I had the opportunity to attend a fun upcycling event hosted by Goodwill.  We visited a couple Goodwill stores and some of the Downtown Sumner Merchants, if you haven’t been to Sumner, WA recently, you need to visit.  It’s such a cute town with so many great shops and restaurants.   Our first stop was a Goodwill store where we had to opportunity to find an item that we could use to upcycle into a planter.

We all were paired up with a professional upcycler. I was paired with the owner of Tarnish & Grace Vintage.  She was so much fun!  She found me THE BEST container for my project!  It’s a wire mesh container with 3 different compartments.  It’s exactly my style and it was only $4.99!  This items retails at World Market for $29.99 right now.  I scored a major deal by shopping at Goodwill!

Next up, we headed down to the Goodwill Blue Boutique in downtown Sumner. The Blue Boutique is an upscale Goodwill. They carry designer clothing, jewelry, shoes, purses, accessories and home items.

Most of the items they sell are gently used, but I even found some items that still had new tags on them. I found Hunter boots, Coach and Dooney & Bourke purses, brand-new Athleta clothing and more.

Once we finished our shopping at the Blue Boutique we stopped by Junker’s Nest where the owners showed us how to put together a fun display by using antiques, found items and even things we may already have around our home.

This Junker’s Nest shop was the cutest! There are so many wonderful things to look at, I could easily spend an hour in the store looking around every nook and cranny.   I plan on visiting again soon since I have an entire new family room to decorate.

Next, our tour took us to Inta Vintage. This is a huge store filled with antiques, vintage items, home decor and more. Inta Vintage rents booths to crafters, upcyclers and antique sellers so you will find something for everyone. This store is a treasure hunters dream, so many amazing things!  Check out the upcoming classes and events at Inta Vintage on their Facebook page.

We learned so many different ways we could upcycle items that can be found at Goodwill.  I came home inspired! In fact, I even stopped at my local Goodwill on my way home to see if I could find a piece of furniture or a cool frame so I could tackle a project myself. Here’s a peek at some of the fun projects the retailers at Inta Vintage shared with us.

We got to see some finished projects of newly painted and upholstered chairs.  I loved the finish on the black chair, it was so pretty!

I love how she was able to take an inexpensive table from Goodwill and turn it into a gorgeous work of art.

This table blew me away!  It is so gorgeous in person.   There was so much time and love that went into refinishing this table.  This was one of my favorite pieces and the price was great too.  If you are in need of a new dining room table run down to Inta Vintage in Sumner and grab this one!

Here is my upcyclers booth at Inta Vintage, she sells decor, jewelry, clothing and accessories.

This mother and daughter duo showed us how they took an old headboard and turned it into a coffee or cocoa station.  So cute and creative!

I loved their booth!  They had some really clever artwork using molding and trim as the background.  Seriously, so cool!

We received lots of tips on painting furniture and nearly everyone said they keep a container of Clorox wipes near to clean up messes or mistakes.  I’m putting this tip to use for sure!

There are so many different options for paint when it comes to refinishing furniture.

I love how she took frames she found at Goodwill and turned them into chalkboards!  This sounds like a project I could tackle.

I love how she shops!  She buys many of the items for her projects at the Goodwill Outlet.  I wasn’t even aware there was a Goodwill Outlet.

Once we were done checking out the shops we headed to Van Lierop Garden Market so we could choose the plants for our planters.   I LOVE THIS PLACE!!

OK, confession time…owning a store like this has always been a dream of mine!  I’d love to own a nursery with a cute gift shop attached to it.  It would be so fun to work side by side with my family.   I love this place, not only for how cute it is, but because they are living my dream.

My finished planter turned out beautiful!  I love it so much.  I have to share some of the fun planters that others made.  It’s so cool, how you can take an everyday average object and turn it into something beautiful.  The folks at Van Lierop are amazing at what they do.

It’s so fun to see the different options everyone came up with for their planters.

We were treated to a lunch at Sorci’s Italian Cafe and Enotica.  The food here was so good.  I am already planning a date with my husband where we stroll the streets of Sumner, look at the fun shops and finish it up with dinner and dessert at Sorci’s.

Lastly, after lunch we got to hear three very inspiring stories of ladies that went through the programs at Goodwill in order to give them training for their current jobs.   They were all at a low place in their lives when they came to Goodwill.   I am so impressed by their determination to make things better for them and their families.  So inspiring!

I loved all of their stories, but I especially loved hearing how Yulie is now the pastry chef at El Gaucho.  How cool is that?

I came away from the day feeling so inspired!  I felt inspired by all the great things Goodwill does to help members of our communities.  I felt inspired by all the creative people we met and by my fellow bloggers.   It really was nice to get out from behind my computer and explore downtown Sumner.  Seriously, if you are a local, make a plan to get down there for a day.  Everyone is so friendly!   The restaurant owner raved about their town so much I was almost ready to move to Sumner.

I would love to hear about any projects you have made by using items you’ve found at Goodwill.  I plan on stalking Goodwill on a regular basis now, so hopefully I will have some projects to share in the future.

The post Upcycling with Goodwill & Downtown Sumner Merchants appeared first on Gather Lemons.

Many view credit cards as evil and in some cases I would agree.   I don’t believe in carrying credit card debt, but I do believe in making the credit cards work for me.   We use credit cards to pay for pretty much everything at our house and we pay them off each and every month in full. (in fact the total monthly charge comes out of our checking account each month to ensure they are paid in full).   I am sharing the rewards cards I use on a regular basis and the rewards we are getting from them.   We have been able to do a bunch of traveling previously and especially this year thanks to the perks from these cards.

While some believe that when you use a credit card you may end up buying more than you need, I don’t necessarily think that is true for everyone.  I’m a person that gives serious thought to even my 90% off Target holiday purchases.   I am probably an over thinker, but in the long run I don’t think that is a bad thing.   So, while credit cards my not be for everyone, they work really well for our family and we are happily enjoying the rewards.   I encourage you to decide if some of these options would be good for your family too.   If you currently carry credit card debt, I personally would not recommend adding another card to your wallet.

Disney Visa – This is the coolest credit card for Disney nerds, you can even choose your favorite Disney image for the front of the card.  I currently have Darth Vader and I get comments nearly every time I shop.  I was offered $200 statement credit when I signed up for the card.  There is no fee for the standard card and you will earn the $50 statement credit, if you sign up for the premier card you will earn $200 statement credit if you purchase $500 in the first 3 months.   It’s a super easy way to earn $200 to put towards a Disney vacation.

The is the card I currently use the most.  Almost everything we buy gets paid with this card, like our monthly power bill, cell phone bill, groceries, medical bills, etc.  I have it set up so the full amount due is automatically taken out of my checking account each month.    Here are the perks of this card:

• 1% in reward dollars on all purchases (2% reward dollars with the premier card at gas stations, grocery stores, restaurants and most Disney locations – $49 fee for premier card)
• $10 off $50 purchases at select locations at the Disneyland^® and Walt Disney World^® Resorts
• Disney Character Experience at private Cardmember location at the Disneyland^®and Walt Disney World^® Resorts. You’ll receive downloads of your photos, too!

Target REDcard – I use the card for any purchases I make at Target both online and in-store.  The fact that you get an additional 5% off everything and FREE shipping at Target.com is a huge plus for me.   If you have no interest in getting a credit card, they also offer a debit version of Target REDcard.

Amazon Prime Rewards Visa – Amazon also offers a similar discount to the Target REDcard for those of you that are Prime members.   If you are a Prime member (I am) you can earn 5% back on all your Amazon.com purchases with the Amazon Prime Rewards Visa.   I can’t say no to a 5% discount, especially when I shop Amazon.com regularly.  You can now also get 5% back at Whole Foods Market with the Amazon Prime Rewards Visa.   I was offered a $75 Amazon gift card at the time I opened the account.   You will earn 2% cash back at all restaurants, gas stations and drug stores and 1% back everywhere else.   This card does not have an annual fee.

Alaska Airlines Visa – This is the airline that we fly most of the time, so it made sense for us to go with the Alaska Airlines card for travel benefits.  I primarily signed up for this card for the 30,000 miles and the companion airfare (my husband has this card too, so we already get the benefit of the free checked bags).   I only really use this card for Alaska Airline purchases now.  To give you an idea of what the 30,000 miles can you get you.  We used 30,000 miles to fly one person to Maui Hawaii.   We’ve also used 30,000 miles to fly 4 people from Seattle to LAX (they had a sale of 7500 miles per person).    Here are the perks of the card (love the companion airfare and free checked bags):

• 30,000 bonus miles after you make $1,000 or more in purchases within the first 90 days.
• Free checked bag for you and up to six other passengers on your reservation
• Annual companion fare from $121 (USD) ($99 base fare plus taxes and fees from $22) after you make $1,000 or more in purchases within the first 90 days of your account opening.
• Earn 3 miles for every $1 spent on Alaska Airlines tickets, vacation packages, cargo, and inflight purchases & 1 mile for every $1 spent on all other purchases.

They currently have a limited time offer where you can buy one ticket and get one for just the taxes ($22).

Hyatt Visa – This Hyatt credit card is the most recent card I signed up for and it was again for the sign up bonus.   When I signed up they were offering 2 free nights at any Hyatt hotel or resort worldwide after you make $2,000 on purchases in the first 3 months after account opening (this offer is no longer valid).  They also offer a free night at a category 1-4 hotel each year after you anniversary date.  We had plans to visit Paris this summer so I signed up for this card in order to get 2 free nights at the Park Hyatt Paris-Vendôme.  This hotels is a 5-star hotel that retails for roughly $700 a night.  Thanks to the card we got 2 nights free. (My husband also signed up for the card so we got 2 free nights at a different hotel in Paris too).  This card does have an annual fee of $75, but in my opinion you pretty much get that covered with the free hotel stay each year.

Kohl’s Store Card – Kohl’s rewards their card members with discounts.  Since Kohl’s is the main department store where I live, we do a lot of our clothes shopping here.  The additional perks make the card worth it to me.   I get a coupon during my birthday month and I often have access to the 30% off coupons that are only available to Kohl’s cardholders.   They also offer free shipping codes for Kohl’s cardholders too.

Do you have a credit card that you use for rewards?   I love to hear which ones are our favorite.

The post Reward Credit Cards We Use on a Regular Basis appeared first on Gather Lemons.

Are you ready to hear about his deal?  It pretty much blows my 50% off sock deal out of the water!  He found all of the socks above for 90% off!!!  But wait…it get’s even better.  He bought these during a special time when Kohl’s employees could stack their employee discount with other discounts.  So he got 90% off + and extra 25% off + an extra 25% off + an extra 15% off.  Because he’s a bit of a math nerd (and my son) he figured out that works out to be an additional 52% off.  That means my son scored these socks for 95% off retail price.  Proud mom moment!!

See those 90% off price stickers?  Makes a mom happy (and jealous).   He bought 13 packs of socks and ended up paying $8.40 for $175 worth of socks.  I am not only proud of the deal he scored, but the fact that the first thing he thought to do was call his mom and brag about his deal. He’s been paying attention!

The post My Son’s a Better Shopper than Me appeared first on Gather Lemons.