National Thrift Store Day 2015

Today is National Thrift Store Day and in honor of this auspicious occasion I, of course, went thrifting :) I went with my friend Cherie and it was a lot of fun since we haven't really gone thrifting together since we lived in Huntsville.  We both got some nice pieces but better than wardrobe enhancement, it was great to get to hang out with her.

Also in the spirit of National Thrift Store Day, I wanted to share the story of these candle holders.  I found them a few weeks ago in my local Goodwill.  While looking around for a new work bag, I detoured through the candle section and came across these brass deer candle holders.  I immediately knew they were coming home with me... Why? Because my mom has the same set in her Christmas decorations. ^.^

I remember being young and in boxing all the tree decor pieces... our engraved baby ones, old DIY ones, all the many glass and plastic balls, and the singing string lights.  For some reason these candle holders caught my fancy and became one of my favorite decorations.  Funny thing tho, I never remember them actually holding candles, lol!

Now I have a set of my own to start my and Lamar's Christmas decoration stash.  I love the thought of one day having kids that maybe will like these candle holding deer as much as I do ^.^

Have you ever found something in a thrift store that you bought for the nostalgia or even because it reminded you of a special person or event?  What was that thing? 

Thrift Haul! A return to Thrifty Thursdays

A few weeks ago I had to run an errand all the way out to Babe's school in Clermont.  I say "all the way" because Clermont is a good... 45 minute drive.  So while I was up that way, I stopped at a little thrift store called Angels of Mercy.  It looked to be either a mom/pop shop or a church owned stored.  I love coming across those because they always have great finds at great prices if you're willing to take a while and pick.

When I got to the door there was a sign that said "all clothes on hangers 50% off" 0.0 and naturally I thought Thrift Store Win!  I ended up not buying any clothes because I have no real closet space, but I did kindly load myself up with a few other things.  Books being a huge portion of this haul.  SO Angels of Mercy has a books/media room and while drifting about in it I saw another sign... "Bag of Books- $2" and considering one paperback was $0.50 and a hardback was $1 it only made sense for me to get a bag.  Even if I only found like 4 books it would have been a good deal.  I ended up with 11!  Slight overkill, but whatevs!

After the book room, I ventured over to the bags and purses.  I got one tote for $4.  It's huge and bright yellow... my own bit of sunshine ^.^  It just needed a bit of a clean, but other than that it was in great condition.  I'm now carrying it as my work bag and lemme tell you I love me some big bags! (I almost said I like big bags and I cannot lie... ::rolls eyes at self::  -___-)

I also picked up a few things for the kids at work: a couple puzzles and some crayons.  Just cuz I'm nice like that.

All things considered, I spent $9 before tax for 11 books, 2 puzzles, 2 new boxes of crayons, and a large tote/weekend bag.  Oh! They gave me a free loaf of bread too. :)  This thrift trip really brought back my love for independent thrift shops.  I mean, I do enjoy shopping at Goodwill, Salvation Army, and St. Vincents Du Paul's, but there's just something about mom/pop/church thrift stores that feels so nice... Am I crazy... probably not ^.^

Recently Thrifted: Pretty Awesome Haul

Hey y'all :)

Remember, way back in the day, when I use to do "recently thrifted" posts???  Well, no one probably remembers that because I don't think I had any readers back then *shrug*.

Yesterday, I got a surprise day off.  Meaning I was at work and due to a bunch of cancellations I got sent home after an hour and a half.  I took the time to have an introverted (not talking to anyone I don't want to, listening to music, thrift store hopping, dog park sitting, evening napping) day.  It was GREATLY needed.

So now I want to show you what I thrifted in my adventures yesterday.  There were a couple pieces that I'm stupid excited about.  Aaaand... let's get going ^.^

I went to four thrift stores: Goodwill, The Christian Sharing Center, Super Dollar Thrift, & St. Vincent De Paul.

Goodwill: Cookbook $2.99 & Hardback $1.99

Goodwill: Paperbacks $0.99

Goodwill: Square photo frame $0.99

I'm glad I found a new cookbook because evidently there was some sort of house elf that stole the ones I had.  -_-  So now I'm looking for cookbooks with lots of dessert recipes since that's what I'm into cooking-wise.  The grey Bartlett's book is a collection of readings for weddings.  I'm hoping to find a few things to incorporate into our wedding.  The frame was a great find for me since one of the enhancements I make at JCP is a 10x10 collage and those frames are super hard to find.  Well unless you pay $18 for them in the studio... So $0.99 was pretty awesome ^.^

Christian Sharing Center: 18" Ruler $0.79  Circular Knitting Needles $0.99

These are the only things I picked up at the Christian Sharing Center. I resisted the urge to buy the few balls of yarn they had. :)  Whenever I see cheap craft supplies, like that ruler, I always pick them up because they are always handy.

Super Dollar Thrift: Merona Suede Loafers $2.99

I also bought a room lamp for $6 at Super Dollar.  I'm always excited to find shoes in my size (size 10 shoe problems) and these loafers are so cute and in great condition.

St. Vincent De Paul: Scarves $0.99 each

St. Vincent De Paul: Ann Taylor Blue Suede Loafers $3.99

The last stop was St. Vincent De Paul where I found these amazing pieces ^.^ I'm imagining these scarves with a huge twistout. I can't wait!

So yeah. These are the things I picked up yesterday during my surprise day off thriftaventure.  The cookbook will surely get some play this weekend as Lamar has planned a potluck for the young people at church.  Time for me to become the dessert girl again ^.^

The Gallivanting Files: Exploring Clermont

Sooo... Tuesday I was suppose to go downtown and traipse around with my camera all big hair and nice outfit and such.

However,  Mr. Lamar threw a monkey-wrench into the plan by asking me to help get his car to the dealer.  (It's not broken, they did a recall or something so he needed to take it in to get the part changed.)  So I rolled out of the bed at like 6:30am, chucked some pants and a sweatshirt on and went on to drive to his school... like 30 mins away in clermont...  Needless to say, I wasn't about to drive all the way back to the house and then all the way into orlando. So instead, I spent the day exploring clermont.  I walked around for a couple hours in historic downtown, wondering about in a few antique/vintage shops and the local bakery (where I bought a couple cupcakes to surprise Lamar with ^.^) Then I walked down along Lake Minneola.

Of course I found like 3 thrift stores in the area and got a couple things I've been needing, so they were good trips. I snagged these things:

• blue sundress (currently being shortened and altered)
• leopard print sundress (also being shortened and altered)
• a forest green skirt
• 2 books about stress management and relaxation
• 2 vintage handkerchiefs
• 2 pairs of black church shoes (my favorite ones finally bit the dust last week... it was a sad day)
• 2.5 yards of floral fabric (for circle skirt making!)
• a pack of knitting pattern cards (I WILL LEARN TO KNIT!!)
• a photo album
• a green brooch

(Thrifty winning!)

After Lamar got off work, we picked up his car and then went on to Lake Eola in orlando.  It was really nice walking around the lake together.  The last time we did that was the first time I came down to FL. 

So now, prepare yourself for the photo dump ^.^

Lake Minneola- Such a frickin beautiful day!

Lake Minneola- I wanted to find somewhere to put my feet in, but couldn't... maybe next time.

Random pretty flowers along the sidewalk :)

More flowers- I love the bright colors!

I told Lamar I want to do pictures in this grove of trees.  It's like the gateway to another world in there!

This has to be THE most FABULOUS turtle EVER!  He's balancing on a root with all 4 feet in the air... talent.

We're definitely going to take some photos here.  This is down by Lake Eola.  That's Lamar's cool pose. :) *chuckle*

Goodwill Clearance Center

I have been trying not to write another depressing post, but I can't think of anything else to write about. *shrug*  It's going on 2 weeks in Florida and some days are good, but on other days I don't want to get out of bed.  I don't have friends here.  Well, evidently I know a couple people around here, but "here" is a huge city where I'm just a speck.  

Ehh... On a lighter note, I went to the Goodwill Clearance center today. It was a completely different thrifting experience to say the least.  If you've never been to a clearance center it's a big room with large bins with clothes chucked all over in them.

There is no organization whatsoever.  No size buckets or anything... It made me nervous but was like a supercharged treasure hunt.  The clothes are sold by the pound.  $0.99 per pound.  Ah-stinkin-mazing!

While I was in there, I noticed that most of the people in the building were just standing around looking.  Now I don't know if you've been somewhere with a lot of strangers standing around suspiciously, but it makes shuffling through clothing really hard. 

Turns out, they were all waiting for the new stuff to be brought out.  And when it was it was like someone just chummed the water! Sharks to a bleeding whale! I just sat back and watched the madness.  I tried to get video but one of the cashiers stopped me.  I only got a couple seconds.

Just pay attention to the people grabbing things and forgive my shatty camera work.  It looks like they're just throwing pieces of clothing over their shoulders!  It was like a bunch of piranhas! Anyway, let me show you what I managed to get.

My total cost for 3 shirts, 3 sweaters, a dress, and 3 bags was a whopping $6.58! Crazy right?!?  Some perks of the pieces I picked: the peach sweater on the right is 100% cashmere, the blue blouse is 100% silk and the blue dress is from Ann Taylor so it could have originally cost anywhere from $40 to $60!  Oh! And the tapestry bag in the top right corner is a perfect replacement for one I thrifted a while back, but was unable to get the smoke smell out.  This one just smells a bit old. Nothing a day outside won't fix ^.^  I'm pretty proud of my first visit to a Goodwill Clearance Center.

What Day is It?! lol

[Not So Blue Monday #14]
[Tuesday Favorites #8] 
Good evening.

Let me take a moment to explain this post. I started writing this yesterday morning at work, but stopped because Photobucket was having issues and whatnot.  I mean it was down for the entire day and I didn't want to do the post without the pictures.  So here it is, my Tuesday Favorites of my Not So Blue Monday on a Wednesday... (phew...) Let's get on into it, shall we?

Monday was a wonderful extra day off and I was so so so grateful for it.  I didn't do as much crafting as I planned to, but I was productive in other ways.

Let's see... I did a good bit of cleaning and rearranging in my bedroom. It's still "under construction" because I have a bookcase to move and lots of laundry to put away and clothes to sort out for thrift donation and carpets to vaccuum... etc.  This list makes me feel like I should be home instead of in this office.

In the midst of moving... I basically flip-flopped my bed and dresser.

Wow... looking at this picture I must say there is a lot of stuff in my room... I have a lot of stuff... It really is time to fill bags for donation.

Anyway, I made my bed with a new sheet set and the pillow cases I snagged from my mom the last time I went home. It's all flowery and makes me smile.

Love the floral motifs and the colors are great ^.^

I straightened up my dresser top and framed more pictures. I love having framed photos around. I want to have a photo wall one day. You know, the ones with shots of family vacations and milestones framed in the staircase or something like that :)  I'd like that...

I just realized how blurry this picture is... sorry.

I'm thinking about doing a photo shoot of just my dresser top... once it's all finished. That would be fun and a challenge to photograph my photographs in interesting ways.  Woot! Future project!

Kisses!

These two pictures are from when Lamar and I went to Delaware for my bestsisterfriend's wedding. The day before we left we went down to Rehoboth beach. It was a really fun trip within a trip. We took lots of jumping pictures in the waves... trying to get a perfect one. Of course I got soaked up to my waist by a huge wave that I wasn't prepared for, lol. I'll have to find those pictures and post a few.

Lastly, I went thrifting on Monday. Thrift Mart had a 50% off everything sale for Labor Day. My roommate & her friend went early-ish in the day and ended up standing in the line for like an hour... When I went in the evening, it was like a regular Monday night at the thrift store. That was nice.

I found a few really good pieces & now cannot wait for fall to get its butt here so I can wear them! Check it out.

Thrift Mart Haul-age! I only spent $20 and change. Yay me!

Ok. I picked up some frames, because most of the empty frames i already had were 5x7 instead of 4x6 standard size.  The two slacks are UH-MAZE-ING!  The picture doesn't do them justice.  The grey pair is wool and the brown one has a thin orange/tan window pane pattern on them. They both fit wonderfully and scream "wear me on a fall day drinking chai tea outside at 5 Point Books!!!" lol. I can't wait until it's cool enough to wear them ^.^

The tops are also cool. Top row: green cotton button down, pink & teal scoopneck tee shirts, batik/ethnic print collar shirt.  Bottom row: navy blue silk button down, textured silk sleeveless, cream silk/viscose cardigan.  I am such a fan of silk shirts.  I started wearing them this summer and I'm always on the lookout for them in thrift stores.  I like that they're so light on my skin and stay cool when it's hot out.  Although I'm not sure how that's going to translate in the fall and winter.

Alright, this has gotten long enough! I hope you all have enjoyed your weeks thus far, and I'm excited to be coming down to another weekend.

Goodnight!

Do-Dee-Do Woo-Hoo-De-Hoo!

Hi there!

The weekend is FINALLY HERE!!!!!!!!

LET THE WILD RUMPUS BEGIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok. Glad that's out of my system =D I'm SO happy about the 3 day weekend... I can barely contain myself!

OK. Now it's really out of my system (^.^)  I have a couple pictures to share with you tonight. Picture bits of my day. I was suppose to do a photo-an-hour today, but only took a picture this morning on my way in to work... so that was an absolute fail.  So since I missed my photo-an-hour post for August, I think I might do 2 in September. Maybe... we'll see.

Today is Roommate's Birthday, so I made her a banner last night. She said it scared her this morning, lol,

Wore my green chucks today. I haven't worn them in years! I almost forgot how much I love chucks.

Lamar bought donuts from K-May yesterday and this was the box.  Yes, I do deserve a donut!

I liked the box so much, I framed it. Yay for upcycled art!

I found this while browsing the thrift store today. Does anyone remember this program? It was my intro to 'graphic design' when I was younger. I spent many an hour on the computer with this program. I almost bought it out of nostalgia.

I found this note in a book at the thrift store. It's adorable *.*

Lastly, my dad got this huge box of yarn and crafty bits from one of his friends. He's going to send it to me soon. I can't wait! A whole box full of FREE YARN! I can't wait!!!

[Please excuse me while I find an appropriate gif to represent my excitement...]

Yep. I'm that happy. (^.^)

Oh, and I'm also excited about the fact that I feel like I'm making bloggy friends. Thanks for your comments guys! It makes me so happy to know that you're reading and actually care enough to write to me :)

~night~

So I Went Thrifting... [belated Thrifty Thursday post]

Hey, good morning :)

On one of my thrift store visits, I decided to browse the aisles and take pictures of the things that made me smile. Often times, when I'm stressed or worried, visiting a thrift store is the best remedy.  I don't know what it is about second-hand shops or little hole-in-the-wall charity stores, but moving through the rows of donated things searching for treasures just makes me feel better.  Sometimes I can actually feel my muscles relaxing... I know- weird... But hey, whatever works, right?

So here is a little photo dump of thrifty things that made me smile.

I recently saw an awesome letter wall... maybe I'll do one...

View Master! Oh childhood... ^.^

Hanging owl lantern

Some sort of cat-like head statue... It remids me of MirroMask.

I really wanted to buy this set of glasses. But we have no space :(

Vintage Merry Mushroom Tea Kettle

Carved sewing supply box. Sooo pretty!

So yeah... my favorite thrift store was pretty much teeming with awesome little treasures... I'm considering going back and getting the tea kettle... but I'm going to ponder it a while more. If it's still there on Monday, I think I'll get it.

Thrifty Thursday #6: Silk Superstar!!

Ello there ^.^

Today was a rather stressful work day for me... Mostly spent fretting about being an accountant who is not truly educated to be an accountant.  Plus the 2+ days of rain has definitely not been kind to my mood.  Pray for me in this accounting job please.  Thanks.

Anywho, after work, I went thrifting. I wanted to find a new dress. That was my goal, however I didn't find one that I liked enough.  But, I was victorious in the silk blouse department *fist pump* and I snagged an awesome pleated skirt too :)  Here are the pics:

Lovely sleeveless floral blouse.

Another micro-floral blouse.

Striped/dotted blouse.

Graphic pleated skirt.

Ok, that's it.  Oh wait, I got a t-shirt that says "hello, my name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father, prepare to die."  NOW, that's it ^.^  I enjoyed my trip to the thrift store. It was very calming. I went alone and listened to pandora the whole time.  Well, as much as I want to stay up and browse more blogs and listen to more Ani Difranco and watch youtube videos about yarnbombing, I must go to sleep... Good night. I hope your day was a nice one. Peace.

Thrifty Thursday #5

Hey there!

I am very excited to share my thrifting finds of this week with you!  I went to ThriftMart twice this week and pretty much scored some awesome things. ^.^  On Tuesday, the visit was mostly a relax-after-work trip, but I did find two items that had to come home with me.

 The first was this hairpin lace crochet tool.

I've seen them in craft stores and have been interested in learning to crochet lace, but the cost was always higher than I wanted to spend. When I found this one for $0.75, I figured why not. So, I guess there will be crochet lace in my future. Maybe I can make lacy scarves for the shop... who knows :)

The next thing I found was a Stellarscope Star Finder.

I was super excited about it because when I was younger, I use to sit on a chair out in my front yard with the encyclopedia looking up at the stars.  I memorized so many stars and constellations... but weird enough, I still can't find the North star o.O... Anywho, I was a chronic star-gazer and in a time when my life was getting to be rather stormy, the stars gave me a sense of calm. Like no matter what happens, they'll always be there.  If I looked up, found the Big Dipper, and followed the arc of the handle- I'd always find Arcturus. So yeah, the stars have a special place in my heart.

This is what it looks like when you look into the Stellarscope.

 The last thrifting score was a Speedball Silk Screening Kit.

I looked it up online to see if anything was missing from the set and, lucky me, it's basically complete- only missing the instructions and a paintbrush. Neither of which I need.  On top of it being a complete kit, I got it for half off because of the 4th of July sale :D So it was only $13 and change. Such a STEAL!

The best part of this thrift haul is that I got the last two things for considerably less than their retail prices. I looked up the Stellarscope & it sells in the National Geographic Store online for $49 & I got it for $6 with all the pieces except for a keychain flashlight.  That's roughly 88% off... The Silk Screening kit retails for $59.99 & the rubber tipped squeegee sells for $9.99.  With the 50% discount I got on it on the 4th... I snagged all those supplies for about  81% off!  I pretty much killed... I really think this was my most value filled thrifting trip (aside from furniture purchases).

I hope you had a great and safe 4th of July.

Sabbath Crafting

Hello there!

This is what I spent my evening doing :) Spinning yarn & watching "Clash of the Titans" with Lamar.  I found the dream catcher for $5 at Thriftmart & immediately thought "I could SPIN this!!!" 

1. Thrifted Dream Catcher; 2. Salvaged roving; 3. Pet slicker brushes for carding; 4. blended rolags; 5. salvaged roving spun into yarn.

I wasn't sure how to clean it up... I mean there was all manner of smutz, bits & tangles in it. But what's expected from scavenged roving.  I spent a bit of time talking with Mrs. Melissa & Mrs. Laurie at this month's Art Stroll & they gave me some suggestions. Mrs. Melissa said I should get 2 pet slicker brushes to 'card' the tangled up wool, roll it into 'rolags,' & spin from them.  Ms. Laurie said that I should use the really tangled wool for felting. 

So after cleaning up my roving, I was able to spin a whole dark brown section on the drop spindle I bought from Ms. Melissa. Then I practiced carding (which is NOT as easy as it looks... at least not with slicker brushes).  I carded/rolled the white & orange fiber. Then I worked on blending the two. I'm going to spin them tomorrow, I think (once I take the brown yarn off the spindle).

Another thing I noticed about the scavenged dream catcher fiber is that the white fiber is half the length as the orange & brown fiber.  So that's got me thinking that it may not all be wool, but I have more research to do on that front.  I do know it's all animal fiber (I did the burn test).  Now I've just got to figure out what fiber it is.

Anywho, it's late & I'm heading to sleep because we're going to actually have Crafternoon tomorrow! Huzzah!

For the Cheer of It.

Hi there. Work is the pits sometimes. But at least I have the internet. This made me smile.

I found this on http://joyfultreasurehunting.blogspot.com/

This lady is one after my own dottie heart ^.^ Not only do I love the polka dots, I'm also swooning over the background fabric. It would make a great circle skirt...

I MUST go thrifting this evening... no question. I have to for my own sanity.