Bargains

...

Today before my husband had to go to work, we took a trip up to our local Grocery Outlet. We are always finding the best things there! I checked and there are locations in Northern California, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Nevada and Arizona. So, if there is one in your area, go check it out...you never know what you're gonna find. Here's what we picked up today.

How cute is this soup bowl?! It looks like chalkboard paint with SOUP written on it. The inside of the bowl is white. I just fell in love with them. Also, they were only .99 cents per bowl.

How can you beat that?! We purchased four of them.

I've been wanting some mini-muffin pans for a while now. Have you ever had the brownie bites from Costco? Yep, that's what I'm making in these tomorrow! Check it out...only $2.99

This was my husband's pick. He loves Tomatoes. Plus we have the perfect weather here in the Summer to grow them. Only $1.99

These are my favorite!!! Flameless Candles. LOVE!!!!

The larger one was $3.99 and the smaller was $2.99

Wow...I checked online at Pottery Barn, $16.50 and $24.50

I think I got quite the deal. I still love you Pottery Barn, just not your prices :)

Do you have a favorite store you find great deals at? Please share them with me.

Windows Continued

I just love how these old windows look on our wall. They were inexpensive and look very vintage with their old, chippy paint! Oh how I love the combination of the two different colors of blue and the off-white one in the middle. This is by far my favorite thrifty find to date. They also reflect so much more light during the day and in the evening with the lamps right in front of them.

Below is a close-up picture of the blue windows. Love, love the colors! Here is where we found them:
http://johnsonfamily23.blogspot.com/2011/02/windows-check-out-these-beauties-ive.html

Happy thrifting to you.

http://tatertotsandjello.blogspot.com/

Chocolate Coconut Cupcakes

{Semi-Homemade}

Today, I was inspired by my Cousin-in-law(we'll just call her my cousin) Jennifer to bake up some super, delicious Chocolate Coconut Cupcakes! You have to check out her blog over at

The Handmade Me

http://thehandmademe.blogspot.com/

She makes cute cupcakes and is just starting out in the blogging world. Every new blogger needs some followers! Hers are so much better looking than mine, but I thought I'd share this recipe with you. Two of my favorite flavors ever...Chocolate and Coconut. Plus, they're semi-homemade, so they're easy to make.

Enjoy!

1 Box of Chocolate Cake Mix

1 Container of Cream Cheese Frosting

1 Bag of Shredded, Sweetened Coconut

12 Fun Sized Mounds Candy Bars-cut in half

Coconut Extract

Cup Cake Liners

First, you'll want to mix up the cake batter just like the box instructs you to. I also added 2 Tbsp of Sour Cream to make the cake extra moist, but you don't have to do that step if you don't want. Add about 2 Tbsp of batter to each cupcake liner and then place half of a fun sized Mounds Candy Bar in the middle. Then fill the batter the rest of the way till it's about 3/4 of the way full. Bake as instructed. One box makes 24 cupcakes.

While baking, slightly toast in a dry, non-stick fry pan the Shredded Coconut. You just want it slightly toasted. Do this on a low heat. Next, empty the whole container of Cream Cheese Frosting into a bowl and mix in 2 tsp of Coconut Extract.

After the cupcakes are baked and cooled, put your frosting in a gallon freezer bag, cut the tip off and use it as a piping bag. Pipe on the frosting and then sprinkle on the toasted coconut. These are so, so good. I hope you'll try out the recipe!

Is there a cure for boredom?

{YES!}

So, I've been working on making over a thrifty coffee table and yesterday while waiting for paint to dry, I was terribly bored! Yep, even with two little boys(who were napping) and lots of housework to be done, I was still bored. So, I came with this...it took me about 20 minutes. I had a few pieces of colorful blue and green paper that came out of a handbook that I no longer needed.
I made a few pretty rosettes.
*I'm sure everybody by now knows how to make these, but if you don't, let me know and I can do a tutorial for you.

Picked up a branch out of the backyard.

Then I hot glued the rosettes to the branch.(can you tell I was painting, check out my white fingers) Stuck it into my cheese dome....

and there you go! Simple, easy and FREE!

My cure for boredom: CRAFTING

Windows

Check out these beauties! I've been wanting to get some art for our living room, but everything is so expensive. We were at the Habitat For Humanity store the other night looking for bedside tables(no luck with those) and found these back in a corner! I fell in love with them instantly. Better yet, they were only $10 per window. YAY!!!

Now I just need to figure out how I want to hang them.

To be continued....

Thrifty Tray Makeover

While at a Habitat for Humanity Store, I saw this little brown tray on a shelf. I immediately thought, I could do something with it. However, it wasn't what we were looking for, so I passed it up.
Lucky for me, my husband catches on quickly to the things I really want to get or when I say,"I could totally make that cute!" A few days later he brought this cute tray home. I LOVE MY HUSBAND!

First, I gave it a good sanding. This thing must have been used a ton...it smelled horrible. As if all the years of use were coming out in the layers I was sanding down. YUK! Then I started to spray it with KRYLON Ocean Blue Breeze. This is such a happy color.

It took about 4 good coats of paint.

After it was done drying, I took a block sander to the edges to give it a bit of a distressed look.

My husband and I found this cute paper and JoAnn Fabrics (normally $19.99 on sale for $9.99) Yay for a good sale :)

All of the paper was cute, but this one just went with the blue so well. Funky and a bit retro looking.

A few coats of Mod Podge and a clear sealer
(actually looks a bit like oil cloth)
and it was ready for use.
We've decided to use it as our coffee tray. We normally keep our French Press, coffee canister, cream and sugar holder on it, but for a good picture I added a few cute accessories.


This was such a fun, cheery makeover.