Breakfast Nook: A work in progress

Good Morning! Today I thought I'd show a little peek of our breakfast nook. Every single thing is vintage and thrifted, but of course!

Gingham curtains: I love gingham and find it to be so charming, especially with ruffles! Not sure they really belong in a spanish style home, but for now I like them!

I am in love with vintage tablecloths and enamelware. I can't get enough of either and they are the two main things I am always on the look out for. The table is old and pretty cheep-o, but until I get my dream formica 40's table, this does the job.


Shot of my thrifted shelf, lined up with some pyrex fridgies, pitchers and pots.

This cake carrier is a recent find. I was soooo excited when I saw it!

Some daisies to match the tablecloth. I love daisies because they are sweet, simple and last a long time!

Today I am going to work on cleaning and organizing my little craft/sewing/laundry room! What are your plans for the day?

A Few Thrifty Finds!

I thought I'd share of few of my recent thrift finds with you today!

This old Cosco chair/step stool was $5.95. I slapped some faux oil cloth on the seat for now and will probably paint it at some point. It has already come in handy when Sophie wants to help make dinner.

I never thought I'd find a Pyrex dot bowl! Finally! And for $2.95, who could pass it up?

I bought this box full of old metal flower frogs yesterday for $4.95. Some have already been put to work and this is the rest of the bunch.

How appropriate! A "Thrift" bank so I can save my pennies for more thrift outings! Too bad I can't figure out how to open it! Still, I love that it is all rusty and worn and it looks cute on my desk.

Have you been thrifting lately?

Thrifty Spring Projects!

Ahhhh, long time no blog! Hopefully I will be making up for that from now on! I wanted to share my recent thrifty projects with you!


This stool was quite hideous when I spied it at the thrift store, but for $5.00 I knew it was worth taking a chance on and could probably be transformed into something a bit nicer! A little bit of paint and some fabric (from a thrifted sheet, of course) and done!


Love those shabby wheels!

Next up I used 2 ladders I found at the Habitat Re-Store for $3.99 each! I love that place! The wood top was behind my washer and dryer when we moved in so I hung on to it, thinking it might find a purpose someday.

I painted everything a lovely pale gray (its almost white but with a touch of gray), rubbed some glazing medium that I mixed with brown on, wiped off and then sealed with a glossy sealer. Screwed it all together and voila!


Added a few accessories and flowers from the yard...
...and now I have the perfect little table for my bay window!

Our house epitomizes "work in progress". We moved in a year ago this month and I have been taking some time letting this 1928 spanish style home "speak to me" so I can figure out which way it wants to be decorated. Not to mention, I am on a tight, tight budget. I will be posting more photos and projects on a regular basis. I've been working on the kitchen and master bedroom so look for those photos next!

I am linking up to some great blogs!

Apron Thrift Girl
Southern Hospitality
Common Ground

What The Heck Is That???

Welcome to this edition of "What The Heck Is That?"! I am your confused host, Amy. Let's begin!

Joking aside...
I decided to be brave and check out the Good Will Outlet this morning. That place is insane, I tell ya! Not for the faint of heart. Anyways, I found this thing....

It was badly tarnished, so I cleaned it up...

...and realized it screws apart. I thought maybe THAT fact would give me a clue, but I still do not know what the heck it is.

It is quite pretty and was only $1.00. It has a little circle on the bottom with a lion in it and I can make out "Silver Plate" but not the rest. It is also stamped 3002. No idea what it could be used for, or if it is purely decorative, or what! Anyone? Will it pay for my kids college educations if I sell it on Ebay???? Or at least a Mocha Latte at McDonalds? Either way, I like it but am stumped, so I come to you amazing blogity bloggers for help! Can you tell me "what the heck is that?" Your prize, should you win: Hmmm... do bragging rights and the satisfaction of helping out a person in need do it for ya? I knew you'd love that!

Thrift Share!

It's been a while since I've done a thrift share, so I thought I'd show you my haul from yesterday!
Vintage sheet, still in the package... destined to become a skirt in the near future.
Four cute tops for Sophie, they look brand new!
A sweet vintage dress for Sophie.
And another vintage dress for Sophie. She is one well dressed 3 year old! it's funny because my husband had her out at the park yesterday and an older woman kept looking at her and finally said "I can't put my finger on it, but she looks like she is from the 1930's! There is just something so classic about her." I told my hubby it's probably the way I dress her. LOL.
Check out this vintage tablecloth which has clearly never been used! Swoon! It's so perfect I won't be able to use it either! Well, at least not for a while.
These vintage curtains will also become skirts, dresses or some thing along those lines.
My big score of the day, a gorgeous hand made quilt for 12.50. It was marked 24.95 but was 50% off. I can't believe no one else snagged this! I didn't get to the store till almost noon and the place was swamped!

I was very happy with my finds, I spent less than 40.00 and was in and out in under an hour. For me, that is a record. Hope you all had some fabulous finds too! I'm linking up to Apron Thrift Girl, go check out others thrifty finds and add your own!

A Skirt A Day!

I have been having way too much fun making new skirts! I finished this cutie last night. (The skirt, not the kiddo.)


I used a vintage pillow case, vintage mini ric rac, vintage ribbon and buttons along with a vintage hankie for the apron. I love having such a huge stash of vintage goodies to work with, but at this pace I hope I don't run out!

Isn't she a cutie?? (The kiddo, not the skirt.)

I dropped my camera last week and now it is taking very blurry pics. Oops.

On the bright side, I have enough of all of these supplies and I am working on one just like it for the shop! Right now I am off to the thrift to hopefully find more vintage goodies for more, more, more new skirts!

Pillow Case Shirt

I Know it's getting cooler in most parts of the country, but here in South Florida it is just now becoming tolerable to be outside. We had the hottest summer I can remember, too hot to spend time outdoors really. it is finally starting to cool down to the low 80's! Yay! It feels so nice to walk outside and not become instantly drenched in sweat. Yuck.

Anyways, I dug out a couple of my thrifted Vera pillow cases and made cute tops out of them!

Here's one of them, the other I wore yesterday and is in the wash already. The lady at the post office complimented it and even my sister thought it was store bought!

I loosely followed the instructions in this awesome book! So many ideas for vintage pillowcases! I think my next project will be making a bunch of reusable grocery totes from more vintage pillow cases. I love pillow cases, can you tell?

Thrifty Deconstruction

I guess it's safe to say I've had a bit of a growth spurt this past year....ehem. Maybe I need to stop celebrating each thrifty treasure I find by eating a donut? Perhaps. Regardless, my cargo pants have been getting a little tight so I decided to do a little "upcycling" and repurpose them into cool deconstructed skirts.
I had seen a similar idea in a book called Free Style Sewing. I had only looked at the picture and never read the instructions and returned the book, so I probably didn't do it right but I am happy with how they turned out. I cut the legs off 5 inches or so from the bottom and ripped the seams on the inside of the legs to the zipper. Stitched it back up as a skirt and added the bottom part of the legs on as ruffles in the front. Cute and girly but with an edge.

These were actually capris with ties at the bottom, same steps but just cut the bottoms off above the draw strings and reattached them as ruffles which worked out really well since I used the drawstring to make the ruffle, tied little bows and then attached the whole thing. there are two rows of ruffles, one leg bottom each. Not sure I am explaining it well, but long story short, I finished both in an hour and a half and it was fun too! Since I can wear them up at my waist a bit higher now that the inseam is gone, they fit way more comfy!

Other than doing a little sewing, I've been doing a little thrifting, but nothing too exciting. I did find a stunning vintage Vera nightie and robe set at a consignment shop. I was very excited until I realized that a pretty, dainty and sheer nightie just does not fit into my lifesyle at the moment since I generally have sticky little pancake hands clutching at me every morning. So, I put it up on ebay.

Linking to Apron Thrift Girl and Southern Hospitality! Check 'em out!

The One Thing I Don't Have

My husband kindly informed me of the one thing I don't seem to have, as I showed him my recent purchases. He called it "restraint".

My defense? Well, you never know when you might need...cough...ehem.... three square dancing outfits.

For $1.95 how could I NOT buy this adorable skirt?

Or this one for only $.95???

I may have to actually start square dancing so that I can wear this...

a steal at $2.95! As I was checking out I had visions of that Brady Bunch episode in my head... the whole family dressed up and square dancing in the living room! Fun! My family would just loooove that, right?? Right? Okay, not so much.

So, at least I have my halloween costume already lined up. I might also just start wearing them out and about and perhaps start a new fashion trend? If that fails, I can always cut them up and repurpose them into something else, like cute little dresses for Sophie! See? Restraint is highly overrated.

Linking up to Apron Thrift Girl and Southern Hospitality today!

Salvation Army Chair Score!

Weeeee! Found the SWEETEST chair at Salvation Army yesterday for 39.00! Woot!


See this beeeeeeutiful fabric? Matches my livingroom, perfectly!
And here is the best part... it's slipcovered! I can wash it! Swoon!

Just had to share and I am joinging the party at Debbie Doos! She also happens to be from my home town and has a great post today about the cutest Buffalo Billy Bank! Go check it out!

What A Week!

It's been a crazy week here! On Wednesday not only did I turn another year older, I also took my oldest daughter, to college. Waaaaaaah on both accounts! Florida State University is about 7 hours from here so that part really stinks. I miss her so much, more than I thought I would. I've been nervous for her, excited for her and every emotion in between.

Before we left, she presented me with these...

Three milk bottles from our home town of Hamburg NY. The 2 in the back are clearly from Hamburg Dairy, and the one in the front is from Quimby, also of Hamburg. I thought that was such a sweet gift and shows my kid really knows me and the kind of things I like.

Oh, and look what vintage goody my Mom gave me!


That lovely set in the top right corner. It is Pottery Guild and so cute! (you can also see a little Stangl teapot sticking out on the left, I scored that for 2.95 because the lid is missing.

I did manage to thrift a bit. Actually, my Mom and I stopped in Ocala on our way home to hit up 2 thrift stores.

This cute little tin was 88 cents

and full of this sweet note paper.

Great Hall Pottery tea pot, I paid 7.50 because there was a chip on the spout that was glued back on. You can hardly tell and I love the shape. I don't mind these little flaws, especially when it makes something so affordable. Afterall, goodness knows I am full of flaws myself! LOL

This was a strange impulse purchase. A bag of billard balls for 2.00. Not sure what I can repurpose the rest into, but for now I have these four on the side of my mantle, displaying my house number.

And a pint sized apron for my pint sized helper, Sophie. One great thing about having two kids so far apart in age is that I now see how fast Emma grew up and now she is off on her own... woosh... it flew by! It makes me appreciate every moment with Sophie that much more. I try to take mental snapshots of every little thing so that I can really treasure each and every minute.

Speaking of Sophie, I have been making some cute little ruffle skirts out of vintage pillow cases for her and will post a tutorial here in the next couple days.

Off to join the thrifty parties at Apron Thrift Girl and Southern Hospitality!

Busy Busy (but still finds time to thrift)

My oldest daughter Emma is leaving for college next week (Go 'Noles!) so we've been busy shopping for her dorm stuff and getting everything ready. Of course she wanted all NEW stuff, not used so we had to make a trip to Ikea. We also found some cute things at TJMaxx and I have to admit that outside of grocery shopping, I had not set foot in a new retail store in months! It felt kind of strange. Anyhoo, she picked out some way cute items and everything is color cordinated, from storage lockers to bedding, towels and dishes, lamp, everything matches. Very cute.

I must admit this is a hard time for me. It really feels like just yesterday I was taking her to her first day of Kindergarden. I cried like a baby. It goes by way too fast. Now I have one daughter in college and one at home I am trying to potty train. I find myself not nearly as strict or by the book with the little one as I was with Emma. Now that I know our time with them at home is so fleeting. Play in mud puddles? No problem! Wear your princess costume everywhere for a week straight? Sure! Cookies for breakfast? Why not? Well, maybe not cookies for breakfast, but you get the idea. It will be interesting to see how this new approach I am taking to child rearing comes back to bite me in the butt when Sophie gets older. Haha.

Anyways, I did manage to sneek into a couple thrifts this week.

This cool wire basket, I have been wanting one for a long time. I put my alabaster fruit collection in it (also thrifted, of course!) The basket was 1.91 the fruit was 7.95.

This awesome bed tray was 2.92 (where do they come up with these prices??)

I googled Stober trays and they were made in the 20's and 30's. Love that label!



I found some old wrapping paper and cards. I always love the graphics. I found some other stuff too, but havent had time to photograph because I have been busy sewing...


... new living room window treatments. From thrifted fabric of course. A whole bag of both fabrics, high end designer stuff, for 5.95. And plenty to sew all my window valences and a couple pillows and still have some left over! Best part is, it has the same colors as my dining room, so it all flows very nicely. Once I finish I will post pics.

Happy Thrifting!