DIY Dollar Store Jeweled Vases

I've mentioned before that the dollar store is one of my favorite places to find craft supplies.  If you haven't taken the time to browse the craft aisle, definitely do it the next time you're there.  You might be surprised!  When I walked in last week, I didn't have anything specific in mind in terms of what I wanted to do for this month's Inspire My Creativity challenge.  After throwing a few items into my cart, an idea formed and that is how I came up with this month's craft: jeweled vases.  (And I'm not kidding when I say this is probably one of the the quickest and easiest crafts I've ever made!)

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Rustic Paint Stick Snowflakes

When my husband and I got married, we were still in college and so we lived in a handful of apartments before we graduated and settled down into our home.  My decorations were really more of a collection of things that had been given to me or that I'd made or picked up from the dollar store and didn't really have any kind of cohesiveness.  So a few years ago, I started sifting through my Christmas and winter decorations and getting rid of anything that I didn't love, which was actually quite a bit.  I love decorating for different holidays and seasons but it can get a little tiresome to only have pieces up for a month or so before taking them down and starting all over again.  That's why I'm totally in love with these rustic snowflakes I made!  I can keep them up all winter long, plus they match the style of my regular home decor.

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$10 at Target: Pretty Paper Edition

Hello and happy Monday!  I hope you all enjoyed your Father's Day weekend!  Our family went to a local theme park on Saturday and wore the kids out, then spent Sunday relaxing with family.  Just before the weekend got started, I had a chance to visit Target all by myself and it was a lovely hour and a half.  I didn't have anything specific I was looking for, but knew I could only spend $10 for this month's $10 at Target challenge.  I am a co-host for this challenge along with a group of lovely ladies and it's been fun to see how close I can get to spending $10 or less at one of my favorite stores.  Do you think you could do it?  Let me show you what I found this month.

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15 Minute Patriotic Wreath

My husband always groans when I come home with supplies to make a new wreath, but I love how easily they can update a room or brighten our front door.  With Memorial Day just a couple of weeks ago and the 4th of July coming up soon, I decided to pick up a few simple supplies from JoAnn's to make a patriotic wreath that I can use in my decor.  One of my favorite wreath forms to use are grapevine wreaths because the wreath itself is part of the decor and you don't have to do a lot to add a little extra something to it to make it your own.  The best part is that it only took 15 minutes to put together from start to finish!

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DIY Laundry Room Sign

The summer after my husband and I got married, we drove out to Buffalo, NY, where he sold security systems.  Towards the end of the summer, his office got moved to Philadelphia, PA.  Thankfully, there were many wives who were out with their husbands so we became good friends and did some sightseeing here and there.  While in Philadelphia, we decided to drive out to a little amish town and do some exploring.  In one of the little shops we visited, I found a laundry room sign.  This sign has been with us for almost 9 years and when I first bought it, I thought it was the cutest thing, but as I've grown into my own personal style of decorating, I found that it just wasn't working anymore.  So I decided to do a little DIY laundry room sign makeover and share this easy tutorial with you!

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Happy Pumpkin Spice Season {FREE} Printable

Fall is officially here!  It's time to bust out all the pumpkin recipes you've been drooling over and pinning if you haven't done so already.  As for me, I actually made some pumpkin chocolate chip cookies last week and they were so good!  Once I feel the change in the air, I can't help myself.

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Cabinet Door Makeover

A few months ago while I was browsing around a store, I found this awesome serving plate that had all the colors that I wanted to decorate my kitchen in.  The design was fun, the colors were bright and I think it cost me about $6.  Done and done.  Since buying that plate and putting it above my kitchen cabinets, I've slowly started filling in the space.  However, I've run into a few snags because of the way our ceiling slopes above the cabinets so the height varies a lot.

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Summer Pallet Art

I was looking at my spring mantle this week and realizing that it was time to start thinking about summer decor.  So I looked through my summer decorations and noticed a serious lack of summer-y-ness (totally a word) in my collection.  A few months ago I picked up a 12x12 unfinished pallet board at Walmart without knowing exactly what I wanted to do with it but thought it would come in handy one day.  (This is a habit that drives my husband crazy, but sometimes I just can't help myself.  *wink*)

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My Favorite {Free} Kitchen Printables

Over the last few months I've been working on redecorating our kitchen.  I got rid of a few items above our cabinets that I'd had forever and didn't like anymore and picked up a new color scheme that flowed better between our living room and kitchen.  To replace one of the items I got rid of above the cabinet, I decided to print out a cute kitchen quote.  I found a lot of free kitchen printables, but many of them came in a group and I don't have a lot of wall space in my kitchen so I settled on a single print.

While I wasn't able to use all the printables I found, I thought I'd share some of my favorites with you in case you are looking for a simple and inexpensive way to add a little something to your kitchen decor.  Simply click on the link below the picture and it will take you to the website where you can download and print the file.  I hope you find one you love!

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How to Distress Wood {using Petroleum Jelly}

Every once in a while you find the perfect little piece for your house.  It's not necessarily big or fancy, but it's just what you've been looking for.  I was browsing through the store the other day and found just a piece: a small, wall-mountable coat rack.  I knew the second I saw it where I wanted it to go: on the wall behind our front door so people would have somewhere to put their coats and jackets.  The only problem: it was the wrong color.  A brownish-gray and the metal hooks were almost the same color.  Kind of blah.  But color is a fairly easy thing to change, especially when you're dealing with smaller pieces. So I bought it and brought it home for a little DIY action.

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Spring/Easter Mantle Inspiration

So I've had my spring/Easter "mantle" up for a couple of weeks, but I've added a couple of pieces to it that I love and I didn't want to show it to you until I was happy with how it looks.  You'll notice I put "mantle" in quotes because I don't actually have a real mantle to decorate.  Instead, we have a "credenza" which is basically a narrow table with storage cabinets.  But I couldn't very well title this post "Spring/Easter Credenza Inspiration".  So mantle it is.  And I hope you'll forgive me if you think the title is misleading and look at all the cute things I have to show you instead. *wink*

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Valentine's Rag Wreath

When my husband and I moved into our home almost 5 years ago, one of the things I was most excited about (besides an attached garage of course) was having a front door to hang cute wreaths on.  Oh sure, we'd had front doors in our previous apartments, but all of them had been basement apartments and not very big so we didn't have company over very often.  And in my opinion, part of the fun of having a wreath on your door is so people can see it.  Right?

With Valentine's Day coming up, I love decorating in the lovely shades of pink, red, purple and white that accompany the holiday.  I didn't have a Valentine's wreath for my door so I decided to remedy that problem with a cute new rag wreath!  Rag wreaths are so easy and inexpensive.  They store well and fluff up easily when you pull them out of storage.

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How to Make a Holiday Glass Block

Over the last few years, I've been working on discovering my own personal home decorating style and slowly but surely things are coming together.  This has, of course, extended into my holiday decor.  Each year, I've been getting rid of decorations that I no longer like or use and buying or making some that contribute to the overall cohesiveness of the look I'm going for.

A while back I was browsing through a local boutique that was closing their business.  They had a back room with tons of random items I wouldn't have expected to find there considering it was a clothing and jewelry boutique.  Out of everything in the store, I didn't buy jewelry or clothing--I bought glass blocks.  They only had three of them but I took them all and at a killer price.  I had the best of intentions to make something cute out of them for my home but never got around to it.  (This happens fairly regularly and it drives my husband crazy.  But I do get around to it eventually. *wink*)

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DIY Dollar Store Hurricane Vases

When it comes to home decor, I have a hard time committing.  I can find colors that I like, but figuring out the details can be challenging.  Or I find a knick-knack that I love but I'm not sure it's the right fit for my house.  (This is probably partially due to the fact that I am still trying to nail down my own personal style.)  However, I do have a few items that I consider classic pieces.  One of these is hurricane vases.  I love them because I can easily change out what I put inside to match whatever decor I have up, whether seasonal or part of my everyday home decor.  There are various sizes, shapes and even colors to fit any style.

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DIY No-Sew Burlap Table Runner with Tassels

With the changing of seasons, I've been swapping out my summer decor for more fall themed decor.  I was looking around the house today and noticed that the credenza (fancy word for table) in the front room was looking a little bare and I had two words pop into my head: burlap and runner.  I ran downstairs and grabbed some burlap remnant I'd bought who knows how long ago thinking it would be nice to have on hand.  (I have a hard time resisting the remnants bin.  It's a problem...)  Turns out that I had the perfect amount to make a cute and easy table runner.

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