Found Treasures: A Little Thrifting in Utah
Old paper, forgotten photographs, and a few wonderful things waiting to be found.
One of my favorite things about traveling is finding a little time to wander through a thrift store or antique shop. I never really know what I am looking for when I walk through the door—and I think that is part of the fun.
On this trip through Utah, I came home with a small collection of things that immediately caught my eye: an old patterned necktie, vintage books, family photographs, sweet old greeting cards, a cookbook, and several unusual little paper pieces.
Some will probably find their way into future journals or creative projects. Others may simply stay in my collection for a while, waiting until they tell me what they want to become.
A Few Finds from Goodwill in Orem
The first stop was Goodwill in Orem, Utah, where I found two things that were very different from one another but equally difficult to leave behind.
This tie was one of those pieces I noticed immediately. The warm gold and brown scrollwork has such a wonderful old-fashioned feel. Textiles like this are especially fun because they can become so many things—a fabric accent, a journal embellishment, a pocket, a trim, or simply inspiration for a future color palette.
Then there was this wonderful old music book, The Fireside Book of Fun & Game Songs. I loved it before I even opened the cover, but the inside made it even better.
The pages are filled with sheet music and charming illustrations. It is exactly the sort of book I love finding because even a single page can inspire an entire journal spread. Music paper, old typography, and whimsical drawings all have such a natural place in collage and junk journaling.
A spiral-bound community-style cookbook filled with recipes and wonderfully nostalgic design.
The cookbook may be one of my favorite finds from the day.
It is titled Favorite Recipes from Our House to Yours, and between the spiral binding, illustrated section dividers, handwritten feel, and traditional recipes, it has exactly the sort of character that new books rarely have.
Old cookbooks are especially interesting creative resources. They contain typography, food illustrations, recipe language, page tabs, and everyday domestic history all in one place.
Treasure Hunting at Confetti Antiques & Books
My other finds came from Confetti Antiques & Books in Spanish Fork, Utah. This was the kind of place where I could happily spend a long time looking through small stacks, boxes, and forgotten bits of paper.
I have always been drawn to old photographs. There is something quietly fascinating about photographs that have become separated from the families who once knew every name and every story.
These came with old handwritten identification cards, which makes them even more special. Names, dates, and little notes transform them from anonymous faces into fragments of real family history.
I may use copies of some of these in future artwork rather than altering the originals. Sometimes the history of a piece makes me want to preserve it exactly as I found it.
And then I found these wonderful old Father's Day cards.
The illustrations, lettering, colors, and unusual shapes are exactly the sort of vintage paper pieces that stop me in my tracks. They have so much personality. Even the slightly sentimental sweetness of them feels like part of another era.
Pieces like these are wonderful references for color combinations, character design, paper engineering, and vintage-inspired journal pages.
The Best Part of Found Things
I think what I love most about found treasures is that they arrive with a history already attached to them.
A tie was once chosen to wear somewhere. Someone turned the pages of the songbook. Families kept those photographs. A child gave one of those cards to her father. Someone cooked from the recipes in that little book.
By the time these things reach us, we may not know every part of their story—but we get the chance to appreciate them, preserve them, and sometimes give them a new chapter.
I already have a few ideas for how some of these Utah finds might make their way onto my worktable.
And that may be my favorite part of treasure hunting: you never really know what one small forgotten object might inspire next.
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