Bathroom Organizing Tips and Purex- Jockey Giveaway Ends Tonight

I just added this photo to see if it would show up on my reader.  One day my reader photo shows up, the next it doesn't.  I don't know what's going on.  I've tried everything.  It's just being weird and stupid and I'm just frustrated.  Uggghhh.

With things heading back to somewhat normal here, I can share some of the things that I've done over the past few months but never had time to tell  you about.

To make a box to hold my cotton pads I just cut the lid off an face cream box and wrapped it with scrapbook paper.  I cut a flower shape out with my cricut, glued some twill seam tape around the edge and added ribbon and a button to finish it off.  It's just the right size.  Not a dime spent.

Like the photo above.  When I was organizing my medicine cabinet, I stopped to think about what I could reuse or recycle to keep money from being spent and to put creativity to use. 

I hated to throw away this plastic air freshener when it was empty, especially since the blue and the little design on the front reminded me of the beach.  Being small made it just the right size for Q-tips.

Now everything in the shelf is neat and organized.  Even though this is our guest bath, I like to have everything I need in this bath too.  There's a lot of times I'll wash up and brush my teeth in here.

It's a very small room.  The picture above and below is what you see when you walk in the room.  Pretty simple and what more would you want for a 1/2 bath between the kitchen and the living room.  You can see a little of the larger shelf I made from our old picket fence in the photo above.  The pic below shows the reflection of the two smaller shelves I made. No money there ~ woo-hoo!    

But then I needed some new hand towels that match the new look.  I remembered that I had a set of brand new bath towels that I bought years ago and was waiting, and waiting and waiting for our master bath to get to a  decorating point.  Yeah, I'm still waiting.  It's going to happen this year, I just know it. Sooner than later.  These towels had gotten some weird red stain (probably from the liner paper) so no harm, no foul in cutting them up.  I searched through my fabric stash and found the beachy striped fabric. Really it was originally a shower curtain.  Great tip, if you need fabric you can save money by using a tablecloth, bedspread, sheet or shower curtain.  Much cheaper by the yard, especially when you get it at the thrift store.

I used an old hand towel to determine the size to cut my towel. I then cut the striped shower curtain/fabric 5" wide and double the width of the towel so I could pleat it. After stitching I added the brown grosgrain ribbon.  Can you guess how much I spent on the towel?  $0.00, yep.  You're catching on.

I received my choice of  stencils to do a review and giveaway for Cutting Edge Stencils.   I didn't want an overall pattern so I decide to just add a little scroll work on the walls. You can see that makeover post here.

It took less than one picket of the fencing to make each shelf.  After cleaning them, I dry brushed them with some white paint.  I love the little bird cage candle holders I had in my stash of what-nots, so I just painted it an turquoise shade and added a little battery operated flickering candle.  You can pick those up at Dollar Tree.  They come in packs of 2 or 3 for $1.  And then the little vintage planter, I think it's Mccoy or Hull is so sweet.  I've used it to hold some decorative beachy soaps.  I had all these things on hand too.  Sooo another $0.00 added to the budget.  That makes me sorta giddy!

I did update my vase with a new batch of dried, scented flowers and some shells.  After using a 40% off coupon at Joann's I spent about $6.00 on them.  And they smell so good.  I couldn't throw away the pretty ribbon they were tied with so I added it to the vase too.

I hope you enjoyed seeing the bath redo.  Come back soon and see what else I've been up to around here.

Don't forget tonight is the last night you can enter the Purex - Jockey Sports Bra giveaway.  Just click the button at the top of my right sidebar.  There are two other giveaways ending soon too.

From Fence to Bath Decor

This past summer we took our fence fell down.  It was time for it to go, we just wouldn't listen so when a good wind knocked more panels out than we cared to patch, down it came.  But I loved that old silvered wood and just had to hold on to a few pieces till I decided what to do with them.

After painting my half bath, it was time to take the old pictures down and change it up.  I decided to go with a more coastal cottage look.  Casual and relaxed is my new outlook and that led me to making my shelves from the old fence.  These two little shelves couldn't be simpler.  I just free handed the side shape on one piece of wood and then cut it with the jig-saw and copied it 3 more times.

I love this little bird cage candle holder I found at a thrift store.  I beached it up a bit with some turquoise paint and added a little $1.00 flickering tea lite from Dollar Tree.  It makes a perfect night lite.

I mixed a couple of shades of paint together to get the right tone on tone to stencil my design on the wall with my Cutting Edge Stencil that I reviewed a couple of months ago.  You can see that post here.

You can see in the photo I used the pointed end of the picket to make the top of the shelf.  Basically I just cut the wood to build a box on 4 sides and then topped with another picket .  I drilled holes in the back and just slid it on the nails to hang.  I painted them with a dry brush technique by just dipping my brush in white and barely swiping it on.

This is a very small room.  Just big enough for the toilet and sink.  I added a new scented bouquet of dried branches, sticks, etc to freshen up this corner.

I've had this 3 tiered bamboo basket shelf for a number of years and it's the perfect size to fit that tiny space between the toilet and sink.  It's so handy too.

I hope you enjoyed my little makeover.  I'd love reading your comments and would love to know what you think.

Hugs Ya'll.........Tracy :)

My Cutting Edge Stencil Review and Giveaway

Hey Ya'll! I'm so happy to finally get time to post about some of the things I've been doing around my house the last couple of months. I started several projects before my MIL got sick. Things slowed way down but the past two weeks I've been cramming in what I could, to wrap things up here and there.


For my next 2011 Holdiay Gift Guide item, I'm super excited to be announcing the giveaway of a $50 gift certificate to Cutting Edge Stencils!!! Stencils are huge right now.  You see them everywhere people are decorating.  I love the fact that you can dress up a wall and paint right over it when your ready for a change of color or design, unlike wallpaper.


Getting the opportunity to review a stencil from Cutting Edge Stencils couldn't have come at a better time.  I had just painted my bath and thought the color was too strong just a little too much.  I was pondering what to do.  This half bath was just a little too small for bead board and I was thinking a stencil would be great.  I chose Lily Scroll because I knew there would be lots of options on what I could do with it.  Take a look below at how I chose to use it.

I didn't really want an all over pattern in this small room.  I'm thinking about doing that in the hallway though.

I love the soft scroll design.  I wish my camera would have picked up the wall color better but with no natural light this is it.  I decided that white was a little to stark so I mixed some of the greenish wall color to get a blueish tone.  It really turned out pretty.

I lined up the stencil so that portion I wanted to paint would be in the spot I wanted and then taped it in place.

Here is the whole stencil on the wall behind the toilet.  You can see where I used just one section to make the other designs.  I still haven't decided if I want to stencil this wall.  I was considering stenciling the panel and then framing it like art.

Cutting Edge Stencils makes it so easy to be an artist in your own home.  I was so excited when I opened my package to find that they had sent me the stencil of my choice, a paint roller, a really useful attachable stencil level plus another little stencil to review.  I couldn't wait to get started.  These are some of the other beautiful stencils available.  I adore this Zinnia flower design!

And what a ceiling medallion stencil?

Like I said there's something for everyone.  A rooster would be perfect for the kitchen.

I really love the Lily Scroll stencil that I decided on.  I  know I'm going to use it again in a bigger room.  And the stencil is really large so I know it will be really fast and easy  to do, especially with the level and roller they sent me.  I can't wait to start my next project!!

Here's one of their videos on you tube to show you just how easy it is!

So now what you've all been waiting for.  The $50 gift certificate to Cutting Edge Stencils and how one of you can win it.  Just follow these easy instructions for one or more entries.  That's 8 chances to win in all.

***MANDATORY ENTRY: Be a Cotton Pickin Cute follower and visit Cutting Edge Stencils and comment letting me know which stencil you like***

Optional Bonus Entries: (must do mandatory entry first- post a separate comment for each optional bonus entry)
If it says 2 entries, please leave 2 comments.

• {2extra entries} Post a link back to this giveaway on your blog.
• Follow Cutting Edge Stencils on Facebook.
• {Only once}Tweet about this giveaway on Twitter with @cottonpickincute. (see button at the bottom of this post)
• Blog about this giveaway on your blog and come back and leave me the link.
• Follow Tracysuz (that's me) on Twitter (see button at the bottom of this post)
• Like or Friend Tracy Suzanne (that's me again) on facebook (see button at the bottom of this post)
• {1 extra entry per post per day}Share this giveaway on your facebook page.

Be sure to leave your email address so that I can contact you if you win.  Please don't forget to leave a comment for each entry.

Giveaway ends on Dec 18th, at 11:59pm EST.  Winner will have 48 hours to respond to notification with shipping info and claim prize – if no response, another winner will be chosen .

Good Luck! 

Don't forget to go back and enter my other giveaway.