Hiding Imperfections

One of the very first things I noticed when we first looked at our house was the breaker box. It is huge! Not only was it huge but its in the middle of my hall way. I have to look at this thing any time I go down the hall, which is a lot. I'm not sure why its so massive or who would put them in hallways but its what I was given to deal with.

 

 Before we even signed papers I was thinking of a way to cover the thing up.

I looked at getting a canvas and to get one that size wasn't what I wanted to spend. So I turned on my charm and showed my dad my dilemma and asked him if he had any ideas. Well, he said he could make me something that size and I was beyond happy to just know something was being done. I'm pretty sure I told him I could decorate it if he just made it but I guess he missed that part because this is what I got a few months later.

He almost seemed bummed when I told him the kittens don't really match my decor, but he was cool with me just using the frame and making it more me. It was actually really difficult to figure out what I wanted to do to it. Several times I sat down at Pinterest and searched the diy/decor pages trying to get an idea. I thought I could put a big H for our last name in sparkles or in buttons but I wasn't really feeling it. I tried draping fabric over it all cool but it was anything but cool. I knew I couldn't paint on it to save my life and modge podging didn't seem right. I thought I found the perfect idea to use a soda bottle and make flowers with it, but when I tried it on some paper it was a no go. So I sat back down to pinterest and inspiration hit. I was so excited I didn't even pin the pin. I ran and ripped the staples out that were holding in that kitty fabric and ironed my new plain black fabric and told my husband to get it on the frame.

The pin I saw had a big frame with string strung all over and pictures close pinned on. I got my frame all ready and started gluing on my yarn to the back of the fabric and it was curling in on the sides. I ripped it off and started intricately weaving it on the frame until I ended up with this.

I also couldn't leave my clothes pins boring so I modged podged them with some sparkle.

I'm so in love with it. I have a gallery going on on the other wall so this fits in well with the rest of my hall.

I can change out the pics as much as I like, which is also a bonus.

OK so now a before and after.

I also want to start putting more pictures on this side and just have a hall gallery of family pics and make something to cover my thermostat and doorbell box but my husband thinks I'm crazy. I think I can get him to go with the thermostat but I'm not sure on the doorbell box, he's worried about hearing it ring. 

Avenger Bulbs

I have a secret to tell.

My husband has turned me into a nerd. Not quite a full fledged nerd or anything but my nerdiness shows through some times.

I wanted to make my some Avengers Christmas bulbs, you know for my husband. So I got some plain bulbs from the dollar store at 4 for a dollar. The only ornaments I found not covered in glitter and jewels were these peach colored ones. I got on Google and looked up Avengers logos and ended up with these which I decided to print and cutout.

 They weren't what I originally was looking for. I wanted like a hammer for Thor and a star shield for Captain America, and the triangle thing for Iron Man but didn't know what to do for The Hulk, ripped pants???  So the Avengers symbol altered for each character worked out pretty well.

I mixed up my colors to the right shades with some paint I had and put in some sparkle paint. I painted 3-4 coats on each ball and let them dry. I also took off the top hook things and painted them black with a little sparkle.

After they were all dry I put a layer of modge podge on the back of my cut outs and stuck them down.
The first one I did was Captain America and I put a coat of modge podge over the top and it started to make the colors bleed a little so I stopped and just made sure that they were stuck down good. I stuck the tops back on and put hooks on them and took them outside and sprayed them with some Triple Thick Master Shine Super Gloss Finish (my mom gave it to me?) before hanging them to dry.

I think they turned out pretty cool, they were only a dollar and my husband really liked them too.

Captain America

Iron Man

Thor

The Hulk. 

Cupcakes

I'm pretty sure I just made the most delicious cup cakes in the world. We ended up with about 7 little fun sized Nerds boxes after trick or treating last week. I had seen floating around every where "Nerds" cup cakes where you put the nerds in your batter and its like a funfetti cake. Putting Nerds in is sooo much better then sprinkles. When you take a bite and get nerds its extra sweet and usually but not always soft cause the Nerd melted. They were amazing.

I don't really have many pics because my daughter was helping and it was a disaster waiting to happen. It's a rare thing in my house to use a box cake mix but I was stuck in the baking isle the other day for way too long while my husband hunted down some special spice. The box mixes sucked me in and I grabbed a vanilla one.
We mixed it up according to directions then tossed in all the nerds we had mix them in. Put them in the oven and made frosting.

This frosting recipe is super simple.

• Butter cream frosting.
• 3 cups powder sugar
• 1/3 cup soften butter
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1-2 tbsp. half & half. I used whole milk and it worked just fine.
• Food coloring if desired
• Mix all the ingredients together.
• If it seems too runny refrigerate for a bit to thicken.

Let cool, frost and enjoy.

Master Bed Room

My husband and I moved into our new house at the end of June and have been doing small touches to make it feel more like our home. All the walls are a light grey which I don't really mind, but I knew that I wanted our master bed room to be special. The word that keeps coming to mind when I explain how I want it to look is sanctuary. I'm not positive exactly what I mean but its what I'm going for.

Honestly my whole house is just a modge podge of random furniture  So we kept the theme going in our master bed room. Our side tables use to be part of a vanity that some one ripped apart. My mom bought them like ten years ago for my room, I used them for awhile and they have been in her storage for the last five or six years till she cleaned out her storage and gave them back to me. They were in a bit of rough shape so we gave them a quick sand and a coat of spray paint (Brown Espresso Satin, Rustoleum) and sprayed the pulls (Oil Rubbed Bronze, Rustoleum).

I kept thinking the room needed more so I searched Pinterest and found a stencil I liked. This one. Thought I could whip it out in a week and got to work. Two  months later I finally finished, not that it actually took two months but because I got super lazy and didn't work on it till I planned on having friends over and was embarrassed I hadn't finished it yet.

The next thing I needed was a head board. I really didn't want to spend a lot of money on a head board that had no real purpose other than visual aesthetics.  So I made a mental note in my head to think of a cheap idea. I found a pin on Pinterest where they nailed stained wood on the the wall as a head board and it suddenly clicked. I have boxes of laminate flooring in my garage that I could use for a head board. My husband and  I put our heads together and came up with the perfect idea.

We measured how long the area was we wanted to put our head board. We decided to do from plug in to plug in. Measured the boards, put the pieces we wanted together and used liquid nails to put it the wall.

We just used the tools we used to put our flooring down. It pretty much works the same way except your putting it on a wall with glue on the back.

 Ha we couldn't find our caulking gun so we used a flash light. It worked for us.

 We started but only doing one row at a time and letting it dry a bit but thought it would work better to go quicker. We plan on buying some trim to put around it just to make it look more finished. Which I will update when we get that done.

Unfinished edge :(

Because we chose to use laminate flooring you can see where the seams and edges meet which I think it gives it some character.

We plan on buying a bigger bed this winter some time so I haven't invested in new bedding and we're just making do with what we have. All the bedding here except the quilt at the foot is from Target including the curtains. Yes I also know I need to center the mirror above the bed but my daughter was sleeping and I didn't want to wake her up. Speaking of that mirror I also made it. It was pretty simple two pieces of poster board and the mirror I got from a yard sale this summer. 

Shall we total:
We had already paid fore the laminate flooring and had way too much extra so actually using it kinda saves us money by using it. We got a good deal and payed $.99 per square foot and our head board is 4x6 so its about $24 of laminate.
Liquid nails: 2.89 @ TrueValue
We plan to buy trim and I'm not totally sure what the price will be yet.
We used extra floor trim to paint the wall and I used a very minimal amount.
for my mirror the poster board was two for a dollar at the dollar tree and the mirror was 75 cents at a yard sale.

A complete room make over for very cheap by shopping my own garage.

Octopus!

It has become a tradition in our home to make Halloween costumes. I love Halloween and dressing up my daughter but store bought costumes were just not cutting it for me. I needed some thing original, easy, cute (even if its scary it has to have a cute aspect) warm ( its cold this time of year in Idaho) and affordable. I searched Pinterest and found this. It was perfect for this year. She has in depth instructions you can go check out. When I was making Jessa's costume I didn't plan on posting it, as a result I don't have any pictures of the process but it was super simple.

I went out shopping one day and found a three pack of calf high socks on clearance at target for $2.50, talk about cheap.
I had thought about buying stuffing when my grandma told me she had some laying around that I could use if I gave the stuffing back after Halloween. So free stuffing another score. If you don't have a grandma with extra stuffing on hand it is pretty affordable at craft stores like JoAnn Fabric and Crafts (Click for Stuffing).
I measured Jessa's waist and did all this marking and cutting and thought I had the perfect measurement only to find after I sewed the socks on that they were to close and it was too big for Jessa. I had to take it all apart and try again.

This is how you do it.

• Measure your child's waist and add a few extra inches on each side to tie it around their waist
• Take a piece of thick ribbon and cut it to your measurements.
• Mark the middle of the ribbon and split your child's waist measurement with the remainder being used to tie each end together.

Next measure the opening of each sock to see how far to space each one so that when its tied around the waist they aren't too close. It worked out for me that I didn't need to space them, because Jessa's waist is so tiny. I could have even overlapped them a bit so it fit her waist tighter. I pinned each sock in place along the bottom edge of the ribbon and then flipped the other edge over the sock and hand stitched it all together. I chose not to tuck in the ends of the sock or the heels. I like the natural sock look.

Then I attached buttons for suckers on each leg two rows of six. I just sewed them on by hand.

Got out a nice warm hat and sewed some simple eyes on with a big stitch so I can remove the eyes later and not harm the hat. I found a matching top and pants and called it good.

Total cost:

• $2.50 for socks 
• Free stuffing
• Free ribbon and buttons I had leftover from other crafts.
• Her pants and shoes we already owned.
• I did break down and buy her a new shirt but I figured she'd wear it more than just with this costume because its very cute. $5.00

Total: $7.50

Halloween doesn't have to break the bank with just a little work it can be cute enough to win a costume contest. Which we did.