Monday, October 26, 2009

It was a dark and stormy night...



You Have Been BOO'd!

The air is cool, the season is fall,

Soon Halloween will come to all.

Ghosts and goblins, spooks galore...

Tricky witches at your door.



The spooks are after things to do,

In fact, a spook brought this "BOO" to you.


The excitement comes when friends like you,

Copy this note and make it two.


We'll all have smiles on our faces,

When we see who Boo'd who's places.

I was Boo'd by Candy, the Junk Sophisticate


The following 4 ladies have been officially BOO'd...

Sunny at All Things Sunny Love Sunny's positive attitude even during difficult times..you are an inspiration!

Kendra at Domestic Princess in Training Another frugal girl like myself, Kendra is a thrifter like myself, always on the lookout for a good deal.

Carrie at Carrie's Little World Such a sweet girl with lots of cute ideas

Leah at Just Me, Leah My dear friend who I love very much!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This BOO party was started by Toni@The Tattered Cottage. Please keep the fun going by following these instructions.


1. You have 24 hours to work your spell

2. Copy and post the Halloween Boo Poem with the instructions for playing.

3. Pick 4 blogs you enjoying visiting and tell why you enjoy visiting them, with a link to
their blog and remember to link back to me.

4. Go to the original BOO Party post at the Tattered Cottage and add your MckLinky.

5. Let's see how fast and far this spreads between now and Halloween.


Happy Halloween!

Friday, October 23, 2009

Mirror, mirror on the wall (before and after)

A few weeks ago I shared this mirror I found at a garage sale for $5.



What I like about it is that it's an antique...meaning it's heavy duty with a real wood backing. This sucker probably weights at least 20 lbs.

However, I don't really need another plain old mirror. I wanted to jazz it up a bit.

I started with this F that I printed out from my computer. F being the first letter of my last name, though I guess it can stand for anything really, like friend, fabulous, freak... Then I cut it out with an X-acto knife.



I used a combination of redline and painter's tape to make frames around the monogram. I would have liked to have done something a little fancier, but I wanted this to be as quick and painless as possible, so straight lines it was.



After a few coats of Valspar Frosting spray, this is what I got.



Who knew it would be so difficult taking a picture of a mirror? The middle square is slightly tilted. Which really irritates me because I measured and measured again before spraying. Eh...I'm still fairly pleased with how it came out.

But since it's so heavy, hubs had to hang it with some sort of special toggle bolt. And he said he's not moving this thing EVER. So I guess it's here to stay. ha!

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

A quick little "crappy to happy" project

I went to Ross the other day. I usually stay away from that place because the one here in town is sort of...well, gross. But sometimes I can find little treasures hidden on the back of a shelf somewhere, needing a new home.

On the clearance shelf, I found this little sign.



Because it had been roughed up somewhere along the way and had a little chunk missing from the top, I got it for $2.99.



And while I'm sure some of you would just take a brown marker to fill in the broken area, I'm far too ambitious for that. (ha!) Besides, while this bronze color is nice, it didn't really do anything for me. So I gave it a quick coat of white paint.



And added some raw umber glaze I had from previous art projects.



I like how it turned out, but...I don't know. It still doesn't feel right. It almost seems too "girly" for my tastes. Any suggestions?

Cissy and Sammi say hi!



Sunday, October 18, 2009

Frugal beauty: dry shampoo

You know how some people have combination skin? I seem to have combination hair. My scalp tends to get oily, yet the rest is dry. I've been making an effort to wash my hair every other day (instead of every day) to remedy the dryness, but then I get oiliness near my temples.

A friend of mine mentioned dry shampoo. She uses it on the days where she doesn't wash her hair. I tried it and liked it quite a bit, but at $25/small bottle, it's not something I can justify.

After doing a little research, I found that Sally Beauty Supply sells a brand called Batiste that retails for about $7/can. I've seen some good reviews and decided to try it out the other evening. I didn't have anywhere important to go, so I figured if it didn't work, I wouldn't be a huge embarrassment to myself. ;)



Since this comes in an aerosol can, it tends to come out heavily. The trick is to apply just a little at a time. Simply spray, wait a few minutes, massage in and then brush out.

Results: very pleased! My hair was instantly refreshed. So much so, that the next day I skipped washing my hair again (I had a lot of work to do around the house and was going to wait until the evening to wash) and yet it still seemed clean.

I think my friend's $25 version may have been a little bit better as far as results go, but for only $7/can, Batiste is worth it, especially if you are in a pinch and need a quick refresher.

Saturday, October 10, 2009

A little bit of domestication thrown in for fun

So I was a little inspired this week. I don't know why. I should check my temperature and make sure I don't have a fever. Because not only did I bake, but I baked from scratch. AND! I made enchiladas for dinner twice. From scratch. Go me!

But this is such a good, tasty recipe that is especially appropriate for this time of year. It all started with two mini muffin pans I found at a garage sale. I was going to use them for paint wells, but decided to try and use them for their intended purpose.

I saw a recipe online (complete with video with a crazy old lady) for mini pecan tarts. Here is the result.



And if you want to make them yourself (and I know you do!), here's the recipe. If I can do it, anyone can do it (this coming from the girl who caught her stove top on fire. Once.).

Shells:
*3 oz. cream cheese (I used fat free so there'd be less guilt as I shovel these into my mouth)
*1/3 cup butter
*1 cup flour

Mix and put in fridge for an hour. Make little balls and spread out to fit mini muffin tins.

Filling:
*1 egg
*dash of salt
*3/4 cup brown sugar
*1 tbsp soft butter
*1 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup chopped pecans

Mix and fill shells (about a spoonful of filling each). Add a whole pecan to the top of each one for cuteness.

Bake at 325* for 20-25 minutes.

Makes 24 tarts.

Monday, October 5, 2009

This has been a good week for thrifty treasures

(my good camera had dead batteries, so I had to use the little cheapy camera to take these pics. so you'll understand why they stink. not that I take great pictures with the good camera...)

Between hitting up a schmancy neighborhood community garage sale and a few thrift stores, I got a few cool things for almost no money.

Friday morning I hit up a few sales but didn't find much that I needed/wanted. I did see this pair of nesting tables and pounced on them, even though I knew hubs would roll his eyes and say that we don't have room for any more furniture (which is exactly what he said when he saw me unloading them from my truck).



But I loved them so, and they are solid wood and oh so cute. I couldn't pass them up for $10. I admit I stood there for the longest time debating on whether to bring them home, because I didn't know where I'd put them (it's true, we don't have any more room for furniture). Then I remembered there's a perfect spot in our master bathroom between the cabinets and the tub. I can put a basket with rolled up towels on the little table and it will be perfect.

Unfortunately, our master bathroom is halfway gutted right now, so until we finish that project, I put the nesting tables in the corner of my dining room with a couple of plants on them. It works for now.



I saw this mirror at a g-sale and it was half price, so I paid $5. It's hard to tell from my picture, but it's quite large and is one of those old mirrors...you know those heavy, wood-backed mirrors that would kill you if it fell on you.



I was lucky and found another piece of vintage Pyrex. This pattern is called Town & Country. It's a large sized bowl and was only $1. Yay! I've never seen this pattern in the thrift stores.



I found two cloches and another floral frog that I'll use to make my beaded wind chimes.




Even though I was out late on Friday night, I drug my sore, tired old bones out of bed at 7am to make the schmancy neighborhood garage sale on Saturday morning. They hold it twice a year (spring and fall).

My FAVORITE find is this pair of lamps. I thought they were so cool and funky. They are glass with a neat etched pattern. It's pretty difficult to photograph these, especially with a stinking cheapo camera. I have absolutely no idea where to put these, but I had to have them. They were only $3 each. I consider my style to be eclectic, but even so, I don't know how these will fit in with my decor. Eh, what do I care, I love them! And isn't that what really matters? :)





I was able to find another piece of Fiesta. I know some folks just collect them, but I use these as my every day dishes.



I love these ceramic candlesticks. There are actually three of them, but the small one had been broken and glued back together. It's still usable, but I don't need it right now.



Not pictured: a tripod for my camera, a linen table runner that is the perfect shade of green for fall ($2.50), a super cool pearly-type beaded scarf-style wrap necklace (love my description, don't you?), a Nordic Track that hubs has been wanting forever (got that for $10...he's used it twice, so I guess we've already gotten our money's worth..ha), a smaller camera bag for $1, and some really cute clothes...too many to take pics of...

Did you have any luck this week thrifting?