of the water hitting the mesh screen was less than desirable. I looked everywhere and ended up getting this green pot that ties in with the colors of the fountain and has holes in it, creating a much more interesting and more dimensional sound. And just for fun, I put a glass koi in the bottom--easy to maintain! LOL

 

Thrifty Finds - Easter Craft and Better Homes and Gardens!

I hit the thrifts again this week in search of Easter crafting goodies.  I look for vintage stuff and that hasn't been easy to find.  My favorite piece is this Happy Easter butterfly pick!

 

I was very excited to run into a bunch of these diorama paper/cardboard eggs.  I was going to make some myself, but this is going to make things much easier.  I've already got started priming them white.

Found this box of Duo Temp cups.  It's so fun to find stuff still in the original box.  And it couldn't have been better that they are pink and blue, they fit with my dishes.  These will be great to use out on the patio in the summer.

I also found this very pretty Fire king mug.  Hubby has a couple Snoopy mugs this size, so now I have my very own girly mug.

This Better Homes and Garden magazine is from 1971.  It is packed with ideas. I haven't had a chance to sit down and go through it, but I have to show you a few pages.

This section on privacy screens and fences is great.  I have been thinking about adding some structures like this in our yard.  There are some excellent examples here. This is probably my best find this week.

Of course, there was Pyrex last week and  I posted that here on Pyrex Collective III. 

I won't be thrifting as much this week, I plan on working on my Easter egg dioramas and other Easter decorations.  I've got the itch to do it and can't hold back any longer!  Better get that laundry started early so I have the entire afternoon to play!

Happy St. Patrick's Day from my Welsh corgi!

Linking up with Sir-Thrift-A-Lot at thriftasaurus!

My 1950s Ranch House, 54 years later.

One of these days I will go through my photos and scan them, but today isn't the day I want to do that.  So no before pictures of the house, just what it looks like this morning.

If you ever wanted to know what a little fir tree would look like 54 years from planting, should you want to plant one...look to the right side of this picture.  It's not my tree, but the neighbors. You can see about two thirds of its total height.  According to one of the neighbors across the street, the original owners next to us planted the trees after the house was newly built.  The story is the wife liked to entertain guests and so to decorate her back yard, she planted small trees in the narrow strip of this corner lot.  The 3-4 fruit trees were taken out by a subsequent owner, but the 3 fir trees continue(d) to grow and grow.  Fortunately the power company took one (farthest from our house) down last year.  Wouldn't mind the others being gone, they block the southern exposure and dump debris onto our roof and into our gutters.  But that won't be done by the current owner.

Front yard today.  We keep it plain and simple.  That is enough work.  The Japanese maple was planted in the mid 1970s.  I've replaced all the doors and had vinyl windows installed.  The red brick facade is original to the house.  I love the old cedar lap siding!

A glimpse of the back yard from the patio.  This was once as bare as the front yard when I purchased the house in the mid 1980s.  We see this portion of the house from the kitchen and family room addition.   To the right is a separate "room", a vegetable and fruit garden.  It's a lot of work, but I love it--my little paradise.  I am dreaming of a deck these days.