Umbrella Holder

Our office has desperately been needing a home for our umbrellas and I found this "holder" at none other than....you guessed it....GoodWill for only $2.00. 

Originally I was going to spray paint it, but like I learned this past weekend...It's too cold for spray paint right now! Not wanting to wait, I decided to decoupage it.  

First I planned on using some scrapbook paper, but then decided I would probably be too particular and it just wouldn't look as good as I wanted it to. So, I settled for the next best thing....magazines! 

I tore out pieces that were fun, bright, and had patterns. Then I started glueing them on in random ways and covering them with more glue. 

After it finally dried this is what I had! 

For those of you who dont know, I work in the Human Resources office at Stephens College. Stephens is well known for their fashion and design, so I decided to capture a little of that for our office. 

I thought about putting river rock in the bottom to help pull the water away from the umbrellas when they are wet. Not sure if it will work though. Does anyone have any better ideas? 

TOTAL COSTS
Holder         $2.00
ModPodge  FREE (had on hand)
Magazines  FREE (had on hand)

        Total    $2.00 

Bouquet of Flower Pens

I'm been thinking that my desk at work looks pretty boring lately, so I decided to add a little color to it. 

While at Dollar Tree today I spotted some pretty pink flowers and then it's like a little light went off in my head and I thought, "I should attach these to pens". So I bought the flowers and brought them home. 

First I cut off the bottoms of the flowers and took off the fake leaves. I then started wrapping floral tape around the pen until it looked like this. 

I wasn't quite sure how to make it stick so I used hot glue at the end. I also left enough room so the cap would go on the pen. I repeated this process until I had done all 7 pens 

Total Costs: 

Flowers        $1.00
Floral Tape  $0.15 (whole roll was $1.00)
Pen Holder   $0.50 (got at garage sale)
Hot Glue       $0.05 (25 sticks for $1.00)


GRAND TOTAL: $1.70

Thrifty Thursday

Last weekend when I went home to STL I found some awesome deals at GoodWill...Not sure If I should mention my mom and I went to THREE in one day?! Hey, we were on a roll. At the first GW I got this table. 

I know it doesn't look like much, but for $20 I couldn't pass it up; It's perfect for a "sewing center". As soon as it's warm enough to paint again you'd better believe you're going to see a complete transformation done to this baby! 

We didn't have much luck at GW #2, but at GW #3 we hit the jackpot! We went strictly looking for a chair to go with a my new table/desk. We found it! The chair was ticketed for $4.00, which is a steal! However, soon after we stuck it in our cart a man working there came up and said, "Furniture is 50% off today". WHAT!?!?! This chair is only $2.00? YAHOO!! 

I originally only planned to get the chair, but then I spotted this filing cabinet. I had been wanting one, but couldn't find a decent price on any of them. It was originally marked $18, which I think is still too high since the drawers don't close all the way and there isn't a key. However, with the 50% it was only $9.00. I figured why not, I probably won't find one much cheaper and this will just be another fixer-upper for me to share with you all! 

P.S. I still can't believe ALL OF THIS fit in my little G6 :)

Stairway Art

This is actually a project I worked on over Christmas Break, but still wanted to share. My room at my parents house is in the attic so I definitely get my exercise on the stairs when I am home (sometimes I even fall down them...ouch). I use to have a wooden star on the wall, but then my mom took it down sometime while I was away at college. Ever since then the stairway has just been kind of blah...so with time on my hands I decided to add some family history to it. (Sorry no before picture). 

The inspiration to do this really came from Lacey! I love the way she organized her pictures in their house. Hers are pretty high quality pictures, but I took the cheap route. The photos really came from everywhere. Some were printed at Wal-Mart, a couple I found in a box of photos, and a few (the black and white ones) use to be in our hallway in Licking. 

I bought all of the frames with colored photos in them for $7.00 at Wal-Mart. This was a Black Friday deal that Wal-Mart had, but luckily they still had a few left during Christmas. (This looks completely different in person...a lot better actually! It was really hard to get a good photo because of the angle). 

That's me in Preschool! 

Andrew during the toss-ball years...trying not to smile!

Hailey monster when she was about a year old. 

Total Costs 
12 Black Pictures frames  $7.00
Printed Photos                  $3.00
Old Photos + Frames       $0.00 (already had)
Sticky Tack                       $1.50
Nails                                 $0.00 (already had)
ESTIMATED $11.50 

Top 10 Things I'm Enjoying This Winter

1.    My small and easy to heat FREE dorm room(s). 

2. Curling up and watching all the season of Bones. Isn't Booth (David Boreanaz) smoking hot!?!     

3.    Learning how to use my new canon camera. 

4.    Planning my trip to Ireland.

5.    Pilates with Pam...and all my other dedicated Pilates friends.

6.    My midnight pomegranate hand sanitizer/lotion.

7.    Eating Chili...It's my favorite! (Yes I made this).

8.    MY BLOG/WEBSITE :)
9.    Being able to walk to work instead of driving.
10.  Taking hot showers before bed every night. 

---

Spoons Turned into Art

This weeks inspiration comes from a blog byTatertots and Jello. If you have been following me I'm sure you remember the silverware I found last week at GoodWill for $2.





Well, after reading Tatertots blog I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it...I just wasn't really sure how to go about doing it. So I begun by bending the spoons and hot gluing them together.
Once the spoons were bent I cut out material and placed it over a cardboard circle. I felt like this needed a little something extra to make it really pop so I asked my (also crafty) friend Kat if I could have some buttons. 





While at the flea market (where I scored my awesome new chair) I found an old wooden frame for a $1. It was pretty scratched up but really sturdy, so I purchased it for this project.





The one bad thing about this frame is it didn't come with a back...so I made one. We always have left over cardboard boxes at work so I brought one home and cut it to fit the back.

After spray painting the frame black (that was interesting in winter) I searched through my fabric and found some black I thought would look really well. I then took wooden letters I already had and painted them a gold color to match the fabric. And here is what I got



I LOVE IT! I think it was the perfect addition to my little "eating area". 

Total Estimated Costs for Project

Frame: $1
Spoons: $1 (forks and spoons were $2)
Fabric: $1
Buttons: FREE
Letters: Already had on hand (est: $0.50)
Gold Paint: Already had on hand (est: $0.50)
Cardboard: Free
Hot Glue: Already had on hand (est: $0.50)
Spray Paint: Already had on hand (est: $0.50)

TOTAL: $ 5.00

My purse gets a Makeover

I recently lost a button on my purse and was devastated. I love this purse because it's easy to carry and the color is great for the season. However, I haven't been carrying it recently due to it looking rather tacky. 



Fed up and tired of not being able to use my purse I went to JoAnn's one day to search through their buttons. They have quite the selection! I found some very detailed ones that I thought would look perfect. The buttons were originally $3.29 for a pair, but with my 40% off coupon I got them for a little under $2.00. 



I couldn't be happier with the way it turned out. I personally think these buttons look better than the cheap shiny ones that came on the purse. YAH, for being able to use my purse again! :) 

Old to New- A Pillow Story

Over Christmas break I learned how to make pillows and sort of got on a kick. I went to Goodwill and found three pillows I thought were the perfect size and price...$4 for all three. This is why I love Goodwill! 

I chose to use already made pillows as my forms because lets face it, you can't beat $4. Had I purchased stuffing or forms at a crafting store like Michael's or JoAnn's I would have paid around $30 for all three. 

As you can see the pillows definitely aren't my style, but I threw them in the washer and then starting making my pillow slips. I chose to do pillow slips so I could wash them easier and more frequently without hurting the shape of the pillow. 

In the end between the fabric and the cost of the pillows I wound up spending about $15 for all three pillows. You could certainly do it for less...I just happened to pick out one of the most expensive materials...oops. However, I think when you make your own pillows you can afford to splurge a little. After all, I did make them for cheaper than what I would have paid in just pillow forms! 

Don't they look wonderful in my new chair!?! 

The Search for a Chair has FINALLY ended!

To give you a little back history on my search for the "perfect" chair.

Over Thanksgiving break I waited in line outside Weekends Only (furniture store) for 30 minutes just to get a chair. I was 4th in line and there were 6 so I was supposed to be "guaranteed" to get one. Well by the time I got in the store and had all my information logged into the system there were no more chairs left. That's right. I was guaranteed, yet didn't get one. That's because an unidentified man sitting in his truck went straight to the counter and purchased two. Talk about cheating the system. After this event I was just annoyed and gave up on the search.

Almost two months later I was walking around a local Flea Market called "Itchy's" (cleaver huh?) and found the perfect chair! I was unable to pick it up yesterday because I needed an SUV to transport it so today a friend came to the rescue and helped me move it. Thanks Chayla!

If chairs could talk I think mine would tell me just how much she loves her new home!! 



This story is to show there is truth behind my favorite saying, "Everything happens for a reason". Even though I stood in line for 30 minutes I dont think I was "meant" to have that chair from weekends only. Now this chair on the other hand...PERFECT! 

Applique

I wasn't going to post tonight since I spent all night slaving over homemade potato soup. That's right...I cooked from SCRATCH, whole milk and all! But then I decided I couldn't NOT blog during my first week. So I appliqued a onesie. I played around with some of the settings on the sewing machine and this is how my project turned out...




I think it turned out rather well for my first time!