Great Goodies from Goodwill!

Lately, my Goodwill has had a lot of neat things. If I had a lot of money I would probably be bringing home a bunch of  goodies, but since we are on a pretty tight budget I have to choose a few special items. Here are some of my latest finds:

This lovely Japanese teapot was only $1!

I think the blue and brown Herons match nicely with the rest of my kitchen. :o)

This cute cork sculpture was only $1! There is a small missing piece of glass in the back, but I don’t mind.

I love all the detail in cork sculptures! I have a couple of small ones, but could never bring myself to spend the money on a larger one.

See how pretty it looks on the shelf over one of my windows in the kitchen?

This heavy wooden tray was a real bargain at $2.50!

And I knew I had to have this vase when I saw it! The glass is blueish and I love the woven bamboo around it! Someone hid this behind a bunch of junk. I saw it peeking out and pulled it out to get a better look. I would’ve paid full price for this ($4.99 at World Market), I only paid $2.

And it’s “Made in Vietnam” just like my husband! 😉

They make a nice addition to my living room decor, don’t you think?

And Robyn, I did think of you when I dropped by Goodwill this week! 😉 For those of you who do not know, Robyn is a lovely lady with a sweet blog called Forest Hills Road. She has a really positive and uplifting outlook on life. I hope that you will stop by and visit her! :o)
Forest Hills Road  has had a “blog not found” message for the last few days. I’m not really sure what has happened to my friend and I hope that you will all keep her in your prayers!

Thanks for visiting! :o)

I’m linking to these fun parties:

Tropical Bird House

I found an old wooden bird house in the basement a few days ago. Just a plain craft one from the Michael’s store that  had been sitting on my craft shelf forever. I decided to dress it up a bit and use it on my porch. In case you haven’t noticed by now, my husband and I prefer Asian and tropical style decor. So I thought maybe a tropical looking birdhouse would go nicely.

First I primed it. It had a few splotches of red on it from one of my kids. He was going to paint it, but then lost interest.

Then some chocolate brown spray paint.

Next I thatched the roof with some bamboo pieces that I saved after having the blinds in my kitchen cut down to size.  Then I wrapped it in twine. Sorry I didn’t get any photos of this…It was too hard to glue and snap pictures at the same time, especially with my sticky fingers. :o)

I painted the posts red and added a couple of yellow flowers for color.

A little taste of the tropics. :o)

Thanks for visiting!

Michelle


P.S. Don’t forget to check out my GIVEAWAY

Linking to these fun parties!

Bamboo Table Runner from Dollar Store Placemats

Yesterday I was browsing at The Dollar Tree when I found these cute, multi-colored, bamboo placemats.

I bought 3 of them to make an easy table runner for an old trunk that my husband got when he was in the military. We’ve been using the trunk as a table ever since we got married.

I lined the placemats up end-to-end.

Then I used a needle to pull some neutral toned cross-stitch floss through the ends.

After, threading down the sides I tied them off, then trimmed off the extra string.

I got out my hot glue gun and glued some ribbon on.

And, now I have a nice little table runner! 🙂

I am linking to:

Disposable Chopsticks Wall-scroll

What do you do with those disposable bamboo chopsticks that they give you with your meal when you go out to eat at an Asian restaurant? Do you throw them away? Stuff them in a drawer somewhere? I imagine most people do.

Recently, someone gave me a a whole bag of disposable chopsticks…still in the wrappers. I saved them because I figured I would find a use for them. So far I have used some of them for cleaning out hard to reach places, mixing paint and Christmas crafts.

Today I thought of another use for them…decorative scrolls! 🙂

First, I took an old dress that I was saving for just this sort of project.

Then I cut it into the approximate size and shape of a small scroll.

I got out some black fabric paint and my paint brushes.

I painted a simple bamboo design…If you are not the greatest artist (hehe…me) then you can print a template off the internet to use for your design.

Here is my painting…very simple as you can see.

Next, I sewed the seams up then folded it over to make a place for the chopsticks.

And here it is. Now to find a nice place for it. 🙂

I’m linking to:

Funky Junk Interiors

Fireflies and Jellybeans

Cottage Instincts

The Persimmon Perch

Making the World Cuter

Twice Remembered

Trash to Treasure Decorating

Reinvented

The Thrifty Home