Not your Mommas pin cushion

When the Queen Enchantress came this past weekend she noticed I was missing two very important things if I was really going to try my hand at this sewing thing. I didn't have a pin cushion, or a seem ripper! If you know me an ordinary pin cushion and seam ripper are just way to boring, so after searching for some ideas I found this one I took it a little further making it more my own!:) Enchantress #3 sent me these cute little tins the other day and I thought they would be perfect!

I added some batting,

Some animal print( I love me some animal print!)

And glue gunned the fabric to the side of the tin.

Here is my boring seem ripper before.

Here it is after I got my little hands on it!

The finished product! I think they are so cute! Everything in life is better when you add a little sparkle!

~SS

Pin board! (Super easy & quick)

I am always on the search for ways to cut down clutter/chaos in my home, especially for those small reminder notes, & grocery lists that somehow end up on my fridge. (I am an anti-fridge clutter-ite.)

So what's a girl to do? I went to the office section of Target & picked up this 4-pack of cork tiles for under $6.00,

Then I took the 3M sticky tabs and applied them to the cork tiles, & then the inside of my cabinets.


Wha-LA! A hidden place to keep all my reminders, phone numbers, notes and inspiration. I wanted to stack two on each door, but the insides weren't flush, so I just have another one on the opposite cabinet. It works for me. Does anyone have any ideas on what to do with my other 2 left over tiles?

Check out this cute grocery list my kindergartner made for us during a family council on food storage. I love his handwriting!
~JJ



Inspiration for this project came from here.

Modified Hair Bow Holder

Inspired by my lovely sis Enchantress #2 who made hair bow holders with canvases. I made a rendition of it to fit my tiny bathroom. Here is what I used:

Spray adhesive, material ($1 a yard), ribbon, and a piece of basswood found at our local craft store (I think it was $3.29).

A super easy, space saving hair bow holder.

~BC

The Queen Enchantress comes to town

Enchantress 1 and Enchantress 3 were both so jealous that the Queen Enchantress (Momma JoRaye) got to come visit Enchantress 2 this past weekend! Oh how I wish I had paid more attention when she tried to teach us to sew. Momma JoRaye is an amazing seamstress and can sew anything!
This is a picture of our Great Grandmothers sewing machine, that our Mother uses to sew. This lovely has sewn more prom dresses, costumes, baby blankets, etc, that can be listed. I think she needs to be named, any ideas?

Here is a sample of what Mom helped me make this past weekend! I am slowly learning. Thanks so much for coming Mom, we had so much fun !

simple felt flower picture tutorial

I have had tons of people ask me how I make my felt flowers, so I am going to share the love with you all. So simple! Cut felt to desired size.

fold in half and make cuts along the end.

roll and glue as you go

Add some bling to the middle and there you have it!

The colors, sizes, and possibilities are endless! So there you have it, my easy (don't tell anyone they will think you spent hours) fun, sassy felt flowers!

~SS

Cheap, Chic, Wall Art

I got these frames last fall 90% off at my favorite store Hobby Lobby. I loved the detail, but not the hideous color, so what did I do? Spray paint the little lovelies of course! I have been waiting to do something fun with them.

I found these cute metal letters at Hobby Lobby today 50% off. Yes, I am a Hobby Lobby addict and am there at least 3 times a week. I am not ashamed to admit it!

This is the final product! I added some cute scrapbook paper, glue gunned the letters on, and I love how they turned out! One as a thank you gift for a friend, and one for me of course!

cost rundown-

frames- $1 a piece

metal letters- $1.50 a piece

scrapbook paper -.50 cents a piece

total for both -6 bucks!

~SS

Pink and Purple Polka Dot Party

My 4 year old often thanks Heavenly Father for polka dots in her prayers. I don't know what the obsession is but she wanted to carry over her love of polka dots to her birthday. If you are looking for an easy birthday party, the polka dot options are endless!

I used poster board and traced around different sized bowls with a box cutter/exacto knife. I found this dotted garland at Wal Mart.

We then taped pink and purple paper plates EVERYWHERE! The ceiling, cabinets, walls, etc. I cut out the middle of some of the plates to make more dots of different sizes. We blew up lots of pink and purple water balloons (minus the water) and sprinkled them all over the floor. The table covers were actually a huge plastic gift bag (Target clearance) that I cut up and taped down.

Necco candies and yogos make yummy polka-dots!

The snacks. Purple grapes, round peanut butter pretzels, mini pringles, pink m&m's and more yogos. We didn't serve lunch but if you wanted to, mini pizza's would be cute.

The craft table. Bingo markers make perfect polka dots. Pom poms, round jewels, and circle stickers keep kids busy for 15-20 minutes plus give them something to take home with their goodie bag.

Goodie bags (found at Target) included; bubbles, play-doh, sidewalk chalk(with dots on it), yogos, purple polka dot hair bows(for girls) and little tonka trucks (for boys). If I hadn't of found these bags I would have used plain white gift bags and had the kids decorate their own!

I wanted to use Twister but we didn't have time. I also wanted to have fun kids "polka" music playing that I didn't get around to finding. I know The Backyardigans has a fun "Dance to the Wormin' Polka" song.

Happy Polka-dotting!!

~BC

Kitchen cabinet re-do with paint & new hardware.

We are linking this older post to Kimbas DIY party.

My kitchen cabinets have been bothering me for a long time. Pricing out new ones was too expensive for our budget, so I began to look for other alternatives. After finding inspiration and lots of advice from the gracious Katie at Clean and Classic Interiors,

I convinced my husband that painting our kitchen cabinets would be a good thing.

Here are the products we used. The paint is called Cabinet Coat by Insl-x in the color Almond and the glaze we used was from Lowe's in Mocha. We did NOT prime or sand. This paint is self-settling and dries amazingly smooth. It was very easy to work with and we did our entire kitchen (2 coats) with less than one gallon. *The paint was about $46 a gallon but SO worth the price. Especially when you nix the sanding and priming steps!

So, on to the pictures. Warning, my photography skills and the lighting don't do them justice, & there are a lot of pictures.

BEFORE with the lovely gold hardware:

During the painting first coat on the backs of the cabinets.

The hardest part of this project for us, was keeping our 21 month old out of the cupboards.

Just to keep it real here are a couple shots of the in between craziness.

I am so pleased with how these turned out. I wanted an aged off-white look and the almond with the mocha glaze turned out just as I had hoped, so...drum roll please...

AFTER with the glazing, new hinges and hardware in oil-rubbed bronze.

This is the light fixture that I spray painted to match all the new hardware.

Next on our to do list is a new back splash and new counter tops, but that's going to take some time to save up for. I don't mind though, because every time I walk into my kitchen I can't help but smile and feel happy at how they turned out.

~JJ

hair bow holder

Those who know me, know that I am a little obsessed with hair bows!:) They were starting to take over my house, so hubby and I came up with this easy solution. All you need is an art canvas, fabric, cute ribbon (I used leopard print, I love me some animal print!) and a staple gun! We just covered the canvas with the fabric, staple gunned to the back, then staple gunned the ribbon. Quick and easy! I am embarrassed to say I need to make some more! A little girl can never have to many hair bows right?:) S.S.

frame it!

What do you do when you have tons of beautiful paper that you love, and an empty wall?

Frame the paper of course! Instant, affordable, artwork!

clip boards

I know everyone in blogging land has made these, but I thought I would post my version. Isn't mod podge an amazing thing? My husband says we should buy stock in it!:) All I did was mod podge cute paper on cheap clipboards, used a sharpie to stencil my daughters teachers initials on the bottom, and tied curled ribbon at the top. Her teachers LOVED them, and I do too! I will have to post next about a file cabinet I mod podged- yeah you heard me right, I modge podged a filing cabinet I got at a garage sale for 5 bucks. Am I crazy?

I get by with a little help from my "friend"

Here is a quick & cheap way to get a "new" light fixture.
Here is our before:

Spray paint can transform anything. This particular color is Oil rubbed bronze. I love it!

Here is my light fixture after meeting my friend O.R.B.
It looks kinda black in the picture, but it actually has a nice metallic sheen which matches our new cabinet hardware perfectly.

Here it is with a sneak peek at our kitchen cabinets we just painted. I'll post pictures from that re-do soon.

I think the total cost for the paint was around $6 at Home Depot. I have heard that Walmart also has one by Kilz. (I was told at Lowe's that they aren't carrying the O.R.B. any longer.)
Happy Painting!
~JJ