A $20 Stretch

It has been years since my twenty dollar bill has stretched so far! What a delight! Brand new to blogging, I am discovering how wonderful it is to follow the blogs of others to see all the talented, creative persons out there who share the passion of creating their beautiful homes.

I spent the past week in Florida with my mother and step father. What a great start in Thrift Shop shopping! It was so much fun checking out thrift shops far away from my home town in Texas. Following are the treasures that I came home with....

I love "before and afters"... so here we go! (Oh, there are no Metamorphosis' here... just simple soap, water, and a little elbow grease!)

Before: These two almost bowl-shaped dishes straight out of the thrift shop's shopping bag. I actually bought the first one in Florida and the second in Alabama! And... when I found the second one I didn't even realize that I had a match in pattern to the other one! How cool is that!

After: Oh how elegant they look after a thorough washing!

Next are some wooden candle holders and a wooden leaf. When I saw these, I knew I had to have them. Dusty, dirty... I was thinking about paint, goldleaf... hmm...

But then I got them all cleaned up and even polished. They look pretty darn good as they are! We'll see...

Here are two heart shaped frames. Although they look like wood, they are not. I think they are resin. They are sturdy and each have glass. Don't know yet what I will do with these, but something will come to mind, I'm sure!

All washed, squeaky clean, and ready for something clever. Any ideas?

Oh dear! I got to wondering if this "silver" was too far gone to shine up and be at least acceptable...

Whew! What a relief. I think it shined up mighty fine. What do you think?

Here are the rest of my thrift shop treasures...

Oh my! I think I'm going to be busy. Fun busy! Thanks for stopping by. I'm just beginning to blog and have so much to learn!

Thanks so much to Rhoda at Southern Hospitality for hosting today's party, Today's Thrifty Treasures.  There are so many participants! 

I almost forgot to post my favorite treasure that I found while thrift shop shopping...

Aren't they beautiful? I set of 7. Yeah, seven. Oh well... so happy to have this seven. Here they are before they were washed and sparkling (those price tags say .89 !):

And now... sparkling and beautiful. How about a glass of wine?