Playroom Decoration

 Our house has a huge loft upstairs that we use as a playroom.  One of the walls is large and blank.  It probably seems bigger than it is because the toys are so short.  It leaves a lot of blank space above them.  I was trying to think of something fun, cheap, and easy to fill the space.  I also didn't want anything permanent, just in case I change my mind or need to rearrange the furniture someday.

I saw that Joann's had their embroidery hoops on sale for 40% off, so I loaded up all four kids and we picked out five different sizes.  I ended up getting 19 of them, but it's easy to customize it to fit any space.  Then we headed over to the fabric department.  I LOVE looking at fabric.  It always makes me want to redecorate everything in my house because there are so many cute patterns.  Unfortunately, like I said, I had all four kids with me, so I resorted to letting my girls pick out the pre-packaged fabric quarters.  The prints aren't as cute, but they had all the colors we needed to make our rainbow, and my girls had fun choosing their favorites.  We did three of each color, except purple and pink, we only did two.  I'm sure this would be an excellent way to use up a fabric stash as well.  My scraps were mostly black and white, so I just got all new ones.

I washed and ironed all of the fabric so that it was smooth.  I laid the embroidery hoops out on the floor in front of the wall so that I could get an idea of how I wanted the layout and to make sure it stretched all the way across the room.  Then I had my daughter Ruby help me lay the fabric over the inner hoop and tighten the outer hoop over it.  We just trimmed off the edges of the fabric and they were ready to hang!  I went super easy on the hanging and just used push pins instead of nails.  I get nervous putting holes in the walls!  But the hoops hung right on the pins and I made adjustments where I needed to.

I love how it turned out and so do my girls.  It makes the playroom look more put together and fun.

Entertainment Deals

 Once upon a time I was searching here:

 for a date/gift for the husband. Everyone knows about Groupon (on the small chance someone reading this doesn't, just follow the link and enjoy browsing, by location, deals on everything) but I found a Groupon for something not many have heard of. It was for this:

 fillaseat.com. Here is a brief explanation as well as a pro-con list (currently available in the above cities):
1. pay $80 for a year membership for 2 OR $150 for a year membership for 4 (groupon had the memberships for 50% off here in Dallas!!!)
2. claim free tickets on your city's fillaseat website
3. enjoy awesome entertainment whenever you choose for 365 days

PROS:

- after the one-time membership fee, EVERY ticket is 100% free!!!
- you get to pick and choose what tickets you want (in Dallas over the last 2 months there have been comedy shows (tons!), bull fighting, a monster truck show, hockey games, the ballet, magic shows, plays, a Cuban symphony, some others)
- the primary account holder (or spouse) can take whomever they want to whichever shows they want
- it gets you out of the house and around the city (great for us since we are new to DFW)
- broadens your interests (wouldn't have guessed it, but I actually like hockey!)
- you can sign up at any time and get a year's worth of filling seats!
- combine with a groupon food deal for an excellent but budget-friendly date-night

CONS:
- many shows/games are "b-list" (not popular/familiar) ...hence the company's name
- available shows/games are updated on the website randomly, and tickets can go very fast, so you have to check it often
- there have been a couple weeks where there were only 2 or 3 shows available that didn't interest us (so date-night isn't guaranteed)
- if you don't go to a show you claim tickets for, you may forfeit your entire membership
- you don't get to see what's available in your city (or what's been available in the past) until you buy a membership

**the websites have tons of info/rules; I highly recommend reading them to see if it's a good fit for you**

For us, our $80 has already been "reimbursed" from 1. the tickets we've claimed and 2. having a reason to explore the cool area we live in... and there are still 10 more months to go!

"Envelope System" Wallet

In order to stick to a budget, we started implementing Dave Ramsey's "Envelope System" into our daily spending.  Basically each month you take out allotted amounts of cash for Groceries, Clothes, Entertainment, etc. The system suggests keeping the cash in separate envelopes, this helps prevent over spending in any certain area. We have been doing it for a few months now and it works wonderfully for us! We have been able to stay on budget and SAVE every month.  However, after one month my envelopes looked like this... (ripped to shreds).

After a lot of searching I found these cute envelope wallets on Etsy for sale, BUT I just couldn't bring myself to spend the $60. Being the crafty (cheap...hence the tight budget) sister I am I decided to make my own. Hallelujah for the saint who posted her tutorial here!
Here's how mine turned out.
I only made three "envelopes" (tutorial here) since we only take out cash for Groceries, Entertainment, and Kids.

  I ripped the plastic change holder out of Ramsey's Envelope System and sewed it into my own.

This wallet was very simple to make and I love how it turned out!

Family Tree Wall- Three Generations

I've had this project in mind for a long time, and finally got around to finishing!  I framed wedding pictures of Ray and I, our parents, and our grandparents. For some I didn't have an actual wedding pic, so I just used  couple pictures close to the time they were married.   I got the frames and letter "H" at Hobby Lobby, Michael's, and Home Goods.  They were all on sale, and they averaged about $6 each. I was going for a variety of colors and textures with the frames, but an overall cohesive look.  

The pictures were all printed in a sepia tone to pull them together. 

 Here is a before and after of the stairway.  I painted the hideous white railing, painted the wall a light yellow, and added the pictures.  I arranged them to follow the line of the stair rail, with my side of the family on one side of the "H", and Ray's side on the other. 

 I love that my kids can see their ancestors every time they go up and down the stairs!  

"Family faces are magic mirrors.  Looking at people who belong to us, we see the past, present, and future."  ~Gail Lumet Buckley

Dirt Bike Valentines

 Here are the Valentines Landon passed out this year. They were fun, and very easy to make! I designed the Valentine and had them printed at Walmart's 1 hour photo.

The pictures are cut out and attached to scrapbook paper to make the bag toppers. I found these cute zip-lock bags at the Dollar Tree, along with some candy.

 These are address labels I had sitting around, I ran them through the printer and wrapped them around Hershey's Nuggets.

 Landon stuffed the candy and I helped staple the toppers to the bags.

Happy Valentine's day!

Oversized Cross Stitch

I made this over-sized cross stitch at a craft night with friends a while back.  All you need is a canvas, paint, embroidery thread, and a needle.  First, I painted the canvas a metallic copper color and let it dry.

 I then chose a cross stitch pattern I liked, enlarged it, and printed it. You may need to print it on several sheets of paper then tape them together, depending on the size.  I put the pattern on the canvas and used a pin to poke holes through the paper and canvas at each corner of the squares in the design (where each "x" would go).

Then, I used a brown embroidery thread and followed the pattern.  Just sew like you would a normal cross stitch, tying off the last stitch on the back of the canvas.The result is an inexpensive, unique piece of art!

Painted DIY Roman Shades: On a Budget

SOOOO, this is what happens when you rent a house full of mini-blinds AND share that house with a curious cat: 

Obviously, it got a little uncomfortable to live fully exposed to the neighbors so I needed a quick fix.  Beautiful, sturdy, wooden blinds would be my preferred solution but too costly for a rental. Instead, I found 1 pack of THESE curtains at Ikea (discounted at $14.99 which equals about $2.30/yard), 5 yards of muslin ($0.90/yard) at Dallas's CHEAPEST fabric store, and THIS awesome tutorial on pinterest. With the cost of the fabric glue, my end product: 5 Roman shade window treatments for about $5 each.

I got a bit ambitious on the first shade and decided to paint THIS print on it. I like to call the finished look "free-hand weathered" basically because I didn't know what I was doing. So if any of y'all have tips on how to paint fabric, feel free to share! Here is what I did:

 1. Print off desired shape and trace with a pencil or chalk the same color of the paint. (I used a pen the color of the fabric but it shows through the paint... bad idea)

 2. Lay fabric flat on cardboard since the paint will bleed through.

 3. Dilute the fabric paint just slightly with water (the more water you add, the more it will bleed) and paint over stenciled outline.

4. Let dry for a couple hours and then follow steps in Roman shades tutorial linked above.

Now, even when I forget to raise the blinds, Horatio can weasel his was under the fabric without ruining the fixture.

(randomly foggy day in Dallas)