Thrift store haul// Gold giraffe and Rattan

Hey guys :)

I know when you begin your journey into thrifting, it can seem a little daunting, especially when you don't know what to look for or where to begin.

Most thrift stores are awash in vases, candle sticks, fake flowers, and hideous clothing; so you have to really look to find the good things.
The best part is when  you find those things. It's almost like a treasure hunt, and you just want to show off your scores!

Here are some of my finds from this week:

When I go thrifting, normally my mentality is something along the lines of 

'If I saw this at Target, would I buy it?'

For those two giraffes, it was a resounding YES!

They are lovely, and incredibly tall. Perfect for holding bracelets or just hanging out sniffing my flowers.

-Plus, they help fuel my brass animal addiction-

I also spied those flowers hiding in the back of the bin. I know that fake flowers that size and quality normally run around $5 each at the craft stores, so at $1 for the bundle, it was a no brain-er. They instantly spring-ified our livingroom. Its amazing how much a little bit of greenery can change things!

I also found that beautiful gold trivet. We needed one anyways, but I think the hardest part is going to be not hanging it on the wall!

I also snagged some books from one of my favorite stores.

These were picked because of their entertaining titles or their actual use.

My favorites are:

It could have been a kumquat

How to get along with people

The 'adjustable' diet cookbook

I don't know what an 'adjustable' diet is, but it sounds fun!

Check out this bad boy right here.

For our wedding we are collecting hundreds of vintage teacups to turn into candles.

Someone else must have had the same idea, because these are wonderful. I think they went for a lilac scent as well, and they work fantastic in my office. :)

(please excuse Bandit the dog photobombing my pictures ^^)

And finally, what I am the most excited about, this rattan chair.

 Its similar to this one found on Amazon, but it was only forty bucks!

I will keep you posted on what happens with him, but I am taking ideas for what color the cushion should be.

Are you a fan of keeping rattan natural or painting?

All of these finds typically come from one of the four stores in my 'Thrift store rotation'

One is good for furniture

One is good for knick knacks

One for dishes and books

And the last one is usually a suprise. Never know what I will find there!

What kind of things have you found in thrift stores?

Do you have a rotation as well?

Well, that's all for today folks.

As always,

Hello spring! DIY moss letters

Hey Ya'll!

Spring is finally here in our little corner of the world.

There is nothing more wonderful than waking up to the sound of birds chirping and a beautiful day ahead of you.

Our home has been busy with all the crafts happening recently, as well as some spring cleaning.

So time for some fresh new spring decor to get us in the mood!

I have seen these all over the blogosphere, and I have got to say, I love them. Anything typography has my vote, and plus, you don't have water these!

Supplies needed:

1 moss mat. I picked mine up at Jo-anns,

I got the six foot roll, and it totaled 17.00. If you are only doing one or two letters, you could likely get away with only 2 ft.

Letters, Normally $3 each, they were a dollar off, so $10 on letters.

You will need hot glue

Green paint or spray paint

a sharpie

and scissors.

Total money spent on this project: $27 and about two to three hours of time.

To begin, Paint the backs of your letters with green paint. If you want to skip the drying step, feel free to use spray paint. I used plain acrylic paint and mixed 3/4 paint and 1/4 water to make a dark wash.

When the letters have dried, place them on your mat and trace around them with your sharpie.

Don't worry about marking on your letter, you will cover it up!

After your letter is cut out, you may want to shake it vigorously into the garbage for a second to remove any extra moss.

Hot glue the moss to the letter.

You will not want to cover the bottom of the letter unless you plan on hanging it on a wall.

Mine are just going to be shelf decor, so I left the bottom plain.

After I glued the front of the letter, I measured the sides and cut long strips to go around the border of each letter and add dimension.

And just like that, you're finished!

Ready to hang on your wall or shelves!

What kind of things do you do when spring comes?

Till next time;

DIY owl bookends

Hey ya'll

So the other day as I was browsing the internet, I saw these handsome things.

I don't know about you, but I am still totally in love with the owl trend, even if it is getting a little old.

I adore those book ends, but not the price tag attached.

So, a quick nip off to my favorite thrift stores and I made my own!

So, first off, You need to find two owl statues.

It doesn't matter the shape they are in or the color, so long as you like them

It helps if they are pretty solid ceramic or stone, because they are going to be holding up some books of course!

Supplies you will need include:

A spray primer (I used rustoleum white)

Spray paint of your color choice (I used rustoleum satin heirloom white)

Felt

And two owls

Here is a before of the little owl. He had some goofy eyes and the paint on him was chipped and cracked.

Not anymore!

Before you begin, set up the area where you will be painting.

If it is outside, you will need some nice weather and not much wind.

If it is inside, make sure all surfaces are covered in case of overspray, and open all the windows and doors.

Begin by spraying on your primer.

I love this one because it works on pretty much anything, and it lasts forever. 

 I only did one coat of the primer.

Hang out and let that dry.

After your primer has dried, spray on your spray paint with nice even strokes.

I did one coat of the Heirloom white because I wanted some of the age to show through and give it depth.

If you want it just solid, wait a while and do a couple more coats.

Both of my owls already had felt on the bottom, but if they don't already have it, you will want to hot glue a piece to the bottom to protect your furniture from scratches.

And just like that, you're done!

Its up to you if you want to spray on a finish, but for little things like this, I normally just let it be.

Happy crafting!

Till next time!

Thrift store finds//Wedding china

So this week has been a busy week, for both me and Ty.

Its only been three days and so much has happened!

First; I went to visit my family over at Sagecroft farms. This is where we will be holding our September wedding, and there is still a lot of planning that needs to happen before the date.

One of the decisions that we made was to hold our dinner on vintage china that we found from the thrift store.

Problem with that, we are expecting 230+ guests, and with each guest there needs to be three plates, a glass, and silverware.

Needless to say, as many times as I visit the thrift store each week, there is still a lot to be found.

One of the things I looking forward to the most with the wedding is turning all of these adorable little teacups into candles.

That has been my favorite part of the whole thing, seeing what fantastic designs we find.

That little blue one just might go home with me!

We chose to use lavender and vanilla for our scents for the candles, sticking with the purple and white theme

More to come on that in the future!

Today, I swung by one of my favorite thrift stores, a goodwill by my work

I saw this handsome man, and I was a little hesitant to pick him up at first. Where would I put a chair like this?

But I kept looking over at him, and I figured that it would be better to follow my gut and just snag it before someone else did.

I crammed it into the back of our little two door car, and took him home.

And I'm in love.

Look at the detailing! 

I think this is the perfect chair to learn to upholster.

More on our adventures later

As always;

Thrift Store Haul//Mirror mirror on the wall

Part of living in an apartment is living with a budget.

I would love to go to target and spend all of my money on the adorable things they have there, but instead, I have to make do with going to the thrift store or making my own.

Which is a lot of fun.

There is quite a few little thrift stores that are in my area, and yesterday I came upon some great finds at goodwill;

Check it out!

Scored two cute little anthropologie look alike teacups. We are collecting hundreds of teacups for our wedding, and I think these will look just fantastic turned into candles, no?

I also scored that wonderful mirrored picture frame.

Haven't decided what is going to go into that bad boy yet, but whatever it is, I am excited!

That jar currently has a home on one of our night stands and is holding whatever change Ty brings home at night. I love the bright colors and fun design! 

See that deer there too?

Another thrift store find.

BAM

And that awesome starfish tray has a home on our other nightstand, along with the deer's mate.

I am so in love with this tray though, pictures just don't do it justice. Right now it holds some jewelry,  but in the future I may just hang it on the wall!

Finally, that big gold and green mirror is just hanging out on the wall above one of these end tables until I find it a new home.

And that little blue and white ginger jar?

Thinking of using it to hold fish food! It would be much prettier than that plastic can for sure!

I think  my favorite part of all of this is finding out where to put our finds when we get them home.

Its so exciting finding that perfect piece to complement your existing decor. 

Plus, if you ever decide to change it around, you aren't loosing more than a few bucks!

What are your favorite finds from your thrift store?

Do you usually re-do the things you get or do you leave them be?

Leave it below in the comments!

Till next time;

Making your own sunburst mirror for less than $20

I, like many others, have been drooling over the recent sunburst mirror trend. It seemed like every store I went to had some version of them, often sporting a $100-$400 price tag as well. I wanted one that was going to be very large and take up the most amount of blank space on my wall, but I did not want to spend a large amount. With a little creativity, I came up with this one. It cost me less than $20!

First, Gather your supplies.

You will need:

3-4 packages of wooden skewers (around $2 each at target)

A Plastic plate (Michael's carries thick ones for $2)

A Beveled mirror -this one is 14 inches (Michael's, $7.99)

A hot glue gun and hot glue

Spray paint (I used Krylon brushed nickel, $3.95)

Mounting supplies (I used a picture mounting kit from the dollar store!)

Get your hot glue gun heated and begin gluing the skewers onto the plate.

I started with each four corners and just went from there.

I free-handed it, but if you want a specific design, I recommend drawing it on the plate in sharpie before beginning, just to have something to follow.

-Also, if target is out of plain hot glue sticks, hot pink works well in a pinch-

 At this point, I was on skewer number 100. 

Time to break out the thin mints and wine and jam out to some Jewel.

Side note: Some skewers are bent and won't stay on no matter how much hot glue you use.

They just won't. So don't despair, you will use those later. :)

I went around the plate twice, once when I thought that I was doing it right, and a second time when I realized how many gaps there were.

And here he is finished and ready for a coat of paint.

At this point, jump up and down with joy and go put some band aids on those fingers you burnt.

I laid down my piece on the floor and covered every surface I could with newspaper.

It was late at night, and we don't happen to have a garage, so I used my living room and opened all of the doors and windows.

I sprayed the top with two coats of the brushed nickel, and when that dried, I flipped it over and painted the back.

After everything dried, I wrestled with trying to figure out how to put the mirror on.

The mirror was just large enough that it only touched the edge of the plate, and I needed it to touch everywhere.

So I took the remainder of my skewers and glued them horizontally across the plate, creating a flat surface so the mirror would stick to that.

Then I covered the back of the mirror in hot glue and stuck it on.

Everywhere I had read about making these, people said not to use anything other than mirror approved glue, or it could rip the silvering off of the mirror.

So if you want to go another route, you could use another glue and weigh it down while it dries.

After attaching the mirror, I attached my picture hanging kit to the back by following the instructions

And here it is! It ended up being very large, about 36 inches across, and it took about 90 minutes to make, paint drying and all.

I think it looks rather fetching, don't ya think?

So tell me about what trends you have DIY'ed?

Have you been dying for a sunburst mirror too?

Thanks guys! 

Till next time;