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!

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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
                                       

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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.

                                       

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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!
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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.
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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

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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!)

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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

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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.
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Wouldn't this art glass paper weight duck would look dandy on someone's desk! 

Auction Link

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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

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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

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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!

A home coffee bar

Why not create a coffee bar in your home? You could have all of your favorite coffee indulgences in one cozy corner. We have a few ideas we found around the web, and then we thought it would be fun to take a one stop photo hunt at our Goodwill Store to see what could be found to create a coffee bar - thrift store style!

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Visit Noplacelykehome.com and see how she created her "cafe corner"! We love it! 

noplacelykehome.com

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We are sweet on The Scrappy Cottage.blogspot.com coffee bar. Love the red coffee maker!

TheScrappyCottage.blogspot.com

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We appreciate Beccachristensen.wordpress.com desire to repurpose used furniture. This coffee bar has a vintage retro vibe. Sweet!

BeccaChristensen.wordpress.com

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XOXO to the The Long Awaited Home! A farmhouse style coffee bar, with purple!

The Long Awaited Home

We pinned these ideas plus more on our Goodwill Style  Pinterest Board.
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Now for some more fun! We headed down to our Alcott Retail Outlet in Kalamazoo to see what could be found for setting up a coffee bar in one shopping trip.

First we found three pieces of furniture that could be our "bar".

A Baker's Rack. This item needed a little cover up of some scratches, maybe a dark stain to match the metal patina?

A Secretary. You could leave the top folded out all the time with your coffee items arranged, or keep them tucked away. If you repainted this piece, what color would you choose?  

                   
A dresser with a fold down top. Again a piece like this has the option to stay left open or not. The drawers could be filled with extra mugs, linens, plates etc. Or keep your Christmas cups and such tucked away in one of the drawers.

We found a couple of shelves to hang your mugs, hold sugars, flavored syrups, and display knickknacks.

And of course the coffee makers;

A carafe, thermal coffee holders or a vintage thermos?

And Goodwill always has lots of mugs. These mugs would be great with a rustic coffee bar or art house style. What do you think?

And how about a free coffee art to print? Download this at Whatelsemichelle.com (and be sure to look around her site, it is full of inspiring ideas!)

HAPPY TREASURE HUNTING! 

Interesting Collectibles

Here are a few interesting collectibles up for bid on shopgoodwill.com this week!

First up is a Official Girl Scout Doll from the Terri Lee Sales Corp. in great condition. Her name is "Ginger", the darling of the doll world. She comes with a few clothing items and pamphlet all in her original box. The box has a little water damage and shows some wear, but the doll looks great with no damage that we can see. Cute!

Ginger

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Our next item is a pair of iron book ends in great condition. Little terriers? Each one stands 6 inches tall and are 3 3/4 inches by 3 3/4 inches in diameter. They show a little bit of wear and both have flat head screws to fasten them.

Vintage Iron Bookends

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And in a nod to summer beach fun, how about this sweet vintage Tonka Dune Buggy? It is in excellent condition, (part of the steering wheel might be missing) a few scratches and scuffs to the paint but overall very nice. It measures 7 inches long.

Tonka Dune Buggy

You never know what you will find on Shopgoodwill.com!

Hope you are having a great summer. Keep warm next week and 

Happy Treasure Hunting! ___________________________________________________________