Crafty for Less

Happy Thanksgiving

2010-11-24T15:51:00.000-08:00

I've been quiet this month for a variety of reasons... one, Thanksgiving isn't a huge decorating holiday for me, so those type projects are few.

Secondly, its been a rough month financially for us, and from work problems and stress and lack of sleep and all that kind of jazz I just really haven't felt like writing, to be honest.

I have not put up any Christmas decorations yet, but I imagine I will beginning Friday. I did at least get them out of the shed this past weekend, and now my family room looks like half family room and half storage shed - due to the Xmas bins lined against the wall!

My grandparents are coming over here for Thanksgiving tomorrow (they will have to cope with the xmas bins in the room with us!) Today I managed to make the cranberry sauce and apple pie, and the pumpkin pie is in the oven as I type. Hubby is in charge of the rest ;)

This Thanksgiving...

I am thankful for...

my children and husband
a roof over my head
clothes on my back
food in my kitchen
my job(s)
a pre-thanks for the job i know hubby will get soon (nothing like being optimistic!)
my family (even the ones i dont like. well.... hmmm...)
my big giant bathtub and epsom salt
motrin (can we tell it's been a rough few weeks?)
and... scented candles :) One of my few indulgences :)
so many many other things, but thats all my tired brain can come up with at the moment. We all have so much more to be grateful for...more than we even realize.

Fall Centerpiece revisited...

2010-11-09T09:46:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago I posted the fall centerpiece I did for the coffee table. What I failed to think about was once the leaves die and wither and turn brown- they aren't nearly as charming.

At walmart today hubby found a bag of tiger pumpkins and some gourds for under $1 each (for the bag). He thought I might have something to do with them.

Why yes, yes I do!

I peeled off dead yard debris from the centerpiece. I then rub a light layer of glue and added some silver glitter to the pumpkins (i would have preferred gold, but all i had was silver). I then simply arranged them on the existing centerpiece. I left the leaves that retained some color - i think those ones will make it through the next couple of weeks....

I like it much better now!

Fall Centerpiece

2010-10-31T14:00:00.000-07:00

Even though today is Halloween, the Holiday is over for us. You see, since Halloween was on Sunday our town said Trick or Treating was on Saturday. I'll leave my own beliefs out of it, but suffice to say, I am not happy and today feels very anti-climatic to me. So, after I took down most of my Halloween decorations, I started thinking about fall decorations. This year they will be of particular interest to me, since we are hosting Thanksgiving in a little over 3 (EEEK!) weeks!

I found a grapevine wreath (that I forgot I had) and set it on the coffee table. Just like this.

Then, I had an idea. And, with 4 year old in tow... headed to find some fall like foliage. We came back with this:

Sorry for the poor picture quality. I forgot to change my flash setting. ooops. Anyways, it's pinecones and branches and leaves with the seed pods off of the old crepe myrtles in my yard and a few bits of wisteria leaves (gathered later to help fill in a few places). i sprinkled gold glitter glue on the pinecones just to give a little sparkle for when I have a candle i there ;)

And the finished product:

You could hot glue everything in place, but I decided not to. Everything tucked in nicely with no problems, pinecones included. And this way, I don't totally deface the grapevine wreath that serves as the base.

I burn a lot of candles and think one of the big 3 wick candles will look great tucked in here as well and reflect on the touch of glitter glue to give a nice little 'bling'!

Materials:

Grapevine wreath

Fall foliage

glitter glue (gold/ yellow)

Cost:

FREE!

halloween craft fail

2010-10-27T11:48:00.000-07:00

As any crafter knows... things don't always work out in reality they way they do in your head.

I got some craft pumpkins at michaels (50% off!) last week and have been pondering what to do with them.

I decided to paint one black, make sparkly spider webs and a sparkly spider and have it on my coffee table!

Now, i could have used sequins or rhinestones or something but my easy, cheap gotta do it right now mentality was like ' hey- use some glue, make a web pattern, toss silver glitter on it and be done!'

it was quite elegant in my mind.

I made the spider first- slapped some red acrylic paint and doused it in red glitter. Looked awesome! 'YAY' i think to myself, 'this is going to be so cool'.

take my glue stick and make my web pattern on my pumpkin (I painted it this morning). 'Yup! this is definitely going to work!'

Sprinkle glitter on it.

That was the downfall. the glitter stuck all over the pumpkin (no the paint wasnt wet). I wiped off what i could, i even stuck it under the shower head to rinse off the excess! but... hmmm. yeah. my craft fail for the week.

I'll leave it out cause I'm lazy like that, but next year I will take it and fix it 'right'. maybe rhinestones or sequins or or something....

I promise. it looked MUCH better in my head!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Spider Nest Pumpkin!

2010-10-22T08:50:00.000-07:00

I originally saw this project over on the Family Chic blog and liked it so much I decided to do my own! The original design used one of the smaller white pumpkins. Since I'm not a fan of white pumpkins (and had no desire to paint mine white or go buy one) I used a regular orange one that was sitting on my porch.

The idea is simple- cut off the front and back of a pumpkin, press in some screws or nails, and wrap spider webbing around it. Toss in some spiders and TA DAAAA!~ a nifty new pumpkin! My 4 year old insisted on adding the flies ;)

We are having company for dinner and I think I will toss a little tea light candle in there before they come! (there is no webbing on the inside of the pumpkin- just the outside)

Cost: FREE (everything on hand)

Just busy... not dead

2010-10-21T10:47:00.000-07:00

No projects this week, well... maybe a birthday cake but that won't be anything amazing or unique (but definitely yummy!). I might post a pic and the recipe. Don't know yet.

This week is a busy one for us - Tuesday we took the kids to the State fair (you can see a photo slideshow here). My daughters birthday is Saturday. My grandparents are coming over for a small family party Friday night (hubby spent the whole morning out shopping and running errands- we will be having steak and gyoza (known in the US as potstickers) for dinner (her request), so he is prepping that as I type. I will make her cake tonight, since tomorrow I don't think I will have time.

Tomorrow after school she has a Halloween dance until 6- my grandparents are coming for dinner, and I have to work since the other girl I work with is out today and tomorrow so I can't get away with doing nothing (working from home has its benefits but sometimes can be every much as a pain as working in an office!)

Then Saturday I am taking her to the mall for a shopping spree (as she calls it). She didnt want a party or presents- just money and me to take her to the mall (gotta love the 12 year old pre teen priorities LOL)

So between work, cleaning, getting ready for a 'non-party', and a day at the Fair... there hasn't been much time for idle crafting this week :(

Vintage Halloween Garland / Banner

2010-10-17T12:06:00.000-07:00

I am so jealous of anyone who has a fireplace mantle. You name the holiday, and I see so many cute ideas for decorating a mantle with some sort of garland or banner.

All I have is a big ugly wall with 2 uglier mirrors and 2 windows above the loveseat. Sadly, those windows are directly across from where I sit. I really hate them. I wish it were a mantle. And now I'm wondering how feasible it would be to put a shelf above those windows, but I digress.

Back to the subject at hand. So I am sitting here looking at those windows thinking about Christmas (of all things) and how much I like it because then I will be able to hang my garland and bows and wreaths from that window and have something to look at. hmmmmm something to look at. And it came to me. I will make my OWN garland- a halloween one!

I love vintage cards and postcards. They are so cool. but I haven't really gotten into the decoupage thing (yet, give me time and some mod podge). So I turn to google and search images for 'Vintage Halloween'. and oh, what treats I found! I downloaded about 15 images and printed them out. I printed them so they were approximately 4x6 (I really love windows 7 by the way, it does it for me! hehehe). I then cut them out on 3 sides with craft scissors (FYI- I can't find my regular scissors at the moment). I left the top portion uncut, so I could use it to fold over the twine that I am using for the banner.

I then took my roll of twine and climbed up to the aforementioned ugly window, and measured it out, I went ahead and made my loops where I needed them to hang off the hooks (this way, I didn't have to worry about gluing a card right where I needed to hang the banner). I folded each picture and placed craft glue on the folded seam and 'tab' (for reference, I am calling the folded part the 'tab'). The 'tab' is about 2" (estimate). I placed it on the twine so that the twine was on the seam, and glued it all down without trimming it

I did one, then would glue it to the twine. I would then do the next. I spaced them about an inch or so apart. I think it turned out pretty darn cute. Even if its NOT on a mantle!

Stuff you need:

Twine (on hand or $1)
Images (on hand via internet and printer)
Glue (on hand)

Cost: FREE (or $1)

Mini Pumpkin Candle Holders

2010-10-15T15:21:00.000-07:00

This is an oldie but goodie... making candle holders out of those adorable little mini pumpkins you can get just about anywhere. My local grocery store had them 3/$1!

Cost $1 for 3 pumpkins!
Stuff you need: pumpkins, knife, spoon, candles, aluminum foil

I like to put tea lights in these, because they are easy to take out and replace! You can also use votive candles, or even tapers if you were so inclined, I suppose....

Step 1: Draw a circle slightly larger than your candle

Step 2: Carve the pumpkin! Scoop out all the guts (just like the big ones!)

Step 3: Place your candle and light it!

Note: Make sure you place some aluminum foil under the candles. Although these pumpkins will last several weeks, they will get soft on the bottom. You don't want the residue to damage your wood furniture (or in my case electronics!)

Outdoor Halloween Decor: Witch and Cauldron

2010-10-13T06:42:00.000-07:00

Esmerelda is my witch. Normally (well, during the month of October anyway) she is standing, stirring a cauldron (see picture at bottom) but I actually ordered a new witch (excuse, I should have said Esmerelda's sister is coming from out of state for a permanent vacation) and she wants the cauldron So... I had to do something else with Esse. I dont have any pics of her construction cause I'm a bad DIY blogger like that, so I will type S L O W so you can follow! :) The instructions are for building esmerelda as shown in the BOTTOM picture. To do her as above, simply omit the step ladder and caudlron supplies and duct tape her into place in the chair. Her support pole in this case runs from the ground up the chair (to lower her to make her in a sitting position). To give her shape in her body and lap, I simply placed an empty cat litter bucket (the big plastic kind of which I have 1500 of laying around) and an old nappy sweater as a lap blanket.

Every year, I add something to Esmerelda to make her better, but her first year the only thing I had to purchase was a mask, and several yards of el cheapo outdoor black/ grey fabric for her dress so this can be done very much on the cheap! You need lots of stuff, but most of it you probably have laying around in the shed or garage (or yard)

To make her standing you will need:

step ladder
sticks,pvc pipe or 6' insulation pipe (aka pool noodles!) for arms (FYI: I've used all 3 over the years, I like the noodles best)
witch mask (the kind that is a full head covering works best)
latex gloves (for her hands- i spray painted them green)

another sturdy stick or pvc pipe to make her back (and attach her head to). I used a 3' pool support from an old above ground pool we used to have
duct tape (LOTS)
3-4 yards of an outdoor black/ gray fabric
witch hat/ wig
big pot for cauldron (mine is a big plastic planter i painted black)
xmas lights! (red and green, OR white - I used white and used red and green cellophane bags to insert over each light)
Long stick (to act as a stirrer for the cauldron)
Accessories as determined by you!

I can put esse together in about 10 minutes now, but I've also been doing her for several years. I would estimate the first time (once you have all your materials gathered)... maybe 30 minutes- an hour? By the way- kids LOVE putting her together!

And here we go (its easy to put together, harder to explain without pictures of how to put her together!)

1) Take your step stool and open it up, place it where you want her (if you will be using the cauldron with lights, keep in mind your outlets and extension cord length). Place her back support pole on the top step, and duct tape it in place so it doesnt move at all.

2) Take your arms and duct tape them where you want them. If you are using insulation pipe or pool noodles, you can bend them and tape them in the position you want. If you are using a rigid arm, try to place them in a semi-realistic position near the pot. I much prefer the insulation piping/ pool noodle material because of flexibility. Tip: if the arms will not stay in place, or are too 'floppy'- use a stick and more duct tape to brace it). Slip gloves over 'hands' and tape in place near the top of the glove. Once you've done this, you have your body!

3) attach head to top of support pole. This can be tricky, depending on what materials you are using. I use a foam ball now, but in years past I used tons of newspaper crinkled up in a plastic grocery store bag. fit it in there TIGHT, attach 'head' to support pole with tape. Head should be fairly rigid and not flop around. Attach mask. You may need to use some duct tape to help secure it in place.A Styrofoam ball would work well too, if you want to make it easier- just stab the bottom of the head into the support pole! ; ) then tape for good measure! Add your mask!

4) Your body, head, and hands should be altogether now. You have done the hard work! Congrats!!!!

5) Drape the fabric all around your frame to make a dress. This can take some arranging, you want to hide the frame but still have it look somewhat like a dress or full body cloak. Safety pins (or duct tape lol) can help around the hand openings. Make sure you tape around the neck (up high- to hide your pole and make sure her dress doesnt fall off. (more than once I've had wind strip her of her clothes because I skipped that step!)

Accessorize! I've used the creepy cloth from the dollar store for a shawl, I've also used the little pumpkin lights or halloween garland... dressing her up is half the fun!

For the Cauldron:

You can buy a big cauldron, but its so much cheaper just to make your own. I used a big flower pot and spray painted in black. place big rocks, stones, smaller pots - whatever you have to (1) weigh it down and (2) raise the area where you will place your lights. make sure that water can drain past the lights, so when it rains, you dont have them sitting in a pool of water. (use outdoor lights, in case you didnt know!)

For the lights, you have a couple of options. The easiest (if you have them on hand) is to use red and green xmas string lights and simply place them appropriately. I used regular white lights, and green and red cellophane bags. I poked a small hole in the bottom of the bags, and inserted each light. I really like the look this gives. once you have your lights placed, attach a stick to her hand, and place it in the pot (as if she were stirring the pot).

Every year, I add things to her to make her better. This year, she got actual hands (imagine that!) lol! Part of the fun of Esmerelda is adding to her each year to improve her bit by bit!

Tuna Can Pin Cushion!

2010-10-12T13:51:00.000-07:00

If you've ready my About Me page, you know i don't sew! But.... this is so cute and SEW (hardee har har) easy that even I could do it!

Kara, over at Creations By Kara, has made a tutorial on making a totally adorable pin cushion out of (get this!) a TUNA CAN! what a fantastic idea! Stop by and check it out!

Those Great Dollar Store Skulls!

2010-10-12T13:22:00.000-07:00

Saturday evening we went out to grab dinner, and since we were passing by the Dollar Tree...well, we can't pass up that opportunity, can we?

As you may know they have these great skulls! I got one black and one silver. I toured the rest of the store and found two... well... I'm not sure what they are. I will call them large bud vases for lack of a proper term.

I thought I would spray paint them (the inside of the vase). But that didn't work so well (I didnt have any acrylic type paint on hand, okay??? LOL). I did eventually get a good portion of the spray paint to stick, but not a good, solid coating.

So then I was stuck trying to think of what I could do. So I found some purple tissue paper. This might work...

I shoved the tissue paper down in the vases. Looks kind of neat, actually with the purple peeking out from behind the black. Then superglued the skulls onto the top. Then, for good measure, stuck candles in the top of the skulls. I think it best NOT to light the candles, but they make a cute (and easy!)decoration!

Another spin on the spooky wall art from this weekend!

2010-10-11T10:49:00.000-07:00

It's monday and that means I should be working but... yeah, its monday.

So its off to blog land I go. And what do I find? A creepily wonderful modification on the wall art project I did over the weekend!

Madigan Made did a wall art project that I loved, but don't think I have extra frames laying around at the moment, so I modified it a bit, and used it, instead of a picture using basically the same method from the creepy wall art project. I printed her picture (she was so gracious to provide a link thingy to get it!) and spray painted a piece of cardboard black. Problem is... too much black. I wanted a 'mat' type thing for it, like i did with the others, but didn't want to sit and try to get the same color red. Google Images to the rescue! I googled the term 'blood red' on google images and found this. PERFECT!

1) print this (Courtesy of Madigan Made)on a regular sized piece of heavy weight paper
2) print this Right click on the image, click save as, and save to your computer. Then open that file, and select print.
3) cut down the bite. drink. scare picture to be smaller than the red and black picture. center and glue
4) Take a large piece of cardboard (in this case I used a pizza box lid) and spray paint it black.
5) once dry, glue your printed materials to the box!
6) Youre done! Unless you want to add ribbon to hang it. Or, wood scraps to make a frame. or... well, you get the idea! Make it yours!!!

Halloween Wreath

2010-10-09T12:01:00.000-07:00

I made this Halloween Wreath a couple of weeks ago on a whim after I had pulled all my halloween goodies out of the shed. While going through my stuff, I realized (to my horror) I didn't have a Halloween wreath!

On the upside, the wreath didnt cost me anything, as i used stuff i had on hand. The downside? I'll have to make a new spring/summer wreath since I stripped it for my Halloween wreath! LOL

This was super simple, and as I said, I had everything on hand, so it was free (oh how I love that word!)

I used:

grapevine type wreath (on hand)
Spooky halloween head 'thing) on hand (dollar stores have them for a buck)
spiders, webbing and skulls (all available at the dollar store)

No fancy technique to this at all- I left one sunflower on from the wreath it was in its former life, and spread cobwebs all over it! Used some super glue to attach my spiders and skulls and in under 20 minutes... had a brand new wreath!

Haunted Halloween Picture!

2010-10-09T10:10:00.000-07:00

Remember I posted about the Spooky Wall Art not long ago and said I may or may not do it, and had a few modifications to make it even easier (and cheaper)? This morning my oldest left to spend the day/ night with her best friend and my son was most unhappy. So I told him we could do a project together. So then I had to think of something to actually do... and I remembered this!

I was actually going to use spaghetti for the frame, but didnt have any, and wasn't about to make a special trip to the store to get it.

I printed out a halloween picture I found online and cut it down with craft scissors. I then took another sheet of white paper and cut the edges off (also with craft scissors). Now to find something to use as the 'frame'. I have a bunch of work mail that was out of date so never got mailed, so I took one of the big envelopes and spray painted it black. Then, I used spray adhesive to glue the picture and 'mat' down.

My four year old helped with the positioning so its not quite even, but thats okay, I'm hardly a perfectionist and I DID say he could help so... its a little askew! LOL

Cost: FREE
2 pieces of heavy weight paper: on hand
halloween picture (free, online)
Large piece of paper or cardboard for frame (on hand)
Black Spray Paint: on hand
Spray adhesive: on hand
craft scissors: on hand

Halloween Flower Pots!

2010-10-07T13:50:00.000-07:00

Since summer, my dollar general (the closest thing to a dollar store I have in the immediate vicinity) has had these pots sitting out front. They are very heavy and thick clay pots. I liked them. I wanted them. But not for the $5 EACH they were charging.

Then they dropped to $2.50. hmmmm no..... still not worth it to me. (I can be such a cheapskate!)

Last night when I went to get some tissue for our runny noses- they were on clearance for 75 cents! Yes, I want them now. I got three. And here they are...

Now.... what to do with them? My first thought (given the season) was to paint jack lantern faces on them! BUT... I use my flower pots all year (we do container gardening) and as much as I like Halloween.... I don't want to be looking at jack o lantern faces in July.

I have a lot of pots this lovely terracotta color, and while I always want more pots, the color is old to me. With only black and white paint on hand, what shall I do?

That was a once over with spray paint but you know... I'm kind of digging the old, worn look, and the chips and knicks in the pots are working for me. But... they still look a little plain. Lets see what else I can come up with....

I painted the ridges of the pots in contrasting colors. but detail work and spray paint dont mix well, so I was left.... unhappy.

So I painted them all white again.

And for good measure.... put some flowers in it.

Nice mess I'm making on my shelf, right? But still, I'm not happy. I think my problem is that I WANT it to be halloweeny. But not permanently. Cause after Halloween, I'll want it to be Christmas-y!

So... hmmmm.... yeah. I need something temporary, that will last (for at least a month or so) outside and easy and cheap. So I went and took a nap.

When I got up- I had it! RIBBON! Fairly inexpensive, will last, is temporary and I can change it out for whatever holiday or season I want! And here we go! Click here for instructions for the spider ball!
Just like with the vase I just did, the ribbon is secured by duct tape! (Oh how i love that stuff!)

Halloween Vase

2010-10-07T13:36:00.000-07:00

Sorry I had to black out part of the background, but trust me, its a mess over there! ;)

The vase is a pink - which gives more of an easter vibe than a halloween vibe if you know what I mean. But since my hubby brings me flowers fairly often, and I dont necessarily want to paint my vase, I needed a plan to temporarily fix that. The Halloween ribbon I found at Walmart did the job nicely! I used duct tape (haha what else?) to secure it to the vase (I made little tubes of the tape- sticky side out, so that you dont see that tape when you look at the vase).

the pumpkins were found at Dollar General for $3 each. the candle holder was a walmart find and a couple of bucks. The ribbon, also at walmart $2 per 9 foot roll (got 2 rolls). total cost: $12, and I have ribbon leftover to use on some pots outside.

Another easy idea for kids to do... too! The dollar store has fake black roses... I may get a few to add to my bouquet next time I'm out ; )

Halloween Crafts: Spooky Wall Art

2010-10-03T13:55:00.000-07:00

While looking for potential projects to work on this month, I found this 'spooktacular' halloween wall art at ShelterPop.com ! I don't think I will I will be doing this one (but then I might, you never know). Either way, it was too cute not to pass along! The 'frames' are made from (get this) Spaghetti noodles! I could also see it being done with sticks found outside and painted black (although it would require more effort to get them to a somewhat consistent size)

The instructions from the website are below, but I would make some substitutions such as using cardboard instead of canvas board and wood, and printing the silhouettes rather than tracing and coloring...

Here's what you'll need:
-canvas board, 8" x 10" wood and at least 1/4" thick
-spaghetti, one box
-heavy weight paper, in silver (cut to 5" x 7"), black (cut to 4 1/2" x 6 1/2") and white (cut to 4 1/4" x 6 1/4")
-Halloween image
-permanent black marker
-black paint
-paintbrushes
-white glue
-paper glue
-ruler
-pencil
-scissors

1. Paint canvas with black paint. Allow to dry.

2. Apply white glue to entire surface of canvas. Quickly roll spaghetti over canvas, pushing and working the strands so that they are straight, flush to the edges and tightly packed, but singly layered. Let dry.

3. Paint spaghetti black.

4. Trace the image onto the white paper and fill it in with marker.

5. Use paper glue to adhere white paper centered onto black paper. Then adhere the black paper centered to the silver paper in the same way.

6. Use white glue to adhere the matted image onto the spaghetti frame. Allow to dry thoroughly under heavy books to prevent any buckling.

Halloween Project #2... Spider egg Larvae Ball

2010-10-02T12:06:00.000-07:00

If you can't tell... I'm BIG into halloween. But... all on a budget, of course.

I saw these spider larvae spider ball 'things at kmart and thought- I can do better than that.

The ones I saw are here. Not a bad price, but I can do far better with the same $4. Here is a pic of them- rough size is 7x4 inches

1 empty milk jug, 2 bags of spider webs and lots of fake spiders later.... I have this:

and heres the how to:

take a clean, empty milk jug (preferably the translucent or clear kind) and start wrapping it in spider webs! I used 2 packages. Make sure you criss cross. I used a spray adhesive (just a real quick spray around, just to help make it stick without sliding. using regular glue would work to, just spread it thin- all you want to do is help secure the cobwebs as you work your way around. Make sure you leave enough webbing to create a tail of sorts to be able to hang it. the webbing stretches really easy (it is designed for that, after all) but can break if you get it too thin.

After I had all the webbing on, a gave it another quick once over with the spray adhesive, and stuck on small plastic spiders.

The hardest part for me was trying to decide where to hang it. It is on our porch, the 'shelf' beneath it is where we put our pumpkins/ jack o lanterns! Total cost: $2, as everything else I had on hand.

milk jug (on hand)

spider webbing - 2 packages- $2

spray adhesive (on hand)

plastic spiders (on hand)

big fuzzy spider (on hand, but I bought it last week at dollar general for $3)

Make a haunted house kids halloween project

2010-10-02T08:37:00.000-07:00

I made this a few years back, and this morning added on to it. This haunted house is easy for kids to do and is made from stuff you may have on hand so its FREE!

materials:

2 rectangle tissue boxes (or similar size boxes)
1 square tissue box (or similar) smaller than the rectangle boxes
cardboard pieces to make a 3 dimensional triangle (for roof piece)
orange or yellow tissue paper
accessories as desired (in my case I used spider webs, fake spiders, a small skull, and dum-dum's wrapped in tissue to create 'ghosts'
utility knife (to cut out windows and doors)
glue or tape

1) spray paint boxes black (or whatever color you want your house to be, this could easily be modified for other holidays)
2) after it dries, cut out your doors and window
3) tape or glue tissue paper inside the doors and windows (FYI) mine is only glued at the top, but you could glue all the way around if you wanted
4) tape or glue the boxes on top of each other and add your roof
5) add your decorations! I punched holes for the sticks of my ghosts to stick in to make them stand up. I glued spiders and a skull for decoration, and added the cobwebby halloween spider webs (it doesnt take much, obviously)
6) battery powered tea lights (optional)

For an added touch, you can add stick in the little battery powered tea lights to make your house light up on the inside! I shouldn't have to say it, but i will... DO NOT USE REAL CANDLES. unless of course, you want to burn your house down. the little one you made and the one you live in.

As is, its an easy kids project that is fun and doesn't take much time, or for the adult, you could easily elaborate and make it much more detailed (think gingerbread trim and silhouettes in the window- would look really cool with the lights inside!

Hall Bathroom makeover complete!

2010-09-14T08:34:00.000-07:00

The bathroom is finally complete- a week after beginning it. as always, waiting for the accessories to arrive is what takes so long!

The shower curtain was $25 from target, and i love it! It actually took a really long search for me to find a beachy style shower curtain that I really liked, and could afford.

I purchased starfish to go along the mirror- I thought they would be larger and had planned for them to go around the entire mirror, but... no. They are tiny (2" at max) so I only had enough to do the top edge and a few at the bottom. Still cute, but I may get some more later on to go all the way around.

One of the things I hated about the bathroom was the horribly ugly fluorescent light on the wall. After some thought about how to handle this, I decided to hang something in front of the light just to hide it some. These paper lantern thingies worked perfect for it! A Clear thumbtack, fishing line and super glue is what they hang from (the glue for gluing the line to the thumbtack so it doesnt unravel. I also used a dot of glue to secure the knot on the lanterns hook, so it didn't slip loose).

The wooden pelican statue thing, and the vase with shells I already had.

The pictures are all ones I have taken at the beach over the years (with the exception of one- the lower surfboard photo hanging by the sink), and I used photo editing software to make them look like watercolors. The frames were cheap dollar store frames spray painted white.

The rugs were $5 each and bought at the dollar store as well. Had hubby grab a white towel bar at walmart (up until now, there has been no towel bar, other than the small hand towel one hanging over the toilet).

Price Breakdown:

Paint ($20 for a gallon of white- whit LOTS left over, the blue was leftover from my daughters room)
Shower Curtain ($25)
Shower Hooks ($10)
Starfish ($5)
Paper Lanterns ($12)
Rugs ($10)
Towel Bar ($10)
Frames ($5)

Total Cost: $97 - $3 UNDER budget!

And now for the photos...

Oh the excitement!

2010-09-07T10:26:00.000-07:00

I get a lot of emails. Seriously. A LOT. It's a by product of working from home. On average- 100+ emails. So when I get one that makes me excited... its a good day! Today's 'happy' email came from Bzz Agent. Bzz Agent is like a consumer testing panel type thing (yes you can join, just google it). I get nifty things from them, and 'bzz' about them- which basically means telling people, whether online or in person.

I've gotten lots of stuff from them- shampoo and make up, mosquito repellent, childrens allergy medicine- all sorts of stuff! But todays offer has made me truly excited. Why? because its CRAFTY!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sometime soon (usually a week or two from accepting the invitation) I shall receive a box of goodies containing Elmers and X-acto 'stuff'. What kind of stuff? I don't know but i hope its something GOOD! Since I don't know exactly what I'm getting, I don't know what sort of craft I'll be doing.... but as soon as I do... you'll be the first to know!

The Hall Bathroom

2010-09-06T06:53:00.000-07:00

Our hall bathroom, which is adjacent to my daughters room, and the bathroom guests usually use is up for a re-do today, since I have the day off! Today I am just painting, as I don't have any of the accessories yet, but hopefully I will get those ordered this week.

While not horrible, its certainly rather plain and at best uninteresting. It's a 'long' bathroom with the tub/shower against the far wall. the ducky shower curtain has been with us since my daughter was in kindergarten, and yes, I'm quite tired of it (even though technically it would match the paint color I am using). There is also a hole in the wall near the floor. I'm honestly not sure how it got there, although by the way my daughter vehemently opposed any involvement in it, I am pretty sure she had something to do with it, or at least knows how it got there.

The plan is to paint the walls the same blue as in my daughters room (I should have plenty to do it, as its pretty much just one wall, as the opposing wall is taken up mostly by cabinets and the sink and all).

The cabinets will be painted white with blue trim (hubby has been dispatched to get white paint and should return shortly).

I am going to use twine and starfish to decorate around the sides of the mirror to help dress it up some and hide flaws. A few weeks ago I ordered some beach photographs I had taken in an 8x10 size (I used a photo editing program to make the photos look like water colors). I also plan on hanging a shelf under the pictures for some decorative items like seashells, etc (that I already have)

I've patched the hole and washed the walls and cabinets with bleach. waiting for it to dry while hubby is out getting the paint. When he returns, the painting shall commence!

Anticipated cost: under $100
paint (all i need is a gallon of white) $15
beachy shower curtain ($15-20?)
accessories ($30?)

And it is done!

2010-08-31T12:26:00.000-07:00

The bedroom is finally finished. Actually, its been done since last Sunday, but we were waiting for the curtains to arrive.

Some things (like the budget, the paint and the curtains) didn't turn out quite as planned.

Lets start with the walls... Due to sharpie marker drawings, I had to buy a can of primer to cover it up. No biggie. We also opted for a paler shade of green (more like a mint green) than the originally planned lime. I couldn't bear to see the paint card in that color, much less four walls. However, since it was such a light color, it took two coats. Which meant I only had enough green for 2 walls (and I was NOT going back to walmart!) Fortunately, I had bought a full gallon of the blue (with the intention of painting the bathroom soon) and my daughter was quite keen on having two walls green and two walls blue. And I still have enough paint for the bathroom! (I hope)

Spent all day painting and, even though I was exhausted, cleaned the carpet Saturday night.

Sunday (whoever said Sunday is a day of rest is full of it!) we got to decorate. I KNOW I said I was not going to buy a new bedding set. I know, I said it. I lied. BUT it was a good deal on the walmart site ($35 for a full bed set with sheets, shams, dust ruffle, comforter) and it was SO perfect for the room, I couldn't turn it down. At least it was free shipping. :) The comforter on the top bunk is actually a 'Thomas the Tank Engine' comforter I bought at Goodwill several years ago. Conveniently, it was a blue stripe pattern on the back that works well as far as coordinating goes!

So we made the bed, hung the bulletin board. Which, by the way, I did not paint because of the lacquer finish on the 'frame'- I didn't feel like sanding it down! And hung the photos I had framed. We also hung the mirror and hooks. Then, the shower curtain went up in front of the closet.

The issue with the curtains... the original curtains I ordered never shipped. or were on backorder and they couldnt tell me. but they sure charged me for them! So I ordered a new pair which arrived within a few days. I havent shopped at Pennys in years but they definitely get my vote today! And while I paid a little more (about $15 more) for the curtains from Pennys, at least I wasn't given any grief! The curtains were half off and I found a coupon code for free shipping. So it eased the pain some... (hey $100 curtains for $50- not bad!!!)

Total (approximate) cost... bedding: $35, curtains: $50, paint (and primer) $40, miscellaneous stuff: $50? so under $200 for the whole thing. Which, considering the dramatic difference, was well worth it. And only $50 over my (imagined) budget. BUT I have enough paint to do the bathroom so I think that helps negate the cost!

And now for the great unveiling...

Before... ( I wasn't kidding when I said it was BAD!!!!!)

During...

And the Final Result! ( Note: a mirror belongs where the chair by the closet is but it broke so I have to get a new one.) The wall where the bed and window are look almost baby blue in the picture, but in reality they are more like the light green on the background of this blog. It just doesnt photograph in true color i guess LOL

Home Remedy for Getting Rid of Fleas

2010-08-30T19:47:00.000-07:00

For the first time in many many years, we have fleas. And they must go! It's been a long time since I've had to wage war on these blood sucking vermin, and when I started my war earlier today I figured I would share it with the rest of you!

What you will need

Treatment for Animal (we use frontline and advantage year round for our pets)
The highest percentage of rubbing alcohol you can find (at the dollar store usually 2/$1 - I buy about $10 worth
Salt. LOTS of salt. buy it at the dollar store too- its cheaper that way. I bought about 10 canisters of salt for $10
nightlight
Bowl of water OR sticky paper (I use self stick floor tiles the previous owners left behind).
Vacuum cleaner
Washing machine

We have 11 cats. and a dog. This summer fleas have been horrible. They are all on frontline or advantage year round (the cats are on one, the dog is on another and I forget which is on what). Even with the topical treatments, the cats bring fleas in (thanks to my neighbor who feeds stray dogs). We use rubbing alcohol on the floors, carpets, rugs, furniture, curtains but NOT on the animals. It can dry their skin, and some animals can have severe reactions to it. Simply bathing the animal in warm water and a pet flea shampoo (even dawn dishwashing detergent) will work. the fleas drown in the water.

Because all of our pets are already on high quality flea medications, we do not need to treat them more, since they dont get the bites! But they sure do carry in fleas from outside! If your animals are NOT on medication- GO GET IT NOW. And I can tell you from experience, the cheap ones do NOT work nearly as well (trust me, I wish they did! We have 12 animals all on frontline or advantage and YES its EXPENSIVE!

1) Wash EVERYTHING- bedding, clothes that were on the floor, pet bedding, pillows, etc. If its been on the floor while you had fleas, WASH IT.

2) Spray the rubbing alcohol ALL OVER your carpets, curtains, furniture- EVERYTHING (if the smell really bothers you, you can do one room at a time, but the smell only lasts 30 minutes tops). Even if you do one room at a time, you need to do all rooms in the same day! otherwise, they just migrate from room to room!

3) After everything is TOTALLY dry (doesn't take too long), sprinkle salt ALL OVER the carpeted areas (brush it in with a broom to get it in the carpet good), and mop hard floors (pay attention to under furniture and baseboards!).

4) Place a floor tile with the backing removed under a nightlight in the bedroom (which is where most of our fleas live- EW!). Some people use a dish of water with a few drops of liquid soap- I won't because of the animals and they would drink it. The previous owners of the house left a TON of those self stick floor tiles, and I find those are quite effective. Why do this? Fleas are attracted to the light (in a dark room, obviously). They jump to the light and fall and get stuck, or drown if you are using the water. You may need to try different places to catch the most fleas.

5) After 24 hours (or more) vacuum THOUGHLY and dump it OUTSIDE of the house (fleas can jump out of trash cans and vacuum cleaner bags!!) I've also heard of people cutting up a flea collar and placing it in the vacuum bag, although I've never tried it. Vacuum several times to make sure you get it all! MAKE SURE YOU GET IT OUT OF THE HOUSE!

6) Repeat Step 3 every other day for 3 weeks (leave the nightlight and water or sticky thing - you will find fleas (and other bugs) on it- replace as needed).

7) Sprinkle salt and scrub in carpet again and vacuum it up in a week.

8) Wash bedding and pet bedding at LEAST once a week- preferably 2-3 times a week during this whole process.

Time consuming - yes. Does it work? YES. is it cheaper than an exterminator? HECK YES!

The trick to getting rid of them is CONSISTENCY and treating the animal(s) and house at the same time. If you do one, and not the other, you are wasting your time. The flea life cycle is a vicious one, since you think they are gone, and then a new batch hatches and it starts all over again! This is the first time in probably 5 years that we have had fleas. EVERY time we do this flea treatment it WORKS but it DOES take dedication and time! Another (super big) bonus with this method of getting rid of fleas is that it is safe for kids and pets, and unlike foggers, you do not have to leave your home. Keep in mind, even if you use foggers or call an exterminator, you STILL have to do all the vacuuming, laundry and follow through!

School Project- About Me Box (Twilight Decoupage Box)

2010-08-28T15:58:00.000-07:00

My daughter (whose room is still waiting for curtains, which is why no bedroom unveiling yet)started the 6th grade (middle school) this week and already has a project! Fortunately, this one is right up my alley!

She has to make an 'About Me' box- the box itself did not have instructions to be 'decorated' but with me as a mom, do you really think I'd let her go with a bare shoe box?

oh no no no

I painted the shoebox white with a couple of coats of spray paint(it was a black box)

Then we printed out a ton of twilight and vampire diaries pics. We decided to tear them instead of cut them.

I'm calling this a decoupage box, but.... thats really debatable. I guess a very rough form of decoupage. We glued the pics on the box where we wanted, and then coated it with several coats of white school glue mixed with water. We then did some embellishing with a bit of ribbon i had and glitter glue and, of course, some sparkles. After it dried I sprayed it with a high gloss clear spray paint that I had on hand and it really did bring out the colors in the pictures and give it a lovely shine (neither of which show up terribly well in the pics). The inside was done as a quick afterthought. Now, this is a lot rougher job than if I were doing it for something for myself or for the house, but seeing as an 11 year old did a lot of the work, and we don't exactly want it to look like a grown up did it since it IS a school project.... i think its just fine! LOL

Total Cost: $1 (I had to go buy glue LOL). Everything else I had.

.

DIY Faux Capiz Shell Chandelier Instructions

2010-08-19T19:32:00.000-07:00

For under $10 (possibly for nothing at all!) you too can have a thrifty nifty new chandelier for your room! This was done for my daughters bedroom, but really, it could go anywhere (at least I think so!)
I saw this on another blog and thought hmmm... that would work! I made a few modifications though ;)

What you will need:

Milk Jugs. Hundreds of them. (okay, maybe not that many but it will feel like it when you're done!). Seriously,depending on how long you need it to be, will depend on how many you need. Mine is not terribly long (due to low ceilings and I just needed to cover up the existing heinous light). I used approximately 10 milk jugs. This could take you awhile to accumulate but I lucked out and my neighbor had a HUGE bag of them in her recycling pile, so I didnt have to wait it out! I wonder what else she has in that pile....hmmmmm.....
Also a baggie (big baggie) to store your 'shells' in as you are collecting and cutting!
Frame. In this case I used an old hanging basket I had, but the original project I saw with this technique used a lampshade with the fabric removed. She was covering a 'boob' light (term makes me chuckle like a 12 year old boy! ) LOL. The frame also keeps the chandelier away from the light bulb (TIP: ALWAYS use CFL bulbs which dont get as hot, and as a plus, save energy and last MUCH longer!)
Fishing Line or some sort of thread. I think fishing line is best because its nearly invisible and very strong. Plus, I already had it (bonus!).
Ribbon? I had the thought to incorporate some ribbon- just a few yards in the room colors to help tie it in. Not sure if I will use- will depend on how it looks, I suppose!
Scissors to cut your circles and spray paint (if you want to paint your frame so it blends in and isn't as visible).
Hole punch. You will need something to poke holes in your 'shells'. The jumbo push pins I had worked great, but you could also use a hammer and nail if you needed to. Even a regular push pin would work, I'm sure. Keep in mind the size of the hole and the size of your thread.
A way to attach your chadelier to the light. In my case, small 'S' hooks are perfect to attach to the chains on the planter to the ceiling fan motor (there is a ledge that the S hook will slip into nicely! ). note: the hooks are attaching to the motor CASE, not the motor itself. Obviously, we are not using the ceiling fan. I don't think this would be a good project to use on a working ceiling fan. If nothing else, the wind from the fan would tangle up the chandelier pieces!

Now for the fun...

you will need to cut your milk jugs (I shouldn't have to tell you to clean them first) into small circles. mine vary

between 1.5" and 2" - with some being bigger and some being smaller. In nature capiz shells are all different sizes,

so I didn't want 'cookie cutter' sizes. This is by far the most consuming part of the project. Its easiest to cut

off the top, the bottom and the handle, then cut the remaining 'jug' in half and work in sections.

If you're going to spray paint your frame, do it before you're ready to assemble. That way, you don't have to wait for the paint to dry.

now your frame is painted (if you so choose) and your circles are cut. My daughter had the joyous task of punching holes in the circles. I bribed her by letting her watch her annoying pre-teen disney shows on the big tv in the family room while she did it.

Now the real fun begins.

Measure how long you want your pieces to hang. Cut your fishing line (or whatever your using) several inches longer.
Thread the line thorough the top hole of the shell and secure it near the top, leaving room to tie to to the frame later. Then thread the tail of the line through the bottom hole in the shell (this will help them hang straight).
For the next shells, you will thread from the bottom and pull the shell to the top, tying it just below the top shell. repeat the entire process until you are at your desired length. I suggest double knotting to prevent any slips in the line. (I tried to take pics to demonstrate, hope you can tell what I am talking about).
I attached each line of shells to the frame as I went along, but if you have someplace where you can lay them straight so they dont get tangled you could wait. Doing it as I went along also helped me know where I needed them and where I needed to fill in. I started at the bottom of the frame and worked my way up. I did 3 tiers (note, no I didnt, read the PS at the bottom!), with the lowest one basically just to help hide the light and frame if you looked up from beneath.
To hang it, I attached the S hook to the top chain of the frame, and slipped the other end of the S hook into the lip that is at the top of the fan motor base. For the finishing touch, I hot glued a strand of dark pink ribbon at the very top.

And... wallah! Your very own faux capiz shell chandelier!

Grand total: $7 : $5 for hooks and spray paint ( I could have done better but hubby bought it for me when he was

out!!), $2 for ribbon.
PS (After Project Notes)

Okay, as you can tell from the almost finished chandelier and my instructions above, I made some modifications. The spacing on the basket was too far apart. So even though I placed a strand of shells at every 'intersection' ( I quickly realized doing 'tiers' was not going to work!), it still looked very 'thin'. My husband (who was a chef for years) recommended I line the basket with industrial high temp wax paper (which we happened to have). Some spray adhesive and a few minutes later, it looked better but.... still missing something. I decided the ribbon wasn't going to help the situation. So off to the dollar store I go. Actually I went for a curtain rod, but the fact that I found a feather boa for $1 made me happy! Cause I knew just what I was going to do with it!

I still need to tidy up the wax paper lining along the top edge, but it is pretty much done. And my daughter LOVES it. I used the fishing line to tie the boa to the basket- I didn't want to glue it because I figured she may get tired of the pink at some point and cutting off the boa and replacing with something else later on is much easier than re-doing the whole project. Overall I'm reasonably happy with it. I would like it to be 'fuller' so that you don't see the wire of the basket at all, but with the basket I used, I'm not sure how feasible that is. I'm satisfied with it enough to hang it up, and the most important thing is that my daughter likes it!

Now.. Things I would change if I were to do it over (ie: learn from my mistakes)

Use a frame that has straight, horizontal lines (like a lamp shade or a square flower basket). The diamond shape I was working with makes it difficult, if not impossible, to hide the frame completely (really glad I spray painted it!!!)

Project Number 2...

2010-08-18T18:11:00.000-07:00

Project number 2 is forming in my mind and already taking form... all before my daughters room has even been painted!

Yes, I fall into the crafter category of more ideas than time (and often, resources).

Anyways, the next project is going to be the hall bathroom, which is (coincidentally) the one my daughter uses (when shes not trying to sneak into my bathroom to use my nice big tub!!!), But its also the bathroom visitors use.

And no one who knows me will be surprised to hear this, but I am going with a beach 'theme'! Actually, the very first bathroom hubby and I had as a married couple was done in a beach theme, and I *think* the beachy trash can is still the one being used in there! Although after 13 years maybe I can buy a new one! LOL

I figure it wont take much paint- I will use the blue leftover from my daughters room, and get some white for the cabinets. Buy a new shower curtain and hang some pictures (ritz camera has an awesome one day sale for tomorrow only- 5 free 8x10 photos and $2.99 shipping! ). I have a ton of photos I have taken at the beach and I used a photo editing program to convert them so they look like watercolors! how cool is that??). It's a small bathroom, so a little will go a long way.

The bathroom, much like the rest of the house when we moved in (who am i kidding, only the kitchen has been painted!), is beige ugliness. And umm... a candle tipped in there so theres a burn mark on the sink and counter. And I have to redo part of the linoleum tiling. (I dont want to talk about it, ok? it was a bad day LOL). I am going to try and sweet talk hubby into swapping out the sink with the one in our bathroom that we dont use (our bathroom has a dual vanity, but we only use one sink). I think I'll have to wait till hes in a REALLY good mood for that!

And a bonus- it will match nicely with my daughters room- without looking too girly! ;)

Getting Ready!

2010-08-17T06:45:00.000-07:00

okay, payday has more or less come ( I get paid online and it takes a couple of days to transfer into my bank account) and after a quick trip to walmart (aka wally world) this morning, I have some stuff for the room.

I did not get paint, because my daughter wasnt with me but I did pick up some sample cards for her to look at. Because her room is so small, and wall space is limited- with a big window taking up most of one wall, the closet taking up another wall, and the bed hogging the third (the fourth wall is for the desk and bulletin board and project)- we have decided against blue circles and opted for a more subtle toned down green for all over. It's called 'Blossom Greeen' and falls somewhere inbetween mint green and granny apple green.

The wall where the closet is will be painted blue, 'Seaside Blue' to be exact. I found a great shower curtain ($7) this morning that has green and blue circles (similar to the colors we will use). We will also use the blue as accent colors throught the room.

Since I have a very high quality printer and dont pay for paper or toner (thank you work!!) I am going to print 9 photos I found online and frame them. I got 3 8x10 frames today and will get the rest when I go back to get the paint. I am going to paint the frames the same accent blue, and hang them over her desk with her bulletin board (frame on that will be blue too!).

I also ordered the curtains today (total came to $38.97 with UPS ground shipping)for 2 panels. These are the curtains I ordered. Not bad considering they are fairly high quality, insulated blackout curtains. We got them in Raspberry.

Sunday afternoon I ordered some ribbon off amazon ( I dont use ebay anymore but thats a whole long story). Anyways, I got 3 different kinds of ribbon- a pale pink organza (1.5") a .5" white grosgrain with blue and green circles and a 1.5" bright pink riboon with a ruffled edge. These will be used in the chandelier (I think) and I also think I will find another way to use them, but the idea is still not quite whole yet. In total I got 5 yards of ribbon and paid under $6 including shipping!

Project Number One... Daughters Bedroom

2010-08-15T19:11:00.000-07:00

For two years...since we bought this house, in fact... I have been promising my daughter (who will be 12 this October) that we would paint her room.

It's still not painted.

Technically, it the room belongs to my 12 year old daughter and 4 year old son. But seeing as my son never- EVER sleeps in there, and none of his belongings are in there...well, it really is her room (and lets face it, shes at an age where it's pretty important to have her own room).

Her room right now consists of a pyramid bed, a small desk in a nook corner area thing (yes thats a technical term LOL), and a dresser. She has a closet with what should be sliding doors, but the doors, to the best of my knowledge, are in the shed and have been since well before we moved here. Abd a very large window with mini blinds and no curtains.

The carpet is stained from juice and heaven only knows what else... the walls are tan beigy ugliness with marker colorings courtesy of a toddler. Oh, and the light fixture was a ceiling fan/ light combo with one fan blade missing.

Sounds great, doesn't it?

It is so bad, in fact, that I will not be posting a before picture. Well, maybe after I post the after pic. ;)

Now for the plan...Get ready to pull out the sunglasses, folks...

The Walls: Lime green (or somewhat close to it) with bright blue (think turqouise) circles painted on it. Not all over, but spread out randomly.

The Window: I found some (affordable) room darkening raspberry colored curtains that are insulated. Insulated curtains are needed because her rooms turns into a sauna on hot summer days! I figure the darker pink of the curtains will help counter the blinding green.

The Closet: My first thought (because I hate sliding closet doors) was to make some sort of curtain. I do have a sewing machine. But... that doesnt mean I can sew. Plus, that much fabric (which I want to coordinate with the room colors) won't be cheap. Then I had a thought. A lovely, nasty, wonderful thought. Shower curtains can be found for pretty cheap. Finding one with those colors in it shouldnt be too difficult or expensive. And, it will cover the opening perfectly. And can easily be changed in the future if we need to.

The Ceiling Fan: My dad is an electrician. Unfortunately, he lives in Texas and we live in North Carolina. My husband doesn't touch anything electrical. As accident prone as I am, I CERTAINLY don't touch anything electrical. So...I take off the remaining fan blades (remember, one was missing) and 2 of the 3 light covers- leaving one. I am making a chandelier. And the cost???? Well, I'm not done yet but it will be under $10. And involves milk jugs. LOTS of milk jugs. You're curious now, aren't you???? You must wait and see... hehe

Bedding: I am not, at least for right now, buying new bedding. However, somewhere in the abyss of my OWN bedroom I think I have a duvet cover that has the green and blue in it. In fact, most of her bedding has variations of those colors, so I think it will all work out in the end. Perhaps for her birthday or Christmas she'll get a new bed set.

The Dresser: Her dresser was a freecycle find, and needs attention. It is a short, long dresser in a bahamian (is that a word?) style- but painted pink. The dresser may not be repainted for this go-round but it wont be seen, as it will be IN the closet, behind the curtain!

And, in the 'new' room, there will be an addition. A Larger desk (to be placed where the dresser is now). Currently, it's in our bedroom (under a pile of clothes, I admit). That desk too, was a freecycle find and while it is not fancy (no drawers or anything) it is very high quality. I want to paint it, but I'm not sure I will, just because it really is a very nice desk. This way, she will have ample room for home work and her own projects, and room for her laptop. The current desk is very small and half of it occupied by a television. She doesnt know she's getting a big desk! ;)

So... that's the project on the table. And I think it will be more than enough for the time being. Don't forget, I work two full time jobs, so this must be done in the evenings (and I'm so tired after working all day!) and on weekends!

Oh, and since, really, the chandelier is the craftiest thing of the whole project, I will post details on that with specfic instructions, as well!

Wish me luck!

2010-08-15T19:08:00.000-07:00

Crafty For Less is my effort to do one of the things that I love- but never find the time to do- and that is crafts!

I work full time from home as a marketing and communications director for an internet company as well as being a professional resume writer (so yes, two jobs!). Add 2 kids, a husband who works for me (and as such is home with me all the time), 11 cats (yes, eleven, it's not a typo) and a dog... well, you may see why my love of crafts has fallen by the wayside.

Two years ago we moved into our (very small, but paid for) home. For two years I have been promising our daughter that I would- at a minimum- paint her room.

It's still not painted.

BUT... that is about to change. I invite you to jopin me on my journey of forcing myself to find the time to start making our house a HOME. And all on a minimal budget.

Welcome to Crafty for Less... why buy it, when you can make it?