Fabric.com Sale

Sadi gave me the heads up on a great sale on Fabric.com.  Hurry and checkout the sale on their Westminster fabrics.  They are $2.49 a yard!  Plus, if you spend $35 you get free shipping and you can use the code ANNV1 for an extra 20% off!  Here are a few that I ordered! 

I actually got this in 2 other colors too!  I'm sure I can find something to use them for.  Two others I picked up:

Sale ends July 26th!  Check it out before it's over!

Summer Rental Redesign

Every summer we move into an apartment with little more than blank walls, rental furniture and the few items we bring along.  We spend 4 months in a place that never feels quite like home.  In an effort to a) make this place a little more homey b) give me something to do and c) allow me to get creative and decorate again, I am going to be doing a $200 summer rental redesign challenge.

Here's my plan:  I am going to take $200 and do as much as I can to this apartment.  I'll be refinishing furniture, sewing and DIY-ing lots of little projects and blogging the projects these next few months.  Then at the end of the summer, I plan to sell the things I have bought back for at least what I paid for them originally (and hopefully for more than I paid).  I'll be hitting lots of thrift stores, Craigslist (though apparently people in Chicago think their junk is worth a lot.  I can't seem to find anything on there for under $50!) and yard sales.

I'll be focusing mainly on the living room and the bedroom since that is where we spend the most time, but I hope to do a little something to the dining area and the guest room.  This really will be a challenge since we have less rental furniture than usual.  I'll need to get several major items.

• End tables for the living room (we have one but I don't like it)
• Nightstands for the bedroom
• Lamps for the living room and the bedroom (we have a lamp in the living room, but again, I don't like it)
• Headboard
• Desk

The rest of the money will go to wall art, fabric, decorations, accessories, etc.

I am so excited to start on this project!  I have been dying to redecorate my house, but since we just finally finished all of the rooms and since we won't be there too much longer, it just wouldn't make much sense.  So here's my chance to play with different color schemes, patterns, etc.

I am off to a bit of a head start.  I went to Home Fabrics back home since they were having an amazing sale.  Select home decorator fabrics were $3 a yard, but on the day I went they were a dollar off.  So I ended up picking several different fabrics for $2 a yard.  Home decorator fabrics for $2!!!  Here is a sneak peek of the living room fabrics (and of the boring rental couch).

And here are the living room lamps I picked up at a yard sale for $10 a piece.  A little pricey for my budget, so I'll have to be careful with the rest of the money though.  I'll be spray painting these since they're in pretty rough condition!

Want to play along?  Set yourself a budget and makeover a room in your own house!  You could give it a fresh summer look without making any major changes.  I would love to see what someone else does with a minimal budget and lots of creativity! 

Can't wait to get started!

Giveaway: Custom Skirt

*GIVEAWAY CLOSED*

Here's the thing...I bought this adorable Amy Butler fabric to make a skirt for our family photos.  But I have way too much fabric left over!  It will just sit and sit in my growing fabric stash until I eventually find something to use it for.  So instead, I thought I would do a little skirt giveaway.  Leave a comment and you'll be entered to win a skirt, like the one I made for myself.  If you win, you'll give me your measurements (or the measurements of the person you want to give the skirt to) and I'll make the skirt custom for you and mail it out to you...near or far.  It's perfect for the spring/summer season!  Anyone is welcome to enter, whether I know you or not!

The fabric is from Amy Butler's Midwest Modern 2 collection.  It's the optic blossom in gold.

I think the colors look a bit bolder in the above picture than in real life.  Here's my skirt:

Leave a comment by Thursday, April 15th at 11:59 MST for a chance to win!  The winner will be randomly chosen and announced on Friday, April 16th.

JCaroline Home

I used to go to JCaroline Creative to check out their fabric online.  They just recently stopped carrying fabric and now carry supplies like ribbon, hair clips, etc.  They also have a new store, JCaroline Home.  They are selling ottomans, pillows and chair covers for popular Ikea chairs.  I love that they have covers for the Tullsta! I have that chair in the corner of the office and I always feel like it's so boring in plain black.  I have NO knowledge on how to recover things besides a simple chair cushion so I've looked into buying a cover online before,with little options...until now!  You can choose from plain colors or various designer fabrics.  Here's one of the covers (thought not one I would choose):

{image via JCaroline}

I think I would go with something a little more subtle, like this option.

And speaking of fabric, I just went to a fabric store yesterday that carried designer fabrics like the ones I recently posted about.  I was in heaven!  I have been waiting to find a store nearby that had them.  I purchased lots of fun fabrics and can't wait to get started on some sewing stuff!  I have lots of projects on my To Do list...I just hope I can get a few done over the weekend.  Have a good one!

Felt House

I would've loved to play make-believe with the awesome card table felt house. There are 4 different sides: grocery store, ice cream shop, bank and post office. Such a great idea! Lots of sewing and lots of love definitely went into this!

{Found via OhDeeDoh via Sew Can Do}

Speaking of sewing, I checked my favorite fabric Etsy shop, Fabricworm and saw some beautiful new fabrics out. I have a love affair with fabric. I would buy them ALL if I could.

{images via Fabricworm}