Thursday, November 10, 2011

A Few "New" Accessories

I've been hitting the antique stores/garage sales up lately for some fun things to display and help make for some pretty storage.  I thought I'd share a few random pictures with you.

***I've been thinking lately, while I've been watching design shows and shopping around at all sorts of second-hand stores, it's amazing how the talents and abilities God gives people show up.  I am so many times amazed, amused, or just made to smile by the little things I see (be it paint colors, accessories, or furniture).  How awesome is it that God lets us have so much creativity?!  I know it's just a glimpse into His handiwork, but I like to take in the simple things.

First of all, I went back to the 70's for Halloween.  I found an awesome dress for $4 and though it'd work great.
Shoes: Target, $2 after clearance/coupon.  Dress: Thrift Store, $4.  Belt: Came with Jacket from Dillard's.
Cute little owl (In the bottom right corner): World Market, $7?
Headband: Less than $5 from Kohl's maybe?
 Ok, so for home accessories, here we go.  First up are two side tables in the living room.

Tray and glass vessels: Hobby Lobby, 90% off clearance.  Rock: Charleston, SC rock/mineral shop.

Amazing glass base lamp: Estate Sale $2.  And yes, there is a pink little light that came with it inside the glass.  It's not lighting up, so if I can find another bulb, I'll see if I can make it work.  The main light does work though, just need to find a good lampshade for it!

C: Kohl's, $8.  Vase: Garage Sales.  Beans: Grocery Store. 
Glass plate and flowers, Hobby Lobby ~$3 and $6.

 Ok, yes.  I did just use fake flowers.  I had been debating about it for awhile, but kept seeing beautiful flowers all over room makeovers.  While it'd be great to have access to fresh flowers all the time, it would be way too expensive.  So, when Hobby Lobby had a 50% off sale, I went for it.  So far, no regrets.  Even though they're fake, they still make me happy when I see them!

Next up: random tables in the dining room.

Goblet: garage sale, 25 cents. Glass light (it's just flipped upside down): Habitat for Humanity Restore, $1.
Brass candlestick: garage sale, 50 cents.  Basket: garage sale?  White object: Hobby Lobby, ?
Suitcase: Goodwill, I bought it when I went to college so I would have something to use!  Now I think I might put some tablecloths in it to free up some drawer space.

Yep, all of that's sitting on a little "TV dinner table" we got from Walmart and used to use as our nightstands.


Bowl: MADE BY MY DAD!  Yep, that makes me excited.  I think he made it in wood shop in high school.
Green Vase: Estate Sale, $2.  Picture and flowers, Hobby Lobby, $4 and $3.50ish.
Green suitcase:  Goodwill again, I was lucky enough to find two of them :)


Up close.  Yes, that picture is sitting on the bowl.  I actually usually have it in the bowl, resting against the wall.  I might hang it up someday, but I'm liking this solution for now.

 And finally, some storage in the bedroom for accessories/make-up and such.

Two-tier server, auction, $0, it came in a box with a bunch of other stuff.
White ceramic dish, consignment store $3.
Brass flower catch-all dish, consignment store $3.

Close up of the white dish.  I love the texture of it!  And it's so shiny!!!


Brass flower dish, holding my nail polish right now.

A few of these items have already been seen.  The grey objects are Hobby Lobby finds that I spray painted. 
Brass Bird: antique mall, $6?  Clear glass dish: garage sale 50 cents.
Green glass dish: garage sale, 50 cents.  Wooden box with drawers: consignment store, $5.

I love this guy.  I used to be all about the silver and nickel finishes, but there's something just so warm and inviting about brass and gold tones!

Hidden storage!  I love that it's a drawer since I can stack things on top of it and still get inside!
Have you had any fun accessory/clever storage finds lately?  Any favorite places to go?  Anyone else using fake flowers to brighten up your space?

Monday, October 24, 2011

Bunting


It was my nephew's birthday last week and I wanted to create something fun for him that he could use over and over again.  I have seen buntings all over Pinterest, so I decided to whip out some sewing skills to make a fun happy birthday one!  I wanted it to be fun, colorful, and not too "cutesy" so my nephew would be able to enjoy it.  While shopping at an antique mall, I came across an awesome vendor that had all sorts of fabrics for sale.  They had a scraps of different patterns (I counted and there were about 40 kinds) all for $4.50.  I was excited; I thought I'd have to go to Hobby Lobby and buy 3 or 4 different fabrics to use (which would have worked, but not been nearly as fun).  So, here's a few pictures of what I got.  Seriously, I felt like I hit the jackpot!


Here they are all laid out on our full size guest bed.  
I had to overlap some of them because they wouldn't all fit! 
I could have made a quilt out of all of them.
(I actually only used about half of these, and had bought more.  
So, I'm going to give them to my quilt-making mom to let her work her magic!)


Here's a close up.  You can see that some are the same pattern, just a different color pallet.  
But they all worked together great!


Since my guess work of matching colors and patterns was already done, I just chose the ones I like best for my banner.  I tried to pick non-flowery ones too, since this was for my nephew and all :)  Ok, so after choosing the fabric the first step was to create a pattern.  I used the following pattern and just made it as big as possible while still fitting on a regular sheet of paper (I copied the image into Word and just kept making it bigger).

From here

I didn't use the entire pattern above, just the one triangle which I cut out from computer paper first, then transferred onto tracing paper (woohoo for my drafting kit coming in handy!) and cut that out.  I used both of these pieces to make sure I could cut out two triangles from each piece of fabric.  If you have bigger pieces of fabric, you can come up with another way to get the most out of it.  Here's a picture so you can get an idea of what I'm talking about.


I wasn't worried about having all of the patterns being perfectly "straight, so I just went with wherever the pattern fit best.  Next up, I pinned the pattern onto the fabric and cut out my triangles (I did 4 pieces at a time once I got the hang of it).



Next up was sewing the triangles together.  You only want to sew the two long sides up (you'll sew up the top when you add the bias tape.  To do this, lay two triangles wrong-sides together and sew one side together.  To make this go more quickly, I just sewed them one right after another on one side, cut those apart, then sewed up the other side.  Here's a picture of them all attached after I have sewn one side of each triangle. 


After this, snip all of the thread connecting the triangles so you can sew the other sides.  You can kind of see in these pictures that I used my fun patterns on one side and used a checked fabric for the back sides (since it won't be seen if it's hung up against something).  


 When I got to the end of one triangle, I back-stiched slightly, then got the next triangle right in there.  I tried to make my seam as close to the edge of my fabric as possible.


Here's a pile of triangles that formed behind my sewing machine as I went!  Just make sure to push them out of the way every now and then so they don't get sewn onto one another (I think I did that at least once...)


Up next, I cut as much excess fabric from the seams as I could and turned the triangles inside out.  Use a pen/pencil/screwdriver to get the point nice and pointy (what else?) because once you sew up the top, it;ll be pretty much impossible to do.  After you do this, you'll have some puffy triangles.  So, iron them out to get them nice and flat so they'll be easier to sew!

Before ironing

After

I had to fold in half and iron my bias tape.


 Next up, I placed my triangle inside the bias tape and sewed it up.  All I did was try to get them lined up with the previous one as much as possible.  In other words, I just winged this part and tried to make it as even as possible!


Here's a better picture with how close I tried to get the corners of the triangles.  
I wanted them to be just touching so the spacing would be consistent.


Sewing done, I decided to sponge paint on the letters.  I could have appliqued it, but this was an easier solution for me that I thought turned out well.  I just placed the letters as low as possible on the triangles so that every letter would fit.  To do this, take your widest letter and then put a piece of paper/cardstock at the top of the triangle to measure how far down each letter should go (See the yellow-y/brown piece of paper above my stencil?  That's what I used as my guide).


I just used some white acrylic paint; lightly pressed my brush into it; dotted of the excess, then lightly dabbed the paint on my bunting.

***NOTE: If I do this again (which I plan to for my other nephew), I would probably paint before finishing of the top so I could place a piece of paper in between the two pieces of fabric because on a few of them the paint bled through the back.


Now, all you have to do is wait for the paint to dry, and you're done!  Here's my finished product displayed at the party!  It was so much better than just going out and buying a plastic banner from a party store!


Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Pinterest

So, as if facebook, this blog, and yhl weren't enough to inspire me/take up my time, there is now pinterest.  I joined a few months ago and have already amassed a huge amount of pins and future projects on my DIY post.  It's so fun to get inspired though!  I have already made patriotic strawberries and watermelon drink dispensers, removable pillow covers, and a happy birthday bunting for my nephew (post to come soon!).  It's fun to get inspired by others!  I think I will tackle a DIY wreath next!  Is pinterest anyone else go to place now when you are searching for ideas?

You can follow me here.


Originally from here

Originally from here


Originally from here


Originally from here

Squash Casserole



Squash, not the squash my husband likes to play with the crazy courts and rackets, but the kind that comes in about every shape possible.  When I was younger, I don't think I gave squash much of a chance.  Of course I liked pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, and I even liked brown sugared acorn squash (who wouldn't?).  *Pumpkin is considered a squash, right?  I don't care if it isn't, it's squash-like enough for me*  But, beyond that I was a squash-hater.  Zucchini bread = plain weird in my book.  So, when my mother-in-law made up some squash casserole, I was skeptical.  Especially since it incorporated stuffing, another non-fave from childhood.  Well, I was pleasantly surprised.   Squash + stuffing + butter = love!  So, here's how I make it.

You will need:
Squash, peeled (I tend to use one zucchini and one yellow squash)
Onion
Carrots (I have used regular peeled and diced carrots, or baby carrots - yes, I can be lazy).
Cream of chicken soup
Sour Cream
Salt and Pepper
1 box stuffing mix (or you can get fancy and make your own)
1/2 cup butter or margarine


1) Start boiling a large pot of water.

2) Peel squash



2a) You can probably start pre-heating your oven now to 350 degrees.




3) Cut up carrots, squash, and onion, they don't have to be tiny, but cut them down enough that they will cook through.

3) Add vegetables to boiling water.  Boil for at least 5 minutes (I start by adding the carrots, then add in the squash and onion as I get the cut)

4) Drain water from the vegetables.


5) Add in 1 cup sour cream and cream of chicken soup.  When I was short on sour cream, I added a little bit of cream cheese which worked well.  For this batch, I added a little bit of Philly Garlic cooking creme, but I really don't think it added anything, so just skip it. 


6) Add a dash of salt and pepper to taste.


7) In a separate bowl, melt butter and toss with stuffing.


7) Spread 1/2 of stuffing mixture on the bottom of a 9x13 pan.

8) Cover stuffing mixture with squash mixture.


9) Spread/sprinkle the rest of the stuffing mixture on top.





10) Bake in oven for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.







11) Remove, cool, and enjoy!


***This is so good on its own, or served as a side dish.  Great for holiday get-togethers!