Hickory Dickory Home

New crafty art project!

2010-09-13T08:01:00.000-07:00

I have been away for a while trying to get used to the routine of a new school, sports, and work. I think we have gotten it under control. I have still been busy crafting, but have not had the time to post!

This is a favorite of mine! During our 14 years of marraige, I have been wanting to make something to show all the different military bases we have lived at over the years. I kept seeing all these cool subway art pieces on the craft blogs and I had an AHA moment!

During the summer, I found this AWESOME rustic frame and could not figure out what to put in it. It was missing the glass and came with some heavy duty cardstock in the frame. It was $2 and is *I think* about 11x14.

I got out my c~~rusty~~ trusty paints in cloudberry tan and spice brown. These have been used alot, as you can tell.

I painted a base of cloudberry tan onto the cardstock and then floated the edges with the spice brown and let it dry for about 10 minutes.

I then printed off outlines in different fonts of all the military bases we have been.

I played around with the placement for a few minutes before deciding on this one. I also added a few stars.

Since I did not have any carbon paper, I just took my pencil and colored the back. Then I turned it over and traced the letters to get my outline.

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Next, I took my Sharpie marker (fine point) and traced the letters. I decided that I liked some of the letters not colored it. Gave it cool dimension and also let some of the paint color show through.

Since it was not going to be covered by glass, I decided it needed some protection. I sprayed a thin top coat of clear acrylic sealer from my favorite brand..Mod Podge.

I LOOOOVE how it looks in the frame! Yayayyay!

I decided that these two barn wood shelf things would look great next to it. I found those at a craft store a few years ago for $7 each. I also picked up these two grubby candles for 50 cents each at a garage sale. I have since added some pumpkins and leaves for my fall decor.

Be sure to leave me a comment and let me know what you think! I read them all and appreciate your thoughts!

Linking up to..

Quilt Giveaway

2010-08-27T07:42:00.000-07:00

Cecily is having an awesome giveaway over at her blog Craftopotamus! Go visit her blog, look around, and leave her a comment!

Monday, August 23, 2010100 Follower Giveaway - or Should I Say QUILTAWAY!

I've been looking forward to this post for a little while now. A couple months ago, I realized that within my stash I had a group of fabrics that accidentally went together beautifully for a quilt and decided that I would use them to make one for one of you. With time running out before school starts for me, I knew it had to be on the simpler side and this is what I came up with...

I named it Over the Garden Gate. The white bars remind me of a fence and the color combinations remind me of a flower garden. I also was trying to capture the feeling of how, as we click our way through blogs and link parties, it can feel like we are peeking into someone else's craft room or living room or kitchen - just stopping by for a minute to chat before heading out to the next link down the street. There is a sense of community out there that I just wasn't expecting to find at the outset.

Sushi Fun!

2010-08-21T17:07:00.000-07:00

I am a secret foodie and love to watch shows about food, see pictures of food, hear about food, read about food, and most of all try new foods from around the world.

Makino Chaya located in Aloha Tower Marketplace

Being married to a military man has its perks! We were stationed in Hawaii for 4 years and I quickly became acustomed to the local cuisine that had a big influence from Asian cultures. There were as many sushi restaurants in Hawaii as we have McD's and BK here on the mainland. I refused to eat anything "fishy" at first, but then after trying sushi for the first time decided that I loved it. Not being a fish lover, I have yet to venture into raw sushi and stick to more americanized sushi. I heart California Rolls!

I now try to search out the best California Roll I can find. I had a craving for sushi one night and decided to try to make my own! My husband called from work with his usual..."Do you need me to pick anything up from the store?" to which I replied "Can you go to the Asian market and pick up some sushi supplies for me, pleeeaaase!" He laughed and proceeded to write down directions, a list of items needed, and off he went. Yeah..I have a great husband that is willing to do anything for me!! :)

I searched online to find a recipe and/or video. This is what I came up with. Okay..onto the pictures.

1. Rice cooker is something we cannot live without since living in Hawaii. If you don't have one, a pot will work. Cook according to rice directions.

2. Rice wine vinegar (found at your local supermarket). It helps keep a shine and stickiness to your rice. Sugar and salt for rice.

3. Sushi rice. This is the brand I use and can be found at Walmart or Kroger in the Asian food section. You can find out how to make sushi rice here. or cook it in rice cooker and then add the other ingredients in video.

4. Toasted sesame seeds. Found at Walmart or Kroger or any supermarket.

5. Bamboo sushi mat. This was found at the Asian market, but I think you can find them at Walmart.

6. Nori (seaweed) wrap paper. This is found at the Asian market, but I have seen it at Kroger.

7. Cucumbers-sliced small or julienned.

8. Immitation crab. I use the smaller pieces because they are easier to take apart.

9. Avacado-ripe and sliced into thin slices.

First you lay down your bamboo mat and place a sheet of plastic wrap on top (oops...forgot that on the ingredients list). Cut the Nori in half (did not do this the first time...too much nori!). Add a few spoonfuls of rice and spread it out, careful not to smush it too much! Sprinkle the sesame seeds on top. Carefully FLIP the nori over onto the rice side.

Add your crab, cucumber, and avacado that you sliced.

I forgot to take pictures of this next step..oops.

Next, you roll one side of your bamboo mat over the top of the sushi roll and keep rolling like this.

*Note: This link shows the sushi with the nori on the outside of the roll, we flipped ours so the rice is on the outside.

You can see that I squished mine a little too much. LOL I was happy with the steps so far! This step was kind of fun!!

Slice up your sushi (make sure to cut off the ugly ends) and serve! Pretty good for my first attempt! It was delicious! Make sure you have some chopsticks and know how to use them!!

Leave me some comments and let me know what you think!

I love linking up with all you creative gals, so that is why I am linking up this week with:

These are the days of our knives....

2010-08-12T07:39:00.000-07:00

This is my attempt at trying to make our knife block look nice. This was painted by me a few years ago. It was supposed to look like an apple..LOL! :) Bleh

Enter....Spray Paint. I think I have spray painted everything lately. I actually took this picture before I decided to go with matte paint instead of satin.

I had to cover up the Henckel brand logo to make it smooth. My husband wasn't so happy about this though. He is proud of his Henckel knives. I just used some wood filler and smoothed it on with a great tool..my finger! lol I did not have a putty knife handy.

I used another great tool that I had available...a piece of cardboard from a 12 pack of soda...to scrape off the excess. That is just how I roll! Let it dry for about 15 minutes.

After it was dry, I sanded it smooth with my sanding block (I think 220 sand paper block). I also used my palm sander to sand the entire block. Make sure to wipe away any dust with a cloth after sanding.

Spray LIGHT COATS of spray paint over the entire thing. This is what happens when you get in a hurry and try to paint it on too much..YIKES! So..after that dried, I had to re-sand and then spray it again. I sprayed about 2 coats. Let it dry for 20 minutes.

While it was drying, I went outside to water my flowers and saw the most amazing sunset and HAD to get a picture! Beautiful!!

After it was all dry, I got my sanding block and went to work distressing the edges. I heart the distressed look!

I thought about how I was going to add some flair. I got out my paint and brush and tried to paint on a monogram...WRONG. I can now see why everyone is soooo fond of vinyl lettering. I could not paint a W for the life of me. It looked terrible, so I wiped it all off. I do not have a Cricut (I know, I know...maybe Santa will bring me one!), so I did the next best thing. I went to my computer, grabbed some scrapbook paper, and printed off an outline of a W and cut it out.

TIP: These little nail scissors work great to cut out small letters.

Next, enter my two best friends....Mod and Podge

I put down a little matte mod podge and placed my letter. I let it dry for a few minutes and then went over the whole area with mod podge.

The letter looks white in this photo, but it is the green/tan color of the scrapbook paper in the above picture.

AFTER!!! I really think this is one of my favorite projects. It was so easy and made a HUGE difference in my kitchen. I smile every time I walk past it. The granite tile...not so much. That is another subject all together. Those grout lines irritate me.

Here it is with some of the knives back in the block (the rest were in the dishwasher)!

Thanks so much for stopping by. Please leave me a comment, I read them all! :)

I AM LINKED TO.....

Craft Desk Makeover

2010-08-10T08:24:00.000-07:00


I needed a desk for my new office for crafts, sewing, scrapbooking, and such. I found this unique desk at GW for $14.99 and new it was what I was looking for. It was a little wobbly and was some sort of laminated wood...weird. I could picture some cute little baskets sitting in the little cubby spaces. I also found a chair that I could refinish forgot to take before picture that had U.G.L.Y fabric on the seat. It was not even cushioned...just fabric stapled to the seat board. BLEH!

A little black spray paint, a cute new knob, some fabric and foam and it was perfect! It is not as organized as I would like it to be, as I am adding shelving above the desk soon! Updated pictures to come soon!

I was going to replace the legs because the desk was not tall enough to fit a chair and myself under, but I decided that I liked the legs and just got out in my garage, found some scrap wood and made some blocks to glue and screw to the underside of the desk to raise it up. I also added a piece of wood under the other side. It helped stabilize the legs also, so no more wobble (which would be really bad for sewing!)

I found these little blue baskets at the Dollar Tree. I need to go back and get a few more. Right now I have photo boxes on the other sides.

Excuse my mess inside the desk, but it has nice storage inside.

As you can see I am not the best photographer, but wanted to show how cute the knob is! I love it. I think I got it at Lowes.

I went to JoAnn's to look for fabric and thought this would go great with my green walls! I couldn't decide which one I wanted for the seat, but went with the paisley. I plan on making the striped fabric into a pillow for my chair (it is missing a back piece).

This was so fun to recover. Got my staple gun out, some foam, batting, and went to work. The front is not as smooth as I wanted it to be, but oh well. I think it looks really good!

I really love the shape and curves of this chair!

What do you all think?

I would love to read some comments and any suggestions on shelving above the desk would be great! My office reveal will be coming soon!

I AM LINKED TO:

Going to Paris on a budget..ooh la la

2010-08-05T10:01:00.000-07:00

My daughter will soon be 13 and we decided that she needed a room that was a little more grown up. Over the summer as we were preparing for our move, we were planning what the new room design would be. She wanted a travel/parisian theme! Of course I wanted to go pink and black, but she is totally against pink and wanted something red and black. I was not really into that color scheme, but decided that it would be her choice. I am so glad I listened to her, because it turned out fabulous!! I made the curtains (but want to change them up a little--suggestions?) out of fabric that I got at JoAnns for ....6 yards for $11.00!!! :) I do know how to sew, but could not find my sewing machine because it had not been unpacked yet. I ran out and got some iron on hem stuff and went to work. I am thinking of adding ribbon and making them more of a swoopy kind of valance.

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It has been sooo much fun going to thrift stores, garage sales, and Goodwill and spotting things that would go perfect in her new room!

We cannot decide what to do about adding a rug. We would love to find a rug that does not cost too much and adds some flair to her large space. I am also on the hunt for a chandelier that I can recycle. The two throw pillows were on clearance at Hobby Lobby, but forgot how much. I think maybe $4 each. The center red pillow was from walmart and I splurged and paid $11 for it. The red rug was from Big Lots..$6 She wanted a daybed look, but she only has a twin. We just turned it sideways and added some pillows along the back. The comforter was $19 at Walmart and the black pillow shams were only $4 each.

She is learning the piano, so we have a keyboard. I recently bought a vanity ($25), at a garage sale, with a stool and it is also a jewelry cabinet that will go in this place as soon as I get it painted and fixed up...post about that will be coming soon! We found these tin plaques at Hobby Lobby for $4 each!

Now...for the Pièce de résistance.... my wonderful Aunt Lela saw the pictures of the room design and I was telling her about a dress picture that I was trying to buy on Ebay and was outbid and could not find another one and she said...."I think I have that same picture in my basement and will send it to you for ....FREEEEE!" What?? Are you kidding? I almost peed my pants! I offered to pay for it, pay shipping, whatever she wanted, but she refused to take my money and sent it anyway. I was sooooooo excited when it arrived. It MAKES the room! Thank you Aunt Lela!

Also while at Hobby Lobby, I found these signs for $4 each on clearance! I got this shelf at a thrift store for $3....add a little black spray paint (my new best friend) and it is rockin! So...what to put on the shelf?? I wanted to run with the hat shoppe theme of the pictures and new that I could find something cool at this great antique mall, so off we went to find something fancy!

We found some great hats, but wanted one with a veil. We found one and paid $5 for it. The little white stand is actually a doll stand from an old doll that we got at Goodwill and sent back to Goodwill a few years later..but still had the stand...oops! Glad I kept it. We also found a pair of gloves for $3 and a beautiful beaded purse for $6. The little hat picture (which is a 3D wooden hat shadow box) was a Goodwill find for 99 cents! The stand was from Dollar Tree for ....you guessed it..a dollar!

This is a current eye sore right now... we have to find replacement screws for the dresser hardware...ignore that..lol. I got some hat boxes for 99 cents each at GW. The mirror was a Big Lots find for $20.

Got this down-filled pillow at a garage sale for ...$2! It is an expensive pillow...embossed velvet too!

These were three different GW finds and different stores!! SCORE! The candle holders (bought at two different times) were each 99 cents. The vase was a great find at $2.99. I love the shape of this and the size of it. I have not figured out what to put in it yet! Maybe a candle??

Another garage sale find...$2!!! Whooo hoo. I almost bolted out of the car when I saw this. I almost caved and paid full price for one of these things....glad I had patience!

We wanted to spruce up this lamp shade and saw these cool vintage chandy crystals at an antique store for 50 cents each. I grabbed them and just poked them through the lamp shade. They look great with the light shining through.

I repainted the letters that she had in her room before. I spray painted them black and then added some dots with the end of my paint brush and some acrylic paint from my supply. The dots on the G are really crooked, but I decided to leave it...oh well.

Again...I almost died when I saw these two plates lying on a shelf at GW. 99 cents each!! I had the plate hangers. These are my favorite and one of the first finds for this room!

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I got this at GW and have not figured out what to do with it yet. It was $1.99. It is very heavy metal base. I was thinking of making some kind of canvas sign to hang from it. Any suggestions would be great?!!

Found these candle holders at Big Lots for $7.00 for two. Battery operated candles are perfect for the ambiance. They flicker and are real wax that smells like vanilla. You can pick them up at Walmart for around $3 each!


A GW find....this vintage mirror. I decided to leave it "as is" because I loved the vintage brass feel. I also picked up this ring holder for 99 cents.

I also wanted t~~o gripe~~ to tell you about the paint and furniture. My daughter picked out the paint from Lowes. It is called "Posh Red". This paint looks great on the walls, but was such a pain to paint with. It looks like blood and gets everywhere! We had red paint on us, all over the drop cloth, on lots of damp cloths that we cleaned up our messes with..ugh! It took about 3 coats and that was WITH primer before. I will never paint with red again. We also added a chair rail and was going to put up bead board, but it was not in our budget. My solution was to just paint it white until we had the funds to add it. This worked out well. We still have to paint and fill the chair rail.

Also, the dressers were a garage sale find from many years ago ($40 for all three pieces) and was painted antique white. It seriously needs to be repainted, but that is for another day.

Thanks for stopping by and please leave me comments and suggestions!

Home Theater

2010-08-03T07:28:00.000-07:00

We decided that we wanted to go a little retro with our new basement home theater. I found a gumball machine on Craigslist that fell through and have been searching for another one. My husband has a friend that owns a barber shop and he bought a few gumball machines on pedestals and asked if we wanted one. My husband paid $30 for it and brought it home. I was super excited and forgot to take a picture of the "before" but it was green. We got some red spray paint, took it all apart, cleaned it, sprayed it red and put it all back together. It is an awesome addition at the end of the stairway to the basement. I love how the colors pop!

I found these jars at a thrift store and knew they would look great in the theater. I, again, forgot to take a before picture, but they were plain brown wood. I grabbed my can of black lacquer spray paint and gave them a few coats. I spray painted the lids with chalkboard paint so we could write on them. I have not found chalk yet to write on these and need some suggestions on what I should write....the names of the food, numbers, a cute message??

I think they turned out pretty good!

I also decided that I wanted to change an apple chalkboard that I had and was going to get rid of. I searched the internet for a cool retro movie theater picture, printed it, and then decopaged it onto the board! I love the little popcorn, hotdog, and soda guys!

Remember this table redo? It is for the basement. We now have somewhere to keep the remotes and sit our snacks and drinks on!

We wanted to keep the retro feel and decided some cool retro movie posters would be great! I LOVEEEE these!!! I love the vintage colors and how the yellow really stands out.

I have to say that this is what sold the house..lol. We LOVE this room. It was originally themed for a certain college sports team, but my husband really is not into that team. We were going to paint over the red, but decided to work with it (only because we painted soooo much upstairs that by the time we got to the basement we were pooped!) I really love the bead board on the walls and that they painted the ceiling black. The hardwood is also lovely! We also negotiated the black couches that are recliners and the bar stools which are leather!! Yay!

This bar is sooo cool. We do not drink, so we use it more as a "snack bar" area. Don't look at the dishes and cups under the bar...I have added black curtains to hide all that, but that was after this picture was taken. :) The bar was made by the previous owners and they did a FABulous job. You cannot see it in the picture, but the whole bar is glittery. I love how it sparkles (input a certain vampire in my thoughts..lol Yes..I am one of those grown women who love Twilight..hee hee).

Here is my daughter hanging out. This is a perfect place for my soon-to-be teens! I also love that they used the corrugated metal on the bar!

We spend alot of time hanging out down in our theater/family room! I would love any suggestions on how to make it even cooler. I really can't wait for the birthday parties that I will be throwing in this room!!

Leave me a comment and tell me what ya think!

School Desks

2010-07-30T05:31:00.000-07:00

At the beginning of the summer I knew that I wanted to get desks for the kids rooms. I went thrifting and found some great deals! I paid a little more for this first desk because I really wanted it. I think it was $20 because it was a consignment item.

A little bit o' magic with a can of Fire Engine Red spray paint and...............VOILA!!!

I then found a chair at GW for $5 and sprayed that the same color spray paint!

I added a blue seat cushion that I picked up at WM for $4 and it makes a perfect addition to his new Mario Bros. Room!

I also picked up the little tin buckets at Gee to the Dubbya! I think they were 50 cents each. He loves math and wanted to learn his times tables, so I got him a poster for above his desk.

So...then I went to GW and found this desk for .......99 cents!!!!!! It had some nasty corkboard on the back and had some nails sticking out the top. I took both of those off and cleaned out the drawers. I sanded it and painted it with Black Laquer spray paint. I then picked up some sheet metal from Lowes and glued it with Gorilla Glue to the back. The kids and I made some magnets with those clear stones (the kind you put in vases) from the Dollar Tree, some magazine cutouts, and Modge Podge! They turned out awesome, picture and tutorial to come later!

THE AFTER

I was super shocked at how good this turned out. He loves it!! I also picked up this dirty nasty metal chair for 99 cents. It was VERY grimy. A little cleaning and replacement of the seat cushion and backing (that was a vinyl) with some blue fabric and it was awesome!

I also put some black trim around the edges of the sheet metal with hot glue!

Oh...and the frame (which now has a picture in it), the boxes, and the lamp....all from GW! I think I spent a total of $4.00.

We added a silohette vinyl to his wall for the overall look. He loves his new room!

Back-to-school

2010-07-29T07:59:00.000-07:00

School supplies-Check...Backpacks-Check...Lunch boxes-Check... So I guess it is about time to start getting organized. I got my daughter's volleyball schedule for August and quickly realized that we also signed both boys up for soccer and it will soon be chaotic with a million things to do once school starts. I have a cubby area next to the garage door that will be our go-to area for all schedules, calendars, school papers and such. I was not sure what to do with this area but I knew I had to do something. When we first moved in, I quickly hung up a bulletin board that I had, but it was not working so well because it is kind of dark in the space and hard to reach the back wall because of the shelf.

This space was becoming a catch-all.
I remembered that I had a shelf in the garage that would work. I picked this shelf up last summer at a garage sale for $3.00. I got my trusty spray paint and went to work. I wanted a satin finish and also wanted to distress it some. I put on two coats.

Then started sanding the edges with my block sander.

Love the distressed look

So I took down the bulletin board and got my trusty "Hercules Hooks"....Love these things!! I actually found some at walmart, but they were a different brand. They are easy to hang up and hold lots of weight!

I needed something to hold school supplies for homework and activities for the year. I got this set of cans (4 cans in a set) that had ducks on them. They were at Goodwill for 99 cents!! So...I grabbed some scrapbook paper, tags that I had, some ribbon, and my trusty Modge Podge!! I love that stuff!

Went to work adding the paper which was a little tricky trying to not get wrinkles or bubbles on these cans. It dried without too many bubbles.

Next, I needed some kind of system to keep activities organized and remembered that I had a dry erase board that was also magnetic that was hanging on the bottom of a chore chart that I never used...perfect!

I printed out my kids names on some white cardstock. I used the font..My Underwood..because I loved that it looked like old typewriter font.

I had a roll of magnetic strip that was sticky on one side. I cut it to length and peeled off the back and attached my cardstock name.

I then took a permanent marker to outline the board because I wanted to keep the days separated. I found these cool day of the week magnets at walmart for only a few dollars! They were exactly what I needed for this project. I already had these in my office.

I added a calendar that I already had under the board. I placed each kids name at the top. Now I can keep track of where everyone needs to be, who has snack day at school, school programs, etc.

Added my cans to the shelf. I also picked up these two jars at Goodwill for 49 cents each! :) I have push pins in one and pencils in the other. We can never have enough pencils in this house and hopefully now everyone where be able to find one for homework.

I added a colored pencil can, glue, scissors, crayons. I LOVE the way this looks.

The AFTER! I also had these green cubby baskets that were in my office and not being used. This is great for papers that I want to keep or things that are needed for school projects! I put a file folder basket on the other side to hold important papers that I need to sign and return to school or for other important school information.

Getting Organized With Labels

2010-07-28T12:40:00.000-07:00

I have to confess that I am a little obsessed with organizing and having things in their places. My husband jokes that it is just that I have OCD, but I just like things to look pretty. I could spend hours in The Container Store, grab any magazine that says "organize" on it, and think that a well organized shelf is a work of art. Before our move, I went through my kitchen and pulled out everthing that I did not need and tried to get everything else organized for our new kitchen. I came across a fabulous website that has printable labels called JustSomethingIMade.com and also from Family Fun. Wal-Mart has the best jars and I have to stay away from that aisle or else I will buy more.

Love how these look when I open my cupboard! My husband even loves them too!

As I was organizing, I had these spice jars (that I bought about 8 years ago!) and wanted to make them cute, so I added these labels on them that I printed off my computer. I just used clear packing tape. On move-in day, I immediately spotted this spice rack that the previous owners left behind and was sooo excited because I just finished adding the labels to my spice jars...coincidence...I think not! :)

I also picked up some containers from the Dollar Tree and added some labels the same way. I still have a few more to add, but love the way they turned out!

I do have a delima that I need some advice on. I have a little cubby area that will be our "school paper center" and I have no idea how to organize it. Any tips on organizing kids papers, school supplies, shoes, and such...please leave me a comment! Thanks!!!

Summer Time Garden

2010-07-27T13:48:00.001-07:00

I was very lucky when I moved into this new house to find a raised gardening bed around the deck! I had plans to garden, but this made it that much easier. This was my first attempt to grow anything you can eat! My thumb is not very green, but I thought I would give it a try. We planted 4 different tomato varieties and peppers..green, red, and yellow (though I cannot remember which is which because my youngest son decided to move the markers around). There were already strawberries planted, but they are not yielding very big fruit. We are thinking of moving them to a pot for next year and planting more veggies. There are also morning glories planted (pssst....I kept waiting for them to grow beans because I thought they were pole beans! HAHA..remember..green thumb).

I also planted some marigolds around the plants because I read somewhere that they keep the bugs and slugs away...so far, so good!

This one is an heirloom variety

Some "Better Boys" (better than what, I don't know?)

We have been eating outside on the deck alot this summer. We have nice shade over the deck in the evening, so why not take advantage of the cool breeze during dinnertime. I wanted to do a simple tablescape to make it fun. I pulled out the vintage jars (love these!!) that I just picked up at a thrift store and decided that adding some candles would be great.

My very sweet husband has been practicing his grilling skills. He grilled some lemon herb chicken. We made a salad which I have named "Rainbow Salad". Lots of veggies, feta cheese, and greek dressing. The kids loved that I added stars to the salad that are made from peppers.

My kids have been much more willing to eat fruits and veggies since we started the garden! Score!!! So, we made up a fruit salad with mango, dried cherries, grapes, and mango for dessert.

We also decided to use our one little red tomato that was finishing ripening on the window sill and went down the road to an Amish man's little roadside farmer's market to gather some more veggies. I have a feeling that we will become friends!

We made stuffed tomatoes with some green peppers, onion, garlic, chedder cheese, and a sprinkle of parmesean cheese on top. They were delicious!

My little tablescape turned out pretty nice! I loved having the candles in the blue glass jars as it was turning dusk. It made for a nice ambiance.

Summer of thrifty redos-End Table

2010-07-27T08:10:00.000-07:00

I am super excited for my first post for Get Your Craft on Tuesday! I have checked out this site for a few months now and love it! Great ideas from some great ladies!

During transition from our old house and new, I started going to thrift shops to look for furniture and house decor. I have collected A LOT of stuff to blog about, but I thought I would start out with this table. We needed a table in the home theater to hold remotes and also to hold drinks. One day while at Goodwill, I spotted this little beauty! As I got closer, my mouth dropped when I saw the sticker and it was only .....$1.99!! I immediately picked it up and made my way to the checkout (I actually made my daughter help me haul it to the front!)

It was missing one of the front knobs, but I knew that I was going to replace those anyway. I loved the quirkiness of the legs and its size. It was perfect. After a little sanding, alot of black laquer spray paint (the top was giving me tons of trouble because it was not looking great) and finally a coat of black chalk board spray paint (because it was what was on hand) and a clear coat...TA DA!

I added some brushed nickle knobs that I found at Wal-Mart. I love the way it turned out.

My first home blog

2010-07-26T13:43:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my first attempt at blogging about my new home. I love being crafty and thrifty. I just moved into a new home with my family of 5 and have been decorating and trying to come up with budget friendly ways to make my home beautiful. I have gotten many great ideas from other blogs that I have come across. I hope I can inspire someone else with my craftiness!