I am a sucker for a lovely, useful vessel. Whether it be glass, metal or any other material, I have a very hard time refusing it. And, around $1-$2  a pop (some as low as .69 cents!), I certainly can’t turn that kind of a deal down! I splurged a little on the white tea tin I found on Etsy ($6). But, it was totally worth it!

I’ve decided to share some of my favorite pieces that I’ve accumulated over the last 6-8 months or so. I find these jars and tins so useful around the kitchen as well as the rest of the home. The glass flip top jars are perfect for food storage. I like to keep my nuts, seeds, snacks, dog treat, and baking items in them. Everything looks much prettier in a glass jar! These metal tins I typically use to contain my numerous teas. However, I have also been know to empty a few containers out and use them at a Craft Show as seen in this post.

The possibilities are endless. Enjoy!

This was really fun to make and so easy! I’m already making plans for more, especially since I have a few thrifted jars just dying to become terrariums. I am, however, having a hard time finding succulents small enough to fit into the smaller mouthed jars I have. Where do you get your succulents from? We may go to a nursery this weekend to check out their stash.

If you want to make a terrarium, check out this episode of Decor It Yourself.

The past couple of weeks my favorite thrift store has been very good to me. Take a look at some of the steals we snagged. Some of these we will be revamping, just not sure how yet. Any ideas? 

Chair on the left is the new addition. Only $7! And surprisingly comfortable!
*side note: Dustin snagged chair on right for $4 back in August. 
Oh, and the ashtray was $6 purchased a few months back.
 

I love this piece. It needs some TLC but I’m loving the look of this old nightstand.
I already replaced the bent up drawer pull with one I had lying around from IKEA.
Not sure if I want to paint it white or maybe try to clean up the existing finish.

Bonsai liked it too!!

We’ve been needing a file cabinet for quite some time.
When we came across this one, we knew it was the one… and for $7.50!
Who could resist?
 

Dustin spotted this piece, and I fell in love with this old kitchen cart
complete with a dish towel bar in the back.
Downside, you can’t tell from the photo,but the DIY spray paint job is horrendous.
Again, do I paint it white, maybe red or even a retro 50’s teal? Thoughts?
This piece we “splurged” on a bit. Can’t recall the exact price, but it was about $20.
 

This lamp I loved when I saw it, with the exception of the gold base
which I may end up doing something about.
Any thoughts? Suggestions on dealing with the gold metal base? 
It also came without a shade… well, we chose to take it without the shade. 
For now, an IKEA shade that I had lying around will suffice. How much? $11. 

What’s on my mind now? How can I get paid to shop at thrift stores for the rest of my life? I just adore it. What’s your view on thrifting? Love it or hate it?
 

Our local thrift shop every thursday gives 25% off your entire purchase. Last Thursday I talked Dustin into taking me over there. You see, he knows me too well. I can ALWAYS find some hidden treasure, so it’s best sometimes to just not go at all. Anyway, we scored some great stuff on that trip. When I saw these avocado bowls complete with the plastic lids my heart skipped a beat! But, ouch, $24.99! That’s a little steep for my frugal ways. Thank you Jesus, it was 25% off day!! Got these bowls for around $18.

Where’s the catch? Well, I opened a couple of these lids and (wow!) I could smell the years and years of food storage in them. After a run in the dishwasher they still stunk! So, next step…. white vinegar! My weapon of choice. I simply plugged the sink and soaked the lids in the vinegar overnight. Now they don’t smell at all! 
 

And when I got home, noticed they matched pretty perfectly with these goodies I’d picked up the week before. The fondue pot, fondue sticks and pot all came in around $5! Unfortunately, the small pot’s handle won’t stay on anymore. Also, the inside is pretty worn and will not stay clean. Might turn it into a plant pot since it matches my kitchen/dining! Will share results.

Happy Wednesday!

Dustin bought this Tom Clancy book a few weeks ago from our local thrift shop for about $3. He bought it for the purpose of making a secret Book Safe. Last night, he finally started it, but I might have taken over after he was about halfway through. I was not trying to do it for him, but simply offered to help. Either way, it was definitely a joint effort! We are both really pleased overall with the outcome.

This was a very easy project, just took a little muscle to get through the pages with my Xacto knife. We also went through a couple blades. The sharper the blades, the easier it was to get through the pages. The corners are a bit of a nuisance. Hard to get them really clean. However, the roughness just gives it that handmade quality we all love, right?

Can you tell from the above photo that the watered down Mod Podge bled onto the top red page on the outer edges? I may go over that page with the Mod Podge to just finish it off. I think it would look nicer this way. The opening is pretty deep. Could it hold your secrets? 

I think I prefer the book safe to be displayed like this,
with the pages facing out towards you as you walk into our kitchen/dining area. 
 

This project was a lot of fun, but it sure was messy! Nothing that wasn’t easily cleaned up. 
 

If you’d like to try this project, Bre Pettis has a great video tutorial here.

I have been putting off this post because there is nothing good to share with you except one lesson: Always finish your projects before going out of town for the weekend.

This wonderful ball of stringy goodness is what I left hanging in the kitchen last Thursday. Dustin and I went out of town for the weekend to see family which might I add turned into an exhausting bout of food poisoning for me. Needless to say, I was excited to get back home to see how the light project turned out. 
 

As soon as I walked into the kitchen my heart sank. I had come home to a big white shriveled raisin. I cannot say this shocked me. You see, because I ended up making such a LARGE light, I started to run out of the Stiffy I was using on the string. Also, due to the size, I could not tell exactly where I had covered and where I had not with the Stiffy. We were already late heading out for the weekend, so I chose to leave it to dry (even though Dustin offered to get me another bottle to pour on before leaving.) Looking back, I would have taken him up on this offer, but at the time the food poisoning was starting to kick in, and I was just ready to get into bed for the night. 
 
Lesson learned. I will finish my projects before leaving town for the weekend, especially when it involves a really cool light that could be hanging in my living room right now.
Will try again. Will work next time. Will make it work.

*note: Did you see my AeroGarden? It’s growing so nicely! I have a hard time keeping plants alive. Thanks Dustin, that was a great Christmas present!

Well, I was on a roll Monday night with my project for the week (which quite frankly I thought would be finished by now) but wouldn’t you know I ran out of string, which of course ends up taking two days to replace. Then, finding the time to finish that project always, of course, seems to elude me. Now, in the midst of getting the apartment cleaned, finishing up some work, caring for the dog, packing up to go out of town for the weekend for some family birthdays (HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAX & KYLE!) and preparing to have a house guest for the next week… I am frantically trying to finish up this DIY Light Project before we head out tonight. 

Does anyone else feel like this week went by way too fast??

My progress so far on one of the many projects on my TO DO list for this week. You can find the recipe here: ReadyMade. I love these huge string ball lights found here: Random Light. However, who’s got $600-$1500 in these crazy times to buy a light… or anytime for that matter. When I saw this project in my 99 cent thrift store copy of last month’s ReadyMade, I knew it had been waiting just for me!! Hope to share the final product with you before week’s end!

What are you doing this week? 

*please excuse the yucky photo, I was too impatient to NOT use the webcam!

So, I’ve been waiting and waiting and waiting to paint the condo we are renting. It took me a while to settle on the colors, but I’m so happy I finally decided to just dive in! Most of the painting will be shades of gray, however, I wanted to throw a pop of color in to make things a little more interesting. Yellow certainly brings that POP! Not normally one of my top color choices, but I’m very pleased with how it turned out. I like that when you walk into our condo now, it’s like you are bathed in sunshine! It makes me happy. I hope it will make our guests happy too! This color is called “Mellow Yellow”, but it’s anything but mellow! Here are a few really less than great photos to share with you. I just couldn’t wait any longer!
 

BEFORE :: In need of some color.

AFTER :: LOADS of color! 

I’m not certain yet if I will put anything else on the walls. 
This “Hi” sign is one of my favorite thrift store finds. (Thanks, Amanda!)
It was only $1.00. Not only offering a lovely greeting to guests, but
also reminds me of Hawaii where we lived for the past 2 years. 
 

Have you ever tried photographing yellow? It’s mighty difficult. These came pretty close to showing the true color, but it does look better in person. I’m thinking of doing some sort of interesting nature inspired graphic on this wall. I think it would be interesting and maybe break up a little of the yellow. For now, I’m happy with this, especially since I’m off to paint the living room now… it will be “Manhattan Mist”. What a lovely name. 

Hope you are having a splendid week so far. It’s almost the weekend!! 

A friend of mine had a Birthday yesterday, so I made some cupcakes. I must say, I had these grand pictures in my head of what they were going to look like. They were quite beautiful. However, don’t let these lovely little cupcake shops fool you, icing them to be so pretty and cute is harder than it looks! After testing about 6 different tips and failing miserably, I ended up snipping the end of the ziploc bag and just squirting that icing out! It was fun even though I did not turn out to posses secret Pastry Chef powers. 

Finished product. Only decent picture, sorry.
Only had the zoom lens at the time, and it was not cooperating in our small kitchen. 
  

Cupcakes cooling. I didn’t fill them up quite enough this time around.
 

See the ones I messed up on? No tip, just the Ziploc bag! 
It worked out much better for me.

This was a lot of fun. I will definitely do it again. However, I’d like to make the cake part of the cupcakes a bit denser to hold up to flavor and sweetness of the icing. Anyone have any recipes to share?