Thrifty Treasures

    I am a long time second/third/even fourth han enthusiast. The more liitle old grannys who have worn, used, and discarded an item the more I covet it.
   I was introduced to the best consignment shop this week. Love's Treasures (Love Inc.) of Jenison, MI is run for charity as all the best thrift stores are. And while the "shoppe" in the front is nicely arranged and well stocked, it is the out back warehouse that has me raving.
   Due to changing situations in my own life I have been thinking more and more about the difficulty (read as price) of furnishing a home, be it mansion or studio apartment. Furnishing is something I've never had to do as all my apartments in college came already completely funished-bed and all. I can't even imagine the cost if I had to start from scratch at say Sears. It would take me three years to save for a bedroom set.
   Not so if you go the consignment route. sofas $50, matched wing chairs $40 each. Antique bed frames for only $30! I even found an old wood dresser/vanity combination complete with huge mirror on top for only $50.
   In the end I walked out with nothing more then a beautiful white mosquito net (normally $50+) and item I have been shopping for for years. But I know that once the time comes for me to begin filling my own nest, I will steer clear or pricy department stores and seek for treasures at second-hand shops.

Valentines: 52 Reasons to do this craft!

HOKAY, SO.......

I got all up in the face of Valentines Day this year. My enthusiasm reached Martha Stewartian proportions, and my ambitions knew no limits. Maybe it's because this is the first time in my life I've had a sweetheart to spoil, but I was totally feeling the Hallmark Spirit.

52 Valentine Pick-Up

  This is an Idea I got from the Wonderful World of Pinterest. The entire project cost me less then $1 (though I was fortunate enough to have almost every supply needed right at home already)
         Supplies:
              - 1 Deck of regular playing cards
              - 6 Sheets of Card Stock
              - Hand held, or 3 ring hole punch
              - 2 Large metal loose leaf book binding rings (or scraps of ribbon can be used to bind them)
              - Tacky Glue, stickers, glitter, etc.

Think up and typ out 52 things you love/appreciate about your special someone> It could be a grandparent, roommate, spouse etc.; in my case it was my boyfriend. These things can be funny or serious, I found my list to be a mix of funny, sexy, sincere, and a lot of inside jokes. After you've compiled your list, put each reason into boxes that are roughly 2"x3" using your favorite word processesing program (Microsoft Word, publisher...), I put a dashed border around mine, you can find templates for it online, but I preferred to design my own. Make a couple extra squares for the covers.

When satisified: print, cut squares apart, and glue one square on the face of each card. I used tacky glue and a q-tip, aside from being time consuming, it worked really well

 next is the hard part: using the hole punch punch 2 evenly spaced holes through the entire deck. make sure all the holes line up as close as possible. Finally decorate frugally with stickers, glitter, whatever, put in whatever order you prefer, slide rings through holes and VOILA present to the object of your affection!

The REAL gift is how wonderful you will feel making this craft. I found myself smiling and chuckling to myself while I thought up creative even naughty "reasons". I remembered so many little wonderful things about my boyfriend, things that I had forgotten we had done together, that he had done for me. It brought us closer together and he was really touched by the little details I notice and the time I spent telling him why he is wonderful. Its a hardy little scrap book of sorts, and I can see my adding another deck with 52 MORE reasons sometime in the near future, there is always his birthday...