Thrifty Thursday ~ Game Boards!

It's Thrifty Thursday!  Today I thought I would share about game boards!  I'm also linking with Tales from Bloggeritaville to share my thrifty finds.

I have many memories of playing board games, mainly checkers, with both sets of grandparents.  My great-grandmother had an old Chinese checker game that we loved to play with ~ even though none of us knew how to actually play Chinese checkers.  When she moved into town from the farm, the game disappeared and no one will 'fess up to having it :(  I'm always on the look-out for a similar game board, but have yet to find one. 

Country Sampler has become one of my favorite magazines and I love to see how game boards have been used in home decor.  Our children's "toy room" is in our basement and I have been wanting to find some game boards to decorate with.  DS and DD have outgrown the Little People and other "baby toys", as they call them, and so now is my chance!  Within the last few months, I have come across some boards at Goodwill and other stores at extremely reasonable prices.  None are original, all reproductions ~ but that fact doesn't bother me.  I'm not looking at resale value, I want them for sentimental value!

This first checker board was found at Goodwill for $1.99.

Another $1.99 Goodwill find!

This checker board was found at an antique store for $7.00 ~ still not a bad price.

This game board came from a local store that was going out of business ~ remember I paid $10 for the game board, 2 mini quilts, and the Americana basket (see next photo).

Here's the display ~ I added them to the wall grouping that includes the shelf I made-over.

This ring toss game is my latest purchase.  I found it at an antique store.  They were asking $8 and I negotiated it down to $6.50!  I just love the colors and those stars ~ I'm a sucker for stars!  The wood blocks were DS and the dominoes are wood and were found in one of our previous homes.

It's just a start, but I love the feeling that the boards are giving the toy/game room.  Now DS and DD ask to play checkers all the time ~ I love that those simple games can still provide lots of entertainment.  They can't wait until Thanksgiving when the entire family gets together.  Great-Grandpa and Great-Grandma are first on the list as opponents!

Goodwill Goodie Makeover Monday

First ~ I want to thank you for the birthday wishes!  I had a a fantastic week.

Second ~ I would like to ask for some prayers for DH and myself.  Yesterday was an extremely trying Sunday School class again and we are feeling very discouraged.  I strongly feel that the Lord is calling us to lead this class, but at times (like yesterday) we feel like throwing the towel in.

Third ~ this week's makeover!  Once again, it's a double makeover.  I already have the perfect spot picked out and can't wait to get it hung!

Here's the before ~

I picked the spoon rack up at Goodwill for $.50 and the spoons from Dollar General for $1. 

We had trick-or-treating on Saturday and the weather was terrific.  A bit chilly after the sun went down, but no wind and clear skies!  DS and DD waited until the last minute to decide what to dress like, which caused a bit of stress for us all.  Thank goodness we were able to find 2 costumes and at 50%.  I usually don't purchase costumes ~ I have all the costumes my mom made for us and DD has 2 totes full of play costumes.  However, this year they decided they needed to be vampires ~ not my first choice, but they did look the part.  For safety reason (I'm a bit paranoid), I will not post photos of them that show their faces.  I do think these photos are safe to share.

I wouldn't mess with this pair, would you?!?

Goodwill Goodie FInish Friday

It's Friday again!  I just finished baking a caramel apple cake and chocolate chip cookie brownies, so the house has a wonderful smell!  Some probably noticed that there wasn't a Thrifty Thursday this week ~ yesterday was my birthday and I was busy the entire day.  Lunch with DH, then some shopping, and then a delicious supper out with DH, DS, and DD.  I am very blessed!

So onto this week's makeover.  I had a little fun with this lazy susan and gave it a double color.  The black didn't show thru as much as I had hoped, but I'm still pleased with the result.  Removing the lettering on the jar was actually quite easy.  I was even able to find the 1 necessary item to put the finishing touches on the display.

Here's how both turned out ~

And here they are displayed ~

This is the sink area in my laundry/mud room.  The iron and stand were my paternal grandmother's and the wood spools all came from my maternal great-grandmother.  I was fortunate to have spent a lot of time with both of these terrific ladies and cherish the heirlooms that I have received from each.  So what was the 1 item I had to hunt for ~ those wooden clothes pins!  They were a lot harder to find than I had imagined, but definitely complete the display ~ don't you think!

The weather has really taken a turn towards cold this week.  In fact, we had flurries and sleet on Wednesday afternoon.  This weekend is going to be full of non-stop painting ~ I don't want to be bored this winter without a makeover to do!

Goodwill Goodie Makeover Monday

Can it really be the last week in October already?  Christmas, only 60 days away?  Visions of prim decorating are dancing in my head!  I need to start going through my stash of presents and see what I already have and what I need to work on getting.  Maybe a few makeovers will make their way to a new home!

Hope you all had a chance to check out DS and DD bedroom photos that I posted.  I would love to see some more comments!  They keep me inspired!

On to this week's makeover!  This will be a double makeover week.  I have a display in mind and need both of these items.  The first is a lovely ~ and I mean lovely ~ glass jar that I picked up at ALCO on clearance for $1.  I really have no idea why it was left to be clearanced out.  I mean doesn't everyone dream of owning something as beautiful as this ~

As if that wasn't cute enough by itself, check out the other side  ~

I will have a hard time seeing this one transformed ~ LOL!  Along with this great jar, I'm primming up another lazy susan.  The first one turned out so well, that I snag every one I come across.  Here's what it looks like before ~

A little dreary here today, perfect for painting away!  I have 1 item left to find for this display ~ hoping to have time this week to hunt it down.  Finish Friday will be a great one!

Goodwill Goodie Finish Friday

Wow ~ 3 posts in 1 day!  This week's goodwill goodie makeover was a little more time consuming than the past ones I have done.  The roll top of the bread box took a little extra time to paint, distress, and wax ~ but it was well worth the effort.  Here's the makeover result ~

There was a weird glare coming from the bread box in these photos ~ the "white" that is showing up in the corners and other places is not actually there.  I think maybe the sunlight and flash caused it.  Right now, I have those great thrifty candles displayed on it.  It has been great to have some extra storage space in the kitchen ~ 'cause, really, who couldn't use some extra storage in the kitchen.

I'm hoping to get in some painting this weekend.  The weather is suppose to be changing tonight, and I would like to have as many makeovers in-the-process before it gets too cold to paint.  Then I can spend time this winter distressing, waxing, and tweaking ~ plus have something to post about!

Linking Up With Kelly's Korner ~ *Prima Ballerina*

Once again I'm sharing about our children's bedrooms on Kelly's Korner.  Next is DD's room.  Until a few months ago, it was Disney Princess and Tinker Bell ~ complete with canopy.  Then she decided that she wanted a ballerina room.  So out went the princess and in came ballet!

Luckily, the pink still works!  I have recycled the costume from her first recital as decor as well as outgrown ballet slippers, tap shoes, and leos.  She still has a few princess and Tinker Bell items mixed in ~ couldn't get rid of everything!  A few things were mine ~ the white cradle, the vintage Barbie dream house.  The vintage mirror was my great-grandmother's.

I'm still tweaking here and there ~ still have some prints to get hung, but overall very happy with the makeover!  DD is in her 3rd year of lessons and loves to dance.  She also takes cheer lessons.  I think this one is destined to become a prima ballerina and then a dance instructor!

Linking Up With Kelly's Korner ~ Dinoland!

Today I'm attempting to link up with Kelly's Korner and share photos of how I have decorated our children's bedrooms.  They are the farthest thing from prim ~ definitely customized to each child.  I will start with DS's room.  He is dinosaur-obsessed! 

Beware as you are about to enter Dinoland!

This is the product of 7 years (almost 8) of nothing but dinosaurs for every birthday and Christmas!  Every vacation that we have taken has included some kind of dinosaur related activity and dinosaur souvenir.  We're thankful that we live in the Midwest and so many fossil sites, colleges with paleontology programs, dinosaur finds, etc. are within driving distance.  Even when we went to Disney World, he was able to get his fill of dinosaurs at Animal Kingdom. This past summer we headed out to South Dakota and visited The Mammoth Site in Hot Springs, SD.  DS was able to participate in the Junior Paleontology Dig for the second time ~ we had traveled out there 5 years ago so that he could dig away!  It is an amazing place and I would highly recommend it to anyone that has a child interested in dinosaurs/ice age animals.

DS has also had the opportunity to meet 2 important paleontologists and listen to a presentation given by each.  The first was Jack Horner who was a consultant for the Jurassic Park movies.  He spoke at the Iowa State Historical Museum when they hosted "Hatching the Past: The Great Dinosaur Egg Hunt", a traveling dinosaur exhibit.  The other was Dr. Christopher Brochu who has been featured in dinosaur documentaries and he spoke at the Science Center of Iowa when they hosted a traveling dinosaur fossil/skeleton exhibit.

I'm always on the look-out for dinosaurs, books about dinosaurs, or any dinosaur related items.  It's becoming a challenge considering that he owns just about every dinosaur item that's out there!  We have started to upgrade some of his dinosaur models ~ I can't believe how expensive the nicer ones are, but I'm fairly certain that this is not a phase and it's his life's passion.  He's already investigating what colleges have paleontology programs and where they are located.  Time will tell, but I have a strong feeling that we are going to have a paleontologist in the family ~ who knows he may just become world famous!