More!

I'm hooked on this new center piece idea. Thanks to the Goodwill I found some more treasures and went to work on them. I decided to paint this one white instead of silver, it was tarnished beyond repair. But now it has the look of band new clean white that compliments almost any china. Just so you know, the main idea behind these center pieces came from the latest County Living Magazine. Their rendition is has a much more elaborate candelabra that I fell in love with. And like my Mom always said, "why buy it when you can make it?!!". The awesome feature of this piece is that the little china bowls are the perfect shape and size to accommodate candles or tea lights as well as tasty treats. Multi-functional!

Tea Time

It's no secret that I love tea!! So it's about time I did something to promote my love for tea and tea parties!! A few old candle stick holders, some antique blue dishes and some hardcore glue left me with this......... my latest creation!

Furniture Sale #1

Here's the story; my 10 year old cardboard dresser from Ikea fell apart on me... finally. So I was in search of a new one for a cheap price. I went to my favorite place to find free stuff.... the apartment dumpster!!! The phrase "one man's trash is another man's treasure" is one of my fav's! I found an old entertainment center. One of those mega old ones that took up an entire wall. I recruited my little brother to help me carry is up the 3 flights of stairs to our apt which was not an easy task by any means. But a good scrub, some fabreeze, a fresh coat of white paint, some sand paper to antique the edges, some beautiful toile material and some upholstery material to line the drawers transformed my dumpster dive into a romantically unique piece. We are moving and I wont have room for it in the new place so I posted it on craigslist for $60 thinking it might go for $50. But in one afternoon I had 10 offers. It went for $60 which I was super happy about, considering it came from the dumpster! I probably could have charged more, but I'm still testing the waters.

Posy's are here!!!

Click here to see some of my latest items on Etsy!

Crafty endeavors!

Well, I decided to try a new project today. For Christmas I got a nice little flower hair piece from Anthropologie and I love it!! Any chance I get I wear it to give my everyday pony tail or messy bun a little flare! I looked into getting some more in different colors but they are $28!!!! No way......so I'll make them! Take a look at my work and let me know how it compares to the floral one from Anthro. All I need to do is get some hair clips to attach to the back and upload them to my Etsy store!

Love, Bethany

Valentines Day Goodies!

Well, here we are, wrapping up the day of love! Neither Michael or I are very good at holding onto gifts once we have bought them, we get so excited. So, as many holidays do in our little family, we started the night before. We began the festivities we one of the greatest things ever invented.... CHOCOLATE!! Chocolate Fondue. We had apples, bananas, strawberries, and pound cake as our delicious dippings. It was perfect!!! I ate more then is appropriate to mention, and Michael had some too.

Then we watched an old movie called "A Streetcar named Desire." Michael didn't grow up on old movies, so I have taken it upon myself to educate him. Although mostly hesitant to the oldies, he usually likes them if he can manage to sit all the way through one.

We decided it was time to go to bed, and when I walked into our bedroom there was a wonderful display of pretty pink roses! Michael always does a good job as either tying flowers in a ribbon or displaying them in a pretty vase, instead of all wrapped in plastic. He cuts of the stems and gives them water too!

The we exchanged cards that we had written for each other. Mine was sealed and stamped in wax with Michael's initials. If felt like I was opening a romantic love letter from 100 yrs ago, back when poetry, romance, and chivalry were real.

I gave Michael a card I made with a poem that I composed myself (can you tell I'm a hopeless romantic?!) Sorry, the poem is only for him, maybe when I die someone will publish it.

My card also came with a little present that upon opening it I found a balloon with the instructions to blow it up. Once it was all full of air I could read the love note Michael had written in black marker all over the balloon..... so creative huh?!

The following day we took part in one of our favorite activities since I got chronic fatigue....sleeping in! I used to wake Michael up and practically drag him out of bed every morning. But now that I am sleeping so much Michael has taken full advantage of the opportunity!!!

Eventually I woke up to a trial of chocolate (he knows how to please me!) that led to a Valentines Day display with balloons, pictures, and candy art! What a great Hubby!!!

For lunch we went to the Corner Bakery and then walked around the Irvine Spectrum with Mojo! Michael cruised through Barnes and Noble and got a book on different Hikes in the OC (yea for old gift cards!). And I got some new flats on clearance..... a girl can never go wrong with new shoes!!!

Last, and probably the least.... we did phase two of the fondue. Cheese fondue. Sounds great, but I guess we should have researched more before we took the first recipie we found on line, because it was horrible. The first couple bites were okay, but them more we ate, the worse it got....blah! Now we both feel sick. However, the sliced apples were great by themselves. and we still have some chocolate fondue left over from the night before.

Well, that wraps up the evening. I gave into Michael's UCLA craving so that I could have time to blogg, but it's hard to concentrate when he is yelling the 8 clap at the top of his lungs. Really, what would Valentines Day be without the Bruins we LOVE??!! For my sake, I really hope they win.....wink,wink!!!!!

Love,

Bethany

The cutest failures ever

So, I was very excited about getting some nice Valentines Day products out on my etsy site. I started like 2 months ahead of time, bought tons of supplies, and here I am, the night before Vday and NO SALES!!! LAME!!! Don't people believe in love these days?? Seriously, they were so cute. I was going to give them away to family and friends but I thought for sure they would sell fast, so I saved them. Boy was I wrong. O' well, I guess everyone can get a sneak peak at what they'll be getting next year.

So proud!

Well, my little sister just had her last basketball game for the season. Her team tied for first place in her league, and they could not have done it without her!! She dominated in shot blocks, rebounds, and steals. She also did her fair share of shooting, leading her team in scoring on a number of occasions. Here are few pics to prove my point. Go Merry!!

Introducing......MOJO!!

This is our lovable little Mojo! He is our little 8 pound toy poodle who always brightens our day!

He loves piles of laundry....

Shamu was his favorite toy until he ate him...

Bag hair day!

Mojo got a bone for Christmas!!!

The Beginning!!!!

Well, this is my very first post on my bran new blog that took me 3 min to setup (so don't expect much yet). Just to let you know a bit about me, I am Bethany Strawsburg (...nic named Mrs. Straws) and I have been Mrs. Straws for one year on March 7th....woot woot!!! I feel like the first year was all about transition, change, honeymooning, and figuring out how to sign my entire new name on just one small line (Bethany Lee Strawsburg). So now that I've had some practice, I've decided to share some new found wisdom, memories, mistakes, and thrifty household tricks with everyone!! My husband and I are hardcore budgeters, so any tips that we have found useful for making our house, both homey and thrifty will be shared on this blogg! Well, thanks for beginning this journey with me, I'm looking forward to sharing anything and everything that comes to mind!!!

Love,

Mrs. Straws