Buttons!

While millions of people head to the stores on Black Friday in search of the greatest deals on the newest electronics and trendiest toys, I tend to spend the day at home. There have been years in the past that I may have gotten up in the wee hours of the morning for some 'amazing' gift bag that only a few chosen shoppers receive, but those days are long gone. I value sleep over shopping any day. Plus, with laptop in hand, I can do all the shopping I need to do in the comfort of my own home!

And this year, just like years in the past, I avoided the crowds...until I saw the JoAnn's circular. With slipper season at its peak, I seem to be running out of buttons faster than I can sew them on.

I have been waiting for a couple months for the buttons to go on sale at JoAnn's, and they finally did. Fortunately, I didn't have to fight the crowds on Friday, the sale was going on all weekend. Not only were buttons half off, but there was also a coupon for 20% off my entire order(even sale items...exciting, I know!). So, what normally would have come out to over $500 in buttons($500!?!) ended up costing me around $200. Don't worry, I got a TON of buttons- my receipt is taller than me(by a good amount, too). And without further ado, I present the buttons:


If you want a closer look, click on the picture itself and it will open in a new window. I have at least a few of all the buttons pictured and they are currently all available for slippers. I have quite a few favorites in this new batch... which ones are yours?

Thrifty Shopping

If you ordered anything from me last week you probably noticed that I was a little slower than normal on response time. There is a reason for this- me, my husband, and my parents hopped in the car and drove over 16 hours to visit my sister's family in North Dakota. You see, my sister and her family used to live across the street from us. Just about every day after work I had the luxury of visiting my nieces. It was so much fun to play the auntie roll these past fours years, but in July, they moved (and they moved FAR!).

Although North Dakota is not the typical place most people would consider visiting on vacation, I couldn't have asked for anything more than spending time with them. Much of the week was spent de-popcorning their walls (yes... every surface had a popcorn texture, not just the ceilings!) and painting, but I managed to sneak in some antique and thrift shopping as well.

So before I show some pictures of my finds, I must give a disclaimer about my knowledge of antiques. The simple fact of the matter is that I have no knowledge. I am dead wrong every time I guess at a price on Antqiues Roadshow, the actual worth of a piece means nothing to me. If it looks pretty to me, I pull the trigger.

Come on, who doesn't need a Playmaster Ribbon Writer?! I have no idea what I am going to do with this (extremely) heavy piece of metal- but doesn't it look cool? I even tried it out:


Take away the fact that this thing is probably polished in lead, and this makes a very cool toy for children to play with! When I was young, there was a large barn on our property with an old cash register. My sister and I always had a blast playing with that. I guess this reminded me of it in a small way!








I loved the look of this lone dish towel. The navy blue and golden yellow really do something for me. Does it match my kitchen? Absolutely not! That's ok, I can find a use for it.








These two items are pieces bought for my future knitting studio (hey... a girl can dream!). I probably won't actually use these wool combs or darning egg, but they are perfect knit-friendly decorations! The dish towel got to stay in the pic... see, I'm already putting it to use!






And perhaps the item I am most excited about: over 350 grams of recycled cashmere! A thrift store that we visited had a bunch of brand new, 100% cashmere hats. Cashmere is cashmere...I bought every .99¢ hat and took them all apart before we even headed home! I have red, blue, baby pink, and black...any suggestions?