Finger on the Pulse

Always love it when I can think of myself ahead of a trend.  Last month's issue of Country Home magazine featured vintage Paint By Number paintings as highly collectible (not that Country Home is at the forefront of trendsetting, but still...)  My daughter has a wall in her bedroom devoted to vintage paintings and other artwork (like cross stitch and needlepoint) featuring animals.  She has quite a few Paint-by-Numbers up there already.  Last week I spotted this pair shown above at the Goodwill store.  At $8.49 a piece, I thought they were a bit pricey, but anything for my daughter...  When I got to the checkout, I realized one was missing the glass from the frame.  Not really a deal breaker, but I pointed it out to the cashier.  She said the $8.49 price tag must be wrong, managed to find a $2.99 on the edge of one frame (clearly peeled off from another item) and charged me $2.99 a piece.  Thank you Goodwill!  And Country Home editors, start reading my blog!

Love My Smartphone Apps!

One of my favorite things about thrifting is trying to find out just what some strange object is.  And I've found my Droid can be paritcularly helpful.  My most used app is called Pocket Auctions. I use it to search eBay for items I'm wondering about as I stroll the aisles of Savers.  Another super cool app I just discovered (quite by accident as my 7-year old aparently downloaded it) is called Goggles.  Take a photo of what you're interested in , connect it to Goggles and it will search the Web for a matching image.  I used it for this treasure I've shown above, but came up empty-handed.  Guess I shouldn't have been surprised as this shirt is clearly a unique item! I'm certain it's worth a mint.  Why, it even has the Twin Towers featured in the background!  That coupled with it's fabulous neon green color is sure to make it a collector's dream come true.  Just what type of collector I'm not too sure. The shirt is a child's size medium.  I'm thinking some retro hipster shacking up in Brooklyn might want it, but it's probably too small. 

But I digress.  Back to my search to track down info. on this gem.  The shirt is by K.A.D. Clothing Co. and I found some items by this maker on eBay, but nothing as fabulous as this.  I was sure the Gotham goons featured on the shirt are some classic characters, so, while lying in bed at 9:30 p.m. I texted my nephew in L.A. (a comic book afficianado) with the photo.  Two minutes later I got a response--basically the equivalent of "get with the program Auntie, these thugs are so not anyone special." I chalked up his reply to his inability to spot something truly cool--he's been away from N.Y.C. for too long.

Bottom line, I still haven't found out much about the shirt.  But it was fun trying!  Now it's up on eBay waiting for the right, pint-sized trendsetter to find it.

Look High, Look Low

Well, the kids have been busy this weekend thanks to mom's forray into the Hospice Shop of Northhampton, Mass.  Stopped in there on Friday during a trip to pick up my nephew at Amherst.  I immediately followed one of the standard thrifting rules--look high, look low.  Just love it when the rules really work!  There on the floor below a clothing rack was a plastic bag filled with Lego.  Actually, it was filled with the base plates which are exactly what we've been looking for and my girls have been fighting over for months.  "I can't build a house because SHE won't give me a base!"  You get the picture.

No price on the bag, but I picked it up anyway.  Then noticed the plastic briefcases next to the bag were also Lego.  All five of them.  And not just any Lego, but mid-eighties (qualifying as vintage by eBay standards) Lego.  I showed the bag to the manager and asked for a price.  Turns out it hadn't been priced yet as one of the workers just brought it in.  I paid $36 for the whole kit and caboodle. 

Two days later my daughters are still having fun sorting through it all.  And I've discovered Lego cases are like the child's version of a sewing box--you never know what you'll find inside.  So far, we've uncovered a 1980s soccer-playing Smurf, a vintage Fisher Price Little People chair, assorted miniature Dungeons and Dragons figures, and miscellaneous Monopoly pieces. 

By the way, the odd and damaged Vilebrequin swim trunks sold for $11.50.