Thrifted Finds | Archive box, Owls and a fat Buddhas

Time for a thrifty post, don’t you think?!

Mom thrifted this box for me. It’s a little archive box that is so handy to have! I really like the size and the patterned paper on it, I’m filling it with small pieces of collage ephemera. Neat-o!

The inside of the Archive Box. No labels yet, I don’t know if I will add any – I tend to always shift the use of each compartment and then the labels only confuse me…

A doll head mom bought for me.

The Thrifted Finds

At the same flea market mom thrifted a small box of wool embroidery floss and a doll head, one of those vintage plastic once that are so scary… I love it! But what to do with it? I haven’t decide yet and I imagine it will be laying on a storage box for a few months until I can come up with a fun project. I’m thinking something on the wall actually, a alter art piece perhaps? Hmm…

I’ve haven’t been to that many thrift stores lately, but I thought I’d post the finds I’ve done today anyway. A pink plastic frame that was too good to pass for example. I love the color and shape of this one. I need to create something special for the inside. I don’t think I’ve ever created a piece of art for a special frame, but inspiration can come from anywhere so why not a frame?

Vintage stool embroidery. So beautiful!

Embroidered doilies, a bag of white buttons (I can never have to many white buttons) and a candle holder owl in the unlikely but fun color orange. I see owls everywhere in the thrift shop and I try not to take all of them with me home. But sometimes I’m weak and I can’t resist those big begging eyes…

And yet another one:

Carved wood owl that is a pen mug. Just look at those beautiful eyes, could you have resisted taking him home and letting him hold your favorite pens? I couldn’t. I wouldn’t. I picked him up super cheap and I will give him a good home. I was thinking that I don’t like the wood color and that I would paint him (white) but now I don’t know… Maybe I’ll ruin it?

Some more thrifted second hand finds…

A vintage photo album that I have no idea how to use or what to do with. I just thought it was to bad that it would stay in the shop. I don’t like that kind of shopping, but sometimes I fall for that line in my head: “I’ll buy it and see later” even though I know I don’t really want to use it. The book Lusten att skapa (the urge to create) is about how to encourage children to paint and the bag of tickets was one of my favorite finds in quite a while! That little plastic bag is filled with a whole life’s collection of tickets! It’s an amazing collection ranging 50 years back! I’m scanning a few of them and will post another blog post about this collection soon.

Buddha! I had to take a photo of these to guys together, they look like they are dating or something… They are mom’s find and mom’s keeping them. Personally I prefer the slim Buddha that they make and pray to in Thailand. The fat Buddha is from China and mom adores him! Maybe that says something about our personality too. I know that the essence of his teachings is beautiful, how ever they sculpt him, and it’s something I want to learn more about in the coming years.

A huge book of birds! The images inside are amazing and I’m planning to do bigger mixed media pieces with these images. A cool background and one of the birds as focal point, I think it could look really nice… If only I had the space and time to start this project today! Plus a English book about calligraphy. I just like the handwritten pages. I haven’t decided if it’s a bookshelf book or a mixed media backgrounds book yet… Or both, first the first option and then I’ll “recycle” it later.

Lastly a napkin holder with round holes that I think is rather ugly but could become something really fun with some decoupage and paint. I bought it just to play with it, I’ll see what I end up with!

So, that’s it for today. Doesn’t it seam like it will be a fun day when I get around to these items? Reading that book, cutting out some birds, painting the napkin holder… But I know myself so I won’t promise it will happen this year! ;-) The last days of this year is passing by very quickly, don’t you think? What do we need to do until January 1th 2009? I need to start writing that list today!

Take care and see you soon!