Purging

I thrift a lot. I'm a sucker for great deals-clearance signs draw me in like a magnet. I also love change, at least changing my decor, and I do it every month if not more often. So I am frequently bringing new things into my home to fit my lastest decorating craze.

The problem is, I have a very small home and things fill up fast. I don't have very many walls to work with so when I want to change one thing everything changes...does that make sense?

For instance, my wall above the dinning table is the biggest wall in the apartment and for the last year it has been a slowly evolving gallery wall (I love that style!)...

 and although I still love how it looked I got bored and wanted more color and texture on the wall- so I added burlap and took most of the frames down. So now I have a BUNCH of frames I'm not using, just storing under the bed. : /

Besides frames and prettys for my shelf and mantle...

See more autumn decoration HERE

...I also love finding good deals on clothes! So the clutter and stuff start piling up everywhere and it's a pain to take care of and a stress to find places to store it. So my Small Space Living tip this week is:

 Purge it!

Yes, that's right, get rid of stuff. Grab a box or a couple of bags and pick a closet. I chose to work on my bedroom closet. It is a small walk-in closet and it stores everything from clothes to cleaning supplies-and it gets cluttered fast what with dirty laundry that missed the hamper, tossed in shoes and thrift store finds. Because it was laundry day (and most of our clothes were heading for the washer) it was the perfect day to clean out and organize this mess...

 ick, I can't believe I'm showing you all this. So embarrassing!

There wasn't really a good place to start, so I just sat down in the middle of it with my "goodwill," "hand-me-down" and "sell" bags handy and went to it.

Tip: if you haven't used it or worn in in the last year, get rid of it! Someone else will love it and use it more! Besides-you live in a small space remember? You don't have room to keep things you don't use!

Now my closet is clean, organized and happy. I even vacuumed in there for good measure.

The closet is a great place to hang posters that don't match the decor but you cant get rig of.

Purses neatly hung-I got ride of a few!

things are neatly hung and folded. I added boxes and baskets to my hanging organizer (that use to be overly stuffed with who  knows what!) to hold hats, gloves and laundry supplies

Another tip: hang your clothes in the order you wear them. Mark a hanger with tape and hang the cloths you just wore (and washed) in the on the right side of the hanger, after a year the clothes you haven't worn at all will be on the left. Easy to spot, grab and donate!

 

I ended up with a LARGE box full of donations for the Goodwill-purses, shirts, old Christmas stuff, old decorations, etc. A bag full of goodies (clothes and fancys) for my younger sisters, and a small pile of things to sell at Plato's Closet (a great clothing shop where you can sell your lightly used clothing and buy name-brand-used clothing for cheap!)

Next on the chopping block-our living room closet, under the bed, and the kitchen cabinets.

But to see more of this Small Space Living series, click on the menu bar above or go HERE.

Fall Pinterest Party

I hosted a Pinterest party last night for some of my girlfriends and it was awesome! I decided to do this party because I have WAAAAY too many pins I haven't tried waiting on my Pinterest boards and because I love spending time with friends and playing hostess.

We started out with dinner. Everyone brought goodies they had on their Food Boards to share. We had apples and cream cheese dip, peta-pizzas with garlic butter, potato soup (which is now a favorite easy crockpot dinner!), and I made brown sugar cookie squirrels.

I also cooked up some Pumpkin White Hot Coca for the girls as they were crafting. It's really easy and sooooo good! Tastes like Pumpkin pie in a cup! (tip: whisk the ingredients as you cook them)

We worked on three different crafts:

                                     My mom here is working on a burlap "give thanks" banner. see how here

We also decorated mugs (which i bought for a dollar a piece at the thrift store. Jo Ann Fabrics has glass paint pens in lots of pretty colors. I just bought black (to keep it simple) and everyone decorated a mug or two. I'm kicking myself for not taking more pictures! We had all sorts of cute sayings, some adorable owls and love notes. (see some mug ideas here)

We also made leaf mobiles out of plastic bags- YES plastic bags! This was the coolest thing ever, super easy and surprisingly pretty! Even my husband was impressed with how it looks! I hung mine in the window where the sunlight can filter through it-the picture doesn't do it justice! (find the tutorial for making these here.)

 

Then I sent the girls home with their own little goodie bags. See these ideas and more on my board.

I had so much fun I think I'm going to plan a Christmas Pinterest Party!

The Elephant in the Room

I'm sitting here trying to think of what to blog about today...
thrifting?
kittens?
my weekend?
upcoming holidays?
tutorial?

But then it would just seem wrong to do that when there is an elephant in the room.

Have you VOTED yet?

I honestly don't care which way you voted as long as your choices were well researched, thoughtful and prayed over. I do care that you voted! America is built on the freedom of speech and the voice of the people, if everyone doesn't participate we go against what makes our nation so incredible. 

I realize that some people don't vote out of frustration-I'm mean really, we are choosing between two politicians here, they aren't at all perfect no matter what their political campaign directors say- or out of laziness or simply because they don't care. That make me mad. We can't complain about laws that negatively effect us or claim benefits that we had the chance to vote on and didn't. 

So go be an American,

 not a lazy or peeved bystander,

 go let your voice be heard 

and let freedom ring!

Must Love {LOVE}

I'm launching a new blog, {don't worry, this one will stay too} called Must Love {LOVE} and will be focusing on weddings, party planning, and some decorating. I'm still working on it and brainstorming ideas, but there are some pages and a post up now so go take a look-pretty please?

Must Love {LOVE}

Sunburst Mirrors

So there is this lovely fad going around that I am late falling in love with-Sunburst mirrors! I think part of my unwillingness to fall in love is that the ones I like are always so expensive or that I just don't have the time or resources to make it. But I have finally given in- I love them!

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There are some fabulous tutorials out there on how to make various versions of them, like these pretty ones:

I think I'll have to make one of these someday. Find the Tutorial HERE.

Tutorial Here

I love how they are decorative but can serve the purpose of making a room feel a little larger/brighter by reflecting light. I can decide where I want one more- my living room or above my bed...

The other day an idea hit me in the face it came so fast- Have you ever had that happen to you?- and this is what came of it!

To see how I made this click here.

How to make a Sunburst Mirror

I wanted to make a sunburst mirror but I wanted to make it cheap and do something with scrapbook paper (because I love it and I have a lot of paper). This project cost me about $4.

Here's what you need:
- a round mirror. In my case I used a shinny platter I found at a thrift store.
-Scrapbook paper in whatever colors you want, the amount will depend on how big your mirror is. i used 8 pieces.
-hot glue
-blue painters tape
-pop can tab (to hang it with.

Now make enough of those pieces to fit around your mirror.

Here I just laid it out trying to decide on which papers I wanted where.

Another tip, the pieces sorta fit together, you can kinda see how they are tucked inside each other in this pic, this helps make it a bit more sturdy.

Now that you have it like you like it, use your blue tape to secure the pieces together.

Then get out your hot glue and go crazy! I picked up my paper and applied glue directly to the mirror and then laid them down on to the hot glue. After that I went back and added glue to weaker spots.
I glued my papers to the front of the mirror but you could do it on the back-just play around (before you glue) and see what you like.

Remove your blue tape and flip it over- now you need to hang it!

 Pop a pop can tab off a soda can and  place it on the back of your mirror and glue one side of it like this:

Now it's finished and ready to hang!

If you wanted to make a more traditional sunburst mirror look- buy metallic or sparkly scrapbook paper all in the same color- i may have to make one of those too! :)