Dresed up Window

I was feeling the need to do a little re-modeling in my bedroom.
I had this window hanging above my bed already. As much as I loved the scrapbook paper behind the glass, I thought I would try it without. But I couldn't just leave a plain window up there.

I remembered I had these old shutters from the college days. We had them hanging by the phone and would write in numbers of our friends.

This was back in the day when people had home phones and you didn't rely on your cell phone to store all your numbers.

It was kind of fun looking back over those numbers...

I knew I wanted to do something fun with the shutters so I had the genius idea to use the shutters for what they actually were made for: windows!

I painted the shutters to match my vanity and hung them on either side of the window.



I liked it, but it was missing something. I added a few vinyl stickers and then found this garland that I had been keeping for no apparent reason! I hung it above the window and I really like the way it turned out!

So far I like it. I think I will work on some fun throw pillows next. Also, did you notice the new decorations on the side wall? New post on those coming soon!

* I link my projects to the following amazing blogs whose links you can find on my side bar

- Todays creative Blog

- Someday Crafts

- Somewhat simple

Free is always nice!

I got this random email from Groupon saying they are giving me $15 toward my next groupon purchase as long as I use it by February 2. Evidently they send these out every once in a while to random people.

Today, the Groupon in Fort Worth was $30 worth of merchandise at Bath and Body Works for $15.

So I just scored $30 worth of stuff for absolutely Nothing. Nada. Zilch...

That's a pretty good deal if you ask me!

Burlap Wreath

My front door was looking a little sad after the holidays so I thought I would try my hand at all those cute wreaths I have been seeing around.

I started out wanting to make a coffee filter wreath, but since I live in Houston and it is pretty humid 90% of the time, I didn't think it would hold up very well outside. I went with burlap instead!

I started with a basic styro wreath and wrapped it in plain white ribbon.

I took some burlap and cut about 50 3inch squares. I was not exact on this at all, some squares were bigger than others. I really just eye-balled it. That's the way I do things!

To make all the "puffs" for lack of a better word, I used hot glue. I put a dab in the middle of the square, folded it diagonally and then did it again. Again, i was not exact.

Then I just hot-glued each puff to the wreath, filling in gaps along the way.

And since Valentines day is the next holiday, I made some red rosettes out of some red burlap I had. I'm not crazy about them, but for now I think it will do. I may change that out sometime soon, but overall I am happy with the final product.

PS: can you tell the pictures on this post are tons better than previous ones? That's because of my awesome camera I got for Christmas! One day soon I will actually learn how to edit photos and then blog-world beware!!!

Snail Mail

This weekend I got a fun little surprise in the midst of the unimaginable amount of junk mail we receive!

I had forgotten that a while back I had signed up for ebates and then done a little Christmas shopping online. If you don't know about ebates, its basically a site that links you to a bunch of online stores that you would shop at anyways, but if you go through ebates, they give you cash back on all your purchases. I used it to buy some things from Vistaprint and Barnes and Noble and this weekend I got my first check along with a $10 Home Depot card I got for signing up. My first check was only for $5, but hey, thats Chick-Fil-A one day or Sonic Happy Hour all week!!!

If you are on the hunt for free money, check out ebates. Use this link and you and I can both get $5 in our account!

http://www.ebates.com/rf.do?referrerid=VmnGNPwANrKUk3yzpxcFpA%3D%3D

If you don't want to use the link you can just go directly to the ebates homepage and sign up there.

If you don't want to sign up at all, we can still be friends. Just consider this a public service announcement that you can ignore!!

* check back soon- I"ll be posting a fun new project I worked on over the weekend thanks to my $10 from Home Depot. Actually it was one of 4 projects I worked on over the weekend, but who's counting!!!

Wood panel picture frame

This is a project I have been waiting to do for awhile. I saw these in a store for an outrageous price and figured I could make something along the same line for much cheaper.

For the base I used some kind of wood paneling- not sure exactly what it is, but it worked. My Dad helped me cut it down to the size I was wanting and then I glued the pieces together. Spray paint and glaze make it pop!

I used a piece of scrap wood and cut it a little bigger than the 4X6 picture and glued that onto the base. I like how much thicker it is than the base, it adds some texture or something.

To secure the picture, my dad gave me these little bracket things and some tiny screws. I cut out a 4x6 piece of plastic and covered the picture with it, used the brackets to hold that in place and slipped the picture behind it.

This is the one I made for my mom for Christmas. If she ever wants to replace the pictures, she can just unscrew the brackets and put in a new picture.

I also got to use my fun new labels for the first time! They say "Imperfectly done with Love by Kindall." So professional, I know

I've made a couple others of these in different sizes and colors. Hopefully I will post more pictures soon and take some more pictures of the process so directions can be a little clearer!

Check it out

I have been featured on a fun little blog called Better After. They have lots of great before and after shots of all kinds of things from rooms to furniture!

You can see my write up here: http://betterafter.blogspot.com/2010/12/sugar-n-mice.html

Update: I was also featured at UglythenPretty- What a fun surprise!

http://uglythenpretty.blogspot.com/2010/12/new-chair.html

Advent Garland

A few years ago, I made an advent garland for my friend Emily. Secretly, I wanted to keep it for myself, but I think she appreciated it. Ever since then, I have wanted to make another, but didn't want it to be exactly the same. Her's is made up of little squares with flaps that you close with buttons so I decided to go with stockings and just make loops out of ric rac to hang them on the ribbon.

This is a super easy project, but it does take a little time. I finished most of this while watching the Aggies beat Baylor this weekend (Whoop)! Shameless plug, I know!!

Here's what you need:

10 pieces of felt. I used white and red

embroidery thread in contrasting colors to the felt

glitter glue or even a fabric marker for the numbers

Ribbon-

2 inch roll for the actual garland and another thinner ribbon to tie the stocking on with

Ric Rac

Hot glue

First I found a pattern online for a small stocking. I folded the felt in half and traced 3 stockings on each piece. You will have a few left over in case you mess up!

After I cut them out, I just did a simple stitch around the edges, leaving the top open. This is the part that takes the longest.

Once you have all your stockings, glue the ric rac to the top of the front piece only. I just made a loop as I was gluing.

Them use your markers, puff paint, or whatever and write your numbers on each stocking.

Once they are dry, use the smaller ribbon to tie each stocking onto the thicker ribbon evenly spacing them however you like!

And there you have it! Come Christmas, I will put mini candy canes or something else like that in each stocking so we can count down to Christmas!

Now if only I had a mantle to hang it on!!!