My lovely lamps

For those that don't know, I am a garage sale junkie. So last summer I stopped at a sale on my way to my aunt's house. I poked around a bit and found two great lamps. I got a steal of a deal at $4 for the pair. The thing that drew me to them was their roundness. I had been on the lookout for a pair of lamps for my headboard because I was tired of sharing one lamp for reading at bedtime. They were cute lamps, but needed some help. When I bought them, they were a somewhat boring color. I forgot to take a picture, but it was something like this.

I went to my local Ace Hardware to look for a new color for my lamps. They had a chart of all the colors Krylon makes in spray paint. I found a beautiful color called Ivy Leaf, but they didn't have it in stock. Many phone calls later, I finally found that Michaels (love that store!) had it in stock. I grabbed my 40% off coupon and headed over. A couple of coats later, my lamps looked brand new.

Next I needed to find the perfect shade. I had been looking all summer at garage sales, but tan or ripped or gaudy shades were all I could find. I happened into Ikea one day and found the Alfhild Fagel lamp shade design. Only problem was it wasn't in the size I needed. They had a big one (think floor lamp sized) and they had mini ones (think chandelier size). I asked and sure enough, they carried it in a mid size. I went to Ikea several times over the next few weeks and found one shade. I was starting to get irritated. Then I went online one day and what do you know, my shade had been discontinued! After much grumbling, I found one on e-bay. It was $40 instead of $20, but it was the perfect shade and I already had one. I figured since the lamps only set me back 4 bucks, I could splurge on the shades.

So for a grand total of around $70 (lamps, shades and paint) I got two great lamps. And p.s. they are three way lamps, even sweeter!

Superbowl cookies

The way it is.

The way it should be.

Finally

I have been putting it off long enough. Time to post up. Once again in the spirit of being thrifty for x-mas, I made necklaces for all my girls. It was probably the easiest thing to actually construct, but hard to find the pieces I wanted. I started out thinking I would buy a bulk length of chain and split it myself for each necklace. Michael's and Joann's had a different idea. The only colors they offered in bluk chain were bright gold and bright silver. This was highly irritating considering they had several suggestion booklets at each retailer using beautiful antiqued silvers and bronzes. Why would you suggest making something with products you don't carry? Irritating. Anyway, after much searching I found some semi pre-made necklaces (on sale, thank you very much) that I cannabalized to get the chain I desired.


I wanted to make each girl a necklace unique to her. Seeing as how this was my first attempt at jewelry, I decided to keep it simple and do pendant necklaces. After several trips to the craft store and several more to assorted bead stores, I had what I wanted. The actual creation of the necklaces was ridiculously easy.

Step 1: Take off ugly pearl/ribbon strands from pre-made chains.

Step 2: Add pendants to necklace.

Step 3: Go back to the store and purchace a few jump rings. Some of the pendants had holes that were too small to allow them to move freely on the chain. Jump rings give you a go between from necklace to pendant.


Step 4: Wrap and mail! I was a bit late on this, but I believe it was within a week or two after christmas so it wasn't that bad.


I actually liked them all so well that I went back to Michael's and got a pre-made chain and my own pendant to make myself a necklace. Bonus, the chain was an extra dollar off. I adore a good bargain. All added up, I spent under $30 for 6 necklaces that were made with love. Gotta love that, right?

p.s. The necklace owners from left to right: Ann, Laura, Cole, Kathy, Traci and Al. In case you gals wanted to know what everyone else got.

Snuggy, anyone?

In the spirit of being thrifty for x-mas this year, I am trying to make a lot of my gifts for people. Last year I made a fleece tie blanket for my father-in-law, Tom. I used a Gopher's panel which was the right size for a lap blanket. For x-mas, I made a bigger, bed sized one for Jordan's cousin exchange. It was THE gift to steal in the dice game. When Tom saw it, he was immediately jealous of the size. So this year I went out on Black Friday to Hancock Fabrics and bought a snuggy pattern for $1 (originally it was $16.95) and some Gopher's fleece. I had to go to Joann's for some of the fleece (you'll see which ones, I don't want to give one away!) because Hancock's was out. Of course I used my 50% off coupons. The fleece actually ended up being slightly more than what just buying a Gopher's snuggy would have cost, but I now have the pattern and can make lots of them. I was a bad blogger and didn't take any pictures of the making of snuggy #1, but I remembered part way through #2 and snapped a few. Here's the second one. This Vikings snuggy is for my little sister for x-mas. One reason I opted for the pattern and buying my own fleece is that the pattern also included a front pocket and more importantly a foot pocket. The store bought ones are missing this critical feature. Here I am pinning the foot pocket in place to sew it down.

I think I was sewing on an arm here. No fancy sewing needed, just straight stitching for the whole thing. It was all pretty easy really. There were only 4 pattern pieces to cut; the body, arms, foot pocket and front pocket. You then sew the arms into rounds and hem them, create the pockets, sew them on, hem the body and sew the arms on. Less than an hour sewing.

Jordan was a helper and tried it out.Clearly I had to try it as well, so Jordan put on his dad's (which is longer anyway).While at Hancock's I saw this pattern for a buck as well.

It was completely necessary to then but this fabric so I can be ready for outdoor baseball this spring. Go Twins!

My best cookie ever. No, seriously. Ever.

Bri and I whisked up some cookies for Turkey Day the other evening. I made a helmet cookie for each of the football teams playing and I have now created my favorite cookie I've ever made. I saved the Lions cookie for last, thinking that it was going to be the hardest. With my handy dandy toothpick I went to work. It was actually really easy and this is what it produced.