I gave in to peer pressure! After seeing these Martha Stewart rats around blogland I wanted them to come live at my house. Research showed they could be purchased at Micheal's- which we do not have. The closest one is 45 minutes away. Oh, well - maybe next year!
As luck would have it we made a side trip to Michael's in Atlanta and there they were...and on sale, too! Mine.....
Scared the boy :)
I spent a great weekend at the Country Living Fair in Atlanta with my Junkin' Buddy. We went up Friday morning and stayed until Sunday afternoon. We were so inspired by the great booths full of treasures and the gracious artists that we met! In the Earth Angels tent we spent some time with paper mache artist Debbie Thibault, who was so fun to talk to.
We also got to meet Sue Whitley of Junk Market Style. She taught us about using junk for organization and how to organize your junk in the Gorilla Glue tent. She was a kindred spirit. Just look at her cute belt- a zipper!
We shopped all day Friday and realized at 5:00 that we had forgotten to eat lunch! We did not even see all of the booths. On Saturday we forgot to eat again but they had a food row where you could sample dips and pretzels. It was a great way to make sales because we bought much of what we sampled! The most important thing I came home with was inspiration- we got so many ideas and saw creativity galore. Many pictures follow with a lot of the stuff I had to have:
Dip mixes and pretzels
Fabrics, patterns, ribbons
Candy corn bottle brush trees
Garland on Halloween tree made of bottle brush candy corn
Beachy bottle brush tree
Christmas ornaments
Scrapbooking stuff, some vintage and some reproduction- The bingo cards were used to make some really cute banners
One of the things I forgot to take a picture of is a junk necklace. I saw several that I liked but was too cheap to buy. I decided to collect some "found objects" and add to a simple necklace. I started with 2 simple necklaces , combined them and started adding stuff. So far I have a typewriter key with my initial, a charm with a little piece of a dictionary- the entry word "thrifty", a key, a watch gear, 2 clock hands and a little silver spoon. I can't wait to add more to it- the possibilities are endless- buttons, charms, beads.......
My camera has been MIA for a couple of weeks. Hubby needed it at work. I got it back today in time to share the tablecloth project that I started over Labor Day weekend. My inspiration for the tablecloth was a pile of Halloween fabric scraps and the glitter pumpkins I made.
I started with my old Halloween jumper. I wore this about 13 years ago- I know because the boy had a matching John-John. I have trouble getting rid of old clothes that have fond memories attached to them! There was a lot of fabric in this jumper.....
I used the jumper for the center of the tablecloth and I just pieced the boarder from the scraps I had. The only cost was a black sheet from Goodwill used for backing and binding. I am not really a quilter so it is not as precise as it could be.....but it is cheerful!
Happy Halloween! 
I got to shop the preview sale at the Kids Clothing Connection today. Even though there were lots of thrifty decorating things to go through I was consumed with baby things..... My first purchase was the changing table and the contour pad to fit on top. The table was a bargain at $10 and could easily be painted to match other furniture. Next came the glider- brand new-clean- even passed the sniff test. There were many to choose from but the others were more used and would need recovering. This one is so comfortable and is neutral enough to go with anything.
The clothes were so packed on the racks that it was hard to go through them. I ended up with 10 outfits -newborn to 3 m- for less money than I would have spent for 2. Some still had tags and some were very slightly worn. I did pay $3 for the little leopard number. It is a gown with a matching hat- brand new.
I love to decorate for seasons and holidays.....
Inside and
Outside.............
Of course the less money I spend, the better!
Total spent for this year's fall decorations.....$5.97.....for glitter and Dollar Tree pumpkins. Everything else is recycled, saved from years past, or made from supplies on hand! I have two more almost finished projects that will add about $4 to my total. I'll share them soon!
And the porch railing............
So this weekend we moved all of the clutter off to the side of the house (hoping no one would think it was a yard sale) and we got out the most wonderful power machine we own- the power washer.
Here is my favorite guy going to town on the ceiling. We knew there would be paint loss, but it was time to repaint anyway!
Here it is with a bright, new coat of paint! 
We have not painted these yet- they are so much cleaner!!!
Out came some wreaths made from Dollar Tree supplies and ribbon bought last year on sale!
I also spray painted the milk can this weekend. I think I may paint our house number on it!
It makes me smile to go sit on the porch now! I wish I could use the power washer inside the house!
Twice a year there is a enormous consignment sale here. I have always bought things for my kids and myself there. They are new and gently used items. This year I am selling and working there! Today was my first work day and I am worn out after 3 hours! This is going to be a huge sale and I have been blown away with all the bargains. It will run for 2 weeks beginning October 2 near Angel's Antiques for you Alabama girls.
Forgive the pictures taken with my phone as I pushed giant rolling rack of clothes around! My job was to take in clothes, check them for wear and tear, and sort them by size and sex. When a rack got filled then I would roll it and deliver the clothes to the racks that were already stuffed!
Some of the clothes still had the tags on them and they were so cute....especially the pink ones!! It was hard not to shop....I do get to shop before it opens to the public since I am a worker.
No telling what I will bring home! I am linking up to Leigh's Thrifty Thursday and will show off my Thrifty purchases there in a couple weeks.
