New Chandelier and Christmas ideas

Well I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! It really seemed like the holidays snuck up on me this year. Usually I am prepared, but not this year! I have been thinking of hosting Christmas at my house for my side of the family, but it is always such a huge production I just am still not sure if im up to it with a 4 month old! I am so excited to have decorated for Christmas anyway!

With this being little mans first Christmas I knew, no matter what, we had to have a Christmas tree up in the house! Our living room has a shrinkage problem and there was NO place to put the tree this year, so the tree got ostracized to the dining room. It is a little cramped but still looks beautiful.  I love walking by and seeing those sparkly lights.  This year was the first year I have used decorators mesh.  I LOVE that stuff!! It really fills the tree in without a whole bunch of ornaments. I love the color themed trees, but I  have so many ornaments with memory attachments that I still have a somewhat miss matched tree.  I love it though. We have an ornament from our honeymoon in Maui and one from our recent trip to Dixie Stampede and so many more.  I love looking at the memories.  This year I found the cutest candy ornaments from the dollar store.  I may have to keep little man from trying to eat those next year!

Mom and I went to a cute gift shop that specializes in Christmas arrangements.  We found one with this bird that we loved...but didnt love the price!  So we looked it over and came home to make something similar.  It is mounted on a big piece of hand-picked bark...thank you hunny!

I decked out my new dollar store arrangement for the holidays too :)

Its beginning to feel a lot more like the holidays around here.  Possibly because you can't feel your toes when your outside now :) I decided to get one last project in before the winter weather hits.  I went to the Habitat for Humanity restore and found the ugliest GOLD chandelier.  I knew it had "good bones" as they say and it was only $5. So I searched around for some glass globes there in the restore and also even found black spray paint for $1.  So I left with all my goodies and ran home to start painting.  I hate how excited I get because I always forget to take before pictures!! About halfway through the project I remember. 

Well you all have seen the brassy gold fixtures...this one was just that ugly. Now I love it! It really adds to the dining area.  Heres the before picture with the light fixtures that are up close to the ceiling and yes....have the glass bowl with the wheat on it...ugh!

and After!

After this one went so well I also did the one in our adjoining laundry room to match

Loving it for $10!! I am becoming the $10 queen and thats ok by me :)

heres a little better picture..

Stealing from the Dollar Store...ok it feels like stealing cuz its so cheap!

So I have to admit, I stole this idea :)  I have been reading Thrifty Decor Chicks blog and she mentioned these candle holders that she found at the Dollar Tree!! First of all, Dollar Tree is quite possibly the best dollar store around! This is where I have bought almost all of our Christmas decorations since "everything is just a dollar!" I remember when we were first married in our new home, I was dying to have the Christmas of the magazines on a college student budget (so thankful to be done with that part of my life by the way).  I went to Dollar tree and was in LOVE.  They have so many things that, with a personal added touch, look so good!  Anyway... back to the candle holders.  She said "run don't walk!" to get one of these glass candle holders and a glass candlestick to make a beautiful hurricane lamp!  So that's exactly what I did.  The next day despite a sore throat ( you have to go for deals no matter what!) I ran to the store and picked up THE LAST candle holder.  I set it carefully in my cart and guarded my new possession (hands off!!!).  Me and little man then went to the park where Aunt Debbie had found some great wild Missouri pecans.  I picked up a whole bagful...little man just went right along with me each time I bent down.  That's quite a workout now that he is getting so big. So we raced home (well after a quick stop down the road to get my cell phone from off the top of my car...oooops got lucky there!!)  He decided to take a nap so I started to assemble my treasure.  I had found the last large candle holder but there were many of the small candle holders of the same shape.  All I did was hot glue the glass candlestick to the bottom of the large candle holder and wallah!! Beautiful arrangement for $9 silver tray included :) I made the mossy decorative balls also included in that price.  I just am so happy every time I walk past this!!

I really wish I could figure out how to make the flash on my camera not make everything look ghostly. 

Saving money is the name of the game, and I really enjoy doing it. Here lately I have started paying all our bills online.  Saving that stamp is even exciting!

Next project may include a little more money. I need idea help if your willing!  Our couch cushions have cracked and they basically drive me crazy!

Here is my inspiration:

The frame of our couch is in good condition and the arms are ok so I'm thinking of making large pillows for the back cushions?? Some kind of fabric that brings together the recliner, ughhh which I hate the look of but I sit in more that I would like to admit, and the "leather" of the frame.  So do you think it would look weird if I left the seat cushions leather? Just trying to save myself some fabric cost...and time :) I am planning on using the stuffing from the existing cushions to stuff my new pillows to also save on cost a little.  Let me know what you think!

Curtains anyone????

Since I have graduated with my Bachelors degree in interior design, I have been itching to design!  It truly is what I love to do. I am so blessed to be able to stay home with my son and have some time to create things for our own home.  But as I was searching for things to decorate my nursery with, I discovered that there aren't very many styles of curtains out there for the little folk! I ended up making curtains for my sons room and was very happy with how they turned out.  I got to thinking....maybe everyone else out there is also frustrated with the curtain market?  So I made a few things, and we will see how much interest it generates.  I would be glad to meet with you and create your own perfect curtain design for your child's room...or whatever room you would like help with.  Sometimes you can't buy the perfect look, you must create it!

I understand now why little girls clothes and decorations are more abundant...they are just so much fun to make! First I made a balloon shade of hot pink fabric and a sweet rose print fabric for the ties.  You can adjust this shade to whatever length you prefer.  This is a light filtering shade meaning that it will not completely block out light like a blind would.  The dimensions are 28-42" wide.  You can adjust the width by either gathering it at the top or leaving it flat.  The length is also adjustable by tying the bows either higher or lower.  The longest length you could get would be about 48" still giving it a gather at the bottom. The balloon shade goes for $30.

The next design could be for a baby's room or it could also go for the teenage girl.  I made these panels with a bright color block pattern at the bottom.  The stripes are pink/orange/lime green.  The pair of panels go for $40.  If you are interested, I could repeat the stripes in a valance to accent the panels.  The dimensions are 43" x 84" each panel.

I am selling on Craigslist for now and plan to get an Etsy account as well!  If you are interested in one of these items, or in creating your own personal design just let me know!!

Notes that are fun to look at

When I was remodeling our office, I was searching for extremely inexpensive items to decorate with.  I could have gone out and spent a ton of money but it is almost more fun to have a challenge!  I created the fabric boxes to hide our clutter and wanted something to match them for the wall decoration. Well Martha Stewart always has the answer!  Martha is one of those people that you either love or hate.  I personally LOVE her!! If I could spend just a summer with her, I would be so happy!! She does it all.  She runs many businesses but still manages to keep her old fashioned ideas of keeping a happy home.  I love that she even has the perfect way to wash a window.  If I ever want a really great craft idea, I just open one of her books.  There seems to be a great idea on every page!  I found this note board in one of her books. 

 I adapted it so that I could do it a little more affordably.  I simply purchased 1/4 yard of 4 colors of the cheapest fabric I could find. Then I purchased 1/2 yard of the "base" fabric (the color I wanted to see most). Then I purchased a piece of foam core. I simply ironed the hem into the top of each  strip of fabric and overlapped them on the front of the foam core.  I put pins into the foam core through each of the colors to hold them in place while I flipped the entire piece over.  I hot glued the fabric to the back making sure to pull it tight.  I hot glued some of the strips down on the front as well making fake pockets. I bought pieces of paper that matched my color theme and made cards to put on my note board.  Since it is foam core you can put pins in it for real notes too.  This probably cost me $5 all together!! A great cheap piece of art :)