Gone Social

Yep, I finally gave in.

All the cool kids are doing it.

You can now ‘like’ The Junk House on facebook!

You can also follow my boards on Pinterest!

Thanks Lesley for the invite!

If you haven’t joined Pinterest and need an invite, leave me a comment with your e-mail and I’ll hook ya up!

In other news, remember when I showed off all the goodies I got from the Faith Hope and Charity Swap? And I said that I still hadn’t sent Cassandra her items? Well, I finally did! You can check them out here.

I believe Lakota is planning another swap before Christmas. I’m definitely signing up again! You should too!

200+ Follower Giveaway!

***CLOSED***

Sponsored by

I can’t believe I have over 200 followers! Yay!

And to thank y'all for putting up with me following my blog, I’ve got a sweet giveaway planned!

Who doesn’t love getting packages in the mail?

That’s what I thought.

So, today’s giveaway will be for 2 lovely prizes!


The first prize is from Our Creative Hands! Rachel is offering a handmade, hand painted 5-peg wood shelf from her shop.

This wood shelf measures 33 1/2x6x9 sanded, stained and varnished includes 5 pegs with 2 large saw toothed hangers on back of shelf for hanging. Sanded for a primitive appearance. Shelf color is black.

The second prize is from me!

 

I’m giving away one letter of your choice (just like the ones from my gallery wall) and a necklace I “made”. I call it Lucky in Love. 

Just to recap, one winner will receive:
Handmade Shelf from Our Creative Hands
One letter of Choice
Lucky in Love necklace

The shelf and letter/necklace will be shipped separately, so you’ll have 2 packages to look forward to!

Here’s How to Win:

(please leave a separate comment for each entry) 

• Follow The Junk House  (1 entry)

• Sign up for Our Creative Hand’s newsletter  (1 entry)

• Like The Junk House on facebook (1 entry)

• Post about this giveaway on your blog (include link in your comment) (1 entry)

4 chances to win!

I will verify each entry.  I tried to make the rules as simple as possible, please follow them.

Giveaway will close Sunday, August 7^th at midnight (AZ time). The winner will be chosen via Random.org and will be announced Monday morning. I’ll e-mail the winner (please leave an e-mail address if not on your profile). US and Canada Only. Sorry everyone else =(

Jar(s) of Hearts

This post has nothing to do with hearts. I just really like that song. If I ever go through another breakup I’m going to play that song on repeat…and Rolling in the Deep by Adele. Anywhoo, back to my jars.

I found these glass jars at EV Lutheran Thrift for $3.00 total. I think I found one each week for 3 weeks. At the time I didn’t have a project in mind, but I liked them, so I bought them.  

Before

$0.50

$0.50

$2.00

I taped up the glass parts and primed:

I sprayed them down with Krylon’s ORB and Minwax Poly.

I filled the jars with q-tips, cotton balls, and bath crystals.

Love! For only $3 I ended up with the perfect finishing touch for my bathroom makeover.

Speaking of my bathroom makeover...

Every week I’m planning to feature a different part of the makeover; working my way up to the big reveal. This is only part one!

Sam vs. Palm

Have you ever started a project and immediately wished you’d hired someone instead?

That’s how I felt after I decided I could trim my own palm tree…

A couple weeks ago I got a “friendly reminder” from my HOA. I had 2 weeks to trim the dead fronds off my palm tree or else. Ok, it didn’t say “or else” but I’m pretty sure that’s what it meant.

So, of course I wait until last minute because I think it’ll be really easy. They are dead so I should be able to just pull them off. The tree isn’t that tall, so I might not even need a ladder!

WRONG!

One pull on the frond and I realize it isn’t happening. So, now I need the big clippers and a ladder. I have to climb to the top of the ladder (not the very top, I'm not that stupid) to get close enough to cut the fronds off. They aren’t even easy to cut! I have to put all my body weight into the clippers to cut through the stems, which then makes the ladder wobbly. Long story short, it took me a (wobbly) hour to cut through 12 of them!

And I was drenched in sweat by the time I was done. Did I mention it was hot out?

All trimmed up! I hope you’re happy HOA!

Next time I’m hiring a tree service….

Damask and Glass

Sometimes a small change can make a big difference.

I wish I had a true “before” picture to show. I guess I forgot to take a picture of the bathroom before I painted it gray, probably because it’s ridiculously small and hard to take pictures in. Just imagine the walls the same green as the bedroom.

When I moved in I needed a shower curtain immediately (smelly Sam=bad), so I hung the shower curtain from my apartment. And there it stayed for 4 months…

One day (last Sunday) I finally decided I’d had enough and I ordered a new shower curtain. I went to Target the next day and bought new shower curtain hooks too. My package arrived yesterday, so last night white and plastic were replaced with damask and glass.

I’m in love!

Damask Shower Curtain $31.14 (including S&H and tax)

Simply Shabby Chic Hooks $13.07

Total $44.21

For less than $50 I dramatically (and quickly) changed the look of the master bathroom.

Expect to see more bathrooms in coming weeks. I’m almost done with the guest bathroom makeover. And the new shower curtain has motivated me to work on the master bathroom.

Finally...Chalk

It’s true. I finally made a chalkboard…

I found this picture and frame at Savers for $2.99. The picture is horrible, but I love the frame.

I unscrewed the back and tried to remove the picture. That sucker was glued down tight!

I ended up leaving the picture because no one will be able to see it behind the chalkboard…but I know it’s there.

I used a small roller to cover the glass with the chalkboard paint. 4 coats. I don’t mess around.

Meanwhile, I primed the frame and then sprayed it with Krylon’s Ocean Breeze…and then it got rained on!

Yep. I went outside to do a second coat and it was raining! Good thing the frame is plastic!

I glazed the frame with Minwax Dark Walnut stain and sprayed it down with some poly.

I added the chalkboard and screwed the backing back on…and ta-da!

The first piece in my newly painted office!

Book Worm

First off, I hit 200 followers yesterday! I'm so excited! Giveaway soon!


I love to read. I’ve been a nerd book worm my whole life.

So, I thought it might be fun to add a ‘What I’m Reading’ section on my sidebar.

Now y’all will know what I’m busy doing instead of crafting…

For the past few months I’ve been reading the Southern Vampire Mysteries/Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris.

Yep, all 11 of them.

The HBO series True Blood is based on these books. I love True Blood and I loved these books! They ain’t your Twilight vampires…

I’m currently reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson.

I’m only about 100 pages into the book, but I like it so far.


And this wouldn’t be a Junk House post without sharing the deals I got on these books:

Southern Vampire Mysteries – Borrowed from Mom

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – Store credit at Anchor Books*

Next up:

The Girl Who Played with Fire – Savers $1.99

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest – Still Looking

*Anchor Books is a used bookstore in Prescott, AZ. They have an awesome trade-in policy and a great selection. I turn in all my books that aren’t “keepers” for store credit. I’m not sponsored by them or anything, I just love that place.

Have you read any of these books? What are you reading right now?

I'm a Guest at HoH!

I'm excited to announce that I'm doing my very first guest post today!

Right now I’m over at House of Hepworths sharing 3 of my favorite projects (so far).

I’m holding down the fort for the afternoon while Allison is road tripping around the country.

I want to thank Allison for inviting me to her "house" today. And wish her safe and fun travels!

Pictures of You

I finally finished my gallery wall!

Yay!

As you all know, I’ve been thrifting frames like a madwoman lately…

Well, I finally found (more than) enough frames for my project.

So, I gutted and numbered all of the frames.

(I numbered the frames and glass pieces to make it easier to match them up after painting)

I primed all of the frames with Krylon Primer.

I started to spray paint them, but I didn’t like the finish. So, I ended up painting them with a brush and black craft paint. That’s old school right there!

I laid the frames out on the floor until I found a design I liked.

Then I cut out newspaper to test the design on the wall.  

Like!

I hammered some nails and ta-da!

You probably noticed that the S (for Sam) and J (for boyfriend) are different than the S and J from the floor picture. Well, I saw these at Hobby Lobby this weekend and liked them more than the others. Simple as that.

There’s more room to expand on the wall. Someday I’ll start collecting more frames, but for now I’m happy to have something on the walls besides a clock.

So, you might be wondering why I put my boyfriend’s initial up…Because we are moving in together! Yep, my boyfriend is moving in sometime in August. It’s a big step and we’ve both thought about it quite a bit. We decided that we’re ready, so wish us luck!

Bummer...

Owning a home isn’t all fun and games…

Lemme give you a quick recap:

I came home Sunday morning and found a puddle of water in the hallway.

I felt the ceiling above the puddle and it was soggy and mushy.

My awesome boyfriend came over and crawled up into the scorching hot attic to check things out.

He found that the condensation from the a/c wasn’t draining and the idiots who installed the tray angled it away from the drain pipe.

My handy (and awesome) boyfriend unclogged the drain pipes and fixed the tray.

Water problem solved, but the ceiling looks like this now…

Sigh…

Swap ‘til You Drop

Have you ever been out shopping and found something that reminded you of another blogger? And you thought, “I know (insert blog buddy name here) would love this?” Well, I have and so has Lakota. So, she organized the Faith Hope & Charity Swap.

She partnered us up and sent us off shopping! I was partnered up with Cassandra at Sleeping or Sewing. And I’m so glad I was! I came home Sunday night from my weekend getaway to find a box of goodies!

The guidelines were: $20 spending limit, minimum 3 items – maximum 5 items, at least 1 item had to be thrifted, 1 item had to be handmade, and there had to be 1 piece of jewelry.

Thrifted Pieces

Handmade

Jewelry

I absolutely love everything!

Thanks Cassandra!

And thanks Lakota for organizing the swap!

So, you’re probably wondering what I sent Cassandra. The answer is nothing…yet! I’m the most indecisive gift buyer. You should see me Christmas shopping – it takes me FOR-EV-ER! Anyway, the clock is tickin’ and the package must in Cassandra’s hands by July 31^st. Time to hit the thrift stores and make a decision!