I think I fell in love with Costco...

Sometimes I get these really great ideas and either the follow through kind of.... sucks or sometimes I just have NO idea how to go about it.

I bought some 16x20 frames at michaels on clearance. $3.99 a piece. I looooovvvve clearance. I thought I had pictures big enough to fit inside the matt that came with it... I was wrong, so I put them to the side until an idea of how to correct it came to mind.

I was playing with some of my favorite family photos on picnik when the idea hit me, I could have some of my pictures enlarged!

So I began looking, mainly for prices, at enlargements. Most of my old standbys, Wal-Mart, Target, Walgreens, did not do 11x14, which is the size I needed, I became depressed, searched on the internet and found the cheapest place to do it was $7.99 plus shipping.

Then I decided to start asking around and my friend Audra said, "Have you tried Costco?"

Why no, no I hadn't.

And my mom has a membership...

I check their online site, go to photo, register, upload the pics.... select the sizes and hold my breath. For both pictures to be enlarged to 11x14....

$5.98.

I freaked out and called my mom, placed my order (which turned out to be 6.49 because of tax, but still) and went to Costco with my mom and wandered around.

Got my pictures, (an hour and a half after I placed my order, not bad!!) and placed them in the frames.

THEY ARE BEAUTIFUL.

Want proof?

(they have since been realigned)

This is my absolute favorite picture of me and my husband ever. We had a professional photographer at our wedding, but somehow all of our pictures came out bad because his lens was smudged. Thankfully, we got our money back for that... anyway, this picture was taken by a friend of my moms, a guy who had a digital camera and took literally 495 pictures of us at the wedding.

I am soooooo happy to have it in 11x14 size now :)

Ever have an experiance like this? One that could've been bad, but turned out fantastic?

xoxo,

Halloween wreath :)

SOOOOOO....

after looking at tons of other halloween wreaths I decided to make my own... it's a mix of a few different ones I had seen and cost me 25 dollars (seriously, why does ribbon have to be so expensive?) Had I used a coupon or two this would've been cheaper, but alas, I kept forgetting. *heavy sigh* anyway!

here she is! ^ see my pretty sparkly crow? I had to buy four spools of black ribbon (I got two satin, one basic and one sheer)and two spools of orange polka dot ribbon. Everything except for the wreath form (which I got at the dollar tree) was from Michaels.

I have some projects I am working on, so I might actually post more than once this week! :O lol.

Thanks for stoppin' by!

Linking to some parties!

A few projects and a tutorial!

I end up making a lot of stuff for this little princess right here...

She is modeling one of many rockstar outfits she has. (She wants to be a rockstar... no idea where she got it but she's learning how to play the guitar!)

Shirt: Target (on clearnace)
Skirt: Children's Place (during their labor day sale)

ANYWAY!! I've had this idea for years now... I actually thought it up while I was looking around ratemyspace and had this whole conversation with a lady about curtain tie-backs. Out of uber large pearls.

So while I was at joanns I saw a bag filled with HUGE faux pearl beads... the idea hit me again and I decided why not.

^ my whole splurge... 4.25 for a blanket quilt kit I found on clearnace, 4 spools of ribbon on clearance and one reg price, two things of large pearls.

Other items you'll probably need, yarn or the like, a needle or tape (I used tape)

then you string the pearls onto the yarn... I used 21 for each tie-back... (and there are no pics of the progress because it really is kind of a pain in the butt. lol)

Then I ties on some of the purple sheer ribbon and cut the ends into an arrow, sewed the knots to make sure it all stayed... beautiful right?


^ here they are on the curtains. :D (Ignore my blinds, I need to call the apartments to have them replaced)



Then I made some more floor cushions using this http://3punkmom.blogspot.com/2010/05/tutorial-land-of-nod-inspired-floor.html tutorial! they turned out beautifully!




My next project has to deal with spraypaint... did you know you can spraypaint anything?

I do mean anything...

^exhibit A: bathroom trash can from college

^ I ♥ it!

And well... I can never go to Target without searching through their dollar section... they have halloween stuff... and I bought three of these cardboard glittery faux chandies that are absolutely gorg!!

♥

Linking up to some parties!

More of my Dining nook room wall!

I've been hard at work in my little dining room (it's actually a nook...)

I posted this the day before yesterday!

Complete with the detail of the destressing I did of the letters... (beautiful right?)

But I thought it was missing something. So I talked with my good friend Amber, and she said the best thing to do was add a couple more plates and maybe a couple of pictures for balance on the other side of the mirror... I agreed with her.

But right now I am kind of broke...

So my old plates that were in the donate bin came to the rescue!

I spraypainted them Ocean Sea Breeze that I had left over from another project.


then used a stencil I had to paint around in black and added a T to one and a Est. 2005 to the other... (better pics of that later)

Ta dah!!! What do y'all think?

♥

posting at:

Update!

Sorry it's been so long since I posted something! A lot has happened in the past month.

The mini started Kindergarden;

The mini turned 5 and we threw her a party;

Went up to Red Rocks.

And even though I've been reading blogs I haven't been inspired to write or anything... my BFF left two weeks ago and I think it made me very sad, I'm still sad because I miss her a lot, but I'm a little better... and getting back into the swing of things again.

I made this yesterday!!

The letters not the mirror, but the mirror and plate now look a little less lonely.

I bought large letters at Joanns for 3.99 (it was a dollar off) and painted them robin's egg blue, then used a stiff brush and patted some black on it, rubbing off excess with a baby wipe (I swear I would die without these) when needed.

Here's a close up of the destressing;

Right now I am working on my bedroom, I just bought some beautiful bedding on clearance at Target, two lamps from HomeGoods that are absolutely chic, and have everything to make the headboard!

hugs,

Things I'm in love with...

House hunting is a lot harder than I thought it would be. We need 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a decent sized kitchen, a yard and we're flexible on a basement and a garage... Sounds easy right? Nope. *sighs* So I'm online window shopping to make up for it... And fallin' in love with some things that maybe my husband will let me buy :}



Like this stool from CB2 for $129:


And this Chicken Coop storage tower for $179:

And this really cute rug I would put in the mini's room for $199 :

And from Target I'd like two of these for my masterbedroom which currently has nothing... and at $59.99 it's a steal!

And then we also need some new lamps, Target also had some other affordable options...

I love this one, it's $99.99

Or this one for $89.99

That's all for today...

♥

Robin

Almost 10 projects in 10 days

1. Clean out master bedroom closet. Done :) It's messy once again, but it was done. LOL



2. Stain and fix up M.Bedroom dresser Half-done, I got the drawers all done up and then we've had rainy weather....


3. Organise the office. Done!!






4. Pinic table; build and paint. Half-done, again the weather ruined this...





5. Sew the mini's floor cushions. Done!! I'll make a post all about it later, but here's one pic!

6. Paint the folding chairs. Done!! Pictures will be posted once I finish the picnic table because I want to do the overall effect on my patio.

7. Organise the mini's closet. Done.... it only lastest for an hour though...

8. Finish our bathroom (aka hang artwork and find holders for my makeup). Done, I found holders, but didn't hang artwork seeing as we're looking at houses!!

9. Figure out what to do about my entryway shoe problem. Oye. Fail. Massive fail.

10. Get photos printed out. Done :)

Overall, not too bad, I am a little disappointed in myself and I intended on getting more pictures... but the househunting is driving me crazy. LOL

♥

Robin

Reuse old plates

I bought some new plates and decided to reuse the old ones in a decorative manner. (upcycling is fun and good for the enviroment :D )

I should've taken a picture to start off with but it was a blue rimmed plate... I just used a bit of white craft paint to prime it.

Yes, just craft paint, I usually get it on sale 2 for a Dollar over at Michaels, I love that store. Anyway I painted the whole paint blue, doing a couple of coats on each plate.

Then I printed out some pictures, I love The Graphics Fairy for this. :)

Mod Podge it on, use a few coats. (I think I needed four.)

TADA!!!

These I made using the free stencil from http://thecsiproject.com/2010/05/18/jens-quatrefoil-paint-projects-free-printable-stencil/ <--- Clickie it if you wanna see!!

I am super proud of myself.... now I need to hang them or something LOL!

xoxo

Robin