Thrift Store Re-Use Idea: Plant Clipping Containers

If you're a plant person who takes small clippings from your thriving plants to turn into new plants, here's a little idea for you. 

I used to put my clippings in old jars and cups by a window, and they never really looked great.  But, lately I've been picking up pretty glass candle holders from the thrift store and using those instead, which makes the clippings look even prettier than potted plants while I wait for their roots to grow.

One of my favorite spots in our new house is this little window box right above the kitchen sink.  It's a perfect spot for plants and delicate things to keep them out of the kids' reach.  Plus, being in Minnesota in January, it's really nice to be able to look up while doing dishes and see green plants and colorful glass, rather than the usual brown and white.

A couple hanging candle holders from the thrift store, hung  with little screw-in hooks in the window box "ceiling"

I love this little blue one that hangs on it's own stand

Colorful glass bottles work great too, especially for this straight bamboo!

There are so many cool options for your clippings if you think outside of the box!  How about some pretty vases, or even wine glasses?  So next time you're in the thrift store or at a garage sale, if you're a plant person, be sure to peruse the glass and candle holder aisles...the possibilities are endless!

Eat, Shop & Play Without Throwing Your Money Away!

This morning I had the privilege of presenting to my church's moms' group with my wonderful, creative, and resourceful friend Jessica VanMarter!  Jess has inspired me in so many ways.  Her encouragement and recommendations were what gave me the final "push" I needed to try out cloth diapers.  (See Part 1, Part2,  Part 3 & Part 4 of my extensive exploration of all types of cloth diapers if you're interested!)  Every time I talk to Jess I learn something awesome, which is why I'm so glad she recently started her blog! 

We had a a great time sharing our experiences and our tips and tricks for saving money in three areas of our lives as moms...eating, shopping, and playing!   Jess shared many great ideas for saving money in the "eat" section, and really opened my eyes to the enormous savings you can enjoy purchasing bulk spices, among many other ideas!  I shared my own tips and tricks for saving money buying other non-food items in the "shop" section, as well as some fun ways to have cheap and free fun with your kids. We really enjoyed sharing our tips and tricks, and learning even more great ideas from our audience! 

As promised, we have the slide show available for those of you who missed our talk, and those of you who would like to check out the links inside.  In general, the underlined text throughout the presentation are all web links.  (for those of you who attended...I took out the Price is Right theme music and animations to help shrink down this file size!)  We had to cut things short at the end so there are a few random tips and tricks still to see!  For those of you who didn't make it, check out the slide show for a great rundown of what you missed!  We purposely made this slide show in a way that someone who did not attend could still get all of the info they missed.

We also put together a "chicken challenge" and notes page which we handed out hard copies of.  You can download a full color pdf here!  The idea behind the chicken challenge was to challenge you to make one whole chicken, and then see how many meals you can stretch it!  Don't be intimidated if you've never made a whole chicken...the first recipe is really as easy as it gets!  We then show you how to make chicken stock from the carcass, and give two recipes to help use up the left-over meat.  Give it a try and see how far one chicken can really go!

Keep an eye out here and on Jess's blog for more tips, tricks, recipes and links related to our talk today! We hope to put together a "beef challenge" and "pork challenge" soon as well!!  Happy cooking, shopping, and playing everyone!

DIY Spring Decoration

Since we've moved to a house that has a mantel above the fireplace, I've been having fun figuring out how to decorate it for holidays.  The Valentine's decor was taken down a while ago and I've just finished decorating it for spring!  Well, maybe.  I keep tweaking it.  But here's what I have so far.

I wanted to do something new for Easter, mainly because I didn't have a mantel before and didn't have anything that seemed to fit it well.  I also didn't want to spend a lot of money, if any at all.  So, I dug into what I had, repurposed a few things, made a couple small purchases, and ended up with this little hybrid of my "egg collection" and some real, live grass!

 Originally I wanted to get some fake grass, but dang, that stuff is expensive.  So, instead I looked around the house for some long, narrow containers to use as planters.  I landed on these two drawer organizer things I had gotten at a garage sale for $0.50 cents last summer.  I filled them with potting soil and grass seed from the garage, watered them, set them in the window sill, and a week later I had grass.  Once it sprouted, it really grew fast!

 I took some green construction paper from my studio and folded it to make these covers to hide the ugly manilla containers.

Then I rolled up some masking tape into loops and used it to stick some of this miniature white fence along the front. You can find this at craft stores or any store where they have little village decorations.  I had some on hand from my Department 56 stuff (and more from my mom, who freelances for Dept 56 painting buildings!).

 The only thing I purchased brand new was a box of these feather butterflies.  I had aspirations to make a garland of butterflies that didn't work out quite as well as planned...well, it's still in the works.  I got a package of them for 40% off with a Michael's coupon. I wrapped the wire around a wood skewer to get a "spring" shape, and shorten the wire without having to cut it, and stuck 'em in the grass.

 The letters I made out of foam core.  I found an image of grass using Google Images, masked out the letters in Photoshop, printed them on sticky-back label paper, slapped it on a piece of foam core, and cut them out with an X-acto knife.  Then I spray painted some bamboo skewers silver, stuck the pointy ends into the foam core, and trimmed them to the height I wanted.  Voila! Free but effective.  (Well, free because I already had this stuff around)

 I've never really found a great way to display my egg collection, until this year.  They looked so underwhelming, tiny and short, along the long, horizontal mantel. But, the wheels began spinning when my 3 year old broke apart one of my old Junk Mail Gems craft show display pieces. Good ideas can come from breaking stuff!  I noticed that the old brass candlesticks that I had painted silver, worked perfectly to hold an egg and give it height on a pedestal.  So, I went to work recycling my already recycled displays, giving the candlesticks a fresh coat of silver paint, and using them to hold my eggs.

I tend to get a little spray-happy with my silver paint.  I've used it to bring so many dated, brass decor items into this century.  I didn't stop at the candlesticks...I picked up 4 little ceramic rabbits at the thrift store for $0.39 cents each, and painted them as well.  I think my new bionic bunnies add a little extra Easter-y flare without being too cheesy and literal.

 Overall I'm pretty happy with it...not bad for about $7!  The candle sticks (and 1 bud vase) really helped the little eggs fill the space both vertically and horizontally, and I love having something "alive" as part of the decoration.  Spraying all of the pieces silver helped tie all of the different silhouettes together.

I'll probably re-position things a million times between now and Easter, but then that's half the fun.  I'm pretty sure my husband thinks I'm crazy when he sees me fiddling with my eggs AGAIN.  But, hey, that's the price you pay when you marry an artist and designer.  The wall sculpture above it I actually made 7 or 8 years ago for our living room (copying one that I saw for hundreds of dollars at a furniture store)...it's the color scheme of our carpet.  But, it matches well with the spring colors!

We still have over a month until Easter, but spring starts in just a few days!  It's not too late to get out an interesting container and plant your own green grass...see what you can come up with for a little "live" decor!

Thrift Store Find: Magazines From the 1920's

Recently I picked up a couple old magazines from the 1920's and 1950's at the thrift store for a whopping $0.55 cents each.  I thought they might be fun to decoupage on things.  I really love flipping through them and especially checking out the advertisements!  Here are just a couple I scanned today...

From "Mother's Home Life," March 1929...this poor woman lost her job because of gray hair!  "A younger woman would work more snappily!" If only she had a bottle of Wyeth's Sage & Sulphur!!

From the March 1928 issue of "Today's Woman and Home," this woman turned from a side show reptile woman to a beautiful cover girl in just three days after reading this FREE book that explains the "most astonishing German discovery in the history of beauty culture.... it's astonishing - almost beyond belief!" I also find it interesting that one of the benefits listed at the top of the ad is that you can "get rid of your TAN!"  Funny how people pay a fortune to keep a tan year round these days!

This one from the December 1954 issue of "Everywoman's" explains how you can combat those "coffee nerves" and "old coffee grouch" by simply switching to decaf!  Who'd have thought that they would ever print an ad claiming that you'll be LESS of a grouch in the morning if you wake up to decaf!

I also found an ad offering 12 day Caribbean cruises starting at just $88.70, full sets of furniture for $1 down and $4 a month...those were the days!!

There are just way too many "gems" in this magazine to scan them all right now, or to recycle them into something just yet...but I had to share a few!  Now I'm wishing I had picked up a few more issues...

DIY Kids' Halloween Costumes

My mom always made our Halloween costumes, and they were the coolest.  I couldn't tell you how many times our "trick or treat" was followed by,  "wait, wait! I have to go get my camera!" while running back into their house, or hollering for their friend or spouse to "come here, you have GOT to see this one!"  I loved our tradition of my dad taking us trick-or-treating, although I remember wishing that Mom could be there to see people's reactions to her work!

I found a really cute monkey costume in great shape for Toby at a garage sale this summer.  I figure that with garage sale prices, he doesn't have to just be whatever his big brother was on his first Halloween.

This is the first year I've decided to make a costume for Sammy.  He loves Thomas, as you all know I'm sure, so I'm working on a homemade costume for him.  He will be dressed as Sir Topham Hatt, and since my husband enjoyed pulling him around the neighborhood in a wagon to trick-or-treat last year, I'm going to "dress" our wagon to look like Thomas.

I just finished making his part of the costume, using a mix of thrift store and garage sale clothing finds.

This part was pretty simple, as it was just a matter of finding the right clothing items in the right colors.  I found some gray pants, but they were a 5T so I had to shorten them a bit.  I found the velvet jacket at a garage sale for $4, the white dress shirt for $1.95 at the thrift store, and the foam top hat for $4 at a Michael's craft store.  I also picked up a 2-pack of huge, black buttons at Michaels for the vest.  I couldn't find a bright yellow vest, so I made one out of a woman's button-down sleeveless shirt thing, also from the thrift store.  I just had to chop off some of the bottom, cut off and fold the collar to make a V-neck, and bring in the sides.  That was probably the most work of it so far.  I haven't decided if I'm going to attempt to give him a round belly...

Next up is "dressing" up the wagon, which I plan to do with cardboard and paint.  He was getting pretty excited about his costume last night when I had him try everything on to pin his pants and vest to be sewn (above, left).  I can't wait to see his face when he finds out he gets to ride his own Thomas through the neighborhood!

I have a few links for those of you who are also already thinking ahead to this year's Halloween and would like to try making your own costumes...

If you are able to sew, you can find many patterns to make your own:
Simplicity patterns for Babies and Toddlers
Simplicity patterns for Children
McCalls Halloween Costume Patterns

Here are some other ideas I found online for making your own costume...

I love this human pinata idea....super creative!!  Pretty time consuming, but cute!

"Quick & Simple" has a list of 16 easy costumes that you can make, like this poodle.  I'd of course finish this off with a little nose and whiskers with some face paint.  I happen to know a great place to get some face paints, too!

"Family Education" has a huge list of ideas.  There aren't any good photos, which is a bummer, but if you are really looking for a lot of ideas, there are plenty!

Family Fun is full of awesome project ideas for every time of year, so of course they have some great ideas too!

You can get some great inspiration from those who have entered their costumes in contests too, like these:
Parenting.com Halloween costume contest
Coolest Homemade Costumes contest winners 

What are you planning to dress your kids as this Halloween?  Whether you have the time to make one yourself, or find the perfect fit in a store, I wish you a fun and safe Halloween!

Fun Friday Finds

I'm mixing things up a bit this week.  This week's "Fun Friday Finds" post will not be online finds, but "physical" finds from the week!

Yes, you guessed it, I'm going to start with more thrift store bragging! Yesterday I got a chance to go to the Unique thrift store with my sister and found a bunch of fun stuff.  Here are just a couple deals...

 This Thomas travel case was just like new with the hang tag still on it, for less than $3.00.  It will be perfect to hold all of Sammy's engines!  It's tucked away for now, ready to come out when his train table is revealed.

I've also been collecting old 1980's Micro Machines for the boys (and stashing them away until Toby is old enough for small parts).  I remember my brother playing with Micro Machines, and already have a little city that folds up into a van-shaped carrying case, and a few cars.  The ones I've found at one Unique Thrift store were under a glass case, and about $1 each.  On this trip I found these 9 Micro Machine cars taped in a baggie to the carrying case (the black thing in the back) for under $4.  Then, I scored this awesome "Super Auto World Playset" (going for $289 on Amazon...whatever!) that also pivots on that blue piece to become more compact.  It was a whole $1.95!!  I can't wait to pull these out on some cold Minnesota day when we're snowed in, can't go to garage sales, and need something "new" to play with!

 

For less than $2 I picked up this vintage Fisher Price "Jolly Jumping Jack" dated 1969 for Toby.  When you pull the red ring, the arms and legs go up and down, eyes move, and it squeaks.  It's really cute and works great, and the stickers and hanging strap are in great condition too!

Today my mom and I also attended the Junk Bonanza in Shakopee, where we found so many really creative ideas for turning old thrift store finds and antiques into new treasures.  It was really a fun and inspirational outing!!  I posted a few initial photos on my Junk Mail Gems blog, and plan to share more photos of individual vendors in the days to come.  Check back at that blog for more great ways to repurpose your great thrifty finds!!

DIY Princess Themed Bedroom by Heidi Panelli

If you have little girls, brace yourselves.  This is perhaps the most glaringly girlie, most pink, most dainty-princess-y little whimsical fairytale land of a bedroom you will ever see.  And get this...it did not even cost a fortune in mass-produced licensed Disney princess decor to pull off.

This is my niece's new bedroom, created by none other than my very creative sister, who recently transformed a room in her basement into this magical room fit for a princess.  (Yes, those creative genes do run rampant in our family.)

She was kind enough to allow me to share her incredible work with all of you mommies out there in the blogosphere.  Okay, so you may not have the artistic ability to paint a perfect silhouette of Cinderella's castle on a hill, but there are some elements of her project that you may want to attempt if you have a frilly little pink bundle of joy yourself!

I am going to paste her own comments and descriptions of how she created various elements:

The trunk was my old trunk from college. For safety we padlocked it so the girls couldn't go inside it. I painted placemats on top of it & spray varnished the paint job so they could have tea parties.

"The end table was from IKEA...it was bare wood that I painted & sprayed clear coat over before assembling...cost $10 new.

The wavy mirrors are $14 per two pack at IKEA (not bad!).

The canopy (you'll see a more finished photo where the sides are tied back...held to the wall w/ command 3M hooks)...the fabric is the shear curtains that come in a two panel pack at IKEA for $4.99, I strung them on extra cord I had cut from blinds (sturdy!) and tied on. Then pinned some cute ribbons to it. The top part is actually a wall shelf turned upside down (from Savers). My other idea I was looking for was a planter...any type of wire frame or plastic wall planter would also work for a cute top. [ID Mommy comment: You can find tons of this ornate, gold wall hanging stuff at thrift stores!! Painting them white sure made them perfect for this room!!]

She specifically requested roses for her room. The fake roses I cut shorter w/ a wire cutter & made the sharp wire ends safe by adding a dollop of hot glue to the ends. The kids love them! She likes them in the wooden vase by her bed & they use them to decorate their tea party table.

Light fixture was from Menards $30

The closet knobs were bare wood, a few bucks from Menards, painted to match the pink walls.

Wall hooks for the dresses was from IKEA,

The flower light was from IKEA (put on the wall with cord molding from Menards to hide the cord & make it safer).

The cabinet is covering the power panel/breakers, so I removed the handle and added a lock.

The princess pictures are free downloadable computer wallpaper from Disney that I printed out & glued jewels onto.

The curtain over the doorway is a dowel rod I cut to fit & got hardware for holding up a closet rod. The pink curtain was another find from Brand Name Deals.


More comments & Tips:
There is a ton of space under her bead. By going with a platform bed instead of a box spring bed, and using bed raisers (both bed and raisers from IKEA...bed was $49) that are mostly hidden w/ a bedskirt, there's plenty of space under there for 3 large rubbermaid tubs that hold toys.

I purposely painted most of the room bold colors that could easily convert to an older kids room if she gets tired of the princess theme. I'd just have to paint over the castle wall and maybe the white decorative lines, switch out some decorations, curtains & bedding and the room could change dramatically...adding lime green, or black for instance would make it a cool teen room.

And someday when we can afford it, we'll remove that blue carpet that came with our house!

...oh, and you're right about "super fancy"...that was more my goal than to find every Disney theme thing I could. The licensed character stuff is very expensive! But I looked for things that tie together with color (i.e. the curtains and bedding are totally different brands, but look like they belong together!), and looked for things that, when painted all the same, would tie it together (the candle holders, shelf, and picture frames were tacky and mis-matched, but I washed them in warm soapy water, sprayed them w/ rustoleum primer, then rustoleum canvas white gloss paint & suddenly they were a matching set!). I looked for things that were fancy, girlie, pink, "Victorian," whimsical, and even a little sophisticated.

I only used 3 shades of pink, plus a warm white (dutchboy, lambswool white, cabinet & trim paint) for the trim. The darkest pink makes the room feel luxurious and the white really pops against it!"

-Heidi

Okay, back to you, ID Mommy...

So there you have it...a do-it-yourself princess room that blows away anything that could be bought in a store, and is surely the only one like it on the planet.  Awesome.  And for those of you who are thinking, "wow, this lady has too much time on her hands..." stop right there.  That is my hugest pet peeve when people say that about me too.  Heidi is one of the busiest mommies I know, running several of her own businesses (including freelance design work, a restaurant with her chef husband, and BusyBodies among other online businesses and blogs!), while also somehow juggling motherhood of THREE girls.  Yup, she's busy, and she manages her time well.  That or she never sleeps.  Like myself, I think it's a bit of both, coupled with a brain full of unending project ideas and an overwhelming drive to complete them all.  Thanks, Heidi, for sharing this little corner of your basement with us!

ID Mommy Bargains: Garage Sale Finds of the week(s)

It's been a little while since I've bragged about my latest garage sale deals.  I haven't been able to make it to quite as many sales as usual the past few weeks, as I've been more busy earning money than spending it.  Bittersweet dilemma...yes.  I know you've been just DYING to find out what I bought for a fraction of the original price in nearly new condition.  I know, I know, calm down.  Here it comes.

I've been looking everywhere for the tray that goes on a Bumbo chair.  By everywhere, of course, I mean everywhere but stores that sell them new for full price. ;-)  I got the chair years back for Sammy at a garage sale for a couple bucks.  This lady was selling a whole chair AND tray in the original box for $5.  I asked and she was willing to sell me just the tray for $2. Score! The tray plus chair goes for about $50 bucks new.   I would have bought the whole set but didn't want a pink chair for Toby.  It's bad enough that he has this purple one...

A week or two ago I picked up a really nice Kelty kids backpack carrier...the kind you put your kid in to carry them around on your back.  We have a much older one I got when Sammy was little for $7.  THAT was a steal...and I got this much newer model, WITH a bag accessory that zips on the back for $3.  Yes, you read it right, THREE dollars.  The cheapest I've seen these for at sales, this new and in this great condition, is $75-$100.  They start at about $200 new.  Below you can see the one I just got, and a picture of my hubby lugging Sammy through the north shores of Minnesota a couple years ago...

That old teal and purple one was SO yesterday.  Now Toby will be hikin' in the latest styles and I can probably sell the "old" one for a lot more than the $7 I paid for it!

I also found this bag...no idea how much it is new.  But, it was brand new with tags on it for $1.  The base is insulated so you can pack your lunch in it.  The top half can zip completely off if you want to separate it.  The whole thing has backpack straps on it, and there's another smaller bag with it.  I used it today to haul our picnic lunch and all the swim gear to our local splash pad for play group.  Worked great!

I picked up this book today for $1 called "365 Days of Creative Play."  I'm sure it's an old edition, but it is full of simple creative ideas and activities for your kids...one for every day of the year to be exact.  Next time we need to keep busy on a rainy (or snowy) day, I'll be pulling this book out!

This was actually a thrift store find, but I was pretty stoked about it!  I got Sammy a couple nice Automoblox cars for his first birthday, so I knew what these were (below), but I found these mini Automoblox in a baggie in pieces at the thrift store for $1.99.  They run about $10 each new.  The larger ones are around $25-$35.  They are very well made toys, and the wood blocks come apart so you can build your own vehicles.  Super fun. 

Last but not least, another nice Melissa and Doug wood toy.  This is a set of shapes, and you lay the pieces on the boards to match up with the 10 designs included.  I think it was a buck or two...they run about $14 new.

That's all the bragging I will do for now.  I will go ahead and spare you the photos of me on my belly of the original '80's slip-n-slide I got for 50 cents last week!  (I always wanted one of those!  Oh yeah, and Sammy had fun with it too!)

Happy bargain hunting, friends!