Simple and Cheap...

Hello world...I have been MIA, because I have had some fun-crazy stuff happening lately....SO here I am!! Anyway, now to the blog: When living in an apartment (and NOT allowed to paint the walls), one must come up with creative ways to fill the wall space. It must be simple, cheap and most importantly fill a lot of this empty space on the wall!!!

Low and behold...the project below for under $20!! (the stuff on the wall...please ignore the stuff on the table).

I high-lighted this briefly before, but people have requested I give a quick how-to.

I bought six random size frames at my favorite local thrift store, went to Lowes and bought those itty bitty sample paints (I bought them in two colors, one light aqua and one dark aqua. They are behind the paint counter and around $2 a piece) and then I bought four peacock feathers from a craft store. I took the glass out of the frames, sanded them down lightly (so the paint sticks better), then painted them random shades between my light aqua and dark aqua. I hung them on the wall (a level is key here, unless you have a perfect eye!)...and then added the peacock feathers afterwards...I just added them by taping them to the back edge of the frames. KEY: I laid this little collage out on the floor first to figure out where I wanted each frame to save my wall from multiple holes.

Lastly, you can use anything...not just peacock feathers.

Good luck and hopefully you have a bare little wall, this might be an idea for you!!

This is in my dinning room and adds the perfect detail to an otherwise blank wall.

My sister's favorite thing...

I've highlighted my dear sweet sister's creativity before, but here is yet another example of her being creative! A little background that seems necessary on my sister. She's obsessed with pens. YES, pens! It seems odd to the average person, but if you knew how much this girl writes, grades college papers, doodles...you could then maybe understand her love for the pen. In her house, she has an entire drawer (not a little drawer mind you) saved for her pens. So, you get the picture, she likes pens.

NOW while I am on the subject of pens...I am sure that almost all of you have seen those pens with big flowers or sometimes a random spoon on them at banks, grocery stores, etc. It took me a while to figure why these were necessary, but it's so people won't keep taking these pens that belong to these businesses. My sister, loving pens as she does, clearly took note of this and thought of this brilliant idea!!

My parents never have pens laying around then they need one (to take a message when someone calls, etc), so my sister made them an adorable little container of flowers that matches their kitchen PERFECTLY that are actually pens!!! YAY! What a perfect little idea that I wanted to share.

You notice a cute little pot of flowers on the counter...never do you think it's actually pens!! WOW! LOVE IT!!

Best thing about these flower-pens is they are very cute flowers, not cheesy lookin ones!

I just LOVE it!!

Handmade gifts. From: Shena

For my mom's birthday a couple weeks ago, I made her a handmade frame. I know what you are thinking, does your poor family get anything actually bought from you?! Ummmm, yes, they do! HOWEVER, I like to make them things!

AND, as you may or may not know, I have a thing for flowers. No matter what type of project I am working on, I always try to add a flower to make it more 'me.' A few months ago, I saw a 'how-to' on making fabric flowers by cutting circles out of fabric and then burning the edges (silk-based fabric), so of course I tried this. I tweaked this process a little bit and I absolutely LOVE what I came up with.

Anyway, I only took a picture of this frame on my horrible little cell-phone camera, so pardon the HORRIBLE quality of the picture. You can get the idea though. Soon (October), me and two of my good friends are going to 'teach' a class to a bunch of Air Force spouses about making these frames, so I will whip up many more examples and have some much better pictures.

What I did: bought a wood frame from Wal-Mart (for 2.97...but Hobby Lobby also has wood frames for 1.00...however, I live an hour from Hobby Lobby, so you see my dilemna!), glued a piece of scrapbook 12x12 paper on to the frame...cut to fit, sanded down the edges to give it a worn look, then stained the edged with my dauber (see previous entry for my going-ons about the dauber), then attached these FABULOUS silked burned flowers I made and added a few little pearls in the flowers and in the corners of the frame....and waaalaaa: homemade birthday present frame done!!!

You can do all sorts of fun things with these cheap frames to personalize them. Hope this gives you some ideas!!