Embrace the Retro

I live in a house built back in 1948. We remodeled parts of the house, but the kitchen stayed the same. I have hated the look of my kitchen from day one. I have FINALLY come to accept that my kitchen is what it is. I have decided to embrace the 1950s kitchen. I have lived here for almost 2 years & have no curtains on my windows. SHAME!!! So, I decided to make a valance for my windows & embrace the retro.

I have NO idea what I was doing. I just kind of went with it. I knew I wanted the curtains to have a ruffle, but not sure if I wanted it on the top or the bottom. At first, I thought that I wanted ties to hang the curtains, but decided against it. So, here they are.

I LOVE the ruffle on the bottom. It makes me happy! I think that I captured the retro, but they are also a little modern.

Block Ornaments

I'm back...life has been a bit crazy. I doubt that it will settle down much. But that is part of the charm of Christmas. I love the hustle & bustle.

The other day I saw a very cute idea to make an ornament with block. Here is the link from HOW DOES SHE. Here are the supplies that you need:



♥ small blocks {I found mine at the a thrift store a while back, but you could just cut wood down} any where from 1.5-2 inches.
♥ mod podge
♥ pictures {I just printed out some wallets}
♥ scrapbook paper
♥ paint {& paint brush}
♥ ribbon or string
♥ metal eyes {from the hardware section}
♥ sandpaper {optional}

My blocks were already painted, but if yours are not...paint them. I just peeled the vinyl off of my blocks.

I trimmed my pictures & paper to the size of the blocks. I cut mine a little over so that I could trim it down with sandpaper. Then, mod podge the pictures to the block. Do the same with the paper.



Then I sanded the edges. Place a thin layer of mod podge over the block to seal & protect the pictures & the paper.

After the mod podge is dry...twist in the "eye".

Thread with a ribbon {or string} & TADA..you have a cute personalized ornament. I also put the year on the bottom of the ornament.





I am keeping one for our family & then giving the rest away {shh...don't tell}. I think that I will make a new one each year.

Ghosts

I love Halloween, but don't want to spend a lot on decorations. Here is a cute, CHEAP Halloween decoration that is so easy to make. I got all of the stuff that I needed for a total of $2.00. I made four & could make so many more. I love having the ghost hang from our trees in the front yard. The boys love them too!



I bought garbage bags (without the string in them) & balloons at the dollar store. I already had fishing line & a black sharpie at home. You could use newspaper instead of the balloon, but I like having the tied part of the balloon to hang the ghost from.

Blow up your balloon (not with helium). Take the bottom of your garbage bag..the sealed side & make a small slit in the center. This is where the knot of the balloon will come out. Feed the knot through the hole in the garbage bag. Using your sharpie, draw eyes onto the garbage bag where the balloon is. Tie fishing line to balloon knot. Last year I left it at that, but this year I added extra fishing line to the corners to make arms.

Mummy Heads

My house is SERIOUSLY lacking in Halloween decor. I came across this idea on the internet {somewhere}. I went to look for some balls, but they were too expensive...until I stumble upon the kids craft section at Walmart. They had styrofoam balls 6/$3.50. Now that I could do!!! I painted the balls black. Be prepared...styrofoam takes a long time to dry! I used my handy dandy hot glue gun & glued on some google eyes. Then, wrap gauze around the balls. I used more hot glue just to tack the gauze in place.

I linked up to Creative Cat over at Poppies at Play. Go & check out the amazing ideas over there.

Recipe Box

I found this recipe box on clearance a while back. It was ok, but could be cuter!



I used a line from My Mind's Eye called Penny Lane. I love their paper!!! A little (or a lot) of Modge Podge & it is so much cuter. The top could use a little help, but I'll get to that eventually!



I am working on covering the recipe card dividers, but had to put that on hold for house work...BOOOOOO!!!

Trees

A few months ago, I found these frames (for $1.00 each) & knew that I wanted to use them in the bathroom, but I wasn't exactly sure how.

I have loved all of the cute trees made out of circles of paper, but couldn't find the paper that I needed. Last week, I came across the perfect paper. Here is my finished product:

I love how it turned out! I just hope that they will hold up in the bathroom!

I linked up on Creative Cat over at Poppies at Play.
Go check out all of the fun ideas over there!

Decorative Topiary

I have been wanting to make some decorative balls for a while. I came across a blog called That's so Cuegly that made a ton of different variations HERE. This weekend my mom gave me the cutest vase that would be perfect for one of these ideas!

Here is what you need:

a vase
glue
Spanish moss
green moss (not pictured)
small balls
sticks
floral foam
scissors




The sticks are just from my tree outside. I found the balls while cleaning out the toy box. The Spanish moss & floral foam are from the Dollar Tree.

First I filled the vase with floral foam.



Then, I put hot glue on top of the floral foam & added the Spanish moss.



Set the vase aside. Poke a hole in the bottom of the ball. I just used scissors, but you could use a drill.



I decided that I needed greener moss after I took the "what you will need picture". I bought this at Walmart.



In small sections...put glue on & then put moss over the glue. I used big clumps at first & then filled in the bare spots with the smaller pieces. Keep track of the hole at the bottom of your ball.



Trim your stick to the size that you want. Put them into the floral foam & then stick the balls onto the top. I tied some ribbon on my vase & the sticks.



I will be making some more decorative balls this week!

Finally finished!

Back in April, I repainted this mirror that my parents were kind enough to give me from out of their attic junk. I used acrylic paint instead of spray paint. Sometimes painting with a paintbrush is therapeutic.

Before:



After:



I was pretty proud of myself because it was the first thing that I hung up myself. I have been on the look-out for a cute little wreath to hang from the mirror & yesterday....I FOUND ONE!! I was so excited to find it & the $4.00 price tag made it even sweeter! I hung the wreath from some really pretty green ribbon that I already had. Now I just need something for in between the mirror & the hooks...vinyl or something...any ideas?

More Organizing...

I have been trying to get things organized around the house. I'm not sure why...maybe backwards spring cleaning! This week hubby installed some rain gutter shelves. They are incredible by the way!



My next step was getting my boys' dress up stuff straightened up. A found a fun hanging thing at a thrift store a few months ago for $1.99. It was pretty girlie, but had potential.



Hubby took the flowers off. Then I took the whole thing apart & painted it to match the boys' room. It took everything I had to wait for the paint to dry. I lack patience.



Then, I used some chipboard shaped like gears to stick on the ends of each peg & covered it with coordinating paper with mod podge (ahhh modge podge). The boys' room is done in robots. I glued the gears on with E6000. Hopefully it can stand up to two little boys!

After I got it assembled...I put SOME of their dress-ups on it. Yea...one more project down!!!

Frame Jewelry Holder

I am so excited about this. About 6 months ago my parents gave me this old school frame with AMAZING details. I didn't know at the time what I was going to do with it...until I came across a fun jewelry holder.

Here is what you need:

A large frame
Mesh Wire (found in the fence dept at the hardware store)
S hooks (also at the hardware store)
ribbon
staple gun or E6000

First I primed & painted my frame. Then, you cut the mesh wire with wire cutters to fit inside the frame. My frame was thin plastic so I had to use glue (E6000) to attach it to the back of the frame. If your frame was thicker, you could use a staple gun for the wire mesh & the ribbon. Attach your ribbon to back side of the frame...I used glue again. Now you can hang it up on the wall. Take your s hooks & hang your jewelry from them with the mesh wire.

I linked to Creative Cats Tuesday! Click on the button to go to Poppies at Play. I ♥ this blog!

LOVE IT!!!

For years I have had 3 5x5 inch frames that were attached together by jute. I have never used them, but couldn't bring myself to get rid of them. I found this super cute plate holder & thought this would be the perfect thing for my frames. I cut the frames apart & painted them a different shade of green. I love how it turned out!!! The bottom picture is a little crooked, but just ignore that!!

I've been crafting...

While I was in Arizona...I came across THIS POST
that had refinished these clip magnets. They are awesome magnets, but they are really ugly.



So, I just cut out some paper to cover the front part. Here is my finished product. It took me maybe 5 minutes to do this.



I also thought that I would put our Father's Day gift for my dad on here too!

Frame Makeover

Earlier in the week I found a frame on clearance for $.70. I was so excited. The glass was intact & there were no dings on the wood. I left the price tag on there to show you the SCORE!!! Thank you TJ Maxx!



Here is the "finished" product. I think that it still need a little something to embellish it & I need to get a picture for it, but I love it. One thing that I recommend is distress your edges with ink..it really makes a HUGE difference on your project. I usually use brown or black.