Tuesday, September 11, 2012

I don't know how she does it...

Well I did no projects last week! I actually had a surprise visitor from overseas and I enjoyed the catch up with her on Friday (my project day). Every visitor I have at home seems to enjoy our decor which is lovely. Little do most of them know, none of it cost us anything.

I have a lot of projects I would love to throw myself into, but the biggest deal breaker is usually funds. But that's OK, it just means we can plan every detail step by step until we are able to do it. I will be sharing a few of these projects in detail in the weeks to come. It's a little embarrassing, and most blogs would only share the 'before' with the 'after' but this is all part of the story. My one.

It's not that we don't have any money either. In fact we do. However we have set a goal to be debt free by March 2014 - or earlier if possible, and so every cent of 'spare' cash is being thrown at bills. It is a good feeling to see those 'amount due's' diminish. When we have squashed all of our debt, we are going to continue to live debt free. I really can't wait. Although I am very grateful to debt as well, as it enabled us to buy a home. If anything has been learnt though, it is not always in ones best interest to use debt as a way to buy things. House, yes. stuff, no. That sort of thing. The best and most rewarding outcome is to save those pennies and pay in cash. Not all lessons in life can be told though, they have to be learnt. And we have.

In other news, I am adopting a significant change in lifestyle and it starts tomorrow! I won't divulge too much on here as that is not the purpose of this blog, but you may hear about it from time to time. It will require a lot of organisation and prep and some of that might be interesting.

And last but not least, on top of the DIY I have a new quest. I need to find some organisation in my life. I feel like everything is all on top of me and I just don't know how to do it. Baby steps and all I will sort it out. Hopefully learning as I go.

So that's what has been happening and what you can expect to see more of around here in the coming months.

Thanks again of course for popping by and having a read - I am loving writing this blog and you people just reinforce that - you rock!

xx

Ally
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Saturday, September 1, 2012

Easy DIY Tin Caddy


I whipped up this simple tin caddy this morning. I have been saving these three tins for this little project for such a long time so I am glad I have finally done it!

I knew I wanted to attach three tins to a piece of wood. I will be doing another one of these in the future with three cans on each side for the kidlies but this one is for me. I tried to nail the cans on but it was rather awkward with my humongous hammer - I need a girly hammer!! Anyhow, I didn't think hot glue would hold, but it is what I ended up using and it is working a treat so far!!

Here's what it looked  like before...


I could quite easily have left it like this and been happy with it, but I decided to experiment with some kitchen string and PVA craft glue. I found it was easier to apply the glue as a stencil and then stick the string on top. I used a pencil to push the string firmly onto the wood, as my fingertip was too sticky and kept peeling the string off. Here's a progress shot:


And once again the finished project:


I quite like the string text and I will definitely be using the same technique again!


Thanks for stopping by!

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Where Home{made}-Ally lives...

The blog that is...

Here is my home computer space. I don't quite have the home office sorted yet however it is a work in progress (yay) but for now here is the mismatched industrial/rustic/romantic work space that I do have and love.

It is quite a simple set up... however it is missing an even work surface.. I will show you how I get around that shortly... We are trying to find a reasonably priced perspex supplier so that we may put a 'lid on things'.
The base is wrought iron and was purchased on good ol TradeMe for cheap as the glass top had been broken. The top is a door. It even came with built in cable holes haha.


Here is my wooden mouse pad. It works well and looks the part.


See my DIY deer silhouette? The stack of wood behind it are more frames of varying sizes that I will get around to decorating soon too.



I even have a matching green chair!


My workspace is once again a mixture of styles smushed together to create something unique and interesting that I love - I hope you like it too!

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