Have you ever found an item that you just knew you HAD to have because you were going to transform it into something fabulous?  And then, you get it home and stare at it for, oh, a year, and still don’t know what to do with it?

Yeah, welcome to the club.

Please join me over at The Country Chic Cottage today where I describe my item and get your advice on what I should do with it. I’m stumped and I know you guys are creative geniuses.  Angie has a great series going where you can present a random item, such as my iron thingy-ma-bob, and get feedback from the readers about what you could do with it.  After I get your advice, I’ll show you how I end up transforming it.

So, head on over to The Country Chic Cottage, and give me your brilliant ideas.  I’m counting on you!

Welcome to the 2nd Annual $5 Challenge!

A few weeks ago, I issued the $5 Challenge to my readers.  Could you create a new Spring decor item by spending no more than $5 at a dollar store?

I’ll admit that I had a tough time coming up with a project this year.  You guys have been sending me your projects, and I was a little scared because everyone’s ideas have been so good!  I’ve been blown away.

Here’s what I cam up with:  a very easy to create embellished kitchen towel.  It’s not something to use to mop up grape juice spills off the counter.  Instead, I wanted something cute that I could use to dry my hands instead of going through endless rolls of paper towels.

I bought a white flour sack towel from the kitchen section of Dollar Tree and a bag of faux rose petals in the wedding section.  The petals come in white, red, and pink, but I chose the white because I wanted to make the towel solid white.

After washing and drying the towel, I pinned a row of petals along the bottom of the towel.  After the row was in place, I used my sewing machine to stitch a zig zag stich along the top edge of the petals to secure them to the towel.

After that row of petals was sewn on, I pinned another layer of petals on top of that one and sewed them into place.  Then, I added the next row.  In all, I added five rows of petals.  On the last row, I trimmed the top of the petals right above my seam.

Next, I found just enough white grosgrain ribbon in my stash to cover the seam line.  I first pinned it into place, and then I ran it through the sewing machine.

After the ribbon was in place, I held my breath as I put the towel in the washing machine to see if it would pass my “hold up in the wash” test.  Fortunately, it survived the washer and dryer with flying colors.

I absolutely love it!  I’m so glad that this challenge forced me to think outside of the box.  Now, I have a fresh and fun towel awaiting dry hands in my kitchen.

Now, it’s your turn!  If you accepted the $5 Challenge, please add your project to the MckLinky below.  Just make sure you have followed the rules:

– Create a new Spring decor item for your home using only $5 worth of items purchased at a dollar store – i.e. Dollar Tree, Dollar Store, Everything’s $1.00, etc. The $5 does not include sales tax.

– You may use the following supplies *if* you already have them on-hand – paint, glue, paper, fabric, tools.

– On or before March 25th, post a tutorial for your new craft on your blog. If you don’t have a blog, please email me photos and a written tutorial to lindsay@makelyhome.com and I will find a way to display it for you.

– On March 25th, come back to my blog and link up your tutorial to the Five Dollar Challenge post that will go up that morning. Any entries that do not follow the rules will be disqualified (and I’ll feel like a big, honkin’ jerk).  The MckLinky will close on Sunday, March 28th.

– A panel of esteemed judges (JJ from the Blah Blah Blahger, Emily from Remodeling this Life and Gina from The Shabby Chic Cottage) will select five entries to put forth to the Living With Lindsay readership for voting.  We’ll be announcing the five finalists at the end of next week.

– YOU guys will vote for your favorite of the entries. One winner and one runner-up will be selected to win the prizes.

And just because I know you’ve been DYING to know, here are the prizes:

One winner will receive:

• a $30 gift certificate to The Rusted Chain
• a $25 gift certificate to Dollar Tree, courtesy of our friends at Dollar Store Crafts
• a handmade Robin’s Nest from The Shabby Chic Cottage

One runner-up will receive:

• a $30 gift certificate to Back40Life vinyl decor
• a handmade Vintage Book Page Tassel of your choice from Lindsay at Home

Oh, yeah.  You definitely want to be the winner or runner-up now, don’t you?  I told you the prizes were gonna rock!  Thank you very much to these great sponsors!

Ready, set, link up!

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