Towel and Plate

I didn't thrift a lot on vacation, but got these at one of the many thrift stores in Fort Myers Beach. A perfect dishtowel for a gardener and another piece of "restaurant china", although this one is US Navy. I have several other pieces of military dining room (mess?) china so I was happy to see the plate.

Back from Vacation

We just got back from Fort Myers Beach and Birmingham. I found three things, all in Goodwill. First, I found a book callen Gump Ja Kumppani. It appears to be either German or Dutch.

Second, I found a genealogy book made for someone named James R. Tarpley.

Last, I found a handmade camel. A sticker says he is from in India.

Bad News

Went back just now. During rush hour. In the rain.

Stickers are gone. :(

"An older lady bought them about an hour ago, she was very excited, was going to use them on some big project"

She might have cleaned out the rest of the craft section, it was empty. Maybe they will get more crafts in there now? Does it work that way?

Anyhow "older lady" if you are a blog reader great steal... I mean find. :(

Crafty Stuff

I really took the boys to the thrift store to kill time. Poor Stephen is still on his search for The Red Carpet book and Hungry Hungry Hippos game.

We only went to one store, the one we go to most often, The Humane Society of Jacksonville Thrift Store. Kid's book are all 4 for a dollar, so I let them pretty much get whatever they want. Today I did make them keep it to 4 each. I got a book for my Mother-In-Law, who loves those "search for the hidden pictures" type books. Then I hit the craft section. I found all this junk:

Let's see, tons of fabric. (been making softies, google it, there are TONS of sites on them) Polyfill for stuffing softies, a zipper in a fun green color, some nice buttons to use for eyes, and tons of the envelope size I use on my handmade cards. Oh and more silk flowers to rip apart and use as accents on cards.
Here is a close up on the fabric. I wanted to have lots of fabrics to be able to play with, but I'm not really good yet, so I didn't dare spend lots of money. This was perfect. One of those was just 5 cents! None was over a dollar. And some are fuzzy and stuff.

All this great loot was only $16! Gotta love that.

I need to go back though. There was this HUGE roll of stickers. I mean HUGE, must have been way over a thousand of them. They were large ovals with a rooster on them and they said, "Crafts with Attitude". How cool is that? I didn't get them because what on earth would I do with several thousand rooster chickens. Kim convinced me though. She said she'd take some off my hands, then I could sell them on Etsy too. You know, "20 craft rooster stickers for a buck" type thing. I really wanted like 100 of them. So I'm going to go back either after the boys wake up from naps or tomorrow and pick them up. Thing weighs like 5lbs.

If you need a handful of craft roosters let me know. I'll post here when I have them in hand and I can send you some. *yall blog readers can have them free*

Goodwill finds

This weekend, I took the boys and we went to Goodwill. I got two to the best things. Ok, maybe they are just great to me and my art.

First I got a DYMO labeler kit: 3 wheels, 2 tapes, in a neat hard case.



















* Price $1.95


Next I got this 13 x 15 3/4 inch Columnar book. This is a huge book we plan to use to press flowers and leaves. I will most likely take a few pages to use in my art too!














* price $1.95

Happy times for under $4.00!

Friday the Thirteenth Update

So, after thirty min . or so, Jack cleaned out the dryer. And the laundry room. And I vacuumed the house. And the wonderful; and it really was, before I killed it, throw, is now in our garbage can. But! The whole day was not a loss. I got the great book! Back Roads of New England!. I love that this artist came close; really, really close, to my old starting place. So, the book was worth it! And, I get to show off my beautiful Cleopatra again, because if she likes it, it must be interesting.

And my Mrs. Murphy, the gray and white tiger. She is my favorite, but don't tell the other cats! We have three, and the black and whites tend to gang up on The Murphalator. I can't imagine why.

And the first kitty, the Lilith. She is a force of her own. But, supposedly she is Cleo's sister. Hmmm, except for the black and white thing, they have nothing in common. I love all three. And I will NOT let in, the black juvenile that is hanging around (all the neighbors feed it) and I will not let in the gray and white tiger kitten that eats here. ( Okay, we feed it, it must move on!!!!!)

Thrifting on Friday the Thirteenth

I should have known better than to thrift on Friday the Thirteenth! Not all thrift stories are pretty ones. Well, this one was. Before I brought this beautiful throw home and tossed it in the washer and dryer (yes, on delicate!). Well. What possessed me to wash a throw with ten inch fringe in the machine?? Why didn't she stop when she was ahead of the game and only found a pound of cotton rag in the new washer? Why did she dry it for half an hour, create a snow storm in the laundry room, clog the dryer completely and then proceed to carry the mess through the house (with formerly dark green carpet, now spotted with cotton snow) and shake it in the backyard??

I did get a couple of cool books including one called "Back Roads of New England" with loads of hand drawn scenes of the old home area and local wildflowers. But I don't have time to enjoy it. I am going to be vaccuuming until tomorrow. And I can't wait for Jack to attempt to fix the dryer.....that job will involve the shop vac and a bent coathanger and maybe a roto-rooter thingy. What a mess. So anyway, I may or may not be able to salvage the throw, and that is not real snow all over my S. FLA lawn.

Kitty shirt

I bought this kitty cat shirt to make my grandkids smile, especially Ethan who loves kitties. Works for me too! St. Vincent's thrift, $1.00 for many smiles.

Beach Horses

The first horse is a plastic horse named Pegasus. I found Pegasus on a very stormy day at the beach. When he was flying his wings fell off and he crashed before me.

The second horse washed up on the beach. It had been decapitated. It was made of wax and was sticky from cooking in the sun. Linda wouldn't let me take it home because it was bodyless. The first thing we thought of was the Godfather scene.

My First Post

I found this wonderful wooden Mexican man at Goodwill for $1.99. I call him Paco but, Linda is afraid of him because Dad said he probably hung on a Mexican restaurant bathroom door. He is dressed like a vaquero. When Linda takes a nap I sneak in and put Paco right near her face. HA HA HA...

Pile O' Junk for $2.50

Gotta love thrifting! So I stopped in at the local Humane Society Thrift Store. Stephen is on an EPIC search for Hungry Hungry Hippos game. EPIC people! I just wanted something to do. No HHH today. :( for him. But I did let the kids pick out books. Stephen picked this "wonderful you" book which is sorta darling. Ethan had a hard time so I picked him this board book about Jacksonville (our town). Then I found these huge bags of silk flowers. More on that in a moment. Some craft sticks for, you know, crafting and a chipmunk card that I will cut the image out of and make a new card for Marcia my mother-in-law with.

Not pictured was a huge bag of clay that the boys are playing with here.

And I do something like this with the silk flowers. I actually made a card with my new ones and I'll replace this photo with that one when I get around to taking the picture.