My New LOVE: Owls! [Thrifty Finds]

I've been seeing a lot of owls lately, especially in the etsy blogs. I don't know what it is about them... but I really LOVE owls! So out with the old (my moose, black bears, frogs and turtles) and in with the owls!

I found this one at Goodwill for .99!!! I am sure he's an old earring holder, but now he's the perfect little guy for my stand in the hallway! I don't even mind that his color is coming off, it gives him character! He is a '70s Revere Mfg product!

(AS ALWAYS: Don't forget to click on the pictures to enlarge them!)

Then at another Goodwill I saw a black bowl on a picture hanger, flipped over faced down with a price tag of $1.99.
When I flipped it over, I couldn't believe my eyes!!!! An OWL bowl that was black and "yellow" (it's more gold- but it's PERFECT!)!!!! I mean it was a win in itself when it was just a black bowl on a wall hanger, but then to be my new found love--- EXTRA SCORE and to be in the color I need TRIPLE SCORE!!
I quickly put it in my cart!! <3
(haha, when I enlarged the one below, I noticed that he was cross eyed, oh well, LOL, I still love him!)

UPDATE: I found more info about the owl bowl: Someone is selling this same exact bowl- but the eyes aren't messed up like my owl's, LOL! 

"Couroc is Unique"

(1970's label)

Phrenolic Bowl

Couroc of Monterey, California was founded in 1948 by the husband and wife team of Guthrie Sayle Courvoisier and Moira Wallace. Wallace was a gifted artist, whose early work included mosaic designs built from inlaid metal and plastic materials. Guthrie developed the technology further, and began Couroc company, which produced heavy, durable plastic trays with inlaid designs. Couroc set the trend of elegance in the 1940's and 1950's with their high price products for home entertainment in style. Alas the company stopped producing these products for the fashionable home in the lated 1970's and ceased operations altogether in the mid 1990's. 

For the past week I've made it a mission to go to all of the Goodwills and other thrift stores in Maine (and some in New Hampshire and Mass). I guess I can officially use the term "thrifting".

Custom Inexpensive Earring Holder!

I was searching for inexpensive ways to organize, and one thing that desperately needed organizing was my earrings. They could have been found all over the house, shoved in the bathroom drawers, in various bags, even glove departments of the cars. Now of course this won't prevent the earrings from being stashed somewhere other than where they should be, but one never knows!
I saw a tip where someone suggested cross stitch fabric and a frame. Well I am trying to save my frames for other things, but was completely planning on going to the craft store the night of the find. I was surprised with a trip to my local Goodwill, where low and behold was a roll of cross stitch cloth for .99! It was half off of that, so I purchased it for .49!
I had been super busy organizing my bathroom drawers, so by the time it was 2am, I just wanted to head to bed. BUT, I wanted to finish what I started.
So I got my earrings together, donated what I couldn't see using anymore, trashed others, and got out the cloth. Now honestly, I thought I had A LOT more earrings than what ended up being displayed on the cloth.

Materials and Cost:
* Cross stitch cloth- .49
* Fishing line as sewing thread- on hand
* Plastic hanger- on hand
(later added--->) * no skid rug mat for backing- on hand

Basically this project was like 52 cents!

Here's what I did:
I unrolled the entire cloth, wrapped an end around the hanger, and sewed the end to the hanger for extra support. I displayed my earrings spaced out, in pairs. I later added no skid rug mat (which is pretty much the foamy drawer liner stuff). I added the backing because I have the earring holder on my bedroom door, and everytime I opened and closed it- the earrings would make scuffing noises til they settled down from moving back and forth.

Please excuse my sewing. It was my first time in like 6 years, and it was 3:30am, I was sooo tired. Plus I had half the earrings on right close together, all on one side opposite of where I was sewing- so it took all of my tension and messed up my hem line. LOL Had there not been any earrings on the cloth, it would have ran smoothly!

This makes my earrings so much more accessible and I can actually SEE what I have for earrings!
To attach the no skid quieter to the back, I cut it to the size of the cloth and attached it with safety pins.
I'm really not too concerned with the look of it, I was looking for the function it provided.