Calendar

I love new ideas and sometimes you make something with very little money. But... sometimes it just doesn't work.

The reason this doesn't work is because I never found a "pen" that writes nicely and erases nicely on glass.

 I'm sharing this because for the love of sharing sometimes you will come up with a better idea, like one that will work and I'll see it :)

Gifts

C. Marie gave me my 2010 garden to treasure every time I am in the kitchen and I am in the kitchen a-l-o-t!

Lights

When I drive through town I see so many beautiful and expensive looking decorations. When you are on a tight budget outside decorations fall to the bottom of the list. But...
with a few strings of old icicle lights we now have a little festive glitter to be a part of our neighbors hoorah. Our 9 year old was absolutely thrilled to see them :)

Old Fashioned Tool Box

I thought for sure a tool box that looked as if it had a little grease in it would not do well with paint. But with a hot sunny day in one hand and a bucket of soapy water in the other, I gave it a good scrubbing. It dried in the sun for 2 days, was primed and painted, and passed the test.

Black or White

So this summer

 I painted a few projects over the summer that I'll begin to share. As you can see I wasn't sure what color I wanted this table, but in the end I am glad I went with Charcoal Grey. Alot of the pieces I show that I have redone were either in our house when we moved here or put out in a neighbor's garbage. You can see the wood is split on the coffee tabletop in the white painted photo. It's not noticeable when it is painted the dark color.

Vanity Chair Redo

This chair was picked up at a yard sale and was hunter green with a plastic brown seat cushion. Both the wooden seat base and the metal of the chair were in great shape which made this redo very easy.

For this project I used white spray paint, a piece of upolstry fabric, but any fabric would do because the chair is used lightly. I looked high and low for a good price on the cushion and ended up finding it at Wal-mart. I bought a package of 2 foam cushions, 15" x 17" x 1" for under $7. I've had the ribbon of beads so the make over cost was just for the foam cushion :)

Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear

Re-purposed Teddy Bear

I just couldn't throw him out

Teddy's been sitting in a jar
Looking like a science specimen
Then one day I had an idea...

We regularly use white yarn for one thing or another.
It's like tape, we can't live with out it.
So we've displayed Teddy
Giving him a new life
As the Thread Bearer.

Color of all things in the dining room and kitchen!

I have loved Shabby Chic for a many years thanks to my sister's help :) I didn't know how to add color again and quite liked adding colored accents without worring about it clashing with the walls and curtains in these 2 rooms. My oldest daughter (16) talked me into adding color after my husband ripped out the radiator heaters and we had to repaint all rooms. My oldest also took these pictures and drew the horse on the wall below before we covered it. You can check out her creativity here at Klazane. Everyone helped with the painting and the rooms turned out beautifully :)

Curtain Rod Deal

Two weeks ago I ordered a new curtain rod for our front window. After almost 10 years of working with those silly $10 curtain rods, I decided to get something attractive. This window is a headache because it is big (105") and on the right side there is a pipe for the steam heat that leads upstairs. I found a heavy duty curtain rod (pole) at JC Penney. Originally it was $105 and it's now marked down to $35. I wanted to keep the total cost down, but was having trouble finding the special rings or clips that are heavy enough for drapes. Seven rings for $22 is not a bargan when you need 30 rings. ($110 yikes!) So what do I do?

As you can see I came up with something that didn't cost me a cent. From the back each pleat I took my heavy duty upholstery needle and added 7" or 8" of navy blue 1/8" grosgrain ribbon that is tied in back. When it's time to wash the drapes, the attached ribbon should do well, but I may add fray check to the ends of the ribbon to be sure.

Garland

A few years ago I punched out a stack of flowers with a 3" flower punch bought from a craft store for around $10. My daughter and I then sewed them together on the sewing machine. The pictures were taken an older camera and aren't that sharp. But below you can kind of see that we only sewed the centers of the flowers. It held up really well inside. I'm not sure how it would for an outside party. Make sure you change the sewing needle before using with fabric because the paper will dull the tip pretty fast.