Brief Interruption of Our Regularly Scheduled Programming

Some of you may or may not recognize this place:

Sydney Opera House

Well, that's where I'll be for the next two weeks. My boyfriend is being sent there on a business trip and I was lucky enough to find an economy award ticket a week before departure. I <3 <3 <3 <3 frequent flyer miles!

So yeah, when I come back I promise to post everything that I have been up to lately and maybe even some kangaroo pictures!

See you soon! Oh, and don't let the Dingo eat yah baby.

Flowery Goodness

I couldn't sleep the night before last, so I made a pillow.

To create this pillow I followed this simple tutorial over at Design*Sponge which shows you how to sew a zipper onto a pillow. Once I had my pillow stuffed, I got to work on the felt flowers.

First, you want to cut circles out of your felt. One sheet of felt produced about 6 circles. I haphazardly cut out the circles, it doesn't matter if they aren't perfect.

Next, I folded each circle into fours creating a nice little scrunched petal and stitch the bottom to keep its shape.

Once you have all of your little scrunched petals you want to gather about 5-6 petals and stitched them all together to form a bunch. I then attached tiny safety pins to the back of the bunch.

Finally, just pin the flowers onto the pillow. Tah-Dah!

Cost Breakdown

1/2 yard of fabric = $7

16" zipper = $1.50

3 sheets of felt = $1

pillow form = $3

TOTAL COST = $12.50

 
The fabric is called Courtyard Pumpkin and was purchased at Jo-Ann Fabrics. Sorry, but I couldn't find it on their website.

Looking back at my receipt they charged me for a full yard of fabric instead of 1/2 yard. Clearly I need to pay more attention at the register because this isn't the first time they do this. Their entire fabric checkout system needs to be reworked. Bah!

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Twice in One Day!

I've been featured again! Oh My!

This time over at kara paslay designs.

I'm totally on cloud 9. This is so totally super awesomely exciting!

Check out her blog, she has some wonderful ideas. Many of which I plan on copying!

I've been featured!

On Urban Nest!

How exciting! My post about the accent wall in my living room was featured on Urban Nest! Click here to see and read what Juliet had to say about my wall. While you're there browse around the archives, they have some great ideas floating around over there!

Oh, I'm so excited!!!

Drinking Wine & Killing Time

You might remember my post about the lovely chandelier that inhabited my dining room and my post about the chandelier I wish were hanging in my dining room. Well,worry no more! This past weekend that monstrosity from the 70's was replaced!

But first, a few before pictures of what came with our house.

In case anyone needs to borrow a bong, I have 5.

Please take notice of the blue paperclip holding the canopy plate in place. Very classy.

It isn't a classy chandelier without paint splashes everywhere.

I would have loved to buy a Chandelini (created by Touch Design Studios), but I don't think $1,995 was in our budget for a chandelier. Instead we opted to make our own.

I originally found this tutorial for a mason jar chandelier over at kara paslay designs and figured it shouldn't be that difficult to tweak her instructions to work for my wine glass idea.
 
We started brainstorming on the best way to execute our plan, with structural integrity being #1 on the list and aesthetics being #2. Let me tell you, we were almost divorced by the time we finished this little project AND we haven't even gotten married yet!

But here she is, our pride and joy, in all her glory!

Tah-Dah!!

Close up.

View from the bottom.

With the lights dimmed down.

Cost Breakdown

keyless sockets = $8 (Lowe's)

lamp wire = $3 (Home Depot)

lamp nipples =  $2 (Lowe's)

offset crossbar = $2 (Home Depot)

hex nuts = $2 (Home Depot)

machine screws = $2 (Home Depot)

fishing line = $3 (Wal-Mart)

candelabra light bulbs = $6

wire connectors = $2 (Home Depot)

glass drill bit = $17 (Lowe's)

pack of 12 wine glasses = $8 (w/ coupon at Bed Bath & Beyond)

12 glasses of varying sizes = $7 (Goodwill)

stemless wine glasses = $7 (Homegoods)

ceiling medallion = $20 (Home Depot)

steel ring = $2 (Home Depot)

crimp beads = $9 (Jo-Ann's)

crimp tool = $10 (w/ coupon at Jo-Ann's)

TOTAL COST = $102

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PARTY, PARTY, PARTY

The full how-to can be found after the jump (sorry in advance for the lack of pictures).

Fugly!!

My ugly chandelier made it into the Ugly Lamp Contest over at Better After.

Go vote for it here. It's #17, the "recycled bongs" :)

I'm am happy to announce that this ugly puppy was taken down this afternoon and will hopefully be replaced by an awesome chandelier tomorrow evening! :)

Free Ain't Always Best

So I found this coffee table on my area Freecycle network and scooped it up within minutes. I saw the picture the freecycler had posted and was in love with it's spindly legs and could see it's potential from a mile away!

However, once I brought this beaut back home I realized it was more than I bargained for.

The top of the table has water damage, you know, the kind that seeps into the wood and makes the wood bubble all around the edges. Then there are these doors and how the cabinet is made. I was thinking about chucking the doors and kicking out the back part of that center cabinet to open it up. But then I would need to hide the wood blocks supporting the cabinet. I just don't know how I'm going to execute this.

Oh and did I mention it smells like cat pee? Gross.


For now she sits in my basement waiting for inspiration to hit.

Shake It...

....Shake it like a Polaroid picture! Long, long ago there was a time when dinosaurs roamed the Earth and Polaroids were all the rage.

I saw this post at Apartment Therapy a while ago and decided to dig up all my old Polaroids that were being held hostage lovingly stored at the bottom of the closet to do something similar in my office.

This is right as you enter my office/last resort guest bedroom.

Here's my little thumbless helper (read: useless helper).

I used some blue reusable adhesive putty to hang them up. You know, the stuff teachers use and kids like me would steal :) I opted to stick the putty on all at once and then stick them to the wall.

 And here's the final product!

This little project only cost me about $2, which was the cost for the Blue Stik putty (of which I have a TON left over).

I'm Up to No Good!

I've halted work on all my projects to start a new project. Story of my life. However, I'm crossing my fingers that this will be the best project EVER! Here's a sneak peek...

I soooooooo so so soooo want this for my dining room.

Problem is.... this Chandelini by Touch Design Studios retails for $1,995.

Stay tuned for my under $100 version :)