A DIY Blog Empowering You to Complete Your Own Project
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After yesterday’s diversions, we were all feeling the pressure to purchase the final items on our wish lists. This would be our last day on the yard sale and the last day to prep any items we purchased before placing them into the Habitat house.
We decided to create a master wish list for everyone so we could all be on the lookout for each other. There was a lot of texting with photos attached as we shopped in the in the morning.
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Top row, left to right: Me, Gynne, Erin – Bottom row left to right: Kristen, Courtney, Amy
Saturday morning I rushed out the door into a THICK WALL of HOT and HEAVY HUMIDITY in search of some great bargains. Yes, I had to bold and capitalize that statement about the weather, because it was really that nasty! Despite the weather, I pushed forward to join some other local thrifters for the second annual I “Love” Thrifting Day. It was a good chance to have fun shopping, pointing, laughing and sweating (like a pig in a cooker.) If you stayed home in your air conditioned comfort, I commend you on being cool. For those that missed the fun, here is the recap that can be enjoyed in the comfort of your climate controlled home (or office.)
We started at The Resale Boutique, which truly remains one of my favorite consignment stores. They have several booths set up inside and there are always sales and discounts resulting in some fabulous deals! Like this antique child’s toolbox for $7.50 (- 20%!) And it had several of the tools still inside. I tried super hard to hide my excitement, but I don’t have a good poker face.
If tools aren’t your thing, how about this fun little nut cracker? He was still there when I left, so rush on out to scoop him up if you like nut crackers.
In the “Whoa! What the Heck is That” category, I discovered this rather busty machine. It turns out it was an old Dr. Scholl’s foot massager.
I thought these little spice drawers were interesting. But, when I pulled them out I discovered they weren’t drawers, but little square shakers.
I fell hard for this birds and bees carved glass plate. But, I couldn’t justify the price. It is heavy, french and truly beautiful, so I’m sure it was worth every penny.
One of the many things I bought from The ReSale Boutique were these Ralph Lauren platform flip flops. They are super comfy and may just be my new favorite shoes.
Next it was on to GCF or Goodwill Community Foundations. We went to two Goodwills and at the first one I scored this great metal storage chest for $23. The drawers look cheap, but the glides and construction are heavy duty. I have plans to make it less “girly” and use it for art supply storage in my studio. A big thank you goes to Kristen for insisting I buy it and helping me haul it to the register and out the door!
At the Brier Creek Goodwill, I met sweet Tonya who asked for my opinion on this table and 6 chair set. At under $100, the table was sturdy, but needed some TLC. Tonya has some plans to give it a makeover, and I told Tonya that I’m holding her to it!
I found these men’s shirts and an American flag (thanks Gwynne for pointing out the flag in the display case.) I have some patriotic plans for them, but I won’t tell you what they are yet. A little more about that flag, it is 100% cotton and was only $19.99. I didn’t open it up in the store, but when we unfolded it at home, it took up one entire wall in my son’s bedroom! This sucker is huge!
If you follow me on Twitter and/or Instagram, you may have been scared seen some of the stranger things that we saw while thrifting.
1. Before chia pet, there was straw bunny!
2. Everything looks better upholstered, well except a gigantic mirror.
3. Foot tall set of The Three Stooges figurines, make a beeline to Estatibles if you can’t live without them!
4. Rhinestone-encrusted nightmare-inducing fine art twins were pointed at and then we quickly ran away. SCARY!!!
We had a fabulous time. A special thanks to Courtney from The Joy of Decorating for organizing this year! Hopefully we’ll have some new recruits next year.
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If you’ve been following me for long, you were witness to my one wreath with many different looks for one year. Well, I’m ready for a change. So, I decided to create something completely different.
When I think of fall, I think of cooler weather, sweaters, autumn leaves and flowers. This wreath encompasses all those elements.
Lucky for me I had all the materials on hand. Especially the XL cable knit sweater that I picked up at Goodwill thinking I could make sweater vases out of it.
Materials:
Instructions:
Start by cutting off the sleeve of the sweater.
Cut, the sleeve in half lengthwise. Then put the right sides together.
Stitch the ends together (try to line up the stripes or cable knitting.) Trim off any excess.
Open your sleeves up to give you one long length of sweater material.
Preheat the hot glue gun. Lay the wreath form on top of the sweater material.
Put a bead of hot glue on the back side of the wreath form and glue one edge of the sweater material to the wreath.
Squeeze out another bead of hot glue, wrap the other side of the sweater material up and glue it against the already glued piece.
Realistically, this is the backside of the wreath, but if you have a see through door like I do, you will want to roll under your raw edges to hide the seams.
Work in 3-4″ sections, adhering one side and then the other until you reach the end of your wreath. Cut your sweater material slightly longer than you need, then roll under the raw edge and glue it down.
Your wreath should resemble something like this:
Hot glue some leaves onto the wreath covering one of the seams.
Then add some flowers. And more leaves, and more flowers, until you have burned your fingers to smithereens!
Next tie one loop of ribbon to cover the top seam.
Tie more ribbon to the loop to give your wreath a more “substantial” bow.
And now you have a warm, cozy and colorful fall wreath! What do you think? I just want to snuggle up to it every time I walk through the door.
Have you started to decorate for fall? Do you have your wreath yet? I’d love to hear about your unique wreath project. And if you need more ideas, The Nester had a wreath link party last week!
Y’all have a fabulous weekend!
Sharing this craft with these fabulous ladies:
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Yesterday was I <3 Thrifting Day around the nation. Thanks to Rashon Carraway, aka Mr. Goodwill Hunting, people went out and shopped for second hand items at their local thrift stores. I really hope this is an annual event!
Courtney from The Joy of Decorating, did a fabulous job organizing the Raleigh group of thrifters.
She even scheduled our lunch at Tijuana Flats (a great Mexican joint) and now I have a NEW favorite restaurant in Raleigh!
Several other local bloggers showed up. From left to right: Rae, Jay (future blogger and Amy’s boyfriend), Amy, Courtney, Abi, Carrie, Kristi and Me.
Here are a few things I learned about these fabulous people:
Rae (is known to her friends as Reesie) and she shares furniture with a girlfriend. They trade things back and forth, instead of buying new! Genius. Rae’s writes BlushBlog.com, a blog about fashion, style and the complexities of women. Check her out blog and let her know I sent you. I would love to go clothes shopping with Rae. Something tells me she would really help me step up my style.
Jay - Jay has been contemplating a blog in his head for a while now. He has a great sense of humor and likes all things Star Wars (I’m a Star Wars geek too, so I like that in a man!) He also tried to convince Amy that they needed an almost nude Santa doll in boxers and black boots for their own. I REALLY wish I had taken a picture. I have to convince Jay to bring over his box set of Star Wars movies so we can watch them back-to-back with my boys.
Amy – Amy is a friendly gal who waits quietly to get a word in. But, when she does, she has a lot to share. She pointed out this amazing pendant lamp made from cardboard.
I must have looked at it five times and never realized that it was made of cardboard. Amy’s blog is called PunctuationWounds.com. She is a wonderful writer and has a writing style that keeps you entertained. Check out her post on photoshopping celebrities. I hope she’ll let me know next time she’s in town so we can hang and maybe shop again.
Courtney – She’s the gang leader. But, in the nicest of ways. She is a fun and vivacious creature who loved to ham it up for the camera.
Amy and Courtney hamming it up for the camera.
Courtney planned the I <3 Thrifting Day perfectly and led us through some great hidden treasures of Raleigh. Okay, maybe they aren’t all hidden, but I live under a rock. Courtney writes the blog, The Joy of Decorating, a blog about home decor and much much more! Little did I know that she is practically a neighbor of mine! Hopefully we can get together again soon. Oh, and she also put together little goodie bags for all of us. What a sweetheart! Thanks Courtney!
Abi – Some of you may already recognize Abi. She is the writer of GaddingGal.com, a blog that wanders around sharing home decor, diy projects, travel and more. She also writes a twice a month feature for Centsational Girl called Best of the Blogosphere.
Abi was a hoot to hang with. She has a great fun-loving personality. She fell hard for this dresser turned into a bench with storage. But, the sales people were unwilling to budge on their (in my opinion, inflated) prices.
Abi covets this cool dresser turned bench.
Their loss! Hey Abi, maybe we can get together to build one for you! I’ll supply the power tools, you supply the dresser.
Carrie – I actually met Carrie (and Kristi) when we arrived back from Blissdom. They stopped me at the Raleigh airport to ask if I had just come from the conference. It was really great seeing her again. Carrie is a busy mama. She writes the CarrieLoves.com blog. PLUS, she has an Etsy store. AND, she also is a graphic and web designer. If you need a new blog design, Carrie is your gal. You can view her portfolio and get more information by visiting SweetFaerieDesigns.com.
I’m hoping Carrie will invite me for coffee sometime so we can talk graphic design and blog stuff 
. We certainly didn’t get enough time to talk on Saturday.
Kristi - As I mentioned, we actually met in January on our way home from Blissdom. I learned that Kristi and I have the same taste. She scored this cute shirt and mirror at Goodwill.
Kristi's thrifty finds.
She’s just lucky she saw it before me or I would have snagged them! Kristi is the creative genius behind The Lazy Girl’s Guide to Slipcovers. Seriously, this is a great resource should you want to sew your own slipcover. Just take a look at her blog PinkandPolkaDot.net to see some of the many slipcovers she has sewn. I wish I had found her before I sewed one for my sister’s glider. Hopefully she’ll come over one weekend so we can chat, eat chocolate and sew together ;-D.
It was really great getting to meet these fantastic women + one man. There is nothing like hanging with a bunch of bloggers to make you feel welcome and know that they “get you”.
I met the group at Goodwill where Becky from the corporate office showed up to talk to us and take our pictures.
Rae, Becky, Abi and Carrie
Becky was explaining to me what projects Goodwill funds with the money from the retail shops. Not only does Goodwill Industries of Eastern NC provide jobs for over 450 people in our region. They also have a nature center complete with a greenhouse at their corporate office for adults with disabilties? This center is amazing! They provide learning and skill development for almost 100 adults with disabilities, while at the same time growing plants, flowers and vegetables. Last year they donated 3,300 lbs. of produce from the nature center to a local food bank! If you have a minute, watch this video for more information.
Finally, funds from the retail stores also go to an online computer learning resource. At GCFLearnFree.org you can learn how to use everything from Microsoft Office programs, to social media sites like Twitter and Facebook. Plus, there are online learning resources for learning english, math, resume writing and much more! I will definitely think about this next time I’m shopping at Goodwill (which will probably be next week.)
Here are just a few pictures from our day of thrifting:
ReTails a thrift shop that benefits low cost spaying and neutering. A great cause! Click on the picture to learn more.
What the heck is it?
Abi shows her claim to this vintage wine opener.
Who's shooting who? Kristi taking my picture and vice versa.
Courtney and Abi are having way too much fun!
Courtney and me at Goodwill
Carrie, Kristi and Rae at Tijuana Flats
Abi and Me trying hard to get a good picture of the two of us.
My I <3 Thrifting Day Haul - Less than $60 for everything!
Striped fabric belt and a paneled cupboard thingy. Courtney helped convince me to buy it for only $20! But, I have some great plans for it. You'll just have to wait and see.
Wire baskets and spray paint
Old atlas, a yellowed book, big Ball mason jar and some Hardy Boy books for my 7 yr. old eager reader
Lightweight and super cheap messenger bag
Glass bowls, a vase, and gift box
So, did you go thrifting on I <3 Thrifting Day? What did you find? Did you score or strike out? Inquiring minds want to know!
Linkin’ up with Rhoda’s Thrifty Treasures Party.
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Do you know this man?
That is Rashon Carraway, aka Mr. Goodwill Hunting. This designer/blogger has started a day in honor of thrifting! He says: “thrifting isn’t a TREND it’s a LIFESTYLE” Amen!
He is also selling T-shirts to spread the message (I “heart” thrifting.) This is a man with a message that is close to my heart. I love to thrift. I love to reuse. I love to recycle. I love to upcycle! Breathing new lift into cast off objects gives me a huge amount of joy.
Speaking of Joy, Courtney from The Joy of Decorating, has organized a Raleigh I <3 Thrifting Day excursion.
Here is the itinerary:
I will be joining them (hopefully from the first stop) and then will be finishing up at my favorite haunt: the Habitat ReStore. If you would like to join us; I’d love to see you, meet you, and share what goes through my head when I thrift. You can get a sneak peek from my post about what I see at the ReStore (from last summer.)
So, won’t you join us?
Raleigh schedule:
10:00 am. – Antiques to Zippers - 1689-A North Market Drive, Raleigh
11:00 am – Goodwill - 1677 North Market Drive, Raleigh
12:00 p.m. – ReTails Thrift Shop - 1608 North Market Drive, Raleigh
1:00 p.m. – Lunch at Tijuana Flats (Fun place for a group photo!) - 1310 East Millbrook Rd., Raleigh
2:00 p.m. – Revival Antiques - 1505 Capital Boulevard #14, Raleigh
3:00 p.m. – Habitat for Humanity ReStore – 2420 Raleigh, Blvd. Raleigh
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