Today's baking challenge. Cake Mix Cookies.

We tried this cookie recipe using a cake mix. 

The picture looked so adorable I had to try it!  

The 3 frosting bowls came from a garage sale. $1 for all 3 bowls.

Recipe is from Parents Magazine, April 2011, page 190

1 box yellow cake mix

1 large egg

1/4 cup canola oil

1/4 cup buttermilk

colored sprinkles

1 can vanilla frosting

yellow, red, blue food coloring

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper; set aside. 

2. Combine the cake mix, egg, oil and buttermilk in a large bowl. Beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Shape 1-inch mounds of batter into balls and flatten slightly. Place about 2 inches apart on the prepared cookie sheets. 

Top with sprinkles. 

3. Bake until cookies are golden and firm, 8 to 10 minutes. Cool on wire rack. 

4. Divide the frosting among three bowls. Use a few drops of food coloring to tint frosting. Sandwich the cookies together with frosting. Makes 30.

YUMMY!

Ok, so this makes 30 cookies, which makes 15 sandwiches. And when the 3 cooks must sample a few you only end up with about 10 sandwiches. :-)

Linking up to Creative Party at http://todayscreativeblog.net/

Treasure Hunting Last Week

We are updating our guest bathroom and have painted the walls a calming, light blue. The paint is OOPS paint from Home Depot. It was a great deal. $5 for a gallon of Behr Premium Plus paint and primer in one!!

I needed a new shower curtain and this one is SO FUN and a perfect match to the paint color. A great Salvation Army find for $5!! The shower curtain hooks were BRAND NEW from a garage sale last summer for $1 ! 

On Friday my girls and I went to Cari Cucksey's, RePurpose Estate Sale in Northville. They were filming for Season 2 of Cash and Cari. 

- our treasures - 

oval mirror, decanter and glass set,

ADORABLE lemon salt and pepper shakers,

petite accent vase,

and a UNIQUE set of 18 connected vases.

I CANNOT WAIT to fill each vase with spring flowers for a centerpiece! 

It was a FABULOUS week. Cannot wait to see what we find this week!!!!

I am still debating on the table I found on Craigslist. We took a look at it in person. It's a nice, oval, oak table. But I am thinking I want a rectangle table. Hmmmmm.....

Thirsty Thursday!

Another trip to Salvation Army today! This week is 50% off yellow tags. So I scanned the shelves for the yellow stickers. I found this set of 6 glasses. They are sturdy and simple. The price was $8.99 for 6 (then 50% off) = $4.50. The sticker on all the glasses reads "Schott Zwiesel Made in Germany". Since this label is still intact on all 6 glasses I am guessing they haven't been used.

I researched Schott Zwiesel online and this style is called "Paris" and they are listed at $9 per glass!

$4.50 vs. $54.00 

There are some great deals out there! 

Cheers!

Wall of Frames

My project today! I have been thinking about creating a wall of picture frames! I knew exactly which wall I wanted to use. The empty wall in my dining room. I have boxes and boxes of frames from garage sales. I picked out 12 of my favorites of all different sizes. Then I arranged them on the floor and measured the entire collection. 

6 ft wide x 3.5 ft tall. 

I marked that area on the wall with painters tape and started hanging all the frames. (please ignore the white furniture, it's the top to my daughter's desk that I still need to finish painting. and yes we have an air hockey table in our dining room right now. We got it as a Christmas gift and it needs to make its way down to the play room.)

ACTUALLY after I hung up the frames I "had" to make a trip to HomeGoods and found this wonderful sign (for $6.99) with a very meaningful saying. I hung it up in place of one of the frames in the center.

I have always loved this saying!!

Enjoy the little things in life, for one day you'll look back and realize they were the big things.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this project. Next I will fill the frames with my favorite photos. Probably print them all in black and white. And I would like to paint all the frames. Maybe all black? Or maybe print the photos in Sepia and paint the frames with a chocolate gloss paint. I would love to paint all the frames in white but our whole house is filled with dark brown trim. I think the bright white frames would stick right out. Hmmmmm..... maybe I will try it! 

This was so fun to do today!

I paid 50 cents to 3 dollars for each of the frames!!

P.S. We need a table (and chairs) for our dining room. I have my eye on a table on Craigslist right now. And I found a delivery service that will charge $85 to deliver the table to me (about 25 miles). I love this! Because I do not have a truck. I cannot lift a table by myself. And I always have 2 little girls with me, which makes me nervous about taking them to a stranger's house.

My favorites this week!

2 books which I love for their clever titles "Treasures" and "The Collectors".

 I felt drawn to these books!

20 cents each at Salvation Army on Thursday.  

2 new muffin tins for $2 each from an estate sale on Thursday.

2 fabulous wooden signs for $7 total from an estate sale on Friday. 

Which happened to be a RePurpose Estate Sale where they were filming for 

Season 2 of "Cash and Cari" which will start in JULY 2011 on HGTV !

And I celebrated my birthday on Wednesday!! It was a GREAT week!

Happy !

Today my mom and I went to Salvation Army while the girls were in school. My mom heads right for the book section. She discovers that hardcover books are 5 for $1.00 !! I browse the titles. This book jumps out at me. I recognize this.

Happy for No Reason by Marci Shimoff

7 Steps for Being Happy from the Inside Out!

I heard about this book and checked it out from the library last year. I really enjoyed reading it. So much that I kept it past its due date and continued to renew it as many times as they would allow me to. I didn't get a chance to finish it, I reached the renewal limit and I owed $4.00 in overdue fines by the time I returned it.
Here it is today for 20 cents at Salvation Army in perfect condition. (retail $24.95)
Great book! Excellent find today!

Cash and Cari tonight on HGTV

Cari Cucksey has a consignment store in Northville, Michigan called RePurpose and she provides Estate Sale Services. 

www.RePurposeShop.com

I love her show "Cash and Cari" on HGTV. The show is all about how she organizes an estate sale, what interesting things she finds and how much people pay for them.
A new episode is on tonight at 8:30pm Eastern! I am setting my DVR. I don't want to miss this one! I went to the estate sale that they are showing on tonight's episode !! It was in January and it was sooo cold! It was great and I cannot wait to go to more of her sales!

Here is the description of tonight's show.  The Delicate Scent of Success
'Handle with care' becomes the motto of a sale that features rare clocks and delicate glassware. The cold and snowy weather doesn't deter the crowds from lining up outside on the first day of the sale. 
You can watch past episodes online here -> http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv-cash-cari/videos/index.html

Gobblet Junior

It is played just like Tic Tac Toe except you can gobble up your opponent and move your pieces around the board. We play this almost EVERY DAY. 3 year olds and 5 year olds can beat their parents! I scored this game for $4.  (retail $25.00)

Prof Wacky's Wahoo Word Lab

When I found this cute, little, word game at a garage sale last summer our 5 year old could only spell her name and "mom" and "dad". But I knew it wouldn't be long before she could read everything around her. That time has come. Our kindergartner is so proud that she can read entire books by herself.

I wanted to find more ways to encourage her reading so I pulled out this game that I had hidden away. Match a green card with a pink card to build a word. This wonderful tool is so fun. There are ideas for 7 game variations. Great deal for 75 cents! (retail $12.99)

My 2011 Shopping List

With garage sale season soon approaching 

(starts in May here in Michigan) 

I am taking a look at 

my wish list for my 2011 shopping!!

For me:

frames, curtains, hardcover books, mirrors, 

halloween costumes, toys, children's books, games, everything Disney princess! (Christmas gifts for my girls!)

For customers:

cake pedestals, vintage aprons, snow suits, vintage postcards

Shhhhhhhhhh....
(My trick for hiding the girls Christmas gifts all year long is to tuck them away into a GIANT suitcase. It is approx 3ft x 2ft and 12 inches deep. I got it at garage sale for $5. Its too big to take on a trip. Once it's full it's too heavy to carry around!)

The best part of garage sale shopping is finding things that I didn't even know existed and then realizing that I have to have them!  For example:

my shoe cubby

Is there anything I can put on my list that I can find for you!?

New favorite magazine Flea Market Style

www.fleamarketstylemag.blogspot.com

The Spring 2011 issue is here!! I found mine at Meijer. I hear you can get it at Target, Home Depot and Walgreens! It is fantastic! So many ideas and inspiration. Ok so maybe I have spent more time reading it instead of doing dishes. PRIORITIES! 

Happy Valentines Day

love love love

My recent Salvation Army treasure! This cake plate is 12 inches across and it was only $2.99!!

I added the ribbon. I could bake some sweet treats to put on here or I could even use it as a memo board!!! A dry erase marker to write a special message!

Ferris Wheel - UPDATE

OK. I want to tell you how much I paid for the Pottery Barn inspired Ferris Wheel. I asked you to guess what I paid for this item. Your guesses were anywhere from $2.00 - $9.99. 

I just WISH I was able to get the deal that you thought I did. I am flattered!! 

I actually paid $15.90 (with tax) at a Consignment Store. 

I was HAPPY to pay this price for this item. I know its not a Garage Sale price. But I love this piece and I was shocked it was only $15 at the store. Thank you for playing! :-)

Salvation Army has a big 50% off sale tomorrow starting at 7am. Feels like garage sale season getting up to shop at that hour. I will pretend it is warmer than 15 degrees outside.

Before and After - Our Stairs

I have been inspired by Thrifty Decor Chick to redo our stairs. Our carpet needed to go! She gave us step by step instructions how to tear out the carpet and paint and stain the stairs! With the detail she provided I was determined to do it!

BEFORE

Removed all the carpet and hundreds of staples. Tearing it out felt so good! Filled some holes with wood filler. Sanded everything!

Applied 2 coats of stain and 1 coat of Minwax polyurethane.  (it needs another coat of polyurethane)

AFTER
Painted the risers, rails and trim white. I need to apply more white paint to the trim along the walls.  

This whole process took me about 7 days. I tried to paint or stain at night so it would have time to dry. I have another set of stairs that I need to do this to. It's tough when you MUST use the stairs while doing this process. AND I actually bought my electric sander at a garage sale for $5.

YAY!!!

Can you guess what I paid? Ferris Wheel

The Craziest Thing!! I actually clipped out this page of a Pottery Barn catalog awhile ago because I liked the design of the display of items. I have an old dresser in my dining room and I was using this picture as inspiration for decorating.

Who would have thought that I would find, at a consignment store, THE FERRIS WHEEL from the picture!! This one is 18" tall.

The one in the Pottery Barn catalog is 29" tall, has 4 more "chairs" and is priced at $199 plus $21 shipping.

Can you guess how much I paid for it?? I would love to hear your guesses. I will tell you what I paid for it SOON!

Scrabble Please

My Scrabble Collection

Anytime I find a Scrabble game I pick it up! I love that you can create personalized projects with the 100 tiles that come with each game. Here are some ideas! (at least some of these ideas you can use real tiles).

From Thrifty Decor Chick

Scrabble Jewelry by Andrea

Lawn Scrabble

A Scrabble Birthday Cake by Pat-A-Cake Parties

Scrabble pillows by Stephen Reed

Scrabble Journals by Lori Z.

Scrabble Magnets by www.atypicaltypea.com

Scrabble Cheez-it

A Scrabble Keyboard by Datamancer

Scrabble Cookies by Bakeat350.blogspot.com

A Scrabble Floor by ReadyMade.com

I think I need to find more Scrabble tiles!!