❈Sac Thrift Chick❈

This is DIY Halloween ! This is DIY Halloween! Our DIY scary movie themed Halloween decorations will make you scream! At this house of crafty Halloween. I am the vampire bat born of poster board and felt perching on a rectangular board nailed to a 2x4 and secured to the bench. Cover me in garbage bags and webs to decorate a stucco wall. I am the spider with my black widow markings. Garbage bags and felt make me large and in charge of the patio bench. We are the floating ghouls of 99 Cent Store masks and fabric scraps. Red tape makes my eyes shine and my mouth slither like a snake. We are the tombstones of political signs of old . Upcycling is the name of our game. And I, Michael Myers, am the costume that keeps on giving. Watch how I come to life with furniture foam and pool noodles . I ain't afraid of no Ghostbusters 3D ghost with furniture foam and Duck Tape . I am the fully poseable skeleton someone put out on the curb. One man's tr...

Ever since I created Jack Skellington on my garage three Halloweens ago , I felt he was missing something. And that something was the happy, floating ghost dog with the light-up pumpkin nose named Zero. I wanted to make a floating Zero the dog from Nightmare Before Christmas, but I kept procrastinating on doing it because procrastination is my M.O. Well, I'm happy to report that this Halloween (and come Christmas, but of course) Jack has been reunited with Pumpkin King's best friend. Now Zero the dog from Nightmare before Christmas is one of my favorite Halloween decorations. I would like to tell you that making Zero was a piece of cake. That I didn't repeatedly burn myself with hot glue. That I got his ears right the first time, when I tried to make them the plastic from a soda bottle. That I didn't curse and repeatedly knock over the head while I added the finishing touches. But crafter to crafter, for a male dog, Zero was kind of a bitch. But many aloe treatm...

Our 2016 Halloween costumes were political, DIY and free -- three of my favorite things. We put a current events twist on the Big Bad Wolf and Little Red Riding Hood Halloween costumes. Remember, this was right before the 2016 Presidential Election between Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton and reality TV star Donald Trump. Our political Halloween costumes were takes on comments made during the presidential campaign by both candidates. Aaron became the Big Bad Hombre Wolf reusing his wolf mask and gloves from our first Halloween together in 2004. He used fabric paint to write Bad Hombre on a black t-shirt, added a leather motorcycle jacket (or as we call it, Ramones jacket), a dog chain and furry wolf legs under his ripped jeans. For the fur, Aaron used leftover fabric from his DIY Super Mario 3 raccoon tail . I repurposed the cape from my Little Riding Hood Halloween costume but opted for a black dress over the shiny red costume dress. I dug into my craft supply and found my...

Labor Day weekend means Chalk It Up in Sacramento . In anticipation of the three-day chalk art and live music festival returning to Fremont Park September 2 - 4, I did a quick search of my blog to find past posts. To my surprise, nothing popped up for Chalk It Up 2016. I remembered taking pictures, which a quick look into my computer folders confirmed. And then I remembered why I never shared them.  Last year I arrived home from Chalk It Up to a post on Facebook breaking the awful news that beloved Sacramento photographer , writer and all-around great guy, Barry Wisdom, had passed away. Barry was an avid reader of my blog and even suggested the name, so in his honor, here are some pictures from last year. These Chalk It Up 2016 pictures are just quick snaps from a dated cell phone, but I feel like Barry being supportive Barry would have "liked" them anyway.  The Brodys Like this? You might also like: Sacramento Bands and Art Chalk It Up 201...

I'm the kind of gal that decorates for all the holidays and all the seasons. And in my opinion, one of the best ways to transition from winter decor to Valentine's Day decor and from Valentine's Day to Easter decor and so on through the year is with the changes to the entryway decor. My problem, however, was that I didn't actually have an entryway table, and I wasn't going to spend money on one. Until I could find an entryway table (or something to upcycle into one) for free, I used TV trays for my entryway table. My entryway wall is so small -- about 18 inches deep and 44 inches wide -- that two TV trays filled the space nicely, but I wanted something sturdier and with shelves. After much Craigslist hunting, I finally found a free solution that would actually fit my small entryway space: a TV entertainment center in a mid-century modern style. When I picked it up (less than 10 minutes from my house, score!), it was an ugly brown and had a cheap backing. I...

Twenty years ago when Save Ferris hit the mainstream with the ska release It Means Everything , I hit play over and over on my portable boom box. Monique 'Mo' Powell was everything to me. Here was a frontwoman who had the pipes to really belt it, singing lyrics I related to (or thought I did at 13 to 14 years of age) backed by a horn and rhythm section that put me in the groove to dance. Mo was the epitome of hip in my heavily mascaraed blue eyes. I was so enamored with the band that when I had an assignment to give an oral presentation of a poem or song that represented a certain literary style, I cracked up my teacher with a dramatic reading of "SPAM."  (It's pink and it's oval. SPAM! I buy it at the mobile. SPAM! It's made in Chernobyl.)  I can only guess I used the song as an example of rhyme. (I do remember I read Green Day's,"Hitchin' A Ride" for its alliteration, one of my favorite stylistic devices.) Not long after bringing...