Thrifty Gift Basket Ideas

Remember the trip my friend Rachael and I took to The Bins last month?  You can read about it here.

We were searching for some raw materials to use for an annual fund-raiser my church does.  Every year members of the congregation make up gift baskets for Mother's Day and auction them off.  The proceeds go for scholarships to send people to our church camp.

I thought you might like to see what we made.  Remember the green book with the nice library binding?

I used the cover for a blank journal.

I kept the pocket in the back just for fun.

I made this set of coasters using sharpie markers and alcohol.  Aren't they pretty?  I will be writing a post later showing how to do it.   I also decorated a glass candle plate in the same colors and added a jasmine and coconut pillar candle.

These were all part of a Meditation themed basket.  It also contained a large mug, an assortment of bagged and loose teas, a tea diffuser, and a gift certificate for 2 lbs of coffee roasted to your preferences by a friend and her husband.  I'm sorry I don't have a picture of the finished basket.  I just didn't have the time between assembling the basket and the start of the auction.  This basket was the hit of the auction and quite a bidding war broke out. Some people REALLY love their coffee.

Remember this shadow box frame?

I spray-painted it white...

and used mod podge to add a piece of scrapbook paper to the back and waterproof it.  Then I glued the back on to turn it into a tray or shelf for use in the bathroom.

It became part of a bathroom basket that included my homemade body scrub (coconut oil, sugar and cinnamon), 6 crocheted face scrubbies and a crocheted "loofah" bath pouf, all made by Rachael, 3 bottles of Revlon nail polish, a bottle of nail oil I blended myself (apricot, baby oil, and orange essential oil) and several face masks.

I bought these pieces of silverware to turn into herb markers.

I already had these Currier and Ives pots that we got at the bins 5 years ago, so I filled them with herb starts.

Basil

Mint


Lavender


 Rosemary

The pictures are a little fuzzy, but that hides the bad job I did with the stamping (and that I misspelled lavender, oops).  This was my first try.  I'll get better, right?



These all became part of this kitchen basket.  I made some Tunisian crocheted washcloths and a trivet/hot pad.  I added a jar of my Mom's spice rub for vertical roasted chicken, some decorative recipe cards and a piece of vintage Tupperware: a "Sweet Savor" for storing syrup or cream.



I added the Tupperware because Mom and I made this.

It's a travel recipe notebook.  We used a vintage Tupperware brochure we found at an estate sale.  We laminated each page, so they could serve as dividers, making six sections for recipes, and filled it with about 100 lined pages.  The pages of the brochure actually had some handy information about how long you can keep foods and what freezes well, etc.

I carry a notebook with a similar purpose to this in my purse.  I can take my recipes to my friends' houses when I cook for them and I can share my recipes when someone asks me for one.
 I hope whoever received this notebook likes it as much as I like mine.

I had the actual baskets in my room holding beauty products, so I swapped them out for 3 dollar store totes.  As you can see, we were able to put together three gift baskets, without having to spend much actual cash.  I hope this will inspire some of you to do the same when you need a gift or a prize. 

I'm linking up with these parties:

Show and Share
Tips and Tricks
Vintage Inspiration Party
Roses of Inspiration

The Estate Sale Doppelganger and Pyrex From Heaven

Several weeks ago my mother and I went to a few estate sales that were practically next door to our house, not expecting to necessarily come back with much, and we were pleasantly surprised. 

Here are some of the things we found.

 

The first sale really was nearly within spitting distance of our house and yielded the most things we just couldn't leave behind and the most things interesting enough to photograph.  This sale was run by family, and they were so happy to get the house cleared out, they priced everything really low.

We bought an assortment of small things from around the house.  A few zippers, a pair of pinking shears, assorted pins and a pair of collapsible embroidery scissors came from the sewing room, while some games, glue sticks and the silver bird plate were in the living room.  

Also in the living room was this beautiful Hi-Fi set-up. 

It was marked only $15 and looked practically brand new, even though it probably dates it to the late 60's or early 70's.  I didn't buy it, but I almost wished I needed another turntable just so I could have an excuse to own something so nice. 

Recently I explained to my boyfriend what macrame is and it has become a running joke that he LOOOVES macrame so when my mother and I saw this - a HUGE macrame hanging table set - we couldn't stop snickering and I needed to share.  That thing was gigantic! It went from the ceiling almost to the floor. 

 

Next was the kitchen.  When Mom in ahead of me, she couldn't believe her eyes.  There, on the shelf above her head, with the heavenly light shining on it and the choir of angels singing its' praises, sat a pristine 471 Pyrex Bake-Serve-Store in aqua Butterprint FOR 25 CENTS.  Of course we took it home, what do you think we are, fools?

 

A friend's little boy turned 2 recently and was given a toy kitchen so we picked up the tiny Tupperware cream pitcher and canape cutter for him but the citrus peelers are for us.  The tea tin has a flat back for a semi-circular shape.  I just love the butterflies and flowers.

On our way out of the sale, Mom noticed a pile of resin planters, and decided to call my father to come look at them. This is how the conversation went: 

Mom:  Hey! You know those planter boxes you're going to build to put along the side of the house? 

You know, where you keep your collection of crapola?

Dad:  I was going to build something?

Mom:  Yeah, remember last month, when I said... um, I mean YOU said you would? 

Dad:  Ummm sure, I'll get right on that. 

Mom:  Well, maybe you don't have to.  They have a ton of resin planters at the estate sale that you didn't want to go to and you can probably get them for pennies, but they have to ride home in your car because some of them still have dirt in them.  

Dad:  I'm kind of doing something.

Mom:  Did you get the part about if you buy them I'll stop asking when you're going to build those planters?

Dad:  I'll be right there.

 No sooner had we put our purchases in the car, than I saw my father walking up to the house.  Or so I thought.  Five-foot-nine, 160 lbs, hiking boots, blue jeans, brown T-shirt covered by an unbuttoned flannel shirt with the sleeves rolled up, ball cap, glasses, beard, about 60 years old... wrong face.  It was eerie, and he was heading for the gardening supplies.  Mom called Dad again and said, "You better get over here, your doppelganger just showed up and he's buying all your stuff!"

When Dad arrived, he and Mom went into the garage, and Dad zeroed in on a pile of metal plant stakes.  As he picked one up, Mr. Doppelganger said, "Those are mine, but there are more over there."  Mom and Dad burst out laughing and then had to explain, and everybody laughed at the whole situation. Then Dad bought a whole stack of planters.

At the next sale, Mom was thrilled to find an 8-cup Pyrex measuring cup/mixing bowl for $3.00.  It's huge, and SO useful.

This lovely Pyrex citrus pattern juice carafe was $1.00. I already own one of these. Mom bought this one for holding her Crystal Light in a much classier container than vintage Tupperware.  Because Crystal Light should be in crystal, right?  Well, crystal is too expensive, so glass has to be good enough.  

 

This was not found as a record bowl but as a RED record - A tribute to Artie Shaw to be exact.  I snapped it up and made the bowl for my boyfriend for Valentine's Day and he loves it. 

I think it's the prettiest record bowl I've ever seen.  It's too bad colored vinyl is so hard to come by. 

I really wanted to take this home with me, as alligators are just about my favorite animal, but I couldn't justify the $5.00.

The third sale was run by a woman who buys storage unit contents at auction and sells the crud she can't get much for very inexpensively.  We bought a whole bag of stuff for $4.00 - many small things, including a wool/angora sweater for unraveling, a bunch of jewelry bits that will probably show up in another post, some more toy kitchen stuff and the most interesting thing we found. . .

an Aladdin Pump-A-Drink.  It's hardly been used.  Mom remembers when these were all the rage in the 70's.  Everybody had to have one.

They came in a number of styles.  No need to pour the coffee; just push the button on the top.

So, with a trunk full of purchases, Mom and I headed for home.  Later, as I'm unloading my stuff from the car, I hear:

Mom:  Let's go to the store to look at paint for those planters.

Dad:  I'm going to paint something?

I'm linking up with the following parties:
Thrifter Share
Show and Share
Vintage Bliss Tuesdays
Roses of Inspiration 

Spring Is Coming

I know much of the country is buried in snow, but around here...

The crocuses are blooming!

 

In little patches around the yard...

 

mostly deep purple ones...

 but some pale purple...

 

and some white...

and if you look closely in the upper right, you'll see the first daffodil just emerging.

Take heart my frozen friends, Spring is coming.

I'm linking up with
Roses of Inspiration

Free Roses

As it says in my information, I am a florist. That is to say that I am trained as one. I do not currently work in a shop but would love to work wedding flowers.

My parents bought our house three years ago. It's a small house but it's on a fair-sized lot. WE really haven't done much in the way of landscaping but my Dad is working on it slowly.

When we moved in there were three white rose bushes under my bedroom window. Now, as a Florist I know that white roses always come with more thorns and these are no exception! They are what I call "garden roses"; they open wide and full and don't have much of an individual stem to speak of, in comparison to your standard commercial varieties. They also don't have any scent. Or, well, one bush has a slight fragrance but nothing notable.

About two years ago, my father and I bought a rose called a "Mr Lincoln". This particular variety is a gorgeous deep red with a hint of fuschia and a strong, wonderful scent. Since that bush we have been looking into getting more that have fragrance but they all cost too much. (A floral hint: purple and lavender roses always smell good, there's something genetically linked to the blue in the color or something)

Early this summer there was an ad on the Craigslist FREE page for FREE roses. A man had dug about twelve bushes out of his front yard and wanted them hauled away. First come, first serve. Quickly, my mother and father and I were in the car, on our way. There was one other car driving up when we got there, and it became a mad scramble to find the ones with the best scent.

We got out with two bushes: one lavender that I wanted and one variegated peach/orange cream that my mom wanted. When we got them home, Dad had to prune them all the way back and plant them, hoping that there hadn't been too much damage done when they were dug up.

They've finally bloomed and they're beautiful. It's amazing what you can find on Craigslist for free.