Awful to Amazing

$5 Halloween Centerpiece

2009-10-07T18:07:00.001-07:00

I got bored today and decided to do a little crafting (while I should’ve been cleaning) to get my brain going. I feel like the more creative stuff I do, the more things I come up with and the more ambition i have to actually get them done. I try to do a little bit every day, even if it’s just spray painting something or changing things around a little.

This morning, I was looking at the cake plate on my table that has been empty, save for two languishing bananas, for the past few days. I usually keep fruit on there because we eat more if it’s out, but the fruit of the week is oranges (.33/lb at Safeway, SCORE!) and they don’t do very well out of the fridge. I decided I’d get all of my Halloween ~~junk~~ trinkets that I’ve been collecting and make a cheapie little centerpiece.

I was surprised that DH actually noticed it when he came home from work and said he liked it, but then again, he does love Halloween stuff just as much as me.

Here's what I used:

Cake Plate- Just a generic one from WalMart

Spooky Urn-From my favorite thrift store, probably about .10 It was empty and I didn’t have any floral foam, so I just stuffed it with newspaper to fill it in

Glittery Skull- Dollar Tree! I almost bought some of the Martha ones and Home Goods the day before I found this one at the DT. The Martha ones were about $10

Skulls, Spiders and Skeleton Hands- DT again, big packs for just $1, I have lots left for other things

Pumpkins and Moss- WalMart, the pumpkins were .78 and the moss was $1, I only used about 1/3 of the bag

So, I'd say less than $5 and less than 10 minutes and now, my cake plate is not empty anymore and we have a fun Halloween centerpiece for the dinner table. And none of this stuff was bought specifically to do a centerpiece, it’s just stuff I had lying around. Next time you see a space that needs some help, think about all of the stuff you’ve accumulated and see what you can throw together.

Thrifty Weekend Finds

2009-10-05T12:09:00.001-07:00

The plan this weekend was to hit up the yard sales and the swap meet in a town about an hour away, but it rained literally all day which is just short of a miracle for southeastern Arizona. We decided to make the trip anyway, and pop in to a couple of thrift stores to see what we could see. I guess everybody else had the same idea because the stores were packed. We did manage to find some treasures though, and what I did find was really well priced. We also saw the movie 9, which was great for my 8 year old sci-fi lover, but it would definitely be a little scary for younger ones, so beware if you’re planning on taking the kiddos to see it. Anyway, on to my finds!

I found this brassy builder-grade chandelier at the Habitat For Humanity Re-Store for $2.50. YAY! I’m going to fix it up much like on on the Stylish House Blog. I love that it is the same exact style as the one I found, I’m going to use a different color scheme, though.

Don’t you just love my dead Arizona grass and the lovely trails my dogs have worn through it?

I found this super cute vintage-style (but new) Disneyland souvenir plate. I love Disneyland, and this will look great on my kitchen wall when I re-do my cabinets. I can’t wait.

It was half off, too so it was actually only $1

I credit this find to my DH at the St. Vincent de Paul store. It was outside in THE RAIN! What?!?! Anybody know what it is, it’s not just a cute table.

TADA! It’s a sewing machine! I was so excited when the guy marked it with a price tag of only $7.50. AND……it works! The best I can figure, is that it was made sometime between 1910 and 1920 WOW! I love it. I see a couple of coats of a nice robins egg blue in her future.

I also picked up a few other things; a little crystal/glass pitcher thing, a glass hobnail jar, a 3 piece set of smoked glass bowls, a mod looking candy dish and a neat mug made out of a bottle for my DH. I spent about $20 for everything I bought, including the chandelier.

We had a nice Saturday, in spite of the rain.

Family Name in a Picture Frame $.65!

2009-10-01T13:14:00.001-07:00

I always, always, always pick up any decent frames that I see for cheap. You can do so many things with them besides framing and displaying your favorite snap shots. You can make trays out of them, you can take out the glass and use them to add interest to a wall display, you can lean them up against each other and create an eye catching geometric display, you can turn fabric or fancy paper in to art….The options are endless. I like to keep a stash in all different sizes, but I’ve yet to find and nice ones that are bigger than 11X14, so if you find any, grab them because I have a feeling they’re few and far between.

I had this big, ugly brown and gold frame that I could not get the glass out of. I was going to spray paint it and then hang it on the wall, empty around a smaller piece, but that wasn’t happening with the glass still in it. It’s a good sturdy frame, so I taped up the glass and sprayed it with Krylon Hyacinth, a grey-ed purple that I LOVE.

I also have some super cute Amy Butler paper that I bought at Michael’s with my coupon last week, and I’ve been itching to use it. I (big puffy heart) Amy Butler, but doesn’t everybody?!

Anyway, I’ve been wanting an EST. sign for above my coat closet door in the living room. Hubs is not crazy about the idea of wall vinyl, he thinks it will look like stickers on the wall. I have to admit, having it be the first thing anybody sees when they walk in the door might be a little permanent for my taste. So, I decided to make one out of a frame instead.

I printed out our last name and the date, and then added a cute little clip art fleur. First, I taped it onto the back of the glass and traced it out on to the front with a sharpie. I then removed the paper and just painted along the lines on the back of the glass with black craft paint and a fine point brush. It took a couple of coats. As you can see, I'm not the best painter ever, but I think it came out ok. I could have made the print out in to a stencil and done it that way, but I SUCK at stenciling and it would have looked way worse. Trust me.

After everything was dry, I attached some of the Amy Butler paper behind it and then reattached the frame’s backing. One cool thing about this is, if I get sick of the paper, I can just pull it out (I hot glued it to the frame) and put up something different.

I also made this one out of another frame that had the glass stuck in it. I used the same technique, but after I painted on the letter, I sprayed the glass black. It will probably be shelf decor in my office or something. It literally took 10 minutes, I dried my craft paint with my hair dryer because patience is not my strong point.

The big frame cost .50 at a thrift store, the paper was about .15 and I had the paint from another project I did. Not bad for a .65 EST. sign, huh? The smaller frame was a buck at a garage sale. My big fat $1.65 craft day, I guess it keeps me busy right?

Join us over at A Soft Place to Land for Kimba's DIY Day Party!

DIY: Haunted Birdhouse for Halloween

2009-09-29T16:47:00.000-07:00

I saw some really cute haunted birdhouses over at Jannypie Crafts and decided that I had to make one myself. I bought the birdhouse about a month ago and I just got around to altereing it today. It took most of the afternoon, but it was a lot of fun to do and came out really cute. My 7 year old is wants to make some haunted houses out of popsicles sticks this weekend after he saw one that I was working on. That's a big deal for him, because he's usually not into crafts.

The list of supplies is minimum, just a birdhouse, some paint, and some decorations or whatever you want to embelish it with. I just used some things I've bought for halloween crafts at dollar stores and built a sign, a fence and some shutters out of popsicle sticks. If you even think you might want to try it, go for it! It's a fun craft to do.

I'm linking to DIY Day at Kimba's this week, again!

Menu Plan Monday

2009-09-27T20:54:00.001-07:00

I’m linking up to Menu Plan Monday over at Orgjunkie this week. I really like having a plan to follow for the week. I also like the fact that I can make a quick store run on Monday and grab any items that I’m missing for the meals I’m planning instead of running in at the last minute each day.

Monday- Homemade French Onion Soup and Cheese Toast

Tuesday- Sweet and Sour Chicken from TastyKitchen

Wednesday- Homemade Turkey and Rice Soup

Thursday- London Broil, Mashed Potatoes and Green Beans

Friday- Frozen Lasagna, Salad and Garlic Bread

Saturday- Jalapeno Bacon Chicken Thighs, Baked Potatoes and Corn

Sunday- French Toast Casserole and Fruit

Have a great week!

Some Halloween DIY Goodies

2009-09-23T14:30:00.000-07:00

I LOVE HALLOWEEN! It's my favorite holiday! I really love anything that is Vintage Halloween. The jack-o-lanterns and black cats and the little dancing devils make my heart go pitter-patter. Martha's website has some cut printable Halloween stuff that is definetly worth a look if you want to make some cheapie Halloween decorations.

I picked up some vintage brass frames over the weekend at a thrift store-3 for 3.99. I didn't really know what I would do with them until this morning. I'm trying to empty my "to be altered" box so I decided I'd work on these. I printed out some Halloween stuff that I had on my computer and used some paint to make everything look a little more finished. I love that this was basically a free project because after Halloween, I'll just switch out what's in the frame with something that is appropriate for the next holiday. Anyway, here's what I came up with today.

These are on the shelf behind my front door. The shelf is not that close to the wall color IRL, it's green and the wall is tan. The Halloween bust is from the Dollar Tree, I just painted him with Rustoleum Almond because it was handy.

I linked up to DIY Day over at A Soft Place To Land. There's always lots of great DIYs to check out there!

The Pinata is Done!

2009-09-23T14:18:00.000-07:00

I finished the pinata I was working on yesterday. It wasn't really that hard and it didn't really take that long. I think the worst part was gluing on all of the crepe paper. For the facial features, I just drew on white card stock and the colored it with a black sharpie, I then attached the pieces with hot glue. I'm not all that happy with the eye placement, but whatever, it's for 8 year olds. I filled it with about 5 pounds of "the good candy". No tootsie rolls or peppermints, LOL!

I found a great website about pinata making, I really wouldn't have known what to do if I hadn't been able to read PinataBoy.com If you want to try making or a pinata or just look at some pictures of some really amazing ones, you should check it out, too!

DIY: Skull Pinata

2009-09-18T18:37:00.000-07:00

On the way to school Wednesday, my sweet angel of a second grader informed me that he'd like to have a real birthday party this year, with friends from school and everything. Ummmm okay. I am so not a "mingle with people I don't know and make small talk" kind of person, so I'm not really looking forward to it. But, being a mom means my discomfort falls second to my son's happiness, so birthday party it is.

I started today on making a pinata for the party because I hate spending $20-30 on a pinata for the kids to beat up and destroy. I made a form out of a punch balloon thingy and some cardboard. My DH promises that it will eventually look like a skull, but I'm not convinced yet. I made the paper mache paste out of flour and water, mainly because I was feeling too cheap to go and buy a bunch of Elmer's glue, and I already had flour in the pantry.

The plan is to cover it in about 6-7 layers of paper mache, paint it white and then wrap it in white crepe paper. I think I'll make the facial details separately and the cut them out and glue them on. I hope that it turns out decently, but I guess the kids won't really care either way as long as I don't fill it with tootsie rolls and peppermints. Kids never eat those.

Santa Fe Style Pine Table to Country Chic Part 2

2009-09-16T09:46:00.000-07:00

I finished the first dining chair in my set today. I wanted to upholster all of the seats, but I remembered that when we assembled the chairs, we used wood glue along with the bolts that they came with. It took about an hour and a half to distress the paint and rub it with water based Minwax stain to get the look I was going for. I just wiped the stain on and then immediately wiped it off with a damp towel. I like how it turned out and it's seems to me that these chairs are begging for some naihead trim in french natural to pretty them up a bit. What do you think?

Here she is next to the next victim

The difference a little paint can make is amazing, to me. I can't wait to get started on the table.

Disclaimer: That is not my ugly fence or junky motorcycle, but that is my pathetic garden in the background.

$5 Dinner Challenge: Turkey Burgers

2009-09-14T23:45:00.000-07:00

Here's my recipe for the $5 Dinner Challenge. I love $5 Dinners for cheap and HEALTHY menu ideas.

We eat turkey burgers way more often than we eat beef burgers. They are a lot healthier for you so that makes them almost guilt free. You can usually get ground turkey really cheap, too.

Delicious Turkey Burgers (serves 4)

1 lb lean ground turkey (2.69)
1 egg (.10)
1/4 cup of seasoned bread crumbs (.10)
a few shakes of worcestershire sauce
seasonings to taste
4 hamburger buns (.50)

Mix all ingredients together and divide into four equal patties. Cook in pan that has been liberally sprayed with cooking spray. Add whatever toppings your family enjoys and have an easy and cheap meal that is relatively healthy, as well. You can also prepare the patties ahead and freeze them until needed.

Santa Fe Style Pine Table to Country Chic Part 1

2009-09-14T17:05:00.000-07:00

Our dining set is solid pine and needs to be refinished. I bought it about 4 years ago when I was in to more southwest decor. It looks very Santa Fe in the honey stain and blocky lines with large nail head detail. It's in good shape structurally so I don't really want to replace it just yet, and there's lots of other things I can find to spend the money on anyway. I have paint primer,stain etc, already so, a re-do should bearly nearly free. Yay! That's my favorite price. I'm just going to do one chair at a time and then do the table. For now, the plan is to paint the chairs, along with the table legs in Crisp Linen White from Glidden, and stain the top of the table to dark walnut. I started on one chair today. I sanded off the poly that I applied to the seat when we bought the set and put one two coats of Kilz 2 primer, sanding after each. I'm going for a distressed look, so I sanded some of the edges and rubbed them with a tea light to make them easier to distress later.

Here's the before picture of my table in it's natural state; cluttered with tools, pieces of projects and jars for catching bugs.

Here's what I got done today

I love Kilz 2 for primering furniture. I use it when I'm either feeling too cheap or not lazy enough to use the Kilz spray primer. I have a whole gallon of Kilz 2 to use up, so I decided to use it on this project It covers nicely in one coat and has a nice and thick consistency. The only bad thing is that it dries kind of rough, so I choose to sand after each coat, but you probably really don't have to. It dries super fast too, I can sand and recoat within an hour if I'm feeling motivated enough. And it only has a mild stink, as opposed to the migraine-causing odor of oil primers. Blech!

Menu Plan Monday

2009-09-12T12:06:00.000-07:00

In addition to crafting and furniture re-finishing, I really enjoy cooking and baking. Since I'm a new blogger, I decided to participate in Menu Plan Monday at orgjunkie.com. I have been planning menus ever since my son was born and I chose to stay home with him. It just seems to make my week go by so much smoother.

Here's what I'm making this week:

Monday- Leftovers form Sunday Night's BBQ
Tuesday- BBQ Pork Sandwiches (adapted from The Pioneer Woman's Pulled Pork Recipe) and Veggies with Ranch dip
Wednesday- Chicken, Black Bean, and Rice Burritos
Thursday- Stouffers Frozen Lasagna, and Salad
Friday- Steak and Veggie Kabobs with Steamed rice
Saturday-Turkey and Monterrey Jack Quesadillas with Cranberry Salsa
Sunday- French Toast, Turkey Sausage and Fruit

Most of this is already in my freezer. I'm trying to use up all of the leftovers I've put up over the past couple of months.

Old Tin Tray to Fancy Magentic Message Board

2009-09-12T10:40:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I decided to pick an object out of my "To Be Altered" box and make something with it. That box is just about overflowing and I need to clear some things out (to make room for more, of course). I bought this tray a few weeks ago at a local thrift for .25 or.50. It's ugly and faded and is begging to be made into something pretty and useful instead of being tossed in a landfill. So, here is what I did:

Tray Before

Meet three of my best friends plus some wrapping paper, some ribbon and some E6000 Glue (love this stuff!)

The ugly tray, all prettied up and hanging (from an old drawer pull glued onto a nail) in the office.

I had all of the supplies for this project already on hand, so the cost for this was just what I paid for the tray. I don't know what I'll post on it, but there's always something, right?

DIY Day at A Soft Place to Land: My Office

2009-09-11T08:45:00.000-07:00

It doesn't get much more DIY than this. This tiny 8X11 room started out as a "closet/dressing room". Hrmmm, ok. Let me just say that our house has kind of an odd floor plan, the back part is a addition called a "mother in law" suite, it's 4 rooms which will be an office, a work out room, a small full bath and the family room/ media room (AKA room where DH and DS can blow things up on the PS3 without me having to listen to it). Anyway, the office had missing dry wall, a gap where a door was apparently bricked up but was never framed in, and bare concrete floor. So I painted it Honeydew by Behr and rolled on a nice chalkboard surface behind the desk. I put up beadboard and tin ceiling tiles, then DH built the laminate top computer station. Um, yeah, it's not finished yet and needs a lot of trim work still, but we're getting there and I think it will be awesome when we're done. I'm linking up top DIY Day over at A Soft Place to Land. There tons of inspiring DIY projects over there to check out.

Before and After: Goodwill Dresser to Office Storage

2009-09-10T11:39:00.000-07:00

I decided I wanted to get in on Sarah's B&A Party over at Thrifty Decor Chick.

Heres' a dresser I picked up at Goodwill for only $14.99, complete with two tone yellow paint job and the doodlings of a bored twelve year old girl on the top. After some sanding (and lots of yellow dust on everything), some spray primer and some gorgeous purple paint, this fits perfectly in my as yet unfinished office. It holds my paper, pens, stamps, bills, and all of that other office-y stuff that is a pain in the ass to organize. It'll do for less than $30.

Before:

After:

Please excuse the still-in-the-wall flooring spacers, it's a work in progress. My office is also not really painted yellow. It's Honeydew by Behr and it's lovely in my little windowless office space.

My First Post!!

2009-09-09T16:36:00.000-07:00

So, I've been inspred by all of you lovely people with amazing decorating and home improvement blogs. I love taking ugly things and making the fresh new and exciting, all on the cheap1 I've recently been falling in love with furniture refinishing. There are some really decent pieces out there to be had for not a lot of money. I'm planning on sharing my transformation here and hope to inspire others to make old things new again, just as other bloggers have have inspired me.