The Big Challenge Week 3

Only 13 weeks left to raise 4,000 for our trip to Florida- Good thing it was a HUGE week on craigslist. Ebay didn't do too bad either. Here's my top sellers for ebay:Lucky button fly jeans $9.50 Women's Ralph Lauren size 2X button down shirt: $12.15. And the big seller... J. Crew size 12 Tall jeans: $16.38. This week I listed 31 items- 13 of those sold as well as 10 items from last week that were relisted for .99. Total collected $162.58. Now for craigslist:Remember the little white cabinet I bought for $10.00 at a garage sale? Sold for $40.00 and I didn't have to do a thing to it. This is Mr. Right's childhood dresser that his parents no longer wanted. Despite it's outdated appearance and the fact that it's not real wood- Sold $40.00The chair! You didn't sell the chair, did you? (I know you're what you're thinking) After a little google research I couldn't find that it was worth the 249.99 or 99.00 price Goodwill appraised it at- so as a wild card I listed it for $75.00 and it sold for $65.00. Laura's $1 purchase was a big money maker (don't worry, we're slitting the money- might be a potential side business for the two of us) And this weeks BIG seller... A leather sectional we've been storing. It once belonged to my inlaws, then it lived in our TV room, then last year we stacked it in the spa room. With permission from my inlaws I posted it on craigslist and sold it for $275.00 the next day! Gotta love craigslist. I think the best part is- there are no fees.

I've still got my vintage looking dominoes listed for $40, a rocking chair, nightstand and ceiling medallion. Hoping to find some great treasures to re-sell this weekend. Here's the updated tally...

Ebay Profits: This week: 162.58 Challenge Total: 379.51

Craigslist Profits: This week $420 Challenge Total: 440.00

This weeks Costs: -25.00 (clothes) -31.19 (Paypal fees- OUCH!) -10.00(white cabinet) -32.50 (laura's profit) Total Challenge Costs: 197.68

Total Profit: 621.83

Wish me luck. Love, Kelly

Another great give-away from Bella Be Jeweled plus my Top EBay Sells of the Week

I am so excited to feature another local artist/designer for a My Dear Trash give-away. Kelly from Bella Be Jeweled wants to share a $20.00 gift certificate with one lucky follower.

About Bella Be Jeweled...

“It all started when I was a little girl.

My mom and I would hit the streets of the LA marketplace in search of fabulous finds to adorn the shelves of mom’s salon/boutique. And that’s when my obsession with shiny, sparkly little bits & baubles began.

Soon after my first baby Isabelle was born, I found myself in this land of cactus, rocks, and sweltering heat, AKA Mesa Az. On a trip home to Cali, I escaped the summer heat and found myself once again shopping the marketplace. This time I had an Idea. I filled my suitcase with all the sparkly things i could find and headed back to my new home in AZ and throw my very first Jewelry party. To my surprise, it was a huge success! Word of mouth spread and I found myself booked with parties. With Isabelle on my back, together we made weekly trips to Cali to restock (Grandma was ecstatic).

It's hard to believe that was 9 years ago! Since then I have had two more beautiful babies, Mack and Lola. I have also discovered a new love for not only buying and selling jewels, but creating custom pieces as well. My girls love to sit and sort my baubles and get paid to untangle strands of beads. I have been blessed with a very patient Mr. who has put up with me spending all of his hard earned dough on the beads and findings that somehow end up in our sheets and beneath our feet.”

To qualify, you must be a follower of both My Dear Trash and Bella Be Jeweled and leave at least one comment under any blog posting. The more you comment, the more you're entered. Winner will be announced April 1, 2010. Good luck and thanks Kelly. I love your shop and get compliments on your stuff wherever I go ( I especially love the black flower jeweled hair clip).

Onto my top EBay sales of the week and what a week it was. Lately, EBay has offered 50% off listing fees on random days here and there. A sale like this keep me motivated because I can save $20 to $30 off my EBay bill. In this economy, even EBay has to play by the rules and a sale is a great way to get people's attention. Today, March 2nd, happens to be a 50% off listing fee day on EBay. My goal is to list all 50 items for the week today.

Here are my top sales of the week.

This beautiful lot of 2 Banana Republic Size 8 Full Pleated Skirts were purchased at the Mountain View Rummage Sale. They sold on Ebay for $22.49.

I discovered Jams World, a Hawaiian-print clothing company, about 3 years ago. I'm not sure what Jams World secret is, but their colors are so bright and true, it's no wonder they are one of the top selling labels in Hawaii. I found these Jams World XS pants last fall. They sold last week for $16.09. Today, I'm shipping them to Hawaii. :) They're tropical, that's for sure.

This beautiful Express Design Studio Shirt was found at a yard sale. Once I got it home, I realized the tags were still on it. I listed it NWT (New With Tags) and it sold for $17.49.

And these Banana Republic Size 2 Charchol Gray Lowrise Flare Jeans sold for $15.50. I try to be as descriptive as possible in my titles to attract the most attention to the item.

On a side note, this Old Navy Sweat Suit sold for $9.99. I wasn't sure if it would sell because the jacket is small and the pants are medium, but it's so cute I thought I'd give it a go. I'm glad I tried.

Remember, Savers has dollar day on Monday & Goodwill has dollar day on Thursday. Wherever you live, you can call your local thrift store and find out if/when they have sale days. Most importantly, have fun and pick up a thing or two for your own closet. I always do.

This Weeks Garaging Finds!

I think I'll start with what I brought to the Swap. Here in the bottom left corner are my black "Be Blocks"The watering can water fountain was the second item I brought
A picket fence shelf
And my Vintage looking Dominoes
And here's what I found...
The adorable embroidered pillow, the architectural birdhouse, the milk bottles in holder and the white sap bucket were the items I swapped for. The duvet, true religion tote and vintage handbag were items from the swap that were left-over (loved that it was a free for all after everyone picked their items) The adorable table, candle and glass candy jar were from the Garrett Tanner Charity Sale ($10 for all) Friday finds included the ginormous basket ($2) and Iron stars with hooks ($1 each) If you missed the swap, be sure and sign up in November- It was fabulous. Congratulations to Becky and Crew for doing such a great job at the Charity Sale! It was a fantastic weekend. Love, Kelly

This Weekend In a Wrap: Goodwill, Fraser Field Swap & the Garrett Tanner Benefit Yard Sale

This weekend was sweet and savvy, fun and full of surprises. This weekend was a gift. If a weekend is a party, then my weekend started on Thursday because I partied at Goodwill big time.

I saw this amazing wood chair last dollar day, when it was still $99.99.

“A used wood chair for $99.99?” I thought to myself. "That seems way too high."

Don't get me wrong, this chair is unique and wonderful, but it was either way over-priced or there was something really special about that it I didn’t understand. I checked to see if there were any markings or numbers on it and this is what I found.

Either way, I knew there was no way it was selling at Goodwill for $99.99. I looked at the week on the tag, I realized if it was still here on next weeks dollar day, it would be $1.00.

Kelly mush have this chair! I’m dying to see what Kelly will do with this chair.

So, I wait until this Thursday. I told the counselor I needed to arrive at Goodwill right when the store opened.

It’s not easy getting this pregnant body out and moving early. Mayer's artistic interpretation of my bulging belly is about right.

Me, my belly and baby girl.

I arrived at Goodwill at 9:00am. I pushed my cart to the back of the store and there sat the chair. My chair for $1.00. The manager helped me carry this chair to my car. He told me I had the deal of the year.

"This chair was looked over by our antique expert and is valued at around $250.00," he said.

It looks like Kelly and I have some research to do on Hale maple wood chairs.

I also found these wood shutters for $1.00. My mind raced. What amazing home décor will Kelly turn these into?

With Kelly on my mind, shopping at Goodwill is much more fun then it used to be.

Needless to say, I did find some great clothing for $1.00 to sell on Ebay.

Remember the brand Horny Toad. Funny name, serious re-sale. I found this Horny Toad dress and snatched it up.

Liz Claiborne continues to be a consistent seller, even styles that I may think are out dated.

I love Hot Cotton by Marc Ware. It's easy to spot this label because the linen is of such fine quality and the fabrics are alive with color. Super sweet. These Hot Cotton pants are a plus size 1X.

My trusted Ralph Lauren. This white career shirt looks like it's never even been worn. I'll take that for sure.

And for the counselor and all the boys he's brainwashed, I find this U of A plaque. Joy!

And this collection of arrowheads would bring Payson's ultimate happiness. I'll see if it's still here on dollar day next time.

Speaking of Payson, he and Mayer have been playing (a nice term for fighting for turns) with my size 10 roller blades.

They each want to wear them all the time.

These Goodwill roller blades came into my life just when I needed them.

Now they each have a pair. Funny thing is, they both still want to wear my size 10's. Hey, Goodwill can't solve all of life's problems.

Now, onto the Fraser Field Swap. I wish I could’ve dressed up vintage, but seriously! Vintage & maternity do not collide. But, look at these darling guests with their tiny waists.

The spirit of the swap was alive and well.

There were so many cool things to pick from. My favorite? Something handmade for baby girl.

A sweet compliment came to Kelly when another friend named Kelly featured her cheese dome make-over, inspired by a My Dear Trash original featured here.

The two Kelly's bond over more ideas and I witness creative minds at work.

Lastly, the yard sale for Garrett Tanner was amazing. I transfered "the apron" over to Becky and she wore it with pride.

It's funny, Becky is barely 100 pounds and I'm not, but an apron fits us both. Nice.

Jann was able to get this jumpy free for the morning.

Becky had help from Jann, Anna and Ashley.

Together, they were able to raise $600.00 to help pay for Garrett's physical therapy. Great work, girls.

And yes, Kelly, I did purchase this amazing frame for you. How could I not?

Garrett you are such an inspiration. We'll turn "trash to cash" again soon for your cause.

Believe it or not, my weekend's activities are not over. See what else happened on tomorrows posting. Have a great day

Secretary Desk ReDo and Sneek Peek at Baby Shower

Laura's baby shower is just 4 days away, and I've been prepping for weeks. If you remember, I found this desk at a garage sale last month for $15. At the time I wasn't sure what to do with her, then I decided she would look great, painted in cream, and used as a little check-in for the shower. I think it's nice to have guests fill out an envelop to make thank you cards easier for the honoree, and this will work perfectly. First, I removed all the insides, then did some major repairs. You can see in the before picture that some of the wood was missing. It did have a few of the broken off pieces, but I had to do some major wood filling. After lots of sanding, priming and painting. Here's the shell of the desk ready to go.
When I started painting the insides of the desk I noticed a red stain coming through the primer- I had used Kilz, oil based primer because it is the best-It blocks stains, odors, etc. However, I couldn't believe after 2 coats of primer the red still came through. Here's what it looked like on one of the small drawers...
I had to leave the project for a few days- mostly due to frustration. When I returned to it, I thought I'd experiment by using a water based Kilz primer product. After 2 coats, it worked. I shabbied it up a bit and here's the final result...This is the check-in for the shower and a little sneek peek at the colors and theme (can you figure it out?) Here she is all closed up.

Did you notice those beautiful glass knobs? If you remember they were something I picked up free. You can read about that Here. A closer look...

I'm not sure what I'll do with her after the shower (might be a craigslist item to add to the challenge total - what do you think she's worth?) but I think she will make the perfect statement at the shower. Hope you had a great weekend. Tomorrow I'll be posting my swap items and garage sale finds- It was a sweet week! Love, Kelly

Linking Up to:

Make your Monday at Twice Remembered

Make it for Monday at Cottage instincts

Metamorphasis Monday at Between Naps on the porch

Do it Yourself Day at A soft Place to Land

Talented Tuesday at My Frugal Family

Trash to Treasure Tuesday at Reinvented

Strut your Stuff Thursday at Somewhat Simple

Furniture feature friday at Miss Mustard Seed’s

Vintage Thingie Thursday at Colorado Lady