Swedish Vase and Notions from Garage Sale!

I was driving along this weekend to my regular thrift stops when a Garage Sale sign called out to me. I screeched to a halt as I saw a little old lady just setting up shop.

The first thing I spotted was this beautiful little vase with crackled glass. The label read: Stockholms Glasbruk - Karin Hamar - Skansen. The ribbon around its neck is in the distinctive Swedish colours of blue and yellow.

When I came home, I did a little research with the info from the label, and it turns out that Stockholms Glassworks is an old Swedish company that specializes in handblown glass. This model is called the Lilia Skolvasen and was the first design manufactured by the company in 1933. Karin Hammar is the current designer at the company, and she is in fact the grand-daughter of the company's founder.

The seller also had a tin of notions and some wool yarn pieces that were in such beautiful colours I couldn't resist. I wish I were more crafty and able to do something interesting with these. More than likely I'll be giving them to my sister in law, who's great at crochet.

I love the variety and hidden surprises available at Garage Sales. The lady bagged my goodies into an old Woodward's Christmas-themed shopping bag. The Woodward's department store was known for their Christmas window displays, which ended when the company closed its doors for the last time in 1993.

I think my favourite find of the day has to be this delicate little glass vase. It is really a timeless look and I feel a bit bad that she only charged me 50¢ for it! I tried to make up for it by purchasing a couple knicknacks that were priced for more than they were worth...

Linking up with ATG's Thrift Share Monday and Her Library Adventures' Flea Market Finds!

MacDonald's Tobacco Tin of Buttons

I happened upon this great vintage cigarette tobacco tin the other day. It had an image of a lady with the MacDonald's brand reading "Gold Standard Export Cigarette Tobacco - Finest Virginia Leaf."

I've always loved old metal tins, especially now that so much of our packaging is made of lower quality plastics or cardboard. Vintage tins made in the past were often re-used rather than thrown away - My mom still keeps her little sewing kit in a vintage Quality Street candy tin with a beautiful image on the lid. This sounds silly, but even the sound of opening and closing a vintage tin is music to my ears.

When I opened up the lid on this tin, I realized that someone was using this tin to store goodies too. Inside was a collection of buttons, all carefully packaged by type and colour.

Although I don't know much about the company nor the tin itself, it appears it was made in Canada due to the note about "Montreal" on the side of the tin. This is a nice little piece that brought a comforting memory of a simple sewing kit to mind!

In hindsight however, this was a compulsive buy that I don't have much use for as I don't sew! If anyone is interested in trading with me, I'm open to ideas... my email is under the "About Me" tab!