A little thrifty Christmas decorating

I have been looking at some amazing blogs with some gorgeous decorating with thrifted and vintage items and mine doesn't even come close but I am going to share anyway.  I like it even if it is very simple.  This is just a little corner off of  my kitchen bar.  I thrifted the white shelf for .99cents at the Salvation Army and have been holding on to it trying to decide what to do with it.  The same with the vintage thermos.  I love that thermos and thought it was perfect for vintage Christmas decorating.  99 cents too.  The four little mugs were mugs we had as children so are 50 years old or so.  (!)  The tea towels are vintage, I picked them up at a thrift store up in Lake Isabella when I was visiting a friend.  The are so precious, appliqued reindeer with rhinestone noses and embroidery.  I got them about 8 years ago for .25cents a piece.   The snowman cookie jar I picked up 10 years ago or so at a church rummage sale for 1.00.  He had a few chips on his black hat but I just added a little black paint and you can't tell.  The little tin has the cutest vintage looking Santa on it, it came with cookies in it from the .99cent store last year and of course I kept the tin.  I think it is a cute little corner : )  Total decorating cost- 4.50.  

In another corner of the dining area is my little silver tree with teal/turquoise ornaments.  This little tree reminds me so much of spending Christmas with my great grandmother and her sister and niece in Dallas, Texas in 1965.   My grandma's niece (my 3rd cousin) had a big silver tree and one year she had all blue balls and another year all red.  Good memories.  I picked up my tree at Micheals after Christmas a few years ago for 3.00 and the ornaments are mostly from the .99cent store except the adorable vintage elves. The new ornaments have a vintage feel anyway since they are old school Christmas bulbs.  Also a vintage Ideas magazine from 1977.  We grew up with these Ideas books for all seasons and used to pour over the Christmas ones with pretty pictures, poems and stories.  I found this one on ebay. 

My Santa and Snowman collection aren't all vintage but are mostly from the thrift store and yard sales and I'm pretty sure I didn't pay over a dollar for most of them.  Except for the black Father Christmas I got at Michael's years ago for about 10.00.  

The Santa doll in the back right corner my great, great aunt made for us when we were kids.  He's seen better days but he's 50 years old and we used to play with him. Other than black Santa and the canoeing Santa all were thrifted.

I love my snowmen too. They are mostly thrifted except a gifted one and a 99cent store find, the ceramic guy in back. 

Thrifted choir boys

I thrifted the choir boys this year at a yard sale for 2.00.  They are vintage and made in Germany.  So precious!  The terra cotta pot and pine cone to the left were spray painted by my sons when they were young, about 20 years ago!

This photograph is of the Sentinel Hotel in Yosemite which was built in 1896.  I think the picture is from the 50's.  I thrifted it for 1.00 at a rummage sale.  I really love it.  My boys and I spent many Christmas vacations in the snow at Yosemite.  

I love decorating my mantle.  The garland greenery I got for 1.00 at a thrift store and I found a whole grocery sack full of about 20 gold and crystal pears and apples at a yard sale for 2.00.  This beautiful wreath I made myself from the sticker balls in the backyard that fall all over my yard and in my pool : ) Talk about turning lemons into lemonade! I love my wreath.  A few years ago my youngest had pneumonia in December and we were at the hospital for about a week and then housebound for 2 after that.  So I used that time to make this wreath.  It wound up being one of my favorite Christmases, we couldn't do much, I didn't get out all my decorations, just kept it simple.  We got together every evening at the hospital around a tiny DVD player and watched a Christmas movie and ate snacks out of the vending machine.  It really slowed us down, we didn't worry about all the trimmings and events. We just felt grateful for health and family.  I enjoyed sharing my Christmas, I hope you enjoyed it too. 

Saturday thrifting and yard saling!

I had some really good finds today!  First off I went to a community garage sale. I picked up this rely cute dress by BCBG Nordstrom for .50 cents 

I love it!  I found this very cute T by ROXY 

For .50cents.

Very pretty graphic, front and back.

Pretty and fun!  I picked up a couple  of toys there too, really cute, clean, like new!  

I found 4 of these cute ribbed tank tops with the Eiffel Tower in rhinestones, brand new. I will put these in my ebay store along with a few other things. 

Cheshire Cat from Walt Disney .50 cents and a Care Bear, .50cents

Then I swing by my favorite Salvation Army and got lucky there too!  It was 50% off everything but collectibles day.  I found a brand new set of Crate and Barrel old fashion drink glasses for 2.50 still in the box!  If you've ever shopped Crate and barrel you know that was a find 🎅

I love these, the go perfectly with my Christmas decor and will be perfect for my annual Christmas party. 

I found this pewter wine dish for 2.05 from Wilton Columbia. I love it! It's in French, it says a dinner without wine is like a day without sun.  I have to agree!

I thin my favorite thing of all is this bird and feather scarf I found, 1.48. Sooo cute and so in style right now.  I'm seeing bird prints and feathers everywhere and I love birds! And feathers 🎄

I picked up this cool pair of UGG leather boots for my older son, he's in college but he loves it when I pick up cool stuff for him.  I bought him the suede UGGS a few times for Christmas and they go for 150-200 so these are probably not cheap either. Score!  I had a great time, I love to look and found some things too. 

A little Early Christmas Thrifting

Well I guess it really isn't that early now is it?  Especially for decorations.  I didn't get much today but I did want to share this beautiful cranberry wreath I found at the Salvation Army.   It was 30% percent off on Bric-a-brac day so I got a great deal on it too.  It is Pottery Barn and still has the tag with it and the hanger ribbon is still wrapped in plastic so I don't think it has ever been used.  It's very pretty, reminds me of a Martha Stewart cranberry wreath project a few years ago that I wanted to do but the beads for it would have cost about 80.00.    Too much for one wreath for me.  This one is so pretty, the berries are glass so it is a solid wreath and the beads are strung on wire.
It's 12 inches across.    It was priced at 1.69 with 30 percent off so I paid 1.11 cents for this wreath which would be a great deal on a napkin ring at Pottery Barn, lol!

A little update:  This exact wreath is being sold online at EBAY for 44.00 plus 8.00 shipping! Nice to get mine for a little over a dollar ; )

Being Thrifty, not just thrifting!

I have been wanting to get a pretty gel manicure.  They are a little pricey though, aren't they?  And I wonder about a product that I have to soak my fingers in for any length of time.   So I was looking around and have found the Sally Hansen Miracle Gel.  It is a gel that does not require a special curing light or soaking to remove the polish.   I received a bottle for my birthday last week and I thought I would give it a try.  At around 9 dollars a bottle for the color or 15.99 for the bottle of color and the necessary gel topcoat, it is a pretty nice deal compared to a salon manicure.

I liked this teal color my son picked out for me : )  I guess he noticed the teal I have been using around the house for decorating and remembered I liked it!   I probably would not have picked this color out for myself but I'm glad he did because I wound up really liking it.  

I always try to do thin coats so they dry really well even if I have to do an extra one for coverage.  I wound up doing 3 coats of this polish, shown below. 

I used the top coat to cure it and sat for awhile waiting for it to dry.   I did it in the evening and was up for a few hours so it did have a chance to dry.  Still the next day I wound up with several dings and scratches.   

 I smoothed them out with polish remover and then applied another coat to the ones that were damaged.  I had checked out a few websites and read that it helps to go outside for a few minutes so I did that.  That must be the trick because they held up very well this time.  

This is after 5 days, picture below and I think it did pretty well.  I actually did a lot with my hands, washed dishes, worked on beadwork, combed my dogs and kitty, my regular stuff.  I don't see it looking that great at 14 days but for me regular polish and topcoat usually starts chipping off in a day or two.  

I will definitely give Sally Hansen Miracle Dry another try and get some Red polish for Christmas.  Here is the link for a lady named Karen Falcon at imabeautygeek.com who blogged about it and shows all the beautiful colors there are.   She reviewed every other polish brand you can think of too so it's a lot of info!!  Probably too much for me.  

 (PS.  I am not associated with Sally Hansen in anyway or Karen, I just thought it would be fun to post my process and that someone might find it useful and a way to save some money : )

 

After 5 days, just started to chip a little at the thumb and the cuticle area on my index finger.  

Some thrifting..............found a treasure !

Oh my gosh I was so excited to find a pretty piece of Pyrex in a pattern I already had a piece of!! I had the mixing bowl which I found at the GW for 2.99 which was a great find about 10 months ago.  Today I found a small casserole in the same pattern at a different GW for .99 cents!  It is just adorable and I was thrilled.

  I had no plan to go thrifting today but I was running an errand for my husband and wound up right next to the GW and of course had to run in for a peek.  That's when found this piece, what luck !  Well I had to take a quick scan of dresses and shoes and found one of each.  I found a pair of brand new Sperry Topsider boat shoe wedge heels for 9.99.  This was such a great find, this shoe retails for around 90.00-100 dollars and I found a brand new pair for ten bucks.

One of the reasons I love thrifting : ). I found this dress too, I really like it and it was yellow tag so it was 50% off, yay!  It's a nice soft fabric in navy with the front hem shorter than the back. Very cute. I have faux top siders in navy sequins I got at target that will go perfectly with this dress.  Not a great pic but the dress really is very cute and is perfect for the weather we're having.  

Now I am really on the look out for a smaller china hutch to keep all my Pyrex and other pretties in.  It's a shame to keep them in the cupboard but for now that is where they shall remain.  I am hoping to find one I can paint a teal/turquoise blue.    

Estate Sale around the corner : )

Well there was an estate sale in my neighborhood in walking distance so I finally had to go over and check it out.  I spent 3.25 and picked up avfewclittle items 

I can always use a Tupperware measuring cup, I only have a one cup size and this is 8 cups. Score for 25 cents.  

I used to watch this program and I love aunt. Bee and cookbooks : ) 1 dollar. 

This handy clear plastic tray is pretty big and can hold taco fixings or beads and craft dupplies, I haven't decided.  1 dollar

I bead myself so I know how time consuming it is.  50 cents 

50 cents 

Just a cute little charm bracelet I'm going to try and polish up. 50 cents. 

Rummage sale weekend!

This past weekend was a great one for rummage sales!  In walking distance from my house is St. John the Baptist church and they were having there annual church carnival which includes all different kinds of food, rides (no thank you) games, bands all day, and.....................an enormous rummage sale!!!  The kind where the person at the table looks at your pile of items, doesn't count them and says, how bout 4.00 for everything???  Great!   I got many wonderful things and I will show you a few of them here.  The same weekend was another church rummage sale across town at St. Andrews.  That was really good too, I picked up a lot of great things there.  I don't have pictures of everything because, well there were just too many items.

Aren't these vintage yellow flower pillowcases with a eyelet trim beautiful?  They really are and they are in perfect condition.  No stains, tears, worn spots, nothing.  So pretty.  50 cents apiece.

I found 4 of these melamine salad/lunch size plates.  In the beautiful teal/turquoise color I've been loving lately!

And a very light turquoisey blue bowl and a light green one too, 50 cents each.

I could not resist getting this Buzz Lightyear mug!  It is just so cute!!  Toy Story was my now 14 year olds favorite movie when he was 2-4 years old and I have easily seen it a few hundred times.   I didn't really think he would want it at his age but I just got it for me.   Suprise, suprise, when I took it out of the bag he said, "Is that for me?" and immediately wanted to put juice in it.  (We washed it first : )    I was suprised but very pleased.  When he tires of it I can give it to my 5 year old nephew.  I might sound like a bowl of sentimental crazy but I swear Toy Story stuff can bring me to tears right now.  My two sons are 25 and 22 so obviously this one is my baby and he is my last child.  I miss my little babies so much, it was such a great time in my life, I am getting teary right now just writing this!  Sheesh : )
1 dollar.  He is from the Disney on Ice shows which I guess is why I've never seen it in the store.

I couldn't beleive my eyes when I saw these vintage enamel daisy burner covers!  They are just beautiful!   I love, love, love them.  They were all taped together and had a price tag of 3.00!  Yes, thank you!

I meant to buy this chair for my sewing table but forgot about it as soon as I got inside the sale.  Oh well, it was really cute though and comfortable for 10.00.

My husband was with me at St. John's rummage sale, we enjoyed the food and entertainment for three nights in a row.  Walking distance from our house, it was really fun.   He spotted this couch and rug and had bought it before I even walked up!  He got both pieces for 35.00 each.  They are both in beautiful shape and fit pretty nicely in our living room.  the door behind the couch will soon have drapes that  can be pulled closed when the boys have friends over.  That room is kind of storage right now but it has a fooseball table and games and stuff and opens up to the backyard and the pool area.  I am trying to get it ready for summer.

  My uncle used to own an Oriental Rug store in Corona del Mar so I gave him a call about the rug.   He knew what it was right away.  It is called a 90 line 5/8.  It is still imported and available in L.A.  It retails for 16 dollars a square foot so this one retails for 1280.00   I think my husband did an excellent job don't you?  We plan to keep it but it is something we can always sell later on and make a few dollars.  Really great finds!

The detail in the rug is just so beautiful, the pretty flowers and all, I just love it.

     The last night everything was half off of already low prices and I did a quick walk through to see if there was anything else I wanted.   I'm really glad I did!   I found these beautiful authentic sandpaintings!  I was very excited, of course I had to have them!  3.00 for them all.  Yay!!  They are signed by an artist named "Yazzie" which is a pretty common last name in the Navajo nation.  I looked on ebay and there are actually a lot of sandpaintings for sale.  But I was looking for something by the same artist and I found one.  Some of the paintings by different artists were similar but one detail that this artist has that was different than the others was the hands.  His hands are very Edward Scissorhands in the 2nd and especially the 3rd painting.  I really love them.

And no, I did not pick this guy up at the sale.  This is my baby Link, my precious doggie.  I just had to include this picture of him <3  We went to the beach this morning to walk and play ball and I snapped a few pictues.  This makes him look so vicious but he was only asking me to throw the ball to him.  He is a beautiful black and brown Chow/Border Collie mix and he was rescued from the animal shelter.

Well that's it for this post and I hope you enjoyed seeing my finds, I feel like I got some real treasures!