Need a winter coat?! Here's a deal!

WOAH!
So...in keeping with the "frugal" theme of my last post, I just came across this AWESOME deal that Bargain Moose shared !
Old Navy has a tonne of super cute coats on sale now, and if you use the promo code OUTER50, you get 50% off the sale price!  On top of that, if you then use the code LOULOU15, you get ANOTHER 15% off!

So basically I found a great puffy hooded vest that was originally $49.50, on sale for $39, less 65% for a grand total of $16.58!  And some of the coats can be had for less than $13!!  There's a bunch of stuff on sale on their website, and the LOULOU15 code is good for any online purchase!  So even if you don't see a coat you like, you could pick up a pair of flip flops for next summer...$2 - 15% = one heck of a deal! :)
(p.s. that 15% off works on Gap and Banana Republic items too!  The 3 sites are linked, so it's one shopping cart for all three stores!)

Here's a link to the Bargain Moose post for more info! Happy shopping!

Everyone Loves Freebies!!

Ok, I am ADDICTED to stationary supplies.  I love pens, markers, post it notes, colourful thumbtacks and paperclips in cute shapes (which basically includes anything found in your local office supplies store, and even better, anything in the Perpetual Kid store!)

You can get 3 free pens from Newell Rubbermaid Canada!  They give you a selection, and you just pick the three that you want to test drive!  I picked the bio degradable one, the sharpie pen (I love sharpies!) and the gel pen!  I wonder if they'll send funky colours, or just the regular old blue/black.  Either way - free pens! Woohoo!

So for any Canadians out there who want to save (and who doesn't right?), check out the Fabulous Savings and Bargain Moose blogs for great deals and coupons that are actually valid in Canada! :)

Halloween Costume Spooktacular!

Happy Wednesday everyone!
Oh we're getting so close to Halloween.  I love playing dress-up!!
My brother asked for help with his Halloween costume.  My brother is just about my bff/favourite person in the whole world.  So I said yes, of course.  (Also, he was installing new closet doors for me, so I figured it was the least I could do!).
The closet doors took about 45 minutes.  From start to finish.  The costume took a million times that, but was so much fun!
I present - THE MAD HATTER! :)

His "spools of thread" sash

Sports coat from Value Village.  I added cuffs made from round doilies from the Dollar Store, furry trim fabric from Wal-Mart, and random buttons found in a "pound of buttons" bag

Close up of sleeve.  I just cut out the centre of the round doilie and hot glued it to the outside of the jacket sleve. Then sewed the furry trim over top and hot glued the buttons on.

Starting the hat!  Bristol board for the body, and thick cardboard for the top. Taped in place and hot glued to within an inch of its life!

First layer of material hot glued around the top of the had and stretched down. Hot glued in place.  Covered with more dollar store lace!  For the brim it's a large circle of heavy gauge craft wire taped together with fabric stretched over it.

Made the tag from Bristol board and burned the edges. Added a pink scarf (Dollar Store!) and some left over craft wire with buttons glued on as the "hat pins".

I don't have a picture of the finished hat.  It has since been spray painted with black, green, pewter and bronze paint to give it the same look as the Johnny Depp version.  It looks great I think!

All put together: TADAHHHH:

By the way, if you want to try, I had a LOT of help from this great video tutorial from ThreadBanger's YouTube channel!
It took a long time, but we had a blast!  My brother was a huge help too (post closet door install).
What are you dressing up as for Halloween?
I'm putting the finishing touches on my costume now, but unfortunately didn't take step by step pictures.
Will share with you once it's all done though! 

Inspired By...Tatertots and Jello!

Ok, so I know I was all "I'm going to spend the evening making the vintage wreath" - and I did start it!  And it's so much fun! (I'll post once the piece is finished)...but I got distracted along the way by these: Halloween themed specimens from Tatertos and Jello, and I thought "what a great use for my new pumpkin punch!"
So I went to it, with a frame I had picked up during one of Michael's frame sales and some super cute halloween cardstock I had!

I think it turned out really well!  Adding the stripped border was a last minute decision, but I really like it!
I didn't have the patience to do the math reqiured to make sure that each pumpkin was spaced exactly, so I eyeballed it....I think it turned out ok though!

Cutest pumpkins ever!

Doesn't it look spooky all covered in spider webs?!! :)

Thanks for the inspiration everyone!!

Inspired By...The Crafting Chicks!

So...I know what I'll be spending my evening doing! Thanks to Brooke over at The Crafting Chicks, my night is planned! I love love love the vintage look of this square wreath, and Brooke shares a tutorial so we can all make it! I think there is very little spookier than weathered paper and silhouettes, so I think I'll try to make my own version.  Stay tuned for the results!

A girl has got to accessorize!

This morning I pulled out my super funky fuscia tights to wear with a black skirt and grey turtleneck.

I had found a fun necklace that matched the tights P.E.R.F.E.C.T.L.Y on my last trip to the States...but I didn't find any earrings.

What's a girl to do?

I dug around in my bead stash and found the cutest Czech glass flower beads...paired them with some pretty pink and green Swarovski crystals, sterling silver antiqued head pins and VOILA! Earrings for the day!

Maybe I should make some for my shop! What do you think? What would your colour combo choices be?

Inspired By...Frugal with a Flourish!

Let me start off by saying I LOVE autumn.  I love the colours, I love the crisp air, I love the smell of cinnamon and pumpkin in the air.
I recently purchased a house (it seems recent...it was actually last November), and it was in need of some fall themed decorating!  So thanks to the lovely and uber creative Jess at "Frugal with a Flourish", I decided to try my hand at a fall wreath and a pumpkin topiary! (Thanks for the inspiration Jess!  I love your blog!)
So here's how it went!

Getting set up! The bunches of fall leaves and berries were on sale for $1.49, and the craft pumpkins were 50% off! Go Michael's!

I had the black spray paint already from a summer project, but picked up pretty bronze and pewter for the leaves and pumpkins.  On sale for $4.99 each!

I cut the bunches of leaves apart for the wreath and gave them a light spray with the bronze paint, then an even lighter sheen of pewter

Starting at the top, I stuck sprigs of the painted leaves into a grapevine wreath that I had picked up and was waiting for inspiration to hit!

I had a small mini pumpkin that I gave a coat of bronze to and added it to the wreath.  I LOVE how it turned out!  Very nice fall colours, and just enough sparkly with out making my front door look like an autumn disco party entrance!

What a pretty pumpkin! I love that it has such a nice satiny shine! The pewter was a bit more silver than I expected, so I dusted it with a light spray of bronze and black for highlights.

Now, here is where there is a bit of a gap in the picture taking...it started to get dark quickly, so I gave a terracotta pot a coat of black spray paint and glammed it up a bit with some sparse shots of bronze and pewter paint.  Then I filled the pot with some rocks to stabilize it, and cut a piece of styrofoam to fit inside about an inch down into the pot.  This gave me something to glue the bottom pumpkin to.  I glued the pumpkin to the styrofoam and pushed it into the pot and voila! It stayed! (MAGICAL! I was sure it would topple over!)  Then I cut the leaves of a garland I got on sale for $2.99!  I used my glue gun to create a bed of leaves between the pumpkins and also around the pot.

And here is the finished product!  I'm so pleased with it!  Although next time I think I'll use a bigger pot.

I had so much fun with this project! (Although I had to take breaks from all the spray paint fumes...even outdoors I found the smell quite strong!)  I think even Audrey likes the result:

Ummmm....so do I get to eat this when you're not looking??

Do you have any creative projects that you have under taken recently?  What about blogs that inspire you?  I'm always on the look out for great ideas!