Yard sale finds

This past Saturday I went to my favorite yard sale of the year. Yes, of course I woke up early just to stand in line to get in the door! I went expecting to bring home a truck load of treasures just like last year, but I was disappointed in the amount of good junk. I did find one steal (or two) these ugly 1975 brass lamps were three dollars a piece.

I thought with a little spray paint and fabric they would be as good as new, an much cheaper than I could find cute lamps for any where else. I paid six dollars for spray paint, six dollars for spray adhesive and I dug out some fabric I had purchased at a fabric sale last year. Fifteen dollars and and hour later this is what I ended up with.

Not too shabby by my standards. I love them and that fact that I only spent fifteen dollars makes me love them even more! This was an incredibly easy project. I removed the old shades and light bulbs, stuffed paper towels in the holes where the bulbs go and gave them 2 coats of oil rubbed bronze spray paint. I rolled the shades along the fabric to make a template, and cut it out and used spray adhesive to adhere the fabric. Put it all back together and presto! This was a perfect project if  you want instant gratification!

-Enjoy!

It has been a busy week in the Wilson house. On Monday night I am pooped but happy! Friday night I made corn bread for the first time ever! I was way nervous because my husband has told me all of these great stories about his mom's and his grandma's cornbread, but I was up for the challange. Last week my daddy gave me a lesson on how to make cornbread the right way, so I set out to copy his recipe. My husband loved it and I was relieved! Daddy's go to recipe from the Better Homes and Gardens 1980something was a hit! I was a little impressed with myself !

Recipe: 1 cup flour (all purpose)

             1 cup corn meal

             2 tbsp Sugar

             1 tsp baking powder

             1/2 Tsp salt

             2 eggs

             1 cup milk- I use 1/2 sweet milk and 1/2 butter milk

             1/4 cup crisco melted.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees and pour melted crisco in a cast iron skillet. Put in the oven to heat. Mix dry ingredients first, then add in eggs one at a time. Pour in the milk and pour the hot grease from the pan into the cornbread batter. Mix well adn bake for 20 minutes and Thats All!



For my sweet friend Heather's baby shower I made two hats for her baby that is due in Feburary. I was able to view the patterns for free so I will post them here to share... later when I find the website again!

And finally Saturday night we threw my mother-in-law a birthday party at out house. It was a small gathering of family and some good food but she said it was the best party she had in a while! Before the baby shower Saturday morning I made her gift as well! I had picked up a cute rectangle frame from goodwill Friday while my mom and I were shopping. I got home to take it apart to make her gift and the painting had real butterflies pressed under the glass. I was totally grossed out! I threw all of the nastyness away and made her a chicken wire earing holder like all of those cute ones I have seen on pinterest. It was a busy weekend, but I'm greatful for all of the people I get to share my life with.

Before

After

Happy Birthday!

-Enjoy 

Its only the 7th day of November and I can already tell this month is going to be non-stop. I was just able to replace my Halloween door decor with something a little more generic! I was sad to see all of my Halloween decorations go, but I'm excited that Thanksgiving is right around the corner and I am hosting my first ever Thanksgiving at our house! Yippie! My new front door decor is nothing fancy and it sure didn't take any time, not that I would have had any to devote to the project anyway! I looked around my craft room and found an old frame that I wasn't using for anything and decided that would be what I used.

I nailed a picture hanger on the back, but I lost one nail... no worries a thumb tack did the trick!

Next I found some ribbon in my ribbon box and ran it up under the picture holder so that I would be able to attach my W I bought at Hobby Lobby a while back for like 4$

I looped the ribbon around my W, tied a knot in the end and took it out to hang on the front door. Its pretty plain, but it beats having a naked door!

- Enjoy.

Fortcast for Labor Day = Rain and that was perfectly alright with me. Working on my summer tan at this point is a lost cause anyway. With my sweet husband at work, I  FINALLY had some time to work on a few projects!

About a month ago I found a super cute solution  for the very ugly pot light above my garden tub. I found this awesome and seemingly simple idea on http://www.freshlypickedblog.com/2011/03/how-to-make-chandelier.html . How more economical can a project get?!  A sewing machine, wax paper, some kind of circle cutter, an old ratty lamp shade and a few cup hooks are the only materials needed. No one mentioned that this project would take an eternity to complete. I have been cutting out wax paper circles for the past 2 weeks and have blown through 2 boxes of wax paper and had nothing to show for it. Today would be the day that my project transformed from a pile of wax paper into a chandelier... or so I thought! I set about the task of chain piecing all of my circles together, starting with the bottom row... only 18 circles per strand no big deal, right? At the end of the day, 8 hours and 422, yes 422 wax paper circles later I completed the bottom row of my chandelier! ... Only 2 more rows and 90 bajillion more wax paper circles to go!



More detailed instructions will be included when the project is completed!

Enjoy  

Chicken Wire Window

For a while now I have been admiring chicken wire frames in antique shops and flea markets, but have refused to pay what they are asking for them. I had the perfect spot picked out in my kitchen, only I hadn't wanted to fork over the dough, I am a poor newley wed college student after all! So I decided to make my own! I mean its chicken wire and a frame.. it can't be that hard right??

I rounded up my supplies: an old wooden window frame from my grandpa's office building, chicken wire leftover from my mom's chicken pen, a staple gun, wire cutters and a measuring tape. (Which I ended up not needing)

(Not pictured: Wire cutters )

To begin I wiped the fame off with a damp cloth, it was extra dusty!  I unrolled the chicken wire and used the staple gun to attach one edge of the chicken wire to the frame.Then I stapled the other side next, pulling the wire tightly so it wouldn't be wavy. After securing the wire on two sides my husband cut off the excess with the wire cutters because I acted like I didn't know how! (hehe)

 I secured the remaining two sides and went a little staple crazy! The more the better! I decided to add an extra layer of chicken wire because the holes were too large for what I had in mind, but if you want a more spaced out look 1 layer is perfect!

It turned out so cute and it was super easy!! I hung it on the wall with a wire picture frame hanger, and used clothes pins to attach my pictures and other items! I only had to buy clothes pins which were 97 cents!!

enjoy!