You made them all fit right in Jane, they look wonderful! Yep, the bunny is for anytime of the year, he's darling. These ironstone pieces sure go well with your red/white too. Wish I had a basement too, although Kathleen oftens moans about having to carry things up and down her's. I still remember when Judith was going to put storage shelves in her garage for the "overflow", remember? Luvs

Hey Luvs, that little Snowman is wonderful for your collection. Very cute. I guess we twinned on stuff. LOL. I discovered thrift shopping same way you did, and been hooked since too. Those addictive Totems really hooked us!! They are as dangerous as Judith's stacked plates. I need to take photos, when I stopped in GW the other day, they had lots of Xmas things out already! I saw a wonderful Snowman cookie jar for my collection, it was marked at $10 and worth it to me. But I made myself leave it...for a few minutes. Just as I was getting ready to leave, they announced ALL XMAS was 75% off. WooooHoooo!!! I got my cookie jar for $2.50. In the box and new condition. And I got a cute Noel sign for a dollar, two boxes of ornaments for .75 each. A Xmas Kitty cup for .20. And a lovely lead crystal sleigh for a dollar. I was practically grinning from ear to ear all the way out the door. I'd only gone in to get some books and never expected to hit the jackpot. The previous week was super too. I had an errand to run and stopped in a different GW to look around. Saw a gorgeous sofa table, the kind with the Queen Anne ?curved legs. Exactly the style I'd wanted. The top had 4 glass panels. Excellent condition, and it was marked at $40. I've wanted a sofa table for years but never wanted to spend the money when I didn't really 'need' one. Well no way was I leaving that table behind. I hadn't noticed when I went in that it was HALF off day, so I got my table for $20. So Goodwill sure was good to me recently, and I needed a little self-pampering. LOL. I'll get photos on in the next day or two. hugs, Karen

"If I could only loose this sparetire !!! " OMG!! Now I have to wipe off the monitor!! The keyboard too!! I HAVE A THEME!! I HAVE A THEME!! I looked WWWAAAYYY back on an old thread and a little something my swapper posted about 3 years ago caught my eye and it has nothing to do with mice, frogs, crocs or the feet of any animal LOL!! I know where to buy the main item and the rest I will leave up to chance when I go out shopping this weekend. The 3 item rule is one I have trouble following (my bad) but I promise to do my best-scouts honor!! LOL Cheers! Susie

Gram, I just bought some small paper doilies. I'm trying to make some "wooden" valentines cookies with different "toppings" on them. Wanted them to look like the ones Minnie postefd on the crafts or holidays forum. (Her's are real.) Thought I would use a doily as a stencil on a couple of them. Make them look like I sprinkled powdered sugar on them. I think I've stenciled over a doily before but it would have been eons ago! I have seen lace used on projects and it looked beautiful--just haven't had occassion to try it myself. Probably wouldn't want to ruin the piece of lace--I love lace! Ha ha I have some old bottles of texture paste, so I used some of it to ice a few of the "cookies" last night. The one product really looked like icing! Sure hope nobody picks one up when I am not looking--wouldn't want anyone to break a tooth! LOL Not sure this project will be worth all the cutting and sanding--but decorating them is sort of fun! I think my post about the painting roses on suitcases video is on the Trash to Treasure forum. This suitcase was only 99 cents, so figured "Why not"? I often want to try things--but then have no place to use them. I used to let that stop me, but now I figure I will just do it and enjoy myself. I can always have a YS or donate it to Goodwill, right? Paintingfool, Bet that was a good book. I have a couple of magazines with painted teapots in them. I've also seen some on ebay and on some of the Shabby Chic sites. I am sort of curious about this one--the metal is different from most that i have seen--not copper but very gold colored. It's really heavy and the inside is beautiful. We use Maas polish on the silver and pewter items at the store--so I think I will try that on this one. Just want to see if I might have found a diamond in the rough! LOL If it doesn't clean up and look good, then I will spray paint it and paint some roses on it. What a great idea with the bowls. Bet they are wonderful. That sounds like challenging painting too. You are just amazing. I think it is so fun to hit a YS or TS and look for things to revitalize with paint. That duck I found has to be from the 80's. I think I have a painting book with a whole bunch of them in it. For 55 cents, I couldn't not give him a 2nd lease on life. I think I will sand him off and repaint him--he'll add a little whimsey in my sideyard flowerbed. Happy painting! Luvs