Treasure Box Wednesday: Kitchsy Kitchen Coincidence

We've talked about this sort of thing before: regular thrifters know, you can't control what washes onto your shores in the tidal wave of thrift. You might bob and take direction in the surf of goodies based on so many factors. And yet, when your eyes are out there scanning the jetsom, and your brain is in a particular mode, sometimes it seems everything that crosses your path is just what you might be looking for.

It was oddly themic this way for me this weekend, almost as if the Thrifting Gods were determined to give me a few finishing touches for my Alice in Wonderland themed kitchen.

My favorite item is actually one I didn't find myself. And I have my buddy Scoobie to thank for it! On her separate thrifting travels, she recalled I'd been looking for a red metal napkin holder they had once sold at Target, and now don't seem to have anymore.

At the Red White and Blue in Bellevue, Scoobie came across the very item I'd been searching for and snagged it for me...

I was absolutely delighted when I met her for lunch Saturday and she asked, "Hey, did you want this?" AGHHH! Yes!! Yes, I do! Yippee!

Lucky am I to have a buddy with such a sharp eye and good memory! So, thanks again, Scoobie.

At the Salvation Army Superstore, I came across a couple other items to coordinate with my kitchen theme. Like this Alice in Wonderland collector's plate...

Amazingly, it still has its original box and collector's certificate...
And last, some playing card style snack set trays were simply too fun, and had too much potential, to pass up...
Just a few along my upper shelf added a little extra something, I think. Not quite what the manufacturers may have intended and a far cry from weekly cribbage night, but hey, whatever works!...
I hope your thrifting adventures take you to fun destinations, too, this week!

You Gotta Have Heart: Impromptu Valentine's Decor

Vanished! Gone was the garland and angels and bright bejeweled fruit... The Shiny Brites and Santas and the horns that go toot.... Away went the hozwanglers and the zangdoodles, and the tootonkas and trees--

(I'd no idea how many hozwanglers and zangdoodles I'd picked up at the thrifts this year. Took me forever to put 'em away.)

And as I looked out on my hollow halls, my empty mantle, my wistful walls, where once there had been happy shiny Christmas decor, well...I'm afraid my own heart felt two sizes too small.

(Sniff)

Okay, for, like, FIVE SECONDS. Until I put that heart into some serious Valentine's Day decorating!

It started with a fake potted rose or two I'd put away before the holidays.

Then some little rose topiaries. And this nifty little 1950s Valentine's girl planter I got from the Good Samaritan Thrift Store back in August.


And then some, er... more...velvet roses. (Apparently, I pick up velvet roses the way some people pick up extra packs of toilet tissue.)

I added a flock of white thrifted cherub vases... (Cherubs come in flocks, you know.)


And cards, cards, cards! These vintage Valentine's cards were a set I'd bought back in July at the Pottery City Antique Mall in East Liverpool, Ohio. There was a ton of them, all for about $4. I'm glad I'd thought ahead.


What I like about them in particular is they appear to be all of the cards collected for different members of one family.

We have the husband...


The wife...


Son...


And Mother...

For the table setting, I broke out my pink glass dishes, and made a minor investment from Target for the beaded heart-shaped placemats. The candlesticks, candles and the previously mentioned cherub vases all were things I'd already had, purchased over time through thrift stores.


And just to get truly carried away with the spirit of things, I changed the shade on my vintage cherub lamp to a red rose embossed one I'd gotten for $1 from the U.F.O. in Greensburg.

Now I enter the dining room, and there's really no chance for the post-Christmas blahs to take hold. And it's another sunny day in Whoville!

Anyone else do any decorating for Valentine's Day? I'd love to hear about it.

Fright Before Christmas (or at Least a Healthy Panic)

Christmas is almost upon us, and your Hostess, like everybody else, is facing some specific goal-oriented challenges.

Which is marketing-spin-speak for, "Freaking Out."

I am freaking out because the greeting cards that I considered so very fun and festive and Victorian and "Me" in the store, now peer out of their shopping bag wondering why I never stop by, I never write. And I just know I will be writing them in such a hurry, my family and friends will take one look at my already-unfortunate-looking scrawl and wonder whether I've finally gone off my nut. Because, well, they knew it was coming, didn't they, when I started hoarding lamps, and joking that decorative cherubs should unionize. But they really hadn't expected the dementia to advance so RAPIDLY.

I am also freaking out because the Christmas gift I've been working on for a dear friend since late this summer was almost done when it decided to explode. And I mean EXPLODE. In an actual "unexpected bit-o'stuff-breaking-off" sort of way. I am not certain how it even happened. But never let it be said that The Thrift Shop Romantic hasn't experienced a healthy share of Good Intentions Gone Wrong.

I would go into more detail, so you can enjoy a nice, big cup of holiday schadenfreude at my expense (it goes well with cookies). But I am still deluded enough to believe that while this particular gift project is a wash and has been safely replaced, that my original concept was doable. So I must keep mum about my nefarious plans, since that same dear friend actually reads this blog sometimes. (Hi there, how's it goin'?)

Lastly, I am freaking out because my More-is-More decorating style for the holidays has meant I've spent an inordinate amount of time trimming everything in sight... doorways... window ledges... passing neighbors' cats...

...But now there is this mound of Christmas gifts still to be wrapped. And to my stupid, irrational fingers, wrapping is not decorating. DECORATING is fun and rewarding and happy. WRAPPING is clumsy and hard-to-estimate and somehow involves tape in my hair.

It will all be all right in the end, of course. It always is. And Scotch-taped hair, redrum handwriting and some lengthy wrap-sessions are small potatoes compared to, oh, pretty much every other thing that's going on in the world.

So this week I leave you with some photos of The Decorating Which is Not Wrapping, that's been going on at Waterhouse this season. Many of the Christmas ornaments you see here, and even the bowls they sit in, were off-season thrift store finds.

Wishing you a safe, happy holiday season where none of your gifts explode (unless they're supposed to-- like someone gives you hot air popcorn or somethin'...)

And I'll see you again bright and early in January 2007! As always, thanks so much for spending some of your time here.

--Jenn