Thanksgiving Leftover Challenge

I know this blog originates from frugal craft ideas, however, I am taking a slight detour to share a small semi success. This year, I felt challenged to use up (by that I mean, EAT) all the leftovers this year. Now each year, we have a couple nights of the whole enchilada... Turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, rolls, cranberry, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce and a roll. Then it starts to thin out, and ends up with just some turkey (Dear hubby usually finishes his dark mean first), and stuffing or mashed potatoes. Then just a side or two, then  it gets tossed.

When the pickins' dwindled down to just mashed potatoes and stuffing (no gravy). I got creative. Potatoes easy... made a potato soup in the crockpot. CHECK!

Stuffing? Hmmm, to Pinterest I go...Came across this delicious looking recipe:

Stuffin' Muffins

Challenge accepted. Made a breakfast date with hubby. He agreed to make some of his wonderful waffles and I would create this yummyness.

Results:

The recipe says to bake for 25-30 minutes. At 25 minutes we looked through the oven window and saw glistening white, so added another 5 minutes. At 30 minutes, we saw shiny clear bubbles, so added another 5 minutes. At this point I pulled them out, and realized. it "looked" uncooked, but they had probably been done 10 minutes ago. They were for sure DONE now. Not much in my house is ever "undercooked" :-)

A bit leary, I cut into them, and sadly they were overdone. Edible... but overdone. They were now hard-cooked eggs in crunchy stuffing shell. Still went very nicely with sweet waffles.

Conclusion... definitely stick with the 25-30 minute window. It is right on.

I DID IT!

And Then There Was Light!

Because of the large beautiful trees along our street, at night it sometimes can be hard to find our driveway, even to us, the owners- HAH! There is a light post just past the property line, however a huge tree hangs down and blocks most of the light. Our front porch has a light that is motion detected, so it does not go on unless you walk by it, or pull INTO the driveway. I have always wanted to put a lampost on the corner of the front yard, but too frugal to do electrical work to get it out there. I was excited when I discovered up-cycled solar light projects on Pinterest. This was my inspiration: http://goo.gl/4OGI8W

I went to the thrift store looking for a cheap ugly chandelier, and discovered this fun little candle holder. It was silver metal, not too pretty, but I saw hope.

I spray painted it black... 

 Found some old PVC in hubby's stash, spray painted it black and hubby cut down to the height I wanted

Decapitated solar lights I purchased at the $1 store

Cut the base off the candle holder and put through a washer, using gorilla glue, I secured it inside of the washer and then the washer onto the pole. Then put clear silicone inside of the hole to seal it from water.

Starting to look like what I have pictured in my head. After this, I glued each light to the holder(forgot to get picture after this)

Hubby helped dig a hole

Filled the hole with Quickrete about 3/4 full, set in a rebar for strength and stability...

Slid the post over the rebar, then added water

Hubby put dirt back in hole, and we left for a Labor Day date :-)

That night, I tried to take pictures. Although the lights are not bright, it is enough to see and guide to our home

 Hubby left to visit a friend for a bit, and when he arrived home, he said the light was bright enough to be able to point out "This is OUR house!" YAH! Project complete!

Cost:

Candle holder - $1.50

PVC - Free

Washer - Free

Gorrilla Glue - $4

Spray paint - Free (from previous project)

Lights - $5

Silicone - $3

Quickrete - $3

Rebar $3

Project Total: $19.50

Hubby's help - PRICELESS!

File Cabinet Redo

I inherited my mother-in-love's older mdf-laminated file cabinets. They did the job for over 6 years, but I started seeing some cool idea's about making up a metal cabinet, nice and pretty. Just as I started to watch for a deal on a used cabinet, a friend told me she had one that I could have for FREE!! FREE? That is talking my language! So I grabbed it, then sat with it for over a month, feeling intimidated to start.

When my husband gently reminded me that it did not match our patio furniture (where it was stored) I felt the push to finally get going on the project. 

Here are my lazy steps:

1. Take off all the hardware (Mine were pretty easy)

2. Take out drawers and set aside.

3. Using 220 grit sandpaper, I sanded the sides and top lightly. Then cleaned it off real good.

 4. Spray paint with your color of choice. (There were many suggestions on this, from Primering, to what type of paint to use. I just used Rust-Oleum Semi-Gloss Ultra Cover 2x from Walmart, for less than $4) It took 1 1/2 cans to paint the entire shell. Looked great.   

 5. Spray paint the hardware. In the past, I have screwed the hardware to a styrofoam plate, and them sprayed it... that way I can pick up the plate and turn it as I spray. This time, my hubby had some recycle metal in the yard, so I screwed to that, and sprayed away. No harm to junk :-)

 5. I cheated a bit on the drawers. When I first saw all the Pinterest Ideas, I wanted to use up my pretty scrapbook paper. Unfortunatly, my drawers were 13 x 11 1/2. UGH. Too big for 12x12 paper. Lucky for me, I work in a print department, and my super cool boss let me use our stock of 12 x 18 full sheet labels. Now my choice of design was unlimited, as I was able to print whatever I wanted. So I just cut the label down (after it was printed), then pulled the backing off, and applied it directly to the drawer, wrapping the little overage around the edges. (Other posts suggested scrapbook paper, contact paper, wall paper, or a different paint design- the sky is the limit!) 

6. Put hardware back on. The holes were pretty small, so I was able to just push the hardware screws back in to the paper. When needed I used an exacto knife to cut into the slot. 

 7. Stand back and admire your creation! So pretty. I was anxous to get it into my office and transfer all my files.

I had a step 8--- Sell the old cabinet. And yes, I made a little money. Makes this Frugal Gal happy!!

Crown and Patio Updates

After sharing my dream with a friend and my great finds, she realized she had a frame that sounded perfect, that she was not using. So she gave it to me. It was PERFECT!

 It was gold with a greenish gilded trim and I spray painted it black gloss.

 This is the "almost" finished dream. Last thing to do, is an a bible verse under the crowns & cross.

After being content with the white hand me down chairs and new seat covers...

We were just handed down a nicer chair, powder coated chairs, that sit higher and even include 2 chairs that swivel and rock. YAHOO! Not bad for all FREE! (Well, not so free, as my hubby busted out his back window delivering the table to a friend, so the final cost to replace the window is $120 -UGH!)

 Oh yes, and the last NEW update on these photo's is our
new guy - Monte Cristo

Crowned Dream

My plans for the bedroom is to create a "Royal" theme. After all, we are a Prince and Princess of Christ, right? I took out all the animal/ African decor and placed in the living room.

While at the fair this past fall, I fell Head-Over-Heels IN LOVE with this gorgeous piece of art! Isnt it ROYAL to the MAX? But so was the price tag. I dont remember if it was $1700 or $7100, but either felt the same to my skinny little pocket book. But I took a picture and had dreams about maybe making something like it someday.

So now I am on the hunt for Royal decor for my room. I actually found a beatiful Burgandy and Gold heavy comforter at a yard sale for $2!!! Yes, you saw that right... TWO DOLLARS!! I was worried it may have some pet smell or something else wrong with it. I went home and put it on the bed, and waited for my hubby's reaction. He loved it. Then when we crawled under it, the weight on us was HEAVENLY! It was a keeper!

Now to my most recent MIRACLE!! I went to Kirklands to explore and drool. Maybe they MIGHT have some royal decor? I walked the whole store and nothing. I was about ready to give up and leave, and decided to ask a clerk. I couldnt find anyone on the floor, so I asked at the counter if there was a clerk on the floor. The lines were Christmas-Crazy long, and the harried clerk said she would close her line and come help me. "Oh no, I dont want you to do that", I told her. So she asked me breathlessly, "What is it you are looking for?" I told her quickly, "Just anything that looks royal, like a crown or something". As I watched in amazement, she reached behind the counter and handed me a CROWN!!! You've got to be kidding me? I got so giddy, I could have kissed her. I admit, a tear escaped my eye. She had given me the exact pointy crown on the left side of my dream picture. I asked if she had the other crown, and she told me they had sold out, but called around for me. She said they had sold like hotcakes in California.

So I went home and early the next morning, started calling other states. I found a ton of them in Phoenix, AZ, but they wouldnt ship. I was about ready to drive there and get it (Yes, for a $9.99 item, I was desperate!). The last store I called checked their distribution center and said more were being sent out to the stores and if I called my local store, I may find them restocked. I did this, and sure enough, a store close to me had just received 19!!! Oh, talk about giddyness knowing no bounds. I invited hubby to go on a dinner date and we would "happen" to swing by and pick up my crown. He was very agreeable after his 12 wings and a big glass of beer. So agreeable, he browsed the store with me, and helped me find a cross to put between the crowns. So here is my miracle find:

Oh, and the frugal excitment of it all? When I purchased the first one, it was $9.99. Within 5 minutes of walking out of the store, I received an email for 15% off my entire next purchase. When I went back to the other store to pick up the other crown and cross, they honored the coupon for the previous purchase too.

So I actually got all three of these for $32.00.

A friend has given me a BEAUTIFUL guilded frame that she never used. It is the size of a door, I am not kidding. Wait until you see this frame. I am going to spray paint it gold and do some rub-n-buff and see what happens.

Stay tuned for the final reveal.

Spray Paint Frenzy!

I have been on a SPRAY PAINTING frenzy. Did you know you can get "spray paint" finger-itis? Well, I dont know what the techinial term is, but my index finger and wrist hurt for a couple days.

This is what the patio looked like for a weekend.

But, I have to admit, I am very pleased with my creations...

 Loved this one. I just repurposed the letter I already had, added ribbon and moved location.

I love this picture my sister gave me. Matched our decor perfectly. But after a couple year, it has started blending into the green wall.

 So I took this $1.98 frame, touched up a couple places it was dinged, then hot glued it to...

 the front of this one, and POP! Now it GRABS your attention. LOVE LOVE it!!! 

I had a friend come over and help me set up the mantle and lay out the pictures. I am very pleased with how it turned out. Next project, paint that chest the TV is on.

PS. no wisecracks about not owning a flat screen. :-)

Mountain Hunt Finds

Every Memorial and Labor Day weekend, the local San Bernardino Mountain communites have yard sales everywhere. We drive up the mtn, then just follow the signs. It is quite an adventure and we always find more than what was on our "wish list". This trip, we crossed off more than half our wish list. I think that is a record.

 These frames were in a forgotten box off the side of a table. The owner said she forgot to unpack them and seemed unconcerned about price. So when I held them up, she said a quarter each. SOLD!

 But what had caught my attention in the first place... this beautiful gold oval. 1 QUARTER?!! SOLD!!! I have an idea already. Stay tuned!

 This basket was found at an actual flea market shop that was trying to cash in on the tourists on the mountain. Most of their prices were not exactly yard sale prices, but I liked looking anyway. When I saw this basket and the price, I grabbed it. Yes, I am a basket junkie! No idea what I will use it for, but cant pass that up. No siree!!!

 On the wish list, was some sort of trellis, or something that I could make into a trellis. It was fresh on my mind after discovering our Mystery guest. So when I found this piece of wrought iron, I couldnt get hubby to stop the car fast enough. There was no one tending the sale. After a few minutes of drooling over this, a little boy came out and asked "Do you need some help?" Ummm, yes, (as casual as I could be), how much for that? He went into the house to ask someone and came out and said $2. SOLD!!! Couldnt get the $2 out of my hubby's hands fast enough. Quick, get away before the parents come out! As we drove away, my mind was going crazy with idea's. And my hubby was thinking of another solution to the "fence fighting" problem.

Also on the list, were some sort of pillow that I can make a new cover for, and place on the FREE wicker chair set. I found one of these in a pile of clothes. I was telling my husband how sad I was that there was only one, when POOF, another appeared! Stay calm, Stay calm.... (see the Ross tag.. $6.49 each?). The wife was not around, so I asked the husband "how much?". He was hmmming and haawwing (is that how you type that?). As he was doing this, I pointed out a stain on one of the cushions. so he said "how about a quarter each?" SOLD!!! Even my hubby was excited! Now I hope my left over material is enough to cover these to match the patio set!

I have been looking for a shutter for awhile, for a cool Christmas card holder idea I got from Funky Junk Interiors. I have saved the picture forever, but lost the original blog... Sorry. But it was SOLD to me for $1!

 Hubby found work T-shirts and jean shorts for 25cents each. His BEST BEST find a framing nail gun and skill saw, both for $55 total. He was one happy man!
Stay tuned....

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