I’m sure this coffee can isn’t vintage, but for only $.50 I figured why not? It has the look and now I just need to figure out what to plant in it.
This little Scheurich ‘onion’ vase caught my eye for the vibrant colour and the MCM pattern. It was $8.
Ever since I purchased my large Kaiser vase from the Junction flea a couple of years ago I've been on the lookout for more pieces. I did find one more small vase at the Aberfoyle antique market (I never shared it here, but it looks like this), but other than that I haven’t had any luck. I love the matte white look of the pottery which I think is timeless (I love it so much I've even started a whole collection of MCM white vases on Etsy in case anyone wants to buy me one  - ha!).

Hopefully over time I’ll be able to find some more Kaiser vases and eventually be able to showcase them like this. If anyone happens to find one while out thrifting please let me know ;)

Race day before and after. That jacket I'm wearing? It's 'waterproof', and was completely soaked through by the time I finished.

While It wasn’t the 10K that I originally resolved to complete this year, and my time of 58:26 was slower than my best 10K time, I’m more than happy with having completed 80% of that resolution. It also reminded me how much I enjoy running, so maybe I’ll start doing it on a semi-regular basis. Maybe. Perhaps.
Later on Saturday after a long hot shower to try to warm up, I convinced D that we should go antiquing. We headed up near Barrie to Roadshow 400 Antiques which I’ve passed many times, but never visited. It’s a rather large antique market with a quite varied selection of items. Remember those glass candle stick holders I found at a thrift store in September that I worried were a bit expensive at $14.14 for the pair? Look at what I spotted on Saturday:

I think these candle holders are the same as the ones I bought.

I’m pretty sure they're the exact same, but were being sold for $50.

Lovely Pyrex mixing bowls - too bad they were $75

I loved the colours, but at $75 there was no way I could justify buying them as I’d be afraid to use them. Leaving them behind made me sad, however the day wasn’t a complete bust as I did bring something home with me.

My new mixing bowls

Yes – I brought home Pyrex bowls. These ones were literally 2 stalls over from the original set I spotted, and I bought them for a whopping $24. Better yet - mine are less scratched than the original set I spotted! I have no idea if $24 is really a good price for 4 Pyrex bowls, but given they were only a third of the cost of the original set I couldn't really say no could I?  Would you have left them behind? Or would you have been like me and hobbled as fast as your race weary legs could take you to the cash so you could buy them?

I bought a pair of these glass candelabras. A magic eraser cleans dull thrifted glass really well.

I have a little thing for brass animals. I'm by no means a dedicated collector given I only have one animal (this cute owl I found while thrifting almost a year ago), but I always keep an eye out for them - I even spotted some at Aberfoyleearlier this summer. I found this lovely set for $15 and I love them.

I've decided to name my new birds Cliff and Claire.

Way back in the dark ages I had a collection of Nancy Drew books that had been my aunts. When I got to a very mature 12 my parents had a garage sale, and to my lasting regret I decided I was too old for 'kids books' and sold them. I've been looking to replace them, but so far haven't had any luck. A few months ago I picked up a few Hardy Boys books which are similar to the the ones my dad had as a boy. While they aren't Nancy Drew I like the look of them. This weekend I picked up 5 more books for $12.

My collection of vintage Hardy Boys books. I think it's now big enough.

Last but not least I found a lovely little hand carved wooden dragon. He has no purpose, and the tips of his ears are missing, but for some reason dragons make me happy and given he was priced at just $1 I couldn't pass him up.

I've decided to keep him by my bed.

What do you think? Would you have picked up any of the same items I did? Have you had any luck at thrift stores recently? Is there anything you always look for when you go thrifting?

Behold my $5 thrift store vase – it’s nothing much to look at is it?

My New Silver Vase

I think it was worth a little elbow grease, and I think it looks great beside my bed.

Something Pretty to Open my Eyes to in the Morning

Have you noticed recently that owls have become very 'in'? It seems that every time I open a decor magazine or pop into a home store owls or other types of fowl are everywhere.

1. West Elm - $32 2. West Elm - $99 3. West Elm - $9 4. Jonathan Adler - $48 5. At West End - $36 6. Abigail Edwards - $120/roll 7. Modcloth - $57 8. Anthropologie - $68 9. Anthropologie - $20

Anyways, I was in a Goodwill a while back when I spotted this little guy sitting on a shelf and I decided he needed to come home with me.

I think he's kinda cute for $4.04 don't you?

My birthday present - an antique Limoges mirror

It took me a while to figure out to do with the mirror, and once that was figured out, it took even longer to find a key component for my idea to work. The plan was to frame the mirror in a shadow-box type frame. Unfortunately I couldn't find exactly the type of frame I was looking for - I was looking for one where the glass was spaced about 1/2" away from the back of the frame - all the frames I found had no space, or they were true shadow boxes for mementos and the glass was a couple of inches from the back of the frame.

I decided that I was going to hang my mirror in the bathroom, so one of the first steps after completely dismantling the frame, cleaning, and then re-assembling it was to spray paint it silver to match the chrome accents in my bathroom. This was my first experience with spray paint, and quite a bit easier than I had thought.

I taped off the glass on the front a back, and set the frame on some 'Painter's pyramids' I had bought for another project but not used. I set the entire thing in a big cardboard box to spray as I was doing it inside (I don't have a garage or outside space that's solely mine).

I decided that I would back the mirror with black velvet, but I needed to figure out a way to mount the mirror on the velvet. Two sided tape was out as it could potentially damage the mirror, but luckily the mirror was framed with a rope pattern that was constructed in such a way to leave tiny holes around the mirror. Using a beading needle and some clear thread I sewed the mirror onto the velvet using the tiny holes in the rope pattern to secure the mirror to the fabric.
I then mounted the velvet on some thin cardboard (from a frozen pizza) using spray adhesive and placed it in the frame. I then added a piece of thicker cardboard to ensure the mirror was positioned securely in the frame and anchored it all in place using the original nails. Using spray adhesive I glued a piece of brown paper to the back of the frame to neaten up the back, and also to help keep out any dust. My last step was to add a small label identifying the mirror.

Here's the finished product:

Here is the cost breakdown of the project:

• Thrift store frame: $6
• Velvet fabric: $6 - King Textiles - $14.00/yd. and it was 20% off
• Needles and thread: $2.01  - Fabricland - the location was closing so it was 50% off
• Spray paint: $7.19
• Painter's pyramids: $6.80 (I bought mine at Lee Valley, but Amazon has them too)

For a total cost of about $30 (tax. included) I think I got a pretty good result.

Curious about the price? It was a hugely expensive $6.06. I think this qualifies as a great find - don't you?