two projects and a party

Last weekend, my husband had to work a 48 hour shift... right??? Can you even imagine it? He's a paramedic, and I'll tell you one thing, unless I'm unconscious, you will never see me on an ambulance! They work medics to the bone around here, and 48's and sometimes even 72's aren't all that uncommon, so you never know if you are getting a fresh medic or one who hasn't had any sleep. Poor guys.

But anyway, off that soap box. While he was gone, I had two goals, I wanted to get Journey's new bench made and my crochet/knitting chair recovered. My mom came over to help, thanks again mom!

This is what I started with. I think it was a coffee table, but it was pretty weird. I bought it for $3 at the thrift store by my work. The lady started a $10, but I made a "you've got to be kidding" face, and she said "ok, $5, but that's as low as I'm going". I said, "ok, do you have the glass pieces that slide in the sides?"... and I got it for $3. That's right people make faces and haggle.

 

 The laminate on this thing was rough! The corners were terrible. You could see the composite chipping in lots of places. It had weird holes in the middle section that maybe dowels or something went in? The sides had weird shelves with wide ridges on them. I have no clue what this things intended purpose was, lol. It says patent pending on the bottom. I wonder how that worked out for the inventor, lol.

 Friday, I removed the weird shelves, sanded and primed it. The fire you see in the background is the stumps from our ugo-dead Christmas trees that Justin finally cut down. We are planning some big stuff for our yard this year. I will try to remember to post some of our ideas soon. I can't wait!

 When I woke up Saturday, I decided that I hated this little quarter inch lip on the middle section.

 So I sanded, and sanded, and sanded the ba-jesus out of it. Then I decided, I could not live with the weirdo holes everywhere. (Even though I planned on buying baskets for all of Journey's stuff, anyway... I was going to do this right.) So I got out the wood filler, and I patched up all the holes, the corners, and the yucky spots.

 Meanwhile, my mama came outside to keep my company and sew my new chair covers.

 Journey just chilled. She LOVES to be outside, and she was obviously feeling no pain.

 Finally, the wood filler dried up, and I primed over the bad spots. Then I painted the whole thing "Brighton Beach" blue by ACE. It came down to two blues, but I went with Brighton because that's where Lydia Bennett ran off to, and I love me some Jane Austen :) Did you notice my patch work?

 No more weird shelves.

 Then I cut some MDF to fit the top, upholstered it, and wa-la! Doesn't it kinda look like it's smiling at you?

 Journey loves it already... but mostly she just loves having a soft place to lay around and look out her window. It's way more comfy and sturdy than the last coffee table bench I made.

 I got the baskets at Micheal's. They were having a 40% off sale on all their baskets, score! AND they fit perfectly. One has her toys, one has her meds and treats, and one has her harness and clothes. (Yeah, she's a fancy clothes wearing dog sometimes. My favorites are her footie pj's and her Valentine's tee shirt.)

 She's such a crazy good photo creeper model.

 While I was working on the bench, my mom was sewing, sewing, sewing. I needed to recover this chair, and the ottoman. (p.s. the ottoman turns into two little people chairs and a foot stool. My nieces love it. The bright starry red was a little much though, lol)

 I bought the fabric for the top of my bench and this fabric at Hancocks. I got this soft stone color on the remnant table, represent! It was only $5 a yard. The butterfly fabric was thrifted, and I think it made a good springy pillow cover.

So that was last weekend :) And even though we worked from dawn til dusk Saturday, it was really fun! This weekend was great too. It was my niece Emilia's birthday yesterday. I was painting faces, so I put mom in charge of taking pictures. (I think my camera was giving her some trouble, but here are some cute ones.)

 This is her opening the tutu I made her. (She lives in tutus!) Mom chopped off her head, but the stance is great!

 She put it on under the tutu she was already wearing. I also made her the sea horse necklace she's wearing.

She had a fairy/pirate party. My sister is dressed as Tinker Bell, and Mia is Rosetta.

Today I went over to my mother-in-law's for Easter brunch, and it was wonderful too. I hope you've had a great Easter weekend! Love, Clare

today's thrift haul

So I went back to the Goodwill outlet store today with my mom and my sister Annie. I was kinda afraid it would be all the same stuff. I was wrong! (awesome) Their turn over is amazing. I didn't see one thing that I saw last Saturday. (With the exception of the furniture area, but even most of that was different.) I learned two things: this is the best thrift store ever AND if you like it get it cuz it won't be there when you go back. All that being said, here's what I got today... starting with my favorite finds of the day!

Is it fall yet??? I want to rock this amazing outfit we found me! I found the shoes and the hat, mom found the purse, and Annie found the cardi. My favorite thing about this outfit is that all the pieces are legit vintage. The shoes remind me of my Grandma Hilda.

Here's a close up of the hat. I crochet, so I rarely buy hats or scarves, but this one is lovely. It's the perfect shade of 70's mustard, and it's a light weight intricate knit :)

Amazing wood beaded bag made in Czechoslovakia. Eat that China!

Pretty geometric tank.

 cardi 2

cardi 3

Ok, so these are SUPER boring boot socks, but I bought them for my dear husband. They are fabulously thick and will be really warm when Justin, who's a paramedic, is digging people out of snow drifts this winter.

Speaking of Justin being a medic, look what I found this time! Last time, I found a cute BP cuff. This week, I found a stethoscope (which makes heart thumping noises), trauma shears, and two syringes. There were two different Dr. bags, but I didn't like either. I'm just going to have to sew one that's super cute. All I really need now is some band-aids and gauze... oh, and a baby to play paramedic, lol.

Speaking of us having a baby (no, not yet but soon) I found these awesome animal cracker tins. Annie had the awesome Idea to use them as bookends in the nursery! Great thinking Annie! I love it!

This green army blanket is going to provide the base for my nursery rug upcycle project.

I got a zebra, monkey, elephant, camel and tiny rhino for my class.

Recognize this shark? It's Bruce from Finding Nemo, AND he's a puppet! My class is gonna freak!

I got this stuffed animal for me... yeah, I know, I'm supposed to be a grown up lol. It's so cute though. Apparently it's from a show called Maryoku Yummy which is about the land where wishes go to come true. There's a pocket in back where you can put your wishes. I put in two wishes :)

 I'm going to upcycle this little wallet. My sister does not believe I could do anything to make this cute. She thinks it is awful. As is, it pretty much is awful, but look inside.

It has storage galore and is really clean... the front is going to meet my new friend mod podge :)

Finally, I found a really cute little jewelry travel case. This is much nicer than the zip-lock my jewelry usually travels in. 

Done any good thrifting lately?

I really feel like sewing today... I might see about making that Boho tunic I promised you... or a little medic bag... or both... or whatever I can find....

one cart worth of thrifting by the pound

I'm feeling very productive this weekend. I found my cabinet plus an extra, and this morning before I even made my morning tea (Chinese green tea today) I found a butchers block laminate counter top, which looks similar to mine for $2. I called the seller, and I can get it today, hooray! Even if it doesn't match I'm going to get it anyway because I really don't want to mess much more with this project. I don't want to go to a custom kitchen store and have to wait a month or so to finish this. I saw some oak grain contact paper that matched my counter top exactly in color, so if this doesn't match at all. I might cover it with contact paper then seal it. It's going to be half covered by our enormous microwave anyway. :)

blah, blah, blah... let me get to what you came here for! Yesterday I went to the Goodwill outlet store in St. Louis: a magical place where everything is .79 a pound. I got a cart full of cool stuff... and here it is!

 A cool bottle top and nipple washing cage

 adorable toy blood pressure cuff

yet another tin, I love tins. I use them for tea and bath salts :)

 cute little dress for my cute little niece

 moccasins for work, will be so nice this winter... yes I know they need cleaned

 stretchy thermal purple target top

chocolate brown cord jacket... love it!

These are too extra long pillow cases which I am going to turn into a boho tunic top. (I'll do a tutorial)

cool vase, don't really know what I'll do with it yet

knifty knitters... just because. 

Journey got a bunny toy, which she is loving lol

Ok, this little dresser/end table I got at the restore not Goodwill. It was $5

ottoman. This is an upcycle in the making. $1 in Goodwill furniture section. None of their furniture is over $15, most is under ten.

Now the stuff for my classroom. This is a water toy for our water table.

These little pencil boxes are indispensable! I use them for extra paint brushes, beads, scissors, you name it.

These organizers are going in our art/writing center. I have two there now, but I've been wanting a few more.

All this was around $9. It was awesome. My sister is in town next weekend, so we are gonna go again :)