Tag Archives: Hobby Lobby

Another sewing project!: Reusable Coffee Sleeve

Posted by sunshineandsometea in Crafts & Decor and tagged with , , , , , , , ,

I just finished another sewing project.  And although it definitely isn’t perfect, I do feel like I am learning more and more as I go.  And even if it’s not perfect, it’s definitely usable, which I suppose is the important thing.

I am thrilled to say that this fabric (which I absolutely love) was found amongst the shelf of random clearance fabric remnants at Hobby Lobby.  I think it was 7/8 of a yard for $3 or so.  Can’t beat that!  And I have plenty leftover, as this project obviously only used a smidgen of fabric.

I used this fabulous tutorial at The Cottage Home blog, which I found really clear and easy to follow.

This post was shared on The Shabby Creek Cottage’s Transformation Thursday, and Drab to Fab Fridays at Sugar & Spice!

A little more holiday decor.

Posted by sunshineandsometea in Crafts & Decor and tagged with , , , , , ,

I thought I would share a few more photos of my home all decked out for the holidays.

We don’t have a fireplace, so we have to get creative with hanging our stockings.

A little “Ho Ho Ho” for the top of the TV (not sure why the walls look SO unbelievably bright yellow in this shot…the actual shade of yellow is much paler  in real life).  This stuff sheds glitter like no one’s business!  But it’s worth the annoyance, because I think it looks so cheery and festive.

I added little touches of Christmas to our wall of shelves.

My favorite part of the wall of shelves is this little Santa boot I got during the after Christmas sales at World Market last year!  Once we put it on the shelf, it just needed SOMETHING, so Tadd filled it with red Target Dollar Spot plastic ornaments.  Cute!

I don’t really go too overboard in the kitchen.  Just some green garland across the top of the back cabinet, a couple of finial-style tree toppers, and my little star-shaped wreaths on my dual pantries.  The plate in the plate holder on the right is a brand new purchase.  Found it randomly at Walgreens for $1 this past Saturday.  It goes with the red bird/cardinal holiday theme I am starting to see take shape in my recent purchases.  Ignore all the crap on the counters…I was getting ready to host a Christmas party when this pic was taken.

A closer look at my new $1 plate.  Cute for only a buck, huh?

Moving onto the foyer & dining room.  My little foyer shelf is always decked out for every season.  This year I used my trusty apothecary jar, filled with cheap ornaments.  The snowflake topiaries are from Hobby Lobby (50% off!).  The silver tray and candy dish are from Dollar Tree.  More cheapie ornaments on the tray, and a frosted cranberry candle, which was a gift from a friend.

The dining room is home to my new second tree!  The table is dressed simply with my snowflake table runner, my homemade Dollar Tree hurricanes, and some smaller Dollar Tree tealight holders, along with my regular year-round green & brown centerpiece.  Yes, I would say that almost half of my seasonal decor comes from my beloved Dollar Tree!  I think since my dining room is already green, a little bit of red goes a long way to make it look festive for Christmas.

And a few more shots of my trees, since they make me happy…

Hope you enjoyed this little tour of my home.  Happy Holidays!

A tale of two Christmas Trees!

Posted by sunshineandsometea in Crafts & Decor and tagged with , , , , , , ,

My whole adult  life, I have always wanted two Christmas trees.  One for my sentimental hodge-podge of ornaments that I will ALWAYS want to display year after year, and a second tree just to look pretty, possibly with some kind of overriding theme.  But I never had two Christmas trees, nor did I have the space for two Christmas trees until we moved into this house.  I found a 6.5 ft white pre-lit tree for $19 during the after-Christmas sales last year, and I decided to make my little dream come true.

So this is the first year for me having two trees.  I will be honest, that my new decorative tree is sparse, and I don’t even have a tree skirt yet!  I have been picking up ornaments here and there over the past few weeks, but don’t really want to spend too much right now.  This tree is in my dining room, where I have a brown/green/tan/white very natural scheme already, so I decided that this tree will have somewhat of a natural/woodland theme.  I was thinking pinecones, woods, birds, little woodland creatures, etc.

Without further ado, this is my traditional/sentimental hodgepodge tree, which is in our main living area:

And a few of my favorite ornaments…

And here is our new white tree in our formal dining room (note the ornament on the floor at the bottom left…darn cats!):

My lovely mother-in-law purchased these cardinal ornaments for me while she was in town last month.  So beautiful!

I also bought these cardinals at Dollar Tree (two for $1!).  The red wooden bead garland was a Garden Ridge find.

I love these little sign ornaments from Target!  I bought three for this tree, and I love how simple and slightly vintage they look on my tree.  The other two say “Peace” and “Ho Ho Ho” and each design is slightly different, but in the same style.  You can also see the pine cone glass ornaments I picked up at Hobby Lobby early in the season.

Linking this post up with Thrifty Decor Chick’s Holiday Home Christmas Tree Link Party!  I love seeing everyone’s trees!

Fall Door Decor…And a little friend!

Posted by sunshineandsometea in Crafts & Decor and tagged with , , , , , , , ,

Just a quick post to join in for the second of the It’s Fall Y’all link parties!

Today’s party is hosted by Rhoda of Southern Hospitality, and it’s all about door decor.  And to be honest, I don’t have much up yet.  I have some spider silhouettes that I meant to put up in the smaller windows on either side of my door, but I haven’t gotten that far yet.  But I do have a smidgen of door decor to share.

I bought this jack-o-lantern bucket wall-pocket-thingie several years ago at Target for like $10.  Previously, when we lived in our apartment, I wasn’t as much into the whole go-all-out holiday decor thing, so I would just hang it on our door, plain and empty.  But the fact that it was a bucket shape meant it was really crying out to hold something…like flowers!  Last year, being the first full fall season in the new house, I decided to jazz it up a bit by adding two large bunches of silk flowers I found on sale at Hobby Lobby.  I also hot glued the plaid ribbon across the top rim of the bucket, and tied a matching bow at the top of the bucket handle (you can barely see it at the top where it meets the wreath hanger).

Now, I am very well aware that it is sitting off-center on my door, and I meant to center it better before I took the picture…but something stopped me.  Can you tell what it is?

A lizard was hanging out just beneath the wreath hanger!  I couldn’t move it without either #1) risking him jumping right on my head and #2) squishing him between the hanger and the door.  So I just left it off-center and left the little guy alone.  I will give him some time to find a new hangout spot and go back out and re-center it later.

See the fun stuff we get to deal with here in Florida?!  Are you non-Floridians jealous?  Ha ha!  In all reality lizards like this guy are not a big deal.  It’s the snakes, alligators, palmetto bugs, brain-eating amoebas, and gigantic hairy wolf spiders that freak me out.

A fall/Halloween non-mantel!

Posted by sunshineandsometea in Crafts & Decor and tagged with , , , , , , ,

I am very excited to participate in the It’s Fall Y’all link party series hosted by some of my favorite DIY bloggers!

Today we get the party started with a Fall Mantel party  hosted by Layla over at The Lettered Cottage.  However, I must confess that I very regretfully do not have a mantel.  I live in the sub-tropics and very few of the newer homes down here come with fireplaces.  So sad!  Although we may not need fireplaces for practical purposes, I feel like I really miss out on the architectural interest and charm it would bring to my home.  I make do by treating my small foyer table in almost the same manner, so that is what I am going to show you.

Now, it may not be the most stylish or interesting or creative arrangement, but this vignette is truly filled with some of my favorite items.

The apothecary jar is something I bought at Homegoods back when we first knew we were buying our house.  I think it was one of my very first home decor purchases with the new house in mind.  Most of the year it is filled with artificial lemons, but during the fall, I fill it with some pretty Dollar Tree leaves.

I’m pretty sure the smiling-pumpkin-on-a-pedestal is my favorite singular Halloween decoration I own.  I found it randomly last year at Hobby Lobby and couldn’t leave it behind.  Not sure why I am so drawn to it, but I am.  I think it’s fun and whimsical.

The other touch of fun and whimsy in this vignette are my Boney Bunch pieces!  I love, love, love my Boney Bunch candy dish.  It’s my favorite of all the pieces in my collection.  You can also see my spider tealight holder next to the apothecary jar.

Below all of the items are two felt leaves that I’m sure many of you have seen at Dollar Tree.  I also have red and green felt ornaments that I use in a similar way at Christmas time.  And of course, I added some real baby pumpkins to add a touch of natural to the vignette.  Who doesn’t love pumpkins?

And there you have it!  My fall non-mantel!

The Lettered Cottage
Also linked up to:

Halloween-ified Vase!

Posted by sunshineandsometea in Crafts & Decor and tagged with , , , , , , , ,

Months ago, back when Hobby Lobby first put out their fall decor (which I think was June?), I was walking in the silk floral section when a display of fall-colored grasses and flowers caught my eye.  I saw these vibrant orange grass bunches with yellow & orange feathery-leafy things on the ends.  For some reason I HAD to buy one, so I did.

I decided it would look great for Halloween in a tall, skinny black vase.  So I set about looking for one.  I looked EVERYWHERE!  Nothing was quite the right shape or color or look.  Eventually I gave up.  When it came time to put out the fall/Halloween decor, I was forced to come up with SOMETHING to hold my pretty orange grassy-thing.  I asked Tadd to go to where we kept the vases (the cabinet above the stove) and just see what we had that could work in the meantime while I figured out what to do.

He came up with a cheap bud vase that was just the right size, but it was clear, so really not what I wanted.  But at least I was able to display my pretty Hobby Lobby find.  I eventually kind of pushed it to the back of the vignette on the top of my bar cabinet, behind a Dollar Tree raven and ceramic pumpkin to attempt to downplay the vase.

Then, I stumbled across this great idea from Better Homes and Gardens 100 Days of Holidays and it just clicked!

These are just four dollar store glass goblets, spray painted black!  I actually loved the clear stripe along the rim too.  So I immediately knew what I needed to do!

I taped up the top with some painters tape…

…turned it upside down, and went to town.  First with some primer, then with two coats of black.

Due to the various grooves and details on the vase (and my lack of patience), the line separating the black from the clear was not super clean.  But that wasn’t a big deal because I had something already in mind to fix that.

I just used some of that same spider web ribbon that I used on my Spoooooooky Dollar Tree tray project!  I didn’t even glue it in place yet (because I ran out of glue sticks!), just tied it tight around the vase, right where the transition point is between black and clear.  Worked really well!

Viola!  The finished product!  Cost to me: $0!  I already had the vase, spray paint, and ribbon!  And it works PERFECTLY with my orange grassy thing!

Sorry about the quality of pics in this post.  They were all taken by my phone, since my regular camera is being repaired.

Linking up to Shabby Creek Cottage‘s Transformation Thursday!

A spoooooooooooky Halloween craft!

Posted by sunshineandsometea in Crafts & Decor and tagged with , , , , , ,

As I mentioned yesterday, I finished my little Halloween craft and I am really happy with how it turned out.  As a matter of fact, I am thinking about making another one so I can have a set!

I started with this little wooden tray I found at Dollar Tree.

Which I spray painted with a few coats of black.

At Hobby Lobby, I picked up a little wooden sign with sparkly letters that said “SPOOKY” (they also had “CREEPY”, which I may use next!) and some spider web scrapbook paper.  I already had spider web ribbon and purple ribbon that I knew I could use.   I think if I were buying ribbon just for this project, I would have picked green or orange instead of purple as the accent ribbon, because it does blend in with the black a little bit.  But I wanted to use what I had.

I cut the scrapbook paper to size so that it fit inside the tray.

You can use spray adhesive or whatever you want to glue the scrapbook paper onto the tray.  My can of spray adhesive was dead, so I used a small amount of hot glue.  Probably not the best thing to use on paper, but it’s what I had, and it worked.

I then took the “SPOOKY” wooden letters and used my glue gun to affix them to the inside bottom ledge of the tray.  Then I took the wider purple ribbon and glued one end of it, starting on the outside edge of the tray, underneath the “SPOOKY” letters, pulled it tight all the way around the outside of the tray, and glued the other end on top of where I started.  I followed this up by doing the same with the spider web ribbon, on top of the purple ribbon, only I used a small bead of glue all the way around.  I just drew a straight line with  my glue gun down the middle of the purple ribbon, and then very carefully pressed the spider web ribbon down over the glue, making sure to keep it centered on the purple ribbon.

In the end, it looked like this all around the outside of the tray:

I then took another small length of the spider web ribbon, and used a regular stapler to staple it into the back of each side of the top of the tray, so I could hang it from a hook or a nail in the wall.

I remembered I had a bunch of bright colored plastic insects that I bought last Halloween.  So when Tadd got out my boxes of fall and Halloween decor yesterday, I was thrilled when I saw the plastic baggie full of bright orange spiders and green centipedes (and purple cockroaches…to be honest, those kind of freak me out!).  I hot glued a couple of them onto my sign for one last creepy touch and my project was complete!

I’m hoping I can make it back to both Hobby Lobby and Dollar Tree in time to get another tray and the “CREEPY” letters so I can make a second one

I had so much fun turning this boring little $1 wooden tray…

Into this fun, festive little sign!

Anyone else doing anything to get in the mood for fall and/or Halloween yet?  Or is it just me?

I am linking this up with Thrifty Decor Chick’s September Before & After Party!

Also linked to The Shabby Creek Cottage’s Transformation Thursday link party!

Kicking fall off a little early.

Posted by sunshineandsometea in Crafts & Decor and tagged with , , , , , , ,

I know it’s super early, but I already had Tadd pull out the fall decor boxes…

and got to work!  We didn’t have anything else planned today, so it seemed like a good way to pass the time doing something productive.  The house is starting to look quite festive!  I finished the Dollar Tree tray craft I have been talking about all week and it is looking cute!  I hope to show you what I did sometime this week, so stay tuned for that.

We also went to Bath & Body Works, where I got my fall/Halloween handsoaps (I am a total sucker for them…especially the seasonal ones).  Look at the cute purple & black spider pump topper!

The scents they have for fall are REALLY good this year, old classics and new ones too; sweet cinnamon pumpkin, green candy apple, orchard leaves, sour drop, marshmallow, caramel apple, creamy pumpkin, cranapple crisp, cinnamon raisin cookie, and pumpkin caramel latte.

Oh, and as promised, this is the wall art we bought for the kitchen from Hobby Lobby for $25!  I love it!  Although now I am thinking this corner of the room needs some red to be incorporated somehow.  It’s all looking a little too neutral for me.

Happy September!!!

Posted by sunshineandsometea in Local Central Florida and tagged with , , , , , , , , ,

I can’t tell you how happy I am that the summer months are OVER!  I know in Florida that this absolutely does NOT mean that summer weather is over (we probably have another 6 weeks or so of that), but at least it means I can very nicely request that my husband dig into our “Harry Potter closet” (that’s what we call the closet that goes under our stairwell) this weekend to retrieve the bins of fall and Halloween decor.  I’m not sure if I will really start decorating this weekend or next, but it’s coming…SOON!

It also means that Tadd and I officially made it through our No-Spend August challenge!

We officially met our goal of 18 days in August without spending any money.  It wasn’t always fun, but I can’t tell you how much it helped me realize how much spending a little here and there, without planning, can add up quickly!  It was so nice to see a good sized extra buffer in our checking account, and it made planning our budget SO much easier because there were very very few random, spur-of-the-moment expenses (Starbucks, lunches out, etc).  We planned ahead, spent based on our plans, and anytime we THOUGHT we “needed” something we would challenge ourselves to really think about if it was a need, want, or something we could put off for another day.  I think the biggest tip I took away is cutting out the random little trips to the grocery store!  I always end up spending more than planned if I run into Publix for “just a couple of things”.  We only went grocery shopping 3 times during the month, and all three trips were heavily planned out and meant to last until the next planned grocery trip.  All in all, Tadd and I really value what we gained from the challenge and think we may do another one after the holidays.

I celebrated making it through the challenge by going to Hobby Lobby after work!  Yes, after learning my lesson about unplanned spending, I rewarded myself by doing some unplanned spending…I know…  But, I got a few items that I plan to use on that tiny Dollar Tree wooden tray I got last week, which I spray painted black and plan to turn into a Halloween decoration this weekend.

I also got a large piece of framed wall art for the kitchen that I will show you later.  It goes with the French Bistro look I have going on.  And everything I got was on sale!  I think I spent about $30 total (and the wall art was originally $50 by itself).  So not too shabby.

Tadd and I also treated ourselves to a much-needed date night last night!  We decided to go to Pannullo’s Italian Restaurant on Park Ave in Winter Park.  Once we decided when and where to go, I went on Restaurant.com (which is the site I mentioned previously in this post) and scored a $25 off $45 certificate for $3, using their current 80% off promo code TASTY!  We got there around 7:30 and to our amazement, the weather was comfortable enough for us to sit outside and enjoy the charming atmosphere of Park Avenue.  We each had one adult beverge, shared an appetizer (the cheese triangles…mmmm), salads, bread, and 2 entrees (I had chicken piccata, which was delicious…Tadd had the lobster ravioli), and our bill including tip came to about $50.  Not bad for a nice evening out.  I really, truly love Restaurants.com!

Cheese triangles!

Greek Salad

Chicken Piccata

What is your favorite way to spend a date night?

TGIF and Happy Labor Day!!!  Let’s get this long weekend started!