Chalkboard Contest Winner!

ThriftyAnnabella gave comment number 8!

I will get in touch with you about your chalkboard choice!

Thanks to everyone who commented!

Happy Anniversary Cliff!

"I got gaps; you got gaps; we fill each other's gaps."
Rocky

Paint & Power Tools

This is a public service announcement for all California residents: OSH has Rust-oleum American Accents spray paint 2 for $6! Plus a 10% off coupon!

Orchard Supply Hardware (OSH) is a smaller, friendlier hardware store similar to ACE hardware or the store Richie Cunningham's dad used to run. It's a chain here in California and I am partial to them because the tool guys are not too busy to explain stuff to me.

This week their slogan is "Oh Say Can You Save. " Cute and thematic and I like it. Along with that 10% off coupon, I like it a lot.

I had a wonderful experience yesterday buying some supplies. Like I said they are having a sale on spray paint. They had a 2 for $6 sign right in front of the Rust-oleum Stone spray paint. I thought that had to be incorrect, so I clarified with a sales girl who said, "It says American Accents, it's 2 for $6." Alrighty then! That's 2 cans for less than the price of one!

Of course you know when I got to the check out the regular price of $8.99 rang up. I knew they meant the $3.99 cans of regular American Accents colors. Still, she said it was on sale and since I took the time to clarify ahead of time, I complained. Would you believe they gave it to me! They said it was their error for not placing the signs correctly and not clarifying on the signs!

Whooo hoo! Next to a great deal, I love an honest company!

Oh and I also bought a saw!


It's the Black and Decker HandiSaw. The tool man at OSH didn't have any experience with this saw, but he told me that I could return it within 90 days if I wasn't happy.

I can already tell you that I am happy I won't need to use my drill a million times to make a cut!

Trash to Treasure: Celebrating the "Free" in Freedom

Yesterday I saw a free "curb alert" for this stuff on Craigslist. That black cabinet with the silver legs was perfect for another play kitchen. I had to go. The ad was posted at 6:48 and by the time I got across town at 7:30, it was gone.

Never fear, I got plenty of other good stuff and a potential "kitchenette."

Prior to seeing this ad, I had planned on sitting out this week's Trash to Treasure share at Reinvented. However, when good junk calls I am there!

This Christmas card wreath was among the free stuff.

I removed the ribbon and put that in with my gift wrap supplies. Then I bent the angel over. This created a pocket of sorts that perfectly held the little flag pole. Some red ribbon and an homemade flash card and I was done. Patriotic trash to treasure in the nick of time!

The chalkboard was a garage sale find from my parents back in '76. It's very old and has seen a lot of play. I am so glad that as a kid I never scraped that label off!


Speaking of chalkboards...have you entered the Living Rooms Direct chalkboard giveaway? The drawing will be Friday! Now, off to Reinvented for more Trash to Treasure!

True Thrifty Savings: Greeting Cards

Most of the time when I go to thrift stores I don't buy things I really need. Usually I buy decor items. While I get them at a fabulous price, I am not actually saving money because I never would have bought the item at full price. At $28 originally, I would have lived without an Anthropology dog dinner sign.

One area I have truly saved a ton of money is with greeting cards. I used to love shopping for greeting cards and really enjoy finding the right card for each occasion, but I found that it really added up quickly. I think inflation has hit the greeting card industry the hardest.

Several times since I have started thrifting in the past two years, I have found bags of greeting cards for a dollar or two. This weekend I was busy with a retirement party, but I managed to sneak into my favorite thrift store for a quick run through. I found a bag of greeting cards for $1.29. I could only see the top card through the bag, but I liked it well enough. At the current price of greeting cards, just using one card would still be a good deal. Turns out there were about 30 cards in the bag and most of them were keepers. I feel like I actually made money!

What practical items do you regularly find at thrift stores?

Did you enter the Chalkboard Giveaway? Living Rooms Direct has offered a sweet chalkboard prize! I will be drawing a winner on Friday.

Chalk Board Party & Chalkboard Give Away!

It's been six days since I finished the chalkboard refrigerator and I thought I would do an update for the Chalkboard Party at The Shabby Chic Cottage. Then as luck would have it, I was contacted by Suzanne from Living Rooms Direct about doing a give away! I decided to choose some fun chalkboard related prizes in keeping with the theme. More about that at the end.

Here is my chalkboard fridge!



1. We love it! Both Cliff and I are so glad that the wallpaper is gone and love the dark color. Since our kitchen is open to our living room it is important to us that it look nice.

2. Suddenly, that hunk 'o junk refrigerator we hated is making the rest of the room look really dated. Unfortunately, as renters, there is only so much we can do about the '80's cabinetry.

3. The refrigerator has a "leather" type texture and even with 3 coats of primer and 3 coats of chalk board paint, it still has that texture. So, there is some dust involved in writing. I don't imagine using it as a chalkboard daily. I think I will update it monthly.

4. There is a bit of upkeep. Already we can see how fingerprints and grease spatters show up really well. You can not just chalk over the grease, but it did come right off with a Mr. Clean Sponge. Extra erasing eliminates finger prints. I use a micro fiber towel from the automotive section as an eraser. It works really well.

5. **On a side note, I washed a Mr. Clean Sponge by accident and it came out of the dryer like brand new!! That was such a happy accident! I don't think I will try to wash it twice for fear of disintegration, but I sure was pleased to recycle it once!

6. I only painted the two sides that show. It took all day because I needed to let it dry between coats of paint, however each coat only took minutes to apply with a foam roller. I used low VOC paint and the chalkboard paint was pretty low VOC as well. I have almost a full can left over for other projects, but I can foresee wanting to freshen up the paint once a year.

OK, how about a fun chalkboard give away!

Living rooms direct sells all kinds of beautiful living room furniture and accessories. (I was especially impressed because they have a whole apartment living section!) I have selected three potential prizes. All you have to do is leave a comment on this post telling me which prize you would like and I will select one winner next Friday.


First up, Apertif & Boissons 9.5" porcelain chalkboard. This would pretty up any kitchen counter.
Next, this is the Wall Candy Arts RoCoco Chalkboard Removable Wall Decal. I can think of so many fun applications for this. I would put it in a guest room with a welcome note to the guest on it.

Finally, I like the clean lines of this modern notNeutral Light Blue (comes in green and orange too) Chalk board panel. This is fresh and sleek.

Thanks Suzanne for offering such fun prizes!

Now, I am off to The Shabby Chic Cottage to get more ideas for my leftover paint!
And, for more fun, check out Hooked on Houses for some Friday fun and another giveaway!

Got Glue?

I received this interesting letter a month or so ago from a product historian. He was interested in the glue shown in this picture.

Hello:

I stumbled on your photos when doing an Internet keyword search. I thought I would write because I think you can help me on a project I am working on.

I am a product label historian doing some work on glue products, specifically Elmer's Carpenter's Wood Glue. I note in your "Drawer to Shelf Transformation" photos, you show an older design bottle of the Carpenter's Wood Glue that Elmer's made years ago. The out-of-production bottle and label you show is the ----exact variation---- I was looking for to preserve in the archives.

Since production of that label, Elmer's has now "completely redesigned" their labels and bottles to a solid orange plastic type bottle. Current inventory sold in my area only shows the newer design in stock. The only way to find older out of production examples is to contact consumers who may still have the bottles in a basement, attic, cabinet or workshop. Thus, you can see they are hard to find.

In short, since I found your photos, I thought you may still have that bottle. If you are willing and still have that bottle or one like it, I will make an offer of $20 for it, and/or buy you a new full bottle. Let me know. Thanks much and pardon this rather odd request, lol.

He sent me a gift certificate to Home Depot and I sent him the glue! The funny thing to me is that my father hordes old tins and all sorts of promotional/packaging stuff with the hopes of one day selling it. And, here I just blogging away and I get an offer for packaging!

You just never know what will come out of blogging!