First Reader Inquiry

We are excited for our first reader inquiry!!!  We love hearing from our supporters and blog readers so please know you can email us with questions, comments or feedback at savvychicsisters@gmail.com. 

Our first inquiry comes from Kara:

"Ok Savvy Sisters-  I need your DIY suggestions!  Today I went to update one of my frames with Matthew's first professional picture and realized I had no idea what to do with the picture that was in there.  We have all these professional pictures (3,6,9,12 months) of Benjamin that I don't dare dispose of, but I have no idea what to do with the pictures each time I update the frame.  Normally I would just file the picture into an album but these particular frames are 8x10 so the pictures don't fit into the average album.  Hoping you have some creative solutions for my pictures so they don't just end up in a drawer somewhere!

Loving the blog and look forward to each new entry!!!

Love to you both!

Kara"

Thanks for your email Kara, we're sure you're not the only mom that has run into this issue.  We love our photos and of course want to display them whether they are new or old.  We put our heads together and here are a few suggestions we came up with.

There are quite a few programs online where you can scan and download your pictures and design your own photo collage.  The example we show is through Snapfish, you could take your current 8 x 10 photos and create one 11 x 12 or larger photo to hang.  We think this would be very cool to see the changes from month to month on one photo.


http://www.snapfish.com/snapfish/collage



Our second idea is a Memory Box, I have one of these for my daughter that I stick keepsakes and photos in.  These can be used for numerous things but if you decide to create a collage of the "old" photos you could tuck the original photos in a memory box for safe keeping.  These boxes will be fun to look through over the years and a great gift to give your children once they are grown.  You can find memory boxes everywhere these days, the one shown below is from Etsy and can be customized.



http://www.etsy.com/shop/artisticgifts4u?ref=top_trail

Our third idea is to create a photo wall in your house, this is a great way to display numerous photos new and old, and to add visual interest to a staircase, hallway or behind a couch.  You can see some examples below.  A few tips on creating a photo wall are to use a consistent colored frame and matting, this will help the pictures look cohesive.  Don't be afraid to mix color photos with black and white!  Once you have your photos picked out and framed, deciding where to hang them can be a bit overwhelming. A great tip is to cut out newspaper to the exact size of your frames, and then using painters tape you can tape the paper to the wall to create your collage.  Once you are set on a layout you can replace the newspaper with your frames.  Trust us, having to patch and repaint nail holes is no fun!



Photo courtesy of thebirdspapaya.com




Photo courtesy of alibaba.com

 
We hope you find our suggestions helpful.  Best of luck and please fill us in on what you decide to do!

~SCS~

It's a Savvy Chic Birthday!

I want to wish my sister a very "Happy Birthday" today!!   I love you so much and couldn't ask for a better sister, thank you for always being there for me and entertaining my crazy ideas. I love you forever!!

Happy Birthday!

Love,
Sara

Pick Your Plum

Heard of it?  Heard of Groupon?  Pick Your Plum is similar to Groupon but it's stuff for your home, decorating, stationary, you get the idea!

Check out today's deal below, but hurry because the deals go fast!!!

www.pickyourplum.com

 2 Naked Magnet Board Kits for 50% Off!

Buttons & Bobby Pins

So, I will be the first to admit "My name is Sara, and I'm a Pinterest addict". I resisted joining Pinterest for a while after my sister told me about it, I didn't think I needed another "site" to join.  Well, I caved, and I'm so glad I did!  I LOVE Pinterest!

Anyhow, the point of confessing my love for Pinterest is because I realize how many people think and have the same ideas that I do.  Plus, I get so stalk other creative and talented people!  The other day I came across an idea I thought was amazing and knew I had to do it.

I have had this tub of old buttons for years now, actually they were my mom's and I had been holding on to them.  I have know idea what my mom had in mind when she bought them and I wasn't sure what I was going to do with them, but they were so beautiful I couldn't get rid of them.  When I saw this idea the other day it was like a light went off, all thanks to Pinterest and this blog.

I grabbed my tub of buttons and picked my favorites, that was no easy task because I loved so many of them.  I had the bobby pins already and of course my trusty hot glue gun.  After I settled on my favorite buttons I was off to create my new favorite "Button Bobby's".  Some of the buttons had large enough thread holes that I could just slip the bobby pin through the hole and then glue in place, the buttons that didn't have large openings I glued to the top of the bobby pin. 

I have worn one in my hair everyday since, I love them!!!

Picking my favorite buttons was the hardest part

My final selection

Hot glued them in place





Love them!



~SCS~

You Art What You Eat

I needed something to spice up our dining area. This area needs a lot of make over and updates, like the table and the lighting fixture for example.  Those will hopefully be done soon but I decided to start small by adding something to the walls.

I took a canvas that I bought at Michaels Craft Store that was 50% off and covered it with fabric.  I found a fabric at Jo-Ann Fabric that I love (wish I would have bought more).  I used my staple gun to attach the fabric to the canvas.  I did this by starting on one side and then stapling the opposite side so that I could pull the fabric taught.  The corners can be tricky but just think of it as wrapping a present.

It should look like this when you are done!

I then took silverware that I bought at Goodwill for 10 cents each and hot glued them onto the canvas. This is where you can get creative, believe me Goodwill has some interesting silverware.

I am going to add frames around them but they weren't quite done yet, so I will give you an update when I get them hung.

The total cost for this project was $14.10

$10.00 for 2 canvas

$3.40 for fabric ( a 1/2 yard was the right amount for the size of canvas I bought)

.70 for silverware

Art for Where You Eat!

Coming up next....

See how this old silverware can be turned into wall art in your kitchen/dining area.

Fall and Acorns

I love fall, it's my favorite season of the year.  I love the crisp cool air, the smell of the leaves, anything pumpkin and I love fall decorations! 

As I was decorating my house for fall I realized I needed something for my coffee table and nothing felt quite right.  As I was playing outside with my kiddo last week it hit me, LITERALLY!  Acorns, falling from the sky…or the giant Oak tree in our front yard.  

 So with a little help from my two year old we collected a bag of them and I was set to create a fun piece for our coffee table.

My first step was to boil all of the acorns in a pot on the stove, this was to kill any critters that may be hiding away in there and it helped bring out the color. 



Before we boiled them



Unfortunately, the tops of the acorns tend to pop off when they fall from the tree, so once they were dry I broke out the glue gun and started putting the little beauties back together again.



Making them whole again!



I had two glass pieces that I knew would be perfect for this project, the first was a larger square vase and the second was a candle holder.  I thought the idea of a little candle light peeking through the acorns would be pretty, elegant and very fallish!

Candle holder inside the larger square vase

I LOVE the way it turned out and my favorite part is that it was FREE!!



Finished!



Happy fall, y’all!!