Clearence finds

Usually this time of year I cut back on my thrifty-decor spending because of the Holiday season. That of course entails a lot of $$$. Gifts, decorating, baking, and holiday cooking take priority over the thrill of the hunt. But when I saw the extremely low prices on these items, I couldn't resist. The platter was $2.98 {originally 12}, and the cups were $.98 each. What a bargain!

My plans for decorating this season are-

Living Room and Hall- Enchanted Woodland theme

Kitchen and Dining room- Retro red and white with some turquoise accents{The perfect backdrop for winter creatures like polar bears and penguins}

Guest bath - Winter Wonderland snowflake style

I will post some pics soon

Hope you all are finding lots of treasure to add some sparkle to your holiday home.

P.S. I already put my tree up

P.P.S.  I can't wait to put up more holiday decorations.

Great finds

This past week was my birthday, so I indulged myself in a Goodwill spree. Well. not a real spree as I only found 3 things, but boy, are they AWESOME!

First off these two cutey jars. One is the clasic cookie jar shape and one is in a ginger jar shape. Perfect to fill with fall odds and ends. I am thinking maybe channelling St. Mary-Martha {Stewart, that is}and cutting little shapes of spirits or devils to have floating in each jar.

Price on the cookie jar-

Price on the ginger jar-

Plus I got this little ghost candy dish. I plan on filling this with the mini bat cookies I made yesterday.

Note-

 If any of you are considering making "mini" cookies .

DO NOT SUCCUMB TO THE ALLURE OF MINI COOKIES!

They are so much stinkin' work . As if cut out cookies aren't bad enough . Lets roll out the dough and cut shapes and peel them off the counter an extra 6 times per recipe. One time was enough to cure me of my desire to use my mini cookie cutters. From now on the will only be used to cut bread or cheese or other easy things.
Anyhow, here's the last find.

price-

More Halloween to come!!!!

Fall Find part deux

Skull Ice Cube Tray.... $1.00!

Of the many things I love about this country, dollar stores are in the top ten... well at least top 20.

I dub this facial expression "grinnacing"

get it...?

grin+grimmacing= grinnacing

I crack myself up...

Ahem

Are they wearing sunglasses?

a mug shot

I'm thinking I could make some seriously gross-out candy with these as well.

Like white chocolate filled with gooey carmel or peanut butter brains....

Actually that is not grossing me out at all .

Just tempting me to raid the party favors stash I have hidden from my hubby.....and myself, lets be honest here.



halloween in every corner

The picture quality is crap on this pic, but it was like 11 pm when I took it..... Not an ideal time for lighting.

You can't really see, but in the cheese plate is a big spooky ball of all sizes of spiders and some webbing.  The skull is one of two I own.  Glowing, and only like 5.99 last year at Party City. The Trick or Treat sign I picked up at the Dollar Store like 6 years ago for obviously 1.00. The pewter candlestick was a Goodwill find- .25. That little white dish is a Shelly candy dish .99 courtesy of Goodwill again. And the pumpkin....well I just bragged about that here.

So not to toot my own savings horn,

but BEEP BEEP

I purchased  this two years ago on target clearance. I think like 2.99

The new home for the Medusa head...
I think I will make the candles drip blood or something. The plain white is bumming me out.
Maybe hot glue some candle bling to it? I also will be filling up the tea service with candy for the party,  but candy is not allowed in the house otherwise I will  gobble it all up in one sitting.
Seriously, I have no self control when it comes to the combination of chocolate and peanut butter.
And you know that's what I'll buy. No gummy items {has gelatin, which is not vegetarian} and no boring candy either.

Speaking of candy.....

The hubby and I were talking about treats that we enjoyed as kids, and Andes chocolate and mint candies came up..... My question is, Why have they not made a Halloween version of this. There are Halloween Oreos, M&M's, Chip's Ahoy, Reeses, and everything else under the sun. Why no Andes? The green would look super cute with a bit of purple mixed in ....like the wrapper. A low cost option vs. reformulating the whole confection.

Hear me Andes makers! We want A Halloween option!

Fall Find!

I am doing my happy dance right now!!!!

I hope you all appreciate this as much as I do.

FAKE CARVEABLE PUMPKINS FOR ONLY THREE DOLLARS!!!!

THREE DOLLARS!!!!!

Mwah-ha-ha-ha-ha

The name brand variety runs around $15-30 per pumpkin.

see what I'm talking about

You know I was not about to spend that much on a single item {unless I can wear it}.

My luck this fall is AWESOME.

sorry about the CAPS explosion....{I am very excited}

The variety of carving possibilities are making my head spin!

a witch flying over the moon?

a wise old owl?

a haunted house with ghoasties in the window?

Gaaah, I need more pumpkins.



First of the Fall Flavors...

This year I will only have beer and hard cider at the party,

so we taste tested a few interesting looking ones......

I have posted real beer tasters reviews because I either like it or not, I really don't know the "proper" terms for the flavors

read ratings here

White Rascal- pretty good, had that Belgian White taste of orange and coriander.

read ratings here

Dead Guy Ale- Hubby loved, but I am not a big fan of ales... a bit too dark tasting for me

read ratings here

Shipyard Pumpkinhead- My favorite of the lot...a nice pie spice flavor

read ratings here

Saranac Pumpkin Ale- average, I would drink hard cider over this any day.


I will hopefully taste more and post pics, but I can't lie,
I will most likely just go with Woodchuck Amber cider and a beer that the hubby picks. Compromise is the name of the game. He puts up with my incessant Halloween chatter, and I indulge his beer preferences...;p

Meet my new friend, Farnsworth

Isn't he the cutest!

Two things led me to Farnsworth...

One, would be his obvious good looks, and the other is how little he cost me.

Honestly, I would have paid $15, but he was only a third of that... a measly $5.

 How I ask you could I leave him sitting on the shelf?  I gave his ankle a dab of glue and his rear end a brush of black paint, and he is good as new.

 And he has been placed in a starring role in the living room. Right next to my chair.

As for the name...

Hopefully someone out there watches either Futurama or Warehouse 13... But the actual person was fascinating in his own right.... see here

More fall finds later this month!



Owl Mirror

I am in LOVE!!!! with this mirror..

The best part? Half off baby!

I am super excited to get this just in time for the fall. The colors are perfect for the seasonal decor I am going to start bringing out. Not to mention I love owls. They are a bird sacred to Athena, and one of my Granny Gran's favorite things.  This is the only thing I bought for myself in Key West, except for a book from a thift store, which  hardly counts seeing it was only a dollar.

Curtain Rod Rotation

I forgot to take a before picture...sorry.

I just got so excited to finally do this project I just started right in.

I am in a love-hate relationship with my living room windows. I honestly cannot figure out what to do with the bizzaro shape of the "eyebrow" windows. At least I think that's what they're called. The house came with your basic c shape adjustable curtain rods, plastic mini blinds, and valences. Thanks to our lovely Florida sun the mini blinds on the Living room side of the house are toast, literally and figuratively. Once they went it was all down hill, the cats wanted to play with all the now dangling strings and the valences being only 8" long were to short to conceal the damage.

At last I decided to matters into my own hands. I bought this rod at the Depot. I know, it's -GASP- polished brass. but I knew I could fix it up proper.

I couldn't figure out how to take that pic... ;~p

I gave it a good coat [well 3-4 thin coats to be precise] of SHOCKER oil rubbed bronze spray paint. I am so predictable. Here is a close up of the end detail. Not to fancy, but neither an I. Next replace the curtains that are hanging on it.

I wish I could show you how cluttered it looked before. This is SUCH a big improvement.

For those of you wondering, yes I cut out poster board and taped it up there to block the sun. With out it, it's nigh impossible to see the TV without a glare. As far as the decor up there, pay it no mind, I am still trying to find something that looks like it fits in for that spot.

New Chairs -yipee

I have been longing for new chairs for the last year. My old chairs were free, and given to us when we did not have any, but let me just say - I am sooo glad they are gone!

I have been keeping my eyes peeled looking for bargains at Goodwill, Craigslist, and the curb in my neighborhood on trash day.  All to no avail. I saw these great chairs on Craigslist last week and was instantly smitten. Why? Not only do the have a great shape to them but a thick cushy new foam seat, but were only $5 each. FIVE DOLLARS!!!!!!

 I got six. Even though I really only need four for my current table, I figured that in the future, six is a more practical number. As far as the fabric on the cushion goes - It is very good quality, and fairly neutral.

That thin burgundy striping is not enough to bring me to recover them just yet.  My house is mostly blue-green colors, but with the fall colors coming out and then the Xmas decor after that.  The soonest I think I will even notice that it doesn't really go is mid-spring.

 And who knows, I may change the paint by then ;p

I love Craigslist!

I got this big hunka hunka bookcase for just $45. Originally from Ikea $150.00 see here.

I now have a place to store all my books- yay. I cannot take all the credit though, My sweet hubby actually found this for me . I already have it jam packed....

 Originally my plan was to have my father in law help me build a whole built in bookcase wall.

 I had 4x 12w x42h camed glass cabinet doors from an old display at work, and wanted to incorporate them into the "design".  BUT if you have ever priced out materials for a 8' built in, you know it is not cheap. Materials only = $400 plus a couple of days to build it. I know that in the grand scheme of things it's really not THAT much money. But I did not want to shell that out, and then still have a ton of work ahead of me, before I could enjoy it.  So here is my lazy girl alternative-

This was my first Craigslist purchase, and I have to say, I am very pleased.

An exciting Giveaway over at EHAG Emporium

If any of you readers are trying to stock up on some quality art.... Now is your chance!!!
The ultra talented folk over at EHAG Emporium are hosting their monthly giveaway, and I am super excited for it. Just enter a comment on THIS page for your chance to win

Even if you are not the chosen winner, I am sure you will all find something that just begs to come home with you!

Awesome Art

I forgot what gallery this was in . Key West has like 200 of them by the way, but I really loved this art. Very steam-punk-y

I wish I could hang this painting in my bedroom.....sigh

Key West Vibes

We went to Key West last weekend and had a blast. Besides being only a few hours away, KW is a ton of fun because of the hip-arty scene and trendy restaurants. I will be posting a bunch of pics this week, but here are some snapshots of odds and ends that are all about KW.

Some totem art in the Bahama Village quarter

The symbol of Key West....

A fun little robot at our favorite restaurant, The Cafe, a mostly veggie place

fun alcohol art

I couldn't get a clear shot, but this guy has a tricycle that is totally tricked out with laser lights. He just rides around playing techno/dancehall/old school hip hop and gives everyone a light show. SOOO Key West

Hope you enjoy the fun with me.... More to come this week.

More fun with spray paint

I was going to spray all of these items, but I think that pottery pitcher might be a collectable piece, so I held off. It's marked "Stingl colonial rose since 1805 trenton NJ". But I'm pretty sure it's from the 70's.

That other angel vase was still dirty, so back to the sink it went.

These 4 little cutie lanterns however got the full treatment. cleaning, painting and pics.  PLUS they were only 50 cents each from Target's 4th of July clearence  -whoo-hoo!

A few coats of black spray paint, and voila-

Aren't they just  A-door-bell?

I know these will be super cute once they have some orange candles inside. ;p 

Oh, wait, I just happen to have some orange candles on hand.....

Honestly, they will be out all year, not just the orange and black season.

I am also envisioning using them as curtain tie back somehow.... hmmm

Look what I found!

In my palm tree...

I just love the light blue and pink colors.  It's like they know which ones are boys or girls.

Goodwill finds

Jonathan Adler napkins-4 for 1.00

{originally $12 each}

Small decorative bunt pan had a "made in Italy" sticker, so that made me a little more inclined to like it. -$1.99

Big fat 3 wick candle with glass holder -$1.99

{the floral wires are the circlets I made for the solstice party}

small cheese plate with cloche - $1.99

rotating spice rack -$5.00

{perfect for little halloween jars}

look what I found!

I found these cute little frame at Target. They were about $3 a piece.

I took some pictures from an old "witches date book" from llewelyn prees and clipped them for this adorable trio.

total-$9

Spring Birdie!

only 3.00 at Michaels!

sorry about the quality of the pic, my battery was dying

originally this little cutie was 7.99