Trash 2 Treasure Tuesday!

It's Trash 2 Treasure Tuesday with Kimm over at Reinvented! This week is a transformation of something I picked up at a thrift store a couple of weeks ago. It was an item I didn't take a picture of on thriftstore Thursday because I had already begun the project. I got this idea from Joy over at Joys of Home. Link directly to the project HERE. Inside my thrift store frame is a piece of burlap on which I painted an M for our last name and used the same leaf design that Joy did. Just printed off on my printer! :)

So here is the completed project. Like I said I missed taking a before picture but the frame was a gaudy gold.

Here is where I put it in my living room. The space was empty and I didn't want something square because of the two square pictures already there so thought this would be perfect

Joy used a light box to do hers. I didn't have a light box so I jerry riged one :) Here is what I did:

Two dining room chairs
A piece of glass spanning them (from an unused picture frame)
A table lamp that fit underneath with no shade

Here is a picture of the lamp underneath

It turned out perfect! The frame wasn't EXACTLY what I was looking for as I wanted something with more details like Joys had but I could not find an oval frame ANYWHERE! It is amazing! I even went to frame shops! Micheals used to carry some gorgeous ones but when I went there to get one they no longer carried them! But I think it still turned out great!

Happy Easter!

I told you a couple of weeks ago I would post pictures of my decorations for Easter/Spring. I am always a little nervous showing my house! So here it is. There is not too much. I try to just ad small touches. Especially since we go to my mother and father in loves so we don't have company here. If we did I would probably have more out.

Here is a bird who made a nest egg on my lamp :)

My centerpiece on my dining room table. Inspired by my idol Melaine of My Sweet Savannah

Found these candles at Fred Meyer. They go perfectly with my Robins egg theme!

Dining room table as a whole

I love this little bird from Target! He sits outside the bird cage which holds a nest and a fluffy chick. I can't get enough of those fluffy chicks! They make me smile!

My large apothecary jar you have seen filled with eggs. The small one in front holds peanut butter m&m's to eat... they made speckled ones this year :) It was fuller at one point ... tehe

I have two of these candle holders on my mantel. There is a skinny jar candle in the middle with Cadbury mini eggs around them.

Side shot of the apothecary jars. Do you see the blue egg I knitted? Love it!

Here is the whole mantel. Definately needs some work. As I said before I am currently working through one room at a time. Ignore the big black hole on the wall...errr I mean TV :)

Remember this cheese platter from Thrift Store Thursday that I bought for $1.29? Spray painted the wood part and now it is perfect for a little chick to have his nest protected :)

I just like him :) He's a robin's egg blue color and all crackly.

I hope you have enjoyed this little tour and that everyone has a wonderful Easter!!!!!!

Thrift Store Thursday

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I LOVE thrift store Thursday!!! I was REALLY bad about taking pictures this week though :( You see most of the time I go with a list of things in my head I am hunting for so it comes in the house and gets put where I had planned on it going.

Like this... I was looking for some sort of tray that could hold my dogs food and water to keep it from going all over the floor :) This was marked $6.99...but it was the colored tag that was 50% off so I got it for $3.50. Not bad... I love it!

Also found this bowl. I love this set and have other pieces. Slowly collecting as I find...I don't remember the cost but it was less than $1

This was the BEST find! I found 4 of these. They are Ikea frames that I was planning on buying from Ikea anyways for my bedroom. Even from Ikea I was going to paint them. I really hate going to Ikea! It's always a zoo. So I was thrilled...Cost? $14.99 each... saved...$20.00 total from the Ikea price :)

One trip I remembered to take pictures :)

Vase - $0.69
Cheese platter - $1.29... Originally marked $5.99 but was the colored tag on sale :)
Egg bowl - $0.99
Blue glass - $1.99


Not pictured:

An oval frame...I already painted it and it's in mid project. I had been looking EVERYWHERE for an oval frame! $9.99

2 white bowls. Pictured below as gift holders! :) $0.59 each

A cute pair of target(new) shorts for cousins baby - $2.00

An electric slicer - $0.99 (I bought this to use on my chair project below. The electric slicer cuts foam SOOO easily!)

A very successful thrifting week indeed :) What did you find this week? Head over to Homebody and Bloggeritaville and share with us!

An small easter gift

I showed you some "outside of the basket" ideas last week. I wanted to share what I ended up doing for my nieces. I have 3. I think they turned out pretty cute :) Little birds in their nests :)

Got 2 white bowls at Goodwill for $0.59 each :)
One egg shaped dish for $0.99 again at Goodwill
Reeses bird eggs were $0.99 each
brown paper basket filler - $1.00 at Dollar tree
1 bag of "Speckled" Easter M&M's - Approx. $2.50... I don't remember :)

Cost for 3 gifts? - Approx. $9 - Just $3 each!

Made two of these in the white bowl. It's hard to see but the bowl has the look of a cracked egg! :)

This is for the younger one.

I wrapped them in celophane and will add ribbon and tag :)

WFMW - Slipcovers

Well I missed putting in my link for works for me Wednesdays. I am on the west coast so on Pacific time so I miss cut offs all the time :( I shall post anyways :)

What works for me is slipcovers! I love them! Since I can't exactly spray paint my couch :) I have 4 animals - 2 cats and 2 dogs. So my upholstered furniture can become messy quite quickly! With slipcovers I can take them off and throw them in the washer and dryer to fix the mess quickly! Here are a couple pictures of my two current slipcovers in my living room.

I bought this couch for $30 on craigslist. It was just a couple blocks away :) It was faded but comfy. A chocolate brown slipcover and it is like new :) ....Do you see one of my dogs on the pillows? :) I can't keep them off! :)

I just bought this one yesterday. I really wish to not have the recliner... however you know men :) it was a nice color but was showing wear. Cat scratches :( etc. So I saw them on sale this week at Kohl's. The original price on this was $120 - on sale at Kohl's for $35! Well it was really on sale for $60. I thought it was the same one in the ad that was $35. They aparently didn't have any of the ones from the ad. So the checker... when I questioned $60!... took off the difference!! So I got the sale price that was in the ad!...$35...plus I had a coupon that was sent to me for another 15% off so I only actually paid $32 with the tax! So this proves slipcovers can be found for less than you may think!

Tuesday: Trash 2 Treasure!!

It's trash 2 treasure Tuesday's over at Reinvented. We FINALLY had a couple days of nice weather. Which means.... SPRAY PAINTING!! Seriously I had things lining up at my back door asking for paint. So today I completed two BIG ones... They weren't necessarily "trash" but they were someone's since I got both at goodwill! Enjoy!

I bought this nightstand for it's bones. Knowing I was going to paint it. I almost forgot to take a before picture so you can't see the UGLY hardware! :)

Nothing a $0.99 of flat black spray paint can't fix! Also added knobs. I changed out the knobs on all my furniture in the bedroom to this same knob. These are the knobs on everything else, Such as the closet doors. Black spray paint is the little black dress for furniture!!!

Next project: Recover old chair

I didn't get the true before picture of this :( But here it is stripped down. It had 4 layers of fabric and paint in places! The person who had recovered it before I bought it had used just glue to hold the fabric and such! It was not easy to strip! I have had this chair for a long time. I had put some fabric over but it wasn't working in my place anymore. So this time I took apart the entire thing. The only thing I reused was the wood :)

The after.. Beautiful isn't she? I used some ivory spray paint for the wood. Replaced foam on seat and back. And got new fabric and recovered. I took it all apart a couple days ago. Then today took it from the above to finish!! I absolutely LOVE this fabric. This is also going in my bedroom which I hope to have 99% complete by this weekend....

A closer look at the front. There is one fabric covered button in the middle that I tufted. I tried to do more but gave up and decided the one was good :)

Here's the back... yes it had fabric as well!

This was not an easy recovering project! But I am very pleased with the results! They say the rain will be coming back tomorrow... so I am glad I finished these projects!!! Did actually paint a couple of other things too.... I have been working on my bedroom for a month! sooooooo close now! I am going to try to "finish"my house over the next month. I am going to work on one room a week. The bedroom is the only one that had major changes. The others are just a little fluffing :) Stay tuned for updates!

Monday: Making Your Home a Haven: Choosing Love

It's Making Your Home a Haven Monday over at Tammy's Recipes. This weeks topic..."Choosing Love". I had just the thing for this one! Long story to start but here it goes...

My husband and I used to work in the same building...then across the street...then a few blocks away...We would have lunch together just about everyday...sometimes a lunch in the park, sometimes running errands, etc. Now I work from home. He is an hour away and so we obviously can't have lunch together anymore. He is taking a van pool most of the time now so doesn't really leave for lunch. I thought ... well heck this will be easy... take a microwave dinner and warm it up each day for lunch... he kept "forgetting" these. Not sure if he was truly forgetting them or purposefully forgetting them since the other day he asked "Can you make me lunches sometimes again". How can I argue? Is it more work for me? Yes. Does he work hard so I can stay at home and work? Yes. Last week was a busy week ... he kept asking... when are you going to go to the grocery store so you can make me lunch? I guess he was serious ;) So Sunday I did my grocery shopping and made him lunches for the week. I LOVE him and would do just about anything for him :)

How do you make a sack lunch show love??
Here's what I do :)

I make the whole weeks worth at one time and pack them all at that time. They are ready to just grab and go. I do just 4 days since usually he ends up having a lunch meeting once a week and even if he doesn't it is nice for him to have a lunch out once for the week.

I pack each lunch in these Ziploc containers. They are the perfect size!

Next I make the sandwiches. The type changes for some variety. This week was turkey.

String cheese for some calcium! And they have riddles on them ;)

Fruit. This changes almost each day. An apple, banana, peach etc.

Cashews. This changes each week. Sometimes it could be a bag of chips, crackers, other nuts. Basically whatever I have that gives a little salt and crunch. This stays the same all week.

A fiber one bar. Have to make sure to get enough fiber!

A Dr. Pepper.... I am addicted to this so it's what we have in our fridge :) Sometimes I do juices or small bottles of water instead

Fruit snacks... John Deer ones at that! Why not they are fun :) He likes them

"Homemade" cookies...by homemade I mean the break and take kind :) Told you before I don't cook :) I don't always make them...sometimes I buy pre-made... but he was lucky this week :)

And of course a love note!! I got these little "inspirations" at the goodwill for cheep. Less than a dollar for a box of them. I got two varieties. One is "May your dreams come true" the other is "I believe in you" They seemed appropriate for him being at work ;) They have a place on the back for a note :) I write a different message each day.

This is the front. You open it and it displays a little quote.

Most of the time I also do a bag of baby carrots but I forgot this week. So I hit all the food groups right? :) You may be thinking... wow that is a lot of food... but come on he's a growing boy right? hehe. Really he eats it throughout the day...he might have the fruit for breakfast when he gets to work... because who wants to eat at 5:30 am!!!! and the fiber bar for an afternoon snack... or something like that :)

Last - there is also a note on the inside of the front door this week that says "Don't forget your lunch! I love you" Didn't take a pic sorry :) hehe

So... even though it takes me more time, energy etc. to make this lunch... I do it to choose love. So he knows I love him and is reminded throughout the entire day :)

Hope you are all finding time to show love ... it really makes a house into a home and a haven!!!

Check out Tammy's post on this weeks Making your home a haven for links to more ideas!

Thrift Store Thursday

Holly over at Homebody hosts Thrift Store Thursdays. This is my first week participating but it is definitely right up my ally! So here is what I found this week.

On Tuesday I went to the Goodwill right down the road from my house. I had not been feeling well for a couple days and really felt getting out of the house would do me some good. Was glad I did!
Found:
1. A beautiful blue pot - $1.99
2. 5 - white un-used taper candles - $1.99 (I had been looking for some!! - I will show you why in a later post)
3. A bag of styrofoam eggs - $0.99 (used this for the button project below)
4. 2 - cream colored bowls - $0.99 each
5. A cream dish of some sorts - $0.59 (I used this to put our change in!)

Very successful day indeed :) You can see all the colors I use in my home in this picture I think :)





On Wednesday I was feeling better. I went with my cousin to run errands. Went by my favorite goodwill of all. No wonderful finds. I literally was pulling everything like the diaper bag and purses out of the cart thinking I must have gotten something else.. but there was nothing. Only two things on this trip - Only one pictured.

1. Magnetic "spice" holder - $3.99 (I think I will use this in my office for those little office things)
2. An elmo drum for my cousins daughter - $1.99 (Not pictured because it went right home with her :)
3. My cousin also bought a record (Actually two inside) - $0.99 (I am going to try to make into a frame for her...anyone know how to cut out the center???)
Hope everyone had a successful week of saving money at the thrift stores!

Craftster Challenge - Buttons, Buttons, Buttons

There was a challenge over at Craftster - check it out there are a few more days left to enter. Here is what I did:






I'm in spring crafting mode. I guess it's hoping that it will bring us actual spring weather. So I incorporated my button project into a spring one. I had some buttons for scrapbooking projects and had just the right color! I really love robins eggs this time of year. So I took a styrofoam egg and used glue dots to put the buttons on it. It was super simple this way! I did a little bit of layering to add a bit more interest. i probably would have done a bit more but ran out of buttons. Went to micheals today to see if I could find more but couldn't. So for now just one lonely button egg :(

I'm sure you could use a plastic egg but it wouldn't be as pliable. You could also paint the egg before so the little bits showing through were the same or a different color. I'm sure there are a million other ways to do this as well but I'm happy with my results.

First 2 pictures are just the egg. Second 2 show where I put it - with my other blue eggs.