Pottery Barn Madness!

First let me say, I'm sorry I've been somewhat MIA this past couple weeks! 

With my paying job coming to an end next week, it's been C.R.A.Z.Y! 

It's bittersweet.  I'm excited about this new chapter in my life.  But I've never been without a job in my entire adult life.  So for that....I'm TOTALLY FREAKING OUT! 

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So, what does a girl do when she feels like she may never have an extra dollar again?

She shops of course!! :P

Ok, so maybe that's not the brightest idea...but yes, I've done some shopping.

Last Friday night I was Doodle free.  I needed to return a pillow to Homegoods, so I figured I'd take the long way (meaning not the highway) and stop at every freakin' store between work and there stop at Pottery Barn to pick up the latest catalog since I somehow have been removed from their mailing list.

I had ABSOLUTELY no intention of buying anything because, let's be honest, their stuff is over priced and I'm about to be unemployed. 

BUT....this past weekend Pottery Barn was having a sale!

Not an ordinary sale people!  I'm talking an 'out of season' bonanza!!! 

PLUS...it was an extra 15% off of the sale price!

It was like I had died and gone to Pottery Barn heaven! 

Sure, the Snooties were looking at me like Goodwill had come to the Burbs because I was buying "last seasons" stuff...but whateva'.  I loaded up my little basket with all sort of goodies!! 

Like this Indian Corn for $4.97!!  Regularly $16.99!

Oh, and $4.97 is PRE-15% off because let's face it...I stink at math and I'm so unorganized I have no idea where the receipt is that did the math for me! LOL 

It was a good deal so let's just leave it at that. ;)

Ok, so then we have the package of fall leaves. 

I'm totally not thinking fall right now (I'm pretty much just chanting SPRING at this point), so I have no idea what I'll do with them.  But I'm sure come October my head will be swirling with ideas for them. 

And for $1.37...yeah, I'll take them please. :) 

I had to really usher restraint...because I really wanted to buy the whole lot of them!!!  But who needs 10 boxes of fall leaves when they can barely find a place to put an extra bottle of shampoo. :\

Anywho...then we have this box of Sedum Clippings.  They only had one or I would have bought more of these.  They were $3.97 (reg. $16)!

Don't you just love that deep red in those? 

I got the last 2 of these FABULOUS old looking gold (brass?) bells!  I HAD. TO. HAVE. them!

How much you ask?

That's right my friends....read it and weep! 

$0.47!!  And must I remind you...that's pre-15% off!  Booyah!!

(I guess 15% off $0.47 isn't enough to 'booyah' about...but again, whateva'.)

I picked up a few of these little travel tissue holders for $0.40.  I figured they would make nice stocking stuffers or just an addition tuck in to a gift basket.

And this toile make up bag for $6.99!  Regularly $12, so not a major steal, but I'm thinking Christmas gift! :)

I got 2 candles for a song...$6.99 each!  They smell just like Chai Tea!

I'm sure the Snooties saw this little ragged edge and thought 'no way, not even for $6.99'.

And last, but certainly not least...my favoritist (is that a word?  Probably not) item I purchased.....a wooden tray for $6.97 (reg. $29)! 

I am so completley in LOVE with this thing! 

I have no flippin' clue what I'm going to do with it yet.  I've seen people put pictures and things in these and put them on the wall, but very honestly, I think I just want to lean it on a shelf as a backdrop of sorts.  I guess we'll see.

So, there you have it!  My Pottery Barn Madness!!  I know shopping should be the last thing on my list...but come on!!  How could I pass up these goodies!  

I got all this POTTERY BARN goodness, at a real live PB store for $37.33!!  They had to put it all in a.....big bag!  Woohoo! ;)

In honor of Valentine's Day....

In honor of Valentine's Day, I wanted to show you something I am totally in LOVE with!!

Well, besides my Doodle and our menagerie of pets, of course. ;)

No, what I'm talking about is my.....Shark® Steam Pocket® Mop!!

Yes, it is THAT awesome that it is totally Valentine worthy! :)

I may have mentioned before, or maybe I haven't.....I HATE to clean!  Seriously, despise it.  BUT...I also hate a dirty house.  Yeah, that's how I work unfortunately. :\ 

So, once in a blue moon I must clean. 

The bathroom is my least favorite and my second least favorite is mopping.  So you can imagine what mopping the bathroom does to me! LOL 

Anywho, know why?   Because running mop water is messy and it takes for.ev.er to dry!

I tried the Swiffer wet pads, but my heart hurts when I just throw those things away (yeah, yeah, so I can be a bit of a tree hugger)...plus they also take forever to dry.

In comes Mr. Shark® Steam Pocket® Mop to steal my heart!

He comes with all kinds of accessories, like this triangle jobby that actually makes cleaning around the toilet easy!  *Be still my heart!*

It has two different size regular heads...and cleaning pads that can just be thrown in the high efficiency wash!

It comes with this little cup for filling up the tank with water (which also is handy for the iron...that is if you iron...which I don't).

 

And all you need is good 'ol WATER!!  No chemicals, just water!  And then steam to your little hearts content...which is what I did yesterday.

It dries almost instantly!  Within a few minutes at a minimum, which means less time spent waiting to walk on your floor.  Which makes my impatient self a much happier self! ;)

So, there you have what makes my heart pitter patter on this Valentine's Day! ;)

Source 

With all seriousness, I hope you each get a chance to enjoy those you love today!  :)

(Oh, and just so we are clear, I don't get paid diddly for my opinion, it is simply that...my opinion on a product I own, use and love.)

My one and only Valentine!

No...don't get excited.   I have not met my dream man. 

Actually, let's be honest...I've not met ANY man. LOL

The ONE would mean....my one and only Valentine craft.

Yeah, Valentine's is not really my 'holiday'. 

Don't get me wrong, I've enjoyed looking at everyone else's crafts and all.  But I think something about being divorced and single for, oh, like seven years probably plays into my V-Day bah-humbug-ism. ;)

But in the spirit of blogging, I did do one craft.

I bought this plain wood heart at Michael's last month.  I didn't know what I would do with it, but I figured it might inspire a little Valentine craft.

And once I finally decided to work on it, the idea came to me.

First, I painted the heart with red craft paint...I planned to cover the heart with burlap, but I knew the red would show through a bit.

So, of course the next step was to cover the red painted heart with burlap. 

I used Modge Podge. 

This scared me!!!

I swore you could use MP on fabric...but when it looked like goopy white glue, I panicked!

But I figured at this point if it didn't work, it was too late to do much about it.  So, I waited for it to dry.  And thank goodness, once it dried it was perfect!! :)

Then I used 2 small sheets of red felt I picked up from the kids craft section at Wal-Mart for like $ .30 each.  I cut out circles, using the bottom of the Modge Podge container as my circle template.  I'm not going to show you how I made these, because let's be honest, everyone in blogland has already made them...I'm slow on the uptake. LOL

I just hot glued the flowers to the outside of the heart (and covers the rough edges of the burlap).

It was okay, but it felt a little too plain to me.  So, what to do?

Add some leopard print ribbon of course!! :)

First i just added the hoop to hang it by, but then I decided to try to hand at making a flower.  So using ribbon I already had...here is my finished, one and only Valentine Day decor. :)

Excuse my awful pink background...it's on white poster board so I have NO idea why it turned pink.

There it is people!!  My extent of Valentine decor.  I know your impressed. LOL

Have a great weekend everyone!!!

Faux Books

Months ago, like back in the fall, I picked up these faux wood books at Goodwill. 

I had planned to turn them into Halloween props...but never got around to it.  A couple weeks ago I ran across them in my garage and new exactly what I needed them for!  I only paid $ .50 each.

I painted the edges of these beauties, covered them in scrapbook paper and distressed them both.

This one is my favorite!!

What did I do with these new little beauties you ask?

I paired them with my topiary from last week and a Dollar Tree bird similar to this one and another thrift purchase I made many moons ago that has been sitting in my garage...a terrarium.  I only paid $3.99!! 

I got my terrarium at one of my favorite thrift stores here in Indy, Wheeler Mission Thrift Store (and it helps the homeless shelter and provides jobs for the previously homeless!).

I left it all rusty because I thought it was beautiful just as it was. :)

See how beautiful my little books look under the bird!! :)

And now you know what I did with my topiary ball too!! :)

Where is this sitting in my house, you ask?  Oh...that's a surprise for a much later date. ;)

Topiary Love

I've been a busy girl!!!  :)

Lots of projects completed....lots more in the works.  The good news...plenty to show you!

I made a stop at Goodwill this past weekend and found this little beauty for $1.99.

I loved the shape,  but it's coloring was very flat and cheap looking.

So, I set off to make it look more like a concrete planter.  To be honest, there is no science to this.  I used, black, white, brown, and gray acrylic paints and just painted, smeared, and dabbed them on until I liked the look.  Then I covered the whole thing in Ralph Lauren Smoke Glaze.

This picture, if you look closely, is split in the middle.  The left side is the new finish, the right side is the old.  Subtle...but it made me much happier. :)

Here is the completed after.

I have been wanting make a ball topiary thingy for some time.  I'm not showing you where I'm putting this just yet, but I had my reasons for a ball topiary.

I was going to use a styrofoam ball, but it would have needed to be painted so the white didn't show through and I didn't have that kind of patience.  Luckily, I had this green ball I used in a vase filler awhile back.

I bought the greenery back before Christmas for $5 at a little store I stopped in one day.  I just clipped off 2-3 sprigs and hot glued them onto the ball. 

Drinking several glasses of wine while helping your friend do her college online school work is optional. ;)

I only covered half of the ball because I was going to be sitting it inside the Goodwill planter.

Here is the finished project!!

I am VERY pleased with how it turned out!!  And I can't wait to show you what I did with this little beauty! :)

If I had to guess a price I'd say $3 total...since I owned the ball for ages and I only used one full length of the plant...I've got tons left.

Stay tuned for more projects to come. :)