I Be Thrift Shoppin': Cute Little Sugar Dish

I'm a sucker for cutesy little things like sugar dishes.  I miss the days where ladies had guests over for afternoon tea.  Can we bring that back?  I don't know if it would be nearly as much fun without all the fancy dresses, carriages, petite snack cakes, and all that general romance of days gone by.

I picked this up for the color and the design.  It's nothing fancy - no markings on the bottom of this piece.  I have no idea what country this was made in, or if it was made yesterday or 30 years ago.  It's a lovely sort of mustard yellow and stands about 4" tall by 3.5" wide.

I think the lid is my favorite part.  It's decorated all around with that pretty little pointed tip.  I also love the handles.

I found this cute little sugar dish at the DAV on one of their 50% off sales.  Originally $3, marked down to $2, so I got it for $1.  Even if this never gets used as a sugar dish, I would say it's well worth $1.

Dining Room Decorating Total To Date: $3

I Be Thrift Shoppin': Ugly Bless Our Home Sign

If you are needing to decorate on a budget, you just absolutely cannot go wrong with thrift stores.  You may not make some fantastic scores each time you go, but when you do find something you need or want, it feels really good to only have spent a few bucks.

So I have a vision for my dining room - you can see where I plan to go with it HERE. I'm not entirely sure what my style is and honestly I don't care too much.  I do what I like and I like what I do - what style it is doesn't matter to me, because I'm bound to break some rules somewhere.

My vision has evolved a bit as I plan to use less gold metallics than originally thought and plan to incorporate some silver metallics as well.  Overall, I'm just looking to create a pretty space that I will enjoy looking at, and that my family will enjoy as well.  We bought this house back in January and I haven't done a lick of decorating.  I decided it was time to start collecting pieces.

My goal is to decorate as much of my home as I can strictly from thrift store shopping finds.  My reason for this is: 1.) It's a challenge and 2.) It will save us tons of money and 3.) I just really enjoy it.

Our local DAV is a great place to go.  Every major holiday they have a 50% off sale.  Since Memorial Day was this past Monday, I went late that night and found some great finds.

Here's one that I am excited about - I call it the Ugly Bless Our Home Sign.  Because dude, it is ugly.  For now.  I don't have a clue what decade this is from.  It looks like something I would have grown up with, so I am going to say the 80s.
 

I like gold, but not in this instance.  It just looks old and dated.  The gold "Bless our home" is some type of metal.  In different spots the coating has worn off.  It's attached to a wood base (also with lots of wear) with some screws.  The sign is about 16" long by 5" tall.

I think after a fresh coat of solid white paint it will look much better and more modern.  I plan to put this into the dining room, but not sure where just yet.

It was originally priced for $5, marked down to $4, and I got it on a 50% off sale for $2.

Dining Room Decorating Total: $2

Trying Out the CotLin Yarn From KnitPicks.com

I am in no way a yarn snob.  Not yet, at least.  I am, however, constantly in search of a yarn that is soft, affordable, agreeable, with a lovely drape, and a yarn that won't fall apart.

Right now I am especially in search of the perfect cotton yarn.  The cheap stuff you can buy at the big box stores and craft stores is...meh, okay.  It seems to have a problem with colors running and fading FAST.  I made a beautiful 4-piece wash cloth set and it was ruined after a few uses.  Talk about frustrating.

Unless you buy a cotton yarn online, the only 2 options you have (at least where I live and there's no specialty, local yarn store) is the Sugar 'N Cream or the Wal-Mart version which is Peaches 'N Cream.  I'm pretty sure those 2 yarn brands are really the same, just with a different label.  If they're not the same, then I think they are at least coming from the exact same factory.

I discovered KnitPicks.com after a friend from church made a baby blanket for my son using one of the yarns from there.  I'm not sure which one, to be honest, but I do love it.  That blanket, which is by far a very simple design, all in one solid color, has received so many compliments.  At the hospital when Jensen was born, the nurses kept remarking on how soft and wonderful it was.  And it still is, almost 5 months later.

So KnitPicks.com has 2 cotton yarns I was debating: the Dishie Yarn and the CotLin.  The Dishie Yarn is 100% cotton worsted weight in a range of 20 different colors (currently) and comes in a 100g skein of 190 yards.  The price is $3.99 per skein.  It has received lots of wonderful reviews.  At the time that I was ready to order, they were out of stock on all the colors I wanted.  So I looked at the CotLin.

The CotLin is 70% Tanguis cotton and 30% linen DK weight yarn in a range of 30 different colors (currently) and comes in a 50g skein of 123 yards.  The price is $2.99 per skein.  This yarn has also received a ton of rave reviews, and when it came down to it, a few things made me swing towards this yarn: 1.) More colors to choose from and 2.) The description says that the linen adds characteristic flecks, additional absorbency, and less elasticity to the final product.  I like the less elasticity part, since washcloths in particular can streeeeetch out.

I got the package in the mail on Wednesday.  Look at this cute little card they put in the box!  I think I need to take a clue and do something cute like this for orders I ship out.

I ordered 7 colors to start off with.  Shipping is very reasonable.  I only paid $4.99, or at a $50 order the shipping is free.  As much as I would have loved to buy $50 worth of yarn, I would have kicked myself in the tail.

The colors I ordered, from left to right (sort of): Clementine, Cashew, Swan, Canary, Surf, Conch, and Gosling.  The colors are vibrant and absolutely beautiful in person!  And the yarn is nice and soft with a little bit of a squishiness to it.

Here are some color combinations I am thinking of for 3-piece washcloth sets:

Cashew, Clementine, & Canary

Conch, Swan, & Surf

Swan, Conch, & Gosling

Of course I have enough yarn for several more combinations.  At this point I am not sure how much I will get out of each skein, or even how big my final washcloth will be.  I will know more in a few days!

The Mystery Iris Is Blooming! And Other Iris Types of Note

I just love flowers.  When we closed on our house back in January, I didn't realize I would have any blooming flowers this spring.  It's the only set of flowers in the entire yard (for the moment) so I was excited to see what color they would be.

They just started to bloom yesterday and there's at least 4 blooms per stalk and probably 8-10 stalks.  I think I will cut a few for the dining room table.  I'm not an iris expert, but I am guessing this is a yellow bearded iris?  I have no idea about what name it would have.

Iris is probably the easiest thing to grow, other than a weed.  Really, all you have to do is make sure it has plenty of sun and some water, then every few years you can divide up the rhizomes (because they naturalize and spread over time).  I think the blackest of thumbs can grow iris.  

I think I'd like to add to my iris collection.  I found these on tulipworld.com.  This is one of my new favorite websites because they have flat rate $3.95 shipping.  SHAZAM!  I am sold.

As a note, all of these photos below belong to tulipworld.com.  I have provided links for all of the iris types if you would like to purchase any from there.

Beverly Sills Reblooming Iris

This peachy pink iris is so feminine and lovely.  It's like a vintage wedding dress, all covered in lace.  I think it looks timeless, classic, and beautiful.

Immortality Reblooming Iris

So if the Beverly Sills iris reminds me of a vintage wedding gown, this fluffy, stark white iris reminds me of a modern wedding gown.  I always find stark white flowers to be so beautiful as well.  When we purchase flowers for their extravagant shades of beauty, there's still something amazing about a white flower.

Lady in Red Dwarf Bearded Iris

Now this one looks like a show stopper!  I don't even know what color that is.  The website describes it as magenta, but it looks almost like a red wine burgundy mixed with indigo.  I don't even know.  But it is such a beautiful shade of color I've never seen in a flower before.

Here Comes the Night Bearded Iris

This one makes my heart stop.  I'm such a sucker for "black" flowers because they're just so cool looking.  If I ever live in a creepy looking old house, I'm going to plant a gothic garden with nothing but black flowers.  I am definitely getting some of these because I don't think my garden can live without it.

Next I think I will talk about tulips.  I don't have any in my yard, but I'm determined to plant every square inch possible.  Tulips will be a long post, so I'll save it for another day!

Dining Room Inspiration: Navy, Mint, Gold, & Yellow

We just bough a house at the end of January.  I haven't had time to even think about decorating.  Ugh. The farthest I've been able to get, so far, is decorating in my head - know what I mean?  My time has been consumed between Odd Duck Soaps, the kiddos, and our yard and garden.

I decided it's time to start thinking about making a decorating plan.  For me that can be kind of hard.  I think my overall decorating style - and I'm no professional interior designer - would be best described as eclectic.  I love everything from vintage, folk, modern, cottage chic, to minimalism and beyond.  If I had to choose one decorating style, I would probably cry.  There's so much beauty to be found in them all.

I haven't decided on a paint color and I also think I will have to change the curtains, but this is the direction I would like to go with our dining room.  I see a vision of navy blue, shades of mint, yellows, cream, and a touch of metallic gold finishes.

A few key items that I need to get: vintage trays for a tray wall, fabulous pieces of display china, and a large, ornate gilded (real or faux) mirror.  These are the big 3 items that are going to set the mood for our dining room.  I really would love a hutch but due to the room layout I think a buffet or dresser will work best.  Since I will be decorating on a tight budget I hope to score at some thrift stores and yard sales.  I will have to see things with new eyes and hone my recycling skills.

If you are interested in any of these items that are for sale, please go here.  All photos belong to the shop owners.