It's a Goodwill Miracle!

I started writing this LAST Monday, but then I got distracted and, um... well, I kind of forgot about it.  Whoops.

You all know how much I love me some Goodwill shopping.  I find cool stuff, I'm participating in a form of reusing/recycling, and I save money.  It's like a treasure hunt.  I never know what I'm going to find!

Well, last Saturday I came across an Emile Henry Butter Pot.  Initially I picked it up because it was a beautiful shade of green.  I thought it was just a lidded ceramic bowl.  Closer inspection yielded the brand stamp on the bottom, the butter "bell" inside, and a finish free from chips and cracks.  

Also, it was marked $2.99 AND it was 50% off Saturday.

Should have been a no-brainer, right?  

WRONG.  I.  Put.  It.  Back.

Dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb!

I know it was a mere $1.50.  I know it was Emile Henry, which if you know, tends to be pretty pricey. I know it was one of my absolute favorite colors, a bright apple green. But, here's what I was thinking:  

"Do I really want to leave a dairy product out on the counter?"

I know it's perfectly safe.  I know this is what people used to do in the olden days. I know that the butter bell/pot type holder works even better than just keeping it in a plain butter dish.  However, believe it or not, I'm VERY picky about what I buy at the Goodwill.  I won't buy something just because it's cool, or cheap, or a name brand.  I put a lot of thought into most things.  I want to be sure it's something I am going to use and love.  I don't like a lot of random clutter and I don't like to waste money.  Sure, it's just a few dollars here and there, but it adds up over time.

So I left it.

Well, of course I thought about that stupid thing ALL DAY on Sunday.  Finally that night I decided I'd go back the next day and see if it was still there.  I mean, I know the Rule of Goodwill - If you want it, BUY IT, because odds are it will be gone tomorrow!

So I went back.  I crossed my fingers and prayed it would still be on that shelf.  I walked in, went straight to where I had seen it before, and -

NOTHING.  IT WAS NOT THERE.

I was so disappointed!  I told myself I knew the odds were that it would be gone, but still, it was a bummer.  I figured that while I was there I may as well see if there was anything else I wanted, so I turned to the other shelf behind me and - 

  

THE GOODWILL MIRACLE!!!

Someone had moved it to a different shelf!  I was so excited, I grabbed that thing, hugged it to my chest, and made a beeline for the registers (after making sure there was no Pyrex on the shelves.  I'm not crazy!).  I got home and triumphantly showed it to my husband, holding it up like a trophy.  Do you know what he said?

"Oh, I was wondering why you didn't just get that in the first place.  I like soft butter on my bread."

SMH.  He could have spoken up!

And yes, I realize I am super excited about a butter dish.  I am officially old.

Project Life 2013 - Week 35

This week I continued with my alternating of digital and traditional pages.  Since the last week I did was all done in Photoshop (praise the LORD for Photoshop!  I need to go add that to my Gratitude Tree!) I did this week all traditionally.  Therefore, no card close ups.

To make the title card, I took one of the first printables that I made and cut it down a bit.  I used a 1/8 inch hole punch to punch along the edge in a straight line, then stuck a metal dry embossing tool in the hole and pulled outward to replicate the look of torn notebook paper.

I found the quote on Pinterest, and the weather card is an iPhone app called Swackett.

I had a lot of photos this week, so I actually had to do a mini insert!  I used a Martha Stewart/Avery mini sheet protector for these. It was a little tricky because the dimensions are different than the 3" x 4" cards I'm used to making.  As a result, I had to go back and re-trim some of them after I was done making them so they would fit!  Duh.

I discovered after the fact that the quote I printed to use on this side of the insert had already been used earlier this year.  WHOOPS!  Luckily I had this one already printed and in my little basket of cards.

This is the right side of the week. I used a circle punch to cut out the logo of the Chinese restaurant from their business card.  The quote card was cut from a piece of card stock that was in a bag of assorted scraps and stickers that I bought at my local scrapbook store's "yard sale."

I accidentally made the yellow Costco card too wide for the space.  I guess I was having measurement issues this week!  Luckily because I don't use pockets I didn't have to go back and redo the whole thing.  I just adjusted the size of the card next to it.  It's just a cut down photo, so it was pretty easy.  So, there's another advantage to doing Project Life the way I do it!

Another week down... I will get caught up!

Ten Things I'm Loving Right Now

Not having documented much here in the past year or so, I thought I'd do a quick post of things that I am loving right now.  It's completely random and in no particular order.

1.  Letter stickers

Particularly American Crafts Thickers.  I pretty much only buy them on discount because I feel that it is ridiculous to spend five bucks on a package of stickers.  It's absurd!  I have had great luck finding them at TJ Maxx, Marshall's, and Big Lots for about $1.50 a package.  I also love the teeny Recollections glitter alphabet stickers that they sell at Michael's for about two bucks.

2.  Filofax

Have you seen what people are doing with these things?  I'm obsessed!  I totally stalk the #filofax hashtag on Instagram when I have a minute or two to kill here and there.  I don't even go anywhere or do anything really that would even require me to have a planner, and yet I find myself wanting one really badly.  Luckily these suckers are expensive and Target only has thin black ones that are not cute, so I'm safe for now.

3.  Faux calligraphy

I saw this online and I thought it was a fun way to try hand lettering without having to invest in special pens, nibs, and ink.  You just draw your letters then go back to thicken up certain parts so it has that calligraphy feel.  I found an old composition book and I've been randomly doodling in it for practice.

Just so you know - that is NOT my handwriting.  Those are letters that I drew, and there is a huge difference.  My actual handwriting is big and kinda loopy and not at all cute.

4.  Anything "kawaii"

Come on - it's CUTE!  I can't get enough of these anthropomorphised foods and objects.  If you look at some of my Project Life stuff, especially the stuff I've done digitally, you'll see things in this style pop up quite often.

5.  Copic markers

I resisted these for a LONG time.  Then along came YouTube and totally convinced me that I needed these markers.  I watched so many videos on Copic coloring techniques before I even owned one.  I told myself there was no way I was buying markers that cost eight bucks EACH.

Well, then I found a huge bin of them at Hobby Lobby for 50% off, and felt it was a sign that the universe wanted me to have them, so I bought some.  Then, two weeks later I went back and bought the colors that were left that I didn't get the first time.  Then I bought a set using a 40% off coupon.  Then my husband bought me some for my birthday.  Next thing you know - I've got a decent little collection of these going on here and we paid WAY less than retail for them!

I practiced blending techniques on a worksheet I found online before I was brave enough to actually try coloring in an image.  Those two are my first few tries.

6. Washi tape

It's just so PRETTY!  And it comes in soooooo many patterns!  You can use it on everything but because it's repositionable it doesn't ruin anything.  I bought a package of tags at Walmart for a couple of bucks and put a swatch of each of my tapes on it.  Then I slid them on a ring and now I have a handy reference!

7.  Pocket Tupac

You've heard at least ONE person say something like this before:  "It's TRUE!  He's not dead!  He's ALIVE!  My auntie's brother-in-law's cousin's co-worker saw him at the DMV last year!"  They're either talking about Elvis or Tupac Shakur.  We discovered these Funko Pop vinyl figurines that come in all sorts of cute characters, and my husband commented it would be funny if they had Tupac or Elvis to take photos of them different places as a joke in reference to neither actually having passed.  

Well, lo and behold, Funko actually makes BOTH!  I decided to go with Tupac as I thought he was funnier and ordered him online.  He lives in my diaper bag so that I can take photos of him in different spots.  He's been spotted at the MAC store, Benihana, in the bushes outside my house, and, as seen above, in the produce section of Walmart.

He gets around.

8.  Salted Caramel Mocha Frappucino

People like to go on about the Pumpkin Spice Lattes this time of year, but for me, the fall drink of choice at Starbucks is the SCM Frappucino.  I had one last night for dinner.  Don't judge.

9.  Angie's Sweet and Salty Kettle Corn

Have you had this stuff yet?  Oh my word!  I never really liked bagged grocery store popcorn like this.  It always seemed to lack the crispness and flavor of fresh popcorn.  It's usually kinda chewy.

I don't know what possessed me to pick up a bag of this one day at Target but I am sure glad I did.  It' is flipping DELICIOUS.  Not chewy at all and the balance of sweet and salt is perfection.  Apparently I'm not the only one who thinks so because my Target is almost always out of it. When I do see it on the shelf, I'll grab three bags without hesitation.  It's that good.

And, finally, last but definitely not least:

10.  Hello Kitty

This is a corner of my scrapbook room.  It is just a small sampling of the Hello Kitty stuff I have around my house.  I can't help it - she's CUTE!  You should see the awesome iPhone cover my husband got me for my birthday.  Ooh, or the headphone jack charm.  I'm really loving the Japanimation stuff they came out with this year.  And the Hello Kitty Uglydolls?  They're killing me!  How about the cute Hello Kitty Kiss vinyl figures that my husband found for Mother's Day?  I still need one more to finish that set.  And then there's the Happy Meal toys... the pens... the stationery... the pajamas...the mug...

It's a sickness, but I love it.

And there you go.  Ten things I'm totally loving right now.  :)

Birthday Cards for Days!

I've always wanted to be one of those people who sends all their friends cards on their birthdays.  I know how much I love to get mail - especially fun stuff like cards!  However, I am sort of unorganized for that sort of thing.  Also, I am too cheap to buy cards.  With the amount of paper and paper crafting stuff in my house, it would just be wrong!  

However, after this weekend, I am all stocked up on cards!  Once again I hit up my Pinterest inspiration boards and got to work today.  Now all I have to do is remember to actually mail these.  :)

I bought this stamp today at Hobby Lobby.  They had a bunch of them for 50% off today!  I got her and a large chevron background stamp.  The Paper Studio embossing folders were 50% off too so I grabbed four.  The design for this card was inspired by this one.  I watched a video on Kristina Werner's blog and came to the realization that I had been using my watercolor pencils all wrong.  I colored this image using my new-found knowledge and I just love it!

I picked up a few more rolls of washi tape this weekend, including two rolls of the CUTEST Hello Kitty washi!  I made this card inspired by one of these.  Very quick and simple.  The sentiment is one of those dollar stamps from Michael's.

Gotta have some gender-neutral ones in the stash, right?  The inspiration for this card can be found here.

I think this card is so pretty.  It has a soft sort of vintage feel to it.  I used a few different colors of Distress Ink and a stippling brush to age the edges of the paper.  The heart was cut freehand from a Starbucks cup sleeve!  The insides are the perfect corrugated texture.  I'd never use it in a scrapbook because it's not acid free, but with cards I feel like anything goes.  The card I used as the jumping point for this one is here.

Here is the same image from the first card, only colored in slightly differently.  I loved all the colors in this card so much that I actually didn't put it in my stash, but rather hung it up in my craft room.  The flags are washi on white cardstock that I cut a border around.  I got the idea for this one from here.  This is the only one that I didn't make doubles of, which is too bad because it's my favorite.

Another gender-neutral card!  I love the simplicity of this, but I think I need a bigger star punch.  The original can be seen here.

This was the last one I made.  I was going to go to bed, but then I saw this and next thing I knew I had busted out the sticker tweezers for those little letters.This is another fairly simple card, but I think it's cute.  My inspiration card can be seen here.

And that's it!  My three day weekend is over and I have to go back to work tomorrow (HAHAHA) because my husband won't be here to distract little people.  This has been the best weekend I've had in ages.  I got to go shopping for some fun new supplies, got in a little one on one time with each of my kids, got to play with paper and ink, visited Starbucks TWICE, got plenty of rest and just was pretty happy in general.  My husband is so awesome for letting me take this time.  I'm a lucky girl.  :)

Thanksgiving 2012

One of the worst part of not having any family living near us is holidays.  We haven't exactly been able to afford to buy plane tickets for every holiday that has rolled around for the past 12 years, which means we're on our own for a lot of these special occasions.  Sometimes a friend will invite us over to spend the holiday with them, and a couple of times family has been able to come here or we've been able to fly to Seattle, which is fun.  However, there do end up being years where it's just us.  

Now, I like to do what my husband calls "event cooking."  The thing is that it just seems like such a huge waste of effort to make a huge dinner just for us.  A whole turkey for just two people?  That's crazy!  Even after Bubba was born it didn't seem worth it, because the boy just doesn't eat very much, and he sure as heck doesn't eat most Thanksgiving foods.  It's still pretty much just my husband and me eating dinner so it never seems worth it.  We usually end up hemming and hawing all day trying to decide what to eat and then end up grabbing whatever we can find.

Last year, our Thanksgiving dinner came from Jack in the Box.  It was sad.  It made me sad.  I decided we wouldn't do that again.  Last weekend I took advantage of a sale at a local store that scored us a free turkey with a $30 purchase.  I picked up some stuff to prepare sides and dessert.  A sure sign that I was meant to make this meal?  

I found an old Pyrex pie plate at the Goodwill Saturday morning.  The mark on the bottom says Patented PYREX May 27, 1919.  From what I can gather, that mark was used from 1919 to 1924, and the 209 (my plate's model number) was introduced in 1920.  It retailed for 90 cents.  :)  That makes this not quite as old as my 193 oval casserole without the date on it's stamp, but still pretty darn old!

I made pies last night.  The boy got his first lesson in how to properly flute a pie crust.

Today I roasted our turkey.  It's been a while, but I've still got it!  One day I'll get a grown up roasting pan.

I busted out the good dishes.  I love my vintage ironstone.

One day, I'll have autumnish napkins too.  :)

We all sat down and had a feast!  Everything came out so good and I'm really glad I did it.

(Let's add "gravy boat" to that "one day" list.  Thank heavens for cream pitchers!)

After we let our dinner settle a bit, we tucked into that pumpkin pie for dessert.  I actually made two.  This is the second one made in my Flamingo Pink Pyrex pie plate. The boy did a decent job on that crust, huh?

Thankful Thursday - 10.11.12

Ten Eleven Twelve... how cool is that?

This week, my thankfulness kind of has a theme.

Bubba likes to watch YouTube videos.  As anyone who has spent time on that site knows, every video has related videos in a sidebar.  Once you start clicking on those, it's easy to fall down the YouTube Rabbit Hole, so to speak.  You never know where you're going to end up!

Well, the weekend before last Bubba ended up in The Littlest Pet Shop, and he fell in love.  It really doesn't surprise me at all because this kid has always had a soft spot for the kitty cats and let's face it - most of those "pets" look like kitty cats anyway, right? My boy was hooked.

It had to have been about a year ago that we got this Littlest Pet Shop toy by accident in a Happy Meal.  It's been floating around in the bins of random toys around here, but he never really paid much attention to it.  I actually had meant to go through the toys and send a bunch of them to the Goodwill, but due to my slacker-iness in pregnancy I never got around to it.

I'm thankful that I didn't, because if I had, this for sure would have been gone.

As it was, he remembered that he had it (the stuff a three year old's mind can recall is amazing) and dug around until he found it.  It replaced a car as his constant companion for several days in a row.  One day I noticed him playing with the little dog, acting out a little scene from one of his videos.  In the role of the second pet?

A piece of orange plastic.  I felt equal parts proud of his imaginative play and sorry for him to have to use a piece of plastic cut from a tiny traffic cone (I made it into the Cozy Cone Hotel for Lightning McQueen) as a second toy.  Soooo...

On my next trip to the Walmarts I checked out their whopping selection of FIVE pets and selected a kitty cat to keep his Happy Meal dog company.  His mom's a sucker!  He named them Rose (the cat) and Alicia (the dog) and they watched many videos and went on many adventures together in a die cast Shelby Cobra, Thelma and Louise style.  Okay, minus the cliff at the end, but you know what I mean.

I'm thankful that my husband isn't one of those guys who will freak out because I'm buying our son "girl" toys.

Then, last weekend when Aunt April was here, he needed to show her the other pets on a trip to Target.  One mama's soft spot later, and a two pack with a Lion and a Bunny was on the way home with us.

SUCKER.

I'm thankful that my husband's relatives don't judge me for buying my son "girl" toys either.  :)

He likes to show his new toys to his sister and encourages her to share them.  I think it's pretty easy for him at this point because she hasn't really mastered grabbing stuff yet and if he gets tired of her paying attention to his toys it's easy to just grab them all and go into the other room.

I'm thankful that he loves his little sister, and loves to share with her and to make her laugh.

So today my husband was telecommuting so I took Bubba with me to go on a donut run... yeah.  A donut run that turned into an almost three hour trip!  HA!

I'm thankful that my husband can telecommute two days a week, which means he is home with us more days than not.

I'm thankful that when he is telecommuting he is okay with me occasionally leaving a child with him so I can go out and run errands with only one little person in tow.

I'm thankful that he doesn't flip out when I say I'm going to get donuts, then decide on a whim to pop into the Dollar General because I heard they had Littlest Pet Shop toys there pretty cheap, and then decide to hit a couple of Goodwill's too.  I figured that since I had planned on sending Bubba's old Happy Meal toys there, maybe some other people had too.

I'm thankful for the Goodwill, and people who donate to the Goodwill, because now Bubba's menagerie has almost doubled and I've been entertained all night by him playing with his pets.  He comes up with some pretty funny story lines!  Talk about a dollar well spent.

The way I see it, they're great for imaginative play, they're a nice break from the Hot Wheels that have dominated his play for the past two years, and when he gets tired of them, odds are good his sister will gain interest in them.

Oh, and I'm thankful for Dunkin' Donuts.  YUM.

Score!

This past weekend, my sister in law came to visit.  She had to meet the newest Fehling and catch up with the previous ones.

Needless to say, it was great to have her here.  She got to catch up with her brother, she played every game in his closet as well as indulging him in his latest obsession, and she suggested to me we hit the Goodwill.

Um, can I just say how awesome it is to have a sister in law who likes to hit the Goodwill so much that she'll do it with you after flying across the country to visit?  Best of all, we don't look for the same stuff so I don't have to worry that she's gonna snatch up something I want?

Even better - check out all this awesomeness I would have missed if she hadn't suggested we go!

I pushed my cart around the corner and immediately spied the large lidded casserole on the very bottom shelf of the housewares aisle along with a large Homestead cinderella bowl.  The bowl had some pretty bad damage to the finish, so I left that one behind, but the casserole went straight into the cart.  There's a teeny chip under the lid on the lip that catches on to the dish, but I figured that was pretty negligible for the $6.99 they were asking.

I looked around on the shelf but didn't see anything else on there that caught my eye.  Then I noticed that one of the stocking attendants had left their wheelie shelf cart there and the baskets weren't completely emptied yet.  I am so glad I decided to take a peek!  Buried in there was not only that small casserole, but these as well:

I also picked up an 8" x 8" square Fire King milk glass baking dish.  When I went to put it away, I realized that between that, and the rectangular baking dish that my friend gave me, I didn't need the clear glass Pyrex ones that were up there anymore.  I pulled them down and put them on Freecycle, and someone had picked them up within a few hours.

Of course, that meant that I'd have to suck it up and actually use the pretty vintage Pyrex I've been collecting.  That's right - I've been collecting it for about two years now and have yet to actually use any of it!  It's just so pretty and I'm completely terrified that I'm going to break it.

I know.  Total OCD move.  Weak.

So, to open the gates, I made enchiladas:

and I made them in the pretty Snowflake Garland baking dish that was a gift from my favorite auction-going friend. I love how Instagram made this photo of my dinner look a little bit like it was out of an old cookbook.  Also, I think they tasted just a teensy bit better than usual.  :)

Halloween House

I've been plugging along with getting my Halloween decor up and out!  Today's offering - the outside of my house.  I tend to do very minimal decorating outside for two reasons:  

1.  It's still over 100 degrees where I live.  Not only do I not want to be outside for very long putting things up, the sun pretty much destroys anything that it sees on a regular basis.  Therefore, what I do put up is against the house where it will get shade most of the day and not be ruined.

2.  I grew up in pretty shady neighborhoods and I have low trust of people I don't know in general.  I don't want to spend a whole lot of money on outdoor decorations only to have someone come steal or vandalize them.

That being said, I like to have a little something festive outside to greet people!

I already showed you my cute new Welcome pumpkin last week.  I hung a garland I made from paper bats and string last year to across the walkway.  Most of my decorating was concentrated around the front door.

There's a little old and a little new out there.

The feather wreath is new.  Kristy at The Diary of Dave's Wife, who I met at the first DownEast Basics Mixer I attended last year posted a photo of one on Instagram a week or so ago.  I loved it so much I knew I just had to recreate it.  I wrapped two black feather boas (40% off using my coupon app at Hobby Lobby) around a wreath form ($2.99) and securing it with Christmas ornament hooks that I straightened out then wrapped like twist ties.  The bow has an alligator hair clip like I've been using to make hair bows on the back so I can change it out if I'm so inclined.

The sign underneath is from the Dollar Tree.

The electric Jack o'Lantern I bought at Target last year.  I am trying to figure out where to plug it in though because I don't have any outside outlets in the front of my house.  My friend told me it's city ordinance/code to have them in Phoenix, but I don't know if it's the same in Chandler.  I should look into that.

The faux fern was $2 on sale at Hobby Lobby.  I can't keep outside plants alive this time of year due to my refusal to exit the house when it's over 100 degrees, so faux it is.  You can see one of my silver spoon plant markers in there.  It says Casa de Fehling.  :)

The wooden cat was found at Goodwill last year.  It's a bit funky, but that's why I think I like it.

And that's outside!  Next up - the piano!