Jan. 21st- the closet where things go to die and the coolest light fixture ever.

We have a closet under our stairs that I supposed to be a blanket closet. A few years ago when i closed my sewing business it because the blanket closet and Ali bee designs leftovers. Over the last two years it haddock gotten to the point that it looks like the before picture.
When we cleaned the garage we left an area open for me to put all my craft stuff. It was a matter of boxing it up and moving it.
We decided that we want a way to hang or hold the blankets so the hubby and I came up with a little something (sneak peek that isn't done) for th blankets to hang on that will fit right in the closet. I have to finish it and I'm thinking paint it and will post that tomorrow. So for today just a clean closet and a start to a new revamp of an old item. Can you guess what it is?
We also got this awesome kit al lowes for $15 that converts an unsightly recessed light to a pendulum light. It screws into the socket like a lightbulb and cover the old light with a fun cover. I think it took 10 minutes to put it up. Love!

We also got this awesome kit at lowes for $15 that converts an unsightly recessed light to a pendulum light. It screws into the socket like a lightbulb and cover the old light with a fun cover. I think it took 10 minutes to put it up. Love!

before

after

The conversion kit we used. 

Odds and ends and my first sewing tutorial!

My knew towel hook. 

I found the cutest knob that I thought would be really cute in the bathroom as a towel holder. It was bright red so I gave it a little coat of paint and tapped in in the wall. I didn't think about it but the knob is slippery and the towel kept sliding off. My solution? Add a ribbon loop to the towel! Here is my first sewing tutorial complete with honesty and humor. 

Hmm, can't really see it. 

I took a regular hand towel. We like white because you can bleach it! With 3 boys we use a ton of bleach. 

I folded the towel in half to find the middle. I am going to be honest. I should have pinned the ribbon on but I hate to pin. It's like a little someone telling me what to do. I have rarely in my life used a pin. If you want to live on the safe side use a pin. By the way I know my Mom is going to comment on the no pin thing. So once I found the center I marked about an inch to each side of the fold. Again I do this by memory so to say I marked it is totally a lie. 

I folded the ribbon in half like in the picture. 

I folded it one more time to keep it from fraying. 

Put the ribbon on my imaginary mark ( please sew on the inside of the towel) and sewed one line forward, one line back and one line forward again. It's the same as when you finish sewing a line and you go back a little to hold the stitch.  

Like this. By the way I used cream thread so you could see what I was doing (another lie, totally didn't realize it)

Do the same thing again on the other imaginary mark and you have a loop!

Before

After! You can see the pretty knob. 

Other odds and ends I did today included getting this fun bookshelf set up. My mom was getting rid of it so I decided it would be perfect next to our front door as a cute catch all. I added a bucket for our umbrellas, 3 of those 3m hooks that have the sticky stuff on them that doesn't ruin stuff to the side to hold jackets, BASKETS (love them, but you knew that) and the bottom shelf will be for shoes. I love the way it looks.

The kids got their late Christmas present in the mail today, a new computer. We told our oldest that if he got straight A's that we would buy a new computer. He got all A's and 1 B his first semester in high school after being a C student all of Jr. High so he got the computer. I set up a media station for the kids to do homework, computer time, etc. There are now two computers, containers for pens and stuff, baby wipes so no dirty hands will ouch the computer and 3 very happy kids!

My last project was hanging two new valances in the house. I have to tell you how thrilled I am about these valances. When we bought the house I bought 4 valances for the kitchen. I LOVE these valances. They are green plaid and have a country feel. Need I say more? Anyways I went back to buy more and of course they no longer make them. I have been searching for almost 6 years for more with no luck. I finally found 2 on ebay. A lady was redoing her house and getting rid of them. I got a great deal and I am in love. Even cooler because she emailed me after these arrived to tell me she had one more if I wanted it. My house is complete! Ok, enough of my craziness. Have a great weekend! 

Jan 19th - window herb garden

I cook a bunch, well as much as I can. I love fresh herbs but if I plant them outdoors they always die or the dogs dig them up. I got these cute cans from Michael's (of course). They were $1 on sale from $1.50. I love antique labels so they caught my eye. The name tags were 4 for $1. They are mini chalkboards but I like the sharpy better because it wot come off when I water them. Herbs are popular right now and many farmers markets have an herb guy that sells them really reasonable. I got mine for $2 each. I love the look they give the kitchen and 2 cooking trips where I buy fresh herb and these little pots have paid for themselves. Cute?

Make up project

I got a picture of a cottage from my Mom over the weekend that I have always loved. It was another redo project. A few years ago my Mom had it re matted to a bright yellow to match her bedroom at the time. The yellow made the picture look funny and didn't help the colors to pop in it at all. I was so excited because I knew it would be an easy fix. .59 if you don't have the paint and you are set. Let me warn you that the images are bad. How on earth are you supposed to take a picture of glass in a room full of windows? Not my best images but you can see it good enough. 

I started by removing the back paper on the frame and lifting the staples to reveal the matt and image.  I used an old pair of scissors that I knew I couldn't hurt. 

I thought about just flipping the matt over and using the white but it was way to white for the picture. I decided to try to match the cottage color in the picture which was a light brown/taupe color. I mixed some acrylic paint colors together I already had until it was the right color. 

Using a foam brush I went to town on the matt. I did one coat, let it dry and painted it again. Super easy. Once it was dry I lined the picture back up and taped the back using scotch tape. Don't use anything strong or it can ruin the picture if you want to use it again down the road.

 Here is the centered image before it went in the frame. 

before close up (UGLY)

close up after (see the colors pop)

BEFORE not my favorite, a little dated looking. 

AFTER fresh and pretty

Jan. 17th - deal of the day and breaking the rules.

Let me start todays post with a few things. I started this blog with the intention of posting something each and every day except for when we are out of town or gone for an entire day from the house. With this being said life was thrown a little curve ball and I had to make an exception. I spent the last two days with the flu. I was going to try to do something even small but contrary to popular belief, I am not Super Woman!  

I took a few days off and even though I am not 100% still I had to make a trip out today to pick up a few things at the store. While I was at the market my favorite store next door was calling my name. I decided to make a quick trip into Michael's to pick up a basket that I had been eyeing. They were sold out of the basket I had been keeping an eye on (waiting for a sale) but I found a basket (or two) that I loved even more. They are the same green (my obsession with green) as my walls with a cute braid of twine on the side. My style and 50% off! Love a sale. 

I get to the front of the store and the lady who is ringing me up says it's my lucky day. She yells to another employee on the other side of the check stand area to go pull any other baskets like mine. Ok, totally confused I look at her and she tells me there are an old item and they are clearanced out. Sweet, even cheaper! She tells me they are .01 I am not even kidding. My for these 2 beautiful baskets was .02 yup, my 2 cents. Ok, I had to. 

my two new baskets. 

Here is what the lady explained. The basket area at Michael's and other areas that are a mess don't get organized and pulled like they should. items that have been there while and don't get pulled off the shelf go to .01. The lady said they have to sell it to you at that price. It is all Michael's stores. So next time you are at Michael's go for a dig and use their price scanner to see if anything comes up like mine did. How cool is that?

So what am I doing with these lovely baskets? 

here you go. I even included a pic of the receipt so you can see I am not full of it. 

I told you!

New toy basket at the base of our stairs. We use this to collect and carry stuff upstairs. 

the smaller one will hold or corn cozies. Maybe I will make a little tutorial on these bad boys soon. Love these things. 

Jan. 14th - mini projects and under the kitchen sink

I finally sat down and labeled all the baskets and containers that I have filled over the last few weeks. A few of them I used by cricut but since not everyone has a cricut I did the rages the cheap and easy way. I used index cards with hat ever was in the box written on them. I wanted them to be waterproof so I took some packing tape that is 2 inches wide and covered the whole card, punched a hole in the top and hung on the basket using $1 ribbon from Michael's. Cute, right?

A little coffee center. All of my morning coffee stuff in one place. It's like a hotel!

I got some tacky Christmas ornaments at Micheal's for .30 each that had a lovely gemstone hanging and a silver ribbon that was about as lovely. I dissected them. added some cute ribbon and new wall art for $1.90.

I had an old frame. I took a  piece of cardboard, some Elmer's glue and buttons and made a cute picture for nothing. 

Under the sink baskets. 

The completed spice jars with labels. white tape and a sharpy. Done!

Cricut labels for my jars. 

a new laundry soap jar I picked up for $4. and no ugly box to look at. 

A cute jar I got for $3 at Hobby lobby to hold dishwasher soap. 

Under the kitchen sink. Someone asked so here it is. 

Jan. 13th - boys room again! It's getting old now.

Pj 

The two younger boys were off of school today so we made today a FINISH their room. We made a trip to Ikea to get cheap bedspread covers and a rug to match. After ice cream at 10:30 am we made our way home. We decided that since we couldn't find dog bedding we would use non theme stuff and add giant canvas paintings that each boy painted all on their own. It seemed like a great idea until it led to an almost meltdown over a pomeranian not turning out right and hours of painting. It was fun but make sure you are caffeinated and up to a kid challenge.  The room still needs to be painted somewhere down the road but for now it is so much cleaner and organized. Mommy is happy!

Cody

Pj's finished art - Dogs eating popcorn

Cody's finished art. He LOVES dogs. 

Mommy's finished art

New bedspreads and rugs. It was all neat but the kids went and jumped on the beds minuted after I made them. I rolled my eyes and they said "we had to try them out."

The wall you can't see in the other pic with their blocks. We are going to make new ones soon. These ones are the first blocks I ever made and need a little restoration.  

Our home lacks ceiling fixtures in any of the bedrooms. We found a kit for $7 to add a fixture by running a cord up the wall. Perfect for over the reading table.