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I’m totally enjoying this garage sale season. I usually forget to check out the garage sales, but this year I am determined to catch them. My husband is, of course, less than thrilled with the “junk” I bring home. I mean, when you buy at a garage sale, you take a risk that this year’s garage sale find is next year’s garage sale fodder, right?

I think the trick to making it work is to actually DO something with the items you pick up. So, that is my challenge for today. I’ve checked out the sales around town (not many, by the way) and this afternoon I am going to clean up, paint and USE my finds.

This is what I picked up last weekend. All from the same sale. I think I spent around $2.50.

I plan on cleaning up the basket divider thingy and possibly painting it white or black, then using it as an organization tool/storage in my scrapbooking room. Or, maybe I’ll put it in my desk as a handy divider. Or, a place to hold kids art supplies. We’ll see!

The mirror has a pretty frame that is a bit bent in the corner. I’ll straighten it out, paint the frame, clean the glass, pull the “stand” off the back and repurpose it as a tray. Probably on the guest room dresser. So, it will probably be white.

The little spice rack will be painted black and will hold tubes of embellishments in my scrapbooking room.

The little lantern/candle holder was only 10¢, so I figured that if my repainting efforts are a lost cause, I can always toss it. However, I hope that it will look nice in black.

The card stand/plaque thingy will be a fun scrapbooking project. Don’t know what, yet.

But, what I am the MOST excited about is this pair of ornate frames for just 75¢. They WILL be painted black. Today. I plan to hang them from ribbon and put something in them. I don’t exactly know what, yet, but I know that they will be gorgeous!

This is what I picked up today for $1.75.

The purse will be a magazine holder next to a chair. I’m probably not going to do anything to it except fill it!

The long glass rods were from an old light fixture, I guess. I don’t see it, but whatever. The gal gave them to me for free, and they will become plant stakes in my garden.

The candy dish is just pretty. I’ll make it a candy dish. Maybe it will actually hold candy every once-in-a-great-while.

The hole punch and stapler are for Grant’s craft area (which will happen soon) so that he stops messing with my stuff.

And, yes, those are free baby food jars. I never fed my kids processed baby food, so this is sort of a novelty for me. I am going to paint the lids and put scrapbooking supplies in them. Maybe. Maybe I’ll use them in Grant’s craft area.

My garage sale buddy. He picked up a really cool Spiderman mini-lunch pail. He talked the man down to 25¢, without having to open his mouth! So proud. (And, yes, he dressed himself.)