Poofed Wall Art

Here's a little something for everyone- a great looking project involving just paper, scissors, tape and glue. The only abilities required are tracing and cutting.

I'm participating in the Make-Over Open House at Sanctuary Arts at Home and in DIY day at A Soft Place to Land.



My girls' room has been in need of some finishing touches in the way of artwork. Now, I am greatful for the talents the Lord decided to bestow upon me, but when it came to artistic talent, my husband got all of it in this duo (and the gardening touch, and the map gene, but I digress). Much beyond a stick figure and I'm no good to anybody.

One night as I was reading "Brown Bear, Brown Bear" to Jellybean for the eleventyseventh time I had a flashback to this post about silhouettes and realized that I could do this:



I just printed out the photos I wanted to use and then used a pen to outline their hair, face-shape, dresses... I taped scrapbook paper to the back... and then I started cutting...

and cutting...

and I used a combination of gluestick and scotch tape to put it all together...

Poof!


then I mounted it on another piece of scrapbook paper...

pulled out the frames I got at goodwill...



added some ribbon...

viola!

And because I've really been looking for some pretty religious art for their room...


I printed out this coloring page...

to make this:

and I printed out this image I found online...

to make this:

Pretty cool, huh?

Love,

Bargain Alert!!

I just stepped out to go to Sam's Club for some groceries and found this stool (look under the table) for $20.87!

I know it used to be around $50 and I think it was $70 before that. If you've been looking for a ceramic garden stool, you know $50 is a bargain. I've been looking for one on CL for months and haven't found a single one. Oh, and it also came in a mossy green.

BTW- what do you think about this mirror? It was a hand-me-down that I've had for a while, but I'm thinking maybe it's a bit too ornate here. It was a brighter gold that I toned down with this trick from CentsationalGirl. I'm thinking of using the same technique on the bamboo mirror and hanging it here instead.

Then I found these rush storage cubes for $14.39 (they don't seem to be available online) and bought two. They're a good size and they are sturdy. I haven't totally made up my mind about where they're going but I have a few ideas...


My store only had a few of each left so if you're interested you should act fast!

Thrifty Treasures- Midnight Madness!

No, this kind of midnight madness has nothing to do with pumpkins and glass slippers (although it does involve a pretty fab pair of ballet flats!). I'm talking midnight madness at goodwill, y'all!! Woot!!

I recently discovered that my local goodwill has a "midnight madness" sale once a month and I went last Thursday night. They were offering everything in the store at 50% off from 8pm til midnight. It was NUTS!!

I figured if I got there at 7:45 I'd have 15 minutes to shop around and then I could pay after 8:00. The only problem with my little plan was that the sale was so popular that when I pulled up to the building I couldn't find a parking space! When I made it inside there was already a line of people, merchandise in hand, waiting to pay- and the line wrapped around the entire inside of the store. There were so many bodies packed in there that the temperature was warmer (and muggier- gross.) inside than outside.

I was not deterred.

I was a little bummed beacause as I looked around I could see that a few of the people in line had some great finds. Finds that I would have chosen if I had arrived early enough to get them first. Like the beautiful little sideboard one lady scored for $25 or the i've-been-looking-for-one-of-those-for-six-months folding tray-top serving table another lucky shopper walked away with for $8 or the drop dead gorgeous blanc de chine lamp another woman got for $9!!! ACK!!!
I'm soooo camping out all day next time!!

I did manage to find a few things.

Also, this morning was our annual neighborhood yard sale. I nearly missed it because my wonderful hubby got up with the kids and let me sleep in! Which -I'm sort of embarrased to tell you- I took advantage of until nearly 11:30!! I did find a few things there as well.

I'm linking in to the Thrifty Treasures Party with Rhoda at Southern Hospitality.

Here's my loot:

1. Gold bamboo motif mirror (It's getting a paint job soon- check back for details)- GW- $9


2. Wooden doll cradle (getting a decoupage treatment)- GW- $2


3. Silver-plate tray (possible victim #3, haven't decided yet)- GW- $1


4. White butter keeper crock thingie- GW- $1


5. Vintage Richard Scarry Storybook- Yardsale- 50 cents


6. VHS tapes- Charlotte's Web, Peter Pan, The Rescuers- Yardsale-$1 each


7. Booster Seat (did not come with the accoutrements but Jellybean decided she had to feed bunny as soon as she saw it)- Yardsale- $5


8. Green child's chair (I don't know anyone named "Brady" so it's getting a paint and/or decoupage treatment soon)- Yardsale- $5


9. Last, but not least, Brand spankin' new bronze nine west flats- Yardsale- $5

BTW-I thought 5 bucks for the chair and the booster was a little steep for yardsale pricing, but I didn't dicker because these people are my neighbors and I didn't want to be that-cheap-lady-from-the-yardsale!

And the moral of this tale is, of course, the early bird gets the worm, but who wants a nasty old worm when you have the option of sleeping til noon?!

Love,

Doin' the Fancy Pants Dance...

I can't believe it. I checked my e-mail after dinner tonight and found this:




Amanda at Serenity Now gave me the fancy pants award!!

Hee-hee! I am so completely tickled. My First award!! Do I get to make a speech?!! A-hem. I would like to thank all of the little people ..... just kidding. Seriously, more important than this (very flattering) award, I am so pleased to have "met" such a lovely, genuine person in bloggyland. Amanda, I would so love to get to know you better!

Price My Space

First off- Seriously, Mom, look away! I'm about to tell the whole world how cheap I am!

Okay, today I'm participating in the Price My Space Party at Nesting Place.


Here's my living room. I wrote about it in two of my last three posts. It's not "done" yet (I don't think it ever will be, where's the fun once it's done?) but I'll price what I've done so far.

1. Vintage Robert Furber Gardiner prints. Craigslist, $15 for all three. I've repainted the frames and mattes twice, but I'm still not sure about them. Post to come...
2. Set of four butterfly plates, $5 at a flea market near my in-laws in Lebanon, PA.
3. Window treatment, I posted about it here $25
4. White Chinese Chippendale chairs, hand-me-downs from my mom (thanks, mom!) free!
5. Little flip-top table between chairs, CL, $20
6. Huge Karastan Rug, CL, $50
7. Coffee Table, CL, $20. It's constantly covered in little fingerprints and I want to protect it so I'm thinking of making a removable upholstered top for it. Post to come...
8. Sofa, CL, free! Homemade slipcover, $20 in fabric. Post Here
9. Monogrammed blue/olive animal print bolster pillow- I bought a box of fabric scraps froma "real" designer on CL for $10. There were some awesome pieces in there, including the fabric for the bolsters, the little pillows on the chairs and lots more to come...I monogrammed the bolsters on my embroidery machine.
10. Sofa, purchased on CL for $200. Posted about it here
11. ??? I have no idea why I put two numbers on one sofa?
12. Library table, CL, $40
13. Pair of lamps. I bought these at Great Finds and Design, an awesome local furniture consignment store/design group (so they only consign great pieces) for $37 each. That included a shade, but I replaced it with these shades which I purchased at Target for $19 each. I think I got the shape right, but they're blending in with the wall, so I have plans for them, coming soon...
14. Demilune table, CL, $50
15. Little white lamp, CL, $5. I added the shade for $9 and trimmed it out.
    

This picture is awful, but for pricing purposed it'll do...

1. Lamp, TJMaxx on clearance $29
2. Wingchair, hand-me-down from my mom's friend (Thanks, Carol!) I slip covered it with this pretty fabric I got for $3/yard (My Joann's is huge and they frequently have 50% off the home dec clearance fabrics!). Post to come...
3. Oh, this one might be my favorite. It's hard to see all the pretty details in this pic, but she has the prettiest fretwork, sigh. I got her for $100 on CL. I attempted to line the inside with wrapping paper and it did not work out so well. The sheen of the paper makes the color look much brighter than it is, and the sheen also makes every little bump and ripple show. I'm thinking I'll paint, wallpaper or line with fabric instead. Also, I think I have too much going on up top. What do you think? Post to come...
4. Same Library Table as in #12 above.

That's it! Let's see, that comes to a grand total of (drumroll.....)

$719

Woo-hoo! Most people spend more than that for one sofa!

Man, I love craigslist.

Love,

A Tale of Two Sofas...

Before I begin this post I need to write a little disclaimer to my mom. Mom, I know how you hate it when I brag about how little I spend on things, so you may want to avert your eyes now!

I seriously love craigslist. If I did have a fairy godmother, her name would be craig.

A few months ago I was beyond thrilled to find this sofa on CL. Hello, lovely! I bought it for $200, which is a big splurge for me (that's the most I've spent on any piece of furniture in my house with the exception of my bedroom furniture and the couch in my basement, which were both purchased before I was married)

I love everything about it. The shape, the velvety butter upholstery, the pretty bolster pillows, the down-filled cushion...





It's about 10 years old, but it just sat in the formal living room of the previous owner, so it's still in really good condition. I recently had it professionally cleaned which did get out the few minor spots it had.

I was super excited to come across this article which places my sofa in the $5K price range! I can tell you it's definitely well made. The frame is so heavy that when I tried to lift one end of it to adjust it a little, I couldn't do it.

This is why I love CL. I would probably never be able to afford a piece like this new, and if I ever did scrape together the money, there are too many other more important things that my family should be using that money for.

As much as I LOVE decorating, when it comes down to it, this is just material stuff. There are much more important things.

However, for $200 I got a piece that I sigh over every time I walk by. And I don't have to feel guilty about what I sacrificed to have it.

Here's the photo from the O. Henry House website:


I knew I was in good company when I spotted the same sofa here:

Suzanne Rheinstein

Wanna see my favorite part?

Check it out from the side!

How gorgeous are the arms?! I think this arm style is called a Charles of London arm, or a London arm or an English arm, but basically it's a small, low rolled arm that continues down the front.

Now on to sofa number two.

Would you believe that exactly one week later I got this sofa on craigslist for free!!!

Windsor Smith

Okay, I didn't really get that sofa for free, but I did get this one for free and I knew I could make it resemble the one above after making a slipcover for her to cover up the slashes in her cushions.

It's okay, sweetie, nobody's perfect. You just need a little makeover.

Yes, I'm talking to my sofa. Get over it.

It's a Lee Industries sofa that was sold at Crate and Barrel for around $2000, I think. Here's a pic on the Lee Industries website:

Oh, and my homegirl Jenny of Little Green Notebook (okay, so she doesn't exactly know she's my homegirl yet, but I seriously love her blog. She's got mad style) has the same sofa in the two cushion style.

You can read what she has to say about it here.

Here's a pic of my same sofa in a slipcover made especially for it by Lee industries. I priced out what it would cost and it was about $1500 just for the slipcover!

That was when I decided to try making a slipcover myself. Armed with a $20 Joann's giftcard and a 40% off coupon, I bought 8 yards of beige linen at $7.99 per yard for a total of just under $20.

Here's what I came up with:

I tried to copy the Lee industries slipcover, except I decided to save some money by doing it in one piece instead of covering the cushions individually. I used less yardage this way. At some point in the future I may make the individual cushion covers in the same fabric, but I'm satisfied with it for now.

I decided to do bigger boxpleats and I still wanted the pretty feet to show so I started the pleats right under the cushion line.

And I didn't want to lose my favorite part, the arm, so I piped out the pretty curve on the side:

Now I'm a little torn. I really don't know which I like better. I never intended to have two sofas in this room, and I'm definitely aware that this is probably one sofa too many in this space, but I'm not ready to part with either of them. Plus, it's really nice to have the extra seating.

What do you think?

Love,

Some Gowns For the Ball...

Okay, so I know this is supposed to be a home dec blog, but I'm posting some reviews for patternreview.com and I need to post the photos somewhere, so here they shall be.


Here are my little sweeties on Easter morning:


The coats are McCall's M5739 view A, the hats are McCall's M4478 view C

The dresses are McCall's M5792 view D





And of course I couldn't forget Bitty Baby. Her dress is Butterick B5303 view A (but I altered the sleeve to look more like my girls' dresses)




Oh, and I made Jellybean this little bag from this free printable pattern. I just reduced the size of the pattern before printing it out to make it a good size for her.



And here's a little knit dress I made recently for myself. I am wearing a cami under it but the lighting is kinda bright so it's hard to tell in this pic.

Love,