Steals 'n deals

I have a lot of stuff at my house so I usually make what I have work and I don't do a whole bunch of shopping but I did get in some good thrifting lately! Check out my awesome finds:





I bought this for my friend's daughter - and does it matter she's only 7 weeks old? Ummm no. - it was $1.99. One ninety nine for this gorgeous hardback with beautiful pictures interspersed and those ruffled page edges that make it look old. Fabulous! I already knew the book was fabulous because I own this exact copy and although it was a gift I know it cost considerably more than two bucks because it came from The Hen's Tooth.



My next find was this lovely jar:

Which is funny considering this week's Trash to Treasure projects over at Reinvented have to do with this very thing. But I cannot lie...it came with the chalkboard section already on it. It was $3.99 and I did this with it:

Treats for the dog obviously! Not for people, or children...unless you are really hungry. I also learned that my handwriting skills with chalk needs some serious work.

My huge steal of the week was this sweater:

I know that buying a sweater in the middle of summer probably wasn't my most genius plan ever, but it does have shortish sleeves (they stop at the elbow) and I LOVE the color and it will be a great transition piece into fall. Plus it's really soft! And...

so how could I resist right? (and now you all know I like silly movies)

The best part? I paid:

And it still had the original tags on it.

Wanna see?

Come for the award, stay for the idea!

Thanks to everyone who blog-hopped to my Mad Tea Party! And a HUGE thank you to Vanessa for hosting - it was SO much fun!

I hope you will forgive me being so late in posting the giveaway winner but I spent a long weekend at my friend's house with her and her 6 week old baby. That's a pretty good excuse, hmm?

And the winner is....


Brittany!

Sneaky job Brittany! It was that second "already a follower" entry that got you the prize. So congratulations! Just send your address to mollythepirate@yahoo.com and I'll get your goodies in the mail!

I just love giveaways; so much fun. :)

On to the idea!

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For all of us Americans our 4th of July Independence Day celebration usually means a barbecue, a picnic, some kind of gathering in the sunny outdoors. I don't know about you, but my plastic utensils are all completely mismatched now. I refuse to buy new when these will do but I'd like it to look less like I ran around to camp or picnic sites stealing a knife here and a fork there. To add a little unification and to take some of the hassle out of the food line I bundled the utensil sets inside a napkin and bound it together with a festive paper flower in flag colors.




The flower I made using the same instructions from this post. Instead of leaving them white as I did there, I watered down some acrylic craft paint and applied it like I did in this post. Do you like how I'm making you run all over my old posts to get to the finish line? I promise I'm not just being mean. :)

When your flowers are ready this is how I wrapped them:

How cute is that?

If you'd like a little something to give to friends and neighbors you could try what I did, and just leave it as a bouquet. Just a little something to say "Happy 4th!"

And all it's going to cost is computer printer paper, paint, some floral wire and a little time.

Mustard?! Now let's don't be silly.

A little birdie told me there was a party, a mad tea party, hosted by A Fanciful Twist...



It's a good thing I have the appropriate attire! My great uncle Heinz's hat...and he was a magician no less.






Hat? Check. Key to secret rooms? Check. Pocket watch dripping with tea and jam (because...that's how you fix it you know). Check. Unbirthday cake? Double check.






Someone shrank my unbirthday cakes! That's what I get for wearing a magician's hat instead of something more ladylike.

I also call this one my Frankencake. ;)

And because this is a craft blog: I made the unbirthday cakes out of garbage! Well it doesn't sound appetizing when you say it that way. Scrap cardboard, paper scraps, felt scraps and other fabric scraps literally dug out of the garbage (remember how I told you the people I was house-sitting for had an amazing quilting room? They had a really fun garbage can full of scraps too!) All embellished with glitter and rick rack and sequins.

Ready for the giveaway?

To win my "tea with cream" earrings (see full description here) just leave me a comment! To get another entry and my everlasting gratitude add yourself to my lovely followers. :)

Already a follower? You still get that second entry. Be sure to let me know in the comments if you're following/just added yourself to followers. Good luck!

Putting garage sale goodies to use

Check out the other projects in this week's Trash to Treasure Tuesday over at Reinvented!

My first garage sale of the year! I know, I'm so behind! I did find a few goodies that I knew I could put to use. The crinkle paper (20 cents for both bags) will be perfect to ship my etsy goodies in; the hole punch (one dollar) will help me make tags and the shelf? ...

Izzy wanted to know why I was taking pictures of this dumb stuff instead of something cute like her, so I had to oblige.

The shelf was spray painted black (to match the other deck accessories) and is now the perfect spot to hang my drying herbs and flowers.

I believe it was a cup and saucer shelf - you can see the grooves running along the top where a saucer or plate could sit. And of course the cup hooks. :)

Gone are the horrible 80's tones and in are patina pots and fragrant plants. I'd say that's an improvement! And all it cost was a dollar and some spray paint.

See yesterday's post for another trash to treasure project!

And be sure to stop by this Saturday, the 27th for the Mad Tea Party! There will be confections and curlicues and...a giveaway!

The fifty cent IKEA frames transformation

Not that fifty cent - they cost me fifty cents each because they were in the as-is section! I was originally going to make the frames for this project from scrap cardboard but when I saw these I knew they'd be perfect! They had "good bones" as they say.



Seriously scratched up plastic insert went bye-bye and then I covered the blah blue color with scrapbook paper, edged them in grosgrain ribbon and made little layered felt flowers to cover my seams. I also created a mat with cardstock, by simply cutting out the center.

Don't they look oh-so-much better?

Yes they are quite girly, but they are going in a baby girl's room so that's to be expected. Each frame will hold a photo of the grandparents so baby can always have her family nearby.