A Little Witch Sign

Hello Y'all!

I'm here with a quick post today about a sweet little sign I recently made. It was a total spur of the moment thing. I was cleaning the garage and found this old piece of a fence -- so old it was from our last house --- but I sanded it down and set it aside for a couple days.

I have not done much Fall decorating yet. So I decided I had to do something….

It was nap time and I got this all done in less than 20 minutes! I went to the computer and googled "witch silhouette". I picked out one I liked and printed it. I had to print it twice to get it the size I needed for my wood. Once I printed it I placed it on the slider door and outlined it in pencil (you can read all about the transfer method here).

Then I turned it over and rubbed all over to transfer the pencil lines onto my wood.

Next I got a small brush, some black latex paint, and painted in the lines.

To hang it I got some jute and knotted the ends. I used a staple gun to attach it to the top of the wood. You could probably use a glue gun, this is so light. (It is hard to see the jute in the photos)

I added some raffia to the ends just because I liked it.

Then I hung it on my entry table light because I like that it is up high since the witch is flying. It should not be sitting, but in the air!

You can see a little peek of a future project - more wainscoting - I have only done the painting so far….

My 9 year old did the ghosts, pumpkin and "Boo" in my chalkboard frame (it started out life at my home as an easter bunny - you can see how I made it here).

And that is that. I had all the supplies and it took me no time at all. If you don't hoard scrap wood like me - you could always go to Lowes or Home Depot to the bin of wood that is scrap and cut a small piece of one you like. They usually have a hand saw right at the bin.

Hopefully I will get out all my decorations soon. It is still hot in the South and it really does not get me in the Fall mood. This time of year I am really missing a New England Fall.

Happy Crafting!

Two new valances in the Master Bedroom

Did you think I had stopped doing projects?!?!

Actually, I have just been working a new schedule at work with more hours, and I still have a baby that I just love spending time with!!!! I am doing projects, that will never end. But I haven't had as much time to edit photos and write posts.

So I am very happy to be here today sharing a post about sewing two valances for our master bedroom. I have had this fabric since before we moved in..... and I just finished these last week! They only took me 15 months to get to, and about 2 hours total to make both.

The fabric was actually a curtain that I was not using. I bought Pottery Barn curtains to match our duvet cover (for our large window - not shown in photos). So I had 2 panels that I was not using. I used one for the valances, with a bunch to spare. I will use the other in the bathroom, most likely.

I have two smaller windows on one wall that I currently have room darkening roller shades in. These are the windows I needed to make something for. This is how the valance turned out.

This valance was so easy to make. I think it took me TWO hours to make both!!! For the sewing I would call this a beginner project. You just need to make straight stitches and that is all.

Are you ready to make one...or two?

Gather your supplies:
Material for valance
Lining material (either cream or white or room darkening)
Tape measure
Scissors
Straight Pins
Iron
Curtain rod
Sewing Machine
Thread to match fabric
Thread to match liner (for bobbin)

First Measure your window and add on either side for how wide you want your valance to be outside the window. I did not want mine wider than the window. But I had to add 2 inches on either side because my curtain rod is the kind that you don't see and it makes a return to the wall, which is covered by fabric.

Then decide how high above your window you want your valance to start and how low you want it to hang in front of the window.

After you have those measurements: add 1/2 inch on the sides and the bottom for your seam allowance.

At the top, add enough for your rod pocket plus an extra 1/2 inch for folding under. For example, if your curtain rod needs 1 1/4 inch to fit easily add that plus and extra 1/2 inch for folding under. This means you would add 1 3/4 inches to your measurements for the top.

When you have done that cut out your fabric and liner to your measurements.

Place them RIGHT SIDES TOGETHER.

Pin around the sides and the bottom.

Sew on three sides (leaving top unsewn) using a 1/2 inch seam allowance.

Turn right sides out and iron. I can not stress how important this step is. Ironing all your seams will make a huge difference in how professional your project looks!

Now you need to make your rod pocket. Fold the top back 1/2 inch and iron.

Now fold it back again the measurement you added for your rod pocket and IRON. I use the little ruler pictured here with a slide to mark where you want your measurement to be. My mother had one of these, and I remember using it when I was young. If you enjoy sewing and don't have one, go get one. It keeps your hems nice and straight!

Okay, you are done! .........

Or you can add a little gathering like I did. I measured in from the side about 1 3/4 inch. I just gathered the fabric up a little making three folds. I pinned it and stitched it from top to bottom so you can't see the thread from the front. Make sure to hide the knot in a fold.

Now do this on the other side, making sure you measure in from the side and gather at the same place. Also, leaving the same amount of material below and above your gather.

Then hang them up and admire your handy work!

You can see another valance I made for the boys room here. I used blackout curtain liner for those. I hung them on a tension rod for an interior mount and I did not gather them. Same basic idea for a different look.

Share your version on my facebook page, or send me an email!

Don't forget, I had to change the domain name and I am still working on updating the website links. I apologize if you click on a link from an older post and it does not work. I am hoping to get them all corrected soon. You can read about this here.

Happy Hump Day!


Sharing at: A Simple Pantry, Crafty Allie

Burlap Wreath

Today I am sharing a VERY EASY wreath on Jax Moms Blog. If you would like to see what I used to make this, hop over to their blog now to see the post!

If you did not read my post about my web address changing you can do that here. If you have bookmarked my site in the past, please change your bookmark to www.thriftysouthernpilgrim.blogspot.com.

As always thank you for reading!!!

I have a New Web Address

Hello everyone. I have been dealing with some unsettling stuff in the last few days. It seems that I was not as careful as I should have been when updating my information to renew my ownership of my original web address. As a result there is a new owner, and they sell Air Jordan sneakers. Yes..... I did just write that. I have no idea how they think anyone who would ever click to come to my little area of the internet would be interested in sneakers....

Anyways, moving on. I do not want to change the name Thrifty Southern Pilgrim. So, I am going to forgo the (dot)com site and go with my blogger domain, which is www.thriftysouthernpilgrim.blogspot.com. Please, if you have bookmarked my site, change it on your device.

Switching over to the blogspot address is not hard. The difficult part is changing all the links within my blog to reflect the current address. That will take me some time, as I do this blog in my spare time and do not make any money on it, so it is just moi! Please be patient!

If you are on Pinterest, I have lots of pins that are linked to this blog as well. I have started changing the links on those pins to the *new* correct domain name, but that will take me a while too. I am working my day job (not the mommy one!) long hours for 2 days then have a busy weekend.

I am sorry for any inconvenience to you, the reader and I thank you so so much for being here! This is just a little wrinkle, because I have so many projects half done (which is my life) and so many more in the works that I really want to share.

Thank you for your understanding and support!!!!

Here is a picture of my latest craft endeavor that I did today while the baby was napping..... Tutorial to come...

Make your own picture 'frame'

Welcome! For those that have been following along, you may remember a chandelier that was a Thrifty Find from a while ago. If you are new here - Thanks for being here - this chandelier was given a facelift but I did not want to spend $$$ on new shades. Well, I was strolling through Hobby Lobby and saw some burlap chandelier shades for $6.49! Yikes!!!!! That is 1/3 less that most of the ones I had been looking at. And of course, I had a 40% off coupon and got them for even less! Here is a photo of my new burlap shades. Aren't they pretty?

Okay, so back to today's post.

I have remembered how much I love bead board wallpaper - like when I used it in this frame - and I am so happy to have another project to share with you using bead board wallpaper.

We had some photos from when the baby was born, that were taken the day of his birth. I wanted to hang them in his room and since his walls are bare, I wanted a larger frame. I liked the frames that has a shape to them but wanted to make my own so it would be easy to change out photos. I planned to cut out thin wood in the shape I wanted and then put the bead board paper on that.......but.......I really didn't want to get out my saw and wanted something easier.

I thought of foam core board. You know, the kind you get from the Dollar Tree, for A DOLLAR. Just my type of project. I bought two and brought them home. I used some newspaper to trace a shape as a template. I folded it in half (like you do when cutting out a heart) and then in half again so both sides were symmetrical.

I used another piece of paper cut at 8" x 10" to act as my photo. I laid it on the template to make sure I liked the size that I made it.

Then I opened up the newspaper and traced the shape onto the foam core board.

I cut it out using an exacto knife and my self healing mat. Scissors were difficult to work with.

Next, I traced the shape directly onto my bead board, being careful to have the lines going straight up and down. I cut out the bead board wallpaper and using Aileens craft glue, I glued it to the foam core board. I used some books to weigh it down overnight.

The next day I painted the bead board a bright blue. This is after one coat.

I also painted the edges. They were too white and stuck out.

I glued a little clip to the front with this glue.

Then I used a glue gun to glue a paper clip to the back as a hanger.

I clipped my photo to the front, and voila, instant 'frame'!

I love how big these are, and how light they are. I also love that I can change the color easily, and can change the photo very easily whenever I want.

Now, to finish the rest of the baby room. If you follow me on Facebook, you saw a photo of the material I bought for his window valance. I have curtains, but want to add some color with a valance.

Thanks for reading! Please come back to see another project!


Please visit these blogs were I am linking up!:
Crafty Allie
A Simple Pantry
Modern Pilgrim

Thrifty Finds Friday #11

Well hello there. I have some goodies to share with you from a large yard sale I went to at a local church.

I went looking for some baby items - exersaucer, high chair, baby gates etc.... and found not one baby item!

However, I did find some other items that were great deals.

I got two different faux christmas garland for........get this.......$1 each. YUP.

I just bought one last December. This was the first Christmas in this house and I wanted one for my staircase. And I spent over $30 for a lighted one!

I just spent $2 on what is pictured above! Score!

Every item in the picture below was 50 cents. The Santa hat was bought by the kids, because I guess we only have one currently and now they won't have to share!

I plan on painting the oval frame and use it possibly in the baby room around an initial.

The basket, I am not sure about. But I may paint it and dip the bottom in a different color.

I bought a brand new pack of 30 Thank You cards. The Thank You is embossed, but it did not show in the photo, so I wrote it in. I like to write notes, and like to write thank you cards, so they will be used!

That is all from this trip. Happy bargain hunting!

Installing wainscot in the Dining Room

I loved the wainscot that I installed in the dining room in our last home. It made such a difference in the look of that room. I knew I wanted to repeat that same look in the dining room of our new home. In this home, I have already installed a planked wall wainscot in the kitchen, and in the bathroom, but chose to go the more traditional route of picture frame wainscot for the dining room.

I started by painting the lower portion of the wall the same white as all the trim in the house is. I did not do this first last time, and it was hard to do several coats with the molding up so I chose to do this first this time. I actually learned from my mistakes!!!

The wall color is a very light off white - it looks tan in this picture. It is the flat paint the builders used, and it is getting changed. It looks similar to this in the after photos at the end of the post, but it is actually painted Sand Beach (SW color mixed in BM paint).

For the chair rail, I used the same door casing (we upgraded to 3 /14 in. in our home) that I used on the plank walls. I simply wrapped this around the corner to the dining room. Just installing that made a big difference!

Here is the corner, before caulk and wood filler and paint. This little wall is on the left of the bathroom, and I already planked the wall to the right of the bathroom door. Doing this little section really makes a difference when looking at the bathroom door.

Here is that same area after.

Here is how I ended the section where the door to the butler's pantry is. You make it return to the wall, the same way you do with crown molding. You simply make an OUTSIDE corner cut about an inch in from the end of the wall. Then make a very small piece with another outside corner cut, but there is no length to it. I do not nail this in place, I use wood glue, and painters tape to hold it while the wood glue dries. After sanding and caulking and painting, it will look much better.

Here is that same spot after paint and caulk (keep in mind the corner is not painted yet....)

To figure out how big to make your boxes you:
Measure your wall
Decide how many inches between your boxes (I chose 3 Inches)
Decide how many boxes you want (this will be trial and error)
Then subtract the 3 inch space on either end and between your boxes from the total wall measurement
Divide this by the number of boxes
Your answer is how big your box should be.....
The picture below depicts the wall with 3 boxes on it with 3 inches of spacing all around. Both between and above and below each box.

My method when installing was to draw my boxes on the wall in pencil - this was you know if you need to adjust for an outlet. Like I did, but it is hidden behind the china cabinets!

Then I measured and cut the top and bottom pieces (they should be the same length. I also cut the side pieces (these stay the same for the entire room) EXCEPT for under the window.

I installed the top horizontal piece first, using a level. Then I installed the right vertical side. Then I put one nail in the bottom horizontal piece (on the right hand side). Then I put one nail in the left hand vertical piece at the top. This allowed me to have a little wiggle room at the bottom right corner, to make certain it was a tight fit before nailing the bottom and left piece fully.

The white makes such a difference in this room, it really brightens it up. And the addition of molding makes it even better! Molding makes everything prettier! I just love how it turned out and can't wait to do another molding project. Here are photos of the finished room.

This picture is not good quality at all but it really shows the entire room. I don't have that capability on my camera, so I used the panoramic setting on my iphone for this.

COST BREAKDOWN:
I bought 8 foot sections of the trim and needed about 16 pieces total. They were $8 each.
Trim total = $128
Chairrail - FREE (it was left over from building)
Paint - FREE - I already had it but it was about $65 for the gallon of semi-gloss BM
Nails - already had Caulk - already had
GRAND TOTAL: $128

** Update: I forgot that I also bought the wall color for this room. So add Benjamin Moore paint @ $35
Total gets bumped up to: $163 ***

Visit my other wainscot projects in this house:
Plank Wall in Kitchen
Plank Wall in Bathroom

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Linking up with:
Green Willow Pond
Crafty Allie ,
Skip To My Lou,
Keeping it Simple
The Girl Creative,
Between Naps on the Porch

Looking back....

We closed on our house ONE year ago. It seems like just yesterday that we were going through the building process and waiting (not patiently) for our house to be done. There are so many things that I want to do to the house (I have a BIG 2015 list) that sometimes I get overwhelmed because I have no patience. Not only do I not have time to get it all done right away, but I also don't always know what I want to do until I have lived in a space for a bit.

I thought it would be nice to look back to remind myself of what I have been able to do and take time to be thankful for what has been checked off the list. Sometimes we I need to slow down and and just enjoy everything as it is. In addition, the start of a New Year is the perfect time to remind myself for all that I have, and to be thankful for what I do have.

I planked a boring wall in our kitchen.

Several months later, I added planks in our half bath as well.

I hung a gorgeous new light in place of a very ugly builders light in our kitchen.

I bought and installed hardware on all our cabinets; kitchen and bathroom. (I did not like what the builder had for choices, so I declined install of their hardware....) I also spray painted a few pieces!

I built a storage shelf and hung it in our master bath. I love that I can only see the side when I enter the room. The front is viewed from the tub area.

I added furniture in the form of a Craigslist dresser that I painted and stained.

I switched out another ugly builders light with a ReStore Chandelier that I spraypainted.

I purchased a few pieces of an IKEA Billy unit and customized it for my space. I added crown molding, rope molding, painted the backs, installed it with the center part sticking out a few inches and added stained wood in the center.

In addition to painting the boys' room, the office and our master bedroom, we also painted the nursery. Gender neutral because we don't find out the sex of our babies.......it makes some crazy I know, but that is how we roll.

I built a gallery shelf for the kitchen wall (and notice that the wall is painted as well).

I bought chairs off CL and redid them.

I sewed valances for the boys room.

I painted the inside of the front door black

And my very last project, which was a big and long one, was the wainscot in our dining room. I have not even done the post yet, but here is a picture. The second picture was taken with my iPhone on the panoramic setting, so the quality is not great. It is cool that you can see the whole room though!

Update: The Post of the wainscot install in the dining room is up!

There are also lots of things I have done that I have not blogged about, but these are the bigger ones. I just watched a video of my 2 boys building a fort in the family room a month after we moved in. There was stuff everywhere, the TV was on the coffee table and there was not 1 thing on the walls. Talk about changes!!!! That reaaallly made me feel great!

Hopefully I won't dream of TO DO lists tonight!

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Sharing at:
A Simple Pantry
Green Willow Pond
Crafty Allie