Mod Podge Monogram

 Last week, I did a super easy decoupage project with a cardboard monogram. 

Supplies needed: cardboard  monogram, one piece of scrabook paper, pencil or pen, paint, mod podge

Remember my $.25 paper from South Side Shopping Day.  Well, I finally got to use it for this project.

I bougt this cardboard monogram at JoAnn Fabric.  I can't remember the exact price, but it was less than $3.

Having done several decoupage projects in the past, I usually always have mod podge on hand.

Directions:

1.  trace the cardboard monogram onto a piece of scrapbook paper two times

2.  cut out the letters

3.  paint all of the edges of the cardboard monogram (both inside and outside)

3.  once the paint is dry, mod podge one side of the card board

4. firmly place one of the paper letters to the cardboard

5. continue by mod podging the entire paper letter

6. let dry and repeat steps 4-6 to the back side of the cardboard

7. mod podge all the painted edges of the cardboard and let dry

Before



After

       I'm loving the finished project!  Ignore the empty planter....that's just another project that I still have to complete.  This project was easy and inexpensive.  The entire project cost me around $3 since I already had mod podge and paint.  Even if I had to by those two supplies, this project is easily less than $10.  Over all, I'd say my $3 was well spent:)





It's A Goodwill Good Deal ~ $5.99 Lamps Get A Makeover

  
  

I bought two lamps at Goodwill for $5.99 each several weeks ago.  By now, you all know I love my Goodwill good deals.  I knew I was going to use the lamps in them family room, but I wasn't sure how I was going to "transform" them into lamps that would match the decor in the family room.    Well, the lamps have been sitting in the basement with the many other projects I need to complete for awhile, but last week I picked up my hot glue gun and went to work on these lamps with materials that I already had in the house.  I didn't take any pictures of this project while I was working on it, because I wasn't really sure what I was doing or how it was going to turn out.  This was one of those "just wing it" projects.  I'm not sure that these lamps will stay this way, because I'm not convinced that I'm in love with them yet.  However, I didn't spend any money on the supplies, so if I change these lamps up in the near future, it's no biggie.  Anyway, below are the steps I took to transform these lamp shades. 

1.  spray painted the base of the lamp
2.  traced one side of the lamp shade onto cardstock to make a pattern
3.  cut the pattern out and traced it onto 4 sheets of scrapbook paper
4.  cut the four pieces of scrapbook paper out and hot glued them to the lamp shade
5.  hot glued thin black ribbon around the edges of the lamp shade
6.  hot glued thick decorative ribbon to the top and bottom of the lamp shade

BEFORE

AFTER

Monogram Pillow Case

  
          If you've been around the blogosphere very long, you've seen several versions of monogrammed pillows.  I've been wanting to make one for awhile, and when I ordered this chair from Overstock, I knew that the pillow would look great with the chair.  I didn't take any pictures as I was working on this project, because I made this pillow the same way I made the Napkins Turned Into No-sew Pillow Cases.
           First, I bought two napkins at Burlington for $1 each.  Then, I made a stencil from cardstock.  Next, I used black fabric paint and a sponge paint brush to stencil the "A" on the pillow.  Once the paint was dry, I used no-sew glue and a zipper to form the pillow case.  Lastly, I stuffed the pillow case with a pillow that came with the purchase of our sectional and wasn't being used.
          This is the finished project.  I spent $2 on the napkins, $2 on the zipper and $2 on the fabric paint.  Since I already had the no-sew glue, card stock and pillow, this project only cost me $6.

Farmer's Market and Quality Time

I love a great farmer's market!  I love the freshness of the whole experience. Although he farmer's market is better mid to late summer, because the selection of the produce is better, I still love opening day at the market.  It's a sign of the beginning of summer, and I love that!  Matt and I had actually planned to go down town this morning to City Market, and then grab some lunch on Mass Ave.  Plans quickly changed when we discovered that opening day at the down town farmer's market isn't until next week.   Instead of going down town, we went to opening day at our local farmer's market ~ Saxony Farmer's Market. 

It's the beginning of the season, and there wasn't a great selection of fresh produce.  Although it was slim pickins, we managed to find some great looking corn on the cob and tomatoes.  Can't wait to grill out for the first time this year!

The farmer's market always has several different vendors from the community.  We enjoyed a raspberry-lemon scone from the Bakery at Geist vendor. Yum:-)

After the farmer's market, we took a short drive to Hamilton Town Center for some lunch and shopping.  It turned out to be a beautiful morning for some outdoor shopping.  I love this mall especially in the warmer months.  I also love that it's so close to home:)

Matt decided he was in the mood for Noodles and Company.  He ordered from the Asian menu, and enjoyed the Japanese pan noodles .....

....while I stuck with the American menu and enjoyed the hamburger mac & cheese,

~ although you can't tell I'm enjoying it, because this picture is awful.  Matt really needs to tell me when he's taking a picture:) ~

After a week apart, taking a Saturday off of work was just what the doctor ordered.  It's not very often we both have a Saturday off of work.  In fact, it rarely ever happens, because I'm committed to working Saturdays unless I specifically ask off in advance.   I'm so glad I requested today off, because an enjoyable morning of quality time was exactly what we needed.  By early afternoon, we were back home where a walk in the neighborhood, an afternoon nap and a lazy evening on the couch awaited us.  What a great way to spend our Saturday!

Yard Sale Lamp Revamp

Remember my $5 yard sale lamp from Friday's post?



Well, check out what a little bit of trim and and a hot glue gun can do!

I found the trim at Hobby Lobby this weekend for %40 off.  Since the lamp is in our master bedroom, I chose this specific trim to compliment the existing lamps that I told you about in Adding Flair to a Boring Lamp Shade.



This lamp revamp cost less than $10 for everything (lamp, shade and supplies), and I really like the subtle elegance that the trim gives the lamp!

Yard Sale Finds

        It's that time of year again.  That's right, May has arrived, and that means it's garage sale time!  Don't you love garage sales!  My first apartment was furnished with Goodwill and garage sale items for less than $100.  If you know what you're doing, you can turn someone else's unwanted items into great conversation pieces in your home.  I had a neighbor who once came to my apartment, and the first thing they said to me after walking through the door was that my apartment looked like a picture in a Pottery Barn magazine.   When I told them about all of my thrifty finds, they couldn't believe it.  What a huge compliment that was.  I don't know that I necessarily agree with that comment, but I will say that my apartment was cozy.  I definitely looked forward to going home when I got off of work each night.  When I moved to McCordsville and started dating Matt, he also couldn't believe all that I'd done to my apartment for the little bit of money that I spent.  Now that we've moved into the new house, I have a lot of rooms to turn into "Pottery Barn look alikes", and garage sales are a great way to do that. 

      So today was the day ~ today was the day that I had planned to take two hours out of my day to hit some community garage sales.  Friday is my day off work, and I always have a lot to get done on my day off.  I'm a planner who lives by a schedule, so like everything else I do, I had to plan and prepare to use my two hours wisely.  First, I went to this website to look up community yard sales in my area.  Then, I mapped the communities and strategically planned my route around the errands I needed to run today.  I also made a list of things that I still needed for the house, so I could refer to the list as I was rummaging through the sales.  After making sure that I had plenty of gas in my car and plenty of cash in my wallet, I hit the sales.  I had four neighborhoods on my list today, and I only had two hours to "shop".  Trying to stay within my timeframe, I "scouted" out the sales as I slowly drove by them, and I only stopped at the ones that looked promising.  I didn't get a whole lot today.   I only spent $25 on all of my purchases, and I only got things I knew I could use.  Here are my finds from today.



$2 lamp

It's not too pretty right now.  When I'm done with it, it will be a knock-off version of a $30 Pier One lamp, only it will be a fraction of the cost.



$5 lamp

I originally had a different lamp in this space.  Then, I found a better place for the lamp and put a vase of flowers here instead.  When I did that, Matt began complaining that he didn't have enough light on his half of the room.....sooo when I saw this lamp today, I thought of Matt.  It needs a little bit of "dressing up" to work in this space, but that won't be too hard to do.  I think it will look really good when I'm done with it.

$4 for each table

There are a few places that I could put these in the house, and I haven't quite figured out their permanent location.  One thing is for sure....they won't look like this when I'm finished with them.

$5 TV stand

Ok, so if it weren't for my husband, I wouldn't have purchased this.  You see, we replaced our living room furniture with a new sectional and ottoman.  We put the old set (the set with the "practical" coffee table) upstairs, and Matt is having a difficult time adjusting to his life downstairs without his coffee table.  The ottoman is great for kicking your feet up and lounging, but Matt can't put his dinner on it like he could the coffee table.  When I saw this TV stand, I thought of Matt.  It meets all of his needs for the many meals that he eats on the couch, and I can fold up the TV stand and store it in the pantry when he's not using it.  He was very happy with this purchase when he saw it:)

$5 Fica Tree

I saw this exact same tree today in a store for $39.99, so my $5 find doesn't seem so bad. I purchased a tree like this several years ago, but Chloe ruined it when she was a kitten.  I'm not really a fan of fica trees anymore, but I needed something to fill out this big empty corner.  Even if it's just a temporary fix, it's worth $5 to me.  I really want one of those vintage, decorative floor fans to go in this space, but the cheapest I've haven't seen them for less than $100. 

By the way, I though I'd let you all know that I linked up this week with Creation Corner and The Thrify Home.  Check it out, and take a look at other bloggers creations while you're there.

Napkins Turned Into No-Sew Pillowcases

2 CLOTH NAPKINS + 1 ZIPPER + NO SEW GLUE =

1 INEXPENSIVE PILLOWCASE

THE INSPIRATION

While at Ikea a few weeks ago, I bought two of these pillows for the family room sectional for only $12.99 a piece.  I really wanted two more pillows in a different pattern, but I didn't like any of the other options at Ikea.

 Both beautiful and comfortable, these pillows are down pillows with a zip-up velvet pillowcase.  The pillowcase was my real reason for the purchase; the price was just a bonus;)  I loved that the product was comfortable and easy to clean.  That was very important to me, since the pillows were going on the family room sectional, which is also where my husband and my dog spend most of thier time watching ESPN.   



Even though Ikea didn't have the pillow/pillowcase that I liked, they did sell the actual pillow separate from the case for only $6.99.  I bought two of them and planned to sew my own pillowcase from fabric purchased at my local craft store

THE IDEA

Then I got the idea to turn napkins into pillow cases when I was rummaging through the home decor section at Burlington Coat Factory.  I really liked the Waverly fabric that these napkins were made of, and I wanted to find a use for them....then it hit me.... PILLOWCASES!!!   I mean, after all, they are the perfect size, and they were definitely the perfect size for the down pillows that I bought from Ikea.  Not to mention, they weren't that expensive.  Four napkins only cost me $10.   When I got home from Burlington, I Googled my project idea only to discover that my idea was not original.  Apparently, it's been thought of .....by many other people......which makes sense.  If you are looking for creative uses for cloth napkins, pillows will soon come to mind.  Regardless of whose idea this project was, I went ahead and gave it a whirl...only I didn't use a sewing machine:)



Like my sheets turned into no-sew curtains, I opted to make my pillowcases a no-sew project. I already had the glue, and the hemlines on the napkins made it really easy to make it a no-sew project.



TURNING THE IDEA INTO A FINISHED PROJECT

For this project you will need: two napkins per pillow, one zipper per pillow and  no-sew adhesive

Glue along the hemlines. 



Pinch the glued sections together for a few seconds to make sure that the fabric doesn't come unglued. 



Glue three sides together, and then glue the zipper to the fourth side.

 

Once the pillowcase is dry, stuff the pillow in the case and zip it up.  This is what the finished product will look like.  I made two pillowcases to go with the two Ikea pillows that I had.



One pillowcase was $5.  Not bad, huh? It could have been cheaper to buy my own fabric, but this was Waverly home decor fabric.  Waverly fabric can get pricy, so I'm definitely happy with the look and price of this project.