Thrifty Thursday #67

Happy Fourth of July!!!

I have been absent around the blog because I have been enjoying a lot of this...

My boys spend the summer swimming and I spend the summer cheering!

We've just been having a lot of family time and it has felt GREAT not to have the

pressure of "needing to complete projects!" over my head!

So I am glad that you all are doing projects and sharing them every week

here at Thrifty Thursday!

Would you believe this shelf used to be a door?? Shabby Love

transformed an old door into a usable kitchen shelf!

Pondered Primed Perfect also made some creative shelving using twine and a glue gun!

Design, Dining & Diapers created this DIY eye chart and has an awesome tutorial!

Cherished Bliss shared this beautiful Pink Lemonade birthday party....so fun!

Cookin' Up Good Times made these red, white and blue lava flows using

drink mixes but made them non-alcoholic for kids!

I've seen a lot of mason jar soap dispensers, but this from

Ugly Duckling Transformations is especially cute!

Finally....for a fun summertime idea, how about this watermelon

pedicure from Fancy Frugal Life?

If you were featured this week, feel free to grab one of my 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  or a text link somewhere 
in your post so that others can link back.

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Thrifty Thursday #66

Less than 24 hours till hubby is home.....I think I can, I think I can........

Truly, my kids have been amazing, but there's just something about not having

another adult in the house that wears....me....down!

I think it's because I have to answer every.....single...question....and they

ask A LOT of questions!  For which, I am usually grateful, but am just a

little out of answers!

I'm excited to get to the features that week because, once again, you all shared

FABULOUS projects!  There continues to be such an amazing pool of talent

among you all!

Thanks for visiting  and linking every week!!

Reason #2,317 to own a Silhouette....these beautiful latitude/longitude signs from The Concrete Cottage.

Art is Beauty transformed an ugly dresser into this gorgeous piece of art!

I love this chalkboard gallery wall designed by Toolbox Teenah.

The Ivy Cottage shared the recipe for this homemade blueberry 

cheesecake ice cream...yum!

Another fun summer recipe was linked by Saving 4 Six....Pink Lemonade Pound Cake!

I doubt they are healthy, but these taco fries from The Crafty 
Blog Stalker sure do look good!

If you were featured this week, feel free to grab one of my 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  or a text link somewhere 
in your post so that others can link back.

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Kitchen Cleaner for a lot less....

Things have been quiet around the blog this week because they have been 

BUSY at home!

My hubby is in Northern Ireland on a mission trip and has been gone for over a week.

It's usually about this point that I start feeling a....little....bit....C-RAZY!!!

Before he leaves I always have these big plans to read.....get projects done....relax...

WHO AM I KIDDING???

He leaves and I accumulate all of his chores and mine!!  

How do I manage to forget that every year???

Before I share my "enlightened" idea about kitchen cleaner, I need to brag a bit on my boys because they are what inspired my need to go cheap on cleaner.

My boys are swimmers.  
You see, my hubby is 6'5" tall....

For a person to get that tall, you must grow a LOT and that is what hubby did, except

that he would grow in spurts. He'd start the baseball season with

20'" arms and end the season with 22" arms....that makes for a lot of strikeouts!

So when our kids were young we talked about what types of sports we could put them in......where we saw them being successful.  Baseball was out!

We landed on swimming.  
It's a sport made for long...lanky....grow-4-inches-in-a-year people with big feet.

Now, just to keep it real, this mama has ABSOLUTELY no ability for swimming.

I could tread water if necessary.....maybe even do a lap if being chased by

sharks, but putting my head underwater.....doesn't happen!

Every year my kids jokingly ask at the start of pool season..."Hey, Mom, gonna get your head wet this year?"

"No, children, you see, my chemically treated hair may just explode if it touches chlorine!"  
{That and I HATE water up my nose!}

So when my boys look like this....

and this...

and bring home some first place ribbons, I gotta get a little excited because I

had absolutely nothing to do with it!

But....isn't this supposed to be a post about KITCHEN CLEANER??

Oh yeah.....so the reason I need to cut costs with kitchen cleaner is because my

boys are swimming and eating EVERY OUNCE OF FOOD IN SIGHT!!!

Seriously, I am going broke on bananas alone.  So the other day I thought,

why don't I just buy a concentrated bottle of cleaner that I usually use to mop

floors and dilute it to make my spray cleaner??

Before I diluted it, I checked the back of the bottle, and wouldn't you know, but

they actually had instructions for how to do this!!!


Take your concentrated cleaner...

Measure out 4 ounces....the bottle calls for 1 ounce/15 ounces water, 
but I wanted to make mine stronger.

I then used my empty bottle of cleaner and filled it with 28 ounces of warmer water.
{Because 4 oz cleaner + 28 ounces water = a 32 ounce bottle!}

So what do you save by doing this??


Let's do the math:


Lysol concentrated cleaner:  $2.79/40 ounces
{If you use 4 ounces per bottle, it can make 10 32-ounce bottles of cleaner}


Total cost: $0.28/bottle!!!


AND you're reusing a plastic bottle!




You're Welcome!

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Nikon D3100 Giveaway from GroopDealz

About 18 months ago I switched from a point and click camera to our 

Nikon D3100....I can't even imagine what life was like before!

I LOVE my camera.  It is easy to use and takes great pictures...the error is

usually on my part! :)

If you would like to win one, GroopDealz is giving one away!!  

You can enter below through Rafflecopter!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Thrifty Thursday #65

We are back from the beach and had such a good time!
I'd love to post some pictures, but it's going to take me forever to go through them all and get them edited!


Do you ever find yourself not taking pictures because of the hassle of editing them???  I'm getting really bad about that and am backlogged on about a billion photos!


I'm excited to share this week's features....you all had some fabulous projects linked up!


Homespun Happenings made these "old" crates using pallet wood, an

old leather belt and a metal labels from a yard sale....and she only spent $1.50!!

To truly appreciate the makeover of this chair from 551 East Furniture 

Designs, you need to compare the before...

to the after....isn't it gorgeous!

Chase the Star turned an old dinette set into this fun table for the kid's playroom!

Country Mama Cooks created this absolutely beautiful planter using 

a tomato cage and a hanging basket!

These soft pretzels from Feeding My Temple not only look delicious,

but they also don't look too complicated to make!

Love Grows Wild shared a excellent way to keep your leftover paint

organized....mason jars!!

Are you interested in designing new blog buttons?  Projects Around

the House has a very clear tutorial for how to do-it-yourself!

Finally, Jewelry Making Journal shared a great tutorial for how to make

this mixed metal wrap bracelet...it would look great with any outfit!

If you were featured this week, feel free to grab one of my 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.

You can also party with Johnnie 

at Saved by Love Creations!

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Over at The 36th Avenue

I am so excited to be sharing my Old Window Pot Rack at

The 36th Avenue today!!

The 36th Avenue is one of my absolute favorite blogs!!  

You can find amazing recipes, fun crafts, beautiful room makeovers

and just gorgeous, inspiring pictures!

Thanks so much, Desiree, for allowing me to visit today!

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Distressed Chalkpaint Corner Hutch

I shared earlier with you about my first experience bidding in a silent auction and 

how I had to outbid a sweet little grandpa for this hutch....

She was a beauty wasn't she!  I had some friends scratching their heads as to

why I was nervously bidding on this piece, but I had a vision!

And here's what I saw in my head....

My photos don't really capture her in all of her glory, but she IS a beauty!

I made my own chalkpaint and painted and distressed her.  

I even added a topcoat of Annie Sloan's wax.  

The round knobs are just spraypainted with black spraypaint and I bought inexpensive

black handles for the drawers at my True Value hardware store.

I took the glass out of the doors and went to my shed for some chicken wire which I just stapled right to the back of the doors....cobwebs and all!  

I mixed up some more homemade chalkpaint and using a sample can of paint, I painted the inside a pretty blue color.  I've been using sample cans more often for smaller projects.  

I realize that there are not hardeners in sample cans, but if the painted area is not going to get heavy wear, the DIY chalkpaint recipe helps it to hold up!

I've had some major scores recently at Goodwill and have been outfitting the hutch with white dishes.  I got the soup tureen for $5.00!!! Woohoo!!  

I think that I skipped out of the Goodwill that day!

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