Weekend Thrifting

   Well I hope you're all enjoying this new week. It's super hot and muggy hear, very oppressive and I think it's the cause of the headache I've had since this morning. I was telling one of my fellow teachers today that this is when you want your little students to give you a bit of distance, at least when they're outside. They're all just dripping with sweat from all their joyful play in the heat. One of my precious little boy students came up to me today just crying and crying because one of the other boys had hurt his feelings. His face was wet with tears and his head was extremely sweaty, but he burrowed his face into my stomache and I knew he just needed that comfort and embrace to calm down. He did calm down, he and the other boy (who also started crying out of guilt) made up and went back to whatever mulch-involved game they were playing. I wasn't surprised to look down and see that I had a giant wet, sweaty spot on my grey dress. Oh these sweet, needy children :o)
   This weekend I visited Goodwill twice as well as another local thrift store. I was quite pleased with my finds and figured I'd share them.

I found this cute little wooden tray, now residing on our dining table, for $1.

These great jars have found their home in our kitchen.

I was super delighted to find three more of these Williamsburg prints. Still trying to decide where to display them...

And I found quite a few useful containers for planting my new plants. 

   Now if only I could find a a local thrift store that sells cute vintage dresses. Then I'd have it made.

   Oh, by the way, did anyone notice that I'm now at 100 followers?!? Yay! So.....looks like it's time for another giveaway. Be on the lookout folks!

Goodwill Jars

   I've accomplished a lot of cleaning (our apartment was terrible, really terrible) and a lot of lesson planning today. It's quite satisfying.
   Yesterday I went to Goodwill looking for some way to display my stuff for the upcoming Indie Market. I found a plate to use for the market and some other treasures. Something I've learned about Goodwill is if I see something I like, I better snatch it up.
   I'm a big fan of jars and I found three lovely, lovely ones.

   Just wanted to share my happy finds with y'all :o)

Decoupaged Flower Plate

   I haven't decoupaged anything in a while. Why? I guess I just haven't had any reason too I suppose. With the Indie Market fast approaching I've been thinking about how I wanna display my stuff. I decided that some sort of large plate or tray would be good for my hair clips. I went to Goodwill today and found nothing the least bit pretty on which to display my wares. I finally settled on an oval plate for 99 cents that looked like it might have a bit of potential, you know, with some decoupaging ;o)

   I didn't have any pretty fabric or paper to use so I cut flowers out of the lovely cupcake liners I bought to make flowers a while back. 

   Then I used my beloved Mod Podge to add them to the plate.

   So now when people buy up my hair clips (which I really am hoping happens) my lovely plate will be displayed.

Lots of jewelry

  I've got jewelry on the brain today. I started off my day finishing some earrings (and watching Dexter since the season 4 finale left me hanging).

  Then I made some necklaces.

  And then I discovered some really great earrings at Goodwill.

   I've really lost interest in Goodwill lately. It seems like they only have crappy stuff now. Very disappointing. Today I figured I'd give the store one more chance.

  I found nothing desirable and was about to leave when I decided to give the jewelry a chance. I  was delighted to find these these three pairs if earrings. Two of the pairs were $2 each and one was $3 each. Not bad and they're so pretty.

  I plan on selling the jewelry I made and keeping what I found at Goodwill. Which pair shall I wear first?

A pretty place for my jewelry

    Yay it's Saturday! It hasn't been long since I worked at Starbucks so Saturdays are still new to me. When I worked at Starbucks I'd often be at work at 5:30am and work all day or come in later and work late. Now, I get to see what this whole weekend thing is all about.
   My fellow Blogger over at Senseless Sophistication recently gave an old vanity a beautiful makeover. Seeing her vanity reminded me of how I loved the vanity I had at my parents. I always enjoyed sitting at it to do my hair and makeup and get ready for the day. Since I got married I've been vanity-less.We just don't have room in our little apartment and it's really best I put on my makeup and such in the bathroom since he's not up at 5:30 with me. So I made myself a little sort-of-vanity.

  Before I could do all my vanity arranging, I needed something pretty and special to put my jewelry on. 

  To make this "fancy" jewelry holder I swung by Goodwill on the way home from school yesterday and got two plates and a candles stick for a total of $3.

  The plate I used for the bottom part was especially pretty with it's flowers and little lovebirds. 

  To get started on my little project I wiped everything down with a cleaning wipe. Then I got out the super glue and glued the bottom of the candle stick in the center of the larger plate.

  Then I added glue to the top on the candle holder, placed the smaller plate on top, and let the whole thing dry.

   Before I had my jewelry on this dollar store silver tray.

  Now my jewelry is wonderfully organized.  

To finish the rest of my dresser top vanity I have my wedding bouquet, garter, and handkerchief.

  My generous mom, knowing I've been looking for milk glass vases, gave me some last week. I decided they make perfect headband holders.

  So there it is, a little area to display my pretty jewelry, perfume, and accessories and a special place to put on the final touches before walking out the door. 

Giving gifts a little late

   Happy New Year! Brandon and I had a delicious appetizer dinner last night and watched the ball drop with some friends. It was so nice :o)
   2011 is off to a productive start. I've spent the entire day so far getting rid of our dangerously dry Christmas tree and putting away all our Christmas decorations. I'm finally done though! Now I just have a sink full of dishes to wash, my least favorite chore in the world. Last night I learned a valuable lesson: dishwashing detergent should not be used in place of dishwasher detergent, unless you want suds spilling out of your dishwasher and covering the kitchen floor. My parents were wise enough to help me fix my suds filled dishwasher today.

   While my parents were here I got to give them their last (late) Christmas gifts.

   These frames started out at Goodwill looking like this.

   I liked the bamboo look of the frames, but not the color and the pictures definitely didn't delight me. 

   I got some black spray paint for $1 at Dollar General and sprayed them with three coats. By the third coat my impatience had kicked in so instead of shaking the can for 60 seconds like the directions said, I shook it for like 10. Due to my failure at following directions, the last coat ended up being sort of rough looking. Not a good kinda rough looking. My parents love distressed antiques, as do I, so I used a cheap nail file to scratch the paint off in spots. 

   I printed the pictures at Target, cleaned the glass, put the frames all back together and the end result was very pleasing.

   

   My parents loved the frames and were excited to have a couple of our wedding pictures. I believe they're going to hang them in the kitchen :o)

Good finds at Goodwill

   The past few times I've been to Goodwill it's been VERY picked over, sparse, and downright disappointing. I was hoping that after Christmas there would be tons of treasures to be found due to people getting rid of their old stuff to make room for the "new and improved." I decided to try my luck today and see what I could find (have I mentioned how much I am enjoying Christmas break!?!).
   I'm always a little weary parking in the crowded Goodwill parking lot due to a woman yelling at and insulting me because of a parking space she wanted. I was a bit traumatized. Today, thankfully, was conflict-free. I had three specific items I was looking for today:
1. milk glass vases
2. blue mason jars (I found one there last spring)
3. silver plated trays (I've found quite a few of these there)

   I only found one item on my list (a milk glass vase), but I also found two other things that absolutely delighted me.

  
   These prints make me so, so happy. They're Williamsburg prints (they only cost me $4.99 each). The entire series has a flower arrangement for each month of the year. I remember my parents having one hanging in the entry hall for much of my childhood. The entire set appears in the parlor of the George Wythe house in Colonial Williamsburg, one our my family's favorite places to visit.
   I'm not too crazy about the frames so I'll probably re-do them. I'm thinking about hanging these treasures on the wall over the head of our bed.
   That's the beauty of Goodwill, it's like a treasure hunt. Sometimes you leave there empty handed and annoyed at the time you wasted and other times you find items nestled among the other cast-offs that practically make you squeal with delight :o)

Pretty Plates

   Hello and happy Monday once again. Time to start another week. Bring it on. It's 5:50am which may seem like an awfully early time to be posting, but I'm just sitting here eating breakfast so why not type between bites? Plus, I'm just so excited to share my latest project. Like I said yesterday it involved three pretty Goodwill plates, Mod Podge, a plastic basting brush, and black party napkins from Dollar Tree. Here is the end result:

   So what do ya think? I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out and the fact that they're one-of-a-kind. I got my inspiration from Frugal with a Flourish. She always has such pretty inexpensive projects. Now, Here is how I crafted these babies. 

Decoupaged Plates

• Mod Podge
• Plates
• Black party napkins
• Foam brush (I didn't want to go to the store so I used a basting brush from our kitchen)
• Scissors

   I began by wiping down the plates with Clorox wipes so ensure that the Mod Podge wouldn't have dirt in it and to kill any germs that the previous owners may have left. You just never know...Then I cut my birds out of the black party napkins using a stencil I'd made from a Christmas greeting card and freehandedly cut out the branches and leaves. I used party napkins because the Dollar Tree didn't have any black construction paper. After my pictures were cut out I covered the plates in Mod Podge, laid my pictures on them, and covered my pictures with more Mod Podge. I just love how they turned out. I plan on hanging them up on our wall of frames. I'll definitely show pictures when that focal point wall is complete. My husband says that he thinks plates hanging on walls are really weird, but he's a good sport and is going to put up with having plates on his walls. 

My tools

I was distraught when I discovered that Dollar Tree had no black paper but, I'm learning to improvise.

Wet glue

All finished

Linking to The DIY Project Party Monthly Contest