Xmas Xcitement

Today was first Advent, as my mom reminded me on the phone today.  I had the day totally free (for a change) and was feeling into doing something crafty; which is rare for me.  Advent is something that we always celebrated at home, but only now do I realize we did it in a totally secular way - as a countdown to Christmas.  

I collected some greenery while walking this afternoon, and used what I had at home to construct a festive candle holder.  I finally found a use for this plate I made a few years ago that came out of the kiln with a big crack in it!

Some fir and mistletoe, a half-used pure beeswax candle, and a bag of thrifted craft supplies, and voila!

 I think it is pretty good for 20 minutes work.  You can also see the glued-together East German windmill that I thrifted in the summer.  Unfortunately, I had to blow out the candles right after taking the picture because the propellers were starting to burn!  Nothing really worked in communist countries, after all!

I particularly like this little deer amongst the fir...

And for the 'kaffe zeit', I couldn't find any lebkuchen in the grocery stores, so we had slices of Stollen, Merci chocolates and Chai tea.  

Okay, I realize the Chai didn't really go with the rest of the German theme, but it did have a gingerbread-like taste.

PS. Welcome to new followers - Protector of Vintage, Susie QT, angiescott and maryperk!  

Sweater Score!

Yesterday, I hit the thrifts.  The Hospital Auxiliary was so crammed with people that I could barely move around in there.  I decided that I would take a quick scan around the edges of the store before leaving.  Hanging all by itself on one rack was a very distinctive sweater.  "Could it be?" I checked the label.  Yup, it was a Dale of Norway sweater, priced at $15.  That was a deal, since I recently bought myself one at cost through a friend who is a distributor, and it still cost me over $200.  At the till I discovered why the store was so full; everything was marked down to a loonie or a twoonie! (that's $1 and $2 for non-Canucks)  So, I ended up paying 2 bucks!  I had to stifle a grin while paying, while in my head, thinking of that Ikea commercial "Get the Car!"

Here is Hus modeling it.

Last month, my sister Carpe Diem told me her M-in-L had shrunk her Dale of Norway sweater, so even though this one may be a touch large for you, do you want it?  

It is your colours!  Or do you think it suits Hus?  He already has one, though, so I would be happy if you could use it.

#48!

I can't believe it!  This morning I was reading this post from Kelly over at Grunge Queen, where she came in #16 on another blog's Top-50-Blogs-for-Yard-Sale-Aficionados.  I linked on over in search of like-minded blogs, when I discovered my blog was #48!  I also found a bunch of other cool blogs, so go check it out.


Since I had the honour of being named, I thought I would post a series of pictures of other rummaged, yard-saled, thrifted and used purchases from over the last year.  For one reason or another, I never posted about them, but now that I have to maintain my 'top 50' reputation, this gives me an excuse to!

More 10 cent jewelery that I found at Liquidation World.  I guess these aren't actually used but they were cheap enough to be.  Lots of other people must have made purchases from this bin, because I recognized a lot of the bead, chains etc. on jewelery at the Craft Fair I went to two weeks ago.

.50 cent sweater from a yard sale.  Coincidentally, I am wearing it today.

$4 pin from a flea market.

Children's books from a garage sale.  .25 cents each.  I gave these to my non-blogging sister.  'Odyssey from River Bend' was a discarded book from the since-closed elementary school that we went to.  Go Wildwood Warriors!  And my sister and I always had a soft spot for Snow-White and Red-Rose when we were children, since we both could pretend to be fairy tale characters together  (although she probably would have preferred me to be the wicked witch!)

A made-in-Canada dress by Gilmour that I found at Value Village last week.  This is my third Gilmour dress, but at $14.99 it was a bargain compared to the others I have.


On a related note, when I was browsing for new clothing, I noticed that this shirt that I had just purchased for $3, was still on the rack for $48.  A savings of $45!

Books

I've edited my 'bedside pile' book list on the sidebar. I finished the last book I had listed there back in July and have read tons of books since.  I've listed five new books I'll be reading soon.  The first one is a loaner from a friend....

I love Ken Follett and have read all of his books, including The Pillars of the Earth multiple times.  When I saw a friend had this last week, I asked if I could borrow it.  I thought maybe I'd get it in a month or two, but apparently it was so good he had a marathon reading session and finished it this weekend. I can't wait to crack it open!

The next four are from an annual fundraiser that I went to a few weeks ago.  You always have to go to this book sale early, because it gets cleaned out almost immediately.  Many of the ladies who organize it are book club participants, so there is always a good selection at 1 and 2 dollars each.  If you want to find out more about these books, click on the links on the sidebar.

 

I would also like to welcome Jolt as a follower!  Thanks for publicly supporting my modest blog.  If you haven't checked her blog out, it has great pictures of her kids (both kinds! - Human and Goat) ha ha

The Motherload

I think I've mentioned several times in this blog that I am collecting Kathie Winkle dishes, like the ones my family had when I was small....well, this weekend I hit the motherload!  Hus and I were down in Coquitlam and on the bus, when I wistfully said that a Value Village was coming up.  Hus asked if I wanted to stop, so we did.  As we were walking in he mentioned that he hadn't been in a Value Village for over ten years.  Immediately inside the door was the housewares.  I was looking high and low and said "have a look if you see any dishes in that pattern I'm collecting" and Hus immediately said "like these?"  I looked up and he was pointing to a massive pile of the very dishes!  

 And the dishes were all marked at .99 cents each, which is a bargain for Value Village!  Some of them were in very good condition and some were quite marked up, so I was a little choosy.  We came away with 4 cups and saucers, 6 side plates, 6 bowls and 6 dinner plates!  Hus is a good luck charm!  But, for my family who reads this blog; I would ideally like a set of 10-12, so please keep looking.  

From the Vintage Recipe Tin....

On my theme of a laid-back weekend, I baked a vintage recipe from this tin I received from my sister last spring....

 
I chose to bake Butterscotch Oatmeal Crinkle Cookies, and I was happy that I did.  They turned out crispy on the edges and soft in the center.  The only 21st century change that I made was to add Skor chips.  I figured that if they existed in the '50s and '60s, the original writer of this recipe would use them as well.

And here is the recipe.  

It is written on the back of some letterhead from Defiance Ohio, which incidentally is the setting for a charming, little-known gem of a movie starring Julianne Moore.  It is based on a true story and is wonderfully acted and set in the mid-century.  I can imagine that the main character would have been a blogger had they had the internet in those days!  You should check it out!

Perfect Saturday

So far, I'm having a great Saturday.  The weather is still mild and I took the dog out for a walk this morning.  A friend and I planned to go to a craft fair in a neighbouring town, but she wanted to sleep in and go later in the morning, leaving me enough time to check out the thrift shops!

I found a great good-quality shirt by Lole for $3.

I already have a sleeveless white one in this style, which I quite like.


And I also bought a mid-century advent calendar.  I probably didn't need it, but could justify purchasing it since it was only a quarter, I don't already own one, and I'm a sucker for vintage paper goods.

There were a few things I didn't buy that I would have liked to :-(  I saw a Kathie Winkle bowl for my set, but the glazing was so cracked that it looked yellow.  I also saw a huge box of spooled vintage ribbons.  I surreptitiously took a picture of them (this is the first time I've taken a picture at a thrift store btw)....

 If I was a crafter like many of the bloggers I follow, I would have had use for them since there was so many different sizes and colours, but alas, I'm not.


As soon as I got back home, my friend phoned and I went to pick her up.  We gabbed and gossiped on the ride there and arrived at the craft fair at about lunch time.  I did buy a few small gifts, and bought something for myself as well.  It is this great casserole holder/carrier.  We tend to go to a lot of potlucks and I'm always improvising by wrapping a towel around my dish and putting into whatever cardboard box I have lying around. Well no more....

And the fact that the fabric is so cute really cinched the deal!  And as luck would have it, I have a potluck to go to tomorrow evening!  I think I will be making a seafood lasagna, as we are baking a salmon tonight and will have leftovers to go into the lasagna tomorrow.


After being so busy lately, the end to my perfect Saturday will by staying home tonight.  Maybe I'll get in the bathtub with my mystery novel!  Or maybe we'll watch a movie! Or go to bed early!