Free Shopping at my best Thrift Store!

So a few weeks ago (actually about two months now) we adopted a dog from the Humane Society Animal Shelter. Every few weeks they send me a survey about him and if I fill it out I get a $10 gift certificate to the Animal Shelter Thrift Store. (Which is my favorite one in town)

I went today and got the kids a weird wheel shaped container that is for storing matchbox cars, a pile of magazines and a few T-Shirts that have the Animal Shelter logo on them. Then I saw it. The most lovely chunky necklace ever. Two dollars! And it goes with almost everything I own. I really love it. I'm not a huge jewerly person, but I've been wanting to get a piece like this that would go with a lot and make a nice touch to my outfits. I wear a TON of solid colored shirts that are similar to this one. I mean I have like 30 shirts like this and 3 other shirts. So this is perfect. And it was FREE with my gift certificate! And I'll get another gift certificate in a few weeks! And I have a dog.

The dog is sort of a thrift find, I mean I got him used...
His name is Wilbur. I picked him totally based on personality. He is super gentle with the boys. That was pretty much my only criteria. He's friendly and super smart. He's pretty cute. He's also a bit of trouble. He is still a puppy (9 months) and he chews a lot of stuff. He also digs holes in the yard. I'm working on doing lots of training to keep his mind active to help with these problems. In good news the kids NEVER leave their toys out anymore! My home has never been more clean. And I never skip my morning walks. There is a huge difference in his behavior if I take him on my morning walk or if I don't.

Thrifty Job for me!

I sorta got a thrifty job! Well it's volunteer. And come as you please, no schedule. But ANYHOW I signed up with Friends of the Library today and was looking at their books. (got 7 of them) So I ask about volunteering and the lady was so excited to have me. So Saturday mornings, when I can, I will go down there and sort books. There is a huge warehouse and just gobs and gobs of books. Tens of thousands of books. Can you believe it? So I'll go in and sort them into grouped by author's last name, Like a box of A's and so on.

AND I get first crack at the books I am sorting. AND every 3 hour shift I work I get to take two free books. Not that they are expensive or that I mind paying for them, but still FREE books? SWOOON.

I don't start until after the super huge Friends of the Library book sale that is in a few weeks. Until then it's serious working going on, getting the 5 semi's ready to take books to that. Oh and I get to go to that the day before it opens! That's because I joined, not because I'm a volunteer.

I'm way excited, I've wanted to get involved in something that I could do without cutting into family time. This is perfect, if the family needs me I simply don't go. If we are just haning out I do go, and it's just in the mornings.

I thought you guys would appreciate it. :)

Saturday Thrifting in West Palm Beach

Everyone says that more and more people are shopping the thrift stores and it is true here on Saturdays. There was nowhere at all to park at World Thrift, Goodwill.....And the cars in the parking lot ranged from old trucks to new BMWs.

I still found a few good things today. Two paintings of flamingos, acrylics and very large. The huge one with the two birds, approx 3.5 ft by 2 ft. was $5.00. The smaller, (just slightly smaller) was $4.00. Unless I get decent frames on them, they will perk up our laundry room.

I found three great oval plates with blue and lime pagodas on them marked "Jackson China, Creighton's International Restaurant". I'll probably never find more of those.

One luncheon plate in Erin's green Corelle (there must be a huge gang out there collecting this stuff, it's nearly impossible to find now.) And three first edition copies of books I've always loved.

Pretty good day all around.

More Corelle for Erin, Super Score!

Today I found, at an antique mall, a thirty five piece set, for Erin, of her beloved Corelle, Spring Blossom!!! It was wildly CHEAP!! And had the saucers and teacups, and they would not sell me the set without them.... but I guessed, ELF can find a way to use them, or make a wonderful gift basket of the cups and saucers...... Anyway, Spring Blossom all, including the very, very rare serving bowls... Two??? and, the Pyrex gravy/sauce boat and matching gravy boat plate?? We went to another antique store after this and saw the gravy boat and gravy plate, for $14.99 each right after I made this SCORE! Seriously, for the thirty five piece set, I paid almost what the gravy plate cost!!!!! Wild score. There are dinner plates galore, luncheon plates... the smaller (fruit) bowls...... Amazing find.

SCORE!!!! Corelle for Erin

So Erin was in love with Crazy Daisy/Spring Blossom Corelle and I got her some a few months ago. She loves the 70ish Corelle so much, she's decided to mix and match it like some do Fiesta. Opened up whole new worlds of thrifty fun for me. BUT, it has to be the white based smooth! And no cups, mugs, etc. No saucers. But a butter dish would be wonderful. So today at Goodwill:

and Dogs and Cats Forever, it's CORELLE DAY!!! (Not anymore because I got her twenty one pieces...) Every piece $.49. What a deal.

In Butterfly Gold: 4 cereal bowls, 5 lg dinner plates, 3 luncheon plates which are hard to find and one lonely dessert plate. AND, in the blue Corelle Oldtown, 4 dessert plates. Then the big score, 4 Corelle Burgundy, which I've never seen in person, only on the websites.

Thrifty shopping, and Mom's buying!

Mom is up and we hit the thrift stores. She found some Shenango China dishes. Apparently they were quite the find.

Here they are all so you can see thier tops.

I found this adorable mushroom wall hanging. Mom hates it, but she doesn't have to have it.

I also found this skirt. Well technically mom found it but it fit me so I win.

And we found this cute kid. No wait we had him, Mom found the chair, got me two of them. I love them. Solid oak. They were $5 each. Cha Ching!

And the rest of my loot, some pillow cases to cut up and sew, few b ags of polyfill and T shirts for my kids.

We also got the boys linen covered boxes for their "treasures" Gotta have somewhere for those. Oh and mom got me some capri pants too. I'm spoiled. We all knew that. :)

Buttons

Ok, my thrifty procurements over the past week will take me MONTHS to blog. It's insane.

I have pics ready of this box of buttons though.

Mom thinks that a lot of these are that bakelite buttons, apparently they are worth something. I just like pretty buttons. That's all I know about buttons. Here is a list of other stuff I got, NOT a full list:
Literature Anthology.
about 50lbs of fabric
zippers
binding tape
tons of books
textbooks for my kids learning time
clothes for kids
shirt for husband
two sweaters for me
stroller for pushing kids (actually handles really well, way better than our expensive one)
games for kids
toys for kids
blankie for ethan
a bike
a Kate Spade purse
3 vintage sheets
a bike for Stephen
a swiffer carpet flicker thingie (which I actually like)
an atlas, which my mom stole. :) (kidding I gave it to her)

See? A LOT of thrift finds I need to update.

Great World Atlas

Here is the atlas Erin gave me. I love this thing!. And I'm happy it's not going to be cut up. Lilith is apparently fascinated with it too, especially Greenland.

The clippings are dated Sept. 30, 1938. One is Hitler chatting with Mussolini. One is Hitler, Neville Chamberlain, Mussolini and Edouard Daladier captioned "Gathered at Hitler's invitation to find a peaceful way out of the Czech-Sudeten situation" and the third "German troops as they will march into Czechoslovakia tomorrow". They are evidently from a PA newspaper because on the back of one there is a home for sale "Public Sale, Intercourse Residence" which I assume is the town... Brand new brick homes with "six rooms and hot water" for $3900.

$100 Atlas... shrug

So I buy atlas's (I don't appreciate pluralization of words ending in "s") So anyhow I buy them. Whenever I see them. I cut them up and make envelopes out of them. It's an obsession.

Today I got a lovely red one at one of the thrift shops down here near mom's house. $3 which is about tops for what I'll pay.

Bring it home. Now it's LOVELY, red cover, the most beautiful art ever. Make some real nice envelopes. Mom protests. I offer it to her. She accepts.

Inside the atlas are news paper clippings just prior, days prior, to WWII. Mom will have to share those with you.

I go online to see if the atlas is worth anything, it is from 1963. Well at least one sold for $100. Mine, no, mom's, is in near perfect condition. Sigh. I guess she's right, no business cutting up $100 atlas for the making of paper crafts right?

shrug.

I also got a huge box of buttons, apparently some are bakelite. By some I mean like 50-100 of them. So that's fun too.

I'm MOST excited about this little scrap of vintage fabric I got though.

Pics when I get back home.

Mom promised to blog the red $100 atlas.

Oh we named the cat, Sneaky Pie Brown. And it's not looking for a home any longer, it lives here at mom's.

hugs everyone in blog land. sorry to blog such cool finds with no pictures, I can't figure how to do them on mom's computer.

Military Maps

I went back to Marianne's garage sale today. She knew she had some military maps but could not get her hands on them yesterday. Today she had them. $1 each and they are so very cool. Three different ones. Here are pics:

What's extra cool, besides just what they are, is that they are some cool material. You can't tear them and they can get wet and stuff. They are super wrinkly. I'm not sure if that's part of just how they are because they still read just fine. They are HUGE too. Almost as long as I am tall. Maybe they'd just bunch them up and stuff them in their bags? I don't really know too much about these, so if anyone does please share in the comments. :)

I have no idea what I'll do with them. Mom, Kim, do you guys think you want one? What would do you with it? They are HUGE. I wonder if my grandfater who is a military buff would like them for Christmas?

Kim, I did think about sewing them into the coolest pouches EVER you could totally sew this material. But I'm afraid it would be offensive to sew a tool that may have kept someone alive into a cute tote. Right?

Oh and Marianne had a KITCHEN AID MIXER. I didn't even ask because I already have one and I don't want to know how much I could have saved. Nope, don't want to know. It was white. She said she had a really fancy atlas (I love a good atlas) but she couldn't get her hands on it. She's one who buys stuff all the time just to sell it in garage sales. I'm not sure how that makes money, but whatever, I love her for it!

Some Thrifts.

Today at the Humane Society Thrift Store I purchased this awesome fabric. I'm going to make it into something for my mom. She just has to figure out what she wants. Isn't it FANTASTIC??? It was 25 cents.
I also got this book for Kim. She loves font and typography.

For me I got two zippers, and some buttons. I didn't take pictures of those though.

:)

Twice in two days!

Yesterday I went to my Humane Society Thrift store. I didn't find a ton. I got my mom the Christmas Tree, I got Stephen a silly pool float because it was yellow and I got Ethan this tiger. I might have gotten something else but I can't remember.

Anyhow I noticed there that they had a digital programable thermostat in the package still and when I got home I noticed ours was broken! How odd. Anyhow I went back today to check it out. It looks good and was only $5. I peeked around more and found TONS more stuff to buy! I got two cake magazines, and one art book (which they insisted was a magazine because it's floppy so it was 25cents) A bunch of cool patterns, all the patterns there are 25cents. Love that! Also kit for making some nativity animals, stuffed ya know. It's cute, the fabric is all in there and it's screen printed, so I don't have to sew on details, they are on there. I figure it will be a fun quick project. A giant bag of kids crafts, something with a snowman it looks like. I'm going to donate that to Stephen and Ethan's Nursery class at church. And two notebooks of graph paper. I had been wanting some to sketch out quilt designs or whatever on. I noticed when I got home that one of them is actually two part transfer. Like if I sketch on one, it makes a carbonless copy on the second. so that's sorta cool. Oh and fabric, and a tiny embrodery hoop.... I think that's all.

Close up of the "magazines"
Here is the type of art in the art book
And another random page from the art book.
Mom's Christmas thingie she wanted.
close up of some sweet lace I got. 25cents for TONS of it.

Super Thrifting *travel edition*

I'm visiting my mom. She has all these awesome thrift stores so I had to check them out.

Oh my goodness I found a lot! Here are all the crafty things. That huge thing is an entire bolt of fabric.
I saw the white skirt with flowers when I walked into one shop. Awesome featured things like this are never EVER in my size but today it was. When the girl saw that it fit she said the lady who donated it donated a whole stack. So I got three. The white and paisley ones are Liz. Hurray! Turns out mom had in there closet for me nice shirts that totally match these skirts! She was going to save them for Christmas but she let me have them now. (I'm a bit spoiled)
Here is a close up of the magazines and things. That top thing has all patterns for animals and dolls. Love that!
Here are some things we got the boys. The FSU thing in the middle is for a girl we plan to have some day.
And here is what mom got. BEAUTIFUL dish towel thing with plants and a lovely globe. I wanted the globe, but I don't have anywhere to put one so mom bought it. She collects these towels.
In other news she took me to a quilt store. I had never been to one. I am hooked big time! She spoiled me in there too! I'm fun to spoil. teeheehee. No really, I'm very blessed.

Super Thrifty Friday

Today we went to the SAME thrift store we always go to. It's super close to the house and I always find stuff there. Here's a photo of it from across the street. I'm waiting at the longest red light in Jacksonville taking this shot.

And here is the awesome mural on the side of it.
They are having Christmas in July at my Thrift Store too. Here's something cool.
Here are my kids picking out books:
And here is what I bought today.
Here is the check machine. At Kim's suggestion I tried it out and it WORKS! I can print numbers!
Here are some old books. The swimming one is 1960, the rest are mid 1950's.

While I was shopping a lady came in and donated this!! I freaked out! I made them price it right away and sell it to me. It's a pattern AND fabric AND all the tools to make that mouse! The pattern is actually printed on the fabric. It's beautiful! There is even a needle and thread and yarn for a cool yarn tail and all the felt parts and stuff. It's 1973. I paid an entire dollar for it. I want to cry I love it so much.

I love the Polly Fill!

I bought this stuff Wednesday. See that bag of stuffing! Just like my mom bought me a day later.
Also of note is that fish. What was I THINKING? It's a super loud squeek toy. Oh look, just now as I type it the kids are at it again. Sheesh. The straw hat Stephen's been eyeing for weeks. Then we have a pile of kids books all 25cents each. Craft string was also 25 cents. Flash cards were 25 cents too. I'll buy pretty much anything my kids ask for if it's 25 cents! haha.
I'm going again today. We shall see what I find. I'm especially on the lookout for super cute fabrics. SUPER cute ones. Painfully cute.

Random thrift junk

We decided to stop in the Animal Shelter Thrift Store today on the way home from lunch and found all this great junk:
Stephen has actually been wanting this silly carrot for some time. Not sure why? Today I finally let him have it, if you want a 25cent carrot for long enough I'll buy it for you.
And what do you do with an enormous white tiger? You give it to this guy! Ethan has a huge collection of tigers, but this is his first white one.
Other than that I got a bunch of random books, Brian got a few ties and I got one length of cute fabric. Not a bad haul.

I need to start bringing a camera right into the store. There was this thing Kim would have freaked for. It was an old cashregister. Like really super old with stand up keys and I honestly couldn't quite figure out how it was used, it hand a pull down crank and all. Interestingly, it was in the "office supplies" section, not the "adorable antique" section. As if someone was to come along and buy it for their store or something. I wish I could have taken a photo.

OH and Brian went back and got some edger trimmer thingie for the yard. So that's a good find too.