Notice the subject, this was not a yard sale find! I had to miss out on sales this week for my bff’s bridal shower. It was hard to skip the routine of running around all over richmond looking for happy treasures, but I resisted the urge in order to be on time to her house for our 9:15am decent to Newport News. It was especially hard when I drove past this awesome mid-century house on Westover Hills Blvd, which happens to be my favorite house in the entire neighborhood! I almost stopped, but resisted the urge to be the one that held up the group. And afterall, the bridal shower was so much more fufilling then any YS find of the day could have been, I mean look at these lovely ladies I’m sharing with in the wedding party:

Not only was it a super fabulous time filled with good food, good friends and good gifts! But somehow the thrift gods decided to pay me back today by giving me something I REALLLY wanted from the moment I laid eye’s on it.

The Thrift store find of the week

Americraft Kitchen Kutter, $15

You may be thinking, Carley WTH is wrong with you and your obsession with food processors, slicers and all things kitchen. And I may be asking myself the same thing. But I promise this one is different. This one is the ONE!

You see I was at a trade show a few months ago and somehow I got sucked into this cooking show demonstration. There was a fast talking slick salesman, slicing veggies with ease, I was pulled in and I took a seat. This veggie cutter he was demonstrating was AMAZING it cut everything but the peel of the peel of the squash or the onion, it did it so fast and effortlessly, it was my kitchen dream! I sat and watched as the rest of the FOURTY FIVE MINUTE presentation went on, regarding their excellent cookware, which doesn’t need water to cook your veggies might I add (yes I really did want the cookware too). But I waited till the very end of the presentation, because I knew I had to have that veggie cutter, that apparently was only sold in live demonstrations, no online resale, no retail stores! Then the price came out of his mouth, it was a shocking $350 (I think cannot remember exactly)! That just couldn’t be!! It was more than my precious food processor more than anything I’ve ever bought for my kitchen including my refrigerator, and I walked away with such a sad face. I knew it wasn’t meant to be, until we struck gold, or some other miracle amount of cash fell into our laps.

Then enters this new thrift store on Jahnke Rd a half a mile from my house. We stopped by today, and there on the shelf was an Americraft Kichen Kutter, ALMOST NEW with the silly apple sticker on the front. I thought, this cant possibly be the one I have my heart set on.. can it?? On well there is only one attachment and that other one had a bunch, oh look here are he others.. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I almost skipped to the checkout with glee!! But decided not to so I didn’t trip and cut my fingers up on these super sharp blades. There was still one question however, no price tag was anywhere in site. And I was for a moment scared they wouldn’t sell it to me without the price marked. The cashier called the owner to check on the price, and replied $15, but it’s worth $75 retail… MORE LIKE 4 times that amount!!

I paid scooped it up and randrove home as quickly as possible. Set it up in seconds and cut up a carrot with all the attachment blades much quicker, easier and with more variety than my food processor. Then I found them online, selling for $250 used! I proceeded to watch 30 minutes of demonstrations on youtube! I must admit, I’m a little too excited for a good kitchen utensil. Something is freakishly wrong with me. But I am thrilled, and in possession of my new favorite kitchen utensil!

See what I mean here!

Finally spent a weekend in July checking out the sales. I hit the town with one of my bests, Catie, and we browsed all over Richmond for the best deals we could find. She barely gets a Saturday morning off, so this was a special treat for her. I worked the best magic I could find and she went home with a few treasures. We lucked out, the weather was nice, the sales were great, and the company was even better. Isn’t life grand sometimes?

Sugar dispenser, $1

This happens to match a salt and pepper shaker we own, and is the perfect accessory for my coffee lovin husband, who like’s his sugar raw.

Veggie Steamer, $.75

I’ve got a rice cooker that also steams veggies, but I figure it could come in handy for when I’m too lazy to get the rice cooker off the top shelf and deal with all the parts needed to plug it in.

John Deere Stationary, $.50

Another perfect gift for my coffee lovin husband, only this is so he can write home on the farm with some apropos stationary. 7 cards for .50 cents is a pretty nice find.

Emily Haines CD, $1

One of my favorite singers, couldn’t let her make it to Goodwill. Check her out if you haven’t already, she has a beautiful voice.

Target Jacket, $1

A cute little number at a sweet little price.

And now for the best of the best, the creme de’ la creme the yard sale find of the week!!

Large Floor Pillows, $9

Look at these beautiful sage green floor cushions! They will match my living room or den, and supply a couple extra butt spots, when seating is limited. At $4.50 a pop, I couldn’t refuse.

Zues agrees, theses pillows are great!

Hello Strangers!
IKNOW IKNOW, it’s been way too long since my last post, but I have good reasons. It’s been so hectic around here, with family visits, cookouts, rafting trips, baseball games, and all thing summer. Also there has been a major lifestyle change to top it all off. You see early june, I resigned my marketing position at Keystone builders in exchange for being the graphic designer at poshtots.com. It was a scary and difficult decision for me, but I took the plunge and I’m glad I did! I’ve already learned so much about myself artistically and am continuing to grow my talents and passion for all things design. You can take a peak at my recent works on the PoshTots Blog, or even subscribe to their newsletter to get the latest and greatest info presented to you by yours truly.
Anywho, you’re probably eager to see some yard sale finds, and I sure do have some that I’ve been eager to show you!

Basting Brush .25 Cents

Small kitchen items are always good and cheap at yard sales. I think this silicon brush is basically brand new and ready to do the job on the super cheap.

Yellow Tank $1

Quirky and cute. I love the pink stripe details in the buttons.

Apples to Apples $5

I have a love hate relationship with this board game, sometimes i love it, sometimes i hate it. But now I own it and for $5 it’s worth a shot at hating it sometimes to love it others!

Vintage Dress $2

I never have a hate relationship with a cute flattering dress!

Zigzag dress $2

Another flattering dress, that looks much better on me than it does on the dress form.

Space Heater $3

My new office, happens to be very well air conditioned.. a little too air conditioned! This should fix that stat.

Vintage Stationary $1

My college dormmate Karen hosted a yard sale a couple weeks ago, and had this adorable stationary for sale at it. She also mentioned that it may have come from the set of “As the World Turns” where her aunt is the set decorator.

Lacey Tank $1

I also nabbed this ADORABLE lacy top from karen’s sale! She’s always had good style so I was especially excited to attend her sale

Floral Skirt $1

Look at this darling skirt, at that darling price! And you guessed it is another Karen find.

White Flats $1

These cute shoes are not a karen find, but they are still pretty cute!

And now it’s time for my yard sale find… of the month??
Correlle Plates $1

I love Correll plates, SO MUCH! They are so thin and stackable, and don’t chip and it’s hard to break them! I mean look at these beauties, they are decades old, and still look like new. And the pattern! So cute!! There were 8 total at around .12 cents a pop!

The life of a yard saler makes for a pretty fun saturday morning, and a house full of discounted treasures. Let me take you through the fascinating steps. Usually friday night I scout out craigslist and group locations of interest for the yard sales. For my local readers, I usually take note of sales in the fan, near west end, bon air, and forest hill area (my hood). Saturday morning I wake up around 7:30, take a 5 minute shower, and am out the door by 7:45 or 8, with friends, singles and sunglasses in hand. We love moving sales and church sales, because they usually have the most amount of goods to sift through, though the most valuable goods usually come from younger/trendier neighborhood yard sales that are scheduled once or twice the season. I also have an app on my iphone called yardsalemapper it shows all the nearby yard sales, and their newspaper or craigslist description. The best way to haggle is to have the cash you want to pay for the item in hand, and simply say “would you do $X for this.” Because of the ease of the transaction, the sellers usually go for it. Sometimes you have to be a little indecisive, and make them think you’re not interested to get them to come down. Once they do, if you’re anything like me you will value that item so much more.

Now that you’ve got an idea of the process lets show you how I racked up this week!

Bocce and Croquet Set, $5

As a lover of game nights, this is something that was seriously lacking. You see we have several board games, and we usually get good use out of them, inside. But we do not have any outdoor games for backyard summer fun. I’m thinking we need to plan a good ol’ fashioned bbq, stat.

Sleeping Bags/Mat $8

Another item to help us get back to nature. Me and the Mister want to go on a roughin it camping trip this summer. Wait let me rephrase, I would like to go on a good roughin it camping trip, and the Mister is being dragged along kicking and screaming. Apparently he already grew up in the woods so he doesn’t need to connect with nature the way I want to. At least he will be sleeping in style with these nice Eddie Bauer sleeping bags!

Woven Baskets, $2

I always love a good storage container, especially when they are the same price as the cheap crappy plastic ones from the dollar store. Got these beauts for a buck a piece and they are already holding towels and hair products in a perfectly practical fashion.

Black Top, $2

I love this cute babydoll top from H&M, I think it’s something about the crocheted pattern that makes it so appealing. Usually I shy away from black clothing, as it does not match my bubbly personality, but this one has all the touches to make it right for me.

Silky Bird Dress, $3

This dress spoke to me, it said tweet tweet I will make you look sweet. With the embellished bird on the shoulder, cut feel and style this dress was a killer deal at just $3.

Yellow Ruffle Tank, $0

Here’s were haggling comes in again dear friends. When I spent $5 on the two items above, I simply said, $5 for everything, and the seller said, oh no, $5.50, and I repeated, will you take $5, and she agreed. Real life example yall. I’m 50 cents richer and with one cute yellow shirt.

Sunhat, $1

Last year I got a white Merona sunhat from Target to the tune of $20. Unfortunately I learned that it cannot be bent or stored next to a brightly colored damp towel, because it will stain and lose it’s original shape. Lesson learned, so when I saw this tan cousin of my broken hat, I knew I could give her a good home, and a fun little handmade pom pom accessory to boot.

And now, for my most coveted item of the day, this week’s YARD SALE FIND OF THE WEEK.
Side Shelf, $3

Look at this cute little mid-century shelf with it’s cute clean lines, and wood and metal accents. Talked down from $5, this shelf found the perfect place in my home and my heart as all cool furniture usually does.