we love free!

last week i went to a thrift shop of sorts provided by the seminary that my husband and i are students at called the share shop. people donate all sorts of household items and clothing, like you would to goodwill, and then they are free to the students! we have been so thankful for this generosity, and have found some really great stuff for our family [including a potty chair and a tiny pair of pink crocs for our baby girl!]. i went again last night, and seeing as how several of our coffee cups look like this:
i thought maybe my husband needed something a little more manly to drink his coffee out of in the mornings. imagine my glee when i found these:
totally manly, woodsy starbucks coffee mugs... for free!

i really love coffee mugs [especially big ones] because, well, i really love coffee. also, several of my favorites in my little collection, including that pink one, were given to me by my mom and remind me of her. i saw this picture of a bunch of coffee cups from a coffee shop in boone, nc [up to the mountains from here] and thought, is it bad that i totally want to do this to the ceiling in my house?
i also brought home a ginormous cork board and lamp shade ready to be crafted upon for my craft room and K's nursery, respectively.
it's a little beat up, but nothing a little crafty love and attention can't fix! i have some cork tiles that i'm thinking might work to recover the little tear in the cork, and i'll probably paint the frame and cover the cork in fabric! we've moved some of our furniture around between the basement and our living room, so my craft area is a work in progress again- but i'm super excited to have a cork board this big to cover a large area of unfinished wall with some color and organization! check out sarah at create studio- she's got some great cork board and inspiration board ideas. i'm already acting on my new year's ambitions. yay!

my biggest 'score' of all, the one i was most excited about, came to me as i was leaving the share shop. right out front there is a dumpster and there was an abandoned treasure sitting there just waiting for me to come adopt it! so, i went dumpster diving and came out with this beauty:
[ok, really it was just leaning up against the dumpster and i added it to my loot. but dumpster diving makes for a much better story.]

the last one of these i got, i paid about $30 bucks for at our local flea market. and this one was free! i stuffed it in the trunk of my car, looking over my shoulder to make sure the person who threw it away didn't suddenly decide they wanted to keep it after all, seeing as how old beat-up windows are SO COOL. definitely a great example of one person's trash is a crafter's treasure! [ps- i made mine into a display for my craft shows, but there are lots of fun things you can do with old windows!]

i can't wait to get started on these and craft them up a bit!