MS Office and a "Spot of Tea" Please!

No miraculous finds this week other than finding that America's Thrift Store actually had a 10% off coupon on their website that is good through 2/28/11. I accidentally found it when I was searching for their store hours while surfing the net this morning. Going early in the morning is a very good idea as you will not be a part of the buggy traffic jam that occurs around noontime on a Saturday :(.
I wanted to share a couple of my re-purposing projects I created with the help of MS Office and used picture frames. I love silver and anytime I find small silver or interesting picture frames, I buy them and use them for gift tags by printing the person's initial with MS Office and placing it in the frame. Your gift will stand out with this thoughtful and eye catching tag that can then go on to be used as a decorating accessory. The second project was something I saw in a decorating magazine and thought it would be something I would like to re-create myself. Although I am VERY aware of where my laundry room is, I was hoping that by labeling it, the other members of my family might be enticed to use it more often..Ha right!! Oh well, everyone needs an attractive laundry area that is CLEARLY marked!! We don't want mama to lose her way! Don't think that MS Office fonts stop at 72pt. You can type in whatever size you want for all your lettering or monogramming projects.
Tea anyone???? My mother introduced me to Hall-McCormick teapots several years ago as she had several that were acquired by her mother many years ago (late 30's or early 40's, I think). It is my understanding that McCormick Tea Company teamed with the Hall China Company to offer their customers a teapot when they sent in labels from McCormick Tea. The teapots were various colors. The most common colors were brown, mauve, and green. The problem you run into today trying to collect them is that it is very difficult to find them with their original infusors and lids as they were most likely to break over the years. Mother gave me a couple of them and I have purchased a few. I found a brown one once at a yard sale for $1. You couldn't wipe the smile off my face when the lady told me it was $1. However, my husband thought I should haggle with the seller to get it for fifty cents. That didn't happen. I purchased my yellow one on ebay. I'm not going to tell you how much I paid for it :( . It was more than $1. I still have several I'm trying to piece together if anybody finds an infusor sitting on a thrift store shelf or at a yard sale...think about me!!

Friday Night Specials!!

Here I am on a Saturday morning thinking about those four chairs I left behind last night at the thrift store...knew I should've bought them!!! Grrrrr! Oh well...here's what I lugged home. I wished for a new cutting board the other day since I've been aspiring to be like Giada and the thrift store ferry left me one on the shelf. Forgot to include it in the picture. It was a Catskill Craftsmen Inc. professional maple cutting board with the tags still attached ($1.48). I have searched the net and can't find one comparable less than $40. On to the other finds!! I've been collecting wooden letters and found several this time. I plan to use them in various ways as I will have some decorating projects going on in the next couple of months in my school's new library and my adjoining office. I'm thinking paint and distress them and put the word "read" on the wall somewhere!! Sounds appropriate for an elementary school library. I recently purchased some of those 3M picture hangers that won't hurt your walls and think these will be the perfect items to use them with. I also purchased two curtain rod sconces for $1.98 and am still looking for two more. I found two wooden curtain rods at another thrift store last weekend that I plan to use in my bedroom and these sconces will be perfect to hang those after a little antiquing job. Also found was a piece of Miller Studio plaster of paris curly Q wall decoration circa 1967 ($1.48). This piece will be perfect to adorn a piece of sad looking furniture. Hopefully I will find something to attach it to soon!! I also found a cute clay sunshine / owl windchime. Not quite sure why the owls are on there since they are nocturnal...but it was cute and has a nice sound. So nothing today that really blew me out of the water but I'll keep hunting! Oh, one last thing...I got really excited to hear that there might be a new major thrift store opening up in a nearby city, but my balloon was immediately deflated when I found out that the surrounding area would rather see the old empty grocery store building stay empty rather than allow riffraff like me to come shopping and maybe spend my money eating lunch nearby, filling my car up at their gas stations, and shopping in that community with the money I saved by shopping at their thrift store :)

Tuesday Haul

Another day off!! No icy roads where I want to go. I will have a sidekick today as my husband and I are both in the same profession and are both footloose and fancy free. Today's treasures were nothing to "hoot and holler" about. I did find two things on my "wish list". You must always have a "wish list" written down and with you at all times just in case you get carried away and forget. It helps to keep you focused. The first being a pair of "cowboyish" boots marked $9.88, and to my delight, they were tagged for 50% off. The second being a piece of fabric with a damask design to use as a background for an oval frame which I am converting into and earring hanger. My fabric was a pillow sham which will do just fine. I find when I'm looking for a particular type or design of fabric at a thrift store, I sometimes have luck by checking out curtains, sheets, blankets, and bedspreads as well-$1.98. Going back to the wish list subject. I keep a visual wish list as well. When I receive catalogs like Chadwick's, Newport News, or magazines with outfits that catch my eye, I cut out those pictures and put them in a pocket in a little notebook I keep in my purse. Many times I have been able to piece those outfits together after a couple of trips to the thrift store. Also found were a cute pair of flats from Maurice's-$3.88. Two sweaters @ $1.98 and $2.48; neither were great name brands but had the "new look" and fit my specifications; my size, my colors, good quality, and my style! A wooden flag plaque was purchased for $1.48 as a family member of mine enjoys collecting them. A book from runner's world on women and running found its way into my basket before I left the store as well. That was the only purchase my husband made today. I hope its for someone else, because I don't want it!!

Why Junk in my trunk?

Here I am on a nasty day off due to icing conditions starting a blog so I can tout to the world my passion for visiting and shopping at thrift stores, junk stores, and yard sales. I want to share with you the THRILL of finding that item that completes a set or that item that "THEY" (the people who do the pricing at the thrift store) didn't know the value of! Scoffing up a pair of Cold Water Creek jeans that you know would cost $60 new and paying $1.98 for them. I work a full time job but try to make it to some type of thrift store twice a week. I live 25 miles away from two large thrift stores that I frequent and have a few small ones that are local I slide through every few days. I will post each week any "booty" that I haul home.