sign with a sentiment

A few weeks? months? ago I saw this somewhere on the internet and fell in love.

How true is this saying? When the kids were little and they'd play with mud, color themselves with chalk, paint and food.  Well, they still are covered with food.  Even now, we come in filthy after a hike or camping or....eating.  Anyway, I loved the sentiment and thought the clothesline was cute.  I am a fan of a clothesline....

I had wished I could paint something like this but I am not a painter.  After awhile it came to me....I could use my Cricut and half-ass the project on my own terms.

I bought a canvas, picked some colors and went to work.  I arranged it the way I wanted, used some Modge Podge to adhere it to the canvas and ended up with this....

Things I learned?  If you Modge Podge over pencil, you can't erase it.  I would also have used smaller sized letters.  But since I had already cut them out, I made them work.

Maybe my color choices could have been better but I could change them if I want.  I thought about painting the clothespins but decided to leave them au naturel. 

It isn't hanging up.  Yet?  Not sure if I like it that much but it gave me a few afternoons of playing with my paper and supplies.  Doing something crafty puts me in a great mood, even if my project sucks.

Fall Wreath

I love decorating my front door and entry. I am not sure what happened to my Fall wreath but I realized I didn't have one. People around here go all out on wreaths but I didn't want to pay $30 or more for one so I decided to make one.

 I picked up a grapevine wreath.

And a bunch of "silk" flowers.

Then I pulled the blooms off the stems.

I felt a little like Morticia Addams, beheading those posies!

I took my hot glue gun,made a pattern and voila!  Wreath!

I am pretty happy with it.  Simple, easy and about half the price of a store bought one.

I had extra flowers so I threw them in a vase and put them on the dining room table.  Now I need some pumpkins and mums for the entry!

wasabi tape fail

Yes, I know the proper name is washi tape but my brain always pronounces it as wasabi. Just like Downton Abbey, I could have sworn it was really Down TOWN!  Speaking of wasabi, it makes me think of sushi, none of which I've had in a few months.  I miss it.

Anyway, I finally bought some as it seemed like it could give me a quick Craft High without a lot of time and effort.   I picked up this pretty pack of tape.

I thought I could take one our huge bulletin boards and pretty her up, for my craft room.

I added the tape, then I added a second coat of tape because it seemed to light.

Then I threw some plain, white paper for more pop. One sheet of something would look better but I was going with what I had.

End result?  I HATE IT!!  The colors remind me of the Miami Dolphins and will totally clash in the craft room, which is mint green.  What looked good under plastic just didn't work with what I had in mind.  Luckily, the tape is very forgiving so I can always rip it off and redo it.  Or, I might just hang it up in The Boy's room.

Not to be deterred, I took the small board we have in the kitchen and did this.

The one colored tape looks better and I am happy with it.  Now I bet The Husband is going to take another look at the board because I did it last week and I doubt he's noticed!

I do think The Husband jinxed me.  Last week he said if the name of the blog is The Unexceptional Housewife, my things should look half-assed.  Honey, my stuff looks like the kids did most of it!!  Most of the bloggers I follow use miter saws, drills, power sanders....I am just beginning to use a hammer!

a tisket, a tasket....

I updated an old basket!!  I actually did it about a year ago but it still counts, right??


This is a basket I bought a Goodwill and spray painted it white.

We used it for stuffed animals and what not for awhile.  Then the paint began chipping off and I thought about getting rid of it.

Then we got new couches!

I realized our old, horrible blankets didn't go with the newness of the couches so I wanted to put them in a basket.   I schlepped the basket into the Family Room and used it in there.

I like the style of rope baskets but they were too pricey so I figured I would try to make my own. Armed with two rolls of rope from HD, my glue gun, almost 40 glue sticks (the big ones) and a few hours. I made this.

As you can see I didn't quite have enough rope for the bottom (of course not!! This is a Lisa project after all)! I did buy more rope and finished the rest.

 All in all, I love it! Besides burning myself a few times, it was very easy and satisfying. That make it win win in my book!

Pillows!

Thanks to an idea on Pinterest, I made pillows!

It was pretty easy to do and I know I will do it again!

I had to buy double lined placements, which I finally found at Target.  They were harder to find than I thought. At $3.99 each I had a minor heart attack but this experiment would yield me 2 inexpensive pillows.

The Back

The Front.  I wanted to add some color to the two dining room chairs that are now in the corners of the room.

Step one is to rip the seam open enough to get your hand in there to add the stuffing.  I found a bag of stuffing at Joann's for $9.00.  Clearly too excited to think, I bought it off sale and without a coupon!  I actually bought 2 bags (just in case) so I will return the other one.  Next time I will be more prepared.  *Hangs head in shame.*

After the pillow is stuffed, you sew up the edge.

I am no seamstress but this kind of sewing I can handle!

Isn't it cute?  I swear it took me less than 20 minutes to make both pillows.  I definitely want to make more for the Guest Room.  Both The Husband and I aren't really Decorative Pillow People when it comes to our bed but I know The Girl will want some for herself.  She helped me stuff them because she just had to help. 

I am estimating the pillows came to about $7.00 since I still have some stuffing leftover. It made me happy to be a little crafty, a little thrifty and a little decorative.