bar cart

For a while I've wanted a bar cart, maybe because of the Madman craze or my obsession with retro items. I kept my eyes open on craigslist and finally found a white metal, retro looking bar cart. The lady who sold it to us said she bought it in a storage auction and if she had a pool she would have kept it. For fifty dollars, I was satisfied that I got a pretty good deal. I thought it would be a great fit to our home after some restoration. And so we went to work.

I picked lime green spray paint to match most of our kitchen and dining room decor. I love how that color pops.  

The bar cart looked to have all original parts. Most of the screws were rusted, especially the ones holding the trays and the ones holding the wheels together. The rusted screws made it a pain to get the wheels off (the wheels didn't really work so we needed to replace them). We didn't have the powerful drill needed to drill out the rusted screws, which added to our difficulty. Luckily, a very handy friend brought his drill over to help remove the rusted screws and we were able to replace the wheels with new ones. 

I bought the fabric on a shopping trip in Philly with Mikes's Mom. It worked perfectly for this project as the colors match well with the lime. I pre-cut the fabric to make sure it covered the trays. Then I sprayed the trays with adhesive spray to glue the fabric on. After the glue dried I added scotch-guard to protect the fabric from any future spills. 

Done! We gave it a home next to the dining room table and stocked it with our favorite liquors.

my DIY

Back in February for my birthday my mother gave me this large vase which I had been obsessing about.  I changed the location of it around my house a few times. Finally I found the perfect spot but the vase was empty. Then I found fake green leaves in my house (I have no clue where they came from). A light bulb went off in my head. I got the lime green spray paint that happens to match most of my kitchen and living room decor and went to town with this easy project.

t-shirts

                        

I made us t-shirts for the fair. Mike will be my helping hands (lucky me). We went to american appeal and picked up a pair of pink shirts to draw the lease amount attention to us. (haha) I went ahead and add the doodle face I've been obsessing over the last couple of months. I'm really getting the hang of my screen painting yudu machine. How cool does my painting look behind him?

decorating with shells

Last weekend I made a trip to Micheal's and picked up this jar. I wanted to display the cute shells Mike finds on the beach. I added sand that my mason jars still had from our wedding. Now the shells and sand have a home in the guest bathroom. Mike doesn't think it's manly, but he is the one that brings shells home.

I recently found out that with smart phones you're able to pull up coupons and stores are able to scan it right from your phone so there is no need to print coupons. Used that knowledge to get a great discount on the jar. Good for the environment and good for me.

made it myself

I've been wanting the perfect way to display my jewelry. I used to keep my jewelry in little boxes, however, that didn't work well when rushing out of the house. After long searches I had no other option but to make my own. This way my jewelry is always on this display when leaving my bathroom. I'll be adding more hooks as my jewelry collection grows. 

         

mirror tray

>Thought of doing another craft night. However, most of the ladies had to work or just couldn't make it. I did have one girlfriend come over. We used trays we found at target for $2.50 and brought them to life with some decorative touches. I used mini mirrors which I found at Michael's and pasted them on with a glue gun. Also, I added felt in the inside of the tray. As you can see the spools and the tray are now friends. Now I just need more perfumes.

spools

In December I requested antique spools from my secret Santa for Christmas. I was lucky enough to get three of them. This past weekend I found one at the Goodwill (btw, I've been enjoying going to the goodwill you never know what you'll find). I wasn't sure what I wanted them for. But a few weeks ago I came across this blog and thought that was a neat idea. So much so that I knew I had to make my own. I didn't add any more to the spools because I like the original look. I also found pin holders also at the goodwill. They came attached. I took them apart and bent the ends to make them stay in place. I added post cards I've had of Dali and an image of my parents from a long time ago. The spools sit on top of our bedroom dresser.

Looking good.

more images found on flickr

cupcake

Thanks Micheal for the image.

Thanks to this site I was able to order my own DIY cupcake tower for our wedding. It was one of the first things I ordered, and one of the last things to get done. Which worked out well for me.

Once I had a clear vision of the main theme I could work on the cupcake tower. Our wedding had a brown and orange yarn theme. I used my limited crochet skills to make the border of the cupcake tower and a glue gun to make the yarn stick. I spray-painted the cardboard with cooper paint. On the sides of the tower I added fake orange flowers glued with fake diamond pins to hold down the flower pedals.

I knew I wanted cupcakes instead of a cake for our wedding. However, I wanted to be able to "cut the cake" so the cupcake tower was perfect because I was able to have both. Have my cake and eat too. ha ha.

Mike found the cupcake lady at the green market and came home with tasty cupcakes and my taste buds agreed, we were a match. We ordered red velvet, strawberry key lime and our favorite, carrot cake. She came and placed them on the tower for us while we were at the ceremony, so I didn't have a chance to see it before everyone else. But it was perfect. Her cupcakes are big and at one point I wasn't sure if they would fit. As you can see they did work out.

We also had mason jars filled with sand and a candle in each of them around the outside of the reception house. So the extra mason jars on the table with the cupcake tower tied in together nicely. I'm not sure who placed them there, but whoever did, thanks!

recycled bottles

recycled bottles painted by me. for cheap kitchen decor.

i used high life beer bottles, starbucks bottles and even olive oil bottles. added acrylic paint and top off with wine corks for the high life beer ones.