Long Pallet Shelf

A while ago, I shared some pallet shelves we made for the boys' room. I hung them in a little nook to hold some of their books. Since then, they received bunk beds as a gift, and Jackson needed a way to store his things on the top bunk. I saw the perfect inspiration in a Pottery Barn catalog and knew just what to do to create a similar look.

Mardi Gras Wreath

I was lucky enough to be selected to host a Zatarain's House Party for Mardi Gras. I was already planning on decking out the house, but this gives me more motivation! The first thing I always think about when decorating for anything is a wreath for the front door.

An Old Suitcase

My mom and I seemed to be ahead of the repurposing phase and just didn't realize how popular that would become. 

For the boys' changing table, I transformed the dresser above so that could it could be reverted back. The changing pad sat on top, and there was enough room at the end for a basket to organize the diaper accessories. Eventually, I am going to make into a tv stand for our den/guest room. It's getting a lot of use!

Bath Towel Holder Complete!

Just in time for Ryan's parents to visit, I finally hung up the towel holder I made with old bath knobs! If you missed the post where I first shared it, visit here. Just to recap, our bathroom towel bar is across from the shower over the toilet, requiring someone to have to get out of the shower to get their towel (one of my pet peeves!). I wanted a hanger closer to the shower to prevent this from happening.

Here's a close-up of it. Please keep in mind that I don't have the best lighting for pictures in here!

Yard Sale Finds #3

This weekend was a LONG one. Jackson had a baseball tournament that started with one game Friday evening, starting back at the ball fields Saturday morning at 8:30, and leaving around 5:00. With that being said, it was a GREAT day! Their team was definitely the underdog. They only had 7 players, and in their league, all players get to go on the field and bat, so the other teams had at least 10. Their team came in 3rd place! The boys were awesome!!

Now that I'm done bragging, I'll share my fun finds from the weekend. Down here in Alabama, they start the yard saling on Friday. Luckily, with my summer hours, I can go! Not much luck, though, and nothing on the ones I could squeeze in Saturday. 

I got two purses, a Coach and Talbots, for $11.

One of the thrift stores nearby was having their 50% off sale; that's where I really had the luck. I got all of this for $10.50!

Most of these are self-explanatory, but I will say something about a few. 

The fan blades are for a cute idea I saw on Pinterest. Blue Velvet Chair posted the cutest dragonflies, and eventually, I want to deck out the boys' area in the backyard. This would be a perfect addition, and the set of fan blades were $2. I couldn't pass it up!

I also got what looks like a magazine rack, but there are endless possibilities for storage. It needs a coat of paint, so now the decision is whether to redo it in black or pick a fun color.

I have no idea what the square metal frame is. I'm thinking it held something together that was screwed into the brackets. I'm not quite sure where I'm going with that one, but right now, I'm picturing some kind of art work to go out on our back patio. Let me know if you have any awesome ideas that jump out at you!

I hope you had better luck this weekend than me.

Go Diego Go! Birthday Party

We had the best time at Brady's birthday party. I planned for it to be outside, so of course there was a chance for showers on the day of the big event. We waited until the last possible moment to set up, so I ran out of time to take pictures before our guests arrived. Luckily, Ryan was on photographer duty and did a good job. I'll share the pictures I have and the fun details for our Diego Fiesta!

Our budget is tight, so I had to do the best that I could with as little money as possible (which I normally do anyway). The first thing I did was make binoculars out of toilet paper rolls and yarn. I saved the empty rolls from our house and also asked if they could save them for me at work. I hot glued two tubes together and punched holes to tie the string.
I made Diego vests out of paper bags. Publix was nice enough to give me those. I printed the logo from the NickJr.com site. My mom was a huge help with all of the diy projects. So far, my total is $0!

I scoured my favorite place for ideas, Pinterest, and there was a great example for games at Amanda's Parties To Go. I used a tarp and pallet slats to create an alligator swamp and brought home toy alligators from work.

They're lined up and ready to go!

They had to swing over a pool of quicksand, which was made with paper bags. I delegated the creation of the quicksand to my dad, and his idea was just to throw the pile of bags under the bar! Again, still at $0.

This led them to climb into the Animal Rescue Center (our playhouse), use their binoculars to find trapped butterflies, and go down the slide to save them.  The butterflies were "trapped" in the fencing around our vegetable garden. Unfortunately, there are no pictures of this part, because the kids were so excited about catching the butterflies, they did it as they were arriving! I got three nets at the Target dollar bins and the butterflies from the Dollar Tree. The cost is now at $8.

The food and drink spread I kept pretty simple. It was an afternoon party, so I served finger foods. I typically try to keep the food somewhat healthy, since I know they'll be getting their sugar kick with the cake. We had "Baby Jaguar Juice" (lemonade), "Alicia's Apples," "Bobo Brothers' Bananas," and "Animal Rescue" animal crackers. I made little tags for each on cardstock using clipart of each character. For protection, I laminated them. I also served bottles of water with labels that had Baby Jaguar on them. Here's the best picture I could find of the set up.

I'm not sure how much the food cost, because my parents picked it up for me, and my dad has this bad habit of losing the receipt. Can I count that as free? The decorations for the tables included table covers from the Dollar Tree (the paw print on the black table was wrapping paper), a Diego stuffed animal that we found at a yard sale for $4, blow-up trees and animals that I had from my old classroom decorations and the Dollar Tree, and balloons from Party City. That cost me $12, bringing the total up to $20 if you let me count the food as free :)

The cupcakes were from Sam's Club, and they were yummy! Unfortunately, we didn't get a picture of them before we started passing them out. They were really cute with Diego toppers I made with paper punches, toothpicks, and printouts from NickJr.com. I bought the punches, but I don't count those as an expense, since I'll use them for other crafts. The cupcakes were $14, plates and napkins $4, so that's up to $38.

For the favors, I wanted to make Rescue Pack and fill it with goodies. I like to try to find something the kids will actually use once or twice. I know when my kids get home from parties, most of the stuff ends up in the trash pretty quickly. Dollar Tree did it again! They had orange bags that were perfect for Rescue Pack. I printed off the eyebrows, eyes, and mouth using yellow, white, and red card stock. Tacky glue worked the best for attaching them. I found some Diego and Dora stickers and pretty cool bug kits at the Dollar Tree to use as favors. My boys have used ours, so I hope that our guests have found some use of them. The cost of this was hard to calculate, because RSVPing must be seen as unnecessary these days. Each favor cost $2.33. I will be returning the unused products.

Overall, I think the party was a great success, and the kids had a lot of fun. Happy Birthday to my little guy!

Sundays

Mondays

Tuesdays

Wednesdays

Thursdays
Fridays Saturdays

Bath Towel Holder

My front bathroom is lacking a place to hang towels right by the shower. One of my biggest pet peeves is having to walk across the bathroom, tracking water along the way and getting cold, to get my towel. Seeing that this is our guest bathroom, I don't wish that upon them either.

I found some old bath tub knobs at an antique store. They were $28, which is more than I would like to spend on my project pieces, but I had to have them.

Using a two foot piece of molding, I created the back for my towel hanger. We were lucky enough to have two wooden dowels left from the boys' swing set that fit perfectly into the back of the knobs.

Ryan drilled two holes six inches in from each side of the molding that were the same size as the dowels.

I painted the molding to match the trim in the bathroom.

We put the dowels with the knobs attached through the holes and used wood glue to seal it into place. After the glue was dry, Ryan cut off the part of the dowel that was sticking out the back. The back isn't pretty, but we wanted to make sure they were secure.

I will add picture hangers to the back to mount it on the wall and will share the finished product when it's up. I can't wait to see how it turns out myself!

Thanks to all of the wonderful link party hosts!

The Prudent Pantry, Here Comes the Sun, Jane's Adventures in Dinner, Project: Inspire, Melting Moments, The Artsy Girl Connection, Confessions of an ADD Housewife, The NY Melrose Family, Someday Crafts, The Dedicated House, Adorned From Above, Organize and Decorate Everything, Six Sisters' Stuff, I Heart Nap Time, Positively Splendid, Heatherly Loves, Kayla Creations, Debbiedoo's, A Stroll Thru Life , The Thrifty Home, Beyond the Picket Fence, Stone Gable, Here Comes the Sun, Mom on Timeout, Dear Creatives, Or So She Says

Hang on to Those Plastic Eggs!

Last year, while perusing Pinterest, I found a wreath made of plastic Easter eggs.  I didn't think much of it until I ran into a bag of free Publix eggs at a yard sale.  What an awesome opportunity to make a cute Easter wreath!

Refurbished Christmas Wreath

I love the beginning of December, because it means I can decorate for Christmas!  I love taking out all of the decorations and remembering them from year to year.  I also like to see what I collected at yard sales and thrift stores to add to the collection.

This year, I pulled out a wreath that I received in college to hang on my dorm door.  It has survived the moves and is still with me.  It just isn't exciting me anymore.

Instead of getting rid of it, I decided to give it a makeover!  I used red deco mesh, green and gold sparkle ribbon, and gold plastic ball ornaments.  The reason I point out plastic is due to the fact that I started with glass balls, and one fell, ending up shattered.

There are multiple videos on the internet showing how to use deco mesh.  It is probably a lot easier to search it than for me to try to explain it.  I did two layers of the deco mesh to cover the wreath.

I then took the gold and green ribbon and wrapped it around the mesh.  You have to play with it until it looks right.

Then, I added the gold balls using ornament hooks to attach them to the mesh.  Again, you just have to play around with the placement until you get the right balance.

Now it's big enough to fill the space over my mantle.

Have you made over any wreaths?  Add your link in the comments to show off your skills.

Visit {HERE} to see the link parties where you will find me.  Thanks to all of the wonderful hosts!

Or check them out from the links here: The Prudent Pantry, Here Comes the Sun, Jane's Adventures in Dinner, Project: Inspire, Melting Moments, The Artsy Girl Connection, Confessions of an ADD Housewife, The NY Melrose Family, Someday Crafts, The Dedicated House, Adorned From Above, Organize and Decorate Everything, Six Sisters' Stuff, I Heart Nap Time, Positively Splendid, Heatherly Loves, Kayla Creations, Debbiedoo's, A Stroll Thru Life , The Thrifty Home, Beyond the Picket Fence, Stone Gable, Here Comes the Sun, Mom on Timeout