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Hope you like the new layout!
I'm not very tech-savvy, so creating my own custom header and background and figuring how to incorporate it into all the HTML code was quite the learning experience!

More Twine Love!

Heidi from The Craft Monkey has given me a new love of twine and burlap. Okay, well, I don't have anything burlap yet, but I did buy burlap-looking throw pillows for my couch on Clearance from Walmart yesterday. Does that count?

So anyways, I had this whole bunch of twine leftover from yesterday's project. I know I said I was going to roll it all up in a ball (just like she did), but I thought, Why not do a few more accents first?

I wrapped up some terrible mosaic glass votives in it. I also made a cute bow accent for my vases.

Here's a better look at the detail: I hot glued one end of twine to the vase, wrapped that around a few times, then hot glued the end. I made a bow and hot glued that. Then I made a button and glued that to it to give it a nice finished look. I love it!

To continue my twine journey, I wrapped the base of some tapers.

And here's the whole look from the area by my piano.

I really need to paint those shelves darker. Too bad they're fake or else I would stain them.

After getting all of this done, I wrapped the remaining twine into a ball and stuck it on a cute plate on my new coffee table, just like Heidi from The Craft Monkey did in her "Some Afters..." post.

If she inspired me to do all of this fun stuff, I'm sure she will inspire you! If you didn't check out her page yesterday, you should definitely do it today! Show her some love!

We're almost at the big reveal!! Here's another picture to tide you over.

Tomorrow I have a Magic Bullet recipe for you. You won't be disappointed!

Candle Accents

I found this excellent project at Craft Monkey.



Here's her version on updating a boring candle:

Isn't that fabulous? When I saw it, I knew I had to have it.

Here's mine!

Now that I look at her's again, I see that I forgot to tie a cute bow. Oh well, maybe soon. I think I'm going to change out the flowers, too, but there were pretty slim pickings at Walmart with all the Christmas florals out right now. In due time....

Also, check out her newest post: Some Afters
I think I'm going to be making a cute ball of twine also for my table. Hey, why not? Now I have a bunch of unused twine ;)

Yet another sneak peak at my big project:

The big reveal will be either this Wednesday or Thursday. I have some things on hold at Younkers for their huge sale, so I'm waiting until then!

Coffee Table Redone

I'm so excited that I found this coffee table. I had been scouring Craigslist for months to find a coffee table with storage. I found some in my area, but they were $100 or more. I'm cheap (seriously...) and I wasn't willing to pay it.

I got this thing at Goodwill for only $6.99. Though my husband wasn't with me (therefor couldn't haul it) I bought it right away. It was one of those times when you wanted to run to the checkout but knew you'd look like an idiot doing it.

It's really not that bad of a coffee table. I'm just not a big fan of blonde wood.

As you can see, I had already started sanding it when I thought Oh crap, I need a "before" picture! Yes, I was sanding this right in my living room. It was less than 40 degrees out that night, and I was up until 2:30am doing this. I didn't feel like freezing my butt off.

So do you want to see how it turned out?

I love how it turned out. I put a darker stain on it, put 4 coats of lacquer over that. The baskets came from my daughter's room (I will be giving her some other type of storage that will grow with her better). The maroon bows actually came from an old shower curtain that I ripped up. I tossed on some random stuff on top, and look at that....a whole different coffee table.

This is the coffee table that I had before...

My daughter decorated this one. Lets see...we have a few of her books, her wolf purse, new pants and boots....

Okay, the reason I had this table is because my beautiful table with beveled glass inserts broke. They matched the end tables on the sides of the couch (go ahead, scroll up...) So my ma gave me my brother's coffee table to use until I got something better. Thanks John!!

Anyways, with the inset top all the way around, it was impossible to keep clean. Everything would mush up in the corners. Gross! Can you see why I was desperate for a new one? I'm either donating it to Goodwill or putting it up on Craigslist. Sorry John, I promise I will buy you a new one! I just can't see this thing anymore.

Oh! I also finally hung some more pictures today because I finally bought an ink cartridge for my printer.

I've had the print in the middle for a while. I've also had the two frames on the sides for a while, but I finally got to fill them today. I think it looks perfect above my patio door. The middle reads "All because two people fell in love..." The picture on the left is a picture of my kids, and on the right is a picture of me and my husband's wedding bands (both done by me, thank you!)

Okay, the big project is almost done.

Yes, this is a pressed flower. I need to press two more, so until those are dry, I'm not showing the big reveal. Now where's my power sander......?

Reupholstered Ottoman

Alright, everything's dry (though the coffee table is going to get another 1,000 coats to make it super-shiny), so you can finally get a look at my reupholstered ottoman.

My husband bought this ottoman a few years ago, right after we bought our house. It was bright red velvet with shiny silver metal legs. Does that even sound normal?


I don't even have a picture of it. With my camera not functioning, I wasn't going to wait. I tried scouring my archives of pictures to see if it was in the background of one, but no such luck. So just use your imagination.



Anyways, there was one good thing about this ottoman: It was a storage ottoman. I love storage.



So there was no way that I was just going to toss a perfectly good storage ottoman.

Reupholster it!

This is what I got:

The color doesn't match perfectly, but it's the closest I could get. Plus I think the flash brought out a little bit of that bright red that is underneath, because it looks like an almost perfect match in front of me right now.

See the cute new legs I put on? Much better than those silver abominations.

Anyways, here are some details:

The top where I sewed a white button on intersecting pleats.

Here are the pleats.

I cheated a bit on the pleats. Instead of folding the fabric back every once in a while, I upholstered the entire ottoman, then made strips with the leftover fabric. I folded the strips to hide the unfinished edge, then stapled those at intervals. Easy, right?

Ready for another sneak peek?

Hmmm...well something's obviously being painted. It can't be that old basement window because of that funky edge. It I didn't know any better, I would say that it looks like an "I" (but it's not!)