More Thrifty Lamps...and a few buttons

I thought I'd show some thrifted lamps I've had a while as well as one I bought last week. Lamps are one of my weaknesses. This first one, some of you have seen before, but she's one of my faves. I found her in a junk store outside of Dallas, probably in the early '90s, stripped of all her lamp parts. She cost less than five dollars--$3.98 as I recall. I put her back together using items I found over the years. She's not what she once was but better than when I found her.

The next one also came from a store outside of downtown Dallas, probably bought about the same time as the first. It cost a whopping $5.98. (When I got it home, I found they originally priced it $15.98, but it was marked in grease pencil and had been smudged enough to where the first number was mistaken for a dollar sign.) I believe it's marble. (I wanted it to be alabaster, but wanting doesn't change a ding-dong thing, does it?) The shade's a cheapie I picked up at Walmart about ten years ago, painted with dots, and added some welting. (I'm a dotty kind of person--I still like it.)

I'm always on the lookout for lamps, even though I don't need them and have a couple of beauties stuck in my closet and another couple in a storage unit. When my sisters and I went away last spring--we try to go away together every year--I found this next lamp in a thrift store in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. (I love visiting thrift stores when I travel!) This one was also sans shade--most thrift store finds are--but I had one I picked up some time back, which I think goes well with it.

Last week, on my way to have lunch with my sis and my SIL, I stopped off at a local thrift store. I have to tuck money away in pockets and hideaways in my bag just for occasions like this. I never carry a checkbook and most thrift stores don't take credit cards so last week I was glad I had a couple of twenties stashed away. I spent every nickel.

As I said, I don't need more lamps, especially pink ones, but I love glass lamps, and this one was just  $8, and she had her own shade. How could I walk away? .

Another of my weaknesses is buttons. And on the same thrift store drop-in, I found 3 jars of nice  vintage buttons. 

The above shot is after I separated them into colors. These I intended to add to jars I already had of each color so I photographed them on my work table. See the ones in front? Those are crocheted. I think they're really cool, though I can't imagine what I'll do with them. There are seven: three gold, two green, one blue and one yellow. Maybe I'll close a pillow with them all marching across the flap.

The three jars to the right of the picture above are the containers that came with the buttons. They were filled to the brim. Into these jars, I put the white, black, brown, and gray colors. The whites are gorgeous! Lots of MOP (mother-of-pearl) and some interesting shapes. The blacks and browns and grays are nice too, some quite large as if they were used on coats.

I also picked up a couple of sweaters marked 50% off, making one a whopping $3 and this one below $2.75! The first was a 100% merino wool, which I've already felted. This was the other.

I think it'll make a terrific pillow for the fourth of July!

I'm linking to Coastal Charm's second Nifty Thrifty Tuesday.