frugal and fabulous

We live in a small abode but it is cozy and it is home.  We've decided to sit tight, ride the housing market crisis out and wait to move.  Until then, it has been "operation make use of every square inch of space we have" in the Sullivan household.  Which means I have sold unused pieces of furniture on Craigslist, donated odds and ends, rearranged and spiced things up some to change the mood of the spaces.

My sister in law gave us this piece of furniture below.  It came with a door on it but we removed it and used the wood for something its shape was perfect for. (more below)

We added shelves to the piece and painted it...good as new and tons of storage!

in process

I rearranged our bedroom and absolutely love it now.  Used the door from the cabinet as a base for a head board...covered it in batting and this fabric.  Found it at JoAnn's...40% off, a total steal.

But, it really needed to be secured more and screwed directly into the wall.  It also needed a bit of something else to make it less "vanilla" and plain jane and more custom.  I wasn't sure what to use to cover up the screws....until I found these vintage earrings at Den of Antiquity in downtown Mt. Airy:

a bit hard to see from the photo but they add just the right amount of sparkle...just took the backs off and hot glued them directly on the screws. 

Using the green earrings for another project I have going on...will post pic when done.

deck the halls

Definitely one of my top ten most favorite days of the year

giving thanks

for my loving husband, family, friends, the roof over our head, the food on our table, the wonderful place we live.  And a few small things a certain someone has brought to our life:

sweet little feet

adventures in dishwashing

a bit of attitude

story time

carrying around a select few of mama's t-shirts rather than a blankie

giving out kisses only when meant most

(photo credit: jenny busbey)

giving our life exceptional meaning...

happy thanksgiving

7 months prego in nyc

Yep.  That would be me 7 months pregnant (technically 8 if you are being polite when thinking in your head how large I appear).  Yikes, it seems like ages ago.  My husband and I decided to celebrate his 30th birthday and have our last HOORAH before Leila arrived in NYC. 

So while we saw the sights and walked every Upper, Lower, East, West side you can think of...our (or should I say my) feet and back were shot by 5:00.

But, that didn't stop us.  While I managed to get us lost in Harlem we also did the following:

Snatch up a fabulous GG Boss leather bag at a street fair for half the price:

 Pick up a present for the bambino:

Hit the sack early at our amazing hotel...love it when there is a missing 13:

See a Broadway show:

 

Eat some amazing food:

Have breakfast in Central Park:

Celebrated his 30th with a Guinness and Irish Whiskey (him not me) at a hole in the wall Irish pub where the bartender had a massive thick Irish brogue.

And in the middle of it all and ever since that trip I have had these street vendor flowers:

And those umbrellas in my head for paintings:

Especially these umbrellas....I am in LOVE with the idea of doing a massive painting with funky colors of an aerial view of these in Rockefeller Center.  I happen to have a 4' x 4' frame that just needs fabric and I can start.  We'll see where this takes me.

Happy Friday Everyone!!!!!!

flag banner

I certainly am no Martha Stewart....everything I make is a fly by the seat of your pants creation/concoction in my head that is inspired by some random thing.  Most of the time it works (and sometimes it doesn't.)  But I love the process...and I really love the sweet vintage style flag banners you see lately. 

Couldn't resist making one myself.  Ofcourse, I wanted mine to look a bit more rich than the ones you see in the stores.  So, off I went searching for all of my scrap materials and there I went to work on a "Merry Christmas" flag banner.  The only thing missing here is a whistle for each flag....I used most of what I could think of for this piece.  I am lucky to have a TON of miscellaneous materials lying around the house which I have collected throughout the years BUT, you can make this with anything, really.  Be creative....that's what makes yours special.  You can make a banner for any holiday, birthday, occasions...you name it.

 This cost me $0.00:

Cut out your "flags" and letters using heavy duty paper...

Next, cut out newspaper "flags" a smidge smaller than your paper flags and glue to your original flags.

I then used a polycrylic finish to give it a sturdy surface...

I have a habit of saving wrapping paper, boxes, tissue...you name it.  I happen to have a load of pink tissue paper at my finger tips.  I used some scraps for each flag and created a round "flower" if you will for the base of the letter.

I love Martha's craft supplies in general...however not so much her glue.  It is designed as a throw back to our kindergarten years when you pulled out a brush with the cap (remember that??) 

Quite messy....but I used it anyway.

Used a hot glue gun for the letters and to glue on the tissue paper a bit more

Happened to have these fun little stones and glued one to the bottom of each flag to give character

Using Martha's glue and glitter...I went to town with gold and silver....

Wanted my banner to have more depth and richness so I hot glued wraphia ribbon to the back of each flag...draping down from behind which gives whimsy.

In process...

Punch holed two holes in each flag and chose a lovely satin cream wribbon to weave through the banner to add character...

I also sprayed some acrylic coating on each flag just to secure the glitter

 done 

 It's a smidge on the pink side for my taste so I might give it a quick silver/gold spray paint...BUT, it will be lovely with all of our vintage Christmas decor I will put out soon.......how I do love CHRISTMAS :)