Inspired By Red

Is it called "thrifting" when you get it for free, or just pure awesomeness?!

This weekend was epic for secondhand goodness. Our church hosted a "Clothing and Housewares Giveaway" and I scored big, if I do say so myself.  I love finding wonderful secondhand gems, keeping good stuff out of the landfill and all, and it's even better when its FREE!

Here's my list of finds:

Two new-with-tags sweaters for Benny and Charlie
A new-with-tag snowsuit for Kadie
A sweet poncho for Marigold
A new iron to replace the crappy one in my mom's sewing room
A brand new fleece jacket for Jared
Two fur coats for Holly
Some 35mm film for Holly and her camera obsession
Jared grabbed some random electronic stuff to take apart
A Sophie Giraffe (now Silas has one and I have one - I love Sophie)
An almost new bright green faux alligator skin Chinese Laundry purse
Santa showed up and I saw him pick up a few things too for this Christmas


And... for me, I found the greatest find EVER!

As kids we used plates like these exclusively for grilled cheese sandwiches,the ring for the cup is perfect for ketchup placement and dipping!  But, the ones we had when I was a kid were not nearly so fabulous as these - the cups were not red. Some were rectangular, some were white with painted flowers, some were more decorative than that, but none hat red cups. Joan found me a set at a thrift shop, so I have others, but I am absolutely in LOVE with the shape of these plates and the RED CUPS!  Honestly, everyone wants to come to my house for lunch so you can eat off these beauties - your life will be better for it, I promise!

So, inspired by ruby red, we laid out a table cloth and had a RED lunch yesterday.  Alright, we had a 'hews of red' lunch, but red nonetheless.  We had carrot juice, tomato soup, pumpkin muffins, carrot muffins, strawberries, and while not red, grilled cheese sandwiches (slathered in ketchup, which is red, don't you worry!)  We even used a redish table cloth.

It was fun, and I really am in love with my new plates and cups.

So... in the same vein, I will announce this week's giveaway.  This week you can win a set of reusable, super cute, very RED, Christmas gift tags!  Yeah for Christmas!

If I were a real blogger I would have wrapped a present, decorated a Christmas tree and sung a few carols while I took fantastic pictures of this... but I'm not.  So, here's a picture of my homemade gift tags, which you can have, if you win them.  Have I mentioned lately how much I love pom poms?  I love making them, I love finding ways to use them, I love having them around for when I need a warm little ball of fuzz.  I love them.

Same rules apply to this giveaway.  You get one entry for every post you comment on between now and next Sunday when I pick a winner.  Oh, and call me shameless, but you must be a public follower to win.

And, just to spark a little interest, next week's giveaway is going to blow you away with awesomeness, so stay tuned!  Just a hint, it's something you can wear, it's pieces are ancient, and someone else is sponsoring the giveaway!