A Goodwill Holiday

_______________________________________________________
Scented pine cones are great for decorating and gift giving. McCormick.com has the simple recipe to make these with all kinds of wonder scents. You could have cinnamon pine cones in the living room, nutmeg in the bedroom, and allspice in the kitchen! You can find inexpensive baskets for your pine cones at Goodwill.

                

_______________________________________________________

You never know what you will find at Goodwill! This white wicker trunk was recently donated at the Milham, Kalamazoo store. Cute for a girls room or a front porch.

             

_______________________________________________________

This item is currently up for bid on shopgoodwill.com

Do you know what it is? (Hint: it is something for the kitchen) 

                   

 You can find out the answer by following this link: Shopgoodwill Mystery Item

_______________________________________________________

Having an extra crockpot in the cupboards is great for holiday get togethers. Pick up an extra one at Goodwill at a thrifty price. We are sharing lynnskitchenadventures.com Crockpot Quiche recipe. What a great item to serve Christmas morning! Yum!

                       

_______________________________________________________

You can find great items at treasure hunting at Goodwill and other thrift stores, and you might find something that would make a great gift. We are tagging one of our blog posts from last year with some great tips for gift giving thrift store finds. Thrift Shop Gift Buying Do's and Don'ts
       

               

_______________________________________________________

And speaking of thrift store gift giving. Do you know someone who loves thrift store shopping? Do they consider themselves a Thrift Store Diva? Or maybe its YOU! We have super cute pink Thrift Store Diva T-shirts now at our Goodwill or you can order them online at PeaceLoveGoodwill.com 

                 

_______________________________________________________

The last sale of the year at Goodwill is Super Saturday -December 27th, 2014. You get to take 50% off most items the last Saturday of each month. One day only, our everyday low prices get even lower! (Some items excluded - see stores for details) Find a Goodwill Southwestern Michigan Store near you!

Merry Christmas! 

simple DIY halloween costumes starring your favorite pair of blue jeans!

Looking for a simple DIY Halloween costume? And get to wear your favorite pair of jeans? We have 7 easy peasy ideas for you! (Bonus: if you have Halloween dress up days at work, here is your excuse to wear jeans!)
_________________________________________________________

Be a Blue Jeans Wearing Biker:

Source: sugarbeecrafts.com

_________________________________________________________

Be a Blue Jeans Wearing Cowboy or Cowgirl:

Source: Thriftingdenver.org

__________________________________________________________
Be a Blue Jeans Wearing Farmer:

Source: Parents.com

   __________________________________________________________
Be a Blue Jeans Wearing Zombie Hippie (or skip the blood and just be a hippie):

Source: ssjhalloween.blogspot.com

 __________________________________________________________
Be a Blue Jeans Wearing Dude from the 50's:

Source: TheBroadwayblog.com

__________________________________________________________
Be a Blues Jeans Wearing Scarecrow:

Source: PopSugar.com

  _________________________________________________________
Be a Blue Jeans Wearing Lumberjack:

Source

Make sure to check out our Pinterest Treasure Chest page and our new   Goodwill Industries of Southwestern Michigan Pinterest page were you can learn more about our mission, job opportunities, free online learning and more!

Happy Halloween and Happy Treasure Hunting!

                                   
                             
           
                                          

Looking for Not So Scary Halloween Decor?

Halloween is great fun...but sometimes it seems to be getting a little bit over the top scary out there! If you are looking to keep the fun in Halloween decorating and skip the horror, then enjoy these not so scary ideas we have gathered. All of these ideas feature items you can treasure hunt for at your local Goodwill!

______________________________
Transform a pine cone Christmas wreath into a monster Halloween wreath:
A little green spray paint, ping pong balls and some scrap paper and you have a not so scary monster wreath to greet your trick or treaters! Visit craftaholicsanonymous.net for all the details.
                                    

Candy Corn Buds.  Spray paint a thrifted container black to make this sweet piece. Find more candy corn decor ideas at womansday.com
                                                   
What little girl (or grown up girl!) is not enchanted with the movie Frozen? We love this not scary at all - but just beautiful "Frozen" pumpkin featured on apumpkinandaprincess.com! Look for a tiara at the thrift store if you don't already have one in a dress up box.
                          

     How about this fun and simple Halloween Wall art?betterorganizedliving.com filled frames with art she created on PhotoShop. Her frames are from the dollar store, but you could also look for interesting and inexpensive frames at Goodwill.
                 

Okay - real spiders crawling on the wall - that would be scary! But not these fun DIY spider plates. (and just to make them even less scary - can we suggest a little glitter on their hairy legs?)  Click on designimprovised.com for all of the details.
                 
Feeling lucky? Visit our Pinterest Page Pinterest.com/GoodwillSWMI/
or our Halloween costume page on our website goodwillswmi.org/halloween-costume-ideas to find out how you could win a Galaxy Tab 4 this Halloween!

Happy Not So Scary Treasure Hunting! 

Awesome round up of Halloween Costumes featuring Prom Dresses! (you know you want to wear a prom dress again!)

Sometimes two proms in a life time is not enough! We have an awesome and fun round up of ideas to wear one again, but this time for Halloween. And Goodwill is a great place to find the perfect dress at a great price.

From our Milham Kalamazoo Store this week!

___________________________________________
Dress Pretty... 
Find this Queen of Hearts Costume tutorial - including how to make the card collar - on thejoyoffashionblog.com
                                   
Disney's "Frozen": This cool mom fashioned Elsa's dress from a prom dress for her daughter. Get all of the details at motherhoodthetruth.com.
                             
You might have to treasure hunt a bit for the perfect pink dress to match Hermoine's dress she wore to the Yule Ball.  We found this cute couple on Fashionablygeek.com (Brownie Points to the true Harry Potter fans that can answer this fact: Her dress was pink in the movie, but what color was it in the book?)
                                 
How about these Pageant Contestants!?! These prom dresses are being worn by our very own Goodwill SWMI Team Members! (with bonus host!)
A Little Bit Scary...
You could rock a punk look with a 80's style dress. Find more info on craftster.org
                                        
A zombie bride? Yes, this is a little scary. Follow the link to a great tutorial to put all the pieces together. odetoinspiration.com
                                          
Emily and Victor Van Dort from the Corpse Bride. Look for a white prom dress or wedding gown and follow this amazing make-up tutorial found on Instructables.com
                                       

_____________________________________________________  
Love the Dress....
Okay.... you might find a dress that is so beautiful you don't want to transform it in any way. Why not just wear it and add a beautiful homemade masquerade mask?  

Dresses from our West Main, Kalamazoo Store this week.

These beautiful DIY masks from circlecitycreations.com are a clever mix of

 rhinestones, glitter and Christmas floral picks! 

                                              

sprinklesinsprings.com features this delicate glitter masquerade mask. 

                                                

                                                

And one more... a tutorial on Youtube.com for a face paint mask.

                                       

    ________________________________________________________________

We hope you found some great ideas and be sure to visit your local Goodwill for your

 dress like these from our Alcott Kalamazoo, MI store this week. 

                                   

                                                              

When you shop and donate at Goodwill,
 you support our Mission!

 Thank you!

                                                         

Are you a long-distance Grandma? Keep in touch by snail mail!

Are you a long-distance Grandma or Grandpa? Whether you live 1000 miles apart or just a little ways down the road from your grandkids we have a fun and inexpensive way to keep in touch. A cute mailbox ready to be filled with snail mail from you!

Grand kids of all ages today are very tech savvy with smart phones, tablets and all the favorite social media sites. Those are great ways to keep in touch, but there is still something so personal about getting something in the mailbox! So let's make a mailbox that can be filled with special notes, cards and fun things.

We found this cute sized Santa mailbox at our Goodwill store and transformed it into a mailbox perfect for little boy.

The little boy who will be getting this mailbox lives on a busy street and can't go get the mail from the real mailbox. So this is a mailbox that can be kept in the house and Mom or Dad can deliver his mail.

Don't worry if you do not feel you have any super art skills - this is as easy as applying a strip of tape!  And that is exactly what you will need. A couple of rolls of duct tape and a pair of scissors.

Duct tape can be found in so many colors and patterns like camouflage, graffiti, puppy prints, polka dots, flowers, chevron stripes and many more styles. We found these rolls at Dollar General for $2 each.  First we put the fun gecko pattern tape right down the middle of the mailbox and then added the blue and black tape on either side.

Covering both the back and the front with more strips of tape and, voila! Easy! Well, a little bit of scissor work around the flag. A simple cut around a gecko made a great sticker to put on the flag. Super cute and super easy!
____________________________________________________________
Now it is time to start filling that mailbox! Here are some suggestions:

Flat things that will fit in a regular envelope: 

• Seasonal Holiday Card - (Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, Easter, Valentines Day, Ground Hog Day, First Day of Summer, etc.) 
• A picture you colored.
• A printed page for them to color to mail back to put on your fridge (when you get it back, don't forget to take a picture of it hanging on your fridge to show them)
• Special band aids like Super hero or princess band-aids 
• Flat Magnet
• Stickers
• Temporary Tattoos
• Postcard
• Small Comic Book

Things that might need a bit more postage: 

• Homemade cookie
• Party Blowers (Find these in the birthday party section)
• Paper Puppets (spoonful.com) 
• Paper banner to hang in their room. (wildolive.blogspot.com)
• Weather Themed Paper Lacing Cards (another cute wildolive creation!)
• Ocean Felt Finger Puppets (bugsandfishes.blogspot.com) 
• Paper "Snowglobe" (idlewife.blogspot.ca)
• Flash Cards

      Do you have any ideas to add to this list?

Something sent by snail mail can truly be a treasure!

Happy Treasure Hunting! 

Neon Trend

A neon trend was happening this past spring and summer and it looks to continue right into fall. We couldn't be happier! Adding neon is a great way to update and refresh your wardrobe, your living spaces, and thrift store finds.
___________________________________________________________
Pastels and jewel tones are great color choices for your fall wardrobe, but why not neon? It's kind of like taking a step into fall weather while still hanging on to the bright and sunny days of summer.....

This was spotted on lookbook.nu. Fresh and cozy - that is a great combo!

Source: Lookbook.nu

How about an easy DIY project? This was a simple white shirt and neon fabric paint...

Source: Merricksart.com

Add a neon stripe to update a pair of jeans or experiment with a thrift store pair. Follow the source link for a great video tutorial.

Source: Beadandcord.com

___________________________________________________________

If you are just looking for a pop of color then following these links for neon accessory DIY projects.

Cute tassel necklaces (and gift toppers!). 

Source: thesweetestoccasion.com

Make several more tassels and update a thrift store scarf by sewing them along the edges. This is very on trend. 

Source: Triedandtrueblog.com

While treasure hunting for scarves, look for a purse to update with neon:

Source: Mr Kate.com

(Be sure to check out the link at Mr. Kate.com - there are many more hand painted purse ideas!)

__________________________________________________________

How about some neon touches in your home for fall?

This thrift store art find gets a simple neon makeover:

eastcoastcreativeblog.com

Neon pumpkins? How fun!  

anightowlblog.com

Fall weather means fall baking - apple pies, pumpkins bars and homemade bread.....mmmm. Add some color to your kitchen baking days with these colorful diy wooden utensils. 

Sarahhearts.com

________________________________________________________

We've pinned many more neon ideas on our Pinterest Board NEON TRENDS

And if you have a neon diy suggestion, send us link in the comments. Thanks and

HAPPY TREASURE HUNTING!

Are you in a fowl mood?

So are we here at the Goodwill Treasure Chest! Lately there have been several kindly donated pieces of ducks & geese. So if you are in the mood, will take a peek at some items currently up for bid and a few other bird related items too.
_______________________________________________________
Wouldn't this art glass paper weight duck would look dandy on someone's desk! 

Auction Link

 __________________________________________________________
This clear glass duck decoy is from Murano. It is beautifully large; measuring 11 1/2 inches long, 5 inches wide and 6 1/2 inches tall.

Auction Link

___________________________________________________

We have a collector plate featuring a little Russian girl and her goose from Heinrich Porzellan of Villeroy & Boch of West Germany. This plate series of Children Around the World benefited the UNICEF Children's Fund.

Auction Link

____________________________________________________

And for a few bird's of another feather: 

There are several vintage John James Audubon collector's plates for the Birds of America Series.

Ruffled Grouse

Auction Link

Cedar Waxwing

Auction Link

Snowy Egret

Auction Link

Happy Treasure Hunting!