Category: Uncategorized

Quick trip, cool finds

March was a busy, busy month but I still found time to duck in for one quick trip to the Goodwill Outlet. …and here’s what I found…

The item above was a collage I made for a friend’s birthday. Nothing says passing time like a clock face…so it seemed fitting to include a few – along with a lovely Emily Dickinson quote.

Parties, patterns, playthings, patches and more!

I had about 40 minutes to pop into the Goodwill outlet on Indy’s east side on Sunday and managed to find a few goodies. I spent under ten bucks this time around but feel that it is priceless anytime I come away with new info. This time it was learning about art with a big eye style. I’ve seen it before, but didn’t know it was a “thing” – nor did I realize it had quite the following that it has. I learned a little from this site http://medeiros.weebly.com/other-big-eyed-artists.html as well as one of the Facebook groups I’m in.

Last Thrift Trip of 2022

Out with the old? Into my shopping bag! We had to shift our Christmas celebration to the day before New Years Eve on account of bad weather on Christmas weekend. That didn’t leave me with a long time to shop…but at least I got an hour to find a few treasures. Here’s to all the great treasures that 2023 holds in store!

Jackpot!

With a Goodwill Outlet only four miles away from my hotel, I couldn’t resist. Also, earlier this week we bought an extra suitcase as a means of conveying snacks and drinks back to our hotel from the Target across the street – so I was on a mission to fill it with one of a kind treasures. I made the trek by cab/lyft after I finished working yesterday and found a few items worthy of making the trip back to Indiana. I also met a few other treasure hunters, including one searching for all things silver, one on the prowl for cassettes to make mix tapes and another who rescues clothing to make costumes for movies.

So many cool foreign stamps
Awesome advertisements from a 1946 Nat. Geo. magazine
Inside of an old book cover
This was a pencil drawing inside the book -made by someone over the last 200 years
A view of the entire haul with the Vegas strip in the background
Treasures left behind

Trash to Treasure!

I found a few goodies at the Goodwill Outlet this past weekend…and then spent some time turning them into some holiday decor…starting with the two pieces using art from the “On Cherry Street” early reader book.

#createopportunity

If objects could tell stories

My niece Evie made it to the finals in several events for her state swim meet yesterday. Great for her, but good for me too since it gave me a chance to go shopping before going to see her swim in the finals. I went to the Goodwill Outlet on the west side of Indy because my parents were having lunch, and it seemed to be the closest option to Evie’s meet.

The first great find of the day was a vintage cooking set – similar to one I remember playing with at my Granny’s house when I was a kid. It looks like it was designed to be something like an easy bake oven – with a power cord that had been cut off (probably for the best since it was a little rough…and definitely old). I loved the stove, but the thing that delighted me about it even more was finding a little note tucked inside along with some of the tiny metal pots and trays that said it had been owned by Janet Kinsey Beanblossom and she’d received it around 1944.

I was also surprised to learn a little more about the creators of another object I’d found – a tiny dollhouse dresser. I had to scavenge through the bin to find all the pieces, and didn’t notice it at the time, but it seems to have been signed by its creators on the bottom of one of the drawers.

The next great treasure of the day was a 1919 Singer Sewing Machine. Whenever I find a vintage machine I love thinking about all the outfits or home decor items that had been sewn on it…and all the hours that its former owner would have spent on it stitching those items. Admittedly, this one is in rough shape…but it is still a treasure…having survived for more than 100 years and also surviving the Goodwill Outlet bins. I found the base earlier in the day but didn’t see the machine…so I ended up letting the base go…but I realize in hindsight that I should have grabbed it and put it back if I didn’t find the machine…because I later discovered the top of the wooden traveling case…and then the machine itself.