art deco goodies

I hit some thrifts about a solid hour from my house, in a town I had never even thought about going to, Wow, I scored there! Behold!
A great glass tray with a smashing peacock design. Maybe its bad luck to say smashing in the same sentence as glass tray, but I am throwing caution to the wind. This was, are you ready, $4!!! Not $40, four dollars!!!! I was flipping out!!!

Great glass pitcher with design of 1930s era swells out on the town! Wow!! This was $7 and I couldn't get the money out fast enough. Now I need a vintage fridge, see how one thing leads to another....

Celluloid teal colored creamer and sugar set, handmade mouse pin cushion and nice arts and crafts style bean pot. Its missing the lid but I don't care I tell you, I don't care! It matches the theme of my bungalow house and mission style living room. It will hold a small plant in said living room when I have some time to get a small plant.

Vintage fabric remnant stash. I bought these at the flea market from a guy who said he bought a storage unit that had alot of fabric. I dug through alot of bins but these were the only older prints I could find. Now I get to sew something. But what? Decisions decisions.

Cornering the sock monkey market

Here is my sock monkey collection. They are pretty hard to find out in the wild. I found these at flea markets over a five year period I would say, one is from an estate sale.  These were about $1 each, so I couldn't leave them behind to face an uncertain  fate. Never leave a sock monkey behind. One needs some ears. When I get a few minutes I can sew some on. Of course not only do I need a few minutes, I need a million dollars,Mike Ness and a 1962 Mercury Monteray with breezeway window. A girl can dream.

summertime and the livin' is easy

Here are some of my latest scores and some random shots from my yard and garden. Actually the livin' aint been easy since my brand new HP computer died, what a big waste of money, a total piece of garbage. Plus I had a heck of a time getting these photos to load and I cant get them any larger, I need to go thrift shopping to calm down, that's for sure.

New summer finds at the flea and thrifts

I am back in the blogging saddle again. The horrors of a new computer/old computer dying, plus alot of other crap have gotten in my way of touting my vintage finds. So, here is what's new from the thrifts and fleas:
Big green Pyrex mixing bowl, which I am using all of the time, plus medium size orange Pyrex bowl.

Aqua snowflake Pyrex casserole dish, it doesn't have a lid but that's the least of my problems, plus silver aluminum coffee canister with pink lid, HOLY COW!!!! Its filled with Chock Full O Nuts if you must know.

Beaded bag with bamboo handles and cool floral wooden and fabric bag, I am the Doc Severenson of handbags (Google him.). I used to work with an older guy who called me that, so I placed it into my repertoire.

At the thrift in Florida over Xmas I scored this new with tags (NWT as they say) Bermuda bag with an aqua cover embroidered with hot pink lobsters, how could I resist? I love obnoxious preppy stuff esp. since no one wears it, at least around here they don't. Most people I see are in sloppy sweatpants, sports jerseys and skin tight leggings regardless of thigh circumference.

Susan Slade starring Connie Stevens-- Now With Photos

The other nite I watched SUSAN SLADE, a 1961 soap opera type movie, I thought it was excellent. While not high art or a masterpiece of cinema, this movie has great style and reflects a more innocent era, although one that involves a lot of judgmental behavior and social stigmas.   In some ways maybe that's not such a bad thing, if you have even read a newspaper lately or looked out of your window and seen the chaos that is going on out there. We could use some social stigmas, if we had them no one would be wearing sweatpants to the restaurant or to the store or the office. Yes, sadly I said the office, which is now full of flip flops, obscene cleavage and short shorts. I carry a briefcase and a barf bag each day.  Anyhow,  Connie Stevens is Susan, a young woman who's adventurer boyfriend is killed in a mountain climbing accident.  He dies before Susan can tell him that she's pregnant. She is about 18 or so, and now she is going to be an unwed mother. So, many dilemmas come to the surface.  Did adventurer boyfriend, played by Grant Williams (who starred in The Incredible Shrinking Man) really love Susan? Would he have made things right if he survived?  How will Susan cope? Luckily her wealthy parents can shield her from dishonor and they do so at their incredible seaside estate. Will she ever be able to date Troy Donahue, the hot stable boy at the ranch, or smarmy Bert Convey, who wears ascots and jodhpurs? I loved the style of this movie, great dresses and great houses on the California coast. Cute boys too. I also liked the story, you really like Susan and feel for her, what with all this tragedy all over the place.  What a nightmare it was to get these photos to load.  
Here we have Connie caught in a clinch with lover boy. Uh oh, this wont be good in the long run.
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TROY DONAHUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Connie in stylish outfits.


Below is the world's most beautiful dress, a light blue sensation on Connie.

TROY lookin a little weird but trust me he is HOT.

Susan Slept Here starring Debbie Reynolds

Last nite I watched the mid-1950s movie  "Susan Slept Here," starring Debbie Reynolds and Dick Powell. The plot was really stupid but the film had so much style!  Basically we have a 50 year old Powell playing a 35 year old (not believable, he looks 50), and a 22 year old Debbie playing a 17 year old (totally believable, she is adorable), and they fall in love. Talk about gross, ew, yuck. The film is innocent fun but this May-December romance is really taking things into the realm of the ridiculous, even for a fluff 50s movie.  Debbie's romantic rival for Powell is Anne Francis, who plays a spoiled wealthy starlet, She looks about 19 to be honest so even she is looking ridiculous chasing after Powell.  Anyhow, Powell lives in the most killer bachelor pad and Debbie wears the greatest dresses, her outfits are terrific. The colors in this movie really pop. Here are some scenes:

Awesome sports car!

 Femme Fatale in super dress!

In the 50s when you bought Xmas presents they wrapped them at the store in the most gorgeous paper, evidently. behold.

Swingin' Lair ala Bachelor. Complete with flocked Christmas tree.

Glamour gal!

Fab 50s kitchen in eye-popping lime green, wow! Note she is cooking with Revereware.

Diggeth the fridge and oven with a porthole!

great dresses

THE BEST CATEYE GLASSES EVER!!!!! To say I want these desperately is an understatement!

cute wool dress on Debbie and an adorable shirt

fab strapless dress in the 50s kitchen, just look at that radio.

Retro Christmas!

When I am lucky enough to find vintage holiday decorations at the thrift shop or estate auction they are often damaged, so I do some makeshift repairs and tweaking to save them from the trash heap. Actually at the auction they have a "discard pile" where people put stuff that they won but do not want, usually because they bought a boxed lot containing multiple items and only wanted one or 2 things. At the end of the auction the discard pile goes into the dumpster, so trash-pickers like me, oh wait I mean astute and creative people of vision and foresight, rummage thru the pile and grab useful stuff. I take anything I can use or repair to keep, donate to the thrift or sell on ebay to support my friend's dog rescue group. Below are some vintage holiday items that I repaired and added some flourishes to.
Here are some pink bells with silver holly leaves, I had to flatten out the leaves and reinforce them with cardboard on the  back. I removed some filthy pink ribbon and added vintage pink and grey striped paper curling ribbon and I added a silver cord hanger. This is now floating above the bar in my kitchen. Nuthin' says Xmas like pink and silver!!

 Here are a trio of 1950s era decorations, I found the Santa candle holder (Japan) at the thrift yesterday. The aluminum tree topper, which needed to be flattened out, was embellished with a few light reflectors and a bulb to give the illusion that electricity is involved. This will go on my silver aluminum tree, which I will put up later today, The Santa music box had to have the base fixed then I added tinsel for extra panache. Made in Japan in the 50s it still works!

  Below is a funky wreath made entirely of discarded items. I will be hanging it outside once the temps get above freezing today.

Lastly but not leastly, the new issue of Bachelor Pad Magazine is out, containing my latest masterwork!! Behold, get your copy at www.BachelorPadMagazine.com.