Our Fun Life!

Vintage Orange Mugs

Found these stacking mugs the other day and they have never been used. Cute mugs for chilled fruit soups, autumn soups, and hot chocolate. I love red and orange kitchen stuff!

Giddy Up!

When I get really excited I sometimes say "giddy up" LOL. My friend Candy sent me this funny stamp. I found three of these wooden crate things at the thrift store~ perfect for my wooden stamps. I might paint them someday...probably orange!

Buttons Galore

Buttons are fun. I even cut them off of ruined clothes before I toss them in the trash. Here you can see a few thrifted white glass pieces I got for maybe $1 each! Yippee!! I like white since it will always match whatever color scheme I have going.

Thrifted Candy Dish

I got this English made silver candy dish from Goodwill for I think $2. Been working on a little stitched wall hanging...maybe I'll have it done by Christmas LOL

Thrifting

Helen and I decided that right after Christmas we would head to the flea market. It is held every weekend at the fairgrounds and it is huge. Takes about 4+ hours just to walk by everything. December was extremely warm here- like in the 60's and 70's! But of course the Saturday that we went it was in the 40's. We have been having a great time over the past 8 months or so checking out the thrift stores in the area and getting unique and cool stuff to decorate our bedrooms and my art studio with.
Well we went by the iron man and she fell in love with the green star- made by the Mennonites. Then I saw the little iron stars for $1 each- those will be made into something for Helen's room. We are going to decorate it in greens, turquoises, blues, and maybe red? We also got two more Campbell soup mugs for $1 each to add to the collection. I think that soup tastes best in a cool mug.
I got the old wooden tool holder and the iron basket for my art studio.
On the way home we stopped at Goodwill and I saw the doll house. Cheap! I know I will rip out those hideous curtains but I can't decide if I was to paint it in a Christmas theme and make a little village or decorate it to go w/ my art studio. I'll have to think about it. Years later I will decorate it for a grandchild to play with.

Ready to paint

Helen, Hunter, and I are still checking out Goodwill for super bargains for the new house. We get a kick out of finding cheap stuff. Here are a bunch of ugly treasures that with a good coat of paint, will be perfect!

The wooden green mirror $2 might be painted black and go with a wall of framed photos.

The all solid wooden (no particle board) desk $30 will be painted orange- yes- I said orange LOL- it will go in my art room as my beading, glass, metal work, and soldering workstation. I have come up with a design to make hand-beaded drawer pulls for it in the colors that will match the room! I might do a tutorial for making them.

The $5 brown shelf at the bottom was a super find! It will be either black or white and maybe a bit distressed. It has 3 deep drawers, glass for photos, pegs, and a shelf at the top. I plan to hang this in the hallway or laundry room as you come in from the garage. Bill and I will have a drawer and Helen and Hunter will share one w/ pics of us on the front. Great place to put cell phones, keys, etc. I will put a cute dish on the top for loose change. Yes- no more clutter! Extra keys to hang from the pegs.

The black iron tricycle $1 has glass for 2 photos and a box on the back that a small glass dish or vase can fit in for fresh flowers or whatever- it's very nicely made- no paint needed!

The two thick wooden boxes $3 will be painted and be used as stamp shelves.

And the black CD holder $1 perfectly matches one we already have that was bought 14 years ago!

We are still on the lookout for some chests and unique items.

Finds of the Week

You just don't know how exited I was finding this ultra cool spinning postcard rack for a screaming deal! And then to pop into Goodwill with Helen and discover bins of clean factory spools of thread/fiber for pennies!!!!!!! All are cotton except the black and red which are polyester. Helen is going to do some serious knitting and I am going to do some serious dyeing and make my own custom embroidery thread. We don't normally look for clothes but as we walked around we spotted a brand new jeans jacket ($4) and a brand new beautiful embroidered plum floor-length gown with a wrap ($6). I have seen gowns like this at the mall for $160. Helen lost her jeans jacket I bought her recently and the gown can be worn to a college formal. She tried them both on and they fit her to a T. Score!
I plan to make a spinning photo album on the postcard rack and make a personalized sign for the top!

Yesterday I took Helen to her UNC-Chapel Hill orientation and Bill is there today. Helen had to spend the night. We met a really fun girl named Lauren who came with her sweet mom. She is going to join the band too. They ended up hanging out after I left and I was happy for her. On my way home I started to get really sick- felt like the flu. Got home and took my temperature and it was 101.4 and went to bed w/ some NyQuil. Felt a lot better this morning.
Now I am on a mission to make a list of things that we need to either find in storage or get Helen for her move into the dorm soon.

Junk Market Style Decorating Magazine

As I wandered through the isles of Kroger, I came across this Magazine. Wow- what cool ideas! Inspired by this and the fabulous unique furniture and shelving at my favorite store Panopolie, I decided that I could find some cheap goodies to decorate the new house!
We are not planning to buy new furniture but are looking for things that could be made into something cool. There are a few places around here like the Habitat for Humanity warehouse and the flea market that sell unique and cheap items that need a little TLC.

I flipped through the magazine today while getting my car an oil change and inspection. There were several ideas that were just so fun. I don't go to garage sales and dumpster diving sounds disgusting, but hunting for things at cheap places sounds like fun. So on my way home, I decided to stop in at the local Goodwill. I found the cutest student desk and chair but it was $49- too expensive. I would have paid $10.

I did find these goodies for pennies that will be great in the new house:
1. the red metal 3D frame will match the red frames in my art studio
2. the 4 things in the back could be used as bookends but I plan to make 2 decorative shelves out of them
3. the 2 white frames will be repainted black and I will make something cool to sit on the one with the little shelf..these will go near the kitchen
4. the oval silver platter will be cleaned up, given a coat of metal paint, turned vertically, a hanger added to the back, and sheer ribbons holding my soldered picture charms will hang from the front- sounds strange but I can see it clearly in my head
5. the 2 metal mirrors will go in the 1/2 bathroom, instead of putting candles on the holder- I will put 2 decorative glass cups and fill them with little fresh flowers, there are little loops under the holders that I will also hang some soldered picture charms on w/ some crystal beads
6. and last is the 'made in England' silver candy/nut dish that I got for $2! It's a beauty. I will clean it up, run some sheer ribbon through the lower holes, and it will either go in the kitchen/family room to hold wrapped candies or it will go in my studio to hold buttons or something cute

My next goal is to find some cool and cheap tables and bookshelves!

Thrifty Finds

A couple of days ago I was downtown and decided to head over to the Habitat for Humanity warehouse store. They have mainly old and a few new donated house items such as doors, windows, fixtures, wood, tubs, etc. at dirt cheap prices. Like $10 for a nice wood door that need some sanding and paint. I was in search of a cool looking small old window that I could knock the glass out of, put on the wall, and hang my soldered glass pieces from. I want to make larger soldered glass pieces from clear beveled glass and have family photos sandwiched between the glass. I think it would be a striking way to show photos. But, the store was closed that day. Darn.
But, as I was leaving, I saw an old warehouse thrift store...Cause for Paws...they donate towards animal care. It looked really gross but the parking lot had many customers so I decided to check it out. I found some cool white glass pieces that I scrubbed and put through the dishwasher twice (LOL), a vintage dictionary, and a vintage Asian book- both books are very old but perfect to tear up for some of my crafts. I decided a month ago after reading a magazine article that I would try to find old white glass dishware. I seem to have bits and pieces of serving dishes but nothing matches. If I go all-white, then everything will match. What I found so far can be used not only in the kitchen, but in my craft area or bathroom too. I like the holes along the edges where I can weave ribbon through or dangle things I make. And to top it off- I only paid pennies!
On the way home I spied a used book store so I stopped in to see if they had any treasures. Yes. They have a shelf full of items that are free....I picked up 18 Chess Life magazines for Hunter- all free! I didn't see any art books that I had to have but I did find several books that were only a couple dollars...2 Silver Palette cookbooks, 1990 Southern Living Annual Recipes, Martha Stewart's Gardening (a $50 book for $3), a ribbonry book, and a vintage BH&G Holiday cookbook...all so cheap and in great shape!
Last week I also found a cool black wire fruit basket for a couple dollars.

I know my friend Carolyn would be proud of me. She finds great bargains all the time. I absolutely hate to shop for anything except art supplies and groceries, so I think I did good!