I always am a little jealous when I see people posting about some great Target clearance find that they picked up at Goodwill.   My friend Molly has found some great Target clearance finds at her Goodwill stores in NC.  My favorite find of hers was one of those rolled wood Smith & Hawken wreaths that still sell for $39 in stores now?  Yep, she found a brand new one, in the box, at Goodwill!  And a gorgeous linen cabinet, plus much more.

Does your Goodwill store sell Target clearance items?  Mine doesn’t – I even asked.

Anyways, I finally got to pick up some Target goodness at a thrift store – but it was at Value Village.  I don’t know if Target donated it, or if it was donated by a person but I was excited!

2 brown brand new placemats for $0.89.  I am going to keep my eyes out for the other 2 (sometimes they will pop up in a week or 2).  If not, I will sew these 2 placemats together to make a pillow and add some trim or rosettes and have a pillow for less than $2.

2 brand new with tags dish cloths too – $0.49 each.  I had just been thinking that I need to pick up some new/more wash cloths for the kitchen and these are super cute!

And my favorite find – 4 napkins for $0.69 each.  LOVE the print on these!  And I have rattan placemats or tan placemats already that they will look perfect with.  Again, new from Target, tags still on.

So glad I finally to find some Target goodness at a thrift store  - even if it wasn’t at Goodwill and even if someone probably donated them instead of it being a Target dump spot.  I will still take it and enjoy them!

Do you find Target clearance items at your local Goodwill?  Don’t you love buying items that are new with the tags still on them at thrift stores??  I sure do!

———————-

Many of you expressed desire to see this when I asked last week, so I am excited to announce you can now link-up YOUR frugal finds! Or browse through and see what others are linking up.

Please only link up recent posts, posts that are sharing about a yard sale, thrift store, flea market, or roadside find, OR a post where you share how you painted/transformed or decorated with a yard sale/thrift store find.  I will host this link-up party every Friday and it will be open until the next Thursday.

Can’t wait to see your Frugal Finds!

The post Friday Frugal Finds: NEW Target linens at Value Village + link up YOUR Frugal Finds! appeared first on The Frugal Homemaker.

With Memorial Day right around the corner, this weekend sort of signifies the beginning of summer for me.  June is about to start, the temperatures are fast approaching the 90’s, cookouts are a common weeknight occurrence, summer is here!

So I thought before I delve into all things summer (my patriotic mantel is getting the finishing touches and I will show it to you next week!), I would take a look back to some of the projects and decorating that I did last year.  Many of you are new to this blog so there are probably many of these that you have never seen.

Headed to the beach this summer?  Make sure to bring home some shells or starfish and you can create some beach inspired art for cheap!  Tutorial for that project found here.

Do you have daylily plants in your yard?  I save all my dead stems and then use them in flower arrangements!  Gotta love free and recycling!

I turned an old window into a flower box planter.

Fruit pizza… yum!  May have to make the first one of the summer this weekend!

Summer recipes always seem better with green onions – did you know that you can RE-GROW your green onions??    Yep, I can get 4-5 cuttings off of ONE 50¢ bunch of green onions.

Looking for some cheap décor ideas?  How about hanging some plates on the wall with a free DIY hangar made from paperclips?

Save any old hydrangea cuttings to make this hydrangea wreath. 

Need to spruce up your mailbox?  Check out how I did ours last summer with just some elbow grease and paint.  Made a HUGE difference and it still looks great!

And since you are probably going to have the paint brushes out this summer anyways, why not keep them out and paint some striped or stenciled curtains?  Still love mine!

I shared a patriotic tablescape on the blog last summer.  Loved this!  Definitely need to find a reason and time to recreate it.

I still love my spray painted lamps!  Perfect time to be watching yard sales this summer to pick up a some lamps in need of some spray paint love for cheap.

Last year I spray painted my faded chair cushions with REGULAR spray paint.  It made a huge difference, no it didn’t rub off on your clothes, but yes, it did eventually fade again.  Look for an update to this post in the next week or two.

I also spray painted my door mat.  (Not sure what I HAVEN’T spray painted )

This was my summer mantel (part 2) last year in a beach theme.  The focal point was one of my favorite projects – a DIY sunburst mirror made from… well, you’ll have to click over and see )

And I used some yard sale flower stems that I found and made a yellow and white wreath for the front door.

This was my patriotic mantel last year – can’t wait to show you this years!

And if you are an avid yard sale shopper like I am, I did a whole series last year on shopping and hosting yard sales.  Plus some tips on finding and shopping estate sales. 

So there’s some summer inspiration for you!  Next week, I will kick off a whole new slew of projects and decorating ideas for you for this summer.  I can’t wait!

The post Summer projects + decorating inspiration appeared first on The Frugal Homemaker.

I picked up this guy for $2 at a local thrift store.  There is a price tag on the bottom from Marshall’s that says $12.99.  I am not sure if I will paint the base or not, but pretty sure he is going in my master bedroom.

I am going to love going to my pile of yard sale décor I have been hoarding collecting to decorate for a few future room re-dos.

I also picked up a set of 4 tan napkins for $1, a set of 4 navy placemats for $1 and a white short sleeve blazer for $1.50.  I love this local thrift store even though it can be messy and dirty sometimes.

Then I found this Thirty-One bag at my parking lot yard sale.  I casually asked the price thinking she would say like $5-8, but nope she said $1.00!  This is one of Thirty-One’s most popular style of bags (the organizing utility tote) and even though I have 2 already, I use them CONSTANTLY and could never have enough.  I could always use it just to store things on a shelf or closet too or even gift it or one of my other ones to a friend.

Now you may be thinking, “ummm… your name isn’t Jenny.”   I honestly didn’t care too much about that and would have left it if necessary.  BUT, I was pretty sure I could use a seam ripper and take the monogram off.  Sure enough!

It took me a little bit (20 minutes or so), but I got it out!  The bag is a heavy canvas and you can’t even tell from the outside.

The inside has more of a heavy plastic type liner so the stitch holes are still visible – but who cares about the inside of the bag??

So there’s my frugal finds!  Paid $6.50 for a $30 Thirty One bag, a set of 4 napkins, a set of 4 placemats, a cotton blazer, and a $12.99 greenery arrangement from Marshall’s.  Not too bad!  Gotta love yard sales!

Here’s a thought: would you like it if I did a linky party on these Friday Frugal Finds posts where you could link up your posts about yard sale or thrift store finds and even posts where you makeover a yard sale or thrift store find?  Or if you don’t blog or don’t want to link up, you could just browse what others link up?    Let me know if that would be something you would be interested in by leaving a comment here or on facebook.

Don’t say it enough, but thanks for reading!

The post Friday Frugal Finds: home décor, table linens, and a really cute Thirty-One bag for $1 appeared first on The Frugal Homemaker.

It is Spring and hopefully you are enjoying getting some yard work done.  We have had some gorgeous days, and I am loving it!  I need to do a post and update you on some progress in the yard but today we are going to talk about some other plants – HOUSEPLANTS!

I love houseplants almost as much I do having flowers in my yard.  For one because I get to see and enjoy them a lot more since we are indoors a lot.  Houseplants are a great way to add some color and life to your décor as well as a good way to keep the air in your home healthy and clean.

So when Central Garden & Pet sent me the next product they wanted me to try out, I knew exactly what I was going to do with it.   Alaska Fish Fertilizer 5-1-1 is an all-purpose deodorized fish emulsion and can be used on all types of indoor and outdoor plants.   Yep, it is made of fish!  If you think back to what you learned in elementary school, remember how the Indians taught the Pilgrims how to catch and then add fish into the holes that they were planting their corn to make it grow better?  This is the same type idea!!  It contains nutrient rich fish and kelp plant food which enriches the soil, and enhances the strength and vigor of plants.

Alaska® Fish and Kelp Fertilizers are highly effective, natural organic alternatives to synthetic fertilizers.   I loved that they were a NATURAL choice since I was going to using this indoors where we and our cat would be exposed to it.

Here’s my houseplants all drug outside.   See, this is what I didn’t tell you.  I highly neglect my houseplants .  Oh, I water them once or twice a week, but other than that I don’t do anything to them.  And you can definitely tell that my lack of care is taking its toll on some of them.

Here’s the smaller plants.

I love to watch at garden centers (especially Wal-mart garden center) for clearance plants.  I pick up most of my plants this way.

My plants may look ok, but let’s take a closer look.  Yep, this what the roots of the plant on the left look like.  It had gotten tipped over and the dirt was loose so the dirt got all vacuumed up and all that was left was the root ball.  Yet this plant has stayed alive and green for days weeks.

And my tropical palm tree was really starting to see better days – was starting to yellow and droop.  No wonder why??

It is 2-3 years old and I have NEVER repotted it… and you can tell.

So I had some work to do with these plants before I could even start to use the Alaska Fish Fertilizer.  I repotted this palm tree into a much bigger pot and gave it lots of fresh potting soil.

And I also added new soil to the other plants as well.

Then came time to water.  The instructions on the Alaska Fish Fertilizer say to use 2 teaspoons per quart of water.  It is a thick liquid that you pour into the water and then make sure to stir it well.  And you can reapply it every few weeks.

I do have to say… this is made of FISH.   And I am sure you know what fish smell like, much less DEAD fish.  It in no way smelled completely like dead fish but there was a definite fishy type scent to it.  But that smell went away quickly.

I made up 8-9 of those pitchers and watered all my houseplants and my outdoor potted plants with this.  And I barely used any of the bottle since it is such a strong concentrate.

I have always wanted to show you how I use houseplants in my home and in my décor so today you get a peek into where I put them back into my house.  And they sometimes move around my house just like other décor depending on what areas I am working on decorating or where they look best.

This little guy is on my entryway dresser on a tray right now.

This small potted plant usually stays behind my sink to add some color.

The larger peace lily is on the landing on my stairs and the smaller one is in my dining room.

This Janet Craig Dracaena plant is on my hearth right now but it usually is on a nightstand upstairs.

And this little guys is by the bathroom sink upstairs.

I am hoping that my palm tree will perk back up with his new soil and with the help of the fertilizer too.

I will definitely be using the Alaska Fish Fertilizer throughout the summer on my plants to keep them fertilized and get them back to looking nice and green and healthy.  It will be really easy to just add it in to my pitcher and water my plants as normal.

I have created a Pinterest board to document all things home and garden this spring and summer.  You can find that board and follow or repin from it here and even create your own Home and Garden board on Pinterest.  (Share the link to your board or Pinterest profile in the comments and I will come follow you!)

Now here’s the fun part, you have the chance to win a $25 gift card!  Use it to buy some houseplants to add to your home, some soil or pots to repot the ones you already have (ahem!), some fertilizer for your yard or plants, or whatever you heart desires.

Here’s how to enter:

This giveaway will be run through the Rafflecopter widget below.  If you are reading this post through email or reader you will need to click here to be taken to the actual blog post to enter.

You MUST answer the question given in the widget and leave your answer in  blog post comment for any entry to count – that is a MANDATORY ENTRY. Giveaway closes Thursday, May 23rd at midnight and winner will be notified.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure Statement
Central Garden & Pet partnered with bloggers such as me to help educate us all about their products. As part of this program, I received compensation. They did not tell me what to purchase or what to say about the use of the products. Central Garden & Pet believes that consumers and bloggers are free to form their own opinions and share them in their own words. Central Garden & Pet’s policies align with WOMMA Ethics Code, FTC guidelines and social media engagement recommendations. A winner will be chosen by random and gift card fulfillment will be handled by a third party.

The post Taking care of your houseplants (+ enter to win a $25 gift card!) appeared first on The Frugal Homemaker.

I know you have been waiting anxiously for this post, right??  Where I detail all about my shopping experience shopping at a Goodwill outlet.  (Nicknamed “Dig ‘n Save Goodwill” – cause you dig for clothes and pay by the POUND, not the piece, therefore saving a ton of money!)

When I was in NC last week, I told my friend Molly that the one thrift store I wanted to be sure to visit was the one she had talked about where you dig for clothes in bins and pay by the pound.

I had never been to a Goodwill store like that.  But I was super excited to go.  I have a fabric outlet store near me that does a fabric by the pound sale twice a year and it is a ton of fun and I get GREAT deals, so I knew I would LOVE shopping a Goodwill like that.

So here is the deal – ALL clothes (from newborn to adult, pajamas to jackets, underwear to socks, shirts, pants, etc. are all piled up in these waist high bins.  So you aren’t digging down to the floor and it does make it pretty easy to search through the clothes.

There are tons of these bins, 20-30 all spread over the store.  Shoes were in the back on shelves.  See the blue trashcan looking things in the front of the picture?  That is your shopping cart!   They are on wheels and you push/drag it through the store filling it up with all your “treasures”.

Housewares were separate as well.  The items have all come from previous regular Goodwill stores so they are already marked with a price.  At the outlet they discount everything by 50%.  (I will mention that Goodwill prices in NC are significantly lower already than what I pay in GA.  AND the stores there don’t do a 1/2 price color of the week.  So the only time you get things 50% is at the outlet or if a regular store did a special sale day.)

I do have to mention this – Molly had told me all about it before we got there.  When they bring out a new bin, you have to stand behind a line and wait until they get it locked in place.  When they do, they say “Go” or “OK” or something like that and there was a HUGE rush of like 20 ladies that ran in and started tossing clothes left and right!   Hilarious!  I tried to get more pictures but one of them said to stop.

We spent well over an hour digging in bins, browsing through the housewares, and honestly could have spent another 30 minutes looking in bins we didn’t even get to.  Then we went through our “shopping bins” to make sure we wanted everything/check for stains, etc.

There is my bin all ready to check out.  The housewares were calculated separately, then they rolled the bin on the scale and I waited to see how many pounds I had!

I ended up with 19 pounds x $1.39 which was $26.13

BUT, in those 19 pounds of clothes was a full size quilt which I weighed at home and it was around 2.5 pounds.  So I paid $3.50 for it.

And got 58 pieces of clothing/hats/scarves for about $22.50, which equals $0.39 a piece!

Here’s what I got – 3 boys pj’s, 2 boys dress shirts, 1 boys dress pants, 1 boys shorts, 4 girls sweaters, 2 girls pj’s, 3 girls pants, 8 girls shirts

A bunch of newborn clothes for a family in our church that just had a little girl – 2 NB pants, 8 NB sleeper/onesies, 4 NB dresses, 5 NB pants, 1 NB tights.

Some Christmas presents for this year – 2 brand new crocheted hats, and 4 brand new scarf/gloves/hat sets

2 women’s jackets – one was J. Crew brand!  1 men’s Starter jacket, 3 women’s scarves, and 1 girls purse.

Here’s the housewares I got:

The cake plate was $0.49, the mason jar was $0.47, and the glass plates were $0.47 each.

I was really excited when I saw these glass plates.  They are Princess House plates (which I own a lot of because my mother-in-law sold it for years) and a set of 4 would cost $40.00, I got 4 for $2.00.

My husband and Molly’s husband asked me what I thought about it when we got back and I said, “Of course I LOVED it and am ready to go back already!”  This is the type of store that if you were looking for clothes, you could literally shop multiple times a day and find new things because they are changing out the bins constantly.  We had a TON of fun and lots of good memories!!

Now to find one closer to me (or convince my husband to take another road trip to Greenville, SC or Charlotte, NC!)

Here is a site I found that lists Goodwill outlet or clearance centers by state – http://frugalliving.about.com/od/bargainshopping/qt/Goodwill_Outlet.htm.

Have you ever  shopped a Goodwill outlet/clearance center?  What do you think – would you want to dig for clothes and pay by the pound?

Linking up to:

The post Shopping at a Goodwill Outlet center (pay by the POUND for clothes!) appeared first on The Frugal Homemaker.

Here’s a picture of Molly and her husband Brian and their adorable kiddos.

I was so inspired by her home and decorating style/ability that I asked if I could share it with you and she said yes!  Really I just wanted to document some of her ideas so I can use them to inspire some things at my house and I thought some of you may want to do the same.  And what I LOVE the most about her house is 75% or more of her furniture, home furnishings, décor…pretty much everything in her home comes from thrift stores, yard sales, or craigslist.   Molly loves antiques, loves to tackle DIY projects, and has a rustic, vintage, but yet traditional style.

Here’s their humble abode from the outside.  I love the gray, black and white color scheme.

Loved this little sitting area she created on her front porch. 

One thing that inspired me about her house is the way she uses every little space to make it beautiful with furniture and accessories yet it is 100% functional as well.  But her home never felt cramped or cluttered to me.  (Probably because there was NO clutter – definitely something I am working on achieving in my home.)

Let’s take a peek inside…

I LOVE her living room! It is not huge but it was cozy and beautiful and she has fit in plenty of seating for all the friends and gatherings she hosts.

And I love her color scheme too probably because you can find most of those same colors in my living room.

Just a side note: couches came from a yard sale, the beautiful rug was a Craigslist steal,  her Target wood rosette wreath on the mantel was a Goodwill find new in the box, and probably ALL of the accessories and décor came from either yard sales or thrift stores.  Like I said, she knows how to decorate with pennies and do it beautifully!

The large chalkboard was a DIY project made from a Goodwill find, the large white chair was $9.99 at Goodwill, and the stools came from a thrift store too and she recovered them.   

Loved this display on top of her antique piano.

Now let’s step into the kitchen.

Her kitchen used to be all red as you can see in the below picture.    But she recently painted the cabinets all white and used red as an accent and it really brightened things up.

Canning shelf – I think she found this in a trash pile.  Forgot to mention that – yes, she also finds amazing stuff!

Loved her Keurig station and the k-cups in the glass jar.  I might have to do that!

Pretty fabric backed open cabinets.

Her baking station.

Moving into the guest bath – she has mustard yellow and black in here and it is really pretty!  Her husband just finished installing that pretty tile and they are working on putting in a new sink cabinet in here too.

Hallway

I loved all the groupings of pictures and wall hangings that she had throughout her home.  Don’t be surprised if you see something like this pop up at soon at my home!

This is her son’s bedroom (and also doubles as a guest room when they have company).

She did a really cute Book Nook in his closet made with a repurposed roadside rescue desk in the bottom.

And across the hall is the girls bedroom! 

See the play kitchen –she paid $2.21 for it at Value Village.  The before picture is below and Molly transformed it to look like the above picture – so cute and so much better!

She did a version of my spray painted coffee filter poofs as a DIY mobile over her little girl’s crib – so cute‘

She found an adorable doll house on the side of the road but it was a little big and bulky for her girls room.  So she used pieces of it (roof, doors, windows, trim, etc.) and added to a narrow bookcase so her girls have plenty of room to play!

This was a mirror that broke so she reused the frame and turned it into hair bow station.  Look at all those cute flowers and bows!

Now let’s check out the master bedroom.  I LOVED this room.  Seriously, so inspiring for the space I hope to create in our neglected master bedroom.

Once again, loving the wall display!

And this wall display, and the coziness of this corner.  The mustard yellow chair was a $2.99 thrift store find.

Now let’s step foot into the master bathroom.  Her husband completely gutted and redid this bathroom a while ago. 

She found the gorgeous cabinet at Goodwill – another new in the box Target clearance item.

They refinished and used an antique dresser as the sink cabinet.  Her husband plans to reuse the drawer fronts and make them into doors for the bottom.  Loved this – so pretty!

I hope you enjoyed this tour as much as I did!  You don’t have to have thousands of dollars to decorate your home on a budget.  By shopping smart at thrift stores and yard sales, being patient for just the right thing to come along, and being willing to DIY or paint a few things, your home can be beautiful, and functional for your family.  And you can create a welcoming space to be used to be a blessing to others (as it was to us!)

Hope you will pop over and check out Molly’s blog – Pennies ‘n Grace. I really enjoyed her recent series on how she cleans and manages her home.  Already putting some of her tips into practice – check out this post on Daily tips to a “put together” home.

The post House crashing: Molly from Pennies ‘n Grace appeared first on The Frugal Homemaker.

Let me introduce you to some of my real-life friends that also happen to be blogging friends as well.  These girls (and others) are a huge blessing and encouragement to me!  Not only in life but in blogging as well.

This is Molly from Pennies ‘N Grace – we stayed with her and her husband and their wonderful family.  She is the QUEEN of yard sale finds, Goodwill finds, DIYing, spray painting, and decorating her home on a serious budget (like almost completely yard sale and Goodwill finds).  And is an amazing cook (check out her blog for many recipes)!  I completely enjoyed having an appetite again and enjoying her yummy food!  My husband and I went to school with her husband and the guys were very good friends.  After Molly and her husband got married, we finally met her years later (actually we showed up at their door to stay at their house without us ever meeting in person!)  But Molly and I have so many things in common, we were destined to be friends!

And this is my friend, Christa who writes at Brown Sugar Toast.  You probably remember her flower tutorial guest posts from a few weeks back.  Christa and I met when we lived in VA briefly almost 10 years ago.  She was finishing high school and I was a newly-wed but we became good friends.  Years later after she was married, we connected again on facebook and LOVE chatting about blogging, crafting, and life.

And this is the ever-talented Laine from It’s Just Laine.  Laine and I attended college together although for some reason, our paths didn’t seem to cross much at school and we never really got to know each other.  Years later though, we have blogging, an interest in photography, a love of white furniture and blue Ball jars, and many more things in common.!

Ok, now on to the finds!  Like I said, Molly is the queen of thrift shopping, so I just said – take me to your favorite places!

This was my Goodwill finds from her favorite Goodwill.

Basket was $1.99, shirt was $3.99, dress was $4.99, and the lampshade was $.99

I totally could not pass up this burlap lampshade for $.99!  It was in perfect condition (it may be a Target clearance item, but just didn’t have the tags.)    Yes, her store is one of those Goodwill stores that get Target clearance!  I am envisioning some white rolled rosettes on it on maybe a creamy white lamp base?

Found this pillow at another Goodwill – it was $1.49.  Don’t care about the pillow cover – it went straight to the yard sale pile.  But inside was a feather pillow insert!  Great deal for $1.49!

Laine, Molly, and I stopped by an antique store and I finally got to cross a long searched for item off my list!  I found a vintage scale!  I have been looking for one for quite some time and this one was in perfect condition for $14.99.  Great price!  Now to make a vignette and add it to my kitchen.

And the Goodwill outlet, or pay by the pound Goodwill, or nicknamed Dig ‘n Save Goodwill that I talked about on facebook?!  Oh, I am ready to go back right now – this was SOOOO much fun!  So much fun, and so many pictures, it will have to wait for another post.   Look for that post next week.

So what did you get at yard sales or Goodwill last week?  Do you shop thrift stores when you go out of town on vacation?  I totally do!

The post Friday Frugal Finds: Thrifting with friends in NC appeared first on The Frugal Homemaker.

Remember these candlesticks I got at a yard sale? I paid 25¢ and 50¢ for them – can’t beat 75¢ for a set of candlesticks.

So here they are – before.

They were pretty nasty.  Covered in wax and dirt.

So I cleaned them up.  Then sprayed them with a quick coat of white primer just to make sure the paint would adhere well.  You know I wrestle with color and LOVE white!  So I have to admit, I did think for a second about leaving them white but I was determined to do a fun, bright color and add that to my home.

I decided to use acrylic paint instead of spray paint.  Mainly because I didn’t want to spend $4+ on a can of spray paint and also because I thought I would try something different.  Michael’s had a sale a few weeks back and I got some acrylic paint for 3/$1.00.

I painted them with a cheap craft foam brush – 2 coats of paint.

The paint ended up being much brighter than I thought it would be.  But that was ok, because I planned on antiquing them.

I just used another bottle of acrylic paint, a dark brown, and dipped my foam brush in paint that was watered down a little.  And then brushed it all over the candlesticks making sure to get it in all the crevices‘

Let the brown paint sit for a few seconds, then wiped most of it off.  You can also do this same technique with stain over paint.  And even paint a piece of furniture white, sand/distress the edges a bit, then brush some stain or glaze over it.

I like the antiqued, muted, distressed finish that it gives it.

I did a coat of matte mod podge over the top as a sealer and to give it some shine

Here they are displayed in my living room on the coffee table!

On a yard sale tray, with a yard sale milk glass vase filled with azaleas from my yard, and a clearance mercury glass candlestick.

Loving the color!  And loving my 75¢ painted candlesticks.

Any fun yard sale or thrift store finds you have painted or redone recently?  Would love to see pictures or links to anything you have done.

You won’t want to miss Friday’s Frugal Finds post – I have been out of town the last few days and did some MAJOR thrift store shopping with some friends.  I can’t wait to show you all my finds!!

The post 75¢ Yard sale candlesticks get a paint makeover appeared first on The Frugal Homemaker.

Anyways, I somehow missed posting a March recap so this will recap March and April projects that you may have missed on the blog.  (1 bonus point at the end if you saw and read each one of below posts already back when I posted them ;)

Started out March posting a collection of 20+ Spring projects.  I was itching for spring but little did I know spring was going to be a LONG time coming this year.

Then I shared how I made a DIY chalkboard from a thrift store frame.

I decorated my mantel for spring.

And made a Tulip wreath perfect for spring!

And I have also been working on organizing and purging!  Used some new products from Thirty One to organize this Ikea shelf.

Continued sharing rooms in our home- this time the entryway.  I LOVED your comments and suggestions on this post.  I am keeping my eyes peeled for just the right rug with a pop of color and trying to decide which option to do with the lamps.

Christa from Brown Sugar Toast shared a fun felt flower tutorial on the blog.

Love dressers for storage in the home.  Here is the before and after of the painted dresser you see in my entryway.

I helped my nieces and nephew create some trinket boxes.

I am so loving these pillows outside on my bench!  They are so cheery to greet me as I come home and back into our home.  I showed how I made a no-sew burlap rosette – easy and pretty!

And Christa was back with another great tutorial on how to make this rolled fabric flower ring.

I helped decorate and host a Western theme baby shower at church last week and shared the fun décor and food.

Another bonus point if you are still reading this post.

My favorite post of the month – probably my entryway home tour post because you guys had some great ideas and have really helped me to nail down what I want to do – now to just find the stuff I need and make it happen.

Can’t wait to show you a fun before/after of a recent yard sale find on Wednesday.  See you back then!

So did you miss any posts?  How many bonus points do YOU have from this post?

The post March + April recap appeared first on The Frugal Homemaker.

It is a beautiful day for yard saling here in GA!  Have you seen or shopped any yard sales?

Last weekend, I stopped at the parking lot yard sale and picked up these 2 packs of accent lights.  I already have a kit to install in our kitchen under the cabinets that has a dimmer switch attached to it.  And these should plug right into that kit.  At $3 each, I couldn’t pass these up!  They would be around $20 in the store.

I also picked up these 2 white planters for $1.

I had a few things to bring back to Value Village so needed to find something to get with my credit.  (At our Value Village since they don’t have dressing rooms, they allow you to bring back items within 7 days for a store credit that has to be used right then.)  I found this open shadowbox/cabinet thing.  I am hoping to use it for earing storage as I desperately need something for that.  I would change out the fabric inside and touch up the paint.  But if that doesn’t work I will use it as a memorabilia holder and add it in our master bedroom redo when it gets done.

Did you find anything last week?  I am working on transforming a yard sale find from a few weeks ago and I can’t wait to show the after next week!

The post Friday Frugal Finds: planters, accent lights and more appeared first on The Frugal Homemaker.