How To Shop Second Hand

Today, on Facebook, someone posted a guide on shopping second hand on interwebs. It was in Finnish but since I thought it was hilarious, I decided to try my hand on translating it. You’re welcome.

The Ultimate Guide On Shopping Second Hand: 

New= Bought it a year ago, used it 6 times but who really remembers.
In a new like condition= In the dark.
Used couple of times= One week at a time.
Walked in couple of times= In puddles and you can’t really count the one 20km run, or the time I had to dry them on radiator or the foot fungus.
Used by 1 child= And borrowed by 6 others.
Little lint= Try to find the actual garment underneath.
Some pilling= I’m not mentioning the big pilling because then nobody wants to buy it.
A lot of stretch= Especially if you undo the seams.
Silver= Who cares about the markings, it’s silver coloured…ish.
Diamond= Well, it’s not plastic.
Leathery= Not velvet, not jersey, slippery.
Couple of dents= And one of them covers half the item, that’s why the image was “borrowed” from the interwebs.
Some marks of usage= Hubby fixed the engine on top of it.
Priced new…= I googled the highest price.
Handmade= I glued two parts together, by myself.
For the first reserver= Unless I don’t like your name or face.
I don’t have a use for it anymore= It’s broken.
Small faults= At least one of the lights worked the last time I used it. Before it fell on the floor.
Warranty is still valid= Warranty doesn’t cover the time it fell into the toilet.
Bought abroad= Was in stores so long time ago that no one remembers how they were available in every single store imaginable.
Unique= Only 3 left in the corner store.
Brand product= Some other text on the washing instructions.
Don’t know if it’s authentic= I bought “Marc Jacobs” for a tenner, it’s not necessarily a fake.

Happy shopping everyone!

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• Macklemore’s ‘Thrift Shop’ isn’t convincing anyone to actually shop at thrift stores (deathandtaxesmag.com)
• Ask the Readers: Do You Shop at Thrift Stores? (wisebread.com)
• Thief rips off North Idaho thrift shop, steals valuable tools (krem.com)
• 1 cat, 9 styles. (wanderingcats.wordpress.com)

A Weekly Photo Challenge: A Day in My Life pt.2

You know, I got my first ever smartphone last week. For a past few years I’ve been getting my phones used from my friend. It was an economical decision based on how many phones I had managed to break in a very, very short period of time.

Anyhoo, of course I’ve already fully embraced the possibilities smartphones offer but I didn’t actually get to USE it fully until today. Why, you may ask? Well, thank you for asking. Because today I got around to buying:

Which was immediately followed by instragramming this:

My brand new clothes. See! I totally get this social media thing.

Thrifty Finn. Hip and happening.

 

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• Sylvia Plath and the Confessionals of 90′s Rock Pt.2 (phdavies.wordpress.com)
• Weekly Photo Challenge (autumninbruges.wordpress.com)
• Weekly Photo Challenge: A day in my life (scsurfbutler.com)
• Weekly Photo Challenge: A Day in My Life (thriftyfinn.wordpress.com

Recently Sold

Yeah. Just because I haven’t bothered to share, doesn’t mean I haven’t done anything. I have. I HAVE! Honestly! My bank balance doesn’t look too good these days so I decided to ease in back to selling on FB. I have managed to sell quite a few items (just wished they had been more expensive ones but hey, one has to start somewhere). This bowl is the latest:

I bought it last year, just after Halloween. I think it’s lead glass but I’m not sure. The lady who bought it, got it for her mother because she had broken hers. How lucky for me Another recent sale was this kitchen towel:

I bought it last summer when I was in Tampere with bunch of other vintage towels. Calendar towels are very collectable. Not a high in price but always a guaranteed sell.

So. I’ve been doing this and also, I can already walk without crutches! I’m getting outside of my apartment! I’m getting fresh air! Have contact with actual human beings! Where will this madness end?

Till next time…

Because Not All Valentine’s Days Can Be Great Successes

There’s a new, Finnish card challenge blog called Kortisto that has these rather oddball themes. Additionally the challenge blog is all about winning. No having fun, no satisfaction from just making things. They are looking for blood, sweat and tears.  The current challenge, 14th in order, is Something Out of a Porn Shop. Meaning you have to make a card that an adult store might sell. Personally I thought more of Ann Summers kind of place rather than something from Amsterdam’s back alley.

Aren’t we Finns fun?

Anyhoo, my new Crate Paper-goodies arrived today so I decided to make an adult Valentine-card (which probably isn’t something the designers at CP had in mind but eh, what they gonna do about it?) Here it is:

Voulez-vous coucher avec moi? Can’t get any classier than this. The height of boudoir sophistication, don’t you think? This is the card for the confident gal.

I wouldn’t recommend giving this card to your office crush. Or anyone who you would be seeing again in any kind of normal social setting. Unless…

 ….You are very, very good at coping with rejection.

I’m sharing my Valentine at following challenges:

Kortisto: #14- Pornokaupan Kortti
Creative Inspirations: #198- Anything Goes
Creative Card Crew: Challenge #28- Girly
City Crafter Challenge Blog: Week 143- Forever Mine (or not)
Craft Us Crazy: Challenge #35- Celebrate Love or Seeing Colour Red
Pile It On: #3- Have a Heart
Simon Says Stamp and Show: What Are You Known For? (Witty humour!)

Have you started making Valentine’s Day cards yet? Are you going to? Have you considered taking part my January Giveaway?

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Retail Therapy For So Many Reasons

Hi all! Remember when I said my operation would be on 15th? Does it seem like I’m at the hospital right now? No sir, it doesn’t…

On my pre-operation check-up on 5th, after meeting the anesthesia doctor and nurse, I walked into the surgeon’s office. We exchanged some polite words and then he said: “I’ve been summoned to testify in court. Guess which date?”

My eyes did this:

Image via tumblr

 And I was quiet for a very, VERY long time. The quietness lasted so long that it went from normal pause to awkward to “there’s going to be some serious butt-whooping going on if something doesn’t get done right”. I got re-scheduled to 5th of February. Which is cool because that’s when the killer winter temperatures usually kick in and you couldn’t drag me out of this flat with wild horses when it’s -30c. (Except when I need chocolate. Ooh, the things I have done for chocolate).

I was feeling depressed for a week about this because I’d been mentally preparing myself for the 15th and had made plans accordingly. When I got out of my funk, I began getting things ready for the 5th. First order of business was getting some safe shoes to walk in and outdoors. And that of course meant getting:

The HORROR! Doom! There’s no recovering from this! I had to get Crocs. CROCS! My friend said on Facebook that I should be whipped and not in a 50 Shades of Grey kind of way.

But they are comfortable. Perfect for my recovery period. Then it will already be spring and I will be able to walk in other, non-Crocs shoes. But boy, are these comfortable. I’ve been wearing the outdoor shoes indoors for over an hour now. I paid 90 euros for two pairs of shoes which is a total bargain compared to the other safe and comfy shoes I had my eyes on. They were 200 euros a pair. See, I managed to live up to my bloggy name!

Anyhoo, since my shoe shopping was so traumatizing, I decided to smooth my bruised design ego by getting some crafty supplies. Craft Gossip recently linked to a fabulous digital scrapbooking store called Pixels and Company. They have these fantastic 1$ sales AND freebies so I decided to have a look. For 3$/2.25€ I got three fabulous paper sets and then I got three freebies too! Check these babies out:

 So pretty. 3 different designers with their own distinctive style. I’m especially keen on the plaid on Scarlett, autumn hues on Autumn Delight and those watercolour florals on In Bloom. All this for 3$! Then from the freebies section I chose:

 Those date caps are awesome. I just saw in some crafty blog a picture from CHA where some company had bottle cap embellishments in their line. The Daydream set I got because of the houndstooth and Reindeer Games…See that interesting herringbone-style pattern with the yellow snowflakes next to it? So nice and design-y.

So this is what I’ve been up to. How’s your week been?