2011 Wrap Up

Hello friends! 2011 has been a big year and I can't wait to share with you some of my favorite posts and happenings.

My five most popular posts this year have been:

#5

Easy DIY Art

I love these in my bedroom. The cream color adds some much needed light to the space!

#4

Another Waverly Fabric SCORE!

I paid $14 for 2.75 yards of this gorgeous Sun N Shade fabric and am planning on finishing up my deck project this summer. Here are the fabrics I'll be using.

#3

Downstairs Bathroom - DONE!

This summer I did a mini re-do of my downstairs bathroom. It was just the freshening up I needed...and SO simple! I've since added a DIY Sunburst Mirror to the spot next to the mirror. It's the perfect finishing touch!

#2

Craigslist Dresser...Done?

This was another one of those never ending projects. I had so many problems with the paint bubbling up and I spent so much time sanding and re-sanding. In the end, it was worth it! This is the perfect storage solution for DVDs, diapers and wipes, toys...I love it! I do still need to buy the hardware I've got picked out but I'm having a difficult time getting myself to spend the money. The knobs and pulls are $5 each and I know that doesn't sound like much but that's $60 total and I just don't want to take it out of my budget. I am planning on a re-do of this whole space sometime this year so when I begin that, I'll buy my knobs :)

#1

New Reading Bench

This was by far my most popular post this year and one of my favorite projects. This goes to show you what a little bit of elbow grease can do. I bought the bench for $20 on Craigslist, pulled off some nasty upholstry and padding, repainted and reupholstered it. For a $30 total investment, I have a fun new piece of furniture and a great addition to my little girl's room.

So, those were my most popular posts of 2011. I want to share a few of my personal favorites.

#3

Valentine Wrap-Up

I loved the Valentine's Day crafts I did this year and I smiled every time I looked at them. I can't wait to get them back up and to do even more this year :)

#2

Owl Love You... (Before & After)

I love this little guy. He just makes me happy :)

#1

Lattice Entertain You...

These are my absolute favorite project from this past year. I fell in love with the fabric and got an awesome deal when I found it in the clearance bin at Joann. Unfortunately, I only had enough for one window. I hunted and hunted for this online but this color isn't made anymore. (It's Waverly Lovely Lattice in mocha. They do make this in the Sun N Shade fabric but I had the 100% cotton and needed the same to match up to what I already had.) Finally, I tripped over a store that had this online.

I love everything about this fabric. The weight, color and pattern are perfect and the curtains are perfect for my living/dining area. Almost every time I look at them, I can't believe how lucky I was to find that second five yards :)

2012 is going to be a busy year for me too. I've got a monster list of projects and to-dos that I'm planning on posting soon. Included in that list will be converting my guest room/office into a nursery for a baby boy coming in April. That's my biggest DIY project planned for 2012. (The baby, not the room!)

I've had so much fun looking back on 2011 and it's inspired me to forge ahead in the coming year. I've loved all the friendships that have developed through this blog and all the support I've received. Thank you ALL for making it wonderful :)

Linking up to:

Another Waverly Fabric SCORE!

Hey there! I'm just stopping by quickly to share another awesome deal I got on Waverly fabric. If you've been reading this blog for long you know how obsessed I am with Waverly and how somehow I am lucky enough to score some killer deals! I've still got this great fabric. I haven't decided yet what to do with it but it is sitting there, waiting for a fantastic project. You've also seen my living room curtains...I love this fabric!

Well, today on another trip to Joann I came across this fantastic Waverly Sun N Shade fabric. The pattern is called Chippendale Fretwork and the color is called 'Mineral'. (The same color in the cotton is called 'Mist'.)

It was in the clearance section for $6 per yard. There were two yards and 24 inches so I took it all. That's $12 for the two full yards and $4 for the last 24 inches, minus the 50% discount for end of bolt...$14 total! Sweet! I immediately thought of some other items I had purchased previously to dress up my deck this summer.

I got this set of four napkins in a brown and white geometric pattern for $2.48 on clearance at Target a while back. I think they will make great pillows for out there.

I got this 70 inch round tablecloth on clearance for $4.48 at the same time! This is their ever-popular bird print from Dwell.

So, the three fabrics together will make beautiful cushions, pillows and whatever else I can come up with. I love a great bargain!

Easy DIY Art (Before & After)

I recently showed you these faux bamboo frames I picked up while thrifting. I paid $3 for each of them.  I loved them right away despite the dingy paint finish and gaudy geishas. I knew right away they were going in my master but I just wasn't sure what I wanted to put in them. Well, this weekend I had an epiphany :)

I started by giving them a fresh coat of Heirloom White. They were an off white to start with but they had some sort of glaze that just made them look dirty.

Whew...better already!

I realize that the art doesn't look that bad from a distance, especially if you're into Chinoiserie like me, but trust me - they're pretty bad. They're embellished with sequins and glitter.

I took out all 50 of the little pins that were holding the back on to take the glass and backs off in order to paint. I couldn't get them back in so I improvised and used tape. Hey - it worked!

I filled them with my mocha Lovely Lattice! The color is what drew me to this fabric in the first place since it is super close to the paint color in my master and I love this fabric so much, I wanted to use every last bit of it.

I really love how they turned out and they give that corner some much needed character.

My husband isn't totally sold on them. He still thinks he's going to put up and display his autographed baseballs here...sorry, hun. Not going to happen!  What do you think? Do you like them or should I replace them with sports memorabilia?

Lattice Entertain You...

Yes, I'm cheesy. I love to title my posts with puns :)  Well, I had a very productive weekend, I finally got my new curtains done in my open upstairs. Please excuse the before pictures - it is almost impossible to get a before picture of a window so I had to lighten them up using some photo editing software. Though the pictures might not be great, you get the idea!

We've got a patio door and window on the same wall. The curtains that were up before are nice but they don't close all the way and these windows face west so in the summer it gets HOT from the sun beating in.

This is the best before picture I could get - you can see the actual colors. That table doesn't go there permanently, it is going to be used as a nightstand in my guest bedroom redo. I just have it upstairs for now because my daughter likes to use it as a cage for her stuffed toys (and sometimes herself).

I decided to go the no-sew route on these. I would normally stitch them up but I didn't feel like getting my sewing machine out because I know I'll have to replace the needle next time I want to use it. Besides, I like to use rings with clips to hang curtains so I didn't need a rod pocket.

I just gave the fabric a quick press before I added my Stitch Witchery tape so it would lay right when I actually ironed it in.

I ironed in both long sides first and then folded the top and bottom hem over and ironed more tape in. I don't have an ironing board so I put a towel down on my counter top and iron right on there.

Here is an after pic...I love how they turned out and I'm kicking myself for waiting so long to get them done. I've had the fabric for this since October! Sometimes it does not pay to be a procrastinator :(

Here is a good after pic. I need to raise the curtain rods a couple inches. I don't really like them pooling on the floor, I just didn't want to do anything before I knew exactly how they would hang.

I still have a little bit of work to do with lining these and I've also got some different sheers to put up. I just love them. This is one of my favorite patterns of all time and the color just looks great with everything else in this great room.

I've got some other posts coming up from my weekend. This is a big week for me with St. Patrick's Day and everything!

So, there you've got it. Proof that you can make such a huge impact with such a simple change.

Fabric SCORE!

On a recent trip to Joann I was scouring the red dot (aka clearance) home fabric section. I was especially hopeful because they were having a massive sale that day :)

When I go to fabric stores I rarely have something specific in mind that I want. I have a few ideas floating around in my head that I think about but if I don't find something, I'm not crushed. Well, one thing I've been obsessed with lately is geometric prints, especially trellis and lattice so when I came across a bolt of Waverly's Ellis in Panther, I was so excited.

I looked at the price and saw that it was $6/yard.  Great deal! I figured that I might as well pick up a few yards to have on hand for something - surely there will be a project at some point I can use it for. Then, as I was doing a mental happy dance, I looked up and noticed that it was on sale for 50% off the marked price! Holy smokes! $3/yard????  I'll take all 9, thankyouverymuch!

So, here's my score - I don't know what it will be but it is wonderful and I'm sure enjoying seeing it every time I walk by.

So what about you?  Do you love fabric as much as I do?  Are you able to pass up a great bargain, even if you have no idea what it will become?

Pretty Placecards

You may have noticed in my Tastefully Simple post a couple weeks ago the adorable placecards/tags I used to label the food items. 

Well, some of my real life friends asked me about where I got them...answer?  I made them, of course :)

Here is what I did:

I found some of these placecards in the wedding section at the Dollar Tree.

I found this cool Martha Stewart paper punch at TJ Maxx for $3.99

The back side of the punch - here you can see that it only punches a small section at a time but you can line up the pattern on the front to make sure you get a continuous pattern.  This is why the punch is so wide.

Punch along each side (sorry about the crappy pics - it is HARD to take good pictures of something so small!)

Remove excess tags from the punched sides.

I had to cut these with two corners at an angle.  I don't know why they came out like this but I liked how it looked so it didn't really matter to me.

Tape a popsicle stick to the back

Viola!  

You can also make tent-style cards by only punching one edge.  I loved how these turned out and I plan on using this awesome punch a lot in the future.  I kind of felt like it added a special little something to the party :)

Love My Lattice!

About ten months ago, we moved into our new home.  Shortly after, I was at Joann, just browsing like I love to do.  I came across a really pretty fabric in the decorator fabric clearance section and figured that since it was such a great deal, despite having no idea what I was going to do with it, it had to be mine.  I bought what was left on the bolt (just under five yards) for about $20. 

Fast forward seven months; it suddenly hits me.  DRAPES!!  I had to make new drapes for my living/dining room.  Unfortunately, I needed about 10 yards to cover my two windows.  I was on a hunt for this fabric, Googling, checking ebay and Amazon every.single.day.  I even put out a request on facebook!  After much searching I had to give up my quest.  I was very disappointed and couldn't find anything else I liked as much...until I started this blog. 

I was doing a Google Images search, looking for something beautiful to use as a background, when I saw it -

Lovely Lattice by Waverly in Mocha!!  In my search for this, I found so many other beautiful colors readily availible but my heart was set on Mocha.  I didn't want to get my hopes up too much because I've found this in the indoor/outdoor version and I knew that wasn't the weight I was looking for.  The description online didn't say if this was the 100% cotton version I was looking for or the polyester indoor/outdoor.  I found the customer service number on the bottom of the page and they were SO HELPFUL!  I was excited to find out it was the cotton I was looking for and placed my order right away.  Just a few days later this was delivered to my doorstep. 

I can't wait to get started on the new curtains.  I'll post before and after pics as soon as they're done and up!