A Frugal Knock Off

Ok, so this isn't a project of anything I made or  repurposed, but it is about achieving "the look" without the cost.

For our upstairs bathroom I really wanted a vintage, metal trash can that looks like this one.  Well, truthfully I've wanted one for a long time, not just for the bathroom.  There's just something about them, I love the style.  Anyhoo...in this case, vintage equaled "out of my price range."  I found this one on Etsy for $60.   Maybe some day we'll be in a comfortable enough place financially that I can spend $60 on a garbage can, but for now that's just not a possibility.

(I apologize, I don't remember who's Etsy shop this was.  I found this picture months

and months ago and didn't save the link anywhere)

So.......what's a girl to do?  Well, nothing at first.  I just lived without.  And everytime I walked in my bathroom my eye would go to the corner where the cheapie white plastic one sat and I would wish upon a star that I had a vintage trash can.

Then one day, I saw a sales ad for a local dollar store.........the heavens opened and a beam of light shone upon this little beauty.

I'm sure you know that was a bit exaggerated, but the point is I found this "knock off" for $1!  Granted, it's flimsy plastic and the slightest extra bit of pressure of pushing the garbage down further in the can because I'm too lazy to empty it makes it bulge out and I then have to reshape it.  BUT......as my husband would sarcastically say, "It looks good."

Linking up to:

I'll Be Back

Ok, so for any of you who might actually follow my blog for reals (as in, you check in every once in awhile to see what's new) I promise I'll be back soon with some new posts.  I've been quite busy the past couple of weeks helping our church prepare for their VBS, and then helping during the VBS.  Once that was over, we had a lovely little storm roll through and the lightning knocked out our internet for a few days.  Now my kids and I all have congested colds.  SO........hopefully by next week I'll be able to have something new for you. 

Meanwhile........


(http://www.thinkpinkalicious.com/)



I have a whole lotta this coming up in the near future!

Lemonade Anyone?

A few months ago I posted this picture as a sneak peek of an upcoming project, BUT..............our printer ran out of ink and I had to put it on the back burner for awhile.

But I'm happy to say we FINALLY got more ink and I was able to finish it. 

I thrifted this tray, probably at Goodwill, for something like 1.99.  I guess I didn't take a "before" of it, but just picture it being that really dark, almost black, ugly wood color.  I spray painted it and sanded it down a bit intending that I would make it sort of a picture collage tray.  My plan was to thrift an 11 x 14 picture frame and use the glass from it in the bottom of the tray to cover/protect the pictures.  But....then I decided  I wanted to do something else to it.

So I went Googling (it's so weird to me that "Google" is now a verb) and after searching pages and pages of images I came across this one and felt that jolt of inspiration.



(image from http://www.notonthehighstreet.com/)

 So I re-created it on my computer.

Then waited a couple of months for more ink.

When I finally got it printed off, I used scrapbooking ink to stipple it and inked the edges to give it a more aged look.

Then I used Mod Podge and glued it on.  I suspected that the glue would cause the ink to run, and unfortunately I was right.  When I put the top coat on it was just too moist and gave it a pinkish tinge in places. I salvaged it the best I could, and all in all it's not too terribly noticeable but at this point I'm not going to redo it. 

Can you see our sweet lil' pooch zonked out in the background?  : )



So, not a perfect turnout with the runny ink, but it was kind of fun and a much better look than the orginal 70's brown.



Linking up to:
Catch as Catch Can - My Repurposed Life
Frugal Friday - The Shabby Nest
Saturday Nite Special - Funky Junk Interiors

A Vintage 4th of July

For this July 4th, I had my hubby help me carry our kitchen table outside into the shade of the large tree in our yard.  I shopped around my house and used what I had.  The only "new" item I used was the checkered tablecloth, $1 at a yard sale last weekend.  Over that I layered a vintage replica flour sack tablecloth that I've had for years.  I confiscated the bench and chairs from the front porch and put them to use here.

The base of the display is a vintage metal cherry themed tray that's usually on a shelf in my kitchen.

The cobalt blue canning jar glasses were a gift from my hubby a few years ago.  I spotted them at an antique store in a nearby town but didn't buy them.  I kept thinking about them though, and a few weeks later he surprised me with them.

The old Sun Crest bottle has a little metal piece in the mouth of it that has a bunch of tiny little holes in the top.  I'm told this was used for sprinkling water on clothing during ironing back in the day.  

The clear canning jar has some red and blue game pieces added to it.

Old Cantrell & Cochran soda can, meaningful to us since our last name is Cantrell.

And here it is with place settings added.

Again, I just used my regular everyday dishes.  Nothing new, nothing fancy.

But I LOVE how it turned out!

How about you?  Did you do anything special for the 4th?

Linking up to:

{Titus 2}sdays - Time Warp Wife

Thrifty Thursday - Thrifty Decorating

Frugal Friday - The Shabby Nest

Time to Shine - A Diamond in the Stuff

Fabulous Friday - Faith, Trust, & Pixie Dust

Saturday Nite Special - Funky Junk Interiors

Folk Magazine Submission - Funky Junk Interiors

FINALLY..........Curtains!

Finally, after almost 7 months of living in this house and poor Halie living with her windows looking like this...

I finally got her curtains made.  They make such a huge difference, dontcha think?  They just add to the soft, feminine look of the room and they provide a nice color balance to all the pink and white.

It took me this long because I was hoping the fabric would go on a 50% off sale at Hobby Lobby.  Y'all know by now....I'm cheap.  But every time I was there to check it was always 30% off.  So finally I just bit the bullet and used a 40% coupon.  (If you didn't know this already, you can forgo the sale price and use your coupon on the regular price of the item.)

I paid about $12 for the fabric, and I got the ribbon 50% off so I paid $8 for 4 rolls of that.  So, about $10 per curtain.  My sewing skills are beginner level at best, and these certainly wouldn't win any sewing contests, but I'm kinda proud of 'em.  I think they look purdy cute.

I even took the extra step of lining them!  Aren't I so professional?  I just used an old sheet I had in storage.

Once, again, purely for your viewing pleasure....

Before

After

Now....two more projects and I can consider her room D-O-N-E!

Linking up to:

Saturday Nite Special - Funky Junk Interiors

Jumping on the Cloche Bandwagon

Ok, I'm sure most of you know that cheese dishes/domes turned cloches are popping up all over blogland.  I think they're pretty...not exactly my style, but pretty nonetheless.  So when I spotted the glass dome at Goodwill for 1.49 I decided to experiment.  A few weeks later I found the wooden base at a different thrift store for .79.  And then a couple of weeks later I found the candle holder for .99.

I used a good strong glue and attached the candleholder to the base.  Roughed it up, painted the blue part a dark brown, then did a couple of layers of dry brushing over the entire thing, and added a clear coat. 

And here's what I got.

I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to do with it now because like I said, not really my style, but it was fun to experiment.

Yard Sale Fun

Are you like me?  Does the site of this vintage/retro style typography make your heart go pitter patter?  And does the sight of it's $1 price tag make it pitter patter a little faster?  I was SO excited to find this for only one buckaroo!  It will be a nice addition somewhere on the porch or in the flower beds.

Growing up, we had these same butterflies in our bathroom for umpteen years!  But they won't look like that when I get done with them, and they won't be in the bathroom.  The $1 luggage rack is also on the list for a makeover.

Vintage Christmas ornaments - $1 for all.  Nice, right?  My husband and I take turns each year deciding how our tree will be decorated and this year I had wanted to do an all vintage tree.  But this is the first stuff I've found in over a year that wasn't outrageously priced!  I don't know if I'll have enough collected to do it this year.   

Shirts and much needed summer sandals for my daughter - 1.50

Cozy Coupe (is that what they're called?) in great shape for $5, and a fun little Tonka
 toy for the Bubsters for $2.





 The Tonka toy has these little "sweeper" arms underneath that pick up small toys when you run over them and stows them in the middle compartment.  So cool!

  And we added new batteries and all the lights and sounds work like an annoying charm.

And last but not least, my husband needed a specific sized wrench and I found it for him for $2. 

From what I understand, this is about a $25 tool!

So, all in all today I spent $14.  I deem that a thrifty success.

Linking up to:

Frugal Friday - The Shabby Nest

Saturday Nite Special - Funky Junk Interiors