Thrifty Upcycle: Cheap and Easy Artwork

Keep on the lookout for children's books with great artwork at your local thrift shop and garage sales. Worn or damaged make no difference when you're cutting them up. In fact, yay you for saving a book that probably wouldn't get purchased otherwise!

This would work well with old cookbooks for a little kitchen art, especially books from the fifties to seventies. Is it just me, or did the 70's have a major love for the hotdog as a main ingredient in everything?

Vacation Thrifting

I do so love visiting thrift shops different from the ones I go to regularly at home, and I do so love the many out in Alberta.



I only wish I could resist the books a little more, especially seeing as they are the worst thing to have to bring back in your luggage. Checking in for our flight back home, we had to re-arrange every suitcase and carry-on as they were ALL over weight due to my "new" books. On top of the ones here, I also picked up nearly the full set of 'Little House' books, and I brought home a stack from my mom's house from when I was little.


Anyone remember this old tape player?? I had one as a child. It is a crazy sturdy little thing and in excellent shape. My husband has been trying to get me to ditch all my tapes for AGES. Now, sitting here I can't remember if he succeeded??... I know for sure I have tons of kid tapes anyway, so this will be perfect for my boys. Our main library shut down to make way for a new one and in the process sold off a ton of old childrens books on tape to make way for a new, larger library, and I reaped the spoils!
I'm excited to add this pyrex bowl to the rest of my collection (which is courtesy of my mom). It was "fill a bag for 5 dollars" at a church garage sale, and these 3 items were in my bag along with a couple others - talk about a score!


This last photo is all the craft goodies I have collected. Knitting needles, fabric, 3 skeins of crochet cotton, ribbon, zippers, needles, buttons, thread, bias tape, among other things - all for about 13 bucks! I have heard a rumour of a thrift store in California that is strictly craft/art supplies. Sounds like the grail of thrift shops to me.

It's been a successful week!

Thrifty Upcycle: Paper Towel Holder

Basic paper towel holder - of which I see many at the thrift shop. This particular one set me back 50 cents.



Quick sanding and a couple coats of paint.



A new home for bracelets.



Happy Thrifting!

Weekend Thrifting

I know I should have been outside enjoying the sunshine and warmth on Saturday but, alas, I was browsing through one of the local thrift shops instead.



The container on the left is such an awesome score. It held all the knitting needles that were for sale, so I wasn't sure they would let my buy it. 3 bucks later, this baby is at my house and holding my small number of knitting needles. Perfection!
I don't have a plan for the green glass dish except that it will be in my sewing room. You can never have enough containers in a sewing room - am I right??




The knitting needles are handmade from birch in Milwaukee, WI.
This children's book is a basic intro to various fiber's and I love it!
The basket is intended to sit underneath my sewing table as a catcher for scraps that I may otherwise toss in the garbage. I'm finding more and more projects that utilize fabric scraps of ALL sizes and so, I might as well hang on to them (like I need an excuse to step-up my fabric hoarding!!).

I also picked up 3 pairs of pants for my quickly growing big little boy at 3 dollars each, and an awesome dress for myself that needs a couple alterations. Maybe a post for another day...

I think the thrift shop was the right choice for my Saturday!

ps. I did sort of enjoy the sunshine from just inside the garage while I threw a coat of paint on a couple of last week's thrifted finds. Does that count?

Cloth Pre-Folds & Thrifted Wool

So, I mentioned recently that we quit our diaper service simply because it was becoming easy enough with Levi that we knew we could do it on our own (especially after bringing cloth with us to Italy and seeing that we DID do it on our own). The other reason was cost. Two babies with a cloth service was going to be too much especially after this whole ridiculous HST crap brought the price up considerably. What is with taxing a cloth diaper service???

I thought about putting together some pre-folds like the ones in Amanda Blake Soule's book Handmade Home, and finally just got serious about it this past week. This will save us from buying the first stages of newborn and small size diapers - hopefully...



So thanks to my hubs for humouring me and accepting my plan less than 2 weeks before our babe's due date! I have made 10 so far as a test to see how we feel with them. They are made out of old t-shirts and a few old flannel blankets, and one side is from a large piece of super soft flannel that I just bought brand new. For the 10 nappies it cost under 2 bucks to make (only the new flannel cost me). Not too shabby. The soaker in the middle is a mix of t-shirts, flannel & terry cloth (again all of it from our old stuff). We'll see how we go with them.

My man has promised to keep an open mind. As we have been spoiled with our deluxe cloth diapers, I'm afraid his faith will be lost at the first blow-out, but we shall see!



I am highly sensitive to wool, so haven't ventured to make more of these yet, but this wool cover was made for Levi by my mom and I'll for sure be giving it a try. If it doesn't seem to bother the newbie I have a couple of thrifted wool sweaters waiting in the wings to become covers. It seems they come highly recommended by a lot of people as opposed to your average waterproof cover so it's worth trying.

Speaking of thrifted wool sweaters and that lovely book Handmade Home, (which I seriously can't get enough of, and I have tagged nearly every other page for everything I want to stitch up!), I made a couple of her Family Sweater Hats for myself and baby-to-be yesterday and they honestly took maybe 20 minutes each to put together. Can't wait to see it on our little one. Hubby and levi will be scoring one of these soon as well!





xo

Thrifts of the Week

This past week I found time to do a wee bit of solo thrifting and came home with some pretty sweet stuff.



I'm hoping to find the right sized frame for the awkward size of the linen towel I picked up. It had a tag on it saying "Handprinted Made in Poland". I'm a big fan of bright, bold colours when it comes to decorating and would love to hang this baby up. It would stand out so nicely on our bright yellow kitchen wall.
The handmade pottery piece - blue candleholder - is my favourite, but I'm very much in love with this little blue glass birdie candle holder as well. Really have a thing for birds lately...



The flowered material is currently in the form of curtains and someone has written on them with a blue marker:
Made 1969
Washed '74
'78



I'm happy to say they have once again met with a washing a mere 33 years later in 2011.
Anyway, in my mind this material is a knee length, full skirt, and the other diamond patterned material I picked up at a different shop is destined to be it's waistband. Must seek out the perfect pattern now...

Thrifty Upcycle

I just thought I'd share with you something very easy to find in your local thrift shop that makes for a really nice gift, or can add a unique little something to your own space.

I was always seeing piles of these glass hurricane shades at second hand shops for one or two dollars and knew there had to be something useful for them.





Funky lonely little porcelain plates are always readily available and while they can make a great soap/sponge dish for next to your kitchen sink, or a nice little spot on your vanity for loose change or lip balm, they also work great with a shade and votive.





*It helps to have one with you when selecting the other, to ensure that the inner cup rim of the saucer nests well with the shade.

Happy Thrifting!
xo

A Fruitful Day at the Thrift

My mom and I visited both of the local thrift shops here and I came across some pretty great stuff today.
The first shop reeled us in with their 50% off clothing sale. Unfortunately nothing I liked happened to be clothing!
The second had us just by being on route to home.
So, here is a peek at some of the spoils of our afternoon...


I am always so surprised when I find something in a second-hand shop that someone has put so much time and effort into, like the needlework in the back.
I bought the oil lamp with the hope that a similar shaped milk glass top would fit. It does not, but for 99 cents I'm still pretty happy with it.
The small business card holder and white organizer are for my sewing room. I'm gonna need more room if I keep "organizing"! :)
The two little ceramic turkey candleholders will be nice on my table next year.


My mom bought this wooden sled for the little guy. Fingers crossed that we actually get snow this winter!


I bought this bedspread thinking it may be a little much as such, but with the turquoise colour in it I thought it would at least make great throw pillows for my guest room bed. Once I tried it on the bed though I think I like it as just that.



You never know what you'll find!

"New" Old Goodies

Rain comes down, air becomes chilly. Sun pops out, air gets crazy warm. Coat comes off, and the rain comes down...
So it went throughout today.

I felt sorry for the vendors at the Aberfoyle Antique Market, as many probably spent half their day covering and uncovering their furniture with big plastic sheets.

It was a very pleasant day still. I love browsing antiques. Like thrifting, everything you see is different (for the most part), and it becomes a challenge, or a game to find that perfect item.

Two brilliant finds found their way back to my house today.
The first was an old wash board which I have wanted for quite a while to hang in my laundry room.



The second was an old school house coat rack. It is quite heavy, which worries me about actually attaching it to the wall.



I am quite happy with my day's finds, and am now looking forward to squeezing in at least a full hour of sewing!
Must go take advantage of every moment!
xo

Thrifty Business

There have been many visits to many thrift shops this week. Strictly business you see - to collect a few different camping utensils. Thrift stores are great places to load up on cutlery, and cooking utensils for camping. I bought a large spoon, and tongs yesterday for less than 49 cents each. I bought a few other things the other day for even cheaper.
So here we are at the end of the camping season, very organized and ready (finally!) - it figures. Oh well, we'll be well set next year. We still have plans to camp next weekend and for a week after that, so I'm glad we are sorted. We had sold a lot of our camping gear when we went away travelling a couple of years ago, and have had to do an almost full replenish.

So, of course, where there is business there must also be pleasure... Enter all the items I didn't need, but could not say no to:

I've been looking high and low for the old "choose-your-own-adventure" books for my nephew. I'm sure he would love them. They are surprisingly difficult to find though.


I found a whole bag of vintage greeting cards for 2 dollars, and a couple patterns for a quarter each.
Notice the bag of googly eyes for my turtle footstool makeover? Stay tuned...


What a sweet framed vintage picture for my little one's room. I held it up to his wall for him and he laughed hysterically - I think that means he likes it!

There are a couple more precious things not pictured - fabric (of course), and a glass drink pitcher for $2 bucks.
Good times indeed.

Thrifted Goodies!

A little time spent at my favourite Goodwill in Edmonton, Alberta left me rewarded with a few awesome little goodies.

This sweet little wooden pull toy - hedgehog? porcupine? Cute anyway. It's Ikea, but I have never seen it before and I'm sure it wouldn't have been as cheap as I scored it for.



This awesome little vintage retro kids chair which I will keep red, but recover the seat.



This vintage Spear's Weaving Loom from the 50's. Can't wait to try it out. Though my mom bought me a vintage "Weave-it Loom" for Christmas last year and I still haven't gotten around to it. I'll just addd this one to the pile of things I REALLY would love getting around to someday! ;)



I also picked up "The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway" for my hub, and a couple of sweet kids books: "Til All The Stars Have Fallen : Canadian Poems For Children", and " A Trip to Granny Rumbletummy's".

There may yet be another thrifting post before I head back to Ontario on thursday. My Mom and I love treasure hunting at second hand shops, and they are just so great here - cheaper and less picked through (*knock on wood*). I think Wednesday will be a great day to hit our other favourites.

Projects

So, here is my vanity table & seat I FINALLY finished (with a little help from my hubby) for our bedroom. I bought it at the thrift shop for 30 bucks at about this time last year. The mirror is an old find from several years ago, the little vintage Avon jars I picked up around the same time as the vanity. My husband's aunt gave me the tree which is meant for small photo frames but they have been discontinued. It works perfect for my collection of earrings (jewellery was and is my travelling weakness).


...And here sits my next project
(Desk from the thrift shop for Forty dollars)


...And my next
(This turtle footstool was built for me by my Grandpa, but has since lost his eyes, poor guy, and worn out his "shell" a bit - He is in desperate need of love)


That's all I'm allowed right now. I have been forbidden to bring home any more furniture projects that I may want assistance with.
Oh, but he is a good sport. I'm sure he could be swayed should the perfect item appear. ;)
xo

Treasures

A great friend emailed me yet another link to something that would hit me in the wallet, God bless her. What a treasure to be found. This gorgeous antique had been in this family for years and I bought it (through Kijiji) for 60 smackers!



Could it fit more perfectly in that space?? Now, what to keep in it?...

*The cute little embroidered pictures I picked up at a thrift store for a dollar each while browsing downtown Orangeville.

This afternoon involved another trip to the thrift, which I have missed while in Italy. It is a bit of an addiction, just ask my husband. Todays adventure gathered more of the usual - books and fabric with a few little extras.
I scored a galvanized container which I had wanted to arrange a herb planter for my balcony (a project maybe for tomorrow...). It was only 4 bucks. I had seen them for $20 so I think that was a success.
I believe this button is worth mentioning

This little treasure came in a small bag for 50cents which I had grabbed because of 2 magnetic hooks that I wanted to hang aprons from the side of my fridge.

This little magnet was in the bag as well

It has already found it's space on my fridge. It's one of those things that are funny and make you feel strangely uneasy at the same time. hmmm...

More for the stash...


More for the shelves...


That's it for today. Now let's see if I can make it until the weekend without spending another cent. There are people with books and blogs dedicated to their year of no shopping. Yikes!
I just can't seem to pass a second-hand shop without going in, and I just can't seem to go in without picking up just a couple little things. I guess everyone needs a vice though right??
xo

A Thrifting Miracle

Check out this baby!

A sweet $12 score at Goodwill. Clearly I needed another sewing machine...I have discovered 3 besides this new one!
They will all serve a purpose in the very near future I hope. Each one putting in its contribution to my life as a stay-at-home mama.
Anyway, I have given it a whirl and it runs, but I can't seem to figure out how to thread it. I thought I was doing it right but the thread just comes flying back out. Also, it needs a lightbulb. I have heard that Singer machines, even old ones (treadles included- my next dream...) are fairly easy to get parts for. We shall see.



Fingers crossed!