I've never had to

Is this the response from people when you say you are a thrift store junkie? I was having casual conversation during a study group this weekend and this statement was made. So, my question to you is, do you shop at thrift stores because you have to or because you enjoy it?

I, myself, could be a millionaire and STILL shop at the local thrift stores. I would be the one everyone wonders why I still shop there. I've never really "needed" to shop at thrift stores, so the comment threw me off guard. I love the thrill of the hunt, saving money and keeping the landfills free of less of all of these things.

I will be doing a post soon about how I just bought almost my entire wardrobe for under $100 and most of it still had the tags on it, from J Crew even :)

Cupcake stand

I found this mini plant stand for .75 at my local thrift store. I wanted to make a cupcake stand out of it.


Before


After....


My little guys birthday was coming up and I waited until the last minute to work on this. That's why it's not painted and the cake plates aren't exactly centered. Hopefully, by the next party, I should have it done the way I envisioned it.

What color do you think I should paint it, white or black?

The making of a Captain James Cook costume

Leave it to me, the ever procrastinator, to wait until the last minute to start working on anything. If I could change one thing about myself that would probably be it.

My 5th grader needs a costume for James Cook tomorrow, say what!!!! Yesterday, I started really looking. Yeah, last minute. I happened to find a pair of womens Dressbarn white capris. Last night, I doctored them up to fit my son. I sewed down the seam to make them tapered and smaller. I cut about 3 inches off the top of the pants and made an elastic waist. They aren't perfect but they will work. I had a few cards worth of gold buttons, so I attached 3 to each cuff. Next, I found an old Jones New York dress coat that's navy blue. BINGO. Going to doctor this up too. I bought thick white grosgrain ribbon and some gold ribbon to attach to it. When he gets home from school, I'll get to sewing it all up.

I ended up buying a white button down maternity shirt and cutting off the sleeves to use for the sleeve ruffle and the rest of it was sized down to make it look like a vest and gold buttons were added. I got the hat from my younger boys costume stash and the wig from one of the thrift shop cashiers that said she had one we could have.

This is the look we are going for


Here are the pants.....


Here's the jacket complete....


And lastly, my very own Captain James Cook!!! Isn't he handsome?



Costume cost a whopping $8 to make
*capris- $3
*shirt- $1
*ribbon- $4
*everything else, I already had on hand or was free :)

Recovering dining room chairs

These chairs were supposed to only be temporary until I could find chairs to replace them. They've been upstairs for awhile now and my boys are not the neatest when eating and ended up looking rather rough. So, I finally got around to recovering them.

Before...yuck




Enter these curtain panels from the thrift store for $1 each. I bought 4 of them.



After...much better



I have 2 full curtain panels and 2 tops of the curtains left. I have pillow covers in mind for their future.

AND wouldn't you know it, the next week, I found a table and chair set at Habitat for Humanity. Here's a sneak peak at one of the chairs, notice there's no fabric for my boys to ruin and the newly recovered ones made it back down to the basement for the eventual bar area for my husband. The green must go.....

Paper towel holder

I've been wanting one to hang underneath my cabinets for awhile and I finally found one at the thrift store for $1. Great bargain. Add some black Rustoleum spray paint and here ya go.

Before, well more like during because again started painting first. OOPS



AND the after.....

Cloche- AKA Blogland copycat

I had to copycat everyone else in blogland and make my own version of the cloche. I have to admit, it's not all that original but I love it.

I don't have a true before because I started painting and then thought about it so there are a few in progress pics

I started with a cheese cloche and a wooden candlestick holder both from the thrift store. Total together was $3, add a little paint and here ya go.






Here's the after. I have a teeny secret too, it's not complete yet, I still need to glue the two together but I wanted to show it off at the Before and After party at http://www.thriftydecorchick.blogspot.com/

CVS trip

So the total for this trip was $16.69 and another $6 in ECB

3 Gillette Clinical- $7.99- used 3 $3 off coupons
3 Gillette body washes- $3.00- used 3 Buy deodorant get body wash free
2 Secret deodorants- $3.99- used 2 $2 off coupons- and got $1 in ECB for each one
2 Mylantas- $3.99- used buy $4off/2 coupons- and got $4 in ECB= free
2 Oral B Pulsars- $5.99 and 2.99- used B1G1 coupons
1 Tampax Pearl- $2.97- used $2 off coupon

Spent $16.69
Got $6 in ECB
Saved $69.89

Great Shop!

Someone else's trash.....

Isn't she cute???



This looks adorable next to the little fish pond in front of our house. One day, I'll get around to painting it a darker shade of green instead of the bright green it is now. So glad someone left this to the side instead of just throwing it away!!