Decorating on a Shoe String Budget Part I

I guess, technically, this should be Part II with the canvases for my son's room being the first installment. However, this one was almost so cheap it was silly! I found this tutorial on making a wreath with paper lunch bags. I loved it! However I didn't have the fun paper cutter that she had, I had to get a little creative in what I used. I took the lid to my Crystal Light and traced it, then cut out the circles. I layed each bag out and stacked them, so I could cut out many at a time. Now she says to use 8-10 paper bags, I, on the other hand, used about 30. I guess I figure that if you do something, might as well go big! Lol I also used the Dollar Store wreath like she did and her template for the butterflies. This project cost me... (drum roll)... $0.00!!!!!! I already had everything that I needed! SWEET!!!!! Hope it inspired you!

My next post will be about our "wonderful" carpet experience. And by "wonderful" I mean holy smokes of a nightmare! That's why I haven't been posting lately. When I am in a bad mood, I stay away from blogging because I tend to be really negative, and who wants to read anything from a crabby mom? Not I!!!! Hope you all are enjoying your summer so far!

Easy, High Impact, Cheap Canvas Wall Art Tutorial

Hello there! I have been a busy little bee as of late! Making things for the kids rooms' and repurposing clothes for all of us (more on that later). One thing that I have been wanting to do is some wall art for the little man's "Route 66" room. I have painted it a... well, I guess the only way to really describe it is to call it "Cookie Monster Blue." No joke. But when all the furniture and new carpet is in there, you will love it as much as I do! And even if you don't... I love it, so that's all that matters. My poor children have to suffer because I grew up with only white walls at all times. So I go a little crazy in the color department at times because I want lots of color in my house. Onto my post!!!

Material Needed:

*Canvas (I got mine at Michaels as a 2-pack for $4.49! Score!) Use whatever size you want.)

*Craft Paint

*Sponge Brush and Fine Tip Brush

*Freezer Paper (You can also use Contact Paper if you wanted as well. You just need something that will stick onto your canvas.)

*Cricut Cutter (You don't have to use it at all! I just did because I can. You can also print off the image you want and use a razor cutter to cut along the outside.)

*Iron

Step 1: Cut out your image you want out of the freezer paper. Easy.

Step 2: Place the Freezer Paper (waxy side down) onto your canvas, then with your iron set on the hottest heat setting and NO steam iron your image onto your canvas.

** Tip: Because the canvas has an empty back it is hard to get your iron to evenly go over the wax paper. So I took a hard back book, placed a towel/fabric over the top, and put the canvas over the top of the book. I'm sure there are easier ways or more proper ways of doing it but I had to think on my toes and used what I had on hand!

This is the towel over the book.

Step 3: After ironing, being very careful not to burn your finger tips off, run your finger or the back of a butter knife over the edges of the wax paper to make sure that the edges are on tight. If they aren't, just take the iron over it again.

Step 4: PAINT! Take your brush and move out from the center of your Freezer Paper, making sure not to lift the edge of your paper. This will allow your edges to be more straight, however you will probably have to go over it with a fine tip brush after you lift your stencil up.

Step 5: The hardest part.... wait. Make sure your paint is completely dry before lifting your stencil up.

Step 6: If your edges aren't real straight, go over it with a fine tip brush. I have the most unsteady hand in the history of the world, so if I can do it, so can you! Just go slow and make small strokes with your brush. Work from the inside details and work your way out. Then wait for it to dry and then you are done!!!

As you can see the edges are a little spotty here.

Here are my finished products for the little man's room.

Here are all three that I did with the same technique.

The next one I am making is for my daughter's room and I'm thinking I'm going to use spray paint! I will keep you posted!

Farm Chick Sale Finds

I know that I'm over a week late in posting this, but we had our annual garage sale over the weekend and the thought of pulling more stuff out was just not going to happen for me. So here's my loot!!! I swear to you all that that show is the best, most fun, most inspiring place I have ever been to! So many people, so many booths with TONS of eye candy, and all the vendors were so nice and helpful! Lots of fun! I highly recommend saving up your dollars and heading to Spokane, WA next June! You will not be disappointed!

I got these fun license plates and road sign for the boy's "Route 66" themed room that I'm doing. I love the rust on the green one! People looked at me when I grabbed it like I was crazy!

I got this little wonder from a booth that was next to the Vintage Barn Rolaine at the Vintage Barn is doing her very popular barn sale July 10th, so if you are in the North West, you don't want to miss it!!! But this item was made from barn wood. I am going to fill it with some moss or something and put candles in it on my kitchen table.

I got this little gem from the wonderful ladies at Funky Junk These ladies had the coolest stuff! I just wandered around to look at all the cool things they had! This is also going in the boy's room.

Now I have been looking for a rusty star for some time, so when I saw this one I squealed! Literally! It made people turn and look at me. The stick/sphere thing is going to get some TLC and become a topiary for my girl's room. The fun tin pan in the back is going to get some chicks and hens planted in it. I have a white one that needs a friend.

I have been looking for an old crate for some time as well! When I saw this I was hooked by its fun and bright colors. Now, I am more of a Pepsi gal, but I love this so much with its metal detail and red and yellow print. Love it!

This was my all time favorite piece of the day. It's a child sized rocking chair. It was only $24!!! This is going in my girl's room and she loves it!

Here is the link to photos of the show itself. I brought my camera but apparently I didn't check the batteries, so I was unable to take any pictures :(

My next post will be of my garage sale cast offs that I got for FREE!!!! I have a very tight budget for these kids rooms, so when we find things for free, you grab it up!!!

New Pretty in My House

I did this project as a diversion from the carseat cover I was doing. I had reached a point when I needed to look at something other than seams. Do you ever get that way? Hmmm, maybe its just me. So to help me on my way to procrastinating I made one of the oh-so-popular Book Wreaths! You can find the tutorial here at Living with Lindsay. She also sells them in her Etsy shop, if you don't want to make it. I was so happy with how it turned out and it was so easy, just be prepared to have burned finger tips. Or maybe that's just me again.

What a great gift this would make as a wedding gift?! And very inexpensive to make!

My Button!

I finally figured out how to get a button for my blog on here! I had it up, but had a few people tell me it didn't work. DOH! So go ahead and put it on your blog!

P.S. I went to the Farm Chick Sale over the weekend and found some awesome things! I'll post about it later!

Baby Shower Gift

What a week. And not in a good way. Sorry for the absence. Its probably a good thing as I would just sit and rant about every bad thing that is going on and then sit and eat candy all day.

Instead of boring you with all that, here is my little baby shower gift for my dear friend Suzie from Suzie Homemaker We are friends from school/church when we were younger and she is having another boy soon. I was unable to go to her shower as I hurt my back (yet another fun thing that happened), so she gets to see the pictures before I mail them to her in Utah.

Have you heard of the Cricut?! Well, sadly, I had no idea what it was until my mom informed me that she bought one for my sister and I to share. I wasn't super excited about it, because I was confused as to what it does, but now... WHERE HAS IT BEEN ALL MY LIFE?!!!!! It cuts everything! Including fabric! Did you know this?! Well, here is a super easy idea for your next shower when you are short on cash and time.

All you need is a package of plain onesies, scraps of fabric (mine came from the car seat! Lol), your favorite iron on adhesive (mine is Heat 'n' Bond) and thread.

Iron your fabric to your iron on adhesive, cut out the pattern you want, iron it on, and hand stitch or use your sewing machine and stitch around your fabric applique! That's it! I hand stitched these, just because they look more boy-ish that way to me.

Love baby feet!

My kids call this the Pirate one.

This is what we call our son and I have a feeling that Suzie's little boys are "Bubba Boys" too.

There you have it! Easy, inexpensive and uber cute! Enjoy!

A Big Pile of Oy Ve!

Hello all! Yes, I am still here. I have been a little busy dealing with some health issues, sick kids, never ending projects and bad weather that makes you just want to sit in your jammies and snuggle something. All of these things are not super conducive when you have readers that like to see what you are up to. Rest assured I am well and doing much better and my kids... well they are healthy as of 5 minutes ago, but you know how kids are, they get sick at the drop of a hat. Or maybe that's just mine, hmmm.

Anyways, here is what I have been up to. You know how I said I was dealing with the project that never ends? Well it ended. And not only did I do a jig I also threw my hands up in the air like a cattle roper! A few months ago an old friend from high school asked me if I knew how to recover car seat covers. I said, "No! But I love a challenge!!!" These words would come to haunt me later. I'm not saying this was a terribly difficult project. If you can sew, its a wonderful thing to make! The problem I had is that I am not uber great at sewing, my seams are not always straight, I tend to curse while doing it, and cheat whenever I can. This happens when I am sewing for myself, knowing that I could fix it or tweak it at a later date. However, when making something such as this, that gets used daily, is for someone else, and you want it to be PERFECT, it tends to make you a little crazy. I honestly cannot tell you how many times I ripped out seams, second guessed my markings so I stitched an entire section upside down, threw it across the room, took a lint roller to it, hand stitched places "just in case", invented new curse words, and finally went to bed angry with my self for "loving a challenge." So, I pretended it didn't exist for a few days and then received a call that baby might be induced within the next few days. GULP!!! The good news is is that baby is not going to come until Monday and I finished it YESTERDAY!!!! WOO HOO!!!

Here it is ladies! The final product! Doesn't it just make your uterus hurt?!

Here is what it looked like before I ripped it all apart.

I bought the tutorial from this Etsy shop It was incredibly detailed and if you have loads of patience and time, DO IT! If you are like me and can only sew and craft during nap time and after the kids go to bed, please give yourself ample amounts of time.

Now, onto more fun things, I GOT AN AWARD TODAY!!!! Rachel at A Little Bit Vintage gave me the "I Love Your Blog" award! She rocks my world! Her room for her little girls is amazing and I have informed her that she needs to adopt me post haste so she can decorate a room for me. She is due any day now with baby #2 and is still crafting! WHAT?! Crazy lady! But like I said she rocks my world. Thank you so much! I'll post my award tomorrow.