Thrift Trip

Mi madre is the Queen of finding rummage sales, garage sales, thrift stores ... anything selling old/used items that can become new again ... she's the lady to go to. It's that time of year where people are going through their attics and basements getting rid of their junk a.k.a my magical treasures. So there are loads of sales to go to. And mi madre has ransacked newspapers galore to hit up at least three ... THREE ... sales a week! She has a section in her planner SPECIFICALLY for rummage sales. Fantástico no? We recently hit up one of my favorite seasonal sales at a church in Birmingham. Oh the treasures they had, I went bananas ... *drool* ... just look

 * I ended up buying that unicorn necklace for lil' mama!

 * (sigh) ... I didn't NEED it ...

* only $16!!! ... And taken ... SOB! 

I had to limit myself tremendously, to not buy things I didn't NEED, or that necessarily didn't go with my decor. I bypassed on those treasures ended up buying these ...

 * vintage wall calender to be framed

 * vintage remnants to be made into a duvet

* thee best vintage pop-up book EVER

* S+arck pop-up tent for Target ... ONLY $3!!! (orig. $65!!!)

 * this is her new hideout, decked out with comfy blankets, music, and snacks #livinthedream

And I also came away with some great summer/fall clothes for lil' person (far too many pics for that, thats called spamming). My favorite item I got was the S+arck tent. I had/have the hardest time folding it up, so I went online to see if there were instructions or a storage bag I could buy. And guess what I stumbled upon? Target and Philippe Starck, an amazing French product designer (check out Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance", he designed the Parrot iPod speaker in the beginning) collaborated back in the early 2000's and created an amazing modern home organization and infant/toddler gear line. I absolutely love his work. So futuristic and simple, it's something that I'd say is becoming more popular today. I love it when Target collaborates with top notch designers. Can't wait for the next one!

Lil' Madre de Escuela

WEEK 1

WEEK 2

 WEEK 3

 WEEK 4

WEEK 5

 WEEK 6

*her cute lil' owl lunchbox! I was outta town that day, 

my moms was slackin in keeping the tradition

WEEK 7

Lil' mama has started school! Well ... sorta ... its a daycare Montessori. And she's loving every minute of it! I've made sure to take a picture of her everyday before school. She's learning and growing so much, and her personality is showing more and more each day. Matter of fact, the other day she surprised me with thee most random thing ever! I was talking with mi madre, sorta flustered over work and she goes,...

"Mommy ... chill" *pounds fist*

Le ha wha? Excuse me? What just came out of my childs mouth?!? It was nothing but pure lil' person swag. I love how her awesomeness is becoming more awesome as she grows. I cannot believe that I've raised such a sweet, smart, HILARIOUS, caring, artistic lil' person. I've never truly gave myself credit for being a single mom, but her being such an amazing lil' person confirms it ... I'm doing one hell of a job.

So heres the thing,

It's to nice out for me to be inside, writing up a new blog post. Its perfect for an outfit photoshoot ... But no blog post ... Understand? Go outside and take in all the sun an' pollen, it'll only be here 4 more months. You can read this later.
- Nae :)

DIY ya'll!

This time fellow lad's and lassies, DIY ya'll! is a bit different! I recently made cupcakes for lil person's daycare (teacher appreciation week was last week!). They have STRICT policies on what can/cannot be brought into the daycare because of allergies, peanuts and chocolate *le gasp*, some of the FEW. So I decided to make a basic vanilla cupcake. But to spruce it up a bit, make it a bit more kid friendly, I added food coloring to create this sweet tye-dye effect!

 * she's getting much better at pointing out her colors, everything isnt green anymore!

* homemade cream cheese frosting!

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups self-rising flour
• * substitute for self rising flour - 1 cup all-purpose flour + 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder + ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 large eggs, at room temperature ... or right out the fridge
• 1 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Food coloring

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Line 2 (1/2 cup-12 capacity) muffin tins with cupcake papers.

In a small bowl, combine the flours. Set aside.

In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugar gradually and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the dry ingredients in 3 parts, alternating with the milk and vanilla. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated but do not over beat. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl to make sure the ingredients are well blended. Depending on how many colors you want in your cupcake, separate batter into equal parts in separate bowls (4 colors, separate batter into 4 different bowls). Add food coloring. The brighter you want the cupcakes, add more drops, then mix. Carefully spoon the batter into the cupcake liners, one color after another, filling them about 3/4 full. To create the tye dye effect, swirl batter with toothpick or knife. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a cake tester (aka. toothpick/knife) inserted into the center of the cupcake comes out clean.

Cool the cupcakes in tins for 15 minutes. Remove from the tins and cool completely before icing.
* (recipe from foodnetwork.com)
** (substitution from Cooks Thesaurus)

Enjoy the cupcakes! If you have pics of some that you've made, email them to lethriftymadre@gmail.com, and I'll post em'! Happy baking!

Thrift Trip

 

* This reminds me of something locals HoneyBOOM would rock, 

80's workout swag

* I have a thing for secondhand jewelry ... CLEARLY

It's been such a long time since I've been thrifting. I was going through major withdrawl! I had to feed my (sane)addiction, so I FINALLY made it to Value World. And of course ... there was a sale going on! Odd saying there was a sale at the thrift store, but it was completely legit. And NO ONE TOLD ME! There were coupons out and I didn't know! I'm signed up for their emails and have not got ONE! I was beyond pissed. And when people are pissed ... they turn to Twitter ...

So to all my Value World lovers out there, coupons come via email, through JB Dollar coupon books (never delivered to me!), Red Plum coupons in Sunday papers, the Oakland Press, the Michigan Chronicle, and Metrotimes. If I have doubles of a coupon best believe I will be more than happy to share! Spread the coupon love ya'll!