Thrifted for $3.97

I bought a few things at a pay-by-pound thrift shop. The glassware came to $0.86 and the clothing came to $3.11. First up, these cute Asian teacups.

Next up, what looks to be cups for sugar and milk for serving tea. Truthfully, I’m not sure if I’ll use these—but I bought them anyway.

I liked this Jones New York sleeveless sweater. I thought the pattern and colors were interesting. The only downside is that it’s probably a little too big for me.

I also got this pink polyester shirt that to me feels like it’s from the 1970s. I noticed after buying it there were a couple tiny stains that I’ll have to see if I can get out.

Finally, I got this vintage grass green dress that is also is too big (there’s too much room in the bodice area). I’m not crazy about the color and I don’t know if I will wear or even keep this dress. But it was so interesting. Simple, but I really liked the design detail on the sleeves.

Things I Didn’t Buy 39

While I thought this tea set was adorable and very retro, I didn’t need it…at all.

I considered buying this cigar box, because you know, I love boxes. But I remained strong and resisted.

This candy tin was nice.

I also liked this sea green box (that I think was meant for playing cards).

This glass jar was pretty cute.

Thrifted for $12.48

I got this cute teacup with a lid and strainer for $2.99. It looked like it was a handmade ceramic piece, and while I initially wasn’t all that excited about the ornate handle, it actually felt quite comfortable in my hand.

This is the strainer part. However, I accidently dropped this teacup, and the strainer was the most delicate part and it broke. Yes, that was stupid. I’ve convinced myself that I was unlikely to actually use the strainer part for loose-leaf tea anyway.

I also got this strainer for $3.99.

And this whisk for 50 cents.

And finally, I got this light-weight black skirt for $5. It has two layers of fabric and slits on both sides. This looks undoubtedly from the 1990s to me. I’ve been wanting a 90s skirt—this wasn’t quite what I had in mind but I like it quite a bit.

Things I Didn’t Buy 22

This airline box is pretty fantastic. I love the different logos on it.

I liked this Needle Book art.

And this Magic Stylus art was interesting as well.

This emergency raincoat’s packaging was nice.

These mixing bowls were cute.

I considered getting this ceramic teacup, but it was chipped so I decided not to.

$24 at an Estate Sale

I spent a bit more than usual at this estate sale. I bought this blue rectangular Japanese ceramic piece that I thought I could use to put herbs in. (I don’t currently have any herbs planted, but I have thought that I ought to start…).

I bought it for $6. I really love the blue glaze on it.

I got these two containers for loose leaf tea for $1 each.

I also bought these two ceramic tea cups for $3 each. I like blue glaze on them and they’re very comfortable to hold.

I got this strainer and bowl for $8. Honestly, I was on the fence on getting this since the price seemed a bit steep to me, but I decided I could actually use it so I bought it.

I got these three decks of (never-been-used) cards from Airlines for 50 cents each.

And finally, I bought this Japanese cracker tin for 50 cents. It’s quite large, about 10 inches wide by 13.5 inches tall. I liked the design on it.

Things I Didn’t Buy 9

Here are some more estate sale items that I thought were interesting to look at, but resisted in buying. I think teacups and saucers are very cute, but they’re not very useful to me. However, I really liked the design of this green leaf teacup.

These classic Christmas lights (in its original packaging), is pretty cute.

I like the art on this Lil Miss Teenager Train Case.

I find it a little odd when dishware is meant for a particular food (when I don’t see any real reason for its existence). Like these special bowls for avocado dip and chips just seems silly to me (because couldn’t any bowl be used?). While I like the shape of the dishes, I didn’t like the green color of them.

And finally, I really considered buying this ceramic container. I thought the gold design was nice. It had a retro feeling that I liked, but I couldn’t think of what I would do with it and therefore didn’t buy it.

Sample Sale Cards: Cute Letterpress

I like going to Egg Press’ sample sale (of often older or slightly off) letterpress cards that are all $1 each. I love letterpress cards, but I’ll admit, I’m generally too cheap to buy them full price and I rarely use cards in general. So getting the cards for less is great because I buy them because I like them and want them (not so much that I’ll actually use them—although I’ll be ready if a situation presents itself).

I bought more cards than I anticipated. There were a lot of different cards there, some I liked and some I wasn’t crazy about, and in the end I bought 28 cards for $28. The cards look better in real life as the color is much better; this is especially true for all of the cards that use metallic ink. I scanned the cards instead of photographing them, so the metallic ink looks dull and not so metallic-like anymore.

I’m going to break them into sets (for this and following posts). The first set are the cute cards that quite cheerful.

Japanese Ceramics

I don’t think I have a knack for making ceramics. I’ve taken art classes where I tried pottery but things just didn’t click; I wasn’t really into the process (and that’s a pretty essential part of doing any sort of craft). I think I have a difficult time with creative activities that involve time requirements. I like to be able to walk away from a project at any time if I’m not feeling it, and then come back to it once I’m more motivated to work—and that’s too difficult to do in pottery (with clay drying out, the messiness factor and the cleanup process).