More Thriftie's

Yesterday while out searching for my new glass nut jar, see previous post here, I couldn't help but swing by one our new thrift stores.  Yes, I was a busy gal yesterday.  I can hit quite a few stores in one afternoon.  LOL!


This new store donates a good bit of it's proceeds to help children with cancer.  I love that!  They also are very large and priced well.  While they are mostly clothes right now, they do have a nice area set up for home goods as well.  I am joining Debbiedoes Garage Salen party to share my latest finds from yesterdays adventure.

Here's the whole stash!  Not a bad haul for $14.98

Let's start with the Christmas tree.  I love Christmas and decorating for Christmas too.  I have two tree and one mini tree that I decorate.  The mini tree has rotated all over the house.  I have been wanting one that is a smaller tabletop tree to go in the upstairs foyer but not as small as my mini tree.  This one was the perfect size.

It is quite old as you can tell from the box but actually looks brand new.  I don't think it was used very often.  I am so excited about this!  I have wanted one for awhile now but I have not been able to bring myself to pay for what this size of tree would cost brand new.  They certainly are not $14.97 anymore.  That's one old price tag for this size and I know I will not find a better bargain then the $4.00 I actually paid!  Woohoo!

For $1.50 I got this cork board that is in great shape.  It's quite boring now but will look right nice in my craft room by my desk after I get finished with it!  This is going to make a nice before and after project!

This was another one of those exciting finds that is missing parts.  It has the pottery barn stamp on the felt bottom.  It is very heavy iron too.  Can someone please tell me what this originally was.  I am thinking either a potted plant holder or condiment holder.  If you know of a link to show me the original inserts I would love to see it.  I am sure I will decide how I want to use it best soon though.  It was only $2.00.

Then this cute little set got me fussed at.  Urggh!  I just couldn't help myself though.  It was only $6.50 for the whole thing.  I know I will use those bowls for serving pieces throughout the year and the cute little desert plates were the winning ticket.  It certainly wasn't the price that was so objectionable it was the additional dishes and storage space they will require.   I had to promise to now start pulling things out of my cabinets that I no longer use.  I am sensing a Garage sale coming up in my near future, or maybe I should just have a few giveaways!

Seriously, would you have passed these up too.  They are a porcelain teal blue grey (these pics are so bad) with brown and cream.

The pattern is Spirit by American Atelier.

There are three fantastic square bowls, I can really see using these as serving pieces, like condiments.

And two larger round bowls.  I love how oddly shaped these are.  They will make great dip bowls.

I have four salad or dessert plates if you will.

And this one dinner plate, we are just going to call it a cake plate or platter!

Ooops!  I almost forgot!  I also got one more lovely basket to add to my collection!  One can never, ever, ever, have enough baskets!  It's going to get some pretty additons soon too!

Thanks for joining me today, I hope everyone has a great weekend!  Our weather is sure to be beautiful, I hope all of you enjoy the same!

Mary

Nutty Inspiration

This week I was totally inspired by several of our blogging friends over at Sheila's Heart of the Home party.  You just cannot visit so many beautiful kitchens without picking up a few ideas.  Thank you so much Sheila from the bottom of my heart!  I hope you put up a link on your side bar to this post, so we can continuously enjoy all of these beautiful kitchens.  Just a thought!

There was one blogger in particular who's kitchen totally stole my heart!  It was Christie's kitchen over at Three Pixie Lane.  Ladies, if you missed this one you really need to go and check it out.  She has such exquisite style in combining old with new.  I totally loved everything about her kitchen!  In that post, there were a few pictures of her clear canisters that held her nuts and her granola.  When she graciously gave credit to Yvonne at Stone Gable for the granola recipe, I was instantly reminded where I had seen those glass containers before.  I liked them the first time I saw them over at Stone Gable but it really came together for me after seeing them at Three Pixie Lane.  Why?  Because she used her own and her daughters silver baby cups for the scoops!  That's when the light went off for me, and I thought I can certainly do that! 

Yes, that's right we have 5 silver baby cups in our household just sitting in the kitchen hutch tarnishing.  Two for each of my sons and one that was my husbands as a baby.  I never had a silver baby cup, but I've been told I must have born with a silver spoon in my mouth.  LOL!

Every year for Christmas and even before Christmas we receive tons of pecans as gifts.  I even have a huge stash of pecans that are unshelled.  I like the shelled pecan gifts the best.  We never eat all of these even though we do enjoy eating pecans.  What usually happens is we get on pecan overload put them back in the pantry and there they sit forgotten.  Pecans have a wonderful shelf life though!  I have been trying to improve my eating habits lately and improve my overall health.  I have been reading alot about eating more nuts.  Since these are some that I readily have on hand I wanted to bring them out to be enjoyed as a staple item, but the plastic container just wasn't cutting it.

So after seeing Christy's jars I knew I had to go shopping.  I went everywhere looking for just the right jar.  I started at Ross, then went to Marshalls, TJ Maxx, Pier 1, Kohls, and Bed Bath and Beyond.  Some of those places had only sets of jars and some had very thin glassed jars.  BB&B had the closest to what I was looking for but was priced higher then I wanted to spend even with my 20% off coupon.  Luckily for me it is located right next to Target.  So, I hopped on over to Tar-jay!  And there I found them!  Woohoo!

So after washing everything up, I assembled my new nut jar!  I like the sound of that, it makes me laugh.

I decided on this baby cup for my scoop.

I discovered upon closer inspection this one is not silver but actually pewter.
 

I like how much heavier it is then the others and seems more sturdy like a scoop.

I have placed it front and center on my counter for now.  I only emptied the plastic tub and still have a fresh bag to open as soon as these dwindle down.  I have a feeling that won't be to too long from now.

Isn't this just the cutest snack you have ever seen?  I thought so!

I am joining Vanessa for Inspiration Friday today!  It's the party where you get to share all those wonderful bits of inspiration you scoop up all week!  Get it?  "Scoop" up!

Thanks for visiting, I really appreciate you taking the time to stop by.

Let me know if you do.

Mary

How to Catch a Witch!

Usually, I do not like to combine linky parties but this post was so much fun to create that I could not resist.  I am joining Tablescape Thursday today to show my setting.  However I will also be linking with Debbiedo's Before and After Party also.  Please pardon the fact that I do not actually have any of the before photos but after seeing what I will be sharing with you, I am sure you will be able to imagine.  Last but not least, I am also linking with Alphabet Thursday as well.

So without further delay, I'd like to welcome you to the Witch's table!  That pesky old witch has been hanging around here for weeks now.   I thought if I set a table for her, surely I would be able to attract and catch her. 

So, I went about setting the table in a most unusual fashion.

It wasn't long before a cat showed up and tried out this seat at the table.

Then she quickly relocated to this chair by the hat and broom.

Hmm???  What gives?  She seems to be quite comfortable here.

I bet it's the raven she is after, silly cat.

Do you think she'll notice upon closer inspection that's no real bird.

Oh wait, I bet I know what is attracting her.

It must be the menu that is of some interest.

Yes, that's it!  She's waiting for me to serve the meal.

On these creepy skeleton plates...

 

..with beautiful sterling silver pitchforks.  Heehee!

I am sure she will also love the taste of some fresh blood from these crystal goblets.

I made both of these displays using old wine bottles I had.  I used to collect wine because our former home had a built in bar.  After the move my wine had been stored upright in a garage and did not taste quite so well.  I've never thrown them out but have finally found something to do with these old bottles.  These are a few of my before and after projects.  I am sure you can imagine what they may have looked like with their own labels.

For this bottle I only removed the labels and added this stick on label that I got from the Dollar tree.  It is sold in a package of 8 with 4 different styles.  What a bargain!

This bottle was emptied to make room for the candelabra and the labels removed also.

I added this label after printing it off from The Graphics Fairy.  She has the best graphics and you really should visit her blog if you are not familiar with her.

A blood splattered bandage holds my red napkins.

A books of spells certainly should attract any serious witch!

I searched high and low for a graphic for this one and could not find one already made so I made my own.  I used one of my favorite fonts combined with this free graphic I got off the Internet.  I burned the edges and attached it to this golden black tissue paper that I used to make a book cover. 

 I forgot to take a "before" picture of the book without the cover.

But since, I thought the book I used was rather funny and appropriate for this transformation I've decided to show you the inside title page.

Yes, there has to be some magic involved to be able to cook good food and look like this.

Pretty funny huh?  OK, so I have an odd since of humour this time of year!

I hope you enjoyed this tablescape on how to catch a witch.  What?  Did you say, you didn't see any witches?

Well I would beg to differ, she may not be a black cat, but I think there is something mysterious about this one.  Because one minute she was there, then....

...Poof!  Just like that, she "Dissappeared!  I think we have seen our witch!

Hee-hehe-hee!

Thanks for visiting with me today!  I hope you enjoyed it!

Mary