Placemat Pillows

I found this cool idea on Thrifty Decor Chick's blog, although I must admit, the idea is all over the blogosphere.

So, when I found these placemats, I knew I needed to get them.  These are the type of fabric placemat that has a lining sewn on in the back.

The four black/white floral placemats came from the local thrift store for $6/four.  The tan/black placemat is from Target.  I think I paid around $3 for it.

The two green pillows underneath the placemats are our old pillows from the sofa.  You know the kind... they came with the sofa.

Somehow after years of no sewing, I've lost my seam ripper, so with a needle and a pair of scissors, I carefully opened a seam along the one side of the placemats.  

I then stuffed the placemats with the stuffing from inside the old green pillows.  Using a needle and thread, I did a simple stitch to close the opening.  And wah-lah...

Pillows!

The black floral ones will be used in the guest room, once I remake the beds (had guests last weekend!)

The tan/black one works great in our "bookroom".

Or maybe on the loveseat?

A Little Thirty-One Decor

I've been wanting a tray for in my master bathroom.  No "need" for it... just to sort of pull together the accessories on the wide counter.  Nothing seemed to be perfect.

Then, I went strolling through the Thirty-One catalog before placing an order and it hit me!  The Thirty-One basket/tray is perfect.  I was looking at the products as "organizational" helpers, but never thought of the basket as a cute decoration.

I even used a Thirty-One rosette clip to fancy her up!

{tee hee}

Pears, Pears, Pears

Not sure how it happened, but somehow I ended up with a bunch of pear accessories.  It's sort of ironic, considering I am a teacher and used to have dozens, if not a hundred, apple things in my house.  Fortunately the country-hunter-green-buffalo-plaid and apples decor faded with the 21st century.

Now I have pears.  

The first came to me like this:

Unfortunately I dropped the bag coming into the house, and the lid broke.  A little superglue and it was good as new.  Well, as long as I covered it up, which I did... similar to the one in Ballard.

I did the twine wrapping in two sections so as to make the jar actually usable.  I also added two burlap leaves with a piece of string.

Here it is together.

Isn't it cute?

I found the "glittery" pears and the pear-shaped basket at the thrift store.

And more.

These guys have been in these pedestals since March!  Green seems to be a universal color... works in many seasons and holidays.

Okay, now this is CLUTTERED... I sort of put all my pears out here for the photo.  Gotta figure out where to put some things, but look... pears!  

Treasure Hunting

I'm having a bit of ... whatdoyoucallit?... blogger's block?  I've been a bit busy, so the house has taken a backseat to most everything else.  The house meaning decorating, painting, crafting, laundry, cleaning, cooking, yardwork, everything.  :)

Despite the crazy weekday schedules lately, I have definitely managed to enjoy my Saturdays.  It's YARD SALE SEASON!

(Can I hear a "woot woot"?)

Last week, I brought along my older two kids.  One is 10, and one is 11.... perfect to please with an occasional small purchase ...and perfect to carry my goodies!  Tee hee.  Yes, I left the 6 year olds at home.  

This weekend, I went along with my mom and oldest daughter.  Oh, we found some goodies!

I went out looking specifically for a few things, but my rule of thumb is that if I don't have an exact location of where to put it, I will not spend much at all!  (I like having a bit of a stockpile of fun decorations, especially since I still have a lot to decorate.)

Fortunately the super-cheaply-priced sales let me buy all sorts of things!  I found two sales (same building) where prices were low to begin with, and we hit it just as they announced, "everything half-off!"  Another sale was one of my favorite yard sales I attend each year.  The seller has similar interests in home decor and prices things super-cheap (like 5 cents on some things).  Ever seen the "doggie throne" in the bookroom?  Yep, she made that.

You know how there are all of those "There are two kinds of people in the world" sayings..?

Like... those who turn a TV on as they enter the room, and those who turn it off.

Those who accomplish things, and those who say they accomplish things.

Those who can stay focused, and ... hey look a squirrel!

Well, I found a new "two kinds of people"...

Those who host garage sales to get rid of their stuff... and those who host garage sales to make money.  The latter rarely gets my business.  :)  

I {heart} super cheap deals!!!  

Sorry for the bad photos... all were taken in my dark basement.  So we either have flash-ridden photos or dark ones.  :(

A black candlestick.  Not 100% positive where I'll use it, but I'm sure I'll find a cool spot.  $1

This beautiful tin pedestal bowl will be perfect one day filled with something fun.  Not sure if I'll repaint or leave it in its mottled colors.

$2

The four wreaths were only 25 cents for all four.

This old frame was just 75 cents.  I have plans for this one (it's a good size... 11x14 or so).

This shelf has one piece missing (as you can tell from the photo, head-on it looks great).  $FREE!

This metal/wood scoop is just cool... gotta find a place in my kitchen.  

50 cents.

LOVE THIS!  Ha ha ha!  Wonder if I can squeeze out a place in my butler's pantry somewhere. :)  $1

This is a football=shaped shadowbox.  Not positive whether we'll keep this or not, but for 50 cents, I had to try!  Maybe we'll scrounge up some Redskin goodies (and store it till we have a great season....)

 This is a mini "apples" crate.  25 cents.

Red painted small box.  50 cents

My daughter wants this one.  I'll help by painting it to match her room... purple!  

These two ornate frames were $3 each.  I hope they work where I want them.

A globe for 50 cents!  My daughter wanted a chalkboard globe of her own.  Why not for a half-a-buck?

Not sure what to do with this, but for 50 cents, I'll figure something out.  Man, I wish I had a deck!

Lots of mismatched frames... nothing more than $2... one was 13cents.  

(Remember the half-price deal?)

Two beachy prints to hang in the boys' beachy bathroom, unless I figure out somewhere else...   $2 each

Old books... hopefully to craft with... $1 each.  The storybook is from 1950something... but I checked it out online... not worth much.  The big red one is "Country Women"... hmmm... not exactly a modern depiction of todays' woman.

OK.  I HAD to buy this one.  Seeing as though I am a Thirty-One consultant and know how awesome their products are, I saw this beauty for $3.  Does everyone have one of these?  These organizers are great for coupons or drawing kits for the car.

This glass pear was destined to become a Ballard-look-alike.  Done.  

$3

Cute, nice wooden tray.  I think we'll get rid of the tic-tac-toe board (does anyone really play tic-tac-toe on these super big boards?)

$3

Assorted frames under $3 each.

This beauty was $2.  The seat is in great condition... hmmm.... super excited to design something cool for the painting!

This wooden desk was $25.  I'm still not 100% sure where it will go, but I do want to paint it.  It may work great in the guest room.

Don'tcha love it when you find craft supplies for super cheap at yard sales.

50 cents for the tissue box.

25 cents for both flower hooks.

50 cents for a bag full of tags

Something just made me buy this.  It's a mini version of the chalkboard I bought months ago and updated.

So, now I get to figure out what to do with it all!!

Find any cool deals lately?

A Mini Laundry Room Update...

I love the fact that my laundry room is upstairs, and for once, we have a true laundry ROOM (albeit a small one).  In the past homes, we've had a laundry closet (apartment), two laundry areas in the basement, and a laundry/mudroom-that-was-so-small-you-could-barely-open-the-front-doors.  This at least has a door that can swing the whole way open and is solely a laundry room... no other purposes.

I have a long way to go to really fix up this room, but my first goal was to straighten up the mess of detergents.  Remember that we began using Shaklee products?  Well, almost completely... still trying to use up some of our older products.  Here's one of them...

I do NOT get this design.  I understand that it can be poured and/or squirted out (if tilted sideways), right?  The sucker is so heavy, that pouring is hard, and even when I do, this is the mess that ensues.

Yuck.

And then it drips all over my machines.

Double yuck.  

I have no other tables or shelves in the room, other than the builder-installed wire shelf above the sink (so high I can barely reach it!)

If you use the squirting side where you push the button, it leaks... on whatever is below... and on itself if you straighten the bottle upright.

Again, yuck.

 After falling in love with the design of the Shaklee bottles... love the pump!...

 I decided to get another similar one to use for the other detergent.  I bought this on eBay.  It wasn't cheap (like $10ish), but I figure I'll use it later for any special detergents we need to get for my sensitive-skin daughter.  For now, it helps me use the other detergent without a huge mess.

Now we had four tall skinny bottles of detergent and it was hogging up all the space on my dryer.  So, I found a small skinny crate at Joann's.  After painting and adding a few details, we now have this....

I added some paper as an afterthought, to match the following craft.

I had read about halving your dryer sheets to make the box last longer.  Only, instead of returning them to the same box, I decided to pretty it up a little.  These are the supplies I used:

An empty plastic jar (these held pistachios) with a screw-on lid

twine

cute paper

glue (in this case, a glue stick was what was easily available!)

I cut the paper to cover the current label.  (The label wasn't coming off easily, so rather than play around with Goo-Gone, I just covered it up!)  I made sure to also cover up the "Best by..." stamped letters.

 Here is the papered version so far.

I wanted to pretty up the plastic lid just a little.  In order to make a perfect circle to fit inside the jar, I just used my fingernail to emboss the paper on its inner circle rim.

Then I cut out the circle, and glued it.

Then because it needed just a little more, I added a twine bow around the middle and eventually added a mini chalkboard label.

Next, I took a box of dryer sheets.

I grabbed a handful at a time and cut them in half with scissors.

The entire box of 80 sheets, cut in half (160 total... see I told you I was a Math major)... fit inside the jar!

Oh how cute... excuse the lack of label in this photo.  The label was an afterthought when I went rummaging through my craft-supply pile and found it.

Here is my dryer sheet jar... at the right height for the 10 and 11 year olds to reach!  Right on the dryer!

I also installed the little crate shelf at the perfect height too.  This may not be the perfect spot, but for now it works.  I refuse to paint anymore rooms for awhile.  I just heard that when the final walkthrough/fix-it date occurs, they'll be caulking a lot... and the builder will not use our paint color choices for touch-ups.  I already have 10 rooms I'll need to retouch... I don't need anymore right now!

We taught our kids how to do laundry this winter.  (The older two... no doubt the younger ones would break the machines... somehow!)  I haven't gotten into a habit of making them do it, but now they no longer are allowed to blame me for still-dirty clothes.  THEY can do it!  :)  And for the record, they do not separate clothes.  The only thing I require them to remove from the others are dark, new clothes.  It may not be Martha Stewart's suggestion, but for a 10 year old, it works just fine.