Mad Men Thrifting And A Convert

 

Mr. TP and I had a costume birthday party to attend. I wanted to go as Don and Betty Draper. Easy enough for me, cause I already had the clothing. Mr. TP wanted to go to G-dub to look for a Don Draper-esque suit and his mission turned out well! He found this blue-gray window-pane suit for $1.

He found the suit and tried it on and told me he wasn't 'sure' about it. I told him he was crazy and looked amazing in the suit.

Mr TP: (opens fitting room door) What do you think?
Me: Get it, you look hawt! And, it's only a buck.
Mr TP: Uh, I don't know about it. I guess I will get it and you can just donate it back after I have worn it.

Fast forward to the night of the party. He gets the whole ensemble together and comes out into the hall to model the outfit and says, "I like this suit, it just needs a couple of alterations and I can wear it to the office". The whole night at the party he was getting compliments and in turn telling people how he got the suit for a buck, and he couldn't believe it, blah, blah, gonna wear it to the office, Goodwill is da bomb, etc.

I think I may have converted him to a thrifter!

P.S. My outfit: Dress, yard sale $1 and Purse, estate sale $4. Heels and jewelry: my own.

Who have you converted in to a thrift shopper?

Linking up to Flea Market Finds and Apron Thrift Girl.

Cold Weather Thrifting and Lettuce Show You A DIY Garden Update

It started to get cold here, real cold. I could only scrounge up 1 yard sale and 1 estate sale this past weekend. When I stopped at the garage sale, it was an older couple that had collected Hallmark and Barbie for ages, there were *hundreds* of Hallmark collectible ornaments for ultra cheap. I scooped many of the Disney, Coca Cola, and Year ornaments and quickly posted them in the ebay store. Also picked up some sweet old school Barbie stuff from the 90's, including the "gay" earring Ken doll that caused a Barbie uproar and the Barbie Sisters Holiday set which is in a stunning display box. A Santa Wilton cake pan also got thrown into my bag. The old couple was so sweet. It was cold and snowing outside and they had the garage heated and had cider, coffee, and cinnamon rolls. They chatted with me just enough to be friendly but not enough to distract me from my mission. The man even offered to carry my purchases to the car! Now that is what I call the perfect g-sale. Good prices, good service, and food!

Then it was on to the new Goodwill in town, the largest in the city. It was great and will now go on my list as a must visit on a frequent basis. I did think the shoes were priced awfully high though, have you all noticed this? Grabbed up some Pampered Chef, a men's dress shirt NWT, a Pendleton blazer, and a Nygard cropped knit jacket. Each clothing piece was scored for a buck!

Remember the Starbucks travel mug I posted about last time? I paid 2.99 for it and sold it as a buy it now for 24.99+ free ship (8.00) less than a week later. What a quick and easy flip! So, you can imagine that I was elated to see a Starbucks Las Vegas mug being wheeled out of the back in one of those horrible metal bins. I say horrible, because stuff has to get broken in those all the time, and probably good stuff, like vintage Pyrex :) I plucked the mug out of the cart immediately. This GW must price their mugs lower because it was 99 cents, woot! Goin' on the 'bay.

Stopped at the estate sale and scored this cool vintage industrial swivel task chair for my office. I am currently sitting in a overstuffed slipper chair that is so not ergonomically correct. I took a seat in this vintage industrial beauty and it felt like heaven! Mr. TP gave me the 'look' when he saw it in the garage. It has some torn upholstery on the arms and needs a cleaning, but I see the potential and will recover the chair. Because of the style, it will be an easy recover. New ergonomic office chair = $10 bucks.

I know ya'll have been on pins and needles to hear the DIY laundry room garden report ;) Here is a before and after photo...

Nov 29

Dec 20

Coming along nicely isn't it? We will wait for them to mature just a bit more and then thin them out and transfer them to a more appropriate container. Can't wait to have fresh salad greens and yummy Roma's. I might just have to start some sugar snap peas up in here! HA!

Lots of blog love to my readers. My followers are growing weekly and for that I am so thankful. Merry Christmas to all!

Got A Facelift This Weekend...And It Only Took Three Days!

The Etsy store got a major overhaul this weekend. Let me back track a bit here and explain. I started rephotographing the entire store with my new camera and DIY light box at the beginning of the week. I was taking my sweet time about it and was going to do the revamp gradually.

Well, on Friday something kind of cool happened. Another kind Etsian decided to feature one of my items in a treasury.

Normally, I am happy and very thankful to them for using my item in a treasury despite my old, dark, photography. But with this treasury feature, I was elated! Reason being, the curator of the treasury submitted it for consideration of the team over at the HGTV.com blog site. HGTV has started to do features of Etsy treasuries on their web blog. How cool would that be if this treasury were featured on the HGTV blog with my item within it! That would mean some major click through traffic and maybe some sales. I went to the HGTV blog and clicked through their link to see all of the submissions and the treasury I was featured in was on the first page!! Oh, yes, I was stoked.

Link to HGTV Inspired Design on a Dime Treasury



But then I was instantly panicked. My store had all the 'old' photos still up and looked way amateur. Ugh... I didn't want people to visit my store and have it not look the best. It was then that I embarked on the three day face lift.

I am so glad that I did it. I redid all the pics and tweaked my descriptions and tags. Please take a moment to visit and check out the new 'look' of my Etsy shop.

Check out the new look by clicking here!

In the end, the treasury I was featured in did not get chosen for the blog feature. Maybe next time. I did get several click throughs off the treasury and a few from the HGTV site, which was exciting to me! I am still so thankful that someone chose my sunny little General Electric kitchen clock for one of the HGTV treasury submissions, and it lit a fire under my tush to get the store revamped.

Here is a 'behind the scenes look' at my DIY photography studio...

 

 

Seeing this photo gives me a laugh. I was probably creating some crazy fire hazard with all of those daylight bulbs plugged into the flimsy extension cord and the steamer haphazardly lying on the floor. Oh, and check out the lift for the light directly in front of the dress, its a rolled up plastic chair mat. HA! Love it!

Gee-Vahn-Chee...and more Pyrex, of the Cinderella nature!

There was only 1 yard sale posted this last week on Cragslist, wah-wah. Winter set in today with a lovely 4" snow, so it will definitely be slim pickings from now through the rest of the Winter season.
At the one and only yard sale, I picked up this fun vintage cheerleading sweater with applique in a bright orange color. It reminds me of those SNL skits for the 'Perfect Cheer'. Here's the shirt and a perfect cheer to go along with it...

 Click Here For The SNL Perfect Cheer Skit

I had read a recent article that hosiery was coming back. Ughh, what torture!! I mean tights are one thing, but hosiery that itches, runs, snags, and makes your shoes not want to stay on, what-evs! But I guess Kate Middleton has been spotted in them, so that explains it. Now, when I was at said single yard sale, I spotted 3 packs of never worn and in original packaging Givenchy hose in the colors of pink, purple, and bright red.

I remembered the hosiery article, and they were vintage, and they were Givenchy, and they were 50 cents, and they were unique colors, you get the point. Listed them on the 'bay and sold the first pair within 8 hours for $14.99. Two are still available. I currently have two people 'watching'  a pair. Not a bad, quick, little flip huh?!

Since the yard sales are donesies, I will be heavily searching the Goodwill's to satiate my thrifting desires. I had a long and expensive Wednesday dealing with a car repair, but they gave me a loaner, so I figured I would use their gas to drive around town and hit the GW's! Out of that little trip came these...

 Via Spiga patent heels

Brighton heeled sandals

Small Pyrex Cinderella  Homestead pattern bowl, brown on tan, near mint!

Gay Head Martha's Vineyard vintage collectors measuring cup. Side note, if you Google Gay Head to do some research on a newly acquired find, you will get some interesting hits!

Wilton Barbie Cake Pan  

Starbucks Mug for Travel

Dana Buchman blouse in a beautiful shade of blue

Hallmark Keepsake Ornament with Santa and Reindeer on a motorcycle 1997, lights up too!

As you might be able to tell (or not) I am working on my photography skills and trying to use my DIY light box I posted about last time. Still need better lighting, but the photo editor helps slightly.

Oh, and I took the plunge after reading  a post from Jessica of We Sell On Ebay about the Pros and Cons of an ebay store. I had been thinking of opening one and was hesitant that I would be locked in to some agreement, or lose my listings or feedback if I decided to stop the store. Jessica was kind enough to answer my questions and I thought there was little drawback ($15.99) to trying a store for a month, so I took the plunge! Now VintageDreamsNE is not only an Etsy store but also and Ebay store. Thanks to my friends in the blogosphere and my readers, friends, and family for being so supportive of my new ventures!

Want a fun, new blog to follow? Canine Thespian! She too loves Pyrex and was just featured on the Pyrex Collective! She also makes crocheted animals which are adorable. I couldn't help but identify with her Pyrex love, her new blog, and I enjoyed her writing style. So, show some blog love, and give her a visit and a follow!!

Linking up with Her Library Adventures: Flea Market Finds...
and Apron Thrift Girl: Thrift Share Monday