A Few Of My Latest Thrift Finds

First up: I found this bright enamel fondue pot. The lid does not really go with it, but it works. It's a good, heavy one - not lightweight aluminum like a lot of them, but rather it has a nice white interior:

I even got some fondue cookbooks, and forks to go with it:

A pretty butterfly-stitched vintage pillow:

A set of nesting - or stacking - benches:

A melamine tray, yellow gingham napkins and a vase just like one I found a couple of weeks before:

A Lustroware "Vanity Tray & Drawer Organizer" in avocado green:

 A Griswold cast iron Danish cake pan:

And a Marimekko fabric remnant:

Good stuff.

Would You Like to Swing on a Star? Listening to My Childhood Records

When I was a little girl, I played alone a lot, my sister Lori was born when I was three and a half, and Heidi when I was five, so I had a lot of solitary pursuits to keep me busy, including paperdolls and coloring books. 

One of my favorite things was playing my records, and I still have three that were my special picks.

The 'Syncopated Clock' is a top favorite.  I still love it.  On the back of the record sleeves many other songs were listed. I remember singing 'I'm a Little Tea Pot' and 'How Much is that Doggie in the Window?' over and over again, entertaining myself. And speaking of clocks, 'Grandfather's Clock' that sat too long on the shelf was always a fun song.

Notice that a Shirley Temple song made it into the line-up, 'On the Good Ship Lollipop'.  This was almost twenty years after she was in the movie, that little girl sure had some staying power!

' Toyland' was another favorite, and of course I knew 'Jesus Loves   Me' from Sunday School.

I

'Would you like to swing on a star?' I think they must have thought a little kid would be more interested in being a mule!  It does tend to capture your attention.

Some of the old nursery rhyme songs were more well known than others, I can't remember how 'The Three Little Kittens' went, but 'The Farmer in the Dell' and 'Old McDonald' are easy to sing.

Another top favorite that I could still listen to over and over is "Peter and the Wolf", which I think I still have somewhere around here. It was so much fun to learn the sounds of the different musical instruments.

How could I leave out the best of all: 'Tina the Ballerina'. They actually wrote a song with my name in it! Later when my little sister Heidi was born, that got topped, because they had a whole MOVIE about her. LOL.

Excuse me, I need to go pull out my 'record player' and get busy listening and singing along.

Now I Just Need To Pack Up And Go SOMEWHERE!

I was tickled to find another one of these great vintage fabric suitcases recently at one of my favorite local thrift stores:

 It just happened to fit inside of this fab orange and yellow one I got over a year ago:

 Which is really nice, because as you can see below, my only other two - both even smaller yet - fit inside of those!

So, the four of them are able to fit into the a space the size of the largest, "newest one" - which is a very good thing, since space is at a premium around here!
Now, I have all of my stylish vintage bags, and I want to go somewhere!!

Cinco De Mayo - OLE!

Okay, so this may seem silly to you - but my way of celebrating Cinco de Mayo is to show you the latest photo I found of MY favorite furniture EVER, Stanley Furniture, from the Ole Collection. I collect vintage Seventeen Magazines, (as you may already know if you read this blog with any regularity at all!), so imagine, if you can, my delight when I opened up one of the most recent issues I acquired to find my Ole furniture featured in a bedroom!
Are you kidding me?!
OMG.
See:

And to make it even better (if that's possible!), there are also some of my favorite vintage papier mache creations sitting on top! The cat has, thus far, eluded me but I hope to find one some day, I DO have a collection of the little ladies (she's next to the lamp, there - you may remember seeing them in previous blog posts), and I have two figures which are similar to the lady candle holder - but not one exactly like her.
Something else to dream about finding for my collection.....
I know, that's all I need, right?
Good grief.
Happy Cince de Mayo, everybody!
I AM going out to dinner tonight at a Mexican restaurant - might even go so far as to have a margarita!
Ole!

Patterns From The Past : Simplicity 5673 A Sweet Dress In Two Lengths

Fun and flirty, here is a cute little dress for spring or summer - Simplicity pattern number 5673, from a 1973 edition of Simplicity Fashion News.
I believe the beautiful model is Sunny Redmond:

Make it long or short; it has a sweet flouncy ruffle at the neck and also at the hemline:

Pattern back:

It's another cute one, girls.
I love the way it looks in the bright yellow floral fabric, as worn by Sunny (how appropriate!) in the top photo

A Singular, Sensational Find

I was pretty happy when I found this little guy at a thrift store!
Front:

Back:

Marking:

 A Kay Bojesen soldier:

I actually found him a while ago, but I set him up on a shelf and I 'm pretty sure I forgot to write about him.
He doesn't have a gun or a drum, but that's all right. I like him just the way he is.
And I felt pretty lucky to find him.

Found: Some Great Vintage Records For Children

Sis Lori here:
These were in our Mom's collection and I wanted to share them with you today, because the record covers have such fantastic artwork and graphics.
 Enjoy!

May Flowers : My Secret Obsession With Vintage Paper Flowers

 They say April showers bring May flowers.
I suppose that's true, but I sure wish there was some way to even out the rainfall around the country.
 You know -  less in some areas that have WAY too much, and more here in California where we have drought issues?
 Would that it were possible.
Today, though, to celebrate the 1st of May, 'tis I who am bringing "May" flowers to you!
Yes, I must admit that I truly AM obsessed when it comes to these colorful vintage paper flowers from the 1960s.

I get excited when I find new (to me!) images of the vintage paper flowers that I love so much, made by Takahashi.
 The first one is actually from a Kotex advertisement, circa 1968:

I don't remember where I found the picture below - if you recognize it, please tell me so I can give credit where credit is due:

I love the way they filled up that basket with them and used them as a centerpiece!
The rest of my pictures in today's post are all from my vintage Seventeen magazines.
The flowers were all over the place back in the 60's and 70's.
Yes, of course I had some back then!
 They made an appearance in this advertisement for Rit Dye from 1971:

And in an ad for robes from 1968:

This one is from a party table spread:

And below, one more table set up buffet style, circa 1967:

 As you can clearly see by the pictures of my collection below, I truly am obsessed with these fabulous vintage flowers!

Call me crazy - but I love them and I just can't help myself.

 I mean, come on - how can you help but smile when you look at them?
 (Don't be surprised if I show you more pictures of them - as I come across them - in upcoming posts.....)