Crafty Pursuits: Pinterest Challenge/A Confession

As you probably know... I love Target. I love their clothes, the shoes, the home decor, the outdoor decor, the list just goes on and on. The problem with all of that love is that it simply isn't free and husbands hate it when you spend money, even if you got a great deal (which you certainly did at Target).

Well I was recently spared from the constant lecturing when our Target became a "super" Target, if you will. Yes, in Manchester they now have groceries! I figured that as long as I was bringing home food, the Mister would never care about my other purchases.

Him: "What did you buy for $125 at Target?"

Me: "Groceries and toilet paper."

You can't go wrong with toilet paper... men go crazy if you run out, and they have no idea how much it really costs. So I was going on a little 1-2 item spree every time I bought groceries, and the Mister was none the wiser.

Enter these amazingly priced ottomans (yes, I am getting to the Pinterest Challenge, I swear!):

Are you seeing that price tag?! There was absolutely no way that I could resist. I loved the textured tan and the preppy stripes... I had to have them! So I made my purchases (these beauties and some groceries just for good measure) and came home wondering what I would do about the black.

I am not a fan of black. You will probably never see anything in my house painted black, and even my wardrobe remains mostly colorful - I do have 2 black sweaters. I wondered if I could use fabric glue and some blue ticking to cover up the black stripes. And then, like a lightning bolt of glory, I saw this tutorial on Pinterest, originally featured on How About Orange:

Zootalo! (Use your best French Chef Louie from the Little Mermaid voice for that statement) Of course, why hadn't I thought of fabric paint? So I drove myself to JoAnns and bought two bottles of Martha Stewart's fabric paint in Navy Blue (though it probably had a cooler name than "navy blue").

Then, I let everything marinate. When crafting, it's important to let things marinate because you wouldn't want to use the supplies you bought too soon. Give it a month or so.

Finally, when the Pinterest Challenge was issued by Sherry and Katie from Young House Love and Bower Power (respectively) I decided: it was time. Get on it! But with all of the painting we have been doing on the porch and the barn and my little side projects, we were out of painters tape. Fortunately, I found that plain old masking tape worked just as well!

Don't you LOVE the blue? So I painted my way around one ottoman last night while also eating a very healthy dinner of tostitos and queso. Although it was fairly time consuming (took me about an hour and half including time to lay down the tape) I think that if I had a bigger paintbrush I could have moved a bit faster.

Here's a nice little "before and after":

The final product, for a total cost of $14.98 per ottoman and about $2.99 for a tube of paint (1 tube per ottoman needed) looks lovely, matches my decor, and serves a grand purpose of "just being there" for me to kick up my feet.