My bargains for the week

It's been awhile since I've gotten such good bargains,

but this past week I found several.

I know the price tag says $1, but it was

.16 cents!!!!!

yep, only .16 cents!

I saw this little birdie at Dollar General when I had to rush to get my daughter some marshmallows for a science project that she forgot... anyway, I saw this little fella and picked him up and said to myself, "I don't need that, even if it IS only a dollar." But.. then I talked myself into it and when I checked out the checker said, "16 cents." I had to ask her to repeat herself. I just love him. He's so cute and he goes perfect in my bathroom. Now I just have to find a place to stick him. He's supposed to go in a plant, which I don't have in my bathroom.

My next bargain of the week are these funky reading glasses from Goodwill....

$1.39!

I'm WAY past due for a new glasses prescription. I need bi-focals BADLY!!

I'm hoping to use these when I'm creating. I have trouble seeing the small pieces I'm working with. Yep, I'm getting old.

I found these yesterday at Goodwill. I knew they were good quality. I'm not an expert on boots so I called my husband (who is). I wanted him to Google them for me or look on ebay to see if I could get any money for them. They're size 7 and I'm a 7 1/2. They fit me, but are a little snug. I could probably wear them if I wasn't doing a lot of walking. Anyway, my husband was in the field and not in the office by his computer so I had to decide if I wanted to pay $8 and take a chance on making any money on them. I decided to go for it. When the guy rang them up they were only $4!! The sign said that boots were $8. I didn't mention that to the guy. Was that wrong of me? Hey, he works there, not me. (Rationalization?) Anyway... I like 'em and I hope I can wear them. They will add some style to my wiww outfits!

I've been looking for more cardigans to add to mywardrobe

and I found this one at Goodwill for $4.19. I already have a

red one almost identical to this one, but this one is more

of a darker, cranberry color.

Can't have too many cardis!!

(sorry for the bad pictures. my house is dark and dreary this morning.)

What bargains have you found lately?

wiww

What I Wore Wednesday....

Linked to

the pleated poppy

Friday

Wore to substitute teach

Shirt: Thrifted from Goodwill..i think $3.99

Tank: Wal-Mart

Jeans: Levis thrifted from Goodwill... $6.99

Shoes: Payless (i think) a few years ago

(sorry for the weird angle, but the straight on shots were not pretty)

Sunday

Wore to church

Cardigan: Target

Tank: W-mart

Skirt: i think Kohl's clearance rack

Shoes: Old Navy

Earrings: shrinky dinks made by my teen daughter at church camp, cute huh?

                                                 

Sunday night

Wore to small groups (church)

Cardigan and shoes: same as Sunday morning
Tank: Nicole Miller, Kohl's?

Jeans: Levis thrifted Goodwill

Jewelry: earrings.. premier, necklace... made by me out of vintage shoe clip

Monday or Tuesday

Wore to take the kids to school and work around the house

Shirt: old don't know where i got it

Jeans: Old Navy

Flip Flops: Old Navy

(cropped my face out... no make-up and a little scary lookin')

Wednesday

Wore to town to set up a display of my jewelry

and a display of my garden charms at two stores... woo-hoo!

Tee: Church camp shirt

Jeans: Old Navy

Flip Flops: Old Navy

Hair: up in pony-tail and frizzy from cleaning

and another scary face

This is my every day attire when i'm at home

Tee: Very old and holey Old Navy tee

Shorts: Boxers from Gap (so comfy!)

Granny house shoes: Walmart

Another beautiful hair day and goofy face

I REALLY need a haircut... really bad!!

Tomorrow I'll show you some of my bargains I found this week... i LOVE me a good bargain!!

Antique Garden Charms

Well, I guess it helps to network if you have a small jewelry business. I've been making jewelry for about 5 years now and adding new creations as I've gone along. Besides making jewelry I decorate antique bottles, make gypsy windchimes, mixed media pieces, needlework and my newest creation is garden charms.

When I was at antique alley last weekend I started talking to a woman in a booth where I bought an antique chandelier prism. I was telling her I was buying the prism to replace one that had been broken on one of my garden charms. She asked me what a garden charm was. I explained the best I could and she asked to see them. The next day I went back with a bag of my garden charms. She really liked my vintage-looking garden charms and commissioned me to make several of them for her to sell at flea markets. She gave me all the antique chandelier prisms she had and told me to use them to make as many charms as I could. Woo-hoo! I felt like a REAL small business owner! I've FINALLY realized how important networking is and that it's not so hard. I think sometimes us creative people who make things just don't consider ourselves legitimate businesses... at least I don't. I'm trying to change my frame of mind when it comes to my business.... first of all, that I actually do have a business. After this week I will now have my creations in two businesses (maybe more since one of the business owners said he knew more people that might be interested in my stuff.) Now I just need to get out there and show my stuff.

Does anyone else have the problem of marketing your creations? I'm really trying to overcome my fear of ... rejection? It's hard to create something and have someone not interested in it, but really... so what? I need to remember that there are plenty of people who like my stuff and are interested in buying it. I'm going to put myself out there this week and see what happens!

These are the pieces I was given to "create" with.

and...

here are some vintage garden charms I created....

I loved making these! I made nine of them in just a few hours.

Hope everyone has a wonderful, creative week~

Through my back door....

I took this a few days ago. It doesn't look like this today. It's been raining and it's kind of dreary.

I loved the rain... it made it cooler.

So ready for Fall weather!

Hmmm.... now that I'm looking at this picture again. My yard could definitely use a little sprucing up/maintenance. I also REALLY need to paint the railing. It would probably make a better impression on someone interested in buying our house... if we ever get someone interested in our house.

I just love the white blooms on the crepe myrtle and the purple blooms on the texas sage bushes.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend........

Antique Alley LOvE.....

It's that time of year again... time for antique alley.

My friend, Julie, and I usually go.

Our favorite spot is

Whipp Farm

We had a really good time this year. We didn't stay too long so we weren't exhausted and hot.

I saw a lot of purty stuff!

My FAVE of the day was this booth. I spotted it and pretty much ran over to it and started taking pictures. The first thing I said to the vendor was "I want to buy everything in this booth!!"

and ... I bought nothing :O)

Only because I didn't have any money. We talked for awhile about all her cool stuff and about blogging. 

 Here's her blog

Take a look at all her cool stuff that she makes....

I wanted this peace heart SO BAD!!!!

Just look at all the rusty goodness!!!

LOVE!

Tin letters... love those too!!

One day I WILL buy some of her stuff!!

I thought this was cute. I've seen these at Hobby Lobby with the natural wood and they painted it my new favorite shade of blue... aqua!! I'm thinking I might make a trip to HL to get one of these and paint it the same color.

This was also a neat booth. They had rocks and metal work animals.

Cute turtles

An army of ants

This was a very cool dragon made of metal.

People just amaze me with their talents. I would love to go to people's

work spaces and watch them create their art.

I want a fountain like this in my backyard.

She reminds me of a fountain in a little courtyard

of a beautiful shop in Fredericksburg.

I fell in love with the shop and the courtyard fountain!

Aren't these the cutest things ever?

If I'd had money that day I would have definitely bought one of these!

Now I'm wondering why I didn't get peoples business cards!!??? I'm pretty sure this lady

sets up every year so maybe I'll see these little cupcakes again.

And this is what my dear friend, Julie, (who always pays for stuff and won't take no for an answer) bought me. I showed this to her because I really liked it and when I walked to another booth she was

VERY SNEAKY and hung around that booth and bought it for me when I wasn't looking.

Thanks Julie.