Spiffy Entry

I was at Kohl's a few months back and saw this cute decor that I thought would be great in my entry way:

I don't remember exactly how much it was, but after poking around on Pintrest, I knew I could probably do it cheaper.  Here's how mine turned out:

You can't see the detail on the squares, but there is some texture, some color and it adds a great feeling to the entryway.  And my 3 squares cost me less than $3 (I don't remember exactly how much I paid for the scrapbook paper, but that's all that I bought).

I used cardboard that came in my mom's Creative Memories scrapbooks (Thanks Mom!) - each piece was 12"x12" and about 1/2" thick.  I cut them down to 8"x8".  I took my12x12 sheets of scrapbook paper and a little Modge podge to adhere them to the squares.  Once that dried, I folded them as nicely as I could and taped them down. Then I found a font in Microsoft Word that I liked, typed up the sayings, and printed them out on a piece of vellum paper that I already had in my stash.  I trimmed them and used fancy edge scissors to trim the corners. Using adhesive for vellum, I attached them to the squares.  To hang my decor, I saw a tip about using pop can tabs as hangers... so I got out my hot glue gun and stuck one on the back of each square.

I also liked the idea of dressing up the wall a bit more from a post I saw here. So thanks to my Daddy, a free piece of wood left in our house from the previous owners and $6 for 6 drawer knobs I bought at Lowe's, I now have some extra coat hooks in the entry too!

Transformation: Part 2

What a rough month to try to change how I am eating!!!

September is tough because my birthday and my now 5yo son's birthday are back-to-back. So between birthday parties and various treat email specials we get (I can't say no to Coldstone!), I knew I was doomed.

Added on top of that, one of my best friends was packing and moving far away. Emotional snacking can be another downfall of mine.

I enjoyed our birthday celebrations, trying to have some restraint and I said good-bye to our friends and made some eating mistakes.  But I have otherwise tried to stick to the Cinch plan. And each day, I made a conscious decision to keep with it.

I remember when we did Weight Watchers several years ago and during the first 2 weeks I felt hungry all the time.  But we stuck with it, and when we started seeing results it wasn't so difficult to keep going.  I have had a few days this time where I have wondered if I could stick with it.  Yesterday I put on a pair of shorts that were LOOSE!  Seeing results, even when I had a rough month, is enough to keep me going!

Woo-hoo!

9/8/12: 154.8 lbs, waist: 35.25 inches, hips: 41 inches
10/6/12: 151.8 lbs, waist: 34.5 inches, hips: 40 inches

Gearing up for fall

Thought I'd try a few new things for fall decorating and I loved many of the ideas from Sand and Sisal.  They used MDF letters, but I wanted to use things I had on hand - so I cut some letters from cereal boxes.  I might use a thicker box if I decide to re-do them, but this worked pretty well.  Now that I look back at mine and the example, I might adjust my ribbon lengths, but I used all items I had at home (boxes, ribbon from another project, scrapbook paper, fall leaves from fake flower bouquet and Modge Podge) so this didn't cost me a penny!

I like the topiary from Sand and Sisal too, but while I was at the Dollar Tree, I found some small craft pumpkins and thought I'd try something with them (there are lots of cute ideas on Pintrest, I tried spray paint like Wild Ink but before I spray painted, I did a little decorating with puffy paint...not sure how well it shows up in the pictures, but the only thing I would do different is get a glossy paint for the black one, or add a glossy coat (which I may still do).  For now, my little pumpkins are keeping watch on the porch ledge.