Book Flowers

A young lady that I (peripherally) work with made these beautiful paper flowers out of book pages and twigs. Stunning, aren't they? And so simply but beautifully displayed in a dark green bottle.

Work Hack - Clip It

yes, that's a green paperclip in my hair

Paperclips are your friend.

~ Did your hem fall? Paperclip it for a quick fix. (or use a stapler, staples hold longer)

~ Need a bobby pin or a small barrette? Paperclip it.

~ Food stuck in your teeth? Well, perhaps that's going a bit too far.

Other helpful ideas?

Happy Easter!

Friday Flashback

It's a doozy of a list! Catching up from the last Friday Flashback at the beginning of March 2012... And apparently I had a prolific March 2011.

Making Toys
Frugal Luxuries: The Library
Playgroup, the Potty, and the Park
I’m Wearing Real Clothes Today!
Batch Cooking #2
Frugal Luxuries: Broth – Too Simple for Words…
Mother’s Day Raffle to Benefit Japan
Max’s Bookshelf
Kitchen Floor Update
Fungus, Eww
Muffins Six and a Half Ways
Taking a Risk on my Kitchen
Time Change and Spring
Barter Item
Bartering – Trade it on Up!
Really? It’s Free?
The Other Side of Thrift: Too Much Thrifting
Shopping Thrift
Saturday Give Away!
Coming Up: The 2nd aRRR!
Kitchen Clean Out
The Compost Bag
Making Pizza at Home
Max’s Room
A Car Update
Review: Surfing Silver
Birthday Brownies

Jewelry Box

And by jewelry box, I mean literally a box.

We had a jewelry swap at work, and since I cleaned out a pretty massive amount of jewelry I wanted it to be displayed cheaply but relatively attractively. I thought about stretching a piece of lace across a picture frame, but that’s too much effort. I thought about using a piece of foam board, but I’d have to spend money. I considered covering a pizza box and propping it up… but again, too much effort.

But you know what I did have? A little box that an exterior light came in. So I carefully took it apart, turned it inside out, taped it back up, and with a few thumbtacks had myself a display.

Frugal Luxuries: Revived Towels

Mom, stop reading this. I'll never hear the end of it... (my mom affectionately calls me Rainbow whenever I do something she considers crunchy or Martha when I do something crafty - and this qualifies as both)

I have a lot of mis-matched towels. Are you with me on this one? You know, all of those random towels that you picked up 2 at a time because they were pretty and on sale but didn't match your current towels, or the stray ones leftover from your parents/roommate/ex that are perfectly usable, but might be a little ratty/discolored/faded?

When I got married I thought I'd have matching towels. It just seemed like something you had when you were married, matching towels. Not so much. Though I give major thanks to my Aunt L. who gave us white towels for a wedding gift - they're the wedding gift that I use the most frequently and I think of her often. And it makes the bathroom look so much nicer with a white towel drying on the bar instead of the once-blue towel with the frayed edges...

I've been thinking about trying out fabric dye, and what better fabric to test it out on than my old (not-white) towels? Perhaps if they're all the same color I'll stop hiding them from guests?

So I used a bottle of blue and a bottle of green (because I love me some turquoise/aqua/blue-green) and went to town. Well, before I went to town I used a packet of color remover (which did nothing) and then a round of bleach (which did something, but not a lot).

On to the color part! I followed the directions and let the washer fill with some water (not as hot as it should have been, thanks old house) added the dye and salt, and then added the towels. That I forgot to wet first. Whoops.

Pretty!

But, hey, the results were pretty awesome! They didn't turn out the same color by a long shot (what's up with the bright green one???) but they're all in the same color family, finally. You'd never know they started out life as pink, purple, blue, orangey-green, tan, etc. Well, except for that purple-ish one on the bottom, that one obviously started out purple. And they look lovely next to my white towels. The ones that turned out blotchy did so in an interesting way like I did it on purpose. Which I must have, of course.

For less than $10 I have "new" towels - and since I rinsed the dye bottles really well they went into recycling so there was no trash involved. Woo!

Coffee Canister Redo

 I drink a lot of coffee at work with the help of my French press. I’d been keeping my work coffee in the bag that it comes in, but I wanted something a little prettier.

Enter: The cookie can (courtesy of Mimi, hubby’s grandmother)

With a few coats of spray paint left over from another project…

Viola! Pretty, practical, and free.