DIY Cake Stands

Today I had the day off and headed to the nearest 'large' city for shopping. My sewing machine needed a long overdue service and I had to run a few errands. While I was waiting for my machine I hit up the local St. Vincent Thrift Store. It's out in a part of town that is a little more run down and either it's a really good place or I always hit it at just the right time. Today I was lucky enough to show up and the ENTIRE store was 50% off. When prices are already dirt cheap this is basically stealing.

I've been looking for some simple cake stands to use for displays and entertaining. Lately we've been doing a lot of simple entertaining with friends and family at our home and always need to add height to the food table.

I dug through the piles of dishes at the thrift store and found 4 matching/eclectic creamy white plates and tea cups. The cups were .15 cents each (plus 50% off) and the plates were .25 cents each (plus 50% off), for a grand total of .82 cents!

Using E6000 glue or any other super durable glue, I attached them together at their bases. Voilla, 4 cake stands for a price of .82 cents. I don't think it can get much cheaper than that. Plus, I know that I will use them over and over to make them well worth it.

I was also able to score 3 Haeger USA bowls/dishes for less than $10. They are in perfect condition and now I just have to find them a home, within our already full of collectible pottery house.

Baby Shower Pretties

My best friend is expecting her 1st baby in 2 months! They're the first ones to have a baby in our close circle of friends. We're all practically family and have been super close for years so this is pretty awesome for all of us. This past Saturday was her baby shower and I was excited to make some of the awesome tutorials popping up all over blogland lately. I created: bibs, diaper and wipe holder, pacifier clips, spit rags, and a toadstool rattle. 

The daddy-to-be is a HUGE Case IH tractor fan. He joked that even if it was a girl that she was going to have a Case blanket. So I made him a separate gift with items for him. 

My INCREDIBLE mother helped me make the awesome little tags on all the items on her embroidery machine. This way things don't get all mixed up at church nursery or daycare. And it's a perfect personal touch. 

After using Jessica's tutorial and templates on Running with Scissors I am now completely addicted to freezer paper stenciling. They will be perfect the the new little dude. 

TOADSTOOL RATTLE TUTORIAL

Using her template for the toadstool, I enlarged it and created a rattle to match. I cut the piece out of red felt. I also cut out some small circles from fleece and stitched them on there as well for an additional soft texture.

I used some small jingle bells and hand sewed on some jingle bells to keep the baby busy. Be sure to attach them well so they don't slide around. 

I sewed the two pieces together and left a small opening to fill with poly-fil. Fill with some fiber-fill, enough to hide the hardness of the bells but not too much to muffle them. Fill the handle a little more stiff to hold easier. Sew the hole shut and rattle away! (As with all items for children, make with care and safety of the child)

Painted Wallpaper

So I finally jumped on the bandwagon and painted wallpaper in our bedroom. I've been drooling over so many of them in blog land and couldn't resist any more. When we initially moved in I wanted the room to be monochromatic, masculine, and dark. Now almost a year later it was super boring and I had never gotten around to decorating.

BEFORE:

I created a basic shape to use for the pattern. I'm not much of a perfectionist with my creating so I started in the top corner of the window and just started tracing and eyeballing, and tracing and eyeballing some more. I traced the entire wall to make sure it was even. The walls are an eggshell finish so I used leftover white high gloss from painting the inside of my kitchen cabinet walls (they were wallpapered when we bought the house! ew). At night when the lights are right, or there are candles lit you can see the little bit of shine.

Now our tiny bedroom looks much bigger! Even my hubby likes it. I feel like I'm checking into a boutique hotel every night. It gives me a little more inspiration to actually make the bed now and then. I had initially looked into wallpaper, for $100 for the small wall I shot that idea down quickly and much better appreciate this treatment for free! After doing this for about 7 hours on my day off, I'd say it's well worth it!

AFTER: