AH'LL BE BOCK! (said in the most horrific termintator voice...)

I have not forgot about you my wonderful readers, and I promise to be back to crafting very soon. My hubby has the week off work, so its like de-junk/de-clutter week times 1,000 :)

We will return to our regularly scheduled programming asap I promise.

In the meantime...I leave you with what happens when I'm left alone to play with my food...(especially when I have left over stickers from dying eggs...)

The Clutter Buster...

I have 2 beautiful bay windows in my house, and I love them. BUT-the sills are mega clutter catchers for me...I end up throwing mail and everything else on them, and then after a couple weeks I have to swim through the clutter to find my window sill again.

One thing I have noticed that helps...if I keep them decorated. Must be because when I work on some decor, I have enough pride in it to keep junk off it...not sure, but who am I to question the clutter fairy...I just know it works!

So, I decided I better get some Easter decor on the sill in my dining room, otherwise, that thing is going to be a DIS-ASTER by the time Easter gets here.

So here's what I did...I have this wonderful 2 tiered metal basket that I got from the Swiss Colony warehouse sale. I bought it 2 years ago, and never had a purpose for it. I took it, and filled it with moss (from the $$ store of course), and then I added some micro beaded eggs (also from the $ store), and added a cute ceramic bunny to the top and poof...clutter buster...

I should add, that the ceramic bunny was NOT so cute when I bought it. It was all hideous shades of brown, and I paid .49 cents for it at the Goodwill. But 4 coats of white gloss spray paint later and ahhhhhhhhhhh, love.

So what areas of your house are clutter catchers? What solutions have you found that work for you?

Garage Sale/Thrifting finds of the week!

YAY, garage sale season is starting, and I am STOKED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And this week I scored some AWESOME deals!!!!!!!!!

I got a TON of this upholstery fabric for $2.00 (now, some, or maybe all of you may think this fabric is ugly...but I am IN LOVE with it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! now I just need something upholster...)

Then I got this HUGE pile of vintage fabric scraps for .75 CENTS!!!!!!!!!!! (This will be perfect for appliques!!!!!!!!)

And then I got this GIANT artichoke architectural accent for my house for $2.99. With a fresh coat of paint, it'll be GREAT!

So what'd you score this week???

My latest and greatest Dollar Store creation...

So, did you see these ADORABLE prints at the Dollar Tree?!?!?! I've had them for almost a month but couldn't figure out what I wanted to do with them. I had grandiose plans, tho it turned into a COMPLETE craft failure. But, I absolutely love them...here's a close up:

They came in these...grotesque black plastic frames with gold plastic trim. Nothing says sophistication like plastic :) So, when I bought them I also bought some nice chunky wood frames. In fact, the same frames as what I used in this project.

So I took the wood frames and some old ugly wooden candlesticks I've been looking for something to do with, and I gave them all a good dose of black spray paint. After that, it was a simple matter of using epoxy to glue them together.

LOVE them!!!!!!!! Though the frames didn't work out the way I had planned, I love the way they turned out, and I'm not quite sure I'm finished with them, especially after seeing THIS on all thingz related. I think mine needs a finial or something too...thanks for the inspiration girls! :)

Check OUT this new challenge!!!!!!!!!!!!

O-M-G, I just found out about the $5 Dollar Store Spring Decor Challenge, and I couldn't be more excited!!!!!!! I mean, could there BE a challenge more up my alley? I feel like I've entered half my blog, lol. But almost everything I make is from Dollar Store, and I rarely ever spend over $5...PERFECT right?!??! Head on over there and check out all the amazing submissions...its gonna be a tough competition! :)

A new kind of baby gift....

Don't get me wrong, appliqued onesies are lots of fun. But this week I had to make a baby gift for a little girl and I decided I wanted to spice things up a bit...

So, this is what I came up with:


Every little girl needs a cute summer dress. And as we women know...NO outfit is complete without new shoes :)

I used 2 online tutorials to make this, for the dress I got a tutorial from here. And the shoes from here.

I hope the recipient is as pleased with it as I am :)

Sweet little bird-feeder....

My mom is obsessed with birds. I love them in decor, she loves them in nature. To each his own...

But, she did have a great idea for a sweet little bird feeder I wanted to share with ya'll. See, crafting is genetic...as evidenced by this post :)

My mom took a cute little cup and saucer, and affixed them with some heavy duty adhesive. Then she took a bamboo stick (out of a pack that came from the dollar store...and not to mention the Dollar store has some CU-TE cups and saucers as well!!!!!!) and a nut, and glued them to the bottom of the saucer

And VOILA, instant elegant bird-feeder. Isn't it adorable?!?!?

Just about the cutest little Easter sign you'll ever see...

I love the Graphics Fairy. Seriously, if shes not on your daily visit list, you need to re-consider. I adore vintage clip art, and when I saw this, I KNEW I needed to incorporate it into some sort of Easter design. It makes me giggle, EVERY time I look at it...

So, after printing it off as a 5x7 I took an ugly sign from the Dollar Tree, and dug out my scrap booking supplies. I had purchased some chipboard letters & some paper flowers from the Dollar Superstore too.

After lots of Modge Podging and hot gluing, I ended up with this:

I LOVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE it!!!!!!! I should explain, that part of the reason for my happiness is because after a tragic mishap with my jelly bean wreath, my front door was left bare.

My hubby decided to step up to the plate and craft something for our front door. Beautiful *rolls eyes*

I MUCH prefer my new bunny sign :)

The Big Project....

Remember that big project I said I was working on? Well, the project was a surprise 30th birthday party for my dear friend Rachel. It was quite a feat to pull off, but it went FAN-TASTIC, and I promise to get back to my regular crafting this week :)

For the party I did make some beaded candle/photo holders out of canning jars. I took some precarious photos of the birthday girl and modge podged them onto some cute birthday scrap booking paper. Then I added the mantra "look out 30's, here she come's."

Then I added wire and beads to dress up the canning jars. I had to use heavier gauge wire to hold the photos. They turned out pretty cute, see...

But the BIG project, was definitely the cake. About 7 years ago I took cake decorating classes. And though I never turned it into a "career", I do still tend to make cakes for friends and family.

So, this cake was going to be special. My friend is a knitting FIEND! And I happen to have the Wilton Ball cake pans, so I knew right away I wanted to make yarn ball cakes. I ended up making 3 balls and then adding them to a cute basket. This cake was so easy, but it took all day long, literally. I used frosting to pipe on the "yarn." All in all, I was happy with it, and the birthday girl LOVED it, and that's all that matters right? Here's that masterpiece:

Seriously, I know this probably looks intimidating to a lot of people, but really, cake decorating is not nearly as hard as people think it is! Especially if you have the right equipment. Wilton.com has great suggestions and products to help you get started. And honestly, just have fun and play around with it, you'll be amazed of the things you can do!!!!!!! :)

MIA

Sorry for the lack o' projects this week. I'm working on a HUGE project right now, and its consuming my days. I promise to be back very soon with photos of said project. In the meantime, I'm linking this up with:

So head on over there and check out some of the other cool craft blogs around :)

The Royal Treatment...

I have seen a lot of crowns in the decor magazines lately, and I think they are SO cute! So, while digging through my giant trunk of costume jewelry I was so excited to find a gold crown which was a brooch or something at some point but had been rendered useless.

Then while shopping at my favorite dollar store, inspiration struck, and I started grabbing. I ended with this:

Its just about the most random assortment of items you've ever seen, but I had a vision, and I was on a mission.

Once I yanked that car off the pedestal base I hammered the wire into the frame like this...

Then I had the shape I was looking for, and it was all ready for some spray paint...

And after a nice coat of black gloss and some embellishments it turned out better than I ever could have imagined. I LOVE when random piles of stuff make something so wonderful...

More appliqued baby gifts...

Well, spring is in the air and babies are abounding. For someone going through what seems like ENDLESS fertility treatments, it can be painful, but we push on anyway...

So, with 2 babies born into the family within 3 months, I had some gifts to make. This was my first chance to make girl onesies :) And I had a great time!

And as usual, appliqued onesies are a GREAT success as a baby gift :)

PS-I should add that I tried to cut this fabric with my cricut with almost NO success. Don't think I'll try that again...looks like I'm stuck free-handing...

Have you made any appliqued stuff? What designs do you use? I am always looking for more ideas!!! Feel free to post links in your comments so I can check out your stuff! :)

Over the bed Monograms...

Thanks to this blog, I got myself a decorating job. I'm decorating a friends house and I'm having a lot of fun coming up with ideas!!!! I knew I wanted to do over the bed monograms for her, because I've seen them on a million blogs and I think they are just adorable. Her bedroom is a chocolate brown and turquoise color scheme (my FAV, along with black, white, and red of course). So here's what I started with:

3 of these plain white frames from the dollar store

and 1 roll of super cool polka dot contact paper (also from a dollar store)

I used Microsoft publisher and found a swirly romantic font, and printed out my monogram. Then I carefully cut them out. Now, I know what your thinking "why didn't you use your cricut?" Well, cuz I just bought it, and I only have 1 cartridge, and that font wouldn't work for this.

once I got them all framed up I ripped the white ribbon off the back of the frames and put chocolate colored ribbon in its place, then hang them on some cute knobs, and there you have it. For around $5, you've got a super cute monogram...

I hope she likes them, I can't wait to get over there and get to decorating!!!!!! :)

An homage to my favorite Dollar Store.....

Well, I thought we'd end dollar store craft week with an homage to my FAVORITE dollar store. Now, if you have one of these in your vicinity, you're gonna wanna check it out. Sooner, rather than later.

My FAV dollar store is the "Dollar Superstore." We have 2 of them in my area, and they are simply amazing. Now, I will say, its one of those where "not everything is a dollar" but most of it is and they have the best stuff!!!!! I have some photos of my favorite finds from there, that I've kept. But a lot of my favorite finds, I've given away as gifts. They've got picture frames and albums from Hallmark, Jewelry from Target, and don't even GET me started on their craft department, its HUGE!

What's your favorite Dollar Store? What's your favorite score from there?

Here's some of my treasured Dollar Superstore finds...

Apothecary jars: $4 each

Target X-hilaration jewelry with $11.99 tag still on: $1 each

Adorable Lady Bug and Dragonfly garden stakes: $1 each

Restoration Hardware take two....

Check these out:

Aren't they glorious?!?!?!? I absolutely adore them, I just don't adore the $495 it would cost me to own them. And can I just say, these are the "small" ones, and by small they mean 22"X50" *raises eyebrow...*

Anyway, I certainly can't think of a place in my house where I could make that grand of a statement, so I definitely don't need anything that large.

But I love the look of them...whats a girl to do?!?!?!

Grab a couple of 11x14 frames from the $ tree, and a sheet of black poster board (also from $ tree). From there I cut out 2 10x12 pieces. After that, I let the Cricut do all the work for me... Isn't she pretty? Shes the best investment I've made in crafting...

Then I cut 2 squares of muslin to cover the inside of the frame and placed the muslin over the cardboard backing of the frame.

I used scrap booking glue dots and centered the cut out on the muslin. Then I just needed to use the dots to glue the centers of the letters in (for the big letters I specifically used ones without an inside).

Once you've done that, just cut off the excess muslin and hang. I LOVE them!!!!!!!! I love their $3 price tag too!!!!!!!!!!!! Now I've got my OWN subway art, for next to nothin!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

A different kind of bean wreath...

I've seen all types of bean wreaths floating around the blogosphere but this ones just a little different.

Ya see...I NEED spring colors, I need them so that I can pretend its 75 here and I'm wearing flip flops. I need it for my sanity, I need it for my blood sugar.

So, I decided to try this with....jelly beans :)

I started with a green wreath form from the $ tree, and 2 bags of speckled jelly beans (also from the $ tree). I painted the form white so that in between the jelly beans it wouldn't be that ugly shade of green.

From there, I just got to hot gluing...I gotta tell you...this took FOREVER!!!!!!!!!! And I only suffered several 2nd degree glue burns. But what can I say...occupational hazard :)

I love how it turned out, and now if you'll excuse me, I have a half a bag of jelly beans that I need to inhale :)

Hump day the Dollar store way.........

Today, I'm gonna be makin' some magic with these:

It started with the candle holder, as I mentioned previously, we're in the midst of fertility treatments so the theme of my year is "hope"...so as soon as I saw the candle holder, I knew it must be incorporated! Then, I found the frame and I liked it because the frame itself is about an inch thick, but the glass is all the way at the back and I thought the recessed frame would give the cross more dimension. So, to start, I snapped the cross off of the candle holder. Mine snapped right off, but be careful, cuz I don't want anyone getting cut up!!! Then all I did was pick some card stock for the background. And of COURSE I picked red!!!!!!! Black frame, black and white cross...you knew where this was heading...

After I got the background in, I simply hot glued the cross to the OUTSIDE of the glass of the frame, and then I took some black ribbon and made a little bow for the bottom. I absolutely love it. The cross has 3 scriptures on it, Isaiah 40:31, Psalm 31:24, and Hebrews 10:23. All 3 are very encouraging and inspiring. I think I'll be hanging this above my coffee pot so it'll be the first thing I see in the morning :)