The Post That Didn’t Happen

July 10, 2017July 9, 201730 Comments

I had it all planned. I prepped, painted, and planned. And then..forgot the after pictures. I painted something for Lauren for her birthday and then totally forgot to take pictures after I was done. So close to amazing!! Which brings me to KariAnne’s book! Like how I did that?! If you haven’t heard about it yet or missed it, KariAnne Wood has written a book, ‘So Close To Amazing.” It is amazing!! I tells about the family’s trip from Dallas to a farmhouse in Kentucky and all the adventures along the journey. You can pre-order the book here.

Since I don’t have a new post, I thought I would re-share this one. Enjoy!

I don’t know about in your part of the world, but here in California, we need to make reservations for camping in the summer, in the month of March. Crazy, huh?! So when I made a couple of reservations, it made me think of these solar lights I made. I’m sure you have seen these all over the internet, by instead of mason jars, I used plastic peanut butter jars. This way I don’t have to worry about glass breaking in the trailer or at a campsite. I started with a clean jar.

I bought a couple of solar lights from the 99¢ Store. I removed the clear plastic cover off the light.

I cut a square in the top of the peanut butter lid. I used a razorblade for the first one. It was a little tough, but it was so windy outside, I really didn’t want to go out. The second jar, I used a dremel. Much faster!

After cutting out the hole, I used E6000 to attach the solar light, making sure the solar part is facing up. I’m sure other types of glue would work too. Let it dry for about 24 hours.

I added some twine and string just to make it look pretty. I also spray painted one of the lids so it would match my camping dishes. I put some rocks in the bottom so the lights wouldn’t get blown away or topple over.

Doesn’t it look nice! I love how it adds just a little bit of light, especially at night.

(I didn’t actually go camping to take these pictures. They are in my backyard. That explains the cat on the table! She was being nosy!)

It’s also nice if you have to go out later. You will have a little light to guide you.

These would work great for your yard too. Last year, we had our power go out for awhile. I brought a bunch of these in so each room had a little light. It sure made getting around a little easier and safer. What do you think? Do you make reservations already for camping? If you try these out, let me know how it works for you!

Cute and Simple Easter Egg Decorations

March 31, 2017March 30, 20176 Comments

Hello everyone! I hope you had a wonderful week! I am reposting this because I found that you can still purchase these items or similar items. Enjoy!

So, this project started when I was walking through the 99 cent store. And to be honest, I love shopping at the 99 cent store. I can go and buy dog treats, Arnold Palmers, lunchables, spatulas, mixing bowls, and stuff for your car all in one spot. It’s like a lesser version of Walmart!

While shopping through the 99 cent store, I came across some Styrofoam eggs that could be used for decorating for Easter. And then I saw some smaller eggs on Kabob sticks. And I thought, what if I put the smaller eggs in the larger egg to make an arrangement?

And then I bought the supplies!

I bought two of the bigger eggs, one package of bigger eggs on sticks, and two packages of the smaller eggs.

I split all the eggs into two separate piles. There were four big eggs in each arrangement and ten smaller eggs in each arrangements. I knew that the biggest problem was going to be the long Kabob sticks. So as I went along, I broke off the sticks to make them shorter and easier to stick into the large Styrofoam eggs.

And here are the end results.

So…I’m not completely happy with how they turned out. I like all the colors worked together, but it didn’t go exactly as planned for how the eggs looked once they were in the giant eggs. I had a completely different idea of what they would look like when they were done, and this isn’t what I had in mind.

But other than that, it was a very simple project to do for Easter. I only spent $5 creating this, but you could spend a little more if you wanted to add more egg Kabobs (or whatever they are actually called), go for it. This is what I made with what I had, but I might go back and buy more egg Kabobs to fill in the arrangement.

99 Cent Store St. Patrick’s Day

February 24, 2017February 23, 20174 Comments

Hello everyone! I hope you all enjoyed our Facebook Live last Friday! If you missed it, you can check it out on Hometalk’s Facebook!

Also, I know what you are thinking. ‘Lauren, you did a 99 Cent Store Valentine’s Day, why are you now doing St. Patrick’s Day?’ Well, first of all, it’s the 99 Cent Store, what can go wrong? And second of all, everything is only 99 cents, so you can buy tons of stuff!

So, of course with Valentine’s over, the next special holiday is St. Patrick’s Day! Or, Easter if you don’t really care about St. Patrick’s Day. But, this holiday is perfect for Decorating with the Pantone Color of the Year: Green!

Naturally, I bought two garlands that were green with shamrocks. They look really cute all wound around the ends of the bookshelf. And of course, the cats were soooooooo helpful while I was trying to decorate.

Next is this cute shamrock cut out sign. I got two of the in the pack, but I only ended up hanging one. I love how the middle is gold and the rest is green and sparkly!

Then I got a green garland shamrock hanging….thing. I don’t really know what to call it, but it looks really cute under our message board. Yes, we did have something else there for Valentine’s Day, but why not switch it out for a different holiday.

Next, we of course have coins! I got green and gold plastic coins and scattered them around the table. Honestly, the cats will probably enjoy them after the holiday.

And finally, the part that the cats hated the most. I, of course, saw these little plastic hats and had to buy them. For the cats and for no other reason.

And of course they hated me while I was attempting to take pictures. Target looks absolutely adorable, but Amelia not so much. She didn’t like how it looked on her I guess.

99 Cent Store Valentines Day

January 27, 2017January 26, 20179 Comments

Hello everyone! I hope you have all had a wonderful week because it is almost the weekend! Does anyone have any exciting plans for the weekend?

Well as you may know, Valentines Day is coming up in 2.5 weeks and we all need to start the major pink and red, hearts and love decoration fest! And for me, being a broke college student, the 99 Cent Store is a great place to pick up decorations.

And boy, do they have a lot of stuff! Lots of pink and red colored hearts, boxes, and signs. So, I bought some stuff to help decorate my roommate and my apartment.

The first thing I bought was this cute little white sign. I thought it was really simple and pretty and it goes perfectly under our cute family board.

The next thing was the awesome XOXO sign. I love the different colors and that it is on a black background, not white. It looks great on the table, even if the cats don’t agree.

Next…is this adorable little mailbox! It is tin and it’s probably supposed to hold candy, but maybe I will send secret messages to my roommate. Or I will just keep looking adorable right inside my door.

Now onto yet another sign. This cute little arrow sign is perfect for any room of the house. I love it in my room on my bookshelf. Because, arrows are still in style right????