The First “Thrifty Things Friday’!

Hi everyone!

Woohoo, I am SO excited about today! Welcome to my very first linky party here at The Thrifty Groove! I want to do a quick Thank You to my friend Linda at A La Carte for passing the torch to me! Thank you “Soon-to-be-as-in-any-minute-now” Grandma Linda!

Besides this being my first linky party, today is April Fool’s Day! And for me, that means it is my wedding anniversary! Yup, Troy and I were married on April 1, 2000 in Las Vegas Baby! We flew about 50 friends and family to join us for a fun filled Vegas wedding weekend! It was a blast! Happy Anniversary Sweetheart!

Okay, ready to see some Thrifty Things? Of course you are! Why else would you be here?

I am going to go all wild and crazy today for our first Thrifty Things Friday and show you some brand spankin’ new, from a retail store, thrift things! What??!! "No 2nd hand cool thrifty finds?” Nope “No pictures of more of the treasures from the infamous $1.00 auction boxes?” Nope! Sometimes it is actually cheaper….er…thriftier to find bargains at regular retail stores.

I went thrifting at one of my absolutely favorite stores, Christmas Tree Shops!

My first cute find I thought would be perfect for a Spring time table runner on the coffee table in the living room.

Isn’t that just the sweetest fabric! I grabbed this from the first cart I saw when I walked into the store.

Yup, it is a valance! But, I think it makes just the prettiest table runner. And check out the price……

Seriously, would you have passed this up?! I got 4 other ones that I plan to use the fabric in a different way. The sign had said 75% off but, these were even cheaper that that!

Now, if you are not fortunate enough to live by one of these stores, I thought I would just show you a couple of quick glimpses around.

Okay, on to more thrifty treasures. If you have read my blog, you know I love to play with tablescaping. And when you do that, you want lots of pretty linens. Well, here are some quilted placemats.

Now, you may be thinking, “Um, yes those are pretty but where is the thrifty part in all these placemats?” Let me show you…..

Are we loving the numbers “2 & 8” or what! They had a huge display with all these pretty different placemats. All of them were .28 cents each! I could NOT walk past this display and not help myself to 2 or 3 or 12!! This display was filled with all of these placemats and they all are just a bit “irregular”. Not exactly the same size or perhaps when sewing, some threads got bunched up in the back. You know the kind of things I am talking about. For the most part, that is just fine by me for this price!

Next up are these really cute quilted lunch bags.

Aren’t those adorable~! They have a plastic liner inside. And the thrifty part of this is?

Okay, so it is not a “2” but, I still think .48 cents is a steal!

Here are just a couple of the dollar items that I thought were cute.

This is a little cardboard treat stand. It will hold your decorated Easter eggs or mini cupcakes.

These are just the cutest little bunny socks! I couldn’t resist!

Now I know a lot of you are sitting there staring at your screens thinking, “Well, it must be nice to have one of these stores around. But, I don’t!” And because I know that, I decided that my thrifty things should be YOUR thrifty things!!

That’s right! To celebrate this very first Thrifty Things Friday party, I have put together 2 little giveaway packages of these fun thrifty items.

Here is the giveaways:

Since there will be two winners, I have made up two different packages. The first name selected by Random.org will get to choose first. You will choose from the “Pink Set” or the “Blue Set”.

Yay! Is that fun? I hope you think so because I had a really fun time picking out these things for you!

Okay, before we get into the details of the giveaway, I am going to fill you in on the “rules” of this party.

Thifty Things Friday

*Write a post on your blog about something “thrifty” that you want to share.

Since “thrifty” means different things to different people, I want you to feel free to post about:

*Thrifty Finds (yard sales, garage sales, auctions, flea markets, Craigslist, Freecycle, dumpster dives, curbside pickups, clearanced items)

*Thrifty Redos (found a thrifted item and repurposed it or refinished it in a thrift way)

*Thrifty Recipes (We could all use some recipes that don’t wipe out our wallets!)

And any other thrifty type of thing you got! (example: Did you have an amazing grocery shopping trip because of sales and coupons? Show us your loot and receipt!)

*Please Link to The Thrifty Groove and or feel free to use the TTF button (above and on my sidebar)

Links will be removed if they don’t have a link or button for Thrifty Things Friday.

Links will also be removed if they are not a “thrifty” post (please no links to your online store or giveaway unless you are showing us some thrifty things as well)

*And although not mandatory, I sure would appreciate if you left a comment!

I am going to try like crazy to have this party up every Thursday evening by 9:00 pm (EST)

If you have any questions, please feel free to email me!

thriftygroove@gmail.com

Phew! That part is done! Now on to the giveaway!

*There will be two winners. The winners will be chosen through Random.org.

*This is open to ALL of my readers, regardless of what country!

*This giveaway starts now and ends next Thursday evening (April 6, 2011) at 5:00 pm (EST)

*Winners will be announced on the next Thrifty Things Friday (April 7)

How to win:

~Just leave a comment on this post saying you would like to be entered (1 comment)

~Be a Follower of The Thrifty Groove and leave a another comment saying you are (1 comment)

~Link up to this week’s Thrifty Things Friday party and leave another 4 individual comments (4 comments ex: “linked up to party #1” “Linked up to party #2” etc.)

~Add my party button to your sidebar and leave another 3 individual comments (3 comments)

That’s it! 9 entries possible!

Okay, now I can’t wait to see what you all have to show today!!

I will also be linking to:

Show and Tell Friday

Tickled Pink

Feather Nest Friday

Pink Saturday

Winners and a Peek into my Auction Boxes

Hi everyone!

I will like to announce my two winners of the Purex with Zout giveaway.

And the lucky winner are:

Lynn at Happier than a Pig in Mud

and

Loretta at  At Home with Loretta

Congrats to both of you ladies! And a huge thank you to Purex for sponsoring this giveaway!

I have a new giveaway scheduled to start this Friday. This is  just a little giveaway for two of my readers from little ‘ol me (not a sponsor).

Okay, now I thought I would share a peek into a couple of the auction boxes that I have not yet completely gone through. Since I have been mentioning these now infamous boxes, I have had a lot of questions about them. So, here is a little background. During the months of winter, Troy and I have had a booth at a local Trade Center to sell our herb products and pedestals that I make and some other odds and ends. This Trade Center has several other parts to it. One huge room is the auction room. Our booth was right next door to it so, we could be monitoring our booth, helping customers and still be part of the auction. Since we were regular vendors, we were still there after the auctions were finished. We got to know the auctioneers and were able to go through the stuff that was not sold during the auction. So, often the auctioneer would ask if we wanted this box or this group of boxes for a buck. Generally we said yes. So that is how some of the boxes of stuff came into our hands. We would immediately do a very quick inventory of the box and pull out items we knew for sure we didn’t want. Those got donated to a charity booth at the Trade Center right away.

One of the cool things I discovered after sitting in the auction room was that about 65% of the people in there bidding were other vendors. And NONE of them were interested in dishes or glassware unless it was a high end complete set. Which was GREAT for me! I never bid on any of the high dollar stuff. I am way too cheap and well, I just don’t have that kind of money to spend on dishes! So all the boxes that just had odds and ends home items in them, the other vendors stayed clear of them. Once in awhile there might be some valuable items that some vendor specialized in that they would outbid me on but, that was rare.

After awhile, the auctioneers realized I was the one that would buy a box of “junk” for a buck. And they never want to haul it out at the end of the day. So, that is how I got a lot of boxes of treasures for $1.00. Sometimes, if I wasn’t in the auction room and was at our booth, the auctioneer would step out of the room and turn to me and say, “Diann I have 3 boxes of misc. household stuff. You want the 3 for $1.00?” I would generally say yes, site unseen. I always figured I could just donate it all if I didn’t want any of it. And for $1.00, it was a fun activity for me to go through a bunch of odds and ends.

Here is a box that I haven’t pulled anything out yet. I don’t even remember what was inside it from when I went though the boxes at the Trade Center (After I did a quick look see and pulled the things I for sure didn’t want and donated them, I condensed the boxes as much as possible).

Because I am so swamped with things going on in “Real Life” , I haven’t had a chance to pull that birdcage out and play with it yet. I am dying to redo it for Spring! LOL

A lot of the items the auctioneer sells come from vendors who are clearing out their booths to bring in new merchandise. So, a lot of the stuff in boxes has their original vendor price tags on it. I am always amazed when I go through a box and do a quick mental calculation of their prices! Also, one of my favorite auctioneers told me that he is called a lot to come over to a house that the people are moving out of, or for whatever reason the house is going to be unoccupied, and he buys out all the stuff that is left in the house. the deal is that he has to take everything that is left, even if it is stuff he doesn’t want or doesn’t think he can resell at auction. So, that is the reason for so many odds and ends boxes.

This is the box I have been working on and showing you items from lately.

I still have a couple of untouched condensed boxes outside in the back of my truck. I can only have so many boxes of cra…er…jun…ahh…treasures in my house at one time! LOL

I already have a box of items ready to be taken over to our local thrift store. Oh No! I just realized that this Saturday is the first Saturday of the month! That means this thrift store will have their “50% off everything” in the place sale! Hum, maybe I won’t see anything I want. Yeah…right Diann!

Besides just having fun going through a bunch of stuff that I paid a $1.00 for, I actually have a reason behind these items. I repurpose a lot of the things I show you into something else and sell them. We cleared out of the Trade Center now because it is Spring and we are booked into many craft shows/festivals and other type of venues for selling our wares. Wow, I kind of sound like and old time peddler. LOL We count on our sales for extra income. So, although I may come across as “Yippee! Look at the fun treasures I found” my brain is already turning this item or that item into something else that I can repurpose and sell.

For example, here is a lovely picture that can be seen in our living room right now. It is milk crates filled with Styrofoam and a bunch of cake stands and other items I have made that are ready for a show we are doing next weekend.

So, overall, I would say that I keep about 20-25% of my treasures. 40-50% of the treasures become a sellable item after redos and the rest goes for donation.

This percentage works for me. I get to have the “thrill of the hunt”, play with my new things and then get rid of a bunch of the stuff and hopefully make a little bit of money to help pay the bills. It sure is a good thing that we don’t own cars. We own two trucks. One seems to always be filled with stuff ready to be re-sold at our next sale and the other always seems to be filled with “newly acquired” thrift finds ready to be turned into something else.

So, there ya go. That is the behind the scenes of all my auction boxes. And you will be seeing a lot more stuff from these boxes in the future. I probably won’t be doing a whole lot of thrifting because I have enough to deal with right now. But, then again, in about a month or so, here in Michigan, the yard sales will start up…….Someone duct tape me to this chair now! LOL

I hope you enjoyed peeking into my world for a little bit today. Have a wonderful day everyone!

I plan to have the first “Thrifty Things Friday” linky party up tomorrow (Thursday) evening! I can’t wait to see all of you there!

I am joining:

Missy for Treasures and Trinkets Thursday because well, I have lots of treasures and trinkets. LOL

Laurie for A Few of my Favorite Things because this is one of my favorite things!

A Little Red Vintage Fun!

Hi everyone!

I thought I would share a couple of fun vintage red things that were in a box I won at an auction recently. I know, you guys are sick and tired of hearing about stuff from the auction boxes. LOL

I had never heard of “Nehi” pop until I heard the character Rader on M*A*S*H talk about it and drink it.

Nehi (pronounced /ˈniːhaɪ/, like "knee high") is a flavored soft drink that originated in America. It was introduced in 1924 by Chero-Cola/Union Bottle Works. The "Nehi Corporation" name was adopted in 1928 after the Nehi fruit-flavored sodas became popular. In 1955, the company changed its name to Royal Crown Company, after its RC Cola brand. It was founded by Claude Hatcher, a Georgia grocer, who began bottling ginger ale and root beer in 1905. As of the middle of April 2008, Nehi had become a brand of Dr Pepper Snapple Group.

In the early 20th century, the advertising logo of Nehi was a picture of a seated woman's legs, in which the skirt was high enough to show the stockings up to the knee, suggesting the phrase "knee-high".

Source: Wikipedia

This is the bottle that was in my box.

It needs some cleaning. I think I will use it as a bud vase.  That will be just kitschy enough to make me smile.

This was just a fun little book to find.

Published in 1954.

Most of the pages have these little fun quips.

  

Don’t forget, this Friday is the first “Thrifty Things Friday” party! I plan to have the post up Thursday evening.

Hope you all have a wonderful day!

I’m joining:

Rednesday

Vintage Thingie Thursday

An Early Easter Gift

Hi everyone!

It’s time for a little spot of tea. And I have a few newly acquired treasures to share with you. And I am delving into the wonderful box of lovely teacups my friend Heidi sent me.

Some of you who follow on a regular basis my adventures in thrifting know that this month I have purchased a few boxes from a local auction for $1.00 each. They are filled with all kinds of interesting and fun things. I am still going through these treasures and will show them to you as I discover them.

One such item is this pretty green and cream painted wood crudités/snack tray. It has some scratches, nicks and dings but, I still really like it. It is different which is something I love. And I thought it was just the perfect thing to set my tea with today.

I used one of my green and ivory checked napkins (bought a set of 6 a few years ago for $1.00) and over that an ivory napkin trimmed in a sage green (also a thrift find of 4 for $1.25).

Here is my early Easter gift.  Troy bought me this green and gold teapot at a thrift store recently. he planned on putting it in an Easter basket for me. However, he dropped the lid and the little knob on top broke off. He glued it back on and decided to just give it to me since he didn’t want to give me something broken as a gift. Well, I couldn’t tell where the break was at all. This is the first green teapot I have ever owned and I love it. 

And here is the beautiful dark green and white china cup.

This little porcelain bird was in one of the $1.00 auction boxes as well. I thought he might want to join our tea today. 

I just bought this gorgeous glass dish  at SA this past weekend for $1.00. I love the beautiful details cut in it.

And this little peach dish was also in one of the boxes. It makes a very nice spoon rest. 

I had a lot of fun putting together this green table with all my pretty new treasures.

I hope you enjoyed your visit for tea with me today.  Enjoy visiting all the other beautiful teas the ladies are showing us today. Have a wonderful day!

A Few Famous Tea Drinking men:

I got nasty habits; I take tea at three
- Mick Jagger

First Recorded Tea Drinker
Chinese Emperor Shen Nung
It is said that the emperor liked his drinking water boiled so it would be clean. One day, on a trip to a distant region, he and his army stopped to rest. A servant boiled water for him to drink, and a tea leaf from a wild tea bush fell into the water, turning it a brownish color. The emperor drank it and found it very refreshing.
Cha (tea) was born (2737 BC).

Defined Tea Drinker
Samuel Johnson, Lexicographer (1709-1784)
Reportedly Drank 40 cups a day.

Prime Tea Drinker
Wm Gladstone, Prime Minister UK (1868-1894)
Filled his hot water bottle with tea so he could have a cup or three during the night without having to get out of bed.

Scientific Tea Drinker
Albert Einstein, Scientist (1879-1955)
Put forth the Tea Leaf Paradox in 1926 which is now being applied to a new technique for separating red blood cells from plasma and to help understand atmospheric pressure systems.

Charitable Tea Drinker
Nelson Mandela, Pres South Africa (1918-)
An afternoon tea with Nelson Mandela was auctioned on ebay in 2007 to raise money for MasterCard’s Priceless Moments. Proceeds benefited various African children’s charities.

Half Tea Lover
Arnold Palmer, Pro Golfer (1929-)
Invented the Arnold Palmer (1/2 tea + 1/2 lemonade) at our very own Cherry Hills Country Club in Englewood, CO.

Presidential Tea Drinker
Barack Obama, US President (1961-)
President Obama was spotted drinking tea throughout his 2008 Presidential Campaign.

Fatherly Tea Drinker (1949-)
Tom Covel, Father of Brianne Covel @ Teatulia, Blacksmith, Biker, Retired Train Conductor, Real Man…
Has never gone a day without a cup of loose leaf black tea. In fact, his tea mug and spoon have permanent resin stains from 8000+ cups of tea over the course of Brianne’s lifetime

Source: Teatulia Newsletter

I am joining:

Table Top Tuesday

Tea For Two

Tea Time Tuesday

Tea Cup Tuesday with Martha

Tea Cup Tuesday with Terri

Teapots and Tea Things Tuesday

Tea Time Tuesday with Lady Katherine

Return to Loveliness