True Femininity Giveaway!

Hello friends in Christ!

My lovely fellow blogger at True Femininity is hosting another CSN store, giftcard giveaway!  Just in time for spring cleaning!  So hop on over see how to join in!

God Bless!

A Chest of Hopes addition...

Another frugal way to "prettify" notebooks would be to find some inexpensive wrapping paper at a dollar store.  Then you could use one solid piece for the whole notebook, rather than 2 different pieces.

Just a thought I had on my last post subject.

A Chest of Hopes

I was feeling inspired after reading a post over at Feelin' Feminine.  I decided to beautify one of my extra notebooks that I had lying around.

Before: boring and somewhat ugly.

After
This is the front.  I used some leftover scrapbook pages I had from a set of pages I got at a garage sale.

Here is the back.  This was going to be the front, but I cut one of the corners a little too much, so I put it on the back instead.













I am going to fill it with items I want in my hope chest, skills I want to learn, craft project ideas, perhaps some recipes as well.

If anyone has some ideas they'd like to share, I would love to hear them.

My Domestic Tuesday

 This is our very pretty shower curtain-and it was FREE!  My roommate got it for free at a garage sale-just because it had a small spot of mildew on it-all it took was a tiny bit of scrubbing, then washing it to get rid of it!

 This is our TV, movie collection, and the Christmas tree that I just put up!  It makes me so happy to see it.

 Here is my little sewing area.  I have my mom's old sewing machine (hopefully I'll be getting a new one for Christmas) my sewing "kit" that is actually a tackle-box (which is cheaper than buying an organizer at a craft store).

The plaid triangle in the front is going to be a 'kerchief for my "niece".  My niece is a yellow lab adopted by my brother and his girlfriend.

 Here is our couch, with pillows and blanket (that is very warm and cozy on chilly nights).

The pillow with the doll on it is actually a Quillow that my grandma made for me.

This is our futon, with pillows and a quilt my grandma made for me too.  It is made out of t-shirts from high school activities and college activities.

 Some artwork on our walls.  The big blue one is one that my roommate did in one of her art classes at the university.  The 4 small ones I got on clearance at Target for about $3.

Our stove and our "spice rack".

The "wisdom" sign I got at a garage sale for a quarter.  Then our spices, they were all just crowded on the back of the stove, but I got a little rack at Goodwill to create some more room and keep them slightly more organized.

Another painting by my roommate in our kitchen.  It reminds me of a strawberry in the corner.

Before I did the dishes.

Some photos I have taken-pearls, my mom's dog, sunset at a campground, and an artistic shot of a tree trunk.

More photos-the top one is the original.  The bottom 2 were ones that I played with the colors and they turned out really neat.

Photo shoot with the cast of a play that I helped with the costumes.

 Our lovely mirror right by our front door. 

 After I washed the dishes!

I organized our table as best I could-but we just have a lot on the table.

 Our collection of cookbooks.

Our microwave and miscellaneous storage, Tupperware storage, and hand towel storage.

Our bathroom, it's pretty small. So there's not a whole lot we can do with that.

You Don't Want to Miss This Giveaway!

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Yay for free things!

Frugal Inspiration

I have been inspired by my fellow bloggers with their frugal tips/ideas. So I thought I would share mine. I will go through my bedroom pictures that I posted before (don't worry, I'll re-post them) and just say their "frugal" background.

 This desk was part of my family's old computer desk. I took it apart and now I have a wonderful desk in my room and the other part is in the living room as a shelf/end table.  The chair was one of the university's old computer lab chairs that I bought at a sale for $5.  The computer itself is my brother's old computer, so that was free to me just like the desk.

This bench was one that my mom got at an auction for $10, I think.  It's very pretty and I will definitely be keeping this for years to come-hopefully it can become a family heirloom one day.  The wooden storage thing next to the bench, was something I got at a garage sale for $10; it holds my hairbrush and ponytail holders and some stretchy headbands in the top drawer, my printer paper in the middle drawer, and bags for garbage liners in the bottom drawer.

This dresser I got from a family friend for free; she had her niece living with her for awhile and didn't need it anymore-the same thing with the comforter and sheet set on my bed right now.  The mattress and box spring were left to me by my brother's friend who lived in my old apartment; he was moving home and didn't want to have to deal with that-so he asked if I wanted it; it is pillowtop and full size-I've only ever had a twin-at home and in the dorms.  The frame and headboard and footboard were my brother's so they were free also.

Some things that are not in the picture, but are also "frugal"; my sewing machine-it's my mom's old Kenmore one.  The 2 chairs in our living room used to be at the library where my mom works but they got new ones so she took the old ones.  The TV stand in our living room is just bricks and boards.  And my dad made me a little "lazy susan" for my TV and DVD/VCR. 

Well that's it for now, I should finish getting ready-today is the first day of classes for the fall semester and I am going to leave in about 5 minutes.