Thrifty and Chic

$13 Framed Builder Mirror Tutorial

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia@Thrifty And Chic) — Thu, 16 May 2013 21:58:00 +0000

Happy Thursday! Since I'm in the process of giving a little makeover to my master bathroom, I knew the first thing that had to change was the mirror. I've been wanting to do this for some time now, but when I priced it out with some nice thick molding, it ended up being like $40 or $50. Too much for my little budget :) So I never got around to doing it. I could have done the 1x4 way like how I did it in my guest bathroom, but that was more 'rustic'. And I just wanted clean lines for my master bath.

Then I realized that I didn't like all the fancy molding more than I liked just plain boards :) So why not just do plain boards?? At under 70 cents a foot, it's a good deal. Especially when I had 19 feet to go with. I decided to buy some 1x6 mdf that you can find right by the molding. I love it because it's so thick and substantial. My mirror measured at 74"x37". You can buy these by different lengths, so I just bought 2 of the ten footers. Home Depot and Lowes both have places where you can cut the molding, so if you have your measurements, you can cut them there. They even have a miter box if you want to do your miter cuts there too :)

Here's how you do it: So, first paint the molding. These ones were already white, but it's just primed, so I just gave them a couple coats of some top coat.

For the back, paint about a quarter of the side that would be in the inside of the mirror since you'll be able to see it's reflection just a bit when its finally on the mirror. The painted side will be your shorter side once you miter cut it.

Once all the paint is dry, send it through your miter box or miter saw at a 45 degree angle for each side. Making sure, once again, that the painting backside edge is the shorter edge. Your cuts should be the same on each board and one side should be a cut at this angle \ and the other should be a cut at this angle /. So your board should look like this \________/ but with a top edge :) and that bottom edge is your painted backside edge.

Now with the boards cut and ready to go, take some waterproof silicone and run some along the none painted part of the backside of each piece.

Place the bottom piece first, secure with some painters tape.

Then the side pieces next.

And then the top piece. The best way to make sure these are all aligned and straight is to follow the outside edge of the mirror itself. The outside edge of the molding should be flush with the edge of the mirror.

This dries pretty quickly, but I usually won't take off the tape for a couple of hours or so.

For the edges, if you cut your cuts perfect, you shouldn't have to fill them in, all you need to do is maybe take a quick paint brush to it. But if the edges aren't perfect, just get some wood filler, fill in the gap, dry, sand, and paint.

I can't believe the difference this made in my bathroom. (don't mind the lovely hardwater stains all over the counter and faucet :) ). On that note, I'm thinking I would love some nice new shiny silver/chrome faucets...and maybe not so dark of countertops :)

It is so much brighter in here now. And it finally feels finished. I've been living in a complete non-decorated space for 4 years now. You would think that this would be the first bathroom I would 'freshen' up but it's the last :( I guess it's just so daunting. And it gets dirty really quick so maybe I think it's all for not. But....maybe...just maybe...with it all decorated now, it'll stay clean :)

So, here's the before of the bathroom mirror. Long..very long...and boring :) And the counter...well I won't get into the counter mess lol

I can't get over how nice and bright it is in here now, especially with the new blinds and curtains. It was always so so dismal in here before. You have no idea. It was gross too :) I never used the bathtub, so that just got dirty way to quick, full of dust and grimy dust. The worst kind :)

This is with the lights off and blinds open just a bit. Heaven :)

I can't wait to get ready in here now :) Before, it was like...in and out. Get your business done and leave. lol
It's amazing what little changes can do. So the total cost of this mirror project? Just under $13. :) It would be super cheap if your mirror was a fraction of this size, once again, this is over six feet long.

This posted is sponsored by:

(click to go out check out there inventory! Really beautiful stuff )

Chiffon Cup Cakes {not cupcakes}

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia@Thrifty And Chic) — Mon, 13 May 2013 21:14:00 +0000

Happy Mother's Day to all you moms out there! It was my first Mother's Day and couldn't have asked for a better day :)

So, I am the baker in the house. Definitely not a cook. It's funny how the two do not go hand in hand :) If it weren't for my husband, I would be living on a cereal and eggs diet (hey, at least I can cook eggs, right?). And if it weren't for me, my husband would probably be twenty pounds lighter :) I love to bake, and usually it's late at night when I have a sweet tooth and there's nothing in the house so I have to bake something.

We were watching an episode of some cooking show the other night and they were making something yummy. So, of course, I had to go forth and make something yummy to satisfy my sweet tooth :)

I bet you can probably make these "cup cakes" with any ol' cake mix, but I decided to try a chiffon recipe that I grabbed from my America's Test Kitchen cookbook and tweaked just a bit.

Here's the ingredient list:
1 1/2 cups of sugar
1 1/3 cups of flour (I used cake flour)
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
5 eggs (separate yolks from whites)
2 eggs
3/4 cups of water
1/2 cup of veggie oil
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp cream of tartar

Combine sugar, flour, baking powder and salt together in large bowl.
In separate bowl, combine 5 egg yolks, whole eggs, water, oil and extract.
Add wet mixture into dry mixture. Whisk/mix until well combined.
In another bowl combine egg whites and cream of tartar. Beat at medium speed until stiff peaks form. This was about 2-3 minutes for me.
Add egg whites into mixture, folding in.
Heat oven to 325 degrees. Get 12 coffee cups (oven safe) and pour mixture into each cup until about 3/4 full.

Bake for 30 minutes or until toothpick in center pulls out clean.

You can eat them like this, or let them cool a bit and pull them out of the cups. You may need to loosen with a knife to get them out.

For the frosting, I just took some cream cheese frosting I bought from the store, heated it for about 10-15 seconds and drizzled it onto the cup cakes. Yummy :)

These tasted so good! I wish I hadn't halved the recipe...but maybe that was a good thing :) These are pretty big, and eating more than 3 in a day may be a cause for some serious guilt lol

Cleaning Dog Hair Off Of Carpet

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia@Thrifty And Chic) — Thu, 09 May 2013 18:07:00 +0000

We had the little babe's blessing this past week and of course that meant a lot of cleaning. More cleaning than I ever wanted to do lol. I guess it was a good thing though. I didn't realize how nasty some corners of my house got. Plus it got us going on the yard which was much needed :)

The only thing I want to change about my house (besides getting more closets) is getting hardwood. Anyone with dogs that shed will understand this. The amount of hair Max sheds could create another dog every week. It's insane. So, of course, I feel really really bad when people come over and get hair all over themselves. It's inevitable but I think for the most part family and friends have figured that out. So that's good. But still. It would be nice to get all the dog hair up instead of just seemingly pushing it further and further down into the carpet. I figure with hardwood floors, it would be so much easier to clean up :)

I figured out the best way to get hair off of a couch in this post. So, what's the best way to get it off of carpet? Believe me, vacuuming only does like 10% of the work. Maybe I need a new vacuum??? It picks up practically everything else, so I'm not sure. Anyway. I needed a lot more of this hair picked up than what the vacuum does. I found a good little idea on Pinterest and decided to try it.

I took an old squeegee that I bought forever ago and never used for anything. Not that that matters, but at least it came into good use :) I forgot I even had it lol. Then I started squeegeeing the carpet. Yup. Weird? Yes. But did it work?

You tell me! I did this after I vacuumed. And this was just a 10 inch radius area. Crazy huh??

Disgusting too lol. I'm not sure about doing the whole house like this cuz that would just take forever, but doing the main areas of the house was totally doable. Maybe I should have kept all the hair and created another dog?? just kidding lol. Even though this worked, I still want hardwood floors though :) Any other tips for getting dog hair off of stuff??

Remove Hard Water Stains With Vinegar

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia@Thrifty And Chic) — Thu, 02 May 2013 18:29:00 +0000

We have really hard water in our house. Like super bad. It has ruined all of our dishes and silverware, our nice knives, the faucets, the sinks, the shower, etc. etc. I know we should invest in a water softener, but we just haven't yet. So, we live with it. When guests come over, instead of using our best dishes, we do the whole red solo cup and plasticware thing :) It's wonderful lol. But really, it's just plain embarrassing how our dishes always look dirty. I have tried everything, and nothing seems to work. I even tried vinegar once, but that was putting a cup of it in the dishwasher. Didn't really do much. But....the vinegar I guess needs to be more potent because it really does work :)

I just took some vinegar I got from the store, put it in a cup and put my silverware in it. Left it there for a few seconds. Took them out and wiped them down.

And tada!!! What a difference! I can't believe they look like this. I was seriously about to buy new silverware and really all it took was just a few seconds of being in vinegar.

So, once I realized the vinegar had such a great effect on my silverware, I was wondering about a few other things. So I tried it on our cups. All I did for this was soak a towel in some vinegar and rub the cup with it. Then I rinsed the cup with some water. And what.do.you.know! It worked too :) See the difference! Now you know why we did the whole red solo cup thing with guests :) They were nasty!

Another glaring spot in our kitchen encrusted with hard water stains is the fridge water dispenser. It was seriously caked on with white gunk. Once again, I just dipped a towel in some vinegar and rubbed it on the tray and voila!

Vinegar is seriously my new best friend! Is it bad that I'm so excited to clean the bathrooms now? lol. I can't wait to see our once brown water stops that are currently completely white :)

Another good thing? The hubs will stop cleaning our dishes with CLR. That stuff can't be good for you. I cringed every time he pulled it out. Vinegar is a much healthier choice :)

Easy No Sew Curtains

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia@Thrifty And Chic) — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 21:05:00 +0000

Hey all! We've been off adventuring over the past week. So, sorry I've been a little MIA. We took the little babe on her first adventure away from home...and her first really long road trip. I wasn't sure how it was going to go. I was a little nervous and pretty much just wanted to stay home. But luckily I have a great husband that forces me out of my comfort zone :) She did so well in the car ride! I was so surprised. She could care less that she was sitting there for hours. And let me tell you, car rides go a lot faster if you have a little one to stare at the whole time:) It was fun finally getting to play out in the sun (minimal sun of course). She loves it outside, it's fantastic. She squeals and talks at everything lol.
Can you believe this little bean is only three months old?? She's standing and holding her own weight already and sitting up like a pro. I'm just amazed....besides the fact that she is so big! She's almost 17 lbs already!

While we were out in the heat and sun, we of course had to get her her first sunglasses too :) She loves these. Doesn't care that they are on her. We put them on, and she just giggles with excitement. It's the cutest thing ever :)

The vaca was much needed. I meant to bring my laptop to keep up on things, but totally forgot it...so it was a real vacation :) It was wonderful actually. It's amazing how wrapped up in technology you can get. On a sad note, I got a horrible bout of food poisoning the last day, so that kept me out of the loop for like 4 days. I didn't know it took that long for it to get out your body. It was horrible.

I also have a fun little announcement to make. I decided to start another blog :) It's chronicling my way through motherhood. It's very new, so if you go visit it, beware :) I'm still in the process of getting it up and going, but I have started some posts. So now you can follow along with my confessions as a first time mom. It's call The Baby Files, just click here to go check it out and follow! or go to www.thebabyfiles.com.
Anyway. With all of this craziness, I'm just going to share a relatively simple project :)

I've been wanting to redecorate my bathroom for awhile now. But haven't. I have no excuse. I'm just lazy. lol. I wish I had earlier though because what a difference the color change has made.

First, we bought some blinds, which were much needed and practically 4 years too late. Just that alone made the biggest difference. But I wanted to soften the area with some curtains too..and not the ones that were up there. They were dark and heavy....I think I posted about them in one of my first posts, here. And I am ashamed to say, that post was about 3 years ago, and my bathtub/bathroom hasn't changed a bit since. It's been completely neglected. Yet, I'm in there all the time, so you would think I would want to keep it fresh and updated.

Alright. So back to the how-to on these no sew curtains. What you need:
Fabric-about 4 inches longer than what you need from your rod to the floor.
Stitch witchery (I just use the stuff that I always have left over from my Ikea curtains, or you can buy it by the fabric aisle)
Scissors
Iron

For each panel, I cut in half along the fold from it being on the bolt. This gave me both equal width panels, and of course, the same length.

Now, for each side, fold over and iron down about an inch of the fabric.

I'm OCD, so I wanted my panels to match perfectly. So, on the second panel, I folded down the fabric to match where the design was folded down on the other fabric. Make sense? If you look below, you can see what I mean, especially if you look at the little circle type things. Those are both equidistant from the the fold on both panels.
I did this on all sides.

I then got my stitch witchery, put it in the fold and ironed it in place. I did this to all the folds once again on each panel.

In order to hang it, I took my rod and put it on the fabric and folded the fabric over it, about 3 inches or so. I then used some stitch witchery to secure the bottom inch or so in place so that the rod slides easily back and forth. I did this to the other panel.

Now if you don't want to thread the rod through, you can use cafe clips to clip onto the fabric and then thread the clips onto the rod.

I got this fabric from Hobby Lobby. I seriously wish I had blinds for the past three years. I didn't realize how much brighter my bathroom would be.

I have a few more ideas for this area, some of which I may or may not do depending on how it looks. You know how that goes, you have an idea in your head that can either be way awesome, or turn out completely weird. Well this is borderline weird already. So, we'll see lol.

Have any fun vacation plans in your future? We'll be taking the little on her first plane trip in a bit. Anyway tips for that??? That's going to be a whole new experience on its own lol

Giant Framed Chalkboard Tutorial

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia@Thrifty And Chic) — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 22:46:00 +0000

I think I'm a little behind on the chalkboard trend. I made a few chalkboard things, all smaller though. But then I started to redo my front room and my mind went straight to 'chalkboard' to fill a newly vacant spot. I imagined a rather large chalkboard, but something movable. So I went through my leftover wood pile and found a great board to use. My husband had bought it to use it for his poker table he made (kudos to him for that by the way. It turned out great!)...Anyway. I think it's like a wood veneer. I'm not sure. But I know any board would work for this. I liked the thinness of this so it didn't add much weight. And, it was the perfect size! Bonus! :)

So, here's the list of supplies you'll need:
Large board
Molding to cover size of board
Chalkboard spraypaint/paint
Wood glue and screws

I contemplated making my own chalkboard paint for this or to spray paint. Spray painting won, although I think it took much longer than if I were just to paint it. And I'm not sure about the finish :) I probably needed another coat but I didn't want to have to buy another can lol. So, this is only two coats.

Now to frame it. For the sides I used some mdf that you find in the molding aisle, but not usually by the casing/floorboards section, but by it. Anyway. It's a lot cheaper than the actual plain molding that looks the same. It's about 70 cents per foot for the 1x4 instead of about $1.50. For the top and bottom, I used some a thick baseboard that was about $1.50 per foot.

Now, this board was huge, 6' by 2.5'. But for some reason, I wanted to get all the inches I could out of it, so instead of just placing the baseboards on the edges, I wanted to put them a little higher. So I measured about 5 inches down from the edge on one side and marked it. Did the same to the other side, then lined up the board. This gave me about an extra inch or two on each side.

I secured the board first using wood glue. Then lined up the 1x4 board on the edge and glued that on, I did the same thing with the other 1x4 board.

Before the glue dried, I made sure to check the square on each angle. Once these were dry enough, I added the bottom baseboard.

After the glue was completely dried. I then turned it over and added some screws to make sure it was super secured :)

I love how this turned out, and think it will be perfect for little hands to have fun with later on...of course I'll have to find a way to secure so it won't fall over by then, but for now, it's just propped up against the wall. I'm thinking of putting it on large easel that I have in my basement eventually. We'll see.

I'm not sure what's going on with the black in these pictures lol. I 'seasoned' it and then used a wet rag to removed the chalk, and well, that's what I got...just a bunch of smeared chalk lol :) It's not too bad looking in person, just looks used.

Her was this section of my front room before. A little dull and boring. I think I had those sticks in there for at least a couple of years...maybe ever since we moved in. It was about time for change!

I love how bright and cheery it is now. Makes me happy :) Plus this being the first room people see when they come and visit, it probably should be bright and happy and not ....well....blah like how it was before. Although, I admit, I really did like it before for some reason....maybe I'm just a blah sort of person ??? :/

The cost of this project was about $15 for the molding. I can't wait to show you the whole room when it's done! I'm so excited for some change in this room...it's been a long time coming :) (although it's been changed like 20 times...but this is a big change).

Now I need to come up with or find some great big long quotes to fill this board up with. Any suggestions??

Repurposing a Lamp into a Table

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia@Thrifty And Chic) — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 17:47:00 +0000

I have a love obsession with lamps....that along with candles and pillows...and headboards. Well, really, the list can go on and on lol. Anyway. So what happens to a lamp when it doesn't work anymore? Why transform it into a side table of course :) In order to do this, the lamp needs to be at least a medium size if not larger, and have somewhat of a sturdy heavy base in order to stand without toppling once the top is on.

First step: Demolish your lamp..well, not really. Just the part that makes it a lamp :) Take off the shade and the shade holder. Then on the piece that holds the light bulb, unscrew it/pull it out enough so you can see the cord/wire and cut the wire off. Of course, I shouldn't have to say this, but make sure the lamp isn't plugged in. Now take the cord out of the bottom so you shouldn't have a cord any more.

Step 2: I had a lot of attempts with the best way to attach the lamp to the table top. There are a few ways you can do it depending upon the supplies on hand. First, the best way, would be to take a spade bit in the size of the diameter of the lightbulb holder part. My bits were either just a bit too small or to big, so I didn't do it this way. But if you do. Drill into a 2x4 piece of wood about half way down and then plop the lightbulp holder part into the hole. If you want to make sure it's in there for good, add some gorilla glue or wood glue to hold.

Now for me, I decided to just gorilla glue the piece to the wood. Which worked great! But as the glue started to expand, I had to push down the bubbles a little bit so it wouldn't become such an eye sore once spray painted and finished.

Step 3: Now secure the 2x4 piece to the center of your round/square table top. I got this from Home Depot for about 4 bucks. It's 18 inches in diameter.

Step 4: Once everything is dry and secure. Screw the top piece back onto the main lamp base. Just hold the lamp base steady, and swirl around the top!

Step 5: Prime the piece. Now, I have to admit something. I hate priming pieces. Hate it. And hardly ever do it, and sometimes don't get the most awesome results....and then I usually end up wasting a lot more spray paint than I should. So, I figured I should prime this one. I swear I'm going to do it every time now. The results were fantastic.

Step 6: Spay paint! I got a really pretty turquoise from Rust-oleum. Best sprayer ever on this can by the way :) And it covers so well....like I probably didn't even have to do a second coat. :)

And there you have it! A great little side table for the price of the table top (which I had on hand, so free for me :) )

You might wonder what it looks like with the block of wood. It doesn't look bad at all! You can see it in the below picture. You can probably add another block if you want more height. I also noticed on a few of my lamps that the lightbulb holder part isn't so secure, so you can just take this part off altogether and secure the next piece into the 2x4 block. If you are then worried about the height, just add another block. I guess some of this configuration will all depend on the lamp you use :)

As for the little switch that turns the light on? I unscrewed the main part, but the screw is still on there. But you can't even see it or tell. I think camouflaging it with the same color helps.

I love this pop of color. I think the hubs is probably happy to that I'm actually using some color, although I'm not sure how he feels about such a punchy color lol. Truthfully, I love the color, it's so so happy feeling :)

I have a somewhat matchstick lamp I want to try this out on next. It has a good base, so hopefully it won't wobble and fall over lol.
Have any fun plans for the weekend? I have to figure out what the heck to do while the hubs is out golfing all weekend lol. I guess here comes some more projects :)

No Sew Ruffle Curtains

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia@Thrifty And Chic) — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 19:44:00 +0000

I'm in the process of redoing my front room. It's funny that I get so sick of it so quick when I'm hardly ever in there :) I change it up at least 3 times a year...that's on a good year. All the big stuff usually stays the same, but the accessories, pillows and curtains get a face lift. Lately, it's been looking really blah. Like all one color even though I did have some color in it. But the seafoam green I had in there just wasn't enough. So I'm working on using some poppy colors to brighten it up.

Brightening it up also comes in the form of new curtains. New no sew ruffle curtains :) The easiest curtains you'll ever make. The best part of the ruffles.....which makes them no sew....is that they come like that on the bolt. You may have seen them before. I got mine at Hobby Lobby. They come in a ton of different colors....except yellow, boo :(...at least not at my hobby lobby. Anyway. It's about $10 a yard, but if you use a coupon it takes it down to about $6. Since I only use these as panels and not for actually closing them, I got about 3 yards and cut it in half to make my panels.

You'll want to measure the height of your rod and then add a few inches on the top and a few on the bottom and that will get you the amount you need.

Once you are done cutting (or not cutting if you want them fuller), just get some of these clips that you'll find in the curtain hardware aisle. I think they are labeled with something to do with cafe curtains. They're about 2 bucks for ten or twelve of them.

Now, lay the curtain face down. Fold over a couple of inches, and then start pinching.

Add a clip every couple of inches starting about an inch in on the ends. Should look something like this below ..

This will give you a really laid back look, which I think is perfect for these ruffles. The best thing about this fabric is that you don't need to finish the ends. You can do this same thing with any fabric, especially if they have finished ends...or ends that don't look bad unfinished ;)

I love the flow and movement they bring, and it's so light and airy :) A little white...like stark white...but I think that's what this room needed.

Here's the room so far. I have a few more things I want to do and then hopefully I'll be all done :) ...But that may take awhile. I have realized, having to take care a baby makes projects seem to take a lot longer lol. No complaints though.

...then having to take care of this pup too :) This is his room. His couch, pillows and blankets. I'm sorry if you ever visit my house, you'll for sure...like..I completely promise you...that you'll get a ton of hair on you lol. It's not fun, but I love this guy, and he's just so darn cute :) So I live with it.

So, all together, these curtains cost me $18. Not bad :) Now let's see if I can get started on that bigger project lol.

Armoire Before and After

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia@Thrifty And Chic) — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 20:12:00 +0000

As I have said many times in the past, my house drives me nuts. Don't get me wrong. I love my house. But we have no storage space at all. We have no closets except for the ones in the bedrooms. No coat closet, no linen closet. I don't understand it. Who builds a house without a coat or linen closet?? Anyway. I didn't notice it's lack of closets until we moved in. Not that that would have made a difference in the purchase of the house, cuz I love it so much....but it does make me realize to check future houses for closet space :)

So for years now, my coats and linens have been crammed into our master bedroom closet. And I am a complete lover of all things coats. Like....I think I have at least 20 coats....at least. So you can only imagine what a closet full of clothes and then jam packed with 20 coats would look like (not including my husband's) So I needed a solution and a place to put all those coats....and a place for random bedsheets and pillow covers (and don't get me started on how many pillow covers I have :)...if you read my blog...you know ;)...)

Luckily, when my offices moved from a bigger location to a much smaller location, we had a ton of armoires that didn't fit and got put into storage. And then....one found it's way to my house :) Score! So, these armoires were really weird. They were actually built to hide/house a gym. Well, not a whole gym of course, but a place to hide a treadmill and tv and weights. But the treadmill was gone...and no tv... or else that would have been way awesome :) So, instead, just an empty box.

So, I took it and totally redid it to fit my needs and decor :) First up was to paint it my go to color Crisp Linen White from Glidden. This is the best white in my book :) It has enough warmth to it so it doesn't look sterile. This took forever to paint...like seriously the longest time. I mean...it's a huge piece. Like 9 feet tall and at almost 4 feet wide.

I also decided to hang one of my knockoff Ballard Design mirrors on the end. Since it's rather domineering because of it's size, it looked way to big and had too much a blank spot when you walked by it. So I dressed it up with the mirror :) Odd? Yes, but I love it. lol.

Next was to change out the hardware. I found these knobs at Hobby Lobby. I fell in love with them, especially the color. I wanted to go with something more boring like silver or white...but I knew I had to step out of my comfort zone..so I got these :) .....yes, this is me stepping out of my comfort zone. lol Nothing in my house is red. Nothing.

As for the inside...Well, I had to punch it up a bit and paint it turquoise. I loved the color and well, I wanted to have some fun. If I was going to paint the inside anyway...I might as well paint it a cool color :)

I then stenciled the inside panel with this lattice pattern. I've used this stencil on a few of my pieces of furniture..and I think a rug even :) You can find the pattern in the link at the bottom of the post to download.
This is another thing that took rather long to do, but totally worth it :)

Next was retrofitting it to my needs. So I threw in a clothes bar and a shelf for the bottom. Trust me though, this is not how it currently looks :) Imagine it packed full of coats lol. I just had to take most of them out to show you the shelf. The shelf is a perfect place to hide my weights...and great place to hide the vacuum cleaner also :)
The top is the same color on the inside and are where all the linens are hiding.

The best thing about this...well, there's a couple. It solved my problem about having no place to put my coats ...and well...it was free :) You can't beat that! The only thing I spent money on were the knobs, the pint of paint for the inside and the bar.

Here's the link for the stencil!

Rosette Pillow Tutorial

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia@Thrifty And Chic) — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 20:47:00 +0000

I've been wanting to brighten my living room and reference spring a little bit. I haven't been one to use bright colors....ever. But I figured, you know what, why not? I thought yellow would be the perfect thing for it, but can I tell you, it's rather hard finding just the right yellow that doesn't look funny :) Anyway. I found one. But it still reminds me of cooked egg yolks lol. I didn't just want to do a plain old yellow pillow, so I took a cue from one of the pillows I made years ago that I had a little rosette on and took it to the whole entire pillow. It did take some time to do, but it was totally worth it :)

Supplies:
Pillow cover (or follow tutorial below to make one)
1/2 to 1 yard of choice color fabric
Scissors
Hot glue

Step 1: Cut your fabric into strips about 1/2 inch to an 1 inch wide. Doesn't matter if it's straight and perfect.

Step 2: Pick a spot on your pillow cover to start your rosette. Place a dollop of hot glue there. Fold your fabric strip into itself and press onto glue.

Step 3: Start twirling your fabric around your finger and move it around the center of your 'rosette' and glue into place every once in awhile.

Step 4: When your strip runs out, just glue the end into place...

...and start the new piece inside of it like you see below. Can hardly even tell :)

Step 5: Keep going around the circle, twisting and gluing, twisting and gluing.

Step 6: When the rosette gets larger, you'll start running into edges. Just fold the edges back over itself and start the next row, as you see below:

And hours later.... :) ..actually only about two or so. You'll have a beautiful rosette pillow!

I love the brightness this brought into my living room. For a yard of yellow fabric, I was able to make this rosette pillow and the pillow below on the left with the tiny rosettes.

Here's a quick tutorial on how to make your own pillow cover. I have my super easy 10 minute pillow cover (click here) that uses the same fabric on both the back and front. But sometimes you only have a little bit of fabric and you don't have enough to use it on the back. This is when this tutorial comes in. All you need is your piece of fabric, cut it to 18 inches square and a piece of muslin that is 18x24 inches (the 24 inches can be a few inches longer if you want). If your pillow form is super plush, you may want to add an inch or two so instead of 18 inches do 19 inches. I like my pillows to be pretty full looking so I make the cases a bit smaller. This case covers an 18 inch pillow.

Cut the muslin in half and fold down one 18 inch edge on each piece and stitch into place. The fold should be about 1 inch wide.

Now place one piece of the muslin face side down (raw edge up) onto the top of the other fabric (face side up) so both faces are touching each other. Have the edges and corners lined up.

Now place the other piece of muslin on the top (raw edge up). Line it up with the edges of the other fabric, it will overlap the muslin already on there.

Pin into place and stitch around all edges about a half inch allowance.

Turn inside out. Voila! Easy peasy.

Since I didn't want to spend more time making another complete rosette pillow, I just added some small rosettes onto this yellow pillow.

Love the new color in the room :) Makes me happy ...and really wishing it wasn't 30 degrees outside :(

Customizable Storage Table..or Closet

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia@Thrifty And Chic) — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 00:43:00 +0000

I said this once and I'll probably say it many more times, but the plans I use to create most of my tables are the best :) You can customize it to whatever size you want. So, when I came across this problem in my bedroom:

I knew I had to do something about it. You see, my sweet babe has now moved her nursery into my bedroom :) She hasn't spent a single night in her nursery yet and well, her nursery isn't even close to being near our bedroom. So of course, all of her clothes have ended up finding a place in the corner of our room. It was a little worse than that, sadly....that was after I 'repurposed' my coffee table (that I made here) there. At least that gave me a little more storage...aka...places to put crap :)

I then started realizing that folded clothes are no good. She's into three month clothes now so when I start to dress her sometimes, they don't fit. What the heck! Well, apparently not all three month clothes are made the same. I can't say I didn't know this...cuz I do. I bought a four pack of onesies..and within that four pack, two of them are like 3 inches shorter than the other two. For reals??? Anyway....Well, I was sick of wanting to put on the cute clothes I was dying for her to wear to only find out they didn't fit anymore and that she'll never wear them. I knew that if I hung them up, I could see which were the shorter ones and the ones that I should have her wear before the other longer ones. Yes, she has a closet in her nursery, but I didn't want to truck all the way there and back just to change her; and yes, we have a closet in our room., but it's completely packed to the ceiling....so next best thing? Bring her closet to her!...or, build a closet for her :)

So, using the plans and steps I did in this post about the sofa table....and this post about the cottage side table...and this post about the bench...and this post about the entry table...you get my drift...I made her her very own closet...or storage table.

Using the same idea as the above mentioned plans, I just changed it up a bit. I kept the legs the same.
Secure a 1x2 to a 1x3 into a 90 degree angle. Do that 4 times for 4 legs. Then secure two of them together with a 1x4 on top, do the same with the other side. Now secure the two sets of legs with a longer 1x4 on both sides. (check above mentioned posts for more clarification if need be).

But now I wanted to add some shelves. I knew how tall I wanted the first one to be since it needed to fit her clothes and not have them brush the bottom of it too much. So I measured about 26 inches down from the top. This will give her enough room for her 6 month clothes, and after that...well, she better be sleeping in her nursery cuz there's no way she's still going to be sleeping in our room and fitting in her bassinet :) The bottom shelf just needed to be big enough for some baskets, I didn't make it a complete science, I just picked a good number and measured it 3 inches from the bottom and 9 inches from the top shelf. I secured a 1x2 on each set of legs at each of these marks.

Now to save money, I decided to use some 1x4s to make the shelves instead of a single larger piece of wood. I just screwed each piece onto the top of the 1x2. Not the prettiest, but the quickest :) If you want it prettier, just cut the 1x4s three inches less and make the tops flush with the 1x2 top and secure from underneath with an angled screw.

I did this with both shelves.

And then...once again, to save money...and well since the 1x12 I did have wasn't wide enough, I used two 1x6s and a 1x3 for the top. I made a 4 inch over hang on each side. Oh and just an fyi, I determined the width of the table by the size of the clothes hangers. They measured 12 inches, so I needed the width to be a little over 12 inches in order to hide the hanging clothes.

So, for the exact measurements, it is: 38.5 inches high, 13.5 inches deep and 36 inches long.

Next I painted it white. I was going to stain it...but the hubs told me I should paint it white instead...I was like...."wwwwhhhhaaaaaaattt????" I never..ever..thought those words would come out of his mouth. lol He gives me such a hard time for keeping everything so bright and white. Who knew?? lol.

So, first things first, once it was all dried, I put a tension rod in the top portion and hung all her clothes up (no I did not try to space these evenly. I guess I subconsciously have OCD...well except for the last three..those aren't perfect lol)

Then I added a tension rod to the outside and sewed up a quick curtain for it out of linen.

I also put a hanger on the outside piece to hang a blanket or a towel, or whatever it ends up being at the given time :)

This is much better...and cleaner....than how it was before. I just wish I didn't waste so much time not making it.....maybe she would have worn a few more pieces of clothing :) oh well. lol. You live, you learn.

So the top is for all her clothes, and the bottom I'm using to store some blankets and other random items of clothing.

I'm sure the hubs appreciates the bedroom not being taken over by a baby and making it look like clothes threw up everywhere....heck, even I appreciate it :)
The best thing is being able to close it whenever and hide everything.

On a related note, my sweet babe is two months old! Holy cow how does time fly by so quick??

Jute Easter Eggs and Chalkboard Eggs

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia@Thrifty And Chic) — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 22:55:00 +0000

Here's a throwback from two years ago...I guess a Thursday throwback :) (click here for original post) I'm slowly going throw my spring decor and found these beauts :) This is a super easy project that will transform any boring plastic Easter egg either with jute, paint, or chalkboard spray paint.

Here they are with some jute. Just get yourself some jute. Hot glue a spot on the bottom of the egg, place the end of the jute on there, and then circle the jute around the egg to the top. Place some hot glue periodically as you go to make it hold.

This is what they were before -on clearance I believe....very cheap :)...and well, very ugly lol.

On these ones, I just spraypainted them with some chalkboard paint:

The other eggs in the cloche with the jute eggs were just painted with some bronze-ish craft paint. Don't mind my awesome happy Easter sign :) lol

(the tute on the cheese dome cloche can been seen here)

Now maybe I'll get my butt into gear and create some new Easter crafts :) Although I love going through storage and finding stuff like this...it's a good surprise lol.

Chalkboard table

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia@Thrifty And Chic) — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 21:41:00 +0000

I haven't done a thrifted projected makeover in quite some time. In fact, just going into the thrift store was weird. I know, my blog is 'thrifty' and chic, but that doesn't mean everything has to be thrifted :) I went into the scratch and dent section of the thrift shop...yes, scratch and dent area, who knew? I guess it's more like the cast offs of the cast offs. Well, this table was sitting there and it reminded me of the tables that all the rage right now and go for hundreds of dollars only a little simpler....and well, ugly lol. Instead of a hundred dollars, I got this one for $5 :)

It obviously wasn't the prettiest thing and the hubs wasn't so excited about me getting it. The brass was...well....brassy :) and the glass top had the beautiful 80's etching in it. I was thinking about making a new top for it and using the glass as a template, then I thought more about it... and well, chalkboard seemed to be the perfect solution. All I had to do was spraypaint some on. Easy peasy.

So, I spraypainted the glass with some chalkboard paint and sprayed the bottom with some white paint....so much better than brass and glass :) Although I was thankful for the glass cuz it works great with chalkboard paint.

Now with any new chalkboard surface, you want to 'season' it. If you don't season it first, you'll get 'ghost' lines from your first drawing that usually won't disappear no matter how much you try to erase it. So 'seasoning' it usually prevents this. Just run a piece of chalk lengthwise on it, then erase. Now it's seasoned.

I love the idea of having the chalkboard for a table. You can draw anything and have so much fun with it. Here I drew on a coaster. Yeah. I know. It doesn't really act like a coaster, but it's still fun :)

The best thing about this? Is changing it up whenever I want. If I had painted something, it would be like that forever...or until I repainted. Now I can change it whenever. Plus it's fun for friends and kids to draw on when they are over :) or I guess eventually for my little babe to draw on. I'm loving the chalkboard art going around right now, so here's my take with the word 'laugh'. You can also find the tutorial on the mason jars here.

I really liked the crate that was here before (click here for tutorial), it was just a little 'wintery'. I'm done with winter and cold weather. I needed something a little lighter to get rid of the reminiscents of coldness. I'm going to make warmer weather come here if I have too :)

Plus, it's always good to have another place to be able to set drinks on :) This of course was the perfect place, so out went the crate and in went the fun little chalkboard table.

Now to get started on a few more projects I have had building up since the little babe was born. Goodness, I didn't realize how hard it would be to get things done now with her here lol :) My list is like 20 things long. I guess you'll know if I got to any of them or not depending on the frequency of my upcoming blog posts :) Although, I did find out one thing that has help so tremendously and at least now I can type with two hands instead of one hand....a wrap! It's like a moby wrap but totally hand made and it has made the biggest world of difference. She falls asleep in it the moment she's in it (knock on wood to not jinx this lol) which is a really good thing cuz she hardly sleeps during the day. But no sleep during the day means a lot of sleep at night....sooo....well, I guess I can't complain too much lol.

Melted Flower Tutorial

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia@Thrifty And Chic) — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 23:50:00 +0000

Ready for the next round of flowers? These are just as easy as the felt flowers...but now you get to use flame :) Just be careful!
1: Cut out 5 or so circles out of a crinkly satin in graduating sizes. The bigger you make this flower, the more circles you'll want. They don't have to be perfect circles, they can even have points and what not :) It doesn't matter.
2: Take a circle and put it close to the flame but not in the flame. Just let the heat of the flame hit the edge of the circle. If you put it in the flame, you'll get black spots and then you risk the fabric going up in flames. So be really really careful. And just put the edge in the heat to get the edge to curl up.
3: Do this to all the circles.
4: Get a hot glue gun and put a dollop on the biggest piece in the middle.
5: Then take the next biggest and place it in the middle.
6: Continue to do this until all the pieces are glued.
7: Now embellish!
8: Hot glue a backing of your choosing on it. Use a snap if you are doing it for the interchangeable headband I mentioned here.

Now this one makes the flower have pedals. It's essentially the same as above, you just get to cut more :)
1: Cut out 4 or so circles out of a crinkly satin in graduating sizes. The bigger you make this flower, the more circles you'll want. Once again, they do not have to perfect circles.
2: Cut slits into each circle, not all the way to middle, just enough to create a 'pedal'. I varied the sizes and pedal amount for each circle. It doesn't have to be perfect.
3: Now take one of the pedals.
4: Place it above the flame again to get all the edges. Be careful not to burn your fingers! If you are having difficulty getting the flame all the way down the slit, use a hand lighter for these spots.
5: Do this to all the circles.
6: Get a hot glue gun and put a dollop on the biggest piece in the middle.
7: Then take the next biggest and place it in the middle. Continue to do this until all the pieces are glued. Now embellish!
8: Hot glue a backing of your choosing on it.

I love the texture of the melted pedal flower....and I love this little babe :) So of course, here's a picture of her wearing it.

Felt Flower Tutorial

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia@Thrifty And Chic) — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 23:58:00 +0000

Here's the first tutorial of many for making flowers for the interchangeable headbands I posted about earlier. I know there are probably a slew of tutorials on making felt flowers, but I figure why not put my take on them out there :) These are by the far some of the simplest flowers to make.

Step 1: Cut a circle on your felt. I used a glass and traced it to get a perfect circle. If you are using a lighter color felt, trace it with an erasable fabric pen or light colored pencil or else you'll see ink in your finished flower. The size of your circle will be the size of your finished flower.
Step 2: Cut 4 more circles. I just placed the first circle on top of the felt that has been folded over twice to create four 'sheets'. Then cut around the first circle.
Step 3: Now you have five circles (this really isn't a step :) just picture 3)
Step 4: Take one circle and fold it in half.
Step 5: Now fold it in half again and secure in the middle fold with some hot glue.
Step 6: Hot glue onto another circle, making sure to line up with the outer edge.
Step 7: Do step 4-6 with the next three circles.
Step 8/9: Now embellish!
Step 10: Secure a clip or a snap onto the back with some hot glue. Do a snap if you want to use it with the interchangeable headband.

Easy Peasy :) If you want to change it up a bit, just make the edges scalloped:

Either way is super cute :) And since they are so easy to make, you can make a ton of them in no time at all in many different colors.
Now get a cute little babe and enjoy!

Interchangeable Flower Headband Tutorial

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia@Thrifty And Chic) — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 20:23:00 +0000

First off...thank you all for your sweet words on my last few posts!! I have the best readers :) And thank you all for understanding what it takes becoming a new mom and trying to keep up with the blog :) Hopefully....(cross your fingers)...I'll get more time soon. If only she would sleep! lol.

I had a lot of time on my hands when I was pregnant (good thing too cuz now I have none ;) )...even more time than I expected being almost 2 weeks overdue n'all. So I had to keep my hands and mind busy and the best way I found to do that was creating tons ...and tons...of headbands. When I first started, I just attached the flower to the headband. But then I thought about what if I wanted that flower on a different colored headband? No good. So, then I started attaching the flowers to clips. But after a few clips I thought about how sensitive a baby's skin is and didn't think a hard clip would be good on the head.

So, the next logical idea? Make them snap on! Here's how to do it....
First, get your headband. I bought some but made most of them out of either jersey knit or a roll of elastic ribbon. I then just sewed the edges together by overlapping them about an half an inch or so.

Next is to get your snaps or fasteners (I got these at Hobby Lobby), thread and/or some hot glue.

For the headbands, I sewed the bottom piece of the fastener to the headband. I did hot glue a few onto the jersey knit also. Either way works. Sewing it on (or gluing it on for the most part) makes the underside safe for the babe's head :)

Now for the top piece of the fastener. Hot glue it onto the bottom side of your flower. Make sure you don't get any glue into the middle divot and make sure you glue the correct side :)

Now 1+1=done :) Just snap on!

You can see I have a vast array of flowers and headbands. These aren't even half of them...maybe not even a quarter :) ...I'm telling you, going overdue will do that to you lol

It's great to be able to interchange these. Some days I want the pink flower on a pink headband, other days I want it on a brown one. Its a great way to help match outfits :)

.....or backgrounds :) A few of you have asked to see my sweet babe. So here she is with her big debut! I cherish this moment below because it was the only time out of like 5 photo shoots where she was actually asleep :)

She's sporting the same headband in both these pictures just different flowers. These headbands were sooo great for her photo shoots. It's a lot easier changing flowers than trying to take on and off headbands constantly.

As for the flowers, I'll do a roundup of tutorials for them soon!

Decorative Ladder Tutorial

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia@Thrifty And Chic) — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 22:26:00 +0000

I had two problems when decorating the nursery. One was that I had a whole lot of time on my hands before the babe was born so I made like a quadzillion blankets. Well...not that many. But probably too many :) Second was that I had a spot in the nursery that needed something. It was just way empty. So, why not make something to hold all those blankets?....umm, well more like two or three of those blankets? :)

This was a really simple project. All you need is:
Two 1x2s, measured at the same length. Mine are at approx. 6.5 feet.
Five 1x4s, measured at the same length. Mine are 16 inches.

First step:
Line the two 1x2s up, then measure an equadistance on each piece and mark -this will be the place for your 'steps'. For the top, choose whatever distance you want. I wanted the first 'step', or top step to be a little higher, so I didn't care if the distance was the same from the top to that one than it was from that one to the next. Make sense? So for the first step from the top, its 9 inches. Then the next step is 14 inches, and each step after that is 14 inches.

Then secure each 1x4 to the 1x2s at the correct marks you made. Use wood glue and a screw.

Step 2:
Sand. I sanded the heck out of the corners and edges of each piece of wood. First, to make sure there weren't any sharp edges. Second, to make it look a little bit more 'used'.

Step 3:
Finish. Paint and distress. Or just paint. I used Crisp Linen from Glidden to match the top color of the room.

I initially didn't have plans to put it in this corner, but then when I found the street lamp for that 'empty' space I was building this for....

I had to find a new place for the ladder. Which is a good thing, cuz I needed something for this corner too and it fits perfectly ;)

I can put about 4 blankets on here if need be, but since all the blankets are either dirty or in use or elsewhere in the house, there's currently only one :) But I decided to break it up a little by adding the frames I made from this tutorial (click here). I just hung them using some jute.

The cost of this project for me was free, since I had all the supplies on hand. But if you needed to get the wood, you would need two 1x2s and one 1x4 which would be about $4 total.

Ikea Hack: Double Pelt Rug

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia@Thrifty And Chic) — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 21:11:00 +0000

Hey hey! Let me just start by saying that I'm sorry I've been away for a little bit. I have projects up the galore to tell you all about, but my little miss is sure keeping me busy :) It's amazing how something so small can change your life so much. I have never...ever...been much to just sit around and do nothing. A thirty minute t.v. show can barely keep my attention. I just have to constantly be keeping busy...either cleaning, decorating, doing projects or working out. That's just how I always was.....but boy does life sure change when you get a little one. I have no time for any of those things and find myself sitting down the majority of the day. I wouldn't say it's being lazy, cuz I'm taking care of her, but wow, it's definitely a little different :) You would think with all the sitting, I would get around to blogging.... but I really like holding her :) A lot. lol

Well, back to the nursery shall we? :) Remember when I was on a crazy search for a plush white rug for the nursery? I searched every store and the internet high and low for six or so months and found nothing. Well, close to nothing. I found a perfect rug online....it was $200. Which was alright. I wasn't happy about spending that amount of money on a rug, especially one I couldn't feel in person. But it was the cheapest....yes, sadly the cheapest...rug I had found that fit my criteria. The only problem? It was a sheepskin rug...a quad pelt sheepskin rug. First off, wasn't fond on the fact that it was from a sheep. Second, it wasn't washable...at all. So, I was really in a bind. Do I go with an expensive rug that I love the look and the plushness off and sacrifice the actually need of it being washable ...and a little more in my price range? I had that rug sitting in my shopping cart for like 2 months. lol. Luckily, I didn't give up and my scouring the stores led me to Ikea. -Oh Ikea how i love thee - :)... I found the pelts. ...the real pelts. and didn't like them at all. The color first off was horrible...more yellow. And the price was $40 or $50 a pelt and I wanted 4. So I might as well buy the other one. And then in the corner I spotted a different pelt. Much whiter :) I went to look...and lo and behold. $10....yup. $10. Synthetic...and completely hand washable. Score!!.....So, I bought 7. lol
A little ridiculous? Yes. But I knew a few places I wanted them....not just the nursery.

And since they were separate, and since I ended up putting the crib in the middle of the room, I was able to do two on each side of the crib for a perfect look :) ..and a total of only $40. And trust me when I say they really do come clean. The babe has already made her mark on a few of them while doing a photo shoot, and you can't even tell.

It was super easy to do this 'project'. I just took the two rugs:

Cut off the tags and stitched them together using a few 'x's.

Easy peasy, right?
Here's another place I did the same thing and put them on the bench in my dining room. Love :)

This reminds me a lot of Scandinavian design...I love how they use pelts to warm up their rooms.

So, instead of one quad pelt rug for $200, I was able to do two double pelt rugs for $40 and I could end up putting them together in the future to make a quad pelt :)

Handmade Nursery: Nursery Reveal!

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia@Thrifty And Chic) — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 21:18:00 +0000

Hi all! Sorry for my short hiatus. I've been working on the best DIY project ever :) My sweet little baby girl finally arrived last week. Better late than never. She's the most precious thing ever....oh but a whole lot of work :) I didn't realize how much time I wouldn't have to myself anymore lol.

Today I'm starting my new series "Handmade Nursery". Mostly everything in here is handmade or refurbished or thrifted in someway. Here's a sneak peak at the whole nursery, in later posts, I'll divulge on all the how-to details of each project. I wanted this nursery to be super neutral with pops of pink. The color on the walls are Crisp Linen White and Water Chestnut from Glidden.

I love this corner of the room. The only thing purchased here was the rocking chair, which I was told was a must with a new baby :) So, I had to go get one. I've probably will be using it more when the baby actually starts sleeping in here, but the couple of times I have got a chance to use it, it was totally worth the $100 splurge. The hanging balls are in this tutorial found here (click). The lamp was taken from the guest room. The mirror was something I have had from years back at my moms house, and the dresser was given to me (makeover post found here).

The ladder in this corner was a DIY project along with the hanging frames (tutorial here). The dresser was my old childhood dresser that I painted and updated. The crib was a gift from my mom. I love the curve detail. The room definitely needed it because of the straight lines and angles of the board and batten.

This lamp was a find I got on clearance from Home Depot back during the summer. Its just been sitting in the garage. I brought it to the nursery just to see what it looked like, and fell in love with the look. It's totally non-functional, but I don't care :)

The curtains are from Ikea. $5 for two panels, they look like the tulle I used for the crib skirt (which you can't see in the pictures, sorry). The rugs were also from Ikea.

I love this little dresser. The bear was also from my childhood. I love reusing some of my old things and giving it to my daughter.

The amount I spent on this nursery (not including gifts, etc):
Board and batten: approx $70
Glider: $100 (walmart)
Curtains: $10 (ikea)
Rugs: $40 (ikea)
+ other supplies for crib skirt, ladder, hanging art: approx. $15
Total cost on my part bought specifically for the nursery: $235.

For other costs, the crib was $180, the Home Depot lamp was $20. I think that's about it.

Hopefully I'll start getting a little bit more time to get some more posts up soon!

Best Projects of 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia@Thrifty And Chic) — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 20:36:00 +0000

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you are enjoying it :) I have been on pins and needles waiting for this baby to come. I never imagined that she would be born in January. The way this is going, I feel like we won't have her until February. Here's to being overdue! lol. Well, I was hoping that this little baby would be in this list of best projects for 2012, but alas, she'll have to wait for the 2013 list :)

I don't feel like a got a lot accomplished back in 2012, but looking back, apparently I was a pretty busy pregnant chick :) Here's the top 10 projects from Thrifty and Chic:

(click on the title or picture to go to tutorial/post)

Cheap Board and Batten: Update a bathroom for as little as $11 with this cheap and chic board and batten:

Striped Burlap Curtains: Added some pizazz to my living room with these striped burlap curtains.

Coffee Filter Hanging Light: Even though this project took forever, it was well worth the effort :)

Guest Room/Office Makeover: Finally got around to merging my office with the guest room with some good secrets on how to hide all your crafts/clutter ;)

$60 Guest Bathroom Update: Best $60 I have ever spent! This bathroom went from builder grade to cottage chic in a pinch....and with only a penny :)

Easy way to update a desk: I expanded this small little desk with just a little help from some 2x4s.

Cedar Planked Walls: Finally...Finally! added some character into my dining room with these walls. I just love it in here now :)

DIY Headboard: I absolutely love how this headboard for the guest room turned out. It's amazing what some cedar planks and paint can do :)

3-1 Coffee Table: One of my favorite projects was making this coffee table. It is so maneuverable and changeable...and pretty :)

Outdoor Farmhouse Table: Getting the weathered wood technique was key for this project. I just can't wait to start using it in the spring!! It's been under a tarp since I made it :(

Here's to a great new year! I'm excited to see what it will bring :)

Hanging Fabric Pom Pom Balls

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia@Thrifty And Chic) — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 21:29:00 +0000

Hey all! Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas :) Ours was busy visiting family and crossing our fingers hoping the baby wouldn't come lol. And...well, I'm still with child, in my belly, so that will tell you how things went. It's been snowing like crazy around here, so the way I figure it, this little baby hates snow just as much as mom and doesn't want to make an appearance until it's all gone :) Let's just hope it's before the new year! lol.

So, when decorating the nursery, I wanted to do somewhat of a handmade mobile, but since I have a mobile, I just needed something to take up space in a corner instead. You can say this is a mobile, but it's really just decoration :) When I started this idea, I did the tissue paper pom poms which I wasn't a fan of. It looked too cheap and not soft enough. And since I've been making a ton of headbands and bows and what not (my neighbors and friends and even family are all pregnant at the same time with me and are having all girls..for the most part :) ), I decided to incorporate the idea of one of the flowers into make a fabric pom pom ball. It's really easy. Here's what you need:

Foam Balls (I got a pack of 6 or so varying sizes at walmart for about $5)
Fabric (I chose flanel for the pink and soft felt for the grey and white)
Hot glue
String and needle if you want to hang them.

Step 1: Take the fabric and cut a lot of pieces into same sized circles. For the circle size, I kind of made them about the same size of the diameter of the ball. The amount of circles you need will depend on the size of the ball.

Step 2: Take one circle. Fold it in half. Put a small amount of glue in the middle, and then fold in half again.

It should be like this, quartered:

Step 3: Place a good amount of hot glue on the bottom point, and then press onto the ball.

Repeat this over and over again with all the fabric circles. I first followed the circumference of the ball...

And then filled in each side. Just start gluing, there's really no science to it. Just try to get rid of all of the bare spots.

Step 4: Take your string and needle and send it through one of the fabric pieces. Make the string as long as you want it to hang from the ceiling, and then tie a knot at one end so the string won't go through the fabric. Hang the top piece either with tape or a tack.

And there you have it. I found that felt works the best for this. It gives an even edge and it looks soft and fluffy.

This pink one was done using soft flannel. It turned out beautiful also. I had to use a few more fabric pieces to cover this, but it was well worth it since I couldn't find felt in this soft pink color.

I hung these at all different lengths from the ceiling. And since the foam balls came in all different sizes it gives even more interest. Plus, if you are working with a smaller ball, but you want it to be bigger, just cut your circles bigger.

Well, now you may have guessed by now what I'm having if this is my nursery :) But I may also have tricked you ;)
Hopefully next time you hear from me this sweet baby will be here!!

Home for the Holidays: Dining Room

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia@Thrifty And Chic) — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 19:38:00 +0000

We're only a few days away from Christmas! I would usually say that time flies, but this year around, this December has been the longest December on record. Especially this past week. I'm eager to get this baby out of me before Christmas :) I just finished running two miles in hopes that that will do something lol. Of course, I've been running this whole pregnancy, so I'm not sure if it will really do anything or maybe prolong something for all I know. Here's to hoping and wishing!!

Since my focus has mainly been 'baby', I've been a little lazy for Christmas this year. I just barely got around to decorating our dining room. I decided to go with a white, gold and burnt orange theme. My most favorite part sadly isn't even on the table :) It's the faux sheepskin furs on the bench. I just love the warmth they bring :)

For the center piece, I used a large lantern and put some white glittery sprays on it. I also used glass bottles to bring a little shine.

For the place settings, I used my go-to decor of adding ornaments to the top bowl. I love this look. And it's super easy to just place a name card right in the middle :)

I think for the colors, this tablescape would have worked perfectly as a transition from Thanksgiving to Christmas....if only I had done it weeks ago ;) lol

Here's to hoping next time I see ya' I'll have a baby on my hip!!! Happy Holidays :)

Quick Tip: Solution For Hanging Lots Of Stockings

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia@Thrifty And Chic) — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 21:51:00 +0000

Here's just a quick tip on how to hang your stockings, especially if you are like me and have 3 stocking holders with more than 3 stockings. I've contemplated bringing out my other stocking holders, but they didn't match. I could have done every other one, but I think that would only look good if you had an odd number, and currently, i have an even :) I then thought about hanging Max's stocking on the shelves to the right of my mantel, but then I felt like I was ousting him before the baby has even made its appearance, and of course, that made me feel terribly bad. I love my mutt too much to oust him :)

Then I went to my friends house last week and saw this idea on her mantel. She has 7 stockings, so I guess when you need that many, you find ways to make them work :) I'm not sure where she got the idea or if it's an original. But I thought it was genius!

Just get a curtain rod, place it on top of your stocking hangers, string your stockings, and there you have it!

Now you can hang as many as you wish!

Stocking Tags

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia@Thrifty And Chic) — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 18:04:00 +0000

This may seem pathetic, but I just got around to buying Christmas presents :) I'm usually done shopping in November, but alas, I have just started and Christmas is barely a week away lol. But at least I have a lot of Christmas projects around the house done and out of the way :) ...and the nursery is done. So I figure not having any Christmas presents isn't such a bad thing...just a little bit of a stressful thing ;)

Well, now that I have my stockings all ready for the new babe and the rest of the fam, I figure I need to find a way to deliniate whose is whose. Not that it matters really, but I thought it would be fun. I'm sure Max won't care that his 'tag' is on a different stocking than the babes...or even ours. I think he figures that we are buying all this new stuff for him anyway. Poor pup :( I'm not sure how I'm going to get him to understand his toys are different than the baby's toys. Anywho.

This is a really simple project. All you need are chipwood cutouts of different things or letters (I found mine at Hobby Lobby), paint, glue, glitter, and clips.

First step: Paint.
Second step: Brush glue on the dried surface and then sprinkle glitter on it. Press the glitter into the glue gently.

Third Step: Hot glue the clip too the back.

And done :) Super easy. I figure it's Friday, so it's fun having a super easy craft to celebrate.
I love this little dog one. The hubs got a moose, I got a flower, and the babe got teddy bear.

I know I only have three here, but I finally figured out what to do to hang the fourth stocking, which will come as a quick tip in the next post!

Hope you all have a great weekend!

How To Sew Your Own Christmas Stockings

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia@Thrifty And Chic) — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 20:32:00 +0000

I just realized the you have seen this mantel about the last two weeks of posts lol. Sorry for the overkill :) But! I do have a great project for you today shown on this mantel: DIY Stockings. As I had mentioned before, I wasn't thrilled with my brown stockings this year. Don't get me wrong, I love them, and they usually match my decor theme, but first: I only have 3. And Second: they stood out like a sore thumb this year. So of course I had to change them. But I couldn't just go and buy new ones cuz I'm cheap. So, I figured why not make some?

I never made a stocking before...it was a lot of trial and error, but I finally figured it out So luckily, you all don't have to do the trial and error thing since I did it for you. All you have to do is follow these instructions :)...

You'll need (all depends on the size of your stocking):
3/4 yard of fabric for the front bottom piece
1/2 yard of felt -coordinating color
1/4 yard of coordinating fabric for the fold

Step 1: Trace a stocking on the felt fabric leaving about a half inch allowance all around it. Either free hand it, or use a stocking you already have. Make sure the folded part is not folded anymore to get the right length. Now cut it out. (the felt will be the back of your stocking)

Step 2: Use the felt piece as your new stencil and trace that onto the back of your front piece of fabric. Stop tracing 5 inches from the top on each side. Now cut out.
For my fabric, I chose a faux white fur.

Step 3: Now cut a piece of coordinating fabric. The width should equal the top width of the front piece of fabric and measure about 5.5 inches high. So now you are left with three pieces of fabric as shown below.

Step 4: On one end of your coordinating piece, fold over about half an inch or so and iron with invisible hemming tape.

Step 5: Now place your coordinating piece underneath your front piece, ends touching. The coordinating piece should be right side up touching the backside side of the front piece. The front piece will also be right side up. The hem on the coordinating piece should be on the bottom.

Step 6: Now sew the two pieces together along their seam. Leave about 1/4"seam allowance. One will be facing the opposite directing as the other when its all done.

Step 7: Now lay your completed front piece down on top of the felt fabric. You should have about a quarter inch to half inch overlap of the felt.

Step 8: Fold over the top of the felt so it is even with the top piece of fabric and hem in place. Make sure you sew on the side facing up. So when you are done, the top 'hems' will be touching each other

Step 9: Now place your felt (right side facing down) and front piece (front bottom piece facing down, coordinating piece facing up) and pin in place. There is no need to pin the top pieces. Only sew the bottom pieces together, where you see the black lines below:

Step 10: After sewing, now turn inside out. Sew the top pieces together. Leave a small hole on the side where the 'heel' of the stocking is. Not on the heel, just the same side as the heel. So just start sewing about a half an inch higher. See below where the 'hole' is.

Step 11: Now for the hanging part. Cut out a piece of coordinating fabric about 6 to 7" long and 1.5" wide. Fold over one side to reach the middle. Fold over the other side to reach the middle. Now fold in half.

Send the folded piece through the sewing machine to secure in place.

Step 12. Turn your stocking inside out again, find the hole you left. Fold the 'hanging piece' and place in side the hole. Sew in place. Now turn your stocking inside out again and fold over the top pieces.

You are finished!! There are a lot of steps, but once you get going, it's easy to do. Just a tip though, cut all your 'pieces' at the same time. So you don't end up with a stocking facing the other way (...not saying that that happened to me or anything..... ;) ). Plus, it's easier to keep going with all the pieces already cut. I made 5 stockings out of the fabric pieces, not too bad :)

I love how furry they are and the texture and whimsy they bring. And of course, that they match my pillows. And even though they are white, there is still brown that ties in the wreath with everything.

I think, now that I know the ins and outs of stocking making, next year I may make some more whimsical ones and not follow the shape of a traditional stocking :)

These were a lot cheaper to make than buying 5 new stockings. The cost was about $7 for the fabric. That's of course using coupons and sales.