What is now a whoops...

I took a brave step.  I bought a pair of throw pillows, sight unseen.  I figured, hey, I tend to like most of this company's designs, and the pillows are on clearance for $1.99!  How bad can they be???

Oooh.  Oooooooh... OH.  They're bad.  They're like little old lady who made them out of an old ugly shirt, left them in a back corner and they got dirty, and haven't been washed yet bad.  OOH they're bad.  At least I only spent $1.99 on them, and I can always use them as pillow forms and make pillow cases for them.  I already know what color scheme I want to go with, now I just need the fabric.

Boy, I wish they weren't so ugly.  Ah well.

My trip to Salt Lake

I don't really like going so long between blog posts, but I promise, it was for a good reason!  I spent the last week down in the Salt Lake area attending a conference for special needs advocacy, and it was AMAZING.

And of course, because I was in the area, I went and visited Temple Square.

One of my favorite parts was visiting the Church History Museum.  I had gone with a couple of my cousins and their kids, who really enjoyed playing up in the new children's area of the museum.  While they did that, I wandered through the other exhibits upstairs.  There were a few paintings that really drew my attention that I would LOVE to have prints of.  I don't know if they're available in the store downstairs because it was Sunday, so it wasn't open.

I just couldn't get over the gorgeous rich colors in this painting.  I wish I'd thought to grab the names of the paintings and the artists so that I could find them more easily.  The photo really doesn't do the actual painting justice.

This one was gorgeous too.  The imagery is breathtaking.

This one is even more incredible in person, there's so much texture in the way it was painted, it's incredible.

This one, I actually had to check that it wasn't a photo.  It's an oil on canvas, and it's amazing.  I sat staring at this one for a while.

It was an amazing trip, and I saw several friends and lots of family while I was down there.  I heard no few amount of times that I should move down there, and maybe someday, I will!

An amazing deal!!

For anybody looking to find some awesome deals for their bedroom, I just wanted to share these awesome finds with you!!

Both of these I found through DealsPl.us and was tickled pink when I saw them, I just had to share them with you guys!

First, a sueded comforter, normally $39.99, on sale for $6.29, and through the DealsPlus website, you can get an additional 10% off and a free shipping code!!

 

And second, 16 inch rectangular toss pillows, normally $20, on clearance for $1.99!  Through DealsPlus, you can also get a free shipping code!  And there's a variety of different color choices!  Awesome!

If you take advantage of either of these offers, PLEASE, let me know!!  I'd love to know what you think!

An exciting find

I’ve been a very casual thrift shopper for a long time, but never really looked at things for their potential much until recently.  And today, I’m THRILLED to say, I found a TREASURE!!

Today being Wednesday, it was 50% off the entire store day at St Vincent de Paul’s.  Normally, I don’t hold my breath as far as anything I might find there is concerned, but as I was wandering around their lot, I found THIS beauty:

Totally untouched by the rain that we’ve had the last few days, no mold, just a little bit of dust, a bit of dirt… It’s amazing!  The best part?  It was being sold for $20, but with 50% off, I got it for $10.  Oh  yeah… pretty awesome.

The paint is peeling, so I’m going to want to remove that, sand it, and repaint… but beyond that, I have no idea what to do with it yet.  Mr Mojo made me promise not to start any new projects until I finish the pantry at the very least, which I’m hoping I can have done tomorrow at the latest.

Color me tickled pink, purple, and a little bit mauve!

Trial and Error - Filing Cabinet-style

Going through and reading so many of the different crafting blogs out there, I'm struck by... jealousy?  Envy?  I don't know...

These ladies -- so many incredibly talented women! -- completely change the look and feel of their homes with a little bit of trim, a coat of paint, and more!  I'm limited by the changes I can do by the fact that we rent, though someday, I would love to own a home.  For now, though, I can only change what I have in my home.

My current project is a filing cabinet.  It's a black metal filing cabinet that I've hauled around for a few years, but never dressed up in any way, just having it around simply for its function.

I don't remember who wrote it, or if it was tweeted or posted on Facebook, but somebody yesterday said something about livening up a dull filing cabinet with some paint and/or wallpaper.  It inspired me!

So today, I took apart my filing cabinet -- it isn't fancy, just a $30 cabinet from Walmart -- and emptied it out.  Two coats of primer and one coat of satin white interior house paint later, and I have it here in my craft room, resting on flattened cardboard boxes, drying.  I've painted the handles a soft spring green, and I have a wallpaper boarder that I'm going to somehow incorporate onto it.

But now I'm concerned.  Through the priming/painting process, I've noticed that it's nicked/scratched easily, exposing the black metal underneath.  I can't help but wonder if I should have perhaps sanded first?

I put a layer of Mod Podge over it, hoping to make it stronger, but I really don't think that has made any difference, and I'm too afraid to try it to find out.

Am I right?  Should I have sanded first?  I don't know... I guess I'll just have to find out.  Trial and error?  Fortunately, it doesn't take too much paint and primer to do this.  Just all of one afternoon.

My first step into the world of crafting

I'm a craft blog junkie.  It's something that I've kept under wraps for a while, but I finally have decided to come clean.  For a long time, I've just looked and been in awe, but I finally want to branch out and start a little crafting of my own!

For now, I'm armed with simply a sewing machine, a bottle of Modge Podge, some scissors, a small container of straight pins, a few scraps of fabric, a very small selection of wood projects that need painting, a few acrylic paints, some paint brushes, and a few other odds and ends that I've collected over time.  Nothing even CLOSE to the craft rooms that so many of the blogging ladies that I've been reading have, but someday, I'd love to get something like it!

At the moment, the room that I plan to turn into my office/craft room is occupied by a family that needed some place to stay, but they'll be moving out in a few days, and at that point, the transformation of the room will begin!  I hope to photograph my way through the transformation so that I can share it on here!

Already, the room has gone through very big changes in that it used to be my "BLACK HOLE ROOM" where everything was shoved to hide it, but now it's an actual functioning room!  However, any changes I make to it can't be huge, since we're only in a rental.  I don't know how long we'll be here, but I don't want to make any lasting changes that might cause my landlady to have a fit.  (We never know with her...)

I'm looking forward to crafting and getting to know other crafters!!