Sir Thrift-A-Lot ♥


Wednesday, August 29, 2012

How to Stack & Display Your Pyrex!

How to Stack & Display Your Pyrex!

This is a little tutorial that I've wanted to post for awhile. This is how I stack & display my favourite bowls - with plastic butter containers! Not only do they hold the bowls safely & perfectly, but it's another item you're keeping instead of pitching. I like to think of this as the most earthquake way to display them.

Here's all you'll need:
 
- plastic butter/margarine containers (427g) x3
- a covered dish to move butter into
- a spoon
- larger dish  
(and running water) 


 And of course, your bowls!


Ready?
Fill the large dish, in this case I am using an Autumn Harvest dish Pyrex dish, with warm water & set the butter in it for somewhere between a minute & two minutes, just to melt the butter a tiny bit so it's easier to scoop out into the dish. It'll also leave less residue on the butter container itself making it easier to clean so you can get to stacking faster!


Once the butter has reached your desired meltiness, you can start scooping the butter into your covered dish - in my case I choose a blue refrigerator dish from the Primary set that I paid $3.50 for & that I don't mind too much if my fiance breaks.



You should wind up with... 


Three squeaky clean 427g plastic butter containers!
Now you're ready to stack. 




The plastic containers cradle the bowls extremely well. From eye level, you are not able to see the plastic containers, so this method is best used to display Pyrex at or above eye level. It's also perfect if you want to get wacky with your stacking as they will still be very secure.



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Saturday, August 25, 2012

Sir Thrift-A-Lot: Thrift Haul Revealed (Part Two)

About a month ago, I posted a picture of an overloaded credenza that had spilled onto the floor full of thrifted items! 
To refresh your memory, 
I posted a few of the finds in a post at the end of July (I can't believe it's already the end of August, BTW). You can check that post out here.

Here are some more of those finds! Sorry it took so long.. I've been.. crazy.

You might be able to make out a Golden Acorn divided dish that we gifted to my boyfriends mom, but we still have this Town & Country divided dish & this huge Scrolls casserole. I'm kinda regretting buying the scrolls. I'm guessing it's missing it's original lid, since it doesn't have the scrolls.. & it's so gigantic.


More Pyrex - this Spring Blossom Green 922 8" brownie baking dish. I really like it. It's the only find to come from my boyfriends trip to America, it was $1.50!


Mugs! Orange & red are Federal, the beautiful, funky blue ones are Termocrisa. I rarely ever find a set of Federal/Fire King/Termocrisa.




These McDonalds glasses are from 1982. There was another one, but it broke in the closet.


I've got some more to show you later this week from this haul (I know, right?). I feel like an extremely boring blogger right now. I'm tired, annoyed & not feeling well, so that may have something to do with it.

I am taking a break from thrifting this week, besides visiting Goodwill after work. I need to get my home organized, there is stuff everywhere. There is no perfect time like 50% off back to school sales!

I'm also looking to trade these Delphite sherbert cups, please see my post on my blog! This is what they look like. Made in Canada in the 1940s.

Looking to trade some Delpite Pyrex.

Looking to trade some Delpite Piecrust Footed Sherberts. I have 4 to trade. Mine are not as dirty as the ones pictured, no flea bites or chips. Made in Canada. 1940's. I don't know where they are right now, just want to see if there is any interest before digging them out. Please respond here or on my personal blog (link below) & I will reply to the email in your profile (or one you posted in the comment section)! Thanks!! 



I borrowed the photo from this eBay auction, where 4 are selling for $75.00. 

No interest in the following patterns: 
Forest Fancies, Old Orchard, Woodland, Autumn Harvest, Daisy, Spring Blossom Green, Homestead, Shenandoah, Snowflake Blue, Terra, Verde
& my turquoise Butterprint collection is getting up there.. but let me know what you have.
(will entertain offers on above if they are refrigerator dishes) 

I am located downtown Toronto near College Station. 
I will trade via snail mail depending on shipping costs. 

- Sir Thrift-A-Lot
http://www.sirthriftalot.blogspot.com  

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

This Week in Thrifting...

This past week I've been hitting the thrifts pretty hard, k, well hard enough. I've been to 12 different stores in the past week, one 3 times so far (will be going to that one tomorrow, too). The donations seem to have hit a wall. I guess everybody is busy enjoying the last days of summer & not worrying about cleaning & donations. 

Here is this weeks haul so far (the week ain't over!). 

Picked up today for $1.99 this 943 Daisy Oval Casserole along with the 1983 Smurf cake pan by Peyo for $2.99. 



My only other find was a mixed bag of cards - vintage with some trashy new ones for $1.99. Here are my favourite ones up close. 




That's it.. Hopefully be back with some finds! Thrifting Thursday & Friday!  
Linking up with Thrifty Things Friday 

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Spring Blossom Green Pyrex Bowls + Mug

Spring Blossom Green Bowls


I'd like to share my present to myself on my birthday, which was August 7th. I had hoped to post some more birthday Pyrex, a surprise gift from the BF, but at least Goodwill presented me with these 3 bowls. 3 441 Spring Blossom Green Pyrex bowls for $3.03 each.


When I picked them up, I just had to wonder. What happened to the rest of the sets? Did they already put them out & someone purchased them & didn't like or need the #441s? Did they miss them on the shelf (because I almost did)? Did the original owner donate them some time before? Did all the other bowls break? Were they given away? Did they keep them? 

Whenever I pick something up at the thrifts, I like to wonder: why did the original owner decide they no longer wanted this? How long did it go unused before they donated it? Why did they donate it? And sometimes, there is the question of, did the owner pass away? I'll never get the answers, but it's always fun to wonder. Does anybody else have any similar thoughts? 


One more item I'd like to share that I bought quite some time ago is this occupational mug. If you are a reseller, occupational mugs (coffee mugs or shaving cups) are excellent items to resell. Like all good resellers, do your research (ie: search the completed eBay listings) to get an idea of what occupational mugs have a decent return. Of course we are talking vintage occupational mugs, some can even fetch into the $100's.

Saturday, August 18, 2012

What I Didn't Buy @ The Thrift Store.

I like everybody's "what I didn't buy at the thrift store" features, so I decided to do the occasional one of my own. 

Here's my first! 

These fashionable orange Federal mugs were a pass at $1.51 each. Would have been great for Halloween hot apple cider! 


A cute little Easter Bunny that looks like he might be trying to perform some sort of auto-fellatio. Not my type of holiday decoration, but to each their own. Now that I look at the photo, I really didn't capture the it very well. & I'm wondering what I missed just to the upper right.


This deeply scratched in many spots, but very shiny #34 (never knew there were 34's) yellow Pyrex bowl was a must leave, especially for $6.06 at Goodwill. 


I wish I had a killer cell phone camera that would have captured the awesomeness of this very retro yellow table for two! The table was very light, like it could have been blown away by the smallest of Torcan fans & if I gained another 10 pounds, I'd have snapped the chair in half... so the $15.01 set stayed behind (a chair was cut, the table wabbled..).  


 This damaged, but oh so cute tea towel!


What did you leave at the thrifts this week? Any regrets?
 

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Sir Thrift-A-Lot: Rednesday

Sir Thrift-A-Lot
in
Rednesday


For the first time ever, I am taking part in Rednesday with Sue Loves Cherries.

Today I am featuring 3 beautiful items, a red & white checkered Fire King mug (which someone has on eBay right now for $35.. but is it really worth that much..?), a 1980's Strawberry Shortcake tin, a lot of pink, but Strawberry Shortcake herself is pure red. The third item is bought with love by my fiance from the dollar store. It's a Strawberry Shortcake lollipop. He bought it for me the day after I bought the tin at Value Village for $2.99. I recently saw them there & there are a few there where she looks like a serial killer. The tin is from American Greeting Corp, 1982. It recently sold on shopgoodwill.com for $20.50.






treat yourself to the "berry" best! 

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Help! I'm In Grease Pencil Hell!

Help! I'm in grease pencil hell!


Today at Goodwill I was struggling with the decision of buying of Town & Country divided dish, I already have one, but I could always use two. I managed to talk myself out of it, I don't really like Town & Country, but I could use on Thanksgiving & someone would want to buy it once I have a store... Once I noticed a teeny, tiny chip on the lid, I tossed (k, placed) it back on the shelf. As I was tossing, I noticed this cool box, which was the same beautiful colour as these amazing paper boxes I bough awhile back (see below). 


I cringe at the price... $6.06, but when I finally pick it up & discover what it is (a ribbon holder), thoughts begin swirling.. OMG, bags of vintage Christmas ribbon from Value Village, that Rainbow Brite ribbon I have been looking for & once I find it I'll never use, it'll look perfect if I ever have a crafts space, I'll love using it to wrap presents! You can tell I was off my rocker at that point - I barely have anybody to exchange gifts with any time of year.
So... look what I overlooked.. how in the hell am I going to get this yellow grease pencil off? They couldn't have put the price on the bottom? What were they thinking? Ask.com had suggestions, but I'd like to know what worked for you!


 




Monday, August 13, 2012

Camping Haul!


This past weekend I went camping at The Pinery in Grand Bend, Ontario. I canoed, I swam in Lake Huron, I roasted marshmellows, sat in the rain for hours in a pair of shorts (omg, I was freezing!), saw a snake, slept in a tent.. that's a lot all in one weekend for a city boy like me. All in all - it was a good weekend! Like a good thrifter, I was able to get a few stops in & got 2 items checked off my want list!



Grand Bend had a "Antiques" Flea Market to offer. By way of antiques.. there was on building, with some very nice pieces of antiques - a extremely vintage peep show! -, but would only appeal to a very small number of buyers with deep pockets. They 7,000 ST FT building with extremely tall ceilings, did have some nice items to look at. I had expected it to be an actual antiques flea market, not a flea market. About 80%-85% of the tables there were regular flea market garbage - disappointing! Grand Bend was lacking in Pyrex, but was plentiful in salt & pepper shakers. I had inquired about a Pyrex restaurant ware set at one booth, that was covered in cobwebs & dead bugs & looked like it had been there for years.. when we asked what the price was the guy was explaining what Pyrex was to me! 

I had been seeking out these Lournay Melmac plates in these particular colours because my grandmother used to serve my sister & I toast when we slept over every morning on these plates. She'd butter it, put our choice of jam (strawberry for me!) & cut it into 4 squares. The bowls were a bonus, not really on my way list, Lournay as well.. my grandmother used to serve me KD in these. Back then my favourite plate was the turquoise. Surprised? 

In June I posted a Salt & Pepper shaker wish list & included on that list was this set of Lefton Blue Birds. $5! As you can see.. they are chipped, but hey, you can't see it from the back & this was probably my only chance at getting them for a reasonable price. 



A cute vintage figurine of a girl on a phone, some hot fork & spoon salt & pepper shakers.


Some vintage Ross buttons... fabric buttons.. 


Thanks for checking out Sir Thrift-A-Lot! 
Here's the big bug I saw. 



Linking up with Nifty Thrifty Tuesdays.