House Hunting: Pre Approval

If you are like most people buying a home, cash is not the easiest thing to do this day in age. Although it would be nice and if you have the means to do that...go for it! But Jesse and I do not. We are newlywed below average income people. So we had to go the mortgage route and the mortgage route starts at getting a pre approval.

A pre approval does not guarantee we will be able to get a house but it shows the real estate agent that we are serious and gives us a general idea of what we can afford based on our income and credit. The pre approval processes doesn't typically take long. Just make sure you submit all the paperwork you need and the lender will get back to you with in a few days.

When getting pre approved there are several factors they look at. income and credit are probably the big ones. Thankfully Jesse and I were raised similar when it comes to credit and have been on the same page since day one or our marriage. That is a credit it card is yes in fact used to purchase things for the month but the balance it not to be carried over. Meaning we don't put anything on it we know we cant pay off right away. This is huge because we don't make "bank" income wise but having good credit is helpful. But don't think only having a credit an hardly no income will get the house of your dreams.

Before we went to a lender to get pre approved I went to a few mortgage calculators online. The best one I have found so far is bankrate.com. Just make sure you do your research. Not only will the mortgage calculators not be 100% accurate but also every situation is different. So even if you think you wont be approve, give it a try!

Pom Pom Garland

Pom pom seem to be my new obsession  They are cute and I love making them. Today I made some to decorate the house for valentines day! Here is how to make yarn pom pom garland...

You will need a few skeins of yarn in your choice of colors and a pair of scissors.

First I wrapped the yarn around my hand ten thousand times...kidding but I did do it a lot. I cut a small piece of string, slipped it through my fingers and tied it off tightly. I then slid the whole thing off my fingers.

After its off my finger and tied off tightly  its now time to cut the pom pom fringe. At first you have lots of loops like shown in step 1. I run my scissors through the loops cutting little sections at a time. Step 2 is showing just after I cut all the loops apart. It looks a little crazy and untamed  Now we trim these little pom poms up just by cutting the longer pieces off so they will look like step 3. You can trim a little or a lot off the pom pom in this step. 

For the next step I have 15 pom poms...3 in each color ready to string to make the garland. You will need scissors  a large needle and some yarn or string. 

I threaded the needle but haven't cut the string off the spool yet. I threaded them all on first and then cut once I could see how much I needed. There is no rhyme or reason to threading just aim for the center of the pom pom.

There you have it. Pom pom garland made out of yarn! I decorated the end of our bed with it but this is a project that would be perfect for a fireplace mantle!

Happy pompoming and let me know if you have any questions by emailing me at noelleaustinblog@gmail.com 

DIY Placemat

Placemats are whats happening today on the blog. They are super easy and adorable. You can make them with any fabric that coordinates best with your style I just love stripes:)

Placemats tend to range from 12"-14"X16"-20". I picked a size right in the middle...14"X18". The interfacing I'm using is just extra I had from another project. It's lightweight and is iron on, on one side. I cut the fabric out in one big rectangle (28X18) and then cut it in half to make two rectangles.  

I ironed on the interfacing to the back of one of the pieces of fabric. Weird fact... I love doing this step, its weird I know!

Putting right sides together, pin and sew around all four sides. But don't forget to leave an opening so you can turn it right side out. Mine was about four inches

I turned the placemat right side out and ironed it. 

This is the opening nice and pressed. Now you are going to top stitch close to the edge to close the opening and to make it look pretty!

I made two with this project because we are just a family of two. I am super excited to us them tonight at dinner! Hope you enjoyed!

Quick, Simple and Inexpensive Vase

Those are my three favorite words...quick, simple and inexpensive ..ok maybe not my favorite but I do like them. I am a total fan for quick projects. And this one is one of them.

I purchased this vase at the dollars store and paint at Michaels craft store making this project total $2.50! This is my kind of project.

For the project I used gold paint.  I'm on a gold kick for some reason but you can use any color you would like:)

I started by squeezing some paint inside the vase and the just moving the vase around to spread the paint around. You can always add more if you need more paint.

I ended up swirling the paint around until i almost reached halfway up the vase. This is a preference thing so you can do more or less. Then let it dry and your done. It's not even very messy which is an extra bonus!

Hope you all are having a fantastic Wednesday!