Frame project

 

Last night we had a RS activity on home decorating and I got a bunch of helpful tips, from refinishing furniture, upholstering a headboard, sewing ties on a duvet (to keep the cover in place) and decorating my master bedroom.  I also finally put together this window photo display. Just some nails, string and clothing pins. The pins were too new looking, so I did a crackle white finish on them so they would stand out from my dark wall and still look a little weathered. I took photos on my computer and added a Polaroid frame to them before printing to give it an older look.

Ideas?

 

I need some ideas for these window frames. My initial ideas are: for the 6 paned window - put 1 huge photo behind the whole thing. for the larger window - string jute across 3 times and use clothing pins to hang photos from them. Any other creative ideas out there before I do it?

I'm thinking of painting the 6 pane window orange and then top coating it white with a crackle finish to expose some orange as it's too dark against the brown wall.

addicted to thrifting

 

As I was contemplating how to decorate my fireplace mantle this morning, I thought using an open picture frame with twine across it, with clothe pins holding photos from it. I thought this would fill up a large space. I went on craigslist and found these old window frames for $5 each. When I got there she said I could have them both for $5 - I was very excited!

 

Then I stumbled upon an estate sale (these are the best, whole houses full of contents for sale, and usually really old stuff). I found this little Brownie camera with flash for $5 - great deal and now I have two old cameras to start my collection.

Grocery bag purse

 

Jared made fun of me for making a bag out of bags, but seriously, this is a cool idea.

I found the tutorial here.  Mine does not look like their sample (mainly because I always stop following instructions or counting when I crochet). You basically take similar colour plastic grocery bags (about 30), cut the handles and bottom seam off which leaves you with a rectangle loop. Then you cut it into 1.5" strips (from fold to fold to keep them in loops). Then you take the loops and knot them together to form a long chain. You can just keep adding the loops as you crochet, as you need them. There are full photo instructions on the link above. I might undo the top two rows of mine and make the whole bag longer and put two longer handles on it for over the shoulder. That's if I feel like cutting more strips out! All in all, I think it's a great way to use all the hundreds of plastic bags I have in my broom closet! Having said that, I do have enough bags for 4 more of these bags!

Another use for the plastic bags, is making material for sewing. Just cut the bag into strips and layer and overlap them. Put them in between to layers of parchment paper and iron them, melting them into one thick piece of material. Then you can use it to sew all kinds of things like this:

Target bags from here.

cinnamon pull-apart bread

 

I finally tried this pull-apart bread I found on Pinterest here. 

It's still cooling so I haven't tried it, but I'm sure it's good!

I didn't use their recipe for the dough, I just used the basic white bread recipe for my breadmaker and made the dough in the machine so I didn't have to worry about paying attention to it.

Then I followed the rest of the recipe.

healthy goldfish crackers

 

I found this recipe here and thought it would be worth trying out. The instructions say to mix the dry ingredients until a sand texture - I couldn't get that fine with my hand mixer, so mine are a little lumpier.

 

 I couldn't find a fish cookie cutter, but I found a cute little mushroom cutter and turned it into a fish by reshaping the mushroom cap into a tail. I then poke a hole for the eye and used the bottom part of a heart cutter for the mouth.

 

Mine aren't as nice looking as the recipe photos, but they taste good and Aubrey likes them.

Now she is getting some whole grain, cheese (which she won't eat) and sweet potato!

Puyallup Fair

 

We went to the Puyallup Fair yesterday. We were there from 11am until just after 8pm. It takes about an hour to drive there from our place. First stop was the merry go round.

 It took some convincing to get her to go on some rides by herself, but after the first one, she was good to go!

 Pumpkin Carving.

 Jared was going to take her on the ferris wheel, but she was too short.

 She wanted to go on the trampoline so badly, but we couldn't decide if she was old enough. She met the requirements, but needed to be able to listen to directions. After watching for a while and seeing her excitement and then watching another little girl her age go on, we decided to let her do it. She had so much fun!

 last time I took her to the petting zoo, she would have nothing to do with touching them, but this time she loved it. She got to pet baby goats, baby rabbit and some baby chicks.

 We had to try at least one deep fried specialty item each. Jared got the deep fried snickers and I got chocolate covered bacon - while mine tasted ok, it was cold and kinda weird. I was disappointed.

 Walking through the farm animal area, there were bins everywhere which had this label. 

Not something you see everyday.

 They had free face painting. Aubrey was hesitant to have her face painted and after some coaxing she decided to have it on her leg. She really wanted a dragon, so the lady made it look girly for her.

 There were two things I havn't had for over 10 years (last time I went to a fair): corn dogs and cotton candy. We had both. I think the cotton candy made me feel sick last night!

 I wanted to stick around for the lights to turn on the rides so I could get some photos. I only brought my camera phone, so I was happy that they turned out ok.

Visiting Victoria

I made another trip to Victoria to take some wedding photos (you can see them here).

Aubrey and I had a nice visit in Duncan and then went down to Victoria for a couple days before Jared joined us.

 The start of our road trip.

 Playing with cousins on the trampoline - probably the first time she actually jumped and had fun!

 Picking strawberries with Grandma and Nya

 eating the strawberries!

 After dinner at Jared's dad's restaurant we all went to the nearby beach for the sunset.

 Aubrey in Grandpa Wight's car outside his restaurant.

Aubrey making weed salad and chocolate milk with Jordan. She doesn't get to play like this in the city.

Good finds

 

I pulled the rail off the chalkboard...now what?

yesterday I found some great finds (I didn't take photos of everything).

I found this old picnic basket for $3. I have been looking for one just like it for a while now. I wanted one with a hard top to lay babies on. I think I might paint the whole thing white.

I found this bucket while in Duncan last week. 

I also found a really nice linen table cloth, a pair of wedge black shoes, capris, some Dr. Seuss books, some Cars movie cars for Aubrey, A super cute yellow jacket and sweater for Aubrey as well. All for under $20. Oh, I also found a really nice Armani suit for Jared (which he really needs) for $40 and it's too large, even to alter. Oh well.

Shutter Shelf Update

 

I found some black knobs for $1.40 each and painted them white then distressed the edges a bit.

 

Shutters

 

I got 4 white shutters from craigslist for free a couple weeks ago. There were two sets (two different sizes). I saved one set to possibly make a headboard for Aubrey's bed one day. 

I painted one, took the hinges off and then nailed it together to form a shelf. 

I hung it in Aubrey's room, and tonight I bought 3 little knobs to attach to the bottom part so I can hang her hair clip holder and umbrella etc. from it.

 

 

Another craigslist find today: free 4'x6' school room chalkboard!

I really wanted a large board to use as a photo backdrop (you can write thought bubbles etc. behind a small child etc.) and this was certainly large enough. I ripped off the metal chalk holder edge as I'm using it vertically, but now I don't know how to finish it. Should I rip off all the molding and reframe it? Should I find a matching piece of molding and add it in the rails place? Should I mount the whole thing to the wall where it is and let Aubrey place with it, and use it for a memo board in the mean time? Any good ideas out there?? It's in pretty rough shape, so I might repaint it with black chalk board paint to freshen it up. It's not magnetic either - does anyone know how to make it magnetic??

Gallery wall

 

I have been wanting a gallery wall in my entrance for a while now, but just didn't know how to group together all the frames I had. I've finally put something together that I'm happy with. 

I have some frames to paint (ie: the bright pink one) and some photos to swap out.