My friend opK and I headed into the wilds of Wisconsin for some thrifting last week.  Well, OK, we were just over in New Richmond, but to me it feels a bit like another world over there.

Anyway, as seems to be the trend lately, it was nearly a complete bust.

We went into one shop where the prices were ridiculously high.  The first thing I picked up was a silver salt & pepper set.  I was considering adding it to my very small non-collection …

But when I saw the price tag of $85 (yes!  you read that right), I put it right back down.

I will admit, I didn’t look closely enough to determine if they were sterling or just silver plate,  but even if they were sterling that seemed like an awfully high price for a thrift store.  They must be doing their pricing research on Chairish or eBay.

Also, I should note that I personally don’t care whether they are sterling or not even though I know it impacts the value.

I’ve chosen the ones that I have based on how pretty they are and I usually pick them up for less than $10.

We did eventually end up at River Revival Thrift in Star Prairie, and I found a couple of goodies.

Namely an ironstone sugar bowl that is missing its lid, and a vintage book.

I like the sugar bowl as an option for holding things like a handful of old paintbrushes …

but it would also work well for pens, scissors or silverware.

I picked up the vintage book because I thought the title, The Black Cat, would be perfect for Halloween.  I love the idea of giving a subtle nod to holiday decorating without being overt and this book paired with some apothecary style bottles works for me.

The only other thing I picked up that day was this pile of books.

River Revival Thrift charges .99 for hardcover books, compared to my local Goodwill where they are $2.49 each.  So I grabbed a few to paint up.

I painted the first three books in Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth.  To do this I simply open the books and place them face down on my worktable (a.k.a. my piano) and paint the covers with a brush.  I sometimes can get away with just two coats, but painting the Drop Cloth over a book that is black (or in this case one was yellow) takes three coats.

I don’t do any prep at all, well, unless you count removing the paper dust jackets if they have one.  I guess I should mention that just in case anyone is confused.

I also think that a chalk style paint like the Dixie Belle chalk mineral paint is best for this.

Next I added some typography using the I.O.D. Ephemeral Type stamps with VersaFine Clair in in Morning Mist which is a medium grey.  I gave the ink a little time to set up, about as long as it took me to do the breakfast dishes.

I followed that up with a gorgeous floral from the I.O.D. Madeleine transfer.

After applying some of Dixie Belle’s clear wax to protect the paint and transfer, I gathered the books together with a pretty purple velvet ribbon.

I then decided to go with black on the 2nd set of three books, so they each got two coats of Dixie Belle’s Caviar.

They also got one of the bouquets from the Madeleine transfer, but rather than stamping them I added some gold text from the I.O.D. Étiquettes gilded transfer.

After adding a coat of wax and another velvet ribbon, this set was ready to go too.

I will likely take these into the shop, but probably not until I return from my next trip to visit my mom which is coming up this week.  This time around my sister is joining me.  To be honest, we don’t have much planned other than visiting with mom and enjoying the Las Vegas sunshine.  Hopefully we can get in a little hiking either around Lake Mead or possibly at Red Rock Canyon.

Unfortunately I wasn’t able to come up with any blog posts to schedule in advance, so you won’t be hearing from me for the next two weeks.  However, I’ll be returning home to garage sale season and gardening season, plus lots of prep for another Carriage House Sale that I’m planning for June 4 and 5.  So be sure to stay tuned!