The Thriftress

The Big Announcement: Persephone

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah AKA The Thriftress) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 13:47:00 +0000

I hinted last week about a big announcement. Well the day is here! I am so excited to announce that Cassie of Primitive & Proper and I have formed a creative partnership to open our own shop called Persephone!

I am so thankful to Cassie for being one of my strongest supporters since I started this blog. We were lucky enough to meet last year and totally hit it off. Since Cassie has moved a bit closer to me we are able to get together for crafting and conversation and that's how Persephone was born! Joining forces to pursue our passion together is the perfect way for us to balance work and home life.

You can read more about Persephone in our "press release" created by Cassie below.

We are pleased to announce that Sarah, aka The Thriftress, and Cassie of Primitive and Proper have joined creative forces in a new retail venture called....

"Persephone" is our new business name for our own little retail space at Wild Rose and Co in Walkersville, MD. Wild Rose & Co was founeded by my pal, Lynette, and is the cutest little boutique featuring vintage finds, furniture, and even cute boutique style clothing, candles, soaps, and more! Here is a glimpse of the shop in case you have never been there...

Sarah and Cassie are thrilled to become part of the creative team of vendors at Wild Rose. We hope to bring even more fabulous upcycled vintage finds, fresh home decor, and even more vintage hip-ness!

We hope to see you there for our Grand Opening on Saturday, February 4 from 10 am until 5 pm! Wild Rose is located at 21 West Pennsylvania Ave, Walkersville, MD 21793.

Sarah and Cassie plan to start up a Persephone Facebook page as well, so we will let you know as soon as that is up and running! Thank you so much for your friendship and support- we would not be doing this without you!

If you are in the local DC area I would be thrilled to see you at the grand opening of our shop on February 4th!

2012 To Do List

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah AKA The Thriftress) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 02:54:00 +0000

I'm very excited to follow through with a bunch of design plans for our home this year. These are all projects I have been thinking about and planning for awhile. I'm putting my to do list out there so you can keep me accountable and so I will be able to track my progress.

1. Powder Room Paint

Bo-ring bath: Paint me!

I blogged about my obsession with black bathrooms way back in August. I even picked up a gallon of dark, inky navy paint and a fabulous mirror. But the project went on the back burner with Summer vacation and Ben starting Kindergarten. The powder room is so small this task should be an easy one to check off the list!

2. Big Girl Bedroom Makeover

My little one is turning three at the end of the month and I would love update her bedroom for her birthday. I've collected the furniture (all free) for the makeover now I just need to find the time to do the painting.

3. Tackle the Foyer

Like the powder room the foyer and hall are lacking personality. Plus we had a leaky pipe repair in the wall so it's the perfect time for a little paint. Right now I'm thinking a light, airy blue to brighten the space - there isn't much natural light. I'm planning to take the paint up the stairs and include a board and batten treatment upstairs as well. (I would love to pull up the carpet and paint the stairs as well but that might be a little too ambitious this year.)

4. Sew New Curtains for the Dining Room
The dining room is currently decorated in cream and red. I'm planning to change up the look by adding in some navy. So I bought this fabric to make new drapes when it was on sale a few months back.

source

This one is so simple. I really just need to pull out the sewing machine already!

Last but not leasat, I've got another goal for 2012 to share with you. However, you will just have to wait till Monday for the big announcement!

Thanks for visiting!

Shabby Apple Dress Giveaway Winner!

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah AKA The Thriftress) — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 01:46:00 +0000

I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season! I am completely out of my normal schedule this week since we are away from home visiting family.

But I'm not too out of it to announce the winner of the Shabby Apple dress giveaway!

The winner of the Waimea dress is comment #12.

Congratulations Sally! Please send your desired size, shipping address and phone number to thethriftress@gmail.com.

Have a wonderful, happy and healthy New Year and see ya in 2012!

Shabby Apple Dress Giveaway!

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah AKA The Thriftress) — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 12:36:00 +0000

UPDATE: The original post featured the incorrect dress. This giveaway is for the Waimea dress pictured below. I apologize for any confusion this may have caused!

I've got a little holiday gift for you today. Shabby Apple (www.shabbyapple.com) and I have teamed up to offer my dear readers the chance to win one of their fabulous women's dresses!

I love the gorgeous ruffly top and easy fit of this dress. I'm also happy to report that it's available in a wide range of sizes (xxs-xl). The giveaway DOES NOT come with a vacation but I bet this beautiful dress will make you feel like you're on holiday every time you slip it on! ;)

To learn more about Shabby Apple's wonderful selection of clothing, jewelry & accessories click here.

There are three ways to enter the giveaway:

Like Shabby Apple on Facebook and leave a comment to let me know.
Follow The Thriftress and leave a comment telling me you are a follower.
Follow me on Facebook and leave a comment.

That's it! The lucky winner will be chosen on Friday, December 30, 2011.

Thanks for visiting and have a happy holiday!

Quick Handmade Teacher Gifts

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah AKA The Thriftress) — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 20:21:00 +0000

This weekend, like most of you, I was super busy trying to check items off my holiday to-do list. One of the projects I worked on are these cute gifts for my daughter's wonderful preschool teachers!

Last week I scored fleece scarves from Old Navy for $4.00 a pop. Then I made three felt flower pins to go with each scarf for that handmade touch. To finish off the gift, I grabbed the candy cane striped buckets from the dollar spot to use as the festive container (no gift wrap needed!). I love how the gifts look like little flower pots!

I made three different types of flower pins inspired by some awesome tutorials. You can find the tutorial for the grey pin here, the pink pin here and the turquoise pin here. I think the turquoise one is my favorite. It's just so ruffle-y and puffy! These are totally addicting to make. I made 6 more this weekend for family members. Consider yourself warned!

Are you making any handmade gifts this year?

Thanks for visiting!

Christmas 2011: Family Room Mantel

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah AKA The Thriftress) — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 21:48:00 +0000

Last Christmas I used a green/silver/white color scheme in the family room. This year I went in a totally different direction.

The red and white are so crisp and bright to me! Loving how this turned out. Let's break it down shall we?

I scored these shutters on Freecycle and use them constantly to add height to the mantel. For Christmas I made a red yarn wreath with thrift store yarn and a styro wreath form. The JOY ornament came from World Market from $4 and makes the wreath! I bought the stockings last year at Target and I'm so glad I chose white. It goes with everything!

The branch is from my yard. I added some sparkle with spray adhesive and glitter. Totally free rocks! But I have to admit that the tall white vase was a splurge. I fell in love with it and searched high and low for a lower cost alternative but came up empty. Luckily when I broke down and bought it at World Market the sales lady gave me 20% off for joining the loyalty program (rationalize much?).

A new element that I added this year is the screen door card holder. The door is another Freecycle find. I painted it black and added the chicken wire. I'm looking forward to displaying our Christmas cards in such an organized fashion!

Last but not least is my absolute favorite mantel decoration: the deer head! The "canvas" is made of shims from the hardware store stapled together and stained. Then I used my silhouette to cut out the deer head in two separate parts so that it would be large enough to fill the canvas. Once the vinyl was positioned on the shims I painted over everything and then removed the vinyl.

When I started the project I wasn't sure how it would turn out but I have to say I'm thrilled! I think I will be keeping my deer friend up all winter!

What's your favorite Christmas mantel decoration?

Thanks for visiting!

Rolled Sheet Music Ornaments

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah AKA The Thriftress) — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 12:26:00 +0000

In case you missed this guest post I did for A Crafty Creative Christmas, I'm sharing it today!

Vintage sheet music is a lovely element to add to your home decor and Christmastime is no exception!

To create these ornaments you will need the following supplies:

Sheet music. If no vintage sheet music is available there are several printable images online. (I've put together a board on Pinterest here)
Scissors
Ribbon
Mod Podge
Foam brush

Start by cutting your sheet music into the desired size. I cut mine into fourths.

Next roll the sheet music up using Mod Podge to secure the seam. Brush the entire sheet music tube with Mod Podge to give the paper some stiffness. This will make the paper less fragile and protect against tearing. I like to use shimmer, sparkle or gloss Mod Podge formulas to give the ornamanets a little Christmas shine.

When the tubes are dry attach the ribbon of your choice. Add a ribbon loop or ornament hanger to the center ribbon to hang it on the Christmas tree and enjoy!

The ornaments are also lovely grouped together for decorating or as a special touch on your holiday packages!

Thanks for visiting!

Christmas Gift Ideas with Nest of Posies

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah AKA The Thriftress) — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 11:32:00 +0000

One of my favorite things about blogging is making connections with women who share my passion to create. And I love to support those who have taken their passion to the next level by selling their handmade wares. Mompreneurs rock!

One such lady is the talented Kellie from Nest of Posies. We met through the Crafterminds blogging group where Kellie has asked us to help her get the word out about her brand new line of handmade scalloped posie pins. These pins are super cute and a great gift for girlfriends, family, and teachers at such a reasonable price - just $5.00! The colors are gorgeous too! Here's Kellie to tell you more about them...

Because we all know that accessories make the outfit.

And 'tis the season for all things merry & bright.

Why not give the gift of handmade to your friends, family or yourself?

Delicious wool felt made into Scallop Posie Pins to coordinate with any outfit.

15 yummy options.

You pick your colors.

Just $5.00 each.

Use 1, 2 or 3 to embellish anything. A perfect accessory to add to your coat, scarf, cardy, purse, hair & ________.

Hurry! Last day to place an order for all wool felt products is Dec 12th.

Visit Nest of Posies Shop to see the entire collection & buy handmade for the holidays.

Thanksgiving Recap

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah AKA The Thriftress) — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 19:33:00 +0000

Here I am on the big day sporting my new apron - An awesome hand made birthday present from my friend Gigi!

I know it's a week after Thanksgiving but I think it has taken me that long to recover! This year I hosted Thanksgiving for the very first time. We had 13 adults and 5 kids. I won't lie - I was terrified. Thankfully I had the help of friends and family to make the day go off without a hitch!

Here's the dining room all ready for guests.

We had to move the table off center in order to accomodate 13 chairs. This was the first time we used the table with both leaves. I was very excited!

The place settings were tricky. I don't have 13 matching salad/dinner plate sets so I mixed my white plates with Golden Gate china given to me by a friend. You might remember the pear place cards from this post.

This guy was my main source of anxiety. It was a 24 pounder! But it cooked up great and 2 hours earlier than I expected. Perhaps I overestimated how much turkey we needed because we are STILL eating leftovers!

But the best part of the day was when Harry Potter came to dinner!

My son is totally going through the Harry Potter stage. The whole outfit was his idea.

Thanks for visiting!

Thanksgiving Decorating with Martha Stewart by Plaid

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah AKA The Thriftress) — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 22:11:00 +0000

This year I am hosting Thanksgiving at my house for the FIRST TIME EVER. As you can imagine I am a little bit nervous and extremely busy putting the house in perfect order.

Decorating the dining room is a top priority so I was really thankful when Plaid Crafts sent me a box full of crafty goodness! The box contained a ton of fun holiday paints, stencils and tools from the Martha Stewart craft line by Plaid. Here's what I came up with to decorate the dining room!

To create my "Gather" banner I used fabric & ribbon from my stash, satin Martha Stewart paint in chestnut brown and the Fancy Script alphabet stencils. The convenient thing about Martha's craft paint is that it's multi-surface. I didn't need to use fabric paint to stencil my banner and I can use the same paint on glass, wood, ceramic or any other surface.

I haven't had good luck with stencils in the past, but the letters for the banner came out beautifully. The foam pouncer made it really easy to control the amount of paint so that paint didn't leak under the stencil. I couldn't wait for the letters to dry so I could put the whole banner together!

But I'm not finished yet! I also used the metallic copper paint to dress up some faux pears for place cards.

I'm loving how the light coat of metallic copper gives the pears a subtle sheen. I think it brings the Spring-y green color into Autumn. I printed out my guests' names on card stock and attached them to the pear stem with a tiny bit of glue.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I received product and payment for this post - all opinions are my own.

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A Crafty Creative Christmas

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah AKA The Thriftress) — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 18:58:00 +0000

You can find me today at Me Making Do! I'm sharing a tutorial for making vintage sheet music ornments as part of A Crafty Creative Christmas hosted by Heather.

If you want to see what I've been crafting up for Christmas click over here to check it out.

First Christmas Wreaths of the Season

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah AKA The Thriftress) — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 19:12:00 +0000

On Saturday I participated in my first-ever craft fair. The fair was held at my church so it felt very comfortable and it was a great intro to craft fairs.

I focused on creating holiday decor since the fair took place after Halloween and I thought everyone would have Christmas in mind. I made two different style wreaths to sell at the fair.

The first has a definite vintage vibe. I picked up the vintage jello tin at a thrift store. The silvery, sparkly tin just said Christmas to me but I wasn't sure how I was going to use it. Then it occurred to me the size was perfect for a wreath!

The wreath was snapped up my daughter's preschool teacher so I know it went to a good home! But you bet I'm keeping my eyes peeled for more jello tins.

The second wreath I created was the hit of the sale! I only made one but I have orders to make seven more!

I love that the burlap and sparkle say Christmas in a subtle way. This wreath is also so versatile - it could work for any season just by switching out the bow!

Have you crafted any Christmas wreaths yet?

Thanks for visiting!

A Green Chalkboard Makover

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah AKA The Thriftress) — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 23:53:00 +0000

When I think of a chalkboard I think of the iconic "blackboard". And most every DIY chalkboard in blogland is made with black chalkboard paint. But the other day at the thrift store I stumbled on this chalkboard for a couple bucks. I thought, "how bout a green chalkboard for a change?". So I took the little guy home.

While I love the green color the frame seemed a bit boring. I thought about painting it white or black but neither color seemed right. So instead I grabbed my antique gold Rub 'n Buff and got to work uh...rubbing and buffing the frame.

I taped off the chalkboard around the frame just in case. (Quick tip: Mr. Clean magic eraser removes RnB from chalkboards!)

Here's the end result. It's a subtle change but I think the gold gives the utilitarian design a little more character.

And speaking of trick-or-treat-- I hope you all had a great Halloween!

Thanks for visiting!

Dollar Store Fall Runner

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah AKA The Thriftress) — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 19:30:00 +0000

I'm always scouring the dollar store for thrifty craft inspiration. This season when I saw these felt pumpkins and maple leaves I knew I had to find a way to incorporate them in my Fall decor! It was so simple and fast to sew three together for a cute Fall table runner.

To sew the felt mats together I simply used a heavy duty needle (the felt is quite thick) and jute twine I had on hand. Total cost just $3!

My runner is pretty short to fit on the kitchen sideboard but for just a few bucks more (each mat is a $1) you could make one for the Thanksgiving dining table. Dollar Tree stocks these mats for every season - perfect for Christmas or Easter decorating too!

Have you made any dollar store Fall decorations yet?

Thanks for visiting!

Fun with Chalk Paint

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah AKA The Thriftress) — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 20:13:00 +0000

Confession: I had never tried Annie Sloan chalk paint...until last week. I was prepping to be a vendor at Wild Rose & Co's Fall Market so I brought out the ASCP to get a few pieces painted up quickly.

I started with this thrifted mirror and a sample of Antibes Green.

The sample was just enough to completely cover the mirror in 2 coats. The green makes the mirror really POP! I received a lot of positive comments on this beauty at the sale. The curvy shape plus the fun color made it a big hit.

Next I tackled this antique pie crust table ($40 on Craigslist) with some Old White.
The distressing really brings out the fun details of the table.

Last I tried out Sherry's recipe for DIY chalk paint. I used plaster of paris from Michaels and my free sample of Deepest Aqua from Glidden. I think the results are so beautiful on this little sewing cabinet that I scored for $1 at a yard sale last year!

The DIY chalk paint does not distress quite as easily as ASCP but the coverage was just as great! Unfortunately the vintage tag sale did not have quite the traffic we had hoped for so all these beauties came back home with me. But I'm not too sad. They will look great in my home too!

Did you know you could make your own chalk paint? Have you tried it? I would love to hear your experiences.

Thanks for visiting!

Repurposed Laundry Room Cabinet

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah AKA The Thriftress) — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 17:51:00 +0000

Remember my old laundry room? (yuck!)

See that upper cabinet? Well it was removed to make way for more functional cafe shelving. But I held on to it because I had big plans to transform the narrow upper cabinet into a sofa table!

I added legs some curvy legs for height...

...and trimmed out the top with moulding for a finished look.

After some spray paint inside and out and a few accessories she's good to go!

And I'm not done with my laundry room castoffs just yet. I have one or two more projects in mind for the cabinet doors!

You can also see how I reused the laundry room drawers here.

Thanks for visiting!

Addicted to Decorating

Lace Spider Web Wreath

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah AKA The Thriftress) — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 00:39:00 +0000

I have not been in the mood to decorate for Fall yet at all. But yesterday I picked up a copy of Women's Day Halloween Celebrations hoping for some inspiration. I found a bunch of great ideas inside but these lace spider webs really got me thinking...

Source: Women's Day Halloween Celebrations

I decided to take the project one step further and connect a series of the lace spider webs together to form a Halloween wreath. I even happened to have several embroidery hoops on hand. Perfect!

After my son hopped on the school bus my little one and I set out to find a few lace tablecloths at the thrift store and Halloween embellishments at Dollar Tree. During nap time I was able to put the whole wreath together.

I laid out the small embroidery rings on a larger hoop to figure out how to configure the wreath.

Then I sprayed the outer rings with a shot of semi-gloss black spray paint. (I also sprayed the larger hoop white.)

While the paint was drying I cut out interesting pieces of the lace to form the webs.

When the paint was dry I put the embroidery hoops back together with the lace and trimmed the excess from the back. Then I used my glue gun to attach the small hoops to the larger one and added my spiders and crow.

Done!

Thanks for visiting!

Back to School, Back on Track

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah AKA The Thriftress) — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 18:21:00 +0000

This week my oldest started Kindergarten. (sniff, sniff)

He just hopped aboard that bus!

I was nervous about the adjustment to Kindergarten but he took the changes in stride. I couldn't have asked for a better first week of school!

The lazy days of Summer have been fun but I must say I'm glad that we have the structure of school back in our lives. I've got tons of projects scheduled to be completed before it's too cold to paint outside. First I'm going to tackle this motley group of furniture.

Amazingly I was able to acquire all this furniture for my daughter's room for free!

Antique Jenny Lind twin bed - this piece was my Mother-in-law's childhood bed. I feel so fortunate that it has been passed down to my daughter.

Empire dresser from Freecycle. A tall chest will fit the small space better than a long dresser.

Another Freecycle score. I actually have two!

Quilt rack from my childhood bedroom. My parents are moving so the quilt rack has found a new home with us.

I know right now that these pieces don't make a very cohesive bedroom set but I'm hoping that Annie Sloan can help me out with that!

I ordered a quart of Old White from Repurposed and Refined and they were awesome enough to also send me a complimentary brush and 2 color samples! I can't wait to try the magic of chalk paint for myself. Wish me luck!

What are you working on now that the kids are back in school?

Thanks for visiting!

Quick Hostess Gift

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah AKA The Thriftress) — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 20:30:00 +0000

My kids and I are lucky enough to be spending a few days at the Jersey shore this week with my aunt, my cousin and my cousin's girls. We really appreciate being invited to share their beach house so I wanted to bring a nice hostess gift to thank them. Of course I tried to be a bit more creative than a bottle of wine! Here's what I came up with.

Michael's seasonal "trinket trays" turned into drink coasters. I loved the nautical motifs! These trays are available in the dollar section. I just added adhesive felt circles so they won't scratch the furniture. To finish I tied the stack of coasters with twine and a sand dollar.

Elegant (and easy) silver star fish frame. I simply hot glued a piece of drop cloth to the frame matting and then glued the star fish to the drop cloth. Reassemble the frame for instant art.

Add in two colorful beach towels and put it all in a basket for the perfect beach house hostess gift!

Thanks for visiting!

Black Bathroom Inspiration

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah AKA The Thriftress) — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 01:50:00 +0000

Lately I've been slightly obsessed with painting my boring, closet of a powder room black. But I'm hesitating. I mean, it's BLACK! And the room has no windows to let in the light. So of course, I headed over to Pinterest to find some inspiration...

source

Sexy and glamourous no? Have you ever painted a room in your house black? Or do you want to? I would love to hear your opinions!

Thanks for visiting!

Comic Book Themed Baby Shower

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah AKA The Thriftress) — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 03:13:00 +0000

You might be wondering what I have been up to lately... Well if you're a fan of my Facebook page you know that I've been busy crafting a co-ed baby shower BBQ for one of my husband's oldest and dearest friends and his wife.

The father-to-be is a serious comic book collector so I used that as my inspiration for the decorations and color scheme. Typically superhero or comic book themed events are for children's birthday parties. I worked hard to keep the decor sophisticated enough for adults without losing the element of fun! Here's what I dreamed up.

Guests were greeted by this fun wreath. Ribbon, card stock and a foam wreath form is all it took to whip it up.

The cityscape backdrop really makes the dessert table come together. Guests asked if I painted it - but it's just a Target shower curtain!! So. Easy.

I knew from the start I wanted a comic book banner. You may have seen this before at One Charming Party. I scored these comic books on Freecycle and hot glued them to dollar store ribbon.

Comic book sound effect toppers dressed up the cupcakes. I simply designed the cupcake toppers using my word processing software and printed them on card stock. (This party is all about the paper crafts!)

Dessert also included lemon cake pops, red velvet cake (we were celebrating a birthday as well), cherry pound cake, superhero lollipops (printable found here) and caramel corn. Cityscape table runner also from Target.

The bar area dressed up with streamers and color coordinated accessories from Target.

The onesies were fun and easy to make with printer transfer paper. The parents-to-be got to take them home as part of their gift too!

Martha's tissue paper pom-poms over the kitchen table. So addictive you may find them in every room of my house soon. You can see the tutorial for yourself here but you have been warned. :)

The whole shindig came together more beautifully than I could have dreamed and was a totally fun time with great friends! Congratulations Dennis & Veronica!

Thanks for visiting!

Keeping the party going here:

Thrifting on Vacation: Kailua Salvation Army

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah AKA The Thriftress) — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 01:05:00 +0000

Hey guys I am back from a wonderful trip to Hawaii! When you're on vacation you are supposed to relax and make time for the things you enjoy right? Well I love thrifting - even in Hawaii! One day I was out shopping for souvenirs in the trendy beach town of Kailua when I stumbled upon the local Salvation Army.

Score!

I grabbed my camera and snapped a few pics of the asian-inspired, vintage 70's, Hawaiian goodies within for your viewing pleasure. I think I also got the award for "Weirdest Tourist" while I was in there photographing a thrift store rather than the beautiful Hawaiian scenery.

The racks of second hand Hawaiian muumuus went on for miles. The local eco-conscious store Muumuu Heaven takes vintage Aloha wear like this and transforms it into fashionable apparel and home decor. Oh what you could DIY with a sewing machine and a couple of these babies...

The furniture department was a little sparse but I thought these chairs could be adorable with fun paint and fabric.

The bric-a-brac was where it's at though, folks. I really wish I could have figured out how to get some of these goodies home safely on the plane.

It was really fun to take a peek at a thrift store in paradise! What thrift store gems have you found while traveling?

Thanks for visiting!

Southern Hospitality's Thrifty Treasures Party

Her Library Adventures

Guest Posting at Keller Creative Today!

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah AKA The Thriftress) — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 13:02:00 +0000

I'm running around trying to cross all the last minute items off my vacation checklist this week. But I still managed to find some time to guest post at Keller Creative. Kim is featuring a series of thrifty guest posts as a run up to The I <3 Thrifting event this weekend.

I'm so excited to be guest posting today talking about one of my favorite thrifty tools.

Click here to learn about how to get started with Freecycle in your area and check out the fabulous items I have found on my local list. Including this antique dresser I picked up just this weekend...

Thanks for visiting!

Red, White & Blue Cake Bites

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah AKA The Thriftress) — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 02:08:00 +0000

Why not make some of these delicious cake bites this 4th of July? Not sold on the idea? Let me convince you.

This recipe is EASY - So easy the kids can help and you won't pull your hair out.
It's CHEAP - If you're an extreme couponer you have the ingredients in your stockpile right now (and you probably got them for free). If not, cake mix, frosting and chips are pretty reasonable even without coupons.
Cake bites are PURE AWESOME - When I made these for a BBQ people devoured them. Zero cake bites left within 30 minutes. Your guests will think you are a dessert goddess.

Okay let's get started! Gather your ingredients: 1 box cake mix, 1 tub frosting and 1 bag of chocolate chips.

I made two varieties: Lemon cream cheese white chocolate and sugar free vanilla and chocolate. The lemon cream cheese was the clear winner. The taste is refreshing and summery. Perfect for a BBQ. The sugar free version was also well received. No one noticed it was a lower calorie alternative!

Step 1: Bake your cake according to the directions. When it's cool, call the kids and let them squish it up into crumbs.

Don't worry, they will clean up all the stray crumbs!

Step 2: Add the tub of frosting to the cake and mix it up to create "dough". Chill the dough until it's cold enough to work with without being too sticky. (1-2 hours)
Step 3: Roll the dough into one inch balls.
Step 4: Chill the cake balls in the freezer on a baking sheet. (1-2 hours) This will make it easier to roll the cake in the chocolate.
Step 5: Melt the chocolate chips in the microwave in 30 second intervals until melted and smooth.
Step 6: Using a spoon roll the cake bite in the melted chocolate. Shake off excess chocolate and place the cake bites back on the baking sheet. Immediately add red, white & blue sprinkles before the chocolate dries.
Step 7: EAT!

Have a Happy 4th of July!

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Mom Trends

Countdown to Vacation

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah AKA The Thriftress) — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 00:47:00 +0000

Two weeks from today my husband and I are leaving for a week long vacation in HAWAII! And the kids are staying with my parents!

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We haven't been on a vacation - other than family trips to the beach - since our honeymoon in 2003. I am beyond excited. I never imagined we woud be going on this trip this year. Normally we are practical people who feel guilty spending money on a reasonable rental in Ocean City.

source

But our dear friends are getting married in Hawaii so we are going! I nearly got down on my knees to thank them for their choice of venue.

I think the kids will do great with their grandparents. My parents live about 5 hours away so they are looking forward to some quality time with the kids - although they might need a Hawaiian vacation when the week is over! I just hope my husband and I can make it through the week without missing the kiddos too much.

So here's where I need your help. If you've been to Hawaii (specifically Oahu) I would love to hear your experiences. What are the must-do activities? Most importantly, what the heck should I pack? I'm feeling like pack it all - to heck with baggage fees! Not so thrifty. I need help girls!

Do you want this to be me? (source)

There's wi-fi at the house where we are staying so get ready for a week of gorgeous Hawaii photos!

Thanks for visiting!