Ammon’s Camp Stool

I got this little camp stool at that awesome sale my friend took me to last month. I think I figured out it ended up costing about .35 cents. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with it at the time, but since I’ve been working on the kids’ rooms I thought I’d probably use it in one of them. Ammon’s room won.

I wanted to personalize it so I chose to add a monogram. I used my Cricut to cut out an “A” for Ammon.

And used Easy-tack to secure the stencil to the stool while I painted.

I used acrylic paint and a round sponge brush to stencil the monogram and held a book under it for a hard surface. 

Ammon wanted it by his desk for now. Once we get his room finished it will go in the fort area, under his loft bed.

He’s happy that Mouse Moose has somewhere to sit now, while he’s waiting for him to come home from school.

$0 Decorating

I love decorating my home, but there’s not always money to be changing decor as often as I’d like. My home is in the late Summer/early Fall decorating transition. A little bit of Summer, a little bit of Fall, which happens to work perfectly with my $0 decorating theme. Here’s some $0 decorating tips to help you spend as little money as possible on your decorating this season.

Use Books- Books can help add height to any object, add color and style, and even history to an area. Take the dust jackets off and almost any book looks great. These are my kids, Series of Unfortunate Events books, but they were the color and size I needed so they work. BTW, I read all these books and I really liked them.

Bring the Outdoors In- Use flowers, plants, leaves, pinecones, acorns, fruit, vegetables or anything else you have in your yard or your neighbors yard (if they don’t mind). In a few weeks my leaves will be changing then I can bring them in and use them in a vase, bowl or on the mantel. Until then, I’m harvesting my fruit and displaying them in baskets, bowls and jars. Of course, they’re getting eaten too. I love pears off our tree.  

Keep Things Displayed From the Previous Season- Some colors and items can work from season to season, use that to your advantage. I’m keeping out my yellow pillows from Summer for a little longer. They work well with the changing colors of Fall.

I love colored glass bottles, so why not keep them out and bring them into the next season with the new season accessory, like this little pumpkin.

Fill a Jar- I love decorating with glass containers. It’s so easy to change the look by just changing the contents of the container. I just filled this one with random Fall pieces: acorns, pumpkins, nuts and artichokes (I think). You can bring things in from your yard, put them in a jar and you have an instant decoration.

Change the Color- If you don’t like the color of something or it doesn’t work with the season, change it. Spray paint it (my favorite) or cover it up. I wrapped twine around a dollar store vase and got the exact look I was going for.

Use Photos or Pictures taken by You- I love decorating with personal items. What can be more personal than pictures taken by yourself? Photos of family or friends, places, or things that have meaning to you. I took this picture at Cedar Breaks National Park last year. It was while we were hiking and the colors were beautiful.

Add Little Things Here and There- You don’t have to go overboard. Adding just small touches here and there can help welcome in the next season.

Use Free Art- There are so many free printables from wonderful blogs on the internet. Look around, you’re bound to find something that will fit your personality and style. Stick it in a beautiful frame and you’re done.

Use What You Have- Everything I have decorated with this season are things I already owned. I didn’t have to buy one thing. I think everything seems new again once I unpack it from being stored away for almost a year. I even forget a lot of the things I have. It’s like Christmas everytime.

I’ll be adding more Fall decor in a few weeks. I’m not planning on buying anything, so come back to see what I come up with.

I’m linking to:

Fall Nesting Party at The Inspired Room

Works For Me Wednesday at We Are That Family

Strut Your Stuff at Somewhat Simple

Ammon’s Art Supply Storage

The last time I was at Ikea was over a year ago when I bought this bar and some buckets to go on it. I had the intention of using them in Emilee’s room, but I used these buckets instead. So Ammon now gets Emilee’s unused hand-me-downs. Of course, the first thing I had to do was spray paint it black.

And the plain buckets had to get a makeover too.

I used my Cricut again to cut words out of vinyl.

I decided on dark brown instead of black vinyl this time.

And chose words Ammon could read (he’s in 1st grade).

Now to hang the bar. First I decided how high above the table it needed to be, then I leveled it and marked the screw holes with a pencil.

This is the cheater version I use, because I have a weird reaction to the sound of electric drills (I’m trying to get over it). Take a screw driver and a hammer and make a hole. Only do this if the screw driver is the same size as the drill bit you needed to use.

Insert the anchors in the holes.

And use an electric screwdriver to insert the screws. One side of the bar is in a stud so I only had to use the anchors on the other side. Now you have bright screws that stand out like a sore thumb on your black bar.

So I took craft paint and a small paintbrush and painted them black. Much better now.

And here’s the buckets on the bar, ready for crafting.

They lean forward, which is perfect for Ammon to be able to reach all the supplies.

No sooner did I get this little crafting area done that he already had about 4 masterpieces ready for display. Looks like I have another project for today with more supplies I bought from Ikea.

FYI: The wallpaper border will be coming down, but not until Zach’s room is finished.

I’m linking to:

Show and Tell at Blue Cricket Design

Hookin Up with HOH at House of Hepworths

Transformation Thursday at The Shabby Chic Cottage

Ammon’s Corkboard

I think working on 4 rooms at one time has been to my advantage. If something isn’t working in one room I can just paint it and move it to another. This corkboard was in Adam’s room, then the boys were sharing it for a while.

I covered the cork area with ad paper and tape.

Then sprayed it with black spray paint to match Ammon’s room. It looked good but I wanted to add something more to it.

So, I used the Cricut to cut out a car shape on a scratch piece of paper. Then I used the outline of the car as a stencil for the board. 

I used easy-tack on the back of the stencil to secure it in place. Spray the back then let it sit for about a minute before sticking it to your project.  

Then I applied acrylic paint to the board with a round sponge brush using a ponuding motion. I did it in a few light layers so it wouldn’t bleed under the stencil. 

To hang it on the wall I used Command picture strips (surprise, surprise). Since it’s pretty large and I don’t know how Ammon’s going to treat it, I used 4 of the strips.

Ta-da! It’s hung on the wall over his table I still need to finish.

And here it is with the things he wanted to hang on it. A picture his sister drew for him of his favorite stuffed animal, pictures of his nephews, a souvenir his Chinese teacher brought back from China and a picture of the Temple. I can’t wait to see what else he wants to hang on it.

I hope you’re all having a happy Labor Day and enjoying the day off. We’re going to be picnicing, swimming, hitting a few buckets of balls, and working on a few projects.

I’m linking to: 

Anything Related at All Thingz Related

Get Your Craft On Tuesday at Today’s Creative Blog

All Things Domestic at Crazy Domestic

Show and Tell at Blue Cricket Design

Power of Paint Party at Domestically Speaking

Spotlight Yourself at It’s So Very Cheri

Strut Your Stuff at Somewhat Simple

Fall-ish Mantel

It was time to take down the Summer mantel, but I’m not ready for skulls and spiders yet so I made a transition mantel. Mostly generic with a little bit of Fall. I left the window and wreath up for now.

I added a few white pumpkins to bring in some Fall. Then added some books to bring height to the pumpkin and to represent the start of school. You can see how I made the framed word art here.

And how I made the little display plate here.

I’m sure you recognize the candle holder and wire cloche from previous posts.

I think it’s perfect for now. Don’t worry, give me a couple weeks and I’ll have the Halloween decor out. This time of year I would be happy to change my mantel every week. What about you? How often do you like to change your mantel?

I’m linking to:

Prue Project #15 at Pure Style Home

Fall Nesting Party at The Inspired Room

Spotlight Yourself at It’s So Very Cheri

Whatever Goes Wednesday at Someday Crafts

Hookin Up With HOH at House of Hepworths

Little Display Plate

I’ve been working on my pre-Fall mantel. This little 4 needed to be a elevated for the display. 

So I looked through my decorating stash and came up with an idea. I spray painted both items brown.

Then glue them together with Gorilla glue.

And added some weight for a few hours.

I love them together and think it looks pretty Fallish.

It’s perfect for the 4 to sit on, but still looks like something is missing. Hmmm!

Just what it needed! I’ll be finishing the rest of the mantel tomorrow.

Hope you’re having a great weekend!

I’m linking to:

It’s So Very Creative at It’s So Very Cheri

Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps On The Porch

DIY Project Parade at The DIY Showoff

Making the World Cuter Monday at Making the World Cuter

Show Me How at It’s A Blog Party

Topsy Turvy Tuesday at I’m Topsy Turvy

Before and After Party at Thrifty Decor Chick

All Things Domestic at Crazy Domestic

Power of Paint Party at Domestically Speaking

Strut Your Stuff at Somewhat Simple

Transformation Thursday at The Shabby Chic Cottage

Wordle Wall Art

Since our pay decrease I’ve been looking for free ways to decorate my home. I love letters, numbers and words so this was the perfect project to add to my home. Have you tried Wordle? I love it and could spend hours playing around with different word cloud combinations. After visiting with me, hop over there and have some fun creating your own fun word clouds.

I decided on this one for the Fall colors and I liked the layout (you can change the color on any layout you like). It’s so easy to use and does most of the work for you.  

Then I went through my frame stash and decided on this detailed beauty. My first thought was to paint it, but then I realized the color was perfect for Fall. Maybe I’ll paint it later.

Look at the pretty detail on this frame.

And here’s the finished product. It’s going on my Fallish mantel, but not too much Fall yet. I’ll show the mantel this weekend once I’ve finished one more thing.

I’m starting to enjoy thinking of and making free projects. It’s a good thing I have a big stash of supplies in the basement.

Have a Beautiful Labor Day Weekend!

I’m linking to:

Weekend Wrap-Up Party at Tatertots and Jello

Saturday Nite Special Funky Junk Interiors

Sundae Scoop at I Heart Naptime

Sunday Showcase Party at Under the Table and Dreaming

It’s So Very Creative at It’s So Very Cheri

Motivate Me Monday at Keeping It Simple

Making Monday Marvelous at C.R.A.F.T.

Craftastic Monday at Sew Can Do

Get Your Craft On Tuesday at Today’s Creative Blog

Penny Pinching Party at The Thrifty Home

Get Your Craft On Thursday at Life As Lori

Frugal Finds at It’s A Blog Party

Coke Crate Centerpiece

Do you remember when I found this awesome coke crate a few weeks ago? I had many comments and e-mails saying it would look great as a  centerpiece. I thought it would too, but my table isn’t big very big and I thought it would overwhelm it.

I finally decided to try it a few days ago.

And I love it. Thank you all for suggesting I put it there.

I wanted to add some flowers to the bottles, but I didn’t have any in my garden or artificial ones that would work. So, I took a trip to the dollar store and found these. Pretty good for a buck, but when I took them apart, they weren’t long enough.

I was searching for a solution when I found this wire in my floral supplies.

I cut pieces about 7″ long, folded them in half and twisted them onto the bottom of the flower stem. 

Ta-Da! Now they’re long enough.

Such a fun centerpiece.

I’m linking to:

Show and Tell at Blue Cricket Design

Strut Your Stuff at Somewhat Simple

Look at Me Party at Fun To Craft

Show and Tell at My Romantic Home

Remodelaholics Anonymous Meeting at Remodelaholic

Decorating Your Home at It’s a Blog Party

Saturday Nite Special at Funky Junk Interiors

Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch

Where I Blog

Kate at Centsational Girl is having a Where Do You Blog? Party. 

So, to answer her question, I blog at my desk in the corner of my bedroom. Our bedroom is on the main level so it’s close to a snack if I need one or to answer the door if someone stops by. I’m mostly there in the early morning and when the kids are at school.

It’s surrounded by things that are important to me and I love.   

Pictures of family.

And words of inspiration.

Things that are functional but also pretty.

Amanda framed this picture for me on Mother’s Day. It’s mother and daughter 14 years ago. So sweet!

It’s definitely not ideal and I’d love a bigger place to blog, but this little corner of my room is working fine for me right now. And a lot of time in the evening, I blog in the living room. Close to hubby and any TV shows I might be catching up on.

If you want to see some awesome blogging spots head over to Centsational Girl and check them out.

Lego Wall Art

I’m trying to decorate 4 kids rooms spending little or no money while doing it. Hubby says I have a craft and thrift store in the basement. Well, I guess that’s a good thing now.

I had these 3 frames down stairs in my stash, but 2 were the wrong color. So, of course,I spray painted them all black.  

Ammon loves Legos. He plays with them everyday and comes up with many different and pretty impressive creations. These Lego cards are from an old game that I thought would be perfect hanging on his wall.

I cut blue card stock to fit inside the frame.  

And used double sided tape to secure the card to the card stock.

Then I placed them in the frames.

And lined them up on the wall.

Ammon’s room is road signs, subway art and maps in black, brown and blue.

I wanted to be able to incorporate the Legos too, so I chose the cards with vehicles on them. They’re a little brighter than the rest of the room, but I think they still fit in well and I love the pop of red.

Ammon loves them on the wall and he’s already made all of them.

Please ignore the really beat up wall. His walls need to be spackled and painted, but I’m painting Zach’s room right now, so Ammon’s will have to wait.

Have a Beautiful Weekend!  (we start soccer games again tomorrow)

I’m linking to:

Weekend Wrap Up Party at Tatertots and Jello

Saturday Nite Special Funky Junk Interiors

Craft Schooling Sunday at Creative Jewish Mom

Sunday Showcase Party at Under the Table and Dreaming

Make It 4 Monday at Cottage Instincts

DIY Project Parade at The DIY Show Off

Topsy Turvy Tuesday at I’m Topsy Turvy

Get Your Craft On at Today’s Creative Blog

Whatever Goes Wednesday Someday Crafts

Penny Pinching Party at The Thrifty Home

Strut Your Stuff at Somewhat Simple

Transformation Thursday at The Shabby Chic Cottage

Frugalicious Friday at FInding Fabulous