Link Love

November is a crazy busy month for us with traveling and the holidays. Just got back from Sacramento. Going to decorate for Christmas tonight. Here are some favorite links to some great blog articles.

What Simplicity and Minimalism Isn't About

8 Tips to Make Your Photography Better for Under $6

DIY Thanksgiving Display Board great crafty idea!

Alternative to Vinyl Lettering for around 25 cents (scroll down the article to show how she makes the vinyl lettering look on her computer and takes it to the copy shop)

Autumn Vignette showcases her cheap alternative to vinyl lettering from the copy shop - love it!

Going Nuts for Acorns

I tried uploading this post several days ago to no avail - apparently my computer is rejecting my photos that I have touched up in Picasa and they are coming up as invalid images. Blogger won't recognize them as well. Still trying to figure it out.

So...I apologize for not more photos but this is one of my latest fall creations - when I was up in Oak Glen for apple season I took my boys to a nearby park and there were literally boatloads of acorns. They were gorgeous - a reddish brown too! I decided to fill up my hurricane vase with these lovely acorns. I then took a few fabric leaves that I had laying around from a small box of decorative pumpkins that I got at Walmart for only $6. I'm not always the biggest fan of Walmart but I must admit they had a great selection of fall decor this year! I really do enjoy their Better Homes and Gardens and Canopy line of products. I punched some small holes in those leaves and then wrapped some jute twine around the vase. (The twine can be found in the housewares?? section by the lightbulbs and tape measures, ect)

Now if you have a queasy stomach....please stop reading. Since acorns are a natural product of nature......lets just say it would be a good idea to boil them in water when you bring acorns home....as the ones that I brought home....a week or two later....we found maggots aka baby worms not turned into flies yet at the bottom. We couldn't figure out why we had a few flies around the house. Ummmm....yeah. (Ew ew ewwwww!!!!) So we boiled the acorns. A rolling boil. They lost some of that beautiful reddish color.....but now we're maggot free. And I'll take the latter.

Contentment

There are some fabulous girls who have been doing a "31 days" series for the month of October. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading their thoughts. I wanted to share a few of my favorite things they have said and you can click on the links to go to their blogs.

Emily runs a blog called Remodeling this Life. Her focus for the 31 days series is on living simply. This upcoming quote has really stuck with me.

"Whenever I think I have to have something or that I've found a deal I can't pass up, I remind myself that there will always be something else. Something newer and shinier. The newest best things today are tomorrow's Goodwill donations. Target will always have a clearance rack, Goodwill will always have $5 jeans, yard sales will always have household stuff for $1, and there will always be catalogs with nice things in them making what I have now look like old news." -Emily, Remodeling this Life.

She has some excellent thoughts on gift giving and simplifying Christmas as well. You can read the whole post here. One thing that really stuck out to me is how they do Christmas presents for their children. Their kids receive 4 gifts from them. They receive something they want, something they need, something to wear, and something to read.

We are doing that this year for our 3 boys. Brian and I had them write out their wish lists for the 4 categories, and as I have thought of things as well for them I have added to the lists they gave me. This will be so much more meaningful gift giving, and I want my kids to remember the real reason we celebrate Christmas - the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. Not just all about Santa and the over-commercialism that Christmas has become. I could write a whole post just about that. My goal is to be completely done with getting gifts by mid November so that I can ENJOY the whole month of December!

I could write so much more that Emily has said. You should really check out her blog, its fantastic. I think I'll wrap up this post and talk some more about some of the other bloggers in another post.

Spray Painted End Table

Before photo: I bought this table along with a lamp for 20 bucks at a garage sale. I bought it when we first moved into our current house because it was a good deal, not because I loved it. But it was nice. The silver/pewter frame wasn't really my thing....and eventually I decided I would spray paint it to something I liked better.

Hello....Rustoleum's Oil Rubbed Bronze! Since the frame is metal it was a breeze, didn't need much spraying at all, not even 1/2 of the can was used. I didn't prime it either. Easy peasy.

I'm liking the darker color, although you can't see it, the color matches the 2 ceiling fans in the room. The new color is much warmer than the previous silver. Less than 1 hour for a new end table!

Autumn Bliss

As I find photos that I love I right click "save picture as" into "my pictures" file. Wish I wrote down the link to where I got it so I can give proper credit. Next week the weather here is supposed to be in the 70's...looking forward to some "real" autumn weather down the road...hopefully soon! Love Emily Bronte's quotes! And the jute wrapped candles pictured ... hoping to do some of those soon!

Free Autumn Decor from Nature

On Wednesday I went on my run...got rained on....and on the way back found lots of branches strewn across the path. I figured I already looked crazy running in the rain, so why not just carry a bunch of branches too?

These are all the branches and some small ornamental pinecones that I found along the way. I had a glass vase to put them in, but when I went to check my pantry I had no lentils to fill the jar with. Bummer. So I dug around and then I thought of the wheat berries.

Wheat berries: FREE

Branches: FREE

Vase from kitchen: FREE!

Super simple, easy, quick....and did I mention free?

DIY Mossy Wreath

I am loving all sorts of earthy and organic things lately, and I found a great tutorial on Miss Mustard Seed's blog on how to make a DIY Mossy Wreath for about 5 dollars. You can read her step by step tutorial here. She also covers making mossy topiaries in the same post.

All you need is a hot glue gun, a foam wreath from the dollar store, and 2-3 packages of floral (sheet) moss from Walmart (2 bucks each). I ended up only needing 2 packages.

You might want to put some newspaper down as its a pretty messy project- be prepared with a broom and dustpan for afterwards! Totally worth it though! Love Love Love....although I used a navy blue ribbon I had in my stash, I want to change it to a chocolate brown ribbon when I get a chance - but I did not want to delay putting it up on my wall!

Purging Mode

Sarah from the amazing blog Clover Lane wrote a great article on purging her home's contents here and here. This girl is amazing. She's a hard core family loving woman who is not afraid to tell you how she feels.

Today I dropped off 4 trash bags of clothing, housewares, and other miscellaneous items to my local Goodwill. It's so nice to free up some space in our spare room! The thing that I love most about what Sarah does to purge is to use BLACK trash bags. That way, your kids (and husband)won't see what you are bagging up (aka toys, 40 gazillion shirts that your hubby doesn't wear anyways), and when its in the bag, its in. You can't see it's contents so its much less tempting to pull things back out of it!

Now, I am all about asking my husband permission to get rid of things that are his out of respect. My hubby had SO many t-shirts they took up one whole rack in our closet! Seriously, over 40. Maybe more. (Need I start in on the hat collection?) One thing that I came up with to prove he didn't wear or need EVERY. SINGLE. SHIRT. was to turn all the hangers backwards on his t-shirts. When he wore one of his shirts, after I laundered it I put it back on the hanger the way it regularly goes. After a few months it was pretty obvious which shirts he loved and which ones he really didn't need to hang onto.

He was a good sport and ending up purging a lot of ones that he really didn't need. He also let me donate half of his hat collection - which meant that I got to donate 20 hats (and gain back a nice chunk of overhead closet space over MY clothes).

Could I get rid of 40 trash bags in 8 weeks? For me, probably not because I am a habitual purger. Seriously. My husband gets worried sometimes that I get rid of TOO much stuff. I am consistently taking a few trash bags full of clothing and household items to my local Goodwill or Deseret Industries frequently as I don't like things to build up. I really don't like clutter. At all. And I am a believer of only keeping items that are useful or that I find beautiful AND love.

Going into the holiday season its a great time to clear some space in your kids rooms and throughout your house as well! Do you think you could find 40 trash bags to take out of your home? This also includes paper trash and other garbage to throw away. Imagine how much more open and airy your home would feel - I bet you'll feel like you had a weight taken off your shoulders!

From Seriously Outdated to Awesome

I found this "beauty" at a local garage sale a few months back for $3. I think my husband thought I was absolutely crazy when I came home with it. I saw potential. He has since learned to trust my vision :)

First things first - get rid of that awful shade! I wondered if I could repurpose it somehow into something else....but sorry I'm just not THAT creative. I promptly put it where it belonged....the trash. (I did keep the knob at the top of the shade to use for the new shade that I put in its place). So why did I buy this brass beauty? The lamp base! No, I'm not a brass lover, but believe it or not you can actually spray paint it! I've seen it on other blogs, so I decided if other girls could, then I could. I sprayed a light coat of primer on first, followed by 2 coats of Rustoleum's Heirloom White (LOVE!).

Much better, eh? I picked up the lamp shade months ago at another garage sale for $1.50. I knew I could use it one day. I have a rack on my garage shelving just for things like this. So for under 5 bucks (not including the spray paint which I already had) I have a lamp that BOTH my husband and I LOVE. Hubby suggested I put it in my office, which I thought was a great idea!

It's a touch lamp too - my 4 year old loves that part!

Adventures of Spray Paint: Napkin Holder

I got this napkin holder at my local Salvation Army a few weeks ago for $3.55. We get these restaurant style napkins at Costco and I could NOT find a napkin holder that fit the dimensions at any restauraunt supply store online. So many websites, and nada. I have actually been carrying one of the napkins in my purse for weeks so if I passed by anything that would work I could test it out. (Yes, I may have issues)

The napkin holder looked fine the way it is, but bamboo wood is not my style as I have much more traditional and cottage/country decor.

(I'll talk about the white candle holder in a future post)

Ahh, much better! A few coats of Rustoleum's Heirloom White took care of it. (Home Depot carries it but I have not found it at Lowes) I have seen so many bloggers rave about this color in blogland, and I have to say I love the color too! It will be a staple in my ever growing spray paint collection.

Did summer not get the memo that it's fall?

It's almost October at I picked up my kids from school this afternoon and it was 106°. Sheesh! These beautiful sunflowers graced my garden late this summer, but I enjoyed them immensely nevertheless.

When I think of a summer flower I think of sunflowers. So cheerful even amidst the serious heat we get out here in Southern California. These things got 6 feet tall before they even bloomed. Can't wait to plant more next year!

Fall Wreath from the....DOLLAR STORE

I had so much fun a few days ago making this wreath that I found on blogland....would you believe it actually came from the DOLLAR STORE??!! I was shocked too. Allison from the House of Hepworths did a great tutorial on this wreath that only cost $10 dollars! You can find the tutorial here.

I ended up using all the fall leaves plus I only used a few of the decorative pumpkins (although I did buy an extra leaf bunch- I love the colors of the fall leaves (especially since here in Southern CA they're hard to come by) so I decided to keep the focus on the leaves. I'm in love!

An "aha" moment

I just had one of those moments tonight....anyone have a junk drawer like this....anyone??

This is our junk drawer central for our home, one of the drawers in my dining room hutch. I've been wanting to get all of these flashcards and card games organized, but obviously the cardboard holders they all come in have long been destroyed...what to do? I have specifically tried to buy card games that come in a metal (aka unbreakable) tin - luckily I found one for Uno, but what about for Phase 10, regular cards, and others? I love these games but I hate finding random cards strewn around in drawers!

It finally dawned on me. I had an old plastic pencilbox that one of my sons used in his classroom last year, the ones you can get for a buck or less during back to school season. I had it in my sons room thinking about using it for his colored pencils or crayons so that I can get my nice lined wicker basket back that they have taken. But tonight a better idea! I could use it for those card games to keep them sorted!

I love it. Now I think I need to run to the store to buy a bunch more to finish cleaning out the junk drawer of all those flashcards - hopefully they're still under a buck! :)

I'm so happy that now they can go with all the other games!

Cheap One Hour Fix

When we first moved into this home, we had the home painted top to bottom (it needed it). The painter did my son's room in "lego" red on the bottom and swiss coffee on top. I was responsible to put whatever border that I wanted. That was almost 3 years ago. I thought about putting a removable wallpaper border on in the beginning, but I couldn't find anything that I loved. So I decided on a paint border, something classic and easy that he wouldn't outgrow and get tired of.

First off, you can definitely tell that this room was not "staged". This was my son's room as-is. Typical boys room. (The T-shirt? Yeah, that's off the wall now, nice try son). See that bookcase? I got that for 20 bucks at a garage sale. I have big plans for that, paint and new moulding... (OK, I'm getting sidetracked). I decided I could finish the paint border right before picking him up from school. (Deadlines get me motivated)

All I needed? Duck tape (yes its called duck), a measuring tape, pencil, and small paint sample. Those samples are the BEST. Can't beat $2.97! This one is from Lowe's, I chose a dark navy blue to mimic the color of his curtains. (Although Home Depot now has them for the same price but in plastic with a screw on lid too! I know where I'm getting my paint samples from now on!)

Taping off the wall for the border

Voila! Another project off the list.... ((Believe it or not, my son's room is quite clean now; carpets cleaned (white carpet?? yeah, that wasn't our choice, that was what the previous owner put in, who OBVIOUSLY didn't have small kids, especially 3 boys) desk has been de-junked....if you know me well I really dislike clutter, especially paper))

I'm still here!..............

I can't believe its been so long since I updated this blog, it is EMBARRASSING! I've been actively working on the kitchen remodel, it took 2 more months of figuring out what kind of paint I could use, unfortunately I wasn't able to spray paint since I couldn't do that to the cabinet boxes inside.... such a bummer. So now I'm painstakingly painting all the doors. I'm hoping that it will be completely done by next week so that I can finally post pics!!! I really wanted the kitchen to be the next blog entry that I did, sorry that its been SO long!