Mommy Octopus

This week’s Weekend Boredom Buster is brought to us by my friend Torri of Southern Traditions Boutique.  Torri tells us below how to re-purpose those old frames!

Lately I’ve been looking for frames at yard sales and thrift stores. You can leave them as is or paint them. There’s so many wonderful things you can put in them as well, or you can leave them blank!

I’ve seen pretty pictures of walls decked out in just the skeleton of the frame, all painted the same color. Some of them are done in the same color hue, or completely different. Above a mantel, going up the stairway, greeting you in the foyer, the ideas are endless!

About a year ago I got these frames for $2.00 each. They are BIG, and I love the color. Even the black and white romantic pictures are very nice, just not my style. I got them because I knew there was something I could put in them!

All I did was take off the back of the frame (I have to admit, they were kind of a pain in the rear, but after taking off the tape and bending back the staples, I eventually got to the picture, WHEW!). I didn’t realize that the picture and mat were one in the same, but no problem! The 12″ x 12″ piece of scrapbook paper fit just perfectly over the picture. All I used was tape on the backside of the paper to make sure it didn’t go anywhere.

Next, I had already decided what pictures I wanted of the kids. I printed both of them on regular 8×10 photo paper (did you know that Dollar Tree has photo paper? It really is good and so much cheaper!). I have a photo editing program that changed the color photos to the sepia ones that you see, which I thought matched the damask paper perfectly! I did an 8″ square of the photo that allowed 2″ on each side, which made a nice mat around the photo.

Then I placed it back into the frame and VOILA! New custom-looking photo frames for a FRACTION of what it would cost at the big craft/frame stores. I think all total, I spent $6.00 for this project! They are hanging up in our bedroom and look lovely with our newly painted “Caffe colache” walls.

Try your hand at reframing something. It really does give new life and leaves these things out of the landfills! 🙂 ENJOY!

This craft is about as simple as it gets.  All ages can help out, and the results are amazing!

What you’ll need:

Epsom Salts

Sea Salts

Food Coloring

Scent (you can use essential oil, specially designed bath craft scents, or even raid your cupboard for things like almond extract)

Gallon Sized zip-close bag

Jars or Baggies for the finished product

You can pick up most of these items at a Craft store, or even a dollar store.  

You can make this in any quantity depending on the size of the containers you are putting the finished salts in. In the zip-close bag add 3 parts Epsom Salts to 1 part Sea Salts.Add a drop or two or food coloring and a few drops of your chosen scent.

Close bag and shake until all salts are mixed and evenly colored.  If you want the color darker add more dye and shake again, do the same with scent, if it is not strong enough add more and shake well.

Pour the salts into your containers. You can decorate the bottles or leave them as is.  These make great Valentine’s Day gifts for friends and teachers!

A question I received recently was where do I store my stockpile.  The answer is…. everywhere!  Find space that isn’t being used and utilize it.  I do not have a garage or a basement, so storage is a problem at my house.

Here are some ideas:

• Get decorative boxes to use in your kitchen above the cabinets
• Organize under your bathroom counters and install shelves
• Put an extra shelf in your pantry or above your washing mashine
• Put risers on your bed to raise it allow for more storage underneath

Really anywhere that you can put an extra shelf, do it!

An odd place at my house where we store items is….. UNDER THE COUCH!  Yes, under the couch.  We have a couch that came from Ikea that we bought for a fraction of the price on craigslist.  It is a section and under each of the long parts, there is a drawer that slides out for storage!  I keep all our toiletries under here that we need often – deoderant, toothbrushes, toothpaste, and shoebox full of sample/trial size items.  No one even knows it’s there!

How about you?  What unique places have you found to store your stockpile?

Merry Christmas to all my wonderful readers!   I hope each and every one of you have a fantastic day!  Here in Georgia, it’s pouring down rain, but I’ve had a great day so far.  Opened presents with the kids, went to church, lunch with my husband during his break, and now back at home to let the kids play.  I plan on taking  the rest of the day off, but my assistant may post a little. Thanks for taking time out of your day to read my blog and Merry Christmas!

I got a couple emails today wondering about Meal Plan Monday and other normal blog posts.  And why the heck am I so behind?  The answer?  I’m losing my mind!  Okay, not quite, but we’re preparing for a cross country road trip, leaving at 3am Friday morning!  I’ve been scrambling to pack for 6 people, make sure we’ve got our house and pet sitter ready with instructions, moving everything back in from storage (house didn’t sell, so staying put right now), and everything else.

So the answer?  There is no meal plan!  Eating leftovers, stuff from our bountiful basket, and anything else that may go bad while we’re gone.  Although, I suppose I could leave some of that for our house sitter….

Anyways, we’re gearing up to spend 2 days in Hershey and Lancaster, PA.  Then on to Buffalo New York!  Any readers out that way?

Never fear though, I have a great assistant who is going to be doing some blogging for me and I’ll try to blog some as well when I’m not trapped in the van with 4 kids and a hubby.  Pray for my sanity on our adventure… and that I don’t freeze going from the warmth of the south (70s here today!) to the north.  I shiver just thinking about it.  I will be back in a week or 2 to defrost and then we’ll be back to business as usual.  Or not so usual since it will be crazy until after Christmas.  Nevertheless, I shall return!