Sweet Funky Love Giveaway...

{$20 Giveaway!} 

I'd like to introduce Amber Black from SWEETfunkyLOVE! 

It seems like it is totally the rage right now to accessorize hair..........whether it be your own, your daughter's or your sweet baby's!

{Pink Gerber Daisy}



Amber has an etsy shop where she sells beautiful handmade creations like this....

{Simply Sweet in green}

and this......

{Simply Sweet in pink}

and this....

{Two-Tone Pink}

And the best part?  Amber wants to give a $20 gift certificate  for SWEETfunkyLOVE to one of the readers of Thrifty Decorating!!

------------------------

To enter......become a FOLLOWER (or a reader via Feedburner!)  of Thrifty Decorating........then head over to SWEETfunkyLOVE and find a product of Amber's that you like and then LEAVE ME A COMMENT telling me which one you'd like to win!

For a SECOND entry.....LEAVE ME A COMMENT that you "like" me on Facebook.

All comments need to be left by Saturday, April 9th at 8 PM EST and then I will do a random drawing.

{Pink and White Triple Rosette}

Amber also has another etsy shop called Amber Black Designs.  At that shop she sells custom cupcake toppers like this...

{Sock Monkey}

Her designs are adorable and include ideas for wedding favors, birthday parties and custom cards!

AND.....Amber is offering all readers of Thrifty Decorating a discount of 15% off the TOTAL purchase for EITHER shop.... SWEETfunkyLOVE  or Amber Black Designs!!!  Just enter the code THRIFTDECOR.

 Amber....thanks so much for sharing!

---------------------------------

If you have an etsy shop and would like to be featured on 

Thrifty Decorating just contact me.

Read more ...

Cute burlap pillow....

{Guest post by Angie}

Hello to all you Thrifty Decorators!! 

I'm Angie, and I blog over at  The Cellar Door Stories.  Can I just tell you how excited I am to be here today for my (drumroll please....) first guest post EVER!  Thanks so much for having me here, Nikki!  Now, let's get to the project, shall we?


Did you ever have one of those all-of-the-sudden-ideas that you feel the need to complete say......five minutes ago?  That happened to me a few days ago.  We had about an hour or so before we needed to leave for church, but one kiddo was sleeping, and the hubby and the other kiddo were playing, so the wheels began turning. 

I have this nearly unexplainable love for burlap, so I thought I would try a burlap pillow.  I am not exactly proficient at using a sewing machine, but this project was super easy.  To decorate it, I used something I would almost guarantee all of you have in your homes, crafty or not ~ a Sharpie!!


Here are the basic steps I used...

1)  Cut 3 pieces of burlap ~ we are making an easy envelope closure for this pillowcase!  My pillow form was 14x14 inches, so I kind of measured, kind of eyeballed one piece that was 15x15 inches for the front, and then 2 pieces big enough to overlap each other by a few inches for the back.  My pieces were 15 inches high and 10ish inches long.

2)  Decorate the front piece.  Make sure you put something under your burlap so the Sharpie doesn't get through!  Since I am trying anything possible to usher in spring, I chose to stencil the word "BLOOM."  First I outlined and then I colored in the letters.

3)  Pin the pieces together (inside out ~ so "BLOOM" was on the inside!!) and sew.  Attempt to sew straight lines.  I attempted but only slightly succeeded.  I'm not proud of this, but it just proves that anyone can do this project!

4)  Trim the excess burlap, flip right side out and put your pillow form in!  I thought mine looked a little plain, so I added some bright, springy fabric flowers.

I'm really happy with the end result and can't wait to do some more burlap & Sharpie projects!!  The possibilities are endless!

Thanks again for inviting me, Nikki.....and hope to see the rest of you Thrifty Decorators over at The Cellar Door Stories sometime soon!

------------------------------------

Thanks so much for sharing this awesome project!  I can't wait to make some for the rockers (that I pulled out of the trash!) that are sitting on my front porch!!  Angie has some wonderful other projects at The Cellar Door Stories.

Are you planning a Sesame Street themed birthday party?  How about some Elmo Cupcakes?

{Elmo Cupcakes}

Or maybe a Changeable Wreath??  Here it is decorated for spring and the velcro behind the flowers allows it to easily change for a different season!

In another project Angie shares how to make this numbered coat rack....

Thanks, Angie, for sharing your ideas with us today!

Read more ...

A Little Laugh...

{Memories from middle school...}

For any of us who remember middle school dances....my hubby has posted one of his disasterous experiences from a seventh grade dance....

Maybe you have a middle school boy right now...(we're almost there!)....and his behavior is sometimes puzzling to you....this post is one to read to them!

If you need a little "laughing-out-loud" pop over to No Argument for God....I promise, you will laugh!

Here's a little teaser.....

It was 7th grade.  Dance night.  I had a special feeling about this night.  I was determined to ask someone to dance with me.  Didn't matter who it was, I just wanted to come home saying that I danced with someone.

So to give me that special edge, I decided to grab my brother Chuck's yellow cross-country jacket.  It was very cool - complete with a large "E" on the left side of it for the varsity letter he had in cross-country.  It was the addition to my wardrobe that would put me over the edge and make me irresistible to 7th grade women everywhere.  I didn't bother asking if I could borrow it because I knew his answer would be "no."  I just thought I would spare us both that little awkwardness.

 

So I went to the dance with my new-found confidence assured that everyone was checking me out in my brother's gleaming yellow cross-country jacket.

They were . . . but in the wrong way.  Imagine a few dozen 7th grade boys coming up to you with a sneering, "I didn't know your name was Chuck."  Note to self: when you wear someone else's jacket, and it has someone else's name on it, be prepared for snide comments if you are in middle school.

 

 

To hear the rest of his story.....go HERE......and always remember...just BE YOURSELF!

 

Enjoy!

 

Read more ...

How to Hang Beadboard Wallpaper

{An easy backsplash idea}

I was very nervous to start this project......I really was indecisive about whether or not I would like the beadboard....would it be yet "another color" in the kitchen to match?.....would it be a hard project?.......did I really know how to hang wallpaper on my own??....didn't I vow to myself to never again use wallpaper???  (I drive myself CRAZY with decision making!)

One Saturday morning, my hubby had our kids at the AWANA games and I just decided to go for it.....to take the risk.....afterall, the entire roll only cost $16!

I am SOOOO glad that I did because hanging beadboard wallpaper was a SUPER easy job and I just LOVE it!!  My kids were amazed by the progress I would make in only an hour's time!

Unfortunately, while I was hanging the wallpaper, the stabilizer on my camera was turned off so EVERY picture was blurry.....I'm going to do my best to recreate the scene!

First, pick a starting point.  I decided to paper to the door so that was my starting point.   I also had an easy break at the window! (Please ignore the blurry, it looks like a 2-year old-took-the-shot picture!)

I decided how high on the wall I wanted the paper to go and I used a little level and drew a level line.  The big thing about wallpaper is that the first piece HAS GOT TO BE STRAIGHT!  Otherwise, it just continues to get "out of plumb."  (I think that is the official way to say it just gets more and more crooked!)

I lined my piece up with the framing around the door.  I figured that since the contractors put that in, it should be straight. (HA!)

I was careful to use my husband's T-square to make all of my paper cuts so that I was working with straight lines.

As I worked my way around, I had some issues......I wasn't worried because I knew that I was going to cover that with trim. 

See.....all gone!

A $2.00 piece of foam trim took care of that problem!

Make sure that you pay attention to the "top" and the "bottom" of the wallpaper.  The right and left side look different to help you line the ends up.  I almost hung a piece upside-down!

Right now, the seam is a little more noticeable because there's orange paint underneath it....I've yet to actually paint the wallpaper....which you are supposed to do!

I topped the wallpaper off with some foam chair rail.  Truly, the stuff costs about $8.00 for an 8 foot section, but mine was all scrap that I had leftover from my Fake Wainscoating Project!

Overall, I couldn't be more pleased! 

Beadboard wallpaper looks real....it's easy to hang....and it's super cheap!  I'm thinking of putting it on the bottom of my daughter's room........hmmm, will that be my next room overhaul???  

Read more ...

Check out this giveaway!

{PB knock-off clock giveaway}

Do you remember this wonderful clock from Too Much Time on My Hands??

Well.....Kim is GIVING IT AWAY!!!  I told her that I thought that she way crazy to give it away, but she told me that she is feeling generous! 

Kim is trying to reach 300 followers.....when she does, one of her lucky followers who leaves a comment wins the clock!  I "followed" her today and left my comment to try and win!

And if you are not a follower of Thrifty Decorating, you can click "follow" at my site before you pop over to Too Much Time on My Hands!

---------------------------

Keep an eye out for my giveaway next week  from:

.....and yes, I will be asking you again to follow me!!



Read more ...

Kitchen reveal....

{The Big Reveal...}

So I took your advice.........

....and I LOVE it!!!

What is amazing is the amount of light that I now have in my kitchen....

It feels like a whole different room.....in fact, my kids have wanted to "do school" all week in our kitchen because of the sunshine and bright light that just floods our kitchen table!!

Here are some of the different pieces that helped to pull the room together....and truly, I took my time....carrying paint swatches everywhere with me!

First....beadboard wallpaper......

I still haven't painted the wallpaper and trim yet.....just not enough time!  I'll be sharing a specific post later on how to do the beadboard wall paper....truly one of the EASIEST projects EVER!!

So many people who have seen it in person have been fooled into thinking that it's real beadboard!!  Many have to touch it and look at it at all angles to convince themselves that it's wallpaper!

Because I wasn't covering the whole room with the beadboard, I decided to take it higher like Sarah at Thrifty Decor Chick did......I also ended up using scrap pieces of foam chair rail....that stuff is awesome!  It's about $8.00 for an 8 foot length!  So even if I had to purchase some, it would have been so inexpensive!!  (I'm debating using some of the foam crown molding to cap off the ceiling!!)

For curtains....I didn't want to spend a lot of money....but fabric, well fabric is just not cheap!  So I found these sheer panels at The Christmas Tree Shoppe...it was my first time in that store and WOAH.....it's A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!!

The problem, though, with sheer curtains is that we get fried by the afternoon sun.....as you can see from picture...and come July...whew!  crispy-fried!!  So I ripped the lining out of the old pumpkin color curtains and have temporarily pinned them into the sheers.  I plan to permanently sew them soon.....

Instead of buying a lot of new accessories, I just "shopped my house" and rearranged or spraypainted!  I moved this Bulletin Board that I made from a diaper box.  It's now in a much more visible area and can actually be used! (and yes....those light switches were spraypainted in ORB.....a tutorial can be found HERE.)

I grabbed a real-life bird nest off of our back deck and filled it with some malted eggs.....I had some blossoms left-over from my Dollar Store Spring Decorating and just ripped them apart and arranged them around the nest. 

I did "splurge" on the plate stand....it was all of $5.00 at the Christmas Tree Shoppe and then I agonized over the $1.50 plates.....really....the white ones were only $1.00......I switched them in my cart at least 3 times!!

Many of you may have seen my Rusty Star transformation.....all it took was a little bit 'o spraypaint!

And finally GroopDealz was running a special on these chalkboard ovals.....it totally madeover my Ikea storage containers that I already had!

So...Thank You to all of you who encouraged me to go green!!
Quick Update:  If you like my kitchen table a tutorial can be found HERE for how to do it....it was a $35 Craig's list find.....


Here's a quick run-down of what I used and how much it cost....

Behr Ultra Paint/Primer:  $34.00 Restful in eggshell....400F-4  from Home Depot
Beadboard Wallpaper:  $15.00/roll....I used about 1/2 a roll....from Lowe's
Foam Chair rail: FREE! Purchased originally from Lowe's....used scraps
Curtains:  $8.00/panel.....purchased from The Christmas Tree Shoppe
Placemats:  $1.00/each....purchased from The Christmas Tree Shoppe
Plate stand:  $8.00 (including plates).....purchased from The Christmas Tree Shoppe

I still need to cut my third sheer panel in half and make curtains for over my sink and paint the beadboard wallpaper, but I already have the white paint!

So over all....my costs came in around $80 if you count the third curtain panel and only count $8 for the wallpaper.....The good news???  I had a gift card to Home Depot so the paint was FREE!!!(Do you ever use your credit card cashback for fun purchases???  That's what my gift card was from!!)

So Thank You  to everyone who gave me to courage to go green....

I LOVE it!!!

Linking up with:

Read more ...