Free E-cookbook

http://www.mrfood.com/
Go to Mr. Food to download a free e-cookbook called decadent desserts. (thanks rockin' deals). You have to sign up for their free newsletter but then you get the pdf download! Kinda cool, thought I'd share since I know we have a lot of cooks out there.

http://www.mrfood.com/

Simple Decorating at its... simplest?

Like me you probably have either nothing on your washer and dryer because it would fall off and break or every thing piled on it (i.e. detergent, towels, cleaners, &c.). Well... what if I told you this whole bit cost me about $7 and it TOTalLy re-invented my washing area?!

Vinyl placemats from Target. They were already coordinated and everything! about $2 each on sale

Plastic drink tub form Target $2.50 in the dollar section

A few sheets of tissue paper on sale at Target $.50

Mod Podge (had on hand)

Now. You need to know. PLacemats aren't just for your dining table anymore. I have a placemat (but no picture since it is messy) on my bedside table that a. protects it from cups of water and b. dresses it up, makes it cute, acts as a table cloth so-to-speak without covering up my cute table. Love it!

As you can see in the picture my washer and dryer are low enough that you can totally see the tops of them. These placemats will be easy to clean in the event that I spill detergent (likely) or they make a nice folding surface. I don't have any cupboards near my washing machine so I bought that tub and decoupaged it to match the room. You can't see it but I found this fab chindi rug at Target for like $5 and it is various shades of blue, white, and teal. That's where the teal comes in!

The tub was originally a strange blue color that wouldn't work so I tore strips of tissue paper and Mod Podge them on. I wanted it to be crinkled so I wasn't super careful. I plan to add some embellishments later once I figure out where I am going with it...

I have another SUPER great idea just for the laundry area but I have to track down a wire wreath form first. Any ideas?

Safari/Explorer Room

SO, I originally planned to do a vintage baseball room for my Buck-a-roo, but after a move and never finding a way to do everything I wanted I settled on a completely different, but equally fun, room. Above are pictures of the pillows I made for his crib/floor pillows. My thinking: one spends so much time on the floor playing with baby, you might as well have a cushion under your bum. PLus, we all know pillows and babies don't mix, but pillows are a fast way to cozy up and personalize a room.

These are 18" pillow forms I bought and the covers are SUPER simple to make.

p.s. not paying 15 to 30 dollars for ONE pillow at the store and every pillow I have hand-stuffed turned out stupid and went flat within weeks.

Start with a square of your chosen fabric slightly larger than one of the sides of your pillow (gotta leave seam allowances, plus your pillows are fluffy not just flat !). Then have two more pieces one that measures about 3/4 the size of your pillow and the other measuring about half.

with the two smaller pieces make a small fold at one end. sew. fold over again. topstitch. You should have two peices of fabric with one nicely folded sew edge and three unfinished edges. lay these wrong-side-up (so your fold is visible) on top of the right side of the square of fabric making sure the two smaller bits overlap (I like the bigger to be on top once it is sewn together and flipped right side out). Pin and then sew all around your pillow going back and forth once or twice where the fold is. flip right side out, pick out your corners, topstich if you want, iron if you want, and then cover your pillow. Voila. If it is too big, you can always sew a little more!

If you have any questions, leave me a comment. Once everything was cut this took me 15 minutes at most per pillow. This was the first time I had ever made pillows that looked good and the first time I ever did it this way. I loved it because I love being able to wash them (by hand in the sink with cold water since I don't know what type of fabric it is or what the care instructions are) and I like being able to take them off and replace them easily!

One other thing I did was to make a smaller one (whatever size you like) to keep the jams in when baby's dressed for the day. I am lucky enough to have a mom with an embroidery machine so I commissioned her to embroider his name on a seperate piece of fabric (muslin) and then sew it on using a decorative stitch. I did it this way because inspiration for the embroidery came after the jam pillow was sewn.

I started making a map for the room by projecting and then tracing... it was taking FOREVER. SO I went to my local craft outlet store and by jove.... exactly the thing I had wanted but figured I ouldn't find without paying an exhorbitant fee.... so I bought it for $3!!!!!!!!!! It ended up being too big for my frame so I cut it down a little, using the cardboard backing of the frame as a stencil. This frame I got for %50 off at my local craft store (Robert's). It was white and since I am renting I can't paint the sterile-white walls so the frame got spray-painted instead! The map was perfect because it tied the explorer theme into the room and also the oranges and yellows in my fabric. The giraffe-print pillow is another pillow I made. The chair I got at IKEA and it came with that teeny little pillow and with the shape of the back of the chair it looked sad. Quick fix PLUS way more comfortable.

The stars are a. a tin blue star I also found at the craft outlet store and b. the orange star I found at the same place and hand-painted (as shown in an earlier blog post).

Still don't know how to feel these, but my landlord  some awful motel-style drapes up and I couldn't deal with it. The tan curtains I got at IKEA for $14 a set. CRAZY!! They come with an unfinished bottom and some no-sew iron on type stuff so you can hem them to whatever length you want. BRILLIANT, by the way. So, my mom and I sewed two flat pannels of some remnants of the striped fabric I picked out for a bed skirt, and sewed a loop for a curtain rod at the top. I got them home and they weren't long enough (naturally) I sewed three pannels of the blue fabric but then after a trial the hubby and I decided the one  e middle looked best. I thought it would look ky and ou may too, but I thought it wasn't too bad. We installed a curtain rod I had above the drapery rod and that covered up all the weird little attachments on the rod. A quick valance-type-thing and all wi left-over fabric.

Here's a picture of the paintings I did with the lamp I re-vamped. Now you can see how it all ties together!

Kind of a funky picture (ever notice how great something looks in a room in real life, but as soon as you take a picture it looks all stark and dis-jointed?), but I got a leaf canopy at IKEA for $14 (I love those netting canopies, but  hubby says it's too girlie). You're supposed to install it directly on the wall but I didn't have the right size screws, but I HAD to have it up immediately (you know how it is) so I covered a bar of the crib with muslin to protect the wood and then used those plastic zip ties (we used probably 12 to make sure it was secure) pulled as tight as possible and then trimmed off the ends. It worked wonderfully and I was able to place it exactly where I wanted to over the crib.

FAB!

All right, let me know if you have any questions!

I LOVE IKEA

SO many things at IKEA for such good prices. Yesterday I got a rug for 30$ that goes under my dining room table, I got a big leaf that creates a canopy-type feel for the babe's crib (we don't like anything girlie and the hubby says netting is), and the thing I am most excited about......

Guess how much I paid for this. Guess!!! okay. I will tell you. .47$ yes that is a period and then a 4 and then a 7. WOot! I got four of them. Who wouldn't?! They are unfinished wood and probably need a little wood filler in some spots but come on. Less than half a dollar?

I have this painting in my house hanging above my dining room table. I plan to do my entire dining room around it. Oh and guess what. I got this original oil painting for $20. that's right. not $200, but $20. It is one of a kind. You may ask where I got such an amazing, wonderful, terrific deal. The Starving Artist Art Sale that comes 'round once a year or so. LOVE IT. The only paintings that were this size and were $20 were all of fruit (motel type, you know the ones) but somehow among all of those I was able to find this for $20. And it is exactly what I loved and wanted. Talk about Kismet.
So anyway (that wasn't completely random) I love the painting but it looks a little sad up there all by itself so I plan to hang mirrors on either side of it. At first I planned to go around to thrift and antique stores to find old mirrors to fix up. I still may do this. But when I saw those mirrors at IKEA I thought it would be kinda cool to hand-paint each one and hang two on one side and two on the other.

What do you think?