February 2014 archive
Host a Free Stuff “Sale”
One of my co-workers is moving to a smaller apartment and needs to downsize her life. Lucky for us, as we all benefited because she followed in a long tradition at our workplace of hosting a Free Stuff Sale. A table or counter is designated as the gifting spot, and the giver brings in their wares and sets them out. Then the vultures descend and have a mad feeding frenzy and fight over the discarded goods. You know, normal day at the office. If anything is left over, it gets donated to a local charity or thrift store.
To me, this is about as good as it gets. As a green fiend and writer for a green living magazine, I fully support re-homing unwanted stuff instead of throwing it away. And as a bargain aficionado, I fully embrace getting free stuff. As I write this I am wearing my favorite cold weather wool blend sweater that I got at a clothing swap a couple years ago that I am SO grateful for on super cold days like today.
Accessories are the best candidates for Free Stuff Sales, but pieces of designer clothes and new or close to new beauty products sometimes pop up too. Here’s a guide to what’s usually popular:
-Scarves
-Jewelry
-Hats
-Wallets and small purses
-Trinkets
-Books
Go through your stuff and make sure it’s something someone might actually want. Used makeup is best left out, since you can’t even donate that due to hygiene considerations.
I was inspired to take some photos of the Free Stuff Sale that happened today for examples of popular items. This stuff is so cute I couldn’t help but share it on the blog.
What are your favorite ways to give stuff away? Would you do a Free Stuff Sale?
Easy Craft: Painted Pots & Sunny Succulents
Need a late-winter pick-me-up? Today’s DIY project brings a little desert warmth to you. This beautiful blend of modern and rustic is so simple you don’t have to be crafty at all to attempt it, but it will look expertly created once you’re finished.
It’s perfect for wedding favors (it was featured in my Green Weddings article for Second Opinion), party favors, birthday presents, or to keep on your desk at work or windowsill at home.
Materials To start, you’ll need everything in this picture:
-Painter’s tape
-Twine
-Optional: gift tags-I made mine out of brown paper grocery bag for a rustic touch.
-Scissors
-Container of acrylic paint
-Paintbrush
-Terra cotta pot(s)
-Succulent plants, available at home improvement and garden stores. Mine were $3 each. I swear, choosing which variety of adorable miniature succulent to use is the hardest part of this entire project.
Step 1: Using two strips of tape, mark off a off a triangle on one side of the pot, as shown in the picture. Run your fingernail along the inside edge of the tape until it’s secured as firmly as possible. This is important because if you skip this step you will get paint bleed instead of crisp lines. Pay special attention to the apex of the triangle, as bleed is most likely at this point.
Step 2: Paint inside the triangle. Use several coats until the paint covers cleanly and completely. I had success with Patio Paint (available at craft stores) in metallic gold. When paint is completely dry, peel off the tape.
Step 3: Pot your succulent in the new pot. It’s best if you mix in some sand, rock and gravel to accelerate drainage. Succulents can go a long time without watering, making them ideal plants for the brown-thumbed among us. Drenching your plant about once a month should be sufficient, but it will need lots of direct sunlight, or at least a mixture of fluorescent office lighting and indirect light.
Step 4: Attach your gift tag, if desired, with a twine bow. Gift your plant to the lucky recipient or enjoy it yourself. Gaze at your happy little succulent plant and remind yourself: summer is coming soon!
Love DIY? Check out Quirky Homemade Postcards.
To Use or Not to Use?
When I saw the “Violet Days” comic strip about keeping untouched decorative soap, I couldn’t help but relate. Thanks to a childhood passion for collecting and parents who haven’t moved, I was able to dig up my own collection of unused, dusty, nearing-antique-status decorative soaps. The whole menagerie, from the l’Occitane bar that was a party favor at my friend Susan’s birthday to the partially deteriorated Aunt Jemima Puddleduck, are pictured here.As attested to in the cartoon, decorative soaps can be pretty confusing! Are they soap? Are they toys? Are they decorations? As a kid I clearly thought they were some combination of the latter two, since they are (mostly-Snoopy is missing part of his face) intact after more than 20 years. It reminds me of something I heard once about fingertip towels-you know, the doll-sized towels that you see in guest bathrooms that are almost always decorated with kitschy embroidery or lace of some kind. It’s said that almost no one uses these because they are, like decorative soaps, confusing. Does your host intend for you to actually use them, or are they meant to be looked at and admired while you shake your dripping hands and then pat them dry on your dress pants?
I once had this dilemma while a house guest in Switzerland. The only soap available in the guest bath was a completely untouched, wrapped l’Occitane bar as if I were in a five-star hotel. Almost wincing, I forced myself to peel open the crisp paper and mar the pristine surface of the smooth soap with water. “You are the guest,” I pep talked myself through the harrowing experience. “They want you to use this.”
Why do we have resistance to using nice things? Is it our upbringing when we were taught that the good silver only comes out on holidays and not to nibble on the dessert until the guests arrive? We deserve to use nice things. Like Chris Monroe says in the comic strip, “I should have just used it in the first place.” We are deserving of the fingertip towels and the good soap. So I’m going to put Snoopy in my bathroom right now and go use him to wash my han-on second thought, never mind, I can’t quite seem to bring myself to do it.
13 Vintage Valentines That Didn’t Age Well
Funny Vintage Valentines
The good people over at the online Vintage Valentine Museum acquire and painstakingly catalog vintage Valentine cards. Their work is commendable, and without them we would not be able to enjoy these gems from the past. For every innocent and cherubic retro Valentine’s card though, is one that didn’t exactly age well. The messages and images might have been cute in the 1930s, but today…well, see for yourself. This collection of mildly horrifying vintage cards may give you Valentine’s Day nightmares so don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Nothing says true love like calling her your Valentine Ho.
“Say you’ll be mine!” Uhh…do I have a choice? This cupid looks positively homicidal.
I’d really rather you didn’t bear me any tidings at all. The only thing I wish for is to go back in time and have never seen this.
And when I thought it couldn’t get worse, this happened.
Why do I have a sneaking suspicion that this cat’s “Token of Affection” is actually a giant turd left over from taking a dump somewhere in your house?
I think this cat loves her tuna, not you. Typical.
The dog meat trade is illegal…right?
Nowadays, we’ve watched too much CSI to find living in a trunk with your stalker, I mean, Valentine, to be a selling point.
This kid is understandably concerned about how this monkey got into his bedroom.
Oh look, we found Don Draper’s childhood Valentine’s card.
Well, that sounds like a recipe for a healthy relationship.
Looks like she’s on the road to rehab and jail time rather than everlasting love.
This card comes with a free restraining order!
Head over to Vintage Valentine Museum to see the entire cataloged collection-they’re not all weird!
Valentine’s Day Picks
February 14th is less than a week away! Need some ideas and inspiration? Here is the Valentine’s Day round up of the gifts to give and places to go.
What to Give:
Bouquet of candles, available on Etsy from Minneapolis Chandlery; Viva Love card from Yellow Owl Workshop; 7 Macaroon Gift Box from Cocoa and Fig, available at their Twin Cities stores; Love Stamp Necklace from Fab.com.
Where to Eat: So you want to do a Valentine’s Day dinner but avoid the frantic, crowded restaurant rush on the 14th? You can celebrate all week at D’Amico & Sons (locations in the Twin Cities and Florida) with a special menu February 10th-15th, 5 pm to close. Plus you can enter to win 10 months of date night dinners! The three course, prix fixe menu is 25.95 per person and offers two choices for each course. The choices look delicious, but if you’re gluten free or dairy free you might need to give your dessert to your date.
For a more casual celebration that needs no reservation, drop in to your local cupcake shop. My Minneapolis favorites are Cocoa & Fig and Cupcake, for their gluten free options and variety of flavors.
What to do:
I’m going to let you in on the most amazing secret: Swan Park, an area on a lake in Monticello, attracts thousands of swans in the wintertime. Visitors ready for a romance overload can view and photograph the swans (just promise not to trespass onto anyone’s yards, okay? There are viewing areas just for visitors so stick to the designated trails. Nothing ruins Valentine’s Day like a ride in a cop car. Unless you’re Keith Urban). Feeding time, aka peak swan viewing time, is 10:30 AM, but swans are often visible all day long.
If you’re not local, you can still get the swan experience with your sweetie-grab a blanket and hunker down in front of the Swan Cam. To access the Swan Cam and information on Swan Park, head to Monticello Chamber of Commerce’s website: http://www.monticellocci.com/pages/swans.
