Thrifting...

April 13., 2012

Today I did a little shopping at a couple of local thrift stores and I even hit a consignment furniture store.  I'm getting in the habit of checking in at these places at least once a week.

My daughter is moving out to a house she'll share with 3 other poor university students. So I'm looking for specific items and I'm being very choosey.

That's an empty house so that means she'll need pretty much everything from can opener to couch!

You already saw the chairs that I'm spray painting for her - yep I found those at a thrift store!

Today I saw lots of cool items but I only bought 2 things - and one of them was for me!

First I found this vacuum for the DD's new place.  We've got central vac at home so I can't bring our vacuum to help her clean up on moving day.  This little guy should do the trick.

Then I bought this for me....

it's one of those spinning alpha thingys.  I plan on using it to organize my technique samples.

I'm also a Freecycle member and this morning I picked up a table to go with the chairs - that is after I spray paint the white parts black and stain/seal the top. 

This table seats 6 and it was Free!  Thanks to Donna!

The girls would really like a farmhouse style table like this one for $700 but they'll just have to be happy with the FREE one!

Consignment Canada (on Pemberton in North Vancouver) is an awesome place to go if you are looking for good quality second hand furniture - a big step up from the thrift stores - and they are jam packed with tables, chairs, couches, and more.

I've got some more painting to do this weekend and maybe a trip to IKEA.

So I'll finish off this post with a few photos of some interesting things I saw at the thrift store....

Old luggage for $15 each...

 this one had a purple satin lining!

This dresser/sideboard was solid wood and only $50!

I would have loved to have picked this one up and spray painted it a fun colour like this one from Pinterest.



But it's too big for DD and I have no space for it at my house! Darn!!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Until Next Time!
Marie

What's New?

August 12, 2008

You might be wondering why the old blog has been kind of quiet lately.

I have to tell you that I just got back from our annual family vacation in Parksville on Vancouver Island BC.

We had a fantastic time and the weather was wonderful!

The kids ran around like wild things in their bare feet and bathingsuits and I had no idea where they were half the time. The other half of the time they were in and around our unit with a gangload of kids from other units raiding our fridge and just "hanging out".

My hubby had a chance to golf 3 times, took our boy twice with him and me and the girl shopped Coombs Market for "stuff". The guys also went fishing with my brother-in-law and nephews who live over there.

I had the opportunity to check out 2 craft stores while I was there and both times ALONE!! I can't tell you what a treat that was!

The first place I went to was Crafty Capers in Lantzville. I was so excited to be going to Lantzville and I'm sure everyone thought I was nuts - I couldn't help mentioning that on Tuesday I'd be going to Lantzville whenever I mentioned our plans to anyone.

Victoria was so sweet and showed me around her tiny store which was jammed packed with all kinds of goodies! TONS of stamps, inks, glitter, stencils and IDEAS!!! She generously explained how some of her cards were made and we talked about dogs - a lot.

She was expecting me because I had called her a week or so before to find out if she could get something for me. I was over the moon when she told me she could and it arrived just before we got to the Island!

I was "Jones-ing" for a specific Dreamweaver stencil that I could not find anywhere - except in the US and the one site I found would not ship to Canada!

I bought a TON of stuff from her (stamps, stencils, and Spellbinders!) which I'll be sharing with you at some point in the future.

I don't post photos of my purchases anymore - would you like to see photos of stuff like that? Let me know...

The other store I went to was Scrapbookin' Adventures in Parksville. I snuck out to this one while I was supposedly "grocery shopping". Good thing it's right near the Thrifty's!

Scrapbookin' Adventures is a small store (or so I thought) and completely different from Crafty Capers (mostly scrapbooking hence the name - duh!).

Jennifer showed me around the retail space and then into another area of the store where the classroom space is. WOW - what a space they have there - with all the latest tools! It's very deceiving because it's a house converted into a store.

She has a great selection of patterned papers and was unloading a shipment of Halloween and Christmas stuff that I'm sure will be snatched up long before those holidays! I bought some felt die cuts, a punch and some Thickers for my girl who loves them!

If you ever find yourself on Vancouver Island and have time to kill be sure to check out these 2 fabulous stores!

Martha Stewart Halloween Line

Have you seen the new Martha Stewart line for Halloween?

Check it out here and here .

It looks so nice. I just love LOOKING at all this stuff.

But REALLY! Would I use it? I don't know about you but other than a few scrapbook pages I don't stamp or create too much at Halloween.

What would I use all this stuff for? I don't believe that we Canadians "celebrate" Halloween as much as Americans do. Do you?

If all this was available at your Michaels would you buy it? What would you use it for?

I guess because my kids are older (12 & 14) and starting to lose interest in Halloween (other than the candy) I'm starting to feel the same way.

Last year I made one of those ghost sucker pots with the little kiss treat holders (see below) but I don't really have any plans to make anything decorative for Halloween this year nor send any Halloween cards.

Don't get me wrong. I'll still drag out the cemetary and outdoor decorations for our little neighbourhood treat or trickers but decorating the inside of the house and making cards - no I don't think so.

I'd rather spend the time making my Christmas cards! Now that's a holiday I still celebrate with full force!

I can't believe I'm posting about Halloween and Christmas already AND did you see that Walmart already has back to school stuff in!

No wonder I feel like time is speeding by...

Shopping!

I have a confession to make. I don't really like to shop...

I mean I love it when I find something but most of the time the "looking" and running in and out of stores tires me out mentally. I get overwhelmed and just shut down.

So this trip we did some shopping but it was a little at a time and we SKIPPED the huge-gantic shopping mall - Scottsdale Fashion Square - but stuck to the smaller ones like Desert Hills, Paradise Valley and Kierland Commons.

I discovered a store called Anthropologie and found a great crimson cardigan sweater with "princess" sleeves and top made out of mesh with brown and black. They're both kind of funky but really suited to my style.

I also discovered DSW. Which means "Designer Shoe Warehouse". It's a great store with rows upon rows of ladies shoes. I found some cute ballet flats and a nice brown leather pair of wedges. I have foot problems so a lot of the shoe styles don't work for me. It's great when I can find something I like and that I can actually wear.

I did some shopping in Target and got some lovely linen pieces - a white button up top, a beige a-line skirt, and 2 pairs of capris in white and caramel. I've already had to wash the caramel ones (a little run in with some salsa) and they came out beautiful - one of my fears of buying cheap clothing is that it is "disposable".

My daughter did more shopping than me and bought all kinds of stylish clothes at various stores that we don't have here - Hollister, Wet Seal, No Fear, as well as Target.

She also ended up with 4 new pairs of shoes from DSW.

I bought some cool stuff at Joann's and a local Scrapbooking store but that's another post...