Christmas around the Home

Christmas fun, for cheap! In the spirit of Christmas I updated my fall look, for cheap of course!

I switched out the corn that my vases featured for fall, with chick peas for a nice Christmas color!

I found this cute sleigh at Target in the dollar spot of course! It had some Christmas candy in it....but somebody, not going to name any names...(AUBREY!) ate them all!

What fun decorations did you come up with?

Cheap and cute? Yes please.

For the first time in my married life, we have two bathrooms in our apartment. My initial thought was, "Oh yay! Another bathroom to decorate and make cute!" Then real life hit me in the face and I remembered we don't really have money to just drop on a bathroom decor project.

So, it has been a slow go with the bathroom. I finally got some hand-towels in there about a month ago. One thing we did have that was exciting was an over the toilet shelf just waiting to be filled with cute decorations! But, what it quickly became was the shelf to put all my decorations that I no longer had room for in the new apartment. So, the decorations are cute yes, but random and sparce.

Here is what I am working with:

Sad right?

So, with that in mind I have been looking and thinking of creative yes, but more importantly cheap ways to find some things to put on there!

I had a brainstorm a few weeks ago and set out on my mission.

The plan: get a cheap frame, spray paint it with a high gloss paint, use scrapbook paper/supplies to create a cute monogram in the frame, and stick it on my sad little shelf.

The result:

The shelf is still in need of some help, but this definitely added a nice touch! I was super pleased with the end result! But was even more excited about the price!

Total cost: $1

Yes, you read that right $1! I found the frame at the dollar store (the real one, not the one where things are more than a dollar) I had the spray paint and the paper, ribbon, and button and voila!

What creative and cheap ways are you decorating your space?

Fall fun, for cheap!

Every time a new season rolls around I get the itch to spruce up the house a bit in honor of the new season, and by spruce up, I mean decorate with something that represents that new season!

This fall has been no different. The stores are bursting with happy fall decorations that I just can't bring myself to spend money on. Actually, I could probably talk myself into it, but the boy would quickly talk me back out, and rightfully so!

So, I began to rack my brain and the internet for cute ways to satisfy my urge within budget! And between some inspiration online and my creative juices I came up with an idea!

I headed out to find some glass vases. I found one at the dollar store (gotta love it right?) and one at Savers. Glass vases: check.

Next I wanted something to fill the vases with. I decided on popcorn and coffee beans for some nice fall colors. Easy, and cheap enough, the coffee beans were a bit of a splurge, but now I have them and they can be reused. Filler: check

Finally I wanted something to set on top of the fillers, my first thought was candles, but I knew they wouldn't be cheap, and was therefore holding out on buying them when I stumbled upon an even better find at the grocery store! Mini pumpkins! It doesn't get more fall than pumpkins! Cute "toppers": check!

This was the end result, and I must say my fall spirit is happy!

Cost?
2 vases: $3
Popcorn: $2
Coffee beans: $4
Pumpkins $2
Happy fall decorations: Priceless!! Right? Well, not exactly but you get the point!

The vases, popcorn, and coffee beans will be gifts that just keep giving! The vases are like blank canvasses to my cheap decorators heart that can be filled with all sorts of fun things! I am sure you will be seeing more of these guys!

What do you decorate with to appease that seasonal need to revamp?

"spring" fun

so "spring" is here....but i am having a hard time believing it...with the SNOW that we got today and the fact that i had to bust out my parka again...BUT i am moving forward to the next season with or without the weather's cooperation!

we had our sweet friends john and jill and my parents over for dinner last weekend and i had fun tablescaping with spring fun! our kitchen table only seats four so we had a girls table and boys table!

i found these cute little planters and the most adorable plant markers in the dollar spot at target (of course!) and decided to use those for place markers!!

And the fun part is that the planters came with seeds and soil to plant basil and parsley, so everybody got an Easter egg with a little pinch of sugar inside, their seeds to plant!!

needless to say i had way too much fun!

and of course i had to experiment with another dessert! Peanut butter cookie cupcakes from my new favorite recipe site

we changed the way we iced the cupcakes from what the recipe called for. and we sprinkled them with chocolate shavings! i wasn't totally sold on these cupcakes, i would make some changes if i make them again. they are much more dense than regular cupcakes, and they were just a little dry to me, but still a yummy treat, and they were cute anyway!!

what fun things/projects are you doing to celebrate spring?

dollar spot goodie

who out there loves the dollar spot in target as much as I do? seriously, I don't think I have ever made a trip to target in which I did not explore the dollar spot! I have found some great finds in there over the years!

I was wandering through the other day during one of my (many) trips to target and found a real steal which I just had to share with you!

I had been looking all over for something like this and lo and behold the dollar spot had just what i wanted!! I ended up going back and getting a tan colored one too!

please ignore my crazy frizz hair!

side view! (aubrey decided to have a little photo shoot with me, i don't normally pose like a crazy person!!)

just wanted to share the little pinch of sugar that made my day!