Frugal Friday

It's Frugal Friday!!!

I had such a great week. I got the most comfy new sandals ever. Might not sound like much to you, but with feet like mine it's a miracle. I wish I could say they were part of frugal friday, LOL. They definately were not frugal. Some things are worth paying more for and happy feet are one of them. Maybe not the cutest sandals I ever had, but these were more comfy on the first time out than my broke in Brooks running shoes.

The hot steamy weather has returned for the weekend. Five glorious hours spent in the pool today. I guess that could be a frugal moment since I swam in an $80 swimsuit I got for $24.00. I saw it at $80 but I held out and hope and prayed and it paid off. Yeah! Now if only the suit looked like that on me. Too much ice cream on my hips, and thighs, and backside. Oh well, not exactly a primitive subject anyway.

 In re-sale I got a lovely light blue tablecloth that looks like new for $1.50. A nice spring color for Easter Sunday or Mother's Day. I also got a little mini prim basket for .25 cents and a little tin watering can for .25 cents. I hang these baskets on one of my x-mas tree's and the watering can's and mini garden tools go on my easter tree with my chocolate molds. No pics though. not exciting enough to bother.  ;o)

Those things were hardly worth a mention after my spree yesterday though. I have to say it was a bitter sweet day. Sharon of Saltbox farm was having a bit of a fire sale. Her beautiful shop burned last month. Everything she could salvage and then some was being stored in her barn and needed to be cleared out so she could do a remodel in there. Perhaps this is where she is relocating her store to? Anyway, she had some amazing deals and steals and I did my very best to help her clear it out.

First up, I had admired this beautiful little stenciled chest on a couple of my visits to her shop. I was beside myself when I saw it. There wasn't a tag on it and when Sharon told me $25.00  I think my jaw hit the ground. "SOLD!!!!" I say.

I bought a couple woven placemats by American Heritage. One in navy and another in brown. Just $5 each. I just can't get enough of their stuff and the placemats are great for putting baskets and trenchers and bowls.

Now here's proof I love American Heritage. Or maybe it's proof the price was too good to resist. I bought 3 brown woven swag valances for my livingroom. Maybe I should mention here that I have a huge hideous window in there that these swags will not work on at all. But someday, when I finally do get new windows (3 double hungs) I will be ready!!! Regular $45 a swag, they were priced just  $10 each. I think I have scabs on my chin from my mouth hanging open and dragging as I shopped. These are the folded swags with a pile of votives and melting tarts I bought for .50 ea. The house smells like hot buttered rum at the moment. Mmmmm...... Hubby came home from work and thought I was baking something.

I also bought 2 punched tin tart burners to use with the tarts. Regular $20 and $24 for $10 each. The small lantern here is the one I put in the bathroom. The larger lantern is a prior saltbox purchase. It was in a clearance bin and it was mustard.

And here's the second tart burner on my new table/chest along with 5 packages of 1803 flameless candles. Regular (I think) was $6, sale priced $2 ea.

I've wanted one of these spikey iron hangers for my mantle forever. Now I just need to figure out where my mantle hooks got put away at. It's going to be perfect hanging next to the lantern I bought at her Summer Fest 2 weeks ago.

And finally, the one thing I had in mind I HAD TO HAVE when I drove the 50 miles to the sale, a bundle of twigs. I had seen this at her summer faire and didn't want to carry it around. I had planned to grab one when I was done browsing. Well, half way home (25 miles away) I realized my blunder and that I forgot to grab it. Ugh! So yesterday I was lucky enough to get one of the few remaining. It's the coolest thing. Each twig is held together with a series of tiny nails. It all pulls out and spreads (kinda like those old accordian cup racks). When it pulls out in a continuous circle it becomes a perfect holder for a big bowl for a bird bath. Now I just need a big bowl, LOL. Regular $5 for $4.00.

After I spent more than I knew hubby would approve (because I've been spending a LOT lately) I took my camera and toured the beautiful gardens there. Wow! Sharon has so many wonderful ideas in her prim garden. The visit before, my aunt and I just walked and oooo'd and ahhhh'd and wished we had a camera. So this trip was a wonderful opportunity to get some pics. Here's just a couple of my favorites.

The picture above is genious! That little flower pot is holding a little sprinkler head up. Looks cute as can be, makes it easy to find the heads, and keeps the lookyloo's like myself from stepping on them. Genius I tell ya!!!!

Here's the Saltbox Farm Picture trail link to see some of Sharon's own photo's -

http://www.picturetrail.com/saltboxfarm

So here it is once again, after 1:00 am. No longer Friday. Perhaps if I had spent less time in the pool? Nah............ Better late than never.

PS - I already have Mondays make-over complete and photographed so I might actually be on time with my Monday posting. Till then..............

Make-Over Monday

 Monday Make-Over in the Garden

Hmmmm........ It's getting awfully close to Tuesday. By the time I finish my post I may have to change the title to Tuesday Make-Over. I was editing away on my photo's earlier this evening. I was forgetting to click save between each edit. Suddenly the screen faded and a message popped up that said photo shop needed to close unexpectedly. Unexpected was right. Almost every pic for this post had to be edited all over again. And being the hot head I sometimes am, I had to go out and pull some weeds and dead head some flowers before I could begin again. Worked off some frustration in the garden, LOL.

So today's make-over is a garden make-over. When we moved in 3 years ago. I brought 40+ hosta and daylilies with me from my last garden. The yard was unfenced (cept for some chain link around the pool) and there was no garden. Immediately we got the fence up for the dogs. Then, in went the garden to get the hosta all planted before they died on me.

This pic is the first summer right after the hosta first went in, before it got mulched. The bench should be on a frugal Friday because I found it in someones trash about 12 years ago. It was electric blue and splattered with white when I found it. Ewww!

The bed now.

This spring I filled the flower/ hosta bed with pink and white impatiens. The windows were $5 for the pair at an antique show 2 yrs ago. They've been sitting in the basement every since. The wreaths were picked up for 50% off at Hobby Lobby. I love that place! I wanted to hang window boxes below but they would have been much too low so I found some inexpensive big pots at Walmart.

I also got an old cultivater at an antique show this spring and hubby was going to throw out the old wood crate. So I threw it into the garden and filled it with flowers as well, LOL.

 

The little birdhouse above the crate is the broken down rusty windchime birdhouse I was given at a garage sale this spring, hanging on a dollar store shepards hook.

Below is one of my bottomless baskets (.25 cents) planted beside the bench in the garden.

I also picked up a couple items to hang from the bottom branches of a pine we limbed up beside the hosta garden.

Mini rusty votive lantern - $1

 Mini Decorative birdhouse - .50 cents

Here's a couple more nooks of the garden below -

the patio beside the gate

The chair also came from a curb - over 20 years ago. Most of it's original green paint is worn away now and the seat was splitting so badly I had hubby screw a steel plate to the bottom to hold the seat together. The rusty finial was actually painted green. I gave it one of my spray paint jobs to look rusty. It was 75% off at Hobby Lobby.

 The garden angel hanging was another garage sale find.

Another nook in the garden.

The birdbath was suppose to have a base which was missing at the store so they sold me the $45 dollar birdbath for $10 anout 12 years ago. I mixed up some concrete and threw it in a pot lined with bubble wrap to make it more uneven to make a new base.

 And just as I suspected, it is now Tuesday at 1:00 am. Better late than never right?

Frugal Friday

My bad! It's been so long since I posted I aparently forgot what to do. I got typing away, all the way to where I was ready to add a pic, when I realized I forgot to change up the font. Well, better late than never. But given my rather slow typing skills I am going just ignore the fact, LOL.
I have not been a very good blogger. I have not been a very good dieter. I have not been a very good crafter. But man am I great great swimmer, LOL. Once pool season hits I forget about pretty much everything else and live in the pool. June was cold and rainy and there were only 2 days spent in the pool Then July hit! My favorite month of the year.Turn up the heat I say. I am lovin' this heat wave that has everyone else complaining. And I dare not talk about the weather around hubby. He is not a fan of summer and he gets very grumbly. Of coarse he is allowed to celebrate when fall arrives and when the snowflakes begin to fall. Carries on about how much he love winter. But guess who does most of shoveling - if you guessed me you would be correct. And guess who goes out to scoop the doggie poop in the snow - you betcha! So, hubby has gone on strike in the back yard. He began building a poolhouse. He assured me it would be done in just 2 weeks and long before hot weather hit. Not!!! Everyday, while floating in my pool, my view is the 2x4 framework for the house. I am planning a b-day party for my mother in the backyard in a couple short weeks and there sits this mess. In his defense, his project buddy has been unexpectedly tied up with some family matters. But, perhaps if he started in May instead of the July 4th weekend ........ Just maybe, I am just saying.
But I digress. I thought I would hop on here today, while it is rainy and cloudy and share a few goodies I picked up here and there since my last post.

     Some antique lace-up boot $20

 Smaller sized Chippendale Mirror $7.00

Lantern $2.00

Crock $7

Salt glazed stein w/ pewter lid $5

Pewter tankard $2

And Finally I wanted to mention my buys from the Saltbox Farm Summer Faire last weekend. If you are not familiar with Saltbox Farm, it is my favorite prim store in MI. Sharon, the proprietor, put her heart and soul into her shop. She had several open houses, special events, and sales through out the year. They were always something special to attend. In fact, I made the 50 mile drive many times over to attend. Well, last saturday was nothing different. Except for one thing. Sharons shop suffered heavy fire damage back in June. It was a complete loss. Well, Sharon decided to put on a brave face and carry through with her summer faire in spite of. It was a gorgeous day. She had a bunch of goodies for sale in her barn and several other prim antique sellers turned out with their tents and antique fineries to make the day a great event. I wish I had brought my camera (I say that a lot) because her gardens were just beautiful and packed with garden prims. My Aunt Betty and I just ooo'd and ahhh'd all the way through. Well, no camera, but here is what I bought whilst there -

an old lantern $42

and some adorable little black and white shoes for $20

Till next time..................................... (soon I hope)