Nifty Thrifty Thursday: Key Kaddie

I found this spice cabinet a while ago at one fo my favorite thrift stores, Value Village.

 I had hubby remove the bottom shelf. We added cup hooks to the now bottom shelf. Hung right by the garage door, it's perfect for hanging keys and stashing sunglasses or those old clip-on garage door openers. Keys aren't pretty decor for me, so I close the doors and they are hidden away.

 

 

Quick. Easy. Functional. The perfect thrifty re-purpose.



Nifty Thrifty Thursday... Display Cases

I needed to go to the bank, the grocery store, and Wal-mart all before lunch... with 3 kids... so a thrift store visit wasn't going to happen. My kids survived the trip (amazingly behaved and I didn't have to threaten their lives once-- knock on wood and granite, metal, plastic, and cotton just to be covered!) Can I tell you how excited I am that in one week I'll be able to run errands with only my toddler in tow-- and she loves to shop! My bank account is in trouble. But I digress...

As I was checking out at Walmart, two employees made my day. When I said I'd like to price match the grapes at 88 cents, she said I'll give them to you for a better price and showed me some store's add for 69 cents a pound! woohoo! Thanks.  Then the gentleman that was changing over the display case said I could have these empty display case boxes. Double...make that, quadruple... thank you!

Oh, do I have plans for these.  They involve contact paper ('cuz really, who has time to modge podge scrapbook paper on 'em) and closet shelves. The Dollar Store has contact paper. But then again, school starts in a week and I just might have time-- Oh, the possibilities...

Stay tuned for more pictures when they get pretty! (Can you spray paint shiny cardboard? hmmm...)

DIY Slushy Drinks

As seen on TV, only cheaper! In fact, this costs practically nothing. I bet you have all the supplies and ingredients in your kitchen right now. (This eliminates the leaky zip-sealed bags of other DIY methods!)

You need:
-1 Mayonaise plastic bottle  (yes, I did scrap out the 1/3 cup or so left and put it in another container)
-1 small water bottle (you, know the 1/2 size kind-- make sure yours will fit in your mayo bottle)
-ice
-salt (about 1/2 cup)
-drink to slushify (that's the new word for the day!), we used kool-aid

The How To: It's basically the same concept as the old fashioned ice cream makers. 

1. Wash bottles clean (I removed my labels for better viewing).
2. Fill your tiny bottle 3/4 full with your drink of choice. Secure lid tightly and place it in the Mayo bottle.
3. Fill Mayo bottle with ice and dump in salt, err on the side of too much, it's not going to hurt anything.  I also added about a half cup water to help mix things around.
4. Secure lid tightly and shake-- probably a bit longer than the tv commercial suggests of 1 minute. I wrap mine in a kitchen towel, 'cuz, man, that thing is cold!
5. Remove inside bottle (mine's a tight squeeze, but it does come out.) and shake well to break up the ice inside.
6. Pour into a glass-- the bottle will taste VERY salty so you won't want to drink straight from it-- and enjoy.

If you are quick, you'll be able to make two in succession before the mayo bottle needs to be frozen again. Don't dump it out, just freeze as is. You'll be able to add your small bottle and shake for the next time. (Technically fully saturated salt water will not freeze in your freezer but it'll get very cold and slushy-- which works just fine.)

We haven't tried any other drinks besides Kool-aid. Let me know what you try!

Nifty Thrifty Thursday: Jewelry, in bulk

I love my local thrift stores. I also love garage sales, case lot sales, and clearance bins. Thursdays I'm going to share some of my great finds at these places in hopes of inspiring your own craftiness. 

Bring on the bling! I found two vases at Savers filled with jewelry and taped shut. The larger one was priced $4.99 and the smaller $1.99 (plus my 20% coupon for my donation).  I got home, with the "help" of my baby girl emptied out my haul, and I got a bit excited.

You see, the ladies at my church are collecting jewelry to donate to our local elderly care center.  The ladies love to look pretty, but they need necklaces that can slip over their head without clasps. Looking at all the beads in the jar, I just knew I could remake some of them into perfect pieces for them.  A few I'll just donate as is, like the shell leis, and some of the little girly bling my boy wants to sell at our garage sale at a whopping quarter a piece. (He wants to sell everything recently!) Is it wrong of me to want to keep two of them for myself? I've been looking for silver and pearls (actually made two necklaces out of the chain on the far left) and I just loved the green one next to it, too.

The rest are destined for greatness then gifting to the care center!

Here's what I've done so far.

I removed the clasps and added chains to 3 short ones .

There were some really long ones that I was able to make into 2 necklaces each. And twice I was able to take two smaller necklaces and combine and/or re-thread the beads to make them into one longer one.

I also cleaned out my jewelry supplies and created a couple from scratch-- hey I was on a roll.  I hope they enjoy them.

So whether you are gifting or crafting, check and see if your local thrift store has jewelry in bulk!

Dinosaur Fun

Today was Two Dollar Tuesday at the Dino Museum.  I packed up the kiddos, and threw in the two neighbor girls for good measure and we headed off to the past.  They loved it. It was crazy crowded but we waited in line and Ooo-ed and Ahh-ed over tiny trilobites and the towering T-Rex.

It was a bummer to come home, but our tummies were rumbling. After a quick lunch and google search, I whipped up some salt dough from this recipe.  I thought it would be cool to make some dino bones that they could dig up in the sand box.  Ummm... dino bones take FOREVER to bake.  I had to pick the hottest day of the week to bake salt dough in the oven. After an hour at 275, I called it good enough. 

 

 All mixed up.

 

Shaped

 

Baked. Why didn't the undersides turn white?

 Ready to be buried.

 

 Discovery!

I even joined them in the digging fun.  Go ahead and make some... you know you want an excuse to dig in the dirt. ;)

You could even get more educational and create a grid in the sand box with sticks and string. Recreate that grid on paper and have them mark the correct location where they found the bone. Think we might try that tomorrow. If we do, I'll post some pics.

Happy Diggin'


Editted to add: It is VERY frustrating when you can't find two of the bones even when kid #1 was instructed to only hide them inside a certain marked square. Can't imagine how real paleontologists feel!

Game Time with Siblings!

It's almost 100 out. It's been hot all week. School doesn't start for 3 whole very long (for mom) weeks. My kids refuse to play outside in the heat of the afternoons. I refuse to let them watch tv or play video games all day.  They love board games but sadly we don't have any new ones to tempt them into playing over and over again.
Here's what I did to make board games fun all over for them.

(I very much dislike posting pictures of my kids on-line. I was going to blurr out their faces

but they are just so dang cute!)

Just print off their cuteness on cardstock and attach a binder clip to the bottom. 'Tis the season for school supplies so they are all over... I got my assorted pack from the Dollar Tree. 

If you want extra durability-- kids will be playing with these!-- cover with clear packaging tape or laminate. Use them to make any old board game new and a bit exciting.  Chutes and Ladders and Sorry are my boys favorites right now! 

Beat that summer heat and stay cool inside.
(I'm also thinking this would be a great gift for the Grandparents-- a board game with all the grandkids as game pieces!) Quick and easy, but personal and they'll love it!

Linking up to...
DollarStoreCrafts.com August Craft Challenge sponsored by The Dollar Tree
Crafty Confessions