Birthday on the Cheap!

I just spent an amazing birthday weekend with my sister and I'm pretty proud of how I kept my spending under control.

Here's the wrap-up

Food:
I mentioned in my last post about how cheap and easy home made birthday cake and ice cream is. But, most people don't like to live off of just cake and sweets so we had to pick up some food and drinks. If you've read this blog at all you know I fancy booze and my absolute favorite liquor store is Cost Co. You don't have to be a member to purchase liquor (at least at the one's in Texas, they have a separate room for the hard liquor and any one can buy from it). My sister and I picked up a giant bottle of Tequila for only $20 bucks and then went to HEB and got some regular house food (morning and lunch staples like bagels, bananas, eggs, and yogurt) as well as ingredients for quesadillas. My total bill was only $44 bucks which isn't the best but not too bad for food for a week.

Entertainment
My sister loves coming up to Austin and shopping at stores they don't have in her town. We entertained ourselves for hours on window shopping. We're also both pop culture shows so we watched a ton of TV and movies. She had purchased the tickets for the show earlier so that was a cost I didn't have to worry about.

Unnecessary but lovely purchase:
Bought my boyfriend lunch at a great gourmet burger joint (my sister insisted on paying for herself): $28 bucks
A new pair of Betsey Johnson sunglasses: $20 bucks
A new wall plug and 3 new scents from Bath and  Body Works:$20

Yes, it was unnecessary and not really apart of my budget to spend $68 dollars on these things. BUT I manage to live off of around $300 a month (covering my utility bill, gas, food, and social life) because I spend every other dime on student loans. I haven't purchased new sunglasses in more than 5 years. The one's I have been using were a pair of Betsey Johnson's my ex bought for me years ago.

Here are my new glasses:

They were originally around $70 so paying only $20 for them was a steal. Plus they came with an adorable bright pink sunglass case.

I feel pretty good about this weekend. I have around $70 in my checking account and around $100 on my credit card. I don't have any bills on my credit card due and when I get paid on the 15th I can pay off my credit card and add a little more to my savings. 

I've mentioned before how much I really enjoy And Then We Saved. Their big idea is a spending fast. Basically spending on only the absolute necessities (food, housing) and either saving the rest or paying off debt. I realized that even though I sometimes spend some cash on unnecessary things I'm pretty much on spending fast. 70% of my income goes towards student loans (literally, I did math to figure that out, that's not just a guess). And like I said above the rest is spent on rent, food, gas, and utilities. Yes, anything after that probably could go into savings but I'm glad it goes into fun things like Fun Run races (I did the color run this weekend and it was amazing!) or shoes or sunglasses or unnecessary scent thingies from Bath and Body Works. 

My Sister's Bday Weekend

My sister is coming up to celebrate her birthday weekend and I'm excited/nervous to host and entertain under a budget. We're going to go and see a show and then spend the rest of the weekend hanging out and enjoying quality time.

I'm hoping that I can keep track of my spending this week. Here's what's gone down so far:

Birthday Cake:
$1 on chocolate cake mix
$2 on 2 chobani yogurts
=
$3 cake!!!

Ice Cream and Cake Icing:
$1 on small container of whole milk
$3 on large container of heavy cream
=$4 birthday extras!

I have an ice cream machine and I'm a pro at making my own icings from my vegan days so whipping up the cake extras was a breeze. It's pretty incredible to spend $7 bucks for cake and ice cream.

Birthday Gift:
$1 on basket
$12 on two bags of specialty coffee
$2 for 2 cute dollar store mugs
=
$15 Bday present

Pinterest has been a great inspiration for cheap but great basket gifts. My sister loves coffee and presenting coffee plus mugs in a basket makes it seem like such a bigger gift. I really hope she enjoys it.

Once she gets here we're going to stop by the grocery store to pick up food (eating in is much cheaper than dining out constantly). I'm so incredible excited for this weekend :)

DIY: Pillow Fix

I have a junk back. Always have pretty much. I have slight scoliosis and the twist plus my usual routine of running/weight lifting don't help. I have an awesome back support pillow that I got from target years ago. It wraps around my body and has arm rests and even a cute little pocket for your remote. Over the years it has deflated from overuse and offered less and less support.

Instead of buying a new one I figured out that with a little love I could bring it back to life.

Pillow Before:

Pillow After:

Please excuse the light saturated photo :/

This was the easy DIY // up-do that I have ever done. I've been spring cleaning my house top to bottom and I have 3 assorted pillows that have come to the end of their little pillow lives. I cut a small hole in the bottom of my back support pillow and used the stuffing from my old bed pillow to fluff it up. It took 1 full bed pillow plus an Ikea couch pillow to re-stuff my back pillow but it feels amazing and looks so much better. The only cost of this project was around $2 for a little thread and needle kit. 

14 Days of Love

Yikes, time flies! I don't know how people manage blogs and full time jobs. And those mommy bloggers, how do they manage a houseful of kiddos and trying to make insightful, fun, and helpful blog posts?! So, time obviously slipped by but at least this time I have an excellent excuse. I'm totally coming down to with the sickies; months of allergies have finally taken their toll and I'm shacked up in bed with a major sore throat and hacking cough. But the blog must go on so here are Days 6 through 12 for my two week celebration of love :)

Day 6: Sweets Made Easy
I really love Bakerella and I REALLY love when she posts easy to make sweets. I've saved a few of the more advanced creations for further down. Here  are a few of my favorite easy sweets from Bakerella:

Red Velvet Whoopie Pies: Love treats that are easy to eat and get festive with the red and white.

Cheesecake Pops: Easy and versatile, a recipe that can be adapted for any holiday.

Day 7: Not So Easy Sweets

Vintage Valentine Cookies: Not necessarily tricky for the recipe but I've always had major issues with printers. If you have access to a great one this is a must try recipe. So cute and a definite show stopper.

14 Layer Chocolate Cake: Absolutely messy and gorgeous, I bet this cake tastes divine. The time and care to create all 14 layers is definitely a labor of love.

Day 8: Dang Near Impossible Sweets

Rose Cupcakes: These cupcakes are almost too gorgeous to eat. I can barely draw a circle let alone craft fondant roses.

Box of Chocolates Cake: This is definitely in my top 5 of Bakerella creations. The little details on all of the individual cake pop chocolates are so adorable.

Day 9: DIY Gifts

BrightNext has some great gift ideas (see below for great decoration ideas too!!)

Day 10: DIY Decorations

BrightNest has some amazing decoration ideas.

Day 11: Fancy Dinner
A great valentine's dinner doesn't have to cost an arm and a leg, Just pick a meal you both love, grab some of those lovely desserts from above and enjoy each others company by candlelight. Throw in some extra love by doing the dishes afterwards ;)

Day 12: Romantic Picnic
Same principle as a fancy dinner just outside. Go to a spot that's special to you as a couple (first kiss, first date, etc) and enjoy the scenery. A day spent soaking up the sun cuddled up next to someone you love is a beautiful thing.

14 Days of Love: Days 4 and 5

I'm doing a series on easy, fun, cheap ways to celebrate Valentine's Day. Click here to read about days 1 through 3. Today I'm covering days 4 and 5.

Day Four: Do something you hate
Now, take this with a grain of salt, I'm not recommending doing anything that makes you scared, uncomfortable or uneasy but an easy way to show someone that you care is to do something solely because it makes them happy. I enjoy a clean house, today is my day off and I've already put away laundry, done multiple loads of dishes, swept, vacuumed (you get my drift). My boyfriend is not a cleaner. Frankly, he's pretty sloppy. I will admit that there are times that it drives me crazy, there's nothing worse than feeling like your mate's personal maid. So, on the days that I come home and see that he's done the dishes, put away his clothes or done ANYTHING to clean up it makes my little black heart swell with love. My guy enjoys documentaries and art films while I enjoy action packed blockbusters so we make sure to go to both. Go on a hike, go to a museum just do something to celebrate your partners interests and likes.

Day Five: Make a mix tape (or a mix cd or play list for you hipsters)
I will never stop loving mix tapes. I know that technology is old and dated and frankly impractical but it is seriously the most romantic thing a fella can do (at least for me). Now I'm not saying that a mix cd has no love but it doesn't even take close to the amount of time and effort a good mix tape requires. Don't even get me started on an iPod playlist. That's just a few clicks you lazy bastards. Maybe I'm biased because the first guy I ever loved used to make me the most amazing mix tapes filled with artists I still love. I still have these tapes 10 years later (my love for them lasted a lot longer than my love for that guy).  A Valentine's mix tape has to have a love theme or share some romantic significance for you and your partner. Here are a few of my favorite love songs (please don't judge my love for pop-punk):

Click Links for the youtube videos!

The Avett Brothers: Live and Die

Alkaline Trio: Clavicle

The Ataris: I Wont's Spend Another Night Alone
***you thought I was kidding about really enjoying music that was only vaguely good 10 years ago, jokes on you****

Blink 182: I'm Lost Without You

The Beach Boys: God Only Knows

The Honorary Title: Cut Short

A New Found Glory: Connected

A New Found Glory: Too Good To Be

The Lumineers: Stubborn Love

The Cure: Love Song

Court Yard Hounds: See You in the Spring

Plain White Ts: 1 2 3 4

Sam Cooke: Wonderful World (I think this is one of my favorite love songs ever, so classic)

Keane: Somewhere Only We Know

Yeah Yeah Yeahs: Maps


Also, I thought I had a ton of love songs for this list but after going through all my records, the internet, my ipod, etc I realize I just have a fairly long list of songs about how incredibly sad you can be after breakups. Seriously. I had to google love songs because apparently my music taste is 50% upbeat music to run to and 50% songs to listen to when you're on the edge of suicide after failed love. I should probably look into that because it doesn't seem healthy.

14 Days of Love

So I had an amazing plan to do all these blog posts about easy DIY gifts for Valentine's Day. I was going to do one post each day before Valentine's; I had even made a lovely Word Document with links and helpful hints. Of course my computer chose that time to die out on me and now it's February 3rd and I've done nada but oh well! I figure I can do my best to try to post some amazing, helpful, lovely ideas for love day.

I swear we our on the tail end of a money hemorrhaging season. The holiday's drain you, there's tons of money spent on Thanksgiving food, Christmas presents, New Years booze and sparkly dresses (or maybe that's just me). THEN the end of January just happens to be my anniversary and then 2 weeks later I'm supposed to get all romantic and gift-y again for Valentine's day. That's a lot of stuff to deal with. I already told my boyfriend that I can't deal with all that so we went on a trip right in the middle of our anniversary and Valentine's day and on the actual day of love I'm just going to order a pizza or something. It's just too much pressure to try to be romantic all of the time.

However, there are so pretty easy ways to show the one you love that you really do care during this time of year and most of them you can do with out breaking the bank. Since it's already the 3rd day of February here are 3 easy/cheap/fun ideas to try to up the romance this love day.

Day One: Breakfast in Bed
This one is incredibly easy. There's nothing more lovely then waking up and realizing your partner has risen early to create a wonderful meal for you. I love breakfast but it usually takes my stomach a bit to wake up but whenever I wake up and my boyfriend has gone out of his way to make coffee for me (a drink I love and he is not very interested in) it warms my heart. Valentine's day (to me) is all about sweet gestures to show someone that you care.

Here are some great breakfast ideas:

Day One: Breakfast in Bed

Photo Courtesy of SweetCDesignes

Cocoa Kissed Red Velvet Pancakes

Day Two: Handmade Cards and Poetry

Jade Louis Designs

A handmade card is so much more thoughtful than a store bought one. I'm in no way artistic but I like the idea of taking time to create something for some one I love.

Day Three: Scavenger Hunt:
I've never done one of these but I've seen them on movies/TV and they look pretty adorable. Thinking of significant places you share with your mate and taking the time to lay out clue is just really sweet and thoughtful. I think it's pretty obvious that I value thoughtfulness over material objects. I'd rather have a really sweet gesture from someone who really gets me than a generic store bought gift.

Non gym work outs (aka burning calories puttering around my house)

Today I'm skipping the gym in order to get some things done around my house. I don't think many people realize how many calories can be burned by being active and present in your own home.

Projects today:
1. Pinterest DIY headlight cleaning with toothpaste

                                                       Source: Frugal Fun Ideas

My headlights are filthy and it's really effecting how well I can see at night. I'm hoping this works because I don't really have the cash to purchase a specific cleaner (I'm using the last of my disposable income on a haircut because the last time I got a trim was in January).

2. Weeding my garden
Do you even know what a workout weeding is??? I had no clue until I started. My whole body ached after the first day and I could barely clinch my hands. It burns something crazy like 400 calories an hour. And it's totally free!! AND it makes your yard looked cared for and nice.
I plan on posting some before and afters of my Rosemary bush. It took a few days but I trimmed her up, weeding her out, and even destroyed a rotting stump right in her middle :)

I don't have much time so that's probably all I can do today before work but I have a 3 day weekend coming up and I'm really hoping to get my closet sorted out and a pantry made.

LOVE house work :)

Blueberry Banana Oat Bran Muffins

Picture Source

My goal to try to get healthy is going really well. I've been eating really clean, exercising with more frequency and intensity, and allowing myself to indulge as long as it's in my calorie limit. I've already lost 6 pounds and I feel great. I use the MyNetDiary app on my iPhone to help track my calorie intake and exercise.

Fruit has been really cheap lately which has been amazing. I bought watermelon, mangos, bananas, and blueberries all within my grocery budget. I wanted to make a quick and healthy breakfast muffin for mornings when I want to eat and stay full but I don't have a lot of time. 

I found this Recipe and I really like it and the fact that the calories had already been figured out for me :)

Gibbs Banana Oat Bran Muffin

Oat Bran, 2.25 cup 
Baking Powder, 3 tsp 
Maple Syrup or sugar, .25 cup 
Milk, nonfat, 1.25 cup (* I used almond milk which has no fat and less calories)
*Egg white, 2 serving (*I just used 1 whole egg)
Banana, fresh, .75 cup, mashed 
Almonds, .5 cup, chopped (No Almonds)
(optional: handful of rasins or blueberries and .25 cup of shreded coconut)

*I made a few modifications with my recipe which I listed on the side

I found this nifty website that has a recipe calculator and my muffins came out to be about 70 calories a pop. They are super filling and great for digestion. Plus, they are super cheap, bananas are less than $0.50 a pound and oatmeal and oat bran are super cheap in bulk and can be used in tons of different ways.

  

More Attempts at Pinterest

OKAY. So I'm back from bum-outs-ville and I'm feeling so much better. Honestly, that brief period of sadness did me a world of good. I realized that almost every protagonist in feel good movies goes through some sort of down swing before they realize their true potential. I'm not saying that I have everything figured out (I doubt I ever will) but I'm definitely realizing what is important to me and what I want out of life.

This post is dedicated to my first attempts at self lead crafting. My grandmother is a crafting God and when I was a child she taught/ helped me with all sorts of projects. However, I'm 26 and it's been a few years since I broke out a glue gun. But you gotta start somewhere, right?

First thing first, my attempt at a sea shell souvenir frame!

My boyfriend and I went to the coast a month or so ago and I wanted a cheesy souvenir to remember the trip by. Unfortunately, cheesy souvenirs can cost a pretty penny. While strolling the beach I collected some shells and when I got home I figured I could hot glue them to a frame that displayed one of my beach pictures. 

I ended up picking up a couple of super cheap frames from Ikea that had a beach-y feel to them. They were around $3 bucks a pop.

I'm sure I could have done this project better or more professionally. My plan of attack was just to glue beads and shells on the frames until I ran out of space or beads. If you look really closely you can see a few strands of hair like glue from my hot glue gun. I didn't create a beautiful piece of art but I did make a cute little frame that will always remind me of a fun trip. Also, it does look better from a distance and surrounded by other frames.

I posted a few weeks ago about some homemade sugar scrub. It was seriously so easy! I made two mason jars full of scrub for $0! I had all of the ingredients for the scrub (brown sugar, white sugar, oil) and I had some mason jars and ribbon laying around my house. And the labels I used? They came with my crock pot. So easy.

A few weeks ago on Pinterest I saw a recipe for Cheesy Quinoa cakes. I could have sworn I pinned them on my DIY I Want to Try but alas I'm not seeing them. Either way, they were incredibly easy to make and so delicious. The recipe can be found on Spoon, Fork, Bacon:

Their picture is so much better than mine (did you notice how my dvd remote is photo bombing my cakes?)

Trust me, if I call a recipe easy, it's easy. Plus it's super cheap, all I had to go out and buy was lemons for the aioli and green onions (both were less than $1). I made them for Girls night and for my boyfriend and they were a hit. Plus, its the kind of recipe you can easily modify with success. 

Gifts on the Cheap // Attempting Pinterest Crafts

The month of May has been hard on me financially. I had to get about $360 worth of dental work done (trust me, it was a HAD to not a WANT to). I also had to get some basic car repair and then it's my sisters birthday, college graduation and Mothers day. Awesome. When it rains it pours. But just because I'm broke doesn't mean I still can't give awesome gifts. I managed to get my mother and sister pretty cute stuff and spent less then $15 total. Awwww, yaaa. So how did I manage that? A bit of craftiness, a bit of cheapness, and the knowledge that my family isn't that big on expensive stuff (thank God).

First, the wrapping. If you haven't stopped by Targets dollar spot GO NOW. Just stop reading this, it isn't even important. I got both of these cute bags for just $1. I KNOW, RIGHT? I also got a 4 pack of greeting cards for a buck. The dollar spot is the best place in the world.

Cost of 2 bags: $1
Cost of 4 cards: $1
Total: $2

My Mom likes to knit so I found a half done scarf that I had been trying to work on for a year now and unraveled it and tied it with a bow. This whole being broke thing has made me appreciate how much I have and how I don't really need all of this stuff. I for see a lot of giving away in my future.

Cost of Yarn: Free
Cost of ribbon: Free
Total: $0

Homemade sugar scrub. Pinterest has given me a ton of great DIY projects I want to try. Luckily I had all of the ingredients for this basic sugar scrub. You just mix up brown sugar, white sugar, oil (don't use sesame oil like I did. Trust me), and some vanilla and BAM. Amazing scrub and since I already had everything it didn't cost me a dime.

Sugar scrub ingredients: $0

The item I spent the most on? Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me and Other Concerns by Mindy Kaling. I found it for $12 bucks at Half Price Books. A friend got it for me a few months ago and I love it and I'm really hoping that my sister will dig it.

I've gotta go since I'm already late for work but I'll be back soon with more fun stuff!!

Photo Update: Food Addition

Clearing out a few pics from my iPhone folder.

Cherry Pie filled Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting and Chocolate Ganache. 

Vader Hello Kitty Cake Topper. 

Vegan and Gluten Free Hamburger Cake (love the irony in this one). 

Dessert screaming for mercy. I gave it none.  

"Kitty Litter" Cake my Grammy made this for my younger cousins. They totally loved it.  

Vacation Feast pt 1: French Toast platter of the Gods.  

Vacation Feast pt 2: Seafood! 

Kahlua Coco and Marshmallows. Recipe is here.

Hoping this week is a good one; I'm (temporarily) back on my regular shift which means normal hours and actually seeing my friends/boyfriend. 

Feelin' the Love // Sushi

Oh man. So this little blog of mine has been getting TONS of traffic since my last post. This makes me incredibly happy. Not only because I honestly enjoy this whole blogging thing but it's nice to know that I'm helping to spread the story of Officer Padron. Yesterday was his procession back to San Angelo and seeing the streets of Austin lined with citizens paying their respects was so moving. Through the 4 hour drive to lay his body to rest emergency crews and officers would line the streets in far away towns to honor him and his service.

Want a good cry? Take a look at how Austin Texas pays tribute to a fallen hero:




Thousands of officers followed his body home until he was finally laid to rest. It was so incredibly moving to see how everyone in this town came together to show their respect.

SOOOO. In order to stop the crying here is a little how to make Sushi post.

I've recently decided to try to get healthy/healthier. Here's the thing; I've never really been un-healthy (except in my childhood when I was a little fat rolly poly of a kid) but ever since I started dating my fella there's been a lot more ice cream and pizza nights and a lot less salad and running. I decided to cut out ALL pizza and ice cream for the month of April (doesn't sound drastic at all but when you go from eating it like, 3 times a week to nothing, you start to get with drawls).

I've always really liked Veggie Sushi but my poorness prevented me from buying it ($5 bucks for one roll!!!). Turns out it's not that hard to make it and getting started wasn't that expensive. All you need is the ingredients (rice, rice vinegar, sushi paper, veggies) and if your fancy you can buy a sushi rolling mat which is only a few bucks (or just use saran wrap like in this blog). Here's a How To article that provides some great instructions.

Veggies: carrots, cucumber, and avocado. YUM.

Sushi paper on Sushi rolling mat.

Cook rice and then combine it with a mixture of vinegar and sugar. Then let it sit until it's cool/room temp. It should become very sticky which can be a pain in the ass. Apply it evenly over the rice paper making sure to leave room on the sides and the end. Then add your veggies.

Roll it up, cut it up and serve with pickled ginger and wasabi. Pickled ginger is some of my favorite stuff in the world. Also, home made wasabi kicks you right in the face so if you don't like spicy/bold just avoid this stuff.

Fun fact: Don't buy $7 Saki even if you think it would be totally cutesy to do a whole Asian theme. Perhaps this is a fact that every adult knows but me but $7 Saki is the worst tasting thing ever. It's just frothy and bland. I LIKE alcohol and I can stomach a lot but I couldn't make it through a glass of this stuff.

All in all, this whole recipe cost less than $25 dollars and that was for everything (rolling mat, pickled ginger, wasabi, all the veggies, rice, ETC). You get tons of sushi out of it and once you invest in the tools you can make delicious sushi whenever you want.

Sweet Tooth Mania

This week, I bring you recipes sponsored by my gigantic sweet tooth. I love sweets. I mean, really. LOVE. Luckily, I live a life that often has occasions where sweets can be included. The crazy thing? Both of the cupcake recipes I found ended up being vegan and totally delicious. In my 4 year stint of veganism I became an expert vegan baker but I didn't even mean to bake vegan dishes. Just goes to show, that food can be amazing AND vegan.

In this post I bring you:

-Birthday Stout and Chocolate Cupcakes (Vegan)

-Guajillo Chili Chocolate Mexicano Cupcakes (Vegan)

-Honey and Whiskey Ice Cream

First up: Stout and Chocolate Cupcakes

It was one of my best friends birthdays at the begining of the month. We usually throw a mini birthday part at girls night to celebrate. My friend has recently really gotten into beer so I wanted to represent that in the sweet treat I made her. I found this recipe on Chef Chloe and I loved it! When I first googled "Beer Cupcakes" all I could find were recipes that were filled with sour cream, heavy cream, and multiple sticks of butter (not lying, one had 4 sticks of butter in the recipe!!). Now, I love food and sweets but I wanted a light cupcake that really showcased the rich and fizzy flavor of beer. I liked Chef Chloe's recipe because it was simple and cheap (I had all of the ingredients and only had to go out and buy one bottle of beer). I wasn't able to find a single selling bottle of Oatmeal Stout so I used Leinenkugal Brewery's Fireside Nut Brown. The cupcakes came out perfectly and I really enjoyed drinking the remaining bottle of Fireside Nut Brown :)

Second Up: Guajillo Chili Chocolate Mexicano Cupcakes (Vegan)

During February a local grocery store called Central Market had a Chocolate Festival. A coworker and I went and I ended up spending around $20 bucks on specialty chocolate. I purchased bacon chocolate, sweet Mexican vanilla chocolate and a guajillo chili chocolate. The vanilla and guajillo chocolate were both from Taza and while they were delicious they were a bit too grainy to be consumed on their own. I went to the Tazo website and found a vegan recipe for guajillo chili cupcakes. I liked this recipe because (again) I already had all of the ingredients (except for the lemon juice) so it was super cheap and easy. I ended up using some of the left over icing from the Stout Cupcakes. I also used some of the vanilla chocolate to make a sweet ganache for the cupcakes that I didn't have icing.

Up close

Finally! Honey and Whiskey Ice Cream

I've mentioned before that I've started seeing someone new. He's awesome and I'm constantly thinking of ways to show him how glad I am that he's in my life. Those ways are usually food. We're both big fans of whiskey so I wanted to find a recipe that included some kind of bourbon. When I found this recipe for Honey and Whiskey Ice Cream I was so freaking pumped. Besides loving whiskey we both are bananas for ice cream. So, I'm about to say (type?) some craziness. I really enjoyed this recipe but I want to tweak the way it's made because it tasted too much like whiskey. I can't even believe that I'm critical of anything for tasting too much like whiskey. I love whiskey! I was just disappointed that the sweet honey flavor was completely over powered. I plan on making a batch for my beach trip next week and I'm thinking that if I simmer the honey and whiskey together instead of mixing the whiskey straight into the whipping cream that both flavors will have a chance to shine.

Despite the pounds and pounds of sugar I've been consuming my body is still looking nice which is good because I'm one week away from sitting on a bright and sunny beach with my honey. I'll be posting about ways to save money while vacation soon!

Chair Up-cycle: Fabric Paint and Losing my Mind

A few months back when I was really pumped up about home decor projects (you know, before I was lovingly informed by Wells Fargo of my overwhelming student loan payments?) I fixed up this thrift store chair. I had been looking for an arm chair for my living room and I found a cute Chicago-esque style one that turns into a pretty comfy recliner. Unfortunately the color was atrocious:

Faded orange brown blended with puke-y salmon. Delightful.

Considering I've never been particularly crafty I needed a way to fix up this chair without having to reupholster it. After googling my heart out I found an easy looking technique: fabric paint. Basically mix equal parts fabric medium with the paint of your choice and then apply. Easy right?

Of course not. It never is.

Never trust Martha Stewart on how easy or possible a project is. Never.

Honestly, I can't really blame the technique on how frustrating this project was. I should have done more research or had lower expectations. Today while re-searching things for this blog post I found an article that focused on dying fabrics and how certain dyes don't work on certain fabrics. I didn't even know that than was an issue. Apparently, cotton is the best fabric to paint and/or dye and other blends just don't take certain dyes/colors. My mistake is that I just jump too quickly into projects without truly understanding what I'm undertaking (and trust me, this applies to more than crafts). There were some spots in the fabric that just REFUSED to absorb the color. I'd apply and apply and apply and it was still thin and patchy.

Luckily the chair came out relatively cute (and also, I have fashion-y pillows that cover the not so cute spots).




Unfortunately, the many, many, MANY layers of paint I had to put on this chair left the fabric feeling crispy and uncomfortable. I honestly don't think I've ever sat on it. But I will not be deterred. My hopes is to become more accustomed to crafty projects and to hopefully, ONE DAY, reupholster this beast.

The above picture of the Martha Stewart fabric paint line was taking from Censational Girl. She did a whole tutorial about using fabric paints. Of course, her towels turned out delightful. Read the tutorial HERE.

Another fun fact about this project? The chair was too big to fit through the door to my porch so I had to spray paint the legs inside. Yeah. Got high as fuck. I do not recommend that.

Another fun fact? I totally joined the library today! I'm kicking ass and taking names on my New Year's Resolutions!