Something Cheap and Easy!

No need for me to break this one down for you guys…..it’s just too easy! It literally took me a few minutes. This is a wonderful way to store your plastic grocery bags! Yes I do recycle most of them at the plastic bag drop off in my local grocery store and I have a set of cloth bags that I mainly use but sometimes a gal needs a plastic bag.

I’ll let the pictures do most of the talking.........

Tape or glue will work

Roll, roll, roll......

and stuff, stuff, stuff (stuff as many bags as you can fit)





All done!

After you’ve rolled your wrapping paper or wall paper or whatever you decide to use tape or glue the paper to the roll to keep it from unraveling. After it's secured cut off the excess paper from the ends of the roll leaving about 1inch or so to work with. Gently tuck ends inside paper towel roll. Once they are tucked in use a little glue to secure them. This will keep the paper intact when you are pulling plastic bags out for use.

So many things you can do with thisLeave it under your car seat in case you’re in a pinch and need a plastic bag (nauseous little one, wet swim suit, trash bag for the car, one of the dogs went # 2 at the park and your don’t have any poop bags on hand, I could go on and on). If you have an older child hang one of these bad boys on the inside of their bedroom door as replacement bags for their trash can. Who knows it might push them to take out their trash more often. I’ve tried just leaving extra bags in my car but when I get it cleaned they always throw them away. This way they are tucked nicely under my seat and ready to go if I need one!

Disclaimer: I’m All about recycling so be sure to reuse these little guys when you can or recycle them at a local plastic bag drop off.

Today I linking up with:Metamorphosis Monday
Trash to Treasure Tuesday
Tatertots and Jello

Silly Little Rant

I’m on my way to the post office. It’s a bitter sweet trip. I’m shipping the shoes out that I fancied up a bit and posted on ebay. I’m soooo excited that they sold and have received a few special orders which I am even more thrilled about. It makes me sooo happy to know some little girl will be wearing something I created and hopefully enjoy them as much as I have!



I love the pink converse but am ok with letting them go. It’s the little cup cake mary janes I’m sad to see go. The buyer took awhile to pay for them so I was secretly hoping she would end up not wanting them, shhhh don’t tell her! But her payment went through and they are packed and ready to go. She sent me an e-mail telling me how excited her daughter is to wear her new shoes. I know, how sweet is that! I’m just sad to see them go….their sooo cute. I was thinking about saving them for my little one (if the payment didn’t go through). Oh wait I don’t have a little one unless you are talking about the furry kind.


Yea! for people taking interest in the items I posted
Boo for seeing these little jewels go.

I know, I know, I’m being crazy. You don’t have to tell me.

Breakfast in Bed?

I’ve been on the hunt for a little tray, ya know in case Kent wants to surprise me with breakfast in bed ;) Well I found a nice sturdy one at Goodwill for $2.99! With a little love I knew this guy would fix up real nice.

Here he is all naked and shy….

And here he is strutting his stuff with new found confidence!

Little sanding and some red spray paint

A coat of Modge Podge with my handy dandy sponge brush (don’t ya just love sponge brushes) I then applied the scrapbook paper which turned into a small mishap (I talk more about that below). After I fixed the problem I applied more Modge Pogde to make sure scrapbook paper was sealed and waited for it to dry before the next step.

A little trick I learned for Lindsay! No need for transfer paper here. Just grab a section of well printed new paper, tape you stencil to the news paper, grab a ball point pen or pencil and go to town. Be sure to press firmly while tracing your stencil (I used online clip art to create my stencil) so the ink transfers to your hard surface. Lindsay used this trick on a primed wood table but I thought it might work for my project as well so I gave it a try…..and it did!

I used the obituary section. I felt a little bad for doing so but it was the only section I could find that had the most ink on it. I did tell the deceased that I was tracing over that I was sorry….does that make it better?

It’s hard to see in this picture but if you click on the picture to enlarge it you can see the light line it left behind. After I moved the news paper away I used my pen to trace the lines the news paper left behind so they were more prominent, perfect for someone like me who can’t paint worth a flip. Give me a wall and a paint brush and I’ll go to town but ask me to free form something and you'll end up with something that looks like a 2 year old painted.

Got out my cheap RoseArt paint brush set, some black paint and went to town

Here’s the finished product. Not too bad for a gal that can’t paint!

This project took on a life of its own. I originally wanted it to be pale pink but decided that I would use it in the living room a lot and wanted it to match the house so I decided to go with red. The pink spray paint is waiting in my garage for another project. I also originally planned to use 2 full sheets of scrapbook paper but I didn’t give them enough room so when I applied the decoupage they wrinkled pretty badly. That’s when I decided to rip small pieces of the extra scrapbook paper to cover the wrinkles. It worked, but gave me much different effect than I originally planned. When I got done with decoupage step it reminded me too much of a fire house, you know Dalmatian and all so I decided to paint something in the middle. That’s when the fleur de lis came in. The end result is wayyy different that I planned but I think it’s fun and will be put to good uses when my classes start back up in the Fall. Total for this project was……$5.00, not too bad!

Breakfast anyone? Now I just need Kent to bring it up to me :)

Today I'm linking up with:
The Shabby Chic Cottage for Transformation Thursday
A Soft Place to Land for DIY Day
Southern Hospitality for Thrifty Treasures

Twice Remembred for Make Your Monday

Thrifty Treasures

Well I tried my hardest to stay out of Goodwill last week but for some reason my car just couldn't help its self from making a stop when we passed by. I’m glad my car decided that we needed a little shopping break because I would have missed out on some great finds!


I almost miss this. It was tucked away in corner but on my second walk through I spotted it. I almost didn’t get it but thought of a project and decided it would be perfect! I’m not sure of the exact length but I’m guessing it’s about 6 yards. I paid $9.00. Sounds like a good deal to me!

Closer look

Another GW find. This guy was 4.99. I need to make a trip to Joann’s to finish it off but I have just the right place for it!

This guy is for my Mom. He was only $4.00 and a lot taller than he looks in the picture. My Mom’s Christmas colors are pink, white, pale blue, and silver. I think he will fit in lovely.

Do you remember my green book from last week….well he found a couple friends. Meet Miss Orange and Lady Yellow! I think they will get along nicely.

All Christmas decor at GW (in my area at least) is 25% off. As you can tell I’ve been taking advantage of the extra discount. My plan this year for Christmas is to make all presents we gift (except for nieces and nephews. I won’t make them suffer with my homemade gifts). I’m hoping this will cut back on our Christmas spending so I’ve been gathering baskets to use as gift baskets. These were $1.00 each, the red and green shredded gift paper was $.50 each, and the little gift box was $.50 as well. They will never know the baskets came from GW.

These gilded pears were $.50 for the larger ones and $.25 for the smaller ones. I think I might need to go back and get a few more. They are bran new with original tags attached. The price on the original tag was $6.00 for the larger ones and $4.50 for the smaller guys.

I’ve seen a lot of great things done with these guys….I don’t even know what they are called. I snatched them up for $.50 a piece. I’m about to decorate our guest room so I’m thinking I can use them in there. I’ll post pictures when I get finished it.

Ohhh the Things that Happen at Goodwill

I thought I would take a few seconds to talk about Goodwill experiences. As some us may know we encounter all different types of people at Goodwill. For the most part people keep to the selves but every now and then you many run into a character. The other day an older women started talking to me. I could tell that she was very lonely and just wanted someone to listen so I did just that. She told me her whole life story. I learned about her marriage, her son, her grandchildren, her health, her finances, all the people that wronged her, and the list just goes on and on. She had a very hard life and really just needed someone to talk to so I listened to what she had to say. She was from Germany and moved to the states with her husband. They were married for 40 years until he cheated on her. Around this part of the conversation things started getting a little…..uncomfortable. She went on to tell me about their sex life (I’ll save you the gory details) and how she told him if he ever cheated on her she would kill him. I started nervously laughing as if she was joking but she went on to assure me that he would be dead today if she had found out. She told me several times that she “really” would have killed him. That’s when I started thinking it was time to close shop and find a way out of the conversation. Luckily my friend Andrea happened to call (thanks Andrea) which I thought would give me an out without offending her. She continued to talk to me as I was talking to Andrea on the phone. I just had to tell her politely to have a good day and started walking away even though she was mid sentence. While I continued my shopping and conversation with Andrea another gentleman started talking to me. He was very kind and only wanted to tell me that I was being very patient with the older lady. He said she talked more than most people should talk in a month!

This whole encounter just got me thinking about all the funny and strange things that have happened while I’ve been shopping at a GW/Thrift Stores. So I was wondering, do you have any stories like mine or am I the only one that has "Goodwill Stories"? They can be funny, heartwarming, strange, whatever. I thought it would be fun to do a post with a few of these stories. I have a few more to share as well. If you have one that’s short share it in your comment on this post. If it’s a longer story shoot me an e-mail at domesticprincessintraining@gmail.com and I will pick a few to post. If your story/situation gets posted you can link back so you share it with your readers as well.

Today I'm linking up with:
http://southernhospitalityblog.com/

Show us Your Life

Today I’m linking up with Kelly for “Show us Your Dress”! Kent (my fiancee) and I are not married but in the mist of planning our 2010 destination wedding! My dress is about the only thing I can cross of my long wedding to do list. I'm not too crazy about planning a wedding. I want it to be simple and LOW STRESS! I wish I could get some pictures of it but it’s locked away at my Mom’s house. She knows me too well. If I stored it at my house I would find any reason I could to wear it; have you seen that Friends episode where Monica wears a wedding dress to wash dishes (ahh…Friends I miss it so)? That’s would be me!

What I was looking for

I wanted something strapless and timeless. I wanted to be able to look back at my wedding pictures and not think I was out of my mind for selecting my dress. I would love for my daughter (fingers crossed that we have a little girl some day) to wear my dress at her wedding if she wanted to. Can you tell I’m a planner by that last sentence? I think I found something that is timeless and not too trendy. I’m really in love with it!

Sorry about the bad pictures. David’s no longer carries this dress and I do not have any pictures of me in it so this is all I could find.

How this Beauty Came to be MINE!

I stopped into Davids Bridal to pick up my maid of honor dress for my best friends wedding. My Mom was with me and suggested that I try on a few dresses “just for fun”. Kent and I has just got engaged and not even set a date but I sure love wedding dresses so I thought, why not! We picked out a TON of dresses. My dress was the 1st one I tried on! My Mom started crying when I walked out of the dressing room. I thought it was because she had never seen me in a wedding dress but later found out that she was crying because she knew it was THE DRESS! She didn’t want to influence my decision too much right off the bat tell me since it was the first dress I had ever tried on. Little did she know I knew it too! Who would have thought you could connect with a dress. Well let me tell ya me and my dress connected that afternoon. I tried on several others but noting made me feel like the first one. So I left that day with a brides made dress and a wedding dress! I cant wait to wear it on the BIG day!

I purchased it in ivory which is more this color than the picture above.

Ahh I love the bead work!

Just for FUN here is a link to watch the clip from Friends that I was talking about above. It still cracks me up!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jReYu4BL_c

I Didn’t Whip Up a Delicious Dish to Share BUT I Did Eat Something Delicious!

So as some of you know I’m following the Weight Watchers plan and of course loving it! The thing I love most about it is I can eat pretty much whatever I want as long as it’s within my point range. I needed to make a trip to the grocery store the other day but could not squeeze it in, or maybe I was just not in the mood to face Wally World (aka Walmart, aka mad house). So what do ya do when there is no food at home…..hit up a fast food joint. I choose TACO BELL! I felt sooo guilty after I finished eating, as if I had cheated on my diet uhh I mean my new healthy life style (that's what they tell us at W.W. It's not a diet but a "healthy life style"). But no no no, I did not cheat everything I ate was within my point allowance! It was so delicious that I thought I would share. Next time you’re in a crunch but don’t want to blow the calorie bank think about these healthier options.



The Fine Print: Now, am I saying to eat Taco Bell everyday, no way! But if your car magically starts to turn into a Taco Bell parking lot don't fret they have a few things that will keep you on track.



All items I ordered were from the Fresco Menu. I was not able to find images that I could cut and paste onto this post but if you check out the link you can see their full Fresco menu including images! Click on the title of this post to visit the full Fresco Menu.


Ok, here's what I had
*Fresco Crispy Tacos =3pts each, It has pico de gallo on top. There's no cheese but I didn’t miss it!

*Fresco Beef Gordita Baja= 5pts This was my favorite and well worth the pts!



I was looking through the point values for Taco Bell and the item with the highest point value is the Fiesta Taco Salad coming in at 20pts! Who would have thought. That's almost my whole daily point allowance. Another one is the Nachos Bell Grande which is 19pts! I must say I do love the Nachos Bell Grande but now that I know how many points it is I will be skipping this one.




I ended up having 2 tacos and the Gordita (I had quite a few points left for the day). It was plenty and my belly was full. I had to check out the Taco Bell site for nutrition facts for each item I ate to make sure my Weight Watchers Dinning Out Companion was not lying to me; and it wasn't! Sorry if you are not following the W.W. program the whole points thing may be a blur to you but the main idea is that there are healthy options out there for ya if you want to find them. They have many more items on the Fresco Menu. Next time you’re at the Bell check it out and let me know what you think.




Ps..I would be happy to answerer any questions I can about the Weight Watchers program. Just leave me a comment or shoot me an email at (one word): domestic princess in training (at) gmail (dot) com

If you read this all the way through bless your heart and thank you!

Thrifty Treasures

Ahh Goodwill how I love you so! Garage sales may waste my time but you never fail me. You always have something waiting for me when I stop by!

I paid 3.99 for this bad boy and…..

turned it into this. Click here to see the transformation.

I was sooo happy when I found these. They are the exact colors I use in my Christmas décor ok and my home décor as well! They still had the price tag on the bottom. I paid .50 each but the original tag says these little ladies are from the Container Store and used to be $5.00 a pop. I’m not going to want to part with them when Christmas rolls around. Maybe I’ll wrap some of Kent’s gifts in them so we can keep them in the fam. I know, I’m bad!


Ahh, I could not pass up these beauties! The tall jar was $2.19 and the small canister was $1.00. The book was $2.00, more than I was planning on paying for an old book but it’s the 1st one I’ve found that I love so I snatched it up.

I’ve been on the hunt for old books for some time now. I’m being a little picky. I want some that are colorful and have fun prints or fonts on the cover. This one fits all my categories.

All glass items were .59! I thought the glass bowls would be great for dips or sauces when we have company. It’s hard to tell from the picture but parts of the stems are silver plated. The Christmas tags were .50. I already have some like them that I bought a Target last year. I think I paid $2.00 so .50 for a new box is a steal!

Oh and just an F.Y.I all Christmas items are 25% off at Goodwill

$1.00 at Goodwill. Sorry it’s a bad picture. I just cleaned it and looks like my dish towel left some fuzzies behind. I love the shape of this dish!

.59 cents! This one will be tucked away in my closet until I come up with a master plan for it.

Today I’m linking up with Rhoda's Thrifty Treasures!

From BAD to Good, the Story of a Poor Painting

I purchased this personal painting at Goodwill for $3.99. Sorry to whoever painted this picture. Looks like you put a lot of work into it but it’s time for it to move on and find a new home and purpose. Let’s have a moment of silence for this guy……

And here he is all pretty and shiny! I didn’t use painstaking brush storks or fancy paints to create this like the artist did before. I did use my favs…..chalkboard paint and of course spay paint!

I used a butter knife to loosen the nails in the back so I could pull art work out. Since the front of the canvas is a little bumpy (which would not work well with the chalk board paint) I flipped the canvas over and applied 2 thin coats of chalk board paint with my sponge paint brush.

This is the back of the frame once the chalk board is back in place. I cut 2 pieces of twine that ran the length of the canvas and tighten them in place as I used my butter knife to bend the nails back in their original place. If you look at the right top and bottom of the frame you can see the twine. You could also use a staple gun to fasten the twine in place.

I originally wanted it to be a magnetic/chalk board but when I went to Home Depot and saw the magnetic primer was $20.00 so I canceled out that bright idea and came up with this (twine and clothes pins). I’m sure I would have used the magnetic primer for other projects but being the cheap gal that I am talked myself out of buying it.

I finished it off with a few clothes pens that I spray painted red. We used to have a magnetic board here that I used store restaurant coupons and invitations. Now we can keep track of coupons, party invites and have a place to write a “To Do” list. Kent doesn’t know it yet but this is going to be his very own little chalk board for all his Honey Do’s! Right now it kind of blends into our butter cream walls (which for some reason always looks white in photos) but it will soon pop when I give this room (our laundry room) a coat of light green paint.

I hope this inspires you to head out to your local Goodwill/Thrift Store and give something that others may see as dead a new life! Like always I love to see what my projects inspire you to do so shoot me an e-mail at (one word): domestic princess in training (at) gmail (dot) com.

Today I'm linking up with:

Between Naps on the Porch

Renivented
Sanctuary Arts at Home