Cheapest Wall "Art" Ever.

Once again, I kinda forgot that I had a blog when I went to start this project, and didn't take a before picture. Oh well, just imagine a bunch of empty space above our couch. It shouldn't be that hard, if you have just a teensy bit of imagination.

All five of you that follow my pinterest probably saw me pin something similar to this a little while ago. That was actually the same day that I did this little project, but I've been putting off taking pictures of it. All two of them. What are those little things on the wall, you ask? (Hopefully you're just thinking it, and not actually asking out loud, because that would be just a little weird. Not that I don't talk to myself a daily (minutely) basis, but I'm just sayin'....a little weird.)

Those little flower shaped objects are made out of coffee filters, and paper towels....dipped in coffee. Lots of coffee was involved, as was a little cutting, twisting, and taping.

The big splurge on this project was the double stick tape, which I already had, so I guess it wasn't really a splurge. It was a splurge for another project, but I didn't end up using any of it. Oh well, maybe it was fate. The decor gods just knew I was going to want to attach a paper towel to a wall in the near future. Yep, that's it.

New Fruit Bowl

I live a block away from a Target. Problem with living a block away from a Target is that anytime you need a little something, you can just walk (or drive, who are we kidding) over to Target to pick up whatever you need, and of course a little extra, because it's Target. A week ago I needed to get diapers for a baby, or pickles, or maybe it was a light bulb, who knows, but whatever it was, instead of going straight to the light bulb aisle, I had to go check out the "value section," 'cause I'm all about the values. There, sitting up on the top shelf, was this bowl. Well, not JUST this bowl, there were several of them, but this bowl was lucky enough to get to come home with me and get a makeover. Upon arriving to it's new home, it got a couple coats of chalkboard paint on it, and someday, will get some fruit in it. (Why am I getting flashbacks to lessons about prepositions?) After I talk myself into going to the grocery store, or the farmers market, or somewhere that has fruit, we'll actually get to that last step, but for the moment, all of the fruit is in the freezer, and it would probably get pretty messy if I took all that out to put in my new bowl. First of all, because it's a heck of a lot of fruit, and also, because frozen fruit is always messy when it's thawed out, which is why I make smoothies out of it, and don't ever actually thaw it out. Since this post was supposed to be about my new fruit bowl, and not about my fruit thawing habits, I think it's time for me to stop typing. It's also time to stop typing because my two-year-old is eyeing my big glass of iced coffee, and that would be bad if he decided to partake.

Evolution of a Pop Tart box

While I'm on the subject of making things out of things you already have, here's another recent project. A very small project.

Here was the problem-

Pretty fire place, pretty picture on top of said fireplace, and ever-growing stack of DVD's, and video games on top of fireplace. Josh is the culpret on this one, but I understand why it happens. You see, we have a place for video games and such, but that place is across the room on a too-full bookcase. It's just not real convenient to walk across the room every time to put stuff away. So, I've been thinking the last few days about a way to solve this problem. Then, as I was getting Noah his breakfast one morning, I saw the oh-so-glorious solution- an empty Poptart box. Yes, I'm a horrible mother- I give my kid poptarts for breakfast occasionally. Untoasted, in fact. Anyways, Pop Tart box + scrapbook paper + a little bit of ribbon=

My little box was then attached to the back of the TV stand so it's out of reach of small brown-eyed children, but still within easy reach of Daddy.

My beloved Walmart purse

About 3 years ago I was at Walmart picking something up, and I wandered past the purse section. I saw this purse, and had to have it. It was only $10, so I didn't feel too awful about "having to have it." After using it for the past three years, it was starting to look less like a purse, and more like....well, a purse that someone pulled out of the dumpster. The handle was cracked, and washing the fabric wasn't even going to touch the dirt that encrusted this thing. I loved it though...it's giant, so I can fit all of my boys' stuff in it and still have room for my stuff. So, it was time to give it a new life. Or rather, put it out of its misery, and make a new one just like it....with a little help from the old purse.

So, last night I cut it up and used it as a pattern to make a new one. I didn't quite have enough fabric though, because as I mentioned earlier, it's a little on the large side. So, I decided to use the little bits of fabric left over from other projects quilted together.

I finished making the purse last night....but then lying in bed last night, I thought about how I'd seen April, our pastor's wife, cutting out butterflies from magazines, and I was inspired. So, this morning, I cut out the flowers and butterfly from some leftover fleece, and whalla!

Today I.....

I finished my tree skirt today! I got this thing for Christmas 2 years ago. I finished the stitching on it last January, and had to wait to get a sewing machine to finish the rest of it. I got a sewing machine for Mother's Day so.....today I finished it. Yay hoo!