Vintage Framed Christmas Tree

I love the vintage, simple, elegant Christmas decorations. And even better is when I can make them for little to no money! I am all about cheap but cute decor! I picked this frame up at Goodwill for $1.29 and it was a set of two! The lace and linen I already had on hand so here it is, my latest little DIY project.

All you need is:

1. hot glue gun

2. lace in two different shades of green.

3. frame 

4. linen 

This is the lace I used. They are both green even though the one looks white. 

First, iron the linen and hot glue it around the glass. Then all you have to do is scrunch up the lace to make it ruffle and hot glue it down in sections. Cut the lace when you reach the end of the line. Alternate the greens so you have a pattern. You could make the tree in any color lace to match your decor! 

Make sure to overlap each row as you go to cover up the hot glue. And here it is all finished!

Once you are done, just pop it in the frame and start enjoying it! It's a fun little project that doesn't take very long but adds a little vintage touch your bathroom, mantel or end table. 

The frame adds a vintage touch too. I just love a great Goodwill find! Enjoy!

Happy Black Friday!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I know I did! AND now we get to focus on Christmas! Yay! While many of you are braving the blistering wind and long lines today, I am cozy at home get my house ready for Christmas. Now is the time to adorn your front door with a beautiful Christmas wreath! So here is a fun little project that only cost about $5 and takes about 15 minutes.

 These are the supplies that I used and how much they cost

1. An evergreen wreath of your choice.  I got this one last year on clearance for 1.99!

2. Christmas ornaments that go with your decor. I picked 2 packages of these gold and pewter sparkley ornaments at the Dollar Tree costing me a whopping $2

3. Pipcleaners! You can also use floral wire, but I didn't have any and pipe cleaners are super cheap and easy to work with!

4. Ribbon to hang the wreath! I also got my ribbon at the Dollar Tree.

First, "fluff" the wreath! Noboby likes a wreath that is flat as a pancake! Second, cut the pipecleaners in half and string an ornament on the pipecleaner. 

Pick where you want the little booger to go and twist it around on the back like so:

Easy Peasy! Repeat until you have used up all your bulbs or your wreath is full of beautifully decorated Christmas ornaments! And this is what it will look like when finished.

I didn't like how sparatic the ornaments were and I thought it needed a little something extra. So I moved them around a bit so they were in clusters of three and then I added some gold twirly branches that I already had to make it a little more festive. The great thing about moving them is that you can just adjust them without having to undo the wire, just slide them around a bit until you like the arrangment! 

Ahh, that's better! Well, there you have it, $5 and 15 minutes and you can tailor a wreath  to beautify your front door!

Christmas Centerpiece

I started decorating for Christmas over the weekend much to my husband's chagrin. I wanted to show you an updated picture of the box I made for my Thanksgiving gords and candles. I think I love it even more for Christmas!

I LOVE the sparkle of the ornaments! I got all of the ornaments in the centerpiece from the Dollar Tree. If you have haven't discovered what an AMAZING store that is, you just HAVE to check it out! The picture doesn't do this sparkley piece any justice. Here is a close up.

Hope you enjoyed it! I would love to see pictures of your centerpieces. I always love to gain more inspiration!

Secret Chili Recipe

Fall is my favorite season and there is nothing that goes better with fall than chili! I recently made this chili for my daughter's birthday party and got a ton of compliments. My husbands Grandma, who is very picky about her chili, told me is was "...very good", and then raved about it to my mother-in-law saying that it was better than her own chili. It is super yummy if I do say so myself, and really healthy to boot! The perfect blend of carefully choosen spices is the key to this recipe :) Okay, maybe not. I will let you all in on my secret ingredient: V8 Spicy Hot. There, the secret is out. So, here's the recipe that I created with the V8.

You will need:

- a green pepper
- an onion
- a pound of ground beef (I used a pound and a half because that is what was in the package)
- two cans of kidney beans, dark or light - your preference, I use dark
 - 3 -12 oz bottles of V8 Spicy Hot (if  you can't find the small bottles, then just get the big bottle and use            about 36 oz of it)
 - one can of rotel diced tomoates with green chiles undrained

First brown the ground beef in a big pot. While the beef is browning, cut up the green pepper and onion and add it to the browning beef. Once it's browned, drain it and set it on a cool burner for about 5 minutes to let it cool down. Then take about 5 paper towels folded together and soak up all the yucky grease that didn't come out when you drained it (I learned this healthy tip from my friend Alison, so THANK YOU Alison!) Repeat with 5 more paper towels and you will be amazed at all the grease and fat that comes out of the beef. This helps make the beef SO MUCH healthier!

Next, put the browned beef back on the hot burner and add all the remaining ingredients. Don't drain the beans or the diced tomoatoes, just throw everything in and bring to a boil, then let simmer until ready to eat. You can always add more spices, such as chili powder, but my kids and husband do not enjoy really spices meals and the Spicy V8 gives it GREAT flavor that you certainly don't need to add anything else unless you LOVE a really HOT-n-SPICY soup.

Super healthy, easy, and yummy, all in one! I hope you give this a try and let me know what you think!

Footboard Turned Coat Rack

Good Monday Morning! I wanted to share the newest project that I completed this weekend. What do you think?

I was in desperate need of this project completion. It's nice and low to the ground so that all the little ones at my house can hang up their own coats and get their coats without yanking them down from above. A few weeks ago, my son was yanking his coat off of the coat rack and broke one of the knobs off. There were only 3 knobs on there to begin with and now we were down to two. The next day he broke another knob off leaving us with only one knob to hang about twelve coats. So, for the last 2 weeks we have been throwing coats on the stairs, on the floor and on top of the shoe basket. Needless to say, it was driving my crazy! To tell you the truth, I was glad that it broke because it gave me the incentive that I needed to complete this project. I got this antique child's headboard and footboard in Pittsburg at an little flea market way back in June. I knew I wanted to make a coat rack out of it right away, but it didn't fit where I invisioned it going, so it went in the garage until I could figure out what I wanted to do with it.

Here is the before picture. I just fell in love with it right away and when I saw that it was only $10, I knew it would be coming home to Ohio with me! This is such an easy project to make! So here you go.

My, always willing to help, husband cut the legs off of the footboard with a circular saw. I sanded the bottoms where he made the cuts and then cleaned it up really well. I debated on painting it, but I really like it just how it is for my space. Then I went to Drug Mart, yes Drug Mart, and got these cute hooks! Discount Drug Mart saves you the runaround...just sayin'! There were only 2 for $3.49 and I got 3 packages.

 Position the hooks where you want them to go and screw them in. Easy, peasy! And here's the final product.

I would love to hear what you think. The best part is that I still have the headboard for a future project!

Button Turkey Craft

My kids LOVE crafts! They are always begging me to do a craft and I just can't resist their adorable little faces. I got the inspiration from a handmade button turkey card I found here on Pinterest. So, we made this button turkey that is now haning in my kitchen!

It's easy to make. These are the things you will need:

 - brown paper (i used the animal print brown)
 - colorful buttons
 - scissors
 - manilla folder (or sturdy carstock)
 - elmers glue
 - glue stick
 - yellow paper for beak

Cut the manilla folder in half and cut the tab off. Cut a circle and 2 ovals for each turkey you will be making. Use the glue stick to glue the circle and 1 oval to the manilla folder like this. I let my four year old use the glue stick herself and helped my two year old with that part.

To make the wings, you will fold the 2nd oval in half and cut a wavy pattern in it to make the wings.

Then cut the wings in half on the fodler line and glue them to the sides of the turkey with the glue sticks. It will look like this.

I just drew the feathers on with a pencil so that my little ones would know where to put the buttons. Now is the fun part, they start glueing! Depending on the age of your children, you may want to limit their glue use. I placed dots of glue on each feather and then let my two year place the buttons on.

 

We chose two buttons for the eyes and then cut a traingle for the beak and you're done! Just lay it flat to dry so all the buttons don't slide down. Enjoy!

Thanksgiving Centerpiece

I love everything about Thanksgiving! I mean, who doesn't? You get to sit around a big table with family, give thanks to God for all of his wonderful blessings, and eat, and eat, and eat LOTS of yummy food! My kind of holiday! I am always ready for a good meal. Now, it was time to get my house ready. The first thing on the agenda is a Thanksgiving centerpiece. I wanted something that would hold candles and hold all the beautiful gourds that my dad had given me from his farm. I saw some spare wood in the garage from a project that my husband had completed in the summer, so this is what I created.

It makes me smile! I don't know if that's because I love it so much or just because I created and built it myself, but nonetheless, I smile. The great things about this project is that you can make it to fit your own needs. You can make your cute little centerpiece box any dimensions you would like. Here is what I used:

You will need:

2 - 2x4's cut to 27" each
2 - 2 x4's cut to 5 1/2" each
1 - 2x6 cut to 24"
Stain of your choice
8 - screws (I used deck screws because that's what we had on hand)
Sandpaper
Drill
Wood Glue

If you don't have a saw, have the wonderful people at the store cut it for you, then you are all set to go when you get home. Once your wood is cut, stain it. I stained mine twice to get a nice dark color.

Now comes the drilling part. I didn't want the screws to show on the outside of the box, since it was going to be sitting on my kitchen table. So, my husband drilled a diagonal hole on each corner of the 2x6. This way your screws will be hidden when you put the ends on.

This will make it easier to drill the screw into the 2x4. Now, it's time to start attaching the pieces. It really helps if you have an extra pair of hands at this point to try and hold the pieces together while you drill. Using both the glue and screws attach one 2x4 to the 2x6 like this. Make sure you center the 2x4 on the 2x6 so that you have an equal amount of wood sticking out on each end to cover the end pieces that you will be screwing in place later. With my dimensions, there was 1 1/2 inches sticking out on each side.

You can see the two holes drilled for the screws and one of ends attached.Next turn the wood on its end with the end piece in place but not screwed in. At this point, I didn't have anyone helping me hold the pieces while I was drilling  so by placing the end piece in place, it helped keep everything aligned. Then screw the other side of the frist 2x4 to the 2x6.

While you have everything in place, grab the other 2x4 and screw it to the 2x6 while you have the whole thing on its end. Next, flip it over on the other end and screw the other side of the 2x4 to the 2x6. You should have both sides attached

Finally you attach the ends. I had screwed the sides on very tightly, so my ends were a bit tight going in. If you have this same problem , just shove and wiggle them a bit and they should fit nice and snug. I then screwed the sides in at the bottom on an angle to the 2x6.

Two screws on each side and you should be good. Make sure to screw the screws all the way in so they are flush with the wood and not sticking out at all or they will scratch your beautiful table. So here is the final project all completed.

Yay! Let's take one more look at the final project all complete and decorated on my table!

Here's a close up. I used mason jars that I had filled with Indian corn kernals that I took off the cob. I love the colors of the Indian corn but I didn't want to just sit it around my house, so this was my solution. I then placed baby food jars that I had saved inside the mason jars so that the candle wax wouldn't get all into the corn kernals when I burned them.

Ah yes! I think it needs a burlap table runner to sit on though. Hmmmm...a future project. I thought about stenciling give thanks on the side, but then I wouldn't be able to use it for Christmas. I already have a vision in my head of how it will be decorated to adorn the Christmas season.  Can't wait to see what you think!

Welcome

WELCOME TO FOR LOVE OF HOME!

I am so excited to share my home loving journey with you. The truth is that I currently DO NOT love my home. I know, it's sounds terrible, but as I was walking through it about a year ago and looking at everything in it, I couldn't find ONE thing that reflected my style or who I was, or what I loved. It was a collection of things that we already had when we got married and things that were handed down to us. Let me just tell you, THAT is a slippery slope that only leads to disaster from a design standpoint! I was and still am grateful for the things that we have, BUT, I really, REALLY want to LOVE my home. I want to fix the lack of storage problem, the laundry in the basement problem, the lots of walls and small rooms problem, and the just plain lack of style problem! I want my home to be clean, green, organized and I want it to smell good! These are all the things that I LOVE about other people's homes when I visit them, but mine own home was lacking!

The Dilemma:

I don't have any money for renovations or to purchase all new items! With 3 young kids and my husband bringing in the majority of our income being a teacher and coach, there just isn't a whole lot left over at the end of the month to do major projects around the house!

So, that leads me to the reason for my blog. I know there are probably many of you out there who are in my same boat: You would LOVE to LOVE your home (I mean, seriously, who doesn't?) but, there is just no room in the budget for the things that you want to accomplish! I have a solution for you!

The Solution:

We are going to be creative! Recycle, Repurpose and Create! We are going to create a home that is organized, clean, green, and full of sytle! Together, we are going to create a home that we LOVE!

In our journey together you will find inexpensive solutions to everyday problems around your home that will make your life easier, and it will help make your home reflect who YOU are!  I will share craft and DIY tutorials, organizing and cleaning tips, and even healthy, yummy recipes for your family. I can't wait to get started!