31 Day Towards Financial Freedom!

"The Nester" is doing a 31 days series along with these fabulous ladies.  This series is starting on October 1st and will run until October 31st.  They have invited other blogs to participate and I have decided that I will give it a shot :-)

I have decided to do my series on "31 Days Towards Financial Freedom."  My husband and I have completely changed our financial ways once reading and listening to Dave Ramsey.  We have been following "The Total Money Makeover" and it has changed our life dramatically! 

The Total Money Makeover forum is actually where I first fell in love with the DIY blog world.  I found a post recommending Thrifty Decor Chick and from then on I was obsessed interested in DIY and decorating. 

I thought there was no way I could decorate our house the way I had hoped because it wouldn't work with our budget.  Little did I know that not only could decorate on a budget, but that I would actually like the free/cheap items better!  I have had much more fun to personalizing my home by making the things I like, instead of purchasing the high end decor that looks the same as everyone else's.

I hope that you will join me for the next 31 days to hear some of my favorite money saving ideas!

Day 1 ~ Budget


Day 2 ~ Cash is King


Day 3 ~ Change Your Mindset

Day 4 ~Shaving Down the Grocery Bill

Day 5 ~ Think Outside the Box

Day 6 ~ Baby Steps

Day 7 ~ Get Together

Day 8 ~ The Reluctant Spouse

Day 9 ~ Reward Yourself

Day 10 ~ No Credit Cards Allowed! 

Day 11 ~ Emergency Fund 

Day 12 ~ Bye Bye Debt

Day 13 ~ Earning Extra Income

Day 14 ~ Infrequent Payments

Day 15 ~ Avoid Impulse Shopping

Day 16 ~ Consignment Stores

Day 17 ~ Making Cuts

Day 18 ~ Be Careful Who Your Friends Are

Day 19 ~ To Tithe or not to Tithe

Day 20 ~ Making the Hard Decisions

Day 21 ~ Co-signing

Day 22 ~ Borrowing from Family or Friends

Day 23 ~ Start Young

Day 24 ~ Emergency Fund #2

Day 25 ~ Student Loan Debt

Day 26 ~ Buying a House

Day 27 ~ Oops I did it Again

Day 28 ~ Favorite Money Saving Websites

Day 29 ~ The Dreaded FICO Score

Day 30 ~ Do You Really Need all that Stuff?!

Day 31 ~ Be Weird

Fall Inspirations

I must admit I have really been procrastinating on this season they call Fall...I am really not ready for summer to be over yet :-( 

I did buy a fabulous new coffee though (Godiva Pumpkin Spice) that I have made myself each morning this week, so I feel like I am getting closer to accepting the change occurring around me.

I have decided that this weekend I will take the plunge and start making some changes around our house.  I must say that after looking at so many of the crafty and beautiful projects out there that I am starting to get just a little bit excited!

I thought I would share with you all some of my favorites right now to get me amped up to create some fun things this weekend!!

How cute are these cupcakes!!!

http://swanky-chic-fete.blogspot.com

I must do this wreath - so simple and beautiful!

http://www.littlethingsbringsmiles.com

I don't think I have the talent to do these, but they are beautiful...


http://twoshadesofpink.blogspot.com

 This I can do :-))

www.bhg.com

I hope to show you some Fall projects soon...

Curtain Rods Made out of Branches!

Our windows in our master bedroom have been naked for a while now and I finally got the courage to try to make my own curtains.  I had some beautiful fabric that didn't work out quite right for the bay window seat that I was trying to dress up and it was just screaming curtains to me!

Now remember I told you I don't sew...so I picked up some hemming tape and my iron and got to work.  I didn't want to go out and spend a ton of money on new rods for my windows and I wanted something unique.

I did something completely outside the box for me and I have a feeling it is going to be a love it or hate it idea. 

I went outside and cut down a couple branches from our tree and nailed them to the wall.  A perfect make shift curtain rod that brings in the rustic look this room needed.

What I really like about this project is the branches are so different from one another and absolutely no measuring was done because I didn't want things perfect.  I stuck a few clip on rings on the curtains and hung them right up!

I know...I know...all you see is the big blank spot in the center of that wall!  One project at a time :-)  I know right now that hole stands out more than ever, but I promise I have an idea for that spot that I am hoping to share very soon.

My husband has been out of town and gets home tonight, so I am very curious if he is going to be on the love it or hate it side.  My daughter said this morning that daddy was going to come home and say, "what a beautiful house!"  Isn't she the cutest!? 

I for one, love the outcome.  I feel like it adds some texture and charm.  However, I have been known to do some projects that I think are perfect and then a month later I wonder what on Earth I must have been smoking (i.e. my kitchen table - don't tell my husband I am re-doing that soon ;-))

Hope everyone is having a fabulous weekend!

Click here to see the complete How To.

P.S.  I'll be sharing this post over at http://www.momsfunnymoney.com/ this week!

Linking up to these fabulous parties...
http://www.myuncommonsliceofsuburbia.com/ ; http://abowlfulloflemons.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.bluecricketdesign.net/ ; http://goodbyecityhellosuburbs.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.lilluna.com/ ; http://polkadotsonparade.blogspot.com/ ; http://sewmuchado.blogspot.com/ ; http://733blog.blogspot.com/ ; http://tearosehome.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.somewhatsimple.com/ ; http://thriftydecorating-nikkiw.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.houseofhepworths.com/ ; http://rhinestonebeagle.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.brandyscrafts.blogspot.com/ ; http://alliemakes.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.thrifty101.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.fingerprintsonthefridge.com/ ; http://whipperberry.com/ ; http://www.missmustardseed.com/ ; http://www.mysimplehomelife.com/ ; http://www.atthepicketfence.com/ ; http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.stuff-and-nonsense.net/ ; http://commonground-debrasvintagedesigns.blogspot.com/ ; http://linda-coastalcharm.blogspot.com/; http://www.bedifferentactnormal.com/ ; http://niftythriftythings.blogspot.com/ ; http://morrowsunshine.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.bystephanielynn.com/ ; http://www.iheartnaptime.net/ ; http://www.flamingotoes.com/ ; http://sumossweetstuff.blogspot.com/ ; http://sweetpeasandbb.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.laughloveandcraft.com/ ; http://www.thestuffofsuccess.com/ ; http://www.remodelaholic.com/ ; http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/; http://diyhshp.blogspot.com/ ; http://linesacrossmyface.blogspot.com/2011/09/cure-for-common-monday-10.html ; http://vanessascraftynest.blogspot.com/search/label/Do%20Something%20Crafty%20Friday ; http://kissedbyafrog.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.happyhourprojects.com/ ; http://www.homemakerinheels.com/ ; http://rocaandcompany.blogspot.com/

Pinterest Love

I am seriously addicted to Pinterest!  I was so naive to Pinterest only a couple months ago and I actually had web addresses of all my favorite projects saved in a draft email so that I could always access them!  I can't believe how easy it is to save my favorite things to go back to them whenever I want on Pinterest.  Anyway, since most of you probably knew about this fabulous site eons before me, I will get to the point...

I just thought I would share some of my absolute favorite finds of the week. 

Painted upholstery

 I am seriously going to do this!  I just need to find the right goodwill chair :-)

water facet knobs

These are awesome, right!? How clever!

wire spool

Definitely doing this one, since my husband is an electrical contractor and we have plenty of these laying around...

shutter table

I don't know that I have seen a shutter project that I don't love.

It is so hard for me to stay focused on the projects I have when I keep seeing more things that I want to do.  I have 10 half done projects lying around because I keep getting distracted by something new and amazing!!  I need to show you all my to do list to keep me on track :-) 

I will be going to JoAnne's tomorrow to buy some fabric to finish one of my projects!!  Have a fabulous night everyone!

Changes for the girl's room

I hope everyone is had a wonderful weekend!  I ended up getting food poisoning on Friday (that's what I get for splurging on pizza and hot wings ;-) and slept all day!  The good news is that I woke up with so much energy to get things done on Saturday. 

One of my lovely friends dropped off a huge amount of hand-me-downs for my daughter, which proved to start a very big project.  Charlee loves her clothes like no one else, especially when they are hand-me-downs!  This is what our front entry looked like after Charlee examined and tried on everything...



I am so grateful for these adorable clothes, but I had no idea where I was going to put them!  My girls have been sharing a room since we moved and that makes storage much tighter.

Luckily one problem turned into a solution for another...

Recently Colbie has decided that she doesn't want to sleep in her crib any longer and has been waking me up at 3am each morning not wanting to go back to sleep.  I decided I couldn't take it another night, so I decided it was time to switch it to the toddler bed. 

Here is another classic case of my brilliance.  I have had the instructions to this crib under the bed for 4 years (and of course in all that time I have never needed them) and when we moved I put them in that special place so that I would not lose them. 

So began the one hour search...not in the well organized "owner's manuals box," not in the closet with the extra bed rails, not in the other closet with the extra crib sheets, not under the bed, not in the garage...

Frustrated and feeling the day escaping me I decided to just wing it and try to take the bed apart by myself.  Well, no luck with this either because I did not have the right type of screw driver to get the project done.  At this point I gave up and let my dear husband rescue me once again.  Seriously, it is so frustrating sometimes feeling like I can't accomplish the simplest task! 

Brian takes apart the bed and tries to put up the side rails and guess what? Those darn special screws for the guard rails are sitting in the same special place as the instructions.  I convinced him that she doesn't need those silly rails, the bed is practically on the ground as it is.  Besides, she has a bear that is bigger than my husband thanks to my sister that we can lay next to her bed :-) 

Well low and behold, the first night in her new toddler bed she falls out!  Don't worry the over sized bear did it's job, but she was over her new bed.  From then on she has been sleeping with her sister in the big bed.  The funny thing is a few days ago Charlee decided that it is much more fun to sleep in the crib...there was something seriously wrong with this picture when I would come in in the morning and the toddler is in the big bed and the 4 year old is in a crib!

Needless to say the crib just had to go.  It is bitter sweet for me because I hate to think that I don't have a baby left, but it just melts my heart when those two sleep together and cuddle up at night and now I have a spot for this dresser!  I convinced my husband we should sell the crib instead of the dresser it's a win - win right?!

Oh yeah, back to my point earlier...now the clothes have a home inside the new to me dresser instead of my entry way. 

I still have a ton I would like to do to this room, but for now it is so much better.




before - don't judge it didn't always look this bad ;-)

 




after

 

Burlap Art

This project is featured over at http://momsfunmoney.com today!

I have completed a project and it feels so good :-)

You may remember this beautiful piece of furniture that my husband found at a yard sale...

I thought he might be a little nuts!  How on Earth was I going to transform this into something beautiful?!  The dresser was perfect for our needs and the crazy, ugly top to this thing ended up being the perfect piece for our large, blank wall.  I still needed some thing to go on the top and sides of this piece though. 

I found some great plates at TJ Max that I ended up using along the sides and I saw some great burlap fabric on sale at the Craft Warehouse so I decided to attempt making something for the top. 

I stapled my first piece of fabric on my wood board...



Then I stapled the burlap over the top and cut an X in the middle and pinned each flap back and installed my emblem (also found at Craft Warehouse). 




The emblem was actually supposed to be attached through one end with the key like thing underneath it, but I decided just to nail that below.

Here is the finished project...

It is not perfect by any means, but that is what I like about it.  I was a little bummed at first when I put it on top of my wall piece because it looked way too small.

So I took this $5 rod iron circle thing from Ross :-) and stuck it up there with it...

The room feels much more complete now that this wall is full of life!

Yard sale day

I have been looking forward to this weekend for a while, City wide yard sale in Jacksonville!  Jacksonville is an adorable little historic town here in Oregon, filled with cute little Victorian homes and some extraordinarily large and beautiful Victorian homes.

I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to score on some great items in need of a makeover.  Sadly, Brian had to work this weekend, so it was just going to be me and the girls.  I had my girls in the stroller, cash in hand,and was ready to find the diamond in the ruff.  Unfortunately, the only thing purchased today was an old wooden ladder for $3 bucks :-)  It was not a total loss; I did have a great day walking around with my girls, eating kettle corn, and going to the park.

I was really in the mood to purchase something that would help me out on my DIY endeavors though, so after the girl's naps we went to the craft store.  I must say besides the glitter that the girls were tickled pink about, I got the perfect things to finish a couple projects I have in the works.  I'll give you a couple hints...one of them has to do with this wall piece and burlap :-)

Regardless of how productive my weekend was, I am so grateful and blessed that I could spend it with my girls.  My heart goes out to those who have lost loved ones 10 years ago today and I will never forget all the sacrifices from the great Americans on this day.

Hope everyone had a fabulous weekend.   I will be working hard on my new projects to show you soon!

Spray Paint Love

I hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend!  We took the girls camping and had a fabulous time! 



off fishing :-)

 

gotta love the camping hair!

I am so excited to share with you that Katie at http://momsfunmoney.com/ will be featuring one of my posts each week.  She has a great site with many cost saving coupons, recipes, and fun ideas! Check out her site or follow her on facebook.

Now on to my post...

I was all excited to come back and do a DIY sunburst mirror tonight and unfortunately things are just not working out for me.  I have had the materials for this project sitting around for a month now and have yet to start it.  I decided when I was cleaning house to just put them up until I was ready.  I always seem to put things away so well so that the girls won't get to them that I can't find them either!  It makes me crazy!  I found everything, except for the mirror (which is kind of key to the project).  What I really want to know is why I would split them up??  Why put everything, besides the mirror in one spot??  Sometimes my logic just amazes me.  I know it is in the perfect spot so that it won't get broken...but until my memory comes back to me, I will just have to move on...

I recently had some challenges with some chairs I was working on that reminded me just how much I {LOVE} spray paint!  I struggled with these chairs and wasted hours of time until I remembered about my good ol' friend, spray paint!  It is amazing how some times I can get stuck on one thing and forget that there are other ways of doing things.  Spray paint saved the day on this one and I must say I love the outcome!

Spray paint is the best choice for so many projects because it is quick and easy and really effective for the hard to get areas, like the wicker part in chairs.  I have used spray paint for large projects, like our kitchen table...

  

before...

 

after

and for small projects like this stool...

Although spray paint is an amazing choice for some projects, it is not always the winner.  I would never get results like this dresser from spray paint...

But for some projects, spray paint makes the world a much better place :-)



Shabby Chic Dresser

Ok I admit I am a little obsessed with this color!  I just think it is beautiful and I had 1/2 a gallon sitting in my garage and I thought it would be perfect for this garage sale dresser we picked up for $20 bucks!



before...







after!




I just loved the details to this dresser and the hardware was already a perfect fit. 

I used a glaze instead of the walnut stain I usually use to give it the antique look.  I found the glaze so much easier to work with and I will definitely be using it in the future!  To see a complete how to click here.

http://www.myuncommonsliceofsuburbia.com/ ; http://abowlfulloflemons.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.bluecricketdesign.net/ ; http://goodbyecityhellosuburbs.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.lilluna.com/ ; http://polkadotsonparade.blogspot.com/ ; http://sewmuchado.blogspot.com/ ; http://733blog.blogspot.com/ ; http://tearosehome.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.somewhatsimple.com/ ; http://thriftydecorating-nikkiw.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.houseofhepworths.com/ ; http://rhinestonebeagle.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.brandyscrafts.blogspot.com/ ; http://alliemakes.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.thrifty101.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.fingerprintsonthefridge.com/ ; http://whipperberry.com/ ; http://www.missmustardseed.com/ ; http://www.mysimplehomelife.com/ ; http://www.atthepicketfence.com/ ; http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.stuff-and-nonsense.net/ ; http://commonground-debrasvintagedesigns.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.bedifferentactnormal.com/ ; http://niftythriftythings.blogspot.com/ ; http://morrowsunshine.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.bystephanielynn.com/ ; http://www.iheartnaptime.net/ ; http://www.flamingotoes.com/ ; http://sumossweetstuff.blogspot.com/ ; http://sweetpeasandbb.blogspot.com/ ; http://www.laughloveandcraft.com/ ; http://www.thestuffofsuccess.com/ ; http://www.remodelaholic.com/



Blogging struggles

As you all know I am a baby blogger with not even 45 days under my belt...This has been one big journey so far and I have learned so much! 

I must say I had this naive vision about blogs before I started my own.  I had a few blogs that I followed...The Nesting Place, Thrifty Decor Chick, and Liz Marie . I foolishly thought that I was entering fresh ground, having no idea that there are thousands of blogs on DIY ideas alone!  I am actually quite thrilled that I was so naive in this process, because I most certainly would have been too scared and discouraged to start my own blog. 

I had absolutely no clue what I was doing, the only thing I knew is that I was so inspired by these other women and was having so much fun creating my own DIY projects that I wanted to share my adventures in creating and trying new projects. 

I must say I am completely shocked at how much time it actually takes to create and maintain a blog, the pros make it look so easy ;-).  I am not in the least bit techie, so it definitely takes me time to research and implement new features on my blog.  Due to my silly pride in starting out, I wanted my blog to look amazing and I wanted to be the one to say that I created it all by myself...it is funny how the devil gets in my head like that sometimes and makes me deviate away from the things that really matter. 

I had an awakening moment when I realized that just like my insanity about doing laundry naked, I should be focusing my time and energy on the important things.  It is much more important for me to do fun projects and write a good post, than spend the time on html code.  Therefore, I have hired Kendra at Key Lime Designs to do a blog makeover for me.  I am so thrilled!!  I can't wait to show off my new design in a few weeks!

My biggest struggle with entering the blogging world has been trying to figure out how to allocate my time between my full time job, my husband's business, and my family.  Hiring Kendra was my first step, now the next step is going to be making a schedule so that I can ensure that my blogging doesn't take too much time away from my family or my other jobs ;-) 

I just found a fabulous series from Tara at Taradara,What I Wish I Knew When I Started Blogging!  She has feedback from some of the top bloggers and I must say I am so thrilled I found this series before I was too far into my blogging.

Hope everyone enjoys their Holiday weekend!  We are going to the lake this weekend.  I can't wait to show you my new dresser project when I return :-)