Out With the Old, In With the New

Like the title said, I have made some updates:) YIPPEE!!!!

I was given this area rug when my hubby was in school. My friend no longer needed/wanted it. Can you see why!?! Anyways, she was kind enough to let us have it. It served it's purpose well for 5 years.

I have been wanting a new one because this is not my style at all. I have been on the hunt for a few months now. I FINALLY found one I loved and loved the price as well;) Regularly $100 I got it for $80. On sale at Target!


















Close up of the amazing colors. I love it! This is the type of girl I am. Simple and comfortable.

I never actually had a rug in my kitchen in front of the sink. BUT I found this little beauty at Target on sale for $20 and I picked it up. I have been wanting a rug so I don't have to stand on the hard/cold tile while doing dishes. 

 Here is a close up of the colors. Shaggy browns, tans, and creams. LOVE IT!

BUT, I am needing your help. How do I get ride of the annoying crease going down the middle? I have tried folding it the opposite way, but it is still there. Any suggestions?

A Wonderful Find

Layla Palmer at The Letter Cottage has an amazing fall mantel. Here is the WONDERFUL find. She offers that gorgeous photo in high resolution down-loadable for FREE. You heard me right, F-R-E-E. Now head over then and check out her amazing photos, blog, ideas, and much more. You won't be disappointed.

Living in Rentals

I have many friends who live in rentals. I saw this AMAZING idea off of an interier designer's web page Called "Little Green Notebook".

She just used colored tape on a wall to make a design. It was easy, gave a fun design to the white walls, and was easy to remove when moving out:) PERFECT!

A Few Things I {heart}

She's a Lady Cardigan tutorial on Ruffles and Stuff

Mummy blocks from How Does She

This dress by Sewing in No Mans Land. I just recently found this blog and I can't tell you HOW MUCH I LOVE IT!

Baby Pram with Kojo Designs

Picture frames from All Things Thrify

Stair make over by Centsational Girl

Arm and leg warmers from Crafty Chicks

This shirt by Gwenny Penny

This concludes a few projects that I {heart}. I hope you feel inspired. Now get going and create something!

Scrubbing Grout

It has been a VERY busy day. Hubby helped me scrub grout in the kitchen. After living in this house for 1 year, the grout was grossing me out. I couldn't stand it any more. So, we got our weapons of choice.

Then we scrubbed with all our muscles. Look at the difference.

After a brake to let the floors dry, we put on a clear protective coat.


















Putting this coat on was the hardest part because you can't leave it on the tile. The directions were very specific on what to do. So, we only did the kitchen and breakfast nook. Over half of our house is tile, so it will be done in sections. I'll let you know when we finally finish the entire house:) But for now, we can enjoy this section of the floor. Isn't it soooooooo clean!?!

Sister Crafts

When my sisters came we did loads of crafts. Here are 2 of the projects that I helped my sisters make.

This was for my nieces room. It's turned out so sweet. Now that I am looking at it I think my sister needs to spray paint the frame pink.

This was a birthday present my sister made for my mom. I did the vinyl for her.

I have more projects that I am waiting for my sisters to send pictures of, but I just wanted to share the ones I do have:)

Organizing

I have been organizing my house. Although some before pictures I will NEVER probably not share with you (too embarrassing)! I did think this was a safe one to post.

BEFORE

Our coat closet is the storage area of what ever the kids decide to through into it.

 We also put our shoes there too!

AFTER

$4 at target. A pink one for the princess and a blue one for the prince. I did vinyl with their names on them as well.

Jack-o-lantern Shirts

As promised, here is the tutorial on how to make jack-o-lantern shirt. You can find the hat tutorial HERE.

Supplies:
Women's tights are from Target

You can draw your own design, get a template off the internet. I used punkinhead font from dafont.com (the letter q).
Cut out a template for the faces with clear contact paper.

Paint edges in. I did a layer of black then a layer of glitter.






















I wanted black and white stripped sleaves, but I wanted easy. Sooooo, I just used a pair of leggings that I cut the length I wanted them to be + seam allowance.














Hem the wrist by folding over twice. Top stitch.














For the top, around my arm, I just made a casing and put elastic in it. It can be removed or added as needed. You could sew it directly to the shirt or wear a long sleeve striped shirt underneath. I just used what I already had;)

Pumpkin Beanie

Come one, come all, to the family pumpkin patch. Pumpkins this way.

My friend asked me to help her make hats for their Halloween costumes. They are being a family pumpkin patch. Soooooooooo, cute!  I decided to do a tutorial for you.


Supplies:















Get the pattern for the leaf and stem HERE and HERE.

Cut out pieces using pattern. You will need 2 leaf pieces and 1 stem piece.


Sew around the edges. Leave the end open that will be sewn into the pumpkin. Flip right side out and stuff. I just used left over fleece. Stuff all the way to the bottom and make it really full. It looks better when you sew over some of the stuffing because then the stem and leave will stick up instead of being floppy.















Trace around an old beanie.


















Sew around the edges.  Clip around the curve.

Line up the seams and pinch the middle.

Flip right side out and position your stem and leaf.

 Flip wrong side out and sew a small curve at the top. Reinforce where the leaves and stem are (arrows).

Cut excess fabric off.

Flip rights side out and sew seams up the sides around the entire hat. My hat is divided into 6 sections. I had to make 4 seams. This gives it a more realistic pumpkin look:) It also makes the bottom look like it has a slight scalloped edge.

Up tomorrow: making a pumpkin shirt.

 

Service Sewing

I have been thinking a lot lately about ways that I can use my talent/hobby to serve others. Because one little girl can only have so many home made dresses. Soooooooooooo....... I decided to start sewing for people in need, whether physical or emotional. I have a friend who is recently divorced. I love her guts and wanted her to know how much I love her. She has been through so much and I wanted to ease her burden in any way I could. She has four little kids, 3 boys and 1 girl. I decided to sew her princess a little dress. It is a small gesture, but one that I hope will allow her to feel she is loved, cared about, and can find a friend in me.

You know me! I love all things ruffly, frilly, flowery, and always have to add bling. So, I obviously HAD to make a matching flower clip.

The pattern for the dress can be found HERE. From my very talented friend Michelle. Check out her etsy shop at Ohsosassy. You won't be disappointed.

Small Investments

Lets have a chat about small investments with big pay offs.

We will start with 2 wall lights that look like this. Old, brass, outdated, and don't give off a lot of light.

Small investment ($28 for 2). Big pay off because now my house is a little more updated and I have more light in the halls. 

And old brass door handle with lots of sun damage and didn't match the black dead bolt. (hubby threw it away before I got a picture).  But I did find this picture. It's note good and I had to play with the lighting and exposure for the handle to show up, but you can get the idea. Click on the photo and you will see it a little better.

$100 for matching handle that looks a lot nicer for first impressions;) Next to do, paint door and frame.

A new welcome mat $12.











2 Old brass motion detectors. The sun had totally fried them. The motion detectors no longer worked and they just looked offal. Go on, click for a close up.

$50 for 2 and my house looks light a whole different building:)

 That is what I have been doing, rewiring, using power tools, and using band-aids.