So You Think All Your Bargains Are at Walmart ?

Well as many of you know on Wednesdays I head down to my local Salvation Army because everything is 25% off on Wednesdays. I just got home and as always I did not return empty handed. The bargains are not to be believed. I have made it my mission to inform as many people as possible of the wonders of thrift stores. For all you mom's who work so very hard to stretch your household budget to cloth your children, yourself or your husband. Buy nice things for your home or thoughtful gifts for friends and family. If you are not going to thrift shops you are doing yourself a disservice. I challenge you to go to your local Walmart and purchase similar items that I am going to showcase here....at similar prices ! OK..let's get started.....

Item # 1...I am going to start with a free item. Yes..you heard me...FREE! My husband took some things to our recycling center and sitting on the textile bin was this pair of brand new, never worn, Sketchers athletic shoes...in my size ;-) These babies retail for $62.00!

Item #2 ...a local shop in town is relocating and they were having an "everything must go " sale. I spotted this Klaussner club chair and asked if it was for sale. It was and I could have it for $75.00...SOLD! I went home and googled ( I swear one of these days I am blogging about Google) my new chair. I found my chair at a couple of furniture stores for $599.00!!!!! My chair is just like brand new..no spots, sags or funky smells...can it get any better than that?

Item #3...Need a pretty gift for a friend..maybe to say thank you or Happy Birthday? How about this beautiful porcelain creamer. This is such a gorgeous piece of Bavarian porcelain and I only paid $3.75. Does Walmart sell Bavarian Porcelain????? I think not.

Item #4...Going to a baby shower or a christening? I have the perfect gift..don't you just love Beatrix Potter? The colors and illustrations on this Wedgewood porcelain mug are beautiful.

What a wonderful gift for a mom or mom to be...heck I want it just for me . Gee, does Walmart sell Wedgewood?? I paid $3.50...be still my heart.

Item #5...Now on to my eternal hunt for wool and cashmere sweaters to felt. I struck gold..or should I say diamonds, with this pretty blue 100% cashmere cardigan. Check out the fab buttons...Diamonds!!!!! Ok...so they are not real diamonds, but they sparkle like them.

This beauty will make a toasty pair of fingerless gloves and a cute sweater for a lucky child. The buttons alone were worth the price...$3.75. Ok...am I getting you excited yet?????

Item #6...This gorgeous ruffled blouse will be repurposed and matched up with a couple of felted sweaters...warm and feminine. It was originally from The Limited..no cheap clothing there. I paid $3.75.

Item #7...I am always looking for lovely yellow sweaters to felt. Yellow is a more rare color to find in good condition. I was dancing in the aisle when I spotted this J CREW yellow wool pullover. If you know retail clothing, you know J CREW is a very expensive shop. I Googled this piece they sell for approx. $65.00....My price...drum roll please...................$3.75! Yeah baby...I am doing the happy dance.

Item #8...My hubby used to tease me about my thrift store runs until I brought him a J CREW oxford shirt right out of the cleaners (med starch) for $4.00 (retail $88.00). Now he looks forward to my trips. Today was an especially good day for him. I found 7 shirts in his size and all were pristine condition and most had dry cleaner tags still on. Six of his shirts were $5.25 each and one was $2.99 ( because I smiled nice at the mgr ). When was the last time you bought men's dress shirts at Walmart for $5.25?

A few close ups to show off the name brands.

My man is a huge fan of LL BEAN so he is going to love these ( i found two ).

This dress shirt is my favorite find of the day....I Googled 'Arthur A. Adler' and found that this mens shop in Washington D.C. is were members of Congress, Supreme Court and Former President Bush ..plus many other famous gentleman, buy their clothes. I am going to take a wild guess that this is probably a $80.00-100.00 shirt (you know how the government loves to waste money). I am sure the fact that I paid $3.75 is impressive, however I am going to impress...no.. maybe even shock you with one more fabulous feature of this shirt. Are you ready? The label says...MADE IN U.S.A!!!!!!!! I am so happy to find that we do still make things in this country, and good things at that! This revelation in itself made my whole trip worthwhile. Now go out there and find a bargain..don't make me drag you kicking and screaming out of Walmart!

Until next time..be kind and stay creative.

*****Why Older Chicks Rule*****

This weekend we will be heading to New York for a graduation party. My beautiful and smart niece Taylor graduated from high school this year. My sister Madelyn (Taylor's mother) made a comment on her Facebook page saying how happy she was to have the last child out of high school. Maddy also made a nostalgic comment about wishing she was seventeen again. I pondered this idea and got a little nostalgic for the young me and came to the conclusion of..........Hell NO!!!!! No way would I want to go back to being insecure, inexperienced and ill-equipped for life. With that in mind I would love to share something with all of you. I was cleaning up this morning and brought my fridge back to the clean, unadorned and unmagnetized condition I had purchased it in. Many years ago a friend of mine sent me this and I had tucked it away behind a refrigerator magnet. For all you ladies over 40 this will make perfect sense. For all of you approaching 40, this is what you have to look forward to.

***********Why Older Chicks Rule*********** by Andy Rooney of " 60 Minutes "

This is for all you girls 40 years and over...and for those who are turning 40, and for those who are scared of moving into their 50's..and 60's and for the guys who are scared of girls over 40!!

As I grow in age, I value women who are over 40 most of all. Here are just a few of the reasons why:

1- A women over 40 will never wake you in the middle of the night to ask you " what are you thinking?" She doesn't care what you think.

2- If a women over 40 doesn't want to watch the game on TV, she doesn't sit around whining about it. She does what she wants to do. And it is usually something more interesting.

3- A women over 40 knows herself well enough to be assured in who she is, what she is, what she wants and from whom. Few women past the age of 40 give a hook what you might think about her or what she is doing.

4- Women over 40 are dignified. They will seldom have a screaming match with you at the opera or in the middle of an expensive restaurant. Of course, if you deserve it, they won't hesitate to shoot you, if they think they can get away with it ;-)

5- Older women are generous with praise, often undeserved. They know what it is like to be unappreciated. A women over 40 has the self-assurance to introduce you to her women friends.

A younger women with a man will often ignore even her best friend because she doesn't trust the guy with other women.

6- Women over 40 couldn't care less if you're attracted to her friends because she knows her friends won't betray her.

7- Women get psychic as they age. You never have to confess your sins to a women over 40...she already knows what you did.

8- A women over 40 looks good wearing bright red lipstick. Not true of a younger women. Once you get past a wrinkle or two, a women over 40 is far more sexier than her younger counterpart. ( I love this one )

9- Older women are forthright and honest. They'll tell you right off if you are jerk or if you are acting like one! You never have to wonder where you stand with her.

10- Yes, we praise women over 40 for a multitude of reasons. Unfortunately, it's not reciprocal . For every stunning, smart, well-coiffed hot woman of 40+, there is a bald, paunchy relic in yellow pants making a fool of himself with some 22 year old waitress. ( how many times do we hear of that!)

***For all those men who say, "Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free", here's an update for you. Nowadays 80% of women questioned are against marriage, why? Because women realize it's not worth buying an entire pig, just to get a little sausage... ;-)

Ok...I know I will catch some flack on some of these from my younger bloggers, but hey I'm over 40 and don't care!!!!!!

Until next time..be kind and stay creative.

Felting Friday

Ok...I know Friday is almost over, but it is the only day that rhymes with the word felt. I can't in good blogging technique call this Felting Saturday!!! Not proper blog literary form and a night in Blogger prison is not for me. I thought my blogging friends might like to see how I make my wrist warmers. It begins with a Wednesday visit to my local Salvation Army thrift store. Wednesday, because on that day EVERYTHING...yes I said EVERYTHING is 25 % off. I get goosebumps just saying that ;-) I look for 100% wool or wool/angora blends and cashmere sweaters. I never come away empty handed. I am starting with a red wool Abercrombie pullover sweater. I payed $3.75 for it.

When I get my treasure home I cut off any labels that might get in the way of my design. In this case my sweater had a cool Abercrombie label on the cuff and I decided to include that in my design...so I left it intact. I put my sweater in a pillowcase and closed it with a rubber band...I am going to repeat that ...I put my sweater in a pillowcase and closed it with a rubber band! Do not skip this step!! When it comes to felting tutorials, this is my pet peeve...this step is almost always skipped. I set my washer controls on hot wash/cold rinse and add just a few tablespoons of laundry detergent. I like to put a small amount of softener in my auto dispenser..optional of course. Set the washer to the fastest agitation and for extra agitation I throw in an old pair of jeans. The more agitating of the wool fibers..the better the result.

Often when I remove my sweater from the pillowcase it is all bunched up and full of wooly fibers.

Here is my Abercrombie turtleneck after the felting( the purest term is 'fulling' )..it has shrunk to about 1/2 it's original size. I block it back into shape and remove all the loose fibers. I then hang it on a rack to dry overnight. For further shrinking and to speed up drying you can put your sweater in the dryer also.

Here is the reason I made such stink about the pillowcase thing. Where do you think all this wool fuzz is going to go if you do not enclose your sweater while washing? Out with the rinse..that's where! The fastest way to kill the motor in your washer is to skip the pillowcase step. Believe me..it is not a pretty way for your washer to die. However if you have your eye on one of those fancy LG steam front loaders, then this could be your Kevorkian method.

After cutting off the lower half of each sleeve, I then had some fun embellishing my warmers. I made a rosette from some felted yellow cashmere sweaters and leaves from a pale green fair isle wool sweater. Once felted , the wool will not fray. No need to hem or finish edges. These warmers are great for keeping you warm while leaving your fingers free to use your cell phone or keyboard. I sell quite a few to ladies who work in air conditioned offices and complain their hands get cold. I hope I have inspired you to shop at your local thrift store and create something cool and beautiful. If not...just buy them from Me! ( www.theemptynest.etsy.com )

Until next time...be kind and stay creative!