Clearance Corner Art

I love a good clearance find, especially when it's useful and has a distinct purpose. Sometimes, those clearance tags can be tricky. You know what I mean. You're walking through the store minding your own business and then you see it. That little tiny bright orange or yellow tag announcing "CLEARANCE". The first thing I do when I see one of these is to quickly browse the shelf to see what jumps out at me. Sometimes, I walk right on by. Other times, it's like a gravitational pull against my will {ok, maybe not completely against my will} beckoning me to the shelf. My eyes quickly look for the price - the marked down price and then immediately after, the regular price. I'm never better at math than when I'm calculating a discount! {Except every morning when the alarm goes off and I calculate exactly how many times I can hit the snooze before I absolutely have to get up.} So, you can imagine how excited I was to come across a little endcap of clearance stuff at Hobby Lobby. I did stop to look at the St. Patrick's Day clearance - 80% off and decided I really had no use for any of it, but as I started to walk off I noticed the next endcap had clearanced wall calendars also 80% off. Now, this being the end of March and all, I really didn't need a calendar for the rest of this year, BUT they had a few Mary Engelbreit calendars and she happens to be my favorite artist ever! I've made lots of art out her calendars - wall calendars, desk calendars, planners, etc. and still have a few framed and hanging in my house.

This one is from a calendar from years ago that I framed and hung in my 1/2 bath downstairs. The frame was given to me and already had a nice white matte in it. The picture I just cut out of the calendar and put in the frame. And voila! New wall art.

That's what I plan to do with this one, too. I've already picked out a few pictures from this one that I can use in my girls' rooms and their bathroom. And I'm pretty sure I've already got frames that will fit them. All for $3.55. 12 possible pictures for $3.55? That's approximately .30 cents/per picture. Can't beat that now can you?

There are so many calendars out there - you can find just about anything you are looking for! My Hobby Lobby still had a good selection of clearance calendars left. I still have a beautiful black and white calendar from years ago of pictures of Paris that I plan to frame and use for my older daughter's room.

Have you ever done this? It's such a great way to add affordable art to your bare walls!

Making Goals for the New Year

I asked my daughters tonight at the dinner table if they knew what a resolution is. The two younger ones, 8 and 5, didn't know and didn't try to guess. My 10 year old said, "It's a promise people make every year and they never keep." My husband and I busted out laughing - because we know it's true. I've sworn off resolutions. I would much rather make myself goals that are actually possible to attain. So, I asked my girls what kind of goals they would like to make for this month for themselves and then we talked about some goals for our family. It was a great conversation. I have decided to make monthly goals for myself this year instead of yearly. It's much less intimidating and overwhelming and I'm less likely to fail at them with such a short time frame. I have categorized mine into 4 categories this month. Spiritual goals, personal goals, blogging goals and health goals. Here are some things I have found helpful in planning and keeping goals. Maybe they'll be helpful to you, too!

Get a good planner. This monthly planner is going to be close by my side everyday. Believe it or not I found this at the dollar store. And it's perfect. Great size, great color, and just what I need. It shows year at a glance for 2014 and 2015. It also shows month at a glance for 2014 and includes a section for notes and reminders. I love it! I've been very scatterbrained lately and forget things or get distracted by other things needing my attention, so this calendar is going to be very useful in helping me stay on track. 

Set a realistic time frame for your goals. If you want to lose 40 pounds, don't limit yourself to 6 weeks and expect to meet your goal. Calculate a reasonable time frame for your goal and then figure out how you will accomplish that goal. One of my goals is to declutter my entire house (I do this a couple times a year), but I'm pretty sure it won't get done in a two week time frame. It'll take me at least this whole month because of other obligations I have.

Make a step by step plan. In order to reach a goal like decluttering my whole house, I have a plan to go room by room, starting with drawers then closets and then the open, obvious things in each room. As I go along, each room will also be cleaned from top to bottom using cleaning plans like these. Everything will be split into 3 piles. 1) Give away, 2) Throw away 3) Sell. That way everything that stays has a purpose and has value. Anything else goes! {I can't wait!!}

Do you make resolutions or goals? Do you set a time frame or just hope it all gets done? I'm motivated by a new year! It's a clean slate. A chance to start all over. Another chance to succeed. It's exciting and I have high hopes for this new year!

Hope all of you have a wonderful new year!




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DIY Christmas Countdown Advent Pillow {Tutorial}

This is my favorite Christmas countdown item in the house! We have an advent calendar type thing we got from Target a long time ago. It's wooden with little doors to put treats in for each day as we count down to Christmas, but ever since I saw this pillow my sister made a couple years ago, it's been my favorite!
I made one a couple years ago as a gift for someone but never did get around to making my own. I finally made mine this year and can't wait to use it! It's already on my couch, but the wreath will just have to be stuck on "1" for a couple more weeks.

Each day, you just tie the wreath to the new date. My girls are excited to use this! Wish I hadn't waited so long to make one for myself. I love it!

You can find my sister's detailed tutorial here. I did not add ribbon between the rows, but I did add red cording around the edge of mine. I have a lot of neutral going on in my living room, especially on my couch so my pillow needed an extra pop of color to frame it out and help it stand out.

Do you have an advent calendar? Why not make an advent calendar pillow, too?

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