A Totally Chic Clutch!

So I have a friend that needed a gift to give one of her friends. We went to TJ Maxx to shop and I saw this awesome little leather woven placemat. Now I have been dying to hop on this "placemat turned clutch" trend, so we decided to get it and I would give it a shot. Here is the placemat:

I folded one end up and stitched up the sides. I thought this would be a quick zip with my sewing machine. Not-so-much. The tough fabric was too much for my machine and it broke the needle. So I gave up and stitched it by hand.

Then I found the center, cut a button hole, stitched around it and sewed a cute vintage button in the center. Here is the finished product! SO CUTE! I will definitely be making more of these!

Total time: about an hour. Had my machine worked it probably would have been more like 15 minutes. I love it!

Re-Homing A Housewarming Gift

When my husband and I bought our house, my sister and soon to be brother-in-law gave us a peace lilly as a housewarming gift. This little plant has had its ups and downs with me (I forget to water it sometimes) but it is still pulling strong!

It has been living in its original pot, complete with the plastic-y paper around it stinking out all sides. This drives me nuts because if I miss a little when I water it, the paper carries the water out and all over the floor. So I have been wanting to re-pot him for a while. The other day I was in Tar-jay to buy some ice cream when I saw these:

I have been wanting one for ages. And they are only a dollar! I love how I am on a dollar kick lately! Its a good kick to be on! So anyway, I knew right away that the little plant wanted to move into this. Rather than this nasty plastic bucket. Look how sad it looks!

Okay. So maybe it looks sad because I hadn't watered it in a week and it is in bad need of some pruning. But the bucket doesn't help! So after a very messy process of pulling it out of one pot and putting it into its new bucket...and some pruning...here is what I got:

Yeah. Still a little sad. So I gave him some water and put him back where he belongs. The next morning, our little guy was wide awake and looking amazing! :)

There you have it. One dolla and a cute little plant makeover! We are very happy, he and I.

Our Lovely Front Door

So...for the last two months I have been oodling over all of these cute vinyl welcome signs that people are putting on their front doors. The catch? Most of them that I love are well over $20. In our situation...I will not be spending $20 on words for the front door. Not for a while at least. So here is our front door...as of this morning.

Plain. White. No wreath hung on it. I just haven't replaced the one from Christmas. But I have big, cheap, plans! 

Yesterday, I walked (yes walked...its not far) to the dollar store on my lunch break to get a drink. Well...there were eleventy billion things I wanted. But I walked down one aisle and saw this:

But soooo many more. They are "removable" like vinyls. And they were so cute! I mean, they are printed on a vinyl sticker that you peel off rather than cut out letter by letter. But for $1 I had to give it a shot. It was perfect! I figure....if it sticks for a few months and then peels off...oh well! I can either leave it or buy a nice vinyl one. But for $1! Come on...I couldn't resist. So I got my drink and some clearance V-day candy, thinking I was going to spend four bucks for it all. The guy rang me up and the sticker rang up for .50 cents! What?! I know! Suh-weet!!! 

So with this day being so lovely, I decided to stick her on there. The welcome and the words below were separate.

I almost left it like this. But then I decided to add the words and I am glad that I did. I don't know if it will last forever, but its behind a glass door. And I L-O-V-E the result!

This just makes me one happy girl. For fifty cents!! Now I am off to try and get some homework done and then enjoy a Saturday night with my sister! Oh yeah...and I watched this little cutie today so his momma and daddy could enjoy a marriage conference. I love him. :)

Yeah we had a photoshoot for mommy. What a peanut!

**Guest Post by Amanda Carver Designs**

So, friends...I want to introduce you all to Amanda from Amanda Carver Designs! CLICK HERE to view her blog! She has an awesome eye for thrifty DIY projects! I met Amanda through the church that my husband and I attend and I have fallen in love with her blog (and her style!). SO! I asked Amanda to come up with a little sumthin' sumthin' to share with you! Visit her blog and give her some love! (Also...she makes the ca-uuuuutest headbands and hairclips! I have seen them firsthand and highly recommend them!)


I love the look of old letters on buildings..I often drive by an old building and dream of climbing to the top of the building and just quickly "borrowing" a letter or two. I never do..which leaves me shopping for them at the normal places (if you live in Lynchburg like me, you are limited to TJ Maxx or Ross (basically). I know you can buy them on etsy (vintage letters I have seen cost up to $1oo a piece, not my gig.) So, I decided to try to personalize and age a normal "Ross" letter. This "C" cost $12 and is about 1.5 feet tall.

My first attempt was to chalkboard it (partially). However, to be honest, lately, I am boring myself with the amount of items I have chalkboarded. Anyhow, I had it like this for a while..sometimes with patterns, sometimes not.

I then decided I wanted it to be in the teal family, so, I gathered my randomly aquired "mess up" paints and started by mixing two that would get me close to the color. I did one coat of that color and let it dry. These are the ones I ended up using...

Then I went back after the first coat was dry with a lighter teal and did a dry brush technique. The goal here was to get an uneven covering.

After that ,and while it was still tacky, I took my scissors (an old pair) and scraped off all the edges as well as some other spots to get the worn look. Here is a close up

And the final product...

I love it..I totally feel like it could have come up an old Heating and Cooling Shop or something random. This was so easy and quick. Highly recommend it!!

An Organized Pantry

Some of you are probably going to nap through this post. But I am on a mission and I want to share it with you! I have been reading this book called "Simply Organized" by Iyna Bort Caruso and Jenny Schroedel and it has made me want to tackle. this. house. Most of the clutter will be alleviated once we get the basement put back together, so I am trying to tough it out.

There is, however, one area that just has been stressing me. Our pantry. I did not think the organization of it through very well when we moved in and each grocery trip is really just more shoving things around to make it all fit. Well tonight I went to hades WalMart grocery shopping, came home and was putting groceries away. At this point I decided that I have had enough. And I pulled everything out of the pantry. (Except the pots and pans at the bottom...I like those where they are). Here is what the cabinet looked like when I got home...pre-new groceries:

The bread box was blocking very useful space...there were lot of duplicates and extra boxes....nothing was sorted by what it is...a total headache. Yeah I didn't touch that bottom shelf. That's another day. I have laundry to fold. Here is the glorious, sorted by purpose, after:

*Sigh* So much better!

Also, yesterday while enjoying a very sweet Valentine's date with my wonderful hubby, I got a call from my mom. She was calling to let me know that she had gotten an email from my Aunt an Uncle who are vacationing in Punta Cana and my Aunt Jackie had called her doctor and was just diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer. We don't know many details until she gets back into the country and can have an MRI done. Either way, my family and especially my Aunt, Uncle and cousins covet your prayers. Please pray that the cancer has been contained to her right breast and not spread, please pray for strength and peace for both Jackie and the family and please pray for the Lord's healing hand upon her. I know that God does all things for a reason and He will work His plan in all of this. But cancer is scary and cancer is real. Jackie is such a strong woman... she will fight it. But prayer is crucial. We really do appreciate it. I love you guys!

Priscilla's Room: A Partial Reveal

So...we worked really hard from 9am to 11pm and did most of what was a very ambitious transformation for one day. But we did not finish it completely. There are still a few odds and ends that need to be finished up. I am IN LOVE with this room. It was very important to me to make sure that she would love it every time she walked into the room. Priscilla loves all things Victorian and classy, so we went for a Victorian shabby chic theme for the room. Here is the before (they just moved in, mind you):

We started our day by hitting a huge church yard sale where the proceeds are being sent to Haiti to build a school. What a good cause to spend money for! For a total of $25 we got A singer sewing machine (that we converted to a nightstand), an awesome coffee table for a later day, two beautiful lace curtains, a mirror, a mirrored tray, a candle holder for the wall, a victorian style vase, a crystal dish with a lid for the hubby to dump his pockets into, a rose picture frame, this really neat lampshade made of lace (that we hung from the ceiling), a neat little heart-shaped trivet that we paints ivory, some lace doilies and a pegboard for Joshua's Nursery. All for $25! Sadly, I somehow did not get a before picture of the sewing machine!

Then we went by my new favorite place the Habitat Re-store to pick out hardware and paint for the furniture. After much digging through the clearance hardware bin, we found the perfect knobs and pulls for the room! We went back to her house and hauled all of the furniture outside. And we sanded. And sanded. and sanded. and primed. and primed. and painted. and painted. and froze to death painted some more. After many hours of labor, many trips to Walmart and several "entertain Joshua" breaks....we put the finishing touches on the room around 10:45 PM. Here is the almost finished product!

They already owned those amazing lamps and that gorgeous mirror! They were perfect! We still need to put the bed skirt on and find some frames/artwork for the wall to the right.

This is the old singer sewing machine. We painted it white and added that GORG handle. Isn't it lovely? *sigh* The tray still needs to be painted and the frame needs a picture. But I love all of the little vignettes we set up! And that curtain. I love it. One. Dollar.

I love love love the decanter of pearls. And the spanish moss for a subtle pop of color.

We still need to put the drawer fronts back on. They were still tacky and we were tired!

A Ball jar filled with moss doubles as a pencil holder for the desk. A lace overlay protects the top. And we wanted to incorporate something of Paul's: the turtle shell.

Priscilla spotted this little sconce and I love it. What a good find! Its perfect for the space!

And here is our little sweetie pea helper! What a ham! :)

I love the whites, ivories and golds together. I just love this room. I really do. Totally not something that I would have done in our house but I think right now I might be obsessed with it! It will pass. Don't worry. But just one for time for fun...

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

There you have it. A romantic room for Priscilla and Paul. Under $100!

Sunday Blog Parade

So Excited I could die.

Okay people. I have no huge updates for you. But tomorrow I am helping a very good friend revamp her master bedroom. The catch? They are renting. And their landlord does not allow wall painting. So we have to make it completely FABULOUS without painting the walls. Let me share a little inspiration with you:

Hopefully tomorrow I will have some lovely before and afters to share with you! We are going yard sale-ing tomorrow morning and then hitting a couple of Goodwills and an estate store. Then back to her house to sand and paint furniture! I will be sure to take lots of pictures!