thrift store finds: thrift tiki!

I've had good luck (if unanticipated) over the last several months in finding vintage tiki mugs at various thrift stores around town. Here's my latest find, an Easter Island-style mug from Trader Dick's (of course!).

We might be doing an Enchanted Tiki Room party for the kiddo's next birthday party, so I'm thinking to hold on to it for awhile.

These have been in the shop for awhile . . . not going anywhere, apparently, so they might be invited to the luau, too.

Too bad these dudes already went to a new home. See you in another life, brothers.

Any tikis find their way into your life lately? Do tell!


p.s. These photos can be made bigger just by clicking on them, but you probably already knew that.

Linking up to:

Simple Design's Thrift Haul

fancy old vintage frames

I've had these fancy old frames around for awhile, found at a flea market and a thrift store, respectively. I like them, but have never hung them up because the Mister isn't at all fond of them.

They are too fancy and old for his taste. Also too gold. But this one has awesome evidence of several layers of paint, built up over time. The mat is golden velvet. It's also a dimensional frame . . .

. . . the 45 degree angle of the molding strips make it 2.5 inches deep at the edges. The back of it is a lovely vintage green. Of course, if you hung it up, no one would ever see the back.

This one is more 1970s-style. I'm not convinced the ornamentation is wooden; it might be some sort of resin or gesso or something. It's hard to say!

It has a nice tone to the gold color, though, and if a person wanted too, she could probably mimic the old built-up-paint effect of the other frame.

The frame base is clearly wood, as you can see on the back, and its hanger is a pop tab! Such a clever use of recycled/reused materials. I saw someone use this trick on their blog awhile back; it's been around for awhile, as it turns out.

Anyway, if you like pretty gold vintage frames, you can hop over to my Etsy vintage shop (Night Garden Vintage), where these are now for sale.

Thanks for reading!


p.s. you can make these photos larger just by clicking on them, but you probably already knew that.

Linking up to:

Simple Design's Thrift Haul

new batch of coffee bean sacks in my etsy supplies shop

I have a new batch of coffee bean sacks in my Etsy supplies shop. There are some really lovely screen-printed patterns in this batch; here are a few highlights.


















You can use these for making tote bags or messenger bags, Christmas stockings, pillows, or cushion covers, like the one I blogged about here.

Price on most is $8 + shipping.


(p.s. you can make these photos bigger by clicking on them . . . but you probably knew that!)

in the tiki tiki tiki tiki tiki room

It was a few months back that I found these two Paul Marshall tiki mugs at the thrift store, cute little things. No cracks, no crazing, all markings are clear and readable. The faux bois texture is awesome.

From everything I've been able to figure out in my research, it's difficult to put an exact date of production on tiki collectibles; I'm estimating that these two mugs (based on others I've scouted out on-line) are from the 1970s. These two mugs are quite similar to one another, though the one on the right is very slightly shorter, with very slightly darker glaze.








From the Ooga Mooga website description:
"This is the classic Paul Marshall Products 'peanut' mug design, in tiki mug form. Beige unglazed ceramic, with brown glazed top and bottom. Tiki has a mouth shaped like a sideways peanut, eyes like almonds, with pupils, gently recessed eyebrows, hands on belly. Marked 'PMP©' on base."

Peanut mugs. I love it.




Listed for sale in my Etsy vintage shop; stop by to accessorize your very own tiki room!


(p.s. you can make these photos bigger by clicking on them . . . but you probably knew that!)

daffodil treasury

And now, for a palette cleanser, here's a bright, cheery little Etsy Treasury list featuring daffodils. Please enjoy!




Link here.


(p.s. you can make these photos bigger by clicking on them . . . but you probably knew that!)

new in my etsy vintage shop

I found a couple of really nifty treasures over the past couple of weeks. Namely, some really lovely mid-century dishware sort of fell into my lap while I was out thrifting for a pair of Converse for my husband. I had my Commando (phone) along to help with a bit of on-the-spot research, and so I came home with the lovelies below . . .

Broadhurst Ironstone by Kathie Winkle. Five pieces in this pattern, Viscount, are currently listed in my Etsy Vintage Shop, Night Garden Vintage. Kathie was a designer at Broadhurst for a few decades, and was one of the first designers to have her signature on the back of pieces she'd designed. Now sought-after by collectors, folks are gathering large collections of her machine-stamped, hand-painted pieces to mix and match.








Also found, one small saucer in pattern 1506.








I have scoured the web to find more information about pattern 1506, but haven't found any other images of this pattern. The closest I've seen is Kathie Winkle's pattern "Safari". I've linked here to someone else's Flickr page.

As you can see from Louise's Flickr photo, the pattern is identical, but the color is different. Possibly "Safari" was available in more than one color-way? Possibly the plate is an early prototype? Possibly this colorway was simply known as "1506"? I don't know.

Next up, this serving plate by Stetson China Company for Mar-crest's Nest Stone line. The pattern name, according to website Modish.net, is Diamond Carousel, by designer Alfred Dube. The pattern is a ring of elongated diamonds and starbursts around the rim of the off-white dish, very retro-modern.









My assumption is that this is a serving piece; the only other plate in this pattern currently for sale on-line (as far as I've found) is listed as a dinner plate on eBay, with a 10-inch diameter. This is one and three-quarters inches larger.

Visit my Etsy shop to check out more photos and details! I have some pieces in Franciscan's Pomegranate pattern I'll be listing in the near future, so if you like that pattern, stay tuned!


(p.s. you can make these photos bigger by clicking on them . . . but you probably knew that!)


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" christmas in the woods " etsy treasury

Sharing the Etsy love with a woodsy Christmas treasury you can find right here!




(p.s. you can make these photos bigger by clicking on them . . . but you probably knew that!)


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new coupon code for night garden etsy shops!

I'll be adding a ton of new stuff to my Etsy shops over the next several weeks; to thank you for your continued support of my endeavors (and my little boy's eventual college education), please use the coupon code FRSHIP11 for free domestic U.S. shipping now through December 25, 2011.

This code will work at all three of my Etsy shops:

Night Garden Design

Night Garden Vintage

and

Night Garden Supplies


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new stuff for sale at night garden vintage

I recently listed some new items for sale at my Night Garden Vintage shop, including this sweet vintage red bowling bag that I rediscovered during the clean-out.




It was, soon after, added to someone's treasury list, but still remains for sale. Snap it up using the coupon code from one of my previous posts, and it can be yours for a steal!

Safe as Houses

I love our little house, and our green yard, and the art studio we've been building out back. I love the picket fence we put in the front and the privacy fence we put behind. I love the siding we're hanging over the old ugly ply board, and the new yellow color, and our plans for a red door. I love every little thing I've planted, everything we've built, and our work has transformed this place. Talking about leaving it is heart-breaking.

So I won't entertain those thoughts. For now we're here, safe as houses. And I'm planning on keeping it like that for some time to come.

Instead, I'll show you some cool stuff . . .

These are my next recycled book boards to be turned into ReBound handmade blank books. Some of these covers are over 100 years old, as you can see by the inside stamp on one: "Princeton Theological Seminary -- 1880".







I used to get sad thinking of these old books being taken apart, but it's really very democratic this way. They get scanned, reprinted, and sold to colleges, universities, seminaries, and churches all over the country. And now that I've found a use for some of the covers, I can sleep a little better.

Here are two I just finished. These are going up in the shop post haste. You can see they're not nearly as old as the upcoming batch, but they're still lovely, don't you think?




This first one is a sweet little thing. The binding came still attached at the spine, so I wrapped the case in this lovely vine-and-berries paper and gave a solid stab binding a bit of dressing up with some cross stitches.




And here's the second one. I used the same decorative paper for both of these, but the bindings are very different . . .




This is a coptic binding, something I'm getting better and better at not muffing up. Sometimes the stitches tear the paper, but my hands are becoming more sure of themselves, as you can begin to see. I think coptic bindings are rather elegant, and have the benefit of opening flat. It makes them perfect to use as sketchbooks or guest books.





And here is my last show-and-tell of the day: a skirt I made recently from some vintage fabric I found at the thrift store on half-price day. I think it looks rather 1950s, and I've been sewing enough recently that I was able to make it without using a pattern.




The buttons, which you can almost see here, are more bakelite, caramel colored coat buttons from that auction lot I picked up in Tennessee last spring. I'll edit in a close-up of the buttons later, as they're too lovely to ignore.





That's plenty for tonight. The two finished books I featured will be up on Etsy; but I'm keeping that skirt. ;)

it's etsy day!

Woohoo! The Etsy community is uniting to make today a huge Etsy visiting day. You can visit my Etsy page at http://www.nightgarden.etsy.com! Stick around and browse other Etsy finds as well!