Apron Thrift Girl

Collect Share - Vintage Umbrellas

Collect Share - Umbrellas

It doesn't take a lot of owning something to have a collection. I used to collect these fairy figurines when I lived in England. I started my collection owning none. I collected them for two years before I even had one in my home. It didn't matter that I didn't own one, I loved them and wanted them and therefore collected them.

My umbrella collection is quite small. I didn't even know that I was going to collect umbrellas until I bought my fifth one last week. I realized that perhaps I'm now a vintage umbrella collector.

Unlike in Washington State where we really didn't need umbrellas since the rain was typically light although constant. A parka with a hood would do just fine. Sonoma County though the rain is often torrential and an umbrella is necessary. I began to carry some in my van shortly after experiencing the rain in the autumn.

I think the designs of vintage umbrellas are very charming. As they say about a lot of things, they just don't make them like they used to.

I don't normally pay more than $10 for an umbrella. I paid $3 for this one last week when an estate sale was 50% off. 

I'm not sure how old this is. Perhaps the 70's, maybe newer? I still love how big it is and especially the wooden handle.

Do you have a small collection of umbrellas or parasols? 

Do you Collect anything that you have blogged about recently?

We Thrift - We Craft - We Share

Here are some guidelines if you would like to join Collect Share:

• Your Collect Share post should include at least one item that is 2nd hand.
• Create a blog post with photos about your recent addition to your collection. Or write a post that features your entire collection.
• If possible, give us some background about what you collect such as where items are made or who designed them. We'd love to read about why you collect and when you first started collecting.
• Link your Collect Share post back to Apron Thrift Girl.
• Link to your Collect Share post on Apron Thrift Girl using inlinkz. There will be inlinkz on every Collect Share post so that you can add your photo and link back to your blog.
• If you participate with Collect Share regularly, please add this button to your side bar so that we can build our Sharing Community.

 

Collect Share - Thrifted Art

Collect Share - Thrifted Art - Paint by Number $5

I blame my obsession with art on my parents. If you visit their house you might step one foot into the foyer before you be greeted by a piece of vintage, thrifted art. When you continue into the living room you'll discover more art. They've tried to limit the number of items in the main living areas leaving the stairway to the basement with a museum like feel as you wander down the creaky old steps of their 1915 home. There are pictures and paintings covering most of the wall space as well as clocks, Big Mouth Billy Bass (much to my mother's horror) and a bell from a trolley car. Keiran takes at least 7 minutes to get down the stairs after inspecting each frame carefully, dropping a penny in the plastic slot machine and ringing the trolley bell a few times. Yet I still love every bit of their home and the warmth that I feel when I am there.

Art can also be very expensive. Luckily as thrifters we can barely get out of a rummage sale without falling over painting after painting. I try to resist my need for more art but I don't usually listen to my sane self and instead bring home another piece.

This came from a fabulous sale of a house full of Mid Century Modern. This is the same house where this clock came from. I spent 2 1/2 hours at the sale and these owls were the first thing I grabbed. This piece was $35 and it's actually intended for my friend Jacki but I got lazy and decided that I didn't want to ship it. Maybe this will entice her for a visit. Or if she doesn't want it it can stay on our living room wall with our other owl collection.

I bought this last year for $35 from an estate sale. It's one of my favorite pieces in my home. That bird nest leaves me weak in the knees every time I look at it.

Thrift Owl Art $1

Dogwood Flowers - Thrifted

Sometimes I buy art because it reminds me of something small. I always remember my mother telling me about Dogwood being her mother's favorite flower. I never met my grandmother but I think of her every time I pass by this painting in the hallway.

I think I'm the only one in the house that likes this painting. This is just a small bit of it. The entire painting is the largest one we own. It usually is on the mantel but C Jere owls on the branch are currently there so this is in the hallway. I fell in love with this when it was $60 at an estate sale. I came back on the half off day and took it home for $30. Dave definitely wondered w.t.h. I was doing when I walked in with it. It reminds me of the sea and I like it. That's enough for me.

Thrift art with texture. $10.

This reminds me of Northern Wales for some reason.

$12 from an estate sale. I bought this for a silly reason. It reminds me just a little bit of the painting in Holiday in Handcuffs. Do you remember the painting at the end of the movie? When you do a search for it on Google you'll find lot so of people looking for it. The movie was painted by Sarah Jane Holtom but there aren't any photos that I can link to. It's a shame because Sarah's painting was so beautiful. This painting above is a Sonoma County artist.

 

 My last piece to share was made by Keiran using thrifted craft paper. He created this for me the last time he was sick. His favorite medium to work with at the moment is paper. He loves to make pop-up cards, sculptures and art.

What is your favorite piece of thrifted art in your home?

Do you Collect anything that you have blogged about recently?

We Thrift - We Craft - We Share

Here are some guidelines if you would like to join Collect Share:

• Your Collect Share post should include at least one item that is 2nd hand.
• Create a blog post with photos about your recent addition to your collection. Or write a post that features your entire collection.
• If possible, give us some background about what you collect such as where items are made or who designed them. We'd love to read about why you collect and when you first started collecting.
• Link your Collect Share post back to Apron Thrift Girl.
• Link to your Collect Share post on Apron Thrift Girl using inlinkz. There will be inlinkz on every Collect Share post so that you can add your photo and link back to your blog.
• If you participate with Collect Share regularly, please add this button to your side bar so that we can build our Sharing Community.

 

Collect Share - Little Letters

Saturday I went by the post office to check my mail and I found this amazing collection of letters waiting for me from my friend Shara. When I was at her home a year or so ago I spotted these in her incredible collection of vintage craft supplies and nearly went faint. Shara moved in November and now is living in Arizona but remembered how much I adored this vintage set of letter. This is probably one of the most fabulous gifts that I have ever received. Thank you so much Shara!

Each little envelope has different size metal letters.

I'm so excited to add them to my collection.

My letter & number collection is somewhat small. I really only started collecting them when I moved to California. I didn't go to many estate sales in Washington and I never came across vintage letter collections.

Of course I was very inspired when I saw Cathe Holden's post about her collection of letters and numbers in December. Her collection is swoon worthy.

Some of my letters are modern but nearly all of them are from yard sales. These are designed for scrapbooking.

I found these at a yard sale in Santa Rosa. They were nestled in a drill bit box and were $1.00. I love how they are dimpled.

These were designed by Amy Butler and the only new purchase in my collection.

Modern glittery letters from a yard sale 50¢.

I picked up this vintage stamp set shortly after I moved to California from an Addison Endpapers backroom sale in Oakland. They were $15.

Do you remember when I picked these up? These are tiles that can be pushed into a board so that you can build titles for your 1960's slide-show.

Collections are like scrapbooks the ones that I don't do. I can look at my collection and it reminds me of sitting at my typewriter when I was in my early teens with a plate of toll house cookies by my side. Every evening I would sit at the typewriter and I would push the letters and they would appear on my paper and my story would start to evolve. To my young mind is was rather magical. I finished my first book by age 15 and was so proud that it was 88 single spaced pages long. It's a silly story about a young girl called Alisha McGill. She goes to camp one summer and falls in love with horses and a boy named Kit. Remember how many stories and books in the 70's and 80's involved a summer camp?

Writing, letters, numbers and collecting are simply a reflection of who I am. That is what collecting is about. It's a little window into our passions and our soul.

Do you Collect anything that you have blogged about recently?

We Thrift - We Craft - We Share

Here are some guidelines if you would like to join Collect Share:

• Your Collect Share post should include at least one item that is 2nd hand.
• Create a blog post with photos about your recent addition to your collection. Or write a post that features your entire collection.
• If possible, give us some background about what you collect such as where items are made or who designed them. We'd love to read about why you collect and when you first started collecting.
• Link your Collect Share post back to Apron Thrift Girl.
• Link to your Collect Share post on Apron Thrift Girl using inlinkz. There will be inlinkz on every Collect Share post so that you can add your photo and link back to your blog.
• If you participate with Collect Share regularly, please add this button to your side bar so that we can build our Sharing Community.

 

Collect Share - an Introduction

I have really enjoyed all the sharing that has transpired here at Apron Thrift Girl. I have receive quite a few private emails thanking me for the Share posts. Some readers have even mentioned that sharing links have brought extra visitors to their blogs. This warms my heart. It was my full intention to create a community around Thrifting, Crafting and Sharing.

I believe that thrifting is much more than simply handing over money in exchange for a second hand item. I personally feel that thrifting creates tradition and stories that we share with our friends and family. I know every memorable thrifting story that my parents have shared with me. My children also remember the stories that not only I have shared with them but experiences that they have had with me.

Keiran and I will never forget the day we hauled two van loads of items including boxes of vintage Christmas decor and a long Mid Century Modern Couch w/ side table and record player to our home. Or that I had to call a friend's husband and ask for help on getting the couch in the house since Dave was traveling. Or that I gave him some wine for doing such a favor. We were so amazed that we fit the couch in the van, not to mention squeezing in Keiran. We still talk about this thrifting adventure months later. Every time that I sit on our white MCM couch I remember that fabulous day.

Collecting is very personal for all of us. One of the benefits of thrifing is coming across our favorite things time and time again. I began collecting as a young child. I had a large collection of Strawberry Shortcake & friends dolls, binders full of stickers and arms covered in Madonna inspired rubber bracelets. There wasn't much that I didn't collect.

As an adult collecting is as much a passion as it was thirty years ago. My tastes have changed although I still pick up a stray Blueberry Muffin doll when I stumble upon one at a sale.

A friend of mine picked up something for me on a whim because she knew that I liked all things vintage. You should have seen my face when she brought this out of her van to give to me. My mouth dropped open.

a Cathrineholm Fondue Pot

She had no idea that I collected Cathrineholm. She suggested that I give it away to Goodwill if I didn't want it. Uh....right.

It sort of reminds me of a space pod. I think the design is so Mid Century Modern. It's perfect. Now I just need some chocolate.

Cathrineholm - Made in Norway.

My Catherineholm collection is growing. It is probably one of my favorite items to come across while thrifting. I actually spotted a mushroom covered bowl of hers in a thrift store today with the remarkable price tag of $65 on it. Needless to say I left it behind but I did take a second to sigh with a little bit of wishful wanting.

Want to see more of Cathrineholm's items? Here is a Lovers of Cathrineholm Designs flickr page.

What I adore about collecting is learning more about what I love. I used to think that Cathrine was a designer as in Cathrine Holm. (as of tonight I'll admit) but I just learned through the Ars Longa website that Grete Prytz Kittelsen is the designer behind my fondue set. I'm thinking that I need to start thinking that Grete designed these fabulous enamel pots, pans and dishes and not Cathrine. Regardless I'm still a fan and a collector. And I should also confess that my friend Jacki on Bainbridge Island completely influenced me when she introduced me to Cathrineholm.

Do you Collect anything that you have blogged about recently?

We Thrift - We Craft - We Share

Here are some guidelines if you would like to join Collect Share:

• Your Collect Share post should include at least one item that is 2nd hand.
• Create a blog post with photos about your recent addition to your collection. Or write a post that features your entire collection.
• If possible, give us some background about what you collect such as where items are made or who designed them. We'd love to read about why you collect and when you first started collecting.
• Link your Collect Share post back to Apron Thrift Girl.
• Link to your Collect Share post on Apron Thrift Girl using inlinkz. There will be inlinkz on every Collect Share post so that you can add your photo and link back to your blog.
• If you participate with Collect Share regularly, please add this button to your side bar so that we can build our Sharing Community.

 

I'll be working on a Description page for Collect Share as well as adding the button to my sidebar.

Does Collect Share interest you? Is it something that you would enjoy reading about? Would you visit other blogs about their collections through the Link Share? I'd love your feedback so that I can gage how often to write a Collect Share post or if you'd like me to continue it. If you are bored of sharing let me know about that too. But gently of course. Thanks so much.