A little love

Heya all! How the heck are ya? Hope you had a great weekend!

Today I was feeling a little Valentine’s crafty mojo and worked on a couple SUPER quick projects.

Melissa’s cutie Scrabble art last year had me at “love”and I’ve wanted to do it since. I threw it together with a Goodwill frame, some pink paper behind the glass, and the Scrabble tiles hot glued to the top:

It would be way cauuuter with some adorable V-Day paper behind it (and maybe a nicer frame?), but I was trying to use what I had. :)

I wanted to fill the long frame, so I added the “forever” to what Melissa did. Now that I look at it, it reminds me of this book, so I may change this out after the holiday and put it in the Bub’s room somewhere. :) Maybe a navy blue frame and a white background to match his space? So fun!

This one was along the same lines, another Goodwill frame, with paper and a sparkly Target dollar spot heart glued to the front:

Simple but oh-so-precious!

I hope to put a little Valentine’s vignette together soon. (Check out Melissa’s! Adorable!) That little project will have to wait though, because I’m heading out to Nashville this week to hang with many of my bloggy friends at the Blissdom conference. I am SO excited to see the women I know and now consider friends in real life, and to meet so many new ones!

This picture tells the story of last year, words are not needed:

AnNicole, we will miss you!! Kate, when are we going line dancing? :)

Anyhoo – I decided a couple weeks ago that I wanted to share a little love and highlight some bloggers that are NOT attending Blissdom this year. I thought I’d be able to go through some of your blogs and pick projects, but because the response on Twitter and Facebook was so great I need your help.

I’d love to share some of your fantastic blogs while I’m gone!

Here’s the info:

1. Your blog must be a DIY/craft/decor blog.

2. You must be less than a year old. (Uhhh, your blog, not you.)

3. You are not attending Blissdom this year.

4. If you meet all three of those criteria, send me html of a post bragging about your blog. Maybe highlight three of your top projects?

5. Please make it a brief post and no more than three pictures. I’m going to try to get as many of these scheduled as I can, so I need them quick and easy and html ONLY.

6. If I have any issues getting your html to work, I’ll try to communicate with you to let you know, but I can’t make any promises. I have to do laundry before I leave (and that’s gonna take a while).  :)

7. I’ll accept your posts starting…NOW. I’ll take them through Tuesday (January 25th) at 10 p.m. Eastern time. Anything after that won’t be used (cause I have to get to that dreaded laundry.)

8. If you send a post, I will highlight you in the order received. I will get as many scheduled as I can, but yours may not make it. If it doesn’t, I’ll keep it for a Show Her Off post in the future.

9. Send the email to thriftydecorchick (at) gmail (dot) com and put “NEWBIE” in the subject line. (Anyone else thinking of the Scrubs sitcom right now?)

Does that sound good? I want to promote some of you newer bloggers and I figured this would be a great time to do that!

And finally, I’m asking for a little love for me tomorrow (Tuesday). I was called back to do another mammogram, which I know is not unusual. They mentioned about 45 times (or so) that this would probably happen (since it was my first mammogram there is no baseline).

Even though I expected it, getting the call was still a little disheartening. I’m expecting and hoping for good news, but I would appreciate any tiny prayers you can send my way. I know there are so many out there who need prayers more than me, so thank you if you do. :)

Have a great week and stay tuned for some highlights of new(er) bloggers! Unless no one sends me posts. Then there will just be lots of crickets. Chirping.

P.S. Thank you to Daria in Pennsylvania for the extra Scrabble tiles! :)

A DIY memo board

Well hello there!! I am just overwhelmed at your response to my last post. You made me feel SO much better! :) I was so happy to read your comments and to hear many of you are making time to take care of YOU! It made my week! (Really.)

Because of I’ve been organizing like mad, and throwing in a few more work outs in here and there lately – my DIY/crafty/decorating time has been suffering. :) I rectified that today with a project I’ve been meaning to do forEVER.

I needed a new memo board for the light and bright office redo I’ve been working on. I made this one years ago:

It’s looking a little sad now. :) To make it, I just covered a piece of insulation foam with fabric. I wrapped the ribbon around it and hung it -- done!

I wanted something huge and it worked perfect! (See that squishy face in the picture on top? That’s my Bub’s birth announcements. Still LOVE.)

Well, about a year ago (yes, a YEAR) I found this huge frame for $10 at Goodwill:

I think it was even half off – it’s been so long I can’t remember! I knew it would work perfect for a new memo board. (I was planning ahead.)

I liked how chunky the frame was, but it wasn’t in the best shape:

It also had a band of linen-type fabric that I actually quite liked.

I had a plan in mind for this baby and I absolutely luuuurve how it turned out! Not just love – LURVE.

First step was to prime the heck out of the sucker. I laid it down on my “spray painting” sheet on the garage floor and did a couple quick coats.

I need to mention that it was NINE degrees outside when I did this. It was unreal, it was so cold.

I am nothing if not dedicated! :)

Once I got feeling back in my hands, I brought it inside to dry. (Spray paint takes forever to dry in extreme temps.)

After that it was ready for paint. Because I wanted to use only what I had, I painted it the blue ceiling paint I used in the office. While it was drying, I moved onto the “memo” part:

This stuff is that thick foam insulation you can get at the hardware store. I love it! I got a few sheets to cover our crawl space openings into the basement years ago. It works GREAT – keeps the cold and the spiders out! Eww!

Anyhoo, I wanted to reuse the foamy stuff for this memo board as well. I measured the size I needed, then used my Dremel to cut it out:

Awe-some!! (Said in a sing song voice.)

I wrapped it with my fabric, securing it to the back with hot glue:

I nail gunned it to the back of the frame and it worked like a charm!

For now it's hanging right behind the desk:

I think it will stay on that wall, but not sure where exactly. :) My plan for the board and batten includes a small ledge, so after that’s done I’ll have to play around with the memo board.

Of course I used the stripe fabric, which is a pain in the booty to get just right:

It has to be perfectly straight or it will drive. you. MAD. Or maybe it just drives me mad. :)

When I primed the frame, I sprayed right over the linen fabric (one word: L.A.Z.Y.) and the primer didn’t even cover it. So weird – it looks just like it did before!:

I just left the little gold strip inside the frame primed. Again…laaaaazy.

I got the fabric pretty straight:

Enough that it doesn’t give my hives to look at it. :) It’ll be covered with notes anyway. That’s what I keep telling myself.

Did you notice my little addition to the DIY drum shade fixture?:

A picture in a magazine inspired it – I saw a beautiful drum shade trimmed out with beautiful, large glass beads. It was GORG. I searched ev.er.y.where. online and couldn’t find anything that looked like it – and then one day I checked out Hobby Lobby and found this.

It is just a precious little beaded trim – I adore it:

Is it possible to be in love with cute beaded trim? Is it normal to be in love with cute beaded trim? I don’t care – I am. :)

I am loving how the room is coming along! The time has come though – I need to buck up buttercup and just get that board and batten DONE.

I still can’t believe the transformation so far. The office before:

And after:

WHOO! Love it! And my office will be extra insulated now. ;)

**I still don’t know what I’m doing with that chair – the cover I had was the wrong blue, (total clash with the memo board) so I took it off for now. I think I have something in mind. (Do you hear my mind crankin’?)

Hope you have a fantastic weekend!!

Who’s on first?

Well hello! I’m loving all of the suggestions (and empathizers) to the paper dilemma! (Dun dun duuunnnn.)

Number 9,324 I love blogging – you peeps get me. :)

Reason 9,325 that I love blogging – because when something’s on my mind, I tend to yuck it up on my virtual notepad…this blog. And you guys put up with it. :) I’ve had a bit of an epiphany lately and I was inspired to write about it tonight.

It’s a big one…and it’s about time. It only took 35 years for it to happen.

I’ve decided to GROW UP.

Not too much, mind you. Cause grown ups don’t say “Squeezaaays” and “cauuute.” I’m guessing they don’t anyway. (I have it on good authority they do say “lurve” though.)

I guess it started when we started to get serious about paying off our mountain of debt. The more we’ve paid off, the closer we’ve gotten to becoming debt free – the more mature we’ve become. That whole “only spend what you have” thing kind of forces that.

It’s made me (us) be more accountable, spend wiser, delay gratification – all that annoying grown up crap. :)

A few weeks ago I realized I needed to do that in another area in my life as well. You see, I felt like I was growing – not up, but OUT. (No, I’m not pregnant.) ;)

It wasn’t so much the holiday weight that we all feel – I’ve just been putting on weight for months now.

Make that years.

No one I know sees it like I do, of course. But you know how that goes -- we’re our own worst critics. And I just felt like a SLUG. You know what I mean? Like a puffy slug. Not pretty. Or fun.

But it wasn’t until I was visiting our family doc a few weeks ago (for my second case of strep throat in six weeks) that it hit me…I have to start taking better care of myself.

I mentioned to the doctor that I felt like I was gaining weight like crazy, and we had an interesting talk about it. I told him I wasn’t doing anything different, but felt like I was gaining by the month.

And he said something that caused one of those “LIGHT.BULB.” (name that movie!) moments. His response?

“Well, that’s the point – you’re not doing anything different.”

I’m getting older and I can’t keep doing what I’ve always done. (I know 35 is still young, believe me. But 35 is not 25. And it’s certainly not 17. Dang it!)

I tell you what – I walked out of that appointment a different person. It finally hit me – I HAVE TO TAKE CARE OF MYSELF.

I’m pretty much addicted to soda:

(Oh sweet, sweet nectar.)

And I walked out of that doc’s office and gave up soda. I’ve tried it before and couldn’t do it for long. This time, it was cake. Almost twenty-something years of (at least) two sodas a day, and I just stopped.

I thought it would be hard, but something in me clicked this time. Every once and a while I’ll crave a soda and get one, but most of the time it doesn’t even taste good. The odd times it does, I just drink a tiny bit and that’s all I need.

More than three weeks in and I get the craving for it less and less.

I want to grow up and take care of my body. I take care of everyone else – our child, my husband (as much as he’ll let me!) and our HOUSE. But I don’t take time to take care of me.

I don’t know what’s hit me, but I’m tired of it.

So for the last three weeks, I’ve reintroduced myself to this one and her DVDs:

I’m not liking her very much right now…but I might in a couple months. If I can walk then.

I’ve been doing this again:

Aww, look how cute I look! 

I kid! That’s not me. Yet. (Someday I’ll look that happy on the treadmill.)

And today, I did something I have dreaded for years. YEARS.

I got a mammogram.

Yes, I’m only 35 and I got my first mammogram. It’s not as unusual as you might think. I had a bump years ago that turned out to just a fluid-filled cyst (determined through an ultrasound). But because of that, the docs wanted me to get a baseline mammogram at 35 instead of 40.

I got the notice months ago, and kind of ignored it. I didn’t make it a priority. I didn’t think it applied to me. I thought, I am only 35.

And then a month ago I got news that a dear family member (who is just a few years older than me) found out she has breast cancer. She has a child younger than mine. She has to undergo chemo. She started shopping for wigs.

It’s rocked me to my core.

She is my new hero, by the way. Her most amazing attitude inspires me to be a better person – I hope to be like her when I (finish) growing up.

Because of her, I finally scheduled that mammogram.

Was it uncomfortable? Yep. Was it painful? Yep. But the uncomfortable and the painful lasted for mere seconds.

Was it worth it? YES.

It was time for me to act like the wife, mother, daughter, sister and friend that I am. I needed to grow up and started taking steps take care of ME.

This isn’t a new year’s resolution. It’s who I’ve decided to be from now on. It took me a LONG time to realize I need to put myself FIRST sometimes. I need to eat more responsibly, get more exercise and grow the heck up. :)

I don’t know the results of my mammogram yet, but we’re obviously praying for a standard letter in the mail next week, and not a call from the doc in a few days. :)

I’m not writing this to preach to any of you. I’m not trying to get anyone to exercise more or at all. I AM asking you to give yourself a few more minutes a day. I do want you to ask your doctor when you should get your first mammogram. If you’re over 40, I want you to schedule your mammogram.

Yes, I’m bossing you around. Yes, I want you to put yourself first, for 20 minutes a day. Or the hour out of your week it will take to get a mammogram.

I’m still a newbie at this, so I’m certainly no expert. But I know something for sure – I’m not going back. I don’t know what’s gotten into me, but I like it, and I plan to keep it up. :)

 

**I waffled back and forth about getting this personal on here. I mean, I never even mention the words “b.r.a.” or “u.n.d.e.r.w.e.a.r.” on this blog, just because of the wackos out there. IfyouknowwhatI’msayin. ;)

But I decided to put on my big girl u.n.d.i.e.s and just do it – write it and hit publish. I don’t hesitate to hit publish much, but this one has my finger hovering. :)

If it gets just one of you to make more time to take care of YOU for just a few minutes a day, it’ll be worth it.

And now…I am hitting…publish.

THE PAPER

Well, last week it was the craft/tool/decorative stuff area in our basement, and that before was pret-ty bad. This week I’m tackling the clutter that doesn’t make a big mess physically, but it does take up a lot of space in my head. It’s presence wears on me, makes me feel completely unorganized and occasionally costs us money.

It’s the PAPER. (Dun dun duuuun.)

I swear to you – it is the one thing I just can’t get it figured out. It. drives. me. NUTS.

It’s like laundry. I ignore it as much as possible. :)

But like laundry, it’s kinda hard to ignore. Bills and socks and all that good stuff. Drats.

My process with paper that comes in our home is to not really bring it into our home. I let it pile up in my car till it’s just ridiculous. Then when I can’t find the so-and-so bill, I grab it all, dump it on the floor and sort.

That happens about once a month. Or so. Or less. Whatever.

Anyway, I’m determined to conquer the PAPER this year. No more junk mail as the floor mat in the car. I’m going to figure. it. out! YEAH!

But first, I needed to go through the piles we already have. And it ain’t pretty people. We’ve had piles going in the basement for quite a while now – and I knew I had to address those before I started a new paper process.

The first pile was just random papers, cards, stuff that I had laying around:

Not so bad huh? Yes, it is so bad, but once you see the other piles, you’ll realize this was CAKE.

My problem with the papers is not having a spot for them as soon as they get in the house. (Because the file cabinets have been stuffed to the gills for ummm…years.)

My other problem is I’m a bit of a hoarder when I comes to the paper stuff. I keep cards from birthdays and anniversaries forever and ever and EVER. I also keep little pieces of paper that are a memory for me – ticket stubs, business cards from favorite restaurants, whatever. It’s one of those things I just can’t give up. I think I’m going to start scanning them all into the computer, so I can save the words and memories, but still keep some space.

After the first batch, I had this pile to shred:

Funny how the pile looks so innocent and short. It was a TON of paper.

It was when I addressed the next set of files that I realized something:

The teeny tiny shredder that overheats in two minutes just wasn’t going to cut it. :)

I went out and got the biggest, baddest shredder I could find (at Target):

Awww yeah – POWERSHRED baby!! :)

I need that sucker by the time I went through the last of the files:

Hold me. Please?

It took forever. I’ve been at this for three days now. Well not three days, 24/7 – but you know. It’s taken a long dang time.

The latest shred pile:

It’s killing me – I’m only through half of that pile, and I have THREE trash bags full:

I will never, ever buy gift bag stuffing again. :) And I’ll be vacuuming up this stuff for weeks from all over the house. Awesome.

All of this is going heading out to be recycled when I’m done. I’m betting I’ll have seven trash bags.

THAT IS INSANE.

Some things I’ve realized when it comes to the paper clutter:

1. Being organized saves you money. I found a warranty for our windows we didn’t know about, and we have two that need to be replaced. SCORE!

2. I don’t really need to keep ALL of my class schedules from college. Really.

3. I think I’ll get by without the product pamphlet for our $10 can opener. Maybe.

4. We will never, ever go back to credit card debt:

(Two years worth of credit card bills.)

5. Three trips to the hospital in pre-term labor and then five days in the hospital when the Bub finally came (three weeks early!) equaled some crazy debt that added to that pile up there. :) (I think I had blocked those numbers out – sheesh.)

6. And finally – it’s funny how some things never change:

All these – still true 25 years later. Hate my ears, still don’t make my bed, stay up way too late, still hit snooze about five times in the morning, hate math, eat too much, and still hate to change my sister’s diaper.

HA! (Love ya Stink Eye.)

I just have one little pile left to sort through – then I’m reorganizing it ALL. I’ll show you my (new) methods soon and let you know if they work. :)

So, is paper your nemesis? Have you ignored the growing piles for years like me? Or have you found a process that works? Do tell! PLEASE. I’m begging.

But first, we declutter

Hey all! WHEW – I have been working my tail off on our basement over the past week. It’s been exhausting, liberating and a little disturbing all in one. :)

Every single year in January, I start a massive decrapification of our house. I go room by room, putting all the STUFF I’m not sure about in the basement. And then after I’m done with every. single. room…I start on the basement.

That’s usually around August, just in time for the fall decor bins to start creeping out. And then the holiday mess in the basement begins…mixed in with the rest of the stuff from the house.

It’s a recipe for an absolute disaster. I feel like I’m working on cleaning out the basement constantly, all year long…because I am. Gah. What’s that definition of insanity again?

I finally realized a solution this year – first of all, I need to start with the basement. Then I’ll have a spot for the STUFF from the rest of the house. And if I don’t have a spot, I’ll know it’s gotta go. Which brings me to my next revelation – we have way, way, way too much stuff.

I know, I say that a lot, and I get rid of a lot every month…every year. But as I get older, my tolerance for stuff is getting less and less. I just don’t want anything that’s not meaningful, pretty, or useful in our home. If it’s not one of those things to us, it’s OUTTA HERE.

Buh bye. Don’t let the door hit you in the patoot.

So, with all of that in mind, I started with the basement last week. The befores are not pretty. Prepare yourself.

My craft “room” started like this last week (excuse the poor iPhone pics):

It’s like this half of the year, and did I mention I’m SO OVER IT?

I ask you, who can craft in this?:

 

Holy cats, it’s giving me hives just looking at the pictures. Did I mention I was over. it? This is the very last time I will have to do this – mark my words.

It helps to have thousands of people mark your words. ;)

I’ll give you a little tour of the space first, because I’m just so darn proud of it! First, the wrapping shelves, which were filled before:

I keep a TON of gift bags – so I went through all of them and tossed (or donated) any that weren’t in great shape, or that I just didn’t like. If I wouldn’t have picked it out myself, it was gone.

Why? Because otherwise I knew it would continue to sit there for YEARS (like some of them had). And I was over. it.

I also had so many little random gift boxes – boxes I’ve kept for probably 10 years now. Seriously…OH EM GEE. Will it kill me to get a box from the dollar store if I need one?

Ridiculous. You can’t see in that picture above, but the bottom two shelves are now pretty much empty. It is a glorious thing.

WHOOHOO!!

Next up is my crafty stuff. This area was more reorganizing than purging:

I separated everything into categories -- wood crafts, random crafty stuff, paint, ribbon, contact paper/wallpaper and a big bin at the bottom that holds all holiday crafts.

By the way, do you see that empty spot on the shelf? Gleeeee!

My decorative stuff is next:

This was a HUGE purge – and it wasn’t easy. I had to pry a few things out of my own hands. I held each piece in my hand and asked myself – have I used it lately? Do I love it? How much would it cost to replace? Do I love it?

Do I really, really, I’m-not-even-kidding, this-is-insane, REALLY love it? If not, gone.

(I still think I kept too many candles, but you should have seen what I had before.)

On a quick side note – I’ve used these plastic shelves for years and luuurve em! They hold a ton of weight, it takes about five minutes to put them together, and they’re cheap! I’ve gotten them from both Target and Lowe’s.

I like to install the shelves backwards for decorative stuff, so there’s a little lip at the front edge:

It keeps things from sliding off. :)

I was determined to only use what I had to organize everything, so a lot of the stuff is in random baskets:

Looks like a farmer’s market, eh? ;)

It’s hard for me to part with lamps. They’re not cheap and they’re so easy to redo -- but they take up so much space. I moved them up to the top so they are out of the way:

Next up – the tools (happy sigh):

I’ll tell you right now – I don’t purge tools. :) Tools (usually) aren’t cheap, and if I buy something – I know I’ll use it. It stays.

Back away from the tools peeps!

I keep the major power tools in the garage, but the smaller ones I keep in small bins down here:

 

I’ve had them organized like this for years and it works great (for me!). I can’t do a big toolbox – the organizer in me needs separation and labels. ;)

The last set of shelves is one I’m pretty excited about. First of all, because it’s half empty:

Secondly, because I decided I want a mini-pantry of sorts down there. Not for food, but for entertaining pieces, party supplies, surplus paper products – all that stuff that I don’t have room for upstairs.

LOVE!! :)

(YES, you can see adult diapers sticking out of one bin, and NO they are not for us. :) We use them as piddle pads for pee cat. Long, long, story.)

Many of you have seen my craft table:

The table is really a large, (nasty), metal folding table. I covered the top in fabric and then hot glued a “skirt” around it (with cheap muslin). Talk about a transformation! It’s so dang cute, I can’t even stand it!!

My life is complete with colorful supplies, a picture of my baby Bub, a coaster for my hot chocolate and my silicon hot pad that I rest the hot glue gun on:

:)

I found a spice organizer at Goodwill forever ago and knew it would be perfect for the glitter:

I hung it up on the pole next to my table and it’s just perfect!

My craft room -- purged, organized and with EMPTY space:

I feel about 150 pounds lighter. :)

I like decluttering and it was still a monster. But I’m SO glad I got this done, and in January? I’m ready to tackle the rest of the house!

Maybe next week. ;)

Let’s take a look at the before and after again, shall we? Cause it’s pretty fantastic!!:

It took four days of working down there every free minute. But it was so worth it – I’m just not doing it ever. again. Did I mention that? ;)

Sooo…what are YOU working on? Spill it! It can’t be as bad as my before. Really.

P.S. Anything I don’t want the Bub to get to it placed up on the higher shelves. He doesn’t get into any of my stuff anyway. Yes, he’s that good. :)

P.P.S. I’m taking some of stuff to Goodwill, some to the consignment shop. That’s my standard after-purge protocol.