Blue/Mosaic Monday

PARTY!!

The Thrifty Groove is one year old this month! Therefore we are celebrating all month long with giveaways! Every week will be a different giveaway and a couple of surprises here and there! This week's giveaway is this set of 2 gorgeous rooster charge plates! Check it out and enter HERE!



Okay, on to our previously scheduled program! :)


Join me and a lot of other bloggers in these two great blog parties, Mosaic Monday at "Little Red House" and Blue Monday at "Smiling Sally"

Just a FYI, Mary is taking a little break, so Mosaic Monday will be back next week. But, I am leaving the mosaic in anyway!

I told you all last week that some nasty stomach bug took over the little princess and me. Well, we are finally on the mend but, of course, Troy, being the contrary man that he is (LOL), joined the sick house party late and so now he is dealing with it.

It has not been a fun week. I know a lot of you are and have been dealing with this same nasty bug so, you can relate. Here are just a few of our "sick blues" LOL. I was so surprised to realize that blue seems to be the comforting color.

Mama and Princess's snuggle on the couch blanket (yes, it is a Sponge Bob blanket. It was given to us from a friend and it is the softest blanket!), our PJ's, socks and towel. We have gone through a lot of towels and washcloths!



And although these were typical items on the table, this is obviously a staged photo. LOL I just respect you guys too much and what you to return to this blog so, I decided NOT to include the soiled wash cloths, used Kleenex's, wrappers and other not so pleasant items. LOL

A thermal carafe filled with hot tea, a cup (no dainty teacup during sick time! LOL), lotion, Alka Seltzer (well, the generic from Walmart) and easy on the tummy cookies.








**Just a little tiny teaser.........I have a little surprise for you on Wednesday......Now, Shhhhhh, don't say anything! :)




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Sunday Favorite ~ Getting organized

Don't forget, today (Sunday 2/28/10) is the last day of the Poster giveaway!

But, the party continues with this giveaway, a pair of these Fab plates!!







Happy Sunday! Today is the day Chari at "Happy to Design" invites us to share a past post for her weekly party, Sunday Favorites.

This post was from July '09. It was just a simple organizing tip post.

I LOVE hanging shoe organizers! Yes, I use them for shoes but, I use them for a zillion other things as well. The one below is for hair accessories. I have a ton of hair clips, bands, combs etc.



I recently bought several of the ones in the pic above. I bought them for .25 each (new). They didn't have the little metal hooks with them so they were marked down.

The dollar stores have "Kids hanging shoe organizers" that are half the length of these ones. Those are great for hanging inside your pantry or cabinet door to hold things like Kool Aid packs, sauce packets, gravy packets and dressing packets. All those little envelopes of different things that are found throughout the kitchen.

Another use for them is things like scarves, mittens, hats and umbrellas. You can hang it in your coat closet and have all those little accessories neatly tucked away and easy to get to.

I use one for my scarves. I can fold them and see them. Generally they are wadded up in a drawer and I never think of them. Also one for my socks. I wear a lot of trouser socks during the winter and now I can easily find them and store them with colors together. I also put my pantyhose and stockings in them. They run much less risk of snagging.

Instead of taking up valuable room in my dresser, things can be easily accessible and hung up in the closet. Since they are vertical, they take up very little room.

I have seen them used to hang on the back of an office door and function as a bill/statement organizer. Just using one in a home office for different office supplies would free up desk and drawer space.

Used in a baby's room, it could hold all the powder, lotion, ointments, clippers etc. Everything handy in one spot.

In Kids room, packages of crayons, markers, little Matchbox cars, Barbies etc, would help keep all the little things neatly tucked away.

Craft room.....I don't even think I need to say examples for that! LOL

Scrapbooking is another thing I use one for. I love to use ribbons and rubber stamps and these organizers work great for all that.

You could use one for holding all your ribbons, tags, bows, tape, etc. for a "Present wrapping organizer".

These space savers have a lot of different uses. So, pick some up and start organizing!

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Another Giveaway! Party!!

Woohoo! Time for another giveaway! Do you remember this tablescape from a little over a week ago?

Well, the foundation of that tablescape was the two gorgeous large square charger/dinner plates that I just bought at T J Maxx. And when I bought them, I bought them for YOU!! I wanted to put together a tablscape for all of you to see how beautiful they are. They are heavy ceramic and the colors are so warm and deep. The rooster is just stunning!

They were such a wonderful clearance price. and since I am The Thrifty Groove, I know you wouldn't expect anything less than a bargain from me! As a matter of fact, the sticker price will remain on the plates. Yes, this was just a tablescape, not a serve dinner on tablescape. LOL

Check out the beautiful details....





These two beautiful plates would be perfect for a 2 place tablesetting or, since they are so large, they would make wonderful tray/platters!

This giveaway starts today and will end Sunday (March 7, 2010).

I am going to add an extra way to enter to give your more chances to win.

To enter:

1.) Just leave a comment letting me know you want to be entered.

2.) Become a subscriber or follower and leave another comment saying you are or have just become a follower/subscriber

3.) Copy my "Party Banner" above and do a blog post about this giveaway. Come back and leave another comment with a link to that post. Because I know your blogging time is important, if you blog about my giveaway/party and link back to me, you will get 3 additional chances to win! How do you do that? After you make your post, come back here and leave a new comment with your link. Then leave 2 more comments with just the word "Party" in the comment area. That's it! No need to try to think up any type of comment to leave, just "Party" will be fine!

I will be using Random.org to choose the winner. So, please make sure you enter a separate comment for each of the qualifing ways to enter. I want you get EVERY chance possible to win! Woohoo!!

Good luck to you all! You are going to love these beautiful plates!! Oh, and don't be surprised to see a couple of little additions to your win!

Thank you again for stopping by! And have a FANTASTIC Day!!






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1st Giveaway is ending soon!

Just a quick reminder that the poster giveaway ends tomorrow (Sunday Feb. 28)! Take your favorite photo and have it turned into poster size!





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Spring Fever!

As I look out at the recent snowfall, all I can think about is flowers, gardening, camping, parks, lakes, BBQ's, picnics.......you get the picture. Spring Fever has hit me big time!

With that in mind, I have some Spring-like bargains to show you. A few weeks ago I showed you these cute Easter egg dishes that I got (Here is that post).

When I was at the indoor flea market a couple of weeks ago, I found some more cute Easter egg dishes. These were brand new, sealed and still in the box.



The box included two of each color.



They have little flowers painted inside them and a little raised bunny in the bottom of each.



I got the set of 6 dishes for $2.75. When I was taking pictures and got them out of the box to show y'all, I flipped them over and apparently they were from a Hallmark Store and selling for $4.99 each!



We went to the indoor flea market on a Sunday, late in the afternoon. Now this important because the flea market is closed on Mondays and Tuesday. A lot of people who are selling come in and rent the booth just for the weekends. So, for the folks that just sell on the weekend, Sunday night is basically "Get rid of as much as we can so we don't have to pack it all up and take it home" time. This is my second favorite thing about this flea market (first is the 'Everything on this table is .25 cents').

I have been going to the flea market about every two weeks now. I am starting to recognize the regular sellers. At the same time I can kind of tell the ones that are just there for the weekend. About an hour before closing, I head to those sellers.

I picked up a couple of things at two of these "weekend" sellers. I have to say, that most of these sellers have nothing I am interested in (electronic gadgets, motorcycle stuff, knives, you get the picture).

As I was walking past one booth which was filled with biker stuff, I just happen to glance at one of his tables. I wish I would have had a camera because it was just so funny. Here he has all these chained leather wallets, Harley belt buckets, Harley lighters, money clips, patches etc. and in the back of his table are these two candle holders.

One pink and one golden glass candle holders! LOL Apparently he saw me staring at them and smiling. I just thought it was so funny that they were on this table. He looks at me and say, "Yeah, I know. they were left at my place my my Ex. I figured I would just bring them here and maybe someone would want them. But, nobody did." LOL Then he says to me, "You want them? They're yours. Just take them!" Okay dokey!

As I was walking away with these two candle holders I heard the guy tell his buddy, "Now I can tell her I couldn't even sell her precious S#@&! I had to f@#&$%# GIVE it away!" So, that is the story behind how I got these two pretty glass candle holders for free. LOL

Then I stopped at my last vendor of the day. He had some pretty things but, they were out of my budget. I saw this pretty yellow flower candle holder. I don't normally buy these kinds of candle holders but, I think Spring Fever had it's tight grip on me at the moment and I stopped and picked it up and looked at it. Of course the vendor jumped up from his chair and started spewing all this "history' of the candle holder at me.

While he was talking, my phone rang. It was Troy and he was ready to leave. so, I set the flower back down and started to walk away.

The vendor yells to me that he is willing to go half off the marked price of $5.00. I really was pretty tired by this point and my back was aching from walking so much on concrete floors. I just smiled and started to walk off again.

He yells, "How about $1.50?" Troy was waiting and I said no I had to get going. He then yells, "C'mon lady! It's the end of the day. how about .50 cents?"

I was actually starting to get a little irritated at this guy. I said, "I'll give you a quarter for it." He just looked at me so, I turned back around and started walking out. He yelled, "Fine! A quarter!".

To be honest, I would have paid the $1.50 but, he was starting to get on my nerves.

So, that was my thrifting adventure day at the flea market. Join me again for future episodes of "The Flea Market Saga"!

Oh, I almost forgot. If you go to Big Lots, check out their clearance area. I know not all stores carry everything and these may all be gone but, it was a really good bargain. I got several different color place mats for only .25 cents each. I have tons of place mats that have a print to them so, I really needed some just plain solid color mats. I saw these and they were marked .50 cents each. Which I thought was a pretty good deal. But, when I got to the register, they rang up at .25 cents each! Woohoo!! So, I grabbed two of each of the colors they had.

Sorry the colors don't show up very good. I got black, light aqua blue, royal blue, lime green, eggplant purple and lavender. They also had red, forest green and beige (I have all those colors).





I am linking up to a couple of wonderful blog parties.

Show and Tell Fridays with our lovely hostess Cindy at "My Romantic Home"

Friday~~Finding Beauty with our gracious hostess Claudia at "Dipity Road"

Pink Saturday with our sweet hostess Beverly at "How Sweet The Sound"







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Antique Brown transferware plate find

Check out other Vintage Thingie Thursday posts at Coloradolady!

This brown transferware plate was made by W. T. Copeland & Sons sometime between 1867 - 1890. This plate was actually prior to the whole "Spode" name being included on each piece. I learned a lot about this company and the founders which included the famous name in china dishes, Spode. If you want to read the history behind it, check it out here. As far as I can tell this china design was called Acora.

It has chips (you can see one on the back of the plate). the vendor at the flea market had it priced for $3.00 but, everything in her booth was 50% off. I love the brown transferware and try to pick up a piece here and there when I see them at a good bargain. And I thought this was a good bargain. :)







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Thrifty, Wintery Tablescape

Here we are again, it's Tablescape Thursday and Thrifty Thursday. Join all the others linking up to these awesome blogs :

Thrifty Thursday at Tales From Bloggeritaville Tablescape Thursday at Between Naps of the Porch

As usual, I have a ton of pictures. I can never choose which ones to post. Of course, a lot just get deleted. This table is a super thrifty table! The entire table, everything down to the candles, cost less than $20.00! Yup, I got some bargains last weekend and some treasures I have had for quite awhile.

Are you ready? Okay, lets check out this week's tablescape. We got a bunch of snow yesterday so, I decided to do a snowy and wintery table.

I started out with a thrift store find white tablecloth and added the midnight blue and white stripped place mats. I found these at a new to me thrift store. They still had the price tags on them from Pier Imports. I got them for .40 cents each!




Then I added a white plastic snowflake. Yes, it's one of those that you find at the dollar store. I have had these for years.



Now I have to tell you about this cool, new to me thrift store. This store used to be a used clothing store. I did not know that it changed over to a chain thrift store. My mom, the princess and I stopped in there last Saturday night. The place was packed! I thought that maybe it still only carried used clothes. Everyone was there buying clothes. And I mean whole families were there. Well, their clothes are a good price. Seriously, a lot lower than other thrift stores. But, I discovered way in the back of the store the housewares department. It wasn't very big, but I found some great bargains! Apparently nobody goes there to buy household items. Even the cashier was shocked that I had not even one single clothing item! LOL I got these 2 Ironstone dinner plates for .20 cents each!! I guess nobody wants dishes with so much crazing. I love it!





The midnight blue and white salad plates are from a complete 20 piece serving set that I have. I got it last year for $4.50.



Next I got blue and white snowflake napkins at The Christmas Tree Shoppes after Christmas for $1.00 (set of 4).




I got these pretty onion flower blue and white bowls (3 bowls) and 2 salad plates at this new thrift store. The 5 pieces were a total of $1.00! I have several of other pieces of this pattern that I have picked up a couple at a times at different thrift stores or yard sales. I almost have four 4 piece place setting. I think I need one more saucer and one more bowl. I have never seen cups in this design. Maybe I will get lucky one day thrifting.



At the same thrift store, I got two white ceramic lidded soup tureens/crocks for .50 cents each.



For the centerpiece I used this silver plate candle holder (I know you all either have one or see them all the time at thrift stores). Instead of putting tapers in the holders I used dollar store ceramic blue and white tealight holders. I put a glass candle holder in the center. I folded one of the napkins and put a scalloped edge cut glass cake plate down and put the centerpiece on that. I then put frosted white candlesticks on either side. I added 4 of my mercury glass votive candle holders as well.



I found this pretty blue glass candy dish at an antique store a long time ago for $1.50.



I stacked white lattice plates (they reminded me of snowflakes), a blue glass bowl and the onion flower plate. I put this pretty snowflake etched vase on top. I have posted about all the plates in past posts and the vase was an after Christmas sale at The Christmas Tree Shoppes for $1.00.



On the other side of the table I did the same plate stack and put a crackled glass hurricane lamp on it. The lamp was .50 cents at a thrift store (bought last year).




I love this blue glass leaf serving dish. I got it at Salvation Army last year for $1.50. And this large white ceramic butter dish was a TJ Maxx find.



And last, I used the blue and white saucers and a white ceramic pedestal dessert dish with a dark blue candle. I went outside and filled the bowls with snow.



Now the full table and various pictures.











Now some candlelight














Remember I am having a blog party!! And here is my first giveaway!!



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