POTTERY BARN JINGLE PILLOW KNOCK OFF

I started a few projects back in November and I'm happy to say I can finally show you one of them completed.  The project completed is my Jingle Lumbar Pillow.  I  loved this pillow when I first saw it some time ago in the Pottery Barn catalog, however this pillow comes with a price tag of $39.50.  That price is just a bit much for me, and I knew I could make one for a lot less.

Here's my version....

You can view the inspiration for this Pottery Barn pillow here.

ADDING SOFT AND COZY WINTER ITEMS

The cold winter weather has hit us the past few days. Our temperatures have dipped into the teens and we woke up to snow falling this morning.  I decided it was time to add some soft and cozy winter items to the living room.  I'm not moving out my fall decor just yet, but just adding a few winter touches.

I love the chunky cable knit pillows that Pottery Barn has.  The drawback to the Pottery Barn pillows is the price tag they come with  - $59.50, on sale for $45.   As you may know, a few DIY's have come up with their own version of these pillows using recycled sweaters. You can find many of the tutorials on Pinterest. Since I had an old sweater that would work perfect for this project, I decided to plunge in and make my own too.

WREATH PILLOW

Guess what I found today while browsing the internet.  Another pillow that looks like mine.  You can find it at Joss and Main.  It's normally priced at $57.50 on sale for $28.95,  but you can still make your own for less by following my instructions.

To get full instructions on making your own

POTTERY BARN WREATH PILLOW KNOCKOFF

It's been almost two years ago since I first saw a beautiful wreath pillow at Pottery Barn.   The beautiful tone on tone pillow is still on my mind almost two years later.

You can imagine my disappoint to find out that it's no longer available, but then I thought to myself: "I can make that"!   We woke up to snow last week and four degree temperatures this week; and because of the cold outside, I started to think about Christmas and winter projects.  It was the perfect time for me to try making a pillow.  While browsing  on Pinterest, I saw a few knockoffs for this pillow, one of them from The Decorated House.

Here's what I did to create my own version of the pillow.

I gathered supplies that I had around the house.

MY HIGH LOW PROJECT

I've been looking for some time now for a small side table or nightstand. My husband works on his laptop quite often in the evening while sitting in our family room.  He has to frequently run to his office for supplies: pens, stapler, calculator etc.  A small chest or night stand to sit next to his chair would be the perfect solution to store a few supplies.   I finally found what I was looking for on Craigslist for ten dollars.

It was in pretty bad shape, but I knew I would be able to fix it with a little TLC and paint.

The top looked bad too!

POTTERY BARN FILE

You'll never guess what  I found while shopping this past week.

A Pottery Barn File from their file system line!

In the photo below you can see it hanging on the wall with other items from the Pottery Barn system line.  It is listed for $54.  I'd say I got a great deal paying only $3.99 at Goodwill.  It's one of the items I've been wanting but never felt justified to pay $54.  I'm now the happy owner of a Pottery Barn item - yah!

Source: potterybarn.com via Joy on Pinterest

DIY POTTERY BARN INSPIRED PLACE CARD HOLDER

I love the change of the seasons and along with it the arrival of new fall catalogs.  I just received the new Pottery Barn fall magazine in my mail box; and it has my creative juices flowing.

I spotted these cute little rustic bronze finished pumpkin place card holders. Here's the link to see these cuties over at Pottery Barn (I'm not being reimbursed in any way by PB for this but wanted to share what I saw).  They are made of cast aluminum, and come with a price tag of $26 for a set of 4.  We'll be having 9 - 10 guests for thanksgiving dinner, so I'd need to buy 3 sets = $78!

That price being a little rich for this thrifty gal, I came up with my own version using dollar store items and paint that I already had around the house.  Here's what I did....

1. Bought 2 bags of  small pumpkins/gourds

2. Spray paint - Rust-Oleum Metallic

3. Applied spray paint to pumpkins and gourds.

4. The pumpkins didn't look quite bronze enough after the metallic paint was applied, so I added gold glitter paint that I had bought at a garage sale this summer for 10 cents!

5. Unlike the Pottery Barn pumpkins that are made from cast aluminum, the dollar store pumpkins are made from Styrofoam.  This made it very easy to make a cut with an exact o knife, and insert the place card into the slot.

Here's what they look like in a place setting.

What do you think?  Is it a good PB knock off?

My total cost = $2 for a set of 10!

Linking this post to...
Centsational Girl Fall Linky Party

DIY NURSERY ARTWORK

I have great news to share with you .... my husband and I are going to be grandparents for the very first time!!!  Our daughters and their husbands are expecting babies. These blessings are expected to arrive sometime mid October and around Christmas!

With babies on our mind I've started looking at baby things.  I found some very cute wall art at Pottery Barn entitled " Transportation Art" for $69. You can view it at Pottery Barn.  
Instead of paying the price tag of $69, it inspired me to make some myself. 

DIY Nursery Artwork

Here's what I did.....


Purchased two 11 X 14 canvas for $3 each.
I started by painting the canvas with white paint. 

I then found some cute Peter Rabbit photos by Beatrix Potter for free. 

  I then took out my Cricut machine and cut out the letters 

r - rabbit and b - boat

For the second piece of art, I created a sail boat using card stock cutting each piece out of different paper to make the sailboat parts.

The next step was to adhere the clip art and boat parts to the canvas using mod Podge. After letting it dry, I  then added two more layers of Mod Podge  allowing it to dry between each coat.

Once it was completely dry, I added the finishing touches by giving it a distressed look using a brown glaze.

 (I'm a little disappointed with the glaze on the rabbit art. I think it looks to dark so I may redo that piece.)

Here's the boat art without the modge podge on it. I'll finish it once we know if little boys are on the way.

The total cost of the nursery art work was only $6, making this a pretty thrifty project with a savings of $132!!!


If the baby's are boys I may make a truck and airplane as well.

Pottery Barn Architectural Prints Inspiration

Recently, while browsing through my Pottery Barn magazine, I saw these great architectural prints. Go here to see the Pottery Barn photo.  My husband, daughters and I love to take photos of old architecture.  While visiting Seattle, WA,  I noticed these lovely old pillars with great architectural detail.  So of course I took a photo of them.  Upon seeing the Pottery Barn prints, I decided I could use my photos to make my own version rather than pay $47 each.


Using a photo editing program I changed the photo to sepia and then sketch mode.  Here's my end result.

I hung the print using close-pins like the one in this photo. See it hanging in the upper right hand side of the PB photo?


Here is my knockoff version in a frame.

 

Here it is with an additional frame.

My DIY Thrifty Version Costs: 

25 cents for card stock

50 cent garage sale frame

Total cost - 75 cents !

Not a bad price for a piece of artwork.

I'm linking this post to...
Beneath My Heart DIY Best of June Party

DIY DAILY ORGANIZATION SYSTEM

I've been wanting to create an organization/message center for our home.  Having very limited space for this in our home, I chose the side of our kitchen cabinets.  


Here's a before photo - just a calendar hung here.

Pottery Barn has a customized organization system that enables you to create your own message/organization system. The only problem is their systems would cost $44 (on sale) for each piece I wanted.  I set out to make an area myself using my DIY skills. I started looking for used items that would work in the area.  You can imagine how excited I was to find a whiteboard calendar for .99 cents, a pin board for $1.99 and cork board for .49 cents.  Although they did need a little sprucing up. Here they are with their imperfections.

As you can see by the photo, the whiteboard needed a good cleaning.

The pin board needed some touch ups that were easily fixed with a sharpie pen and stapler.

Here's my new daily organization station.

(The location of my organization station makes it difficult to get a nice photo shot.)

The white board on the top was purchased at Micheal's using a gift card and 40% off coupon making it $5.00.  I'll be exchanging it because I found a dented area on the top left.

Here are the other pieces all cleaned up.

I added some extra tacks and magnets from my office. I also added "notes" using some left over lettering from our daughters wedding.

My version for $9 compared to $142 at Pottery Barn.

DIY APPLE BLOSSOM BRANCHES

 Have you noticed all signs of spring popping up in blog land?

If you follow my blog you'll notice that

I've had a spring theme going on this week.

Here's the  project I've been working on the past few days.

Inspired by Pottery Barn 

with their faux cherry blossoms displayed in a white pitcher vase.

Then I stumbled upon two blogs that made their own cherry and apple blossoms.

Mary's Meanderings ~apple blossoms

Susie Harris ~ cherry blossoms

They inspired me to make my own using their technique.

Here's mine in a spring displays.

  

As you can see in the photo below, 

my display looked like it was missing something.

To fix this problem....

... I added books under the Ikea plant and  SPRING

art work to the wall.

 Come back and

I'll share with you in a later post how I made

the art work and seed pot. 

Please come back for more!

Now come and join the fun!  Here are the parties I'm linking to.

I don't have a mantle to decorate, this is what I have instead and will link it to ~The Stories of A2Z Spring mantel linky:
House of Hepworths 
Fireflies and Jellybeans 
Finding Fabulous 
Today's Creative Blog