Jute and Hemp Balls

Being the mom of 2 wildly busy boys I often find quite interesting photos on my camera! My 3 yr old loves to take pictures of everything...I mean everything! My 5 yr old loves to pose with his latest creation so it all works out quite well for both of them! Here is a picture I found when downloading the pictures for today's post. Jacob did quite well with his photography skills on this one! We always have one super hero or another popping in on us through out the day here and he captured this one of muscle man quite well!

There were more...way more. Mostly of the disturbingly messy basement. Due to their graphic nature I chose to delete those rather then share them!!


I have been looking for great filler balls for some of my dishes around the house and about dropped in the isle when I saw 1 ball was 4.99! Seriously! It would take me forever to fill one bowl! So I picked up some Jute and Hemp and various sizes of Styrofoam balls and went to work.
I wrapped each ball with Jute, Hemp or a mix of both using hot glue.

Jute is thicker and quicker to wrap then the hemp so I only did solid hemp with the smaller balls. On some of the bigger ones I made some hemp braids and add those just on the ends or middle.

I will add one cautionary note: This burns the stink out of your fingers! I did discover that my thumbs are much tougher then my finger tips! Yikes!

Door Becomes Headboard

The previous owners left behind a lot of junk in the barn when they moved out. We did find some pretty neat treasures when we were filling the dumpster! This old door caught my eye when we pulled it out of the pile and I knew I had to make it into something! Since the boys would need headboards for their new beds and this door would make perfect ones!!


We cut the door down and added 2x6 boards to each side to add a little on the length and add legs.

I lightly sanded the headboards and put a coat of primer and paint on. The door had quite a few dents and dings which I loved because it added to the character of headboards. The best part was the total cost of these headboards was $1.02 for the 2x6. We got both boards out of the cull bin at Lowe's for a whopping .51 cents a piece! I love a cheap make over!!

The Boys Room Is Compleate!

When we found out we were going to move I started dreaming about decorating the boys room. I found this picture some where on the web and it became my inspiration! I love the soft blue and white with the bold red accent.


So this is my " on a budget" version.

I painted a canvas with the boys fist initial. I blotted the paint back off with a paper towel and it gave it a great faded antique look.

I went with a bi-plane theme. The boys and I both agreed they look pretty cool and it is something that can grow with them. I got these wooden propellers off eBay for 3.50 (with free shipping!!) and painted them up and sanded them back down. I found the frame at Michale's in the As Is section. It was broken on the side and was marked down to 4.99. I glued up the side and painted it to match. I cut a piece of card board and covered it with drop cloth and glued the props to the cloth.

I had made little book holders for the boys a while back.

I also found these 1931 authentic bi-plane ads on eBay for 5.oo (also with free shipping!) The frame was another Michales clearance for 5.00. I painted up the frame to match and waa laa! Cheap wall art!

I found the cute little table at Hobby Lobby today. They have a great clearance on some of their furniture so I found this little guy for 21.99! I haven't decided if I want to paint it up or just leave it as it is. It has a great vintage look to it all on its own!

I just realized I didn't take pictures of the 2 wooden bi-planes that we hung from the ceiling with fishing line or the metal bi-planes on their dresser! I found all of them at Hobby Lobby and of course waited till they were 50% off!

So the grand total for my budget version is:$131.42

Wall paint-$25

Red accent paint-$5 (I found the perfect shade of red in the oops paint at Lowe's)

Propeller wall art-$8.49

2 Framed Bi-plane ads-$15

2 Bed sets from Walmart-$32 (These were on clearance!)
Hobby Lobby table-$21.99

6 wooden/metal bi-planes-23.94

The we needed frames for the beds since the boys had a bunk bed before. Which I sold for $75 after we moved in! We paid $40 for them 3 yrs ago! Craig's list is simply a-mazing!! I found the frames on FreeCycle.org. So if you add the $75 back in the total spent was just $56.42! Not too bad to redo a whole room!

Ballard Alphabet Ball Knock Off

I have been seriously adoring these alphabet balls at Ballard's. They have always been sold out though, and I'm not sure of the price. I did see them at a little store for a buck a piece. Not too bad if you only want a few but I wanted to use them as filler and that would add up! So I came up with my own knock off version...

I got 2 packs of 6 ping pong balls for around $2.50 a piece. I used a upside down egg carton and spray painted them a antique white.

Then I cut out vinyl letters on my Cricut about a 1 1/2 inches. I only used 1 letter per ball but as I look at the Ballard version I might go back and add more that way you don't have to arrange them so carefully. For $5 Im pretty happy with the results!

Old Fixer Upper Scale

While perusing our local Goodwill the other day I saw this old scale. It was missing the top part that you set things on but the rest was in great shape! I knew I had to have it! As I picked up the scale I noticed a white square plate next to it! It was perfect for attaching to the top to make the flat do-hickey that was missing!

I used some epoxy to attach it to the top and it became the perfect place to set out our fruit! My hope it that if I can see it I will eat it more then the chocolate. Until they make a chocolate apple its doubtful, but worth a shot!

Key Hole Canvas

The summer really kicks my tushy! I can't seem to get everything done in a day and then have time to sit down and blog about it! It's been forever since Ive posted and so I have lots to share!

I found these adorable Key Holes in the scrapbook section at Michales and thought they would look adorable on canvas. So I took a 5x7 canvas and brush brown glaze on it and wiped it back off.

Then I took my needle punch and poked holes in the canvas where the brads would go after I lined them all out and centered them. Then I set the key holes and brads and ta-da! A quick 5 min project that now I have to find a place for!!

Easy Chili Relleno's

Chili Relleno's are my absolute fav Mexican dish! After our favorite Mexican restaurant closed down I was determined to learn how to make my own! It's much easier then I thought it would be!

You will need: Anaheim peppers
Egg roll wrappers

Your choice of cheese, Mozzarella, Cheddar or Cream Cheese
Pan and oil or deep fryer

Place your peppers on a cookie sheet in the oven on high broil. You will want your pepper to blister. This usually takes about 5 min but will varies on the size of the pepper. Turn the peppers so they are blistered all the way around.

After your peppers are have blistered as much as possible place them in a plastic bag and leave them for 10 min. This will make the peppers "sweat" and make it easier to remove the skin. They will look like this...

Peel your peppers, removing as much skin as possible. Cut the pepper in half and then cut length wise and fill with cheese.

Wrap the stuffed pepper half in an egg roll wrapper egg roll style.

Place the wrapped pepper in hot oil and fry it til crispy. These are great topped with salsa, enchilada sauce and sour cream.


A few chili facts! The "heat" from the pepper comes from the oil's in the seeds. They more you handle your pepper the hotter it will be. Putting your peppers in the fridge will chili the oils and make the peppers less hot.