{Frugal} Front Porch Fun

I've never really done anything exciting with my front porch so I thought I'd give it a go this year.



Using inexpensive Terracotta Pots I knew I could spray paint them and add my own little touches without breaking the bank.
Here I spray painted the small ones Green Apple from Rust-oleum

p.s. This what your picture looks like when you take it late at night.

Mod Podged with paper and then sprayed with a Clear coat of lacquer. Hopefully, to at least make somewhat water proof.
I had these metal alphabets letters and I took paper clips and unfolded them to make hooks!


This one I put vinyl stickers on.
On the bigger pots I spray painted Lagoon, also from Rust-oleum ( I love teal) and also Mod Podged. This one I added that cute little seed packet to the front!

To make these "rulers" I took the little label cards that come in the flowers from the store and Mod Podged this cute ruler paper over it! Now maybe I will know how my Garden Grows!



FYI. Terracotta pots make excellent chalkboards and even if you spray paint them a color you can still write on them with chalk!


The big pot that I added the "Bloom" too with metal letters is also home to a vintage ruler I had laying around my office.
The number one way to frugal-ize (I'm sure that's a word ;) your space is to use things around the house. I took scrapbook paper and some frames, easy-pesy.




I added this cute frame to this pot by tying the ribbons to the handles.



A bird cages from the thrift store to hold a pot.

Another frame laying the house that finally has a home!


Well, I think I need a new picture but there you go.

Strolling-- Before & After

 I recently came across the term "stroller envy," while reading a mommy magazine.  I realized I have been suffering from it.  Although I have 3 other nice strollers, sometimes you just need to use the small umbrella stroller.   For my 1st child, I  had  a very cute umbrella stroller that had a giraffe print seat and black frame (Baby Trend).

(Now she's 7, where does the time go?)

 Unfortunately, we took it on a trip and the airline busted one of the wheels off (and of course they aren't liable mind you),  so we had to pick up one quick on the cheap.  Enter this little eyesore:

BEFORE:

I have been pushing this around ever since, and then with my 2nd child, (and I'm not pushing this ugly around with my 3rd, L.J., 15 mo anymore.)   Not that it's terrible, but the frame is a weird green tone that doesn't even coordinate with the blue/green striped fabric. Strollers are for the mom's just as much (if not more so) than babies, and this definitely looks babyish.

(no, I don't have man hands, my hubby touched up around the wheels for me)

So, rather than spend another 15 bucks on another stroller that is equally babyish, and also not fork out mucho$ for one that IS cute, I went the DIY route.

(Top Back of Fabric Seat)

Here is is after fabric from JoAnn's recovering the seat and a little brown leather spray paint on the frame.
I just took the seat off and cut a bigger piece of fabric and then sewed it right onto the old seat.   I wasn't too concerned about new straps since the baby usually covers up those anyway.

AFTER:

 Took a grand total of about 2 1/2 hours and less than $10.  Wish I would have done this sooner.  

An early start...

Somewhere in blogland I came across this tree.  I love the color scheme. 

My tree last year was nice.... but I'm more than a little tired of the red color scheme I had going on.   I looked at Wally World and their glass ornaments are $4 for a pack of 4 big glass ball ornaments, or $15 for a bunch of small ones.  I guess they're not terribly expensive, but that would be AT LEAST $19 if I ONLY got 2 packs. Certainly not enough to fill up my 9 ft tree.  

So I decided to do a little recycling, with this: 

and lots of these from my basement:

I left the gold ones alone, but after I sprayed the light and dark red ornaments, I was quite pleased and surprised with the results.

I love that the dark red ones turned out light purple, so I only did a light coat on those.  I did 2 coats on the light red to make them very pink.  They dried really quickly too, I only waited 5 min in between coats, long enough to roll them over and make sure the whole thing was painted.  

Then there were these 2 emerald green ornaments I never liked, but I'm glad I didn't throw them away last year.

And you, Hawaiian Santa,

you're perfect just the way you are...

Total Cost: $4.34 for spray paint.

This is just the first of many ideas for my tree this year.  I'm glad I was able to get them painted before the hustle and bustle of the holidays gets in full swing.   I'll be working on a few Christmas projects before Thanksgiving, so I can actually enjoy them and be ready to bust out the decorations December 1st!

Meet the Girls

Here's the ladies I found for a mere $3.50 each at the Goodwill last week.

Before:

Enter my friends Krylon Primer and Krylon Blue Ocean Breeze.  

Enter this old accordion lampshade, transformed with fabric I cut into curved strips and hot glued on to create a feminine petal type shade.

Lamp Shade Before :

Shade meets Base:

2 lamp bases -$7, 1 can spray paint $3 (already had the primer), 1 old lampshade-free.

I was checking out light fixtures at Target, and would have spent around $50 bones for the same size lamp.  I'll stop sitting in the dark for ten dollars:-)  We could all use more light in our rooms.   Have you used spray paint on anything lately?