Second Hand Sunday - a review of my weekly finds

Here's to the first edition of my favorite feature in The Purple Paisley universe - Second Hand Sunday! Each week I will be sharing my scores from the previous 7 days. Whether it be scouting local thrift shops, perusing yard sales, kindly accepting run down donations from friends or shamelessly digging through basements and attics of accepting relatives, I am here to share it all with you. As expected, some weeks will be better than others but the thrill of the hunt is most of the fun.

With Christmas fast approaching my mind was going a mile a minute with ideas. Every item I saw I was trying to figure out what I could turn it into. Luckily this was a great week for thrifting. My husband handed over some extra cash, volunteered to babysit and sent me out of town to begin my holiday shopping (hey, it happens once a year) on top of my normal weekly excursions.

Thursday I just wanted to get out of the house for a bit so I hit up the local Goodwill and found this lovely beauty...

Instantly I thought of my mom. She has a large area of unused space over her stove that is just screaming for a funky shelf. Not only does this serve that purpose, it also has extra storage! For $4.99 this baby came home with me with a new life in her future. I'm really excited about starting on this one.

Friday I headed out of town as directed and made my rounds at all the craft stores and picked up quite a bit of supplies on clearance, as well as a TON of stocking stuffers for the kids for next to nothing. But it wouldn't be right if I headed home without making a couple extra stops for my own interest. And, well, you  just never know what you might find. I made the right decision...

 I have been working on re-doing my kitchen for weeks (pics to come soon) and the one thing I keep saying I need is some sort of counter top cabinet to hold all of our daily meds; Perfect! Not sure how I'm going to cover the chicken wire so it's not see through but I will make this work and the unsightly apple can be easily removed with some small wire cutters. After a good cleaning (it needs it bad) and fresh coat of paint, we will have a new addition to our kitchen all for $2.99.

I had my mother-in-law in mind when I saw this one. Since I found the long shelf for my mom the day before I figured I should make something for mom number 2 as well. The picture doesn't really show how large this is, but this is a huge hat box and it's in PERFECT condition. For 3 bucks it even came with the little silica package in it still. I foresee this being decoupaged with pretty toile paper in slightly different shades and embellished with quotes and sayings. Ta-da, a memory box!


The next day I spent around town with my mom. Surprisingly there was a lot going on for second hand shoppers. We hit up two, yes two, Moms to Moms sales although not much was bought at either. Drake's closet is already maxed out with clothes and with Christmas so soon he definitely does not need any toys so we just browsed a little. There was also a large craft show, but once again it was mostly browsing. Is it just me or do craft shows annoy anyone else? I walk around and see all these cheaply made goods with high prices or outdated merchandise. How many outfits does your wooden goose need? Soy candles? Yup, got some of those. You glued a fake flower onto a barrette? Hey, I can do that. Oh wait, you crocheted a top on a dish towel; I could do that too if I wanted. So, needless to say, I left empty handed.

Yet the day didn't end on a bad note. One of the churches held a Christmas Rummage sale. What a great idea. Last year was the first year they did it and I found a ton of deals so I was super excited about it this year. Although they had a venue and the prices went up, it was still a good stop. All these decorations became mine for just over $6.00. Not to mention all the bulbs are actual glass!

Heading home, we spotted a sign at a small church thrift shop; Entire Store 50% Off! As it turned out, this was the best stop of the day. I got my daughter a new bath robe with the tags still on it for $2, three large bunches of yarn for 50 cents each, a couple odds and ends for the house and...
..another suitcase. But, can't you always make an old suitcase cool again? I will find something to do with it. And then I found these candle sticks.

They may not look it, but these guys are super sturdy and liked the color as is. All for $2.50, for BOTH! However, once I got home and started rearranging, trying to find the perfect home for them, I decided they looked even better flipped over and used as vases. So now they are flanking my sideboard, each with a bunch of peacock feathers.

I must say, this was a great week for thrifting. I found a few gems for myself and got a inexpensive start on some gift giving. Looks like I have a busy week coming up!