Friday, February 27, 2009
Relaxation Sounds
I totally love this website. It's a site that lets you choose up to five different relaxation sounds to play simultaneously. My favorite combination is wind chimes, flute song, creek, and bird sounds. Try it! I'm trying it out on my son right now. It doesn't seem to be working.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Greeting Card Mathematics
Well I haven't been thrifting for several days since my mom has been here. I'm starting to get the itch. We did, however, go to the mall yesterday, discovered and was saddened that my coveted Chick-fil-A went out of business, figured out how to use the stroller, and scored some awesome greeting cards for 90% off from a soon-to-be-out-of-business Carlton Cards. I got over thirty dollars worth of cards for a mere $3-something! I got a rabbit thank you card for my mom for all the help that she's been this past week, birthday cards for tons of family members... the list goes on and on! I now have two years worth of birthday cards for my parents, husband, brother, sister-in-law, nephew, and husband's cousin's daughter, and am covered for 2009 for just about everyone else. Does anyone else do that? I like to buy up cards when they're really cheap and save them in a little drawer so I don't have to run out and spend full price when the time comes. If you do the math, the amount I'm saving is quite staggering. Now if I could just get my husband to think ahead and buy my cards cheaply. Or maybe I should just start buying my own cards to give to him to give to me...
My husband comes from a big family. There's two parents, a sister, brother-in-law, two nephews, a grandma, two aunts, two uncles, three cousins, a cousin's spouse, and a cousin's child, plus my husband and our son. And that's just his mom's side of the family. We're not very close to his dad's side, so we don't send cards or gifts to them.
Then for my side of the family, I send cards to my parents, brother, aunt, and grandma. That's 23 birthdays I have to buy for. That's not to mention the three friends I send birthday cards too, so now we're up to 26. There's also graduations, weddings, showers, get-well-soons, thank-yous, sympathies, etc. for which I keep cards on hand, but since the number of those fluctuate each year, I will leave them out of my count. Plus there's mother's day and father's day, for a grand total of at least 31 cards I buy each year. If you figure that most cards cost somewhere between 2.99 and 3.99, we'll take the average and multiply times 31, and we get $77.50. In actuality, however, I usually spend 50c on greeting cards (and my haul at Carlton Cards yielded cards for even less than that!). If you multiply 31 by 50 cents, we see that I'm spending only about $15.50 on cards per year. Yay :)
My favorite place to get greeting cards is The Book Loft in German Village. For those of you who live in Columbus, you should totally check it out. It's 32 rooms of book-buying wonderment. Down in the basement of one of the wings is the 50c card room. They have greeting cards throughout the store in many of the 32 rooms, but when they get new inventory and have to pull older cards off the shelves, they get priced with a dot-sticker and then go to the basement. I can spend F.O.R.E.V.E.R in that little room, looking at each card, filling up my basket with cards for cheap. I feel sad for these cards that have been banished to the basement... a greeting card graveyard of sorts. But it makes me happy that I am able to purchase them and give them a good home!
Now I know that dollar stores sell cards two for a dollar, so why is buying from The Book Loft better? Well first of all because it's not a chain. The Book Loft is an independent book store, owned and operated here in Columbus. Second, the cards at the Book Loft are not the same kind of cards you would get at the Dollar Store. They're not Hallmark or American Greetings either... they're unique and unusual! No offense if you buy Dollar Store cards... truth be told, we do sometimes too!
Speaking of greeting cards, does anyone else recycle them to extend their life? I have a large basket full of cards that sits upon my Hoosier Cabinet. I am getting into scrapbooking, so I have been dismantling my old cards to use in a scrapbook for my son. I also cut up Christmas cards and make tags for Christmas gifts with them. I have a stamp somewhere that says "to" and "from" which I will place on the back of these little recycled goodies. I'll leave you with some pics.
My husband comes from a big family. There's two parents, a sister, brother-in-law, two nephews, a grandma, two aunts, two uncles, three cousins, a cousin's spouse, and a cousin's child, plus my husband and our son. And that's just his mom's side of the family. We're not very close to his dad's side, so we don't send cards or gifts to them.
Then for my side of the family, I send cards to my parents, brother, aunt, and grandma. That's 23 birthdays I have to buy for. That's not to mention the three friends I send birthday cards too, so now we're up to 26. There's also graduations, weddings, showers, get-well-soons, thank-yous, sympathies, etc. for which I keep cards on hand, but since the number of those fluctuate each year, I will leave them out of my count. Plus there's mother's day and father's day, for a grand total of at least 31 cards I buy each year. If you figure that most cards cost somewhere between 2.99 and 3.99, we'll take the average and multiply times 31, and we get $77.50. In actuality, however, I usually spend 50c on greeting cards (and my haul at Carlton Cards yielded cards for even less than that!). If you multiply 31 by 50 cents, we see that I'm spending only about $15.50 on cards per year. Yay :)
My favorite place to get greeting cards is The Book Loft in German Village. For those of you who live in Columbus, you should totally check it out. It's 32 rooms of book-buying wonderment. Down in the basement of one of the wings is the 50c card room. They have greeting cards throughout the store in many of the 32 rooms, but when they get new inventory and have to pull older cards off the shelves, they get priced with a dot-sticker and then go to the basement. I can spend F.O.R.E.V.E.R in that little room, looking at each card, filling up my basket with cards for cheap. I feel sad for these cards that have been banished to the basement... a greeting card graveyard of sorts. But it makes me happy that I am able to purchase them and give them a good home!
Now I know that dollar stores sell cards two for a dollar, so why is buying from The Book Loft better? Well first of all because it's not a chain. The Book Loft is an independent book store, owned and operated here in Columbus. Second, the cards at the Book Loft are not the same kind of cards you would get at the Dollar Store. They're not Hallmark or American Greetings either... they're unique and unusual! No offense if you buy Dollar Store cards... truth be told, we do sometimes too!
Speaking of greeting cards, does anyone else recycle them to extend their life? I have a large basket full of cards that sits upon my Hoosier Cabinet. I am getting into scrapbooking, so I have been dismantling my old cards to use in a scrapbook for my son. I also cut up Christmas cards and make tags for Christmas gifts with them. I have a stamp somewhere that says "to" and "from" which I will place on the back of these little recycled goodies. I'll leave you with some pics.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Monday, February 23, 2009
Some Thrifty Finds
Here are my finds from the other day. First up are those magazine holders I picked up back before Valentines Day (59c each). Actually, two were marked 99c and the other two were marked 59c, and the cashier said she could give them to me for all 59c. Yippee!
I like how one of them is a different color than the others. I plan on spray painting them, however I think I'll still make one of them a different color than the others. I have red and orange spray paint. I think I'll do three red and one orange just for a punch of color. I think I also may decoupage "J O E L" on them. Another idea I had was to use chalkboard paint... I can't decide!
And below we have an opened package of Christmas letter paper (50c), an unopened baby footprint kit still in the shrinkwrap ($2.92), and a children's book of Mozart's The Magic Flute (50c). The music teacher in me can't pass up books on music! The binding was pretty bad, but my friend said just a little elmers glue (even could be watered down elmers glue) would fix it right up. She was right! I put some elmers glue in the binding, and then wedged it between a few objects so that it would stand upright, binding side down, until it dried. Voila! It's fixed!
I like how one of them is a different color than the others. I plan on spray painting them, however I think I'll still make one of them a different color than the others. I have red and orange spray paint. I think I'll do three red and one orange just for a punch of color. I think I also may decoupage "J O E L" on them. Another idea I had was to use chalkboard paint... I can't decide!
And below we have an opened package of Christmas letter paper (50c), an unopened baby footprint kit still in the shrinkwrap ($2.92), and a children's book of Mozart's The Magic Flute (50c). The music teacher in me can't pass up books on music! The binding was pretty bad, but my friend said just a little elmers glue (even could be watered down elmers glue) would fix it right up. She was right! I put some elmers glue in the binding, and then wedged it between a few objects so that it would stand upright, binding side down, until it dried. Voila! It's fixed!
Some Kitchen-y Stuff
The baby is sleeping, so hubby and I are just sitting around watching "Cash Cab." How exciting. I have some thrifted stuff to photograph still sitting in the trunk of my car, but it's just too cold for me to venture out into the garage. In the meantime, we can enjoy some photos of things in my kitchen.
Here's a vintage thrifted scale that I rarely use but had to have it
A pyrex bowl I found at a garage sale for probably a buck or less. I don't remember for sure how much it cost because I found it several years ago, but I know it was cheap or I wouldn't have gotten it!
A place to store my knives. I found this beauty at a flea market for a buck or so.
About a third of my collander collection. All thrifted and garage sale finds! I love the little one :) It had a broken handle when I bought it, so my then-boyfriend fixed it for me
I found this little wooden thingie at a thrift store years ago, painted the recycling sign onto the lid, and now use it for my recycling (duh)
Last but not least, here are two of the three reusable lunch sacks I sewed a few weeks ago. I used this tutorial and a thrifted vinyl tablecloth that cost me a buck. I used them for several weeks before I stopped working and went on maternity leave. They are holding up well!
Here's a vintage thrifted scale that I rarely use but had to have it
A pyrex bowl I found at a garage sale for probably a buck or less. I don't remember for sure how much it cost because I found it several years ago, but I know it was cheap or I wouldn't have gotten it!
A place to store my knives. I found this beauty at a flea market for a buck or so.
About a third of my collander collection. All thrifted and garage sale finds! I love the little one :) It had a broken handle when I bought it, so my then-boyfriend fixed it for me
I found this little wooden thingie at a thrift store years ago, painted the recycling sign onto the lid, and now use it for my recycling (duh)
Last but not least, here are two of the three reusable lunch sacks I sewed a few weeks ago. I used this tutorial and a thrifted vinyl tablecloth that cost me a buck. I used them for several weeks before I stopped working and went on maternity leave. They are holding up well!
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Rabbit Fabric
Valentine's Day is over, and now I am ready for Easter! Yes, I realize I am skipping over St. Patty's Day, but Easter is so much more fun.
This green bunny fabric is a shirt I got as a gift several years ago.
This baby bunny fabric came new from Joanns several years ago. It was too cute to pass up. Now that I have a little boy, it's perfect! I'm sure I'll come up with something to make with it. Anyone have any ideas of what Joel needs? I have lots of bibs, clothes, blankets, wash cloths, etc. already. I'm thinking of some kind of toy...
This green bunny fabric is a shirt I got as a gift several years ago. 
This baby bunny fabric came new from Joanns several years ago. It was too cute to pass up. Now that I have a little boy, it's perfect! I'm sure I'll come up with something to make with it. Anyone have any ideas of what Joel needs? I have lots of bibs, clothes, blankets, wash cloths, etc. already. I'm thinking of some kind of toy...
Friday, February 20, 2009
Upcylced NY Rangers Bib
My baby is going to be raised to be environmentally-friendly! Unfortunately Mommy is not a very good ironer and if you look carefully (actually you don't really have to look all that carefully as it's pretty obvious...) you can see a (not-so) slight iron-burn. Bummer. Then I had a bright idea: I tea-stained the entire onesie to hide the burn. It looks good now!Remember this NY Rangers towel I thrifted yesterday for 59c?
Now it's this:
I added the thrifted towel to a piece of remnant fabric from my stash. I wanted to use a plain red fabric for the upper part of the bib however apparently I am out of the one I was thinking of. Oh well, this plaid looks pretty good too. I still have to add some rick rack or ribbon but I just can't decide! I don't have any rick rack so if I go that route, I'll have to buy some. I pulled out a few ribbons and bias tapes that might work. I really had my heart set on red, but this is what I have in my stash:
Here's some thrifted teal bias tape
And some thrifted light green bias tape
I don't think that this will be the winner. I like this green ribbon the least. Actually I was planning on making a binkie clip with this scrap of ribbon.
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