101 Things I Hate About Your House

I just got a present in the mail! I won a giveaway from the wonderful ladies over at The Skirted Roundtable. They talked about the new book by premier designer James Swan, 101 Things I Hate About Your House. Intrigued, I listened to their interview and left a comment. Good thing I did, cause then I won this:

A brand new and signed copy of the new book. I already read the whole thing! It is a quick read, but good info for those who need help. Most of it was common sense to me, but hey, I realize not all people think about these things and that's ok!

Interested? Good! Cause I am selling it to one lucky person through my ebay shop! Take a look here.

To learn more or listen to the interview, or to just check out the great blog The Skirted Roundtable, you can check that out here.

Come back and tell me what you think!

Hydrangea Housewarming Wreath (from scratch! $0)

I'm back! I hope you are enjoying a great summer. We're all settled in, the kids go back to school today, and it's time to share my first project in my new home!

I am on a mission to do crafts for the next year with only stuff I already have, spending little or no money. So here we go.......!

I wanted a new wreath for my front door. Since we are planning on being here for just a year, I have reluctantly left most of my decor things in boxes. I decided to use some lovely hydrangea stems that would otherwise just be sitting in a box. They are one of my favorite flowers and they are perfect for welcoming friends at the front door!

For this project you will need:

• faux flowers
• cardboard piece 12" wide
• wire, ribbon, or other device you have for hanging
• hot glue gun
• pen or pencil for tracing/drawing circle
• scissors

I got all the crafty stuff together and laid it out. I found a large circle tupperware lid type thingy to trace onto the cardboard. It is about 12" wide. Then I drew by hand an inner circle and cut it out.

Then I took apart the flowers and leaves from the stems. Arrange the flowers around the circle base to get an idea of where you want them. Pile the leaves by size.

Start with the biggest leaves first and lay them evenly over the circle base. I just eyed it, not caring to be a perfectionist about this one. I turned them slightly. Glue down.

Then I had an idea of where the top center was so I wrapped some floral wire around the circle base for my "hook." I hot glued it on the back side for extra durability.

Then I continued the pattern with the next biggest leaves, then the next, until the base was covered. Then my camera stopped working (ha!) but I'm sure you can figure out how to get the flowers on. I had five bunches and laid them out evenly so they were barely touching and glued down.

Then, the fun part: gracing my front door with my new wreath! What a nice housewarming gift to myself :)

And the best part: it cost me ZERO DOLLARS! I was pretty proud of my cardboard wreath base invention! No more trips to the store for wreaths, I can just make one up myself! Score!
What do you think? I hope you enjoy my new wreath. Welcome to my new home.

~ Rebecca

linking to:

http://delightfulorder.blogspot.com/2011/08/delightfully-inspiring-thursday-party_24.html

http://shabbynest.blogspot.com/2011/09/frugal-friday.html

Dear readers and followers,

I won't be blogging for awhile due to a family relocation. Enjoy the rest of your summer and make sure you check back soon for updates and new posts!

~Rebecca