Craft Blog Overload

So ever since I decided I wanted to try to be more crafty, I've become obsessed. I really love the concept of making your home look cute or nice for as little money as possible. I love re-purposing items or making masterpieces out of old yard sale finds. It's something I've always enjoyed and wanted to do but I haven't done it much because we don't plan to stay in this house for long and I don't want extra stuff to have to move. We already have way more junk than we need as it is. Preston is one of those get-rid-of-everything type people and I'm a total pack-rat. I think we find a pretty good balance...most of the time. :) But I like being able to dig through stuff in the garage or basement and use something that I haven't touched in months. Okay, years, who am I kidding?

Anyways, so in this new quest for craftiness I've started looking at craft blogs. The problem is that I find a blog I like that fits my style and has stuff I want to try and then I look at the list of blogs that THEY like and I find ten more websites that have cool stuff I want to try, and then each of them has links to sites that end up being cool and so on and so forth. It's never ending. I've had to force myself to stop looking at new sites. As it is, I already have like forty websites bookmarked on my computer. It's almost ridiculous. Okay, not almost. It IS ridiculous. It's just that they all have things I want to remember. I mean, I'm coming up on thirty, my memory just isn't what it used to be and there's no way I'm going to get to ALL of these projects anytime soon.

It's just so addicting for some reason. I've never so much as learned how to properly sew a button on my shirt but some of these blogs have me wanting to buy a sewing machine so I can make cute aprons and baby shoes and drapes and re-purposed old clothes. Preston is a little hesitant to let me buy a sewing machine, which is understandable. Especially considering he had a pair of sweats with a hole in it that I told him I would stitch for him like two years ago. A couple of weeks ago I found him sewing it himself. Oops. I should probably work on my being-a-good-wife skills but to be honest he probably did a much better job than I would have anyway. :) So yes, his hesitation is understandable. Maybe I will give it a few weeks and see if this ends up being another "phase" where I get excited about things and then never do anything about it. Yeah, I know, I have problems. I'm working on it. Kind of.

I've never been one to decorate my house for any holidays besides Christmas but I'm giving it a shot this year. I even got a little cutesie with it. P.S. I should probably give due credit to the different blogs where I got all of these ideas, but I don't really have time to look through each of those forty bookmarked blogs I told you about to find which ones I used.

Everything on this mantle cost me a total of $4

An old picture matting I found and backed with the bottom of a christmas box, then lettered with tissue paper rosettes.

Tissue paper rosette topiary with a metal pail I got at DI years ago, and a candlestick my friend Ashley brought me from Denmark ages ago.

Picture frame for $0.50 at DI, backed with an old Victoria's Secret gift bag, and covered with soap roses from the dollar store for $1.

Wood blocks for $2 (for the whole pkg) that I painted, glittered, and covered with sticky letters I already had.

My magnet board from Christmas where I added a couple of wood hearts from Robert's for a few cents each. A $1 styrofoam ball covered with red tissue paper and pearl pins and another DI picture frame I painted, backed with an old gift bag, and covered with tissue paper roses and a real flower.

You probably can't read this but it says Always Kiss Me Goodnight. I hung it above our bed. They are $1 platters from the dollar tree that I spray painted and the vinyl was from
the dollar store as well. I already had one platter so this cost me $3 total.

I'm working on another project right now for Preston's Valentines day present that I may put pictures of later...if it actually turns out!

Well, I have a baby to feed, a floor to vacuum, a dog to brush, and a sink full of dishes to wash (all in the 45 minutes until Preston comes home, LOL) but next time I have a minute I will finally post a Cohen update with some cute pictures so stay tuned.