Cherry Jubilee & Giveaway Winner!

Monday, Monday.

What could make you brighter?

Why a cuter than life footstool recovered in checkers and cherries!

I've been on the lookout for a footstool for when I craft in the living room. The recliner is to difficult to balance everything when I neeed to get up and down for supplies and the dinning room chairs are too tall to prop my feet on - not to mention hard on the heels. So for a few weeks, I 've been on the lookout for a litle footstool at the Boutique (AKA Goodwill). Last week, I was already paying for my items at the Goodwill outlet when I spotted this little gem for $1.99. SCORE!

It was faded, a little wobbly, and very dusty.

But I saw potential!

Once home, it was time to take off the cording and fabric to see what condition the stuffing and foam were in.

And although it was actually wrapped quite nicely, there were a gazillion staples in that thing!

Seriousely - either the staple machine in the factory was on overdrive that day, or (if covered by hand) the staple-person was on a caffine induced rampage! I pulled and tugged and settled on removing only those that were necessary. The others got to stay.

My faithful campanion for the whole remodel. She didn't leave my side for a moment!

I lightly sanded the legs and painted them creamy white. Two coats of some left over paint that said it was black on the label.  Go figure?

Turns out that the main padding was a very sturdy peice of foam. Since it didn't stink or anything, I Febrezed the life out of it (just to be sure) and left it and the paint to dry while I ran to the craft store.

Sidenote- I rarely have to go to JoAnns alone. Hubby will pretty much always come - even though he really dislikes the fabric store lines. Why? There is a thrift shop in the same complex. And a Radio Shack across the street that carries all sorts of sound equipment and gizmos. If I say, "Wanna go to Value Village?" he responds, "Aparently you want to go to JoAnns." Sheepish grin. Two seconds of silence. Then we both admit we want to go. It works out quite well!

Back to the footstool. I had thought about a fancy swirly damask or floral something for the fabric, but nothing caught my eye as being Just Right. So I headed over the the discount section. Lo and behold, these fun cherries were on sale for $4.00 per yard. And it was upholstry fabric as well! I needed way less one yard, but for that price, I took the 1 1/3 yard that was left and am now scheming up something else for the remaining fabric. Any ideas?

Also, I discovered something about myself that night. I don't like how expensive batting is. After some 15 minutes of debating whether I really needed extra fluff for the foam pad at home, I settled on poly-fil. The $2.99 pillow stuffing. Determined to make it work, I headed on over to the fringe section. Didn't find the cute ball fringe I wanted and went with big ric-rac instead. (Happy disappointment - I really like the ric-rac now that it's all put together.)

Once home, I very carefully and accurately eyeballed the amount of fabric needed. Then hubby informed me that there were no staples for the staple gun. I was too tired to go back out again (still recovering from the nastiest cold of 2010) and decided that hot glue would work just as well just have to do for now. I could always remove the trim and staple later.

This footstool didn't have a coolio board that you staple the foam and fabric onto and then conveniently screw it on the legs of the footstool. It had to be directly applied to the side of the stool. No worries. My accurate eyeballed calculations worked just fine. After replacing the foam pad and evenly adding poly-fil over the top, I glued the four sides, leaving each corner open for extra stuffing. I played around with the corners, folding them every-which-way till satisfied and glued them on as well. Then the ric-rac was attached with glue gun precision as well.

Total cost for my new crafting footstool that I am in love with: just under $7.00! I love it all the more just because of it's awesome price tag.

Did you do some crafting over the weekend? Please share in the comments below! I love seeing what everyone is up to.

The time has come {{{Drumroll, please}}} to announce the first ever winner of a "too Blessed to Stress" giveaway. There were 71 entries in all - thank you all so very much! I am blown away.

I printed off all the comments and assigned a number to every follower and printed those off as well. Then I took all the entries and placed them in a big bowl. Shook them all up, closed my eyes and picked out a name. And yes, I did stick with the first one drew. No cheating here!

And the winner is - Rebekah from All Thingz Related!

Congratulations!

Here is Rebekah's gift giving comment:

"I love giveaways! Ok, my best tip is to make it! There are so many great ideas in blogland! I buy what I need to make them at thrift stores (baskets are usually super cheap there!)or at a craft store with their 40 percent off coupons! The dollar stores have cheap things to create with as well!"

Rebekah @ allthingzrelated

Awesome idea! Rebekah, please email me (address found on my sidebar) and give me your mailing info and I'll send it off this week.

If you have not checked out Rebekah and Bridgette's blog, head on over now. They are two talented sister-in laws who share their awesome home and crafting ideas. So glad we met in bloggy land!

Hope you will all keep coming back for more crafting and home adventures (and a few mishaps!) here at "too Blessed to Stress." I'll be having a second givaway soon, be sure to come back and participate!

All photos taken by yours truly.
I am linking up to the following parties: Metmorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch, Cottage Instincts' Make it for Monday, Making the World Cuter, and The Girl Creative. You should too!