#ThriftScoreThursday

My blog friend Brandi starting using the hashtag #ThriftScoreThursday on her Instagram and I was very intrigued. I tracked down the source of such fun and found that four lovely ladies, Black & White Obsession, For My Love Of,  Primitive and Proper,  and The Gathered Home host a link up for everyone to post their super finds from thrift stores, junk shops, antique stores, and flea markets. I have been really having a ball seeing everyone’s great deals!

I’ve been traveling a ton and have had the chance to score some great deals as we curate our home.

I got this Thirty-One magazine basket (used for TP storage in our bathroom) and a ton of white Corelle plates  (I’ve been hunting for some for months) at different Goodwills. I like the plain white Corelle plates because they are almost impossible to break and I now have enough that I can host a shower with real table wear now.

  

Justin and I love estate sales. I signed up with estatesales.net to get alerts for all of the estate sales in our area. I get an email on Thursdays of the ones that are that weekend. We traveled to Leslie, Georgia to a veterinarian’s downtown building. We walked in and were quickly disappointed. I was expecting cool vet tools and gadgets, etc. We found out the building went on around the corner and upstairs and had lots of fun digging around. We scored 14 old window frames and a whole trailer load of reclaimed barn wood and tongue-and-groove bead board (more on that in a later post). We quickly posted the windows to Facebook and sold them to our friends and made our money back from our entire purchase! So basically we got the load of wood for free with the exception of our time and gas money!

 

This one isn’t a thrift score, but I occasionally come across some gems at Dollar Tree and I have to say this is one of them. I bought an Air Curler, something I had seen on one of those TV informercials. I think most of that stuff doesn’t work as well as they advertise, but for $1 I’d give it a try. I can’t work a curling iron to save my life and I am always pining for soft curls and waves. Lo and behold, the sucker worked! I am pleasantly surprised with this tool!

I grabbed up some peach box labels at the Antique Theater in Perry. I didn’t get a picture of all of them here, but they will be great for my gallery wall. These are only $1!

 

I am not a clever person. Occasionally I can come up with some unique repurposing thing for the house, but most of my ideas come from Pinterest or blogs. I am lucky I stumbled upon this smart vendor at Pickin’ Peanuts Marketplace in Ashburn for only $8! They stuck a taper candle in an old wheel and it has a very happy home on my factory cart table.

Justin wins the score of the year so far! We have been oogly-googly over these countertop scales. Saturday morning he called and told me he made an executive decision and pulled the trigger and bought one. I was a little flustered because we haven’t seen them for less than $200. He scored this Hobart scale and Hobart meat slicer (one of our we’d-love-it-but-will-never-afford-it things) for $100 total! I am so proud of his keen eye for quality when he sees it. For kicks, we looked up both on eBay and they each start out around $250 each!

  

All of this being said, people constantly ask us where we find our stuff and how we get such great deals. It’s not always easy. We strike out often. We have a running wish list and an idea of what we would like to pay for things. For example, I want an old square tobacco basket but they retail for $100 or more. I just KNOW if I’m patient enough I’ll find one at an estate sale or yard sale from someone who wants to get rid of it for a song. Patience, grasshopper.

I mentioned on Instagram that hunting for these sweet deals is like that princess that has to kiss a lot of frogs to find her prince. In my case, it’s sifting through giant warehouses of junk or looking over fancy signs like this at tens of Goodwills:

Christmas Recap

This was our second Christmas in our new house and the second Justin and I have had the privilege to host the annual Christmas Eve Open House my parents started over 20 years ago.

Our house was decorated and I am a little sad to see all the festive sparkly decorations down after having them up for nearly a month.

 

 

Because it was so warm on Christmas, we weren’t able to have a nice cozy fire going in our fireplace so I dressed it up with these adorable mercury glass votives and tea light holders I got at Dollar Tree. The whole set up was $20 and I am very impressed with the quality of the glass.

We had enough food to feed an army. I am quite proud of the spread. We even put out the train set Aunt Faye gave us around the food table. It wouldn’t quite stay right on the tracks so we didn’t want to risk a derailment and food catastrophe so we didn’t having it running.

   

Sami got some great shots as usual and I really love this one of me holding Pax when he was opening his present from Aunt CAT.

   

We were missing Liam since he was at his mama’s house, but Pax and Wyatt looked awfully cute in their matching Snoopy Christmas jammies.

After everyone left, Wyatt left out egg nog and cookies for Santa and went right off to bed.

Santa was rather busy this year. Wyatt really only asked for tennis shoes, a ceiling fan, and a toy camper. He got all that and more. We turned his Hot Wheels car table into a farm table and he got a big red barn, some hunting figurines, and tons of animals. Of course he got the three things he asked for too.

 

   

Justin and I really had fun with his gifts this year. I think one of the things Justin and Wyatt have had the most fun with is his bow and arrow set.

Dollar Tree was the best place for stocking stuffers this year. They usually have a good bit of licensed character merchandise around Christmas time and I was able to stuff his stocking FULL for $14!

Justin was so good with my presents this year. He got me three big Georgia Grown signs for my office and even made me a coat hook from old railroad spikes. I got a Mexican sugar mold candle and a really cool Georgia cast iron sign.

Amanda was pretty crafty this year too. She hand embroidered a family tree for Mrs. Desiree (with two extra branches for Justin and me to fill up with future babies!), a Dawg House sign for Justin (finished up with minutes to spare on Christmas morning), and these mason jar wall sconces for me. I am a big fan of homemade gifts and my whole family is just so talented!

  

Wyatt got a few gift cards from out of town family and he had a really good time picking out his own presents. I have been so blessed with a giving family but I really think a sweet, loving, only half-nuts family is the best gift ever!

 

Wyatt’s 3rd Birthday Party

I can’t believe Wyatt is three years old now! I still get all mushy and sentimental when I remember finding out I was pregnant with him and the minute I first got to hold him in my arms.

For his third birthday party, we had a construction theme. Justin and I built him a sandbox and we mentioned to family and friends that sand toys or outdoor toys were a sure bet for him. He made out like a bandit.

It was a very “homemade” party. I am not the crafty-Pinterest perfect mother but I tried. I made little roads for the tables out of masking tape and poster board.

 

I wrapped the cake board in caution tape. Did I mention I made the cake? I am so darn proud of that thing! I borrowed Amanda’s big giant cake pan she used for Suzi’s wedding cake. It took 5 box mixes (I mentioned it was a SEMI-homemade party right?) and almost an hour to bake. Thankfully, the chocolate cake “dirt” made the whole process very forgiving. I cheated and used canned icing too. Sue me. I bought a bunch of Caterpillar construction equipment toys for table decorations and the top of the cake from Dollar Tree and they worked perfectly. They were also fun to send home with the other kids as party favors. That’s also where I got the mini road cones.

  

 

We “borrowed” a road closed sign from the MIDDLE of our dirt road (there were ones at each end as well) and used constriction barrels our friend Jonathan uses at the church to add to the decorations. We are proud to work with what we have and not spend a fortune on stuff we’ll only use once.

We had so many of our friends and family members to celebrate my little man and the sand box was definitely a huge hit. I am so thankful for a sweet, happy little 3 year old and wonderful people to share him with!

Dollar Tree Finds

I mentioned in my post about Wyatt’s gallery wall that I love the wall hooks I found at Dollar Tree. DT is my favorite place for non-durable goods that we use a lot of. Here are some things I buy on a regular basis:

For Wyatt

I am always able to find a craft, sticker book, coloring book, or other fun thing for Wyatt when I’m at DT. They have a lot of cartoon branded items. Wy’s Cars interest timed perfectly with Cars 2 coming out on video so there were a lot of original Cars movie branded items available.

  

Wyatt is two and  a half, so snacks of any kind are exciting to him. He likes Whales, which is a knockoff of the Pepperidge Farms Goldfish. I put small amounts in snack size zipper bags for him to grab on the go. He also like the animal crackers that way too.

 

For the house

We are always losing candle lighters and grill lighters. I buy these long clickable lighters three and four at the time. They inevitably get left outside in the rain or run out of fuel. You can never have too many of these or too many pairs of scissors.

 

Dollar Tree has a lot of bright colored plastic tablecloths. We always keep these on hand for when Justin is seasoning up large quantities of meat to go on the smoker or grill. They’re also very handy when I’m painting signs or other craft projects. They’re not very thick, so if you wanted to use them for a party, I suggest you double up. Otherwise, it’s great to fold them up and toss them in the trash with the mess.

 

I also pick up random things we need to keep on hand “just in case.” Nightlight bulbs are three for $1 and make late night trips to the bathroom for Wyatt much more bearable.

Check the craft section of your DT. They sometimes have bright colored grosgrain ribbon. These are fun for my plate stands or signs. I like to switch out the colors for the seasons.

  

For the kitchen

DT has great selections of plastic ware. These come in fun colors to match any party theme. This is much more affordable than hitting up the party stores!

 

I like buying plastic utensils and silicone spatulas at DT. The large round slotted spoons are great for mixing up sweet tea and I use the spatulas for PB & J or mayo to make sandwiches in the morning.

 

I also buy a few boxes of the cheap sandwich zipper bags. Justin and I both take sandwiches to work several days a week. We have really nice Tupperware sandwich keepers but we inevitably leave them at work or forget to rinse them out so I am reaching for these at the last minute.

DT has a lot of cute metal platters. These are great for sending a batch of cookies and not having to worry about your plates being returned. They also have plastic platters that resemble cut crystal. I like these for parties or gatherings where I leave early and don’t want to have to chase down my good platters. I don’t mind leaving them for the host to reuse or even toss because they’re only just a buck!

  

The last thing that is nice to have on hand are these foil take out containers. My mama uses them a good bit. She always sends home containers of left overs after family gatherings or meals and again, she doesn’t have to worry about her good stuff going missing when it’s not returned.