Trash Makes Great Gifts

This is a photo of the booth Kelly and I rent at Qcumberz.

Do you see the flowers in the corner on the wood frame?

I love wearing flowers in my hair, so I thought it’d be a good idea to collect bunches of silk flowers and make them into hair bows.  I spent a few days putting them together.  With my handy glue gun, I attached the flowers to clips I purchased at Michael's craft store.  I also added vintage buttons to the center of each flower. 

I loved how they turned out.

I marked them at $5.00 each.

Next, I found a vintage frame.  I glued 4 strands of thick ribbon up and down the frame.

A perfect way to display my flowers.

In a rush, I placed a price tag of $5.00 on one flower, assuming both store owner and customer would know it was $5.00/per flower.  

You can tell where this story is going, right?

Yes, the entire collection of flowers, including the frame, sold for $5.00.

In my defense, most of the time I look like this.

Or better yet, this.

I literally have a kid hanging/attached to me at anytime through out the day and didn't/couldn't take the time to label and price each flower.

What did I learn?

That I can’t assume anything.

On the bright side, some lucky customer purchased the deal of the day at Qcumberz.

I like to think of it as my gift to her.

Trash makes great gifts.

My mom, Sarah Hinze, is a wonderful author of many books, including We Lived in Heaven.    Her friend, Kimberly Clark Sharp, author of After the Light, came into town for a quick visit.  I met Kimberly almost 15 years ago while serving a mission on Temple Square and hadn’t seen her since.  I was so excited to see her again and wanted to give her something special.  

Kimberly is such a beautiful person and her style is a combination of shabby chic meets earthy.  I thought about what I could give her, than ran to my eBay pile of clothes.  I remember a linen cargo skirt from FLAX I’d found while thrifting.  New, a flax skirt runs around $65.00, so I was confident this would be a great gift, classy and stylish.  It’s easy to see how much she loved it.

 Plus I was able to capture her hilarious personality.

Trash makes great gifts.

Last week, Reef turned 3.  It was a week long celebration, ending with a carnival at the elementary school.  He looked so cute face-painted as a puppy.  

I captured him the night of his birthday, cuddled up in bed with his birthday gift; a fire truck I’d found a week earlier at a garage sale.  

He loves all the sounds; sirens, 911 dispatcher and fireman, plus, the ladder is so much fun. 

Trash makes great gifts.

Tis The Season For Gifts

Every year, the counselor and I are blessed to pick a family and help supply the goodies for Christmas.  This year, we felt close to a particular family at our church.  The father has been out of work for the better part of the year and the mother just had her third baby. This family has 3 daughters, so for the last few months I’ve been searching for “everything girl” at yard sales and thrift stores. 

With the help of some little elves, I was able to get everything together.

A Christmas tree, clothes, a Barbie kitchen, My Little Ponies 

and my favorite; an array of Littlest Pet Shop toys.

Reef fell in love with these little characters and played with them while we got things organized.  Just before we wrapped the gifts up, we found these little guys camouflauged in my Christmas decor.

Do you see them on top of the tree?  

It took a little convincing, but Reef helped package them up to give away.

Giving back to eBay customers is just as much fun.  

Why?

Because they aren't expecting it.

Many times, I have multiple items the same size or style.  If something doesn’t sell after several weeks, I just might give it to another customer.

For example, a customer purchased a pair of Ann Taylor Petite 2 black trouser jeans.  I had another pair of Ann Taylor Petite 2 denim blue jeans that haven’t sold for almost a month, even at .99 cents.  In the spirit of giving (and to clean out some space in my eBay room), I ship both to this lucky lady.  

Can you believe I fit 2 pair of jeans in this priority flat rate envelope?  

True, the jeans are petite, but seriously, these flat rate envelopes can hold quite a bit of inventory.

I also shipped out 2 Talbot’s shirts and a pair of jeans in one flat rate envelope.  It’s easy to do if I fold with a purpose

or crease with a cause.

Another customer purchased a Gap Size 12 Tan Knee-length skirt.  I’ve been trying to sell a Gap Size 12 Long Tan Skirt for weeks and even at .99 cents, it hasn’t sold.  I think I’ll include both in this package too.

I recently found 6 Gymboree Girl’s dresses at the thrift store and paid $12.00 for the lot of them.

I sold them on eBay for $35.00 to a customer who ironically lives in Mesa. She asked if she could save a little on shipping and pick the dresses up at my house.

To her surprise, I found another dress between the time she purchased the dresses to the time she picked them up.  She was thrilled to receive a 7^th dress as a bonus.

Don't feel bad that Reef had to give up the Littlest Pet Shop Toys?

He found this Snoopy last weekend out garaging.  It still had the new tags on it at $24.99, but we paid $1.00.  It sings and dances too.

And a gift for me?  I was thrilled when I found this lot of 3 Flax Skirts for $1.00 each. 

They are in perfect condition and so stylish.

But wait!  What’s this in the pocket?

I’ve found everything from tissue to grocery receipts to gum wrappers to cash (not much, just a $1.00 or two).

It’s a dirty job, but someone’s got to do it. 

People don't always think to clean out their pockets when donating clothes to the thrift store.

A “mad men” buffet dresser I purchased for $30.00 at a thrift store sold for $100.00 on Craig’s list.  

Now I have some additional cash for last minute Christmas gifts.

And my best sell of the year?

Remember my Eileen Fisher Plus Size 2X Cashmere Sweater?

It sold for $129.00.

I couldn't believe it.

As you know, I recently purchased this $200.00 thrift store leather sectional.

So, what did I do with my old, yet still beautiful couch (I purchased this at a garage sale about 4 years ago)?

Trash like this has to stay in the family.

My parent's are in the process of re-doing their living room. I think the couch made a pretty nice Christmas gift.
It looks great on their newly installed wood floors (thanks to my brother, Tadd who gifted my parent's with his handyman talent).

Tis the season for gifts.

Stay tuned, we have a give-away in the near future you don't want to miss.

Dollar Day

The rush starts the minute I open my eyes and I jump out of bed. Dollar Day at Goodwill.

I get there early, it's just 9:00 am and look at the full parking lot.



My philosophy has always been there's plenty to go around, and trust me, there is.

I've never been one of those mean spirited shoppers, pushing others aside with my cart or jumping in front of a sweet lady only to grab the item that's just within her reach.

Where's the fun in that?

I'm the annoying shopper who's complimenting other people in line:

"Wow, that's a great lamp."
or
"How cute. I love the dress."

I can't help it. I love to shop and I have happy vibes the whole time.

Purple tags are a dollar. Let's see what we can find.


This is a strange t-shirt. It says: FYASKO - You are what you eat right
This shirt is just odd enough to sell.




Ah! My dear friend, Chico's Travelers. 95% acetate and 5% spandex of pure joy. These pants won't wrinkle and they stretch to fit just about any size body.





The martini-inspired print usually doesn't sell to well, nor does the citrus print. Any takers?



Sweet sister! Coldwater Creek Plus Size 18W Navy Pants. Perfect.




My inner-vintage child comes out when I spot items like this. If only I was a size 8, I think as my bulging belly bumps into the clothing rack.



J. Jill black career pants, are you for real? Let me pinch myself. I swear I see J. Jill in my dreams.



Did anyone really think these boy's were cute? Actually, I really like Justin Timberlake. I think he's a genius.



Somewhere out there, in this great big world, someone wears the Ferrari inspired clothing and I say "More power to you." I hope your dreams come true and you get a real Ferrari someday.



I'm happy to pay $4.99 for this FLAX shirt. Flax is a linen, artsy shirt that has a huge following. They're made in Europe and have a friendly positive affirmation on the inside tag-label, something like "Believe in yourself. You are beautiful." I'm sure this shirt will be one of my top sells this week.



Well, it's time to check out. Thank you, Goodwil, for giving this stay-at-home mom my weekly dose of roller-coaster riding thrill.