Charm Ought to Be in Pictures

I pulled out a couple more of my Target clearance poster frames for Charm's room too.  Don't worry, I only have 1 more frame left:).  These were bigger than the frames we used in our hallway and in Lucky's room, and cost $4.24 each on clearance.  I needed bigger mats and pictures to fill the frames, which cost $5 each (with a coupon from Michael's) and $5.96 each (from Sam's Club), respectively.

Here they are:

The top picture is of Lucky and Charm picking strawberries a few weeks ago and the bottom one is from this photo shoot.

 

And the best view is from the hallway because the pictures in Charm's room continue our hallway 'gallery':

Charm's going to check his room out!

The total for both framed prints was $30.40, bringing the room cost total to $87.40.

Seeing Stars...

...stripes and dots too!  Here are a few inexpensive updates for our family room for our red, white and blue 'Color of the Month' theme this month.  We used the following items to create three festive additions to the room:

1. Red Star Banner:

Lucky and I used a piece of red poster board, a star template and twine to make a banner for above our fireplace.  

It cost 56 cents because the only thing we had to buy was the red poster board. 

2. Picture Frame Art:

I picked up a $1.99 Frame from Goodwill and used a piece of on hand poster board to create a mat for the frame:

Next, I wrapped the home made mat with wrapping paper from the dollar bin at Target:

Finally, I added a $0.38 5" x 7" photo printed at Sam's Club:

Total cost: $3.38.

3. Lamp Update:

We placed a few flags that we already had on hand into our 

glass lamp base for another punch of R, W and B!

Along with my red octopus, we're well on our way to a festive family room for July.  (Now, if I had tackled these projects in June, we might have had the room ready to go by the 4th of July.  I guess there's always next year!)

Linking up to Home Stories A2Z.

Creating New Spaces in Old Places

Up until this weekend, we had a closet on our second floor that looked like this:

Neither Bill nor I could remember the last time we had gone in the closet for any other reason than to grab the vacuum.  It was a full closet containing things we never use!  It was our 'linen closet', but we keep our spare sheets in our respective bedroom closets, and the insane number of blankets in the closet were never, ever used.  We also had one 'memory bin' per family member stored in the closet.  Our memory bins are where we put things that are important to us that don't have another home in our house.  For example, old photos and cards fill Bill and my baskets.   Lucky and Charm's include their baptism candles and certificates, along with coin sets they were given for their birth years, jewelry, and anything else that we deem important and worth saving, but is/are best kept outside of a toddler's reach.  We ended up moving these memory bins into our respective closets as well.  (Thank goodness for huge bedroom closets with lots of tall shelving!)

I went through the sheets and blankets that we weren't using and put them into either a 'guest bedroom' pile or a 'donate/garage sale' pile.  Extra pillows found a home in our guest bedroom closet in the basement.  The rolled up rug went in Charm's room, for now, but will probably be sold in the future.

I ended up with an empty closet that I was very excited to fill back up with some of my favorite things: picture frames, wall hooks, canvas frames, mirrors and more!  Essentially, it's a 'home decor' closet:), and I love it!

It's not crazy organized yet, but I love that my spare decor pieces are centrally located instead of all throughout the house.  I do have my spare throw pillows, lamps and a few larger home decor items in our basement.

But, we didn't stop with one closet.  Nope.  We decided that we were tired of having a 'junk' room where Charm's old nursery had been.  Here's what it looked like in the morning:

It was a somewhat dangerous, not fun place.  By putting the decor items in my new closet and by reorganizing a few places in our basement to allow room for the spare mattresses we were storing, we were able to create a new space that now looks like this:

I didn't spend a penny putting it together and honestly, had no intention of spending my Sunday working in this room.  There's just something about 98 degree weather that makes me crave air conditioning over 'fresh air'.  I did go shopping in my new decor closet and added a few new frames from my clearance Target stash and the rug was a Target clearance find for $10.  We picked it up on our road trip through Iowa because I just loved it, but didn't have a place in mind for it.  Now, I do.  

I still plan to do a bit more in this room, like adding window treatments and some artwork above the couch, but for now, I'm happy to have a place for the kids to unwind at night, a place to fold laundry, and another place for everyone to play.  It's amazing what a difference a day can make!

Check It Out: Craft Fail

This is my equation for a perfect girls night: girlfriends + wine + Craft Fail!

If you haven't gone to this website and you want to laugh...really hard, you really should check it out!  I don't remember exactly how I stumbled upon it, but within minutes of reading, I was in a fit of laughter with tears streaming down my cheeks. 

Here are images from a few of my favorite posts (click on 'via' below the image for the direct link.  The descriptions of the 'fails' are even more funny than the pictures.):

Barbie Ball

via

Amish Friendship Bread

via

Nylon Doll

via

Scarf Turned Headpiece

via

To all my crafty gal pals: want to come over next time you're in town?  We could get out some yarn and create something...even if we fail, the laugh would be so worth it!

Have a great weekend!

Rolling in the Deep...Brown Fabric

So a couple weeks ago, I wrote about finding a piece of fabric that I loved in the remnant bin at Hancock Fabric:

Well, later that day I went a major internet search to discover the identity of the fabric.  I had this to go on:

Better Homes and Gardens, Richloom Fabric, and I knew it was an outdoor/indoor fabric based on the texture.  After searching many fairly ambigious terms like 'brown floral print richloom fabric' and 'BHG Richloom', I finally came across this fabric at Fabric.com:

BHG Wailea Ocean

As soon as I saw it, I knew it was the exact same pattern I was looking for in a different color scheme('Ocean').  I had the name of my desired fabric:  Wailea!  Now, I needed the correct color.  I searched some more and found this listing at Fabric Guru:

Intentional No Image

via

It listed a Wailea fabric in 'Coconut'.  It sounded promising, but there was no image.  I'm pretty impatient when it comes to securing a 'find', and I was worried about inventory, so the idea of sending for a sample wasn't a fun idea for me.  I called Fabric Guru and got a verbal description of the fabric, and it sounded right on...dark brown background with a blue and green floral theme.  Yes!  It was $11.95/yd with a $4.99 shipping fee, so it wasn't horrible, but then I was informed that it could take up to 6 weeks to be delivered directly from the manufacturer.  Boo.  Big Boo. 

And then my good friend, sent me a text that she had seen the same fabric at a Joann's on the west coast.  Hmmm.  Interesting.  I figured that maybe I missed it at my local Joann's so I went there Friday night with no luck.  I found it in 'Citronella', but not the 'Coconut' that I was fairly sure I needed. 

Saturday morning, I headed out to a couple other Joann Fabric stores in the area and came up empty handed.  I learned that in order for a fabric store to check inventory of a particular fabric, they need the exact fabric number that the store has assigned to it.  They can't help you even if you have the right fabric (Wailea) in a different color scheme from what you are looking for.  So, I contacted my west coast gal pal to see if she could get me the fabric number from her local Joann's.  She did (thank you, thank you, thank you!) and on Sunday night, Joann's was able to locate enough yardage at a store a couple hours south of me. 

I contacted that store Monday morning, ordered the fabric and it arrived on my doorstep Tuesday evening.  Next day service is awesome!  Additionally, the fabric ended up being $2 per yard cheaper through Joann's vs. Fabric Guru!  And now we're ready to roll with my deep brown fabric:

Thank You for the Sweet Surprise!

I just received the most wonderful bouquet of flowers today with the sweetest note:

Sunflowers, my favorites, in the cutest jar vase! 

They make me smile every time I see them!!

Now, I need to find out: who sent them?  There was no name on the card, so it's a bit of a mystery.  I think I've figured it out, but somebody needs to fess up and take responsibility for making my day week!

Let's Go to Target!

There are many fun deals at Target this week, and I decided that taking some pictures in the store would be the best way to showcase them....so here's a virtual Target trip for you!  I compiled my shopping list from this post at Hip2Save, and I regularly check in with Target Savers too.

Sharpie Marker 2 packs on sale for $1

Use $1 off Target coupon to get them for FREE!

Scotch Tape Roll on sale for $1

Use $1 off Manufacturer coupon to get it for FREE!

Washable Glue Sticks on sale for $0.20 for 2:

I like to stock up on craft supplies for the year during the pre-school sales.

Papermate Pens $1.02

Use $1 off Target coupon to get a pack for $0.02!

Pillow $2.50 (Lots of other pillows were on sale as well!)

 Use $2 off Target coupon to get one for $0.50!

Graphic T-shirt on clearance for $2.48

Use $2 off Target coupon to get one for $0.48!

Jeans on clearance for $4.98

Use $3 off Target coupon to get a new pair of jeans for $1.98

Clearance Shoes Galore:

$3.74

$4.24

$3.74

$3.24

Clearance Wallets:

$3.74

$2.48

Clearance Toy Section:

(I usually wait to get a few toys during the 75% off sale that will probably take place later this month.)

Summer Clearance:

Here is what I bought:

(I used a $5 off 2 Revlon nail tools coupon in addition to the coupons listed above.)

Grand Total: $5.44

for a shirt,

a pair of jeans,

a pair of shoes,

4 Sharpie markers,

8 glue sticks,

2 packs of pens,

2 scotch tape rolls,

a pillow,

a nail file

and nail clippers

I'd take a picture of my receipt, but the total is a little bit higher than that because I also picked up some other things we needed like Dixie Cups and a poster board and some of the candy deals posted at Hip2Save.

The Target coupons I used are from the 'coupons' section at http://www.target.com/.  The Scotch tape coupon can be found here.

If you head to Target this week, let me know if you find these or any other deals!!