Coolest Vintage Halloween String Lights!

It's just my opinion...but these are definitely the coolest Halloween string lights I have ever seen.  They were given to us years ago, I'll guess about 8 to 10 and they were a thrift store find.  I don't know the age, I'm guessing they are 1980s.  I just have to share these cool lights!

There are 10 lights on the string.  Each figure has a unique base color and there are at least 6 different hand painted colors.

Of all the lamps, this Egyptian one is my favorite.  It is the only one with with metallic paint.  It looks really cool with the light shining through it and on the backside there is a mummy stepping out of the sarcophagus!













Here are the other guys on the the strand...

Halloween Thrift Find

I don't do much in the way of Halloween decorating, I like decorations but it's too much work. Unpacking, repacking, dusting around it when it's out...I'm just not into it.  But--I do give in a little for my hubby who loves it.  He agreed to weed out some of the old decorations last year at my behest.  We were running out of storage room ( I limit all decorations to one closet).  So we have a few things including a string of super cool lights we got as a gift one year.  Today we ran into this ceramic piece and I said "we are going to get this".  It lacked a light, it actually is totally open on the bottom, but I rigged one up.  The piece is about 12" tall and 9" wide.  It's all one piece but the figures stand away from one another. It doesn't appear to be vintage, it has a made in Taiwan sticker on it. It is so darling, reminds me of vintage Japanese ceramics.

I like how the light shines through several different places.  The owl is so adorable!

Can you ever have too many Pyrex 401s? Heck no!

I was curious how many 401s I have and what better way than to stack them all together!  What a happy sight!

Fantasic Find of the Day -- PY Miyao Gay 90's Cups and Saucers

Oh my!  What luck we had today!  Fortunately we swung by our neighboring town and did a Pyrex run...no Pyrex but we got these!

These beautifully hand painted 1950s PY Miyao cups and saucers are part of a collection called The Gay 90s.  I noticed one of them and picked it up.  The second one was on a different aisle, I'm so glad I caught sight of it before leaving the store!  I won't disclose how much we paid, but I will say less than $10 for the pair!  Hubby wants to go back and check if any other pieces show up, but we won't be able to do that for a few days.  As it was, these just went on the shelf yesterday so they didn't sit for long.

Finding the Unexpected! -- When Things Come Together!

I was tickled recently when I was at the thrift, on my endless hunt for Pyrex and saw something that made my eyes open wide.  Hubby wasn't with me, so I couldn't do the "look at this!"  I picked it up and went looking for hubby and showed him.  Well, he was  a bit puzzled and unimpressed even when I told him this matches one of our  previous finds.  Once we got home and I put things together, he then thought it was cool.

I have a weakness for vintage California pottery, I have to fight sometimes to leave it at the store.  About a year and a half ago I found this covered dish trimmed in gold I couldn't pass up.  On my recent trip I found four matching trays!  I had no idea there were any to go with it--what a nice surprise.  After finding them I decided to keep my eyes open for a lazy susan and that appeared at the next store. The picture is deceiving, the pieces are identical in color and the covered dish is much larger than it looks here.  These dish are rather large, so it will be for around the holidays--fill with meatballs, cocktail shrimp etc. and the covered dish can hold a whole lot of potato salad!

Star of the Show - Pyrex is a Hit at Movie Night

Friday night and us boring folk took to our recliners to rest our dogs and fill our bellies!  We hit the thrifts all afternoon and stopped by the store on the way home to pick up deli chicken and a bag of those frozen fries (never had them before, but they were pretty good!)  Yes, this is our idea of partying on a Friday night.  I think there was even pop from our soda maker.  This activity was accompanied by an old corny monster movie which will remain nameless.  It was a great Pyrex hunting day and how better to celebrate but to enjoy our grub in a couple Pyrex divided dishes!

Vintage Wall Art -- Paintings

I'm always looking for stuff to hang on the walls when I hit the thrift.  And I'm always delighted when I find something that appeals to me!  And I'm thoroughly giddy when it's dirt cheap! Being a lifelong amateur artist myself, I look for things that inspire me and as an artist.  Here is a large painting I purchased for $9.99!  It is wonderfully rendered, professionally framed and the choice of framing material is perfect.  The painting has very nice brush and palette knife work.  Even more, it works with the decor in our den which sways Danish modern.  The cognac color banding in the frame of the painting matches the color of our Norwegian leather Ekornes recliner--love it when things come together!

 

Though I posted the following in a previous blog post, now that I've hung them on the wall I couldn't help but snap a pic!  Here is the set of 1950s Japanese hand painted porcelain tile paintings.  These were sold separately and I managed for get all four at once for $3.99 each.  I have this mentality when I go to the thrifts that I don't spend in the double digits for a single item--so I wrangled with the fact the set cost me $15.96.   Sometimes I can be such a cheapskate--sigh.  But I absolutely LOVE these!!!!!