Thrifty McThriftster

I had high hopes for this post but they all came crashing down when all of the dumbphone pictures I took on my quick 20 minute  thrift store run (without twins in tow) were accidentally erased while being transferred to my comp…  Needless to say I’m ANXIOUSLY awaiting April 8th, when our current cell phone contract ends and we can move over to a better deal and for me, a new SMARTphone.  Yip to the yee!

Anyway, Mary over at With My Sisters is having a great link-up where all you have to do is write up your best thrifting tip and share your wisdom with the web at large.  My plan was to hit up a thrift store (check), take pictures of home decor and clothing items I spied that were great deals (check), and show them to you all with notes on what you could do to each to make it even better (foiled).

So, in lieu of my thrifting experience by way of poor quality pictures gone missing, I give you some words to thrift by:

1.  What Mary said.  If it doesn’t “wow” you 100% in the thrift store, it’s going to “wow” you even less when you try it on or set it in your own space.  Then you’re plum outta luck because most thrift stores have a no-returns policy.

2.  Learn to sew!  It opens up a WHOLE NEW WORLD of possibilities and options…seriously!

3.  Be creative.  Snatch up a few boy’s belt to wear as waist belts.  Love the shoes but want to spice them up?  Take some spray paint to them!  Love the fit but not the color?  Dye it!  Wish it wasn’t so plain?  Add some studs, ribbon, leather pieces, rhinestones, etc…  As far as home decor goes, think outside the box.  Used, clean throw pillows can serve as inserts for new covers.  Fluffy comforters can be padding under fabric for headboards and cushions for whatever might need a soft place to land.  Curtains can be made from sheets, duvet covers, tablecloths, and vice-versa.  Old lamp shades can be reupholstered and set on a lamp base or attached to a ceiling fixture for a modern update.  Old coffee tables can be turned into new ottomans or benches.  Entertainment centers can be turned into storage meccas.  Chairs can be painted and their seats reupholstered.  I could go on and on.  And always my main mantra stands - spray paint can make anything new – baskets, wooden plaques, picture frames, lamps, ceramic animals, figurines, vases, desks, shelves dot dot dot 

4.  Pretend you’re not in a thrift store.  I can tend to see something that I would love if I saw it in say, Target or in a Pottery Barn catalogue, but since it’s in a thrift store it’s really not that great.  For example, I found this set of 12 green, quality drinking glasses shaped like pineapples and they totally looked like they came straight from Anthropologie.   If we didn’t already own too many glasses, they’d have been mine.  But, with a “thrift store” mindset, I might’ve passed them off as old, used glasses someone didn’t want so why should I.   However, the other extreme is also true - you see something you might use and since it’s only $1, you buy it, even though you wouldn’t even give it a second glance in a department store.

I did walk away from my quick thrift excursion with a few things.  I’ve been itching for some printed cardigans but my usual haunts, clearance racks, are turning up short.  Lucky for me, I found a couple of sweaters and one XXL cardigan (total spent: $9) I’m planning on transforming into cardigans made for mwah:
 

I’ve already taken a scissors and machine to this one:
 
You’ll have to stay tuned for that tutorial.  :)

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Happy thrifting everyone!  Remember, “One (wo)man’s trash is another (wo)man’s treasure”! 

P.S.  I’m spending Holy Saturday with family and the dude in the tomb so I won’t be posting but I’ll be back next week (with a possible WIWS appearance Sunday) with more of the same DIY stunts I’m liable for!  Happy Easter in advance!

WIWS – Clash of the Fathers

So I wasn’t going to post what I wore today because we weren’t home and weren’t on our usual Sunday schedule so I didn’t get a picture of the threads.  On top of that, we hit up our high school’s (ours as in the one associated with Anthony’s youth group) campus ministry retreat Mass, which I wasn’t planning on going to but then did, but didn’t really have Mass-appropriate clothes to wear to it but wore what I had anyway…yadda, yadda, yadda.  Whatever, right?  Right.  No big deal/bigger deal made by me.  So, no Mass attire still-shot to share with the web.  But then I remembered that our fave padre with the white collar  instagrammed a little shot of our fam + him (he’s the Godfather of Cecilia so it was a little “Godfamily” portrait) and so I stole it. 

Don’t mind my humidity-struck mane, the blinding sunshine over-working our eyelids, or my sloppy, stretched-out tee (thank you week 33).  Do mind the fact that my outfit is a perfect clash between Anthony’s and Fr. Dan’s…totally not planned.  Now that’s a family portrait done right!  :)

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Annnyway, I just got back from the Mass I was planning to go to (I won’t let you think I’m that holy though – I had to sing) and my left arm skin is slowly being ripped off by a twin who needs her nails cut (I swear I just cut them!) and my right is cradling her passed-out elder so I’m going to skidaddle.  But not before I link my red and gray up with Fine Linen and Purple!  Head on over and see “What I Wore Sunday” done right!

Happy Palm Sunday everyone!!

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Sorry, one more thought before I click “Publish”.  Don’t you always feel like a jerk on Palm Sunday while reading your part - “Crucify Him, crucify Him!” – in the missalette?  I do.  Big jerk.  Sad thing is, we (I) do it everyday.  Nothing like that to strike a chord in my heart.  Thank God Easter is next weekend!  I’ll be needing a big pick-me-up after this sad week!

Painted Glass

Our first order of hanging-business in the twins room was getting the big painted window pane up.  A friend gave it to us for the nursery and so we couldn’t wait to get it up.  I even had the perfect spot…

…and then the stud-finder shattered my decor dreams by telling me there wasn’t a stud dead center in the middle of the far wall.  Ever had that happen to you?  You want to hang something heavy somewhere, you go to find a stud, and the only one is like a foot to either side?  It’s one of my decorating pet peaves.  Either way, my two options were 1) rip out the wall and put a new stud where I wanted it or 2) improvise.  After pleading my option #1 case to the handy man around here, I took my shut-down to option #2.  I know what some of you are thinking, “Why didn’t you just use a heavy-duty dry-wall anchor?”.  If you came over and lifted this thing, you’d know why.  It’s a beast!  To be honest, we probably could’ve gotten away with a super-super-super duty anchor but I wasn’t taking any chances.  The last thing I want is a glass angel crashing into me while I’m rocking away. 

So, back to option two – improvising.  That’s exactly what we did when we added these Target shelves I found for $3 (at Dirt Cheap) to the left side of the painted window last weekend: 
To accessorize them I just used things we had laying around – a St. Philomena statue (love that girl), a candle from my sis, a piece of fabric I cut out from a tablecloth, metal l-o-v-e letters I found at Goodwill for a few cents a long time ago, a candle votive and vase from my mom, a tissue paper pouf (good tutorial here) made for my baby shower by my friend Jenn, and a jazzed-up Dollar Store frame showcasing some homemade, 10-minute art.

Today you’re gonna get to know the art and how that all went down.  You see, when we put these shelves up last weekend, I needed an easy way to fill the frame so I simply place a few sheets of tissue paper inside and then painted the girls’ initials onto the front of the glass with the same gold paint I used on the mirror over their bed and the corners of the frame, which I’ll get to later.  I got the idea from it’s side-kick, the angel painted on window, and thought it’d complement her by copying.  Not to mention that down here in the South, monogramming is the bees knees so I figured I’d semi-cave to that trend.  At least everyone knows now that “s & c” live here, right?

 

But, I wasn’t in love with the way the initials turned out – I meant to make them smaller – but this was a late night project and I wasn’t in the mood to re-do them.  So, the next day I snapped some pictures for the Fresh Coat of Paint feature and went on my merry way.

A couple of days passed and, perfectionist being my middle name, I had to do something about my frame art.  Since I had just painted right over the glass, removing the initials was as easy as spraying some glass cleaner and sliding the paint right off with a razor.   

This time around, instead of trusting my free-hand again, I went to work on Word where I simply typed up the girls’ names (free font:  Porcelain), printed it out…

 

…cut out each word, and taped them underneath the frame glass to be painted over like so: 

Then I got out a smallish paint brush and started painting right over the letters.

Ten minutes later it was done and up.

And, once again, I wasn’t satisfied.  "Seraphia” was a tad crooked and the whole thing a tiny bit off-center, and all-in-all a little fancier than I thought it’d be.  So, a glutton for painting, out came the glass cleaner and razor for another go at it and off I went to Word, where I created these two new designs:

After  much debate (inside my own head of course), I ended up going with… 
…option #1 (free font:  Matilde except for the ampersand which I randomly picked).  I painted it on the same way I painted the previous design, but instead of cutting each word out, I stuck the whole document behind the frame to make sure everything would be nice and straight.  So easy and just imagine the options.  You could print just about anything, paint over it, and have some great looking art…and then you could get out the glass cleaner and do it all over again, and again, and again…fun, fun, fun.

And that’s that…but wait!  The frame.  I could’ve sworn I took pictures of how I painted the corners of my $1 frame, but alas, they are not to be found.  Either I hid them from myself or I’m just losing my mind.  Probably the latter.  But, in case you’re interested in knowing, all I did was lay pieces of tape a couple of inches from each end, painted within the taped areas, and removed the tape (while the paint was still wet to reduce peeling).  I whipped up a little diddy in pixlr.com for ya below to further explain:
The blue lines represent where I taped.  It was a super-easy way to dress up a frame and I love how it turned out.  I’m thinking I might have to do the same elsewhere in our abode.  Maybe a whole gallery wall?  Who knows. 

Anyway, that’s the story on the shelves and their contents.  My nervous twitch cause by the off-center angel is now settled and it’s on to the next (and final) wall of the nursery – the one over the dresser.  It’ll have a frame collage with a side of unconventional art.  Stay tuned to see how that turns out!

Until then though, I’m off to brush my teeth, put some real clothes on, tame my hair, etc… (the stuff I should’ve done before I sat down to blog… lucky for you, we’re separated by a whole world of web) before the twins wake up from nap numero uno. 

Have a great weekend y’all!!!!

P.S.  I’m back (still have to do the aforementioned things) to tell you that you have to check out my Godchild, you simply have to.  If you need a smile, you’ll find one, an ab work-out/laugh, you’ll get it, fashion ideas, you’ll get them, a sense of care-free living, you’ll get that too.  Go!  I promise you won’t be disappointed!!!!!!!!!!!!  (Just one more.)  :)

Bean Sprouts: 8 Months

Eight?!  EIGHT?!!  You can’t be serious!  Our little bean poles are EIGHT months old?  I guess time flies when you’re having/or have had babies (Ana hit the nail on the head with that one)!

Milestones, personality traits, what have you, here’s what we know so far:

-After exclusively breastfeeding the girls for their first 5.5 months of life, they now enjoy a wide variety of pureed people food – apples, bananas (an unfortunate source of much constipation), pears, peas, squash, sweet potatoes, avocados, carrots, rice, and oatmeal.  I’m still nursing but we’re down to four to five 10-minute sessions per day, a welcome change from the 7+ I spent doing the same thing during their first few months of life.

 

-We’re still riding the cloth diapering train.  In the beginning, we’ll admit it was a little rough/inconvenient, but know it’s all we know and we’re LOVING the extra $700+ we’ve been able to keep in our bank account because of it.  By the way, I’ll spare you the details but solid food, so much easier to clean off.  Praise God for that.

 

-Both girls are still small for their age width-wise but average to above-average for height.  As you can imagine, this makes for lots of clothing issues.  They’re currently sporting three month dresses as tops and pants as capris, some newborn tops, six month onesies, and six to nine month footed onesies.  It also makes for a he**ish time sorting clothes.  I’ve pretty much given up.



-Seraphia is chomping down with two teeth with two on the way while her toothless sister looks on in complete admiration and love.



-Both girls are sitting up unassisted.  Seraphia gets up on hands and knees and rocks and dances the army crawl slowly but pretty well but Cecilia seems content on her butt or belly, until bedtime, when she thinks I’ll let her stay up if she gets up on knees and elbows to practice this thing her sister is so good at…

-Cecilia is still chillin’ every second she can, in case you were wondering.



-Cecilia still has eating at the top of her list of priorities.  When we feed them people food, we alternate girls – three bites to S, three bites to C.  During Seraphia’s three bites you can be sure Cecilia is letting out a guttural growl in frustration and impatience.  It’s really quite impressive.  I’m not sure yet if I should be worried about this little act or not.  It’s as scary as it is cute.

-They both love getting out of the house which is awesome for this mom.

-Very saintly sprouts have we when it comes to napping.  Six out of the seven days in every week they nap at the same time and they take two naps a day lasting at least an hour each.  Tons of people ask me how I have time for all this DIY and blogging and well, that’s how.

-As of three weeks ago and minus a couple of nights in between then and now, the girls have been sleeping around eight hours straight every night.  If it wasn’t Lent I’d let out a big ‘ole A!!&!$^@.  I’m finally sleeping long enough to dream!



Bonus Video!!! 

If you’ve been following the twins monthlies, you might’ve noticed we’ve had a change in venue.  Monthly photo shoots were taking place on the (still) unfinished loveseat in the living room.  Well, sorry to say but we sold that dadgum thing – unfinished and “as-is” – but we sold it!  It got to the point where it just became a big weight on my shoulders.  Every time I walked past it I thought of all the work still left to do and how I needed Anthony to do all of that and how he’s too busy right now to work on it with me and blah, blah, complaining blah.  So I petitioned Sir Craig and his list just to see if there were any takers and before it was posted even an hour I had at least three interested peeps.  Out the front door it went the next day and now two swings occupy it’s previous spot.  I was super sorry to see it go but super happy about the fact that we picked it up (off a curb) for free and sold it for a profit.  Once the twins no longer are interested in their swings, we’ll probably fill that empty space with a couple of small comfy chairs or a buffet/dresser of some sort.  Time will tell…and so will I, you can be sure of it.  Over-sharing comes with the blogging territory.

Until tomorrow then, we bid you good day!

Five Things You Might Wanna Know

Taking part in the “5 Things” chain, courtesy of Lauren, just in case you didn’t get enough of me in my Liebster facts.  :)

1 – I’m an Irish twin.  My mom was notified at her post-partum exam post-me that she was in fact pregnant with another little nugget, later known as Farrah.  Needless to say, 1983 was a busy year for mom.
 

2 - I grew up on a farm.  Not just any farm though, a BEEEEEEG farm with 15 times more cows than the population of the town (321, to silence your curiosity) we called our own…no exaggerating.  If anyone told my dad “It smells like sh&!”, he said “It smells like money”.  As long as I didn’t smell like “money”, it didn’t bother me none.

3 – I went to the same school for all twelve years of elementary, middle, and high learning with the same 18 people every year plus and minus a couple newbies once in a great, great while.

4 – After graduating third in my class (impressive if you didn’t read #3), I went on to Franciscan University and started a rap group with two guy friends.  I sang, they rapped - think Black-Eyed Peas-esque.  Our name?  E.O.S., short for End of Silence.  Believe it or not, we were actually pretty popular on campus.   We stepped behind the big, glass window to record our first (and last) album my sophomore year.  Twas a good time, a real good time…chicka chicka, wha?!

5 – I was training for the potty marathon when Anthony was born.  Robbing the cradle?  That’s me.  But for some reason the vivid second grade memory of learning that the average life-span of a male is 73 and of a female is 76 came swarming back one day shortly after we met and somehow it all just made sense…  Two of the cutest little sprouts later, and it still does.  :) 

Tag Ann, Lizzie, Audrey, Mary, and Natalie!  If you haven’t already been tagged, sit down and (pretty, pretty please) gimme five!  :)