Guest Blogger

We have two new guest bloggers this week! I would love it if you would show Kathryn and Kristina some comment love and go visit their sites! Feel free to follow along!

Hello Garage Sales 'R' Us readers! I'm so excited to be sharing a craft with you today! My name is Kathryn and I blog over at Destination: Craft. 

I'm excited to be here! I hope you'll stop by and check out some of my other crafts!

 **************************

I've seen some cute Mason jar soap dispensers around blogland. I had the boring ol' dispensers from Target, you know, the $5 ones. I was tired of them. I wanted something pretty.

After looking at several of different ways to make these, I decided that the process is pretty easy!

So I'm here today showing YOU how to make these little pretties.

So so easy! Ready?

Supplies:

- Mason Jar (I got mine from Hobby Lobby)

- Drill

- Hot glue gun

- Needlenose pliers

- Soap pump (I bought two soap dispensers from the dollar store & took out the pumps)

1.

Mark the middle of the top of the jar (I just eyeballed it)

2.

Drill the hole!

3.

If you have needlenose pliers, use those for this step. I, however, do not have have needlenose pliers so I used whatever that is in the picture :) Regular pliers? Anyway, just start pulling on the metal and it'll bend easily. Pull a hole large enough for your soap pump.

4.

Put the soap pump through the new hole and secure it on the underside with hot glue.

5.

Put the top back together and there ya have it! A more vintage looking soap dispenser!

                 Thanks so much Robin for having me!!

Guest Blogger

Hello all my favorite readers! We have another lovely guest blogger. I want to introduce you to Kristina over at From City Corporate to Suburb Mama. I love her. She is an AMAZING person and I am so glad she is guest posting! She is going to teach us about something I feel is very important. Buying fresh produce can be really expensive at times so many times families will simply go without. Kristina is going to give us a few tips on the best way to buy produce.

Hi every one! My name is Kristina and I blog over at From City Corporate to Suburb Mama. I'm thrilled to be over here today sharing with you! I'm passionate about healthy, whole living and one of the things I believe allows for that is eating seasonal produce.

The best way to buy produce is from a local source you trust like a farmer's market, a local farm, a CSA (community supported agriculture) or grocery store like Whole Foods or Trader Joe's that supports in season produce and provides organic options.

Eating produce in season is not just good for your health, it's also good for the environment. Having trucks haul fruits and veggies cross-country when they are not in season requires a lot of extras that aren't good for you, including what goes in to helping a truck travel cross-country as well as the gasses that are used to keep produce fresh longer.

Finding a reliable, local source is your best bet and knowing what's in season when, really helps your bottom line because even if you're buying organic, if its in season, it will be cheaper than imported/shipped items that are not.

Here's an at-a-glance list I've created to help you know what's good each season! Now....go eat your strawberries before they go out of season! But get them organically if you can...they are on the dirty dozen list!

Hope this helps! I'd love to have you come stay hi! 

Don't forget to go vote for your favorite projects at the One Artsy Mama Craft Contest!

There are so many good projects! it will be hard to choose. ****REMEMBER to click the vote button that is ABOVE the picture you like!*****

Happy Memorial Day!

I just wanted to take a second to say thank you to all those who serve our country. I really don't know how these men and women do it, especially those who choose to leave their families behind to serve their country. 

Here are two that really tug at my heart strings. I think I cry ever time I look at these.

 I admire you and I look up to you. Thank you for doing what I can not.

Fashion on a Dime

Yesterday the family headed out to Zion's National Park. Knowing there would be some awesome backgrounds I took a Fashion on a Dime outfit. I was going to get some pictures with the mountains in the background but then I saw this neat old moped leaning up against a shed. Here is my latest Fashion on a Dime!

Financial stats for this outfit are:

Red pants- $5.99 at Savers

White and black striped shirt- $5.99 at Savers

Black and gold studded flip flops- $1 dollar at a garage sale

Gold necklace- $4.50 on a Rue 21 clearance sale

Total outfit cost: $17.50 DPWF $1.75!

May 19th 2012

As I have posted about several times in the last few day I have been have some complications with blogger some how erasing my posts. Because I refuse to spend another hour re-writing this post (I am now on my THIRD time writing) here is a new and completely NOT improved summary of my weekend. 

Here is what you need to know. My garage sale day was cut short Saturday. C.J. had a triathlon and I wanted me and the girls to be at the finish line when he crossed.

He finished 5th in his age group and I am so proud of him!

 Because I knew I wouldn't have a lot of time to get out I checked the craigslist garage sale adds to see if anything I needed would be sold on Saturday. I found that there were two bathroom vanities being sold at garage sales this week. So I emailed both listings and explained to them my situation and asked if I could come by Friday. This is a great strategy if you are looking for something particular. By doing this you eliminate the crowd and the chance of someone getting to your item first. I received a reply from one seller and was able to check out one of the bathroom vanities on Friday. Saturday morning I headed to the other bathroom vanity garage sale first thing in the morning. Both vanities were granite counter tops and beautiful but neither vanity worked out. One was too short and one was too long.

 Because I chased the prospect of bathroom vanities I missed out on one the greatest garage sales of all time. Two very popular bloggers here in town, Mandi form Vintage Revivals and Brooke from All Things Thrifty got together to sell their projects they didn't want anymore and projects they had never started on and for whatever reason decided not to finish.  If I had to do it all over again I probably still would have chased the bathroom vanities because of your need for them but that doesn't mean I am not sad I missed out. I was 5 minuted late to the garage sale and there were already 100 people there. As I stood there in awe at all the amazing things I started to notice that EVERYTHING had sold stickers on them. Among the bussel I tried to pick up a few things I was interested in but I couldn't get my hands on anything. Every time I reached out for something I would hear "Oh, thats mine" or "This is my pile." Everything was moving in slow motion and I felt like I was in a terrible nightmare but I was all REAL! I didn't even have time to pull out my camera to take pictures! If you missed out like I did Welcome to the pitty party. Here are a few of the things they sold that I pulled off their blog posts advertising their garage sale.

Vintage Revivals:

Beautiful vintage chair like these

LOTS of frame like these

Plenty of super cute vintage head boards like this one

and this candy red desk, the chandelier and some of the mirrors and frames from this wall collage

 Ok, seriously can this girl decorate or what! I LOVE her style and can't get enough of her. Head over to Vintage Revivals and check out her favorite projects on her side bar for more amazing decor.

All Things Thrifty:

Brooke's hutch turned T.V. cabinet was for sale. This project was one of my personal favorites and one that got me hooked on her site. TOTAL GENIUS! Click here for that project

Her fun dot wall art was also for sale. Click here for that project

I did manage to get my hands on two things. Brooke just lined her walls with sheets of false brick. LOVE it!

  She had a little bit left over so I bought it for $3 dollars and will hopefully be using it for decoration at my brothers wedding! 

I also bought this footboard form her for $10 dollars and like all the other projects in my garage I can't wait to get started on it! Maybe after I get through this craft contest I can kick it into high gear!

Brooke and Mandi are both women I really look up to and I really enjoyed meeting both of them. All Things Thrifty was the first DIY blog I was ever introduced to and has become my go to blog for when I need some inspired creativity and relaxation. Vintage Revivals is a blog I go to and stare at with my mouth wide open and only dream of creating something as amazing as she does. I would be so happy and consider my self the luckiest person on this earth if this blog was every half as successful as theirs. If you haven't already seen their sites head on over there and take a look. You will be hooked just like the rest of us!

Mandi @ Vintage Revivals 

Brooke @All Things Thrifty  

One other awesome deal I bought, my deal of the day, would be two necklaces like this for .50 cents a piece

I bought these thinking I could pull them apart and use them in bows. It wasn't till I got home and took a closer look that I realized they are REAL PEARLS! My mom always taught me that if you scrap the pearl with the bitting edge of your teeth and it feels gritty they are real. Click Here to read about some other ways to test if your pearls are real. They passed every test I tired!

Men, (if any men actually do look at this blog) I am sorry yall are getting gipped this week. I saw lots of good deals for you guys. They had an amazing Man's Swap meet that had everything from camping and hunting gear to car parts, old John Deer tractors and old vintage bikes. Here are two of the best deals I saw this week you might be interested in. 

This boat chair was only $15 dollars!

This seller had boxes of fishing hooks. He was very honest with buyers and told them he was not a fishermen and did not know what they were worth. He was letting people name their own prices on these.

 My husband would have had a hay day!

Hopefully next week I only have to write my week to week post once and you will get a more detailed post about what I found as you normally do.

Thanks for looking!

I HATE Blogger

Alright so for the 2nd time now I have written up my Week to Week post for May 19th and somehow it has again disappeared. The first time it was in draft from the second time it was published. It is gone. I have looked everywhere and I have not deleted anything. Since I ABSOLUTELY REFUSE to write it a third time I am working on getting a very shortened version of it that will let you know the important parts of my garage sale day.