Summer Wreath

This is my first tutorial so I hope that I don't disappoint. My neighbor had a beautiful wreath on her door so I went to her house for advise. She helped me make the bows and gave me some ideas for my own wreath.

First I bought a wreath from Michaels for around 5 bucks, then I bought the rest of the supplies below. I already had the pipping and some of the ribbon. I think I spent around $12.00 for everything. I used a coupon and they were having a sale on their flowers.



First I took a bundle of spring flowers and shoved them into the wreath. I mean really shove them in, make sure they won't come out.

Then just fold it over.. half around on side and half on the other.

Now I placed a bow in the center of these flowers. I used piping to hold the bow together and made sure there was enough to tie to the wreath.

After you tie it to the wreath and you are happy with the placement of the bow, cut the excess piping.

I bought two large flowers; green and orange these were a little expensive so I only bought two. Cut the stem with wire cutters and placed on either side of the bow.

I also bought a three of these little flower bundles they were cheap, I used them for the top and bottom of the wreath to give it a dangled look.

You can see here where I placed some pink ones on the bottom

All you do is place the stem into the wreath do not use hot glue. If you are worried about messing up the flower, just pull it off and after you have the stem secure, place the flower back on.

Next I added my second bow where I felt I needed to cover a bare spot.

 I love these flowers, they are much cheaper if you buy in a bundle.

After I cut them apart (by the way, use wire cutters) I used them as fillers. Place them anywhere you see holes to make the wreath look fuller.

 I took some ribbon I already had and the leftover bow ribbon and

 folded them in half, held them together with more piping and attached to the wreath.

I did this step 2 more times until all my ribbon was gone.

And here it is, I hope you like it.

My Dream Door

I've been wanting a red door for as long as I can remember, and I finally decided to paint mine.

Here's a picture of my front door before it's transformation, I think I'll call it walnut brown.

 The door is fiberglass and it was distressed from years of wear and tear. I couldn't wait to paint this door and give it a new life.

Here she is my finished product, it took two days but I love it. Just a few more touch ups and I'll be finished.

I just went to Lowes and bought a quart size pre-mixed cranberry red door paint. It was the perfect color and I didn't have to get swatches or samples.

I finished the look with a new door mat from Marshalls for just $7.00 bucks. The Hostas were free, I just dug them up from my back yard and put them in some pots I already had. Only thing left to do now, is paint the black iron hand rails.

Extreme Couponing

There's a new show on TLC called Extreme Couponing, I was really looking forward to watching it however it was kind of a disappointment. These people are too extreme, they are dumpster diving, stealing off people's steps, and buying unnecessary items just because it's on sale. One woman has bought cat food and has no cat! Another woman buys diapers for a baby she doesn't have and another bought about 100 candy bars. Who needs 100 candy bars? Anyway I did happen to see The Krazy Koupon Lady on The Nate Show and learned a lot by going to her website. I found out things like: I can use 2 coupons on buy one get one free sales, and that I can use both a manufacture coupon and a store coupon for one item.  And I didn't even know that Target had online coupons and that each week they have promotions that let you can earn $5.00 gift cards. I've been going to different sites to find out what on sale and how people are getting things for almost free or free by combining coupons with sales. I've been going to websites for products that I like and getting free coupons. Thankfully, my mom has two jobs and one of them is at a newspaper distribution center so a couple weeks out of the month, she sends me free coupons that are left over. I even bought a baseball card holder, to keep my coupons in but I don't think it's wise to buy so much that I clean the shelves or spend money to save money. I only buy what I know I am going to use and so far I like it. I been able to get toothpaste for either free or .49 cents each, I haven't paid full price for soap, shampoo, conditioner, dish soap, razor's, detergent and lotions. I've also been able to save between $10 and $20 each time I go to the grocery store. Oh yeah! I learning how to play this game and I am using my saving for other things.

I'd hate to be behind these people at the checkout.






On a recent trip to Rite Aid I found this shampoo and conditioner on sale for 2.49 each and I had 2-2 dollar coupons so I got these for just .49 each and the trail mix was on sale for $1.00 each.

On another trip to Target they had a special on these Venus razors for $9.89 each and if you bought 2 they gave you a $5 gift card. To my surprise they were on sale at my Target for $7.89 each and I had 2-$5.00 coupons which means I paid $2.89 each and after my $5.00 gift card I ended up paying .78 cents for both. The soup was on sale for .60 cents each I had a buy 3 save $1.00 coupon. The shampoo was on clearance, I used both a Target coupon and a manufactures coupon and paid around $1.50 for both and the chips were also on sale and I had a Target coupon. That was a great trip and I couldn't believe how little I spent that day. I'm hooked, now if only we had a grocery store that doubled coupons in this town I'd be all set.

It's Someone's Birthday!

Brody's birthday was this week, I can't believe how fast time flies. My little munchkin just turned 5, it's seems like yesterday he was turning 4. This year I bought mini Krispy Kreme doughnuts for his pre-school class, they were a big hit. The kids all sang Happy Birthday and he loved being the center of attention.

The little girl shoving a doughnut in her mouth is Brody's pre-school girlfriend. She is so cute and tiny, but oh boy can she put away some food {Yikes!}.

A funny face before we head out the door to his party at Chucky E Cheese

His party at Chucky E Cheese was my idea, I really didn't want to go through a big expense and clean up at my house. The other kids loved it, however the birthday boy was more interested in playing with his cake toppers. Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader, I went through all the trouble of getting pizza, cake, drinks, and tokens for everyone and my son would rather play with the free cake toppers.
Here he is explaining his toys to our friend Crystal. I really hate that he's started pointing with his middle finger. When is going to stop doing that?

At least he did stop playing long enough to dance, and sing.

Keeping a close eye on Luke and Darth Vader.

This is so cute, they put him inside a capsule where tickets fly around and depending on how many you catch you earn points. Good thing that let him wear his crown because when it was over, he only had 1 ticket in his hand. Luckily, his crown was full of tickets and he wasn't so upset.

Even though it was time to open presents and he got some really great ones, he kept those cake toppers close. It's so funny to me, that he gets fixated on the simplest toys. I take him with me to yard sales because any little toy for a nickel will make him happy. I wish that worked for bigger kids.

What paint can really do

 It's amazing what a paint can do to transform a house into a home. I am still blogging about all the changes we've made to the house since moving in. I have painted every single room this past year and now I am starting on the outside. More to come...

This is Brody's room it was the Haley Davidson room with orange walls and paper border. This room did not trill me.

I had a lot of fun painting the stripes. I'd never done that before. It really gave that wall, a little something extra.

We put a trundle bed in there, perfect for sleepovers. Other than a new bed, it's all his old stuff from the previous house. I just hung up some curtains that he can't swing from and some pictures on the walls complete his bedroom.

Below is a picture of our house, the blue shutters were not really working for me. So instead of buying new ones that can be expensive we bought some black spray paint.


They were very easy to take down however putting them back was a harder than we thought. We had to buy some new tacks that hold them up and we should have marked them top and bottom because the holes weren't lining up right.

But it was worth the aggravation because the house looks great with black shutters. I think the whole project cost us about 10.00 for the spray paint and the tacks.

I couldn't have done it without my hubby, he's so handy.

Our house  looks so much nicer now.

Spring cleaning

I started Spring cleaning this week and the first room on my list was the living room. We cleared out all the furniture and the room looked so big and clean I had to take some pictures. While in the middle of cleaning I realized I had not posted pictures of my house now that I have painted just about every single room. So here are some of the before and after pictures of the living room finished.

The living room before we moved in.

The color was a light chocolate brown, I especially liked the doors and corner fireplace.

The only other wall is behind the kitchen and I had no idea where I was going to place the furniture.

We finally decided on the TV being against the smaller wall by the fireplace.

I chose Relaxed Khaki for the top and a darker brown for the bottom.

Relaxed Khaki is by Sherwin Williams and I love it. I used the same color in my kitchen except, I had Wal-Mart color match it, but the color is not an exact match. The Wal-Mart brand has a light green pigment to it, that I think I like more than the more expensive Sherwin Williams brand.

This picture was taken after I painted and cleaned the carpet during Spring cleaning.

And this is the room with the furniture back. I still have a few more things to add on the wall and it needs some new curtains but it will have to do for now.

It pretty much looks like this most of the time, I'm really happy with this room. It was the hardest to paint because of the high ceilings, my sweet neighbors let me borrow their ladder and my hubby passed me the roller, couldn't have done it without him.