Garbage Diving

   On Tuesday the hubby and I were leaving our condo complex and saw this beauty sitting by the garbage can. When we came back a while later it was still there, so I asked my hubby to carry it home for me. He wasn't thrilled that he was "dumpster diving" but it was just too cute to pass up! I plan on keeping it on my back porch with flowers on the shelves.

Craft Cabinet

   I saw a cabinet someone had bought on KSL and refinished for their craft odds and ends. Cabinet found here (she has so many cute refinished KSL finds on her blog)

I went on a search for my own KSL steal. This is what I found for $20

(I am kicking myself for giving my sister the tv cabinet I had that was almost exactly like this :) It just goes to show that furniture can be recycled by using it in a different way than you think it should be used for.)

I convinced by husband to take me to pick up my find... I wasn't sure if our marriage would survive after the 3 hour trip, but luckily we are still happily married.

I made the mistake of not asking the seller for his exact address until we were on our way there. I just knew the city he lived in, which wasn't too far. I just didn't realize once we got to the city he lived in the middle of nowhere and it would take another 30 minutes to get to his house :)

Now the cabinet is happily living in my spare bedroom waiting for the weather to warm up so I can paint it (along with this) and put new handles on it. I love having my cabinet that closes to keep all my craft things in. My desk actually looks like a desk now!

 

Shower planning

Normally I wouldn't post all my plans for a shower that hasn't happened yet... But I know for a fact no one who is coming reads my blogs :)

My only real instructions came from my mother-in-law who really wanted the shower to have something to do with groceries. So this is what I came up with:

The invitation... behold:

I am pretty darn proud of these things. I think they turned out so good! The thought is when the invite is in the brown bag it looks like a bag of groceries. I then put the invite in the brown bag in another brown envelope with a recipe card.

Click on the pic to enlarge to read the cute poem I wrote :)

This is the party favor.  My sister-in-law got a killer deal on the brownie mixes and the wooden spoons were 4/$1 at Walmart. Can't beat that!

My sister had this adorable mini shopping cart so I put the game prizes in it. I think it looks so perfect!

    Like I said, we included a recipe card with the invitations for everyone to fill out and bring with them to the shower. We found matching recipe cards, coupon books, shopping lists, and a recipe card holder in the $1 section at Michaels.
   On the invite, we asked everyone fill out the recipe card we included with the invite with their favorite recipe and for the shower gift, we asked they bring the items needed to make the recipe. The recipes will be given to the bride to be in the matching box.

If you can't tell, I am super excited about this shower! I never get to plan parties like this. And doing the planning with my sister-in-law makes it even better. I can't wait to show you how everything turns out!!

Inexpensive gift ideas

     My brother-in-law is getting married next month, so my sister-in-law and I are throwing his finacee a wedding shower. As we were looking for shower party game prizes at MIchael's, I found these tile magnets in the $1 section. The soon-to-be wedded couple's kitchen colors will be red and black, so I added their initials to the tile in red vinyl.

I think they turned out cute- not too shabby for $1! And they had a cute magnetized shopping list that matched, also $1.

I think these would make really sweet and inexpensive visiting teaching gifts. I think they would also be perfect Christmas gifts for neighbors or coworkers. Michael's had a lot of different things in their $1 section... I have a feeling I'll be there often!

Selfish Service*

   For Enrichment this month we were supposed to choose a service project to do from a list of options we were given. I made a few hygiene kits, but also signed up to make a wall hanging. The wall hangings are sent all over the world but are usually hung in orphanages where the children often go color blind from seeing nothing but dirt floors and bare walls. I was just learning to applique, so thought I would try an applique quilt.

This is the front of the quilt with the peices attached. That was the easy part... it's the sewing that's been taking me forever! It's been fun and I am learning a lot about what I would do differently next time. I am supposed to make to, but at the rate I am going, I'll be lucky to have this one finished in time :)

Thanks to my aunt Melissa for all the fabric scraps!

* Cody calls this "selfish service" because if I use the excuse "I have to buy it, it's for a service project" he can't say no :)

What do you do at 4am?

                                                                I craft, of course!

          
   My hubby and I have decided to make a monthly meal plan menu instead of weekly. And we are determined to stick to the menu. I decided we needed an erasable calendar to keep track of our plan. Ben Franklin's had these frames (around $4.50 w/ a coupon).

          

Ben Franklin's also had clear plastic 12x12 blank calendars that look so cute... but they were $6! I knew I could do something almost  as cute for a lot less $$. Ruler + Sharpie= free. Much better. I thought some black electrical tape would give a really finished look, but the tape we had was too wide so I decided not to use it.

                                        

  To write the days of the week, I used a dry erase marker to write the days and then turned the glass over and traced the letters with a Sharpie  (otherwise you have to write backwards...)

Add some scrapbook paper and I'm almost finished...

But why stop there? The frame needed to painted and distressed, of course.

Better.

Hemming jeans

          I am 5'1" and a bit... curvy... yes, curvy; that's a great word... The combination of the two makes shopping for jeans difficult. If the jeans are the right length, they are way too tight, and when the jeans fit my waist, they are either highwaters or way too long. I found this tutorial a few weeks back, and finally tried out the technique. So far, I'm loving it!

I took about 2 1/2 inches off these jeans, wow! I wish I had taken a before shot so you could see the difference, believe me, it's huge.

                                  

     It was my first time hemming, and I am still very novice at sewing, so considering, I think they turned out pretty well. I love that they don't look hemmed (unless you look really closely) they still look natural since they have the original hem. I still have to throw them in the washer and dryer and see how they wash. I have a feeling I might have to iron the bottoms after every wash, but that is a small price to pay for pants that fit!