thrift share #4

Got out to the flea market this week, which was excellent. I think that is my favorite place to thrift, even though I'm more likely to find valuable things at estate sales. For some reason, I only find maybe three estate sales a month, even though I'm in the bay area, which of course is heavily populated. I must be missing something.

But the flea market is like going to 1,000 garage sales at once. And if you keep going, you start to get to know all the vendors, and then they start to like you, and hopefully give you a better deal! One guy last week even gave me a pastry after we had talked for a while. The guys are so cool there!

The first thing I came across was this vintage glass cutter.

I wasn't actually that excited that it was vintage, though that does add to its charm! But I know that specialty crafting tools can be expensive, so for about $1, I was willing to give this a try. It looks like it hasn't been used at all! Really great shape.

I found this guy and was immediately drawn to his face.

Mostly because he wasn't cheesy looking, but authentic and crafty. He's in great shape, just a small hole in his sack, and the tag is labeled 1978. The girls, when they saw him, wanted to go put him down in our Christmas boxes. I think they've taken a liking to him! How can you not? His face is very genuine.

Then it was off to the super-cheap booth. Everything there is 10 cents or 25 cents and the big-ticket items are $1. Thought they did have some new 20-quart cooking pots they were selling for $8. I almost got one as the husband needs one to help collect honey from his hives, and it's much harder to find pots for super-cheap than I expected. But since he doesn't need it until next harvest season, I was just annoyed with the idea of carrying it around and storing it.

Anyway! The booth is cheap, but of course it's mostly crap. I do usually find one or two things though, including a Christmas craft book and these vintage baby shower plates:

Very cute design, and for 10 cents, it's hard to pass them up! I wonder if anyone would actually be interested in buying them, though.

Hit another moderately-priced booth, and found some breakable things!

I quite liked this cup and saucer for the shape and design, and when I noticed it was made in Germany, that sealed the deal. I have German roots, so I have a soft spot for anything from that area. It joined me along with these three collectible plates.

The are actually miniature plates, and all tied together so they hang in a chain on the wall. They don't really seem related, however. Even the markings on the back are all different. But the illustrations were appealing, as well as the mini cuteness! I got all this breakable stuff for $4, and afterward, I wish I had tried to go down to $3, which I think I could have gotten. But, eh, sometimes in the madness of thrifting you forget to bargain.

I also picked up some clothes for the new baby when he arrives ($2), a set (complete!) of vintage sheets for the guest bed ($4) which I had been looking for, and a couple Cooshee Boosters for $3 each. I had always wanted that booster, even though my two kids don't even use them anymore, and thought at least I could leave them at the grandparents' house or something. But it looks like they do pretty well on eBay, so I'm going to give them a try there.

Unfortunately, I could only stay there for a little over an hour, which is so hard! The market is huge, it would probably take me six to seven hours to go through all of it. Usually I can spend two or three, and that makes me pretty happy. After a while I do get sick of digging through so much stuff.

Walking through the booths I didn't get a chance to look through on my way out was so difficult! It's a great place.

Linking up to Apron Thrift Girl's thrift share monday.