New Armoire and a Sign

Finally found an Armoire for the tv in our living room. I found it on Craigslist for $75. It was in my town which is RARE so I got it. Saved on gas and spent less that I intended. So it worked out. Now that I got it home, I wish I had offered a little less. It looks handmade, maybe? Anyway, it'll work and it looks much better than what I had.

I made this little sign for a friend of mine. Hope she likes it. No, I'm not saying she is Moody. haha! That's her last name.

For $5.41

I got all of these goodies.

I'm not sure what I'll do with this, but the whole family is coming here for Thanksgiving so I'm sure I'll find some decorative use for it. Link me ideas if you feel like it. :D
My first yard stick for my ruler/yard stick table. Yes, I'm SO doing that!
When I saw these, I thought they were cool. Then walked away. Then thought, maybe I could use them for something. Anyone have ideas for these?
I found one of these at a garage sale a few weeks ago, painted it black and sat it on a shelf. Well, now I have a smaller one too!

And these. Oh my. Love these.

Pricing My Living Room

I am curious how much we've spent trying to make our house look like a home. I've seen people do price my space before. I'm not sure all of the details of what they are doing but I got the idea from them to do this my way. It may be the same way they do it, don't know. After looking at this room and taking pictures I realized there's only a few retail purchased items in here. Everything else was garage sale items. The surprising thing is that I LOVE this room. There are a few things that I'd like to change but overall I'm happy with it.

Got this mirror and some candle thingies (seen in the reflection) at an Estate Sale. Don't know where that candy wrapper came from but I have an idea. lol

When we pulled up to this garage sale, I knew I had to have this sofa! After talking to the lady, I found out it was practically NEW! She bought it and a few months later got married and had new furniture. Yippee!!
Got this chair with the couch. It folds out into a twin size bed. I love the colors!!!

There's my stool! It's dark. Sorry.

I'm not sure what to do with that candle stick or the bird cage. For now they just sit there on the fireplace.
Got this coffee table at Soul's Harbor (kind of like Goodwill). The rug and tray from garage sales.
I do not know what to do to get the wrinkles out of the curtains. Help? The vacuum, curtains and blanket are a couple of store bought items. I do plan to move the vacuum. I only have it out cause I'm about to use it. lol
Jarrett picked these up. They were just sitting outside somewhere.
My first purchase for the living room was the bar stools. Can't believe they were so cheap!
I've been searching craigslist for an armoire that my tv will fit in. I'm determined to get one on the cheap! Then my living room will be complete.

Total: $576.25

Not bad for a whole living room, huh?

Homemade Gift Card & Holder

I was asked to donate a free session to a benefit auction. I don't know all of the details of the cause for the auction but what I do know is very sad and hopefully this gift card will help out. I added a free 8x10 just for the heck of it. If you have a moment, say a prayer for the young girl this benefit is for.

Don't laugh. I'm just not as crafty as I wanna be. I used scrapbook paper. The kind that is like a sticker. And some ribbon. I printed out a copy of my new business cards cause I haven't ordered them yet. Then I threw it all together as best I could.

Just a few rules

I wish I could think of a cute way to display the rules I made. This will have to do for now.

Another Project

I stole this idea too. One day I'll come up with something on my own. haha!! I bought two of these bottles at a garage sale. I'm almost positive I didn't pay $1 a piece. Must have been for the pair. Then I bought some hemp stringy stuff from Wal Mart. That stuff costs more than I'd like to spend, but I had to try this project. I got the idea from here.

This is my bedside table. After I finish getting things for the rest of the house, I'll start on my bedroom furniture. I hate my tables.
This is the first one I made with a different type of hemp. It's super skinny so I had to go over it twice to make it look good. Now I wish I had covered the whole bottle. Live and learn. For now, it's sitting on my mantle.
Update on my Pottery Barn Copy Cat:

Mixing mod podge with stain totally worked! It dried over night. I was SHOCKED! But pleased! We still need a frame for it. I wonder how long I'll have to wait? Maybe I'll come across an easy way to make frames and do it myself.

I have it hanging above the bookshelf in our school area. I think it will look better when it has a frame and I finish my bookshelf. Thinking of painting it black and mod podging dictionary pages on the shelves. What do ya think?

No idea why the pics look blurry. :/

Pottery Barn Copy Cat

When I got my Pottery Barn catalog, I saw this and LOVED it! I thought it would be perfect in our little school area. But you know, Pottery Barn isn't in my price range.

Today, I was checking out all of the blogs I love and I saw this. Couldn't believe it! So I had to try it. I ran out to Lowe's to get what I needed. I decided to scale it down a little. I bought a 2x2 piece of wood. I have no idea what kind of wood it is, but it's nice and smooth and only cost around $3.50 (give or take a few cents).

I painted it ivory and drew my squares.

And instead of painting the letters, because I'm a lazy bum... I printed them out and cut the circles as best I could. (FREE FONT)
I used an all purpose glue that I had laying around to glue the letters to the wood. It's made by Elmers but it's in the garage and yes, I'm still a lazy bum and not going to get it to tell you the exact name. Doesn't matter though, does it?

It's not exactly like the Pottery Barn one but I still LOVE it!

Next, I mixed a little stain with my Mod Podge. I tested this out on a piece of paper before hand and it didn't do anything crazy so I went with it.

I used the mixture on the letters and went around the circles. And dripped a little stain onto the board by accident. :X

THEN, I used a paint brush to trace my squares with Golden Oak stain. I let that sit a minute and used the brush again to stain the whole piece.
I'm hoping to wake up with it still looking like this, but dry. I really hope that mixing Mod Podge with stain was an OKAY idea. LOL

Jarrett is going to make me a frame soon too. I'm not in any hurry for it though. It looks super cool like it is.

When I get my school area done I'll take a pic of this on the wall. If you decide to make one, send me a link!! I want to see. :D

I'm adding this to Make Your Monday. I've been checking out this blog for 3 or 4 weeks. I'm loving it. You've gotta check it out!!!

Good idea?

I've been wondering what to do with these hemingray insulators that we got from Jarrett's grandma. She has hundreds of them. I may need to go back and get some with more color.

I bought a candle holder from a garage sale and put it in the fireplace and sat the old insulators on it. What do you think? I think it's fitting since Jarrett is an electrician. lol And it keeps me from having to buy candles for now. :D

The Library

I think this room is 'done enough' to show you. I need something on the walls. Maybe paint? But it's a rent house so I can't go too dark. I'd like to NOT paint at all but the white bothers me.

So what do you think? Got any suggestions to make the room better?