Treasure Box Wednesday: The Colors of Fun

There's a lot of color in the Treasure Box this week, folks! And as August gives way to what may very well be a chilly fall, these warm, cheery colors seem to do a person good.

One of my favorite pieces of this week was a ruby carnival glass slipper made by the L.E. Smith Glass Company of Mount Pleasant, PA...
The company has been doing glass since the early 1900s, and continues the tradition today. This glass shoe has a newer mark. But I like it's antique styling. Because Mount Pleasant isn't far from where I live-- and where I bought this shoe, actually-- I tend to find quite a bit of it around. This was from the U.F.O. in Greensburg.

At the Goodwill thrift store, I got this handy-dandy pink, standing breakfast tray...

Someone had already embellished it with One Stroke flowers (nice job, whoever you may be!). And for $3 you really can't go wrong.

At another thrift store, I found this nifty two-tiered vintage bowl...

It's not jadite, though it may look it. It's just colored glass. But it was such a nice, vivid shade, I couldn't resist.

And lastly, as part of a half-off sale at the L&L Fleatique in Jeannette, I got this World War II souvenir pillow cover...

If you'd like to read the poem on it a bit closer, you can do so here...

And that's the whole spectrum of our Treasure Box this week.

• If you'd care to check out Sunday's post, on 1970s decorating, in "The Good, the Bad and the Funny," click here.

If not, well, perhaps I'll have something new to tickle your fancy this coming Sunday!

Decorating with Mother

Decorating with Mother... No, no, for me it doesn't involve hanging drapes and arranging vignettes with my mom. My mom passed on before she could see my home, Waterhouse-- and anyway, she was much more of a 70s Colonial gal in harvest colors than a Victorian gal in purples, pinks and greens.

Nope, I mean decorating with Mother. I took a look around the house this weekend and I realized just how many vintage decorative items were made with moms in mind. Like the print here...



I got this lovely print about a year ago at the St. Vincent de Paul thrift store in Monroeville. It's from the early 1900s. And in addition to the soft colors, it features a barely-visible poem:

Her Gift

So wee a gift- yet wealth of so many lands
Could never buy it in the richest marts!
So frail a gift, and yet those baby hands
Take mighty hold upon two human hearts
-Burges Johnson

My spare room bears another vintage Mother print, this one by Marygold from around the 30s...


The poem reads:

To Mother: A Toast
Sweet as the song which the robins sing
Pure as the flow of a crystal spring
True as your faith in the God above
So deep are the depths of a Mother's Love

I also spied another Mother poem sitting on the spare room bed! This one in the form of a World War II souvenir pillow cover from Camp Lee, Virginia...

That poem reads:

Mother
There's a dear little house inviting
In a dear little place I know
And a welcome is always waiting
When to that little house I go
For there lives the dearest lady
The sweetest I ever met
And today, if I cannot visit,
Dear Mother, I don't forget

I like that one in particular, it makes me think of those days coming home from college and finding Mom making her amazing pot roast in that orange Crockpot of hers. A great memory!

And you know, with all of these mother poems lurking around every corner, I also have some actual mothers hanging around...

This is my great-grandmother on my mother's side, holding my grandpa on her knee...


Grandpa looks a bit suspicious of the goings on there, doesn't he?

And this is grandpa, all grown up (and with some rather surprising hair; Grandpa hadn't had hair for as long as I knew him!), standing with my grandmother, and holding my mom...


This happens to be just one of many Standing in a Field shots my family tended to take. It just wasn't good photography unless everyone could see your feet in the shot. I bet some of you folks have a few of these sorts of photos, too!

And then this was my mom, in the late 60s, early 70s, looking a bit Audrey Hepburnish...


She's wearing what I always referred to as her "referee shirt." (She hated that-- heh-heh.)

Well, that's the tour of mothers today!

• If you have a moment and care to read a little tale of my Mom and her mad sewing skillz one Halloween ("Nightmare on Sesame Street, Part 1"), click here.

• If you missed Wednesday's Treasure Box post, you'll find that here.

Next Sunday, I'll take you all to Rossi's Pop Up Flea Market with me!

Happy Mother's Day to all you nice moms out there-- and to any Dads, too, 'cause you're pretty spiffy for visiting, too! :)

The Post-Christmas Thrifting Post

Apologies that this post was late, folks. I was wrapping up the vestiges of the Christmas holiday and just haven't had as much time online as I'd hoped.

With my dad visiting, we went o'er hill and dale, to the city's north and south, west and east, to a variety of antique shops and thrift stores in the area. Yes, when most folks are off at the malls exchanging their silk ties for other silk ties... or bathrobes for little black dresses... The Thrift Shop Romantic hits the second-hand stores!

And there was quite a bit of good fortune in that direction, as well! Like this lovely fairy-covered old vase from the Ohio River Boulevard Antique Mall...


Or this Italian plaster bust from the same place!

Like more mainstream stores, antique malls seemed to be having post-Christmas sales. So at 20-25% off, a little tough math (tough for me, that is!) proved that bargains could be had.

Strangely, I uncovered two World War II souvenir pillow covers in two different places-- one at the Good Samaritan Thrift Store in North Versailles. The other at Junk for Joy in Jeannette...


And I found this cute wooden and metal birdcage at the Red, White and Blue Thrift Store in Bellevue...

That's where I also found this pretty pink, green and purple vintage tablecloth!..


Then at the L&L Fleatique in Adamsburg, I found a rather startling thing-- a McCoy pottery vase for $11. Finding inexpensive McCoy these days is virtually impossible!...

I also uncovered at the Fleatique one of the bowls to my Hazel Atlas Moderntone dish set. I've never seen a bowl to it before!...

The vase there... almost of the same color... is called (and I need to do more research on this) "azureite" or I've also seen "delphite". It was a blue glass variation on jadeite and not terribly easy to find.

Lastly, I found a bunch of new Victorian postcards at the Ligonier Fleatique. There are all sorts of occassions here, from Christmas and Easter to Birthday and general greetings...


Well, that's all time will permit today, I'm afraid. Join me this Wednesday, for The Thrift Shop Romantic's Nifty New Year's Eve post. Virtual champaign for everyone!

Hope to see you then!

Treasure Box Wednesday: Look Out, East Liverpool!

We've been here before, but treasure hunters know, it's never quite the same trip twice. So Josette, Scoobie and I leapt in the car this weekend and headed to East Liverpool, Ohio and Columbiana. So come with us, too, today, and we'll take a look back at all the antiquing fun.


While the forecast had called for rain and thunderstorms, a general haze just pervaded over the day, making for decent driving. And our first stop was the Pottery City Antique Mall...

Four floors of booths awaited us-- which is why it's amazing we managed to do this in the three hours we had available for street parking!

There, Scoobie found this German Victorian vase with a cabin and landscape scene on it...


She also found a number of books, and one last red Avon Cape Cod candlestick to go with her dishes set.

Me, I uncovered this vintage souvenir pillow cover from Niagra Falls...



It reads:

To My Wife
A darling little Wife
Has made my dreams come true
She blesses all my Life
Her name is only You
You are my partner sweet
You share in all I do
And make my joy complete
By simply being You

I also found this beautifully-toned Victorian vase...



And a 1950s cardboard Christmas house with faux stucco walls...


Josette, unfortunately, left empty handed... Oh, but not for long!

Because after we had a bite of lunch and drove to Columbiana, Ohio, Josette uncovered this collectible vintage cat figurine...


And a vintage charm-style bracelet...


I found a 50s lady figurine in pink and aqua--similar in style to the ones made by Florence Ceramics I'd thrifted previously. She's already found a home in my entryway by my lamp...


At Vivian's I picked up this Depression glass refrigerator container for $2...


I snatched up this crystal Depression glass sherbet piece in the Anchor Hocking Waterford/Waffle pattern. I use this set sometimes at Christmas, but didn't have any sherbets. This piece was $0.50...


And lastly, a Victorian transferware bowl with a lady and a cherub...



At Main Street Antiques, meanwhile, Scoobie picked up these terrific Victorian game plates. These are intended to go with a Victorian Old West parlor...


With many a shop investigated, our feet tired, and the trunk of my car loaded, we turned the car for home.

Special thanks to Scoobie and Josette today for letting me photograph their goodies, and to Scoobie for taking the road-trippy pics-- thus ensuring the safety of my passengers and ALL my fellow drivers!

Well, I hope you enjoyed our little journey today!

• For folks who'd like to see Sunday's post on a unique attraction in Pittsburgh-- the National Aviary-- click here.

• For folks interested in checking out one previous trip to Columbiana, click here.

Otherwise, perhaps I'll see you Sunday when The Thrift Shop Romantic goes on a Virtual Vacation through Vintage Postcards! TTFN !!

Treasure Box Wednesday: Shellfish and Not Sho Shellfish

If you put your ear to this shell, you can hear it say how cheap it was. "Baaaargain...." it whispers. "Baaaaaargain."

And this weekend certainly was good for those. In addition to several pieces of Pyrex shared with you earlier this week in the Pyrexia post (click here for that one), I found one gift for someone, and a number of goodies for me, too.

But first, let me say, on a sunny summer day, when everyone else was tanning themselves at the community pool, or riding down The Three Rivers in a boat, what was this pasty red-head doing? I was hitting the thrift stores and taking the road less travelled!

Why, if thrifting were like driving on the Autobahn, this weekend's shopping would have been Varvegneugen. The aisles were clear, and something happened which has never happened in this history of my going to the Red White and Blue on Route 51-- I got a parking space out front! (Normally I have to drive down an alley, over a bridge, and up an incline just to find a spot.) It was amazing.

But enough of that. On to the good stuff! So let's talk gifts. How about another dolly for my family friend?

This little gal reminds me of the character Mary from "A Secret Garden." And I'm thinking if I can find a nice copy of that book, and some flower seeds, it would make a really nice gift basket.

Speaking of books, there were a couple of those, as well. My shopping buddy on this adventure, Scoobie, well, she's a book-a-holic. Virtually any thrift, and she comes away with a stack of good reads. And this time, she found two for me, too, that thoughtful gal did! One from my friend P.G. Wodehouse, and one by Alice Hoffman.


Also uncovered was this great stack of eight old sandwich plates, and 2 platters, all in a thistle-purple color.


These seem to be from around the early 1900s (judging by their style, similar to the whiteware calendar and portrait plates I collect.) But I had no idea they made ones like this as dinnerware. So this was a fun find.

And speaking of fun, I came across one more World War II souvenir pillowcover. Another from the U.S. Army, devoted to "Sister." This one I think will work nicely in to my red-and-green living room.


And lastly, I'd wanted to share with you this cute little vintage bear planter. I don't know that he's necessarily of value -- other than to me, because I thought he was charming...


It was one of those things I just knew I'd feel bad about if I left it there in the store. And at a couple of bucks, the price really was right.

So, that's what was inside the Treasure Box. I found a couple of other things, but they are Top Secret at the moment, because they're going into a basket for an online friend who reads the blog. I promise I'll come clean on that later, though. I just don't want to ruin the surprise.

Click here if you missed out on the mania o' Pyrex from Sunday.

And, for everyone else-- thrift happy!

Treasure Box Wednesday: Cool Coasters, Covers and Carnival Glass

Oh, I was all over Tarnation this last weekend-- yep, Upper, Lower, and even Little Tarnation, I believe. And while not all of the items I'm going to show you today were thrifted, a few were. Best of all, even the antique mall goodies were had at an excellent price. How fun is that?

Well, the first of the antique mall finds, the coasters above, are from the 50s. The magnolia pattern on them, and the cheery aqua, lemon yellow and vintage pink just said to me "backyard barbeque." They remind me of the 50s pastel hotels you see on Miami Beach when the planes fly into Miami International Airport. Anyway, now I'm all set for having a very cheerful retro meal outside this summer. Wanna come? :)

Speaking of that retro meal, now I have salt and pepper shakers, to match my Hazel Atlas Moderntone Platonite set...


I've been looking for these for a while at a price I actually wanted to pay. I've seen two sets at a crazy $15 a pair, with rusted metal tops. These I found for $2.99 a piece-- MUCH more reasonable. And as you can see, they're in nifty condition!

At the Graham Antique Mall in Ligonier I found a set of six marigold colored Carnival glass dinner plates for $16...


It's not easy finding Carnival glass plates-- lots of bowls but no plates-- so I was pretty excited about this. At not quite $3 a piece, that seemed really good to me.

Hm... What have we next? Well, this hankie bag was certainly nothing to sneeze at. It came from the Jeannette Antique Mall in, er, Jeannette. (Well named.)


Oh, and I uncovered a chenille bedspread at the Salvation Army...


And lastly, speaking of the Army... well, okay the Armed Forces at least... I had a hit with two World War II pillow covers. One to good old mom,

That reads:

Mother
There's a dear little house inviting
In a dear little place I know.
And a welcome is always waiting
When to that little house I go.
For there lives the dearest lady
The sweetest I ever met.
And to-day, if I cannot visit
Dear Mother, I don't forget.

It's from Camp Lee, Virginia. The other is an airforce piece from Miami Beach, Florida and is dedicated to dear mother and dad.


The poem there reads:

Mother and Dad
You're the very best couple
That ever was paired.
Whatever was given
Alike you have shared.
Many more years
May your hearts be made glad.
And may your blessings be many
Dear Mother and Dad!

And with that sweet, sticky sentiment from the 1940s, that about puts to rest Treasure Box Wednesday for this week. Will you join me next time for the spring Cottage swap? I sure hope to see you again.

• For folks who missed Sunday's post, a little review on a crafty book for the whole family, you can dig into that here.

• And if you didn't get a chance to see last Treasure Box Wednesday, you can always check that out here.

Enjoy that beautiful spring weather! The mossy phlox are ploxing here at my house. I hope beauty's in bloom for you, too.