Houndstooth Blanket

My new favorite method of finishing off a fleece blanket...with bias tape! I have grown tired of the fleece tied blankets, (No offense if that's your thing) and to be honest there aren't a TON of fleece prints that I even like, but this houndstooth one aught my eye when JoAnns was having a super fleece sale this winter, so I picked up a bit. I also scored this pretty green-ish blue-ish bias tape from the NPS store for .79 cents a package. nice. It only took my like 25 minutes to finish this SUPER easy blanket. If you don't sew a ton, you can for sure do this little blanket, but if you do sew a ton, then you know what a cinch this will be right?!

Added my little PLaY logo, looks so professional right?!

Aaaand we have a winner! Everett likes it too.

Sooo snuggly

And fun for playing Peek-a-boo!

I seriously use this blanket all the time, watching movies, in the car, sleep-overs, you name it. LOVE it!

NPS store

Okay, I know I'm totally stuck on sharing thrifty stores right now, but I haven't been able to make much these last few weeks becasue there's still so much unpacking and organizing to do in the new house, maybe I should give myself an hour or so each day to create something just for fun...we'll see :) For now, I want to share with you another favorite good deal store of mine.

It's called NPS

(if you're in Utah, the address is 1600 South Empire Road, Salt Lake City, UT 84104, it's in this warehouse section of town...)

It's similar-ish to Canned food warehouse (Rainbow) but it has much more. But the idea is similar, nearly expired food items and overstock. Some things are a GREAT price, and some are the same as other grocery stores. I do buy a few food items there, but what I really love is the other side if the store, where the fabric and home goods section lives.

This is the fabric section. It's nothing fancy, but it can be totally awesome! I have found countless amazing ribbons (like a spool of 100 yards of 1 1/4 in. brown grosgrain ribbon for $5), and trims (like an 18 yard spool of pom-pom ball fringe for $2) and really cool fabrics (like a yard of grey eyelet that is 60" wide that I'm going to make a cute tunic top out of for $2.50).

In this little cubby of a room there are bolts upon bolts of cool fabric, all at least 60" wide!

Below: spools of 50-100 yards of velcro for like $10 and some kind of fancy doily things :) {also, in the top right of the pic below doesn't that look like a "PINK" mannequin from Victorias Secret? I think it is}

There's also this home goods section of pillows, rugs and usually there's some really cool furniture here, not today though...

Also, not pictured is a "dollar store" section, where everything is a buck. I have found cool stuff in there! Like t-shirts, bags, etc.

Anyway, that's the NPS store. It's really cool, and fun to see what you can find.

What kind of cool stores are there in your neck of the woods?

Downeast CLEARANCE Center

Ahhh, this is one of my FAVORITE thrifty places to shop. This is the downeast clearance center. (If you're in Utah, and you're interested, it's at 3500 West and 3500 South in West Valley Utah, sandwiched between a "fresh market" and Golds Gym)
The Downeast clearance center is home to thousands of items from Pottery Barn, Land of Nod, crate and Barrel, all those type of fancy and pricey places that have been damaged, or returned, used, were displays, etc. So, they are PERFECT for someone like me (and you) to dress them up a bit, and for a fraction of the real price, you can get these super amazing home decor items, furniture, bedding (for fabric), towels, blankets, rugs, curtains, and clothes!
I picked out some Pottery Barn drapes form this bin for 5 bucks each, the trick was to find ones that matched, but I did and I'm super stoked!
Thes glass canisters were $10, $5, and $2.50, the catch is, they have a glass etched monogram that was messed up...SO, I'm going to cut a cute bracket tag out of chalkboard vinyl with my cricut, to cover up the monogram, and put them in my bathroom with cotton balls, q-tips, and soap! Ca-YUTE!
Endless bins of pottery barn linens, ohhhh the possibilities!
Look at these adorable backpacks! Just sew a piece of canvas over the embroidered name, and VOILA, new cute PBK backpack!
This is where I get all my onesies to "be-dazzle", they have an embroidered name on them, so that has to be covered, or cut out, but I have oodles of experience and ideas for making them adorable! Plus, the Pottery Barn quality is SO nice, it feels SO good to hold a baby wearing such a quality item :)
It also helps to have a shopping buddy to keep you company :) He's a GREAT shopper, and always charms everyone we meet :)
Downeast Shirts! LOVE them, and here, they sell surplus shirts for $3 bucks or 2 for $5! Love it! When I was pregnant, I came here and picked out like eight solid colored shirts in a size bigger than I normally wear, to fit my belly, and they were the staple of my pregnancy wardrobe, for like $20 bucks! YEAH!
Cute swimsuits, nothing wrong with them, just overstock, or last season, whatevs! SWEET DEAL!

I cannot even count how many awesome things I have purchased from this wonderful store, I could list on and on...and on.

Have I convinced you to need to experience this for yourself?! You gotta check it out, and if you're in town and need someone to go with, let me know I'll be there in a flash!