book page wreath

My kids head back to school on Thursday. I couldn't think of a more perfect wreath to decorate for back to school time than this book page wreath. These wreaths are all over blog land, but I first saw them here . The book I used was old and already distressed. Some of the pages ripped while I was rolling them, but that adds to the character don't you think?

I love to decorate with old books.

Total for the project: 50 cents

You can see the post from garage sale finds Friday when I found them.

linking up here

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Beat it!

Last night we went to the Brenton Brown concert. One of my dear friends from High School married a professional drummer who plays with the band. We had the opportunity to meet him and watch him play. He was amazing!

I decided that in honor of the event, I would whip a little shirt up for my 5 year old. I started by finding some free clip art of a basic drum kit. I then went to word and wrote out "beat it" in a font that I liked. Then I printed them both out.

I then copied the image on to freezer paper and got my exacto knife out and set to work.

I ended up with a pretty fun shirt for my little guy to wear to his first concert.

So fun! If you haven't heard of Brenton Brown before, go download some of his music.

No really, GO! Beat it!

Looking for a good freezer paper tutorial? Go here

I'm linking up here

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Garage sale finds 13

It's been a little while since I have posted my garage sale finds, but don't worry, it doesn't mean I haven't been searching nearly every week for some amazing deals. I thought I would share with you what I found this weekend.

Isn't this HUGE beaker cool? My engineer hubby came home and told me it was called something else but for the life of me I don't remember (or don't care, not sure which!). I think it would be really cool filled with marbles or something. For $1 I couldn't pass it up.

I also picked up this olive oil decanter, but I have plans to use it as a liquid soap dispenser by my sink. Not bad for 50 cents.

I think this little stainless steel dish is cool. Maybe as a base to some crafty thing I am working on, or a little candy dish. The possibilites are endless. I got that beauty in the free box so it makes it even better!

And finally I found these old rice sacks. I got 4 of them for $1.50. Wouldn't they make cool pillow covers? Or a fun little dress.

My son saw these in the pottery barn teen catalog just this past week. He really thought they were pretty cool. I picked up this similar poseable lamp for $7. Much better than the $50 PB wanted!

I love this wire tray that I got for a quarter. I also picked up most of the jars in the basket today at a price of 5 for $1. I think the jars are cool in the tray, but not sure if that will be the way this will end up being used.

I've been really wanting a coca cola tray for awhile now. I actually saw about 4 of these today, but only picked up one because I'm not sure how I am going to use them. They wanted $12 for it, but I paid only $7. Bargaining is the best part of garage saleing don't you think? The lady said that the wire racks in there are for a spice rack. No thank you...they will be coming out this week.

Are you ready for this find? A vintage chenille queen size bedspread for {drum roll please} $1. I'm pretty sure I am going to end up cutting it up and using it for fabric (there are a few snags), but I have never seen vintage chenille offered for so little before that I had to snag it right up!

And those are my finds this weekend.

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Working on the blog

I have to confess...I'm not very good at this blogging thing. I'm still slowly learning how to format and post. I wish that I was better at photography. That I could spend time editing and making everything look nice and effortless, but the truth is, it's FULL of effort for me.

I spent the afternoon trying to make a new blog header. The old one just didn't fit my personality. I poured over several different websites trying to figure out how to make a header using some of the pictures from my past projects and after much frustration and too much time, I think I finally figured it out. This site, finally seemed to help me step by step, until I came to saving my collage. I mean really, who can't figure out where they save something? Me, that's who!

So, what do you think? Do you like the new look of the blog? I'm trying to simplify it a bit. I'm still trying to figure out if I like the linen on the sides. Do you? Or if I would rather it just be all white. It's less distracting...or is it just too much white space? And how do I get rid of that bloggityblog thingie just above the date? And where the heck did that come from?! And can you make the icons on the right side smaller?

See, I still have a lot to learn. Hopefully, you will bear with me.

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What I wore Wednesday 7

Welcome to another week of What I Wore Wednesday garage sale edition. We spent a lot of this past week just enjoying the end of summer.

Let's start with this outfit on Friday

Striped cardigan-Old Navy: 50 cents

Black shirt: 50 cents

Jeans:( recently hemmed ) Joe's Jeans: $10

Flip flops-J Crew: $1

Total: $12

Not sure why I am standing like a duck: priceless

I got in a long run on Saturday (I'm up to 9 miles now!) and afterwards we headed to my in-laws to celebrate my hubby's birthday

Striped cardigan-American Eagle:$1

Creme tank-Banana Republic: $1

Jeans-Joe's (same as above): $10

Total: $12

Sunday was a church day followed by finishing up my kids school supply shopping.

Navy top: $1

Striped pants-American Eagle: $2

silver necklace: $1

Total: $4

I bought these pants a few weeks ago but they were a size too big. If you can see the buttons on the top back, I just took those off and moved them in about a half an inch on both sides to make the pants fit better. Really though, I just wanted to show you a picture of my tush.



Monday
pink sweater-Old Navy: 50 cents
grey leggings: $1
Total: $1.50

I think I might be too old for leggings. It's actually my daughters outfit of choice so everytime I put them on I feel like my 8 year old. What do you think? Is there an age limit to leggings?




And my final day:
Yellow ruffle shirt-Old navy: 50 cents
Capri's-Target: bought years ago

I'm linking up with Lindsay at the Pleated Poppy and at Meet Virginia and Debbidoos

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Designed to sell

We are still in the LONG process of trying to buy a house that is a short sale. It's one of those living in limbo moments where we could be moving in the next few months or not at all. Trying to be positive though, we have spent our free time getting our home ready to sell.

One of those things on the to do list was taking our oldest sons room from a dark Colts blue color that he loved to something a bit more neutral and more crowd pleasing.

I didn't take any great before pictures of his room, but like any pre-teen he had it jam packed with a little bit of everything! He even left up the superbowl decor that I made back in February.

We ended up moving everything out of his room minus his dresser and bed and taking everything off of his walls. I wanted to do a baseball theme in his room but decided that less it more so I didn't overdecorate that's for sure!

I picked up this comforter and pillow at a garage sale for $5. It's not my favorite, but it is more neutral than his blue stripes that he had before. I bought the four panels of curtains at a garage sale a few years back for next to nothing.

This is the view from his room. Mt. Rainier will totally sell the house don't you think?!

I left this Pottery Barn sports rug in his room to cover up some stains. I picked the rug up a few years ago at a garage sale for $8.

That's it. Nothing fancy, just neutral. Hoping that when it's time to sell the house it goes quickly. This is a room that is definitely designed to sell.

UPDATE: our home sold the first day it was on the market for over asking price. I think painting the room helped!

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Fabric covered notebooks

Next week, I have three kids heading to school. I've spent the past few weeks trying to hunt down school supplies for them. I'm finding that teachers are getting quite particular about what brand (Ticeronda pencils, Flair pens, Crayola colored pencils) items kids bring in, and the lists are now including things like dry erase markers and chlorox wipes. Who knew I had to stock up on the teacher and the janitors supplies!

One thing in all my years of school that I never used was a composition notebook. I don't know how I made it through without one! Each of my older kids have at least 4 on their school lists. I sort of got in the habit of buying them when I saw them on sale and ended up with quite a stack.

I went through my scrap bin and thought I would make covers for a few of them.

This one was some fabric that I used when I made an apron. And the tie around? Well, that's from some linen curtains from Ikea.

This one I made with a ruffle and a button to hold it closed. I think it turned out really cute using coordinating material that I had on hand.

Now I can have my very own composition notebook. But what do I write in it?!

I'm linking up here

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Hot Mess Headbands

I finally got around to putting a few items in my etsy shop.

I was trying to make the no slip headband more versatile so it could be worn for more than just working out.

Aren't these cute? And there are more like it in my shop.

I have been wearing my hot mess headband during every workout and I love it! No slipping off my head, no falling behind me while I am running, no hair in my face...don't believe me? Try one yourself!







So what's stopping you? Go visit my shop

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boys room wall art

A few months ago I bought these two fruit pictures at a garage sale for 50 cents each.

I bought them with the intention of really just using them for the canvas. So I took some cream colored paint and painted over the picture. I thought the edges were kind of cool, so I didn't bother with those.

Then I found some scrapbook paper that I liked and cut them to fit.

I put mod podge down on the front, and then slowly worked my way to the edges making sure I folded the corners in like a present.

And that's it. Two new pieces of art for my sons room. Stay tuned for the big reveal as we try to neutral up his current room so that we can sell the house.

I'm linking up here

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What I wore Wednesday 6

Welcome to another week of What I Wore Wednesday Garage sale edition. You can see previous weeks posts by clicking on the link in my side bar (---->). We finally got summer here in the Pacific Northwest with temperatures in the 90's several consecutive days in a row.

We started the week off with a trip to the Olympia Children's museum.

Green shirt: $1

black pants-Lucy: $7.99

Friday brought garage sales and bike riding with the kids

Shirt-Juicy: 50 cents

Capri's-Target: bought years ago

I actually started out my day taking the straps in on this lovely little sundress.

Sundress: 50 cents

total: 50 cents!

We spent the afternoon out on the boat

Floppy hat-$1

Sunglasses-Banana Republic: gift card bought on clearance

Brown cover up-J. Crew: 50 cents

Total: $1.50

It was another hot day on Sunday so we headed out in the boat again.

Black cover up/sundress: $1

Total $1

This was Sunday morning's outfit to church

Polka dot dress-Forever 21: 50 cents

Belt: $1

Total: $1.50

Monday was another hot one! I didn't realize I had so many sun dresses!

Pink sundress-Old Navy: 50 cents

total: 50 cents!

Tuesday brought a trip to the grocery store and some time at the beach

Tie dye top-Forever 21: $1

White capri's-American Eagle: $1

Total: $2

I'm linking with Lindsay over at The Pleated Poppy

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