Welcome to Tophatter and a Free Gift!

July 31, 2012



I've just discovered an amazingly addictive free online auction site called Tophatter . Live auctions take place daily in every category imaginable from Jewelry, Home Decor, Craft Supplies and Fashion to Vintage and Antique Finds.  Each auction is a live, virtual shopping party - you can chat with fellow attendees as you watch the bidding take place.

Here are some recent craft supplies that went up for auction.



I wonder who won the bidding for this fabulous Tory Burch bag?

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The best news of all is that right now Tophatter is offering all Charm Bracelet Diva {at Home} readers a free $5.00 credit to spend as a welcome gift!  It's so easy to join!~ I do hope you check them out!

To get your $5.00 credit just click here: Tophatter (so they know I sent you!) and sign in.

Let the bidding begin!

xoxo





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Periodic Table Wall Art Printables

July 25, 2012



I have some really nifty "before" and "after" shots of the hallway outside my kids' rooms.  As for the before shots, well, let's just say that the area has become a bit neglected lately.


Yeah, I'd say that bookcase could use some organizing and stylizing.


Okay, so the top of the bookcase has a stack of books thrown haphazardly on top.  And a basket of shells from our recent vacation.  And three frames, only one of which has something in it that is not the picture that came with it.  And THAT picture is, yes, a VALENTINE'S printable.  Yikes.  Clearly time for a change.  Oh, and another obvious problem:  the shelves are a mess!

Enter some really cool periodic table wall art printables I found over at Craftiments, a craft and sewing blog I stumbled upon the other day.   Decorating with science stuff has become a cool thing to do these days, and I absolutely fell in love with this idea.  Especially since chickadee numbers one and two will be learning this stuff at school this year.  Check out what Kirstin over at Craftiments used as her inspiration.


That crafty chick went onto Pic Monkey and created her OWN set of 16 elements.  What a great {and crafty} idea.  Check it out.


Wanna know the best part?  She shared the downloads for FREE!

I had to take full advantage of those babies and downloaded a few for myself.  Then I fit them into the frames I already had and voila.

My photos don't do the colors of the printables justice.  They're awesome, very vintage looking and I LOVE THEM!

So at least for the time being the bookcase looks presentable enough.  That is, until the next kid walks by and pulls out some books and drops some of their cr** {rhymes with trap} on top.  I'm not so sure Restoration Hardware has an answer for THAT.

Make sure to visit Kirsten over at Craftiments and download those awesome printables!

xoxo


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Now THAT's a Goodwill find!

July 24, 2012


Beth Feeback, her husband and a very precious painting.

Okay, I just had to share this tidbit of recent news with all you thrifters and fellow Club G.W.-er's out there. Ever think you made the Goodwill {or just insert your favorite thrifting venue here} find of the century?  This woman makes your find look like an overpriced bad deal.

Beth Feeback picked up two paintings for $9.99 each at a Goodwill in North Carolina.  She just wanted them for the canvasses, so she could PAINT OVER THEM.  (Confession:  I would have wanted to paint over them, too.  Just not my taste in art I guess.)  Turns out, they were worth WAY more if she didn't.  Around $15,000 to $20,000 more!  They are Ilya Bolotowsky originals from the Weatherspoon Art Gallery at the University of North Carolina - Greensboro. You can read her story here.  Who knew?  Way to go, Beth!

This rags to riches story hasn't happened to me yet.  But a girl can dream, can't she?  What was YOUR best Goodwill/thrifting/junking find?  I'd love to hear!

Have a great week!

xoxo


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Urban Wall Decals ~ WOW!

July 21, 2012




I'm so excited!  I have to say that I've been very blessed with blog contest wins over the past year.  Can you say POTTERY BARN?  I guess that win was the start of my good luck.  Check out my incredible loot here.

And I just found out that I'm Bonjour Romance's winner of a $75.00 gift certificate to Urban Walls!  {Thanks, Mim!} Their selection of wall art is absolutely amazing and I can not wait to place my order!

Here are just a few of their selections.














I could show you SO many more cool decals, but I'll just let you go over to their shop and see for yourself.
It's going to take me a while to figure out which one to choose!

And be sure to stop by Mimi's blog for all things French!  Thanks again, Mimi!

Have a great weekend!

xoxo

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More Beach Decor: DIY Pottery Barn Faux Coral

July 14, 2012


You all must think I'm nuts, but here I am going on about shells and beach decor.  Again.   I hope promise that this will be the end of it. At least until next summer, that is. In my last post I shared with you my PB hurricane knock-off.   And in all honesty I probably should have left well enough alone. But we all know that THAT will never happen, so.....I tried my hand at DIY coral and then created a vignette out of ALL my seashells. Before I show you my shell mania, I'll tell you about the coral. I read about this method on one of my favorite blogs, Home Stories A to Z. If you haven't checked it out yet you have to stop over there and tell Beth I sent you!

Anyway, I followed her advice and took a trip to my local Wal-Mart. Lo and behold, in the pet aisle, I found some really funky plastic pink coral.  Is there really such a thing as aquarium decor?  I think I just made that up. Take a look.


I think these beauties ran me about. $ 3.00 each.  Since I wanted to go with more of a Pottery Barn beachy vibe (surprise) I spray painted them white.  Then I couldn't wait for them to dry.  Once they dried, I placed them in my ever-growing display of shells. 



This hurricane filled with shells was a $2.99 Goodwill purchase, score! 

Now I may have gone a bit too far here......I added even more to the mix.  Enter my PB hurricane knock-off and its' twin that I just couldn't resist making.  Well, I already had all the materials, so why not? And I figure I'll use that one eventually in our master bath decor re-do, details to follow.  So, put it to me straight, have I gone over the edge into all out crazy-town or what? (And yes, I know the frame appears crooked in the picture but in person it just didn't!)

 
  I do think the coral looks pretty cool, adding just the right touch for just the right price. 



PB's cost: $29.99 on sale. Originally $39.50.  Yikes!  And just for the record, some of the shells (and all the starfish) were bought at the beach, but a lot of them were picked up at the Dollar Tree. Cha-Ching! 


So you see, you CAN have high-end home decor on the cheap. You just need to know where to look!


That about wraps it up for my shell mania series.  Although, I did pick up that pretty sea glass.....


xoxo


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I'll be linking up here:
Homemaker On a Dime
Baked in the South
Coastal Charm
Cedar Hill Ranch Cowgirl Up
Savvy Southern Style Wow Us Wednesday
Faded Charm White Wednesday
Todays Creative Blog Get Your Craft On
Not Just a Housewife Show Me What Ya Got
Free Pretty Things For You Whatever You Want Wednesday
Krafty Kat
The Shabby Creek Cottage
The Charm of Home
No Minimalist Here
My Romantic Home
It's a Hodgepodge Life
Finding Fabulous
Tip Junkie handmade projects
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Inexpensive DIY Pottery Barn Hurricane Knock-Off

July 9, 2012




A few months ago when I got this Pottery Barn Catalog


I was taken with their  
DECORATE
Vases & Vase Filler
section of the catalog. 

It reminded me of prior summers, having placed sand in a glass hurricane with some shells.  I knew I could copy theirs pretty easily.  I started with my Anchor Hocking glass cookie jar.

And here it is sans lid.

It was all of $9.99 at our local hardware store. It looks exactly like Pottery Barn's for $49.50.  
PB  calls it an Aegean Hurricane.

Add some sand.
This is actual bona fide New Jersey seashore sand, brought back fresh by me from our family vacation over the 4th of July.  I didn't really take any pictures this year (gasp!) but you can visit here and get the gist.  Two of the chickadees actually shoveled it up and bagged it for me right before we left for the airport.  Priceless.

Add an electric candle I already had, a starfish and some vacation shells and you're done.  I'm loving it!

The beach sign is made from a Dollar Store silver tray that I painted with chalkboard paint.  I bought the tray stand on sale at Hobby Lobby, then painted it white and distressed it.



I just love it when I can make something inexpensively that sells for beaucoup bucks somewhere else, don't you? 

I also really wanted to show you something else we brought back from the shore.  Not only is it made of shells, it's made of WHITE shells.  And you know how I feel about white!


I just found it really fascinating and different.  I'd never seen anything like it before.  
Coupled with its' little hand-carved stand I thinks it's pretty cool.




It cost all of $8.95.  (Gotta love the "Shell Shack," as we call it.  It's really a fishing/bait and tackle shop we visit each year to pick up some awesome shells for pretty reasonable prices.) 
Upon closer inspection I thought it was a bit like either the PB Wave Coral ($59) above


or their Barnacle (letter E, $129!).

I'll be displaying it right next to my revamped summer decor glass orb thingys (blogged about here) and some (sort of) home made coral that I'll tell you how to make later.

So, I was pretty happy with my inexpensive PB knock-off look.  And I'm obviously loving the whole beachy, nautical look these days.

How about you?

 xoxo


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