Times they are a changin' . . .

It's about to get a whole lot thriftier over here at Thrifty Goodness. I found out on Friday that my last day of work will be December 4th. I have to say that I knew I wasn't going to make it through yet ANOTHER layoff (I've survived 5 at this point) but it's still hard to process. I've worked for Sprint for almost 8 years and it's the only job I've had since I moved to New York City from Baltimore in 2002. My husband still works for the company (thankfully) and I do get a nice severance package that will give me time to find a new job. I'll admit, I've had it good these last 18 months being able to work from home and I know that won't come my way again. So I'm tightening the belt, upping the Thrifty quotient and squirreling away all the money possible so I can be selective in my next career choice.

Now onto the Thrifty, right?


(boy I nees a haircut!)

Mom and I visited the Elephant's Trunk flea market on a gorgeous Sunday in November. We really lucked out with beautiful weather and some fun finds. Do I have photos? Um, no. But in my defense the vintage hankies and aprons are drying on the rack downstairs and the vintage holiday cards are set to be loaded in The Goodness Shop this week.

While visiting Mom in Baltimore we attended another Treasure Sale. As always I found loads of great craft supplies at amazing prices including knitting needles and crochet hooks (which I always grab as they are only 25 cents each and can range from $3 - $8 in the craft store) and some sweet fabric scraps. My absolute FAVORITE find this trip was this:





Never. Even. Used. And all mine for 50 cents! I've already put them to the test and they are great! And how cute is that box? Seriously, am I getting all ga ga over scissors? Yes. Yes I am.

So now when I thrift it will be with a new eye. An "I know I can find something here for CHEAP that I would normally buy at, say, Target" sort of eye. Like a new ironing board. And stuff to organize my closets.

So I'm off to peruse the employment sites, figure out my separation benefits package and become the Coupon Queen of Corona. Wish me luck!

~RR

. . . and then they crafted.

Hello! I know, I've been absent for so long, not only from writing but from reading as well. The plus to working from home is that I get so much more done during the day than I did when I worked in the office. However, I also spent my lunch breaks and other, ahem, breaks, perusing blogs. Not only do I miss my friends (both old and new yet to be found) but also the daily inspiration! So I'm trying to get up early each day and hope that those extra hours will help me fit in some extra blog reading and I guess, cleaning. Sigh.

So we held our newly annual Christmas Crafting Tea last weekend. What a blast! I think we have a solid group of crafters now made up of both family and friends. Mom and I had a great time decorating. Luckily her Christmas stuff is in her hall closet (unlike mine that is buried out in the garage) so we pulled out a tote and hoped for the best.



I was so happy with the look especially the snow flakes on the chairs:



And the Martha Stewart gingerbread house boxes that I got after Christmas last year at Macy's for $2 each!



We had a wide variety of food:



Dessert:



and crafting supplies:



Everyone brought a delicious dish to share and the smell of hot apple cider and the sound of holiday tunes really made for a festive atmosphere. Mom made it extra special by making up a holiday crafting aprin for everyone and fun monogram pins.

So what did we make?

Chenille baskets:



Wish boxes (an idea I took from my dear friend Ms. Sid!):



and paper treat cones which of course I forgot to take any pictures of and they are still at my Mom's place since I came home on the train. I'll share more pictures as I get them.

So needless to say our day was fun, festive and extremely crafty!



Thank you, girls, for helping us kick off the holiday season in high fashion!


xoxoxo
~RR

Victoriana

I love to make Christmas ornaments. This coming Saturday I'm hosting a Holiday Crafting party and have three different ornament projects on the menu. We had such a good time last year that we decided to make it an annual affair. I can't wait to see what everyone creates this year!

In the mean time I've made a few ornaments on my own. I love old Victorian post card images and have a folder full of printed ones. I also had on hand some wooden circles and squares and of course a plethora of paper and doo dads to use as well.







I love the way the turned out and they were so easy and inexpensive to make! Oh and fun, too. I think one key to the cuteness factor is glitter and using "pop dots" to raise the images and give them some depth. :) I have already started a few more. Hopefully I can whip out enough to give as gifts and maybe even put a few up for sale in the shop. (Which I'll be reopening with some fun new vintage items next week!)

If you'd like to make your own you can find some fun images on Flickr in this photo pool. Also doing a google image search for Victorian post cards or images can produce some fun results and I do believe Dover Publications sells some nice CD collections of images as well.

This project was inspired by a Valentine ornament I made last year. See it here along with a tutorial for crepe paper pin wheels.

I'll be back next week with crafty party tales! Oh and check out Sweet Goodness Swaps for our new swap posting today!

~kiss kiss~