Circus Bear Vintage

Look what I received in the mail! Just some more to add to my owl collection!

I got them from Kayla at  The Dainty Squid. She has a somewhat new shop called Circus Bear Vintage!

This is by far my favorite owl figurine I owl so far!

I suggest you head over to the shop. So many cute vintage items and very fast shipping!

New Shelves & DIY Bookends

My very kind and generous husband had a great idea of putting up new shelves in our apartment. We had an old wood book shelf that we were using for DVDs and Blu-Rays but it was getting full and getting full fast. We had a great empty wall for this idea. When we put up the shelves and started putting up all of the DVDs and Blu-Rays we knew right away we needed bookends...

We started shopping for bookends and found the cute 'a to z' ones at Barnes and Noble (see second to last shelf). They were around $50.00! Kind of pricey to me for bookends! 

So I'm kind of addicted to Instagram (follow me! @jessicaneedham) and I follow Elsie from A Beautiful Mess and this weekend she put up a picture of a spray painted brick for a bookend. That got me thinking...I could use vintage looking wrapping paper instead of spray paint! Then my husband said, "why don't you use the vintage fabric you have just laying around?" ...So that's just what I did...

Brick bookends wrapped in vintage fabric... (see 3rd shelf in above photo)

You'll Need:

- 2 bricks (43 cents a piece at Lowe's!)

-vintage fabric (check the thrift stores, so cheap)

- Scissors

- Glue gun

Cut your fabric just big enough to wrap you brick, you don't want too much extra fabric

Wrap it just like you would wrap a gift and everywhere you'd put tape use the glue gun instead

Simple as that!

(see 2nd shelf)

Aren't they pretty! Super easy too!

Flowers Everywhere in Your Home

One of my new goals for 2012 is to be happy hanging out at home. We live in a tiny apartment and we love the location and the place it self but it's kind of an old place. Little by little we decided we'll do little projects here and there to spruce up the place. It makes us proud and happy to be in our apartment. 

So far we: 

- put up shelves in our dining area for my Pyrex

- we made a pretty faux flower lamp

- made a wall in our dining area chalkboard

Another little thing I have been doing about every 2 to 3 weeks is buying a cheap bouquet of flowers from the grocery store. All you need is 1 bunch that usually costs $7 to $10. I never spend more than that.

This bunch I paid $7.99 for.

You'll need little jars or bottles. ( I used recycled jam jars, Martinelli's apple juice bottles, and old mini glass vases I found)

When you get your flowers at the store make sure you grab a few of those flower food packets. I use a good amount in each little vase and my flowers sometimes last up to 3 weeks!

Trim your flowers and seperate them in different arrangements. Have fun with this! 

I even use yarn for decoration around the jars...

Then stick them all over the house!

It brightens up areas.

It's funny how something so small, makes me so happy. It really makes a room cute!

Do it! I bet you'll get addicted to having flowers always around, like me!

Faux Flower Lamp

I'm really excited about this project I finished in one afternoon! I, of course, got the idea from Pinterest. 

It's a plain paper lamp decorated with faux flowers. 

You'll Need:

- A Paper Lamp (I got mine from World Market)

- Glue Gun (With lots of refill sticks!)

- Faux flowers ( Garland is the cheapest if you can find it. You get a lot for your money. I got mine from Michael's.) 

I started by cutting of the flowers from the garland and glueing them in rows around, from the bottom up.

This is what it looks like finished!

 You can find the original website I used here.

Please try this! It's so easy! Let me know if you do. Have fun.

Home Ec # 1 - Online Sewing Class for beginers/ My First Sewing Project!

  http://homeeconline.blogspot.com/

Lately I have been wanting to buy a sewing machine. They are so pretty and there are so many crochet projects I have done that I know would look so much cuter if I knew how to sew a few things to add to them. Well a about a month ago Target had sewing machines on sale in their Sunday ad. I'm pretty sure it was meant to be because I was just begging my husband for one. He agreed I could have one as long as it was reasonably priced and poof... Target had a beginners Singer on SALE! So, I bought it... It's just a basic model but that's all I need.

 

Isn't it pretty!? It's so new :)

 

I thought about taking a class at a craft store or something but I only have extra time on weekends and I hate waking up early. Then I came across the Home Ec image above on Pinterest. Oh lovely Pinterest! I looked more into the class and it seemed very reasonable. It cost $50 and there are about 27 step-by-step projects that get a little harder as you go. You go at your own pace. This has been great for me so far. I highly recommend this if you don't have a clue about sewing or even your sewing machine. They go over EVERYTHING.

The first project is a drawstring bag. Here's how mine came out...

It's the first project I've ever done on my own, on my own machine! I love it. I'm using it for my current crochet projects.

Thrifty 3 - Pyrex Heaven

So this weekend the Packers had a Bye Week (I guess this means they don't play this week). Since Scott was free from football we decided to go to the Drive-In! We don't have a Drive-In here in Ventura, so we drove south to Riverside...

  Van Buren Drive In, Riversaide Ca

$7.00 per Adult for 2 Movies!

Saturday night we saw Puss In Boots and Footloose. Puss In Boots was hilarious, and Footloose was...well I don't want to be negative so I'll move on...If you've ever seen our cat Jinxie you'd love Puss In Boots. She looks just like Puss! If you love cats you'll love this movie too. We sat in travel chairs in the back of Scott's truck with lots of blankets and a cooler full of snacks. It got down to about 47 degrees which was bearable and cozy with all of the blankets we had.

We stayed the night in a hotel and went to the Swap Meet there the next morning. I normally don't like swap meets but the last trip we made to the Drive In we also went to the swap meet the next morning and I found a Pyrex bowl. Their swap meet is more of a mix of new and old. They sell new things but a lot of people sell their old things like at a garage sale. Maybe that's how swap meets are supposed to be but the one where I live isn't like that at all. That's why I never go. But boy did we score on this trip!

I found this pink casserole dish for $3.00!

(I had the little turquoise one already)

...Walked a little more and found these for $3.00 a piece!

I was satisfied and really Ready to go home. It was starting to get in the high 80 degrees or so. I hate heat so I was ready. Scott said we should finish go through the whole swap meet. We live 2 hours away we might as well... Good thing I listened to him! Look what we found!

$15.00 brought down to $13.00 , thanks to my hubby, for the whole set! 

I've been collecting Pyrex here and there. If I see them I buy them, I haven't really hunted for them. I have to say I am pretty proud of my collection so far. Honestly with the luck I had this weekend I'd be ok going a year without finding another piece. I mean I'd love to find more but I feel like I've already been so lucky!

(this is my whole collection minus an orange bowl filled with cookie dough in the fridge...mmm)