17 Things I learned in ACC255!

1. How to create a blog website
2. How to correctly write a blog
3. How to create a website
4. How to create products to promote them through cafe press
5. How to add a counter to my webpage
6. How to add and promote Amazon products to my webpage
7. How to set up Google Analytic's on my webpage
8. How to promote another blog post and webpage on my own blog site
9. How to create and write an e-book.
10. How to submit articles through ezine databases
11. How to create a donation button on my webpage
12. How to create a purpose page
13. How to write a correct Mission Statement and USP
14. How to use a PayPal account
15. How to write a Review Blog
16. How to make a business development plan
17. How to promote clickbank products

sneeze page - tear tear

So as I am finishing up my blogs, I wanted to look back and reflect on some of the major topics I covered in the past few months. Honestly I thought I couldn't love decorating any more than I did when I started blogging. But after exploring other blogs, and challenging my mind to think of cheap and trendy style ideas, I learned that decorative can be anywhere from the clothes you wear to the art you paint. Decorating isn't just the expensive things people buy like nice chandeliers or expensive paintings. It can be so much more than that! So I hope everyone has enjoyed my blogs because I have grown so much from writing them. Like I said I have explored other ways of decorating that I never thought could be expanded! So here's some blogs that I am going to point out and remind you readers of that really pop out to me and that I really loved writing!

October 12th covered outdoor decorating. I never thought that I would be this interested in the outdoors! My creativity was extended to the indoors only, but after reading and exploring other blogs, I found that there's a whole new area to decorate -- and that's outside!

September 28th and November 30th talk about one of my favorite things, bohemian, Spanish flair, and tribal decorations! This has become my passion so go back and read them and remember how adorable these ideas are!

Favorite Must Have Product!

This product might come to a surprise, but honestly every home, apartment, dorm, etc… needs these! Every time I buy more I continuously find reasons and places to use them. They are the stick-on 3M command hooks. I started using these hooks for my bathroom and dorm room to hang up my shower towels. If you don’t have enough space in your bathroom for one of those long rods that can even hold out a towel to dry, then stick up a command hook! They come in different colors so you can match your wall color too. Then more ideas started popping into my head. When me and my roommates, and there are four of us mind you, came in from class every day, we always had our house keys and car keys laying out everywhere! It was a mess and complete chaos every time we tried to leave the apartment as we ran around trying to find our keys. So what did I do? Buy tiny command hooks to hang up on our wall next to the door. With four in a row right next to each other, we always had our keys organized and easy to find! I also started using them to hang up a majority of scarves in my room. It’s such a hassle to keep your scarves in your closet in a pile without it looking like a horrible mess. This way, your scarves are displayed in a nice order where you can easily pick out which one to wear in the morning. It keeps you from digging around your closet in that huge pile! Then I started adding hooks on my walls for belts and purses! It’s such a necessity I don’t know what I would do without them!

Review Post

Even though I am only in an apartment and can only do so much with our tiny outdoor patio, a girl can still dream. When I dream of my house in the future, whether I get it or not, I always think of having a beautiful outdoor place for relaxing. Even if I don't have a big backyard, I still hope to have an option to place seating outside so I can drink my coffee, talk on the phone, or chit chat with visiting friends. I love outdoor furniture and I am a big pusher for bringing inside furniture out.



This picture that I got from one of my favorite sites, http://blog.bohoglamour.com/2009/10/gypsy-decor-style-tips-and-pics.html can get a little overwhelming with her ideas and photos, but it is still a great site to get inspiration from. I love reviewing outdoor ideas even if it is something I would never do. So for all of you, even if it is unrealistic for you, continue looking and maybe you can take a little piece that you love from all of these photos and put together your little relaxing outdoor place for you!

The reason I picked this one, and the reason I absolutely love this site is because it's so bohemian. And I realize that by the time I get my own house, the style and trends will have changed and the bohemian, tribal, and hippie look will be out of season, but I can't help be super attracted to the comfort and relaxed feeling I get when looking at these pictures! I think that having a place to come home to whether you hang out inside or outside, should be relaxing and a place that you are allowed to let your busy stressful day leave your body. So even though modern may be the way you want to go, remember that homey and comfort may be something to consider to have that relaxing at home feeling!

Hand Soap on a Different Level....

This is more of a fun craft for you more than it is the kids! It will make washing your hands enjoyable and make any one of your visitors have a laugh. The first step is to take funny photos of your kids. These pictures are going to go inside of clear soap bottles, so if the poses they are taking are almost one of ‘I’m stuck and trying to get out!’ kind of thing, the funnier it will be! Take the photos and cut out around their bodies and getting rid of the whole background. Glue them onto white paper. Next, photo copy onto transparency paper which you can get from Kinkos for under $1. Cut this image out. Buy any soap bottle that is clear and roll the picture up and place it in the bottle. Buy clear soap or sanitizer and fill it in the bottle. You kids will look hilarious and give you a great laugh every time you wash your hands! This is also a great idea to make your kids want to wash their own hands even more if they get to look at themselves every time they do it! Placing these in the kitchen is a great idea so everyone can see them passing through. It's actually a perfect idea for any room with a sink in it! With such an easy and cheap way to create a hand soap bottle that you know no one else has you can't let this idea go!

Optical Illusion

So far I have been giving you guys a lot of do it yourself decorating ideas, but lately I have been providing art crafts for you kids. These crafts are all able to go up on the wall and create a decorative piece for your house all by itself! All of these ideas are perfect to go in your children's bedroom, their bathroom, or even the hallway! Even though every art piece is special, these ones are able to be created on a large canvas or poster board that gives any hallway some cute spice!

This decorative craft may be for the older kids in middle school because it can be a little more challenging than your average craft project. Here we’re going to do create an optical illusion. Draw an outline of a hand which includes half of the arm as well on any piece of paper. Do this very lightly because we don’t want to see these lines by the end of the project. Next, start drawing freehand lines straight across the paper. When part of the drawn hand is in the way of the straight line, “crawl over” the finger or hand with curves and arcs. The closer these lines are too each other the better this picture will turn out. As you get towards finishing, it totally looks like an optical illusion! Even though it’s more difficult than other crafts, it’s still super simple compared to what it looks like at the end! It appears as if it took hours to create, making any kid look like a professional

Big Ideas, Small Budget

Lace fabric is also one of my favorite things to create crafts out of. I have gone more into depth about the wonderful things and crafts you can do with lace on my website, www.collegeaptdecorating2.webs.com under the recommended products page!

You wonder what can I do with lace you ask? Well one I already put in one of my previous blogs that I bought lace ribbon and used it to tie back the curtains I made for my apartment. Being on such a low budget, this lace ribbon was a cute way to let the sunshine in! If you have any old necklaces too, they can be used as a classy way to also hold your curtains back. It’s a great way to recycle old non-used necklaces instead of throwing them out! Anyways, back to the lace ideas, one of my favorite ideas for lace is to use lace doilies to create a candle holder. First, you blow up a balloon. Then you use sugar starch and form the doilies around the balloon. After it dries, pop or prick the balloon and remove it from the doily. The Doilies will be in a round shape as it was around the balloon. Place a candle inside of it and you have created a wonderful glow! See, super easy! You can take this idea to a whole different level. Instead of just using a few doilies that cover the bottom half of the balloon, use them and cover the whole balloon where there are no spaces between the doilies. You can also use wallpaper glue instead of sugar starch if you prefer. So glue them to the balloon, dry, pop, and you can a ball shaped doily that you can hang from the ceiling!

lights

Another favorite craft of mine that can be used as a decoration masterpiece is something where you will only need a large canvas, or even cheap large poster board, some tape, and any type of paint. Next, you tape out the child’s name on the board, and then let the children finger paint whatever they want around and on the tape! Before the paint dries, take the tape off and watch the kid’s expressions! It’s a great way to let the kids bring something home from a birthday party that parents will enjoy as well.

Let’s face it, children love balloons. So on the morning of their birthday, let them wake up to their entire ceiling covered with balloons! It is a great way for any child to start their birthday off excited! I’ll be honest, even I at the age of 21 would love this!

Kids love this idea, sorry this isn't very decorative but it's on one of my favorite blogs that you guys definitely need to check out, http://www.smallwordsblog.com/2011/09/21-kadin-and-colin/. This blog/site is a great one for personalized art for your house! but she had the idea of throwing in glow sticks into the tub and with the lights off, the whole room glows!

My Favorite Decorative Blogger

One of the reasons I love the website, http://blog.bohoglamour.com/2009/10/gypsy-decor-style-tips-and-pics.html, is because the owner also loves the bohemian tribal look that I absolutely love! She is all about color and about transforming products already in your home into decorating styles! After reading some of her blog, I realized we had so much in common. She too wrote one on how plants can make your living space so much more relaxing! I fell even more in love with this writer when I kept on reading. She specifically said, “a great way to bring ambiance to a room is with candles. Every tiem I go to a thrift store I look for unique candle holders”. I know I have written a few blogs on candles and thrift stores and I completely agree with her! We just have a lot of similar décor ideas and I think all of you will love her style too! She also has a lot of photos on her site of famous people that have a gypsy and bohemian look, and Rachel Zoe, one of my absolute idols, was on there! This girl cannot get any better. She has a ton of magazine article pictures that she calls the ‘old skool’ Boho look from 2005. It’s super cute and has a lot of great fashion tips that you can transform and use for decorating! Another link on her site is called, ‘The Boho Glam Look: Feathers and Fringe’ which also gives great creative style for inspiration. Just looking at this site can make any person want to decorate and create style! So go check out this site and get decorating!

Pinterest.com

I received an account on pinterest.com which is a great website for almost anything! One of the groups they have is do it yourself projects and crafts! It is one of my favorite places to go for some easy ideas so check out www.pinterest.com and have fun! This crayon idea below was found on pinterest so get an account and start crafting away!

Another fun craft that can turn into a decorative master piece in one of your children’s room is a rainbow of melted crayon colors on a canvas. It’s such a cheap and easy to do craft that let children really love ‘art’! Personally, I grabbed two boxes of crayons and put them into rainbow order. I lined each one at the top of the canvas right next to each other and hot glue gunned them on. Grab a blow dryer and blow right above the crayons while placing the canvas upright, and not laying down on the ground. This is so the crayon colors will melt down and not into a huge mess! Almost instantly you can see the crayon color starting to melt down the canvas! Move along the top of the board and see your rainbow forming canvas begin to form. If you want to get a little crazier, you can tilt your canvas different ways if you want the colors to drip in different directions. You can even let the first few colors in the row dry first, and then tilt the canvas and start drying the other colors to overlap the already dried ones. It’s such an easy, fast, and cheap way to keep the children occupied and entertained. Even you will find yourself wanting to do one!

Another similar craft that can be used as a decoration masterpiece is something where you will only need a large canvas, or even cheap large poster board, some tape, and any type of paint. Next, you tape out the child’s name on the board, and then let the children finger paint whatever they want around and on the tape! Before the paint dries, take the tape off and watch the kid’s expressions! It’s a great way to let the kids bring something home from a birthday party that parents will enjoy as well.

DIY Lava Lamp!

Birthday parties can be stressful, so I decided to think up a few decorating tips for you all, for young boys and girls. For this article, I decided to throw in some must have products that I think is a necessity for everyone to have for different themed parties. I also couldn’t help myself from throwing in a few craft ideas as well, hope you all enjoy these easy to do things that kids will love!

My first craft idea isn’t one you can buy, but a do-it-yourself craft. You can make your own at home lava lamp with things you already have. It includes 3 empty water bottles, food coloring, vegetable oil, and Alka Seltzer.

1. The first step is to fill the bottle over half full with oil, then the rest with water.
2. Add around ten to fifteen drops of food coloring.
3. Break the Alka Seltzer into 4 pieces and drop them in one piece at a time. Before you drop in the following piece, wait till the first one stops bubbling or else the solution becomes cloudy.
4. Next watch the magic happen and the smiles it puts on kids faces!

You can also buy glow paint and throw them into mason jars with water to make glow in the dark “stars”. Much safer idea then breaking apart glow sticks with dangerous chemicals.

Christmas Decorations

We all know that Christmas season can be stressful, so why waste your time to find and create new decorations right? Well get rid of the same old same old decorations that you use every year and use these new tips to create something jazzy that will help anyone turn that stress into some Christmas spirit!

My first tip is to use burnt out light bulbs. Dip them in glue and then into a bag of glitter! Once you have a variety of bulbs, you can throw them into a big clear glass jar and place it almost anywhere in your home. This will look great on any coffee table, piano, or shelf. Gold, blue, red, green, white, and silver are some of my favorite winter and Christmas colors that will go great for this project!

Grab a few rounded circle original ornaments and dip them in red glitter as well. Tie ribbon around them and hang from any window rod to create a cute little design above your curtains! This look can be done in almost any room of your house, including bedrooms, kitchen, and especially the living room or dining room! Going back to the glass jar, you can place spray painted pine cones, ornaments, red and green marbles, and even place candles on the top to make it really sensational.

Football Party You'll Never Forget

If you are anything like me, I do not enjoy football. So when my boyfriend wants to watch football I try to sit and enjoy the game. That doesn't always work out. So I tried to figure out a way that I can enjoy every Sunday and Monday football game so I don't have to suffer. When my friends come over (who all enjoy football of course) I try to put together an assortment of foods and snacks. So instead of the regular chips and dip, I looked up ideas on how to transform food into football looking snacks, and it was a great way to keep me busy before and during the game! Here's a photo of what I attempted to make myself. You can also make rice crispy treats, cut out a football shape and cover it with brown icing, draw white lines on it and make it look like a football. Your guy friends may laugh, but what guy doesn't love food! Especially if it relates to football. I also stated in one of my blogs about converting all of my old T-shirts into a quilt blanket. If your husband, boyfriend, or son has way too many football t-shirts, this too can be turned into a blanket that almost any man would love. Another picture that I ran across on pinterest.com was this cute watermelon cut up in the shape of a helmet! They place the rest of their cut up bite sized pieces inside the "helmet" making it a healthy snack that guys will love!

decals

This is one of my favorite pictures that I have ever found on pInterest.com. If your a poor college student or on a low budget for decorating, here is a GREAT way to really bring life to any room. Get a large canvas that reaches the bottom of your floor to almost the ceiling. Place an assortment of stickers or decals on the canvas and spray paint the whole canvas any color you want. After it dries, peal of the decals and look at the wonderful design you've created! We aren't done yet, after taking off the decals, hang white lights on your wall, and then cover them by hanging your canvas in front of them so not lights show. once you turn on the lights you should see a beautiful glow through the canvas and the decals you've selected! This is such a cheap and easy way to make your decorations look expensive and timely!

Another one of my favorite decal decorations is to fancy up any of your boring cork boards. But instead of a decal, I choose to do a stencil. To do this, I picked out my favorite stencil design for under $3 bucks at Hobby Lobby or Wall-Mart. I personally choose a damask design. After placing it on my cork board, I used regular black paint to fill in the outline. It dries in almost ten minutes and looks great! I personally also choose to color the wooden border of the cork board black too, which made my pictures and my wall really stand out!

Here Comes the Bride...All Dressed in White

These aren't exactly wedding decorations, but here's some ideas on how to include blue into your wedding outfit that will melt the heart of any guest.

Stitch the date of you wedding with blue stitching into your dress. This doesn't have to been seen by other people, so you can do it at the bottom of your dress on the inside, or of the top inside of your dress. It's such a romantic way to remember the date and have blue included. Other ways can include your bridesmaids write something special with blue marker on the bottom of your wedding shoes! You can do the same and write a heart-full message on the bottom of theirs. It's the perfect way to be thankful for all of the hard work they have put in to putting your wedding together!

It's always cute to put pictures of you and your husband in your center pieces as well. To do this you can find three way pictures that connect as a triangle. Place little candles around to set a romantic and piece full mood for your table. With this, you can place little fun facts about you and your husband. You can put the date that you guys met, or even do fun little quizzes on you guys so the guests can be entertained while waiting for their food. If you are a good writer, put together a love poem, or cute little sayings that make your guests melt! Weddings are a great time for any one to feel mushy and lovey, so give them the chance to feel just that!

Save Space!

If you have a big family, or a number of roommates, then this will be the perfect organization kit for you. This is perfect for an entry way, or for a living room that can keep the clutter organized and hidden, and being decorative at the same time. You can keep either shoes for when you come in through the doorway, you can separate your toys, books, crafts, or puzzles. Once your children are done playing, it’s super fast to throw it back in the bins! Many of these also have the option for labels, making it even faster to clean up quickly. With this kind of shelving space, you don’t have to place a bin in each slot; you can choose to put up cute picture frames or candles in a bin as well. If you’re a lady and you have an abundance of hair products, irons, and makeup, this is also a great way to store those items. Hats, purses, or belts are also great items that can clutter up your room that need an organized placement. What’s great about this is as your style or trend changes, you can always replace the bins! It’s a much cheaper and easier method then replacing a whole organizational system.

Under the bed storage is also a great way to store you shoes or other belongings that you don’t use every day. Even if under your bed is covered with a bed skirt, if you constantly throw belongings under there, you will fall into a bad pattern when trying to quickly clean up. So with a storage bin underneath (even better if it’s labeled!), then you can easily keep your room organized at all times. It’s also a great option to store clean sheets, so when guests arrive or you are changing your sheets, you can quickly do it without searching around your closet for some!

Don't Be Scared!

Once we get into our twenties, trick or treating just doesn’t do much for us anymore. Besides the cute little outfits girls wear out, how else can we still enjoy the holiday of Halloween? Well here are some cute and cheap ideas to throw a party that everyone will enjoy.

If you hate all the hassle of creating and carving out pumpkins, this is such an easier way to make and create a Halloween environment! All you have to use is a drill to put holes in the pumpkin at you are done! Spray painting on the first letter of your families last name onto a pumpkin is also an easy and fast way to do some Halloween decorations for your front yard. My other favorite is spray painting plastic jars orange, like the picture below, and use black permanent marker to draw silly faces on them. How Cute!

I got both of these ideas from other bloggers on pinterest.com. So go check them out and you can find much more!

Some of my favorite recipes for Halloween parties come from my mom, so even though these aren't exactly decorating tips, they are still great for throwing a Halloween party!

These aren't exactly decorating tips, but these recipes will make any party thrown at your place a total hit! My first recipe that I got from my mom is called “bat’s eyes”, you use 1 can of black olives, pitted, 16 ounces of cream cheese, and 1 ounce of ketchup. Fill these black olives with the cream cheese, pour some ketchup on your plate and place the olives on top. Gives an eerie feeling to everyone! My other favorite is called “bloody witches fingers”. Here you can cut up chicken breasts into finger looking slices. Coat these slices with crushed crackers and fry the chicken fingers. After this, place on a serving plate and pour barbecue sauce over them. If you want to add finger nails, you can cut black olives in half and place on the end of each chicken finger. You can also roll out dough into bone shapes and serve with pizza sauce to make it look like graveyard bones.

Now, Bring the Indoors Out!

If you want a place to hang outside that’s covered, there are great priced tents that are made to appear and act as a screened in porch. You can put pillows and cushions on your furniture that won’t get too worn from the weather. Any little coffee table will go great, and throw in some pillows to make it look even homier! This picture is from my grandparent’s porch. Even though they have a large spacey deck, this is perfect to sit inside, away from bugs and the hot sun. At my own house, my parents decided to do the same thing in our back yard. We placed bright green and red pillows, a thing rug and a mini coffee table. What we also added what a little wooden table that works perfect as a desk. We even placed a computer screen out there so we can work and enjoy the outdoors at the same time. Doing homework out there during the summer made it so enjoyable. Like I've mentioned in previous blogs, I'm a big fan of having a backyard to enjoy some great conversation and invite family and friends to come relax in. With a little bit of lights surrounding our yard it is the perfect atmosphere to begin a long day with or put an end to any stressful day. With such an easy and cheap way to keep out of the sun and away from the bugs then why not invest in such a purchase!

Hope these tools helped you create those special rooms that can bring people together!

Humanize don't junk

Style A to Zoe explains how being a style junkie can hinder your ability to create and maintain a humanizing space! One mistake many make in order to make their place of living more ‘homey’ is by throwing up pictures everywhere, creating a cluttered and lived in look. I know I’ve made that mistake before. My room at home has so many flower vases, an abundance of posters and pictures hanging on my walls, and a shelf filled with random decorating décor, books, and containers. My room might scream out everything that I love, but it doesn’t make my room look any better. My mom always said, “More isn’t always better”. So true! So try to keep a lot of your pictures down to a few frames in your room, your desk, or photo albums. Rachel made a good point and stated not to make the T.V the main focus of a room. It’s a conversation flow killer! Her solution, keep it covered inside a cabinet. If it is a flat screened up against a wall, then she recommended adding two chairs in front of the T.V that face the opposite direction so it becomes included in the conversation zone.

Seating

Another idea that I loved from Rachel was to create that conversational zone with enough seating. AS obvious as this is, it still seems that at least someone is left standing and leaning against another piece of furniture. This makes it even more difficult to enjoy a conversation if you can’t even enjoy where you’re situated. Rachel also pointed out, “create a quasi-circle, where collectives of guests, or even all of you living under the same roof, can gather. While you’re at it, give every seat in the house a view – whether it’s a picture on a wall, and open window, or a rare orchid in a corner” (133). In my apartment, I always tried to find places for a big mirror. One, if it is a tiny room, mirrors can enlarge the size of any room, making if feel much more open. Mirrors also seem to give a sense of elegance and brightness to a room. Like I always pursue in my blog, spray paint! You can always find a cheap mirror at GoodWill or any thrift store. If the frame is old and out of shape, give it a black spray paint! This instantly makes any mirror modern. The good thing about running into an old out of shape framed mirror is that vintage is in! So having some chipped paint around the frame (as long as It’s consistent and not just in one spot) may just be something you should leave be.

Get Inspired With Rachel!

Rachel Zoe’s book, Style A to ZOE The Art of Fashion, Beauty, &Everything Glamour, explores ideas how to be inspired, creative, glamorous, and chic. My favorite way that Rachel gets inspired is by collecting images of favorite icons from fashion, film, and history. “While you’re at it, collect images of favorite looks, accessories, interiors, even stuff you might like just because of the color, shape, or idea of it. Tear pages out of magazines, copy them out of books. Do whatever it takes to build up an inspiration file” (12). Even though Rachel is a stylist for fashion, the connection between fashion and decorating is very close! How you’re inspired with what you wear can transmit itself in how you decorate. Clothes and your fashion style is a way to express yourself, and from what I’m supporting is that your home decorating style should be the same way. However, your home is something that you want your friends to be comfortable in, you want it to be welcoming, homey, and inviting, on top of having it be your own escape. Whether you live in a lifestyle like Rachel Zoe or not, the idea is simple. With a lot of research and patience, you can create a home that matches what you love in a sense that makes you never want to leave. Rachel states clearly, “The first step in decorating a home involves assembling magazine tears, snapshots, memories, paint chips, and fabric swatches. Those could be images of a dress or a garden that evoke a shade or vibe you want in your home”(130). Rachel keeps all of these images jammed in a folder as a reference to remind you of the direction you desire.

Bring the Outside In!

If you have profusion of white bare walls, white furniture, or too much stainless steel in your house, then Rachel recommends a good way to soften the edges, healthy green plants. Don’t ever have anything dead in the room! It creates dead energy. “Lush green plants and blooming flowers bring nature indoors, and can be so elegant” (134). I can relate to Rachel because one of my roommates has a mom who was throwing out almost all of her green fake plants. Some had flowers and some were just plain green leave plants in a basket! We thought we would never use them, but we decided to try it out. We grabbed only five of them and placed them in little bare corners around our apartment. We placed them above our kitchen cabinets, on our stairs at the bottom as well as where you reached at the top of the stairs, and corners by our furniture in the living room. Ever since we included our new plant editions, we had so many compliments from friends who thought we had the best decorated apartment! Even though our cute candles and pretty patterned curtains were a great accessory, it was the plants that sealed the deal and really turned our apartment environment into something everyone loved to be in!
These are some of my favorite tips that I have learned from Rachel Zoe and later personally tried out! Your place of living can be transformed easily and cheaply by doing just these few easy things!

Throw Over Ideas

Everyone has those old T-shirts that don’t fit anymore, may have some horrible stains, or the lettering falling off. So why it is so hard to let these T-shirts go? The most use we can get out of these raggedy old T-shirts is throwing them on before bed time to sleep in. otherwise, they are basically stuck in a huge pile hanging around in your closet taking up space. But with the good memories that came with each T-shirt, we find it almost impossible to throw them away. I know I have T-shirts from every year at camp, one from every concert I went to, band trips, vacation trips, etc….The list can go on and on. Who would want to get rid of such special memories? Well I began feeling stupid for hanging onto all of them like I was a little girl who couldn’t throw away her Barbie’s. So I found a great idea. Turn all of them into a blanket quilt! By cutting out a square of the middle of each T-shirt that includes the major logo or occasion, I can sew them all together to make a decent sized blanket. So I looked around for some great instructions with my Grandma (who is one perfect/professional sewer!). Go visit my website at collegeaptdecorating2.webs.com for specific directions.

Kitchen Friendliness

For the kitchen, find old see-thru jars (if you don’t own any, definitely check out GoodWill!). Because peppers and all variety of spices is such a diverse part of the Spanish culture, throw them in the jar. How energetic that will look with all the bright yellows, greens, and reds. You can’t go wrong. If you have any open shelf space in the kitchen not used for appliances, place some yellow and red toned pottery. Spain is a big fan of black and white framed photos. So any entry way or above any major piece of furniture can go an oversized black and white photo! The Spanish also love food, and to feed others. So the kitchen is one of the most used rooms of the house. Make sure your kitchen has enough seating for the whole family and friends! This will ensure and conversational flow if everyone is comfortably seating and not leaning up or struggling to find a comfortable place in order to be included in the conversation. This also supports Rachel Zoe’s point in her book, that the living room should always have enough seating, away from the T.V. The kitchen (or dining room) is the perfect place for family and friends to get together, catch up, and enjoy a good time eating together. If you’ve created a low seating porch already, and have an appropriate outdoor gathering place, add on to it and create a warm setting by adding red tones, and even a fireplace. This will ensure that any visitors you have the option to stay later then the sunset. With other warm lighting fixtures lining the wall, you can create a genuine relaxed mood every time you step into this room.

Bohemian Spanish Flair

Some new styles that I run into in almost every decorating blog that I read is the global, bohemian, Spanish flair kind of look. So now I’m going to put together what I have gathered from researching around on how to try to add this ‘foreign’ look to your home. I’m also going to address how I think you can transform rooms in and outside your house that can bring friends and family even closer together. The main blog post that I received a lot of my favorite information from is http://www.sunset.com/home/decorating/spanish-decorating-ideas-00418000071936/

One reason I find the Spanish setting to be so popular is from their bright vibrant colors. One reason I absolutely go crazy for the color red is because it can make a room look stunningly modern, or it can bring a country home style feel as well. It all depends how you decorate and accessorize the room! One blog I checked out had some really great ideas of what color reds you should look at, Moroccan Red by Benjamin Moore, Dressage Red by Ralph Lauren Home, and Million Dollar Red by Benjamin Moore. Well I’m a lucky one because fortunately red is the unofficial color of Spain. My first tip for some Spanish flair is for any side sun room, covered porch or patio that you have the space for leisure activities on, throw some pillows and low seating. By low, I mean use these pillows to lie on, gather and chat on. Tone down the formality! This is so popular in so many cultures and yet Americans have no desire for it. So if you want to try something different, add vibrant patterned colored pillows and rugs and you’ll find yourself being in an even more relaxed in another stylishness setting.

Outdoor Gathering Spots

I think it’s pretty obvious that I LOVE outdoor gathering spots. I don’t care how small my house is, I always wanted a big closet and a big porch. So I finally found this great blog (listed in my links page) that give fantastic ideas on how to use candles to make your outdoors glow. One of my favorites was filling a water filled birdbath with tea candles making it look like a mini fire pit! So if you have one of those ugly old birdbaths just hanging out randomly in your yard you know how to make some glow and romance out of it! If you want to stay away from candles and prefer lamps, stick with low voltage ones that can still create that candlelight glow. One time on vacation my family rented a house on the water that had a large sized screened in porch. Crazy as it is, the lighting consisted of Christmas tree lights! Even though you may think this looks tacky, the low voltage tree lights gave it a great relaxing mood, even without the water side view. Another idea that my family does at home is wrap our tree trunk in the back yard with these white Christmas tree lights. Our tree is big enough where we can even place these lights throughout the branches (without it showing in the daylight). My family and friends always sit underneath this tree. As soon as it starts getting dark, we have the option to continue the conversation and turn the lights on! It such a nice setting.

No More Ugly Blinds, Just Curtains :)

I don't have the patience nor time to drill in holes, put up a curtain rod, and pick out curtains to transform almost five windows in my apartment. So I went the cheap route. I had a lot of extra fabric (from Wal-Mart) of course, so I literally took two push pins, hung up my fabric and cut it at the bottom where I wanted. So now I have long random cloth hanging from each window, not the best looking deal. So I picked up some lace ribbon from Wal-Mart for $3 and tide it around the middle of the curtain. I wanted to add some color so I found random pink and green ribbon in my apartment and doubled it up with the lace. My curtains are far from professional but it was just one other way to make my apartment come together. When people walk in, this is one of the first things they see and even before any other decorations were placed up on our walls, they always said it was well decorated. So like I always say, if you find a bold print of colored fabric, it can go a long long way! I also had an old closet/shower curtain from freshmen year. It was a cute black and white damask and chandelier printed piece of fabric that allowed a rod to go through it at the top. I apologize, this tip right here shows just how poor of a college student I really am, but I place two 3M hooks on each side of the window, place a cheap rod on them, and hung my curtain! After tying it back with my lace and colored ribbon, it definitely added so much more to my room and it only took less than two minutes!

Pillow Fight!

Now I don't even own a sewing machine and have NEVER even threaded a needle before (I know, i'm one sad case), so I YouTubed how to do some basic sewing so I could get some cute ideas out of my head and onto fabric! I was lucky enough to get a great furnished apartment with nice black leather couches. With the plain white walls, brown carpet, and black couches, I had a lot of options to glam it up! So if you have a plain boring couch that needs a jazz up, take a close look. You can transform any couch if you pick your perfect and favorite pattern to create some pillows or a blanket throw over. My grandma is my go to person. She can turn almost any lost case into beauty. My mom and her brother and many before her have used the same couch for each of their apartments. Who would want to do that you ask? Well my grandma transformed all the cushions and pillows with a new fabric that transformed to fit its new user :) I was lucky enough to be the next one! I had to pick black solely so I was allowed to pick any accent color I wanted. Now my grandma knew I have this raging obsession with the print damask, i'd say it kind of looks like a modern version of paisley. Anyways, my grandma sewed these pillows together and they were a great match for the couch. Aren't they beautiful!! Black couches also scream for some bright bohemian colored blankets, or my other all time favorite that is really in style right now, ikat print. Super cute! If you don't have an awesome grandma like mine, pick out a fabric from Walmart that you like, and youtube how to sew an easy simple pillow for your bed. It's just two fabrics turned inside out and sewn together! Once you get started you won't be able to stop. I even got carried away and started crafting together fabric flowers to glue gun on them! The ideas are endless! Good Luck!

Vogue it Up with Beauty

Think you need to know a lot about art to put up a stunning attention getting piece on your wall? Nope! Just pick something you like that your eyes enjoy. Any old magazine covers or art from flea markets can all be thrown on a wall for such a cheap price! Old vintage magazine covers used to be paintings or drawings. Any Hobby Lobby collects hundreds of old vogue covers that can make you look like an art expert. Frame a couple pieces you found and make a statement! The photo I put up is an example of it in my role model, Rachel Zoe's, house. Even framing any poster of one of your favorite sexy stars is perfect for transforming your walls into art. I personally couldn't tell you one thing about flowers, but I know I love them! So I picked out some vibrant colored flowered posters at Hobby Lobby during their 50% off sale. Each poster is around $10 or $15! If you have white or beige colored walls, pick out bright colors! Refrain from the black and white photographs (as beautiful as they are) and save them for walls with bright or bold colors. Same with photos of family and friends, if you want them in black and white, either blow them up into a much bigger size, or save them for frames with color or patterns (remember you can always buy a $3 can of spray paint and paint those boring frames a bright red!) With these easy and cheap tips your walls can be looking like your a pro at decorating!

Frame Your Friends!

I always try to find creative unique ways to put pictures up on my wall. So once again, I went to Goodwill and found a huge black picture frame for $5! I couldn’t resist a deal like this. I figured I would find something to do with it! With some floral black and white fabric I have from previous projects, I placed into the frame behind the glass. It was a perfect black and white piece to go on my wall. I then cut out colored sheets of paper to go behind some pictures I have. After placing pictures randomly between the glass and the fabric, I had a huge picture frame filled with mini pictures for under $10! Most frames this size would cost over $30. So keep your eyes open at garage sales or second hand stores and you will come in luck! My second Idea to create a funky way for my pictures was with a clothespin line. I bought the thickest line of hemp at Wal-Mart and hung one side up in one corner of a wall and hung the other side to the opposite. I evenly displaced clothespins throughout the line and hung pictures from each one! It was a great way to do something different then just casually taping my pictures to the wall. Another idea is forming your pictures into words such as faith, hope, or love (I personally did a piece sign). If you have a big enough wall space that needs a little somethin’ somethin’, this is the perfect option to fill it up.

Tapestries and pictures

Tapestries are one of my absolute favorites for bringing boring walls some major excitement and character. Even though most are bohemian hippie looking tie dyed sheets, you rarely see the same ones. That’s why it’s perfect for almost anyone to either make or pick out one that matches your personality! I walked into H&M and found the cutest floral scarf. Later when I was at home trying it out, I realized it was much bigger than necessary and as I unfolded it, it was a perfect square and ideally fit perfectly in place right on my wall. My plain boring room came to life! Having a vintage floral pattern for my tapestry was an easy way to make my room look modern but with a classy and vintage look as well! After falling in love with my scarf – tapestry look, I bought another real one for $20 that was 83” X 60” and covered my whole wall! If you don’t want to spend this kind of money, you can easily buy a tie dye kit at Hobby Lobby for under $10 and use any plain old sheet from your home! Anything that brings your walls color is a great eye attention getter and gives your wall character, no matter what kind of tapestry look you have going on. If you do have any extra space on the sides, add some cute picture frames (which you can spray paint any color if you like) an extra poster, or some random printed off pictures you have! Sometimes more isn’t always better, so make sure if you like the cluttered filled wall look like I do, that the clutter catches your eyes more than the wall art does.

Spice Up Your Coffee Table For Under $10

We all have those plain coffee tables, that are used for clutter, those random papers, food wrappers, and empty pop cans. Here’s a little way to keep your coffee table looking cute and put together at all times. It’s not an organizer, but a way that can make any clutter, magazines, or TV remote look in its right place. I found a old vintage picture frame for $10 at Goodwill that had a very classic style looking frame. I replaced the photo with a bright green fabric. The vibrant color of green fabric accented well against the vintage white gold colored frame. Placing this on any coffee table provides the perfect place to keep TV remotes, keys, or wallets! While at Goodwill my mom came across three candle stick holders in some pretty bad shape, but for $1 each! After buying a black can of spray paint for $3, we painted the three candle stick holders completely transforming them into looking brand new! I can always find low priced candles at Goodwill, but if you prefer matching or complimenting colored ones, you can always find decent candle sales going on at Hobby Lobby or Wal-Mart. You can place these candles on the picture frame or on any counter, desk, or dresser! It can make your place look welcoming, homey, and warm. You can even change up the color of the candles for each season making it an easy way to change up your decorations. Candles are the perfect way for friends to walk in and right away feel like they are at a home away from home. So with a combination of the perfect coffee table items and warm candles, your living room will be designed like a professional did it!

Perk Up Your Bathroom

To continue decorating my bathroom, I took flowered wall decals and stuck them on my shower door, making it a major vocal point when you walk in. It's a new idea that many are not used to and it's super easy! Because most showers and/or baths have their own light, the flowers stick out and complete the bathroom. If you have a shower curtain instead of glass doors make sure to pick up a bold print or pattern and leave the solid colors for your rugs and towels. Personally, I picked out all black towels, and then picked a nice turquoise and pink color for my hand towels and rugs. I also picked out in the same color a couple cheap flower vases and containers. This way, if I ever want to switch up the color I can without having to buy a whole new set of towels! Replacing a hand towel or tiny rug is much cheaper. You can buy fake flowers from the dollar store and find any vase for fewer than three dollars at Goodwill. You can also add other bold colored mini vases or candle holders that can be placed above any cabinets or shelves in the bathroom. I’m a big fan of baskets. Usually your mom or grandma has little baskets floating around the house that you can easily place a piece of fabric into and throw some extra makeup in or nail polish! It’s a great way to store items not used everyday into a cute basket that isn’t some plastic container. And the fabric will bring out some great color! At any fabric store or Wal-Mart you can find remnants (extra fabric that was leftover and cut off from previous users) that are sold for super cheap! Remnants are also perfect to be a little table runner for your toilet! The back water tank of the toilet is a great place to add other fun items, so throw on some cheap fabric and some mini colored tealight candles!

Give Your Jewelry Some Attention!

Let us start off with bathrooms, one of the easiest rooms to transform in my opinion. If you’re in a dorm room, you are out of luck, but here are some cute little tips that can help make a big difference in your doomed for failure bathroom of yours… Besides picking colorful towels and rugs, you can add jewelry to the walls for a touch of glamour that every girl needs. Here I picked two pieces of corkboards, covered it with material I found at Wal-Mart, and pinned down blue ribbon that makes it look like those picture holders on walls. To switch it up, I nailed the thin cork board to the wall, added push pins and started hanging jewelry all over! The bracelets are easily hung on the ribbon spaces that make it easily accessible. If you have any headbands, they can simply hang on the corners or if you own those cute little clip on hair flowers, they add a lot of touch and color by clipping them on the ribbon! Instead of searching all over my room for my necklaces, and then trying to untangle them, I hang them off the pins making them tangle free! It’s a perfect world if you ask me… Rings can also be hung on the push pins as well. So next time you’re running late getting ready, think about putting up an easy accessible jewelry holder that adds so much to your bathroom and can make your time getting ready so much faster!

"Ugly Duckling" to "Beautiful Swan"

Let’s face it, dorm rooms and college apartments can be nauseating. We all know the feeling of walking into a dorm room for the first time and feeling overwhelmed by how horrendously ugly the walls are, the awkward stench in the hallway, and the old-school drawers in your closet from the 1800’s….Your first apartment might be a step up, but with animal hair infested couches, and the ugliest throw up green carpet color imaginable, it’s not much better. I’m no money makin’ Martha Stewart. I’m a 21 year old with let’s just say, a limited budget. So I try to scavenge around for ways that could turn my hopeless case of my scary lookin’ room into a fun, enjoyable and relaxing place to live in. Feeling discouraged? You bet. I thought great, there’s a poster sale on the quad that can transform my limited wall space into a typical half naked girl holding a beer, or my all time favorite, the famous cliché “make-out sesh” poster’s of the perfect romantic scene every girl gushes over. Only problem is every college student on your campus has the same idea. So there goes that so called “creative” idea. If you’re going to buy a poster, make sure it’s a band that you actually own the album to, or a movie you’ve seen more than just a whopping two times. This is just one of many basic tips I have for you, and after I share some other cheap and creative ideas on this blog, hopefully your room can go from a small, hopeless, empty room into a cute and comfortable atmosphere for a low price and effort!