Garage Sale Superlatives

As a lot of you know, I had a garage sale this past weekend. It was a HUGE success. (Check out Thriving Home to see my top 10 tips and tricks on having a good garage sale). Most of my stuff was sold and I ended up making enough to buy my new camera! My Canon EOS Rebel T3 should be showing up on my doorstep tomorrow... whoot whoot!

I almost feel embarrassed to say that I really liked having a garage sale. Yes, it was a ton of work and yes, I had to get up very early (what's new), and yes, my feet hurt after but I still really enjoyed it.

I thought it might be fun to do a few garage sale superlatives:

Partners in Crime: Erin and Rachel

First Sale of the Day: a baby towel and baby shoes

My Biggest Complaint: "It's so cold!!" Seriously, it was close to 40 degrees in the shade when we got started. My toes were numb.

Biggest Sale of the Day: $80 for all of Austin's baseball cards. He is refusing to share any of his earnings with me. Grinch.

Most Memorable Shopper: They guy who waved $7.00 in my face trying to convince me to take it for a $10 item. Not exaggerating- he literally kept repeating "seven dollars, seven dollars" in a foreign accent and began waving the cash in my face as if I was desperate for the money.

Biggest Whoops: When Rachel found a men's hat in her car and decided to sell it only to find out it was her father-in-law's hat. Her husband was not happy with her.

Appreciated Comment: "You put a lot of work into putting up signs. They were great."

"Grrrrr" Moment: When my whole family went out to breakfast without Austin and I leaving us to fend for ourselves in an oncoming rainstorm. Luckily we had some neighbor kids who helped us bring things inside.

"Really, you're buying that" Moment: When a 40 year old dude bought my mom's plastic lobster. Random.

"Seriously, right now??" Moment: When as we were setting up on day two, Austin decided he wanted to chop off the dead branch of our tree in the front yard. He was hacking, chopping, and sawing at this huge dead branch as shoppers were showing up. He eventually got it down but not without a few concerned looks from people.

I think that about sums it up! It was a great Easter weekend. Here is Adelyn with Aunt Les and Uncle Will.

An Abundance of Skirts

Since my little lady is in cloth diapers, some of her pants won't fit so well. The ghetto booty has led us to use a lot more skirts and dresses (I know, twist my arm right?) Once I mastered this baby skirt tutorial, I cranked out multiple skirts. I can't wait until summer when we won't have to worry about tights or leggings underneath. Until then, we are circulating stretchy pants and darling little girl skirts. Here are a few my little fashionista will be wearing soon.









I promise, it really isn't hard to make one of these baby skirts. Once I got the hang of it, I could crank one out in 15 minutes or so. I have many more I want to make!

Carpet Remnant = Money Saver

This room in our house is currently the multipurpose room.



It primarily serves as an office but will soon be transformed into a playroom. However, a playroom with hardwood floors is not very fun for babies learning to crawl and walk. I looked into getting a rug around 10x12 feet big and was floored by the cost of one. (No pun intended... ok, so maybe it was intended.) Anyway, I wasn't about to shell out $500+ bucks for a rug. No way, Jose.

After gabbing on the phone with my mom about my floor dilemma, she suggested looking into getting a carpet remnant for the spot. Huh- hadn't thought of that.

A few days later, Adelyn and I headed out to Stovers Carpet to check out the stock. I was floored (hehe) by the massive amount of remnants they had available!



After some major hunting, I found one that was 8x10 feet for close to $100.00. Score! There was an additional charge of $40 for binding up the edges so that it wouldn't fray. This was optional but since my little lady wants to put anything and everything in her mouth right now, I didn't think loose carpet pieces would be a good idea.

What's even better is that my parents bought it for us as a Christmas present for Adelyn! Double Score!

So a few days later, this guy showed up at our house. It has cozied up the room so much.



We also installed these gates to 1) keep the dogs off our new rug and 2) to keep the child corralled when she starts moving around.



OK so maybe #1 isn't fully implemented yet.



But we are oh-so-happy with our cozy playroom in the making.

 

Easy Decorating Idea

Here's a thrifty decorating tip: put something colorful in a vase! It can work for almost any holiday or occasion.



When my blogging buddy, Rachel, offered me these decorative balls, I snatched them up with this idea in mind.



I used this vase that was recycled from an arrangement of flowers we received when Adelyn was born.



Here's a snapshot of the final product. Quick. Easy. Thrifty. That's my kind of Christmas decorating!

Personalized Stocking

A few days after Thanksgiving as I was beginning to put out all four of our Christmas decorations,  it hit me...we didn't have a stocking for Adelyn! Guess that wasn't on the baby registry, huh?

I made a mad dash to Hobby Lobby to see what I could find. All of their Christmas decor is 50% off so I snagged this cute stocking for $5.00.

Using my new Silhouette machine, I was able to personalize it by using a heat transfer graphic. It was so easy... I just typed her name into the program, mirrored it,  and sent it to the Silhouette. It cut her name in to the fuzzy vinyl and I just ironed it on!

This was my first attempt at using the heat transfer tools and I couldn't be more pleased with how it turned out!

Turkey Onesie

 Gobble Gobble!

Did you have any doubt that Adelyn would have festive attire for this Thanksgiving??

This little project cost me $1.50 to make.

I went to Children's Orchard to get a brown onesie. For those of you who don't know, Children's Orchard is an awesome second hand clothing store for babies and kids. I got this onesie on clearance! I found it in the boy's section. (shhh... don't tell Adelyn!)

I just sewed the turkey on top of the existing design- you wouldn't even know it was there!

I used some of the extra fabric to make a matching headband. I used the same technique for the flowers that I used on my lilly pad pillow a while back.

I think her ensemble will be a crowd pleaser, what do you think?

Fuzzi Bunz Dropout

I'm so bummed.

We have a huge stock of Fuzzi Bunz that we can't use. I've attempted them three different times and Adelyn has come down with major diaper rash almost immediately! It makes me cringe knowing how much money went into the diapers (mainly shower gifts from people but still...). And being a thrifty gal, I lose a little sleep at night knowing how much money we are going to have to put into disposable diapers. Ugh.

I do plan to try them again at least once a month to see if Adelyn's skin isn't as sensitive to whatever is causing the rash but until then, disposable it is.

I've been poking around on the internet to find the cheapest route to buying disposable diapers. I'm finding that you can get them pretty cheap on Amazon and fairly cheap at SAMs Club. We're headed there today so we'll find out.

Did I mention I'm bummed?!

Make Your Own Baby Wipes

Due to some stubborn diaper rash on Adelyn's bum, I started asking questions about things that could possibly help it go away a little faster. I got a few good suggestions from my expert mommy friends. One told me that her doctor told her to stop using wipes and switch to a wash cloth for a while. Apparently the chemicals in wet wipes can sometimes be a little harsh on the sensitive areas. I did a little poking around online and got some ideas on how to make your own wipes. So, I'm giving it a shot.

Lots of people suggested cutting up flannel receiving blankets and using those. Since I had a pack of 5 that I wasn't using, I figured they could be sacrificed to the cause of healing Adelyns red hiney. I cut them up in squares- probably 8x8 sizes but  I didn't bother measuring since they are simply butt wipes. I read that flannel blankets fray pretty bad so I did a simple zig-zag stitch around the outside of each wipe.

To use them, we just wet it down with a spray bottle, wipe the booty, and toss it in the hamper if we aren't using our cloth diapers. If we are using the Fuzzi Bunz, I just toss the rag in with the diaper and wash them all together. Since her poop isn't too gross yet, it really isn't a big deal nor is it very stinky.

Hopefully this will help out my little gal's tush!

Changing Table is Done

You've probably seen the changing table makeover a few times but I realized that I never made an official before and after post about it.

 In case you forgot, I scored this dresser on Craig's List for $40.00. It started out like this...

Then looked like this...

 Then started to look like this...

 And turned out like this!!

 

 I lined the drawers with fun scrapbook paper. To see details on how I did it, visit this post.

I love love love the way it turned out. 

The Joys of Craig's List

 I have a strong Love/Hate relationship with Craig's List.

Love it for obvious reasons: great deals, local, unique finds, etc. Hate it for mainly one reason: Unreliable people. I think the anonymity of buying and selling on Craigs List makes people flake out more on their commitments. I'm always a little leery of  my business dealings but the lure of a good deal always brings me back to browse. 

Lately, I've been a stalker of the Baby & Kids section. What I discovered is that there is an abundance of baby swings selling for around $20. I was registered for a baby swing at Target that costs around $130. Wowza. I couldn't bring myself to allow my family and friend to pool together $130+ for a swing that I could very easily get for $20.  So I've been on the hunt for a baby swing. And boy did I hunt...

See all the links in purple? Those are ones that I clicked on at one point or another. Yikes. That's embarrassing. Anyway...









I'd emailed a few people here and there trying to nail down a good deal. I eventually landed on one that I liked.  Pretty new, $20, good ratings, etc. After some emailing, we arranged a time to meet.

I met up with her at the Home Depot parking lot. She seemed very sweet, had two kids with her (one who had gotten car sick on the way making her 20 minutes late to our rendezvous). Poor lady.

Anyway, after emphatically apologizing for her tardiness, she pops open her truck and pulls out the swing. However, it isn't the swing in the picture. It was entirely different and a bit older looking. I was totally caught off guard and racking my brain to figure out what to do.

I assumed that amidst my wheeling and dealings I had mistakenly contacted the wrong person about the swing I had really wanted.  I assumed that the error was on my end and that I had replied to her Craigs List ad accidentally. I chalked it up as another Pregnancy Brain mistake.

I didn't have the heart to say that I made a mistake and didn't want it. I mean this woman had driven 30 minutes with a carsick kid to meet me. She really didn't seem like someone who would hussle me either. So, I bought the swing. The swing I didn't really want but didn't have the guts to say no to. Ugh. Here's a picture of it. It's not horrible. It's just a lot older and has a lot more wear and tear.

Well THEN, I got home and hopped on my computer to figure out where I had mixed up my communication. Turns out, I WASN'T wrong! The picture that she had posted was in fact NOT the swing that she brought. WHAT?! How did this happen?

And you know what, right now I don't have any answers. I am waiting for a response to my email I sent her sheepishly explaining that I didn't say anything about the wrong swing she had sold me. The dilemma is: Is it my fault that I bought the swing I didn't want or is it her fault that she sold me a different swing than advertised. When I word it like that, it's probably more my fault. Ugh.

So now I have a swing that I'm not super crazy about that I'll probably end up selling on Craigs List, encountering flaky people who say they want it but will never follow through with actually buying it.

The Joys of Craig's List

More Garage Sale Goodies

I'm sulking right now. Once again, my sewing machine is being fussy. The tension is all wacky and because I got it at an estate sale, I have no manual on how to fix it. My mood is telling me to throw it out to the curb and never sew again but experience tells me I will be back on the machine within a week.

In order to relieve my frustrations, I'll share a few garage sale finds I made last week. 

Buttons. Lots of buttons. All of these for $2.00. 

At least I can hand sew these on. Take THAT, sewing machine.

I probably would have passed up this button collection if I hadn't seen this idea on Curbly. I also find myself hunting around for buttons for crafts so I think this new collection will be quite handy. 

Found these two vases. $.25 each. I loved their shape and saw loads of potential. 

In a 5 minute project, I crammed some craft paper into one of them and tied some of this tweed around it. Turned out cute, huh?! I'm waiting for some inspiration for the second one now. One thing is for sure- it will not involve fabric or sewing of any kind. 

I stumbled upon these kleenex box covers. I plan to mod podge some cool fabric or paper on them. Austin had a hard time understanding the purpose of a kleenex box cover. I beg to differ.  He's a visual creature- he'll understand once I get them decorated. Maybe. Well, lets be honest- he probably won't even notice them until months after they've been placed around the house.

Just a few days ago, he was so excited to find out we had a blender. (That we've had since we've been married). Bless his heart.

Lastly, since we've been here, our silverware drawer had been unstable. The wire rack is way too small for the drawer so any time we open or shut it, the rack slides around resembling the sound of a car wreck. 

I found some wire baskets that fit perfectly in the drawer. Only $.25!!

It makes an amazing difference. 

Well, that's all I got for now. 

I'll be honest. I'm still sulking. 

My next attempt at medicating my sewing frustrations:

 Hope your evening is a bit more cheery than mine.