CleverCraftyCheapMommy

Cleaver Crafty Cheap does a baby "Sprinkle"

2010-06-24T18:07:00.000-07:00

When I found out that my good friend from elementary school was expecting number two! I jumped at the chance to host a cleaver, crafty, and cheap "Sprinkle" in her honor. Even though I would spend thousands if I could the truth is times are tight but thats no reason not to have any fun!

Here's my one splurge. I found this adorable website where you can make carton images in your likeness. When I was done with the invite it looked EXACTLY like my friend Karen. I even tested it on her three year old and he said "That looks like my mommy." (If your wondering why it looks wonky it's because I removed personal info) I splurged a bit on these because I was totally in love with them. These cost about $30.00 . In this case the clever out weighed the cheap side of me.

Karen's a big rubber ducky fan so I went with a yellow/teal color scheme (I did not choose the table cloth color) with rubber ducks. The center pieces were made with round candle holders from the dollar store, rubber ducks, marbles from the dollar store, and scrapbook paper cut into various sized circles for the confetti. The overall price for the center pieces was about $8.00. Cheap!

I really wanted something with a duck on the top of the cupcakes but believe it or not that was hard to find. Well, hard to find for a price I was willing to pay. Time to get crafty! These were made using cardstock, a rubber stamp, markers, and coffee stirrers. The best part is a friend of mine let me borrow all the scrapbooking supplies so I only was out the cost of paper, stirrers, and a $1.oo duck stamp. Since my friend Karen can not have gluten I had to get clever with the cupcakes. I made two kinds with and without gluten. I marked the gluten free with a dark teal topper. Then I added little teal sprinkles give the feeling of bubbles. Making cupcakes beats the price of buying them any day. The icing was actually quite easy to make and piping on with a large star tip makes them look straight from a bakery.

To display the cupcakes I borrowed two of my mom's cake plates. (Borrowed=free yay) The varying heights made a great display in the window. I scattered some more of my hand made confetti

underneath for more colorful fun!

Finally the favors! I made these adorable candies using a candy mold and candy melts. It was really easy. I had done some searching online for duck related favors but as usual I couldn't find anything for a price I was willing to pay. The hardest part about making the candies was keeping my husband from eating them all!

Although I knew the baby was going to be a boy, I think these colors/theme could easily be used for a gender neutral shower. Throw in some pink and it would also be perfect for a little girl! Hosting this shower was so much fun and it's always great to make someone you care about smile!

DIY around the house

2010-06-21T06:39:00.001-07:00

So here are some DIY items that I have done in that past...

DH made these great Corn Hole boards. I helped with the paint job. We love them and have gotten tons of fun time with friends out of them.

When we moved into our house we had horrible 1980s vertical blinds in our sun room. We got these wide panels at JC Penny. We have three sliding glass doors and a window in this room so there was a lot of window to cover. The total cost for these was 150$ awesome deal! I am aware that my chair is now camouflaged ha ha but I am hoping to find time for a DIY slip cover for that. Stay tuned.

Here is a simple project... I painted a terracotta pot with a little latex green paint (I just got a sample from Lowes) and the bottom with chalk board paint. It's fun to write little messages on depending on the occasion.

These chairs were another awesome deal! We have round table with a metal base that DH has had since college. For about six months we had no chairs at our kitchen table. We found four of these for 30$ on Craig's List. I got some micro fiber fabric and covered the bottoms. It was as simple as unscrewing the bottom covering it with fabric and using a staple gun to attach the fabric on the bottom. I didn't even bother with taking the old fabric off. The best part is they match the metal base of our table perfectly and I will say it's nice to actually be able to sit at the kitchen table.

Today officially marks the first day of summer and my first day being off for three months so I hope to keep the projects coming! Stay tuned...

What I Have Been up to or Not Been up to : )

2010-03-29T19:03:00.000-07:00

Soooo you were wondering what happened to this old "ugly" dresser from FOREVER ago...

:: shamefully hangs head ::

here it is...

buried amongst the clutter in the extra bedroom. You know that room... the one that isn't technically the guest bedroom.. it is kinda like the second guest bedroom... which translates to closet for all the stuff that you have no better place for.

The white that you see is primer....one day she'll be done. Unfortunately I am lacking motivation because it won't fit into my master bedroom until we knock out the door frame of what used to be a closet. ::sigh::

Here is something I did a while back...

Sorry for the lack of before picture (this was before I started blogging) . I got these chairs (all four of them) for 30$ on Craig's List. The table belonged to my DH in college and the chairs went perfectly with it! They had really ugly cream/dirt colored cushions. I just detached the seat, put the micro fiber on top of the ugly cream fabric and staple gunned that baby to the bottom.

Recently I used Formby's to strip the top of the table which had begun to lose its protective coating due to many of nights of spilled beer in college. For now, I just rub lemon oil on the top to protect it, but I imagine I will go back and add a clear coat of something to seal it.

Finally I would like to show you my newest project on the to do list ...

DH says I can't refinish this until I finish the dresser : ) I got this baby for 15$ from...you guessed it Craig's List! Stay tuned to see what I have in store for this guy.

Cheap Date

2010-02-16T15:03:00.000-08:00

So DH and I did Valentines the Cleaver Crafty Cheap way (Of course) . We watched a Netflix rental and I made scallops. We had wine that we bought while in Nappa Valley this summer. Yummy!

He got me a card from Ollies that was horribly cheesey but in it he wrote, "sorry for the cheesiness but I love you more than words can say anyway." He's so sweet! I got him a cute Dollar Tree mylar balloon. ( By the way teachers you can order items by the case on their web site) I always go to the Dollar Tree for balloons. You can get a whole bouquet for the price you would pay for one balloon elsewhere. All in all it was a nice evening and even though we didn't have the money to go out to a fancy dinner, we had a delicious meal and a good time. I almost forgot I also received a coupon for BOGO ice skating that DH found in Val-Pac. Basically this was him agreeing to go with me. He knows me too well when he gives me a coupon as a present.

What are your favorite cheap dates? Here are some of mine:

I highly recommend Netflix or Red Box for movies.
Also we use a lot of coupons from restaurant.com right now get 70% off using the code ENJOY (I just got a 25$ certificate for 3$ awesome!!)
If you have one of these nearby it's also great for a cheap date!
We love to get friends together for game night..free! Ok, minus the price of beer : )
Hiking, walking down by the river
Check this site out... there is even an app for your iphone so you don't have to print out coupons, saving paper= saving money
Happy Hour specials are always good too. Chilli's has great specials every night and the Friday's near us has free food every night with HH.

More importantly just because you are a cheap doesn't mean you want to look it... don't forget your cute outfit...how about making one of these adorable numbers? Read about this here.

And if you go to http://www.oldnavyweekly.com/ and click around you will find a new in store coupon to print every week.

What is your idea of a fabulous cheap date post it below!

Long Time No See...half bath redo!

2010-02-08T07:20:00.001-08:00

Finally a post!!! Yeah, sorry I suck I will try to do better I promise! But enough with the the begging for forgiveness for being a bad bad blogger....on to the half bath!

Why is it that I always manage to forget the before picture... ugh so disappointing. This one came from my phone it's not very good quality but you can get an idea about how dark and cave like this little bathroom was. Not to mention the horrible vanity and striped wall paper yuck!

And here is the after. Ta da!

Breaking it down where did it come from how much did it cost?:

Mirror: thrift store find 3$ primed and painted white

Sink: 50$ Lowe's The pedestal really freed up some space in this tiny room.

Faucet: 32$ Lowe's

Lights: Unsure of the price but again they are from Lowe's. The globes are hard to see in the picture but they are clear with bubbles. I though this went well with the watery feel of the room.

Tile: hmm I don't remember less that 1$ a square foot from Lowe's

Basket shelf: free! My grandmother didn't want it anymore so I spray painted the metal part white and it fit perfectly!

Paint: color is Benjamin Moore, Pool Blue. I got a lot of crap for the brightness of this color but it's such a tiny room why not! I love it and that's all that matters.

Floating shelves: Target

Towel Holder: Target clearance $3.50

Toilet Paper Holder: Ikea

Other: The picture was my inspiration for the color of the room. I got this at a festival for 12$. The small white koi on the shelf is actually a salt and pepper shaker from Target. I really wanted a little white koi and it was perfect! No one has to know he belongs in the kitchen. The orange reed diffuser was DIY (vase+ liquid potpourri+ skewers). The night-light air freshener was a gift from a friend. It's a Scentsy, the white ceramic was just perfect for this room.

So there you have it! I can go into details about the demolition and the layers and layers of old flooring we removed but that's the boring stuff. If you have any questions about anything or your wondering how we tiled, painted, stripped wall paper, etc comment below and I will see if I can answer your question.

Here are some pictures of the process:

Here is DH tiling:And here he is mixing grout:

And here I am grouting tile:

Hope you enjoyed this post!

I Am Thankful For The Internet : )

2009-11-18T17:11:00.000-08:00

I am officially hosting Thanksgiving for the first time. It will be me and the hubs, my parents, my brother and his fiance, MIL, FIL, Grandma IL, and also MIL's cousin and aunt. YIKES!! So I am on a budget and was browsing the internet for cheap ideas. Here are some of the fabulous things I found! (you know I love being cheap!)

First of all I only have casual pottery type dishes and it's service for 8. So if you can count you already know that that is not going to work. Not to mention after two years or marriage we have already managed to chip several pieces. Then I found this! ah ha!
Sweet deal! I am there even though I am going to have to hand wash them I think it's worth the price.

Then I headed over to Martha Stewart.com for decorating ideas. Normally I hate these spike ball thingies that invade my yard. However this is adorable! I am officially inspired. I am not a place card type of gal which you probably inferred when you read about my lack of formal dinning ware; but I think I can do something cute with these ball do-hickys. I know you botanists are cringing right now.

I also saw this on Martha's page but since I am going with the white plates this won't work for me. Bummer. I also loving this, and you know all you crafty ladies out there have tons of ribbon and beads laying around. Or this cutie patootie centerpiece.

Lastly I found this great idea for DIY votive holders. MIL's cousin is a Party Light consultant so that one's sure to impress.

I also scored one of those carveable fake pumpkins on clearance at Micheals last week for $3.50. So stay tuned for what I do with that. Kohls has also marked down their fall items and I got a festive table runner and some kitchen towels.

So there is my inspiration...stay tuned for pictures of the big event! What are your decor inspirations for turkey day?

DIY Retro Coasters

2009-10-06T09:42:00.000-07:00

I found these white, glossy porcelain tiles in the shed when we moved into our house. A whole entire box of them! So naturally I began brainstorming what I could make out of them. I saw some decopodge coasters somewhere in my endless blog stalking... and DH and I are known for our strict coaster policy..you can never have enough coasters so I decided that would be a great project.

First I put a thin coat of decoupage medium on the tile.

Then I covered it with things that I had cut out of an old dictionary. This one is for my future sister-in-law so I put an M for her name, the definition of her name, and then all the pictures start with the letter M. I also made some coasters from an old cook book.

After covering the tile I put 4 or 5 thin coats of the medium on top. Then I used very fine sand paper to smooth out the top once it had dried. I found felt circle stickers at Lowes that worked great for putting on the back of the tile.

Ta Da! So cute coasters here is the cost break down:

Tile: Free

Decoupage medium: $3.79
Felt circles: $.99
Cook Book and Dictionary from a thrift store: $2.00
Total Cost: $6.78

Fallen off the face of the earth

2009-09-08T14:56:00.000-07:00

No I have not fallen off the face of the earth...I am a teacher....school started....'nuff said! I promise to do better ASAP : ) keep checking back!

Wedding Faux Pas

2009-08-26T20:15:00.001-07:00

In celebration of my anniversary yesterday here are our wedding day OOPS! Now I can look back and laugh because none of this really mattered it was a beautiful day!

Faux Pas number 1:
It's 104 degrees....who gets married at the end of August in VA...I am crazy. The limo is rather hot on the way to get our hair done but the driver assures me he'll have it checked while we are in the salon. My bridesmaids see him across the street with the hood up. Yeah nice service station A.H. So needless to say after getting our hair done it's still hot so we roll down the windows and sit to the far front of the limo to keep our hair from blowing. All the while the driver acts like he had no idea it wasn't working...even though he showed up with all the windows down...Errrr Lukily my wonderful bridesmaid called her husband and he quickly came with a nice air conditioned car of which I rode in because we couldn't all fit my wonderful friends rode in the hot limo

Faux Pas number 2:
So here's my cake... it's beautiful except for the fact that its GREEN!?!? No I did not choose pea green for my wedding cake! I chose white with slightly darker white leaves just for definition. Imagine my shock when I got the the reception!!! I was upset more so because I didn't want any one to think I picked that color. My color was jade so luckily it didn't clash but it sure as heck didn't match! I ended up with a free cake from the baker...I had a mini recreation of what it should have been made for Valentines Day. It was WAY prettier.

Faux Pas number 3:
I am a self proclaimed cheap skate so I debated on whether or not to buy the pretty engraved champagne flutes. I finally decided I really wanted them I could save them and use them on anniversary's and new years and they would be pretty in my hutch in the dinning room...Sooooo I broke down and spent the money and I was very happy with them. After seeing the GREEN cake (which by the way I handled very well) it was time for the toast! The lady running the venue hands me two generic flutes..."Oh no", I tell her "We have our own." She proceeds to tell me that one of my attendants was walking toward the kitchen and the door opened and they broke. At this point I am standing there in front of everyone ready to toast and I am really upset that one of my friends would break it and not tell me! I would be fine and be ok with it BUT I can't believe they wouldn't have the decency to tell me! So after the toast I go up to my bridesmaids and say something along the lines of " You know it's ok I am over it.. but did one of you break my champagne flutes?" They looked at me like I had three heads...I knew they wouldn't have told me if they did because they are really good friends of mine. If they had broken them they would have most likely come to me crying. So it turns out the lady running the venue broke them and the proceeded to LIE to me the BRIDE right as we are about to toast. And to make it worse she blamed my bridesmaids! She had the nerve to just hand me champagne like I wouldn't notice it wasn't in the flutes I bought....this one still eats me up! Errrr

So all in all these are minor things and the day was fabulous we had a bast. If I could do it all over again....I would get married in the fall when it's not hot ; )

Happy Anniversary to Me

2009-08-25T21:46:00.000-07:00

DH and I have offically been married for 2 years today...well technically yesterday since it's now 12:47 am. So a quick little post and a pic and then more to come tomorrow!

Yep those are tears in Evan's eyes....: D

Sneak Peek

2009-08-24T20:01:00.000-07:00

I have been a bit M.I.A. lately and I have to say that I have a good reason! I have been working on the office. I know...you are still waiting on the bathroom remodel pictures. I promise to post them as soon as I can locate the "before" picture. BUT for now here is a little sneak peek at the items that will be in the office. We are painting it Polaris Blue by Benjamin Moore. The cabinets and curtains are from Ikea.

Also we have been battling the left over stumps from our free bush removal and we have cleaned out our gutters. The gutter cleaning was quite funny. We knew it needed to be done especially since there were small trees sprouting from them...but it was a little embarrassing when a gutter service stopped by to give us an estimate. To add insult to injury; while DH and I were pulling the plants out of the gutter our sweet mentally disabled neighbor who doesn't speak English stood in his yard and literally laughed at us. Ha Ha! I wish I knew what he was saying to us...worse part is his family runs a gutter/flashing business. Oh well that evening it poured and I slept soundly knowing the water was flowing freely of the roof.

Cleaver, Crafty, and Cheap Curtain

2009-08-13T17:35:00.001-07:00

I was looking for a curtain for the sliding glass door in my kitchen. The door leads to the porch/ backyard so we use it daily. I can never find curtains I like at a reasonable price so I decided to make one. I used a rod that I already had from JCPenny and I got the clip rings from Target. The fabric was 50% off at JoAnns plus I get 15% off for being a teacher. So far so cheap...

The clip rings made this project super easy; there is no pocket to sew I just hemmed the fabric on all four sides. First, I hemmed both long sides and the top edge. Then I clipped on the rings and hung the fabric from the rod so I could pin the bottom. This is an easy way to get your measurement exact. Finally, I finished by hemming the bottom. Since this curtain is on a sliding door and you will see the back, I hemmed the edge folded it over again and hemmed it a second time. This makes the back side of the hem clean and neat. Doing this also created two stitches on the right side of the fabric which created a nice top stitch. The clip rings make the curtain slide easily which is great when you are coming in and out of the door.

So here is the lovely before and after:

Before (note other my projects on the porch ha ha)

After

I only made the curtain on one side of the door because we use the door so much, and there really isn't room for another panel to be pushed to the right side. I also enjoy the natural light coming in from the porch so I waned to keep it open. Also note as much as I love my Hokies I bought a rug that actually matches the kitchen since taking this picture.

You can also use clip rings with table cloths and sheets to create a clever and cheap window treatment. Also, I once used place mats and straight pins for a valance when we were selling our first house and I had no window treatments. I was embarrassed when the buyers asked for all the window treatments and I had to reveal my secret ha ha.

Do you have clever, crafty, cheap home made curtains? I would love to see them.

Yay I was featured!

2009-08-12T06:49:00.000-07:00

I was featured on DIY Show Off go see...

It's a Jungle Out There!

2009-08-10T20:13:00.000-07:00

So the flowerbed had become a bit of a jungle this summer. Yeah... this picture is a bit embarrassing. When we purchased the house we inherited lots of plants that we had no idea what to do with! : ) I cringe at the thought that the former owner might ride by to see what we have done with the place and fall over dead!

Unfortunately a lot of these wonderful plants have been here for some time and have become intertwined, overgrown, and some are trying desperately to escape the perimeter of the flowerbed.

Most of the green you are seeing to the left of the bunny are weeds or Japanese lanterns. I decided the lanterns, as neat as they are, were looking more like weeds and growing crazy across the whole flower bed so they had to go. I also had gotten tired of letting the irises, lilies, and daffodils soak up the sun for next spring so I went ahead and cut them off as well. I was nice enough to leave the peony (for now) that will get trimmed back in the fall. I also trimmed the boxwood and raked some of the mulch out to make room for more later.

I may call myself clever, and crafty but I am not either of these in the yard/garden. I am trying and learning and hopefully one day I will catch on. I am however, cheap by doing it all myself and moving/re purposing as many plants as possible.

So here is the end result of a long, hot, day working in the flower bed. The boxwood looks a little patchy because some large parts of it were actually growing separately from the ground. I removed those so that the main bush could fill out more.

What is in store for the future of our flower bed? Short term: get rid of the red mulch and replace it with brown. I also want to plant some low maintenance plants and attempt to move some of the bulbs around. My gladiolas and irises fell over and need to be planted deeper.

Long term goals: I would like to replace the scalloped brick edging with something more updated. Mr. Bunny you are cute but you've gotta go! I am working on growing new sage and rosemary from cuttings from the current plants so I can dig up the old ones and move/replant the new ones. The sage is actually hanging out of the bed and the rosemary has roots as thick as a small tree.

As for the rest of the front yard we also plan to plant grass where the azaleas used to be and maybe line the walk with some liriope once the weather is cooler.

So stay tuned for future updates and pictures showing improvements to the front yard.

Fabulous Freebies

2009-08-06T12:45:00.000-07:00

Check out this great blog and enter to win one on her many giveaways including a cordless hair straightener so cool!

Travel Smart

2009-08-05T21:06:00.001-07:00

DH and I recently went to California to see some friends and do the tourist thing. Our trip got me thinking about all the little things I learn each time I travel somewhere new. So I thought I would share some of these things that I do now, that I wish I did many trips ago. : )

Here we are in Nappa Valley

Here are my non-expert tips for traveling:

If possible don't check any luggage. I am not one of those people who worry about lost luggage probably because it has never happened to me. The reason why I don't check luggage is for the convenience of not having to wait an hour for to pick it up! It's inevitable that I end up standing are the luggage-go-round watching everyone else's luggage pass me until my poor suitcase comes by somewhere near the end of the load.

Save hotel shampoo, soap, and lotion. Even if you are a super picky shampoo snob the little bottles are great for filling with your own fancy shmancy stuff. They are easy to pack and they always meet the airline regulations. (3oz bottles of liquid)

In addition when you get a free sample from Sephora save the cute little tub they give it to you in for things like lotion and sunscreen. Again it's less than 3oz so you can pack it in your "quart size resealable bag".

Collect a few perfume samples: It's pretty much impossible to put perfume in your luggage and not have it spill, spray, or break. Don't waste your expensive perfume, bring a little sample. Also, the samples comply with airline regulation for liquids so there is STILL no reason why you need to check your luggage. : )

Use a travel website....I know this one is a no brainer but you really can save a lot on hotel and car rental especially if you can wait until the day before to book.

Where flip flops when it's warm so you don't have to mess with taking your shoes off in the airport OR wear your sneakers so you don't have to cram them in your suit case. Leave room in there for all your pretty going out shoes ; )

Wear jeans on the plane. They take up a lot of space in your bag and shorts bunch, wrinkle, and ride up when you sit for long periods of time.

Put a small purse in your suitcase and carry on the biggest one you have! You are allowed one personal item in addition to your carry on so make it a good one. ; ) This helps gives your extra packing space when you aren't checking any luggage.

Love, Love, Love this ! It's great when you get where you are going you can just hang it up and there is no unpacking and repacking toiletries. Also we travel with friends a lot (saves money and it's fun) so when you are sharing the bathroom with multiple people this keeps your stuff up and out of the way.

Have any travel tips? Post then in a comment below.
Happy Traveling!

Cheap Organization

2009-08-05T20:09:00.000-07:00

I was a busy, busy girl today...not only did I trim bushes and clean up the flower bed (stay tuned for the before and after on that one) but I also organized my master bath linen closet.

Here is the horribly unorganized, messy before picture:

::cringe:: I can't believe I showed you that! It was just one of those spaces that got neglected when we moved in. Mostly because that bathroom is u-g-l-y, ugly and honestly the whole darn thing needs to be gutted and remodeled BUT no time or money for that at the moment so it's on the back burner for now. And yes your eyes are NOT deceiving you, the back of that door IS mustard yellow (and that is the nice name I could think of for that color)

Anyway I bought these little baskets at the best place on earth...the Dollar Store (I am a teacher if you are a teacher then you can relate) !! And actually the white ones were a two pack so they were only $0.50 each! The shelf liner was left over from the kitchen cabinets so it was free for this project however, I got it at the second best place on earth Ollie's.

I started by putting all my junk in piles: sunscreen, tall stuff, medicine/ first aid, and travel items. And then figured out which pile would go in which basket. I figured the travel stuff and the medicine that gets used more often (like ibuprofen) should go in the shorter, white baskets so I can access them easily. The sunscreen and taller items fit better in the blue baskets. After organizing I lined the shelves that would have baskets on them with shelf liner. I didn't line the shelves for towels because my neurotic self was thinking the towels might kind of stick to the liner when I try to pull them out of the closet, and then the liner would bunch... that would just drive me crazy!

So after filling all the baskets and throwing away empty/ expired items I arranged the baskets in the closet. I put things I don't need often behind the baskets and used some organizational shelves left by the previous owner to make more space and to so that things in the back of the closet are more visible.

I reorganized the towels and actually found room for our extra set of sheets for the MBR which in turn freed up some space in the hallway linen closet! :::Sidenote::: you will have to excuse the look of my towels these are the towels that DH and I use, the "good towels" are for guests. The reason is that my face wash (in the past) bleached all our beautiful towels that were a wedding gift : ( . So lessson learned stay away from benzoyl peroxide and stick with salicylic acid just a little tip to save your towels.

So here is the after photo: (keep in mind that this closet will be painted when the bathroom is remodeled....someday)

So grand total of this organizational project? $4.00 Anything under $5.00 is fabulous in my book! Now, how long it will stay looking this way?

Thrift Store Find Redesign: Dresser Tray

2009-08-02T23:28:00.000-07:00

Finally....my pics of the dresser tray are loaded and ready to go. I picked up this old plaque at The Love of Jesus for $1.00! I think the guy at the counter thought I had lost my mind for buying it and decided to give me a bargin. Anyway, this is what it looked like when I bought it....apparently someone took the important part and gave the rest away. : ) It's thick and heavy so it should stand the test of time.

After pulling the felt and metal plate off I primed the plaque using Kilz 2. Then I painted it using Benjamin Moore Super Spec semi gloss white. (both the Kilz and white paint I had left over from painting trim) After painting I hemed a piece of fabric I had left over from a previous project to fit inside the frame. I measured the inside of the plaque and had a piece of glass cut to fit at Lowes. So here's the low down on the cost of this project:

Plaque: $1.00

Paint and Primer: Free

Fabric: Free

Glass: $3.49

That makes a grand total of just $4.49! So there you have it this beautiful tray to hold my perfume and whatnot on my dresser for less than $5.00!

Here's the finished project:

Free Mini Table Scape

2009-07-31T11:51:00.000-07:00

So DH ran off with the camera card in his laptop so I can't post my fabulous dresser tray! I promise as soon as possible I will post it. For now I will just continue to tease you about it. In addition my ugly dresser is sitting on the porch waiting to be painted but it keeps raining and I am afraid the paint won't dry right if I go ahead and paint it today.

So in the meantime check out my mini free table scape. It's nothing magnificent and in fact you can see my kitchen table that is in terrible need or refinishing (stay tuned for that project). I used two little bottles I found at yard sales one is a honey bottle and one is a milk bottle along with a vase and a candle that were left over from wedding decor. Inside the vase are fortunes from my cookies I got at the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory. (yum!) The green flower plate was something my mom gave me because it matched my kitchen and the bamboo was growing in my side yard! So all in all this was virtually free! Like I said it's nothing magnificent and I am no design major but maybe this will inspire you too look at somethings inside your house/yard and create your own....I would love to see pictures! Get creative ladies!

PS- if you look at the full size picture you will notice crumbs on my table! Ack!! Oh well I am only human....you will also see the fortune that says "A new pair of shoes will do you a world of good" what a fabulous fortune! : )

I'm Back!

2009-07-30T21:28:00.000-07:00

Been quiet for awhile because I was vacationing in California. I had a blast! It's a beautiful place. If I could I would move to San Fransisco and become a dog walker. : ) But for now I will enjoy the warm summers and green grass in here VA.

Tomorrow I will post a fabulous thrift store find that once was a plaque and now is a beautiful dresser tray. But today, since I still need to upload some photos of the tray, I will just let you know about a super cheap place to grab a bite in San Fransisco.

The hubs and I were strapped for cash by then end of our trip and decided to go off the touristy path looking for a cheap dinner. A local guy suggested we try the Richmond neighborhood and we stumbled into a tiny Vietnamese restaurant called Minh's Garden. We both ate for $20.00 and it was delicious! Apparently this little hole in the wall has had reviews written in local news papers and isn't the secret we thought it was. We decided to go in because we were starving and the fact that it was pretty packed was a good sign. Click here for a little description on IgoUgo.com

Another way we saved money while traveling was using Priceline ( I know it sounds obvious but I was truly amazed)...if you can get internet access it's best to wait until the day before to book rooms. We booked the San Fransico Hilton for $100 a night and also the Prescott which normally averages $200+ a night. So there you have it, I can't even leave my cheapness behind even on vacation :) .

Another Fabulous Freebie

2009-07-21T14:59:00.000-07:00

How do you get your ugly overgrown bushes removed for free!? Yep you guessed it....Craig's List! Who'da thought someone would want to come to your house and dig up your old overgrown bushes but apparently lots of people do. I got the idea while feeding my addiction to Young House Love. They had bushes removed in the front and back yards. After I posted the "free large mature azelas" add, I had 8 people contact me wanting to come get them. The nicest couple came by and in two days they were all gone! Keep in mind we still need to take out a few more things and then grow some grass...so this is the before and after and later I will post the after after.

before

After!

Stay tuned for the after after ; )

Hopefully the weather will stay relatively cool and in a few weeks I will have time to trim bushes, weed, mulch, and grow some grass. Also if you look closely we are apparently growing some plants in our gutter...oops! Too many inside projects has left our yard needing some TLC. Stay tuned...

Update

2009-07-20T07:10:00.001-07:00

I know I have been rather quiet the past few days but I have been working on some great before and after eye candy that you will love to see!

Upcoming posts:

Half Bathroom Completion (thank goodness!)
Overgrown Azela Removal
Re-purposed Thrift Store finds
Ugly Dresser Gets a Second Life

So exciting! So bear with me and I promise fun things are yet to come. Now for me it's back to painting! Have a great day!

Ugly Dresser!

2009-07-16T09:02:00.000-07:00

I know it sounds weird to be excited about an ugly dresser but beauty is in the eye of the beholder....one mans trash is another mans treasure....don't judge a book by it's cover....you get my drift :-)

Here she is in all her glory!

I know what your thinking "ew gross"....BUT picture her in a gloss black! With new hardware! I think those rectangles which are eyesores now will look like a cool detail when I paint it black. The best thing is it was only $35.00 and we just sold our old TV stand on CL for... you guessed it $35.00 soooooo once again it's kind of free!

Once again I <3 Craig!

Hmmm

2009-07-16T06:42:00.000-07:00

Thinking about a give away from my Etsy site (www.ohsewsassymail.etsy.com) but I want to wait until I have more followers of my blog. Invite your friends! : ) Do you have an Etsy site? Post a link and I will heart you if you heart me. : P

Great Magazine Deal

2009-07-15T13:54:00.000-07:00

Real Simple for one year $5.00

I of course ordered it!! Check it out

How to Score a Free Light Fixture

2009-07-15T08:47:00.000-07:00

I am so excited I just finished installing my free chandelier in the kitchen! Now I am sure you are wondering how I got a chandelier for free. Well it technically wasn't free it was "free" if you get my drift. Here's the breakdown:

New Chandelier $25.00 Craig's List (That's Craig is a GENIUS : ) )
Old Chandelier sold for.....your guessed it $25.00 on Craig's List!
End result = "free" chandelier! YAY

So the only down fall is that a "new to you" light fixture doesn't come with any directions so here's how I did it.....brace yourself I will be using such technical terms as "thingy" and "do-hicky". All you electricians are cringing I know....

Here's the old, very square chandelier.

So after removing the old light this is what you are left with. All lights come with the bar thingy you see in the middle some lights mount to this and have to have specific holes for the screws BUT if not I just leave the old one up there and use that to save a step. That is what I did here.

First I screwed in the long middle threaded stick thing. : ) (I warned that I would be using very technical terminology)

Next, I took the wires from the new chandelier and threaded them through the stick thing.

At this point my arm was about to fall of from holding the chandelier up so I screwed on the piece that the chain and chandelier hangs from.

Most lighting comes with two wires white and black. It's an ingenious concept white goes with white and black goes with black! However my chandelier had two silver wires. (huh?!?) Yeah.. so it was trial and error I hooked it up and tested it and I got it on the first try because I am cool like that. ; ) Make sure to twist the wires to the right (righty tighty) so that when you put the wire caps on you don't undo what you have already done.

After capping the wires shove them up in the hole out of the way. Make sure you left enough of the stick thingy below the bar thing (see above) so that the piece that holds the chain/chandelier comes far enough down out of the hole for you to be able to attach the nut that holds the pretty silver cover on. I didn't.....so I had to go back and fix it before doing the step shown here. : )

Add light bulbs...I am assuming you can handle that one on your own : ) ....
and ta-da! Brand "new" chandelier for "free".

Faux Tile CHEAP! and Clever ; )

2009-07-15T07:45:00.000-07:00

What we did:

First we painted a "grout" color I chose an off white

Then when it dried we measured and marked for the tape. We measured the height from the cabinet to the counter and then halved it. That is about where you want the "tile" points to meet.

Then the instructions I found said to use the measurement you took as half the height and mark along the top under your cabinets. (This didn't work out perfectly for us so we had to kind of eyeball some of it) Do the same across the bottom. Your tape will go from the first top mark to the second bottom mark (skipping one). We taped all the diagonals in one directions then went back and did the opposite. The ends will have a shorter piece of tape that goes from the second top mark to the middle point (height wise).

Just to break it down for you:

Our height from counter to cabinet was 1ft. So we marked across the top and bottom every 6". Our lines intersected at 3", 6", and 9". This happened naturally if you tape like I said above. Some of our lines got off so the tape didn't always land right on the mark but if you eyeball it it will come out looking good.

The hardest part is the taping...DH works in building construction so he's good with measuring and numbers. To paint I used a light tan base coat and used a sea sponge with lighter and darker colors to create texture. You have to be real careful not to get a sponge paint look; I put two colors on at once. I used an eggshell finish and faux rock switch plates to make it look more like tile.

This is hard to explain in type so please feel free to e-mail me if you have any questions: allisone.bryant@gmail.com

Half Bath Remodel

2009-07-12T14:47:00.001-07:00

It's been a busy weekend. Evan and I are remodeling the tiny half bath under the stairs. The project began weeks ago when I removed the wall paper and painted. I also replaced the light fixture. But I am getting a bit ahead of myself....first things first I decided to remove the vanity so we could put in a pedestal sink. Back then the plan was to leave the linoleum to buy us time until we decided to tile. Well after removing the vanity there was a nice rectangle hole in the floor where it used to be. So plans were revised....remove the linoleum, lauan, AND 50,000 staples then go ahead a tile. Oh and did I mention in order to do that the trim had to be removed as well? So I ripped off the trim, and the linoleum, AND the lauan. SURPRISE! you guessed it more layers! This time it was linoleum and plywood. So out it goes! That layer put up a fight and didn't want to come out. A piece was stuck between the wall and the toilet water supply valve (and it remained that way for about a week). After a visit home and some borrowed saws from the FIL we got that stubborn piece out and there it was....the subfloor YAY!!

Finally this weekend tiling was underway. We got up on Saturday and second guessed our abilities so we called a handy friend of ours who came over to help. (We ended up monopolozing his entire day...what a good friend) We layed 13x13 tile on the diagonal using a score and snap to cut. This is the cheapest tool you can buy to cut tile but it's a lot of work and takes more time so next time we will most likely rent a wet saw. Anyway, the boys laid the thin set and the tile while I stayed out of the way (did I mention it's a tiny bathroom?) and cleaned out the closet in the family/sun room so we could install shevles (our other weekend project).

Today we headed to the home improvement store once again to pick up trim for the bathroom, plywood for the shelves, and look at pedestal sinks. That's when we realised like every project, the sink wasn't going to be as easy as we had hoped it would be. We didn't take into account that the studs need to have a support beam between them where you hang the sink. There is a posibility that it's already there (cross your fingers), but if not it means cutting out a chunk of the dry wall installing a small piece of wood between the studs and then patching the drywall. We are not at all confident in our dry wall repair skills so we are hoping that the former is true. I will keep you posted on that one.

For now I am busy cleaning up grout and helping Evan finished up the shelving in the family room. As soon as the projects are complete I will post pictures, discriptions, and the cost of everything we did. Stay tuned!

Our first Project

2009-07-09T19:10:00.000-07:00

So slowly I will show you my house as I renovate. Starting in the foyer: I didn't make anything here which is rare but I did get everything super cheap which I always try to to. (haven't painted the trim yet so just ignore it, it will be white not cream)

For starters the light fixture came from ebay.com for 30$. The hubs and I couldn't find anything we liked for a price we wanted to pay so we hunted on ebay and found this!

The square mirrors on the right came from an auction I think I paid 20$ and they came with another framed print which I consigned for 10$ or so, so all in all they cost about 10$.

The little table next to the door came from an estate sale 20$.

Finally the mirror candle holder by the door is hard to see but we found that at Wal-Mart of all places for 12$.

Rugs came from Kohls....if you hold out long enough they always go on sale there.

Even the light switch cover was on clearance at Lowes. I liked it because the dark brown (dated) switches blend in nicely and I didn't have to change them.

Finally the paint is Benjamin Moore which is more expensive then some but we asked and got the contractors discount which saved us close to 10$ a gallon.

Now I know I am no interior designer but who would have though you could do all this cheap!

Someday we will get a new front door that doesn't scream "Welcome to Grandma's"

A little about me....

2009-07-09T19:05:00.001-07:00

Why start this blog?

Because my friends roll their eyes and call me "Martha" you can guess why...

Because I am constantly telling people how much I paid for things...not because they were expensive but because they were so cheap...

Because I don't buy things if I think I can make it...although I don't always get around to making it...

Because I talk a lot and this is kind of like talking : )