Randoms..

This blog needs a revamp.. I'm lacking in the tech dept to be able to create something unique, so who knows.. this might have to do for awhile.

I've been blog hopping lately and my heart's pulling toward re-selling.. I've been intrigued with Apron Thrift Girl's posts about re-selling.. and it pretty well speaks to me.. but its also risky. In this area, it can be tough to find someone that has found an interest for things you purchase.. and I've never online shopped before or sold anything online so it would be a whole new world for me if that was the case..

I've been thinking about this for awhile; but THIS totally got my motivation up..Remember the post about the Owl Nightlight I picked up for 50 cents! Well checking out on etsy at this seller's page  and saw it was just shy of being identical to the one I found and was selling for an astounding $59.99! SCORE! I was so estatic.. Knowing I had found something that would possibly sell for nearly that felt pretty awesome.. Of course, I'm keeping the owl, but couldn't help wonder what was around that would pop so much interest.. Anything I post, would it be worth re-selling? I wonder sometimes..

A couple thoughts..

Over the past few weeks I've been becoming more of a..hmm.. how do you say it.. "addicted thrifter".. haha I don't really know how to define that, but its been pretty exciting on a Tuesday to see whats new and whats out there.

Today it was frigid cold.. The wind was brisky so I figured the stores might be a bit slower, which they were, which was nice. :) Met up with my best and fellow thrifter Ayne while we were there and it didn't take long before our carts were packed full of goodies! I love shopping with her because a lot of the time I find things that I know she'll love and she does the same vise versa so since we're there we can always brainstorm what to do with our finds.. best part of my Tuesday.

A couple things I've learned while thrifting..
1) Go a few times throughout the day.. you'd be surprised what just gets "brought out" throughout and what got left behind when you came the first time.. I like to go a couple times/week to see if there was anything new.. I don't go all crazy digging but some of the bigger items tend to show up later when things have settled down..

2) If you NEED something, ask. You'd be surprised sometimes when you'd ask if something wasn't brought out, could be in the back..So doesn't hurt to ask!

3) Settle on a budget..a good one. I found some cuuute vintage lamps and fabric I had to pass on today because I had a limit and went over it. I had no use for the stuff other than to have and love on by looking, so I had to tell myself $__ was enough. Nothing more.


So heres a few of the things I have found.. Some of the other things are just regular household use items.. and really are quite boring for a post.

Children's Cowboy Boots $1

Gumball Machine 50 cents. (This gets used a LOT in this house)

Vintage lamp (going to re-do this).. $3.00

Old Suitcase $1.00

Weekly finds..

This week wasn't exactly what I thought it would be going into MCC.. it was way over-crowded and it felt like everyone was looking for the exact same thing you were... I saw countless people walk out with things I would've snapped up in a second.. lol. So I tried to find some things that were left-over but there wasn't much.. Heres a lowdown of what I found.

Vintage Owl Lamp 50 cents

A very cute scarf with pockets. Thanks to Ayne for spotting it out. 80 cents

Vintage fabric $1.25

Hard-cover vintage suitcase (inside is cute purple fabric! Blogger isn't allowing me to upload that pic. bleh) $2.00

And a lot of misc frames and such I plan on putting artwork into. Once those are done I'll post them too.

Hope everyone enjoys their week!

Weekly to-do

This week has been an exciting one! Not only did I score a lot of cute vintage items, I spotted what will be my store of choice when I become rich. Its called "Oldies and Goodies".. Its a coffee shop/antique store. I just fell in love with it when I walked in and had to come back and look at a few more items as it was very very full.
I will hopefully get pics posted of my finds sometime soon..
This is what my wishful to-do this week is..

1) Organize my craft area.. Its in diiiire need of a facelift, and a cleanout.. There's projects there I know I'll never do and its time to clean out and refresh the old stock pile.
2) Take pics and upload the new items..
3) Decide on what to make for our DIY day this coming Friday.
4) Find a new book to read. Fell in love with a book called "Grace Thus Far" and it inspired me to read some more real-life books.
5) Somehow figure out how Im gonna move Hailey upstairs. She's been in our room for over 8 months (well 7 since she was in the NICU for a month) and I had nicely decorated her nursery but now needed it for a storage room as Jered decided to clean out the attic and re-insulate it.. so that needs to be figured out this week.
6) Continue to spring clean.. bedrooms, kitchen, front and back entrances, basement, etc! Garage sale season's coming up and I neeeed to clean out. Last year i was MIA due to surgery and this year is no excuse, LOTs have to go!!

So a glimpst of my crazy life unfolds.. Not only does this NEED to  get done, this isn't even the list of what I WANT to get done.. And Im probably jumping into deep water this week thinkin I can get this done as we have 3 doctors appointmens, one in Winnipeg, and a 60 hr work week for Jer. Wish me luck!

Weekly Find

So on the side of changing daipers, going to preschool, and finding the craziness of raising 2 kids, Im a freelance photographer. I don't do that many sessions or make my name as well known as it used to be, but I do enjoy picking up a few sessions here and there. So I booked one wedding this next year, and I went out to Steinbach to do their engagement session. Unfortunetly, MCC (thrift store) was closed on Mondays so I was unable to check out their HUGE warehouse, but instead checked out this new vintage shoppe called Tracy's Treasures. (The site doesn't do any justice to how awesome the place is.. she must be working on it) I wish I had taken pictures of the HUGE and overpacked store but I couldn't. Not only did I come by to check out stuff 3 times throughout the day I scored some sweet finds. I got two vintage headbands as well as this..

 

$30

My heart literally skipped a beat when I ran across this. It measures a huge 47 inches x 36 inches. The detail on it's awesome, and the quality's great. Its super heavy! Jered of course hates it (the man that hates pretty well anything I bring home). So I know if its not able to stay in the house, I have a handful of lovely homes it would look devine in. 

This lady had a vast collection of vintage clothing. I haven't found my love for that area of interest but I know that if anyone did, that would definitely be the place to go. Otherwise she had neat frames, nick nacks, and a few collectables. I only had so much room in my car so this was a MUST to take home. If your ever in the Steinbach/Mitchell area, deeefinitely go check this place out. You will not be disappointed! 

Strive to Revive!

So we had our DIY day and Im thrilled to say it was SOO successful!! We got LOTS accomplished and even started running out of projects! Im not going to get into too much detail as I'll explain more in a seperate post but just wanted to mention how excited I was that everything went so well.. This is bound to be a monthly event!


So I wanted to share with you my recent thrifty finds..

I splurged a bit on this item.. Its my husband's next project so once he's finished the things he's got going on right now

This one was a DIY i worked on Thursday. It was a recent thrift find. (The photo does not do justice.. It looks so much better in person, maybe once I find new batteries for the flash, I can replace this one with a better pic).

 This one was an exciting find.. 

(Notice the doll I talked about earlier..how cool)

This was awesome.. only 3 bucks!

I haven't ever thought of finding vintage wrapping paper till I read Apron Thrift Girl's blog..

Well there you have it.. a sample of whats laying around the place. Check back soon for our DIY day post! Happy Weekend Everyone!!
-Alesha

Why we thrift.. and a little update.

Im one that is horrible at blogging, now Im not saying I don't have stuff to share (my stash isn't getting much smaller), its just time consuming, and Im doing better at setting aside that time.
Stopped off at the local thrift store, I hadn't been there in a couple weeks. I needed to get my projects all caught up before I stepped foot in there again. Even tho, that goal to accomplish never came about, I gave in cuz it bothered me that I hadn't been there in awhile.. what am I missing? Whats sitting there? What got taken already? lol Thats one that I laugh about when I walk through..
I was pleasently surprised to find some neat stuff.. A vintage Radio, vintage wrapping paper, old hardware for the bathroom (that Im going to convince the boy to let me put in our new bathroom downstairs), vintage tablecloths and table runners, a barbie for T, and some other nick nacks, maybe if I can find the time today I'll post.
I've been reading on some other blogs about thrifters and re-sellers.. It inerests me...a lot. Never in a gazillion decades would the boy let me collect such. I've learned to appreciate old stuff.. Back in Junior High, I used to wear old 80's tshirts, jeans that went through the wash probably thousands of times, and I loved it.. I was blessed to be in a school where it wasn't all about appearance, it was about who you were as a person.. so a lot of us dressed relaxed and enjoyed our apparel from the past. I've always loved to thrift.. Finding the good in something used made me feel more greener, budget friendly, and also appreciative.. Im sure some of the owners of the things I have picked up didn't want it to go to good will, they didn't want some person to take it, abuse it, and then send it right back to mcc.. Im sure they had better thoughts for the stuff they once owned.. Im trying to respect that thought.
I picked up a doll the other day at a local antique shop.. this man's shop was very interesting.Literally was a loong hallway (maybe only 5 feet wide) packed FULL of stuff.. We spent about a half hour if not longer just moving stuff around and checking out the old gems he had just laying there. I felt like I was looking at puppies, waiting for me to take them home.. Beneath old books, I found this vintage doll. Ayne looked at me and said something that would always stick with me "Wow, just imagine where this doll has gone, the stories it tells".. I loved it. I bought it along with a vintage oil lamp (which also was a delight), and proceeded to go home. Now this old ratty (but gorgeous) doll lays on the old dresser we have in the livingroom that stores all the kids' stuff in it.. I wonder sometimes where this doll will continue to go.. and what little girl wondered the same thing.
Sometime this month I wanna do a thrift-hop. Heading to Morden, Altona, Morris, and Steinbach all in one day would be a thrifters' delight! I used to live in Steinbach and I've fell in love with their store and always got me knocking in my boots everytime they rented out an additional room in the strip they \(were in. I have never stepped foot in Morris but apparently its also quite large. Altona's rather big too and Morden's a bit small but is coming from a community of turn-of-the-century homes.. so there just maybe a vast amount of items up for grabs.
Of course I know theres a huge budget that I'll have to tie myself down with.. space to store all our finds (at home and on the road).. Its going to take planning, planning, planning, and I'd hope Janice and Ayne would be up for it too, cuz the more the marrier (although it means less stuff so I guess I'd have to settle, just kidding).
Today's our DIY day. We planned this a couple weeks ago to get everyone together, our HUGE boxes of half done projects and devote a day in productivity. Today's that day.. I made a delicious dessert, bringing some beverages and lookin forward to a potluck lunch and fellowship! Be on the lookout for a blog post about that!! (and the pics from what I've described too)

Alesha