Garage Sale Goodies: Updated Furniture

In the past year I've become obsessed with garage sales. At some point some of my people started insisting that I was becoming a hoarder. Like any hoarder would, I denied having a problem and...just kidding...I'm not a hoarder...my people are crazy. I might like collecting things, but lets be honest, there's no way I could have 4932 dead cats in my house and not know it. There's no way I could ever become a hoarder because I'm too crazy about organization and things being clean...BUT I do like to be creatively inspired by seemingly ugly or ordinary things (ie things you would typically find at a garage sale)!  Here are some of my projects that I've conducted from my latest garage sale finds!

First, dining room table chairs. I found 6 of these chairs at a garage sale for about $13 a piece (and they threw in 1 for free...you'll see that one later). They are super sturdy and the color matched my house, they just needed a little work!!

My momma came over and we cleaned the chairs really good and took the bottoms off with a screwdriver. We got some new padding at Hobby Lobby and this super cute fabric from Premier Fabrics.

We threw away the old padding and that disqusing stained fabric and replaced it with the new padding and covered the bottoms with the new fabric.

Voila!!

It's like a whole new chair and it was so inexpensive!

We got one chair for free because the previous owners never painted it for some reason. Here's a picture of it:

It came with a bottom, but I had already taken it off when I took this picture. Anyways, I just painted it red and covered it in the same way I covered the others. I also painted another chair red so that 2 would be the same and not just 1. Here is this final product:

This didn't come from a garage sale, but it did come from my inlaws attic. I was in need of a dining room table and they so graciously let me use their old table that they used to homeschool their kids on (ie my husband). It has sentimental value. Here it is:

Momma helped me with this too. We painted the top red and the bottom a nice chocolate brown and sealed it with a clear coat that we got in the paint section at Lowes.

My chairs match it perfectly!!

Next, at the same garage sale where I got the chairs, they gave me this stool FOR FREE! How kind. It may look like poo in this picture, but if you look past that, the poo turnes into pootential (I couldn't resist that one...sorry)

I used leftover paint from the table and fabric/padding from the chairs and in about 20 minutes the ugly, free stool was turned into a cute, free stool.

The rest of the things I actually found in my parent's attic and stole (with their permission, of course).

First, I found a little wooden chair. Unfortunately I forgot to take a before picture. But it was just plain. I added some green Behr paint/primer in 1 and let it dry. After that I painted a flower on the bottom with my acryic paints that I would use to paint a canvas with. I wrote "faith" at the top with a Sharpie. When I was finished I covered it with a layer of the clear coat that I used for the table so the paint wouldn't wear off. Here is the final product!

Lastly,  found this really old white dresser.

I did the same thing to this that I did to my previous chair. Green paint, acrylic paint, and a clear coat! I also went to Hobby Lobby and got some new drawer pulls.

That's all for now, folks! So what did we learn here? Next time you're garage saleing, try to turn the poo into pootential!

The Mouse That Started It ALL

I don't know about you, but I'm a serious Disney fan. My secret desire is to be a princess in the parades at Disney World....how magical would that be?? Even though that's probably never going to happen, I can still dream about it by....turning it into a craft, of course!!! Here are 2 canvases that I've painted expressing my love for Disney.

This canvas was for one of my best friend's birthdays a few years ago. She's even more obsessed with Disney than I am (we've been to Disney World together like 3 times). So...I painted this for her. Along the sides I painted a symbol from some of my favorite Disney movies and attractions. To add some texture, I also added a few jewels here and there on the sides. I used acrylic paint for everything except I outlined Mickey's head with puffy black paint that you would write on a tshirt with. I finished it off by writing a Walt Disney quote in the middle of Mickey with a Sharpie. This was super time consuming, but so worth it in the end.

The next painting I made this summer because I was just bored and was feeling magical. I used all acrylic paint and sharpies on this one. I decided not to paint the sides this time because they weren't as deep on this canvas and everything would be squished. Anyways, I started by searching for an outline of Mickey's head in Google images. I found a simple outline, copied and pasted it into Microsoft Word, then adjusted the size to my liking. I printed it then cut it out and traced it onto my canvas with a pencil...a perfectly proportioned Mickey head every time! After that I drew all of the other icons straight onto the canvas free hand with a pencil.  I covered the entire canvas with the pink background paint (you could still see the pencil marks through it). After I got it the right shade of pink, I got out my little brush and filled in all of the color in the icons....this took 2 days...very tedious work. At the end, I wrote in Mickey's head with a Sharpie, again, but this time I outlined him with the Sharpie too and didn't use the puffy paint. After I let it dry I...covered it in Mod Podge!!! Sorry about the photo quality...my camera doesn't take the best pictures. 

I hope you were inspired to let the creativity flow!!

Katie Cakes

As most of you know, I have a little cake/cupcake business from my home. Over the past 2 years here are some pictures of a few of my favorites. If you need a cake, please let me know :)

Website:

www.katiecupcakes.weebly.com

Facebook Group:
https://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/groups/132121740160519/

Twitter:
http://twitter.com/#!/KTsCakes

The Most Delicious Cupcake You Will EVER Consume: Mint Chocolate Cupcakes

About a week ago I was looking to make a nice, simple dessert to eat after dinner for just Matt and me. I got on Pinterest, of course, and found this recipe and I decided to try it....it. will. blow. your. MIND!! I knew it was going to be a success when I tasted the batter for the first time. This cupcake will be in heaven...I'm sure of it. They are chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese/mint frosting.

Here's the link to the blog where I got the recipe:

http://www.yourcupofcake.com/2011/05/andes-mint-cupcakes.html

I will have to say a few things about it. First, I tried to make the ganache filling and it didn't even kind of work.  It got really lumpy and cooled to a solid almost instantly. I've made ganache before and it did the same thing, but it worked a little better than this time. Anyways, after that little mishap, I just decided to leave the ganache out and you can't even tell that it's missing. Also, the icing was was runnier than it looks in her picture on her blog. Maybe if you put a little more powdered sugar in it that wouldn't happen...I'm going to try it next time. So...the icing didn't look as pretty as planned, but it sure did taste good. Lastly, I couldn't find Andes mints at Super Lo (local grocery store in Memphis) so I cut York peppermint patties into 4 pieces and topped each cupcake with a little piece. It made exactly 24 cupcakes....I ate 3 that night (but who's counting?). I took some to our small groups and everyone who ate one really loved it....how could you not? It's chocolate!

So...what have we learned here?? Next time you're wondering which dessert to make, choose this one! If you follow the recipe exactly as it says, you won't be disappointed.

Fall is Here!! Home Decor for the Perfect Season

Fall has always been my favorite season! Cool weather, pumpkins, sweaters, boots, pretty leaves, my birthday, halloween costumes, gourds...you get the picture! One thing I love to do in the fall is decorate!!! It was so fun this year because I got all of my inspiration from Pinterest!!

First, I made these little candle holders that were SO easy and inexpensive to make.

I got the glass vase for about $7 and the candle for about $2.50 at Michaels (they know me at that store because I'm there so much...it's kind of embarassing). Anyways, then I went to Kroger and got a bag of split green peas and a bag of popcorn kernels (took me forever to find these...they were with the popcorn...duh). Then I went The Dollar Tree and got a bag of red kidney beans (you can get these at Kroger too, obviously). The rest  pretty much self explanatory. Pour 3/4 of the bag of peas in the bottom of the vase, add a layer of kidney beans, then top it off with a layer of corn! Add the candle and voila!!! I bet you didn't know you had it in ya!

After I finished this one I had some of everything leftover so I made this little one for my kitchen. I got this vase and candle at The Dollar Tree.

The next thing I did was make 2 of these smaller taper candle holders. I actually came up with this idea myself and it's even easier than the one before!

For this I got 2 of these little vase from The Dollar Tree and a bag of "bean soup" ingredients from Kroger (yes all of that came in one bag). Stick a taper candle in it and you're finished!

I decided that I wanted my fall centerpiece to have a little edge to it. I wanted to to be cute and pretty, but not be taken too seriously. Having that said, here was my solution:

Edith!

To make your very own Edith you'll need a cute little squash (I got this one a Kroger), black and white buttons, and some white vampire teeth that I found at Party City (it took me forever to find these). All I did was cut a hole in the side of the squash that was the right size for the teeth to fit in. I put the teeth in upside down because I thought she'd be funnier if she had an underbite...I think I succeeded. Then I glued black buttons onto white buttons and hot glued them to the squash. At first I was searching through my button collection looking for some that were the same size, but when I couldn't I realized that , again, she'd be much funnier if her eyes weren't the same size. She might be one of my favorite things I've ever created.

Here is my final product!! I already had a fall table runner and some fun fall confetti. I bought 2 bags of gourds from Kroger and behold...my fall centerpiece for my dining room table.

The next thing I did was make candy corn trees for my kitchen!! These were super easy to make.

Sorry that I didn't take any pictures of the process. What I did was get 2 different sized foam cones from any craft store. I got the big one from Hobby Lobby and the little one from The Dollar Tree (you can get both sizes at either Hobby Lobby or Michaels, but The DollarTree only has the smaller ones). Anyways, then I bought white, yellow, and orange yarn at Michaels. I started with the yellow yarn by tying a little knot in the end and pinning it to the very bottom edge with a pin that you would use when sewing (by the way you're going to need a lot of these so go ahead and buy a package). I stuck the pin through the knot so it would be sturdy...then I just started wrapping away. It's cuter, in my opinion, if you don't wrap it in straight lines but wrap it all over the place.  To end with the yellow, cut the yarn and tie a knot at the end and stick a pin through it into the foam. Then, do the same thing with the orange.  The white top is a tad bit trickier because you have to cover the top. You want to start out at the top by wrapping the yarn from side to side and pinning as you go, covering up the flat top. After the top is covered, just start wrapping like you did before, being sure to cover up the sideways yarn wrapping towards the top. After you're finished, do it again with the next size! These are so easy to make and they are so cute when they're finished.

Next, I made the little monogrammed Mod Podged pumpkin.

This was super easy, too. All I did was buy a cute little pumpkin from Kroger (never thought you could have so many craft inspirations from a grocery store, huh?). I bought cute scapbook paper and cute an "h" out of it. You can use any scrapbook paper you like. I got these cute polka-dots at Michaels. After I cute out the letter, I got some glossy Mod Podge and used it to glue the letter down onto the pumkin. After it stuck, I used a paint brush to paint Mod Podge over the whole thing to keep it fresh longer and to make it look glossy and uniform.

Next, (I know...the fall decorations are endless) I decorated a pumpkin for my front porch.

I first got a flower-shaped cookie cutter from Hobby Lobby and a rubber mallet. I put the cookie cutter up to the pumpkin and used the mallet to hit it into the pumpkin to make the flower shape. I had a little scraper that I got in a pumpkin carving kit that you can buy just about anywhere. I used the scraper to follow the flower pattern and scrap along the line to make the shape more pronounced. After this I used acrylic paint to paint around the flower. I let it dry, then I glued white buttons in the center of each flower with a hot glue gun. Once I was finished decorating...what did  I do? I covered the whole thing in Mod Podge, of course!!! I then tied a little rope around the top for a little extra spunk! Now you have a super cute pumpkin for your porch that is guaranteed not to look like anyone else's on your street (unless you live on my street).

Here is a picture of my cute sunflowers that hang on my red door. My mom gave me these last year and I have no idea where they came from.

I'm almost finished! For my carport door I made this little monogrammed plaque.

I got all of the supplies at Michaels in the wood aisle. I got the plaque for the background, the "h", and the wooden sunflower. I then used acrylic paint to paint it however I wanted. I hot glued it all together, covered the whole thing in Mod Podge, then hot glued a cute ribbon bow on it so that I could hang it.

The end has come!! The last craft I made was for my inlaws who showed a special interest in and appreciation for my squash, Edith. I decided to make them their very own friend as well. Thus, Norb was born!

I got another pair of vampire teeth, more buttons, a pumpkin from Kroger (same kind as the one I monogrammed before), and a little nose (I got this at Christmas time last year at Hobby Lobby...it was on the Christmas craft row in a bag of "carrot noses"...and that's exactly what it is...a tiny, plastic carrot nose). I did the same thing to create Norb as I did to create Edith, only with Norb I added a nose ,I didn't give him an underbite, and I made his eyes a little more crazy.

Norb and Edith hit it off right away!

Their smiles light up the room!

Anyhoo, that concludes my segment on my current fall crafts and decorations. I'm sure there will be more to come so be sure to stay in touch!