A Teeny Little Upcycle

Hello, friends! Can you believe it's almost the end of January already? It seems impossible that's true, no matter what the calendar says. 

Here is an example of the re-use of a hand me down. My father-in-law sent home with Mr. B a wall rack that contained two Norman Rockwell plates on it, a nice thought, but Norm on display, not so much. The plates went into a donation box and here's what happened to the rack:

It's now holding four vintage rolling pins, a pastry blender and a trio of old strainers. The rest of the utensils sporting red wooden handles are on the shelf above the door along with the tartan ware. It's nice to have the rolling pins where they can be seen, though. Not to mention if Mr. B's shelf hanging continues to have problems, they'd be potentially dangerous if there is another tip that dumps the contents without warning. The rack is on a small section of wall between the cabinet and refrigerator and since the space is miniscule so within easy reach as well. 

What have you re-purposed recently? Do you try to be on the look out for ways to keep things out of the trash and in productive use? It's a good feeling when it works out, don't you think? 

Enjoy these last couple of days of January before they're gone!

Till next time,

Michele

Friday's Haul

Hello, everyone. I am sorry to hear parts of the country are having extreme cold and lots of snow. We're going the other direction here, as in, when I went walking Thursday it was necessary to change to shorts. Is 2013 the year of extremes or what? 

Today was the one where a friend who has a December birthday and I got together to celebrate, since mine is in early January. She had a great Groupon for a  restaurant we'd neither one ever tried before, so that was fun and the food was good, plus we had time to catch up. 

After leaving there was no point in not stopping at a couple of thrift shops on the way home, especially ones I don't get to that often. First stop was a Goodwill. There I found a number of items, including it just dawned on me, three that didn't make it into the pictures. Mentally add a little square bottle, a pyrex lid for a refrigerator box and a small

silver tray. In addition, found were  three books, some thing in a package to use with vines for Mr. B, a square pillow cover, bag full of stuff and four small cuties. The children's book is very interesting, published when Russia was still the USSR.

Here are the little items, a wooden inspirational saying, a box like a French envelope, a bird nest and an egg cup with feet.

Then there was the bag. For $2.99 I got this:

 

In an extra-large ziplock were dozens of cards, envelopes, embellishments and two Christmas ornaments, one from Tiffany. There are cards for Christmas, New Year, Halloween, blank and Hawaiian Christmas, Mary Engelbreit and more. 

At the Assistance League were found a box of Scottie dog cards from Harrod's in London and two scarves. One of those is Halston and the other from the Metropolitan Museum of Art and looks never used. 

All in all, a fine batch of Friday treasures. I hope those of you stuck inside with cold and snow aren't going through thrift/yard sale withdrawal; weather so bad you can't hunt for bargains is a terrible thing to endure! Linking to the party at Coastal Charm for Nifty Thrifty Tuesday http://linda-coastalcharm.blogspot.com/

Have a great weekend, 

Michele

Wins of the Week

Hello, all. How are you this next to the last week of January? I've gone to a couple of stores in the neighborhood in the past few days and wanted to show you my loot.

As you can see, it's a very mixed lot with some stuff for us and other things to sell.

A miniature picnic basket for $1.41.

A round wire basket.

There are actually six of these Santa mugs by Waechtersbach, made in W. Germany. The others hadn't had their price stickers taken off yet. They were .79 cents each less a 25% discount at the Salvation Army on Monday.

This big gold N will be a gift for daughter Naomi.

This is a box made to look like stacked books. It didn't have the orange tag that gave 30% off, but I went on and paid the full price of $2.99.

This pretty  egg box held Godiva chocolates, so that's what it's future will probably be again at Easter.

This little chick egg cup is new with a label still on it.

A new in shrink wrap jigsaw puzzle featuring bunnies.

That's a bottle cork with a cool ceramic knob, very colorful.

 

The bucket bag from Tommy Hilfigger is very clean, looks unused and has a coin purse too. It was $2.72 and will go up for sale.

 

This triangular new box of pencils has a map scene on the box.

A new book and kit with materials to make friendship bracelets is also headed out the door.

This small Vera Bradley bag has a pretty green lining with white polka dots.

This Carolina Herrera scarf looks never used.

And finally, a Franciscan cup and saucer for oldest daughter, who inherited some other pieces in this pattern from her grandmother. It was $3.10. 

There are also two Ralph Lauren pillow cases, pink floral with a ruffle for $.99 cents each. They are king-sized so will go on ebay. I got three cute tops last week as well, a heather look sweater, a little khaki jacket and a black pullover sweater, but didn't have the patience to get those out to photograph. Oh, and I see not mentioned was a small metal basket shaped like a flower pot and an oval tin box decorated with books.

All in all, January has been a pretty good month here. What about your community? Is it a good month because folks are cleaning out, or a bad one because everyone is staying in because of bad weather?

Have a great week!

Michele

One small project

Hello, all, 

I hope everyone is having weather as nice as it is here, and if that's not the case you are warm and dry.

Recently this was purchased  at the Sand Dollar near us for $3.93:

with the idea of using it in the front with succulents. After priming came spray paint. That didn't turn out quite right, resulting in this:

 

Wow, does that remind you instantly of egg yolks? Me too.Thus, on to Plan B after buying paint still food related, but much lighter. Krylon Buttercream. Let's go.

A much mellower shade, don't you think? After it dried the bottom was lined with the remains of a roll of cork last seen in the rehab of an ugly tray. Below it you can glimpse a bit of another $3.93 purchase, a mosaic orb. Here is the cart filled:

 

All the succulents are growing like crazy, including one bought at Ikea a couple of weeks ago. They have a small selection of houseplants, as well as some very realistic fake ones. Those might wind up in the cart on my next trip there, for indoor decorating. The little cart and the mosaic ball are two of my favorite recent finds. It seems as if around here lots of folks clean out and donate a fair amount after the holidays, so January can be a good month for bargain seekers. What's it like where you live? Does the installation of the new calendar send you out on the hunt? 

Here's to fantastic finds and treasures galore!

Till next time,

Michele

This and That

Hello, friends,

Evidently the urge to continue the holidays has stayed with me, despite reality that we're well into January, a fairly boring month and often dreary to boot. I've done a few things this week, added this picture to the 

thrifted art collection:

I like the colors in it a lot, but especially the oval frame.

Also involving art work is one I put together from my 2012 calendar. My favorite artist is the Swedish painter, Carl Larrson. There were small examples of the large pages for each month on the back, so I picked three to put in a frame that was a gift several years ago from oldest daughter Hilary.

There are three winter scenes in bright colored wooden mats that remind me of the cheerful colors that often appear in his indoor compositions. Flossie seems dubious about my choices. She thinks that white stuff looks cold and wet. 

Finally, a cautionary tale. Wednesday there were massive storms here, a deluge of rain and street flooding. I stayed home and worked in this room where the computer and the books and other items I sell are located. Honestly, it looked like a candidate for the tv show about hoarders, it was so bad. I was lazy and didn't  keep it straight, but also some of the blame goes to cats who knocked things down and overturned boxes and stacks all the time. However, new year, new attitude. I worked in it all day long and made huge improvements, but not without a cost. There was a small, maple child's table in here. It is old, made of thick slabs of wood. Imagine my surprise when in the attempt to movie it a few inches in order to vacuum underneath, it broke right in two! Really, who would imagine that would happen? Sadly, not me, and this is the result:

Mr. B says he can fix it. I'll keep you posted. Have you ever had a well intentioned cleaning or organizing effort go horribly wrong? Isn't it the worst to be exhausted, stressed and created a disaster despite your best intentions? It's great this room is finally done, a good start to 2013, but a sad situation for that nice little table. 

Have a good weekend and stay warm!

Till next time,

Michele

The Agony and the Irony

Hi, folks,

Sorry to be so late. I've had a hard time getting back into my normal routine after the holidays, especially with Mr. B having an erratic work schedule for a while. Middle daughter Mary gave me a cute red shelf unit for Christmas. Last Friday I spent some time making it into a small kitty shrine, based upon an idea read about in a book by Gretchen Rubin called Happier at Home which is very good; I highly recommend it. When finished it looked like this:

In it are several pieces of kitty memorabilia, some figurines, a box, matches, a tiny doll cookie cutter, collar from one who crossed the Rainbow Bridge last year and one of my cat pins. On top is a holiday card with a very cute color photo of kittens on the front. I like the box and was pleased with how the display turned out. 

Fast forward twelve  hours. Early the next morning (here comes the irony) while distributing the weekly ration of wet food I saw, to my horror, this:

in a million pieces on the floor.  Yes, they managed to smash my giant glass cloche during the night. Somehow, neither of us woke up when it fell, don't ask me how. I know you all know exactly how sad losing this great aid to decorating makes me feel, but it's one of the hazards of having indoor pets. Sigh. 

Meanwhile, the winner of the first AIT giveaway is Karen Mary Butterfly. I'll be putting a box together to send out this week. And in case it wasn't mentioned earlier, a very happy new year from our house to yours.

Michele