some stuff

So I still spend way too much time on Pinterest.  It's hard to stay away {for me anyway} when there are so many good ideas floating around on there.  It had been quite awhile since I put any of those ideas into action so last week I decided to get some things done.

I came across this idea quite a few months ago....

Source: eighteen25.blogspot.com via Nichole on Pinterest

I really liked the idea so I saved all our Christmas cards last year.  I finally got our book made last Friday.

Another idea I came across was journaling without journaling.

Source: compactbydesign.com via Nichole on Pinterest

I loved that idea.  There are so many things that I throw away, even though I hate to, just because I don't know what to do with them and I don't want the clutter.  So my spin on this was to buy 6x9 inch manilla envelopes and label each with a month.

Now I have a place to store those random pieces and am creating a journal of sorts in the process.  I was trying to figure out a way to make the writing cute {stickers, printing out labels, etc.} but then I decided my own handwriting was the best way to go.  It just seems more personalized, or something.  Now I'm on the look out for something cute to store them in.

Now onto that cake I showerd you earlier this week.  Dave wanted a dessert last weekend, so I went to my trusty Sweet treats board to find something new to make.  I read some ideas to him and he picked the Snickers cake.

Source: plainchicken.com via Nichole on Pinterest

That is some good cake and it's really easy to make.  If you're interested in the recipe, you can get it by clicking on the link under the picture.

And on the flip side of that cake.  Here is another idea I'm using that I found on Pinterest.

Source: hotmessprincess.com via Nichole on Pinterest

I just used what I had on hand so my jars are two recycled pizza sauce jars.

I've seen this idea around on a few blogs.  Some people use 1 rock to represent on tenth of a pound or one half of a pound.  The easiest way for me is one rock equals one pound.  So far, I've got 14 in the lost jar and 20 more to go in the to go jar to meet my first goal.

So, that's what I've been up to.  My next Pinterest projects on my list are this and this. 

Hope ya all have a great weekend! :o)

Oh, and sorry for the extra crappy phone pics.

Befores and afters

Last week I made a list of all the things I'd like to get done before we head back to school.  One of the things on the list was to do something about the blank wall in the kitchen.  I really didn't want to spend any money since I have plenty of things around here to use.  Problem was, nothing I had really worked on the wall.

So, I dug out this shelf and tried to find a way to make it work.

I wasn't overly thrilled with the way it looked (I just hung it on some nails that were already there as I tried to decide if I could make it work).  I thought with a little makeover it might just work.  I bought the shelf at a rummage sale when I was in college for $1 (I think) so I wasn't afraid to experiment with a different look.

So I took a hammer to it

and sawed the legs down (legs? I dunno what to call them).  Yup, I sawed it right on the living room floor.

Here is the after

Ignore the decorations please.  I'm not sure what to put up there yet.  Soon I'll have holiday decorations up there to take me through the next few months so I'll be set for awhile.  Oh, yes, the autumn plate.  I knew I wanted something on the platter so I cut some vinyl with my Cricut. Since it's almost fall, I figured why not?  I got a Christmas one ready to go too :o)

(I got the idea here.)

I finally found some brown zebra fabric at Hobby Lobby last week.  I recovered some lamp shades with the fabric. 

Before

and after

My hair before

and after

Okay, one last before and after.  I got this idea from Pinterest (you can find the original post here).

Before (sort of, forgot to take pics before I started spraying)

and after

So easy...just glue two frames together to make a chunky frame.  Love it!  Really love that it was free since I already had the frames and the paint.  Now I just need to get a picture that actually fits the frame in there....and figure out what else to put on that shelf....oh yeah, and finish that to do list!

Catch up

I'm back!  My husband bought and installed (or whatever you do) a new router so now we have internet again.  Yay!

A quick catch up of the past week or so...

*Last week was a three day work week for me.  I love four day weekends!

*Thursday my mom and I went to Sioux Falls and did a little shopping.  We also met with my uncle for lunch.  He is in good spirits but could really use some prayers.  Baisically the cancer is not responding to the treatments.  It's maybe buying him some time but not going to make him better. 

*I spent the day Friday doing chores and running errands.  I bought this while I was out..

Oh yes I did.  I wanted one of these last year so bad but I decided to wait until after Christmas so I could get it 50% off.  Well, they were gone before Christmas so I couldn't get one.  I was ready this year though.  I cashed out my Toluna money in September so I'd have some money when the trees came out.  This one was the only one on the shelf Friday morning so I grabbed it and put it in my cart.  I got quite a few comments while walking around the store with a Christmas tree in my cart.  Whatever.

*Saturday was Hobo Days for SDSU.  We went to the parade.  Boring, yawn.  I hate that they've changed it so much in the past few years.  Definitely not as entertaining as it used to be.  We did get to see our nephew march in the middle school band though.

A big thanks to the lady who stepped in front of me as I took the picture.  That would be our nephew on the top of her head.

*Saturday night we had supper with my parents.

*David picked up some overtime on Sunday so I had some time to do a little crafting.  I turned these

into this..

and this...

*Today we had our first snowfall of the season.  We just got a light dusting this morning and it's gone now.  I know I'll regret saying this but I'm ready for some snow.  The first few snowfalls are always fun and I can't imagine Christmas with no snow (well I can because we've had a few but it just doesn't feel like Christmas) but by March I'm so sick of it.

Hope you all've been well. I have a lot of posts in Reader to catch up on!

Halloween Decor

I packed up my fall decor last Friday night and pulled out the Halloween stuff.  I know my fall stuff was only out for 8 days of the actual fall season but it had been out since the end of August so I was ready to put it away.  I'll pull some of it back out again for the first few weeks of November.


Anyway, back to the Halloween decor.  I don't have a lot of it but here's what I do have.

Just a little touch in the kitchen

The EEK sign is one of the painted blocks I showed you a couple weeks ago and another is the purple BOO sign a few pictures down.  The third went to my swap partner.

Some spiders crawling down from my shelves.  I don't like creepy Halloween decorations and I do think spiders are creepy (hate them) but since they glitter I figure they're ok.

I picked up some frames at Dollar Tree a couple weeks ago and spray painted them black.  For the pictures, I printed out the Trick or Treat picture from The Graphics Fairy, the Trick or Treater boy is from a font I have, and the small picture is just a piece of Halloween scrapbook paper with some letters hot glued onto the glass.

I just did a few pumpkins outside this year.  I spray painted a few as you can see.  I also threw in a little sign I painted last year.

And that's it for my Halloween decorations.  Nothing too crazy or grand but it works for us :o)

Buffet is done...

sorta...kinda...until I decide what else to do with it anyway.  I can't decide if I want to distress it, add some sort of something to the doors, or just leave it alone. 

Anyway.  Here she is in all her glory when we brought her home.

And here's her super loverly shelf liner.

See those pennies in the bottom?  Yeah, we scored 7 cents....lucky much?

So I sanded her down and painted her with this paint from Lowe's:

Mine came in a plastic jar, whatev.  David and I chose the color Rolling Prarie.

Here she is after her facelift:

I ripped out the mushroom liner on the shelf and in the drawers.  I just know I'll regret that one when orange and brown mushrooms come back into style again.  I haven't found anything to replace it with yet though.

I put the old hardware back on when I was finished painting.  My original plan was to buy some new stuff but the handles on the doors weren't going to come off without some major damage to the doors.  So I had to tape around them before I painted.  MAJOR pain in my butt.  And yeah, I just noticed that I put that handle over there on the left on upside down.  Probably never would have noticed it if I wouldn't have written this.

Now I need to redecorate the wall above the buffet.  Everything is a little off center with the buffet.  Uh yeah, just a little.

The shelf is already down, now I just need to decide what I want to put up once the rest is down.

She's not sitting around naked anymore either.  It took FOREVER for the paint to dry.  The paint was still a little tacky but my patience ran out and I found some things to dress her up with.  I'll show you that in another post though.

Total cost $25 for buffet + $6 for paint - .07 cents that came with her = $30.93  Not bad.

Ohhh...want to see what we did with the hutch?

Yeah, that's where it has sat for the past two weeks.  I think it's about time we figure out what to do with it.

I'm linking up to The Shabby Nest's Frugal Friday.

Weekend Recap

This weekend was move-in weekend for SDSU so I tried to hide out at our place as much as possible. David had to work Saturday and Sunday so unfortunately he was out in the crazyness most of the weekend.  I went to the scrapbooking store around noon on Saturday and I didn't venture out again til 9pm to get groceries.

Since I was avoiding the college chaos, I got a lot done around our place.  Here are a few things that I did:
- painted 2 shelves, a clock, 2 lamps, and my chalkboard
-redecorated my kitchen and only spent $12 doing so (I bought a new rug from Kohl's)
-recovered a lamp shade
-got out my fall decor (uh yea, wasn't planning to but I wanted to get just one thing out which turned into everything coming out)
-cleaned off our table (it was driving me nuts)
-cleaned my side of the office so now I can walk to my desk without worrying about breaking or spraining something

I'll show you some pictures this week of some of the things I did.  Well, if I can find some before pictures.  I kind of got in a hurry to do things and forgot to take pictures before I started.

We ended the weekend by having supper at my brother-in-law's Sunday night.  My nephew made a really good vanilla cake with Oreos in it for dessert.  I've never had a cake with Oreos baked in before but it was really yummy!

And just so I don't post without a picture:

source