Recently

Recently...

We discovered Wing Street from Pizza Hut.

Honey BBQ.

DE-Lish.
We will be repeat offenders for sure.

I made and bottled peach jelly for the first time.
I have already eaten 1 jar by myself, enough said.


BEFORE:

and AFTER:

Chris and I are so happy with how this new dresser turned out! It was given to us by a friend to moved out of state and after a few coats of paint and new hardware we are LOVIN it!

THANK YOU CHRIS for all your help!!! (He did most of the dirty work!)

This was a fun 15 min. project I copied from a blog I found.

I would normally link to it, but I can't find it!!

This was just a cereal box I cut and taped paper and a label to.

Perfect for all of those Ensigns and other magazines I will never throw away!

And finally...

My work had a dutch-oven cookout for the students and their spouses (like 2 months ago!)

This is a fun picture I took and never got around to posting!

Thanks for putting it together, Stephanie!!

Falling for Fall

I hate to say it, but it is officially Fall.
I had to scrape ice off my car window this morning! and it was almost 9 am!!
Boo.
But on the bright side... Fall Decor!
Chris and I don't have ANY fall decorations. Well today I went to Porter's (which is like a small Rexburg version of Hobby Lobby or Michael's) to get a little easel and one of their fall displays was of a pine tree with twinkle lights and fall leaves and little wicker pumpkins, I LOVED IT! I remembered that last Christmas we bought a little 4 ft. pre-lit tree and so I was inspired to try to cheaply copy their cute Fall tree.

Here is my version!

I went through our box of ornaments to see if anything would match and I found a box of little glittery pine cones I had completely forgotten about, they made a great fit in the tree!


I am going to get some little pumpkins to put on the table to cover the tree base

After I had wrapped the garland around the tree Chris and I were looking at it and he said it needed a topper and Chris (being the genius he is!) remembered we had just bought this leaf ornament in Oregon in August! (We try to find an ornament on all of our vacations-- I think it makes a useful souvenir) It matches perfectly, right? Good thinking babe!

I am really happy with how it turned out! Especially since I only paid around $9 to put the whole thing together.

Happy Fall everyone! :)

Click for more Fall Decor!

Mod Podge Wooden Stool

I found this blog called Mod Podge Rocks. You can probably guess from the name, but it is all things mod podged! She has tons of ideas for fun projects and I was in love with these little children's stools I kept seeing; like this one and this one!

Here is my version (and PS sorry for the grainy pics, I used my phone camera)

I literally just finished in 3 minutes ago... its not even dry yet, but I was so excited I just had to post it!

I'm kicking myself for not taking a before picture, it was $2 at DI, it was pretty sad, just trust me.
I'm not sure what I will do with it, either keep it or give it to a niece or nephew I guess.
Does anyone want it?

Deal and crafts make me so happy

I have read a lot about mod podge lately and had never done it and so this was my first attempt.

I found these little ceramic tiles at DI for 25 cents each and mod podged scrapbook paper on and then used the mod podge to seal the top.

You probably can't tell, but they are now coasters!

Here is a big full sized tile $1- also from DI. Again just scrapbook paper and mod podge!
and my greatest couponing moment yet...
(I'm sorry if you get tired of reading these- but hey its my blog! ;) )

• 2 boxes orig. Cheerios
• 4 boxes multi grain Cheerios
• 2 boxes Lucky Charms
• 2 boxes Coco Puffs
• 5 boxes Golden Ghrams
• 2 boxes Gushers
• 2 boxes fruit snacks
• 6 cans of Progresso soup
• 2 bags of frozen vegi's
• 2 boxes of granola bars
• 1 box of Cheeze-Itz

Total Cost: $111.53

I PAID: $34.11 (That's like 70% off!)

Saving money is so incredibly fun, I know it sounds dorky but I get such a kick out of it!

An upholstered headboard and that pesky frame

My friend/co-worker Stephanie and I decided we wanted to make an upholstered headboard this summer, and since this was the last free weekend before school starts we figured it was now or never! It is actually a really simple process and I LOVE how it turned out! We more or less used this tutorial except instead of foam (which would have cost $100+!!!) we used a couple layers of that egg-carton style mattress topper (the smooth side out). Even though we used the same process our 2 headboard look so different because of the difference in fabric. Mine was leather-ish and Steph used a heavy cotton and then we tufted it. You can see how her fabulous headboard turned out here.

(The flash made it look much lighter than it actually is)

And remember my clown/frame project that didn't look just right? Well, with the decorative help of my mother (and Hobby Lobby) this is how I fixed it!

SO much better!

If you can't tell, those are little crystal drawer pulls! and hanging is an A-for Andrus, a crystal angel, and some antique looking keys.

Oh, and PS. I got to go home to Mesa a week or so ago to help my Dad out at work and I got to see my friends! Jay Tucker, Todd Kitchen, Dane Larsen, and Jessica Lumsden (from top to bottom, left to right). It was so fun to get to hang out with everyone, I miss all the fun times we had back in "The Day"!

Gettin Crafty...

I have found a few craft blogs lately that I am obsessed with. There are so many incredibly talented ladies out there, they make me feel completely inadequate! I am so envious of the the great things they come up with that I wanted to try my hand at it "crafting" too.

So I bought this NASTY looking frame and clown man at DI for $10.

I paid too much.

Yes- it is a neon clown painted on black velvet.

I intentionally bought the biggest frame I could find because I am trying to fill up this big wall here...

I started by removing the clown and sanding the gold paint off as best I could

Then I painted it a dark glossy brown I had...


Much better already, right?
Once that was done I wrapped the clown in some fabric I found to match our curtains (Here is the rest of the room, so you can see the color comparison...)

Ta-Da! The finished product!
I added a cool star wreath and gold ribbon too...

What do you think?

Here is a closer look at the fabric

It feels like it is missing something, anyone have any suggestions on how to improve it?

I am sort of proud of how it turned out since I have never attempted anything like this before, but I know it could be so much better. I have many more projects coming up, so keep your eye out for them!