Thrifted Thursday- Christmas Shopping

Good morning and Happy Thursday! How is everybody doing? I don't know about you, but for me, this first week of November has flown by... it will be Thanksgiving before we know it! Also, the one year anniversary of our blog was yesterday- congratulations to us!!! We'll have more on that later, though ;).

As you may know, I've been collecting some things to send with M to Mexico for the kiddos at the orphanage where she works. Yesterday, I found several great little dresses and some pants at Goodwill, so I thought I'd show you what I've collected so far:

So cute, right? And all of that together has cost me around $10... that's a lot of clothes for just $10! I love shopping for children's clothing! It's so cute & so fun! My secret is that I only look for the stuff that's marked half off, that way, I can get more bang for my buck and get as much clothing as I can to send with M. I'm having so much fun shopping for the kiddos, and I hope they love the stuff I've picked out. And the offer is always open for anyone else to send some things along with me- just let me know! :)

Oh, and how cute is that little clip-on tie? I love it!!

I was also able to pick up a couple of books at Goodwill. Two of them are actually Christmas presents for my husband so I won't show them, but I will say that one of them is a book I wanted to buy a couple of years ago when it first came out and it was $27... and I got it for $2.99... score! ;) 

I've been looking for a "How to Draw" book for an art kit I'm making for one of my nephews, and I found this one for $1 yesterday. It's pretty cool- I just wish I could draw at all! :)

All in all, it was a pretty successful day out thrifting! ;) I was able to get 4 girl's dresses, 2 pair of boy's pants, a boy's polo shirt, a clip on tie, and 3 books for about $15. I love thrifting! :)

Happy thrifting!

                                                                                                               -J

Calm Tuesday

Who: M

When: 10/30/12

Where: School...and Starbucks!!!

What: *Skirt-NY&C, thrifted *Shirt-NY&C from about 6 years ago *Necklace, earrings, bracelet-dollar store (seriously!) *Shoes-Mexico county fair *Undershirt-Old Navy, thrifted *Flower headband-borrowed

So, I know this looks more like the Fourth of July than Halloween, but...The weather here is still extremely warm! I really just wanted to wear my cool red shoes again. The undershirt is actually turquoise, which paired with red is my favorite color cambo right now. Also, as you can see, since I wear it so much, this maxi skirt is one of my favorites. No, I do not wear it everyday, but it does seem like I have posted about it A LOT- I love it!!


I must say that today was a nice change from the craziness of Monday!! Too many crazy things to tell...Let's just say that my day started out with a girl with a piece of crayon in her nose and ended with a boy telling me the wise men brought murder to Jesus as a gift when he was born...I know he meant myrrh, but it was funny none the less!

The Poof

Who: J

When: 10/28/12

Where: Church

What: *Dress- Old Navy, thrifted *Cardigan- Walmart *Tank- Target *Boots- Sears *Necklace- Beall's Outlet *Flower pin- The Jewelry Box

The last few weeks, I've been trying to let my hair just do its own naturally wavy/ curly thing. Sometimes, I love how it turns out. Sometimes, not so much. This Sunday was one of the not so much times. My bangs looked really weird (to me), so I swept them up and back into "the poof." I'm not sure how much I actually like it, but it's what happened that day, so, what am I gonna do? ;)

I wear this dress a lot. Like, a lot a lot. I've only shown it a couple of times on here (here and here), but I wear it a lot- like at least once a month! It's definitely one of my favorite thrifting finds- it doesn't need to ironed, it works in summer and winter, there are lots of different colors it can be combined with, the shape is flattering on me (at least I think so), and it was only like $7!

I know I keep saying it, but I'm excited for fall to be here- I love breaking out all my boots and cardigans! :)

Thrifted Thursday- Furry Friends

Can you believe it's already November? Crazy, right? The Thanksgiving/ Christmas season is really one of my favorites, so I'm really excited about everything that's coming up. I love this time of year!

Today, I wanted to show you some furry friends that I found while thrifting in the last couple of months. One of my nieces has a HUGE Build A Bear collection that's been built mostly from thrift finds. My mother in law always finds the best deals! So, lately, I've been keeping an eye out for Build A Bears and I've actually found quite a few. Last year, I found 2 groundhogs (which were limited editions!) and a camo bear, and just recently, I found a turtle, and elephant, and a patriotic bear- the last two with outfits! If you've ever bought one of these puppies brand new, you know they can cost some serious buckaroos, so I've been thrilled to find them at thrift stores. I do have some criteria I follow, though- they can't have any stains, or look "scraggly," or smell... definitely no smells!! And I always wash them when I get home. After I bought the first one, I googled different methods on how to clean them, and this is what I came up with that worked for me- I tied them in pillow cases and ran them through the delicate cycle, and then low heat in the dryer just to get them a little less sopping wet, and then sat them out on a counter in the sun to dry. I even put one with a voicebox (that I didn't know it had) through the wash and it came out fine.  

I have given thrifted Build A Bears as gifts, but only to people I knew would be ok with it. And, I will say, I gave them to kiddos who were old enough to not put them in their mouth or chew on them. I think I'd be a little icked out to pass along thrifted stuffed animals if there were a chance someone might try to snack on them... 

Anyways... these are my most recent finds. And they were all under $4!! Even the ones with the clothes!

Happy thrifting!

                                                                                                                 -J

Tailor Made Quincenera

Who: M
When: 10/28/12
Where: Quincenera!!
What: Dress-tailor made, shoes-borrowed

This was a fun day!! My very first quincenera!!! Well, the first one that I was actually a part of! Let me mention in passing that this beautiful dress was a nightmare!! The lady who was making it for us had her own idea of how it should look...so the final result was that we had to take it to someone else. You know what they say, the third time is a charm! So apart from the craziness of the dress, I also forgot the Bibles which are part of the quincenera ceremony...but it all worked out ok!

On the upside, one of the girls at the home did my hair, and I thought it looked great!! Another special thing about this quince was that it was for twins! I must add that it turned out to be a VERY long night, but the food was good and the cake was delicious!! :)

Thrifted Thursday- Recent Purchases

Hello there! How do you like our new design? And our new Thrifted Thursday picture? I thought it was time for a few changes to bring in the new season! :)

I haven't been thrifting too much lately, but there are a couple of really awesome deals that I've found in the last month or so. I didn't actually get any pictures taken, so you'll just have to take my word for it! ;)

1. An orange & nay blue (Go Bears!) striped Tommy Hilfiger tie for N- $1

2. 2 KitchenAid muffin pans- $6 each. These were a little pricey for me for something from a thrift store, but they were brand new, super heavy duty, and a nice brand name. Plus, I needed new muffin pans THAT DAY for something I was making, and these were cheaper than any at Walmart or KMart.

3. A cake carrier doohickey- $2. This thing is amazing!! It looks like one of those Tupperware cake carriers, BUT, it has all sorts of inserts for different things- cupcakes, deviled eggs, chips and dip. It's seriously awesome!! I've already used it a couple of times. Plus, it was originally $4, but it was half off... woot woot!

4. Some Christmas decorations- a wicker sleigh with metal runners and 3 spools of Christmas ribbon- $1.50. These were all on sale for 1/2 off. The sleigh looks a little rough at the moment, but I'm planning on spray painting it and maybe adding some Christmas embellishments. I'll have to take pictures when I get it done.

5. Several little dresses and tops to send to M for the orphanage- around $6. I'm planning on buying a few things every time I go, so that by Christmas time, I'll have a good amount to send. I love shopping for kids' clothes! They're so cute!!!

One of the things I love about thrifting is that you never know what you're going to find! Sometimes you find amazing treasures that just need a little love, sometimes you find brand new items for waaay cheaper than you'd pay at a retail store, and sometimes you leave empty handed (yes, I promise, I DO leave without buying anything sometimes!). 

Happy thrifting!!

                                                                                                  -J

Picture Perfect(ish)

Who: J
When: 10/19/12
Where: Family pictures in our backyard
What: *Denim jacket- Ross *Grey top- thrifted *Brown skirt- thrifted *Boots- Chadwicks *Flower pin- The Jewelry Box *Ring- The Jewelry Box *Necklace- gift from M

I thought I'd share some of our family pictures with you. These were a lot of fun to do and let me practice my self- portrait skills. ;) We took these ourselves in our backyard, so there was a lot of setting a timer and then running back to get into place. We let our little doggie Mona get in some, too. We wanted our cat to be in some, but she hid under the bed and we didn't think it was worth risking our very lives to drag her out (seriously- she's vicious!). 

I love how this red plaid shirt looks on N, so I wanted to coordinate the colors of our outfits without them being too matchy matchy. I really like how it turned out, and I think the little touches of red in my outfit were just enough. I actually spent a couple of hours researching family picture colors online... crazy, right? I did find a really really cool website called Design Seeds that has tons of different color palettes- maybe I'm a nerd, but I thought it was very cool!

I'm including a few more of our pictures... cute, right? ;)