February 2015 – Dust Bunnies and Dog Toys

DIY Glass Hurricanes & Pedestals

Published on February 26, 2015 by Jenna1 Comment

This was seriously one of the easiest DIYs I’ve ever done. All it took was some glass candle sticks, glass candle trays, a couple simple vases and some industrial strength glue. I found several tutorials on Pinterest for both the hurricanes and pedestals, so it’s certainly not a new idea.

The hardest part was deciding which glass candle sticks to pair with each topper. I mixed and matched the different pieces, doing a “dry fit” to finalize my selections. I decided to use the taller candle sticks for the hurricanes since the added height made them feel a bit more like the expensive versions I’ve seen in the designer catalogs.

The three shorter candlesticks were paired with the glass trays to create pedestals of varying heights. I think one of the trays was actually a paper weight, but I like that one has a thicker platform since some items might look better with that.

Once I was happy with the dry fit, I lined up all my pieces and broke out the super strength glue, which other bloggers recommended. This stuff is pretty strong, so I wore gloves while working with it as a precaution.

The directions say to apply the glue to both pieces, wait 2 minutes and then join them, so that’s what I did. And it worked like a charm. The glue does need 24 hours to cure, but once it did it created a super strong bond. I painted the pedestals white, so I could use them for multiple occasions.

My only disappointment with this project is that I don’t have a large pillar candle that fits in the curved vase hurricane so I have to use a smaller votive candle. But for a fraction of the designer price I can work around that.

Since I already had the spray paint and had picked up all the glass pieces for about $25 at thrift stores before January, all I needed was the glue which runs about $5 at the hardware store – although after a military discount and a gift card it was free. So there you have it, another 0-cost project wrap up for No Spend January!

The Sickness

Published on February 25, 2015 by JennaLeave a comment

Hi, there. After a lengthy battle with “the sickness” – a nasty, allergy-induced, head cold – I’ve finally returned to feeling human. The hubs was amazing through it all. He drove two hours to pick me up at work and bring me home early because I car pooled the day I got sick and then took great care of me until he came down with a bug himself. We’re both still fighting some congestion, but at least we’re back in action. And now begins the game of playing catch up since I spent my long holiday weekend, including Valentines, hacking up a lung instead of making progress on my to-do list.

One of the items on that list was sharing my Valentines décor with you. I know it’s now passed, but I wanted to share what I did anyway. I had this grand plan to make a sweet X & O like this, but things didn’t pan out quite how I hoped. I bought plain white X and O letters at Michaels with the rest of my no-spend January return gift card.

I originally planned to paint gold stripes on one and gold dots on the other, so I taped off the stripes and poured a bit of craft paint.

Apparently the finish on the letters wasn’t well suited for painting because the paint didn’t adhere well and bled, even with the tape.

I decided to try making the dots with the end of a large brush. That didn’t work out so well either.

Since I had limited time and didn’t feel like sanding anything, I ended up just wiping off the paint and leaving them plain, atop the curio cabinet.

The media cabinet got some love from a few of my recent bargain finds, including a super simple DIY glass hurricane candle votive, which I’ll share a tutorial for in my next post.

I was pretty happy with the mantel arrangement, which included another DIY glass hurricane votive, milk glass and a DIY lipstick heart framed art thanks to several of my gal pals donating their old unwanted lipsticks. They all thought I was nuts when I asked if they had some to donate, but thought the end result was pretty cool.

The side table held some faux tulips in a white crock (another fairly recent bargain find), paired with a long-ago thrifted gold heart votive candle. And my chair became home to my “Love you More” pillow.

I added a “Love” cover to a pillow I already had and it looked perfect on the bench near the entryway. Beyond that you can see the heart rose wreath on the wall in the entry.

The dresser in the entry gave me fits. I just couldn’t seem to make it work. I started with this set-up on one corner and really liked it, but that left the other side barren.

So I reworked things and ended up with this arrangement. Certainly not amazing, but it filled the space and didn’t cost anything, so I decided to go with it.

Clear and red glass heart ornaments, along with some pink ribbon brought my holiday tree to life. I used to have a topper for this holiday but it bit the dust last year so I just went without this time.

I kept the dining room simple, with two large felt hearts on the buffet lamp shades and a little bear holding the wooden heart the hubs mom brought back from Jerusalem under a cloche.

A flameless candle and some rose petals finished off my recent bargain hurricane for the perfect simple centerpiece.

There you have it – my 2015 Valentines décor. Just in time for me to switch it all out to for green St. Patty’s stuff! LOL. I’ll try to get that glass hurricane tutorial posted tomorrow, so stay tuned for that!

Recent Bargains

Published on February 6, 2015 by JennaLeave a comment

Just before No-Spend January started (hence the Christmas centerpiece) I snagged a couple really good bargains on a trip to the thrift store. I only paid $45 for all of this! Several of them got a makeover during the last month – I’ll be sharing those very soon – and several became part of my Valentine’s décor – which will also be shared soon.

Although my favorite find was the milk glass vase for $0.99, I was pretty excited about the tall hurricane vase since I had bought one on the local buy/sell page for $5 about this time last year and ended up selling it to someone at a spring bazaar even though it was only part of my display because she liked it so much and offered me double what I paid for it! I snagged this one for $12 and although I originally planned to paint the base I’ve decided to leave it as is for now. The wooden pedestal bowl is still mid-transformation, but I think it’s going to be fantastic when it’s done – just in time for some spring decorating.

But the best recent bargain is this leather arm chair. Wanna know what I paid for it? NADA! Zilch! Absolutely nothing! Every once in a while trolling Craigslist’s free section pays off! 😉 One of the arms is a bit wobbly and needs some reinforcement, but the hubs is pretty sure he can take care of that at some point. That point will probably be right before we have company coming one day when it’s a priority. Oh well, at least for now it looks pretty darn fancy!

Now that No-Spend January is over, I decided to check out a local clothing consignment store last Sunday and brought home a lovely Banana Republic jacket for just $7! I also found a pretty pink scarf at the thrift store in their ‘new/retail donated’ section for just $9. I’d been on the hunt for one for some time now so finding one at such a great price was even sweeter. Isn’t finding a great bargain wonderful? Tell me about your recent favorite in a comment!

Organizing My Crafty Storage

Published on February 5, 2015February 6, 2015 by JennaLeave a comment

Since I’m running behind recently I still have a few No-Spend January projects to share including getting my craft shelves organized. Although it’s not really all that exciting, I’m happy with the result and the fact that I crossed another “to-do” off the list without spending a dime. I liked the mannequin bust and wire basket I had up there already, but I had a few other items I wanted to store including already made elastic headbands, clear ornaments I never found time to make into minions back at Christmas and my inventory of seasonal hair accessories. I dug out a matching yet larger wire basket from my décor stash to hold the ornaments on the top shelf, which left just enough room to place a display board I already had made up. To finish up the lower shelf, I purchased the glass jar with my Target gift card for the headbands and returned some unused items to Michaels which gave me enough to buy the little storage box for my seasonal inventory. I may eventually paint some gold dots on the box just to give it some interest, but that’s not a huge priority right now. While I was arranging the shelves I realized that if I moved the hanging wire rack down a bit it would create the perfect space for the name plate I still hadn’t figured out how to use. Will it stay there forever? Probably not. But at least it has a home and is on display for now. The open jar on the right of the cabinet top is my trash can when working on a project and the containers on the left currently hold projects that need a little fixing. Shelves2 Here’s a full shot of the shelves and the cabinet. Normally the cabinet is centered below the shelves, but apparently I bumped it out of whack before taking this picture!. Still it’s pretty darn inspiring – especially when it’s cleaned off! If you look closely you can see the roll of kraft paper standing up next to the cabinet because I still haven’t decided how and where I want to mount it yet. I’m leaning toward mounting it with some simple hardware on the side of the cabinet so I can still use it when I roll the cart out into the living room, but it doesn’t fit quite right so I might have to pick the hubs brain to make that idea work. 🙂

Fit Club

Published on February 2, 2015 by JennaLeave a comment

Although I wasn’t one of the masses that resolved to lose weight in the new year I do have a few extra pounds I wouldn’t mind parting with so I decided to check out the wellness programs my employer offers. There were two options: “Biggest Loser” which calculates weight loss just like the TV show and “Fit Club” which is intended to provide motivation to maintain or lose weight. I knew I wouldn’t be shedding enough pounds to be competitive in the Biggest Loser group, so I chose Fit Club.

The rules are simple, you must have maintained or lost weight at 5 of the 6 monthly weigh-ins to be eligible to win the pot of everyone’s $10 join fees. There are also monthly drawings just for showing up to the weigh-ins if you weigh the same or less than your starting weight.

My first monthly weigh in was last week and I’m happy to report that I’m down 3 pounds from my starting weight. It may not be a lot, but I haven’t made any drastic changes to my diet or lifestyle, so it’s a good result for just making healthy choices.

One of those choices is taking the stairs now that my office is on the 5^th floor. I do sometimes ‘cheat’ when I want to catch up with a co-worker who is getting on the elevator or if I’m carrying something that would make stairs hazardous, but for the most part I’m sticking with it – even when I’m coming back from the basement. I still get winded part way up, but it’s getting better the more I do it. Plus getting my blood pumping every so often is nice for those days when I’m stuck at my desk and not running around managing events.

Hopefully I continue on this trend, creating a healthier me one step at a time along the way and winning the jackpot just about the time I’ve got a vacation planned to the land of heat and humidity back east this summer where a few less pounds will be welcome!