$5 craft day!

Happy Cinco De Mayo! Sine it is the 5th of the month, it’s time for another $5 craft! I made cute chalkboard wine glasses.  I had all the supplies lying around, so for me it was free, but if you had to buy the supplies, you’d be right around $5. I have seen cute glasses for a buck a piece at the dollar store, and the spray paint I picked up at Hobby Lobby, use your 40% off coupon!!

I was planning on taping the glasses off at the top, but it’s hard to tape off a circle, so instead, I turned them upside down in a crappy plastic cup and painted them that way. I let them dry overnight, then rubbed them with the side of the chalk. I am not really sure why you are supposed to do this, when I wiped it off with a paper towel, you couldn’t tell I rubbed it down. O well, then your done!

You can set them out for a party with a few pieces of chalk and let friends write their names on their glasses!

Party Time!

 

Thanks for stopping by,

Caroline

 

 

 

cutest ceiling ever!

I am loving our new closet ceiling!

It was fairly inexpensive and easy to install. We started out with ugly old ceiling tiles that were glued on to the drywall. When we popped them off we were stuck with long weird strips of drywall. We could have mudded and sanded for a million hours, but that was not an option.

So we decided to do a pallet ceiling and we were in luck bc my work was getting rid of some. There was a pile 10 feet high I was told I could take. But, they were outside and it was pouring down rain. For a week. Boo. So since we really wanted to get on our project, and I didn’t want to put soaking wet pallets in my car, we went to home depot and bought some plywood. We had them rip them in half at the store, then we ripped them into 6″ strips at home. Jon used his nail gun and had them up on the ceiling within a few hours. For those of you who have small kids, you know that when I say it only took a few hours, that it was actually 4 days of 30-45 mins a day. whatever.

At first we thought about leaving it natural or staining it, but then once it was up it made the room feel a bit dark, so we decided to paint it. We just used a classic white ceiling paint, but we only did 1 coat, so it looks like it is just white washed. It looks sooo great!

Wait, how cute are those little corner things, no clue what their name is, but $4 is so worth not having to break out the coping saw for that crown. I wish we would have seen these earlier.. damn.

I am loving the progress we are making on our fancy master closet! As soon as it is done, we can finally start on our bedroom. I am pumped!!

Thanks for stopping by,

Caroline

More Burlap!

Holy Crap! It’s been 2 weeks since I have been able to get on here.. ahh Not what I wanted, but mommying comes first. I wish I could tell the toddlers to leave me alone so I can craft, but who am I kidding, I can’t even pee alone these days! We have been super busy working on a master closet! I am hoping to reveal that in the next week or 2. I am so excited about it!! Anyways back to this post. Last week I picked up a yard of pink burlap at Hobby Lobby, it was 3.99, then 40% off (so whatever that is). I didn’t know what I was going to use it for, but I love burlap and I love pink! Have you seen the burlap selection these days?? Such cute colors!! I was able to do a lot with only 1 yard.

I used some in place of a mat in a photo frame.

I love how it looks against the gold frame, that I picked up at GW for 1.99 and spray painted btw!

p.s. how funny is Amelia’s face in this pic??!! I love it!

I’d show you a photo of the whole picture, but as I was taking the pics someone decided to spill yogurt all over the couch and I got distracted, then forgot to take more pics.. damn husband.. jk it was the kids!!

I also jazzed up one of my dollar store candles. Remember I bought a bunch of them and wrapped a few in yarn, then spray painted them. Well this one I like so much more! HA!

I spray painted it gold with some left over paint. Then wrapped a strip of burlap around it and hot glued it in the back.  I added some twine and a little fabric flower I had and it was done! I totally love it! Dont you! I still have 2 candles left. What shall I do next?!

So after the picture and the candle, I still had a bunch of burlap left. So I decided to cover one of the many chairs I have lying around. I have 9, and 2 benches. OMG I am a chair hoarder!

So how cute is this chair? I’m picturing it at a desk in a teenage girls room, or in the dressing room of a fun boutique. Someone can sit on it while they are trying on really cute shoes!!

Well, there are a few of my adventures in Burlap Land!! I still have a little left, I am thinking about making a few burlap flowers to add to the gold frame.. we’ll see!

Thanks for stopping by

Caroline!

 

Dollar Time!

So I have decided that I wanted to start a little segment where every month I make a craft for $5 or less and I’ll post it on the 5th of every month. I only have about an hour left to get this one in on time so luckily it’s a quick one.

I picked up a few tall glass pillar candles for a buck a piece from Dollar Tree. Then I wrapped yarn all around the candle, placed them upside on some cardboard and spray painted them with some leftover green spray paint. I waited about 10 minutes, unwrapped them, and viola! Cute and so quick! I have a few more, I am thinking about painting them all one color first then wrapping them so they are 2 toned. Maybe gold and pink. Fancy!!

Well, that my first dollar craft! I hope you enjoyed it!!

 

Thanks for stopping by,

Caroline

 

Happy Birthday!

Thanks to too much gin and juice at my brothers wedding, I have a 3 year old!! And in honor of her turning 3, we broke out our “Birthday Wreath!” If you don’t have a birthday wreath, you are a terrible mom and house wife! But don’t worry, you can redeem yourself by heading to the dollar store and buying about 8 100 packs of balloons, some push pins, a straw wreath and a thimble. The thimble is the most important part in making this wreath. You will have the sorest thumbs ever if you don’t use your thimble! This wreath took hours, I kept it in a bag, and would take it to work with me and work on it on my lunch break, I tried to convince my coworkers to join in, but they wernt too thrilled with that idea! Itches!! So all you do is use the pin to fix all the balloons onto the wreath. Genius!

BTW how great is my 3 year old?? She is the love of my life and the best things I have ever made, although this wreath is close!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Caroline

I’ve gained 5 lbs on Jellybeans

No Lie I have! The Nerd ones are my favorite! Try em! Besides the extra jiggle, I am loving this time of year. Sure it’s still a bit cold and snowy, but the birds are chirping and its staying light until 8 o’clock! yay! We spent the weekend doing a few Easter crafts and some decorating. The kids painted some salt dough easter eggs I made. It was fun, until 2 toddlers covered in paint tried climbing on my new kitchen chairs. Yikes. Heres the recipe I used:

1/2 cup of salt

1/2 cup of water

1 cup of flour

I rolled it out and used an egg-shaped cookie cutter to make the shapes. I then baked at 225 for 3 hours. I have heard you can put them in the microwave, but I tried it and they puffed up and cracked, but maybe you’ll have better luck. The kids loved painting them. I will definitely be using this recipe for christmas ornaments! Get ready for some homemade gifts next year!!

I poked holes in the top before I baked because I knew I wanted to hang them on something. They ended up on the chandelier in the dining room.  Cute!

We also stole Martha’s idea and dipped some peeps in pink chocolate. Grossest. Best. Thing. Ever!

I used Wiltons melting chocolate and some sprinkles, and in about 20 min had these beauties!

I was never a fan of peeps, but shit, covered in chocolate, they are instantly delish!!  Nothing says “Christ is Risen” like peeps!

I love anything that’s free! I got this huge window off of Craigslist a few weeks ago for free, it was dirty and a few panes are missing, but I liked it. I still might paint it, maybe dry brush a little white paint on it to brighten it up.  Nothing in my house stays the same long!

Since we are having Amelia’s birthday party this weekend, we didn’t do too much Easter decorating. But I think it looks cute for no money spent! Gotta love that!!

Thanks for stopping by,

Caroline

you filthy chair

I feel like I am about to start an Orbitz ad.. About a year or two ago, be bought 6 kitchen chairs off of Craigslist. I recovered them right after we got them, but they have not held up very well. with 2 kids and a messy husband, they look gross. A cotton fabric is not that washable..I guess I did not think that one through.

ewe. Well I was walking around Hobby Lobby on my lunch day a few weeks ago and I saw a washable tablecloth with almost the exact pattern.

I had to get it. It was $36 but I had a 40% off coupon, you do the math, I cant figure it out. I was too busy flirting with my boyfriend/husband in math class, so I didn’t really pay attention. Anyways, It is large enough I was able to cover all 6 chairs, so well worth the twentysome (?) bucks!

I figured while I was recovering the chairs, I would add some padding. They were sinking pretty badly and weren’t too nice on the rump. I grabbed some foam and went to town cutting and pulling and stapling.

 

and Viola!

Kinda a lot of work for not a huge difference, but just knowing they are clean and comfy was worth it.

Just look at that height difference.. nice!

I have yet to let the kids sit on the chairs for dinner, we have done quite a few “picnics” with blankets on the living room floor. I hope the chairs last a few years, but knowing me, I’ll want to paint or recover them soon anyways.

Thanks for Stopping by,

Caroline

The Lazy Girls Shade

I wanted to show you guys how I made my shade. There are quite a few tutorials out there for a no sew roman shade, I went with the cheapest and easiest.
Here’s what I used:
1 yard of fabric
Fabric Glue
3 tension curtain rods

I started by measuring my window. It is 31×52. I layed the fabric out and ironed it, then folded over the sides to get it down to 31″ wide. Then bonded them with my fabric glue. I then folded over the top and glued it together, leaving a small pocket for the top tension rod. Then I double folded the bottom making a nice edge, and ran a line of fabric glue to hold it. I ironed every edge before glueing to make sure they were all even and clean. Fold. Iron. Glue. Got it? Good!
Then once the glue is dry, I waited a whole 5 min, I hung the shade withe the first tension rod. Then I placed the second rod about six inches down in front of the fabric and then the third about six inches below that. Then pull the fabric out and over the rods a few inches. I had to play around with it to get it even and laying flat.

It maybe took a whole 15 minutes from start to finish. And wow what a difference!

So Simple and quick. This is definitely a project I will be doing again! Btw, don’t mind the wood filler on the window, I took this picture before I painted the trim.

Thanks for stopping by,

Caroline

I have a confession..

We are a messy family! I don’t want to be, who does, but we just are. I don’t know if it is possible to be tidy with 2 toddlers, but lets just say it’s not for my sake! My goal for 2013 was to try to be cleaner/more organized. So this was a simple and inexpensive fix, that I am kicking myself for not doing something sooner. I am sure my mom and grandmother, who are both super tidy women, are embarrassed I am showing you all this “before” picture, but as many people have said, I have no filter, so ..

 

I feel like the “After” pic more than makes up for the first picture of me exposing my mess. I only spent about $15 for the little makeover. The fabric for my window treatment I picked up for $5.99 from Joann Fabrics and the sample can of paint from Lowes was $3, the color is Lemongrass, by Behr.  After taking the laundry downstairs and putting the light fixture we picked up from Ikea that is to big to hang anywhere in the basement, (womp) I did a little wiping down and vacuuming. Then, I went to town painting. What a difference this makes. Seeing a mess there everyday just put me in a bad mood. Now this is the first thing I see in the morning and every time I walk up the steps, and I love it! And if you come in through the front door and look up the stairs, you can see the great new window treatment. Who doesn’t love a great Roman Shade? Or is it a Roman Shade? Come back in a few days to see my easy no-sew shade!

Thanks for stopping by,

Caroline

Blue on a whim

A few weeks ago, we had a blue kitchen table. Now we have a great farmhouse table, one day I’ll post on it, but I was missing that great big pop of color, so the other night while the kids were lounging watching Elf, yes I know it’s not Christmas anymore, but they are obsessed with watching Christmas movies, well I grabbed the leftover blue paint and went to town on our white buffet. I’m digging it!

The paint was originally a can of “oops” we picked up from Home Depot, and it is in a flat finish. I usually don’t like a flat on furniture, but with the distressing I did, I am really pleased with it. I saw a dresser painted then distressed, then lightly stained, and that was the original plan, but I like it so much like this, so it is staying this way for a while. Maybe in a month or so I will decide to put a coat of stain on it just to see how it turns out. I’m scared to ruin a good thing right now.

Heres the before all dingy and dirty:

After, pretty and bright!!

I made the table runner out of some leftover burlap and I just glued a ribbon to the ends to jazz it up a bit. And aren’t my canisters the best, a Goodwill find about a month ago, $5 for all!

The lamp is old, but I just picked up the lampshade from Target last week. I love it!

Once I get curtains for the window I think it will look great. I am really starting to love my kitchen!

Thanks for stopping by,

Caroline