Scrapbooking

Let me start by saying that scrapbooking is one crafting hobby that I do not typically participate in. I find it all very overwhelming and I am not sure where I would even begin. That being said, I have gotten two "assignments" from my son's school to create scrapbook pages. Not wanting to embarrass myself, I stepped up my game and put my creative hat on. After a few trips to Michaels and Joann's and a few hours of work and planning, they were finished. And I actually think they turned out fabulous. Picking the paper and color theme is the hardest part of scrapbooking in my opinion. It's so hard to decide between all the beautiful choices out there.

I will share a few tips I have learned thru trial and error. I am sure that all of the seasoned scrapbookers know these, but maybe they will help someone.
1). Double sided tape is not strong enough to attach a lot of things. Use a glue stick.
2). Do not try and cut pictures to make them smaller. It doesn't turn out like you had planned it would in your head. Instead, get Walgreens "wallet size" pictures. There are 4 pictures on a 4 x 6 sized print. You will end up with some extras, but I am sure you can find a use for them.

Do you scrapbook? I would love to see what you have made!

Pumpkin Carving - Stencil Style

When I was younger, we have to carve pumpkins using only our imaginations. If we were smart, we used a pencil to draw the face we wanted to carve on the pumpkin. Those days are over.

For less than $5 I picked up a Sesame Street carving kit at Target. I am sure you could find free stencils on the internet, but I like to have the special tools. Here are the steps we followed:
1) Pick your stencil and tape it to the pumpkin. I always cut the paper to help round it to the pumpkin.
2) Transfer the outline of the stencil onto the pumpkin. I like to use a "poker" tool to do this. I actually think this is the hardest part because it is so tedious.
3) Remove paper and start carving.
4) Touch up any areas you may have made errors.

I think each pumpkin took 45 minutes to an hour total. Not bad at all in my opinion. And I think these look so cool all lit up. I used two tea lights in each one. I used a different camera than before to take the last picture and I think it turned out great.





And you may wonder why my husband is in every picture and not me. Well, it is because he is a good sport and does not mind posing for my pictures at all. I actually think he likes it.

In search of...the perfect cake stand.

For awhile now, I have been in search of a fabulous cake stand. I haven't found any I totally love (I don't think so anyways), but I did find some I like here, here, and here. I don't want to necessarily display cakes on it, but rather, display, things. Like Christmas ornaments, mini pumpkins, etc. I think I know what I am looking for, but I just can't find it. It has to have a tallish base, be all glass and be somewhat plain. I know everyone has the best luck at Home Goods, but I never seem too. I went there in search of a cake stand and other fabulous things, but I left with nothing but a headache. I swear, my local store has not been organized or cleaned in the last year.

So, where should I look? Do you have a cake stand? Where did you get it and what do you display on it? I would love to hear all about it!

Pictures taken from www.potterybarn.com, www.amazon.com and www.target.com. Thanks!

White Pumpkin Project #2

This was my first time ever carving a white pumpkin. I expected it to have an orange filling (like I had been told it would), but it actually had a yellowish center. And, oddly enough, it smelled like cucumbers. Very interesting. I gutted the pumpkin out and then turned the project over to my husband. I am not good with power tools and I had heard that it drilling holes in pumpkins wasn't the easiest thing to do. My husband did a great job and just drilled a bunch of holes free hand. I probably would have tried to make sure they were equal distance apart and measured everything, which would have taken hours. The pumpkin turned out very cool, although, I did a horrible job of capturing it with my camera. But trust me, it looked way cool. I will for sure be doing this again next year!

There is nothing better than being organized.

In my opinion, being organized makes life a million times easier. That's why I fell in love the minute I spotted the Daily System at Pottery Barn. I debated for ages about it since it was so pricey. After putting it in my cart online and taking it out numerous times, I finally went for it. And I couldn't love it more. My husband and I can track each other's schedules and figure out what needs to be done so much easier now. Plus, we finally have a place to store our "stuff". You know what "stuff" I am talking about. Bills, coupons, school papers, important phone numbers, spare keys, etc. Instead of having to dig thru drawers, it's all right there at our fingertips! And so neatly organized. Amazing. If you are trying to decide on this piece, I say go for it. You won't regret it.

Refinishing a wood bed.

Instead of spending a ton of money on a new bed for our guest room, I am hoping to refinish a bed I already own. I have had this bed for awhile and have long outgrown the light wood shade of it it. After reading various blogs (mainly Holly's), I decided I should try to give it a whirl myself. The first picture is of the spare bedroom. As you can see, it's a little, well, plain. It's just an empty bedroom right now. The picture of the bed itself is very old and was taken ages ago. The bed is currently "in storage", so I don't have anything more recent. But it is in great shape and looks brand new. I am planning on sanding the wood, then painting it a nice cream color. If all goes well, I would like to have this done by Thanksgiving (I like to make realistic deadlines). I can't wait to see the finished product!

Tell me, what have you refinished? What do you want to refinish?

Photo Wall

I wanted to do a photo wall in my house and searched all over the internet for pictures of a style I liked. I didn't find anything that was totally what I wanted, so I adapted a few ideas and just went with it. I bought a monogram wall decal from Etsy (who doesn't love Etsy) and grabbed the pictures frames I had around the house and staggered them on the wall. I will add more picture frames eventually and I can always change out the pictures to get a new look.

As a side note, I hate when people say that they used only things they had laying around the house to design / create something. But in this case, I really did have all those frames. I had a mini photo wall in my old house and I am very matchy matchy, so I always bought the same type of frames whenever I needed a new one.

Overall, this cost me only the price of the decal ($24), but you could easily do something similar for under $100 total. IKEA has some great frames and if they don't have the color you are looking for, don't be afraid to spray paint them to get what you are looking for. It's cheap and super easy. To me, those are key. Do you have a photo wall? If so, I would love to see a picture.

Lamps for Less

For years now, I have always loved stacked glass ball lamps (I am not sure how else to describe them). I never bought one and stuck with my (cheap) IKEA lamps instead. The ones I found were always so expensive and I just could not justify spending $200+ on a lamp. Plus, I needed two. While strolling through Target one day, I stumbled upon the exact same style lamp I have always loved, but it was made out of plastic instead of glass. Making the lamp way more budget friendly and toddler friendly as well! The Target version was around $29.99, plus the cost of the shade (like $15).

While the Target version is a bargin compared to most lamps of this style, it is an absolute steal when compared to the Ralph Lauren version, shown in the first picture below and available here. It's on "sale" for $1,360. Ouch. The second picture is my Target lamp. The only real difference I see if the shade, which is an easy fix if you must have the same look as the RL one.

And, if you like the look of designer clothes, but don't want to pay the designer price tags, check out J's blog. She is fabulous!!!!

Uppercase Living

When I first got invited to an Uppercase Living party, I'll admit, I wasn't very excited. I could not understand the concept of wall decals. After talking to a few friends, it finally clicked and I was intrigued. I ended up ordering two pieces. A custom one for above my bed which I was able to select the font, size, etc. I also ordered a stocked piece for my kitchen. The minute I got them up, I love them. My husband actually put them up for me (I tend to not do so well with that kind of stuff) and it took him maybe five minutes to get them applied on the wall. I will admit that I have not taken any off the wall yet, so I am not sure what will happen after I do. I imagine it's nothing a little paint can't fix.

Have you ever ordered from Uppercase Living or a similar site? What did you get? Or what do you want to get?

White Pumpkin Project #1

For my first white pumpkin project I decided to paint one of the pumpkins. This way, I can get two uses out of the pumpkin. I can paint it and display it for a bit and then wash it and the carve it. I think it's a pretty awesome way to get a little more bang for your buck.

Because I am not the worlds best artist, I picked an easy design (a bat) and drew the outline on the pumpkin with a pencil. If you look close, you can sort of see it in the picture. I outlined the design in black paint and then filled in the rest with a thin coat of paint. I wasn't too sure what to do next because my paint was super thin. I guess that is what you get for using washable children's finger paint? My husband, however, actually did have an idea and pretty much pushed me out of the way and took over. He put a ton of paint on the brush and sort of globbed it on, for the lack of a better term. It worked great and he totally saved the day! Does the bat look perfect? Nope, but I love it and it was a super easy project.

As always, I like to provide a cost breakdown:
Pumpkin: $6
Paint: $3 or so? I already had this, so it's hard to say. If I were to do this again though, I would get a different type of paint.
Brush: $1 or so? I already had this too.
Bat Stencil: Free from the internet.
Total Cost: $10 (at most)

The Pottery Barn Outlet

Like I said before, Pottery Barn is one of my favorite places to "borrow" design ideas from. Because I am lucky enough to live near (well, within driving distance) a Pottery Barn Outlet Store, I can actually buy some furniture pieces without breaking the budget. A few years back, I got a mailer which advertised a beautiful buffet for a steal (if I recall correctly, it was around $300-$400). It was an special deal and was good for one weekend only. So I dragged my husband there and loaded it in the back of our SUV. I should mention that we lived in a tiny condo at the time and had no space for this huge thing. But I knew I loved it and I knew it would work perfect someday in a new house. So I stored it in the basement (in the box) for over two years!

I was finally able to break out this beauty when we moved last winter. And I loved it just as much as the day I bought it when I finally got it out of the box. If I hadn't gotten this piece, I always would have been looking back and wishing I had. I hope you keep that in mind next time you are at the store and see a piece that you just have to have that won't be around for long, but know it won't work for you right now. If you love it enough, you can make it work!

Outside Fall Decorations

When I saw this picture on Pottery Barn's website, I instantly fell in love and I knew that I wanted to do something similar. However, I thought that $24 for a strand of garland was a bit crazy. I also loved the lighted pumpkins they used, but again, the price was not budget friendly.

So I set out to Michaels in search of something a bit for affordable. I actually found garland I liked better than the PB stuff and it was only $6 a strand (on sale from $9.99 - it's now $5 a strand). I bought 5 strands and had 1.5 left over (which was perfect for my wreath). I attached them using these fabulous clips and used a hanger I already had for the wreath. I stumbled upon some rattan pumpkins in Target near the vase filler aisle and knew they would look great! I finished the porch design off with two potted mums from the local greenhouse. The cornstalks and the pumpkins topped off the look and brought it all together. I love this look even more than I loved my inspiration.

A cost breakdown:
-Garland (4 strands @ $6/each): $24
-Wreath: $10
-Rattan / Grapevine Pumpkins: Ranged from $9.99 to $19.99. I would guess my total was just under $100
-Mums (2 @ $8/each): $16
-Cornstalks: $3.50/each
-Pumpkins: $42 (we will be carving these too!)
Total Cost: $199.
This seems like a lot when I list it all out, but it's a fraction of the cost the PB original would have been. In addition, I will have the wreath, garland and rattan pumpkins for next year

White is the New Orange

I am obsessed with pumpkins this year and cannot seem to get enough of them. I saw these beautiful white pumpkins at the local pumpkin patch last week and I knew they had to be mine. I was worried they would cost a lot more than orange pumpkins, but I was totally wrong. Two were $8 each and the other one was $6. Not bad at all!

I have a few projects planned for them, but I am most excited about drilling holes in one. Sort of like these Martha Stewart ones here. White pumpkins are orange on the inside and give off an amazing glow. I cannot wait to get started on these!