Tip: Make Goodwill Gifts Look Brand New

Goodwill and other thrift stores are starting to regularly get new merchandise from stores at a significant discount. Unfortunately, they usually mark it up with black marker. Well, leave it to AquaNet or Rave hairspray to come to the rescue! 

You spray a little on and let it set for about 45 seconds. Then you take a paper towel or rag, and wipe in circular motions. You do not want to swipe it or you will have more residue to clean up later.

Repeat as often as you need until all the black is gone and looks brand new.

I included this in my friend's baby shower gift. The Pink Pottery Barn Bucket that retails for $19.99 (with label and pricing in tact) I picked up at a garage sale for $2. The white Old Navy tank top, Gap long sleeved onesie, Koala pink shoes and Boppy with cover at a garage sale for $10.

A Spring Baby Shower!

Spring is a very convenient time to have a baby shower - specifically, Easter time! There is such an nice selection of cute, pastel colored candy at your disposal! I had been inspired by pictures of arrangements, utilizing said candy, like the one found here: peeps flower arrangement

I really wanted to come up with a few very usable decorations that also doubled as practical gifts, rather than a bunch of throw-away things. This arrangement took two vases from the dollar store, one that fit inside of the other. I filled the area surrounding the smaller vase with m&m's. I used crafting wire to string the peeps together and secured them around the base of the flowers. So simple! (Bonus: the m&m's are *technically* still eatable since they're not touching anything!)

I had been waiting for an opportunity to make the dollar store tiered trays seen here: tiered trays

(side note: using a glue gun did NOT work. There is a reason she uses the glue that she does in this tutorial!)

I also LOVED the idea of turning items from a gift registry into decorations like these cupcakes found here: onesie cupcakes FYI I had to use extra large coffee filters as opposed to the standard size when making these out of blankets. I also used baby head bands to hold them together instead of plain ribbon.