wall art

Finally! I have my camera back now, so I can start taking pictures of the projects I have been doing! The minute I saw this post from Thrifty Decor Chic, I had to go out and put this idea to work myself. I think it turned out fabulous! Now, I know she used 9 boards, but the wall I was wanting to place this on was to narrow, so I kept it simple with the 6 boards. Thrifty Decor Chic outlines the steps to making this (and includes more pictures), but I also have them listed below if you are eager to get started! I have also listed 2 small things I would change to make it easier if I were to do this again in the future.

• Pick out your 12 x 12 inch scrapbook paper pattern. I went the cheapo route and just picked colors/patterns that I liked and that were on sale! (mine were 0.42 cents a piece!)
• Go to Lowes or Home Depot and have them cut MDF Particle Board (Medium Grade) into 12 x 12 inch squares (board cost $7.42 for me, cuts were free). Keep in mind size does matter here! My guy cut 3 of my boards 1/4 of an inch too long and since the paper is a set size, I do have a slight boarder going on.
• Paint or Spray paint the trim of the boards. I did mine in black to match the gray room they were being placed in better.
• Taking spray mount, spray the paper and boards and adhere the two.
• Now, you can either place picture brackets on the back of the boards, or nail through to hang them. Since I may move these in the future, I went ahead and placed picture brackets on the back of each one ($3.50 for 6).

Don't they just look fabulous! And they fill the space so well! The thing I love best about these (besides the really inexpensive cost) is that when I get bored with these patterns, I'm just going to spray mount new scrapbook pieces! Love it!

Now, two things I would do differently if I were to do this again:

• Have them cut 11 x 11 boards, so the 12 x 12 paper overhangs and you take an etching knife to trim the excess. That way the paper is flush to the edges and you don't have to worry about lining it up 100% perfectly.
• Paint the trim...I spray painted it this time and I personally think I am just not a good spray painter...I made the biggest mess! Again, probably just me.

In any case, this project was super fun, super easy and super cheap! If you have a blank wall and some time, give this a shot and let me know! I'd love to see what patterns you picked out!

frugal & fantastic do go together!

So, I'm sitting here in the midst of 3 craft projects started, but no way to take pictures of them because my husband has our camera! He has been in Texas for a week now and boy do I miss him and I'm SO glad he is coming home in a few days! It is amazing we went 2 years long distance when I use to live in Atlanta...that just seems like another life time ago and my how fast you get use to a new routine! I do find I get a lot more crafts completed, however! Ha, I guess I just find more time to do them when he is out.

In any case, while missing him I was flipping through our old photos and came across one of the most special days in my life...our wedding. I could look at those pictures over and over again and just relive each moment! While getting all sappy and caught up in the wedding memories, I decided I could write a post about some of the wonderful things created to help save cost and still maintain a fabulous wedding!

I am not sure about you, but I had a long engagement...1 year and 3 months (to me that is long), which gave me plenty of time to prepare, plan and create our wedding just as dreamed. I also thoroughly enjoyed each piece I made for our wedding because I still have those pieces today to cherish the work and love put behind creating them. I have even begun to reuse some of the pieces as decoration, as I described in my Alternate Headboard post.

Anyway, I could go on and on about our wedding and continue to bask in that beautiful day, but instead, I'll let the pictures do the talking and you can see for yourself how being frugal and fantastic do go together!

Wedding Program Fans
(since our wedding was outside, in the
south, in June...these were a must!)
Wedding Wish Bowl
(made by a friend to borrow for
guests to drop in wishes for us)

Wedding Flowers (fake flowers)
(a fraction of the cost of real flowers,
and you get to keep them!)
Wedding Kissing Ball (fake flowers)
(placed on the chairs lining
the aisle for extra decor)
Wedding Cake Topper
(monogrammed topper is just wood cut
out in the font I used throughout wedding,
painted white and swarovski look-alike
crystals glued to the top )
Wedding Favors
(sugar cookies with homemade labels)
Wedding Bubbles
(placed in a cute basket made by a friend
with ribbon and decor)

From Shab to Fab!

Recently I have gotten big into coupon clipping. You would be amazed how much money you can actually save with taking a bit of time to cut and save the coupons! You do, however, have to be really organized in the way you store your coupons. Different things work for different people. Currently, I am making a coupon book with separate tabs to organize all of them (I'll be sure to share in another post)...but until I complete this I decided to turn my old bulletin board into a clever way to hold a few notes/coupons.

This bulletin board is placed on the inside door of our pantry and as you can see from the first image, was very...how do you say...blah! It needed some pizazz (ha!). I also kept losing the little push pins or I would over load the push pins with too many pieces of paper and it would constantly fall, so needless to say, it was time to remodel the coupon system! Taking some paint, ribbon and clothing clips I was able to transform this shab bulletin board into a fab and more organized (and cuter!) note/coupon holder.

If you aren't into coupons, this could easily hold recipes, important phone numbers, calendar or anything else usually found stuck in the kitchen/refrigerator. By tucking this away in the pantry, it makes for a more organized home and a central place for everyone to place important items. Embellishing the old bulletin board was super easy and added a nice touch of color and structure to the cluttered paper!

save on sales!

With Autumn here and Halloween JUST around the corner, it seems all the craft stores are putting their summer items on sale. And a sale=big time money saving! I'm not sure if you are like me, but I like to buy things 'off season' for the better price (especially clothes!). When I went to Michaels today I saw all the cute summer items on sale...and for the record I was surprisingly good to only buy what I went in there for!

Anyway, in honor of the great sales I thought I would post some of the summer cards I made and haven't posted yet. Tomorrow I will be joining the monthly card class and we will be making Halloween cards, so I guess it is time these last few summer cards get their debut on this 'ole blog! The good news is that with all the summer things on sale right now, you could make these cheaper and just save them for next year!

Just a thought...a polka-dot thought!

Vintage Picture Viewing

I'm kicking it back old school today! Now, I must say I haven't actually attempted to make this yet, but as soon as I get my hands on one of these vintage toys, I'm SO trying this!

Awhile ago my coworker brought in a View Master toy. Go ahead and flash back to the 80s when you remember checking out the coolest movie slides while aiming the View Master to the light. Well, the one he brought in had personal pictures in it! Maybe this is common, but my View Master only had the Disney characters in it, never me! His brother actually made it (AND in 3D!), but he had a lot of cool tools to do this.

So, I got to thinking how an average person could make it and here are my thoughts...what if we took this old toy, poked out the Disney character frames and replaced it with our own film negatives? This may work, but won't be in 3D. The images would also have to be zoomed out a good bit because the 35mm negatives are a lot larger (26mm x 36mm) compared to the View Master slide (12.9mm x 11.9mm). I know you can buy a special camera to make the View Master slides for you, or you could pay a photo company...but who wants to do that? I'm convinced we can do this with what we already have!


Another idea I had was printing the images at the correct size on a transparency sheet. This may be the best option because you will get the correct size. You could even go ahead and create the 3D image in Photoshop and print it from your home printer on the transparency. You would just need to cut it out and assemble, and viola!

Anyway, like I said, I'm definitely going to make this soon. It is on my list, I just need to get me an old View Master first! If you already have one, give it a shot! I'm sure it would make an adorable personalized gift for a niece or nephew.

Just a thought...a polka-dot thought!

because every picture needs some flare!

Recently my sister-in-law sent me some absolutely precious pictures of my niece (Caroline) to edit. I guess I had the movie 'Office Space' in my mind, because while editing I kept hearing a tiny voice saying I needed to add some 'flare'...so I did and below is how it turned out.

Looks almost like a digital scrapbook, or like I took a picture after I placed it all together by hand, but this was all done on the computer. And yes, I did blur out the last name for privacy purposes. Enjoy and show me your photo flare! I love seeing how different the creative minds work! At times I personally think photos need that extra flare...

Just a thought...a polka-dot thought!

ring my bells

As I was sitting here checking my email, my very own Marley inspired me for this post. You see...Marley and I have a system...when he has to go to the bathroom or wants to go outside to play he has to ring his puppy bells that dangle on the back door. Since I was upstairs playing on the computer, I just heard the frantic 'I really have to go to the bathroom, Mom!' bell ringing!

After letting him out (he is outside playing as I type), I grabbed the puppy bells and decided today I'm going to remake them because they have seen better days...and in doing so, I thought I would share how truly simple these are to make AND use for your dog! No more barking, no more door jumping/scratching! Now, I can't take credit for this great idea of the puppy bells, as they were given to me, but I can share with you how you can make your own and how I will recreate mine!

So to get started, you will need some ribbon (the thicker the better because these will be pulled, teethed on, tugged, banged around...). You will also need some simple holiday bells (found at any local craft store, especially during the upcoming holiday season!). Finally, you just need a sewing machine to sew it all together.

Measure the ribbon according to your dog's height. My dog is a Golden Retriever, so he doesn't need a lot of slack in the ribbon. Taking the holiday bells, you can place them on a key ring to hold a lump of them together. You then loop the ribbon around the key ring and sew to secure. For the top, to keep it simple you can just create a loop to fit around the door handle (or secure with snaps/buttons as mine previously were). Piece of cake!

Training: Now you will need to train your pup how to use these. Ever hear of Pavlov's Theory? Well, it holds to be true. When taking your pup outside always ring the bell and guide him/her through the motions. If your pup knows the 'sit' command, just make them sit at the door near the bells and ring it for them. Pretty soon they will associate the ringing must occur for them to go outside and they will do it themselves! Marley picked it up within 2 days, so I know your pups can do it too! Don't get discouraged if they don't pick it up immediately and always remember to praise your pup for ringing before you let them outside!


Creating this pup bell is just so simple and provides even more structure for your pup! It is even great to travel with so you know when they need to go out. It allows them to better communicate to us and hopefully prevent embarrassing accidents! Every house with a pup should have one!

Just a thought...a polka-dot thought!

Reunion + Baby Shower = F-U-N!

I have been meaning to blog about this sooner, but (a) I have been way too busy and (b) my camera broke, so I was waiting for my friends to Pando me the pictures so I could have something visually exciting to show on the blog!

Two weeks ago my old college roommates and I met up in Clemson for our annual post-college reunion AND for the first time to have a baby shower! My how time is flying that we are already planning baby showers! I feel we JUST graduated college and got married...

In any case, the weekend was filled with a lot of orange for Clemson and blue for Lacy's soon to be baby boy! After meeting up in Greenville Friday night and attending a winning Clemson game Saturday, we headed to Lacy's first baby shower! I, with the help of Ashley and Stacey, again made another diaper cake...except this time I got white only diapers and it made a huge difference!

Stacey had the adorable idea of the cake topper being flowers and socks--she turned the baby socks into miniature flower buds as the diaper cake topper! It was so adorable!

As another decoration idea, I thought it would be cute to drape baby boy clothes along a clothesline where the shower was being hosted. To save money, I got some adorable and precious baby boy clothes second hand. Since I didn't really want to wrap the clothes as a gift for Lacy, we used it as decoration and then she got to keep them as well. It was definitely a big hit...I mean who doesn't think baby clothes are adorable?!

Finally, one of my favorite parts about the shower was the adorable watermelon crafted to be Noah's ark! It was a perfectly functional decorating piece that was not only cute, but was also the 'bowl' for the fruit! Seriously, so precious!

All in all, the weekend was a hit. Friends, Food and Fun...can't complain!

Moving Reminders...only a year late!

I'm actually able to have a really relaxing weekend! The forecast is calling for rain, and for once I am looking forward to being forced to stay inside and accomplish some things around the house. As I was cleaning tonight and organizing some boxes from moving in a year ago (still!), I was reminded of my adorable moving reminders I had EVERY intention of printing and mailing out to family and friends!

I never realized this until now, but there is a common theme in my designing...I like polka dots and the color blue! Ha ha! Even a little over a year ago when I designed these, I see my design trademark of the color palette and simple, yet adorable dots. Now, my husband and I have no intention of moving in the future because we love it here, so since I never got to send these out then...I will just share with you what was designed and intended for mailing so you can enjoy it! Of course, I have blurred out the important information, but you get the picture!

I need cat nip

So, I have been MIA for the past week or so, and I was off to such a good start with this blog! I apologize for the few viewers/readers I did collect...I hope you didn't scamper off and forget about me! September, the start of an awesome fall month and season, has not been off to a very good start for me at all! Not to bore you with my life's adventures, or misadventures I should say, I will briefly sum up the past two weeks and move along to my post!

This September I have...managed to fall down the stairs of our 2 story house, incurring an eversion ankle sprain thus creating a limp and new nickname 'hobbles' for the time being. We have also managed to blow out our tire while traveling to a Clemson game and to top it all off my husband just recently had an emergency appendectomy...all of this in 2 week's time! On a more positive note, I am very thankful we are both fine and I just continue to pray that God will turn our luck around...I know something uplifting is coming our way, so I keep my chin up.

Now, in the midst of this chaos, I haven't had time to update my blog at all! I really wanted to participate in the iheartfaces challenge this week for submitting pet photos because I am proud to say I have a ton of pet photos! Even though the challenge is already closed for the week and I am late in posting this, I still wanted to submit what I was intending to submit. Below is a photo of my precious and first fur baby: Puff Chasity. She is a 5 year old Maine Coone rescued from the streets of Clemson, SC. Isn't she just precious? Not to be biased, but I really think she is such a photogenic cat. She actually won a calendar contents in Atlanta a few years ago.

Below is my pet photo contribution. It was so hard to choose just 1 image, but I chose this one because she had just finished playing with cat nip and had a boost of energy that was so entertaining to watch (and photograph). With days like these, I feel I need some cat nip to give me some sort of boost as well!

'fall' in love

Over the weekend, I again met up with Stephanie, whose wedding I have the honor to be in this November. After getting all the wonderful details of her wedding, we decided to crank out her wedding invitations! With them already designed, it was now time to print and assemble!

Again, since she is having a Fall wedding and a color scheme of chocolate and autumn orange, we created some chocolate invitations. She actually picked up the invitation stock from Michaels, which is a great money saving idea! We were then able to design them how we wanted and assemble them ourselves! I truly think her invitations came out beautiful! I absolutely love the die cut leaf with the ribbon addition to the invitation. Using that same leaf die cut look, we created a similar leaf to be printed on the response cards and envelopes, for a more cohesive look and feel, and to again reiterate the fall theme.


Next on our list is creating the programs, which we will do in a few weeks once everything is nailed in place. I know her wedding will be as gorgeous as these invitations reflect and I can't wait to be a part of her big day!