Need More Ghosts!

I totally stole this idea off another blog.  I loved it so much, I wanted to share it with you.  In case you didn’t read the link on my facebook page for the other blog, I will show you how easy it is to add some spooktacular fun to your front yard for Halloween! 
I’m not even going to show you step by step instructions on this one because it will insult your intelligence.  Here’s what you need:

1. Old Christmas ball ornaments.  They can be as big or as small as you want, mine were small.
2. Squares of white fabric (you can cut an old sheet).
3. Halloween ribbon or yarn.
4. Fishing line.
5. If you choose to add a face, you will need a fabric marker and googly eyes.

All you do is cut a tiny slit in the middle of the white fabric to push the top of your ornament through.  Next you tie a ribbon under the ball.  If you want a face you can hot glue your eyes and then then add a mouth.  Lastly, you add fishing line and hang from a tree or your porch.
This project would be a fun one to do with your kids, nieces, or nephews.
I made 10, because that is all the fabric I had.  I would like about 5 more.  We have 4 dogwood trees in the front yard and that is where I hung mine.

Also, here is our front porch all decorated for the fall:

We haven’t carved our punkins yet.  I don’t own any Halloween decorations, so it’s pretty simple.  I’m slowly making and gathering Halloween stuff, so I can keep it for the years to come.  I think we might hang some lights on the porch to make it a little more fun.  We still haven’t gotten a new door, because I’ve been working so much.  
I also made this little rug for our front door:

I bought the rug for $7 at Wal-Mart and then made a stencil by printing a font that I liked on regular paper and then cutting it out with sharp scissors.  I taped it down and then spray painted in the cut out.  I had some over spray from the wind and so I sprayed carpet cleaner and tried to scrub it out.  That’s why there is a white semi-circle.  I think it’s mostly left over paper towel.  lol Real professional, I know.  It’s just something you wipe your feet on, so it doesn’t really bother me.  Plus, I’m not a perfectionist by any means.

Cheers!

Make Your own Halloween Wreath

Happy October!

I made my first, ever wreath. I love it! October is probably one of my favorite months out of the year. I’ve always loved the cool crisp air, the autumn smells, and Halloween is probably my favorite holiday. When else can you put on crazy clothes and run around asking complete strangers for candy, “Come On”! (Sorry about that. Kinda addicted to Arrested Development. It’s hard not to quote the Bluth family).

Okay, so if you want a quick and easy Halloween wreath, this one probably isn’t for you, but it is OH so cute. I’ve been away for quite a while (I actually have a job now) so I figured I owed you one.

First things first, you might want to take a look at the finished product to see if you even want to make it. My command hook said to wait an hour, so it’s not yet hanging.

Step 1: Buy a round foam or straw wreath form.

Step 2: Buy yarn in your favorite Halloween color.

Step 3: Start wrapping, I would try to get all the straw covered, but don’t waste your time or yarn making it perfect, like I did. I ran out, so had to improvise with another color. When you get to the start of your wreath, just thread your yarn on a fat eyed needle and loop it under some of the yarn and tie it off. Cut the tail. Be warned this takes a LONG time. hours. Sit back and watch a few episodes of Arrested Development, or Community. Ahhhh…good shows.

Step 4: Start making your garnishes, I don’t know why I just called them that. Better names aren’t coming to me. The stuff to make your wreath pretty. How about flowers?

Step 5: Buy fabric and make roses. If you don’t know how to do this, just google, fabric rosettes or something. This post is already going to be too long to teach you this. Sorry.

Step 6: Oh wait I forgot to tell you everything you need to buy for this project. I will do this now. You’re a smart cookie, just move this up to step one (in your head).

I didn’t use the felt, but you can make felt flowers or whatever with it. I bought sheer purple ribbon with wire, black feathers (out of Hobby Lobby’s floral dept. 50 cents a piece), fabric of your choice, chip board letters (you can spell out whatever you want, and craft paint in your color choice (not pictured).

Step 7: Go ahead and paint your chip board so it can be drying.

Step 8: I made my spider. Really none of this has an order, incase you couldn’t tell. If you don’t know how to crochet or knit you can skip this step and just buy a plastic spider from a dollar store. I just knitted a circle, stuffed it with two cotton balls, tied it up. Here is how I made the legs. Just click to enlarge pics if you need to.

Pull tight and repeat three more times, until you have eight legs. Also, you can add googly eyes, but I just didn’t have them.

Step 9: Make your bow. I just wrapped mine loosely around my hand until I thought I had enough, then tied it real tight in the middle with yarn. Lastly you spread it out.

Now would also be a good time to make your loop that you will hang your wreath up by. I just double knotted my ribbon and hot glued it.

Step 10: Hot glue ribbon and attach feathers.

You can stick your feathers anywhere on your wreath, but I chose to stick them in the middle of my bow. Just used wire cutters and trim the ends off. The feathers will not stick THROUGH the ribbon, so just adjust the best you can and push them through the yarn and straw.

Step 11: Attach your spider. I took a piece of embroidery floss and hot glued him to the back of the wreath.

Step 12: Hot glue your flowers.

I glued them over the black yarn to hide it some.

Step 13: Hot glue your letters, aaaaaaaannnddd then you are done! Finally, right? I’m going to hang mine on my front door by a silver command hook. I’m so happy to have something to make my ugly door pretty! Btw, we should be getting a new door soon. Stay tuned.

This project cost around $15 and oodles of time (I got it all done in one night), but it was really fun!

Cheers!

Painted Backsplash

There are two things I know about the previous owner of our home. One: she loved to study the bible, two: she loved to cook. This last statement is evident from the some 200 canned goods we found in our kitchen and the grease splattered wood paneling in our kitchen.

There is probably about 70 years worth of goo on the paneling. I cleaned it when we moved in and one of the walls I painted. When I primed the wall I noticed immediately that the wall looked yellow. I was using Kilz acrylic primer. After some googling I read to use oil based primer. So, I went out and bought that.

When I painted the cabinets I decided to leave the backsplash how it was because I didn’t want to do extra work. Well, It’s been a few months and I don’t think I’m getting my subway tile anytime soon. We have to get countertops first, then we can tile. I couldn’t take it any longer, so this weekend I decided to paint. It took two coats of oil based primer and two coats of paint. It could use another, but since it’s a temporary fix I opted not to. Oh, I decided to paint it the color of the cabinets, so I could kinda get a feel of what it would look like with white subway tile.

Here is the before:

Also notice the nasty brown backsplash behind the stove. Ewww…why did people love brown stuff so much? Brown floors, brown walls, brown vents, brown fans, brown sinks, brown backsplashes. Thank goodness the times have moved past the brown stage. Here is the backsplash now. (remember this will all be tiled and there will be a stainless microwave where the vent is, in the future).

I taped off the whole area and used garbage bags to make sure I didn’t get paint anywhere but where I wanted. I primed the area twice and then spray painted it hammered silver. I think it looks much better. Beware of fumes, between the spray paint and the oil primer….I almost died….twice.

Sooooo much better, in my opinion. I haven’t added handles to the drawers, because the ones I ordered are way too big. Not sure what I’m going to do yet. Also, we are going to replace the cabinet doors on the top row of cabinets. Underneath I would love to have open storage. I plan on painting the backs of the cabinets a dark blue green so my white dishes will pop. On the left (which is now our pantry) will have all my antique kitchen thingys. We actually have a pantry but we need to put up drywall in there.

Here is a close up of some of my favorite things in my kitchen.

Vintage canisters. I scored these babies for $10 at a yard sale!

That grease container was my Maw-Maws. I love it. Old blue mason jar from goodwill. $3. Old kitchen doohickies I’ve collected over the years.

Glass container collection. I’m probably going to store candies and treats in these. Maybe some rosemary olive oil in the glass container on the far left. It has a name, but my mind is blank. It’s actually an old wine bottle. I know this because it had the label on it when I bought it at a thrift store.

I’m getting so low on Guyana sugar. : ( It’s called Demerara Gold, if you were curious. We brought home 40lbs from Guyana, South America when we went on a mission trip back in 2010.

And lastly, my new best friend:

An electric water-heater, tea pitcher. Can you tell that it’s been a while since I’ve blogged? I can’t figure out the right words for anything! Anyways this little guy, I think his name is Bodum, came from Hudson’s Dirt Cheap. His ticket said $40, which is typical for electric kettles (?) but you know I NEVER pay ticket price. I got him for a whopping $8! He’s supposed to be my x-mas gift, but I begged The Jeffrey to let me have him early! Wow, is tea making a jiffy! He heats water so quick. I love it!

So, there you have a few of my favorite things. Kinda like Oprah, but not.

Cheers!

Just Another Manic Monday!

Wow! Today was insane. By far my hardest day at work. Today I had to place orders for my department. It was CRAZY! I’m so happy to be chillin’ at home. I think I’ll adjust well with all the extra duties, it just takes some getting used to.

We have lived in our new/old home for all of 8 months. I have trimmed our bushes out front at least 3 times. Do you know that all this time I’ve had a hydrangea bush! I’ve been dying to plant one and I’ve had one all along! I’m soooo happy. For some reason it just started blooming. I’m sure I trimmed it too close back in the spring! Whoops!

Take a gander at these beauts!

Don’t you just adore that blue glass? It’s an old milk of magnesia bottle. Don’t ask me how old. Wonder why our meds today aren’t packaged in pretty things we can reuse? A great friend gave me four of these and I think they look stunning with my white hydrangeas.

My Maw-Maw has always had blue and purple hydrangeas in her yard and I knew that I would want a bush planted at our home someday. Well, I don’t have to wish any longer!

Cheers!

Photo Collage

Hi ya’ll! Long time no see! I’m a working woman now. I have a full-time job in an art store, so I haven’t been doing much decorating or remodeling. I miss blogging and painting, but really enjoy the benefits of a steady job.

So, there hasn’t been much to write about. Jeff recently hung up my photo collage. I have been going through all of my art and arranging it in the most pleasing fashion. It’s taken me a while to get it just right, but now it’s on the wall and I lurv it! So, here it is!

The & sign is from Hobby Lobby. The frame under it says “The Earth Without Art is Just Eh”. I found it on Pinterest and felt that it fit us! The photographs and the art are mine. The old tennis racket I picked up at a thrift store for $1. The poster is from the Jessica Lea Mayfield concert.

If you decide to make a wall collage make sure you incorporate meaningful things to you and your family. You won’t be able to stop looking at it….I can’t.

This is on the wall in our living room, but it’s in the back part that we call the “studio”. Jeff drums in there, I paint and plan to make it into a reading nook.

Here is another view from the living/entertainment area.

It takes up the whole wall, but that was the plan. We need more wall space for all the art. I’ve had to take a break from painting, because I’ve ran out of room.

That’s all for tonight. I’m working on some more pillows for the couch, so hopefully I’ll be able to share them with you all soon.

Cheers!

Thrifty Saturday??? What?

I don’t know if this should have gone on Thrifty Thursday or not. It’s not a before or after and it wasn’t really bought at a thrift store. But there is something you can learn from this post…hopefully, NEVER buy full-price! Well, I guess if you have to or if you have the money and are impatient. Whatever floats your boat. I don’t think that I’ve paid full-price on more than 10 things my whole life. Besides groceries and basic stuff. When it comes to clothes, household décor, furniture, I always wait until I find a good deal. My latest find has me all giddy.

I have always wanted high quality bedding. Do you know how it feels to wake up surrounded by lush linens? Like your on a soft, fluffy cloud. I don’t know about ya’ll, but I feel like a princess when I’m surrounded by all that fluffy-goodness.

But, have you noticed how expensive bedding is? Nice sheet sets, comforters, duvets, shams. If you get anything super nice, you have to pay an arm and a leg for it. The other day I got so lucky. Have you ever heard of Hudson’s Dirt Cheap? You really have to dig around to find anything decent, so guess what I did…dug!

I’m obsessed with white bedding. I love clean white sheets, and I LOVE my down comforter.

I have been needing a new white duvet cover for a while, but I wanted good quality without the BIG price.

Hudson’s just happened to have exactly what I needed. I wish so badly I had taken a picture of the price tag. I know the duvet set (it included 2 shams) came from Target. I believe the brand was:

Fieldcrest® Luxury.

The price tag said: $89.99. Would you believe I got the cover and two shams for $10.00, yup, that’s right, only $10.00!

Here she is, with all her 400 thread count glory:

Please ignore the wrinkles, (I wasn’t home to take it out of the dryer on time) and the wood paneling (hopefully this will be our next room to remodel). I also love this cover because if I’m in the mood for an all white bed I can just flip it over.

That’s it for today.

Cheers!

Before & After

My latest project has been a small white shelf. Here it is before I got a hold of it.

Actually I had gotten a hold of it. I filled in two holes with wood filler. Anyways here it is After:

I wanted this shelf to look like it had been weathered by the salt water of the Gulf. I wanted chippy paint, blues and grays, and nautical knobs. What do you think? Here’s the top:

And here is a close up of the knobs:

Don’t you just love them!?! Thanks Hobby Lobby for your amazing collection of knobs. Who would have ever known? I think this is going to look right at home in our master bedroom, which of course will be nautical themed, but I might sell it for the right price… :)

Cheers!

Thrifty Thursday

Today I have a quite unusual item. I bought it because I really liked the design, but I didn’t really know what this “thing” was. I went home and googled my little heart out, until I found out that I had bought a cheese server. Now, I love me some cheese, but I have never in my life seen a reason for a cheese server! Anyways I re-purposed it into a jewelry holder. If you would like to purchase it I am selling it for $15. You can message me on here or through facebook.

Before

Where all that tan stuff is there used to be a spot to hold your cheese knife!

After

I painted it white, lightly distressed it, and added a black and white ribbon.

I also added some super cute knobs from Hobby Lobby. Notice the signature by “Wendy” in the corner.

The tile is actually cracked, but I think it adds to the charm. I like imperfections. Maybe I’m a little weird.

What do ya’ll think?

So, there is your thrifty Thursday for this week. Have you ever bought something old and turned it into something totally different?

Cheers!