Christmas wreath

This is another project that I *think* may have looked better in my head. I haven't quite decided yet.

I'm perplexed. I'm not really sure if this looks good enough to hang on my door. I don't know if it looks 'professional' enough. I don't want people to look at it and think: wow, she must have thrown this together fast. I have self-esteem issues when it comes to my crafts :/

Anyways, I knew I wanted to try a square wreath. I don't know what it is about them but I just like the look of them. I found lots of them on Pinterest and I loved the idea of a different shape for a wreath

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I already had an old frame so I was all set. I just had to let the rest come together in my head for awhile. When it finally did I was so excited to start. I actually got some of the ideas for it after I made my I spy ornaments . The only thing I had to go out and buy was the ornaments. Everything else was already in my possesion. Score at least one for me on this project!

 

 

I took an old frame that was already silver and wrapped it in some pine garland and then wrapped some Christmas ribbon around that. I googled the types of pictures I wanted for my center, punched them out using my 2" circle punch, carefully rolled them (very loose) then placed them in the ornament. I used 2 larger ornaments and one small one. Then I used a crochet hook to unfold them and get them where I wanted. If you want the picture to stay (mostly) in place, put some epsom salts in there. Stopped them from moving around a little bit! I tied my ornaments in the middle and added a wire hanger on the back and its on my door. I really do like it and am glad I was able to pull it off.

 I went through my stash of ornaments and found the gold stars I knew I had. They were part of my 'college student on a budget' Christmas decor that I had saved :)

My favorite part is that it showcases the real meaning and origin of Christmas, which I am trying so had to instill in my almost 3 year old as she loves all over Rudolph and Frosty and Santa. No fault in balancing things out a bit!

 

 

Adding two feet to my living room :)

I've finally gotten around to this little project. It only took me six months. Three months to (find time to) make it and three months to (find time to) hang it

I could have sworn I have showcased this idea before since I made one for my daughter two years ago. But, if you can find the old post, good for you :)

I have a huge wall in my living room that was designated for portraits of my children.

Emphasis on huge. And mostly empty with only two children.

I came up with this idea to fill in the space around the pictures.I have no idea when I made my daughters since I didn't write anything on it. I THINK it was somewhere around three months so that is when I did my son's.

And, then I wrote the date on the back.

Each frame cost $1 each since they are Salvation Army finds that I spray painted black to go with my living room. My daughter being the girl has pink scrapbook paper and my son therefor has blue. I'm traditional.

I originally wanted to do an actual print of each hand and foot. The foot was so easy but have you ever tried to make a handprint of an infant?? Hard! So each hand was just traced while they slept and cut out.

Such beautiful and cute keepsakes :)

Personalized Clock

I made this project as a gift for a bridal shower recently. I found the tutorial long ago and finally decided to make it.

With the hubby's help of course...I don't touch the power tools :)

My friend, who is the bride and the recipient of this gift loved it. In fact everyone at the shower was amazed that I made it myself. The mother of the bride was almost in tears over how much she loved this gift. I even had a little old lady (friend of the bride's family!) that wouldn't leave until I gave her my contact info so I could make one with all of her grandkids on it.

The tutorial originally came from Rosy Red Buttons.  I will give you my .02 worth on this project too.

1. Sam's Club does not offer a 12x12 photo size. They don't offer any 'even' (8x8, 12x12) prints that I could see. I had to order it as a 12 x16 and cut four inches off. This was ok since my photo was 'artsy' anyways and it didn't matter if I cut it apart. But, for a family photo or something with subjects all the way to the edges you may have to work on it. I really wish I had photoshop!

2. Sam's club does have the cheapest prices. My poster cost $3.14 after taxes and it was ready in about an hour. The next lowest price was $6.99 at my Walgreen's and the prices went up from there. I looked into having it done as a engineer blueprint at Staples but they start at $9.99. I wanted to keep this cheap!

3. PicMonkey is a great site. I never really got into Piknik so I was not too sad to see them go. Maybe I just didn't try enough. I didn't really 'get' it. But, I tried PicMonkey and it was so easy and I loved how the picture looked.

4. I bought my clock set at Hobby Lobby for $4.99 and bought an extra set of longer clock hands that were black for $3.49. The set comes with short gold arms and they didn't go with the image in my head.

5. I bought my numbers at Jo-Ann's for $2.99 in the Scrapbook section. Hobby Lobby has a much better selection. And, better prices. I originally bought some there but I didn't like the way they looked once I was done with the clock. Since Jo-Ann's is closer and the shower was two days away I didn't have much choice. They still looked nice but they were flat and I wanted them to 'pop' off the face a bit.

All in all once my husband cut the board for me it went really fast from there. I was so happy with how it turned out and so was everyone who saw it. I LOVE this idea and am so glad I found the tutorial!

My finished product:

This picture is one of their engagement shots and sums up my friend's personality well. She has had this shot as her profile picture on FB for months so she was excited to see it as the clock I think too!

Dollar Store Magic!

Ok, enough time for one more post today. I hate posting twice in one day (I'm just weird that way) but I couldn't resist.

I found this little guy at the Dollar Tree last year:

It's a clear plastic Santa if you couldn't tell from my awesome picture taking skills :)

It's amazing what a little spray paint can do....

I like him much better this way! And, he looks like I spent a bit more than a dollar on him now!

These are my sconces on the wall in my living room. They usually have tall ivory candles on them. Again, two red Dollar Tree candles and one package of stars (they were 2 to a pack-score!) from the same store and they are all festive now. For only $3!!

Christmas Topiary

It seems all fall long I couldn't wait to show off my Christmas projectsI made last year. I go ALL OUT to decorate my house and last year I took pictures of what I did in every room. Yes, that's right...I decorate every room. Even my bathroom :)

Sadly this year I haven't put out nearly half of my things! The basment has NOTHING in it this year.

But, with our biggest project in the making planning on arriving very soon I made the decision to cut back this year. I figure everything I take out I will have to put away too. And, I don't want that big of a job with a newborn and 2 year old to handle too!

This project is one of my biggest ones and I am so proud of it. I saw a picture online somewhere last year and couldn't wait to try it myself.

If you buy your ornaments out of the dollar bins at Target like I did you shouldn't have to spend much either. I think I ended up using altogether 6 tubes of ornaments in a mix of large and teeny tiny sizes. And, I have a few little ones left over.

I spray painted the styrofoam ball red before I started sticking the ornaments in since I knew I would have the smallest little spots left uncovered. I did and you can see some of them in the picture. I also covered the top of the ornament with hot glue before smashing it into the ball. I also painted and glued the dowel too. I didn't want it shifting too much or too far into the foam on either end so I put hot glue on each end before inserting it into both the ball and the foam in the flower pot.

I painted the flower pot (one I had on hand) myself and didn't even try to make it straight or even...which you can also tell! I like the way it looks that way much better :) I filled the bottome with some stones before stuffing floral foam in it. This is SO top heavy so I needed to balance it out.

I put a few dollar store gift packages underneath it and it makes a cute little picture!

Big Girl Room Revealed!

I thought I would display some shots of how the BGR ended up looking. I am so happy with it and my daughter has a whimsical, girly place to lay her head every night :)

The white sleigh bed was the inspiration starting point. I found it at Salvation Army before we even got pregnant with Miss C's sibling. I went home and researched the company that was on the plaque on the bottom of the headboard. It turns out they are big on childrens furniture and all of their trundle beds are priced over $700!! I told my husband what I found and we went back that night and brought it home for $117 since all furniture was 25% off that day. It really is a good solid, heavy piece of furniture and will allow us to use it for many years in her room.  Of course, there are the curtains, nightstand and mobile I made her as well. She got a pink and green comforter that looks like a patchwork quilt so we stuck with pink with bits of green for the rest of the room.

The princess rug is another something I found at a mom2mom sale for $8. It comes with teacups, saucers and a teapot so you can have princess tea parties. I can't wait until the day we do that :)

Both of these toys were rummage sale finds. The doll set has a high chair, rocking cradle, bathtub, sink and lots of storage underneath it. I got it for $10 and it is starting to overflow with not only her few dolls but any stuffed animals that may need loving. The desk is a little tikes piece that my mom found for $5 and Miss C LOVES to sit in that chair and color or cause other trouble. On the wall is the vinyl sticker I like to call 'paint by numbers from hell'. It was 105 separate little pieces that took me over an hour to figure out. I had to find each piece on the 'map' they give you to help put it together and then go and find it on the sticker sheet. Of course none of these numbers could go in any order. I promised my husband this thing was staying up for YEARS after all that work! We got it at Target for less than $20.

This is a better shot of the curtains with the nightstand. But, this is an even better closeup shot of the nightstand that I took while it dried.

 Once again, the dresser we redid. It holds her name blocks and picture frames I made. The top of this thing is always covered in stuff now. I try to stay on top of keeping her room neater than mine but nobody's perfect. The shelf on the wall is also a project I re-did and the butterflies are more vinyl stickers we got at Jo-Ann's for 40%.

My husband is also very happy with it alll but most especially on how much I saved him. I think he is finally impressed with how much I am able to do with so little to spend :)

Thrifty updates

The big girl bedroom was finally finished a few weeks ago!

I decided to post all of my halloween crafts before revealing any new projects though. But, with Christmas projects on the horizon I have to get them in now. Plus, everyday gets me one day closer to my due date and I have so much to do before then :)

I bought this bookshelf storage thingy at a garage sale for $3 about 2 years ago for my mom. She had those colorful plastic bins on it to store toys in the playroom in her house. But, as the number of her grandchildren grows, so does the number of toys! We had been looking for something to use as a nightstand of sorts in Miss C's room when we were at their house one weekend and it was sitting in the hall. My mom said she was waiting for someone to take it to the curb. It was pretty beat up when I bought it and our kids had added to it so she was just going to trash it.

It came home with me and we got to work. My before picture was taken AFTER my husband had sanded it down:

We painted it white to match the other furniture and I found some scrapbooking paper I liked and Mod Podged it on there. This was a big project for me. I had never done such a big area of mod podge before or on something that I needed to be perfect. I re-did the top twice-thank goodness it's water soluble! Then I did research and got out an old credit card and used that to smooth it out and I was happy with my second attempt. I really love the overall final look of it:

It has many more of her books and trinkets on it now and is the perfect size for what we wanted. That pretty cool lamp was found at a mom2mom sale and I think it adds the perfect bit of diva :)

The last project for the big girl room took me forever to finally get to. And, it was the easiest-there is no method to my craft madness!

I found a 52x90 curtain panel at Salvation Army a long time ago. It was $2.99 and I thought it was beautiful and of course a great quality; very thick and sturdy. I really had no idea what I would use it for but I thought it would come in handy eventually.

I had brainstormed over a few ideas of how to use it in the BGR and finally decided to just use it as a window treatment just like it was intended. Except I needed two short panels so I cute it in half and made a spot for the rod to go through on the bottom half and just did a basic hem on the top half that I cut. I added some pink rick rack along the bottom that I got for $3 at Jo-Ann's. For $6 I got beautiful curtains for my daughter's room.

Halloween in my kitchen

I think I finally feel ready to post some of my Halloween crafts!

I made all of these last year when I really got back into the crafting thing. I had been dabbling in little things since my daughter had been born in January but there were so many cute and spooky crafts out there that I jumped in with both feet so to speak. Plus, now I had a kid who could enjoy it and I wouldn't look so crazy for going hog wild over Halloween as an adult :)

The first thing I would like to show off is my dining room table. My dining room is part of my kitchen with an island separating the two so I don't even know if it qualifies as a 'dining room' but that's what I call it. I don't really do much in the kitchen/eating are but I am slowly spreading out around the house for Halloween.

I saw a similar ceramic pumpkin last year at Hobby Lobby for $30 and thought to myself....I can do this. I went to Jo-Ann's and got one of those 'fun-kins' when they were already 50% off so I got it for $5. I also picked up a black paint pen, thick tip for this project for sure. I found a 'B' in Word that I liked, enlarged and bolded it and printed it out. Using an exacto knife I cut out the letter from the paper so I had a stencil. As carefully as I could I taped it to my pumpkin...not so easy to do on a sphere! I traced the 'B' with a pencil, took the paper off and filled it in with my paint pen. I added a few crystals from my scrapbook stash to bling it up :) I love it and keep it out even past Halloween. For Halloween it sits in a wreath I made in college out of fabric dipped in starch and tied to a wire hanger wreath form. I pull that out after Halloween but it is old and kind of crummy looking so it looks much better on the table than on my door :)All in all it's much better and cheaper than the Hobby Lobby version.

The other pumpkins that surround it are Dollar Tree or Big Lots pumpkins that are cheap-o. The glitter ones I probably don't have to explain but glue+glitter=fabulous! The bigger ones are just spray painted and the white one has graduated stick on bling in the natural creases of the pumpkin. I keep these out with the center one much past Halloween as well since they are more fall than spooky.

The last thing for today is in the corner of my dining room. I have this plant stand in the corner that used to have a big fake plant on it before I moved in. It wasn't very pretty so I got rid of it but love the stand and haven't figured out what exactly to do with it so most of the time it stands empty. I bought this container to use in a candy buffet for a shower I hosted. I think it was $7 at Marshalls and I think it's beautiful. I had the fillings already. I used to put this stuff in containers or on countertops all throughout my house. I put it all in the vase with the leftover leaves from my wreath and topped it off with another glitter pumpking and I was qutie pleased. Again, this will also probably stay out through Thanksgiving too. Fall is definitely in the air and now it's throughout my house too :)

Making the old new again

Never in my life did I imagine that I would have a white bedroom set in my home. I wouldn't even LOOK at them when we were choosing the furniture for our nursery and we ended up with a 'natural' wood color.

However, on a shopping trip to Salvation Army when my daughter was about 8 or so months old I ended up coming home with a WHITE twin bed. The horror still stuns me :)

So, when she started using the big girl room we had to get furniture to somehow match it. Or at least come close. I wanted a low, long dresser but not a high, narrow one. Does that make sense?? I also didn't want the low long one to have a mirror attached to it. There was already a mirror on the wall in the room and I wanted to use that and just position the dresser beneath it.

I didn't want to spend a fortune on furniture either though. I was delightfully surprised when my parents offered us my old dresser from when I lived at home. I moved out of my parents home the day I got married and didn't take any of my bedroom furniture with me. The bed was technically theirs and they could still use it for the grandkids. The dresser was mine but we had no space for it since my husband had been living on his own in our current home for nearly 4 years and every room was outfitted. Thus, it became storage space for my 'rents.

They told me I could have it back if I really wanted to paint it for the big girl room. I REALLY wanted to do this and after I showed the piece to the hubs he was pretty happy too. I got this piece when I was a teenager from a  church rummage sale. I offered them $20 for it and they offered to put it in the car for me! It is much older than me and beautifully built. It is one of those pieces that you look at and say: "they don't make things like this anymore".

We took it home, removed the handles off the drawers and my husband got to work. I barely remembered to take pictures of what it looked like 'before' but you can get the basic idea.

One coat of primer and two coats of white paint (not exactly like the bed but close enough) later and it was ready. I thought about getting new, fun handles but when we put one back on 'just to see', I fell in love. The old ones went back on and much to everyone's dismay I didn't even try to clean them up. I love the look they have after all these years. I don't even know what all I will put into every drawer but I am sure they will fill up as C grows up :) I could barely wait to decorate with my craft projects...I was really bugging my husband to give me the green light but I had to wait until the paint 'cured'...it was so worth everything though:

DIY Flower Chandelier

I knew I wanted to make something like this for the big girl bedroom long before we even started putting the room together.

I read a lot of online tutorials I found while doing a Google search and then used them all to make my own version.

I decided to write up how I made mine in the hopes of helping someone someday (added to the fact that I never plan on making one of these again unless I am being paid big time!) and I even took some pictures while I was working to help explain things :)

This project took me a long time to do...well at least what I consider a long time! I think because it is so much tedious work that it was harder for me to 'get into' it and keep at it. Once I made a bunch of progress on it and it started to take real shape I was hooked though and got it done in record time. Record nap time of course since this was a no-go to bring out while the big girl herself was hanging about.

I am so happy with how it looks in her room and love when she points up and says 'momma do's it' :) She knows at least that I put it there!

All in all I probably spent between $5 and $8 on this project. I had to buy two new hole punches but I got them at 40% off at Jo-ann's so they cost me $12 total but I can always use those again so I don't take the total amount into consideration of my final cost. That's just how I think at least :)

What I used:

Cardstock-I used 3 sheets EACH of three different shades of pink. 9 sheets total of 12x12 cardstock. I got it while it was on 5/$1 sale or something like that.

Two hole punches-One 2 inch flower and one 1 inch flower from Fiskars.

Bunch of old pennies-I used 20 total.
Glue dots-found with the scrapbooking supplies but I already had mine.
Fishing Line-surprising how my family has an abundance of this on hand at any time ;)

Two embroidery hoops-I used an 8 inch and 4 inch. I opted to buy the plastic ones that were already pink since they were each only $1 more than the unpainted wooden ones I would have had to buy spraypaint for anyways.

Coordinating Ribbon-I used a 5/8 inch pink satin that was 2/$1 and used 1 and one half rolls.

regular old sewing needle
ribbon or wire or something else for a hanger

How I did it:

I started by removing the inner hoop from the outer embroidery hoop. I only used the inner one (the one without the hardware on it). The bigger one is where I would attach my flower strands so that is the one I worked with first. I had some white transparent ribbon in my stash and used that for my hanger. I simply cut four even pieces of ribbon and spaced them evenly around the hoop and tied them in a double knot. Then I took the other ends and tied them all together in a knot and had my hanger.

My large flowers are what I would use to anchor the strands of flowers and since I decided to do 20 strands I would need 40 large flowers to be sure to make them double sided. I punched those out first; I was planning on doing a pattern with the large flowers (to be sure that two of the same didn't end up next to each other) so if you want to do that figure out how many out of the 20 strands will be each color so you can punch exactly the right amount. I didn't do this and had a bunch of flowers left over but that was ok for me.

After I had them punched out I worked on attaching the fishing wire. My cardstock was textured on one side and I decided I didn't want that side to show so that became the inside part of my flowers. For each strand of flowers I would need two matching big flower punches and one penny. I put a glue dot on the inside side of each flower. I pressed one penny on to one glue dot and the end of the fishing line into the other glue dot.

Then I took the flower piece with the fishing line and pressed it firmly onto the side with the penny.

I made all twenty of these in the beginning instead of making one strand at a time. I didn't pre-cut the fishing line either. I cut it once the large flowers were attached to the other end, this made it easier to handle and not so flimsy and fly-away. I eyeballed how long/short I would cut it and then figured if it was too long I could cut it once it came time to attach it to the hoop. I wanted them all to be varying lenghts but didn't want to measure them out and be too precise about it either. Once the large flowers were attached I laid them on my workspace in the order(pattern) that I would be hanging them to make it easier on myself.

Now, I had to punch a million smaller flowers. It didn't take as long as it sounds especially since, yet again I didn't count or punch the exact amount I needed but rather did a bunch and then did more as I needed them. I kept them in three separate color piles to make it easier to figure out which ones to grab. Then I worked one strand at a time. I thread the loose end of the fishing line through my needle. I chose the thinnest needle with the largest eye that I could find. I then poked it up through the back side of my small flower and out the front and then back down to the backside. I slid them into place as far from the top as I could. I knew I would need a lot of line to be able to tie and then could re-arrange them once they were hanging in place. I didn't do a pattern with the small flowers but tried to be sure not to add two of the same color in a row. That is as far as I went with organizing this part. I wanted each strand to be completely different from the next. This is how each strand looked. Of course how many flowers I put on it depended on how long the fishing line was.

After each strand had the small flowers threaded on it I tied it to my hoop right away. In the beginning I kept it flat on my work table but as more got added and it had even weight on it I just hung it off the back of one of my kitchen chairs. This made it easier on me to see the length I wanted and to make sure the lines didn't tangle too much. I put them on in the order of the pattern which is why having them laid out on the table all ready for me was so helpful. I did a double knot on each one, and pulled really hard sometime using my teeth to make sure the fishing line was secure and then cut anything that stuck out of the end of the knot. This is what I had going:

Once all 20 strands were attached I moved them as I wanted (and could depending on the strenth of my knot) into place. I was now ready to work on my inner hoop.

I cut my ribbon to 14 inches and now wish it was much longer. Oh, well. I cut it out a little at a time since I wouldn't know how much I would need to cover my entire small hoop. Once it was cut I would fold the ribbon in half and fold the loop end over my hoop. Then I would pull the two free ends through the loop and pull tight. This is what it started to look like:

I have NO idea how many ribbons I used since I wasn't about to count them. Once the entire hoop was covered in ribbon I made a similar hanger with fishing wire as I made for the big hoop with ribbon. I attached four pieces of fishing line-evenly spaced apart (think 12,3,6,9 on a clock) and instead of tying them together at the top I attached them to the bigger hoop with about 6 inches of fishing wire left between the knot of the large hoop and the one on the small hoop.

Now, you should be done! I hung it in her room right away as there was already a hook in the ceiling and she loves it. Even my husband was impressed when he got home from work! I do wish the ribbon was longer but I am not going to re-do it all and I know for sure it will be years and years before she is able to reach it by standing on her bed :)

More big girl bedroom updates!

We have gotten alot done this week :)

I have SO many updates to post about but I am going to try to do them a few at a time so if I run into a decorating/creativity lull I can still post and make it look like I am doing something!

The first thing I did was incredibly simple.

I found this piece of uhhh, whatever at a church rummage sale for $3.

I bought it not even knowing where I would put it in my house. But, I knew with a bit of spray paint it could be magical.

I was right. I decided it would go in Miss C's new big girl room. My mom helped me dismantle it (the teeny tiny screw heads were so stripped it wasn't even funny) and I got to work with my spray paint.

We managed to get the crappy old screws that came out of it back into it. We couldn't find screws that size anywhere! The hubby hung it for me and I am glad I asked him. I would have just popped two nails into the wall and called it a day. Turns out it is way too heavy for that and he installed anchors for me too.

I used it as a place to for some special mementos from her baptism right alongside one of my very favorite bible verses which she also got on her special day.

The next thing was also quite simple. No, it was easier than anything I have ever done before.

I found this piece on a trip to Salvation Army. Shocking, I know. Believe it or not I am NOT in there everyday and I do happen to shop in other stores as well.

All it took was some spray paint to make it perfect.  I know, yet another surprise from me.

I thought I could just use it on top of her dresser to hold trinkets or something and that is currently how it is being used. My creativity stopped flowing with the spray paint on this one. Any better ideas than to hold her hair accessories?? (of course I made all those too. And, my daughter refuses to wear any of them yet.)

Fancy Picture Frames

Well, at least I think they're fancy.

My little girl will be a big sister in about four months. From the beginning we always said we would have one nursery and the children would use it until they were either a.)too big or b.)the next baby came along and needed it.

We had a twin bed for my daughter for a long time knowing that whether another baby would ever come she would not sleep in a crib forever. A few weeks ago she forced us to put her in a 'big girl room'.

She won't sleep in a crib anymore :( I was not emotionally prepared and we certainly were NOT physically prepared for this.  Her room looks like a prison. The only thing in it is her bed and our printer/printer stand (looking for a new spot to put that one!). Most of our free time is now spent redecorating her big girl room.

I have been storing away ideas for this magical, sweet, youthful room and in all honesty most of the supplies have been in my basement for MONTHS. I just needed a good kick to get them started. Well, my daughter is growing up and that was the 'kick' I needed. But, it feels so good to be crafting anyways.

My husband is painting some furniture from my old bedroom at my parents house to put in C's room. I never thought I would end up with white furniture anywhere in my house but when I found her (white) bed for a STEAL at Salvation Army I couldn't pass it up. Until that is done, she will have no place to place things other than the floor but I will be ready.

On another visit to Salvation Army I found some picture frames and wooden candlesticks. The picture frames came to about $2 total (I had my mom with me and it was senior discout day-she was so happy to help!) and the candlesticks cost another $2 total.

We had wonderful weather this past week/weekend and while my husband sprayed the furniture with primer I got a can of pink spray paint and turned this:

And with the help of my handy-dandy glue gun I turned them into these:

As soon as she has a dresser in the room these will be on top. They both contain pictures of the three of us but as soon as the baby is born I plan on changing them out.

Easy, cheap and incrdibly cute. I like that combination.

I have more projects done for the room and will be adding them in the coming weeks and hopefully have one big final reveal :) It feels great to have this energy back!

Fall is on the way...

and I have spent most of the summer not updating my blog :)

To be totally honest though I haven't done that much crafting. I've been vacationing and getting ready for a baby and dealing with a whole bunch of little complications with this pregnancy while chasing after a toddler who seems to be growing up SO fast. I have done a few things to get back on the bandwagon recently but dont' have pictures of them yet. Or, the project is still in progress and thus unfinished.

I am spending time with my mom this week to help her out. She had surgery last week and can't do much on her own. We have the windows open today! The weather is sunny but we have a great cool, crisp breeze blowing through. It's a big difference from the chilly, wet weather we had yesterday. It really is starting to feel like fall is on the way :) I love fall; it's my favorite time of year. I go all out and decorate my whole house and do all sorts of fall related things.

I always hate finding a project I would like to make two weeks (or less) before the holiday actually gets here. I'm lucky if I can find the time to get the supplies together much less get it done in time. So, I am jumping the gun with this one because I am excited about the change of season approaching :) I made this last year and it was able to hang on my door from September until I took it down at Thanksgiving to put a Christmas decoration up.

This is entirely a dollar store project. I got the wreath form, the leaves, the fall floral pics and the Harvest sign all at dollar tree. For $4  and my handy glue gun I had a cute piece of decor.

I can't wait to start hanging this stuff around the house and showing off my Halloween decor too!

Bathroom Decor

This is another project that I did a few months ago. It took me about six months to pull it all together but it's been done for awhile.

The only room in the house that has a 'theme' going on in it other than the nursery is the downstairs bathroom. I don't know why I ended up putting all of our 'nautical' stuff in there but it's a 'oceany/beachside/boat-y' bathroom now. The crazy thing is that except for two things I put on the walls everything else was scattered throughout the home when it was a bachelor pad so I didn't have to do much.

The space I am showcasing today however is a piecs of HUGE space between the door and the sink. My husband used to have this small three tier shelf that was wire and wicker-ish but it was flimsy and totally NOT my style so it had to be replaced, plus it was much too small for the space.

We bought a cabinet at Garden Ridge. They were moving about a mile away from their location and the entire store was on sale. We scored big time with this one, it fit perfectly in the bathroom.

I made the cloche from a covered cheese dome and chunky candle holder I got at Salvation Army. This one cost me $3 to make. I sprayed it without even knowing where I would put it but when I thought of the bathroom it fit in quite well. I got the pieces inside of it at the Dollar Tree of all places! The little bird came from there as well and I had thought about spraying him too but when I put him in there I think I like him as is. The vase was exactly what I had envisioned in my head so I didn't mind paying $2.99 for it at T.J. Maxx. I had a stem of the flowers left ove from another project and thought they looked perfect so they are staying for now. I did this little bit of decor on the VERY cheap and I love it!