Make and Takes » Family

4 Helpful Tips for Thrift Store Shopping

Marie — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 09:29:35 +0000

There is real talent when it comes to thrift store shopping. I’m lucky to live near two of the top thrifters around, Allison and Kami. These ladies are skilled in their approach and attack! After going with them on a recent trip to the thrift store, I learned a thing or two. Here’s a few tips for the next time you go thrift store shopping.

1. Get there early! I arrived just before 10 am to my local Utah thrift store and witnessed close to 30 people lined up to get in. They are the real bargain hunters. Kami and Allison are usually among them! They say most people head in towards the collectibles first, seeing what’s new for the day. You could probably go every single day and find something new.

2. Pile it in, decide later. It can get pretty hairy in there, people spying in your cart to see what you’ve got. So if you’re thinking about a specific item to buy, just put it in your cart. Allison’s cart is piled high, both of them. She likes to make sure it’s all in her cart, so no one else can snag it. Then decides later if she’s really going to buy it. (She’s got an iron grip on those carts! ;)

3. Will I use it? If you’ve got something specific in mind for an item, like Allison’s really cool jug or this clock of Kami’s or this mirror that’s going to get a fresh coat of paint, then get it! But if you’re not going to use it, don’t buy it. It’ll just be adding more junk to your junk.

4. Go with a friend. This tip is helpful with tip #3. I was constantly asking them their opinion if I should buy something. Should I get this or this? What would I use it for? Can I borrow your black paint? Will I really end up wearing it? It’s nice to go with someone who can tell you yes or no, otherwise you might buy a whole bunch of stuff you really don’t need.

Here’s what I found and purchased. I’m beyond thrilled with my wooden lollipop tree. My grandma had one of these out at Christmas when I was little and I’ve been wanting to find one ever since. (That dude behind me is totally eying my find, I know it!)

My baby also got a cute dress, I have a new fun red purse, a couple of plates that will start showing up in recipe posts, and a tissue box cover that Kami convinced me to paint (I’ll share the new look when it’s done).

What thrifting tips and tricks do you abide by when shopping at thrift stores?

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What’s Curing Your Dry Rough Cracked Hands?

Marie — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 09:08:20 +0000

My poor hands. Living in Utah is great, but with the dry Winter weather here, my hands suffer. I’ve been applying all kinds of moisturizer and thought I’d share what’s been working for me.

Cetaphil Moisturizing Cream: I like this, but really only for everyday use. It’s not as hard core as I want it to be to relieve my major damaged hands. But I do like this one for my kids. We put it on their hands at night and it’s mild enough that it doesn’t sting their hands, as some lotions can.

Aquafor Ointment: This one is my favorite. I smother it on and let my hands rejuvenate overnight. It is VERY greasy, so wear gloves or stick with something more mild if you’d rather not get the oil in your bed. But I’ve found Aquafor to really help heal my finger’s cracks.

Super Glue: Speaking of finger cracks… I use super glue to relieve the pain of finger cracks (the kind that come right near the finger nail and hurt when you type or write). Super glue really helps seal them up! It’s probably not the safest, but it does the trick, just be careful when you use it. My sister let me in on this tip a few years back, as she uses it on her cracked heels during the summer months too. Gorilla Glue’s super glue has been my favorite brand.

Burt’s Bees: Burt really puts those bees to work to make a great moisturizer. I really like the purple hand repair creme above. And it smells fabulous, helping put me to sleep when I wear it at night.

Eucerin Intensive Hand Cream: This one is great. It’s not too oily, so I feel like I can wear it throughout the day, as well as night. But I do tend to stick with the Aquafor when they are bad enough for some major hand therapy.

Moisturizing Gloves: Eh, I’m not in love with these, sorry Jordan! They are super soft, but they make my hands hot. You’re supposed to wear them to bed overnight and I always end up taking them off after just a couple of hours.

Petit Elefant’s Homemade Sugar Scrub: So simple and easy, I love this stuff. It’s great for all day. I rub it on, wash most of it off, and it leaves just enough of the oil to keep my hands feeling great. And it smells like cookies with the brown sugar and vanilla!!

What types of moisturizer do you use that have healed your Winter weathered hands?

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Tracing the Letters in Your Name

Marie — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 19:19:38 +0000

I love this name tracing activity. I still have memories of doing this myself when I was in 4th grade. It’s a great way to reinforce letter recognition, using a capital at the beginning of a name, and tracing lines.

Supplies for Name Tracing Activity:

paper
colored pencils or crayons

Start by writing your name on the paper, preferably in black. Make sure you’ve got an upper case letter to start and lower case letters to follow. Then using a new color of pencil, trace around the name in a bubble type form.

Trace around and around, and around, until you’ve filled the whole paper with lines.

This is a great activity for older children, but my 4 year old loved practicing too. My daughter did a pretty good job tracing, trying her best to make it around her whole name, or nick name “Goose”!

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Love is in the Air With Project 52: Date Nights

Marie — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 09:52:51 +0000

Guest post by Tiffany of Simply Modern Mom

I know we haven’t met yet, but can I make a confession? My husband Nathan and I haven’t been taking time to enrich our marriage ever since our oldest was born… three and a half years ago. You know how it goes. Kids seem to take over every aspect of my life. The few spare moments I have while they are sleeping, I try to get some things done or try to catch up on some sleep. Nathan, well he is the perfect dad. When he is not working or attending and doing stuff for graduate school, he is helping around the house and playing with the kids. Somehow in the mix of things, no matter how hard we tried to avoid it, kids turned into the no. 1 priority in our lives.

Don’t get me wrong. We love our kids. Kaye, 3, and Elle, 1, are the spark, spunk and laughter in our lives. However, not wanting to neglect our marriage, Nathan and I committed to Project 52: Date Nights. A project we created dedicating one night a week to going on a date, just the two of us. Sounds fun but is it possible? I mean we have two young kids at home, a tight budget and absolutely no free time in our schedule. Sounds familiar? Well, anything is possible as long as you make it possible.

This is how Project 52: Date Nights works. It’s simple. I promise. And this is for everyone — married, single, empty nesters, engaged. First, look at both of your schedules and find a reoccurring time, any time, during your week to do a date. We scheduled Fridays from 9 to 10 p.m., after the kids are in bed. And yes, it’s only an hour. Do what fits into your busy schedule, even if it means a date during your lunch break or during the kids’ nap times. Don’t think that is possible? Sacrifice. What are you willing to sacrifice for your relationship with your spouse or special someone?

Second, set up some criteria that works for the both of you. On my site, Simply Modern Mom, I have a Project 52: Date Nights pledge that takes you through the set up process. The trick to coming up with the criteria is to make it doable. Considering our situation with little children and our finances, we can’t afford to pay a babysitter and the date each week. What we decided would be doable for us is at-home dates costing $30 or less. So far, all of our dates have been free. Nathan and I are taking turns being in charge of date night on a monthly basis. Remember to tailor the project to what is doable for your situation.

Lastly, have an accountability system. Someway for people to check on you and make sure you are doing your dates. Someone who will hold you accountable for not doing it. Get your family and friends involved. Nathan and I blog about our dates each Tuesday on Simply Modern Mom. We do a he-said-she-said post critiquing the date we had the previous week. We also have an accountability system using link lists and comments for people to share ideas and check up on each other’s weekly dating progress.

We are at week 5 and our communication has already improved. Think you’ll have a hard time coming up with date ideas? Not if you knew how simple a date can be. It is mostly about the time you spend with each other. Samples of simple at-home dates include…

Create a cafe or coffee shop atmosphere at home and discussing a book you both recently read.
Play the First Words game where one person read the word on the card and the second person say the first thing that comes to mind. You can download the PDF First Words game cards.
Look through each other’s high school yearbooks.
Have a ice cream tasting night. Try new flavors neither one of you have every tried before.

I hope you will join us in this movement to improve your relationship with your spouse or special someone. Start anytime. Then check in each Tuesday at Simply Modern Mom’s Project 52: Date Nights to meet other people who are also participating. Happy dating!

Tiffany Bird is the mom behind Simply Modern Mom, a site dedicated to keeping life simple for the modern mom. She is an avid list maker and likes to have things systemized, organized and simplified in her life. The site Simply Modern Mom present tips, make crafts and decorate homes for modern mom of any lifestyle. Tiffany and Nathan met in college and will be celebrating their 6t.h anniversary this year. They have two girly girls, Kaye and Elle

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5 Ways to Organize and Display Your Child’s Artwork

Marie — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 09:06:26 +0000

Guest Post by Heidi of Budget Wise Home

When your child’s artwork starts overtaking the refrigerator, it’s time for a better display system. With so much artwork coming in every day, figuring out where to put it all can get overwhelming. The first thing you need to do is create a “zone” for the artwork. Decide on one place where you will set up your display that is devoted to nothing but art. It might be a wall in the kitchen or someplace in each child’s room. Creating a “zone” will keep everything from looking cluttered and messy.

Here are 5 different ideas for your art zone.

1. Frame it: Framing the artwork gives it a feeling of importance and also looks very neat. Let your child choose only his favorite pieces to frame and then swap them out each month. One of my favorite frames also doubles as storage. The Dynamic Artwork Frame opens to store up to 50 other pieces of art. When you are ready for a change in artwork, just open it up and put the new one on top. Clear acrylic frames are also great because you can easily slip artwork in and out without having to take the frame down.

2. Hang it: Set up curtain rods and hang the artwork using the clips. You could set up one long one or multiple rows if your space is more narrow. An even cheaper option is to use a clothesline and clothespins to hang everything. Just use a screw-in hook to attach the clothesline to each side of the wall.

3. Magnetic Paint: Create a special art zone by painting a large square on the wall using magnetic paint. Make sure you use some good heavy-duty magnets to make sure everything stays in place.

4. Cut it out: Use the artwork to create something new. Cut pictures into different animals using these templates and frame for a more permanent art piece. Here’s an example from Sarah Jane Studios.

5. Make a Digital Book: It is hard to save everything your kids bring home. Save the best ones and try not to be sad as you throw everything else away. Scan the artwork into your computer or take a digital picture of each one. Load the images onto a photo site such as Snapfish of Shutterfly and create book to preserve all the memories.

What are some of the ways you organize and display your child’s artwork?

Heidi is a mom of 2 and has a budget wise home! She’s the owner of Budge Wise Home, a blog dedicated to saving you money as you decorate your home. There is a new budget decorating tip M-F as well as highly discounted home décor every day. Jewelry Art is another shop featured here where you will find beautiful and unique art pieces to display and organize your jewelry.

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We’re Whrrling Down the Mountain

Marie — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 02:59:14 +0000

It’s Day 4 of my son’s StartNOW ski program, sponsored by Park City Mountain Resort. I’ve put together a fun Whrrl story, sharing what we’ve been enjoying with this program. So check it out and have fun whrrling down the mountain with us!

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Laptime Songs for Mommies

Marie — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 09:14:54 +0000

Amber of Because Babies Grow Up, has written a fabulous ebook called Laptime Songs for Mommies. If you’ve been looking for ways to share a love of music with your child, then this is the perfect music companion for you. For Amber, it was born out of wanting to enhance the library music time she attended with her daughter by sharing a few more activities and ideas to do with her child during the week. It shares some great ideas on how to “bond with your little ones through reading, singing, and cuddling.”

And right now, Amber is giving away this on her blog until January 17th. So head on over there and enter in for your chance to win, helping enhance music time with your little one.

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Day 3 of StartNOW @PCSki

Marie — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 21:29:47 +0000

We’re on Day 3 of my son’s StartNOW program, sponsored by Park City Mountain Resort. He’s really getting the hang of it and having a lot of fun. I feel like he’s progressed a lot since his first day. I even took him out on a few runs after his lesson this time and he did great. The hardest part of the day was making it down those last few stairs in his boots!!

Here’s a video of my son on the slopes!

Couldn’t we all use a ski robot?!

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Resolutions for the Mind, Body, and Soul

Marie — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 17:51:25 +0000

For me, 2010 is the year of the mind, body, and soul. Even my milk jug lid knows it’s going to be a good year as I found this image the other morning for breakfast! Below I’m making some resolutions in each of those areas, along with a few links to go with them.

Mind:

Read. I want to read one book a month. I just finished Friday Night Knitting Club and loved it. Now onto Hunger Games. Have you read it?
Learn a language. I’m going to complete the Spanish lessons I started. Anyone else use Rosetta Stone?

Body:

Exercise. I’m going to run a relay this year (more to come on this later).
Eat healthy. I know I always say this, but hopefully it will go along with the above running goal. Check out these quick tips for curbing your appetite.

Soul:

Roller Derby. You heard me right, roller skating. I’m going to train for a my local roller derby team (more on that later as well).
Simply Play More. With my kids, my husband, my friends. And with my blog!

A few more links for 2010, some great ways to help with the above areas:

Encourage Engaged Parenting by Simple mom
Crafting Tradition Through the Whole Year by Blissfully Domestic
Sexual Resolutions by Mominatrix (she has great advice ;)
Tips for Running a Relay by Running Relays
Great List of Women Blog Conference for 2010 by Mom it Forward

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It’s Cough and Cold Season

Marie — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 22:59:07 +0000

If your household is anything like ours during the winter, then you’re in need of some Zarbees cough syrup too. Zarbees, a Make and Takes sponsor, has happily been soothing my kids coughs one spoonful at a time!

Zarbees is an all natural cough syrup that comes in a lemon or cherry flavor and contains your daily dose of Vitamin C. It’s made with a blend of dark honey, helping make it easier to swallow for any unwilling mouths!

My son doesn’t lick it off the spoon like my daughter does, it’s still just cough syrup to him. But it doesn’t burn as it goes down and helps sooth those dry scratchy throats. Zarbees has been a great “go to” this winter season.

*** For any Utah locals, Harmon’s Grocery Stores are running a 1 week long ad starting today, December 28-January 3rd, where anyone can print off an online coupon for $2 off a bottle of ZarBee’s. Coupons can be printed here: http://harmonslocal.com/ ***

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