Gorgeous Gallery Wall . . .

Hello there, Thrifty Decorator Ladies!  My name is Cailan from Everyday Lovely where I share simple ways to make and find the lovely in everyday living.

Today I'm sharing with you a problem you might have to: I take a lot of pictures of my kiddos and I wanted a way to display current photos and be able to change them out easily.  But, I did not want to be continually taking off the backs of frames and centering pics, cleaning glass, etc.  

My solution was this Quick Change-it-Out Photo Gallery.

To begin, I dug out all the dusty frames I could find.  I wanted an eclectic look, so I collected both gold and silver with bronzy ones for some color depth.  If you had a really odd assortment it would be easy to paint them all black or a fun color for a unified look. 

I took off the cardboard backs, took out the glass and hung them up like so. 

Since the frames are just balancing on a nail (unless you want to add a sawtooth hook to the backs) I added some tacky gum (from Hobby Lobby) to make them stable.

When printing out your photos it makes all the difference if you add a white border.  You can do this with Picnik or at Walgreens online (called a "Studio" border at Walgreens).  This helps give the idea of a mat on the picture and makes for a more finished look.  I also ordered some 5x7 as well as 4x6's to add some variety as to size.

Because I had a lot of frames around (and they are pretty easy to find cheap at thrift stores), this project was really only the cost of the pictures and the $1.99 tacky gum.  I love being able to put new pictures up as soon as I get a fresh batch printed...which reminds me I need to take some fall pictures quick!

Thanks so much for having me Nikki - can't wait to see that basement!


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Cailan, thanks so much for visiting!

I just love Caillan's blog!  And right now she's running a giveaway!  So head over and follow Everyday Lovely for a chance to win some of this Lollia Handcreme!

And we (well, my lovely dad!) are (is) routing the trim today for the beadboard in our "new" basement!!


There are Target coupons available for all of these supplies.

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Thrifty Thursday #29

This week on Thrifty Thursday  there were a lot of fun fall ideas! (and yes....I have STILL not decorated for fall...UGH!!)  Does someone just want to come and decorate for me??


If your porch needs a fall spruce up then how about this idea from Creative Raisins?

....everything looks good in an old metal washtub!!

A Step in the Journey fancied up her house with this adorable fall pennant banner.......

.......made with cupcake liners!

The Kurtz Corner shared her recipe for cinnamon cider served so creatively in an apple....

......and the recipe includes Red Hots!!  One of my favorite candies!!

Not So Simple Housewife linked up this wonderful idea for pumpkin spice latte cupcakes.....

.....yes, those are cupcakes with frosting!

Joyful Homemaking shared her recipe for pumpkin spiced nuts.....

.......don't they look so scrumptious? 

Snowflakes and Dragonflies linked her homemade recipe for a pumpkin spice sugar scrub.....

Thrifty Finds and Redesigns turned some old ugly frames into these bright beauties with some paint and chicken wire.....

Linden and Lace created a PB-inspired Lazy Susan......

Babblings and More made this adorable skirt out of holey jeans......

If you were featured this week, feel free to grab one of the new buttons!

Here are some very simple suggestions for the party:

1. Please become a follower of Thrifty Decorating.

2. Be sure to link to your POST and not your blog.

3. Please copy and paste my link button somewhere in 

your post or blog so that others can link back.

After you've linked here, hop over and say "hi" 

to Johnnie at her Thrifty Thursday link party

at Saved by Love Creations!

You can also head over to visit Erika 

at Thrifty and Fabulous and join 

her Thrifty Thursday!

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What do YOU do when stressed?

The past few weeks have been trying.....ranging from putting a special pet to sleep, a rabies scare, a flooded basement.....and numerous other things that on their own are not stressful, but when piled together, make me feel anxious....


So what's a girl to do???

....ORGANIZE!!

(Yep! I added shelf paper and sucked all the crumbs out of my drawers!)

For whatever reason, when I have stress in my life, I get compulsive about cleaning, organizing and tidy-ing!

It's like I need to try and restore order to my chaotic life......so I start with my countertops!




Oh....and baskets!  You can't forget baskets!  I put all of my cookie-cutters into baskets!

After my cleaning frenzy, I was enjoying the smell of Clorox lingering in the air and I realized that what I really needed to do was put that same amount of energy into praying......remembering that there is a God who wants to help me through my stress rather than watch me scrubbing countertops....


There is a verse in 2 Corinthians 9 that has been a long-time favorite.......

We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.

We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair.  We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed. 

{Emphasis mine}

.....I needed that reminder.....

What do you do when you are stressed?

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Junked Dresser Makeover. . . .

A friend contacted me and asked me to help her pick paint colors for her son's room.  While I was at her house, I saw this dresser and 2 matching pieces.....

I asked her what she was planning on doing with them....I was nervous that she was going to throw them away! Yep.....that's exactly what she was planning to do....so I hauled this guy into my car and brought him home!

Lori looked at me doubtfully.....this was her junked childhood furniture....but look at the results!

I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with this piece, but I knew that I needed to smooth out the peeling paint.  After I started sanding, I realized that the dresser was solid wood, so I decided to stain and seal the top!

Because I used heavy grit sandpaper (and my palm sander!), sanding only took about 30-40 minutes to sand to this smooth finish!


I'm still debating whether or not to distress the drawers.  It doesn't have really nice lines to distress along...

...I may grab my palm sander again and distress it along the drawers....I'm also wanting to try out furniture wax....

There may be a part two coming!

Places I party.....

{31 days of Paint Projects}

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DIY business cards . . .

I just love making friends in the blog world.....one of my virtual friends is Mindy from a {day} with lil mama stuart.  We started our blogs about the same time and I have enjoyed all of her wonderful ideas!


When I put out a plea for help because of the craziness of this past month, Mindy responded right away and this idea is AWESOME!!

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Since I got ready for BlogHer in a few days notice, I had to whip up some business cards in no time! Here’s my no design background whatsoever way of designing your own business cards using picnik.com (a free photo editing website).

1.  Upload a background. Sprik Space has an amazing series of free patterns, in 20 colors! The project possibilities with these are endless!

2. Roughly crop your photo to a rectangle shape. Then resize it to 1050x600 (unclick the "keep proportions" box) for a 3.5x2 business card. The proportions of the pattern might get skewed, so keep undoing and play around with the cropping and resizing until your pattern looks right.

3.  Add text boxes with your pertinent information (name, email, website, twitter handle, Facebook page, phone number and address if you aren’t creeped out by that, etc). Change the colors and sizes and rearrange to your liking. TIP: Always note the numbers of your colors. It's easy to match later on if you mess up or recreate your file.

4. I added clip art from their selection of stickers (I do not have a premium account). Right click to rotate, flip, resize and reposition as you please. Adjust colors and sizes. TIP: Don’t make a border around your card. The cutting process is not precise, so it’s easier to just not have one.

5. Save your file.

6. Open a word doc. Insert your business card file. Double click or right click to resize to 3.5x2 (uncheck "lock aspect ratio" box). Adjust your page margins to be .5 all around. Copy and paste 9 more, so you have 10 on a page.

If you want a double sided business card, repeat all steps.

After doing a few test prints, I brought a jump drive with the two files (one for front and one for back) to Office Depot for printing (I’d do the cutting myself). It cost me $25 to print 200 business cards (20 sheets) double sided on glossy paper.  Then it was just me, 20 sheets, and my paper cutter in my closet floor for two late nights. Turns out I only dished out 60 cards in my 2.5 days at BlogHer’11. Should I hand the other 100+ out to every parent I see at the park??

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Wasn't that a great DIY idea!!  (And Mindy just takes incredible pictures!)  

Mindy offers a part 2 to this tutorial....

....would you believe that she made her business card holder out of duct tape?!?

For a complete tutorial, head over to a {day} with lil mama stuart!

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Salt Scrub . . . .

Hey there
Thrifty Decorating readers. I'm Tiffany over at
Ladycrafter14. I'm pretty new to blogging but
am totally addicted. 


I love to craft, create, photograph, sew, do it myself, and of
course share my obsessions with anyone willing to listen. 


I married the love of my life
 and we have 4 trophies attesting our love: 3 girls and 1 boy. He
farms and ranches and I blog about all the stuff I do
 while he is hard at work.



Thanks to the Lovely Laura at Live.Laugh.Photograph I was inspired to create some salt scrubs of my very own to gift to friends and teachers and what not. Her post is very good and I wanted to give her credit for the inspiration even though I kinda made up my own recipe. Just a dollop of this stuff scrubbed into your hands or feet and then rinsed leaves them silky smooth and smells so yummy!



To begin you'll need EVOO (extra virgin olive oil), lime or lemon juice, coarse salt, some fragrance oil.


The recipe I have found works good is... 5 cups coarse sea salt, 1 cup lime juice, 1 cup EVOO, and 3 tsp of coconut-lime fragrance oil (plus more in the jars)


(Purchased the oil below at Walmart)




Combine the ingredients in a large bowl. If it isn't your desired consistency then add a little more EVOO.

Smells so good..... I lastly spooned the mixture into jelly jars, then added about 1/2 tsp of fragrance oil to top off each jar. I added a little twine and label which you can print HERE. I printed on cardstock and attached to the jar. So charming and so easy! Perfect homemade gift for any occasion and so easy! This recipe filled 9 jelly jars.

Hope you enjoyed this tutorial and recipe. 
For a few other crazy little tutorials click HERE or 
to follow me on Pinterest click HERE.


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Tiffany also made some gorgeous fall pumpkins....

I love that they are not orange!!

And I'm loving those flower balls!

Tiffany....thanks so much for visiting Thrifty Decorating!

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