Deal Alert

I found a steal of a deal a few weeks ago, and wanted to share before it's gone.

I've been pining over this egg holder at Anthro for awhile now.  And when I've got $14 to throw around, I just never think to go grab it.

Whilst trolling around Jo-Ann's a few weeks ago, I saw a rather similar version in a gross pastel blue-green color.  With a coupon + sale, I snatched that baby up for less than $4.  A few coats of high-gloss white spray paint, she's a welcome addition to the fridge

Actually, it's out on the counter now, displaying some plastic easter eggs.  I really meant to get some cute eggs this Easter, but considering how much these get man-handled by the littles, it's probably best I stuck to the dollar-store variety.

For 10 bucks off, I'd say it's a pretty good imitation.

Happy Friday!

I Heart Free Art

I suspect I've been flagged at Lowe's.

I've been doing some projects around here, with one central theme:  free.

Thanks to Pinterest, I've discovered that the best material for free art supplies is paint chips.

Here's what I've made with paint chips + mod podge:

 

We have this terribly awkward wall in our kitchen.  It's a walkway + has stairs on both sides.  And just for good measure, the thermostat was hung with no rhyme or reason.  But these (heavily inspired by some at World Market), help.

  

The folks over at Young House Love did something akin to this.  We've got this guy hung near our TV.  You know I got the frame at the ol' GW.  Excuse the awkward angle...the sun was producing a glare.

So if you need me, I'm the crazy lady squirreling away paint samples from Lowe's.

Also?  These are terrible iPhone pics...my computer recently decided to start rejecting my camera card.  Awesome.

Vintage Bow Skirt

When I was home a few weeks ago, my mom got a new dress coat.  It was high time, since I'm pretty sure she'd had the last one since I was born, or at least very small.  I'm 28.

I'd seen this one, and knew I wanted to copy the idea.

Here I am, modeling this totally awesome coat:

I know, right?  I should have just left it as a coat.

It really was an easy project.  I just cut a panel of the coat, added some darts here and there, a high waistband, a zipper, and then, of course, a bow.

I even used the existing lining.  Here she is:

Perfect for church!

On the First Day of Christmas...

...my true love gave to me:

printable holiday gift tags!

This year, my goal is to be 'wrapped and done by December 1'.  I'm right on track!

Here are the gift tags I used this year, which I created to coordinate with my gift wrap.  Helllloooooo I-have-a-photoshop-addiction.

Here's the image, if you'd like to use my tags.  Just right-click and choose "Save As" to save it to your computer.

 

Check back throughout the holiday season for the rest of my holiday series!

Homebucks

It should come as no surprise to you that I've completely trained my 3-year-old to love Starbucks.  It is our easiest bribery tool, and also works well for rewards.  And snacks.  And lunch.

The Sunbean at a tea party at Starbucks on her 3rd birthday.

Sometimes, she gets a hankering for Starbucks when it just isn't possible to go, like when our fun money is spent for the week or on a Sunday.  So MacGyver and I play a little game called 'Homebucks'.  We make a 'brown milk' and eat a treat.

This last Sunday, it was me who needed the Homebucks.  I really wanted one of those giant oatmeal cookies from Starbucks.  A little Pinterest-addiction later, and I found this recipe.  Oh man, it was a dead ringer for Starbucks.  I even made them giant-size.  I used the berry medley from Trader Joe's, instead of the raisin/cranberry mix the recipe calls for.

They were so tasty.  I'm only a tiny bit embarrassed to tell you that between MacGyver and I, we ate the entire batch on Sunday night.  Calories don't count on Sundays.

Chalk it Up to Goodwill

Have I told you about the Goodwill stores here?  They are amazing.  I hated the Goodwills where we used to live.  They were skanky and gross and expensive.  But here?  They're still skanky and gross, and sometimes expensive, but they've got good stuff.  What kind of stuff?

Well, for one, Target donates all of the clearance items that don't sell.  Yes.  You read that correctly.  It's amazing.  So the kids and I swing by the local store at least once a week.

When we first moved here, we didn't have any of our furniture.  Still don't, actually.  We're {patiently?} waiting for our house to sell.  We lived for 27 days {not that I was counting} in the 'resort camping' lifestyle.  I'm not a fan.  We now have a king-sized bed and a lovely new sofa.

Before that lovely sofa arrived, I wanted to DIY some type of coffee table.  I decided that I'd know it when I saw it, and headed off to the old GW.  That's what the cool kids are calling it these days:  GW.  I came home with this beauty:

MacGyver did not share my vision.  Also, that is not our lovely new sofa.  That is a crappy Ikea thing we got years ago.  And a lawn chair.  Ah, memories.

But I knew she had good bones, and decided to make the top a chalkboard.  I knew the adults kids would love it.  I scampered off to Lowe's to grab some chalkboard paint and nearly had an aneurysm.  $25 for an itty-bitty can?  No thanks.  I decided to try Martha Stewart's method for chalkboard paint.

 I very much suggest using a throw-away container for mixing.  The obvious choice for mixing would be a paint stick.  I didn't have one, so I used both a straw and a plastic spoon.

Since I really wanted the actual look of a chalkboard, I went with a classic gray color, but you can do any color you want.  I bought the 94-cent carton of grout, and a little $2 trial size of gray paint, so this was a pretty cheap project.  For the legs, I decided to add some color and go bright yellow.  I had a coupon for a free tester from Benjamin Moore, so I scouted out the local Benjamin Moore retailer for that.

The whole project was pretty easy.  Here's the finished table:

The verdict?  We all love it.  The Sunbean loves drawing on it, and we think it will be great for keeping score while playing games with friends.  The space still needs some serious work, but we're happy with what we've got so far.

Here's a cost breakdown for you:

table (Goodwill):  $10
grout (Lowe's):  $.94
gray paint (Lowe's):  $1.94
fresh foam brush (Lowe's):  $.98
yellow paint (Creative Paints):  free
supplies:  already owned

total:  $13.86

Winning!

Spickity-Span

For a few glorious days at the beginning of our move, we had cable. I made it my job to watch TLC and HGTV so I could get my fix.

While exposed to the larger repertoire of commercials, I saw an ad for the Libman Freedom Mop. Once I realized my Swiffer was still at the old house, I grabbed the Libman mop on my next Target run.

Seriously, I've not been so pleased with a product in a long, long time. I love that the solution bottle is refillable, and that the cleaning pad is washable. I spent 15 bucks once, and now I'm done.

Plus, it works really well. It cleans my disgusting I-have-two-kids-a-husband-and-crazy-hair floor.

The folks at Libman didn't pay me for this (they don't know I exist), I just really like it.

You would, too.

Christmas for My Fellow Type-As

Remember that one time, when I had a blog I actually updated? This move has seriously thrown off my routine.

Anyway, one thing that has really been taking my time is this sweet Christmas shopping app I found. I actually broke down and paid $.99 for it, which is completely out of character for me.

But this app is sweet. I'm so excited about Christmas shopping. It allows you to add individuals, and then organize them into groups. You can add gift ideas for each person, and then sort by stores.

And! There is a handy little bar graph that shows the percentage of gifts you've purchased.

Oh, and it is password-protected, for nosy husbands and children.

It's called 'The Christmas List' if you're interested.

Happy Organizing.

Giveaway: PSA Essentials

I few months back, I was contacted by Libby at PSA Essentials.  She asked if I'd be willing to try out a custom stamp and review it on the ol' blog.  So about a week later, I got a fun little package in the mail, full of goodies:

Basically, it's a self-inking custom stamp.  You know, like those return address stamp things.  Except this one is modern and fun.  They have tons of different designs to choose from.

But wait.  Not only is it a cool custom stamp, it peels off (like a sticker), and you can replace it with a bunch of other stickers they offer.

Here are a few things I whipped up with the goodies she sent:

My custom stamp was my blog title and address, which was perfect for me.  Awhile back, my blog contained personal identifying information (first and last names, location, etc.).  I decided to switch to a new blog, void of all that info, to keep the bogeyman away.  Well, people are always asking me what my blog address is, and my mom is always directing people to the blog.  So I made some of these little cards and stuck them in my wallet.  Kinda like a blog business card.

 Do you have kiddos back in school?  A spoiled husband?  I thought this was a cute way to package up lunch.  Just a mid-day pick-me-up.

Or is your offspring way too cool for that kind of lunch bag?  Just stick something like this inside the lunch box.  That way you aren't the embarrassing mom.

 Then I made a few of these little cards, for sticking in random places.  The bathroom mirror, in a schoolbook, in the backpack or briefcase...just another little way to spread some love.

I give the PSA stamps two big thumbs up.  The stamps were easy to change, and it was totally fun to have so many options.  These would make adorable envelopes for Christmas cards, too.

You likey?  Well, one lucky reader gets a custom stamp all their own!

You can enter the giveaway twice:

1. Become a follower of the PSA Stamp Camp blog, and leave a comment mentioning it.

2. Like 'em on Facebook, and leave another comment mentioning that.

The giveaway will be open until Wednesday, September 7th.

Quick Thank-You Gift

You know how sometimes someone does something that totally saves the day?

That happened to me on Sunday.  You see, I'm the Primary President {read:  in charge of roughly 50 of the under-12 crowd}.  You know I just had a baby, so I've been out of commission for a few weeks.  Well, on Sunday, one of my counselors had a family function to attend and couldn't teach the lesson.  The other had just gotten home from Girls' Camp {one week of rain + teenagers + camping + no sleep}.  I could not, in good conscious, call and ask her to teach.  So I called in the Stake Primary Pres, and she agreed to teach {and did a fabulous job, of course}.

I needed to thank her, and I knew I wanted a tasty treat to be involved somehow.  Because, you know, when you don't go to the store on Sundays, tasty treats become a hot commodity.

I saw something similar to this on Make It and Love It.  But I went the lazy just-had-a-baby route and bought a chinese takeout container at Hobby Lobby, some candy at the Dollar Store, and whipped up a little flag on Photoshop.

But I thought someone else might need a You-Totally-Saved-The-Day gift, so I thought I'd share.

Happy Monday.

The Kids' New Room

Last week I debuted our new master bedroom, so here's another big project we've been working on:  the shared sleeping space for our kids.  I didn't realize how big of a challenge this would be.  We explored every option that our 1,000 square feet have to offer, and a shared room seemed to be the best option for us.

In addition to the challenge of beds, toys, and clothing for two crammed into one small room, we have a boy/girl combo here.  So that kind of rules out a ton of design schemes.  I wanted something that could look a little girly, but not too bad for Little Dude.

When I first found out I was pregnant, I saw an ad for Sherwin Williams that used the paint chip Aquatint.  I fell in love with the color, and wanted to use it somehow in the room.

We ended up using 50% of the color, and love the way it looks.

 

The first thing I decided on was brown accents.  I picked up a few of those brown polka-dot crib sheets at Target {on clearance}, and was then on the hunt for the Sunbean's bedding.  I knew it needed to have aqua and brown, and I wanted something undeniably girly, since the rest of the room would be more neutral.  I found this at Pottery Barn {clearance + free shipping!}.  It was the perfect piece to pick up some more color for the room.

I really love the reading nook we made for the Sunbean {and Little Dude, I suppose}.  It's the old elementary school teacher coming out in me.  We used this tutorial, and really didn't change much.  The wonky part of the wall?  That's the Sunbean's actual name spelled out in wooden letters.

I totally scored this white dresser at Target one day.  Loooooong story, but it was clearanced down, we bought and started to put it together, only to realize it was damaged more than we thought.  I called back and spoke to a manager, and I got to name my own price.  A brand-new white dresser that needed minimal repairs for $50?  Yes please.

The outfit is Little Dude's blessing outfit.  I've never had anything monogrammed before.  It was exciting.  The poor little guy has quite the girly stack of cloth diapers up there.  My favorite part is the number knobs.  Originally from Pottery Barn, we found them on eBay and painted them turquoise.  I made the changing pad cover.

Here's Little Dude's space.  Love, love, love this crib {from Walmart, of all places}.  I love the modern lines.  It doesn't have a huge presence, so it's perfect for a small room like this.  You can't see it super well, but I made a crib skirt that matches the stripes on the changing pad.  I also DIYed the lamp shade cover.  Little Dude's name is hanging to the right of this picture, but I cropped it out.

Our DIY light is probably one of my favorite parts of the room.  It's just three chinese lanterns from Ikea + three light kits {also Ikea}.  MacGyver is super skilled, so he rigged it right up to the light-socket-thing, and we added that little cap {just a few bucks at Lowe's}.

This is probably the most accurate picture of the colors, too.  We added crown moulding {my new obsession}, and painted the ceiling with the leftovers from the bathroom.  I think it's called Limelight.

For the main artwork, I picked up a pack of cute flashcards at a boutique when we were in Florida.  I've seen them other places, though...they're called Alphabeasties.  I mounted them on scrapbook paper, and framed them.  They are hung all around the room, accented with those white flowers that I can't get enough of.

I DIYed these in Photoshop {heavily inspired by something I found on etsy} for above Little Dude's crib.

We all love the way it turned out, and the Sunbean claims that she's excited to share her room with Little Dude.  It has been a fun project to satisfy my nesting needs!

Master Bedroom Re-Do

We had quite the lengthy list of things that we wanted to get done before Little Dude's arrival.  On the top of the list was figuring out a plan for our master bedroom.

We live in an 80's ranch, which is to say, we have small bedrooms and small closets.  It makes planning any sort of decor difficult, because so much of the space is taken up by dressers/nightstands/beds.

When we got married, MacGyver's parents gave us a beautiful bedroom set.  Dark cherry wood, a sleigh bed....perfect.  It had two nightstands, a dresser, and a chest of drawers.  Just one problem:  it really didn't fit in our room.  With the headboard, footboard, and the rest of the matching pieces, we could barely walk in our room.  Not good.

Then we started the whole "Less is More" philosophy, and committed to loving every single thing in our home.  If we both didn't love it (or use it!), it was gone.   While we loved the idea of our bedroom furniture, it just wasn't working in a house our size.  And since we don't have plans to move in the immediate future, that left us with one choice:  get rid of the furniture.

This actually worked out well.  MacGyver's parents wanted to use it for their master bedroom.  That made me happy.  So here's a 'before' picture of our room.  It's not totally accurate, because we'd already removed the headboard and footboard.  Also, we are not pigs.  It's trashed because we didn't think the snap a picture until we'd already starting taking all of our clothes out of the dressers.

We really didn't have a design scheme going on.  We prefer modern decor, and our bedroom set was a little more traditional.  We were stumped trying to come up with a good balance between the two.

Then I saw the bedroom renovation that these cute people did.  It sounded perfect for our needs, so off to Ikea we went for some stand-alone wardrobes.  Rather than using any type of dresser, we planned to use the wardrobes for all of our clothes.  Instead of getting the pricey doors, we opted for some curtains (also from Ikea).  Behold, the finished product:

MacGyver added a header at the top of the wardrobes to make them appear to be 'built-in', rather than big ol' white boxes (I trust him, but I'm not gonna lie.  I took Tylenol PM for a solid week before I believed the header wasn't going to come crashing down on me in the night).  We love the paint color in our kitchen so much that we just brought it into the bedroom.  We already owned the bedding and artwork, so that was easy.

One big change was adding the crown moulding.  This is the first room we've done that to, and I love it.  I can't wait to continue it through the house.  I thought it would make the ceiling look short, but we love to paint our ceilings a color other than white, so I don't think it shortened it at all.

Here's a view from the foot of the bed:

I love how soft and romantic it feels.  I made the headboard out of some MDF and canvas.  Super simple and it cost less than 10 bucks.  Every single piece of clothing we own is in our wardrobes.  We have some drawers and shelves, as well as hanging space, so everything fits well.  We do have a closet in the room (to the left in the picture above), and we keep longer items (dresses, tunic, etc), shoes, bags, and our laundry basket in there.

Here's a shot of the other side of the room:

We'll have to come up with another plan for that corner after Little Dude starts sleeping in his crib.  Maybe a parson's chair or a large mirror?  Or some type of plant?  For now our (homemade) bassinet fills the space nicely.  I DIYed the art on that wall with Photoshop, personal mementos, and family pictures.

We really love our new room.  It is really easy to keep clean with the wardrobes containing all of our clothing, and it just feels light and airy.  With the floorplan of our house, just about everyone that comes over sees our bedroom, and now I'm proud to show it off!

N is for Nesting: Boppy Slipcover Tutorial

Hey....did you know that I'm having a little boy in just a few weeks?  Well, I am.  And I've got a house full of girly stuff.  So the pink and yellow flowered slipcover for the boppy really needed to go.

Don't get me wrong, I love the boppy.  I use it quite often when I'm nursing my newborns, and then even for playing when they get to that I-think-I-can-sit-but-I-really-topple-over-quite-often stage.  You know the one.

Anyway, my little guy needed a slightly manly-er fabric.  Well, as manly as Amy Butler fabric can get.  So, here you go:

Here's where I totally messed up.  I ordered about 3 inches too little fabric, so I had to piece it.  You really can't tell now that it's finished, but I'd recommend just measuring correctly.

Learn how right here.

 

Step Six:  Break out the zipper foot and sew on that zipper.  I apparently didn't think you needed a photo of this.

One thing I didn't mention (or, again, photograph) is running over the seams with the serger.  If you have a serger, I'd totally recommend this step.  I know I'll wash this sucker quite often, so finishing the edges is important.  If you don't have a serger, just do a zig-zag stitch on each seam.  And then tell your nearest Santa, Easter Bunny, or Mother's-Day-Gift-Buyer that you need a serger, stat.

Piping Tutorial

Are you like me?  Don't you just love piping?  I love it on pillows, kids' clothes, aprons, furniture, well....just about everything.  I think it adds that lovely touch that makes things look handmade versus homemade.  A seriously big difference.

Just in case you've never made some before (it's super easy!), here's a quick how-to.  It's really a shame that I waited to make this tutorial until I was making some pretty boring piping, but tomorrow I'll post the finished product, and it's pretty cute.

Now you won't have to waste your money on the stuff in the notions aisle.