Empower Up Thrift store

New location means great prices to empty out warehouse.

Our local electronics reuse non-profit, Empower Up, does some wonderful things. They recently moved to a new location and need to clear out the old "warehouse" location. I was asked to help them get the word out about the sale and got to go through and take some fun pictures of all the great items on sale this Saturday. Hopefully, we'll see you there this weekend. If not, enjoy these thrift items:

One of the programs I've volunteered to help with is called "Artz Partz." Empower Up has all types of materials and we're hoping to find some creative local artists who want to upcycle some of these goods. 

More Artz Partz

Oooh, shiny!

You know you want one of these on your wall...

This is how it looked the first time I went.
You wouldn't even recognize it now. So tidy-ready for the sale!

Garage sale sideboard

Sometimes second-hand finds just need a little TLC-a little paint, some sanding and you have a whole new look!

Another one of my colleagues sent me the next few items. This project is just beautiful. Leslie's husband refinished a garage sale sideboard and modernized it. Check it out:

Before-boring and blah...

After-modern, sleek and chic!

Care to guess how much she paid for this piece? $200? $100? Try $25! Wow-what a great find!

Another cute dress from another lovely colleague

My colleague Cathy shared this cute little thrift store find with me:

What have you found at a thrift store lately?

Fun, flirty and fabulous-how to make thrift store clothes look great!

My colleague, Sarah wore this cute ensemble this morning. We were chatting about where our clothes came from and I mentioned that from the waist down, I was all thrift store*. She revealed that so was she! I told her I had to take a picture to share. Isn't she just adorable?

*Ok, minus the panties...those I still buy new.

Thrift store skirts

One of the gals I work with, Bo, has the most amazing collection of super duper cute skirts. Here she is in one of my favorites. I even picked up one of her skirts in our recent clothing swap at the office. What's doubly amazing about her collection is that almost every single one of them comes from thrift stores.

Good hunting, Bo!

Fabulous Sheryl

I was recently chatting with a fabulous friend and started talking about thrift store shopping. She started rattling off all the fabulous finds she gets at thrift stores and told me that in fact, the pants and jacket she was wearing were from a thrift store. I had to snap a pic on the spot and share with you all. I encouraged her to send me more finds, so hopefully more to come from Sheryl soon!

Dress for Success

Just a quick one. My good friend, Jennifer found these beautiful dresses, a cardigan and a shirt, plus a dress for her daughter (not pictured). Grand Total? $75! That's some mad Goodwill mojo!

St. Paddy's Day Muumuu

I saw this cute Muumuu Redo (see what I did there?) and just had to link to it. The best part is I have a muumuu in my collection that I plan to turn into a skirt. It's pretty hideous and I am really looking forward to the "challenge" of turning it into something I might actually like/wear. This post has inspired me to attempt it soon. Great job, Elizabeth!

Thrift store quickie

Capris in brown, gray, green and a
gorgeous light blue. (picture doesn't
do the color justice, obviously...)

Guys, I screwed up. Pretty big. I packed really wrong for our trip to Vegas. I had seen the weather reports on my phone (I may or may not have bragged to my coworkers about the ridiculous 80s and 90s weather we'd be having.) I think I paid for that bragging by being stupid about how I packed for the trip. I packed 1 pair of capris, 2 pairs of pants and t-shirts. No tanks, no hiking shoes, not nearly enough capris... *sigh* Oh yeah, I didn't pack any reading material, either. Yeah, I just packed poorly.

So... enter the thrift store! Luckily for me, the thrift Gods smiled upon me today. Sorry for the quality of this photo (I neglected to pack my "good" camera, too.... *double sigh*!) I scored myself 4 pair of capris and 2 books. The grand total? $20.26!!! Awesome...

Toilet tattoo?

Rawr!!

Another um...great(?) find by my friend, Janell. When she sent me the email, I assumed she was calling it a "toilet tattoo" and I thought that was pretty clever. Turns out, that's the actual name of the product. Interesting...

Pretty pretty princess

My friend's little girl was turning 2 and a mutual friend suggested dress up clothes theme for the party. Here's what she posted to FB about it:

{Mutual friend} had the best idea for A's birthday present! We went with a whole dress up theme. Grandparents and Aunts and Uncles got her some wonderful new dress up clothes and shoes, all of which she totally loves. However, her presents from J and me were all second hand. The things she plays with most are all her "slightly used" necklaces, bracelets and clip on earrings :) And the second hand store was the best place to get lots of nice, gaudy costume jewelry at super low prices. Great idea!

What a little cutie. Nice move, Mom! Way to make her day special without breaking the bank!

Amazing thrift store find and refashion

This blog post is so sweet. A young girl finds a pretty (but outdated) dress and through some hard work and ingenuity turns it into her prom dress. Beautiful! Go show her some love. (You have to click through to see the awesome shoes she paired with this dress. Really-they're perfect!)

Audubon Field Guide

 A few weeks ago, my friend posted on FB that she had scored herself a bird book. The book (approximate value of ~$15) was priced at 2.99, but it was also the half-price color for the day, so she snagged it for a buck and a half. Nice find!

Only got 20 dollars in my pocket...

Months ago, when I first started this blog, one of my friends sent me this video. I didn't post it at the time, because there's some, shall we say, language issues. (This song has a whole arsenal of F-bombs...and I was still making a decision about "adult content" on this blog) but I've seen it cropping up just about everywhere and I kinda love what it might be doing for the cultural acceptance of thrift store shopping. So, here you go!

Donkey Party!

Heh...heh....

I think this was a "pin the tail on the donkey" game,
but "donkey party" sounds like something else entirely...

Thrift stores are a bibliophiles playground

While on vacation, I had finished both of the books that I brought with me.

bought in a thrift store
in The Dalles

Borrowed from a friend

I found myself needing a new book to round out my vacation. I went to the local Savers (Value Village) and picked up these 5 books:

Homecoming is the first in a series that I read in middle school. I think I have a fascination with "journey" stories, because this book always stuck with me. I never remembered what it was called but the other day, I ran into the second book in the series, Dicey's Song in a different thrift store. I figured if I remembered it this many years later, it might be worth reading again.














I also picked up The Other Bolyen Girl, Prodigal Summer, The New Kid on the Block (will be a present) and French Women Don't Get Fat. The grand total? Under 12 bucks for 5 books!

 

I also ran into these books, but didn't grab them.

Other books that I frequently run into (including yesterday) include Harry Potter series books and Twilight series books.

The next time you need a new book, check your local thrift store first. You might be surprised by what you find!

Have you found any great literary "scores" out there? Any book you'd be particularly pleased to find in a thrift store but just never have?