Updating A Picture

I had a couple of old pictures that were just being stored {i.e. banished to the basement}.  I must have thought I’d do something with them at some point to keep them. 

“Something” came along.   

 

These are a couple of the new prints I am carrying in my boutique and I wanted to show you how I updated my pictures using them.  I’ll  be doing the “Dare to Dream” print for this post.  First, I took the old pictures apart and spray painted the frames with a black satin Rustoleum paint.

For the “Dare to Dream” print, I decided I wanted to hang it in my craft area and I needed something to fill the background up, as the picture was narrower than the backing.  I used that versatile harlequin wrapping paper that I bought from Hobby Lobby online.

Here is the finished piece!  An updated piece of art that I’ll be hanging on my wall instead of storing in my basement!  I’m not sure if I like it on top of the harlequin paper, since I have the harlequin in the background of the print.

I have a couple of other posts coming to show the use of the different prints I’m carrying in my boutique so you can see a few ways that you can use them.

Linking up with the following linky parties:

It’s So Very Creative at It’s So Very Cheri

Make It Yours Day at My Backyard Eden

Cottage Charm Giveaway Winner

First, I’d like to thank Kim of Twice Remembered for hosting the 4th Annual Cottage Charm Giveaway on her blog.   This was my first year joining in and it was great fun to not only offer a giveaway, but to enter so many others!

Using the trusty random.org to determine a winner out of the 74 entries, the winner is comment #45. . .

Congratulations Stephanie of Angelic Accents!  You have won my nest plaque and tea cup! 

I will be sending you an email {or commenting on your blog} to let you know you’ve won.  If you see this first, please send me your full name and mailing address so I can get your package ready {kathyp (at) creativehomeexpressions (dot) com}.

I have a follower giveaway planned for next week to celebrate reaching 600 followers and 400 blog posts!

Have a great weekend!

A Great Find at Ballard Design

This is the second time I am drafting this post, having deleted the first one.  I’ll tell you why at the end.

I was searching Ballard Design online for merchandise for a client and somehow {I don’t know} I wound up buying these Christmas stockings for myself.

Ballard Design

One side says “Naughty” and the other side says “Nice”.  I bought two so I could show each side and put them on a second mantel we have in our little den.   They are 13 wide x 25 long; a nice decent size.

Ballard Design

$4.99 a stocking.  Yup, $4.99 at Ballard Designs!  Regularly $12.00 each.  I would have liked the stand, too, but that is $49.99 and a bit much for me.

I deleted my original post on this because the day after I placed the order I got a voicemail message from Ballard saying that they were sorry but these stockings were sold out.  Two days later I get an email from Ballard saying they were shipped.  They came Wednesday. 

Linking up to:

Frugalicious Friday at Finding Fabulous

Find It For Less!

Last week I did a Find It For Less post on office furniture.  This week I thought we’d take a look at those crystal spheres/orbs/ball lamps that seem to be popular at the moment.  Let’s start with the expensive and work our way down.  Let’s also remember these are lamps, not bricks of gold.

Horchow

The first lamp is from Horchow.  This lamp is on sale for $358.00 {regularly in the high $700.’s}.

Horchow

A second lamp found at Horchow is also on sale for $149.90.

Overstock

The next lamp {above} is from Overstock and is $99.95.  Okay, we’re at least under $100.00 now!

JC Penney

JC Penney was the next store I checked out and they had a couple in this style.  They look much the same but have a $10.00 difference in price. The lamp above is $89.99.

JC Penney

This second one is $79.99.

Target

Then a favorite among many is Target.  Target had several lamps in this style with many price ranges.  The one above is their least expensive at $69.99.

Pier 1 

And the winner is this lamp from Pier 1, at an affordable $30.00!

Finding it for less is part of what I do for my clients and sometimes I take it as a challenge.  All these lamps are very similar, and shades can be changed out inexpensively if you don’t care for the one the lamp comes with.

Were you surprised to see where the least expensive lamp came from?

Uprinting.com Giveaway Winner!

The winner of the Uprinting.com Giveaway, picked by random.org is

Kim from My Domestic Bliss!

Congratulations, Kim!  I’ll be in touch and I’ll need your full mailing information {last name and address}, as well as how you want your cards {just check out the original giveaway post again for all the choices}. 

You can email me {if you see this first} at kathyp{at}creativehomeexpressions{dot}com.

I have a follower giveaway planned next to celebrate 600 followers and 400 posts!

PB Copy ~ I’m A Corker!

My grandmother used to tell me that.  I’d usually say something that would crack her up and she’d tell me “You’re a corker”!  In this case, I really am.  I saw this picture recently while looking for something for a client.

How fitting, especially since I just got a whole bunch of corks from one of my sassy bloggy friends!    Look at that jar on the sideboard that they crammed full of corks.  I had an apothecary jar that the lid broke and it was just sitting on the side waiting for something.   I stuffed it full of corks and am using it in my much smaller wine area {compared to the PB display} in the dining room.

 

And guess what?  I still had plenty of corks left over!  So I decided to try the middle piece of artwork over the mirror.  I like that it is not cork overkill and I have supplies on hand that will work for this. 

I originally thought {from the larger picture} that fabric was on the background, but it just looks like cardstock or paper.  So I pulled out a piece of ivory cardstock that I had picked up at Joann’s {when they had a 2-fer sale going on} and used that as my background.

 

I got these high-end black plastic frames {5x7} from the dollar store, which is the only thing I had to purchase.  I wanted something with depth, but not a shadowbox.  I removed the glass since I wouldn’t need it.

I picked out some corks that I liked and hot glued them to my background.

I had some blank tags and used some number rub-ons I had.  I used regular craft glue to adhere them to the background. 

Here’s the finished project.

I think it makes for a cute little display in an area where you store or serve wine! 

First and second images courtesy of Pottery Barn.

Funny thing is, I looked for these at PB online and I don’t think they’re for sale!

Joining the following linky parties:

It’s So Very Creative at It’s So Very Cheri

Be Inspired at Room to Inspire

Make It Yours Day at My Backyard Eden 

Don’t forget to enter my Uprinting.com Giveaway!  Ends May 26th!

Thrifty Finds Help Organize

I found these little wood “seed” boxes at Goodwill my last trip there {about a month ago}; $1.99 for the set.  Unfortunately, the wood is not the type to hold up outside, otherwise I’d use them to decorate somehow on my patio.

They do make cute little holders though, so I decided to fix them up for my craft area {where I seem to have more little things than big things} and where I’m trying to get things together for the Where Bloggers Create linky party at My Desert Cottage on June 19th. 

I spray painted them white, then spray painted them Heirloom White.  I had small amounts of both paints and wanted to get as much coverage as possible out of what I had.

So far, one craze I haven’t gotten in on is numbers; I’m more of an alphabet girl myself.  But I could just see numbers on these boxes.  I picked out scrapbook paper to use over the area that had said “Seeds”.

Then found some numbers in my supplies.

And, my world is pretty once again.  Here they are pulling organizing duty in my craft area and doing a fine job of it, too, I might add!

Three wood containers for $1.99, plus supplies I already had.

Linking up with:

Thrifty Treasures at Southern Hospitality

Frugalicious Friday at Finding Fabulous

SNS at Funky Junk Interiors

Uprinting.com Giveaway

**This Giveaway Has Ended.**
I’ve got a great giveaway this week coming to you from Uprinting.com.  Could you use 500 full color business cardsfull color business cards?  What about blogger cards? Or Designer cards, calling cards, or the new {and I wish they had these when I was a young Mom} Mommy cards for exchanging numbers to set up play dates?

Uprinting.com is sponsoring a giveaway of 500 business cards {or any of the other suggested ideas above}, shipping included, to one lucky U.S. winner!  How great is that!  full color business cards is a leading online printing company that provides high quality printing at the most affordable prices.
Uprinting.com offers cards that come in 2x3.5, 2x2 {square card}, 2x3 or 1.5x3.5 {slim card}.  You also have a choice of gloss cardstock, matte cardstock or recycled uncoated cardstock.  Full color both sides, offset press, and 3 business day printing.
To enter leave me a comment telling me what type of card you’d get {business, designer, blogger, Mommy}.  You must leave me an email address if you do not have a blog where I can contact you if you win.  In addition, you can:

• Blog about this giveaway or post it on your sidebar; come back and let me know in a separate comment;
• Tweet about this giveaway; come back and leave the link or your @ name in a separate comment.

Winner will be chosen via random.org on May 26, 2010.  
I am planning a Follower Giveaway next as I’m almost at 600 followers!  Watch for that coming soon! 

Winner of the Your Choice Giveaway

The winner of the Your Choice Giveaway sponsored by CSN, as chosen by random.org, is

#7 Lynn of Country Heart & Roses

Congratulations Lynn!

I will be emailing you, but if you see this first, please email me your email {did I say “email” enough in that sentence?}.   CSN will then forward your gift certificate to you via email.

Dressing a Bookcase & Using Some Fabric

We put one of the bookcases that was in my great room back in there {my son took the other one for his room} and I was able to take out some of my books to put back in it.   I decided to give some thought to placement as I brought the books back in, and make sure to mingle some decorative accessories in there, too. 

 

I’ve been shopping the house for things to add in with the books {I still need to move some boxes around} and for the time being, I’ve added in a couple of the items I made for my boutique.

 

After stepping back, I wasn’t thrilled with how it all looked, and thought that maybe if I dressed up the back of the shelves, that might help.  I thought I had enough of a red and white toile fabric to do this, so that is what I decided to use {especially since I already have red in this room}.  Here is a picture with my test piece of fabric.

I got some foam board and after measuring the length and height of the shelves, cut pieces to fit inside the bookcase.  I decided not to do anything that would be permanent, so that I don’t do any damage to the bookcase and I can change it out on a whim.  The foam board with the fabric attached to it fits snugly inside the bookcase.

Then, disaster struck!  OMG!  I ran out of the toile fabric!  The never-ending bolt ended!  Quick, what to do?  I decided to alternate every other shelf with the toile {whew, just enough to do that} and in between I used a black and white harlequin patterned wrapping paper.

This will work for the meantime.  Maybe I’ll find enough of a remnant at Joann’s to finish it up with the toile.  I also still need to add some accessories in {once I find those boxes} and the rest of my books.  At least I have used up some fabric from the challenge I gave myself here!

Meanwhile, I found these pictures to add to this post.  Rhoda at Southern Hospitality did her bookcase with a variety of scrapbook papers.  {This bookcase is in her office nook; make sure you check it out if you’re over there}.

And, Nester did her china cabinet with a variety of scrapbook papers as well! 

So it appears I’m in good company!  What do you think?  Do you like it better with the toile all the way?  I do like the picture where I had the first two shelves done in the toile. 

{On a side note, my hubby made two of these bookcases for me for Christmas one year.  He took such care to make them just right for me, adding some decorative molding to the sides; staining and putting polyurethane on them that I just can’t paint them}.