Mud & Butterflies

Since this is what we see when we look out our back door,

we made some of these today.

An oldie, but a goodie and they are an instant perk me up.

Giving Credit

Giving credit when credit is due is really important out here in blog world. One, it is just proper etiquette. But two, when you give credit to the person(s) that inspire you it reiterates to that person that they are actually making a difference in the world and that all of their hard work is justified.


Awhile ago I posted this activity that Johnsie and I did. We were inspired by Valerie from over at Family Frugal Fun Blog. After I posted, I made sure to go back over to Valerie's site and let her know that Johnsie and I absolutely loved the activity and that I also gave her a shout out here, on my blog.

This morning as I was reading through my favorite blogs I came across this picture over at Valerie's Family Frugal Fun Blog along with a post about how happy it makes her to know that families are coming together and having fun by using her ideas.

So, now not only is Valerie happy, but I am happy knowing that I helped make Valerie happy. Life is good!

Fall Wreath

Ok, this time my wreath is a smashing success. The last one I made was a little lacking. I got this idea from Roeshel at The DIY Show Off. If you haven't seen her site yet you are definitely missing out on something awesome. Her tutorials are great.

I know I have seen this type of wreath before and I knew I didn't want to make the traditional leaf and/or flower wreath. And actually from a distance, mine actually looks like leaves.
I just cut squares that were about 2x2 inches, no I didn't actually measure, just free cut everything. Anyway, I used a wreath from the Dollar Tree. I used the tip of a pencil and wrapped the fabric around it. Put some hot glue on the end and then shoved the fabric into the wreath. Easy Peesy.

I started first with some leaf garland wrapped around the wreath and was then going to add the fabric but, I quickly decided that was not the direction I wanted to go. Off came the garland.

I used mostly used scraps I had around but, I did pick up a few fat quarters from Walmart and of course, the clearance fabric bin. I always look there.


The ribbon is from where else, The Dollar Tree.

We finally have had a nice sunny day here, but it makes my fabric look more peach than orange. Sorry.

Thrifty Changes

I was thinking about buying one of those ceramic hands that you put your rings on to hold my earrings, odd I know, but I don't ever take my rings off and I have a few pairs of hoops that I always wear. Anyway, I found this little treasure and now it sits on my vanity and it holds not just my earrings. The little glass container was also a thrift find. I am a sucker for little glass jars.

I was so happy to find this guy.

And now it hangs in my bathroom.

Nice tall vase wrapped in jute.

Spray painted white.

And this voluptuous lady. Reminiscent of the 80's mod phase. I swear everything was mauve. Both Ryan's and my parents had this color carpet in their houses and not in a little girl's room.

And it was only 80 cents.

I spray painted her black. Add some twigs that Johnsie and I cut from trees in our yard and then I added some little white paper flowers. I need to make more of the flowers when I get a chance. The mirror was also a thrift find. She was gold before I painted her.

Now, I just need to figure out how to cover up that dang heart on my bench. I have a matching stand with hearts all over it. Ugh. Thinking I will cover it with some batting and fabric.

These are my next project.

Paper Wreath

I saw a super cute wreath idea over at Living With Lindsey and I had to try my hand at it.

I can't tell yet if I think mine is a project fail or not. Chickie and Gram liked it but Ryan said, "you're not hanging that thing in my house."

For some reason, I got stuck in the idea of using a book that meant something to me, and since I started this project at about 10:00pm I had to use something from around the house. Well, that caused an issue since I am a book addict and find it really hard to get rid of books.

However, our neighbors had just had a garage sale that Manny participated in and a few of the things that didn't sell were some of his old books. Problem with most of those though were that the fonts and margins were really big so, there wasn't a lot of black type on the page. Lucky for me he had a little paperback dictionary tucked away in there and I thought, perfect! The only issue was that the dictionary didn't contain all that many pages.

Anyway, I spray painted the edges purple and also fanned the book out so some of the interior pages were painted.

Next, since I didn't want mine very large I just cut out the center of a paper plate and then continued in the way Lindsey describes. First, I glued paper rolls to the back of the plate and then I flipped the plate over and started filling in the front.

And this is the way she sits. I have tried several ideas for covering the interior edges and nothing has worked yet.

Chickie said that she thinks it is really cute and that she would like to hang it in her room. So, nannynanner, Ryan. My tongue was just sticking out!

Next time, I will use a larger book. Guess that means I need to take a trip to the thrift store!

A Handful of Trees

Awhile ago, I fell in love with some hand trees I found over at So You Think You Are Crafty.

We were finally able to make our own.

I just purchased some really cheap canvas' and covered them with burlap. Next, I spent forever cutting out leaves with my rotary tool. I folded the fabric over a few times so, that I wasn't cutting out one leaf at a time. I used mod podge to adhere the leaves and trunk.


The last one is waiting for Chickie's hand. She will be here on Saturday. I can't wait. I miss her so.


These look awesome in my dining room.

My Hole in the Wall

I am so excited about my little hole in the wall. I haven't measured it exactly but I think it is like 6 ft wide by 9 ft long.

This was originally going to be the bathroom but, if you notice how the drywall sticks out about a foot on the front wall. Well, that is where the septic pipes go out of the house. I know, lovely to think that when I am crafting away in my little room my family could be upstairs using the restroom and when they flush, woosh and it goes right past me.


Anyway these pipes would have taken up too much space in the bathroom so, we covered them up with drywall and mounted lights under it. My desk will fit right under here. The bathroom is in a little room right next door.

Ok, so to help me not think about poop wooshing by me, the plan is to decoupage the front wall with fun graphics and pictures. Most will come from The Graphics Fairy. I can't wait to start the process.

I am so inspired by this room in Beth's house from The Stories of A to Z. I am hoping my room will be as cute as her's.

I am hoping that if I time things just right I will be able to pick up a lot of totes, baskets and little organizers, cheap from back to school sales and clearances.

The plan is to prime the walls tomorrow. Yay for me!

Family Rules

Here is another thing I had to jump on the band wagon with. I have seen these family rules signs all over the blogosphere and I wanted to make one right after I saw my first one.

I was finally able to sit down today and make mine. The most recent one I saw was made by Gail over at My Repurposed Life. She gives step by step instructions on how to make Gail‘s Family Rules on her blog.

I am not that nice. I will just tell you that I painted a scrap piece of wood I had sitting around in the garage. It was already routed because it was a piece that Ryan was playing with when he first got his router years ago.

I made a list of all of the rules I wanted and I got out my handy dandy cricut and cut away. Some of the rules did get cut out a couple of times because I made them too long. Glad I had a whole new stack of black cardstock next to me.

Then I just eyeballed the rules to center them. I wasn't going for perfection. No levels or rulers were used in this process. Mod podge was, however, used in this process. I took each letter and covered the back with my good ole mod podge and when I was all done I covered the whole thing with a layer too.

Here it is hanging in my kitchen for all to see and FOLLOW. I did try to use rules that were positive. I thought about, "chewing with your mouth closed" (Chickie!!). She would actually leave the table during dinner when her brother was eating too loud. Just you wait lady.

Anyway, I did see a lot of signs that had negative rules like, no whining, no ball in the house, etc. I wanted our rules to be constructive.

Now let's hope everyone follows them!

Johnson begins with J

So, all I see around everywhere is people using their initials/monograms as decor. Who am I to not jump on the band wagon. A few months ago I made this Monogrammed picture. Which now lives in our bedroom.

Awhile ago on a trip to Ithaca's Michaels I found a bunch of cardboard letters in the clearance aisle. Score one for me.

I bought 2 J's and almost all the letters for Johnsie's name.

For the J, I covered it with some jute and extra cording that I trimmed off our bamboo shades. Resourceful, huh? I knew I could use those cords for something.

Here it is up on a shelf next to Johnsie's ultrasound picture.

And here it is nestled in a plant. Not sure where it will end up.

Here the boys are painting Johnie's name. Green, of course.


Remember I said, I bought most of the letters I needed for Johnsie's name. Well, Michaels didn't have an R, so I improvised and bought a K and a P. I cut one of the legs off the K and glued it on to the P.

Then I just covered up the area with jute. Voila. I added some twine to a few of the other letters so, the R didn't look out of place.

Family Memo Board

A couple of weeks ago I made this memo board to help keep track of all the goings on in our family.

In our old house I just taped a calendar to the side of our fridge and I would paper clip things to it. Well, here I can't do that. Our fridge is sandwiched between cabinets and plus it always looked really messy.

This baby hangs in our mudroom.

I bought this cork board from the thrift store for 99 cents. It is a big one, 24" x 36". I painted the frame and distressed it a little. Covered it with some fabric I already had by using staples and then I glued on some ribbon.

Of course, since my cricut is finally out of storage I just had to use it.

I found a little white board calendar at Staples and then I also printed out calendars for the next 6 months. That way when appointments or practices are scheduled during the coming months I can keep track of them.

Once school, football and hockey start I foresee this guy getting lots of use. This is where I plan to hand field trip notices, supply lists, etc.

I am hoping this helps us to run like a well oiled machine. Or at least one that isn't in a dire need of an lube job.

Treat Bucket

The other day we went to our local Sam's Club, 40 mins away, and picked up this lovely box of dog treats. 14 pounds worth of yummy goodness was in this box.

Our dilemma was, where do we keep this large box of delectables?

Well, we just happened to have a 5 gallon bucket that we sometimes dump dog food in. So, I got to thinking, I am going to make that sucker cute and store our treats in it.

I got out some spray paint, (make sure you use the stuff for plastics) and sprayed the lid and the top of the bucket.

Mod podged some scrapbook paper onto it.

Printed out a little sign, of course, my cricut is still in storage.

And filled her up.

Can you tell I have been real bored lately? Who decorates a bucket for dog treats? Me, I guess.

Blocks

I bought these blocks forever ago at a thrift store back in MN. They are made from chunks of a 2x4. The letters are a part of the wood, they are not just glued on. So, I think they were made by at home by someone who had one of those cool saws that can engrave. Ok, I sound like a boob, because I have no clue what kind of saw it is but, we just were watching a commercial on DIY where someone made a monogrammed fireplace mantel using one. -Hope they never plan on moving or plan to sell to someone with the same last initial-

Who cares anyway, I thought they were cute. I just didn't get why someone would have blocks spelling NASA?

Honestly, I think they probably said SANTA and the T got lost in Timbuktu.

Anyway, I took the little buggers outside and gave them a fresh coat of black spray paint.

This rock has been getting a lot of use lately.

After that, I cut a piece of thin cardboard the same size of the blocks. And then, because I am so cool nerdy, I took out this used birthday bag that I had been saving because I really liked the paper but, couldn't reuse as a bag because of a hole. I cut it a little bigger than my cardboard and folded and taped it to each piece of cardboard.

Ok, so earlier today, I went to the craft store and bought a whole bunch of these black letters. What I want to do is make removable fronts for the blocks that I can change out each month. I figured I would just velcro the cardboard onto the blocks.

So, I proceeded to buy like 6 O's and 5 E's, etc and then I got to thinking on the drive home. Duh, Cindy, just put velcro on the backs of the letters too and just reuse the letters.

Guess, I have to make a trip back to the craft store. I am really so sad and upset about that. Seriously, I loathe craft stores as much as I despise thrift stores. No, not really, because actually I am pretty OBSESSED. Honestly, I keep thinking about this little junk store we passed the other day when we went to Fillmore Glen State Park. I am just waiting until I have an hour to myself to go check it out. Seriously, this store invades my thoughts multiple times a day. I really need to get a life.

I do need some help with coming up with words for a few months though. Or more creative words for the ones I already have. So, please give me any ideas you might have. They can be 3 letter words too.

January-----SNOW
February----LOVE
March-------LUCK
April--------EGGS
May--------
June-------PLAY
July-------STAR
August----
Sept.------FALL
Oct.--------BOO
Nov.-------
Dec.-------NOEL

Chickie and I were just talking and we came up with GIVE for November.