Magnetic photo frames

Last Christmas I received a Barnes and Noble giftcard and with that I picked up this great book: Photojojo!:Insanely Great Photo Projects and DIY Ideas . I love, love this book. One of their projects is creating magnetic picture frames that look like plaques. All you need is some magnetic paper and the Contact Paper that looks like wood grain. They had a fridge full and it looked really great. I made a couple of basic plaque looking frames, but then experimented with some other borders.

 The circle with the picture in it was made with wrapping paper. I finally found a project to use some of my wrapping paper collection! I plan on making some more for the holidays with my vast amount of Christmas paper.

This frame was made with an old roll of Contact Paper I had found at a thrift store. It's a bit ugly, but I couldn't help but buy it. There is so much potential for future projects with it. It's not really my style, but I still like how it turned out.

Buffet redo

This buffet was one of the first "new" pieces of furniture that I bought after we moved in our house ten years ago. I spotted it at a rummage sale near our house, but it was $50. We were young, just starting out and that was a lot of money. I left it at the rummage sale, but it bothered me for awhile and I drove by later, thinking that if it was still there I would get it. Thankfully, it was still there waiting for me. We were in desperate need for more furniture and this was a neat, well made, sturdy piece. I handed over the $50, shoved it in the back of the Blazer and stuck it in a corner of the dining room. I had always intended on making it over, but I never was really sure what to do with it and then life got in the way and it sort of got forgotten.



 As our family grew, so did the junk. And not the good kind of junk. I was going to clean this up before I took the picture, but this makes the "after" more dramatic, don't you think? Up until last year, I was pretty good about keeping my buffet clean. The kids did keep some toys and Legos in the buffet, but the top was reserved for my hubby's hunting and fishing collectibles and in the winter it showcased Christmas decorations. Lately, however, the buffet was becoming a catchall for everything. This spring I had a wild hair and just had to redo it. The hubby complained about having to help haul it out to the garage, but he loves how it turned out.

 I love my new buffet as well. I'm really proud of the middle row of drawers. I didn't like the two knobs on the side, so I switched it so the drawer pulls are in the middle. I'm going to keep a lot of kitchen things in the buffet, but haven't started organizing it yet. It will free up a lot of space in my kitchen, which I'm so happy about.

This label was inside one of the drawers. I can't remember if I ever saw it before and forgot about it or if I just noticed it when I was cleaning it out.

Picture frame three ways

Back in February I found myself at Target, where all of their Valentines stuff was 70% off. There were a lot of frames, but the plain old pink frames with nothing on them caught my eye. I picked up a few of them and now regret not being greedy and buying them all. The frames sat in my craft stash for many months when spring fever took hold and I made up three new frames in no time. The best thing was everything came out of my craft piles so I didn't buy anything new to complete these.



 For this frame I used some contact paper I got at the dollar store. Then I added a piece of adhesive ribbon tape and phrase from my scrapbooking supplies.  

I have always adored any decoupaging done with comic book pages. Those projects are always so fun. I couldn't help but use a Dennis the Menace comic book I had for this frame. My menaces look perfect in it.  

My favorite frame and the frame that will go in my crafting space if I ever get one. It is covered with pattern paper and a few embellishments from my crafting stash. I had originally just written "Sew Cute" on the paper with crayon, but I wasn't really happy with how it looked. Somehow I had the brilliant idea to glue thread over the letters to write out "Sew Cute". I love how it turned it out.

Green striped trunk

My find of the day at yesterday's rummage sale was the trunk. I've been looking for another trunk for one of the boys' rooms. I'm just not sure I can give it up. Not that I have a space for it. I just really like it. It's green. And it has stripes. Two of my favorite things.

 There is a tag on the side handle that adds some more charm to the trunk. The writing is very faded, but I could make out some of it. It was going to someone in Ohio.

 This is the back of the tag.

I love this clothing list that was taped in the inside lid. I'm guessing this is a list of what was or needed to be packed inside. That trunk could hold a lot of clothes! I also love what is on the list. It's definitely from another time. Multiple pairs of trousers, neckties, undershirts and 18(!) hankies are on the list. You can snicker like a middle schooler, because one pair of rubbers are on the list too. And don't forget to pack two pairs of western jeans!

Best. Rummage. Sale. Ever.

Today I learned about a really great rummage sale south of Mandan. I can't even explain how incredible it was. It took me well over half an hour to go through it and I was rushing it because the kids were with. I could have gone through again and come out with another box full easily.

This is all my finds, which I paid a whole $10 for. Did I mention that not only was there an incredible amount of stuff, it was also really cheap? Yah, it was awesome.

Take me out to the ballgame

This week my son and I made a quick trip to the cities. He had a doctor's appointment and as luck would have it, the Twins were in town. I am a homebody, but if I had to be any place other than home I would want to be at the ballpark. I grew up with the Metrodome, but I can't get over how much I love Target Field. I feel so privileged that this is the park my kids will grow up with. I would really like to visit Wrigley Field and Fenway, because of the history those two parks hold, but I also love many of the new parks that are designed to look vintage.

One of my favorite features of Target Field is the vintage logo in center field. It features Minnie and Paul shaking hands across the Mississippi. Ray Barton created the logo in 1961. He was paid $15 for his work. Barton thought the image would appear on some cups and other things at old Metropolitan Stadium, but it ended up being one of the team's official logos.

One more piece of Twins history- The Mall of America now resides where Metropolitan Stadium once stood. Take a walk around Nickelodeon Universe and you may spot a gold home plate that marks the spot of Metropolitan Stadium's original home plate.

My "new" umbrella

I thought I got all the pictures I wanted off the old computer, but I can't find my umbrella pictures so this one will have to do. The handle is really neat so I'll have to take some more pictures to show the detail. The inside of the umbrella has some writing in it and it looks like it was made in Philadelphia. I got some use out of it in April and May when we got a few showers, but I was afraid to use it. As usual, we usually get a little wind with rain and I didn't want to ruin it. I almost didn't buy the umbrella, but I'm so happy I did. It might be raining, but it makes me happy to pull it out and use it.

Ski coat hanger

Luckily we didn’t have any viruses or gunk clogging up our computer, but it seems the old thing had reached its memory capacity so we ended up getting a new computer. I’m sorry I haven’t posted in a loooooong time, but I couldn’t stand trying to do anything on that old computer and I took my sweet old time in finding a new one. The good news is that while I wasn’t spending my normal too much time on the computer, I was out junkin’ and finishing some projects I’ve had on my mind for a while so I’ve got a lot to share. Here we go….

I bought this kid's waterski a long time ago. I didn't even classify myself as a junker at the time. I just really liked these skiis. I'm so glad I went with my gut and bought them. They have spent a lot of time in the basement waiting to be used so I'm happy to say, they finally will be put to good use. The top picture isn't a very good picture, but at least you get the idea what it looks like.

We are in the process of getting a couple of bedrooms in the basement done and I'm hoping this will go in one of the boys' room. He's not really sold on the idea, but we'll see.