BTHO Nebraska!!

There are no words to explain my excitement over the display of Aggie Spirit at the game this weekend!  So proud to be an Aggie, and so wish I had been at Kyle Field when this happened....

 "From the outside looking in, you can't understand it. And from the inside looking out, you can't explain it."

Goodwill Hunting: Part I

No, not that Good Will Hunting...

This Goodwill hunting...

As I continue in my search to keep my decorating costs low, I ran across a few blogs that posted some tips on how to find the "good stuff" at Goodwill.  Bower Power is one of my all time favorite blogs to read, and she has posted some great tips on how to rifle through the shelves and find a few keepers!  Check out her post here and here on how to get the most out of your Goodwill shopping trip. 
 
Keeping her tips in mind (mainly the one about going slow), I tried my hand a few times at finding the "good stuff."  My first experience was exactly that, an experience.  I had no idea what I was looking for or if anything in the store was worth buying.  But after going up and down each aisle slowly, I began to see a few beauties. 
 
On one of my first trips I found this cork board.  I didn't get a good "before" picture, but here it is as I'm getting it ready for it's first coat of spray paint (more on how I LOVE spray paint later). 

Another great find was this avacado green tray. Trays seem to be the in thing for decorating now, so I snatched this one up for only $3.00 (of course, it received a fresh coat of spray paint, too!).

And one of my favorite finds was this beauty!  That's right...this blue ceramic bowl was buried under a sea of other stuff, and with the price tag of only $3, I knew it was coming home with me.  My pine cones feel right at home! 

On another trip, I found this cloche for $0.99...

This cute ceramic canister for $0.99 (oh, and did I mention that was originally $35.00 at POTTERY BARN!  Check the tags people!!)...

This cute Target tray with picture frames for $6.00...

This adorable basket (sorry the picture is sideways) for $0.99...

And two pillow cases from Target for $4.00 each!  I plan to wash the pillow cases and iron them just to make sure there's nothing on the fabric, and then the sky's the limit on what I can do with them! 

Once I have a few more of my transformations complete, I'll be back with an update!  Until then, keep your eyes peeled, and give us any tips you have on finding the "good stuff!"

crap

DIY Home Decor: Part II

In my recent search for inspiring ideas, I've found a couple of blogs that have sparked my creative interest-- Centsational Girl being one of them.  She has tons of great ideas on how to decorate on a dime, and has an entire section of her blog dedicated to resources for home makeovers.  I'm sure you'll see her inspiration all throughout this DIY mini series :)

Here are a few pics from her blog and I used as inspiration:

I was particularly focused on the covered books:



So I ran to my nearest Hobby Lobby and picked up three sheets of scrapbook paper (on sale for 3/$1.00), recovered some books I already had, and voila!  I had my very own set!

I loved the way she gathered everything together in a tray, so I pulled out a tray I had (it was shoved under our TV console) and put it to good use on the sofa table.  I loved out it all turned out!  And, see that apothecary jar?  I've had that thing for almost a year and couldn't find anything to put in it.  I found a bag of mini acorns at Hobby Lobby (on sale for $2.50) and poured the bag into the jar.  A perfect fit, I tell ya! 

Another blog I love to read is Buzzings of a Queen Bee.  She has great taste (at least I think so), and does a lot of Pottery Barn look-a-likes on the cheap.  One of her recent crafts caught my eye, and I had to try my hand at copying it (imitation is the highest form of flattery, right?!).  She had a few candles around her house that were the wrong color for her decor, so she just recovered them.  Genius, right?! 

So, here are my step by step instructions on how I made my own :)  Take two candles...

And wrap them in burlap.  I just measured the amount of burlap I would need, then hot glued it to the candle.  Surprisingly enough, the hot glue did not melt the candle--WHEW!  Also, burlap is very forgiving, so when I messed up, I just pulled it up and started over. 

While the glue was drying, I printed out a few numbers in Modern No. 20.  I traced them onto the burlap using trace paper, then filled in the letters with black acrylic paint.  Easy as 1-2-3!! 

 Til next time! 

DIY Home Decor: Part 1

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!!  I know I did!  The weather was just beautiful, and I tried to soak it up as much as I could.  Kelly was out of town for the majority of the weekend, so I had the entire weekend to myself!  Friday night I surprised this little lady and her sister at Cru Wine Bar at the Shops of Legacy to celebrate her b-day.  Saturday morning I headed over to my parent's house--with the pups in tow--to spend the rest of the weekend with them.  My Dad and I got busy working on a project for the house (more on that later), and then we met up with my Mom to grab a bite to eat and head to the movies.  We saw Secretariat and it was PHENOMENAL!  I highly recommend it!  After the movies we headed back to the house to finish working on the project and lounge around.  Sunday my Mom and I ran errands, and then it was time to get ready for the week.  Such a wonderful and relaxing weekend! 

And now on to the point of my post.  I've been dying to do a series of posts, and I finally have some material worth sharing.  I've read blog after blog and they all seem to have a series of posts of some sort, and I wanted to join in all the fun with a series of my own: DIY Home Decor. 

I'm in the process of revamping the look and feel of the decor in our house.  That can get fairly expensive fairly quickly, so in the interest of saving money, I'm trying to repurpose some of the stuff we already have and make it work with my new "pallet."  I was browsing Pottery Barn's website for some inspiration ideas, when I ran across this cute shadow box, and thought "hey, I can make that!"  (My famous last words!!) 

So here's how I did it!  I had a frame from my sophomore year in college that I thought would do the trick.  I took it apart and tore off the heart shaped flower petals. 

Then I cut some left over linen from this project (I'm so excited I can finally say that!  I'm always jealous when other bloggers just throw something together with materials they already have), and used some old keys I had hanging by the back door for the art work.  I hot glued the keys on to the linen (which is very forgiving by the way!  If I messed up, I just pulled up the key and reglued it), and let it dry. 

And in no time, I had my very own shadow box!  What do you think?  How have you reused your old stuff?

BINGO

This has been an exciting week at work!  In addition to Fair Day (see previous post) we also played BINGO, and I was on a winning streak!!  I won three times for a grand total of $40 to On The Border!  I'd say that was a pretty good return on my $5 investment :) 

Seriously--I can't believe they pay me to work here! 

State Fair of Texas!

I am SO excited!  Our office is heading out the door to the State Fair of Texas for our annual Teambuilding event in just a few minutes :)  I'm ready for a corney dog, some cotton candy, a ride on the ferris wheel, and a day outside to enjoy this beautiful weather!  See you on the flip side!