It's Halloween Time!

Happy Halloween everyone!
I found this cute vintage paper decoration at a thrift shop earlier this month:

 We don't even get any trick or treaters at our house, and yet - for some reason - we still buy candy.
 I can't imagine why that is.
Very mysterious.
Go figure.
  :)
This vintage perpetual calendar is one of my favorite recent finds.
 It may not be "Halloween-ish" exactly - but it is when it has this date on it!

And I got this vintage Jack O'Lantern cutie on Instagram:

I found a nice copy of "Homebodies" by Charles Addams at an estate sale last summer.
 Naturally, I had to have it out on display for Halloween,
and it looked just right behind my "Buried Alive" Halloween cupcake:

Also, here is one of his illustrations from the book that I particularly like - Morticia Addams:

Whether it's for a holiday or not, autumn and our wonderful rainy weather has gotten me in the mood for cooking up pumpkin anything, bread, cookies, pie, whatever.
And you know, I've actually never even tried one of the pumpkin drinks at Starbucks, so I just might have to do that, too.

How about you? Whatcha cookin' up?
Are you ready for November?
It's almost here.......
Be safe tonight!
Because the goblins will get 'ya if you don't watch out!

My Latest Vera Neumann Finds

I just have a few vintage Vera Neumann finds to share with you today.
I found them all recently at thrift shops.
 First we have a floral scarf in a wonderful combination of colors:

Here's a shot of the entire scarf:

Quite a lovely riot of floral fantasy.....

Next, we have this abstract design in gold and black:

Pattern closeup:

This one does not have her "Vera" signature within the body of the scarf, as do most of the ones I find, but rather just a tag on the back:

Last of all is this set of four vintage vinyl placemats, made for a round table:

I really like these; they will be fun to use next spring and summer on our glass-topped (round) patio table!

That's all of  my Vera Neumann finds for today.
With any luck, perhaps I will be finding more soon!

An October Illustration

October is nearly gone, and once again, I find I had forgotten to share a page from my copy of "The Year Around Book" by Helen Jill Fletcher, with illustrations by Jerry Pinkney.
So here it is:

I love this one!
(As I do every single page of this wonderful book published in 1965!)

A Pretty Pink Lady

There's a pretty new (vintage)  pink lady at our house:

I was very happy to receive her, and I'm sure she feels right at home here with the rest of my collection.

(I only have one other candle holder in this particular style, and she is orange. You can barely see her reflection in the mirror in the top photo.)

In the next two pictures you can see the way she looked when she arrived (both sides):

Then again, you actually cannot even tell from these two photos how truly bad she looked.
She was, quite literally, dripping with wax.
You'll have to trust me on this.
More of it, and in more colors and layers, than you can make out in the photos.

 I am not sure how many candles were allowed to drip on and around her in the nearly fifty years she's been around,
but there were lighter colors that aren't visible.
It was a LOT - she was a hot mess!
I spent two and a half hours very carefully and methodically working to remove all of that wax without damaging her.

 But things did turn out all right in the end.
Let's just say "she cleaned up nicely" ....

   .... and we'll leave it at that.

My Favorite Recent Finds

I just wanted to share a few of my more special finds from the last month or so with you today.
I found this gorgeous vintage Marwal bust:

And a pair of great orange ceramic Tiki mugs:

This fantastic vintage Bates tablecloth:

And "The Calorie Game" vintage framed print with artwork by "Pati":

This is part of an unfinished (not yet put together) vintage bargello purse, made from a kit:

And a lovely assortment of vintage crochet-covered coat hangers:

And if those finds aren't colorful enough for you, then I just don't know what to say!
:)

Back To Mountain Treasures

The Gold Country Girls are back in business at Mountain Treasures in Sonora!
I wrote a post a few months ago about how the shop I had been renting space at in Jamestown had changed owners.

 Well, that didn't end up working out.

 So I have been incredibly busy moving out of one shop and into another.
We are happy to be back at Mountain Treasures. Lana and Larry Busby, the owners, are really nice people, and there are 40 vendors in the shop with a wide variety of merchandise. It's a wonderful store to browse in, even if you aren't looking for anything specific. I truly do believe there is something for everyone in there!
The only reason I left there was because Jamestown is more of a tourist destination, with a Main Street that has antiques shops, restaurants and hotels, and Railtown 1897 State Park right up the road. My items did sell pretty well there.
 Having to move out unexpectedly, and as quickly as possible (for a variety of reasons) was very difficult. I'm not going to go into it here.
It meant downsizing, and I'm still reeling from my attempts to find places to store everything that wouldn't fit.

 In the photo above, you can see many of Lori's great cards, calendars, altered clothespin magnets,  and notepads.
 Believe me, I fit as much as I possibly could into this new booth space!

 As soon as Tina gets over here with HER stuff, it will be changing!

Do you see anything you like?

 I'm kind of worn out, to be honest.

 This move has taken quite a toll on me.

 But I'll live.
Live and learn, right?
I've lived enough years now to know that THAT is surely true, believe me.
I created some little book stacks using some of my Reader's Digest Condensed Books.
I like the way they turned out - they are meant to be purely decorative:

 The ribbon and embellishments are all vintage; my little butterflies and leaves were all found years ago at a local estate sale from a long-time florist here in town:

Oh, and I'm going to try my best to get back to posting more often!