Lorraine Espinoza

If you have been to our JCRS store, you will recognize our very talented arc ambassador, Lorraine Espinoza, who has brought beauty to our lives since she began working as a store greeter in 2007. Lorraine continues to spread beauty in our lives with her poetry and whether it be through her poems, or at work, this woman will warm your heart, and bring a smile to your face. Lorraine’s poem “I Love Being a Kid” brings about summer memories with gentle fathers and the memories they create.

I Love Being a Kid!

I love pie a-la-mode, but I am not very old. I am only a year; I can’t even crawl near, where the pie is.

It looks yummy to me, I want a big piece and I really don’t know what to do, because I can’t chew.

So, I am going to try to smash it, on my face.

Hopefully someone will bring a fork, because they notice I might need help.

No matter what I do, people think I am cute, especially when my dad is in his gray sports suit.

He wants to pick me up, all the time, but he never wants to get dirty. When you have babies, you are bound to get dirty.

My dad is my favorite man. He loves everything I do, and my name is Ruby Blue.

I was named after my dad’s two favorite aunts. Never got to meet them, but they are both inside you. The things you do remind me of them.

You will grow to be a wise woman, with a very busy future. I will be there, to help you, because I am your dad, and you are my little girl.

You are the apple of dad’s eye, so I never want to see you cry.

I have been looking for a way to add more storage in my bathroom, but in a unique way. Bathroom shelving options are often boring and I definitely didn’t want that. I also didn’t want open shelves that need frequent dusting. My solution was found at arc! I was trolling the aisles a couple months ago and found this adorable vintage suitcase. It’s so small and it’s made of sturdy cardboard (versus fabric or vinyl) so I assumed it was a child’s play suitcase. But I loved the light blue/aqua color and saw a lot of potential. It was also only $5.99, which added to its appeal.

I’d seen bathroom shelves made from vintage suitcases on etsy before and figured I’d try my hand. I knew it would be easy enough to mount it to the wall, but I also wanted to add an additional shelf. That way I could store more inside. The first thing I had to do, though, was figure out how to cover up the peeling interior. After a lifetime of being played with, the inside was looking rough. I decided to use some pages from a vintage dictionary I bought a while ago (also from arc) and mod podged the insides. I think it turned out great!

After that, I used a scrap of wood and sawed it down to the correct length. It was a tight fit but I was able to wedge it inside the suitcase horizontally, and then hammered a few nails through the sides of the case and into the shelf for insurance. I thought about painting or staining the wood, but I liked the look of it as it was.

The final step was hanging it up on the wall. I had some good, strong anchors from a past project and used these to make sure that no matter how much I ended up storing inside, the suitcase would stay up on the wall. I love how it turned out! It’s been great having extra storage and I definitely like how it looks up on the wall.

My most recent project sprung out of thriftiness. I love the look of those old, vintage roll down maps and prints, but I can’t afford the ones I’ve seen online and in antique stores.

These were both listed on ebay for around $250, each! Wayyyy out of my price range.

I found an old poster I had laying around and decided to head to arc to see what I could find to hang it up with. I started out looking at all of the great picture frames, trying to figure out how I could get the vintage look that I wanted. I didn’t see a frame that I liked, but I did score a picture hanging kit-brand new! Not only did it have the nail and hook for the wall, it also had the wire I’d need the poster to hang from and a great bracket that I could use to mimic a pull down tab on the bottom of the poster.

Then I moved over to the tool area and struck gold.  I found some thin dowels that I think used to be part of a piece of furniture, I’m not sure. They were exactly what I was looking for–already stained and everything.

At home, I used strong tape that I already had to tape the dowels to the back of my poster on the top and bottom, and to secure the wire.

Then I used a tack to attach the bracket.

Voila! This was so easy and thrifty, and I love how it turned out! I may need to make a few more…

It is that season, you know, the season of pumpkins, travel, and good times with family and holiday guests. Why not bring a little of that seasonal fun into the house. I know that most people don’t have the budget to go out and buy new interior decorating items for each holiday, but if you take a visit to Arc you can update and create charm for less than $25. At least this is what I found out last Saturday. I have been trying to reorganize my tiny entryway and at the same time give it a little thanksgiving/fall spirit (Thanksgiving is my second favorite holiday, Halloween being the first).

The first thing on my list was some sort of organization center or key hanger for things like mail, sunglasses, keys, etc. I found a few things that were a bit impractical, though would have been fun in another space. Then I came across this shabby chic style, birdhouse mail holder. It was white which didn’t support my fall theme, but hey I could paint it. That is what is great about Arc, it is like a hobbyist’s dream come true. If I had found that at a department store I would have shied away from it because of a higher price tag and because a I wouldn’t want to ruin something I paid big bucks for.

I then came across some wall candle holders that featured a solar design. At first I thought it didn’t quite fit the theme, but then I realized I could find some orange and fall themed candles to tie them in, and that they would also work with other seasons because I could change the candles out. Plus, this is harvest season; a time when the colors mirror that of the sun’s evening rays.

Next I grabbed a clear vase that I knew I could fill with fall leaves and then looked around and found a great little wooden box with a leaf cutout. These would be perfect sitting on a shelf in the entryway and could hold seasonal flowers and foliage.

I knew Arc has a great selection of baskets, and I wanted something I could display the corn stalks from my garden and cattails from the creek down the road. This was my last find. At other stores, baskets come with a hefty price but at the arc I could find them for under $10. So I picked one out that would fit in the corner and then headed to the counter to make my purchases.

The next day my kiddos assisted me in painting the birdhouse and, when it was dry, I set everything up. I hung the candle holders and then placed in the great candles that I had found at the arc. I spent around $22 for the whole project.

Written by Jessica, Colorado Momma. http://coloradomomma.com/