Wednesday, October 27, 2010

What I Wore Wednesday

Wow, Week 18 of WIWW!  And I totally didn't realize I was so lazy with my hair this week... please forgive me!  (It's been raining!)

Day: Wednesday
Where: Work
Sweater: Gap
Tank & Jeans: AE
Shoes: Payless

Day: Thursday
Where: Work
Cardi: A&F
Apple tank: Some store in Louisiana
Jeans: AE
Shoes: Sperry

Day: Friday
Where: Work
Cardi: Charlotte Russe via Plato's Closet
Shirt: Kristin Davis for Belk
Jeans: AE
Shoes: Payless

Day: Saturday
Where: Plato's Closet and Walmart
Shirt: Banana Republic
Tank: Dick's
Jeans: AE
Shoes: Payless

Day: Sunday
Where: Shopping
Shirt: Kohl's
Tank & Jeans: AE
Shoes: Sperry

Day: Monday
Where: Work
Shirt: Banana Republic
Tank & Jeans: AE
Shoes: Crocs

Day: Tuesday
Where: Work
Shirt: Kristin Davis for Belk
Tank: Dick's
Jeans: AE
Shoes: Kohl's











Thursday, October 14, 2010

HomeGoods = My New Favorite Place

Yesterday, I took advantage of a random day off and made my first pilgrimage to HomeGoods.  Yes, you read that right, I had never been in a HomeGoods store before.  But I have a good reason - we don't have one near where I live in NC!  We have TJ Maxx and Marshall's, but no HomeGoods.  Well, I saw a HomeGoods commercial during The View (I guess those subliminal messages sometimes work) so I went to their Web site to see if there was one closeby.  Well whatdya know, but there's one just 20 minutes away.

I have had an obsession with lanterns the past few months, and I found two beautiful ones for $11 and $10, respectively.

Yes, I am planning on taking the tag off, in case you were wondering.

I got oh so excited when I saw this next item.  It was hidden behind a couple other mirrors but just screamed at me to get to it to see what it was all about.


A quatrefoil mirror!  OMG!  As most everyone is right now, I'm obsessed with quatrefoil!  It's been banged up a little bit so I got the manager to knock 5% off the price (a whopping $2, but better than nothing), and got it for $38.  Okay, a little pricey maybe, but it was $80 at the original retailer, so I keep telling myself that I got a bargain!  And this sucker is heavy, which means it's well-built, right?  The dark wood stain reminds me of the 70's, so I'm planning on giving it a nice new paint job (heirloom white, anyone?).  Now to figure out where to put it...

But I've decided something... I can't make a habit of going to HomeGoods or we'll end up in the poor house.  There are just so many treasures, I was overcome with an urge to take them all home, but alas, we are not yet millionaires.  Why can't I just invent the new Facebook?

Monday, October 11, 2010

2010 Halloween Decor


Our cute little end table.  Our lamp is getting all witchy, my tombstone shadow boxes found their home here, the milk glass vases and little ghost figures are from garage sales, and the jack-o-lantern tealight holders (aren't they adorable?!) are from Target a few years back.  (I just love this end table.  Too bad it's only on loan from my mom and stepdad.)


Next to our TV is a cute lighted vine pumpkin from Target.  The leaf candle dish and candle were a wedding gift from my friend Crystal.  (The berries and greenery are a year-round decoration.)


Had to break out my fall-scented candles.  I just bought the Harvest scent from Yankee Candle and I love it!  It's not too strong, but not too light... gives off the perfect amount of scent.  The Harvest Berry candle is from Bath & Body Works and is probably my favorite scent ever.  Hiding in the back is my go-to Autumn Wreath (with a scarecrow lid on top).


The only decor I bought this year was this tree from Hallmark.  I had to have it to house all of the Halloween ornaments I found for $2 at a garage sale!  I put my duct tape pumpkin here for the time being, until it has to go off for judging.  I got the little buckets and Scary sign (which has a Boo sign to match, hanging on our laundry room door) from Target a couple years ago.


Here's our coffee table.  I love having a square coffee table for decorating.  I put this Halloween table runner on it (our dining table has a fall tablecloth on it right now so I had to find a new place for this runner - it has pumpkin, spider, and ghost appliques on the ends).  I got the witchy pumpkin and mosaic candle holders at Yankee Candle.  The leaf pumpkin was on clearance at Hobby Lobby last year.  I was really sad when the hurricane tops to these candlesticks broke, but when I was trying to find a centerpiece for this table, I was glad I had kept the wooden bases!  I put two small glass bowls (bought on clearance at Target for my bridesmaids luncheon) on top and they look like they were always meant to be there!  I filled them with cinnamon-scented pinecone filler from Michael's, with a little spanish moss thrown in the bottom.


Okay, not technically Halloween-y but I love these small leaf votive holders I got at Belk a couple years ago.  I put more pinecone filler in the tiny basket, and the green vase stays here year-round.

I have lots more Halloween stuff in NC, but alas, it won't all fit up here.  I will be so glad when all of our things can be reunited!

I hope your Halloween will be filled with lots of spooky tricks and delicious treats.



"Please get me out of this ridiculous shirt."

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Duct Tape Pumpkin

Steven's company is having a duct tape pumpkin contest for Halloween.  Basically the only requirements are that you have to use Duck Brand Duct Tape to create a jack-o-lantern.  Other materials can be used as well, as long as duct tape is incorporated.  The entries will be judged on creativity, use of color, and workmanship and 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners will be chosen.  So of course, Steven enlisted my help.


I bought a black pumpkin at Michael's for $6 (it was 50% off!).  I could have used a real pumpkin, but this way I can keep it as part of my decor year after year.


I found this witch and moon image online, scaled it to the size I wanted, printed it and cut it out.


I rubbed pencil on the back of the image, then traced it onto my pumpkin.  I wasn't sure at this point how I was going to do the witch so I traced it on here too, but I really only needed the moon.


I failed to take any "during" pictures, but all I did was cut 1" squares out of 5 different colors of duct tape (white, yellow, black, red, and neon orange) and covered the whole pumpkin (this took 2-3 hours, but I watched Martha and The View while I was doing it so it seemed like no time at all!). I kept the moon yellow and white, then outlined it in a skinny strip of black so it would stand out.  I retraced the witch on at this point for positioning purposes only.  I actually laid a strip of black duct tape on my cutting mat, traced the witch onto it, and used my craft knife to cut her out.  Her whole body fit onto the width of the tape, and then I cut her head out of a second piece, but you can't even tell where I pieced them together.


I cut the duct tape to fit around the stem.


And here she is... all finished!  I added the spooky trees as an afterthought, and I really like the way they look!  It may not be the most creative entry, but I think it's pretty cool, even if it doesn't win a prize.

How are you guys decorating your pumpkins this Halloween?

Saturday, October 9, 2010

Garage Sale Saturday = Tons of projects

Another day of garage saling today, and boy did we rack up!

(And by rack up, I mean acquired lots of projects...)

(Btw, sorry for the crappy pictures to follow.  Of course I didn't think about taking pictures of them in the nice afternoon sunlight, but instead in our dark dungeon of a townhouse.)


We got six of these beauties, which, once painted and reupholstered, will reside around Steven's poker table.  The poker table seats 10 but currently only has 4 chairs.  These 6 will make it complete, and I think having two different kinds of chairs will add an eclectic charm (at least that's what I'm telling myself as we got all 6 for $15!).  I looooove the legs on these... aren't they beautiful?

The ugly fabric.  This was actually one of the cleaner ones... some have white paint splattered all over.



We also got this folding leaf table (seller said it came from Ethan Allen many moons ago) for $15!  It will take residence in our basement as a console table once painted.  What a perfect place for all of our Appalachian and Cubs memorabilia!  And when we have parties we can break it out for extra seating.  It's not really anything special, but for that price we couldn't pass it up!  I think the right paint job will make all the difference.



We didn't get these doors today, but I thought I'd throw them in as another example of a project-in-waiting.  I actually spied them next to the trash compactor at our apartment complex a few months ago!  I don't know why anyone living in our apartments would have an extra set of french doors, but whatevs!  Their loss, my gain!  And the best part... they were fuh-ree!!!  Um, could I throw in one more exclamation point in this paragraph?  Anywho, won't they look great hanging on a long blank wall with pictures inserted into the windows?  Or distressed and leaned against a wall as a huge focal point?  I actually don't know what I'm going to do with them yet, but who could pass up free?  Not me!! (2 more exclamation points for your reading pleasure.  No need to thank me.)

So, now I need your advice, my lovely readers (is anyone out there?).  What colors should I paint the chairs and table, and what should I do with the doors?  I'm using a yellow, black, and cream color scheme in our basement so the chairs and table would have to fit with that.  Oh and I want to make curtains with this lovely fabric if that gives you a frame of reference:

Isn't she beautiful?
We're planning on remodeling the basement when we move back to NC, thus why I have items for the basement on my mind.  There's nothing technically wrong with our basement, but it's just... ugly.  It has cheap carpet, and basically cheap everything.  For the past 3 years that we've lived there, the only things in the main area of our basement (which we call the game room) have been Steven's poker table and a small TV in the corner.  We're going to make more of a family room down there with half of the room being a seating/TV area and the other half Steven's poker area.  But I'll tell you more about that in a future post.

Anything goes with the doors as I haven't decided where I'm putting those yet.   We have tons of empty wall space in our house, but I'm thinking about hanging one of them in the hallway that leads to the master bedroom and basement (see diagram below).

Hmm, just realized this diagram doesn't show the master bath.  I'm resisting the urge to go back into Photoshop and fix it (because it's irrelevant!).  I have OCD tendencies sometimes, just ask Steven.
So what do you think? 

A day of garage saling, $30, 6 chairs, and 1 table.  I think it was a successful day.

Monday, October 4, 2010

Tombstone Shadow Boxes


If you remember, I picked up three shadow boxes at a garage sale a while back.  Last week, I came up with a brilliant (if I do say so myself) idea for them.

I pass by an extremely old cemetery on my way to work every day and I have always wanted to stop and look at it.  The tombstones are practically falling apart and the whole place has a certain charm to it (as much as a cemetery can, I guess).  So anywho, I stopped there on my way home Wednesday and snapped some photos to be transformed into creepy Halloween artwork (I'll admit... I was a little freaked out and got out of there as quickly as I could).  Most of the tombstones are so old that you can't even read them anymore.  It's just so interesting to look at them and think someone has been buried there since 1845.  I mean, that's a looooooong time ago.  Okay, kinda creepy to think about, but interesting too.  Here are the photos before, and then after I Photoshopped them.


First, I printed two copies of each photo on high-quality photo paper.



On one of the copies of each photo, I cut out one tombstone using a craft knife.



Then I took the other photo and mounted it to the backerboard of the shadow box using double-sided tape.



Pop-up Glue Dots... my favorite!  I placed one glue dot in the middle of the tombstone...



...and set the cut-out on top for a 3D effect.



I used Martha Stewart's bat template as a starting point and free-handed some bats on black cardstock and cut them out.



Bats!  Hmm, just realized I forgot to take a picture of them post-glitter, but just imagine 3 of these bats all glitterized in silver.



I used a piece of transite to attach the bats to the top of the shadow boxes, using regular tape.





The finished product!  Pretty creepy, right?  I added some black rose petals and a skull leftover from my Skulls and Spiders Wreath to complete the project.  It's extremely hard to take decent photos in bad lighting of objects with glass.  Have you ever tried it?  Extremely difficult, so I'm sorry if these photos don't do it justice.



What do you think?  I like that these can easily be changed for the seasons or whatever whim I'm on that week.