It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like a Hot Mess...

Christmas is upon us, and I've dragged in all my boxes and trinkets and bobbles and whoodles (sorry, Dr. Seuss got to me).

Anyway, this has turned into a right hot mess in my dining room. Spilling over into the living room...

Here is a picture of half of what I've dumped in here.
This doesn't count the stuff for the tree either.

And here is my helper...

  

So that's what I've been up to the past few days. Trying to get my bearings on exactly what I have, and figure out again where to put it. 

I'm going to hopefully post this week and next, a few ideas I've had while decorating, which are--you guessed it--super cheap. 

Such as:

*Pine cone decoration

*Great gift wrap up-dos (makes any gift look better and more expensive...)

Possibly:

*Do-it-yourself, easy-sew sweater stocking.

*Tea towel updo

(These are dependent on demand and time...If I hear from a lot of you, I will try to make time.)

xoxo

Halloween Living Room

Today I'm posting pictures of some of my living room decorations. There's a little bit scattered throughout, but these are some vignettes, if you will.


Here is s look at the "mantel" over the TV. (Hey, you work with what you've got!)

I was feeling particularly in-the-season, so I took some pictures of the mantel with a filter to give things a spooky look. Once you scroll down, there are some regular pictures so you can see it clearly, too.

See more after the jump.

Making Faux Candles Look Real

This is one of the best ideas I've seen this fall. It's really one of those, Why didn't I think of that?, moments. Not to discredit her genius in any way! 

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Party Puff: Make your faux candles creepy

I love my battery operated candles in Autumn.  They're stationed around my house and automatically turn on and off every night.  I just got a new box at Costco (4 for $20).  Unfortunately when you get them they don't look very authentic.  Sterile comes to mind actually. 

But we can fix this!  Grab a heat gun,

and start melting away.

Keep melting until you achieve your desired look.  You will get run off down the sides, so put some wax paper underneath for easier clean up.  The wax will also melt and run down the inside of the candle.  I let it build up and then carefully pour it out onto the sides of another candle.  Remember the wax will be hot.

Now isn't that better!  Much more believable.
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Great, right?!

*Be sure to check out her other great ideas. She is having a Poe-party for Halloween, and she's posting her ideas/crafts as she goes along. She also is a designer, and does some serious events. She has a great New Moon event party on her site you should see--very cool and great ideas to be inspired by for Halloween.

Halloween Kitchen Decor

Here is part one of my Halloween decorating. In an effort not to have one lengthy post, I'll post a room per day.

For this little arrangement above my sink, I took some random glass containers and filled them first with fake moss from the dollar store. I added some leftover "berry" sticks I had lying around. Then, layered on that, I added some small snakes I found in a package at the dollar store too. I think it gives is a good witchy feel.

I made this little tag by using a pre-made one, then writing in a scripty font with a Sharpie pen. After that, I aged it by blotting it with a wet tea bag. It still looked a little too new, so I singed the edges with a lighter.

I made the apothecary jar by gluing a $1 candlestick to a $1 jar I found at Dollar Tree. The "eyes" are made by adding some water and then some black Styrofoam, floral-arrangement-filler beads. Cheap and creepy!


Keep reading to see the rest.

New Kitchen Backsplash

Hip, hip hooray! I finally have pictures uploaded to show you the cheap, easy update to my kitchen. 

My original backsplash was the same Formica as my counter tops. A little too much beige for my taste. And way too much matching. So, I purchased some bead-board wallpaper and got busy. It's cheap and way easier than hack-sawing real beadboard and trying to make it fit.

See the before and after, after the jump!

$1 Purse Organizer!

So I'd been looking around for a while for a purse organizer. I like to change things up, but I HATE transferring everything. I know several are on the market, so I decided to finally bite the bullet and buy one. But when I went to scout them out, wow, were they expensive--at least to me. If they were reasonably priced, then they were too tiny to hold much. So, I held off, waffling back and forth if the ends justified the funds so to speak. THEN, while shopping at Dollar Tree, I found a little gardening bag...

And here was the one they wanted $25 for online...

 

Score! So this little gardening bag became a cheap purse organizer. I bought a couple so I could have an extra on hand just in case. It takes like two seconds to pop it from one purse to another now. A-mazing. And I love it even more because it was thrifty. 

I have a lot comfortably in this: a full-size wallet, a medium makeup bag, and sunglasses, along with all the essentials--sanitizer, lotion, gum, brush etc.! See how it looks all put together:

Great Mirror Idea from {show & tell}

This blog had an amazing idea for how to deal with those giant wall mirrors that seem to be in almost every home when you move in. I tore mine out and hung a new mirror, but sometimes it's either just not practical, or you want to keep the size yet make it look more finished. But let's face it you don't really need the entire thing. They're huge most of the time. Aha! This lady has the answer!

 

She added some different types molding around the edges with glue (for here full tutorial go here), then paint. She got a high-end look and kept the mirrors she already had. That's what I call smart! Hopefully, you can take this idea and run with it for your own bathrooms and make something really amazing. 

(She asks that if you're inspired by this, to share your designs with her on her blog. Please take a moment to do so, if you are!)