All posts filed under: Thrifting

Ten things to do with a vintage typewriter.

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  1. Use it as decoration. 2. Type some letters to some friends. 3. Type over a vintage photo, a poem or a letter to the people in the photo. 4. Type random words, cut them up and make a poem. 5. Take photos of it (they are so stylish even the beige ones are cool). 6. Learn to type properly or at least how your old typewriter works (this is on my list!). 7.  Start that book, type that novel. 8. Write a love letter. 9. Type a joke. 10. Type on some fancy paper, find some vintage typing paper and type on that. Yes, I just got a lovely new/old typewriter and as I wait for a new ribbon for it, I am having all the ideas of things I can do and write with it! Happy Wednesday x SaveSave

Estate sale finds.

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A couple of weeks ago I went to an estate sale in St Louis and found some great stuff.  When I go to a sale I am usually looking for papers of all kinds to use in my art journaling, these can include old books, postcards, flash cards or recipe cards to name a few.  I also look for books I can use to make a sketchbook from, so a cool cover might catch my eye. This book definitely caught my eye at this sale, it is pretty ancient and delicate but not to the extent that I can’t use it.  What I love most about this book is that I can use it as it is and I don’t have to take any pages out or sew any new in. It used to house vinyl records and is basically a book of pockets made from fabulous brown paper with lots of character. There are only 12 ‘pages’ but so many options.  Each pocket page is intact and secure and the hole through the book …

‘I Like’ Friday. The Cape Cod Edition.

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While here on the Cape I am finding lots to like! I have definitely been liking daily trips down to the beach which is a few minutes away. The weather has been everything and everywhere so the sea changes colour each time I visit. Today it is my favourite colour – Paynes grey. I always like to bake bread so why not on holiday?! We went to the local Barnes and Noble and stocked up on mags and I needed a new book so I grabbed ‘Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine’. Have you read it? Any good? I saw this book in a second hand shop and liked the look of it because it is chock full of butterfly plates. So when I spotted it in the local library (yes, I am the person who gets a library card while on holiday!) I happily checked it out. Inside the vintage atlas I picked up from the library’s free shelf. The map pages are nice thick paper and the index pages are thinner. I am liking …

Vintage fold out travel souvenir cards.

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I love vintage postcards and fold out souvenir accordion postcards books are the best!  I picked up this little lot at an estate sale this weekend.  Sixty five little books of geographic and cultural history, all for just over five dollars! They seem to vary in age from the early 1920’s to the sixties and seventies.  Some have prepaid postage for 1 cent!  What a bargain! The colours on the postcards are vivid and some more garish than others. The rocks in the Garden of the Gods postcards are all bright orange and the Seattle skies are all the same fabulous blue! The Seattle folder is full of pictures showing the sights of the region –  ‘today and yesterday’, the ‘today’ photos are from around 1914 I think.  The ‘yesterday’s are from around 1878-1900.  What a great comparison. I bought the cards with a view to painting or drawing on them, but I am not sure I can bring myself to ‘deface’ most of them.  I will probably copy them and work over the copies. …

Weekly Photos 47/52

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1. We went to a very full, very dusty, very vintage estate sale this week.  True treasure hunting! 2. ‘Fancy work’ box which had a few reels of yarn inside. 3. I didn’t buy much but I did snag this fabulous yo-yo.  I love the colours and the wear on it.  The size is just right too. 4. At the weekend we went to Rockwoods Reservations which is fairly local to St Louis, MO.  This is our favourite trail. 5. The bridge was taken out by a fallen tree so we had to climb down and up the creek bed. 6. Another fallen tree, this one looks as if it has been here a while. 7. Natural finds along the trail. Happy Monday x  

‘I Like’ Friday. The secondhand Edition.

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Estate sales.  I love them. Estate sales, jumble sales, rummage sales, yard sales, car boot sales, thrift shops,  Goodwill shops, charity shops and if I went to Australia I bet I would love Op shops! It is like an adventure in casual shopping, I say casual because you can’t really go to any of these places looking for a very specific thing.  I always have in mind what type of thing I am looking for, but I keep my eyes open and remember to look at everything! Shopping somewhere like Goodwill means that you are focused on colours you are drawn to, styles you like and your size, rather than what the stores want to direct you to buy.  I love to browse the jeans, where are you going to get a better selection? Goodwill have all styles from Old Navy to Lucky Brand and Gloria Vanderbilt via Levis and Ann Taylor Loft.  I have discovered that Banana Republic and Ann Taylor Loft jeans are the best fit for me thanks to Goodwill.  I have …

Art Supplies from Estate Sales.

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  Oftentimes I will get books from sales to draw in or print on the pages. I like to use old books or their pages in my journals or as a sketchbook. The giant,out of date ‘Britannica Atlas’ is going to be a big art journal. The map pages have such beautiful colours and even the print pages are great, full of columns of text. The blue book is a ’20th Century Typewriting Complete Course’ which I may use as a sketchbook or I might use the individual pages to print on or draw on and add to my art journal. The previous owner has added lots of their own notes to the pages, so that is pretty cool. I don’t often see specific supplies at yard or estate sales, so I was very pleased to spot the canvases and the masonite board at an estate sale less than a mile from my house.  I have to say that I have no clue what to do with masonite, but I heard Ali Cavanagh talk about …

My Thrifted Finds on Cape Cod 2016

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Thrifting on Cape Cod is great because most of the various churches here have a thrift shop. These vary in size to teeny tiny to a few rooms big. They are not to be judged by the size either, one of my favourite finds is from the smallest shop I have been to. At the weekend there are yard sales and flea markets too which in my opinion is where you get the best finds. These are some of the thrifting treasures I have found so far. 1. A party recipe book from the 1950’s and a how to draw animal book. The recipes are classic and bizarre like ‘meat loaf’ and then over the page is ‘rice with avocado sauce’. 2. Along with th animal and party books I also found a book from 1965 on how to grow and avocado from a pit. Very specialist this one! 3. At a yard sale I picked up this coffee mug and at another yard sale I spotted the brushes. They are not Van Gogh standard …