Recovering an Ottoman

While out garage sale-ing last month I made a very fortunate turn onto the perfect street and found the mother load of "garbage." I found bedframes and other goodies sitting by someone's garage. I asked the lady if she was throwing it away and she said, "Yes, you can have it!" I threw whatever I could fit into my car and we stored the rest in her backyard until I could come back that night to pick it up. 

When my husband and I went back to get the rest of the goods, she had thrown out this ottoman and a table lamp to add to the stash. YES!!!! We've wanted an ottoman since day one of our marriage but we've never wanted to pay for one. :) This was perfect. It had great bones, just needed new material. So it sat in our garage for over a month until I found the right material for the job. (and until I had money in my craft budget again) 

I heard of this fabric store in Tempe that sells remnant fabric. I made the trip to Tempe and found the perfect seersucker material. I bought 2 1/2 yards and spent a total of $8.00. Yes, $8.00 to recover a free ottoman. 

So, it started out like this:                                                Then we striped it down to this:

We used spray adhesive to glue the foam pieces together. I ironed the fabric, then we simply wrapped the fabric around the ottoman and stapled to the bottom. Huzzah!! Finally got to buy myself a staple gun!  Win win win.

Love me some seersucker. 

I'm pretty happy with the end result.

Free Halloween Subway Art

I was at Jo-Ann's the other day and they already had Halloween stuff out. Holidays come earlier and earlier every year. I will say, it got the {Halloween} creative juices flowin'. I had the idea to make some subway art. Love me some subway art. 

This is a saying that my sister and I found in a craft store in Texas years ago and fell in love with! I've always wanted to display it in my house, and yesterday the idea hit me: subway art that baby. 

Here are a few different ones, they are 5 x 7. Feel free to download and use for your own personal use. Right click and hit "save image as."  Let me know if you have any problems. 

DISCLAIMER: I changed the wording at the end ever so slightly. The real saying is:
"From ghoulies and ghosties and long-legged beasties and things that go bump in the night, Good Lord deliver us." Just so you are aware, it's slightly altered. 

Let me know if you download it and what you do with it. I'd love to see!

Spray painted frames

My sister reminded me I've abandoned this blog for too long. So here's an update. The green frames on the entertainment center just didn't fit. Something was off. So I spray painted them yellow and put them on top of the kitchen cupboards. By the way, you can get this set of 2 frames from Ikea for $2. That's right, $2 for both. They aren't high quality, but no one is climbing on top of my counters for a closer look. The yellow goes better with my kitchen stuff and doesn't stand out in an akward way. Plus, spray painting is always fun. 

 Here's an update of what replaced the frames. 

 I needed a new craft the other day so I headed to the Goodwill and found this baby. Why someone held onto it until now is beyond me. 

I used the same yellow spray paint, added a cute lace ribbon that my Aunt wrapped one of my presents in a few years ago and topped it off with spray painted clothes pins. Cute baby pics add the finishing touch. 

My next project is to be determined; I have a few up my sleeve. Just gotta find the time now. 

A little slice of happiness

I can be a better person tomorrow than I am today.

BAM! It looks like I spent $80, but nay

I'm sure if you're a Pinner you've seen the giant black and white print that you can do for super cheap. I'm here to tell you that it works. There is a fabulous tutorial found on Sugar Bee Crafts that gives great step-by-step instructions. So I won't give the instructions here. You'll have to check out her blog for that. But I'm tellin' you people it works splendidly. We wanted a big picture of the temple to hang in our living room for everyone to see. I think this one will suffice. The picture itself is beautiful and I found it here. It's Holdsworth Photography and she did a beautiful job with this picture. 


I took the advice from Little Green Notebook and painted the sides a contrasting color for pop. However, our picture is in an entertainment nook and it's difficult to see the sides but I'm still glad I did it. It took all of 5 minutes to paint the sides and I just used acrylic paint. I did this before we taped the picture on. I will also say I stuck the print onto the styrofoam using none other than double-sided sticky tape. That's right, nothing fancy. I like to save my pennies where I can. The total cost of this project was $12, but I have enough styrofoam for another pic, so really it was just $9. That's what I tell my husband, anyway.

So go try it. I tested it out and I'm here to say it's a winner. Let me know what you print. The possibilities are endless! Kids are cutest, quotes are inspiring, family pics will look expensive. :)


And those cute green frames... I'll post about those soon. Go make someone smile today.

Time stood still long enough to refinish a clock

Remember 7 years ago when making clocks out of table tops was the big craft project everyone was doing? I do, because I'd been married about 3 minutes and saw one and thought, "That would be so cute in our adorable apartment now that we're newlyweds!" So I made a clock out of a table top, as mentioned, and it's been a lovely addition to our home ever since. 

However, we just moved to the great state of Arizona and into our first HOME. (meaning not attached to anyone on any side of our residence) I decided it was time to update the ol' clock.

So this is the original clock I made 7 years ago- minus the hands. They were black, you get the picture.

I took the vinyl lettering off using a blow dryer. This works splendidly. Just hold the blow dryer over one or two letters at a time and they peel right off, clean as a whistle. Once that was done, I spray painted the entire face and sides white. Once that dryed, I taped off stripes using painters tape. I then spray painted the white part metallic.

I bought house numbers from Home Depot, spray painted them blue, then nailed them into the clock. I used the original clock hands and painted them yellow using acrylic paint. I hung it up and it works great. A fresh new face for our new place. Cheesy....

Welcome to my blog

Hi! I kinda have a hankering for crafts and decorating (and re-decorating) my house. Some of my ideas are originals but a lot of them spawn from something I saw on Pinterest or some other place in cyber-space. I love creating something for cheap. Some people call it being "thrifty." Either way, I don't see the point in spending a ton of money on something if I can create it myself for a fraction of the price. I decided I might as well share my creations with whom ever wants to see them in hopes of getting someone else's creative juices flowing. It's nothing professional, but it fits my lifestyle and my home: laid back and trying to hit the target. So, if you see something you like, get creative, then tell me about it. Then I can copy your idea. :)