Do You Thrift?

I recently got back into thrifting and oh how I missed it!  I used to go thrifting so often that I dedicated a whole series to it, ha!  If you have been a long time reader you might remember that.  I love the thrill of finding one of a kind things that truly are little treasures.  Lately I have been on the hunt for unique coffee mugs, glassware and artwork for my home.  But sometimes you find the best things when you are not necessarily looking for them.

Here are a few of my recent finds...

A giant original oil painting for my husband's home office.  Ian is a mountain man at heart and this was perfect for him.  I got it for $10.  You can't beat that.

A happy little mug to add to my growing collection of mis matched dishes.  It was .25.

A vintage bomber jacket for Ronin.  This was just too awesome not to get.  $3 well spent in my opinion.

Do you thrift?  If so I would love to hear what you look for when you do.

Thrifty Momma Thursday

A leather bound journal. All of the pages are blank...

...except for the very first one. It says, "Just when the caterpillar thought its life was over it turned into a butterfly." I absolutely love it. I have been looking for a good journal/notebook to keep all my blog ideas and inspiration in and this is perfect.

Handcrafted wooden goblets. I loooove them.

This Egyptian-esque necklace. It just might be my new favorite thrifted piece of jewelery .

Thrifting Tip:
Thrifting is either hit or miss. Every time I go I do not leave with a bundle of amazing treasures. I have noticed that when I go with the intent to find some spectacular item is when I leave empty handed. I think the best way to thrift is to have no expectations at all.

Thrifty Momma Thursday *Buy Sell or Trade*

Before I became a Mom I cared WAY too much about jeans and I would spend hundreds of dollars on them. I would get a little high off of going into a department store and buying a new pair that made my butt look good. Isn't that why you buy jeans?! Well now that I am a Mom and my views on spending have changed, I think spending over $150 on a pair of jeans is STUPID stupid ..no matter how good they make your butt look.

I still love a good pair of Citizens or Paige Denim jeans but now I wont spend more that $30 on them.

I have discovered the amazing world of "Buy Sell or Trade" shops. Let me explain...

They are clothing shops that only buy sell or trade high end clothing..for a GREAT price! You can bring in your old pair of jeans that you just might be a little sick of wearing..or God forbid the dryer shrunk them..I hate when that happens ;) They will either give you cash (cash is good) or store credit towards something else. Genius!! This is the only way I buy new (new to me) jeans now and I love it!

If you have never heard of shops like this before I have listed a few links below and you can see if any are in your area. If the links I listed are not in your area you can do a little Google search for "Buy Sell and Trade Clothing" and you are bound to find one close to where you live.


The Buffalo Exchange

Urban Exchange

Cross Roads Trading

Beacon's Closet



Have any of you ever done this? I am so curious to see who else trades in their jeans for new ones.

Today is the last day to enter THIS giveaway

Thrifty Momma Thursday and Giveaway Winner!

In pretty much perfect condition Jessica Simpson flats for $1.

A brown leather belt.

Ian and I own a total of two coffee mugs. The two that we do own are giant and fit about 2-3 cups of coffee easily. I see no point in owning more unless they are also giant or pretty awesome. I saw these and they are now happily apart of our mug family.

A stack of wood frames that I am going to distress and hang in our entry way. $2 for all of them.


AND now for the winner. I know you scrolled down here first but I'm fine with that :)

The winner is # 64 Danielle. Congrats Danielle! Please e-mail me at lindsay.kujawa@yahoo.com with your mailing address.

Thank you to everyone who entered!

For all of you who just said ...."Aww Boooo!" I just might be having another AWESOME giveaway tomorrow *hint* hosted by one of my favorite Etsy shops! So you have another chance to win!

*Giveaway!* Thrifty Momma Thursday

A little while back I said that I would like to start giving away some of the fun things I thrift in order to keep the cycle of giving and thrifting going. SO today I am giving away one of the following...

A bright yellow vintage fondue pot. It still has the original tags and instructions inside.

A vintage floral skirt. Size Medium. I am guessing it is about a size 4.

Elephant figurine/ring holder.


How you can win:

You must be a follower of my blog. Leave a comment below telling me which item is your favorite.

For additional entries:

Mention this giveaway on Twitter.

Mention in a blog post.

Mention on Facebook.

Leave a separate comment for each.

The winner will be chosen via random.org. Good luck!

The giveaway ends Wednesday July 27th

Thrifty Momma Thursday

A gold butterfly necklace.

A vintage fuchsia skirt.

Brown slouchy boots IN MY SIZE.

Thrifting Tip:
If you LOVE something ( I loved the skirt) and it is a great price ($3) but it is TOO big (or too long..) have it altered...and Ta-DA! If you have sewing skills I am jealous! I would be making much bolder purchases if I knew how to do my own alterations.

thirfty momma thursday and *giveaway winner*

Thrifted plates and mugs $6

Max's FIRST birthday party is next weekend!! Am I all ready and organized? Nope. Does party planning stress me out? YEP. I would be the worst wedding planner...I would most likely give the bride a mini panic attack..

I finally decided I am going to be making cupcakes instead of a big giant cake. I wanted a cute stand but everything is so girly. I am not the type to search everywhere for the prefect stand so I decided to make one. IF YOU ARE NOT SUPER CRAFTY (I fit into this category) this is SOO SIMPLE.

The only thing you need other than plates and mugs is a glue gun...which I borrowed.

Line the bottom rim of the mug with glue.

Place the mug in the center of the plate and push down tightly so it adheres to the plate. Rim the top of the mug with glue and attach next plate...continue doing this until you reach the desired height of your cupcake stand.

All finished!

And now for the winner! Even though you most likely scrolled down here first...hey I do the same thing :)

Congrats to #38 Joanna! I will e-mail you this evening to get your info.


Linking up here

thrifty momma thursday

I am SO stoked on this beautifully carved end table I found! I am going to refinish it and give it a whole new look this weekend..along with a million other things I have to do...like plan a carnival themed birthday party for Max, which is just a few weeks away! I really need to get on that.

Side note: That yellow spray paint mark on the right is from me..WOOPSIE...Ian was not too stoked that I accidentally forgot to put down cardboard when spray painting some frames.

I am loving all the detailed carvings.

Thrifting tip:
Have vision. Look at the bones of the furniture. Is is sturdy? Is it real wood? Do you like the overall shape? Everything else like paint, wood color and knobs can be easily changed.

thrifty momma thursday

Isnt this the cutest little elephant figurine?! I am going to use it as a ring holder. Hello fun jewelery organization.

It was elephant week apparently! I also found a sterling silver elephant brooch. I plan on taking the back pin off and attaching it to a plain cuff that I have.

A bright yellow Pyrex bowl. I have this dream of opening my cupboards and all I see is brightly covered vintage Pyrex dishes.

Thrifting tip:
Get an early start. Early bird gets the Pyrex! Plus...in the morning things are more organized, the employees are generally happier and there are not tons of people yet. Just a little observation.

thrifty momma thursday

Vintage gold bracelet $5

This is probably my favorite thrifted piece of jewelry to date. I may just wear it with everything..everyday.

Vintage ice cream maker SCREAM!!! $8

I am dreaming about all the homemade ice cream that I am going to make over the summer! I got home and thought "PLEASE WORK".....I plugged it in..turned it on... the motor hummed PERFECTLY and and it is ready to do some serious ice cream making.

A couple Dr. Seuss books to add to Max's collection. $1 for both

Thrifting Tip:

If you are a frequent thrifter, learn the employees names and say hello. Be sweet. Be sincere. There is the nicest man named Patrick (who is missing a few teeth) at the Salvation Army. I have made it a point to get to know him. Not only will they appreciate this but they will remember YOU and just might give you a "special" price because you went out of your way to say hello. Give it a try next time you go.

thrifty momma thursday

Vintage floral skirt $4

My summer wardrobe is going to consist of lots of flowy skirts and maxi dresses..it is just too hot for anything else.

Vintage Trifari earrings $1!!

I am a little obsessed with gold jewelry at the moment...so when I saw these I scooped them right up.

Metallic faux snake skin flats $5

I LOVE LOVE these. I spotted them and thought, "Please be my size!"
They were. It was meant to be.

Lesson learned:
1) If you want to do an outfit post showcasing your thrifted skirt, do NOT do an intense chemical peel a few days before...unless you want to blur out your face. Trust me this is not a good look!

2) This is kind of irrelevant but mean comments suck. I have gotten a few in the last couple days. Ian said I need to get thicker skin...which I agree with, but it still makes me want to karate chop whoever said them. Okay that's all! :)

thrifty momma thursday (even though it's friday)

2 bright colored Pyrex bowls to add to my little collection

A few classic cookbooks. I cant WAIT to try a few recipes from "The New York Times International Cook Book."

A few that popped out were:

• Stuffed grape leaves with Avgolemono sauce from Greece
• Rum custard pudding from Jamaica
• Stuffed mussels from Turkey
• Mahashes from India

A vintage bronzed necklace.

Cast iron baking dish. So excited about this one!

I decided to do a weekly post where I will post all things thrifty. It will include awesome little thrifting finds, thrifty tips and just about anything else thrifty that fits in this category.

I'm gonna be totally honest (I know this is never a good way to start a sentence), this time last year you would never ever see me thrifting. If I did it was up in Big Bear where no one would see me. I had a stigma that everything I bought had to be brand spankin new.

Now I can proudly say that I go thrifting at least 3x per week and find the most amazing things! What changed?...Well I had a baby and all my extra spending money went bye bye! So I decided to get creative...a that is how I became a thrifty Momma ;)

I would also LOVE love to hear about your thrifty finds or tips. So if you want to share, leave a link of your thrifty things in the comments below so I can check it out!