The Art of Thrifting

Ok, ok...I know I've been MIA for AWHILE now. But, I wanted to share this little gem with you.

I recently stumbled upon (and have been reading every post) from The Art of Doing Stuff. I love her writing style. I also love that she loves thrifting and this post showcases some of her favorite finds. I have to admit, I'm jealous of a few all of those!

Don't be hoity toity. Don't eschew. Or, you'll miss out on finds like these.

Scary-as painting

So, when I lived in New Zealand, I had many communication issues (especially when I was first there...) Yes, Kiwis speak English, but their accent threw me off. They also have lots of words that we don't or call things by different names. This was also quite awhile ago-nowadays, I would have read articles, watched videos, etc to familiarize myself with the accent, vocab and vernacular.

Anyway, one of the funniest (to me) stories involved a phrase that many Kiwis used that took some explaining. They would say "sweet-as." Now, you have to understand that to my untrained ear, it sounded like they were constantly saying, "sweet ass!" (When Kiwis say "ass" it sounds more like "arse" of course, but again, I didn't know any of this at the time.) Sweet-as is short for "sweet as pie" or "sweet as cake." Basically, it means "cool."

I was staying in various places around the North Island, volunteering with the Department of Conservation. Quite often, the locals would take pity on me and invite me to their house for dinner or a party. (I was pretty lonely...) One time, the family that invited me over had a young daughter. I think she was about five. Imagine my shock when she's running around saying (what I thought to be) "Sweet-ass!!! Sweet-ass!!!"

How does this relate to this hideous monstrosity, you may ask? Well, when I was thinking of a title, all I could think was, "That is one scary-ass painting..." Now, I've also been struggling with a dilemma for this, my second blog. I have some posts coming up that may be offensive to some viewers. Nothing too crazy, but there may be some nudity and swearing in future posts. I've been trying to decide how to proceed. I don't want to piss anybody off, but I also think we, as Americans, are much too quick to react negatively to a little nudity or swearing. (This feeling is also something that was cemented for me when I lived in New Zealand. They aren't nearly as prudish about every. single. thing. as we seem to be.) So, I think I've decided to go ahead with the posts without the "adult content" warning for now. I wish I could selectively set the adult content warning for certain posts, but I'm not enough of an internet wizard to do that (if it can even be done at all.)

This painting, by the way, has been making its rounds around our office. It hung for a very brief period in my cube. I couldn't stand it for more than about 35 seconds and it was promptly removed. It's a good painting to randomly hide in someone's office, though. It was a decent painting of someone's mom or aunt or grandmother at one point before someone took some Sharpie to it.

So, what do you think? Should I include an adult content warning on this blog or just run with it until someone complains? Do you have strong feelings either way? I can't imagine there's too many kids out there who really care at all about a blog dedicated to thrift store finds. If you have strong feelings one way or the other, let me know in the comments! In the mean time, enjoy this ridiculous scary-ass painting.

A fondue to you, good sir

Back in June, my colleague, Melissa and I had some actual business inside a thrift store (and weren't just visiting because we wanted to. No, really!) and we stumbled across a fondue set. We couldn't quite tell if it would work and I had a feeling one or more parts might be missing, so I told her there were lots of them showing up in thrift stores all the time. 

The other day I was in another store (no valid business...just looking...) and stumbled upon not one, but two fondue sets. I'm sorta kicking myself I didn't just buy this one for her. The price was really really right. Oh well, next time...

HELLO?? CAN YOU HEAR ME???

Probably not over this shirt....

Blogging about and stumbled on a thrift post

Was just spending wasting my entire night screwing around on the internet (You'd think at some point I'd decide I have PLENTY of ideas on my "handmade gift ideas" board...) and I stumbled across this post over on things for boys. Not only do I like the pattern and the fabric she plans to make it out of, but I've also finally discovered that Savers must somehow be affiliated with Value Village. Or, they just have eerily similar tags.

Vests

So, at the end of last week, my colleague and good friend, Gregg asked me a question every thrifter loves. "Where do I find _____?" In this case, the ____ was a vest. He had a wedding to attend and didn't want to wear a full jacket but wanted to still look sharp. I've never really paid much attention to whether or not some of my favorites carry men's vests, but I gave him the low-down (probably gave him way more info than he wanted) on where I would look. Later that evening, he sent me this email:

4 Vests for 27 bucks! A Banana Republic merino wool, a faux leather button snap, a paisley and this brown one! Thanks Value Village, Goodwill, and of course thrift fashion connector Terra!
-Gregg

A handsome man with some handsome vests.

Glad to help, Gregg. What great finds!

lamp

What do you get when you cross a golf bag, an umbrella and some lighting? Why, a golf bag lamp, of course! ;)

Whoo, that's a doozy!

Special thanks to my good friend, Janell for the find.

TMNT

Just a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Snuggy found at Goodwill.

Thrift found by A geeky Peacock
(Go check out her blog-for the cuteness of her adorable
little fur-baby if nothing else. Trust me!

Check out this thrift finders blog and/or Twitter feed

Shark Attack!

The same artist that does the "involuntary collaborations" also took this picture on a thrifting adventure.

Poor sharkey...

Involuntary Collaborations

Friends,

Have I got a post for you...

This artist buys paintings from thrift stores and adds to them-upcycling by adding monsters. I LOVE these!

I would call this one "Mediterranean Mud Monster"

Not hungry anymore...

Hilarious and creepy, at the same time.

Stinger

Thrift stores: Amazing places for costumes!

Here, we have another great find from the same Redditor that brought us the penguin mug.

Halloween is fast approaching and thrift stores can really carry some gems when it comes to kitting (or kilting?) yourself out.

This Redditor really has an eye for great thrift!

This dress is something any Ren Faire enthusiast would be jealous of. How much would you pay for this beautiful piece? Would you believe the price tag was 5 bucks?

Social penguins

Let me lay some internet education on ya:

Have you heard of memes? A lot of people I talk to apparently haven't heard of them. Reddit is rife with them. There's a set of penguin memes (socially awkward, socially awesome, fed up) and this next thrift find was entitled "My socially awkward thrift store purchase."

Special thanks to Redditor
RubberDogTurds for allowing us to
bask in the glory of her penguin mug. 

I thought it was mildly interesting. (Sometimes redditors joke about how Reddit has a "sub" for everything.

Narwhal Swayze

I've been a big fan of Reddit for the last few months and I've found a lot of the next submissions there. This one is kinda hilarious and a great buy! I would have spent 2 bucks on that!

Thrift find courtesy of this Reddit user

When I saw this "play set," I kind of thought of this scene:

Now I've had...the time of my life

Or, maybe this scene:

And, just for good measure, when I was trying to find those scenes, I stumbled upon this:

"Nobody puts Iron Man in a corner."

 There's also a video. You're welcome.

Fat Cat

Capsizing. Nuff said?

Photo courtesy of this Reddit user

Ernie the Eagle

You may have noticed that the mascot for this blog is a suited eagle. That's Ernie. I wish I could say that I bought Ernie when I had the chance. Alas, I did not. (Ernie is a Thrift Regret...) Maybe some day we'll meet up again. Until then, he'll keep you company while you're here.

This rare shot of Ernie was taken back when I didn't have my super fancy "Thrift Find" capturing technology (iPhone) and the photo really wasn't that great. (Another reason I wish I would have just bought Ernie all those years ago, but I digress...) So, my ridiculously talented co-worker, Danielle did some of her Photoshop black magic on Ernie and improved him immensely (as can be seen below.) Thanks, Danielle!

Before (below) and after-quite a
difference, huh? I also decided to be
a beggar and a chooser and asked her to
enhance the pinstripes (as can be seen
in the top photo.)

If you have some graphics work or photoshopping that needs to be done, you might consider Dany. She's AMAZING! (I asked her for a link to a portfolio, but she said she needs to update it. Until then, message me if you need to get in touch with her.)

Calling all math nerds

Don't you just LOVE seeing the antique versions of everyday things? It never even occurred to me that there were calculators, before there were calculators (not counting abacuses-I knew they existed!)

I remember my friend, Sarah, learning how to use a slide rule as a project in math when we were younger. I had never heard of the Addiator, though. Much less, seen one.

This find comes to us from my friend and colleague Melissa. When I told her I had finally started my second blog, after years of wanting to, she immediately mentioned this find that her friend had stumbled upon and snatched up (no Thrift Regret here!) Luckily Melissa and her friend were happy to share the find with us. I love some of the instructions that you can read in the photo. Made of long lasting metal!

Do you have a thrift find that you want to share? If so, email me a pic and a short description at thriftadrift@gmail.com

Las Vegas, indeed

If you know me on a personal level, you probably know my partner is from Vegas. I snapped this photo of an "antique" novel. I just really liked the titillating cover art. What happens in Vegas has apparently been staying in Vegas since the 70s.

Smells like Thrift Regrets

This next item definitely falls under the category of "Why oh why didn't I pick that up when I had the chance?" We will henceforth refer to them as Thrift Regrets. (Some day I'll have to tell you the story of the green suede shoes...)

Do any of you remember Teddy Ruxpin? He was, basically, an early Furby without the nightmares. (Seriously, even Wikipedia could only describe them as "hamster/owl-like creatures") I think whoever came up with Furbies ate too much pizza too late one night

Tap Your Feet to the Beat?
I don't think that's what grunge was about.

But, anywho... Teddy Ruxpin was a talking robotic bear that would "read" stories to you. I never had one-I think I was too old. (Actually, looks like I was about 8 in the heyday of Teddy Ruxpin, but I don't remember wanting one that badly...)

When I ran across this Teddy Ruxpin book, I thought it was hilarious. Who knew Teddy liked Grunge?

Cowboy UP!

There's not a lot to be said about this picture of my co-worker Gregg in this fabulous western shirt. If it hadn't been apparently 3 sizes too big for him, he would have bought it. 

*Sorry about the blur. I promise my photography skillz (and the technology I'm using to snap candid thrift store shots) has much improved since some of these early shots. 

Comming Soon

Comming* soon, indeed...

*If you know me personally, you know I can't stand typos. 

I do a lot of thrift store shopping and I've seen some CRAZY stuff along the way. I bet you have, too? Come along for the ride, enjoy the crazy stuff I've found and submit your own finds.