Fall Finds

Turning leaves, the trumpet vine's shriveling blooms, the early setting sun... it seems my yard is full of evidence that Fall has truly arrived. Now, thanks to my latest thrift finds, so is my closet :)

While "camping", Lucas' sister Zoe (also and avid thrifter) and I, hit up a Goodwill in Santa Barbara as well as a cool thrift store called Alpha Thrift in the town of Goleta. Alpha Thrift was huge and had quite a vintage selection. Unfortunately, they also priced many of their vintage pieces accordingly, but still there were good deals to be had.

I lost my receipt from the Goodwill, and there were no price tags on the clothes so sorry no prices for those items. I know I didn't pay more that six bucks for any single item though.


Large vintage Missoni Sport sweater vest (I'm all about the sweater vests for Fall layering) - $3.50 (Alpha Thrift, half-off) and cute lil' Japanese print scarf (I suggest enlarging it to get the full effect of how neat the print really is) - $1.50 (Alpha Thrift). I found these two items completely separately in different locations of the store and was floored by how perfectly the colors go together!


Vintage cardigan - $9.99 (Alpha Thrift). This was actually a bit pricey for me. Usually $10 is kind of my unspoken max when thrifting clothing. So this one just squeaked in, I went back and forth with myself a little then just decided to get it. I love gray and found the design interesting and appealing. Besides, I was on vacation and feeling a bit loose with my money ;)

Small vintage sweater vest, it has little difficult-to-see perforated hearts connecting the diamonds - Santa Barbara Goodwill.

Large woven basket of awesomeness - $3.93 (Alpha Thrift). This find was really cool because Zoe and I had just been in a weird little quasi-thrift shop in Santa Barbara that was filled with really tacky stuff donated new from other retailers. There was hardly anything second hand in the shop and the only thing I saw that I liked was one of these baskets but it was $29 which is not far off from what they cost new, so I passed. I was so excited when I found this one hiding in the back of Alpha Thrift for just under $4! I love the colors and these baskets are so great for storage.


Plaid wool blazer - Santa Barbara Goodwill. Slowly adding to my budding collection of Fall plaids :)


Cozy oversized vintage cardi with neck tie - Santa Barbara Goodwill.

Medium sized vintage mixing bowl with anchor motif - $4.94 (Alpha Thrift). The underside says "TEPCO Verified China Made in U.S.A." and it's quite heavy. I have a thing for vintage bowls and I LOVE the little blue anchor on this one!


I found this set of vintage German puzzle blocks at an antique shop in Cambria. They come with pictures of the 6 different fairytale pictures that can be made. The illustrations are adorable and the whole set is in near perfect condition, so $16.50 seemed like a pretty good deal to me. Now I just have to keep them out of Clover's reach until she's old enough to play without destroying them. We've still got a ways to go ;)

I got these old fashioned bathing beauties postcards on sale in a little shop in Santa Barbara. They weren't thrifted, I got them new, and they're more Summer than Fall-themed but I'm sneaking them in anyway because I think they're pretty cool and I only paid 50 cents each for them :D

I also did some thrifting just before leaving to go on our trip:


High-waist vintage tapestry skirt (those colors!) - $3 (Salvation Army, half-off) and vintage red leather Dior belt - 75 cents (Salvation Army, half-off).


Corduroy vest - $1 (Hospice Thrift).

Vintage boots - $4 (Salvation Army, half-off). These boots are fuzzy on the inside and made of some sort of rubbery faux leather material (kind of a cross between a leather boot and a wellie). There's a tag inside one that says "Jewel Tone Originals". As they're marked guaranteed waterproof on the bottoms, I'm pretty excited about these as my cozy winter rainboots :)

Vintage wool skirt - $3 (Salvation Army, half-off). This skirt is such a classic, I love those three side pleats and that it still has its belt! I think it will be really cute with my new rain boots, some tights and a nice cozy cardi :)


Vintage top - ? lost tag (Salvation Army, half-off). I love this print and the tie sleeves too.

Ok, now I say let the layering begin!

Teacups Revisited

My very first post was about teacups and how I wanted to try to repurpose some of mine as they do not see much actual tea action (not much meaning none). So I finally got around to dusting some of them off and sprucing them up. While I didn't attempt anything too challenging, I'm pleased with how they turned out:

This is my lazy but still pretty version of the teacup candle idea. The clear depression glass cup is perfect for floating a single lotus flower candle and the tiny pair of pink and green demitasse cups (I buy them because they are too cute not to, but do people really drink out of these?) are the perfect size to use as tea light votives.

I'm especially proud of my variation on the teacups as planters idea and these tiny succulents look perfect in my set of retro cups.

I'm thinking table centerpiece with the three succulent cups perched atop an amazing cake plate. I've always wanted a cake plate, I don't know why as I rarely bake (rarely meaning almost never). Something like my dream cake plate from Etsy seller witney smith pottery would be perfect... love that little bird!!! But lets be real, for $58 that's not going to happen. Oh well, now I have something new to look for on my next trip to the thrift store.

"Teacups"

They say write about what you know, so here goes. My name is Missa. I live about one hour north of San Francisco. I love thrifting. I have a husband named Lucas who is wonderful in every way, but unfortunately does not share this love. Often when I leave the house I hear these words: "Don't bring home any teacups!" "Teacups" has become a catchall term with us, as I will admit to having a weakness for decorative dishware among other things that rarely if ever serve any functional purpose in our lives. These are some of the lovely culprits responsible for turning "teacups" into a derogatory word. I also have a 5 month old daughter named Clover who I plan to one day turn into my partner in crime. Sorry Lucas...

In all honesty, I never drink tea out of my teacups. I'm actually more of a mug girl (but that's for another day). I decided to look into ways of repurposing my teacups so they don't just end up sitting on a shelf looking pretty and collecting dust. These were some of the ideas that I liked.

Via Martha Stewart clockwise here, here, here, and here.

Via WebGardenGuide.

I am in love with this pincushion available for $9.00 on Etsy from Pincushion Alley.

My plan for a future post is to incorporate some of these ideas into transforming my own teacups into something functional that even Lucas might approve of. So stay tuned, we'll see how it goes.