$23 + 20 minutes of shopping =

8 second-hand picture frames that will be painted and variously distressed to look super rockin'. 

What a score! (Only six of the eight are pictured.)

I'd call this a thrift store success. We went in specifically looking for cheap-but-cool frames to make-over. Not a half hour later, we left with an armload of said c-b-c frames and still had enough money to buy groceries. (That's actually just a rhetorical flourish; the groceries were already in a trunk.) 

If you've recently done any shopping for picture frames, you know how dang pricey they can be. I usually look at Target, JoAnn Fabrics, and Pottery Barn (though I never buy any from the latter), and depending on the size of the frame and the store, you're talking $10-$80. 

I recently saw ones very similar to the small oval ones at JoAnn's on sale for $10, down from $20, during their Daffodil Days sale. That was $10 a piece; we paid $2.12 for the pair. (And, I just have to say it: they had a pink tag and pink tags were 1/2 off, so they should have only been $1.06 total. But the girl didn't ring it up right, and Brad insisted I not "make a scene." Would it not have been reasonable simply to inquire about the sale price . . . ?) 

I've already got plans for the little oval ones and the bigger green one in the middle. In addition to the painting/distressing, most of the pictures will be removed and replaced. Unfortunately, I cannot say that no animals will be harmed in the process - that rooster's gettin' the ax.