Happy Fall...

Happy Fall.



I worked out in the yard with the hubby today. Despite wearing a sweatshirt and...uh...glistening from my elbow grease expenditure, I was chilled.

Fall is here.

Have YOU decorated for the season yet?

Take one boring, inexpensive grapevine wreath:



And add (stick em in, glue gun em in, wire em in) a bunch of fall-ish berries, sticks, floral picks, whathaveyou. Then HANG it UP.

Me? I had a TON of red berry sprays that I yanked out of a 75 cent garage sale wreath. And yes, I DID spray paint half of them orange. Cause the season demands some ORANGE. Also threw some leftover sticks in there because this girl loves her some curly willow:



Fall is here. Let the apple cider consumption, harvest candle flickering, cozy blanket snuggling and fireplace crackling commence...

A

Find more fall projects at:

Apples And A Chick...

Thanks to my parents and their overproducing trees I have a few apples to create yummy things with.


Mommy, can I eat this one? I think it likes me.

A few, meaning this bucket is about 10% of the total amount of apples currently in my garage. Lil Chick was busy helping me take care of the abundance. She's been kneeling like this for a few weeks now. Seeing her little toes peeking out of her leggings always makes me smile.


Uh Mommy, I see a fruit fly metropolis. It's starting to worry me.

I tell ya, I'd better get peeling, coring and a' cookin some applesauce.

My two new motto's:

1. Sand, Prime and Spray Paint
2. Peel & core, cook and freeze.
   

Or maybe,

1. Annoy Husband by Taking Up His Side of Garage With Projects
   
2. Start A Fruit Fly Infestation Worthy Of Notoriety

You choose. Either way, they're all true!

By the way, to make applesauce:

Peel, core and slice many many many apples.

Cook over med heat with about an 1/8th cup of water. Stir frequently. Soon (20 - 30 minutes) it all turns to yummy mush and smells divine.

That's IT!

OK OK OK, you can add cinnamon and sugar, but I prefer it plain. Freeze in Dutch Tupperware (large yogurt, sour cream and frozen whipped cream containers) to use throughout the year.

YUM.

Happy October, y'all...

A

In Which A Headboard Is Repurposed, Revamped and Sassified...

I bought this lonely, unwanted twin size headboard from the thrift store a month ago:



I've seen a bunch of headboard revamps around the blogisphere so I snatched that baby up.

It was on CLEARANCE. At a thrift store. What did I pay? $2.00 + tax.

That's right, TWO BUCKEROOS! The thrifty lady who dwells inside of me rejoiced.

I hauled it over to my parents house and cajoled my father into slicing off the legs for me.

I bet you can guess what I did next, right???

Sand, prime and spray paint. It's pretty much my new motto.

Then took a two week break (*ahem* FOUR) where I hemmed and hawed over how to finish up my project in an adorable, yet wallet-friendly (read: FREE) way.

First up, installed un-free (booooo) yet functional hooks:



Then hemmed and hawed some more before I personalized it and threw it on the wall. Well, not threw, but ya know what I mean.

Meet the newest revamped member of our family:



Why yes, I DID painstakingly cut out and decoupage every last itty bitty letter:



Oh, THANK YOU for noticing that it matches Wally:



My my, aren't we observant today!

Previously under used and not very gaze-worthy towel bar replaced with uber cute, functional (and thrifty) hooded towel hanger. Extremely tiny kids bathroom punched up with some sassy, low-profile functionality.

It makes me smile every time I walk past the bathroom. Sometimes I choose to use the kids' loo so I can smile while I, uh, you know.



And yes, I only have TWO children. What can I say, we give LOTS of baths around here which creates many towel needs. That, and I actually finished the laundry and was thrilled to be able to use my newly revamped...uh...thing. Headboardhoodedtowelhangerthingymajig.



However, at least I now have a great place to hang my excessive hooded towel collection. (I actually have more hooded towels in the closet...shhhhhhhh.)

I have noticed that the beautiful apple green clashes HORRIBLY with my contractor dark yellow-beige bathroom walls...thus I will GLADLY welcome paint color suggestions!

A

P.S. There are TONS of DIY/Thrifty Finds/Transformation blog parties this week. So go! Go NOW and check em out!

Stuck At Home...

Lance and Bubbalu are gone for the day. Mama and Lil Chick are having a lovely Saturday at home.

By at home I mean I am stuck.

I would LOVE to be out and about crashing the garage sales in town scooping up some fabulous finds....but my darlin baby girl is sick. Methinks hauling a feverish, coughing, snotty-nosed pajama clad 9 month old around town might not be the greatest of ideas. Besides, I'd have to do my hair and get out of my jammies.

I may still make an emergency run to the hardware store as I am in the midst of a spray-painting frenzy.

I'm the fiend causing the frenzy.

My wedding ring has red speckles, my fingernails are quite possibly permanently stained light green and my garage looks like a hardware store EXPLODED in there...but this Mama?

She's happy...

A

Warning! Craft Cache Overload...

The craft cache is once again overflowing. Some of my I MUST DO THIS, I LOVE THIS! projects:


Cozy Frosty Candles

I'm thinking they would look lovely in muted fall colors. What the heck!? Muted? Yeah right. Wham kazam ORANGE! And RED! And GREEN! Ok, I'm done yelling colors at you.


Fabric Covered Storage Cubes

Because really, could storage cubes be any uglier? Furthermore, does dust HAVE to get permanently stuck into those 18 million crevices that they have? And have you ever stubbed your toe/toes/entire FOOT on those ugly dust ridden cubes? YEOWCH. Methinks I'm not liking my storage cubes too much. Huh.


Gift Wrap Holder

The only problem with this beautiful holder is that I need seventeen of them with which to hold my stash. I may have a slight overabundance of wrapping paper. So WHY do I use gift bags? Dunno.


Repurposing a short-sleeve shirt to a long-sleeved shirt.

Oh wait. I already did this. Go me! I actually did something on my craft cache list! Oh, you wanna see it?

Here ya go:



The stripes were all parts of a 2T sized long-sleeve shirt of Bubbalu's that was hopelessy too small. Mr. Monkey has no name as of yet:



...or eyes. I purposefully 'forgot' to add them as they continually creeped me out. No matter where I placed them they followed me...or made Mr. Monkey look possessed. Not the look you want for your toddler. I have a pile of t-shirt awaiting their turn (and my time and inspiration) at the sewing machine.

OK y'all, link up in the comments to some of your craft Cache I MUST DO THIS, I LOVE THIS! projects. Because I want my craft cache list to go from hopelessy overfull to obscenely impossible.

Happy Crafting!

A

Your Scrappy Silhouette Artwork Is Making Me Hungry For Some Guacamole...

I was out Saturday morning garage sale shopping with my sister a few weekends ago. (It is absolutely shocking how much a two hour, $7.80 garage sale run will therapize me.) We hit up a decently priced sale full of potential. I grabbed a HUGE matted frame (that will soon find itself spray painted, of course) for 2 bucks and another smaller wooden frame with a itty bitty 10 cent price tag.

I brought them up to pay for both where the garage sale CEO waved away my dime for the smaller frame. "Just take it, please!".

(My heart fluttered with thrifty happiness. Not even joking.)

Guess what happened when I got home?

That's right. Prime and spray paint baby!

Agonizingly waited for drying time, then used this template , courtesy of Ms. Martha, and once again made free scrapbooky silhouette "artwork":



Wally the whale and his lime and avocado inspired frame got hung by a lovely chocolate brown ribbon to sass up the kids bathroom:


(No, it is NOT hung that unevenly. Really. I love my level. So pardon the, uh, shoddy picture taking skillz...I seriously fell into the tub after snapping that shot.)

My lovely sister in law, Megan, challenged her blog readers to a see what project they could do for 99 cents. Well Megs, looks like I one upped you.

FAAAHREEEEEE!

A

For more DIY projects check out A Soft Place To Land and the Shabby Chic Cottage...

Leaps And Bounds...

Lil Chick is growing by leaps and bounds. All within the last week.

I was so proud of my sweet baby for pulling herself up to a kneeling position. She pulled herself up on the piano:



On the side table:



and on the bistro chairs:



Pretty much anything that has a hand hold has been used for kneeling practice.

THEN, she did this:



Notice her smug, "check me OUT Mama!" expression?



While still proud of her Lil Chick, mother hen is starting to worry about this escalation of movement that is occuring.

Fast forward two days.

Ding dong! Can I come in?



Uh, why are there pudgy TOES in your living room?



I don't mean to pry, but WHAT is peering through your third story window?



Ahhhh, that's why:



When we say "she's playing in the dollhouse" we mean literally IN the dollhouse.

It's our version of 'King Kong', or 'Honey I Blew Up the Kid'. You pick:



However, we're not done yet.

Yes there IS another fun thing she learned.

Oh yes she did:



Uh oh.

A

Wall Organizer With A Pinch Of Sassification...

I bought this...uh...functional wall organizer in an effort to help my husband and I (read: ME) become more organized and enhance mail communication.

It has sat in the fish-tank room for just over a year now. (Yes, we have a room in our house whose sole purpose is to access the fish tank...and apparently to house forgotten functional wall organizers.)

Anywho.

Bubbalu found it, forgotten and neglected, a few weeks ago and kindly Bubbalized it for me:



Meaning he scribbled all over the thing with the dry erase marker.

Did you know dry erase markers don't erase from cork board?

Didjya know dry erase markers don't erase from the fabricy middle thingy that I'm not sure what it's called?



And ALSO, did you know dry erase markers don't erase if they are left on the dry erase board for oh...365+ days?

Who knew?

Well, I do NOW, obviously.

So, I found it hiding in the lovely smelling fish-tank room and decided it needed a revamp. A little sassification, if you will.

Deconstruct.

Prime and spray paint frame.

Recover cork board, fabricy middle thingy that I'm not sure what it's called and dry erase board...which also happens to be magnetic. Handy!

Put it all back together again and marvel at all the sassification going on:



Now I have a handy dandy sassified wall organizer for my craft room to help me, I GUESS, organize my ideas a bit. I have occasionally been known to be slightly scatterbrained...hopefully this will help.



For more DIY projects check out A Soft Place To Land and The Shabby Chic Cottage..

A

Not Your Average Undershirt...

Well, I did it. I had warned my husband.

Inspiration hit and I just went with it.

Take one unused, rejected by the hubby because "it just doesn't fit quite right" white t-shirt and start CUTTING IT UP.

I love this. I really really really love cutting up shirts.

I may have an obsession.

Trace around your favorite fitting v-neck shirt and start cutting the shape out:



Trim the finished edge off the sleeves and set them aside. Use all leftover fabric pieces to cut out 2 sizes of heart shapes. I used a cookie cutter for my guide:



And ended up with a nice pile of cut-out heart shapes.

Took the sleeve edges/hems, cut them in half, and stitched them on to the v-neck:



Basted, ruffled and reattached the sleeves, then tacked on those heart shapes creating a lovely embellishment:



Then wait a week. Finally realize the shoulders are too wide, trim more off of the shoulders, seam rip the sleeves off, then reattach them correctly.

When all is said and done, your previously owned by hubby undershirt has transformed into:



Not too shabby for an unused rejected undershirt:



A

Butter...blah blah blah...Muffins...

I left and returned to my house approximately 399 times yesterday(Wednesday).

Dropped of Bubbalu at MIL's house and brought Lil Chick to her nine month, 9:00 appointment at the doctor....on 9/09/09. Weird. She really did turn EXACTLY nine months old yesterday. Like I said, weird.

Turns out she is still super stinkin tiny, so much so that the Doctor advised adding butter, heavy cream or olive oil to her meals. Yum Yum, eat up darlin! She hits all of those developmental markers, she's just a pipsqueak. However, a fiery lil pipsqueak. She may be small, but she's mighty.

Lil Chick is a screechy, shrieking aficionado. I sometimes wonder if my neighbors think I lay around all day sticking her with pins. In reality, she screeches when she is holding a toy, looking at her brother, or just because she's bored. You know, maybe she just wants a big bowl of butter.

We had a lovely relaxing afternoon of x-rays, medication, schlepping to the doctor and tears from Bubbalu over concerns of a broken forearm...all turning out to be a dislocated elbow. It was a trying and emotionally exhausting day. I am praising God for Bubbalu's health and intact bones.

Favorite part of my day occurred in the x-ray waiting room. This waiting room was extremely cavernous and seemed to magnify (ha! NPI) every whispered word or sound. Two year olds don't seem to get the whisper concept. At least my two year old doesn't get it. He's busy commenting on everyone's shoes, the man in the wheelchair, the lights, the gumball machine, the blue chairs...you name it. Everyone was politely ignoring him.

Then there was....silence.

Until a certain 31.8lb two year old voice belted out, "DO YOU KNOW THE MUFFIN MAN, THE MUFFIN MAN, THE MUFFIN MAN! DO YOU KNOW THE MUFFIN MAN WHO LIVES ON DRURY LANE!"

We are just the par-tay of the x-ray waiting room. You need an x-ray? Call us, we're quite entertaining. Who knows, we may even bring muffins...

A