How Thoughtful is my God...

If you've never read the book, The Dream Giver by Bruce Wilkinson, you should, IMMEDIATELY...anyway...years & years ago...I've always had a love/knack/desire/urge to go Curb/Dumpster Diving & be a trash picker... more than 20 years...I still have a foot-locker I curb-side recyled when I was 18 (it needs updating but...)  A few months back, I had a deep, driving urge to be "creative" artistically again and I came across a couple of bloggers & their sites (can't remember how I stumbled onto to them) but a seed of a dream started..I read their blogs and figured I could do the same thing to make extra income at night while home with my boys as they sleep (bedtime is 8pm).

Enter  The Speckled Dog blog & ETSY shop, she shopped thrift stores and took her raw materials from the ugly woods section aisle that hardly anybody goes down to make wonderful things!!!  She gives wonderful tutorials on how to "create" beauty from junk. I found her from The Tip Junkie, her site has links to anything you could ever imagine...DIY party themes, Holiday gifts, home decor, sewing, cooking, baking...if your 2 Hands can touch it, there's a link on her site for it.

My BFF & I were at a 50% off whole Goodwill Store not too long after that & she sees my cart full of U-G-L-Y (you ain't got no alibi you ugly..uh uh you ugly) wood...she was like, UHH you feeling alright, what's up w/the UHMM, wood?? I tried to explain it a bit...God love her, she didn't "SEE" my big dream just then. But I have other artistic friends who could see it & said yeah, go for it...& really the ugly wood was small $$$ investment so why not?? 

Fast Forward, told some other close friends & 1 of them found some "free" dumpster junk while working 3rd Shift...brings it to me, so I think, OK God, I get it..you approve it's an path to follow to help bring in money without leaving my boys at night time daycare since I already work a full time job (it's a wonderful job w/great pay & benefits don't get me wrong) but little boys & all their sports fees & equipment is expensive, so I need extra to give them extras...

Little by little and Thrifting Hunt after thrifting hunt, God is allowing me to "find" treasures that I can sell thru my ETSY shop to make that income. WOW, do what I love to do, THRIFTING & finding the finds is going to finally bring in some money instead of just saving me 80% off retail.

I'm still in the process of getting enough stock together and thinking of a Spectacular name for my shop...it's really all about marketing you know...

I'm praying for God to open the doors (both online & real life) for my business to be a big financial success. I've found a couple local non-profit agencies that take the $$$ I spend there back to help more people in need but I get CHEAP raw materials, paint, hardware, etc (it's almost free) to make my stuff. I'll post about them sometime this week, I just bought 2 wonderfully chippy pieces of furniture to make over to sell.

This afternoon, I took a "Look/See" of a Flea Market/Consignment shop, coincidentally called "Treasures" and got ideas on how to set up a booth there to see my "finds" and furniture along with ETSY.

Then just this past Thursday, I went sharkin' (that's a quick scan of the store without a cart) on my lunch break and found a unique piece of china...read my Facebook post below....

Amy Pitcher

Soo overwhelmed w/gratitude toward God..I know many of you don't "get" my blog or how/why I'm doing it...but today I found 1 lowly, unique china platter paid $1.08 for w/tax...just looked it up, it's Homer Laughlin rare pattern made in Jan 1935 and worth around $40 roughly...he's showing me in little ways & acknowledgements that this business is blessed & to follow it. Thank you God! Thursday at 11:26pm ·

I think my ETSY shop will be called "Beauty for Ashes Designs" and this song..."You make beautiful things, you make beautiful things out of the dust.." by Gungor has been playing over & over in my head along with several different people giving scripture reference to that same passage.

So say a prayer for me for clarity & send some people to like my Facebook Page and "join to follow" my site here on google blogs, PLEASE !

Thanks,
Amy

G-Dub-OH!!!

Here are some found treasures from the Goodwill Outlet, priced at $.59/lb on Super Saturday Sale

I was soo excited to spy these in the blue bins....and thought I might have to fight an old lady for them too...now in regular Goodwill, probably not gonna see any Jerry Springer Material but at 'Da Outlet, well You Never Know! They are going to look great with my White Ironstone Cup/Saucers that I told you about here

Currier & Ives "Early Winter" Soup Bowl by Royal   found (3) in OK condtion, current selling price from China Replacement Parts is $9.99 each, weighs 'bout 1/2lb or $.30/each = $30 Samollions (or dollars, bucks, greenbacks, you know money??)

(4) Currier & Ives by Royal China on Royal-Ironstone Plates same weight as bowls & resell price, $40 profit
(4) Bread & Butter plates, no stamp/markings on back of plate, $4.99 each, weighs less than 1/4lb so $.15 cost = $19 profit

Ed can you update that total on the Leaderboard please!  (drum roll) $90 give or take few...see people, you can have what you want for a WOW, That's A LOW PRICE, price..you just have to hunt & you know what they say... Neccessity Low Budget  is the Mother of Invention Treasure Hunting!

WHAT DID I DO TODAY??? (Or What Didn't You Do?)

Well on lunch, I ran thru Value World and boy did I find some FINDS!!!  a for real Bell-Shaped Cloche $1.50, (2) Milk Glass vases that you see everywhere $.40, Milk Glass Budoir Lamp $1.20 (metal work needs freshed with Oil Rubbed Bronze Paint), a cool typewriter/suitcase thing that looks kind of British for Thing 1's room it's a rocker theme... couple of cool pitchers 1 with a grasshopper graphic and some more stuff I can't remember off the tops of my head but only spent $14.86 using my 50% off coupon and had a cart load, that makes TTH very happy...pics to come

Then swung into Lowes to check paint mistints, I found 2- red sample for $.50 and a Grey-ish Exterior quart for $2.50 (they are 5 mins from each other) didn't even get a cart...left there picked up Roast Beast Manhattan from MCL Cafeteria (Yummy Old People, no salt added homecooked Goodness) all that Treasure Hunting makes a girl HUNGRAY-WHAT U CRAVE (sorry random commercials keep popping into my head- that's actually from White Castle)

Finsished my real job that pays the bills, Coached Thing 1 at Soccer Practice while my BFF took Thing 2 to Football practice...got home & spent 'bout an hour painting my raw materials tonight...getting closer to opening my ETSY SHOP!!

Woo Hoo Hoo-Fabulous Friday at G-Dubs

that's Goodwill in case you didn't know, and Goodwill has been Soo Good to Me!!!

Here is an intriguingly interesting dining table, the legs resemble bamboo and are a yellow ocher color and the top is wood grain but laminate...BOO,  however the price is nice for such a sturdy table that has so many makeover possiblities, a mere $18.99, I had to pass on this one, wouldn't fit into Bertilda-my Ford Focus...oh she holds alot o' stuff for sure but no way for me to get this beast home...I'm really wishing I had my mini-van back (who says that? and actually means it??)

NOW, for the Good Stuff I did buy on Fabulous Friday at G-Dubbs...20 Pieces of White Authentic Iron Stone by the Johnson Brothers out of England...and each piece was $.99, I almost felt like a thief and then I saw my total for the whole trip, $85...wondering who got robbed???  I still say them but my checking account says me...Oh Well, I have my Iron Stone, who needs to eat?  JK

(the Rooster Tray I got from Value World Wed $ $1.62, still has partial TJ Max sticker on it, it going in my French Country Kitchen)

I have a matching set of (8) cups & saucers, (2) shallow dishes, creamer & sugar bowl missing it's lid (I LOOKED all over for it)

The Creamer stamp is very faint, like it was heavily glazed, the set has a few chips but overall it's in really good shape.  I found a great replacement site, click here to price, the pattern is Heritage White and according to them my set is worth $9.99 each, net profit $8/set or $64.
Sugar Bowl w/o lid is $19.99, plus $19 for me
Creamer $19.99 plus $19 for me

Let's do that math real quick shall we,
$64 + $19 +$19 = $102 net gain for less than an hour time shopping,
SEE YOU CAN GET PAID TO SHOP
(ok, I guess I was the thief, but I'll be back next time G-Dubbs)

 The Pl-Ugly (plain & ugly) platter I found at G-Dubbs O or Goodwill Outlet for $.59/ lb, I'ma guess it weighs about 3 pounds roughly, $1.80 price.  The stamp on back says "Semi-Vitreous Procelian, U.S.A., East Liverpool Potteries Co. (that's Liverpool, Ohio). I haven't found a value yet so I'ma holdin on to Plugly till then.

East Liverpool Historical Society

USA Pottery Marks

It's pretty well used (banged up) and has visible crackling on the finish, I have not cleaned it up yet so your seeing it straight out of the big blue sort bins.






Well, it's late and I've made you all Green with Envy I'm sure...if you want to find the finds I find, you're more than welcome to Hunt with me!

I do have more to share but another post for another day, Goodnight my little Bloggers, Sleep Tight and let visions of Ironstone Dance in your heads.

-Amy
Thrifty Treasure Hunter signing off for now



Thursday Lunch Hunt

I went to Value World on my full lunch Wednesday & found some awesome treasure- Large Glass Cloche/Dome, American Girl Palomino Horse, Lots of Beachy Decor, stuff for my patio makeover (that post is coming but has lots more pics), anyway when I was there then had an wonderful small sideboard cabinet thing that would have went in my entry nook perfectly..and for $4, but somebody had already spoken for it...I waited & then finally checked, They were still shopping & still wanted it...so I gave the cashier my cell# & said call me if she doesn't buy it, I'll be here in 5 mins, luckily I only work 2 miles away. She didn't call so I decided to pop in Thursday just in case... it was gone :(

V-Dub's employees are starting to recognize me as a regular, is that a good thing or bad ??? I think good cuz Mike, a stocker, took an item that had lost it's tag (I didn't do it) to get repriced. And the Shift Manager lady was super nice & helped me carry all the stuff out to the car..a nice surprise

Here's is yesterday' quick lunch-time Value World score (prices after my 50% off coupon) 
Chairs- $1 each 
Blue & White Curtain panel w/lace edged valance- $2 

Found an inspiration bench a few weeks ago that combined 3 chairs into 1 bench painted Bold Blue

of course now I can't find it in blogland)(I finally found THE BLUE BENCH
It's on Frou-FruGal's blog, she gave complete instructions, I <3 Her

(
And I just saw that she posted how to make Outdoor Bench Cushion too!

I did find this one but not the same 1 I saw & fell in love with

(found it yesterday but forgot to save the website, not trying to claim as my own****disclaimer)

Now for some manual labor & then I'll be posting some after pics hopefully soon, FYI my boy's football & soccer games start this Saturday so hopefully I can squeeze in some DIY time.

Happy Hunting!

Feel free to share your finds or upcycled stuff!

On the hunt for Sport's Equipment- I struck GOLD!

Sorry for neglecting my post but my baby, Thing 2, had his 1st Baseball All-Star tournament this past week(end) and I had doctor appointments and just didn't fit any blogging in. Forgive me?

This past weekend I hit up Value World  (VW) with my printable 50% off coupon from http://www.coupons4indy.com/ and found not 1, not 2 but 5 pairs of sliding shorts for baseball. Friends let me tell you, that's a rare treasure indeed, to date I've never found any and the regular price is $20-$50 depending on brand and quality. I got all 5 for under $5, YES, that's right, $5 BUCKS!!!

I was lucky and found before baseball season started a protective shirt for Thing 2 at the same VW for $2...I thought they run around $20 so great deal, yeah?  Well, All-Star coach bought his son the exact same 1 for $40, SCORE!!! At another VW, I got him a $40 bat for $1.50 and the best thing, he started hitting consistently better.

And my final deal of the day, which isn't a Thrift Store find but definetely frugal...my all white "uniform" to match my baby. Shorts $6 and Shirt $4 Wally-World (Walmart), then took it to the awesome Avon Sports Apparel to have the name/numbers pressed on my shirt, $13 plus they gave me (2) neon orange t-shirts to promote their business, FREE is a definite SCORE too... Go see Fernando (play mental ABBA song now) and get your parent booster shirt hooked up, only took about 10 mins

I was wearing a navy blue Hawks shirt but it was sooo hot outside, heat index 110, on Saturday that I went with all white too...I have a secret for getting his uniform clean...I used the recipe to make your own home-made laundry soap from Erin Huffstetler @Frugal Living.

I used 2 TBSP each of: Fels Naptha Soap, Washing Soda, Baking Soda and Borax...mixed that with HOT water in a bucket, added uniform & hand scrubbed red dirt & grass stains out. Then dump the entire mixture into the washing machine & add 1 load serving of Tide w/Febreeze (you probably could omit the Tide but it was already so late & I didn't want to wait to rewash)...viola' comes out pretty white. (pics taken Sunday & the smiles are there because we hadn't lost yet)

In this rare photo of brother's hugging & liking each other (that's Thing #1 in the gold tee), you can see how dirty it was from Saturday's winning game. We celebrated by eating dinner at Culver's Butter Burgers & Frozen Custard, MMM soo good. 

Homemade laudry soap costs about $5 to make 10 gallons of detergent that works very well & has a clean smell.  It even revived some pretty dingy shirts I used it on!
Easy to make too & I bought all of the ingredients in the laundry/cleaning aisle of Kroger's grocery store.


COMING SOON: Treasure Hunting in Sunny Madiera Beach
What will she find??

Yes, but can she really hunt down the treasure?

It's true, I'm new to blogging but I have been a Treasure Hunter for as long as I can remember (my mom drug me around with her) and just like spinach & asparagus, I love it as an adult.

What's in the bag, lady?  Well, I'm glad you asked (shopping bag was a sample from http://www.4imprint.com/, they have wonderful marketing tools and they are very, very economical & easy to work with)

This is just 1 of the bags of booty from my 4th of July Goodwill Super Saturday sale, I weighed the contents & a couple other things you'll see in the next pic, it all weighed 7 pounds. Now, you're probably wondering why does it matter how much it weighs, right? Well, at Goodwill Outlet (Indy has 3 of them) they weigh most everything by the pound. Regular price is $.59/lb but on Super Saturdays it's only $.39/lb. YES, I typed that correctly and for you quick mathematicians out there, I only spent about $3 for everything I'm getting ready to show you. MWA HA HA

OK, gonna start from the top down

• Black wrought iron 2 decorative plate holder (was bronze/coppery)
• Full tin of Mostly Memories Sample candle Grandma's Kitchen smells like cinnamon oatmeal cookies
• Yankee Candle Shells on Sand Candle holder #0903258521
• Ceramic Bee candle holder (small candles in the wings)
• Partylite taper candle slightly curved in spiced vanilla
• Small off white shelf (held all of the above)
• Small Embroidery Hoop
• Silver 5X7 picture frame
• Smaller plastic hoop
• Rooster Coaster (inside hoop, going to upcycle this for my kitchen)
• Willow Tree Angel-Happiness missing her foo-fahs on her arms
• Suchard Hot Chocolate Syrup for Tassimo 8 disks fully sealed
• Wooden Bobbin Holder??
• Lime Green Ceramic Pot w/matching tray (2nd one not pictured)
• 5 Walnut colored wooden mini-candle sticks
• Evil Pig from Toy Story, Faceless LegoMan & Golf Ball (for my boys)
• Medium Espresso Shelf/Ledge w/4 Hooks (held all of the above)
• Salter Digital scale (perfect for weighing food or packages)
• Black Paisley Vera Bradley Makeup Bag
• Heavy Duty Ladder/Bike Wall Hook for Garage
• GNC Pro Performance Shake Maker w/steel mixing ball (perfect for Shakeology Shake)
• Leather Tool Belt Pouch
• Tied to the Top of the chair resting against the back is Tan W/Black Flocked Design w/satin sash
• Not in this pic but (8) sealed in original plastic Original Chocolate Factory candy/dessert molds w/instruction book

ALL OF THAT for  Three Dollars, let the hating begin...it's ok..next time I go 'A Hunting, you can come too

I had already painted the plate holder black and found 2 Rooster Plates to go in them from another adventure, they came from Value World originally from Home Goods w/price still on $2.99 each, VW had them marked $1.21 but I used my 50% off coupon and got them both for $1.21, they were supposed to go in my kitchen that I'm doing French Country Roosters.....But Alas, as I was trying to get the right placement to cover the phone jack, both of them crashed to the ground and broke, cutting my leg w/shards (Who knew Terra Cotta could be so sharp)

Now don't fret, they broke in big enough pieces I think I can Super Glue them back together, if not,

well it was only A Buck Twenty One :)

Well, Can I Hunt or Can I Hunt,

Amy, The Thrify Treasure Hunter signing off for today