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Our Humble Sponsors: September & A Survey

Published on September 26, 2012October 8, 2012 by Our Humble AbodeLeave a comment

Our sponsors help fund little projects around the house. And we’re grateful. You should be, too. Not only do they help cover costs, they have great products and ideas to share with you. Check them out.

Quirky, unique, and fun prints abound in the Scissors, Paper, Mouse shop. Stop by the shop and poke around; I’m sure you’ll have a giggle.

1. Always be Kind

2. You’re the Only Fish in the Sea for Me

3. Stand and Fight

Sick of wondering, “What’s for dinner?” Emeals to the rescue. Emeals offers a variety of meal plans, low carb, gluten-free, vegetarian, organic at many different stores, taking sales and coupons into consideration.

1. Selection by Store

2. Diet Specific Plans

3. Family Menu Plans

Amy at Woodlawn Lane recently started blogging, sharing fun, simple ideas with the world. And she sells cloth diapers. What’s not to love?

1. Making an Upholstered Headboard

2. Adding Nailhead Trim

3. Cloth Diaper Discussion

S and S Babee is a small shop with hand sewn baby goodies. Quality is top-notch and the patterns are so fun.

1. Towel Bibs

2. Burp Cloths

3. Cloth Wipes

Jen at IHeart Organizing happens to be my blog bff, but that’s not the only reason I love her. She has an Etsy shop stocked with goodies to keep you organized.

1. Personalized Meal Planning Printable

2. Personalized Cleaning Checklist

3. Customized Children’s Chore Chart

Interested in advertising with Our Humble A{Bowe}d? Here’s some info to get you started.

P.S. As usual on sponsor shout out days, we’ll be back with our monthly Etsy favs.

P.P.S. I’ve been working on changing up the blog a bit. Want to help us improve? Take our survey to let us know how we’re doing. If the button doesn’t work, click here.

Take Our Survey!

Brass Be Gone

Published on September 25, 2012October 8, 2012 by Our Humble Abode16 Comments

Let me preface this by saying I don’t hate brass. At least not aged brass. I can’t stand the bright/shiny/fake/80’s brass. Don’t hate me for doing what I’m about to show you. Last week I had to run to UPS to send my felt leaf bowls to Germany for a photo shoot. While waiting for the main UPS to open at noon, the boys and I stopped at a park to play, bought groceries, and popped in a Goodwill. Not needing anything in particular, I puttered around the store and saw a brass bar cart.

I shoved a little lady to get to it…in my head. In real life I patiently waited for her to pass and then snatched it for, wait for it… 13 bucks.

Because it was a decent size, I rationalized we could use it just about anywhere, and not only as a bar cart. Yeah, Ben’s jug-o-wine wouldn’t look too fancy on this bad boy. The details were so nice. Double tiered, wooden legs, and on castors.

I’m guessing there was another glass shelf at the bottom, but we can replace that. Either with another piece of glass or painted MDF.

Everything was great, except the finish. While I liked the brass color, it was certainly worn, and not in a good way.

Hoping to keep the brass, I tried using Rub N Buff on it. No such luck, it just wiped right off the slick surface. Well, it was worth a shot. Sure, I could have used spray paint, but I’m not sure how it would hold up over time. When in doubt, I turn to my trusty friend Blue Magic.

Pair Blue Magic and fine steel wool and you’ll get a shiny, chrome finish on brass plated items. Because this stuff is stinky, I rolled my cart outside. I strongly recommend wearing rubber gloves, too. The thicker, the better. Then, dip the steel wool in the cream, and polish away. Ten or twenty seconds later, depending on the thickness of the brass and how hard you’re scrubbing, you’ll see chrome.

Keep on going. Now, I’m not sure exactly how/why this works, but here’s my best guess. The steel wool acts as a fine sandpaper, removing the brass plate. If used alone, it would scratch the metal, so the Blue Magic polishes it. Thanks to all the crazy joints and details, it took me about five hours to get this done.

I decided to keep the brass on the wheels, both because I like the look and I didn’t know if the metals were the same. I quickly sanded down the legs to re-stain them a rich walnut color. Boy was that quicker! A coat of silver spray paint on the black rubber pieces and here she is.

Obviously I’m using it as a side table in our living room. The size is great, but I’ve got some styling I want to do. Oh, and the bottom shelf.

I’m loving the shiny finish.

Those dark wooden legs, me-ow.

I’m excited for the bottom shelf and pretty details.

Castors are awesome, too. If we don’t need it as a side table down the line, we can always roll this to another room, inside or out.

Basically, it’s exactly what I didn’t know I wanted.

How about a budget breakdown?

Cart: $12.99 at Goodwill

Blue Magic and steel wool: Already had on hand (costs about 12 bucks at car stores)

Sand paper and stain: Left over from the bookshelf and bench

Silver spray paint: From my stash

Time: roughly 6 1/2 hours

Total: $12.99 plus 6 1/2 hours of my time. Not bad at all.

Do you like the changes? Or did you prefer the brassy finish? What’s your favorite recent thrifty find? Ever tried Blue Magic on brass? I’m contemplating using it on another project, but I’ve got some testing (and probably convincing of Ben) to do first.

It’s, It’s a Birthday Blitz

Published on September 24, 2012October 18, 2012 by Our Humble Abode2 Comments

We celebrated V’s birthday with a bash on Friday.

He asked for a dog party, I wanted to make something he’s love, but I limited myself to not spend a dime on decorations. It’s nothing crazy, but here’s what we had. Scalloped paper banner I made for his 3rd birthday party, a flat twin bed sheet turned table-cloth, and a few special dog creations.

A paper banner and framed husky silhouette decorate the boring (hole filled) wall.

To make the banner, I simply typed out Happy Birthday Vincent in Photoshop. I’m obsessed with the Arvil font lately, which I also used on his invitation. And the condensed style fit three letters per sheet at 815 point font. After arranging three letters per page, I merged the visible layers, then flipped horizontally. Using scissors, I cut out each letter, then poked holes at the tops to string embroidery floss through.

Stars separate the words and dog silhouettes at the ends match the party theme. But next year I can pull the dogs off (I didn’t knot the ends) and swap ’em for something matching next year’s theme. For another decorative element (to take attention off the holes), I traced a husky silhouette on a large piece of white roll paper I have in the basement. Popped into a large frame I had hiding under the guest bed, it’s a fun, simple decoration.

After taking down party decorations, I took down a map poster and hung this big dog above the boys’ kitchen.

For food, I planned to have hot dogs (to tie in with the dog theme), chips, grapes, sweet potato fries, bread, and V’s favorite cheese. Well, Ben saw pork ribs were cheaper than hot dogs (go figure!) and bought that instead. Oh well, our guests liked it.

So our desserts consisted of puppy chow and dog cupcakes.

I saw these cute and easy cupcakes and knew it would work for us. No special tools or tricks, just cookies and candy.

Because I was in a hurry buying ingredients, I forgot to buy black icing. So I improvised and used a dot of frosting with black sprinkles for the pupils.

A little something I learned: don’t put the cookies on the day before the party and cover your dish with foil. Trapped moisture will weaken your cookies, breaking in half. Super simple party and we all had fun. Check out last year’s rainbow themed party, too.

What do you think of the party decorations? What type of parties have your kiddos requested? Do you limit your budget? Or go all out for parties? How was your weekend?

Gimme a Giveaway Winner: Norwex & Drawerganization

Published on September 21, 2012October 18, 2012 by Our Humble Abode4 Comments

Raise your hand if you’re happy today is Friday. We’ve got a birthday party planned for a certain little boys I know.

A whole hand. I can’t believe it. We’re both getting so old. Haha. Sara GB should be pretty happy, too, because she’s the winner of the Norwex giveaway!

And now for a little drawerganizing. Because this house needs so much. When my blog BFF Jen and her adorable family visited in August, she brought me some adorable labels. Chalkboard labels for my spice jars, in fact.

So I peeled those puppies off the sheets and stuck ’em to my spice jars. Then they sat that way while I tracked down a chalk pen. Well, tried. After stopping at four different stores, all rumored to have said chalk pens, I gave up. Instead, I bought dry erase crayons, hoping they’d work.

Luckily, they did. No smudging or easy wear off, but clean off with water.

And now we know what spice we’re looking for right away. If only my handwriting were better. Though I do have the best writing in the house. Which isn’t a challenge considering I live with men. Haha.

Another quick drawerganization started at the thrift store. I spotted a chrome silverware divider for a buck ninety-nine. When I see cheap organizers, I try to find a use for it. Then it hit me, organize the friggin’ bathroom! At home, I plopped our toiletries, vitamins, toothbrushes, and toothpaste in there and it made me smile. Sure, it’s nothing fancy or super pretty, but we can fin what we’re looking for. That’s all that matters, right?

We’re organized and ready to party. What do you have planned for the weekend?

It’s a Cougar! No, Wait!

Published on September 20, 2012October 18, 2012 by Our Humble Abode7 Comments

It’s a bobcat. Having a cougar in the back yard (either a real cat or a Mrs. Robinson-esque lady) would be strange. I much prefer the four-wheeled bobcat version we have. A week ago, Ben brought home the bobcat from his work and started digging up the back yard. To get the bobcat up the hill, he had to gently slope the hillside.

After an hour or so, he finally got the hillside finished and came into the yard.

Digging around, pulling the sandy paver base out was easy digging and went quickly.

Over the weekend, Ben really got to work. All the stone retaining walls are too short/unstable/easy to break and don’t have the look we’re going for. See what I mean?

Oh, the cross hatching you see in the picture above? Just the window screen. The boys and I hunkered down in the house. Because broken bits of concrete were flying, we put pieces of foam insulation over the new windows. How much would it suck to shatter a newly installed window?!? So, my peeping Tom vantage points were limited, hence the screen shot.

Digging sand and dirt was the easy part. Lifting giant slabs of concrete, not so much.

Trying to break it with a sledgehammer wasn’t working, so Ben used something with a little more muscle. Lift…

Higher, higher, still higher.

And flip. Broken pieces were easier to hammer to more manageable pieces.

Quitting time for Friday night.

With the fountain out-of-the-way, Ben set out to destroy the patio off the pool house. Which included moving a giant rock. You think I’m kidding when I say giant? Take a look.

That is only the top part of it. Here’s the bottom. Yes, I was cringing and hoping it would work. Ben is tenacious with that bobcat. Oh boys and their toys.

Now we’ve got a giant pile of dirt.