365:7

First pumpkin spice latte of fall!! Yumm.....

365:6

Said good bye to my pretty car today! Enjoyed the day running errands and packing the trailer!! :)

365:5

Last day of work for my hubby @ TSC. Here he is on a 20 ft ladder! Yikes!

On to new adventures!!

365:4

September 4, 2012

Dinner with friends tonight!! Saying good bye to our Colorado friends :(

365:3

September 3, 2012 Happy Labor Day!!

Today was a busy day!! No "holiday" for us :(

Kevin was busy working away framing his dads basement. He is a workaholic! Trying to get things finished up before we head out of town.

I worked all day, then did some running around, laundry, cleaning up a bit.

We managed to spend a short amount of time together, making some delicious apple crisp! Mmmm it was so good!

And off to bed we go, another busy day tomorrow!

365:2

Sunday Funday! Or, Sunday lazy day! We (by 'we' I mean 'I') usually catch up on laundry, grocery shopping, menu planning, etc. During the summer Sundays are a little more fun, we might go hiking or fishing :)

Today we are headed to buy a trailer for our upcoming move across the country... We had a 2 hour drive there and back, so 4 hours of bonding time in the truck! We laughed a lot and got to have some good conversations about our upcoming new journey!! :)

And now, relaxing with the puppies and early to bed! Who knew driving (riding in my case) could be so exhausting??

What did you do this Labor Day weekend??

Project 365, Day 1

If you are anything like me, you are currently sitting on the couch in the living room, your husband is watching some type of sport on tv, and you are playing on your computer/phone. Sound too familiar??

Don't get me wrong, we do a lot of things. I just think we spend WAY to much time on the computer and watching tv. I'm ready to make a change!!

Project 365 is something fun and interactive with my husband (and sometimes our pups) everyday. Little things, big things, inexpensive and free things.

Day 1: September 1, 2012

Today we are going to the balloon festival! It comes once a year, it's free, the huge balloons are gorgeous at night all filled up with light (hence the name)! We are going with my cousin and her three boys.

We also walked to lunch. Probably about half a mile or so is a Chinese restaurant. Walking there was easy and speedy, the walk home with our full bellies was a little slower ;) We had fun, holding hands and talking about random things. We wouldn't have done that if we had driven.

White Desk

 I found this old desk at GoodWill, it was $30 but it was on sale for 30% off that day! So it was about $22 with tax. A pretty great deal if you ask me.. the droors are all in great conditions, and I knew I wanted to paint it white and replace the handles.

I found the handles at Home Depot (before finding the desk). They were on clearance for $2.50 a piece! Couldn't pass up that deal.

Bought some spray paint at Wal-Mart. I'm not sure if you have discovered the $1 paint they have... but its amazing! It works just as well as any name brand spray paint. I got flat/primer and gloss white. Did a light sanding, a few coats of paint, and I was done! Hubby put the handles on (he says I scare him when I use the drill... and I just go with it because it actually saves me some work!). I love it!

Overall total was less than $40!

Salon Chair Make-Over

Well this was a tough, long project! When I bought the chair off Craigslist I thought it would be so simple and easy. Everything about it was hard, or maybe I should say time consuming and difficult. 

Finding the fabric was hard. I didnt want to do black, white, tan... etc. I wanted to do something modern and fun, and I was hoping for teal. I went to three different stores before I found this one! (after we were completely done with the chair, I happened to run across some zebra print vinyl for 3yds/7.99! Thats a really good deal for vinyl, I only got 1.5 yards of the blue because It's almost $10 a yard. And now I'm wondering why I didnt buy the zebra material... oh well.

Taking the chair apart was easy, putting it back together was NOT. It took forever.... and ever... and ever! 

My wonderful Aunt gets credit for sewing the seat and the back. She is experienced in sewing and I am a beginner, and being that this is my salon chair that I will have paying clients sitting in, I wanted it to look like a professional did it. It took her a few hours, I assisted by keeping her company and agreeing with everything that she wanted to do, and helping to come up with the "plan of action" we took on this chair!

It was worth it, I love it!! FYI a brand new, basic, boring salon chair is at cheapest $120 brand new, minus shipping. I scored this beat up 10+ year old chair for what I consider to be free (I bought 3 things total, and haggled her down $100 off her asking price. She was only asking $40 for the chair so basically I consider that free) and paid around $20 for the material! Great deal, better chair in the end. Sorry I don't have a great before picture. It wasn't until we were done that I realized I hadn't taken one!! Oops!

$0 Mason Jar Flowers

Another (almost) no cost project! A friend gave me these 5 mason jars, and i spray painted them with paint colors i had. I wish i had more of the blue but i think they look okay. Spring colors I guess.

My friend who gave me the mason jars also gave me some of her left over potting soil (she just re-did her whole back yard). I spent less than $2 on a thing of flowers and put them in the mason jars. I think they are perfect for my kitchen window! :-) I call this project free because I wanted some flowers anyway, and I dont really have any area to plant them outside. So yes I spent a few dollars but 90% free!

**Pictures to come of the finished project**

$0 chevron and flower canvas

*More pictures to come*

So I have had a closet full of canvas that I wasn't using for a while. My sister had painted me some flower pictures a few years ago and I have always had a place for them, until recently. The colors just didnt fit into any of my rooms. So I decided to paint basically the same thing, just in gray.

I covered up the old colors using black and white. Then painted the flowers on and I was done! My sister is by far a better artist than I am, regardless of how simple the drawing! I thought these flowers would be so easy if I just copied her old flowers... it was not!


I decided to give a go at chevron for the first time. It was pretty dang hard to figure out. I love them!!
*still one/two more to make. They take a lot of time!

$0 Simplify

Here is a little project I did today. Very simple, but I love it. Soon you will see my pantry make-over!

I took a 1x4 scrap piece of wood - didn't even cut it to any particular size. Then I cut the word 'simplify' out in vinyl on my Cricut. I spray painted the piece of wood gray (its actually a gray primer, but who would know!) and put the letters on! *By the way, I have discovered the dollar spray paint at Wal-Mart! I was always hesitant on trying it out because I figured it wouldn't work, but it does! And there is surprisingly a lot of paint in there. Definitely comparable to the other brands, I will be sticking with it!*

Strawberry Bananna Muffin

Strawberry Bananna Muffins with NO sugar & NO eggs! Yummm....

I used this recipe here as my base, and then just altered it. Instead of eggs, I used applesauce. I left out the nectar, and I used skim milk instead of buttermilk.  Here is my version of the recipe:

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
2 1/2 cups oats
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup overripe mashed bananas (3 bananas)
1 cup milk
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup canola oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup applesauce
2 cups chopped strawberries

*if you or your family members would prefer a little sweetness, sprinkle some brown sugar on top of the muffins before baking,  I made half of my muffins this way for my husband who hates anything healthy!*

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line muffin trays with cupcake liners.

In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients (flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon).  Set aside.

In another bowl, combine the wet ingredients (bananas, milk, canola oil, maple syrup, vanilla extract, and applesauce). Add the wet ingredients to the dry and fold the mixture.  Do not over-mix. Fold in the strawberries.

Scoop the batter into the cupcake liners (I used an ice cream scoop) until 3/4 full.  Place the muffins in the oven for 20 minutes, or until golden on top. Remove from oven and place on a rack to cool.

Frozen Hot Chocolate

Yummmmmmmmm! Ever been to Serendipity in NYC?? They make the best frozen hot chocolate ever!!! 

I was craving it yesterday, so I made some for a friend and I. She was in LOVE! 

There are lots of recipes out there for this, the one I have always used is simple.

1 cup Hot Chocolate Mix

1 cup Milk (we used skim)

Ice to fill the blender 3/4ish way

*Put all in blender and mix!* 

Put a swirl of chocolate sauce on the cup, then the frozen hot chocolate, and then a little whipped cream! 

The best part is that its pretty healthy! If you use skim milk, skip the chocolate sauce and whipped cream, there are hardly any calories in this yummy treat!

$0 How to clean your dishwasher

I had no idea that appliances needed cleaning! (I assumed the secret cleaning fairy took care of that...) 

My dishwasher has slowly stopped cleaning my dishes throughout the past year, Im sure its 10+ years old...  I was complaining to a friend about how I was having to wash my dishes by hand because I needed a new dishwasher, and she recommended I look up how to clean mine before buying a new one... I still cant believe how filthy it was!

#1, take all racks out. Scrub the walls with soapy water (or whatever cleaner you want really). 

#2, clean any debris out of the spinny arm thing. Wipe the door and around the door.

#3, take the cover off the drain (be careful not to break it!) You will be disgusted at how much food is in there... use some gloves and clean it out! Put the cover back on.

#4, clean the steam thingy on the door (I know, such technical terms) the cover should come off of that also. Put the cover back on when you are done.

#5, put the racks back in. Fill a small cup with white vinegar, put it upright on the top rack. Run your dishwasher on the hottest setting. 

Thats it! Im telling you, my dishwasher is like brand new! It cleans the dishes so well!! 

$0 Budget Crafts

After taking some time off from crafting and blogging due to hectic, crazy life I now have more time to devote to crafting and blogging again! I'm excited, and have missed it!

After only living in our house for 15 months, we (2 people) have managed to fill every closet, 3 bedrooms, basement, garage, etc.. etc.. WOW! How do we have so much stuff?? I cant believe it... Well, I was able to decorate my new finished salon just by grabbing things from around the house and upcycling them. It looks fantastic! I have decided two things. #1- I am not spending any more $ on crafting/decorating. #2- I am having a yard sale, soon!

Look forward to more post, often! :)

Basement progress

This is what we he we have been working (like CRAZY) on! Here are the BEFORE picture... a few of the framing (I forgot to take pictures of the drywall/tape/mud/texture without paint... oops!)

Where we are at right now....