Thrifty weekend!

So school started a few weeks ago and life is starting to come into a routine again. I have to say I love routine but I don’t have as much time for crafty stuff as I do during the summer. But it is still a big part of me and my life so I knew I couldn’t go too long with out finding a project to work on. So I went to my favorite thrift shop and a couple, literally 2, garage sales and came home with a van full of fabulous finds!  Here is a quick peek at what I scored!

This bench was at my Son’s insistence. He saw this at a garage sale and said “Mom you HAVE to get this bench. You can paint it and make it a cushion!” I talked the lady into giving it to me for $10 so I wouldn’t feel too bad if it sat in the garage for a year before I got to working with it. I really do love it and can’t wait to see what I end up doing with it!

 

This chair was a no brainer. $2 and it is just so sweet. I don’t like the seat that was put on it. It's not original and will be removed. I can’t wait to paint it and try out a woven chair seat on this. I have seen so many and I have been dying to try one.

See the leaves! I love all things tree, and leaves fit right in there!

This old broken Chandelier already got a coat of paint and will be hung in the back yard with candles where the light bulbs go.

This curvy picture frame is already in the process of being painted. I am going to glaze it too! This chair was one in a pair I bought for $5 each, brand new with the tags still on! Poor lady couldn’t get out of them so into the garage sale they went, and on to my back deck! Yay me!

This rooster is so stinking cute! I love him so much! I am thinking about painting his crest and waddle red and hanging him on my fence.

This curvy girl table was a steal at $3 the lady really wanted me to take it! I couldn’t turn it down at that cheap so home she came with me. If I can’t find a place for her in my house I will sell her.. but I think I already found the perfect spot!

And last but not least is this AWESOME Kayak and boat ladder both found at the Goodwill Outlet center by my house. Our beloved Kayak blew away on a stormy day in Coeur d'Alene this summer. We have missed it so much. So when I saw this I called my hubby and told him to Hi-tail it down there and check it out. It looks to be in great shape and for $7 we are very happy to have it in our family! The boat ladder my son found and was an amazing deal at just $2. My husband was just yesterday looking for one and they are $60 new.. I say that’s a great deal!

Oh and I forgot to take a before picture of my Son’s project. He dug right in and got his project going right away. I will get a picture and post that soon along with my other projects as I get them done!

I hope you get a chance to get out there and find some amazing treasures before the weather turns bad. Have a great week!

End table sneak peek…

Here is a sneak peek of my next project…

about to go from boring to a little more character! Stay tuned!

Master bedroom furniture.. from Mis-matched to a matching set!

As you know we moved in April and have been busy trying to get the house and yard the way we want it. Most rooms have been worked on at least a little bit, some have had a lot of work done. The last room to be touched of course is our Master bedroom.

Our bedroom is normally the storage place for anything that doesn’t have a home.. but now we have a bigger home and I am hoping that we will find homes for all of those things very soon.

I wish I had a matching bedroom set, but working for the school means no paycheck for July and August… so no money for a new bedroom set. I had to go to the next best thing, paint! I love spray paint! Here are some before pictures of the furniture pieces individually.

This is one of our night stands that I bought at a garage sale several years ago for $10 for the set. I loved them. They are Mahogany and used to be beautiful I am sure.. they were in this condition when I bought them but I never actually did anything with them until this weekend.

I started to sand the top before I thought to take a picture…

Here is the headboard. It was just a plain bed from Ikea that was handed down to us from my Sister in law.. very boring..

Here are the really bad pictures of the bench I bought at the Goodwill Outlet store just after we moved. It was going to be my first project of the summer.. but is turning out to be the last.

This the only before picture I have of the bedroom. It was taken to show my Mom who couldn’t go up stairs what the bedroom looked like.. I told her it was a mess! Here the bed isn’t even set up yet. This was our first morning in the new place. Messy messy!

Now here is the after! As you can see.. lots of work yet to do, but it is a start!

The bench was rough and really soaked in the paint.. I think it needs to be sanded and sprayed again but I wanted to see what it all looked like in the room. I am so impatient. Actually the more I look at it the more I think it needs to be repainted a different color.. Not digging all the black.. I like the bed and the tables but the bench needs to be a different color...hmm.. any suggestions?

I love how the nightstands turned out. I really love that the hardware was in great shape and look great with the black paint.

Ok that’s it for now. It is cool and cloudy here today after a very hot weekend, so I think I will play at my craft desk for a bit. Have a great Monday!

Kari

A little of this and a little of that…

So I am all alone here at home this week. The boys are on their annual 50 mile back packing/hiking trip, and Em is with G-ma hanging and crafting and picking out kittens. So Momma gets a little alone time! Yay! I had a fabulous weekend full of friends and fun. Then Monday morning came and it was time to get to work. My job this week was to get the garage clean..That’s a big project.. so that we can participate in the neighborhood garage sale. I figured it would take me 3 days to get the garage done and then I would have a full day to get the sale stuff ready..Well, I must be very productive when I am alone. I got the garage done in less than 3 hours! So that left me with today to play! Here is what I did. First I finished my 42 swap cards..

This card is made using the Mischief paper pack and the new Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge for Close to my Heart. I think it turned out ok.

Then I had to decide what to do next…

Have something to eat… read my book.. or make a burlap table runner and 4 matching place mats… decisions decisions…. I decided to start the runner and mats then have a snack.. then I was gonna read but then my Mom sent me a picture of her new kitten.. So reading was out..

Isn’t he so cute!

Ok so here is how I made the runner…

I started with my burlap and this edging stuff I found on clearance.. I really like it!

I got this kind of thread… incase you were wondering…

I measured it to the size I wanted on my table. Then it was time to cut it. Do you know the  trick to cutting Burlap so that it is straight? When if not I will show you.

First you make a snip to start where you want your cut.

Then pull it apart a little bit and get one thread in the middle..

Now pull it carefully… it will probably break but that is ok. Find the end and using something pokey (poky?… hmm.. which one is right… not sure.. oh well you get the idea)

pick it out and pull some more until you get to the other end..

see how it leaves a little line where the thread was.. Now take your scissors and cut down that line!

I cut it then I had to wash it.. Boy is it messy! Take it outside and give it a good shake and let it dry.. It doesn’t take too long for it to dry. There is a great tutorial Here. Very simple actually! Here is my runner all done!

If you look to the right of my runner in the picture below you will see a pile of threads from the process! WOW! this was a messy job!

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This is one of the place mats I made.

That’s it! I actually Still have to sew the other 3 mats but it is all ready for me to finish them up in the morning.. I can’t wait to get my table cleaned off so I can put my new runner on!

When I do I will post a picture of it in action! Let’s see what I end up doing tomorrow!

Thank you card set

Hey there, It’s been a while since I last posted some crafty goodness. My family and I were on vacation and I had house guests for the last month and a half so I haven’t had any crafty time..Well, I decided I needed to fix that so instead of getting dressed and showered and cleaning the house this morning I decided to play around and be crafty! It was so much fun! Here is what I did…

It’s a Thank you card set in a Fry box. I cut the fry box using the new Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge that is exclusive to Close to my Heart! It is awesome!

I cut the fry box at 11 1/4 inches using our double sided B&T papers from the Lucky paper pack.

The star and the ticket are also cut using the cartridge. The Stamped image on the ticket is from one of the 3 stamp sets you get with the cartridge. I really love how they work together and I was able to cut all 6 out in a snap!

And of course I stamped a coordinating image on the envelope for a special little touch!.

I was totally inspired by this fry box set by Lori Miller. Thanks for the inspiration Lori!

4th of July projects #4

So the last couple of projects were super fast spur of the moment kind of things.. Really I just had to keep spraying.. I am now addicted to pray paint! It is a lot of fun! So I took this cute little bird house I found in my Mom’s garage with a $.25 sticker on it.. She couldn’t sell it so I took it off her hands.. Again I didn’t take a before picture.. I guess I wasn’t thinking about blogging it. I think it turned out so cute!

I sprayed the roof red and brushed on some white on the face. I left the rest natural it looks like the fence.. Then I took some rub-on thingy's and added them to the front for something cute. I hope to see a happy family of birds in it some day. If not it still looks cute on the fence.

The other project is a little weird but hey, you have to think outside of the box sometimes right?

My back yard and fence are very boring right now.. I have been working on it with the help of my Mom with planting flowers and stuff but the fence is really boring, so I have looking for things to brighten it up a bit. I was wandering through the garage looking for anything else I could spray paint and I found a little basket and added some paper and  decoupage and hung it on the fence..

It just adds a little color.. to a dark spot.

The two sunflowers are from my kids. They each made them in second grade. They help brighten it up too.

Well, that is all of the fun projects I did this weekend… I did a lot more but they just weren’t fun… sorting, organizing, cleaning.. Boring! Anyway I hope you had a fun and productive weekend like I did!

Up Next …

Let’s see what I can do with this… It’s has to match the desk and I am thinking it needs some legs…