Date Night- Craft Night

Happy Saturday! Last night I had the most AMAZING surprise date night! Yes, I am bragging about my amazing husband, but he deserves it! We had a 3 part date night and it started at Crazy Glaze, it's a paint your own pottery studio, I think most towns have their own version. It was a blast! We each painted a vase. I was excited to make something that we could use in our decor. We went to another pottery studio when we first started dating and painted elephants and surfboards (real mature right?) and now we have no where to use them (well, actually,my elephant is next to my sink to hold my rings!).

  It is hard to see in the picture but Gabe painted his vase with 3 different colors in random stripes up the vase. It is going to look so cool when it is finished!

 I painted a taller vase. I decided to keep it pretty simple. I am not the best at details with a paint brush. So to avoid frustration and taking 3 hours to make it perfect, I was really happy with just a solid blue and a light mint green to accent the curves of my vase.

They will be ready next Friday! Can't wait to see how they turn out! Part 2 of our date was dinner at Logan's (this was also where we had our very first date 4 years ago!). They have the best rolls!!! Part 3 was going to the movies- we saw Bridesmaids and laughed our faces off (that was for you Amy Louise- if you even read this!). I was so impressed with all parts of date night! He is just so thoughtful and creative! (tired of my bragging yet?!)

Before I go, my dad has passed on his Nikon D50 to me for a while and I am in love. So much so that I ordered a cute strap cover to make it more "me" while I am using it!!! I got it from a cute Etsy shop, XcessFabrics. Some of her straps are still at their introductory price as she gets started, go check them out!

Don't you just love the ruffles?!

Have a great Saturday! We are off to grab coffee and maybe hit up some late yardsales!

Planter Makeover

So a few months ago my sweet hubby brought home a new plant for me! I love it when he does that! He brings flowers too but the plants are always exciting because they last much longer!

I really liked the plant but wasn't sure how well it's little planter was fitting in with our decor. I love the green but we don't do a lot with polka dots around here.

My friend Erin suggested that I wrap it in burlap. I instantly loved the idea but didn't want to cut up one of my big burlap sacks just for this little project. I did have some dropcloth scraps and found one that was the perfect size!

So I wrapped the planter in dropcloth and used twine to tie it around the top of the planter. I then trimmed the excess fabric and it was finished! This was so quick and easy! I am really happy with how it turned out!

Yard SaleTray Makeover

Remember this tray I found at a yardsale for $1? 

(Callie has a  hard time not being in every picture!)

I decided to paint it, I liked the wood look but it just didn't fit anywhere well. 

So I started gathering all color possibilities...

After playing around with some different options, I decided to do a teal/white mixture. This picture is after one coat. I really liked the original wood still shining through. I still did a few more coats but aimed to let that wood show through.

 

Here is the final product:

It is now on the kitchen table, not sure if it is staying there or not, but I like it for now.

I am loving these hydrangeas from my in-laws house with a single gardenia to sweeten the whole house.

One thing I don't love about this tray is that it does not hold much weight very well. It will be used more to decorate and not be as functional as other trays I own but that is ok with me!

Also, my dad is letting me use his camera, so I have added some new photos of our house to the "our house" tab above! Check them out!

DIY Chalkboard Table Numbers

One of my very best friends got married this weekend! It was a beautiful ceremony and reception!

(From left to right: Amanda, ME, Taylor, Kelly, and Kyla)

I made chalkboards for each table to use as the table numbers! I decided to use picture frames from the dollar store to keep the task cheap and simple but still cute and functional!

Supplies:
Frames (I bought 25, one per table)
Chalkboard spray paint
Spray paint for the frames (I used ivory from Krylon)
tape and a sharpie (to stay organized!)

My hope at first was to find 25 matching frames. Sadly that did not happen, so I just bought 25 frames that were the same size. First, I sorted out the frames by their style and gave each style a number. (This was to help me put them all back together later). As I took apart the frames, I marked each piece with a piece of tape and wrote the corresponding style number on it (the frame itself, the piece of glass, and the back, each had a piece of tape with a matching number).

Next, I laid out all of the frames and started painting them ivory....

I did the same with the glass but painted them with the chalkboard spray...

Once everything I dried, I brought them in to the kitchen table and starting matching up the backs, frames, and glass pieces based on their numbers...( a quick tip: I used an old fitted sheet to wrap around my table to keep my table free of any paint! The fitted sheet stayed in place perfectly!)

Then I put them all back together!

Here are the Bride and Groom at their table!

(7/25 Update: the professional wedding pictures are available and are shown below!)

I also had the honor of embroidering handkerchiefs for the bride and groom's family members. They came up with the sweetest things to put on them. Thanks for letting me be a part of your wonderful day Taylor and Billy!

On another note: You can now subscribe to my blog via email! In the upper right hand corner, you can enter your email address, and whenever I write a new post, it will be sent to that email address!

Beach side yardsale-ing!

I spent last weekend with all of the amazing ladies in my family. We went to Oak Island and enjoyed 2 days in the sun together. I don't think I have ever laughed as hard as I did with this group. Here are some pics that I manage to capture before my camera died.

 My favorite friend cousin, Amy Louise. This girl is HILARIOUS!

 Aunt Gail, Aunt Jamie, and my mom at the Carolina Beach boardwalk. They are total goofballs.

 Skeeball at the arcade! Aunt Gail, Erin, and I battle it out!

 My mom and Teran on the Scrambler!

 They spent tons of time in the water! It was a blast!

 Basking in the sun! We did a little too much of it, we were all fried!

You know I had to find some thrifty finds while I was away! My mom and two of my aunts and I stopped by a few yardsales on Saturday morning. I am pretty happy with my findings, now if only I had some time to fix them up!

 Love this wooden tray! I have a tray obsession. It was $1.

 Can't wait to paint this pedestal bowl! She had it marked for $3 but I talked her down to $1!

 Not sure what I am going to do with this little thing yet. It is some kind of condiment holder....only 75 cents!

Another tray! This one is metal and a little dented up but I am going to try to do something with it! Only 25 cents!

 Excited to check out this Complete Guide to Sewing, got it for $1!

Got these gingerbread men cookie cutter set or 75 cents. All that for $4.75! I am pretty happy about that!

I have been busy this week with last minute preparations for my best friend's wedding this weekend! I will be sure to post about my contribution to the wedding decor. I had the honor of making chalkboards for each table! Stay tuned to photos and DIY instructions!

Master Bedroom Inspiration Board

As some of you may know, I have been dying to re-do our room for a while now! I guess I shouldn't say "re-do" because it is really being done for the first time. I decided to create an inspiration board to get my juices flowing! It is going to be a work in progress over a period of time. Most of it will be DIY and all of it will be on a tight budget!

 

I forgot to number the wall color and the bedspread! I found this bedspread on overstock.com and I love it! I used a tip from Thrifty Decor Chick, she says to start with bedding and draw your inspiration from there. I pulled the background color from the bedspread and want to paint our walls this brown color!

1) Wall of windows- I want to do a wall of old windows, we already own quite a few. I think it would be a cool look to do a mix of sizes and types, some being empty windows and some with mirrors.

2) Mantle Headboard- I HAVE to have a mantle headboard, whether we find an old one to use or build one ourselves, I love the look of them as headboards!

3) TV- We need a new tv to mount in our room!

4) Bench- I want a cozy soft bench at the end of our bed. We already have a table at the end of bed that is the length of a good bench, I am hoping to turn it into a bench with some cushioning and fabric.

5) Nightstands- I want to paint our nightstands a green color that I will pull from the bedspread.

6) Garden stool- My new garden stool is going in our bedroom, I just painted it white. It is going to be a side table for our sitting area.

7) Standing Mirror- We already have this mirror and it is staying as is, it is one of the only things that is staying as is in our room. Gabe did a great job finding it and painting it for me last Christmas.
8) Dresser- I want to find a new dresser that isn't too tall but is long enough with lots of drawers! I want to paint it the blue color pulled from the bedspread. The TV will be mounted above it on the wall across from the bed.
9) Chair- I want to get a really cozy chair like this one for our little seating area. We have one already but it isn't comfortable so I NEVER sit there, and I want our room to be cozy for reading and working in it as well!

I would really like to start by painting the walls and ordering the bedding and then taking on one more thing at a time until it is all finished! I will be posting up each step as I complete part of the room! I am excited!!!

Ceramic Garden Stools

So I have been seeing these ceramic stools/tables everywhere lately in magazines and stores. I have been in LOVE with them but figured I would never own one simply because I hate spending lots of money for something that I don't need.

This red one is $194 for sale here. Now I know they aren't all that expensive, Carolina Pottery has them for $60 but still, that is a lot for a thrifty shopper like me.

Well, last night we went to Ollie's Bargain Outlet with Gabe's parents and I found one there for only $24.99! I am not too happy with the color but I am going to paint it ASAP!

But it looks JUST like all the others I have seen that are being sold for much more! I don't know where it is going yet either but I will do another post when it is painted and in it's new home!

Even Callie likes it, she would not get out of the way for me to take pictures of it!

Some colors I am considering:

 Apple Green or...

Bright White!

As I was finding these images to show different colors, I realized that they have been around for a while, I read blog posts dating back to 2006 on their popularity, so these may be old news to you but they are new to me and I am excited to have found a cheap version!