I MADE SOMETHING! Cutting Corners is the Sh*t!

So.  I did it.  I DIY'd something.  And I love it, omg I love it.  It was so so simple, and THAT'S my DIY jam.  Simplicity.  I made this wall hanging out of cotton piping, brass pipe, and a hubby with a hacksaw.  One night he was taking the trash to the garage and I handed him the pipe with 3 pencil marks in it and asked him to cut it.  He came back in with 4 pieces of pipe with jagged edges and said I needed to file them down.  The tutorial also advised me to file down the edges.  Me being me, I did not.  I should have, but if I can't break a rule or two, I will never finish the project.  I'll just leave the tutorial link here so you can see the similarities and differences.  I cut out the parts that would require too much work or money.  And I still LOVE the way it turned out.  Try it.  Try making something without following all the rules.  It's awful good.

I have a fiddle fig leaf tree here now, and I just think it covers it too much..I just love it so much.

I think Mr. Fiddle Fig will need to find a new home.  Those trees are finicky little shits.  Not too much light, just the perfect amount of water, don't move them too much.  #babynumber4.

 I am coming to realize (admit) that cutting corners is kind of my thing.  From DIY projects, to cooking, to fashion, to beauty, to hygiene (kidding, kidding, I'm clean).  If I ever try a new recipe I always introduce it to my hubby with a "This sounded so good, but I didn't have any (insert crucial ingredient) so I used (insert a terrible substitute)"  And we wind up eating leftover pizza.  I also simply cannot spend the money to shop where I want, so I thrift it or find something similar on the cheap and try to fake it.  Seriously, if it weren't for Ikea, Target, and thrift stores...well I guess I would just die.  Or have an ugly house.

Literally all Target, Ikea, hand me downs, DIY, or thrift sore items...like, all of it. Hubby just installed that light fixture from a local antique shop and I can't get over it.  Even the little rust spots.  It's perfect.

And my beauty regimen. I am just as hypnotized by Sephora as the next warm blooded woman, but the prices, Lord help me, those prices.  I do a lot of googling similar cheaper products or waiting for Christmas gift cards. Guys, I am cheap.  I cut the crap out of those corners.  And I almost get a little rush out of getting a lot for a little.  No, I definitely do, there is a rush.  A beautiful wall hanging for minimal work, a cozy go-to fall sweater for $3, or a healthy meal with 2 ingredients (because I decided to omit all the spices, a little salt fixes anything).  I am just so tickled with this project I had to share and encourage you to cut some corners and go make something mediocre that you LOVE!        

Am I the Only One Without the Attention Span to DIY?

New chair, new plants, old everything else...new sofa for XMas!!!

I have embarked on a little home face lift, with the budget of a drug store contour kit.  I have thrown a couple of jobs at my husband including paint and hanging a new light fixture (Well, old. $65 from a little local antique shop!)  We have a few new furniture pieces, some new plants, and I have attempted to add a couple new wall hangings. HOWEVER.  Woven wall hangings are beyond unaffordable.  I spent $30 on the tiniest, ornament-sized hanging that I hung in my bedroom only to have it annoy me every time I look at it.  While I do love it, it is truly something I could have made myself with a stick and some $3 yarn.  And the normal-sized ones can cost over $300.  So I have decided to give it a go.  Now, I am FAR from crafty.  I definitely try, and wish I were, but the truth of it is, I usually either abandon the project because it starts looking like a goldfish made it, I completely lose interest so it sits in our cabinet until it's irrelevant and I throw away the materials, or I complete it but get frustrated at the very end and rush through the last few (crucial/important/project-making) steps thus wasting money and time and I just purchase the item off Etsy (where I found the idea to Google "DIY woven wall hanging" to begin with).  My hope is that by blogging about my progress I will hold myself accountable and will actually finish the damn thing.  I just received the first of the 2 materials needed. The second is shipped and on it's way!  I am optimistic since there are very few materials and I really just need to tie some knots. Easy, right?  Photos to come of materials if I can keep my kids from playing witches using the brass tubing as brooms.  No luck so far.

Playing trains on the new rug. Ok, eating dvd cases on the new rug.

Macrame hanging planter against a navy wall...yes please.