Value Village Holiday Tablescape

Remember my Value Village thrifting excursion to find some Christmas decor a little while ago? If you missed it, I posted some tips for DIY Decorating on a Budget, plus a short photo essay of my shopping trip here. I spent a few dollars over my budget of $25, but kept it under $30 at Value Village. Then I headed to Rona for some spray paint for about $10.

There was a small disaster: Linnaeus was playing with the trees & dropped one of them, breaking it into many, many pieces. I spent an hour or two glueing it back together. Then everyone in the household got sick with several viruses... I managed to get the spray painting doneover a couple of weeks by setting up a drop cloth (old shower curtain) outside on the deck & spraying on a coat every time I had a minute or was going downstairs to do laundry.

So better late than never, I guess. Here are the results:

What do you think? I may add lights inside the houses & trees... maybe next year. I'm quite pleased with how the bowl turned out.

Psst... Value Village also has a cool contest on right now. They want to hear how you're giving back to your local community this holiday. Share your story on their Facebook page or use the #GiftingBack hashtag on Twitter & Instagram for the chance to win $1,000 for you plus $1,000 for a non-profit organization of your choice. Contest ends January 3!

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DIY Decorating Thrift Excursion to Value Village

Did you read my tips for DIY Decorating on a Budget? Go ahead, pop on over. I'll wait.

Hey! Nice to see you back! Now that you know my thrifting secrets, here's how my Value Village shopping trip went. For the tablescape challenge I headed to one of the Value Village stores near me (the Victoria Drive location, if you were wondering) to peruse the racks. I was expecting a lot of knick-knacks & I wasn't disappointed. I went in with an open mind & tried to look for what things could become, instead of just what they looked like at the moment.

First thing to go in the cart: a metallic red dimpled ceramic bowl. I am pretty sure this will be awesome when it is no longer red.

These little trees remind me of one my mom has. Except hers has all the coloured 'lights' still. I already have plans for these two.

These did not come home with me but I was tempted by the kitsch factor of these chubby little holiday candles.

I saw a lot of colourful ceramic churches, houses, & other buildings, but these white ones just grabbed me. My aunt has a little Christmas village that she sets up on her mantel every year. I think I'm going to create one of my own...

If you need shatterproof baubles, try Value Village--this massive lot were $10, I think? We already have a set like this.

Always worth perusing the bagged up doodads for potential craft supplies. Didn't find anything to take home here... this time.

Tempting, very tempting.

I may have to go back for some of these. I have a weakness for goofy Christmas socks. But I was already a bit over budget, so maybe next time...

Oops, forgot to bring my own bags. I did, however, bring some extra padding for the ceramics. This is about the only way to use disposable diapers twice.

Somebody was quite enamored with the tiny little buildings & immediately set up a parking space for his Fiat. It was adorable... until he dropped one of the trees. Ugh. Ceramic tree on ceramic tiles smashed to bits. So many bits that I couldn't even use a lot of them when I glued it back together. The newly reconstructed ceramic tree is at least 10% hot glue now.

Stay tuned to see the results of the next step! (Hint: it will involve spray paint)


Disclaimer: I received a $25 gift certificate from Value Village to participate in the Tablescape Challenge, but was not otherwise compensated for this post.

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DIY Decorating on a Budget

Tree decorations aplenty.

Have you started decorating for the holidays yet? We've got our Christmas lights up on the eaves (or rather, we've turned them on again--we never take them down) & I've begun debating whether or not we'll get a live tree or a cut one. I have a wreath project started that I hope to finish in the next week or two (wish me luck) & I've started thinking about decorating the house too.

Trouble is, we don't really have much in the way of house decor for Christmas. We have tons of tree ornaments, but not much in the way of knick-knacks or art work or garlands. So my mission this season is to find some new decor items for the house... without breaking the bank. I want to some more holiday cheer to our house with a budget of $25. It's pretty unlikely I'd find any decent quality things at the dollar store & I wouldn't get much new stuff anywhere else for that amount. So I'm not going to get new stuff--I'm going thrifting!

I'm heading over to Value Village, who have graciously provided me with a $25 gift certificate, to see what deals I can score for our holiday decor. I'm aiming to create a tablescape, though it'll probably be more of a 'shelfscape', because the wall shelf in our living room is the only horizontal surface the baby hasn't figured out how to access (& tear apart) yet.

Before I go, I thought I'd share with you my plan of attack. If you haven't done too much thrift store shopping lately, there's definitely an art to it. Here are my top tips for scoring holiday decor items for less:

Sewing-themed decorations, maybe?

1. Do your homework! Cruise Pinterest for ideas before you go shopping & start a board for inspiration. Here's mine, if you want to see some holiday decorating ideas I've collected so far. Follow me to keep up with my pins--I'll be adding more decor ideas after this post is published.
2. Focus. Don't get intimidated by the professionally decorated homes you see on Pinterest--focus on some of the items you like that you could recreate in your own home. Make a list of things you might need to create some of the looks you're going for.
3. Don't judge a book by its cover. Once you're at the thrift store, think of what you're looking at in the store as raw materials. A coat of spray paint or acrylic or glitter can give new life to things like china figurines, vases, or baskets.
4. Shop your kitchen. Think of what you already have on hand that could become part of your holiday decor--candy or cinnamon sticks? Mandarin oranges or pomegranates? Branches from a tree outside? Keep these in mind while you look for vases, jars, baskets, etc to hold these items.
5. Allow serendipity! Bring your list & your plan but remember to keep an open mind & if inspiration strikes you in the store, go with it!

The fun of thrift shopping is that you never really know what you'll find there. Some of my favourite clothing items are things I just happened upon by chance in a Value Village. I really love taking something that someone else didn't want & making it beautiful, whether by reworking it, or just arranging it in a new way. Plus, it's a great way to avoid all the packaging waste & resources that go into making & shipping new items across the world.

Will you be thrifting anything for the holidays this year? Have you got any tips to share? I'd love to hear in the comments below...


Disclaimer: I will be receiving a $25 gift certificate to spend at Value Village, but was not otherwise compensated for this post.

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How Far Does $100 Go At Value Village? The Results

Thursday the Spokesfamily piled into a Modo car & drove out to Queensborough to check out the new Value Village to see how far $100 would take us. I went in with an open mind, intending to look for clothing & toys for the kids, maybe some clothes for me & Oliver, plus fabric for some sewing projects I have in mind.

We generally go to Value Village a few times a year but I'm fairly sure I've never spent $100 there, so I thought it might be a challenge to find that many things we wanted to take home. I was definitely wrong about that & we actually ended up spending $140 on:

a pair of David Dixon flats & four dresses for me--$8-15 each

Red patent peep toe T-strap flats? Yes, please!

I'm a sucker for dresses that show my tattoo

a pair of Levi's jeans & some Keen shoes for Oliver--$13 each

Pretty sure we saved nearly $120 on these Keens

shorts, three blouses, a dress, a sweatshirt for baby Bronte--$3-5 each

Seriously cute stuff for Baby B

robot dinosaur swim trunks & a toy concrete truck for Linnaeus--$11

German-made toys are pricey--we saved about $60

four wooden pants hangers & two bags of vintage wooden spools of thread--$11

I love the wood spools!

two vintage flat sheets to use for sewing projects--$8

First item in my basket: vintage sheets for pillow covers, I think.

Pretty good haul, right? We were there for a couple of hours, but we didn't even get through the entire store. I definitely want to go back to that location. The place was full of great quality stuff--if given more time & fewer children with me, I'm sure I could have spent double that... :)

Ringing up the loot.

You can keep up with all things thrifty & share your haul on Twitter @SaversVVillage, Google+ +SaversVVillage, or Facebook.com/ValueVillage, or Pinterest.com/SaversVVillage. 

Disclaimer: I was given $100 in gift certificates for Value Village. The words, opinions & photos above are my own, however.

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