Thrift Haul at Thirty Below.

I had made big plans to spend two days indoors.  The weather was snowy on Sunday, but the temp was tolerable.  I stopped to fill my gas tank after church and made my way home to stay out of the "dangerously low" temperatures that were predicted.  Well, Monday is 50% off day at Unique, and with so many workplaces closed, many of my friends were out thrifting.  And they were posting their amazing finds on Facebook.  I couldn't take it.  I had to get out there.  I think I can finally admit that I have a problem.  Hi.  My name is Bettie.  I am a thriftaholic.  There.  I said it.

This thriftaholic braved the double digit wind chill, that was at least 10 degrees colder when I left the store than when I went in.  What's more, my very sensible sister was leading the charge.  We hit Unique at 6:30p and the store was by no means empty, but a lot more so than on a normal Monday.  This meant fewer shoppers and tons of merchandise.  I couldn't look at even half of it, but I did find some real goodies...and of course I'm going to show you:

 I found this amazing vintage 3-piece tweed suit for my son.  It's still tagged (from the 70's--never worn!), fits him perfectly and the tweed is so crisp.  The shirt was a steal at $1.50, but the suit, amazingly, was just $4.   

 Not meant to be worn together, but this purple velour Boden skirt and 100% cashmere sweater from William/SCOTLAND are both like new.  The necklace was $1 last year at...geez, I don't even remember.

 My sister found this sweater that you'd better not wear around anyone who's been drinking because it's dizzying enough on it's own.  She also found the cute black and white check wool skirt. She's learning!

 I am so mad that this isn't my size.  I really love this very soft, red and black print sweater. 

 She also bought this faux suede purple shirt jacket.  The color is gorgeous.  Make that GAWJUS!

 Knowing little about labels, especially newer ones, I had never heard of Buffalo jeans, but I had a feeling they were pricey.  I took a quick look with my phone and found them online for $130.  At $3.50, I wasn't leaving without them. 

 I got this "Cosby Sweater" for my son.  They're making a comeback, and this one with suede and leather trim is just great.  I think I'll get a pic of him with the jeans and sweater together.  His tall, lanky frame will look really good in this. 

                                      Pretty and colorful silk dress.  I think I'll sell it.  

 I didn't have any navy blue boots, and of course we all need navy blue boots.  The tan ones are really nice, but are way too narrow for me.  Wanna swap?

                        Just because he doesn't have a t-shirt with a horse on it.  Now he does.   

This was a very productive one-stop thrift trip.  Unique never disappoints.  If I hadn't found anything, I don't know if I could live that one down.  

I did stay inside today, and just went out to start my car.  It coughed a little, then started up just fine. I hope it fires up for me in the morning because the break is over!

Snowpocalypse!

                        

The blizzard of '67.  I remember it!  Route 30 was a parking lot, and my brother and I treated one of the country's busiest thoroughfares like it was our personal playground.  My dad shoveled the front walk, creating a path with four foot walls, which were high enough for my six-year old body to be completely hidden by.  I could see straight ahead and that was it.  Two feet of snow in less than a day and a half.  Cars were stuck everywhere, and nothing was passing through.  We made snowmen, snow angels and had snowball fights right in the middle of the street.  THAT was fun!  

I also remember the blizzard of '78.  Snow removal in Chicago was a nightmare, and a mayoral candidate won by blasting the incumbent on his sorry response to what turned out to be a really big deal.  

                             Really Big!


In 2011, Lake Shore Drive became a parking lot.  The snow fell so fast that people were caught completely by surprise.  Well, not completely.  Commuters were warned hours in advance to start making their way home, but most people didn't listen.  Heck, this is Chicago and We Know Snow!  Hundreds of cars were stuck in this:



Is it my imagination, or are these storms coming at shorter and shorter intervals?  

I'm not sure where we will end up this year in terms of snowfall, but I know that the low temps are sure to make history.  Wind chill forecasts are in the double digits, with an estimate of -45 on Tuesday.  When the schools are announcing that they'll be closed four days in advance, this winter is definitely one that won't soon be forgotten.  Here's to digging out in the morning!

The Bench Is Back!

A few posts back, I showed you my progress with the chalk painted vintage slat bench.  I realized, much too late, that I put WAY too much calcium carbonate (chalk) in the paint, and although I liked the finish, I ended up with tiny lumps of undissolved chalk.  After awhile, they just started to "open up", leaving little white dots of chalk all over.  (I was going to sand it anyway.)

 I took some fine sandpaper to it tonight, and exposed a lot more...well...chalk.  (The chalk dust was flying like Mrs. Hooper's black felt erasers when it was my turn to clean to board.)

The sanding was easy.  I just did a few quick swipes, and used a clean brush to whisk off the excess.

I strained about half a jar of the chalk paint, which removed most of the lumps.

Most, but not all.  I kept this in mind as I put on another coat, using the brush to press out the remaining lumps.  Remember, this is just chalk.  

It dried quickly, of course.  This is one of the best things about chalk paint.  One coat took care of all the tiny spots.  It dried smoothly.

While I was at Home Depot, I took a look at their wax options.  All I found was Johnson's paste wax, which by all accounts, is still used and loved by many.  I got scared off of trying the expensive wax, Vax, or any other pasty sealer by any other name.  I read too many horror stories of how it went all wrong, and the painter (always far more experienced than I am) had to start over.  I decided that the risk, and the money, made this a big NO for me.  I almost bought the Johnson's, then I saw this Martha Stewart metallic glaze, in a color called black coffee.  It looked so close to my chalk paint, but with a deep lustre that really turned my shine-loving self on.  For less than six dollars, I decided it wouldn't be too big a risk.  It's water based, so removal would be easy if I didn't like the way it looked. 

But like it I did!

One smooth and easy coat.  I don't think it even needs a top coat, and I really don't want it any shinier.  Would it be counterproductive to add a spray on matte finish?  I think I'll try the whole cycle (paint, glaze and spray) on a 2x4 before I decide.  The bench is going into a bathroom and I want to make sure it's protected, but as of now, the glaze is looking very substantial.  We'll see in a few hours.  I really wanted to get this done, then write this post, so I was painting until 1:30a, and now it's nearly three.  It's been an extremely productive and sleep-deprived week.  

Up tomorrow...replacing the straps on my antique luggage rack.  And the final pics of the bench, of course.

Never Buy Lipstick Again!

My daughter came to me with an idea this afternoon, and I liked it so much that I was determined to try it before the night was over.  I didn't get started until after 10:00p, but some days (and nights!) I just feel like making something.  So, with only a few ingredients needed, and me having all of them on hand, I tried making homemade lip gloss from crayons.  Yes.

After I made it, I found all kinds of recipes using petroleum jelly, coconut oil, powdered kool-aid, honey, rose petals, and chocolate chips, to name a few.  The super simple recipe that I used only called for crayons, olive oil, and shea butter. 

First off, I love to recycle, and I always have crayons lying around.  I took one each of brown, red, purple and pink and broke them in threes.  I used the middle piece for each, figuring that these pieces had to be the cleanest.  I peeled the paper off of each one, then I filled a pot with water and put it on to boil.  At that point, I placed a Corning Ware (Pyrex or any glass will do) bowl in the water and added four 1 inch pieces of crayon, two teaspoons of shea butter and two teaspoons of olive oil.  You really can't go wrong, but I think I might skip the oil next time.  It just made for a "greasier" lip that soaked into my skin pretty quickly.  But, considering how cheap (as in free) this project ended up being, I don't mind reapplying often.  I plan to do a few trials to come up with the best formula for me.  It took about five minutes for everything to melt:

There are some sites that instruct you to melt everything in a certain order, but it all melts and gets mixed up together.  I can't imagine what difference it would make.  I used plastic bottle caps for "pots" and covered them with foil.  I then gave them 15 minutes in the fridge, and ended up with my own lip gloss that looks and feels just like any other. It was solid and smooth. With some appropriate plastic or metal tins, this could make a really nice stocking stuffer at Christmas, or with flowers and herbs added for scent and appearance, I'd use this for bridesmaids gifts, teacher gifts, or as part of a gift basket.  It looked good on, imparting sheer color and lots of shine:  

Quick, easy and cheap, with endless ingredient and color possibilities.  Why didn't I do this before?  I will NEVER buy lipstick, gloss or balm again!

Any Excuse for a Sale...or a Thrifting Trip!

Every holiday brings with it special sales.  Presidents' Day mattress sales.  4th of July electronics.  Martin Luther King Day shoe blowouts...you get the picture.  I searched the internet for stores I hadn't been to before.  To my surprise, there was Goodwill, as well as a St. Vincent's close to my house that I hadn't been to, or even knew existed.  I feel like such a failure...I'm supposed to be an expert!

Even the thrift stores get into the act.  Regardless of the chain, each holiday means a 50% off sale. This includes Savers, Goodwill, Salvation Army, and even the smaller chains and mom-and-pops. They even get started early sometimes, starting the sales on the weekend before the holiday.  Now, doing this very simple math, I (or you) can get some amazing deals.  Sometimes, the stuff is almost free.  For example:

This sequinned jacket was $5 with half off.  Yes, I got a black sequinned jacket for $2.50.  So stylish.  So on trend.  So not my size.  So, I gave it to my daughter.  

I already had the purple sequinned bag.  It was a freebie from that dirty dig at what I call the "hoarder house".  I hauled a couple of carloads of stuff outta there.  I get all itchy just thinking about it.  I also get all happy when I look at this bag.  

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What comes to mind when you think of vintage glamour?  Fur certainly comes to my mind, and this mink stole is gorgeous!  I found it for $30, with 50% off (of course).  Fifteen bucks for a mink?  THAT, I can do.  Ironically, it's the same amount I paid for another stole a few years back.  Personally, I don't wear fur.  But trust me, I've got plenty of takers.  

I also found several purses and bags, a dress, a scarf, a sweater, two skirts and a CD.  I showed great restraint, spending less than $40 total.  More importantly, I found things that will find themselves immediately in rotation in either my daughter's, my sister's or my wardrobe.  You may recall that on Sunday I announced that I was on the hunt for a red dress.  I found one in a black and red print, that fits well and will work just fine.  Until I find a red dress, that is.  The next holiday is Valentines' Day.  If I don't find a red dress at a Valentines' Day sale, then the red dress just isn't out there.  

Pretty, huh?  It has lots of extra tummy
room built in!

Lazy (and long) Weekend!

Gotta give a shout out to MLK Day!  To think, at just 39, this man had accomplished more than most (like 99.9%) of us will accomplish in a lifetime.  What a sacrifice his whole life was.  He found his purpose, did his best to fulfill it, and although his life was cut short, we can still strive to be better, making the world better in the process.  Do something great for someone tomorrow!

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For the first time in a long time, I had a real weekend.  I had absolutely NOTHING that I had to do, so I spent all day Saturday in my jammies.  It was great.  How did this happen?  I've been asking myself that same question.  Here's what I came up with...

My weekends generally consist of chauffeuring my teenage son around.  Basketball practice and games.  Soccer practice and games.  Volunteering at the animal shelter.  Trips to the mall or the rec center with his friends.  Always something.  This weekend he was out of town for a school trip, so there was nothing to do for him.  As it turned out, I dog-sat for my niece which means I spent the weekend in her enormous apartment.  Twelve-foot ceilings, hardwood floors, brick walls, and all the accoutrement that go with a --cue "The Jeffersons'" theme--deluxe apartment in the sky!!  

I cooked (when I felt like it), slept, watched t.v., played with my favorite doggie niece and ate chocolate chip cookies hot from the oven.  I'm so glad I didn't publicly share that I'm on a diet because I would have been blasted for that one.  It was a really bad weekend diet-wise but guess what?  I'm not beating myself up over it.  Been there, done that, more times than I care to remember.  Instead, I got some much needed rest, ate what I wanted, watched "West Side Story" and hung out with my daughter and nieces, including the cute furry one.  

I finally got dressed today, for church.  I took advantage of the opportunity to take a few pics of  my partially thrifted, but ALL sale outfit.  I love this 10-gore knit crepe skirt because it fits and falls perfectly.  I love the booties because they're the closest I can come to actually wearing heels and not kill my knees (effectively crippling myself for the rest of the week) and I LOVE this cape because it just looks cool.  It doesn't tie all the way around the waist, but hangs loose in the back.  It give me the illusion of a waistline that I really don't have.  

In the background, the muted tones that are my niece's preference.  I admit that it looks gorgeous, but for me, it's all about color.  I can't wait to decorate a new place.  The vintage lamps that I found on Friday will definitely figure in, as well as the brass and glass cart that I have decided to keep.  I'll be adding a coat or two of turquoise paint, and distressing it.  That's the plan. My immediate plans however, include hitting a few thrift stores tomorrow to take advantage of all the 50% off sales.  I'm looking for a red dress.  If I find one (and I feel like I will) I will post pics later this week, but I can't guarantee the backdrop will be this good.  

Estate Sale Score!

I can't believe the week is almost gone and I haven't written a thing!  Now I'm making myself do it, and I have a bum middle finger on my left hand.  Tons of mistakes...this will take awhile.  While I was happily peeling and cutting veggies for my dinner, I sliced right into the tip of my finger.  At first I thought it was just the nail, but no...it's a little deeper than that.  So here I am with a band-aid on it and I never realized until today how much I rely on my middle left finger.  I mean, I need it to type the letter "e".  

Since I'm limited to nine fingers tonight, I'll just post some pictures of my pretty amazing estate sale finds today.  I love it when I get to a sale and something I saw pictured is actually there waiting for me, and it's priced to please.  That's how I felt when I saw this brass/glass cart at a sale this morning:

Is that not amazing?  I'm not sure if I'm selling it.  I would love to put a coat of turquoise paint on it and keep it for myself.  

I then found a vintage plastic lamp hanging in a very dusty basement.  Then I saw the other one.  And the other:

I committed myself to spending the rest of the day in the basement because everything was beyond dirty.  To my surprise, they were really easy to clean.  I just sprayed everything with an all-purpose cleaner, then ran them under the faucet.  I was careful to keep the water away from the electrical parts, then just put them all on a rug for a few hours.  Well, maybe it was more than a few.  BUT, what makes any dig, find and clean-up day worthwhile is this:

They all work!  Groovy!

 Add in a soundtrack for the evening:

And yep, you guessed it.  It was an amazing day!  I scored big.  

My Chalk Paint Experiment

I keep reading about chalk paint, and seeing these amazing furniture redos using it.  It is pretty hard to find, since it's pricey and at this point, most paint vendors don't seem interested in carrying it.  I found a few "recipes" online for making your own, and I decided to try it out.  Some of the additives used are plaster of paris, baking soda, and calcium carbonate, which is actually chalk.  After reading some reviews, I decided to order some calcium carbonate, getting a one-pound bag on Amazon for less than ten bucks.  I found this gallon of paint at Home Depot for $7.  It was a "mistint"--something a customer asked to have mixed, then changed their mind.  You can usually find these at any store that sells paint, and it's always really cheap.  They just want to get rid of it.  I was planning to get a charcoal or slate gray, so finding this was just incredible.  

I have a vintage (mid-century) wood slat bench that is in good shape with some nicks, and most of the varnish worn off from sitting.  I've been trying to sell it, but no takers, so since I'm going to be keeping it, I decided to do something with it.  

I read on another blog that the ratio of paint to cc is 2:1, so I went with that.  My 16 oz of cc was weight rather than volume, so I improvised again.  I do that a lot.  I dumped the whole bag into a bucket and I figured that with a gallon of paint, being four quarts, I would pour my estimate of 1/4 of the can of paint into my bucket.  

After reading another blog, I realized that I probably had too much
chalk in my chalk paint.  Lesson learned. 

I poured the paint in without measuring.  I think I'll add a little
water to the leftovers. It's too thick, especially since it dries
so quickly.


Mixing was a little tough.  I kind of wanted to put more paint in because I felt it was a little too thick, but I didn't want to end up with half a gallon of leftover paint, so I went with what I had.  I tried the "100 strokes" method I use for cake batter, but it didn't seem to help much.  

A little, but not a lot.  I hoped that I could brush out the lumps with the paintbrush.  It ended up going on smoothly and the lumps were basically nonexistent.   I knew it!  The biggest claims for chalk paint are that it goes on smoothly, covers everything, dries quickly and doesn't need a second coat.  I found all to be true.  Lazy me, I didn't even clean the piece first. 




I started with the bottom so that I didn't have to turn it over on it's top once it was dry.  I only did one coat on the bottom, and really only needed one coat on the top, but I did two anyway.  By the time I got to about halfway through the second coat, the brush was saturated and heavy.  I rinsed it out before going on to finish the rest of the top. 

I still need to take a smaller brush to the areas in between.  Also, a product called wax which seems to be a lot like car wax, needs to be applied.  The finish of the chalk paint, especially in this color, is almost too matte.  It's rich, but very dry/dusty.  I'm guessing that the matte quality of the paint finish is perfect for the wax application, which is designed to penetrate the surface.  After allowing it to sit overnight, you buff it, just like you would your car.  This gives it a deep lustre and also makes it very water resistant.  At least that is what I read.  I also read that it's very expensive and easy to mess up.  I have to think about that.  Of course I can always paint on some polyurethane, but I really wanted to try the wax.  Something about rubbing it into the wood, rather than painting something on top of it, not to mention the absence of that varnish smell, is really appealing to me.  

One coat looks like it will do the job, but I'm going for two!

It dried quickly and smoothly.  No lumps, and no uneven finish even
though the bench had varying degrees of varnish on it. Some areas were
smooth and some were shiny.  They all looked the same in the end.

 I ended up with leftovers--three jars of what looks like mud.  The color wasn't what I expected and it really is the color of mud. But, I can work with pretty much anything.  I was toying with the idea of stenciling something on top of this piece and now, with the color being what it is, I am definitely going for some kind of adornment to break up the bland.  I hope to post pics of the finished product by the end of the week.  I've got a lot to do for the next few days, so I know I won't get back to it until then.



















It's looking good!  I think...I can't wait until it's finished!