Cricut Cabinet

I've been busy fall cleaning and organizing my house,

along with doing the never ending laundry.

I took a small break from the cleaning this morning to work on a small project. If you recall I received a cricut machine for my birthday back in June.

I've been wanting a place to store it along with the cartridges.

While cleaning this week, I came across this little cabinet that my husband had built a few years ago.

It was just sitting in a closet with books and miscellaneous items.

After looking at it I decided it was the perfect size and was already painted white.



Thinking it could use a little sprucing up.

I added this cute shelf paper,


along with baskets to hide the clutter.



It now looks great and works perfect in my office/craft room.

Canisters Makeover

If you recall I recently purchased some canisters.

You can read the post here.

I decided they could use a little fixing up and gave them a quick little makeover.

It was a cheap and easy fix, using my circut machine along with

black vinyl to create labels for them.

Sometimes it's just the little changes that can add the extra touches.

Here they are all dressed up,

now the mistake will not be made of using flour instead of powdered sugar.

The Pottery Barn Store Visit

For those of you who follow my blog, you may have noticed my lack of posts the past few weeks.

Let me explain the reason for this....

I've been busy with canning ...

...and working on fall house cleaning.

This involves doing some deep cleaning,

sorting, and reorganization of closets and cabinets.

Don't despair....

I've also been having some fun!

Some long time friends from seminary days flew in and spent four days with us.

While our hubbies went fishing and crabbing, we did a lot of chatting and catching up on each others lives,...of course this included eating out and shopping as well.

All good things come to an end; and we had to drive our friends back to the airport in a nearby city.

On the way home, my husband ask if there was any where I'd like to go.

(I have such a great husband !)

Can you guess where he took me?

The Pottery Barn Store !

I've never been to an actual Pottery Barn Store before.

It was so much fun to see all the displays and fall decor.

Now for today.... back to cleaning!

DIY Pumpkin Craft for Fall Decor

Today I'd like to share with you a craft,

that I helped the Children's Bible Story Hour Class make several years ago.

This is an easy and simple project to make with children.

It's also one that mom's enjoy displaying as part of their fall decor or table setting.

I've used mine every year since we made them.

Terra Cotta Pumpkins

Start with a small terra cotta pot and base.

Glue faux leaves to base of the pots bottom,

add a small piece of wire that has been wrapped around a pencil ~ to look like a spiral vine,

finally glue a small piece of a branch for the stem.

Finish the pot off by add some antique glaze (or watered down brown paint).

This makes a very cute and simple pumpkin decoration for FALL.



I had been thinking of making some wooden pumpkins this year,

until I found this while at a garage sale on Saturday.

It's a large pumpkin about 6 inches tall.

Pretty cute for only a dollar!

How to decorate on a budget

(These little pumpkins I purchased @ a thrift store for .49 cents.)

I've had friends ask me, "how do you decorate on a budget?"

I thought I'd share with you a few tips I've learned along the way.

1. Shop sales and clearance items.

2. Shop garage sales.

3. If someone is giving something away for free...don't be afraid to say you'll take it off there hands.

4. Shop thrift and second hand stores.

5. Use what you have from around your home or yard.

6. Think outside of the box when it comes to using old things in new ways.

7. Keep a notebook or file of decorating ideas you like for your future use.

Here's how I've implemented some of these tips.

Below you'll find some more of my great garage sale finds,

along with a few more of my fall decorations.

The centerpiece is made using a $2.00 (brand new) candle holder, purchased from a garage sale last year together with fall colored sprigs (bought 1/2 price at an outlet store) prominently displayed on a .50 cent garage sale table runner.

I love this candle holder because you can dress it up for any season!

I used it as a centerpiece for this fall meal.

Here's an example of using what you have.

This old Red Wing crock was given to many years ago from my mother.

I've used it in the past for making pickles, but it was just sitting in my garage collecting dust.

I brought it in the house and added some faux flowers purchased on clearance last year for .10 cents a sprig.

Do you see what I'm trying to hide behind the crock?

These ugly cables and wires for our television and stereo system.

Isn't this much prettier than cables and cords?

I've been adding some antique items around the house

and I'll have great new place to display them soon.

( A little hint ... it's something my husband is building for me.)



I'm linking this post to...

Elegant Candle Chandelier

Hi everyone,

I hope you had a great Labor Day holiday!

Our family had great plans for the day, but they were changed by rain. We ended up doing a little shopping. My husband had an errand at a store I wasn't interested in shopping at, so I asked him to drop me off at Goodwill.

You wouldn't believe how busy the store was,...I had to wait for a shopping cart! They had two different color tag sales going on at %40 off and a blue tag sale for .99 cents.

I didn't have anything special in mind to shop for....

but at Goodwill you're always on the look out for something great.

Well....I hit the jackpot!!!

I've always wanted a chandelier, but most of them are way out of my price range. You can imagine my surprise when I walked around the corner and found a beautiful elegant candle chandelier!

I think they had just placed it on the shelf, because it had 9/06/2010 date on the tag.

Can you guess the price?

A mere $5.99 !!!

When I got home I went on line and found the exact same chandelier at

JK Interiors Unlimited

listed for $69.95 with today's asking price of $ 62.95!

Look at the beautiful acrylic crystals and the distressed shabby chic finish!

Here it is with candles in place.

I'm not quite sure which room I will hang it in yet,

but I'm sure it will look lovely in any room!

Have you found any great treasures lately?

I'd love to hear about them.

I'm linking this post to...

Chatting at the Sky
Tools are for Women Too

Southern Hospitality ~ Today's Thrifty Treasures

Fall Decor

FALL
With September here and fall fast approaching us, I decided to put out a few fall decorations.
Some of my inspiration came from Pottery Barn.

Photo ~ Pottery Barn

See the leaf wrapped vase with a candle in the middle...

Photo ~ Pottery Barn

and this one with the little acorns in it.

Well, I took and combined the two ideas and came up with this...

...using items I had around the house to make it.

Photo ~ Pottery Barn

I loved the wrapped wheat that was placed in a vase.

For my version I went out to the field next to our house

and cut some stems of grass and placed it in a jute wrapped vase.

I then placed it in a tray along with a candle and decorative balls.

I made this arrangement using leftover vases from our daughter's wedding.

I placed grass gathered from our side yard in the center vase, wrapped it with jute

and added a little metal leaf in the center.

The fruit basket I made using faux fruit and

a little metal bowl that I recently purchased from a thrift store.

I know some of you frown on faux fruit ... but I hate having the little fruit flies in my home that real fruit attracts.

I made the FALL framed art by using second hand frames that I painted black,

lining them with scrapbook paper, followed by placing cut out FALL letters.

I'm linking this post to...

Hooked on Houses

Beneath my Heart ~ best DIY Party

My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia