THRIFTY FINDS

About a 5 min drive from my house sits a thrift store and a craft store side-by-side. This is a problem.
I just spent too much money today because of these two places. It is nice to browse the material section of the thrift store before heading to pay full price, but somehow I still end up buying some anyways.

 I found this awesome suitecase to hold all of Aubrey's dolls and clothing in for $2.99!

I also found a dress and some shorts for her along with this vintage little A.A. Milne book.

And then I went to the fabric store and they were having 30% and 50% off, how could I resist. I also bought the yellow pom pom fringe to edge the curtains in Aubrey's room.

It's time to make some summer dresses!

THRIFTING FOR HALLOWEEN . . . & CHRISTMAS!

Aubrey is going to be Rapunzel for Halloween this year. She already had a purple princess dress so I bought her a long blond adult wig from Target and braided it. She didn't like how scratchy it was so I had to make her a little hair cap out of stockings to protect her from it!

The last thing on her list was shoes. I've looked everywhere for some cheap princess shoes that aren't those plastic ones with heals -but no luck.

So today I took a pair of her plain black shoes that I got from the thrift store a while back (she has 2) and turned them into Rapunzel shoes:

 

I first unpicked the bows and then I modge podged purple fabric to the whole shoe. 

Then I painted the bows gold and painted some crocheted lace I had gold. I trimmed them with the gold lace and added a little pearl embellishment.  Now I have a comfortable warm pair of shoes for her costume.

While at the thrift store yesterday looking for shoes, I scanned the costume section and came across some Disney princess dresses so I bought all the ones I found and will be a Christmas present for Aubrey! For about $25 got her a Belle, Snow White, Little Mermaid, Tinker Bell and a cute vintage looking polka dot dress (Annie??). 

She is loving playing dress up these days and she has her Rapunzel dress already and was given a Cinderella dress for her birthday, so now come Christmas, she'll be set!

NEW (TO ME) CHAIRS

I found 3 of these chairs on craigslist for $15 and the vintage in me couldn't resist. Especially since we only have 4 chairs around our dining table and I had been wanting 2 different chairs for the ends or a bench - whichever I found first.

 The original

 At first I wanted to spray the metal white and recover the seats, but after a trial on one of them, I found spraying all the tiny surface was a pain, so was putting the chair back together! The white made it look to shiny and new and I kind of liked the well worn look, so I settled on just recovering the seats. It's just a dark cream natural fabric with white piping (can't see it too well in this photo). I made replace them with something better later - like a vintage pattern. I searched and searched for something but couldn't find anything I liked.

As for the white chair I sprayed, I decided to recover the seat with some vintage chenille blanket and orange piping and put it in Aubrey's room. At least if we need to pull out another chair for entertaining, we can!

THRIFT FINDS

It's been a while since I've been able to do any thrift shopping. I was on a specific mission of a plain white newborn sleeper - do you think I could find one? No. But I did find some other great things. This might be my favorite find and deal ever! Everything below cost me $10!

 I love these old high chairs, not necessarily for personal use (although Aubrey loves it an actually eats at the table now) and it doesn't really go with my decor but I've always wanted one for photos. It will go great on my white wood slatted backdrop or out in a tall grassy field. And the best part - it was only $0.99! The weather is dictating how much furniture the store can keep outside and they are inundated with large items so they have to clear some out - good for me! It looked like it had not been cleaned EVER! So I used a Norwex cloth (the kitchen scouring one) and it cleaned up really easily - all the caked on food from little hands under the arm rests - yuck!

 

Every time I come across old vintage Fisher Price toys, I have to grab them. This one didn't work but the price reflected it, so I was ok with getting it as a decorative item in Aubrey's room. I'm thinking about redoing her room with a more vintage eclectic feel.

 I always have to check the book section and I'm pretty good at quickly scouring the spines for specific ones: Dr. Seuss (Cat in the Hat books large and small), Berenstein Bear books, Classic Disney in the same style and Eric Carle books.

We do have too many books but at $0.50 (and at Value Village when you buy 4 you get the 5th free), I can't pass up getting the classics.

addicted to thrifting

 

As I was contemplating how to decorate my fireplace mantle this morning, I thought using an open picture frame with twine across it, with clothe pins holding photos from it. I thought this would fill up a large space. I went on craigslist and found these old window frames for $5 each. When I got there she said I could have them both for $5 - I was very excited!

 

Then I stumbled upon an estate sale (these are the best, whole houses full of contents for sale, and usually really old stuff). I found this little Brownie camera with flash for $5 - great deal and now I have two old cameras to start my collection.

Good finds

 

I pulled the rail off the chalkboard...now what?

yesterday I found some great finds (I didn't take photos of everything).

I found this old picnic basket for $3. I have been looking for one just like it for a while now. I wanted one with a hard top to lay babies on. I think I might paint the whole thing white.

I found this bucket while in Duncan last week. 

I also found a really nice linen table cloth, a pair of wedge black shoes, capris, some Dr. Seuss books, some Cars movie cars for Aubrey, A super cute yellow jacket and sweater for Aubrey as well. All for under $20. Oh, I also found a really nice Armani suit for Jared (which he really needs) for $40 and it's too large, even to alter. Oh well.

Shutters

 

I got 4 white shutters from craigslist for free a couple weeks ago. There were two sets (two different sizes). I saved one set to possibly make a headboard for Aubrey's bed one day. 

I painted one, took the hinges off and then nailed it together to form a shelf. 

I hung it in Aubrey's room, and tonight I bought 3 little knobs to attach to the bottom part so I can hang her hair clip holder and umbrella etc. from it.

 

 

Another craigslist find today: free 4'x6' school room chalkboard!

I really wanted a large board to use as a photo backdrop (you can write thought bubbles etc. behind a small child etc.) and this was certainly large enough. I ripped off the metal chalk holder edge as I'm using it vertically, but now I don't know how to finish it. Should I rip off all the molding and reframe it? Should I find a matching piece of molding and add it in the rails place? Should I mount the whole thing to the wall where it is and let Aubrey place with it, and use it for a memo board in the mean time? Any good ideas out there?? It's in pretty rough shape, so I might repaint it with black chalk board paint to freshen it up. It's not magnetic either - does anyone know how to make it magnetic??

Thrift Find

 

I found some good deals today and I wasn't even planing on going...just happened to be in the neighbourhood.

 

I love this dress for Aubrey

 

This jacket was too good to pass up, it's a size 5 (a couple away from Aubrey's current size) but it was 50% off $4.99!

 

I couldn't pass up this unopened box of owl Christmas cards for $0.99 or this glass jar for the same price. See here what I'm going to do with it (maybe orange).  Or maybe this.

The little umbrella was also $0.99 and the Talbot was probably the most expensive. The scrabble game was a last minute find as someone had discarded it at the cash register. for $1.29 I couldn't pass it up even if it was missing pieces. There's so many things to make with scrabble letters, see here.

Thrift Finds

 

Found this cute little rocking chair, some old jars, some shirts for Aubrey and me and a bunch of picnic baskets which I'm really happy about because I'm planning a indoor picnic party for Aubrey's birthday this year! She loves picnics and it's a good co-ed theme (as opposed to a tea party or ballerina theme!)

 

Garage sale finds

We went garage saw shopping today and I found a few photo props. We also found a great, hardly used jogging stroller for $30 - not that I plan on jogging with it a lot. They are just so much smoother then the cheap one we have and is great for rough trails.

New Prop

I found this wire planter on craigslist for $5! It's a little narrower then I had first thought but I think it will be big enough to fit a newborn in. It has a light turquoise colour to it along with some aging. 

Until it's actually used for photos I have been trying to figure out how make it useful. I might just put three round flower pots in it and plant some herbs. Or I thought of using it as a magazine holder, as my pile is spilling all over my tables and shelves. Have any ideas for me?

Thirft Find Update

I bought 3 or 4 shirts in my last trip and only one of them fit. The others were too large, but I've found that things don't fit me right off the rack and altering them gives a much better result.
So for this shirt I took in the side seams where it needed it, because it was gathered at the top, it had way too much material, so I just pulled some of the bulk to the sides.

This one I removed the trim on the bottom and shortened it then sewed it back on so that it was more of a balloon style shirt  - this was the best result. It took an older style shirt and made it a bit more modern and a better fit.

This last shirt was too big in the stomach, wasn't fitted at all and the sleeves were too long for me, so I shortened the sleeves, and made 3 seams up the middle of the front and stopped at the bust line so that it gave more shape to the shirt and now it looks way better. I've always hated shopping for clothes, they never fit in the right areas, but now I can look for used clothes (that way if I ruin them trying to alter them, I haven't lost too much money!) with alterations in mind. I suggest this to anyone that has similar problems and can do a basic seam on a sewing machine!

Thift Finds this Week

I like thrift store shopping days. Aubrey wakes up from her nap and we head out the door to the thrift shop. I get to shop, she gets to play with all the toys (and with the purel after!) and then we usually go to McDonalds after for some chicken nuggets and play time. Today we went to to shops. One had 50% of red tag items (none of mine had red tags - oh well) and the other had 50% off winter clothes (non of which I bought) but I had a filled punch card so I got 30% off m whole bill, so that was nice.

My finds: A kids dishes, plates set - I already have a tea set and a pot set, but this whole thing was $4 and I know our nursery is looking for better toys and complete sets, so I picked this up partially for them. It came with a drying rack and a hand egg beater and the pots were bigger then the ones I had so I did a little swapping with some of my old stuff and the nursery will still be getting a big set and I get a few new things: win - win. Bigger rain boots for Aubrey, she's almost outgrown hers. A dress, a skirt and a pair of sandals for her. I found some sandals too, a few shirts, a couple plastic tote (I really needed), a vintage little casserole dish, and some toys. I found a lot of books. It seems every time I go I find a new Dr. Seuss book I didn't have. I found the "I am a Bunny" book that we had as kids, that I love, quite a few Little Critter books and some Curious George. I'm pretty good at scanning the shelves for the particular set I'm looking for and I stick to those. An employee was stocking the book shelf as I was there and every handful he put on the shelf, I then picked up and found at least one book I was looking for.

 Mom - I didn't find the Dr. Seuss book you are looking for. I found "Are you my mother", "Put me in the Zoo" (the large version of the little one you gave us) and then the sequel: "New Tricks I Can Do" which I've never  heard of before

Aubrey had to have the toy jigsaw!

365 / Thrift Finds

I finally tried making some paper whites this week. They turned out ok but I may have to add some more green leaves to fill it up a bit. I just got tired of making them.

Thrift finds this week: I found a new jean jacket to replace Aubrey's old one she's growing out of and a new spring dress. I also found more books of course. I can't pass up on buying all of the Dr. Seuss books when I find them. I also found 2 matching throw pillow covers and they were $0.50 each! I'm liking the pale mustard yellow colour so much I even asked Jared if I could paint the orange wall the same colour. It wasn't very impressed.

Thrift finds this week

I found these cute Puma shoes for Aubrey and this Teak bowl from Thailand at Value Village this week. I also found the little pot in the previous post (I put the flowers in) and the ballet slippers. I'm planning on making some paperwhites to put in this wood bowl if I can figure out how to do it!

365

I'm thinking about putting Aubrey in ballet this year. She LOVES to dance whenever she hears music - anywhere. And she's really graceful, she always dances with the appropriate speed to the beat!

I found this cute little pot at the thrift store so I had to make some little spring flowers for the indoors!

Aubrey finally figured out how to look through the camera and see the pictures inside!

Thrift finds this week

 I found this cotton pinstripe material that I'm going to use for bulletin board I'm making for my office wall.

 I found this pillow case that I'm going to use for a pillowcase dress for Aubrey. I think I'll trim the bottom with the above brown pinstripe material too.

 I found this tank top and I'm torn because I bought it for the purpose of making a handbag out of it. I found a tutorial on turning your old tank top into a bag - it will kind of look like this:

 

 I found another tank top (not for a purse)

I found this Billabong hoodie.

I found almost everything I went in looking for. I even found a little wooden kids table but it was in rough shape and needed painted but was $10 and I wanted to pay $5 so it stayed there. I'm just cheap.

I also found 5 books for Aubrey.