Trash-tastic Craft!

So I finished my project!  And my brother was here so I got to visit with him while I created!  When I got home from work this afternoon I had another yellow plastic bag on the doorstep...Another phone book.  I suppose phone books still serve a purpose but it is the 3rd one I have had waiting on my doorstep in 2 weeks.  So I cleaned out the phone book drawer (3 phone books, 2009, 2008 and 2006, I know de-clutter, but I hardly ever use them and they just pile up and I grab the one on top when I need it) to make room for the new ones.  I threw the old phone books in the trash can (awful right, it's called recycling).  I went back in the laundry room a while later to fold a load of clothes and I happened to glance over and see the old phone books and thought I can make something with those!

Cute little books to put on display, and once again the best part is that it cost me absolutely nothing!  Here is what I started with.

Yes this is the phone book for my town, teeny tiny, I know.  There is no way you can use these for a make shift booster seat.

Supplies.....

• Wrapping Paper left over from Christmas
• Adhesive Spray
• Stinky Black Marker
• Sharpie Poster Board Marker in Silver
• Sanding Sponge
• Ink Pad

First I used my stinky marker to color the edges of the phone book, I don't know about yours but some of the page edges were green and some where red.  Then I took the silver sharpie marker and randomly marked the edge, I then took the black marker and colored over the silver marker to dull down the silver.

I cut my wrapping paper large enough to wrap the phone book with some extra along each side.

 I used the spray adhesive to attach the paper to the book.  This is what it looked like after I glued.

 Next I wrapped the excess paper around the edge of cover, I didn't use any more glue because the paper was still tacky from the spray glue.  Here is what it looks like finished from the inside, I didn't worry about how pretty it looked when open because I really hope no one ever picks it up to read it and if they do hopefully they are astounded by my crafting skills that turned a phone book into a pretty decorative book!  Just make sure that you have a nice crisp seam on the corners!

The last thing I did was use a sanding sponge to rough up the edges and distress the paper, I was going for the worn look not the I just made my debut 30 mins ago look!

I think I could stand to add some sort of embellishment or title, but since I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do I will leave it alone for the time being.  I do believe this is a Trash-tastic Craft!!

Crafting Insanity...

So I had decided  that I needed to recoup after Kielyn's birthday, the painting, new entertainment center, new shelves and everything that I have made lately. I thought I would finally take pictures of the new entertainment center and pottery barn shelves and get them posted but I got distracted.  I am hoping to have my new master piece (trash turned treasure) ready in a little while.  Hopefully I will be back with pictures soon!

3rd Birthday Party!

Kielyn's birthday party was a success!  She told me it was the best birthday ever!  I love 3 year olds!  They are so grateful for the littlest things!  Here are a few pictures of the things that I made for her party.

Birthday Banner

Jute and Scrap Paper Garland

Birthday Invitation and Dollar Store Buckets

When she woke up Saturday morning and saw everything out she was so excited and told me I was the best Mommy ever (totally made the long nights worth it!)

How adorable are the sister dresses?  I ♥ them!

Who doesn't love cupcakes?  I think they turned out perfect and it was so much faster than decorating a cake that I never think is good enough anyway!

And here is the Birthday Girl!!  I can't believe that she is already 3!  Isn't she gorgeous!?!?

And here is sister!  Doesn't she look so dainty and lady like?

Not so much!  Look Mom, no hands!

3 years ago I looked like this!

And a day later I looked like this...

Seeing the happiness in her little eyes on her special day thrills me.  Being a Mommy is the best job in the whole world!

Scraps to Fabulous!

So here is the crafty post I promised last night.  I am still obsessed with making decorations for Kielyn's birthday(thank goodness it's Saturday and I am running out of time).  I really wanted to make something cute to add to the cupcake display or put on the present table.  So as I was rooting around in the garage, scouring every corner for something I could paint, I stepped on a scrap piece of the trim that we used around the fireplace.  As I hopped around saying some not so nice things inspiration struck and look what I made!

Love them!  And the best part was that it only took me about 20 minutes to make since they were already painted white.  Here is what I started with.

And here are my project supplies.

• Scrapbook paper
• Sanding Sponge
• Ink
• Marker Tip thing (found it in the ink aisle)
• Permanent Tape Runner 

I started by roughing up the edges of the wood trim with the sanding sponge, sanding down to the real wood.  I then took the ink pad and wiped it across the larger areas of the trim, wiping it down in areas that the ink was darker than I wanted it.  I used the marker tip thingie, to get into the smaller areas that I couldn't reach with the ink pad.

 Next I cut my scrapbook paper to fit the middle of the trim.  I took my sanding sponge and sanded the paper, really roughing up the edges but distressing the middle of the paper as well.

 Next I taped the paper onto the trim, you could use Modge Podge and decoupage the paper on, but since I was making this for her birthday party I figured I could peel of the pink paper and reuse the trim with other papers for holidays or something that matches my house.  I used the ink again to ink the edges of the paper, probably would have been easier to do before I taped it on!  Duh!!  The last thing I did was tie some ribbons on and voila it was finished!

I also found another little piece of trim that I made to match the house and embellished with stickers and ribbon.

Tomorrow I have 96 cupcakes to bake and decorate, good thing Gramma has 2 ovens at her house!  I hope everyone has an amazing weekend and I will try to post pictures of the birthday party on Sunday.  Have a great weekend!

Featured at The Boardwalk Blotter 
Tatertots and Jello

I ♥ Pepsi!

I love Pepsi!  It is what I have for breakfast every morning and it is what I drink before I go to bed.  Seriously I am addicted and in love!  Tonight I did grocery shopping for Kielyn's birthday party on Saturday, I needed to get pop for the party so as I walked down the pop aisle at Safeway and saw the most amazing sale sign ever, seriously I think I died and went to heaven!  Buy 2, Get 3 Free!!!  So I put 10 12 packs in the cart, and it would have been more but I had to save a little room for groceries.

Let's do the math..... 4 12 packs @ $5.99 = $23.96($0.50 per pop)  Horribly expensive if I had just gotten 4 12 packs, but no I got 10!!!  I saved $35.94.  That is 120 amazing friends!  $23.96/120 = $0.20 per Pepsi!  Yay Yay Yay!!!!! Seriously, I think I have a problem if I am this excited about Pepsi.  I am going to go back contemplating going back before the 30th when the sale ends and buying more...see what I mean about the problem!

And I made a new craft last night that was super easy and really cute, I will try to post tutorial/pics tomorrow night.  Happy 9 o'clock Dance of Joy!

Knock off Burlap Wreath!

I am a huge fan of Jen @ Tatertots and Jello!  Last week I was looking for ideas for my front door wreath and I came across her tutorial for a Burlap Wreath on her site.

 Isn't it adorable?  I decided I had to make one too, but mine turned out a little bit differently.

I used the burlap circles like she did, but was way too lazy to cut out that many circles!  I stitched my circles together and glued a small button in the middle.  And since it is spring I thought I would add some fabric flowers.  I think they are super cute and really easy to make.  First start with a strip of fabric.

 Mine ranged from 3" to 6" long and approximately 1" to 1 1/2" long.  Take a needle and thread and sew the bottom edge, I like my pleats smaller, I think the middle of the flower looks cleaner.

After you have sewed all the way across the bottom, pull the needle tight to make a semi-circle.

 Join the 2 edges and sew them together.  This is what mine looked like, I know my thread doesn't really match but I kinda like it.

Next I cut the petals into my flowers, I made 5 cuts.  This is the finished product.

I made 16 flowers in varying sizes and fabrics for my wreath and hot glued them on.  Next I added the twine to the back of my wreath and added my welcome saying.

The only thing I had to buy for this project was the wreath ($3.50 from WalMart) I had everything else, this is a steal!  Thanks to Jen for the inspiration!

Fireplace makeover!

I finally finished the trim around the fireplace!  One more little project to check off my to do list.  I apologize in advance for the pictures, they are from my cell phone.  Here is what the fireplace used to look like.

And here is what it looks like now...

I really like it.  I told my husband this would only cost $20 to do and $85 later it's finished!  The corner pieces were $3.50 each and the trim is real wood and it was $14 per piece.  I hate having expensive taste sometimes, but I am thrilled with the outcome.

I have been a busy little bee with my crafting and have a lot to post, but I don't have my camera with my pictures on it so it will have to wait for tonight.  I will load pictures of my new wreath inspired by Jen at Tatertots and Jello . 

Lazy Night!

Well I intended to get a lot of things done tonight but my adorable little Kie-bug did not want to stay in her bed, it took me about 45 minutes to get her to stay in bed and go to sleep.  So needless to say by the time she was asleep I was so not motivated anymore!  So instead of a project post tonight I thought I would post a few pictures from last weekends Daddy Daughter Dance!

They had so much fun that night!  And look how adorable her corsage is!  I am so glad they had fun definitely not even one teeny tiny bit jealous! 

And look at this adorable little angel face!

But what do you do when she is waking up from every nap and every morning with her diaper off?

Yes that is Duct Tape!  The cheapest solution to my problem and we have not had one naked tush or wet bedding since we started using it!  Love it!

10 Days to Birthday!

I am in the birthday countdown, a week from Saturday and I will have a 3 year old who is going on 16.  While I was kidless and husbandless this week I made a trip to Hobby Lobby and browsed for 2 hours because I didn't have anyone calling asking when I was going to be home!  I found some really cute stuff and can't wait for the party is it okay that I'm this excited?  

I needed a really cute way to display a lot of cupcakes and I didn't just want to put them on a cookie sheet and while I was in the baking aisle they had these boxes marked down half price and I had seen the charger when I walked in and inspiration struck....pretty cupcake display!

And my cute dollar store buckets I found turned into a cute flower bouquet and a cute way to display forks and spoons, not to mention that it only cost me $2 for the buckets I had everything else!

A

And my new obsession....jute!  It stinks but it is so cute, I love the color and the texture and this circle garland I made...FREE!  Well I borrowed stole the Jute from my gramma and I made the circles with the left over paper from the birthday banner I made.

A

And possibly the best find of my Hobby Lobby Trip, cupcake wrappers that match the invitations I made!

Really excited with how everything is turning out, the only thing I have left to do is make some cupcake picks and technically these will be free because it will be made out of leftover paper!

On another note the house is slowly being put back together...I am having hard time deciding what is coming back in and what is going to Good Will!  But I only have 10 days left before her party and that's when I want it to be mostly finished.....wish me luck!

No Kids, No Husband, What's a Girl To Do?

It's Monday night and I am out of town for work.  My entertainment center came today and I haven't seen it yet :(  I miss my kids and my hubby, but I was productive tonight!  I went to Hobby Lobby and Target!  I am trying to get ready for Kielyn's birthday and I think I have everything I need. 

I decided to make cupcakes for her birhtday this year I so don't want to decorate a cake so I am taking the lazy way out and I did make her cupcake invitations so it goes with the theme right?  I found brown and pink polka dot cupcake papers that match her invites that I made.  And I was trying to figure out how to display 60ish cupcakes while still looking pretty and I found two paper boxes, one brown and pink polka dots and a white and black damask round box and a shiny black charger!  I think it will look really cute!  I should have brought my camera and taken pictures but I didn't so I will have to do it tomorrow.

I also finished the white bucket project so I will have to post pictures of that too, I am really behind!  I hope everyone has a good night!

Painting is finished!!!

The painting is done and I am in love!!  I heart it!  The colors are perfect and it feels all warm and cozy, not too dark or overwhelming not that I was worried about this.  Sorry for the bad lighting, I need to think about taking pictures when I get home from work and not 11 pm.

 We have a few small things left to finish, like the fireplace.  When we built the house 5 years ago I did get the inside of the drywall tiled in black granite and I had grand plans to do some kind of fancy tile work to frame it, well here it is 5 years later and we haven't done it.  And now that the paint is done I have to get it finished!  I thought I would just trim it out because I can't find tile I love not to mention trim is soooo much cheaper and thought I would do the corner rosettes.  So the girls and I went to Home Depot and got 1 in each size, well it's down to 2.

I like the smaller my husband likes the bigger one, but the other problem I have is picking out the trim, I could buy the trim that we used on the baseboards but I wanted something a little fancier, but the problem with that is I don't know if it will go with the house.  I think I am going to have to drag my hubby to Home Depot with me.  

And now that the painting is done the fun part starts, Redecorating!  The only issue with this is that I want to wait to get my entertainment center delivered and that's not until Monday.  I am so impatient!  But I have a lot of little things to get put back together and I almost forgot about my special delivery I got on Tuesday.....shelves from Pottery Barn!  If the kids weren't sleeping I would put them up now!