Displaying my Penny Souvenirs

Do you collect these?

source

Obviously I do...

Ever since we came to the U.S. 

whenever we go somewhere that has the machine that makes these, I'm there.

Aside from the sentimentality, I love that these souvenirs are relatively inexpensive,

easy to lug around and my kids just love turning the wheel and seeing their prize!

I didn't want to keep them in a bottle forever since what is the point of a souvenir if you can't appreciate (or see ) them right?

I thought it best to display them like this...

Penny Wall art

Closer look...

I got the frame on clearance from TARGET. This is what is originally looked like...

$7.73

I was gonna get a Shadow box, but for the size and price, this wall art was way better. 

I removed the backing and added contact paper.

Added my TJ Maxx Laura Ashley Contact paper

I chose contact paper because it's easy to cut (lines on the back) and the pattern in front made 

it easy for me to align my pennies! Win-win!

Of course you can use fabric or gift wrap for this too.

Laid them out...

I initially hot-glued some, but I clumsily burned myself, and so I decided to just use

double-sided foam tape to attach them.

I'm happy with the result but my little one is much happier I think - he loves looking at them all the time now and tries to recall the places and what we did there!

I still have one more penny to add and hopefully, after our upcoming trip, this set is complete... until the next set that is!

How about you, what do you collect when you travel?

Would love to hear your thoughts! Please share away...

Hope you have a Lovely day!

Linking back to...

Fabulously Creative Friday - Jennifer Rizzo

FNF Party time - French Country Cottage

Lazy Cabinet Painting

CONFESSION: I am a lazy painter.

I will only paint something if it entails maximum of 3 steps.
Yes, you read it right, 3.

Aside from spraying something, the thought of sanding, de-glossing or whatever other step that I need to do before I can splash on the actual color boggles me and makes the task more daunting.

And so, when I did my craft room, I knew this was the perfect opportunity to try on my "Lazy Painting" technique without causing much damage. After all, I am PLANNING to re-paint our laundry cabinets and the entire basement kitchen cabinets. So what better way than to start out small and inconsipicuously with my craft room cabinets!

The materials I used are these...

Along with brushes of course ;-)

1) PRIME, PRIME, PRIME 

I love this product! Covered all the holes and small scratches easily. And the best part about it, I DID NOT NEED TO DE-GLOSS! I actually bought a deglosser for back-up just in case the primer didn't cut it, but IT DID! The de-glosser went back to Lowe's the next day.

I waited about half a day before I applied my actual paint, but really, this primer dried up in an hour!

2) PAINT AWAY

LESSON LEARNED: If your going to paint this 'LAZY way', I should have bought a better brush.
I can see the lines from my Dollar store brush. :-(

3) TAPE 

I did not remove my cabinets from their spot, so I had to tape around the walls and edges in order for me to prime and paint properly.

you can see the streaks from my cheap brush here

We are pleased with the results ( my husband actually wanted to start painting our basement cabinets  right away!)  But I am not sure if the results would be as good if we used a glossier paint finish.
The next cabinet I'm painting is this one...

Yellow maple has got to go

... before we paint MORE cabinets.

I'm painting it black, so I may have to get my primer tinted grey and see.
Anyway, I'll let you know how I do, once I get to it. :-)

Have a Great Weekend & Happy Painting!!!!

 Linking back to these fabulous parties...

Fabulously Creative Friday - Jennifer Rizzo
Feathered Nest Friday - French Country Cottage
Simple & Sweet Friday 63 - Rooted in Thyme
Show & Tell Saturday - Be different act normal
Nifty Thrify Tuesday 164- Coastal Charm
Make It Pretty monday 50 - The Dedicated house

Christmas Decor Organizing

Like I mentioned to Linda over at My Crafty Home Life, I wanted to start the year off better organized and avoid procrastinating over some of the things that needed to be done in our home.

Take our Christmas decor for example. All of us dread the day after New year when we have to drag ourselves to store all the decors we've set up meticulously over the holidays. I am no exception.

As much as I love decorating for Xmas (You've seen how clearly over-the-top I could get..), putting them all back into proper storage is one helluva task! Plus, I have a tendency to just dump everything in bins and just "dive in" the next year looking for stuff!

It's not just the manual labor itself, it's also the thought of the holidays being over so far! Uuggggh! I know you understand what I'm talkin' about.

So, to make it easier for me next year, I started putting away my decors January 4th and organized everything more to make my next year decorating adventure MUCH EASIER....

Let's start off with the ornaments...

I used 2 plastic drawer bins from Sterilite from TARGET ($10.99-17.99) & ziplock bags to organize and categorize some of my ornaments.

Different Snowflakes

Felt trees, Crystal Angels and Glittered greens

Icecles galore

Glittered Reindeers

Sentimental ornaments

Red ornaments

Felt Snowflakes



Blue Ornaments

I also used these red Sterilite Ornament bins from WALMART ($4.95 each)


Capiz stars

Glass Balls and leaves

I mentioned some, since the bigger ornaments went into much larger plastic bins.

Like these

I have 2 major storage rooms for these. One is in the basement utility room...

Lanterns hang atop
Shelving for some decors

Xmas boxes filled with more decors

Glittered tree one inside another

Xmas Table linens and party stuff

Xmas pillows and more ornaments

Nutcracker and more ornaments

The other storage I have is in the outside garage. My hubby and Dad built it for all my bins two summers ago.

13 total

 I got the bins from TARGET too and I have all my Xmas stuff in almost all of them. I wanted one color only so I know immediately know what's inside. For Halloween I have orange bins.

Xmas tress atop

For my wreaths, I have these Sterilite boxes..

All bought on clearance of course

For the lights, I recently got these see-thru bins from Home Depot...

4 total so far

I know what you must be thinking - that's A LOT OF XMAS DECORATION! And yes, you are right, but I don't use them all at the same time. Since I am gaga over this holiday, I just could not resist beautiful xmas stuff whenever I see them (I know, I NEED HELP!!! :-))!  But now you know how I change my Xmas decor every year, choosing from any of the stuff that I already have and mixing them up differently. And like most of you, I shop AFTER THE HOLIDAYS, to get the big discounts.

I hope you have some idea how to store yours too! Good luck if you haven't yet!!

Have a great week!!!

Linking back to My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

How to make a Mesh Ribbon

 You've seen most of my home this year and I would just like to share with you how I made the mesh ribbons/bows around my house.

This ribbon

I used to bows for my wreath.

Hope this helps next time you want to make your own uniqe bows for the holiday season!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Linking back To Serenity Now, Doodles & stitches, Holiday Home