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Showing posts with label Thrift store. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Thrift store. Show all posts

Thursday, November 5, 2015

Thrifting

I've been a long time fan of thrift stores. 

When I was younger, like as in grade school, I occasionally went to one with my mom or grandma. We usually looked at clothes and knick knacks. 

In high school my artsy friend Connie and I started taking evening 'trips' to thrift stores in different towns (whoa) in search of retro shirts & dresses. We went through a phase where we thought wearing old patterned polyester men's shirts in art class was super cool!

Then when Matt and I lived in Florida we started going to every thrift store we could find (no kids! tons of free time!) in search of awesome vinyl records and mid century/vintage type furniture. It was a fun pastime for us. We'd go to the beach, stop at a beach bar for a drink, check out a thrift store, and head home to peace and quiet. So rough it was!

When we moved back to Wisconsin I'd say the thrift store trips got put on hold a bit. We worked on our home, had two kids and now we're pretty darn busy. But lately I've been sneaking out to some thrift stores with Chloe, while Liam is at 3K, in search of some long lost treasures.

I truly believe that one person's 'trash' can become another person's 'treasure.'

I thought I'd share with you the few & very inexpensive 'treasures' that Chloe and I found earlier this week at our local St. Vincent de Paul store.


So I saw this little minty deer and fell instantly in love! He had a broken neck at some point (poor little guy) but he's mended and I just love his vintage vibe. He will look great somewhere in  my kitchen.

And he's multi purpose! He can be used as a little planter. He was .99 cents. 

A cute new hat for Chloe. Only .50 cents. And guess what? We already lost the hat while out for a stroller walk today! So it goes to show you that it's worth getting a cheap brand new hat at a thrift store for your kid, because more than likely they'll lose it the next day anyways :)

I'm trying to think ahead this year a bit in terms of shopping for the kiddos for Christmas. The store had an entire book shelf dedicated to kids' holiday books. So I found a few that were basically brand new and they'll probably be getting them from us St. Nicholas. This one was .79 cents (instead of $9.99 brand new).

This one was .39 cents. Chloe will love it.

 This one was .99 cents (instead of $13.99). Liam will love it.

And these were a total of $1.47. These kept Chloe busy in the shopping cart while at the store.

Grand total spent at this thrift store run: $5.13

Not too bad for 6 books, an Erin-fabulous decor item and a hat that's already lost :)
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Tuesday, January 28, 2014

A sleek wreath


This month's Crafty Club was hosted by my friend Erin, and wow did she go all-out on preparing for this craft! We made some shabby chic style wreaths and I think they turned out great. 

Erin purchased smaller Styrofoam craft wreaths at Hobby Lobby, and then created some larger/wider Styrofoam wreaths using pool noodles & duct tape (very creative I must say). She let us choose between a smaller or larger wreath. I chose to make a smaller/narrower one. 

Erin bought an assortment of yarns for us to wrap around the wreaths. I chose the three colors below: grey, a mustardy yellow and white.


And then we started wrapping and hot gluing....and wrapping....

....and wrapping some more....

 ....until I got the whole thing wrapped up!

Sarah added a little chevron section to her wreath. Love it.

For the finishing touch, Erin showed us how to create flowers using strips of burlap. I chose to use grey and off-white burlap. Then I glued them onto my wreath in a cute little bunch.

Andi, so proud of her wreath :)

Janine showing off her masterpiece....

Finishing up....at 11:00 at night!
Time flies by when you're having fun.

Here's my finished wreath, with flowers and all. I haven't decided where I'm going to hang it yet or how I'm going to hang it. One of my options is to use this cute little chevron burlap ribbon, below:

Or a wider chevron burlap, like this:

I'm sure it will take me FOREVER to decide where to hang it (or set it) because that's just how I am. But once I do decide I'll be sure to post a photo of it!

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Sunday, May 19, 2013

Glass and goop

I recently started a craft club with some of my girlfriends in Sheboygan. The purpose of the club is for us to be able to get away from our homes (and our chaotic lives) once a month and do something crafty and creative! 

On one Monday each month one of us will host the club at our house. The host decides what craft to do, buys the materials and then instructs the craft. We also have drinks and dessert (both are mandatory of course).

I hosted the first official craft night two weeks ago and I think it was a success! We enjoyed crafting and talking, and had some drinks and dessert.

I decided that we would create glass garden flowers using recycled glass plates, saucers, cups, dishes and candleholders. My mother-in-law's friend had given her a glass garden flower as a gift a while back. Her friend had found the idea on Pinterest. As soon as I saw her flower I thought to myself "I need to make some of those!" I just thought it was so cool. And then my mother-in-law surprised me with one for Mother's Day, so I had a sample to show the girls before we started making them.

Here's how we did the craft:

I went to two local thrift stores and picked out inexpensive plates,
saucers, etc. to use as the flower parts.

It was fun playing around with the variety of different colors,
textures and patterns of plates and cups. 

This one is a combination of an old flowery china plate, a vintage plate, a
candle tray and a porcelain teacup.

Wine bottles and beer bottles were used as the stems of the flowers. But first I had
to soak them so I could get the paper labels off.

Here are the clean bottles, drying.

I displayed all of the plates & cups I found on our dining room table
so the ladies could pick out what pieces they wanted to use.



We used 'Amazing Goop', a clear contact adhesive and sealant made
specifically for gluing glass. It's also weatherproof, which is very important.
I found the glue at Hobby Lobby in the glue section.

The morning after craft night.... still drying on my kitchen table...

Here's the one that my mother in law gave me as a gift for Mothers Day.


Here's a large one that I made during craft club.

Here's a small one that I made during craft club.
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DAILY SMILES
Things that made me smile last week:

5.13.13
I hosted craft club at our house :)

5.14.13
I enjoyed sitting for two hours getting my hair colored and cut - it was like a mini vacation!

5.15.13
Liam ate cereal with a spoon, out of a bowl, all by himself

5.16.13
I got a bunch of perennials planted in our front yard

5.17.13
Liam wasn't feeling well, which sucks, but we snuggled a lot, which was nice

5.18.13
We helped paint five rooms in Matt's grandma & grandpa's house

5.19.13
We hung out with all of our awesome neighbors

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Have a peaceful week everyone!


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