I Found a Desk!

Last week I shared my Craft/Office Space Inspiration, and since then I've been on the hunt for a desk! But before I could really commit to anything, I had to sell the daybed that was in there. Good thing I mentioned my plans to my mom, because I forgot that she had been wanting a daybed for one of her bedrooms downstairs. She gladly took it off of my hands for $50 (plus sheets, several pillows, etc), and took it home with her last weekend. Step 1, sell daybed, check! I was so excited!

I found a couple of older desks I was interested in; one was on a site similar to Craigslist called Nex-Tech Classifieds (the Craigslist of western KS) for $50, and the other I seen on facebook for $40. D was on his way back from a hunting trip with my brothers, and the one on Nex-Tech was actually on his way home (like 1.5 hours from home). He said he would pick it up, but ended up not stopping (they were ready to get home after 9 hours in a pickup). So I made arrangements to meet with the gal that had one on facebook last night, she actually had 2, but I ended up going with the original one she posted. I got it for $30, so I'm still actually $20 ahead after selling the daybed, which is great!

The top is more like a laminate top, but the rest is solid wood. I'm still confused as to why they did this to older desks, but I guess it's better than the whole thing being particle board. So I plan to rough the top up, as well as the rest of it, prime it down, and then paint! As of right now I am planning on painting it with one of the colors that I've already used in our house, so it will be a neutral color. I don't want to spend a whole lot of money on it, so I will make it work. I also want to look for some drawer pulls, and Hobby Lobby usually has some neat ones I want to check out. So stay tuned for more updates, but I hope to get started really soon on this!! :)


Learn more about this:
Craft/Office Space Inspiration

Expressions Vinyl Teacher Pack

Hey Everyone!! School is getting ready to start, and what better way to get your room ready by adding some fun vinyl to your boards!  Expressions Vinyl is now offering a Teachers Pack for only $49.99, valued at over $75.  The Teacher Pack includes:

• 1 - 12"x5 yard roll of Black Indoor Vinyl
• 1 - 12"x24" sheet of Chalkboard Vinyl
• 1 - White Chalkboard Marker
• 1 - Application Tool
• 3 - 8-1/2"x11" Inkjet Printable Vinyl Sheets
• 1 - 12"x12" Economy Laminate
• 5 - 12"x24" Transfer Tape Sheets
• 10 - 12"x12" Indoor Vinyl Sheets - White, Brown, Red, Lime Tree Green, Pink, Purple, Orange, Light Yellow, Gentian, Beige
• 10 - 6"x12" Indoor Vinyl Sheets - Burgundy, Persimmon, Lavender, Soft Pink, Light Blue, Olive, Turquoise, Light Brown, Silver, Gold
• 10 - 6"x12" Outdoor Vinyl Sheets - White, Red, Pink, Lime Tree Green, Orange, Purple, Soft Pink, Silver, Light Yellow, Gentian

Heck this is a great deal for whoever, even if you aren't a teacher!!  Coupons aren't eligible for this item, however they do offer FREE SHIPPING on orders over $75 everyday! 

Old Cabinet Door to Fabulous Earring Holder

Remember back in July when I visited Habitat Re-Store and found a couple of old cabinet doors ($1 each)?  Well I have been wanting to create jewelry holders that I've seen allover bloggy-land.  I actually started dreaming about these well over a year ago when I spotted these Jewelry Display Frames from Pottery Barn, but frankly those were too expensive.  I knew it wouldn't be long and someone would recreate them.  When I finally purchased my own old cabinet doors, I knew just what to do with them!! 

I actually made this earring holder awhile back, but just now getting around to blogging about it...bad me, I know!  Picture overload...

I will show you step-by-step pictures with explanation on how I re-purposed these cabinet doors into a Fabulous Earring Holder.  It might seem like a lot of work, but it wasn't!  I actually had some fails which I will be sharing those too, which will help me when I go to create a matching Necklace holder next!



 You'll need: Old Cabinet Door Frame, MDF Wood to fit inside frame, spray paint, wood filler, sanding block/sandpaper, chicken wire, favorite fabric, hot glue gun/sticks, thick ribbon (atleast 1.5"), thumb tacks, saw tooth hanger.

First: measure the inside part of your cabinet door where the MDF will set.  Next measure out the MDF (FREE, random piece we had laying around) and have your handsome man cut it for you (unless you're brave enough to do it yourself, but I don't know how to run those things!).

Second: grab your cabinet door frame and sanding block with sand paper, and sand away.  My door was kind of shiney, so I just sanded lighted until it wasn't shiney anymore.

Next...If your door has holes in it from where the hardware went, you'll want to grab your wood filler (make sure it's the paintable/stainable kind), and squeeze some in each hole.  Don't worry if you put too much in it.  Let it dry for a few minutes (maybe 10-15, I was in the sun), and lightly sand off the excess.

After sanding, filling holes, and sanding holes, it's time to spray paint!  I did it outside in the yard, so I grabbed a trash bag and layed it on the ground.  Be sure to do light strokes back and fourth, and don't forget to shake the can every once in awhile.  I did a couple of coats, drying it in between each one, until it was completely covered and the color I wanted.  I used Krylon Raspberry Gloss spray paint, love it!  I have plenty left over for the next project, score!

Grab your fabric and measure out how much you'll need.  I didn't care if it was covered all the way, measured to have about 2 inches or so left for each edge.  I got this fabric at Walmart for around $3.50 (give or take) for 1 yard, and have plenty leftover for my Necklace Holder.  Isn't it fun?

This is where I did a little trial and error.  No project is complete without a little error, right?!  I wanted to use a staple gun to attach the fabric to the MDF, however that didn't work.  For some reason the staples just crinkled up, I even had D give it a try.  Not sure what the deal was!  So instead I used my handy dandy glue gun to attach the fabric.  That worked wonders!! 

Yes, another "fail"...after I glued the fabric down I wanted to attach the Chicken Wire (FREE, we have a bunch in our backyard from when we bought the house) which will hold my earrings.  Except the chicken wire had a mind of it's own and wouldn't lay flat.  So I thought I would nail the edges down...wrong!  The nail heads weren't wide enough, and if I wouldn't went with something bigger (that we had on hand) the nail wouldn't been too long.  So I decided to use thumb tacks, which worked!  So I used those on the edges to hold them in place.

The thumb tacks worked great holding the Chicken Wire down, but when I placed the frame over you can see the thumb tacks.  So this wasn't really a fail, I call it a minor fail or hiccup.  So I grabbed some sparkly silver ribbon (purchased from Walmart, for around $4 a roll and have a bunch left), glued it down on the edges and made the corners pretty, which I loved when I was finished with it!!  It dresses it up, makes it even more girly than before!

And last I added a saw tooth hanger (purchased from Walmart).  This was the last step before I attached the frame to the board with glue.  It sounds like it was a lot of work, but it really wasn't, mainly trying to figure out what would work!  The necklace holder will be easier next time around.  Here is the finished product, which I think turned out fabulousco for only costing around $8 compared to how much the Pottery Barn ones costed (I think they ranged between $35-50, something like that).

I have it hanging on the inside of my closet door, which is where I also plan to hang the necklace holder once I finish it.  I just love it, because I can see very clearly what earrings I have to choose from, instead of fumbling through a little clutch that I had them in before.  What do you guys think?!

Linking up too...

It's A Blog Party
The Girl Creative
Today's Creative Blog
The Shabby Chic Cottage
What Allie's Making Now
Somewhat Simple
Lovely Crafty Home
The Sisters of the Wild West
Polka Dots on Parade
Just a Girl
Ginger Snap Crafts

$179 for a Cricut Expression Die-Cutter Package from Provo Craft

Today's Groupon Deal is a fabulous one!!  Seriously you can get a Cricut Expression and 4 cartridges for $179 (valued at $379).  This might be the cheapest/sweetest deal, ever! 

If I didn't already have one, I would totally get in on this deal.  You can do so much with a Cricut, the possibilities are endless.  All you need to do is purchase the Groupon, follow the rules, order your Cricut online, and then you'll be set!   There are limited quantities available, and you must use the Groupon by March 15, 2012.  This deal will be going on for 2 more days, better hurry!

I Love Lamp!

And no I'm not talking about "Anchorman" either!!  HAHA!  I just like that quote for today's post, because I found some cute little lamps the other day while I was away at a sales tax workshop.  Well not while I was attending the workshop, but you know what I mean.  We did some shopping Sunday night, and we may or may not of skipped out on the last couple of hours...shhh!! ;) 

I already had 1 lamp on my nightstand, but I wanted one on the other side too.  I received it as a gift, so I'm not really sure where it was purchased at.  Then I found these 2 little lamps at Kirklands (which is a new love!) on sale, and I thought they would be perfect for our bedroom.  They originally were $12.99, but on sale for $9.99.  I thought they would be perfect for our bedroom!  Pardon the pictures, I took them with my phone.


Perfect, no?
Don't pay attention to the weird colored carpet,
it really isn't green! ;)

Our Bedroom - Set up of nightstands before..

So I moved some stuff around, swapped the lamp with a tall vase from the guest bedroom, and created a floral arrangement for a tall vase (cost $0).  Here is the set up after...


2 new lamps, 1 new tall vase arrangement, and swapped the picture frames



Floral arrangement is made up of
Wheat, Cat-tail looking things, and gold glittered twigs.
Floral Arrangement Cost = $0
(vase was a gift, floral was left over from project years ago)

 

Closeup of the other side


I just love the little lamps.  I think the color of them go perfect with our bedroom and the rest of the decor.  I would like to stack some books together to give them a little height, but for now I'm happy with it.

Have you been on the hunt for the perfect lamps?  What is your favorite store right now?



Linking up too...
It's A Blog Party
The Girl Creative
Today's Creative Blog
The Shabby Chic Cottage
What Allie's Making Now
Somewhat Simple
Lovely Crafty Home
The Sisters of the Wild West
Polka Dots on Parade
Just a Girl
Ginger Snap Crafts

Vintage Washboard & Chair find

As you all know, this past Saturday was my 25th birthday!  I know it's not "old", but it's a big milestone for me! 

Friday evening after we got home from our friends house, D just had to give me my birthday gift.  He got me a newer smart phone, HTC Incredible, which I wasn't expecting at all but I'm excited for it.  He also got me a couple of good smelling candles.  Saturday I woke up, D made me pancakes for breakfast (isn't he sweet?!), and then I decided to go downtown to the local antique store.  In the 1.25 years that we've lived here, I haven't been able to go in there.  They have really odd hours, so I never works out.  Saturday morning I had the chance, and I took it.  They had a lot of stuff, but only 1 thing caught my eye...an antique Washboard!  I've been wanting one forever, but most of the time they are way too expensive.  This one was only $8.50, which sat right next to one that was $15.50 (Happy Birthday to Me!).  I just had to get it! 

The chair is something I really wanted to get at Re-Store 2 weekends ago when Ash and I went.  However, I decided not to get it.  All last week I wished I would've got it; well because she is awesome, Ashley got it for me for my birthday!!  It was only $10, and I can already vision how I want to redo it!!  So hopefully I won't wait so long to spruce these 2 pieces up. 

It's funny, today I found a picture of an old washboard sitting with an older chair...love it!  I took my picture before seeing this, coincidence?!  The reverse side of my washboard is identical to the one below.


Source

Saturday evening we had family and friends come over to celebrate, it was such a fun evening!!  Went out for Pizza, had cupcakes and ice cream, had a few beers, and then late that night we went to the bar to watch and dance to the band that is playing at our wedding.  They were awesome as usual!!  All in all it was a fabulous birthday!!

Re-Store Finds!

Saturday on my way back home, me and the bestie {Ashley} stopped at the Habitat for Humanity Re-Store in a town nearby (click here to find one near you).  I've seen all over bloggy land what people are finding at these stores, and it finally occurred to me that we had one nearby.  We.must.go.there.asap. is what I told her!  So off we went to look for whatever popped out at us, stuff we could redo and make fun projects out of. 


source

I ended up getting a couple of cabinet door frames ($1 each), 1 old shutter ($4 and it's totally awesome), and 1 little random piece of wood that looks like it was made out of board and batten or some type of paneling ($.50).  I spent a total of $6.50.  I have tons of idea's that I've seen around bloggy land, just needs to be thought out and put into action!!


D asked "What the heck did you buy this stuff for?!"
Little does he know whatever I do with them will be awesome!

It was so ridiculously HOT that day while we were shopping; it seemed that every store we went into we would break out in a sweat.  Their A/C's must not have been working.  On my way out of town I took at picture of the temp in my car...and it had been moving for awhile.  It's been scorching hot here in western KS, I'm starting to feel like we're in Arizona.  We've been having this heat for probably close to 1.5 months now.



Seems like there is no end in sight for this heat wave either... :(

To all of you that are experiencing hot weather, try to stay cool and drinks lots of water!!

Attention all Vinyl Lovers...2 fabulous promotions going on!

Attention all Vinyl lovers....

Expressions Vinyl is offering 2 awesome deals...

1.) Recieve 10% off of all of their products, just enter in the promo code SHADY at checkout.  This offer is good until July 12th.

2.) When you spend $50 or more, you will receive FREE vinyl!  It's that simple...spend 50 bucks and they'll send you 10 sheets of vinyl, no promo code needed.  They are 6"x12" sheets of vinyl and colors and types will be randomly picked to send with your order.  This promo is good for the whole month of July, and you can combine it with other promo codes!

So what are you waiting for?!  Go stock up on some Printable Vinyl, Cricut Vinyl, and Silhouette Vinyl!!

I am an affiliate of Expressions Vinyl.  I did not receive compensation for this post.

Our 4th & Laundry!

It's Thursday and I'm just now writing "Hope you had an awesome 4th!!" blog post.  No, but seriously, I hope you all had a great one!  Ours was awesome, but I didn't capture any pictures.  =( 

Friday my Mom came into town; we went out for supper and beers with some friends, it was a lot of fun!  Saturday I realized that our washer & dryer were almost capootz, and we should probably go see if there were any fabulous deals going on for the 4th.  I'm so glad we did, because we got an awesome steal from Sears!!  They had a "Hot Buy" for the weekend, washer and dryer were marked down to $699 each!  That price was already 40% off of the original price, plus we got an additional 5% off our total if we used our Sears Card (which also lead us to 0% interest for 6 months)...SCORE!  But the steal didn't stop there...D was looking online at the store and realized that online had a promotion going on for when you purchase the washer & dryer at the same time, they'll take even more off of the washer.  So online the washer was marked down to like $429 (in that price range anyways).  The store manager didn't really like the idea of giving us that deal in the store, so we were about to purchase our set online.  We wanted to put it on our new Sears Credit Card, but needed the info...the call center wouldn't give us the expiration date or the code on the back.  There is a really good reason behind that...they didn't want us to think they would just give our info out to anyone that called in.  So, yes, thank you Sears Credit Card company for protecting us.  But we were back at square one.  We were getting a little discouraged, and I think the salesperson was too.  The store manager was looking online to see what promo we were talking about...he finally saw it with his own eyes.  I kept asking (mainly just for fun!) "are you sure you can't give us that deal?!", until he finally broke down.  The deal steal was ours!!!  OMG...we couldn't believe it...he actually gave into us!!  We practically got the washer for free when you look at the original price!  Now that's what I call WINNING!!!  Moral of the story...it doesn't hurt to keep asking for something you may/may not get!


Kenmore Elite Top Load Washer and Electric Dryer


We went last night to pick it up and I can't wait to get our old set out, and to hook up our new set!  We aren't going to know what to do with ourselves...it will actually be really quiet in our house when we're doing laundry!  And no more washer scooting across the room!!

Back to our weekend...Saturday night on our way back we stopped at the Casino for supper with family and friends, and to do a little gambling.  We didn't do very good, but I didn't put that much money in either.  I'm not a huge gambler, so like in an hour or so I'm finished!  Sunday, Mom and I got our food together for the pool party, potted a new hibiscus plant for our porch, watched a movie, and finally went to the pool.  D worked on their new water truck for the fire department all day, and joined us for a little bit before having to leave to go work the fire show.  The pool was a blast, and the firework show was ok.  Monday, we didn't do a whole lot, mainly rested up from the long weekend.  D got called out on 2 fires Monday afternoon, thankfully they were the only ones the whole weekend.

Did you guys do anything fun over the 4th?

A little {Patriotic} Touch

I finally got around getting the few 4th of July decorations out that I have.  I try to keep the seasonal decorating to a minimum, because 1 I don't have a whole lot of space to decorate, and 2 I need to work on my seasonal decor stash!  Here is what I came up with...

   

Flag Tile - new fav project!

 

Lovin' the Stars!

Flag tea light candle holder and cute little birdy!

Found this at a garage sale for a buck!

 

I've had that picture frame foreva (thanks Ashley & Brett!)!
Those red roses are from my Grandparents 60th Anniversary a couple years ago

 

I love them and the bling!

 

another cute little birdie!!

I had some of the stuff already: white bottle with flowers, 2 birds, books, bundle of roses, and picture frame.  I found the star candle holder (yes, it holds a tea light) at a garage sale for $1, and made the Flag Tile (probably spent close to $5 on the materials).  It's not a whole lot, but I love it!

Have any fun plans for the 4th?!  I'm looking forward to the long weekend, it doesn't happen near enough!  My Mom is coming into town tonight, gonna do whatever we feel like tomorrow, pool Sunday and fireworks, and not sure on Monday (might get to see Danielle and Maycee...yes Maycee has joined the rest of the world and she is a doll!  I'll do a post on her next week!!)!!  D has to work the firework show Sunday, and they are anticipating a busy weekend for fires (heat, wind, dryness, and firecrackers)...so please say a prayer for all firefighters and rescue teams this weekend!!  Hope you all have a safe and fabulous weekend!!


Linking up too...
It's A Blog Party
The Girl Creative
Today's Creative Blog
The Shabby Chic Cottage
What Allie's Making Now
Somewhat Simple
Paisley's Passions
Lovely Crafty Home
The Sisters of the Wild West
Polka Dots on Parade
Lovely Crafty Home
Just a Girl

Visitors, Races, and Garden kind of weekend!

It's been awhile since I've blogged about our random weekend adventures!  Normally we're traveling somewhere, have somewhere to be at a certain time, or just plain busy!  This weekend was kind of a random weekend, but it was fun!  Friday night my brother Brett and his gf/my bestie Ashley came to visit us for the weekend!  It was kind of a last minute trip for them, but I'm so glad they came!  It was b.e.a.utiful outside Friday night, so after we ate supper we lit the fire pot (to keep the bugs away) and hung out on the porch just catching up. 

Saturday D played golf all day with his uncle, while us 3 went shopping for some vegetable plants for the garden.  Of course, we had to make a stop at Hob Lob...how could we not?!  We found some great deals in their clearance section...I spent a total of 20 bucks!  Score!  My brother did pretty good for being there over an hour...better than I thought he would do!

Outdoor  Mat...$7 bucks

 

Lantern/Vase...$11 (originally $30)

 

Scrapbook paper...not on sale, but very cute!
I will probably use it on some coasters in the future! ;)

Saturday night we decided to head to the races, which were about 40 minutes from our {small} town.  Ashley hadn't ever been, I had only been once (not counting the times in high school, but I didn't really go to watch the races!), and Brett and D used to race back in the day.  Plus D's dad builds performance engines for Sprint Cars and what not, so we were also supporting our drivers/motors we had on the track! 
 


Me and Ashley before the races

 

at the races



Brett and Ashely

 

D and Brett watching the races (didn't want their picture taken!)

Sunday they headed home early, and we relaxed for awhile.  In the afternoon we got to work on our garden.  Yeah, it may sound like we're a little behind, but it has been freezing at night randomly, so I'm kind of glad we got a late start.  We should be good to go now though (keeping my fingers crossed)!  It was full of weeds, but luckily my Dad and D tilled it last fall, so it wasn't hard to pull all of those nasty weeds out properly! 


Look, no more weeds!

We then worked the dirt around, and got to planting.  We planted: 4 Tomato Plants (3 of which are heirloom), 2 Jalapeno plants, 1 Sweet Crimson Watermelon plant, 1 Zucchini plant, and 3 Cucumber plants.  We also planted some 1 row of Carrots, 1 row of radishes, 1 row of Okra, and started some Marigold seeds in some little pods to transplant around the edges.  D read somewhere that Marigolds keep bugs away, so we thought we'd give it a try.  We still would like to find some Red Bell Pepper plants, those are my fav's out of Bell Peppers. 


4 tomato plants

2 Jalapeno Plants

 

3 Cucumber Plants (2 bunched together)

 

1 Zucchini Plant

 

1 Crimson Sweet Watermelon Plant

 

The whole garden view...we also planted some Carrots, Okra, and Radishes
We still want to find some Red Peppers to plant by the Jalapenos.
I know it doesn't look like much now, but just give it some time!! ;)


A couple years ago we planted a smaller garden when we lived in the {big} city, but we didn't can anything.  We pretty much just froze what we didn't use right away.  That was nice too, but this time I would like to can some Salsa, maybe pickle some Okra, and even give Dill Pickles a try!  I can't wait to see all of the fresh veggies that come from our own backyard!!  Stay tuned!


Bernie hangin' out!

What about you, do you have a garden?  If so, what is your favorite thing to do/make with your fresh veggies?