“Wood” you like to see my yard sale finds?

A couple of weeks ago, I went early morning yard sale shopping with a new friend.  She’s a yard sale "pro", who has a booth at a local antiques mall.  I knew I had to watch her strategies.  I learned a lot from her that day.  Go early and prepare to DIG are the two biggest things I learned.  Along with IF YOU LIKE IT, BUY IT RIGHT AWAY!

Well, apparently, I like wooden items!  I hadn’t realized but almost everything I bought that day from various sales was made of wood.  I was so excited to snatch up some of these items for such bargain prices.  It was a FUN morning to say the least.  And best of all?  We were done by 9:30!  Just in time to run to my kids’ school for their Spring Program.

So, here’s my haul.  What do you think?  I know you creative ladies have some suggestions on what I can use these treasures for.  Can’t just let them sit in my garage.  Hubby calls me a hoarder when I do that!

   

         
Okay, so I bought five of these wood/metal crates.  I am assuming “Hood” is Ft. Hood and these are some type of military storage.  The lady at the sale had them full of books.  I asked if the crates were for sale, and before she could finish the word “yes” I was helping her relocate those books!  So, what do you think?  Bookshelves for the 11 yr. old’s room?  Planters on my back porch?  I’d love any and all ideas (besides, leave ‘em in the garage).

Also:

Wooden stool with woven top

Wooden Box

    

Another angle of the wooden box

                                        

wooden sewing box

  

it's expandable

and filled with sewing supplies- Yippee!

 wooden storage unit.   

My craft supplies are starting to take over the house.
Maybe this will help round them up...

1 of 2 chippy old windows

Last, but not least, I bought 2 of these old windows.  I don’t know why, but I grabbed them up immediately.  There were 3 for sale, and I noticed as I moved on to bigger and better (wooden) things, that my yard sale pro friend grabbed the remaining window.  See, I have a good eye…  Now, what to do with these???  

Waiting to hear from YOU!

Happy Wednesday,

Kim


Linking up to http://southernhospitalityblog.com/more-of-your-thrifty-treasures/

http://linda-coastalcharm.blogspot.com/

Goodbye Gift

Not long ago, we had a surprise going away party at a Tea Room for a very special someone.  Betsy is a friend and mentor to me and so many of my friends.  She and her husband had grown children and grandchildren, but they did not live near the kids and grandkids.  So, this wonderful couple made a point to be friends and mentors to many of us who have young children.  Recently, they made the big decision to move to be closer to their grandchildren.  It was bittersweet news for all of us, but we know that grandparents are a wonderful blessing.  Those grandbabies deserve this time with them! 

I put together this little gift to let Betsy know how precious she is to me. 





This is how it all started….




I bought a Target wedding frame on clearance (Love the Target clearance spot!)




and “sanded” the phrase off with an emery board (yes, this is true laziness!)




I then printed and cut out her name in vinyl with my Silhouette





I chose some special words to describe how I feel about Betsy.
I was in a time crunch, so I just used my Silhouette to print off the special words onto cardstock instead of cutting vinyl.  I popped off the back of the frame and put in this little memento.


She said she loved it!  We love her!




photo source (Lauren Durrence Photgraphy)

So-Cute, Reuse, Recycle!

I have one more little Easter “project” to show you all before all the fun of Easter has passed.  I just LOVE Easter!  Not just bunnies and chicks, but the Cross of Christ and what this special day means for all who serve Him.  But this post is a bunny post…
I had this really cute pair of overalls that two of my friends have used for their little girls.  Both of them have had the front monogrammed with their daughters’ initials.  After two sets of full initials monogrammed, the fabric was too “damaged” to do a third one.  Believe me, I’ve had this done on a different outfit, and there is just too much residual from the first two that the third just looks awful.  Anyway, I had this adorable little 12 month Easter top that was still hanging around my house from long ago.  Yes, “A” is 5 yrs old!  But my hoarding, ummm saving of cute things paid off this time!  I got a “new” free adorable Easter outfit just in time for the class Easter Egg Hunt!

BEFORE  


BEFORE  


AFTER



I just cut the bunny applique from the little bitty shirt and used some “Heat ‘n Bond” that I picked up at Walmart.  I ironed that adorable little bunny right over those monograms!  Voila!  Easy-Peasy!

Isn’t she cute??

Happy Easter!

Kim

K.I.S.S. for the 5th grade Easter party

{Keep It Simple Sister}

I have been assigned to bring something for the treat bags for my son's 5th grade Easter Party.  It's kinda sad, because this is the last holiday party that he'll have in Elementary school.  In Middle School, they are too cool for parties :(  Well, I asked the other mom who is heading up treat bags what I should bring.  She said "I'm not putting in any junky stuff".  Oy!  I guess I can't run by the grocery store on my way home from school today and pick up those marshmallow peeps I was planning on!  So, I started thinking about something simple that the kids could use.  Pens?  Pencils?  Yep!  It doesn't get any easier than that.  And my 10 year old loses/breaks his mechanical pencil at least 3X per week.  So, I'd bet he's not the only one.

Here's what I threw together for the treat bags.  I used this cute printable from babalisme and scraps and pieces of ribbon I had in my ribbon bag to put them together.  Pretty cute, and done in a flash. 

K.I.S.S. Steps:

1-Go to Big Lots and buy pens and pencils in bulk

2- Use a rubber band to secure 4-5 pencils/pens together

3- Pull out box of scrap ribbon to tie around the rubber-bands

4- Print cute little Easter Tags

5- Cut tags and tie bows

6- Try to keep nosy puppies out of the pictures :)

Easter Thrifting

I have never done much decorating for Easter, but this year, I could hardly contain myself!  I thoroughly enjoyed browsing some of the wonderful Thrift Shops in town to find just the right items.  I love to reuse things that others have discarded!  One man’s trash… well, I don’t pick up trash, but I’ve been tempted!

                                                

I got these boy and girl paper bunnies from a thrift store. 

I saw them in the front of the store and snatched them up immediately!  They are so simple; that’s why I like them so much.

          

                               

Set of Spring thrift store plates… {Yikes! focus on the plates and please excuse the wrinkled placemats and napkins }

             

                Thrift store “fat bunny” picture                     

                                         

Super-cute printable from taidye

                      
I shared this picture in my previous post, but here’s a close-up of my bunnies and chicks in baskets and bowls.  The robin's egg blue shabby bowl is from a garage sale :)

This is my bunny village collection.   Nothing too too orginal but all thrift store finds, and it's one of my  daughter’s favorite decorations :)        

                                             


AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST….

              -My very favorite Spring thing of all-         
      My rusty/handmade birdcage!  My mom bought this little, old, rickety cage for my birthday recently, and I just LOVE it!!!  I hope you can see from the pictures all of the care that someone put into wiring all of these little pieces of wood together. 

          The door is my favorite- or maybe it’s the rusty stand… oh, I don’t know.  But I love the way the wire is twisted and swirled to make a door latch.  

   Look at those old wooden slats  

   and the whole thing together….

  one more peek inside

Yep, it even looks great from the back!  How I wish I could say that about some photos I've had taken from that angle - Ha!

                                                                                                                                                                                          

Thanks  for taking this thrifty Easter tour with me!

Happy Tuesday,

Kim

Welcome Spring!

Now that we are all friends, you know that I have been decorating and crafting but not blogging about it.  Well, I want to welcome you to my home (or at least to the front door).  I saw this wonderful new take on Spring front door decor and knew I had to try it.  There are several different versions out there, but I got my inspiration from this little number at the Ballard bunch, which I loved! 

I have a sewing machine, but it's still in the box.  That's a long story for another post :)  I gathered up my fabric (left over from a Thanksgiving pumpkin project) and headed on over to hubby's mom's house.  See, she has a sewing machine that is actually out of the box and plugged in.  She even knows how to load the dreaded bobbin!  Once we got the hang of it, we cut and stitched 6 of these cute little carrots.

and a close-up

I just love that little felt bunny on top!  It's actually a "food pick" I picked up at Publix.  I guess you are supposed to skewer food with it, but that little 6 pack was way too cute to be ruined by fruit and cheese!  Don't look too closely or you'll notice the fake fern greenery that I am trying to pass off as carrot stems :)  It was worth the trip to the deep, dark recesses of mom's attic to find those little gems though, because I found some other treasures to use in other projects.

I actually like these "stems" better.  I used green twine this time.  But the others were already on the front door, and I just decided to use these inside.

I am really enjoying my little carrot bunches.  Luckily, I still have one child left who believes in the Easter Bunny.  We told her that he would be sure to stop by our house to fill her basket, because we have carrots to welcome him!

I have a bit more Easter decor to share with you before long.  I'd better hurry up, because after next weekend, I'll have to switch it all up to Spring.  Bye, bye bunnies....

Happy Saturday,

Kim