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Grand-O Deal!

Hi Guys! Sorry I have disappeared for so long. We have had some exciting things happen but I'll blog about that soon. Until then, don't forget to get your free meal at Denny's tomorrow. Terbear and I are going to try to get there right at 6 a.m. to enjoy the oh-so-goodness of Dennys. I mean, who can resist a free breakfast?!

GOT MOJO?

Its all about the mojo. Creative mojo that is. So here is what I have been doing with my creative mojo. All projects were completed under $10, by the way! You can still have mojo and be cheap!

Before:

After

Before:

After:

Yes that is painter tape you see in the window. No comment on how long it has been there. Wouldn't those fence things look awesome with some spanish moss and three pumpkins in a row with a small "harvest" sign hanging in the middle? :::sigh::: There's always next year... this year I decided to use what I have! Oh - and I want to send a HUGE thanks to Keri and Angie who let me buy both of these super cute holders for $1.25 for the pair (!) at their kickin' garage sale. LOVE YA LADIES!!

I just had to copy the pumpkins-on-the-candlestick look

I bought these two topiaries for $10 each at Kirkland Home store. It was the best price I have found for topiaries that height (although I plan on adding a little something-something to the bottom part). And I left the dishes in the sink because I was too lazy to take them out of the sink for the picture.

I am SO excited about this find! I am going to do this to these hinged closet doors. I found them at Goodwill for $4.99 for the pair. Oh why, oh why does Goodwill love me?

Need A Reason To Shop?

Melissa at 320 Sycamore posted an awesome deal for Bath and Body Works and Shutterfly. Click on the link to check them out! Its never too early to be thrifty for the holidays. Enjoy!

The Pile of Dirt I Call My Backyard

What to say about our backyard...well, it is probably the size the computer desk you are sitting in front. Literally. Pros: We don't have to mow a lawn or maintain a large yard regularly. Cons: We dont have enough area to even have a lawn (picture me cutting our grass with scissors because a lawnmower won't fit - its that small!).

So, I've decided to do something to somewhat beautify it until we can do something about it! I found some hanging planters at Goodwill a while ago. They were lime green and pumpkin orange. While those are awesome colors, it just didnt mesh with the look I was going for. So I gave them a little bath in black spray paint and pulled out some artificial flowers I saved from my wedding. I hung a wreath in the middle to pull it all together and complete the "fall" look. Those of us from Arizona know there is no such season as fall here, so fake fall will have to do!

Why the close up shot? Because the far away shot looks like this...

Yikes! See that burnt weed? My husband and I joke about decorating it for Christmas. It is the only "growing" thing in our yard. Something is better than nothing, right? I removed the planters and wreath for now since the temperatures are still scorching hot! Remember these wreaths? The ones that get the most sun time aren't really green anymore! So, I think I will wait for Mr. Sun to take a vacation before I hang my backyard decorations up again. I certainly don't need more brown plants in my backyard!

It Doesn't Get Better Than Free!

In the middle of moving offices at work, a set of small candle holder found their way to my desk. Since we moved into a very small space, I asked my very next door co-worker where they came from. She said she one of the maintenance men placed it on my desk and forgot to throw them away. Since nobody had claimed them, I decided to give these homeless candle holders a nice spot in my empty home. Instead of using candles, I decided to put fake apples on the candle holders to add a little color. Since my walls have nothing on them (!), I hung a sign that was given to me by my previous young womens leader as a wedding gift. So after investing $2 at Dollar Tree for the fake apples, my end result looked like this..

It turned out a lot better than I thought it would!! It was actually my husband's idea to place the candle holders next to the stove. I must admit, my husband has some awesome ideas on how to decorate our home. Funny, he usually isn't around when I do home projects. I think its to avoid being volun-told to hold up my projects on the wall in various parts of our home so I can "picture" what it would look like hanging ! (Burner Dictionary: Volun-told = Volunteered + Told) He's always so sweet to help me out, though!

So here is the decorated part of our kitchen. It's amazing how creative you can be when you get things for free! I never imagined hanging candle holders next to my stove, but now that they are there, I can't imagine anything different. So next time something free crosses your path, think twice before passing it up! You never know how it can add beauty and elegance to your home!

Lighten Up!

When I saw this project from Joy of Joys of Home I knew I wanted to duplicate it to add beauty to my own home. I had a little bit of trouble finding the necessary parts, so I'll tell you where I got mine in case you want to do it yourself! It was so much fun seeing this project come together. Here is what I started out with...

I found some fake candles at Savers (a local thrift store) - I bought three, but only two worked! From this, I learned a valuable lesson - always ask about the return policy. I tried to return the one that didnt work a day too late. But since I got them at $0.99 a piece, I just chalked it up to a beginner's mistake. After spray painting the fake candles, I bought 4" socket covers for candelabras (I got mine at Home Depot for $2.98 and they come in a package of two) that looks like a melting candle. For a light, I went to JoAnns Fabric Store and bought their "Best Value" silicone candle bulbs. It cost $0.98 for a package of two (!), which was a pleasant surprise. I expected them to cost so much more! Joy has pictures of the packages on her website, in case you need more of a visual on what you are looking for!

Project total : $ 6.93

And my finished result turned out like this...

This project was so simple and inexpensive! Even my husband was amazed at how great the candles looked without hardly any work and money! If you do decide to do the project, be sure to thank Joy on her blog for her inspiring work! And of course, let me know how yours turn out so I can share in your creativity!

Oh My Goodwill-ness

Confession : We have been in our home for over 1 year and I can count on one hand how many things are hanging on my walls. Yikes! And with a small "home beautification" budget , a girl has get creative in order have things to put on the wall! I went to Goodwill the other day and found these little treasures.

I saw these and instantly had a great idea. And no, the idea was not to hang them in my home in their present state! Lets take a closer look...

Doesn't this look like the well that freaky looking girl from "The Ring" crawled out of?! When I brought this home, I was just waiting for my TV to flip on with a static background and see an unpleasant visitor crawling out of my thrift store find. (Don't mind me. I let my imagination get the best of me most of the time!) Anyhoo, so of course I didn't want my home to be decorated like a freaky prop set to a horror show (a little dramatic, are we?). I knew these little treasures needed a little spray paint and scrapbook paper make-over.

And wallah-

Much better. Now to find the perfect little home for them on one of my blank walls (and yes that is my terribly painted toenail job in the bottom left of the photo). There isn't anything that a little creativity can't fix to make a thrift store treasure your own. This whole project was completed for $12. And I still have a whopping $13 left to beautify my home this month! :) Who says being cheap isn't any fun?!