Score!

This past weekend our local Goodwill stores were having 50% off everything.  I had did a quick once through at a couple Goodwill's on Friday night.  I had my eye on a couple of pieces of furniture. 

Saturday morning, I got to Goodwill 15 minutes early.  I had not realized that I was going to be in the day after Thanksgiving type of situation.  People were already lined out to the parking lot.  As soon as the doors opened, everyone started to shuffle in.  My heart started pumping just thinking that I may have to wrestle someone.  I was all business that morning.  I just had a small window of time before I had to be at my son's flag football game.    As I was whizzing by people, I was hoping this trip was going to be successful.  I spotted the first piece of furniture.  I quickly ripped off the tag.  Success!  Next, run/walk to the next piece.  Score!  I quickly ripped off that tag.  By this time, people were probably thinking what is this chick's rush?!  I quickly did a once through the aisles and came up with four 2' candlesticks for only a buck and a half!  So, I walked out spending about $100 in just under 15 minutes.  I did tell you I was all business.  Here is the pieces of furniture:

I'm planning on refinishing the top and painting the bottom.  Any suggestions on color would be great.  You can't tell very well but it has cute little grain embellishments on the top front facing side.  I thought it was a deal for $50.

Next, I got this china cabinet for $40.  It has a light inside.  I just need to get some glass shelves.  I think with a little TLC with paint, it'll turn out lovely.

 
Unfortunately, I won't be able to show you my transformations for a while.  I'm having an outpatient surgery tomorrow and will be out of commission for about 2-3 weeks.  In the meantime, I'll be relying on your blogs for inspiration and laughs while I get back to 100%!  I hope your first weekend of fall is great!

Dressed for fall

Well, here is my final fall decorations.  I've dressed up my living room with lights, leaves, pumpkins, pillows, and blankets.  I am ready for a chilly night curled up on the couch with a hot Chi tea and a good show! 

I've gotta show you the slipcover for my ottoman and some pillows I sewed.  I couldn't resist this tweed plaid suiting.  My work clothes consist of comfortable cottons that allow me to clean, play light sabers, hide and seek, as well as much more.  I guess I wanted something to feel dressed up and polished:)

Let me tell you that working with this plaid was a bear!  The plaid is not square but rectangular.  Therefore, I had a time of it matching up the ruffle.  It took an extra trip to JoAnn's fabric and a few choice words when the kids weren't around.  But after a little perseverance, I got it done. 

Anyways, on to my dust niches, I mean, art niches.  I'm not sure why they decided to cut out 2 holes in the wall so high up.  I have to drag out the 8' ladder and climb almost to the top step to reach up here.  Needless to say, they don't get dusted like they should.  I decided I would make myself start decorating them for the seasons.  Here is what I came up with:

In the top picture, I made that Ballard look alike sign.  Here is what Ballard's looks like

Here is a close up of mine:

Okay, it's a little larger, but I had a gigantic space to fill.  What do you think?

Well, there you have it.  My fall decorations in a nutshell.  If you have any suggestions for some tweaks here or there, I would love to here them!

I'm linking up at:

It's Boorrific!

The fall decorations continue!  My focus today has been on my entryway and formal dining.  For my formal dining, I really only decorated my buffet.  I had to pick up some flowers from Michael's and put together the flower arrangement.  I love the candle holders.  I totally copied that from Sarah @ Thrifty Decor Chick.  You should check her out.  She can link you to the tutorial here.  If you do make these candle holders, be careful with the Gorilla Glue.  It does expand.  If you place it on unevenly, your candles will not sit level causing the black suit to form while burning.  Not attractive.  I luckily used a penny to level off my candles. 

Anyways, on to the entryway.  I think I love this most.  I love the mood it creates.  The best thing about this is the stack of books.  It is apparently popular from some high end store to have display books without their bindings.  I hit a yard sale last week and picked up 3 books for 10 cents each.  They already had that perfect yellow aged color that older paper gets.  I didn't feel too bad about cutting off the covers at that price.  Plus, it was perfect for adding a little height to that side of the table.  Before you tell me, yes, I know there is a huge crack running through the mirror.  That is a whole other long post.  I haven't made it to Habitat for Humanity Restore to pick up a piece of mirror large enough and cheap enough to replace it.

 Here is a close up of the vignette on the table.  I had fun playing with some new actions I got for my photoshop elements software.  I could literally sit for hours changing just one photo.  Sorry for getting sidetracked. 

I hope everyone is geared up for fall.  I've got one other project up my sleeve.  It involves some sewing.  I hope it turns out well.

Anyways, I hope everyone has a terrific weekend.  I am sharing my Halloween decor over at:

Kitchen Fall Decor

As promised, I am posting about my fall decoration.  Today is the kitchen.  I can only show you one side of the kitchen because I just don't have the energy to clean up the other side for you ladies today.   We can just pretend that the other side is nice and tidy like this:

You can tell from the photo that I haven't infused the kitchen with much color.  So when the seasons change, I put a splash of color here or there.  For the top of the cabinets, just a few bittersweets in my milk jars.  For the cabinet fronts, I couldn't pass up the picks at Hobby Lobby.  I think they are just what my cabinet fronts needed.  I do have to admit, I only had fishing line to use.  It was pretty tough tying up the picks because the fishing line was so thick.  It could hold a 50 lb. fish!  I guess it makes it strong enough for the picks.  This is a little closer look:

Moving on to my jelly cabinet.  It sits by the kitchen table.  I am unable to show you that because currently it is still a work in progress.  It has been that way for a while now.  Anyways, I think I have filled the cabinet a bit too much with stuff, but I had to put it somewhere I suppose.  I use to only put black and white Halloween decorations in but decided I really liked orange this year.  There isn't a rhythm or reason.  Just sticking stuff wherever it'll fit.  I couldn't get a good picture with the glass doors closed, too much of a glare.  Here is a worm's eye view of the inside.

Like I said, it is a little stuffed.  Here is a little closer look at the top 2 shelves.

Of course, I couldn't leave the top unadorned.

There you have it.  My kitchen in the fall.  Tell me what you think.  Also, any thoughts as to a back splash would be great.  I would love to do something finally.  It has been 8 years since we moved in. 

I'm linking up at:

Fall is in the air

I just love fall.  There is nothing like watching the leaves turning to beautiful oranges, yellows, and reds.  I love driving down the road with the windows down letting the cool air in watching the leaves swirl around on the ground.  I am one of the girls that can't wait until Labor day to start putting out my fall decorations.  I've decided to share my mantle with you.

 So, what do you think?  I just think it may be too heavy for anything else.  So all of you experts out there, give me some advice/suggestions.  I have to tell you though that I cannot part from my oranges lights in my leaves.  I love seeing them glow at night while I rock my daughter.

I wanted to give you a close up of my sign.

 This was a total copy from a tutorial over at No Minimalist Here.  If you have never checked out Sherry's site, you've got to!  I had made this after she originally posted about it back in December.  I remember locking myself in my bathroom trying to burn the edges of the poster to get the aged look.  Why lock myself in the bathroom you ask?  My son has a fascination with fire.  I didn't want him seeing mommy playing with fire.  Anyways, I'm happy with how it turned out.  I bet you've spied the antlers.  Yes, I saw Sherry have some and thought how interesting.  My mom thought I was nuts when we were at an antique market and I told her to keep an eye out for some little antlers.  My family has just learned to shake their heads and smile.  Hopefully, I will be more diligent in posting this week to show you my fall decorations around the house but you know life happens sometimes.

Since I need your suggestions, I'm linking up at

Free desk has found it's home!

We finally moved that free desk I posted about here into my son's room.  Here is a picture of the desk when we got it home.

As you can tell, it was missing a drawer front as well as drawer pulls.  You can't tell from this picture but the top was a little rough and the rope detail around the top was really rough. 

I was originally going to paint it.  But in the light of day, I could see it only needed a good cleaning and refinishing the top.  That was no problem.  This was my first venture into using a stripper.  No jokes please.  I had to listen to enough of them from hubby every time I talked about "stripping" the desk.  He was a thousand laughs a minute I tell you.  So, I worked on the top while hubby made a bottom for the now cubby hole instead of drawer. 

Let me tell you that it was not easy finding drawer pulls the right size.  I luckily found some at Menard's that were being discontinued for only $2.50 each.  They were a brass but I decided to spray paint them oil rubbed bronze.  Unfortunately, it looked too black for my taste.  So, I took a little Spanish rub n' buff to add a little more umf to the handles.

After I stained and polyed the inside of the lower drawer made cubby, it was ready to go.  But then, the phone rang and it was the neighbor who had put the desk out for trash.  My heart beat a little faster because I thought maybe she was going to ask for it back.  But to my surprise, she had told me she had a piece of glass specifically cut for the desk.  She said I could have it or else it would be on its way to Goodwill.  I quickly did a quiet squeal and cartwheel.  So, without further ado, here it is:

My son informed me that he needs a laptop to do his homework at his new desk.  I had to break the news to him that kindergartners don't have homework at his school.

I'm linking up with:

   

May edit to add links to parties.

Just a thought...

Could we become this?

or like this?

Both photos from A&E photo gallery

There is nothing better to get me to stop going to Goodwill or thrifting like all evening episodes of Hoarders on A&E.  I cannot fathom the idea of living like this but I understand the idea of getting something with the intention of doing some really cool project only to have it sit for 3 months in my closet.

So, the big question is will some event occur in my life and flip a switch to change me into a hoarder?  I'm positive none of the people on the show even said, "Um, I think I want to become a hoarder."  I feel truly sorry for the people living like this and hope they can seek help for themselves.

I don't know about you, but I'm not sure I will be thrifting this week.

Pillow mania continued...

I've caught the sewing bug and can't seem to shake it.  I had learned about transferring images onto fabric with CitraSolv over at The Graphics Fairy post here a while ago.  I had already tried it with place mats and it seemed to work out okay.

I decided to try it out on my drop cloth fabric as well as muslin for some frenchy inspirational type pillows.  The process is very simple.  The materials needed are a mirror image laser copy of your image, some sort of strong tape, cotton ball, CitraSolv, a spoon, and a little elbow grease. 

I did have a tough time finding CitraSolv.  I found it at an natural herbal type store. 

First print out your image from your computer.  Next, go and make a mirror image copy using a laser copying machine.  This is important because something from the laser toner cartridge reacts with the CitraSolv.  Then, tape your image face down on your fabric. 

Take your cotton ball with the CitraSolv on it and coat the image.  Be careful not to over soak or the paper will tear. 

Next, burnish with a spoon.  Here are the two different fabrics side by side.

As you can see, the drop cloth didn't turn out quite as good.  I had to go back and trace the words with my fabric pen.  Here is the finished product.

I found from comparing my past place mat project with this that perhaps using the color copier verses the black and white copier made a difference.  Maybe next time, I'll just use the color copier.  I had better results with the image transfer with color.  

I'm linking up with:

You can't catch me...

Today was a hectic day.  You know the kind of day.  You have about a million things on your to do list and just not enough time or energy.  Well, that sums up my day.  As I plunged myself a full 110% into my cleaning, my daughter had other plans.  Unlike my son, she does not find it fun to squirt the Windex or the Pledge for me.  After one room was down and so much more to go, she would not let her voice go unheard.

What kind of mom would I be if I didn't stop to enjoy my little girl?  We read all her favorite books.  One of which is:

 
After reading it three times, of course, we had to make gingerbread boy cookies. 

So, I added on another area to clean and have a dozen gingerbread boy cookies that no one will eat at our house, but got to enjoy 'girl time' with my daughter.

Hope you had time to stop and enjoy something in your day!