Wall Space? Filled!

So, when I was at Jo-Anns earlier this summer, I found some really cute little canvases super cheap and decided to grab some and do something with them for my apartment. Well, now I'm all moved in and finally finished the canvases! They turned out super cute and weren't all that difficult!

My Dining Room

I feel so fancy having a dining room in my apartment! Ok, so it's actually just a little nook off of the living room, but to me it's a dining room! And, because I have my craft/office/sitting room, I don't have to store my desk, sewing machine, and craft stuff there like I did in my old place! So I have gone all fancy and made it beautiful! And I finally finished it last night so here is my new grown up dining room!

New Apartment!!!

So I've been a bad blogger lately and I apologize! I just moved into my new apartment on Tuesday and it was crazy moving boxes in 100+ degrees, a hornet's nest just outside my new apartment door, and a cute little surprise!

Book Sale

I am SOOO sorry to all of my readers!!! This summer has gotten majorly crazy and I have not gotten nearly anything done on my to do list! This post isn't even one of the craft projects I want to do (trust me there is a whole list of them!), but just a situation post about an awesome deal I got!

So I went to this book sale hosted by the Plano Library today.   It was old books they didn't want anymore and some that people had donated, all for super cheap prices (nothing was more than $2!)

All of this was only $12!!!

Don't worry, here's a detailed list of everything I got:

Some GRE/Grad School Books - $1 Each

(Yes, I plan on being in school forever)

Teachers Guides to Middle School Math Books - $1 Each

(To help me prepare to teach and to use in my classes)

Problem Solving Books and Science Project Books - $1 Each

American History Textbook - $2

A book I've wanted to read for a long time - $1

I am so happy with my purchases! My sister wants to go tomorrow and so I may even get more! I heard something about even better deals at the end of the sale (which would be awesome!!!). Which reminds me, Plano's sale will be open until 1 tomorrow if you happen to be in the area you can get information here.  Check out your local library and see if they do a book sale, maybe you can get awesome deals on books too!!!

Boxes Everywhere

I've told y'all that I'm moving soon and have to pack right? Well I recently started doing just that and, since I live in the internet era I can't do anything without looking up tips online to make it easier.  I know a lot of my friends are moving soon also, its that time of year for college students, so I thought I'd share some of the things I've learned and my packing/moving system with you!

Fruit Salad (Yummy Yummy) / Ant Invasion 2011

 Just FYI - y'all are really lucky this week because.... this is another double post!!!

I told you on Sunday that I would tell you how to make the fruit salad I had as a side with my Red Pepper Frittata soon and here it is!! This is a really simple, easy fruit salad recipe that is hardy and filling.

There isn't a link for this one because we just grabbed fruit and threw them together and hoped it worked.  It did! I made it a second time the next day because 1) it was delicious and 2) I wanted to be able to have a recipe to tell you with measurements and servings and such.

Depending on what fruits you put into your salad, it changes a ton.  I love putting citrus fruits (lemon juice, oranges, etc.) into fruit salad but my friends didn't want them when we made this so we skipped them and instead got filling fruit so you can eat less and still feel full.

Calories: 135 (more or less depending on the size of your fruits)
Servings: 3

Ingredients:
1 apple (I used a cameo apple because they were on sale)
1 banana
1/2 lb strawberries (just half of that plastic box thing they're sold in)

How to Make:
Clean your fruits.

Cut up the apple: Slice it then cut each slice in half.  I used my apple corer and just cut the slices from that in half.

Cut the strawberries: Cut off the heads, cut in half lengthwise twice. (It doesn't really matter what way you cut them so long as you get 4 pieces from each strawberry, 6 from those giant ones that are always in the packs)

Strawberries and Apples all cut up!

Cut the bananas: Open the banana, cut discs.

This is apparently the "correct" way to open a banana

Notice the stem is at the bottom, not where I opened it from?

I think its weird.

Combine all the fruits in a bowl and mix.

ENJOY!!!

So this made WAY more than I thought it was going to (theres a lot a fruit when you start cutting it up) and I ate the whole thing by myself and it was pretty much a meal in itself.

So when I was finished eating, I got distracted and left my bowl on my bookshelf.  I left it there overnight and I woke up to this:

ANT INVASION 2011

They were everywhere!!! Just sugar ants but still gross and not welcome guests in my home! I rinsed out the bowl after taking pictures (managing to drop my camera in the sink in the process) and ran to WalMart for ant spray and rice (to save my camera).  

Can you see them in there?

Don't worry, its now all taken care of and the professionals even came in and made sure I got all the crevices with my spray.  Here's hoping I'm done with ants for the summer!!!

Goodbye uninvited house guests!

But I found something out about my apartment: even though there is a "pest control schedule" posted in our laundry room, they don't actually follow it.  They only have the exterminator come in when you request it.  I'm not a fan of this complex anyway and think this is a bit devious, however, I will be checking with my new complex to see how they do pest control.  If its on a request only basis, I will make sure to "request" preventative measures every 4 months (its part of my rent, so I will have a pest free home thank you!) 

Have you check with your apartment complex about this? Are you having ant problems this summer? What's your favorite fruit for a fruit salad?

Pillowcase Art / What to Do When Your Craft Looks Like Crap

Just a note before I start - this post has 2 titles because its a double post (kinda).  There were really 2 main points to be made here and it seemed useless to me to split them up so enjoy!

I'm pretty sure I have mentioned this before, but my bedroom in high school had a Shabby Chic theme.  Since I'm doing a shabby chic living room now, I went looking through my old stuff when I was at my parents' house to see if I could reuse any of it.  I found some throw pillows and my old bedding (comforter, fancy pillowcases, and green pillowcases).

The bedding is so pretty; I'm just as in love with it now as I was what I picked it so many years ago, and I just had to find some way to incorporate it into my new living room. I brought the pillowcases home to use in crafts to decorate my new living room, after making sure that was alright with my parents.

I have yet to find a use for the fancy pillow shams (although there is one idea starting to take shape in my head), but I immediately knew what I wanted to do with the green pillow cases: pillowcase art!

Curtains!!

I have decided that I will be trying to post a new entry every other day.  That way, its not TOO much to ask of myself, but I can post lots of fun things!  I also get really annoyed when I find a blog I love and they only post randomly and I don't know when I will see a new post, so there you go: every other day.  And you now have my permission to yell at me if I don't get you new posts!

Now to the topic of the day: I'm excited about something and want to share: I have a design idea for my bedroom next year!!!

Red Bell Pepper Frittata

I told you I like to cook right?  Well some of my friends and I are taking turns making dinner so we can eat home cook food and the other night it was my turn!

For my dinner, I wanted to do something yummy, cheap, and quick.  I am also a HUGE fan of brinner (breakfast for dinner - we might have made that word up but go use it!) so I found this recipe and knew what I was making.

I know you can click that link and see the recipe, but I am going to get through it anyway to give you a few tips I realized while making/eating it!

Black and Shabby Chic

If you've been paying attention, you know my living room in my new apartment will be shabby chic.  This makes me sooo happy (because I love the style and because my couch doesn't need a slip cover!) However, I was torn because my fairly new end table (that I am in LOVE with) is black and black doesn't really say shabby chic to me. So I had a MASSIVE problem!

Decorated Letters

This is a super cute craft that I've done several times (for some of my friends, for my little sister, for my old sorority board).  Its pretty much my favorite craft!

I start with plain white letters from Hobby Lobby

source

These are only $2.99 but pretty much every other week they are 50% off and I only buy them when they're on sale so $1.50! These are pretty big (9" according to the site) and are super easy to paint on so I just let my creativity flow!

Apartment Furniture Part 4: Finishing Touches

So now I had basically everything I needed for my apartment, but I accidentally stumbled upon a few more jewels:

Apartment Furniture Part 3: Hunting Down Deals

Two things I really wanted that I wasn't finding on Craigslist were a night stand and a tv stand. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of both of these items, but I'm a bit particular and didn't find the kind I wanted. So I had to go another direction with looking for them.

Apartment Furniture Part 2: CraigsList Queen

I had furniture for the office area taken care of with stuff I already had, but I still needed a place to sleep, place to put my clothes, place to eat, etc. So, I got on CraigsList.

Now, there are some BAD deals on CraigsList, some really low quality items, some nice items listed for WAY too much, etc. So BE CAREFUL!!! Also, NEVER GO PICK UP AN ITEM ALONE! Always bring a buddy, preferably a male who looks a bit intimidating.

That being said, there are also some awesome deals on CraigsList if you are patient!

Apartment Furniture Part 1: Reuse

This year was the first year I moved into an apartment (I lived in dorms before that).  In choosing an apartment, I had lots of choices: upstairs or downstairs, roommates (how many) or by myself, which complex, will I get a pet?, etc.  The hardest decision for me personally, though, was furnished or unfurnished.  When I was deciding, I had a pro list for each side:

Furnished Apartment:

- much easier to move

- cheaper to move (no big bulky items)

- less to worry about the summer before I moved

- could buy furniture when I had money after college and could afford nice stuff

- Cheaper up front cost

Unfurnished Apartment:

- Could bring exactly the items I wanted

- mostly only unfurnished apartments here allow pets (which I wanted)

- Cheaper rent

- Less you can mess up in the apartment and have to pay  for when you move out

- Have these items forever (or until they break)

- Can pick style/colors

- Easier to set up the rooms how you want them (the furniture from apartments is normally really bulky and hard to move)

In the end I chose an Unfurnished Apartment (which I still believe was the best decision!) But, that meant I had to find furniture! And cheap, because I didn't have tons of money to spend on it. 

Shabby Mirror

When I was back home recently my dad asked my little sister and I to go through some of our old stuff to make sure he was good to give the boxes to Good Will.  In one of the boxes, my sister found this adorable little mirror from her Hannah Montana phase that was broken!

This is cute right?

There were two problems with the mirror: 

1) It was broken, as in the staples holding the mirror and backing in the frame had been stripped out and so they kept falling out

2) While the frame was purple with white polka dots, there were also what I assume to be camera flashes/spotlights in there

Maybe its just supposed to look like jewels sparkling?

Well neither of these seemed unsolvable and my sister didn't want the mirror anymore so I took it with me and the other night decided to revamp it to fit into my shabby chic living room next year! 

Hello!

So I've been wanting to start a blog for a while now and here it is!!!

First, let me start with a little bit of background:  I'm a college student (read: broke), but I still love to spend my free time doing crafts! I don't want to eat ramen noodles for every meal, and so I try to cook dinner for myself and my friends.  I am also currently preparing to move to a new apartment (2 bedrooms all to myself!!!) and want it to look like a home so I am working on some projects to make it look pretty and inviting!

I am going to share with you how I do all of my projects (plus how much they cost me) so you can attempt them on your own! Let me know if you try anything and how it goes! Or if you have any ideas you think I might like, please share!!!

Well I hope you enjoy!