Those Are FREE? Really??

A few weeks back while I was picking up a silver creamer at a local second-hand store (a small shop that "de-clutters" people's homes and sells what they are given), I noticed a large trunk on the floor by the cashier. The lid was open and inside were bags, small boxes and tissue paper. A hand-written note taped to the trunk said "FREE!"

Awesome! So I began to dig around, finding it was filled with vintage Christmas items. I pulled out a swag of artificial pine greenery with ribbon, gold rope and pine cones. Next I spotted a toy wooden sled in a white plastic bag.

Then feeling guilty and a tad greedy, I realized perhaps I was only supposed to help myself to ONE item for free...

So I asked the lady at the register... "Should I only be taking one item?"

"Oh no, please take as much as you want. That's stuff that we can't sell as it is damaged. Help yourself to whatever you want!"

Wonderful! I told her I had a flashback to the kid's treasure trunk at Red Lobster - with me always reminding my daughter to take just ONE toy....

She laughed as I dug in once more to find this:

Yep. Tiny Japanese glass ornaments still in their original box and tissue... I was thrilled and a bit surprised they weren't in fact, damaged at all!

Then I read over at Denise's Spittin Toad blog her brilliant post about framing vintage ornaments. Perfect! What a great way to display these treasures!

I got out a shadow box frame I had brought home from Value Village a few months back - I knew I would find something neat to display in it.

So out poor Blue Boy went...

... and in went some scrapbook paper for a holiday background. Then I hung each ornament on gold thread after a small dab of E6000 glue was placed on the ornament caps to make sure they wouldn't slip off.

So for the just a few dollars for the frame, I have a great vintage Christmas decoration!

Thank you so much Denise for the inspiration!

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