Lady Bug Circus

Tin Lust

Okay so isn't this a great haul? I'm taking a class for my job and there are these thrift stores near by. Yesterday during my lunch break I scored all of these and many were half price! I can hardly wait to start cutting them up. 

Oddly Compelling

 

These sorts of items, figurines(?), aren't typically my sort of thing, but when I found these two at a thrift store ($1.99) I couldn't resist. They go along somehow with the tin piece I did of the two women dancing.I like that they are barefoot and collecting flowers. I do wonder why the one is staring at the other's collar bone.

There's a Reason For Everything

Once a week the up scale retirement community where I work opens it's doors to a private thrift shop. They call it Flea Market Mondays. I scored some great tin today. I am so loving my new job. Who knew that a driving job could be so fabulous. Now I understand why the other job I was hoping for didn't pan out.

Sets My Heart a Flutter

Look at this tin, doesn't he have the best face?

He was in a batch of 7 tins I bought on Ebay for $4.

As far as I can tell, it's new and from France. I would LOVE to have more. Anyone planning on a trip there anytime soon? SPF? Anyone?

Tin Possibilities

Look how great a thermos looks when you take it apart, which by the way is so easy to do. The whole thing just unscrews, be careful not to drop the glass inside. It pops and shatters like crazy. Then cut down the seam and viola.There are so many great designs out there and you can pick them up for cheap at the thrift stores.Another great place to look is the Goodwill Outlet if you have one in your city. Also don't over look the suit case section. Sometimes you can find kid's trunks, in great colors that offer nice big pieces of flat tin, for around $7 to $10. The hardware on them is pretty great too and can be used as well. Happy hunting.

Great Mail Day

Look at the fabulous tin. Elizabeth, over at Elizabeth Holcombe, sent me these swell treasures.I have many Chinese checker games but none are as dreamy as this one. Imagine my surprise and delight after a long day of driving the bus to find a package on the dining room table containing the very items that make me happy, oh so very happy. Thank you Elizabeth, you made my week.

They are too good to cut up and must be added to the save collection. It's my fantasy to open a museum of tin. It would be a treat for the eyes.

Too Good to Cut Up

There is tin I save and tin I cut up. The problem is, in looking for tin to cut up I find tin to save.

Thermos' offer nice sheets of tin for cutting up, but who could stand to cut this one up? It even has it's original cork that is stamped with the Thermos Brand stamp. $2 at Good will.

Here are some more tins that are to be saved. Looking at them gives me a thrill. Rearranging them is fun  too.The green one with polka-dots on the middle shelf is one from Kerry H.

A Box of Treasure

Some Pink Flowers  introduced me to Rochambeau via her blog and although we have never met look at the sweet box of tin that Constance of Rochambeau has sent. This is the second time she has done this. In this box there's a small red tea tin, an old hand wax tin, a flowery candy tin and a tin that has parrots on it and some Mexican Folk Art tin decorations. Marvelous booty for my latest obsession.

Constance  has a marvelous blog and makes the most wonderful handbags and dolls. They are wonderful little creatures with magical spirits, much like their creator.Thank you, dear Constance.

Gathering with Kerrie H.

Yesterday was amazing. Like something in a dream. I spent the day with Kerrie H. and she showed me her favorite places to find the good stuff. Look at all the tin I scored. I am out of my mind with glee.

So many wonderful patterns and images.

And this little guy is something that crossed my path on the way to pick Kerrie H. up.

The studio is beginning to really pile up with tin. It's so delicious!

Dentures as collectables

Okay, so this seems like an odd collection. In a way, it started when my mother was dying. She was in the hospital and my father took her dentures to the bathroom to wash them. When he came out he had the upper half in his mouth and was doing his best impression of Charlie Chan. It was my mother's last great laugh. Tears were streaming down our faces. At the funeral home they gave my father her dentures in a plastic container and he put them in a cupboard in the guest bath where I found them and kept them. The other set I "found" at a flea market in the Mother Lode of California last summer when my sister and I were back for a family reunion in Mariposa.They were $2. The dentist model was at Value Village yesterday for $3.99. It has the word crest on top.

Mom died 29 years ago this week and I still think of her every day.

PS.Thanks to SPF for the enlarging of the photo suggestion.