I’m Gonna Pop Some Tags

February 4, 2013 by Jennifer @ Brave New Home 16 Comments

It was only a matter of time before Macklemore made his way into one of my blog posts—how could an entire song about thrift store shopping not?

(source)

Young House Love hosted a bit of a thrift shop challenge last week. The challenge was to:

“Step #1. Go to a thrift shop with – just as the chorus of the song says – “$20 in your pocket” and take a picture.

Step #2. Spend that $20 any way you’d like and photograph your spoils.

Step #3. Find one item (or more) referenced in the song and snap a pic.”

Unfortunately, I went thrift store shopping a few weeks back so a few after photos will hafta do—hope you don’t mind!I found the lovely koi painting for 90 cents (!) at one thrift store and the mirror came out to $2.50 with my military ID (hooray, it was my first time ever using it!) at another.  Total cost: $3.40.Our little fishies made their home atop of our TV.  I’m crazy about those deep blue hues.As for a stand, I contemplated making one out of popsicle sticks but remembered I had a book stand from college.  To alter the angle, I popped one of my many F. Scott Fitzgerald paperbacks behind the canvas.And my gold little mirror (does anyone know what this shape is called?  All I could come up with is Moroccan) found a home next to my sanseveria trifoliate (aka Mother-in-law’s tongue, harsh nickname for a snake like plant, I know).  I offset the mirror a bit for a more interesting vignette. 

Speaking of my sanseveria trifoliate, you’ll notice its tips are browning.  I’m hell bent on keeping all my plants happy and healthy this year and the only advice I found for my plant’s problem is that I’m paying it too much attention.  Apparently, these plants thrive on neglect.  I try to keep a consistent watering/lighting schedule but I’ve been known to panic at the first sign of a troubled plant.  Oh, no!  Brown leaves?!  You must be parch.  Here, have some more water!And here’s the little happy nook I’m creating.And for anyone that’s interested, here’s a  quick little tutorial for making a cardboard letter.  I know you can buy them at craft stores but I wanted something bigger (and of course, cheaper!).  And you don’t get cheaper than free.  Find a box or some leftover cardboard. Cut out pieces to create your desired letter.  I made an N for our family name.  I lucked out; N’s are pretty easy.  No curves there!  For the width, I consistently used double the width of the ruler I was working with.  I added some extra width to the slash of the N because it looked better that way.  I used scissors to cut my cardboard but if you have an exacto knife handy, I think it’s worth a shot because scissors cause a decent bit of creases along the way.Then hot glue it all together.And paint.  Voila!  Contrary to this photo, I used acrylic paint and not ketchup and mustard.  The color is a lovely brick color in person.

Linked to Young House Love, Love Grows Wild, Creatively Living Blog, The Gunny Sack.

Have you made anything fun out of cardboard lately?  Lemme know if you participated in the challenge, too!  I’d love to check out your finds.