Happy Valentine’s Day

 

Happy V-Day to you all!  I hope you get some sweet love notes today!  I got a sweet valentine from a guest at my Swap Party this weekend (more on the Swap tomorrow)…

How sweet!  My friend who blessed me with this valentine and flower frog as a hostess gift / Valentine didn’t even know I had wanted one!  I have a little one on my desk and craft station, but all my bills never fit (figures!), so this much larger one will do nicely!  Thanks Krisy!

The only other V-Day cheer around here are my heartstrings…

I cut out hearts, and sewed them in chains.  I was inspired by Ashley Ann’s.  I let Mark help cut out hearts, but he only got two done by the time I finished all the others.  We need to add scissors to homeschooling way more often!  My strings in between the hearts got sloppy but I am over it.  The hearts added the little bit of love and cheer I needed around the house, last-minute for this holiday.

Have a great Valentine’s Day!  I have two super fun posts coming up this week, so stay tuned! 

Hello. My name is Tasha. I am a Thriftaholic.

 

Mom was gracious enough to take the kids (yes, plural) for three days!  I made the most of my time, prioritizing appropriately, and hit every good thrift store in the surrounding three cities. 

Here are my random finds… which, by the way, you understand that thrift store shopping is always pretty random, right?  Like, you can’t exactly say, “I want to find a mirror for the living room” and go stroll down the vast selection on the mirror isle.  But, if you make a routine of it and go armed with a list of things you check for each time, and also keep your eyes out for special finds, you might be surprised what you can come away with for cheap!

 

Teacups for pincushions for the Etsy shop –coming soon, by the way.  -About 50 cents each.

 

A nice wood framed mirror for the end of the hall.  -$4.99

 

I have a strange obsession with old-school canning jars for storage.  “Midland” is a first for me.  It sounds so Midwestern and heartland-ish.  I didn’t have a “MASON” one with the star yet either.  I have been finding many “ATLAS” ones lately, but I still love their stout shape.  And these look old to me – but, I really have no idea about their age.   -25 to 50 cents each.

 

Cute little framed print with a funny story.  I immediately snagged this and put it in the cart.  Then I thought, wait, are they burying someone?  Then I saw a wheelbarrow and a basket and a pitch fork… no, they’re planting and praying for a good harvest, I thought.  I showed two friends and they both thought the same thing – that the people were burying someone. The back said Millet – The Angelus, so I looked it up on Wiki and found that the painting was originally commissioned (requested and made-to-order) by a rich American, of artist Jean-François Millet.  The American never paid or took possession of the painting, so Millet changed the name of it and presented it to the public in 1865.  Later, dispute arose about the meaning behind the painting and it was x-rayed and found that Millet had painted over a coffin-shaped object!  Creepy!  I still kinda like it though.   -$1.99

 

A painted tray for over my entry door.  $2.50

 

   

An Emile Henry Salt Pig.  Keeps your salt handy and the hood shape protects it from germs and food debris.  -$1.99 (retail: $40!!!)

I love hunting down old metal utensils with wood handles.  -50 cents

Tray for dish soap and sponges – at least that is what I am using it for!  Keeps my sponge from constantly sliding off the ledge to the bottom of a sink full of dishes.  - $1.99

 

Two plain white plates for a collection for my entry.  Their hangers are drying on in this pic, but you will see them soon on the wall!  -$1.99 and 50 cents.

 

A sweet plate to add to Susie’s wall of art.  This one was marked “collector’s item” and was $6.99 but I am okay paying that much for a piece of art that I love – they are few and far between.

 

Ahh, and my most favorite find of all.  This is only a preview.  You will get to see it in all its Pottery Barn knock-off glory after I work my magic on it.  -$14.99 talked down to $9.99   {1,000 bonus points to anyone who can guess what it is!}

 

So that is the recent loot.  Do I have a serious problem?

Oops, I did it again!

 

Quick!  Reassure me: How long does it take for bad bangs to grow out?!  Just a few weeks, right?  Right???

 

Update:  That was taken yesterday.  It was bangs’ last chance to get along with my face.  Not happening.  Pretty sure I’m over it, sorry, husb.  Do I get points for trying…  three. different. times?  Look how horrified I am in that picture!

tidbit {jelly jar scrap vase}

 

Fabric scrap + twine + jelly jar =

Cute mess.

Update–Susie’s Room

 

So I revealed Susie’s room way back when, but we ran into some function issues now that she’s getting older.  That netting over the bed was about to be ripped to shreds during her super-stealthy-after-nap-playtime-in-her-crib sessions.  Figured that day would come.  And I moved out the telephone table nightstand anticipating tipping issues a while back (toddlers + nightstands + glass lamp = bad idea).  I had replaced it with a kitchen set, but she was retrieving kitchen tools through the bars at naptime, so we needed to do a little rearranging in there, too. 

Here is how it turned out…

I ended up having to remove the netting, and rotate her crib so it was against the wall instead of the window , and placing the kitchen under the window to keep it further away from her grubby little hands.  Removing the colorful netting meant that elephant pic alone didn’t cut it behind her crib.  I envisioned collecting girly prints at thrift stores and making a big collage.  But I am a child of my society and I needed something now, so I begged and pleaded with a talented friend, Sarah,  for a horse sketch that I was in love with (she had already offered to give me a piece of her art).  She blessed Susie and me with our choice from many of her recent works, but the original one that stole my heart had to come home with me…

He is beautiful and I love to admire him every day!  Thanks again, Sarah!

And then I Photoshopped a print out of a ‘verse’ I invented late one sleepless night…

I am a fan of sleep training.  Well I was a fan with my firstborn; with my secondborn I was a total zombie!  I was so tired I couldn’t even think straight at midnight… and 2 am… and 4 am… and 6 am…. I just did whatever would make her go back to sleep!  Mom and Leah helped me be tough and let her cry it out one weekend while we were at Mom’s, and life got lots better.  But later she would start whining after every cold or every time she teethed or when it was a full moon (j/k… maybe), and it was getting crazy, so I wrote this down intending to make artwork out of it to remind me to be tough again…

A lunatic is the woman who, in the night, answers her babe’s every whine, and in the morning is bitter for it.  - A mother’s Proverb

Apparently it worked – she sleeps like a champ - again.  Thanks Leah for encouraging me to do the print!  Do you think it is Etsy-ready!?

Okay, so then I had to have me some bunting!  I am obsessed with the stuff!  I made this one out of regular old construction paper (much cheaper than scrapbook paper), folded the paper flags over a tiny rope from the hardware store, sewed to secure, and glued on letters Mom cut with her Cricut.  LOVE…

So I still plan to collect thrift store art to add to it, but the little arrangement works well for now.

Also, the crib bumper had to go because it was sagging and driving me bonkers (sad – it was so colorful!).  But Susie was whining because she had nothing soft to cuddle her head against while snoozing, so I made her a pillow... 

Again, I channeled Ashley Ann and left the fraying edges, and alternated between zig-zag stitching and straight stitching.  I am still convincing myself that this one is a cute mess, but I think I will get used to it.

Oh, and I found a place for the Christmas chair!

It makes a sweet little ‘reading’ spot by her books and toys where one of her favorite little bears can hang out.  Susie loves getting books out and trying to climb up into the chair with them and by the time she gets up there she decides she wants a different one and does it all over again!

I’ve added a couple colorful toys and objects to this area too…

Had this fan inside the armoire and decided to put it on top for some color…

Susie can’t play with this xylophone because she gags herself with the stick that goes with it… but it looks cheery up on the shelf…

These hairclips are the tiniest, cutest things I have ever seen…

Wayyy too cute and colorful to stash in a bathroom drawer, so I added them to her growing collection in her room…

Last but not least I made a quick apron and some pot holders in gender neutral, bright colors so Mark can really get into cooking Susie and me some good food in their kitchen in style…

So those are all the updates so far.  There are still more things I want to change.   I am wishing I didn’t cheap out on the curtains – I wish I had done pure white, floor to ceiling.  I love the fabric of the existing ones but I’m over the business it adds to the room and would rather have the height it would add with simple white curtains from floor to ceiling.  Also, I am dying to paint the room sailor’s delight (1296) or engagement (1277) by Benjamin Moore.  Both are sophisticated, deep, dusty pinks.  But that is a project for when the husb goes out of town (he does not have the same love for changing everything all the time that I apparently do).  It will have to wait.

In family news, last week, Susie was really working hard on her dirty looks…

 

 

That simultaneous brow + lip control… it’s tough!  But she’s working on it.  She also shakes her head and says “uh-uh” every time you ask her any question.  Girls are trouble!