Category: frugal


Apr
2010

picket fence wall art, finally finished

categories: crafts, decorating, frugal, handmade, photography, weddings

remember that piece of picket fence i picked up off a curb, cut into pieces, and hung on my wall? you can see that project here. my crafty to-do list is approximately 9 miles long, and i’ve been meaning to finish this piece off by adding hemp clotheslines and some of our favorite pictures. the inspiration was this:
this is the barn where we held our wedding reception. we had clotheslines hung throughout the barn with our favorite pictures attached with little wooden clothespins. one line held my pics, another held jed’s. at the end of the barn were 2 lines hung with the pictures of our dating and engagement story. my life, his life, and now our life together…
we still have all the hemp cord and pictures mounted on cardstock. we picked out 6 of our favorites and i hung them with the same cord and wooden clothespins. now we have a piece of our wedding reception in our bedroom, just in time for our 2nd anniversary next week.
i love it! we’ve included pictures from my baptism, our engagement at disneyworld, jed with his brother and daddy, jed and one of his best friends, our first date, and me and one of my best friends. we can always change them out later and mix things up.
it cost absolutely nothing, and is so personal for us. it makes my heart happy every time i look at it. that, my friends, is my new decorating rule. what in your home makes your heart happy every time you see it?

i’m linking to:

DIY Day @ ASPTL
http://linda-coastalcharm.blogspot.com/
The Trendy Treehouse


Apr
2010

i heart avocados… so let’s make some guacamole!

categories: frugal, recipes
first – go enter my giveaway to win some of my designs and a $25 pottery barn giftcard. click here to enter.

almost every thursday we head over to our friends’ house for tacos. typically a big crowd shows up, anywhere from 8 to 20 or so folks come over, and the berres always host. how do they host this dinner each week with out going broke? they ask everyone to bring one item, and do tacos every time to simplify things. the last 2 weeks we have been in charge of the guacamole, so i thought i’d share my method.
i use fresh ingredients, no mixes or pastes. for our group (which can put down some guac) i use 8 large avocados, 2 tomatoes, half an onion, and sometimes one bunch of cilantro.

cut the avocados in half.

de-pit those beauties. watch your fingers. you’ll see why.

scoop out the goodness. get all the way down to the skin.

taking out the pit is the hardest part. this is not my first avocado injury.

mash up those avocados with your trusty potato masher. then add salt, pepper, cumin, chili powder and garlic to taste. squeeze the juice of 2 limes on top and then stir.
this dip is husband approved. he tests it to make sure all the spices are just right.

there you go, delicious guacamole for 10-12 people. make some to share.

The Girl Creative Friday Follow

The Trendy Treehouse


Mar
2010

picket fences – one man’s trash…

categories: crafts, family, frugal
last week i was driving to a young life women’s lunch and noticed a pile of picket fence that someone was throwing away. on the way out i stopped and asked the homeowner if i could take a chunk of his old fence. he looked at me like i was a crazy person and said, “sure, whatever.” i loaded up this piece of fence into my car and hauled it home. thankfully i have an understanding husband who was only too willing to help make something cool out of the old fence.here is what we started with:

i figured out that i wanted to make a piece for the wall in our bedroom, and showed jed where to cut. you can see the line he drew across the fence.

he cut across the board while i held the base of the fence.

here is the leftover fence piece.
i’m brainstorming project ideas for the leftover boards.

in the midst of the action, jackson tried to wander off. as usual.

i got distracted by a little eye candy. i cannot resist my man working hard in a pair of carhartts. seriously, look at that bootie.

here is the finished product.
i cleaned it up and it was ready to hang it on the wall.


here it is on the wall. i’m not sure i’m done with it yet.
i may add a cute clothesline with pictures pinned to it.
i’ll let you know.

i’m linking to :

http://linda-coastalcharm.blogspot.com/
The Shabby Chic Cottage


Mar
2010

a little frugal spring redecorating…

categories: decorating, frugal, photography

spring is finally, officially, here. it was time for a little redecorating in my living room to bring in some spring time flair. my local grocery store had beautiful bunches of flowers on sale for $4.99. they had my favorites- stargazer lilies, and i couldn’t pass them up. for a vase i used one of my meme’s old mason jars. tie a piece of raffia around the neck and it becomes a vase. i used a fun effect on the pics on picnik.com – called ortonish. i love how it makes them all soft and glowy. if only i could get this effect on my face in real life…



here is another mason jar vase, a smaller version. we use them as drinking glasses at our house. this $2 bouquet of faux daffodils and a little ribbon leftover from our wedding make it festive. you can’t go wrong by adding a few cheap plastic easter eggs. i played around with 2 other effects from picnik, special focus and reala400.