Thrifty Thursday :: Storage Ideas!

For the past several weekends, I have been FINALLY getting my craft room/studio/moon hut all put together the way I have always wanted it. As part of this project I have finally been able to unwrap and put away all of the gazillions of awesome thrift store storage finds I have collected over the last year or so. (Like I said, I FINALLY accomplished something in there!!) I have a serious procrastination issue... but I digress!

For this edition of Thrifty Thursday, I thought I would highlight some of my fave thrift store-age (ha! see what I did there? teehee!) ideas. This is also a way to ease into a full studio tour... not quite ready for that yet, but oh so close!

 First up, we have the prettiest glitter storage idea ever.... salt and pepper shakers!

I collected tons of these bad boys from every thrift store I could possibly find, and I am so excited to finally see them all displayed. I love seeing all of the different colors of glitter instead of keeping them hidden in a drawer like before. The two displays that the shakers are sitting on are also thrift store finds.

I keep one of the doors open on this little cabinet so I can still see all the shiny bits!

 

Next, we have my new way of storing all of my keshi parts! Ok, if you don't know what I do with these things, that sentence sounds really weird... But stay with me here! I also used to store all of the different wooden pieces used to create my keshis in a drawer, but now I can see exactly what I have at all times! If I am running low on heads, I will know way ahead of time.... or if I need some new body styles, just check the jar! I have them separated by function: bodies, heads, hair, and then miscellaneous embellishments.

 

See that little bit of blue in that big jar? That was my first attempt at the Fire Breather for The Runaway's Circus... I kind of forgot what order the colors of a flame should be in... ha!

More jars! This time, I have used them to store all of my loose ribbon, organized by color of course. :) They are sitting on a lazy susan, also a thrift store find, so I can easily see any of the ribbon I have. I can also spin it around if I get tired of looking at certain colors,

And finally, this awesome little rotating tray organizer dealy (that is the technical name of course). This is sitting on my desk and holds a veritable mish-mash of randomness. It's perfect because I seem to have a lot of random things that don't have a proper home. But they look so cute here! And that glass candy dish is full of various little kokeshis (erasers and cell phone charms) and several Dia de los Muertos skull beads, because, you know, everybody needs a dish of those!

And that hottie in the picture? My mommy! :) Back in her rock star days... one of my fave pictures of her!

I hope you enjoyed a little glimpse into my newly organized little slice of heaven. And hopefully I have provided a little inspiration for you as well! If you have any super cool storage ideas, leave a comment. I would love to hear!

Have a good day!

Thrifty Thursday!

Good morning everyone! Today I have a comedic edition of Thrifty Thursday for you! Although technically, these items were found in an antique mall, but whatevs... I can bend the rules a little!

Remember how I told you M and I went to this amaze-balls antique mall a while back? Well, I have to show you a few items we saw (and left) there.

First up, we have this epic old sailorman doll:

Looking at his goofy little face now, I REALLY wish we had bought him! But, it was the end of the night, they were about to close, and I was running low on funds. Perhaps if we go back he will still be there! M said that this is what he was going to look like when he gets old, including the pipe oddly shoved all the way inside his mouth! I thought I was going to pee my pants laughing! Thank goodness no one was around, otherwise they would have thought I was insane!

This gem was found by M, hanging up in the corner of a booth. I don't really have any words to describe this, so I am going to let the picture speak for itself: (and please forgive the poor quality, it was not the best lighting and I couldn't get very close to it!)

Yea, see what I mean? What can one say about this... it is purrfect? Meowgnificant? Hissterical? Ok... I'm done with the cat puns!

And last but not least, an adorable set of S & P shakers:

In case you don't know, these are the little mushroom dudes from Fantasia! :) They are so stinkin' cute!!

We definitely need to go back and spend several hours in this place... it was huge! I actually got lost several times and thankfully M has a fantastic sense of direction, or else I might still be stuck in there. If any of you are locals, it is located on Hwy 99 in (I think) Shoreline. It is located above the Burlington Coat Factory.

Well, that's it for this edition of Thrifty Thursday. Stay tuned a little later in the day for a recap of February!

See ya real soon!

Thrifty Thursday - St. Valentine's Day Edition

Happy VD everyone! I've always wanted to use "VD" as a ridiculous, slightly inappropriate, mildly immature, HILARIOUS abbreviation of the phrase. Forgive me! But seriously folks, I want to send all of you a little extra love in celebration of this romantic day!

To help me celebrate, I thought I would share a couple of ADORABLE vintage valentines I found at an antique shop in Ocean Shores. Unfortunately, this delightful little place was going out of business when we visited, and I can't even remember what it was called! I suppose it is ok that I couldn't tell you the name since it doesn't exist anymore anyway. Wacky Woman... something... I think.... anyhoo, down to business!

Aren't these cute??!

Ha! Doc Duck! :D

Unfortunately these were not addressed to anyone in particular. I love finding old cards and things with special little notes written on them. I like to think about the lives the people led, and what happened when they presented their loved one or friend with this message. Was it for their first grade-school crush? Did they grow up and get married? Did she give him a strange look, say, "Ew! You have cooties!" and walk away? Ahh.... young love!

And look at these other sweet sentiments I scooped up:

Some of this message came off, there must have been tape stuck to it at one point. Here is what I believe it says:

Lorette,

What's this I hear about you being sick again? Josie told me, and Abie (Able?) called this morning. Sure sorry to hear it. You will have to stay close to home and get yourself in good (something.. health maybe?). Let someone else (take?) care of (things for a?) while. 

I was at an antique mall a few weeks back and they had boxes and boxes of old cards and post cards, and I want to go back and get some. I think I may have found a new collection! I love having even just a little connection to the past and making up stories in my head about who these people were and what happened to them. 

I hope, that wherever you are today, you feel loved. And in case you are feeling a little lonely, just know that I love you!

Smooches! 

XOXO

Thrifty Thursday - Edmonds Senior Center

As I may have mentioned before, I absolutely LOVE shopping in thrift stores! My sweetie and I have so much fun just taking an entire day and driving from store to store, quickly filling up our backseat with tons of thrifty goodness! Several weeks ago, we decided to check out some brand new (to us) stores and started with one in Edmonds. It is located right at the ferry dock, and is attached to the Edmonds Senior Center.

We had heard marvelous things about this place, and let me tell you, we were not disappointed! When we first walked in, I was immediately drawn to the coolest spice rack and snapped it up for a mere $5. Then, my eyes fell onto this bee-utiful wooden cabinet, about 18 inches tall, with two doors. The doors have arched cut-outs that are backed with a metal screen so you can have sneak peeks of whatever goodies you stick in there. I figured it would probably be AT LEAST $10 or so, considering there was no damage and it was a pretty solid piece of wonderfulness. I looked at the price tag, already convincing myself it would be too much to spend on a single item (this was only our first stop after all) and practically peed myself when I saw it was.............. TWO DOLLARS AND FIFTY CENTS! I actually had to have M repeat it, I was in such shock! So I immediately snapped it up, already thinking I had found the golden ticket for the day. 

We wandered around towards the back, with the dishes and breakables, and this is what I saw:

The most adorable little ceramic containers! They were perfect for our kitchen and I knew I had to have them. When I showed them to Mik, he said, "What is 'majoranna'?" We laughed so hard I almost dropped everything. How amazing are these delightful little creatures?? And the funniest part is that Mik's mom has a cat named Anna, so we couldn't wait to tell her about the "majoranna" that we found!

For some reason, there were 2 paprikas, and only 1 majoranna. I decided I only needed 1 paprika and left the other for some other lucky soul. :)

I quickly decided that I should probably set all of my treasures down at the counter so that I could keep looking (we had only been in there for about 10 minutes by this point) and not risk dropping everything in my excitement.

I looked over the rest of the dishes, and rounded the corner. Immediately, I saw a sign for mason jars, $1. I thought, "Score!" I am always on the lookout for cool jars right now, as I am re-vamping my "moon hut" (I promise, I will explain this term soon!) or in other words, studio. I am wanting to store all of my ribbon bits in the jars so I can see all the pretty, pretty colors. Anyhoo, I started picking out some jars and that is when I saw IT... the most perfectest, blue Ball mason jar! (It even says it's perfect!)

I may have squealed a bit, and again, prepared myself to see a high sticker price. I picked it up, saw no sticker, and realized that this beauty was SUPPOSED to be in the dollar section! Holy crapballs I couldn't believe it! I held onto it for dear life, still trying to juggle all of the other jars I wanted. M told me to just go set them down before I hurt myself, but I was terrified of putting this little guy down in case someone realized the treasure I had found! I realized it was illogical and probably dangerous to keep balancing all of these things in my teeny hands, so I reluctantly set it down with the rest of our stuff (as hidden as I could among everything else I had put up there).

Needless to say, I found some pretty amazing jars on those shelves!

Look at the adorable flower printed on that one on the right! I believe it says "wild rose" underneath the flower. The one in the front, with the handle, has a perforated lid on it for shakin' stuff! It shall be full of glitter in no time!

I walked out of that store with about 4 paper grocery bags full of amazing goodies. I was so incredibly excited, and we had just started!!

I believe we went to 4 or 5 thrift stores, and 2 un-freaking-believable antique malls I never knew existed. It was the best day!

I am always looking for more awesome thrift stores to go to, what are some of your favorites? What kind of treasures have you found?

PS - I am planning on making this a regular feature, although it may not always be weekly. I do already have the next two Thursdays planned out though! :)