A Couple "Freecycles"

Alright folks, got some more thrifty things for ya today! 

I am in the process of organizing my tornado zone of an office. When my lil man was a baby, I was going through those plastic baby food containers like crazy. One day I thought, there has got to be something I can do with these besides throw them away. They're good little pop-top containers. 


So, what did I do with this:

I took some paper, stamps, and a stamp pad, and made this:

All I did was cut the paper to size, round the corners, stamp the name of the item that it will be holding, and popped the paper into the inside of the lid. It stays with no tape, glue, or anything. I love them. I put everything in these. I've made a ton for all the little things in my office like needles, straight pins, safety pins, key rings, rhinestones, buttons, alligator clips, barrettes, etc.etc.

Do you throw away a bunch of these like us?

What can you do with those you ask? Take some cute paper like this:

a little Mod Podge...

And turn it in to this!

As with the containers, all I did was cut the paper to size, and then mod podged the can, put the paper on, and then put a layer of mod podge on top. Perfect for holding pens, pencils, markers, paint brushes, and whatever else your heart desires!

I hope y'all enjoyed my "freecycles." Come back tomorrow for some more spray paint fun!


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Sumo's Sweet Stuff

Thrifty Magazine Holder

I have been searching for a good magazine rack for our, um...ahem...bathroom. Ok, so whatever, everyone has those right? =) I could never decide if I wanted a floor or wall rack. 

So, as I'm walking into Michael's the other day. This is staring back at me:

Don't you love little baby hands? =) 

Now, what would I do with that Christmas basket you ask? Well, I saw potential. Spray paint can make ANYTHING into something better. Only thing I was really worried about covering up were these sparkles:

I could not wait to see the finished product. I planned to take the "Ho Ho Ho" sequined letters off. But I took the cloth liner out, and spray painted it with 2 coats of black spray paint. Let it dry, and put the liner back in. I didn't take the letters off because the basket fits perfectly on the back of the toilet, and if you face it the other way, you can't see the letters.

The bathroom has hunter green accents, so I like a little bit of the green peeking out that I couldn't get or missed. I love the end result. It was a $15 basket, and I got it for 80% off. Score!


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Valentine's "Fantel"

I have introduced my mother to the world of blogging...and now, she's hooked. I mean HOOKED. Like me. It's bad...at least that's what she says. Hehe. 

She has already decorated her little buffet that sits in their front room all Valentine-ish. And I love it. 

I haven't started Valentine's decorations yet. I'm so behind. UGH. 

Anyways, I took some pictures of hers (with my point and shoot - so, sorry for not great pics) while I was over there today. I think she did a great job...even though she doesn't think so. Love ya mom! 

So, today, just enjoy these pics! Hoping to be back tomorrow with a new project! So stay tuned!

Sorry so blurry... This is her adorable cupcake liner wreath. Way cuter in person. 

 Yes, those are sprinkles under the candles. CUTE!

Something I made for each set of our parents for Christmas. Got the idea from Stacie @ The Creative Crate. I used flat canvases. I love the smudges of black, and the look the distress ink gave it. I wish I would've made me one...hehe!  

 This garland was actually Christmas, but I think it looks great with all of this stuff. 

Her version of subway art that she did with STICKERS. I love it!

And, OF COURSE, pictures of my lil man, because he is the ONLY grandkid on both sides. =) He was 3  and 9 months in those pictures. So big now. Almost 2. =(

I hope y'all have gotten a little bit of inspiration today. Now, I need to get going on my Valentine stuff. I am currently painting the kitchen cabinets, and I'm working on some stuff for my best friend's birthday. Going going going. Hope y'all had a great day!

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Minnie Mouse Birthday Banner

Remember these cookies I showed y'all yesterday?

They were made for an ADORABLE little girl's 1st birthday party. Her mommy asked me to help with some details of the party. I knew I wanted to make a personalized birthday banner. They are so cute, always a hit, and good center pieces for the party. Of course, everyone always asks where you got it.

Let me just say, I am in L-O-V-E with my mom's Cricut. One day I will have one of my own! I WILL! Anyways, the Cricut did everything here except glue and hang it. 

I got the idea for this one from here and here. 

You can't see because I forgot to include them, but I covered up the ends of the ribbon strands with extra big, plain Minnie head cut outs with just the pink bows on them. 

For the bow, I just Googled "Minnie Mouse Bow," found one I liked, messed with it in paint so that it would cut out on the Cricut right, and then cut out a bajillion of them. I love how it turned out. 

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Sisters' Stuff

Glitter Nails

I finally jumped on the glitter nails bandwagon. I love my silver sparkly nails! So, cute! I first saw this idea on Whippy Cake's blog. Then I saw this cute idea for just one accent nail with glitter here.

All I did was put a good base coat down. Then, I sprinkled the glitter (I used super fine craft glitter.) on top, and tapped the excess off. I let it dry a little. I washed the excess glitter off with COLD water, and then put a couple of layers of top coat on. Good to go! Big bang for a little buck! I love them, and I can't wait to do them in all kinds of colors, and on my toes, too. Lots of glittery toes are in this summer's forecast. =) 

Spongebob Birthday Invitations

Are you ready for another installment of the "Lil Man's 1st Birthday Stuff" series?? Hehe! I toiled over these invitations. I flipped flopped so many times with different ideas. I wanted them to be simple. I'm not much for the crazy busy invitations with a bunch of pictures and stuff on them. I was extremely pleased with how they came out. Of course, when I made these, I didn't know I would be starting a craft blog...so I have no tutorial, but I will tell you to the best of my memory how I made them. 

Basically there is nothing to it, but if someone would have told me that when I was making them, I probably would have screamed. 

I used a yellow, brown, white, and black cardstock and red 1/2" grosgrain ribbon. 

I bought the envelopes first, and sized the invitation to them. I cut a yellow piece that size, and then printed out the information for the party on a white piece of cardstock. The brown underneath just covered up the extra white and yellow with 3 narrow black strips for the belt. Then, I cut out 2 triangles to look like the collar on his shirt, and added a ribbon tie. 

They were a hit, and I loved them! Hope this gives you some inspiration. 

Oh, and I couldn't forget these adorable stamps my mother ordered for them, too.

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Sunday Showcase @ Lolly Jane

Simple Birthday Hat & Shirt

Happy Friday everyone!!! Hope you had a great week, and have an even better weekend!

Now on to the post...

My son turned one last May, but I am just now posting some of the stuff I did for his party. His theme was Spongebob because he LOVES Spongebob. LOVES LOVES LOVES the ole yellow dude. I will say that the Cricut was my right hand in planning his party. I did everything with it from the invitations to decorations to cupcake toppers.

Honestly, this has to be the EASIEST craft project I have ever done. No joke. You can look at it and just know how to recreate it. No sewing. No crazy tutorial here. All I did was take an extra Spongebob birthday hat that I had for his party, and hot glued on some cute Spongebob fabric that I bought to make his shirt. Easy peasy. Have you made one? I would love to see!

And this adorable shirt...all I did was print out a number I liked on my computer...traced it onto the fabric...ironed the fabric onto some heat and bond...then ironed it onto the shirt. I could have stopped there but I wanted to make it look a little more finished, sooo....I added a contrasting yellow straight stitch around the edge of the number. I love how it turned out, and got so many compliments on his outfit the day of his party. 

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Making the World Cuter

Purse Brag Books

This is an old project that I did for Mother's Day last year for my mom, mothers-in-law, and grandmothers-in-law. They LOVED them. I found this idea at Brown Paper Packages just in time for Mother's Day. It's basically self-explanatory, but I can tell you how I did mine. I also added more blank pages for the grandmas because they each have a lot of grandchildren and great-grandchildren. 

These are the supplies I used:

- Badge holders (these were about 2 1/2" x 3 1/4"...found at Walmart)

- Silver rings that open, keychain rings, etc.

- Distress Ink

- Coordinating scrapbook papers and ribbons

- Any embellishments, if desired

- Straight cutter, not needed but really helped

Oh, and this little guy helps with distressing...just a little cheapo dauber. I'm sure you could use a makeup sponge, too.

So, what you do is cut 2 pieces of the scrapbook paper to fit the front and back cover. Then just decorate or embellish how you want. What I did was cut two of the same pattern for the front and back for each book, doing a different patterns for each lady. Then, I did a strip of a coordinating pattern. I then added a little piece with their first initial stamped or printed on it. If distressing, distress EVERY piece of paper.

How did I do the little "frames" you ask? Well, that would be a stamp that I found in the dollar section at Michael's, and it was PERFECT for this little project. 

Also, on the back cover, I added a little piece of cardstock with a little note with who it was from and what day it was given. 

Here are the finished books. I did one with the ring and a few different ribbons, and the others I just tied with a simple knot and bow. I liked both. 

They were wrapped in a piece of tulle with a tulle bow. Simple and cute. The ladies LOVED them. Who doesn't love personalized gifts??

After I did these for Mother's Day, I saw that Kierste from Brown Paper Packages did something else with these badge holders that was similar. She did quiet books for her lil ones, and she also listed some other ideas. 

Christmas Ornament

 I know it's past Christmas, but I figured I could tell y'all how I did the Christmas ornament (check this post out) I made for my son for our tree. I did one because I would like for him to have an ornament from every year, that way when he gets older, he'll have a lot of ornaments for his own tree. Anyways, I bought this clear plastic ornament from Michael's. Then, I just painted red, green, and white dots with acrylic paint, added his name cut out of vinyl. Then, I stuffed it with tinsel. The picture is pretty self-explanatory. I plan on doing a lot of this next Christmas for all the kiddies in our families. 

Vintage Shower Sign

When I was about 7 months pregnant with my now 19-month old son, I repainted and put new flooring in the master bath. It is a soft white and hunter green. I had to work with the color of the counter tops in there because new counter tops is not in my budget as of right now. Since then, the bathroom has been totally bare because I have yet to decide how I wanted to decorate. I had previously wanted lighthouses, but the green kinda threw that off. So, I needed something new. I decided on vintage. Anything vintage-y and bathroom related. I have been dying for one of these:

image from greengingergallery.com

Only thing is, I wanted it to say shower. The only solution? Make my own. I totally forgot to take pictures as I made this, but it's really simple and no explanation needed. I took the cardboard/wood-ish back out of an old picture frame. I painted the with the same soft white paint of our bath room. Two coats in, and the board was still soaking it in like crazy. I took a good look at it, and liked the aged look of it. So, I left it, and then added a border of the hunter green around the entire edge. I then went to the handy dandy Cricut and cut out the saying on clear contact paper with a cute vintage looking font. I fiddled with the placement for a little while, and then painted with the same hunter green. I was so excited to take the contact paper off and see my work....then, disappointment came. I was totally bummed because as I'm pulling the contact paper off, some of the paint is coming with. I'm guessing the reason was because of the type of paint because acrylic craft paint had never done this. But, to my shock, after I took it all off, and was ready to retouch every single letter and number, I took a good look at it, and fell in LOVE with it. It was exactly what I had wanted. The aged, messed up look of it is perfect. And, it was totally FREE! Can't ask for better! 

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Someday Crafts
Sunday Showcase @ Lolly Jane