Creatively Dreaming

christmas card

2010-12-01T16:04:00.001-05:00

Sparkling Scarlet Snowflakes Christmas

Make a statement with Shutterfly Christmas photo cards.

View the entire collection of cards.

Stripes in the Dining Room

2010-01-18T05:59:00.000-05:00

Our living room, dining room and kitchen are all open to each other so I wanted the colors in each room to flow but still be their own space. I found curtains that matched the living room pillows to bring that color into the dining room then I became stuck. I’d been staring at a white dining room for about 2 months and it was driving me crazy. It looked very plain. Everything was black and white except for the one pop of color in my curtains. I couldn’t figure out how to get more color in there to make the curtains flow with everything else. I didn’t think I could paint because the room is open to the kitchen and living room so there isn’t really a space to stop the color. Then one day I was staring at the same wall and thought what if I put one band of color around the room. I could stop at the kitchen cabinet and it wouldn’t look bad. I taped it off and then thought…Hmm, I could do one more below it and space it out enough to stop at the island. So I taped off another stripe.

Then I painted them in with leftover living room paint (Valspar paint that I had color matched to Restoration Hardware's Silver Sage). I love the color and it didn’t cost me anything extra. It also made the space cohesive and gave the room some pattern. I’m in love with this room now. It finally looks put together and works well with the living room while still having it’s own identity. I know the light fixture doesn’t go but this is military housing so I’m just lucky I was able to paint.

Here’s how the room looked the day we moved it.

Here are some more after pictures.

This is my Stripe Tutorial…

I took my tape measure and measured down from the ceiling where I wanted the stripe to start, I think it was about 14 3/4”, and made a dot with my pencil. Then I went all around the room measuring down from the ceiling and making a dot at 14 3/4”. Then I took my painters tape and connected the dots. Then I measured down from the painters tape for how wide I wanted the stripe to be, I think it was around 24”, and did the same thing around the room…You get the idea. I took my base color and painted along the tape line before I filled in with the stripe color so when I pulled the tape up the line would be smooth. I’m sure there are better ways to do it but this is what worked for me.

Pink

2009-11-14T08:45:00.000-05:00

Here is the first finished room in our new house. It was a blank slate before.

All it takes is a little color to make a big difference.

The pink was a little brighter than I thought it would be so I decided to paint a flower silhouette to break it up some.

We’re going to get her a little table to go with the two chairs.

Hopefully the second finished room will be up soon!

A Real Housewife of New Jersey

2009-11-13T08:21:00.001-05:00

We are moved in! New Jersey is not what I expected. I thought it would be more city like, it never occurred to me that it’s called the Garden State for a reason. It’s not too bad though. I’ve been really busy unpacking boxes and trying to figure out where to put things. I only have one room that I can say is completely finished. I hate to say that though because I never know when I’m going to walk in there and decide I don’t like where that is or this needs to be changed. It’s my second daughter’s bedroom so it will need to be changed a little when she moves out of her crib. Check back tomorrow for the pictures. I need to get back to work. I’m off to Wal-Mart to get some bath rugs and organizing bins!

Big Changes

2009-08-20T10:00:00.001-04:00

Well, we found out we'll be moving to New Jersey next month so all my projects have to stop and I’ll be spending the next (not quite) month packing up and getting the house ready to rent out.

I’m sad and excited at the same time. This is the first house we’ve owned and it’s been fun to work on it and get it to where I love it. I just wish I had time to finish. I’m also sad for my kids, they won’t be able to see the grammies and grandpas very often like they do now.

I’m excited because the house we’re moving into is bigger and brand new (they won’t be finished building it until about October 1st so we’ll have to spend about 2 lovely weeks in a hotel of some sort) but it won’t be “mine” so no painting walls or big changes. I’m already looking at ways to change things but not really change them.

Any good thrift/consignment/antique stores in NJ?

Pier 1 Knockoff

2009-08-06T05:09:00.000-04:00

I was in pier 1 this weekend and saw these awesome jars and glasses with little chalkboards on them.

I decided to create my own with a jar I already had…Project cost: free!

I just taped off where I wanted the chalk board paint…

Then just spray your chalkboard paint…

Then when you take the tape off you get this…

Here is Zoe’s new treat container…

Love it!

Wow Wednesday

2009-08-05T11:36:00.001-04:00

I’ve been having trouble keeping up with Crafty Wednesday so I decided to change it to Wow Wednesday. Every Wednesday I’m going to feature an Etsy that I’ve found and love.

This week, in honor of my new pup, I’m featuring Sugar Plum Collars. She makes collars and with awesome fabrics and hand stamped tags. She can do matching leashes too. As soon as Zoe is full grown I’m going to order one.

All photos from Sugar Plum Collars

She has a contest going on right now…If you become a fan on Facebook and send in a pic of your pup you’ll be entered to win a collar.

If you want your Etsy shop featured or you have a favorite you want me to share send me an email or leave it in the comments and I’ll check it out.

Two New Additions

2009-08-03T09:14:00.001-04:00

We added this little girl to our family last weekend. Her name is Zoe and she’s a Puggle. The girls love her!

The second new addition arrived this weekend….My new Canon Digital Rebel T1i! I’m so happy to finally have a camera again!

Here’s one of the pictures I took with it…

From The Bar…

2009-07-14T12:40:00.000-04:00

I went to a Martini bar a few weeks ago and had the best drink! I’ve been searching for the recipe ever since so I can make them at home instead of paying $9 a piece. I am so excited I finally found it so I have to share it with everyone!

Pink Lemonade Martini

2 1/2 oz Bacardi Limon

1 oz Cointreau

1/2 oz Freshly squeezed lemon juice

1/2 oz Cranberry juice

1/2 Lemon slice, for garnish

Granulated sugar to coat rim of glass

Moisten the rim of a cocktail glass with some of the Bacardi Limon; sprinkle lightly but evenly with the sugar.
Fill a large shaker glass 2/3 full of ice cubes.
Add Bacardi Limon, Cointreau, lemon juice and cranberry juice; shake until well-blended and chilled.
Strain into prepared glass; garnish with lemon slice and serve at once.

I’m Back

2009-07-14T10:57:00.000-04:00

Hey Everyone! I’m back from Virginia…

The 8 hour car ride was actually 12 with traffic and stopping time. My kids were awesome! My 3 year old didn’t even sleep in the car and still did great.

I would have liked to have a camera with me but here are a couple I took with my phone.

Madison was the flower girl

McKenna, my other princess

The wedding was amazing. 2 Maid of Honors, 2 Best Men, 8 Bridesmaids, 8 Groomsmen. A beautiful church, a gorgeous country club for the reception, surf and turf for dinner (salmon and filet mignon), a beautiful cake, an open bar and a great DJ. The girls were a big hit especially on the dance floor. Madison would not leave willingly even when it was well past her bed time.

Vacation

2009-07-09T09:30:00.000-04:00

I’m heading out on an 8 hour car ride to Virginia for a family wedding with my kids, my mother-in-law and brother-in-law. Wish me luck! I’ll be back next week….

Bowerbird and Friends

2009-07-09T08:02:00.001-04:00

This is the second of my new favorite stores. It’s right across the parking lot of Red Chair Antiques in Peterborough, NH. Things were also a little pricey for me but a lot of things were added to my wish list!

Curtains

2009-07-06T05:12:00.000-04:00

Errr CURTAINS! I’ve been having such an issue trying to decide on dining room curtains. Since I got new chairs I thought my old curtains didn’t go anymore, the competing patterns were really bothering me. First I bought some plain red panels to try to get more of my red in the room (I’m trying to make each room downstairs flow by putting red in each room) but that looked awful. Then I tried some white tie up shades I had. That didn’t work either so I tried tea staining the fabric. They came out good but still didn’t work. So I decided to make some. I went to Joann’s and looked through pattern books to pick out ones I liked and found some fabric that would coordinate well with the pattern on my new chairs. The pattern also matches a lampshade I have in the room so it all ties together. This is how the turned out…

I like them but I need more curtain for the dining room, a valance just doesn’t cut it. So finally I found these panels at Big Lots for $12 a pair and I’m happy.

I’m going to be changing the shade of the walls soon so the curtains will look even better.

Red Chair Antiques

2009-07-03T05:19:00.000-04:00

I found two new stores to shop at (see the second next week)… As soon as I walked in this one became one of my favorites.

The only issue is things are a little pricey for me. The only thing I bought was my starfish for my wall art project but I added a lot to my wish list. Check out their website here.

A Tree Has Grown

2009-07-02T05:56:00.000-04:00

After looking at kid’s room on HGTV’s Rate My Space I saw quite a few rooms with tree or flower silhouettes on their walls. I really wanted to copy the idea for Madison’s wall to break up some of the purple. I found a tree picture online, printed it out and sketched it onto the wall in pencil. It took awhile because I kept going back and changing a little here and adding a little there. When I thought I was happy I started painting it in with leftover white paint. Well the idea looked better in my head than it did on the wall. After one coat of paint I wasn’t sure if I wanted add a second probably third coat in hopes it would look better or scrap the whole idea and repaint the purple.

Then I saw this post on It’s the Little Things That Make a House A Home.

LOOK at that tree! The whiteboard idea is great but for my tree I’ll stick with regular white paint since the tree is behind her bed and just for decorate purposes. This would be a much easier idea and much easier to paint. And it was…

I cut leaves and a bird out of leftover fabric from when I made her crib bedding and ragamuffin garland and curtains (which are now in McKenna’s room) then I stiffened them with “Stiffy” and glued them on the wall. I love how it’s 3D (although kinda hard to tell from the picture)

$24 Wall Art

2009-06-30T05:38:00.000-04:00

When I saw some starfish in one of my new favorite stores (check that post out later this week) I knew I wanted to use some in my new/future bedroom. They were $1.75 a piece. While I was visiting my parents house I saw a bunch of frames they had bought on clearance at Michael’s. They were just my style, black with a distressed finish so I bought them from her. The smaller ones (holds an 8x8 piece of paper) were $4.99 and the bigger one (holds an 11x14 piece of paper) was $6.99! So I decided to frame the starfish in them but instead of just using a blank piece of paper I printed out a few of my favorite quotes on cardstock then just cut the paper to size and glued on the starfish.

“Each day when you awake know that you have one more day to make a difference in someone’s life.”

- James Mann

"Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass, it’s about learning how to dance in the rain."

- Anonymous

“It is good to have an end to journey towards; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.”

- Ursula K. Le Guin

I have my priorities straight…I made art for a wall in my bedroom before I even started tearing off the wallpaper! So this is the direction I’m going in modern coastal….Is that a style?

Strawberry Season

2009-06-29T10:48:00.001-04:00

We went strawberry picking yesterday so I’ve been looking up things to do with them.

Pictures sadly courtesy of my phone

Two of my favorite things are Strawberry Shortcake (I cheat and use Bisquick to make the biscuits) and just plain strawberries sprinkled with sugar. Someone told me this weekend to add a little Sambuca to the sugared strawberries and it’s supposed to be fantastic.

Erin over at Rare and Beautiful Treasures posted this recipe for a cooked Strawberry Pie. I have made it twice since she posted it. Sooo yummy!!

Here are a few others I’ve found on Allrecipes.com. I haven’t tried any of them so if you do let me know how they are.

Strawberries and Cream Cake

Strawberry Pie

Here’s one for the 4th…Wave Your Flag Cheesecake

Strawberry Dream Cake

Strawberry Shake

Strawberry Muffins

Cool ‘N Easy Strawberry Pie

Pretzel Salad

Strawberry Brownie Delight

Strawberry Soup

Strawberry Topping

Strawberry Sauce Chicken

Frozen Strawberry Margarita

Strawberry Vinaigrette

Strawberry Preserves

Nutty Strawberry Salad

Spinach and Strawberry Salad

Grilled Chicken Breasts with Strawberry Salsa

Chicken Strawberry Kabobs

and of course you can’t forget chocolate covered strawberries…I like to use Ghirardelli chocolate. Just melt and dip. Yummy!

Enjoy!

Catalog Shopping

2009-06-22T04:43:00.000-04:00

The new Anthropologie catalog came. These two things really caught my eye.

Love this wire shelf but at $168 it’s a little too pricey for me.

This would go very nicely in my kitchen. I’m going to make a trip to the store and pick one up.The website says available July 2nd. Err, I hate waiting.

I found these Zinc letters while looking on the website. I’ll have to think about where one could go.

Master Bedroom

2009-06-19T21:11:00.001-04:00

Here are some before pictures of my bedroom. This is how it looked the day of the home inspection. I didn’t take any pictures after we moved the furniture in.

You can’t get the true effect of the wallpaper unless you touch it…it’s textured people! Other than that it doesn’t look bad in these pictures. It is bad though. I have two dressers that I bought to be painted to match the bed so right now they are still brown with ugly knobs. I bought new nightstands so those are good and the bed is too. I’ll have to try to get my hands on a camera to take some other before pictures.

My Challenge

2009-06-19T05:32:00.000-04:00

Ok, so I have a million unfinished projects around here and I’m thinking of starting another….

Our bedroom is the only room we haven’t touched since moving in and it’s been killing me everyday to look at the ugly wallpaper. Hubby is out of town for 4 more weeks so I was thinking about starting AND finishing the bedroom while he’s gone. You think I should take on the task??? It involves taking down the wall paper, patching the walls and sanding, painting the walls and I really want to do the board and batten technique.

Our Suburban Cottage

Then there is furniture to redo and accessorizing…Hmm, when you put it all out there I’m not so sure 4 weeks is enough time.

P.S…Camera update: I tried the troubleshooting I found online and the outcome is I need to send it in to be serviced. :-( Now the question is do I send it in and spend probably at least $200 or buy a new body of an updated version? My rebel is over 4 years old.

I’d Like To Thank…

2009-06-18T09:01:00.001-04:00

Megan from Making House A Home for my very first blog award!

Thanks Megan! I’m honored!

I'm Not Happy

2009-06-17T14:29:00.002-04:00

New posts will be on hold temporarily. My Rebel is being a rebel so I can't take any new project pictures :-( My instruction book was very helpful...."ERR 99 - an error other than above has occured." Hopefully someone will be able to look at it soon, I'm starting to have withdrawals.

Cheap Finds

2009-06-15T05:30:00.000-04:00

I hopped into HomeGoods the other day and came out with a couple good deals from the clearance section.

I found this cute piggy bank for my youngest to replace her other cute one that had a little run in with the floor.

The one is the best deal I’ve ever gotten from HomeGoods…

It’s a little (about 16”) metal angel for my oldest’s room and it was…wait…ready…70 cents! Regular price $9.99!

Recycled Decorating

2009-06-12T04:41:00.000-04:00

I recently got a few scrabble games at a yard sale for my newest Etsy item but I didn’t want to just throw out the game boards and letter holder things so I searched online for some ideas for how to use them.

For the game board you can glue pictures of family members then glue their names on with scrabble tiles. Or you can glue the letter holder things onto the game board and use it like a picture ledge.

Here’s what I chose to do with some of the letters and the holder thing…

I just glued the letters on and I’m going to give it a coat of Mod Podge. I made two other ones with my kids names on them. They can just sit on any shelf for a little decoration.

Sand Castle Cake

2009-06-11T05:02:00.000-04:00

I meant to post this awhile ago but better late than never right…

I recently helped throw a shower for a friend that’s getting married at the end of this month. The shower was beach themed and I was in charge of the cake. I was almost ready to buy a cake when I found this site. Lots of cake ideas!

This is the one I decided to copy. I thought I would be really cute for a beach themed shower.

Here is my version…

I know theirs looks a lot better but I don’t think mine came out too bad. Especially for a last minute decision. I couldn’t find the graham sticks to go around the edges and I had to make it bigger to feed 50 people. Here’s what I did…

I cooked all the cake the night before (3 cake mixes of your choice)

The bottom layer is a regular 9x13 cake.

The next layer is two 8“ rounds one isn’t quite as thick (see below).

For the next two layers I cooked a 9x13 and put a bowl on top and cut around it to get a smaller circle and the top I cut around a wide mouthed glass.

The cone towers I used a little of the cake mix from one of 8” rounds to make cupcakes out of them. (They bake 20 min) frosted them and stuck the other cone on top.

I wrapped my cutting board with foil as the cake base and started the layering the next morning. Frost between each layer to stick them together then frost the outside with white frosting (3 cans total). I bought the graham crackers already crushed up..much easier that way and they were really fine it didn’t use quite 1 box of them. Then stick your cones where you want them.

I got lots of compliments (of course they didn’t see the original) and it tasted yummy too.

Faux Locker Baskets

2009-06-10T04:31:00.000-04:00

I’ve been waiting for some locker basket to come my way for the bench in my “mudroom”. I was in Walmart picking up some white spray paint when I saw Hammered Finish spray paint. Hmm…that got me thinking. I had seen plastic baskets before like this….

What if I used the hammered spray paint to make it look like galvanized metal…

$5 for the spray paint and $3.50 for the basket it was worth a try.

Not too bad..I held it up to my real galvanized metal bins and it looks pretty close. Just don’t touch it!

I have these little metal book plate things in my scrapbooking stash. I’m going to print out a number and attach it to the basket.

Of course I just won an auction on Ebay for some real locket baskets I had bid on awhile ago, but these will do until they arrive….

Paint Transformations

2009-06-09T04:21:00.000-04:00

I got out the can of spray paint again…I had to try out Kimba’s spray painted glass idea. I was too excited to do this project I didn’t stop to take before pictures. So here are the afters….

This was a little glass jar I got at a yard sale for 25 cents.

The little jug bottle I got at a yard sale for 25 cents and the other bottle I got a Michael’s it was 99 cents then I used a 50% off coupon. It has a little cork but I forgot to put it in for the picture.

This was an old coffee tin my mom had just gave it a coat of spray paint and used rub on letters to spell out recipes.

Yard Sale Finds

2009-06-08T17:23:00.001-04:00

Three apothecary jars. These things are BIG...I’m not sure where I’m going to put them yet but I couldn’t pass up the good deal. One lid had a little incident coming out of the car but I can still use it for a fish bowl or something.

Bottle for bath salts ($1) and not sure what I’m going to do with the red bottle but it was red and only 10 cents.

I got some more glass bottles for 25 cents each and I’ll show you tomorrow what I did with them.

Mini lampshades for one of my chandeliers ($5)

I got this seltzer bottle ($10) on Friday from an antique store my Great Aunt works at. I drive by it all the time and have never been in. It will definitely be one of my regular shops now.

Fresh Flowers

2009-05-13T15:50:00.001-04:00

I picked these lilacs at my parents house. I’ve been loving the smell all day! I hope the neighbors won’t mind me stealing some lilacs off their bush too!

Faux Mudroom

2009-05-11T15:16:00.001-04:00

Once again my house is small so I have to do without a lot of the "luxuries" that many of you have. I'm very jealous of all of you that have a mudroom! Alas, I had to make do with what I have and created a "faux mudroom"

The idea started when I bought this buckboard bench at AC Moore. I got a really good deal on it. At the time I bought it they had a 50% off 2 items coupon. The way the coupon worked was that they took 50% off the highest priced item and then 50% off the next highest priced item. They took the discount off the bench and then it was still the highest priced item so their register took the discount off the bench again, so I got a $100 bench for $25!

Then I found this coat rack at an unfinished wood store for $80 and used a 20% off coupon.

One step of this process was to finally get rid of the bead board to nowhere. I have no idea why it just stopped but it has been driving me crazy. I've tried many things to cover it up but nothing seemed to work in that space. So I started by cutting into the railing where I wanted it to stop and prying it off. Then I covered it all up with the venetian plaster that I had originally put on the walls (I don't know why I didn't think about doing this when I had worked on the walls in the first place).

Then I added beadboard and some moulding and gave everything a coat of my leftover black cabinet paint.

I got the bins at Ikea this past weekend. (the camera is crooked not the shelf)

I’m looking for locker baskets for these three spots.

We’re eventually getting new countertops and they are going to extend a little longer than they do now so I left a little of the railing up to stop where the new countertop will stop which will be even with the upper cabinet.

Head over to Between Naps On The Porch for some more before/after projects.

A 5 Min. Makeover

2009-05-08T06:07:00.000-04:00

My sister has one of those machines that makes the wall decals…I am sooo jealous. It would probably be a really bad thing if I had my own though (walls covered with decals from floor to ceiling.) So for now I’ll just give her my list…

(notice the ugly wallpaper that has yet to be taken care of!)

This is my headboard. I’ve had it for over 10 years and got it free when I saw it sitting in the basement of the house my father-in-law moved into. It’s been painted many times and many colors but I’ve settled on black for awhile now and I think the black is going to stay. It has a raised medallion in the center and since I love monograms and decals I had my sister make me a “B” for the center.

Instant Project

2009-05-07T06:04:00.001-04:00

I love when things are easy! I found a bag of old wooden spools at a consignment store for $10 and these two were perfect for candle holders. No need to do anything!

Check out Thift Store Thursday over at Homebody Holly for more ideas.

And Thifty Thursday at Bloggeritaville.

Back To Business

2009-05-06T16:57:00.001-04:00

I guess I’ve taken a long enough break from home projects and should get back to it…

I’m in the process of making new curtains for my dining room so I ran to Wal-Mart today to get some cheap fabric to line them. Well, it ended up being cheaper than I thought. As the woman was cutting it she told me that all the by the yard fabrics and trims were 50% off because all Wal-Marts are closing their fabric departments. By the middle of June they hope to be closed so go through your project lists and stock up now!

I picked up this burlap to make a cheaper version of those grain sack memo boards. It’s $1.23 a yard now.

I also got the webbing that I think I’m going to put on the memo board or make one of those french memory boards with it. It was only $.32 a yard. I think I’m going to pick up some more. I think it would also look neat as trim on some of those drop cloth drapes.

Kitchen Cabinets

2009-04-16T12:16:00.000-04:00

I added cabinets to my stove wall awhile ago, I bought them from a salvage store so they didn’t have much size choice. It was bugging me that they were a different height than the cabinets on my sink wall. Then along comes Layla from The Lettered Cottage and her cabinet moulding tutorial and my problem was solved.

Just don’t look too closely at the ceiling I haven’t touched it up yet. Ignore the stupid pull chain for the light too.

Here’s a reminder of what the other cabinets look like. I’ve uncluttered them a little though.

Soon I’ll keep the dishes out of the sink long enough to take pictures of the whole kitchen.

Crafty Wednesday

2009-04-15T07:44:00.000-04:00

Sickness has attacked our house again. This time we all got it. I’m much better now and managed to finish my kitchen cabinet transformation. I’ll post that tomorrow. For today it’s a quick art project…

All you need is a piece of paper, a frame, a stamp, ink and some markers.

I just used a dollar stamp from Michael’s and stamped him on a piece of white paper. I used my Copic markers (LOVE THEM!) to color him in. Added a little decorative border and cut the paper to the frame size.

A Work In Progress

2009-04-07T08:26:00.001-04:00

I’m wondering if I’m every going to get to a point where this house is finished and I can just sit and relax, hopefully for awhile before it’s time to move onto a different house. This past weekend we made a few small steps.

We changed out a few light fixtures. Let me tell you a couple of things about our lighting situation. Our house is old and has old wiring and until we get loads of money to change out the wiring we’re stuck with what we have. I thought that meant being stuck with the old ugly light fixtures too but I was wrong. Our living room, dining room and bathroom have wall switches so I knew those could be replaced but the rest of the rooms have pull chains and if you’ve ever wandered through the lighting section the only pull chain lights they have are the ugly ones that are already in my house. So here is the solution…I came across lampsplus.com and saw beautiful light kits for ceiling fans. They even had chandeliers for them with pull chains. The only problem was I didn’t want a ceiling fan in every room. I purchased this one and was determined to make it work without the fan because it was perfect for my 3 year olds room.

Before

After

It worked! Hubby just took off the old light but kept the box thing that was attached to the ceiling and screwed in the chandelier instead! I’m thinking about buying this one for my little ones room now.

Before

After

We also added crown moulding to the dining room.

Now I’m in the process of Layla-izing some of my kitchen cabinets.

Storage Solutions

2009-04-06T17:11:00.001-04:00

While I was looking for office ideas I came across these neat storage ideas…

Into The Closet

2009-04-04T16:37:00.001-04:00

Our 3rd bedroom was a computer room/guest room before my youngest was born. We moved the computer into the dining room and it’s been taking up much needed space and looking ugly ever since. I had been thinking about turning the closet in the dining room into an office but for one reason or another it never happened. Today I saw this photo on The Shabby Nest and knew I had to move the computer into the closet and soon!

Some other inspiration photos…

This one isn’t in a closet but it looks neat!

Outdoor Furniture

2009-04-03T09:17:00.001-04:00

My internet has been down the last few days. Luckily I have my Blackberry so I wasn’t completely cut off from the world but I’m glad it’s working again.

This post idea came from a conversation with my 3-year-old.

Madison: “Mama do we have a patio set?”

Me: ‘No, we don’t”

Madison: “We need to get one”

Me: “Hmm, yes, we do”

I think I’ve been watching too much HGTV around her.

I searched the web for some inspiration photos. The budget is an issue so I’ll have to come up with some creative solutions.

I love the look of “regular” furniture for outdoors and the mis-matchiness. I want to do this raised patio and have the perfect spot for it.

Now that I have my inspiration…Stay tuned for the big reveal (it may be awhile).

Replugged

2009-03-30T08:40:00.001-04:00

This isn’t going to be some awe inspiring post but I’m going to share my Friday with you…

It was a great day! It was warm and sunny…The only bad thing was that I forgot to take pictures.

I turned off my TV, my computer and used my Blackberry for phone calls only.

The morning was the toughest. Usually when I wake up I turn on the news and catch up on any shows I fell asleep for the night before while my 3 year old is still sleeping. I got started on the housework right away instead and got a lot more accomplished which was really nice.

After breakfast we made cheerios necklaces then set off to Kohl’s so my girl’s could spend their gift cards. We met my mom and sister for lunch at Panera Bread (yummy! Got some bagels for the weekend too) and walked around the mall. We spent the rest of the afternoon playing outside, driving the John Deere power wheel tractor, playing on the swing set and drawing with chalk on the driveway. Then my mother-in-law came over to babysit so hubby and I could go to the opening night/awards reception for the art show. I won 3rd place BTW. Hubby did turn on the TV after we got home from the reception but i still stayed away from the computer.

With no other distractions in life you have more time to enjoy the little things. I’m going to make a point to do this more often.

Go see how everyone else did at A Soft Place To Land.

P.S. If you haven’t tried Panera Bread’s Cinnamon Crunch bagels they are seriously yummy…and addicting!

I’m Unplugged

2009-03-27T09:05:00.000-04:00

Eye Candy

2009-03-26T07:00:00.000-04:00

Excuse me while I wipe the drool from my chin…I just finished looking at the new Restoration Hardware catalog…

These are some of my favorites…

Ah, now to win the lottery!

I'm So Excited!

2009-03-25T14:53:00.003-04:00

I want to share it with the world! I entered my first art show in the photography catagory and just got a call that I won an award! I'll find out Friday night at the awards reception what place it is!

Crafty Wednesday

2009-03-25T10:16:00.001-04:00

The little get together after my girl’s baptism turned into an even smaller get together so I changed my plans some.

I went with an easier and simpler centerpiece.

The buckets came from Target’s $1 spot and here’s a tutorial for the Dahlia flower. I just stuck a piece of floral foam in the bucket so the stick for the flower would stand up then covered the foam with some gift basket filler stuff.

I also made a quick and easy favor.

Seed packets were 10 cents from Dollar Tree. I cut a strip of scrapbook paper and wrapped it around. I used a baptism stamp, colored it in, and punched it out. I printed the poem and glued everything together.

Toilerrific

2009-03-24T10:16:00.001-04:00

I’m sharing my love of toile!

I’ve figured out I don’t have nearly enough toile in my home. It’s pretty much limited to my girl’s rooms.

I had made a crib bedding set using Central Park toile for my oldest and when she moved into a big girl bed I turned the bumper into a couple pillows.

This ragamuffin garland has touches of toile and I tied strips on to her name letters.

I think toile is the perfect touch to a shabby chic room. These are curtains in my little ones room that I made using Central Park toile.

Sorry the pic is dark but she was sleeping.

Lastly, I got this great bedding for when my little one moves out of a crib.

Thanks for stopping by on the toile tour!

Check out all the other toile fans over at the Pretty Organized Palace.

The Great Chair Debate

2009-03-23T11:25:00.002-04:00

Anyone want to weigh in?? I got new dining room chairs with our wonderful tax refund. The idea was to have the slipcovered upholstered look for the end chairs and Napoleon chairs for the side chairs. I found slipcovers that I loved and found these end chairs at Pier 1 to put the slipcovers on.

Well, I brought them home and hubby hates the slipcovers and refused to let them in the house. He loves the chairs though. Of course I wasn’t happy that my vision wasn’t coming to life so I set off to find some other chairs. Store after store I was coming up empty handed until I walked into TJ Maxx to return a couple things and saw two of these chairs in the window on clearance.

I loaded them in the car and set them up at the table. Hubby doesn’t like them. He says they’re too big and too comfortable?!? He wants to keep the leather parsons chairs from Pier 1 with no slipcovers. What’s a girl to do? I’m really disappointed that the idea in my head is being crushed. I’m trying my hardest to convince him they need to stay! He just keeps complaining that he’s let me make all the other decorating decisions and he’s the one that sits in the chair. Someone please tell me that the chairs I love are ugly and don’t look good at the table so it won’t be so hard if I have to return them.

P.S. The table is going to be refinished black this spring/summer.

Unplug Friday

2009-03-21T07:06:00.001-04:00

I'm going to participate in Unplug Friday 3/27/09...You can read all about it on A Soft Place to land. Time to start the family activity plans...

Yummy

2009-03-20T08:03:00.003-04:00

I just discovered there is a such thing as a candy buffet! My wedding would have been so much better if I knew half the things I do today. I’m going to share this idea with my friend that’s getting married in June. I may have to do it for my kid’s next birthday party. Here are lots of yummy pictures…

Head on over to Hooked on Houses to see what other people are hooked on…

Adventures With Spray Paint

2009-03-19T13:13:00.003-04:00

Why did it take me this long to discover spray paint? All the wonderful blog ladies out there have given a new meaning to the word. They have done things I've never even thought of. I've finally realized just to look at the shape of something and not the color. Spray paint fixes everything!

I picked this ugly rooster and bunny up at Family Dollar. The bunny was $1 and the rooster was $2.

A coat of glossy white spray paint and they’re beautiful!

I got these four birdies at Dollar Tree.

Just some pink and white paint and they are good to go.

This shelf didn’t match anything in the room.

Much better!

I really liked this lamp but it didn’t look right on a black table.

So I gave it a coat of glossy white spray paint!

Now go grab some spray paint and transform some ugly things into pretties.

Crafty Wednesday

2009-03-18T07:49:00.002-04:00

My girls are getting Baptized on Sunday and we’re having a little get together after so I’m in the midst of making some centerpieces and stressing out over the preparations. I’ll post photos of them when I’m done but for now I’ll show you my inspiration photo.

Spring Is In The Air

2009-03-17T08:32:00.003-04:00

After all it’s going to be 38 degrees on the first day of spring…I’m changing the “innerds” of my apothecary jars in hopes that spring will really be here soon. Here are some ideas I found…

Easter eggs, you could do wooden or plastic

I like this idea too with more spring like colors.

Love these soaps!

Some other ideas I couldn’t find pictures for…

Other kinds of Easter candy

Split peas for a green spring color

Ceramic bunny with moss or Easter grass

A Quick Project

2009-03-16T09:16:00.000-04:00

I was flipping through magazines at CVS while waiting for ANOTHER antibiotic prescription (I should buy stock in the pharmaceutical companies) and came across a neat idea. I liked it even better because I had the materials already at home so I decided to make one myself. All you need is a vintage hand blender thingy, a small wood plaque and some paint.

Paint the plaque the color of your choice.

Then just nail or screw the blender thingy into the plaque.

You can use it to hold recipe cards, notes, etc...

Now to find a place to put it...

A Blog Makeover

2009-03-14T07:52:00.001-04:00

I wish I could just leave things alone and be happy...but until that happens I gave my blog a makeover...What do you think?? I'm not completely happy with it and I may go back to the original but I'll give this a try for now.

Hooked On Photos

2009-03-13T07:32:00.002-04:00

I may have a borderline obsession with photos. They occupy I'd say 60% of my living room walls and they find themselves in all the other rooms of the house.

Here's just a sampling...

Living Room

Dining Room (yes, there's an empty spot!)

More Dining Room

Stairway (my hubby's one wall)

Bathroom

Oh geez, I just realized I have no photos in my kitchen! We'll have to see about changing that...

Go check out what everyone else is hooked on at Hooked On Houses.

Crafty Wednesday

2009-03-12T10:28:00.002-04:00

On Thursday...oops!

I made this ribbon holder for my oldest's room.

It's just an unfinished butterfly I picked up at Michael's.

I gave it a coat of white paint.

On the raised parts I mod podged some toile scrapbook paper.

Add a strip of ribbon to the back, I picked mine up at Dollar Tree (I just found out they had ribbon), a picture hanger and ribbon, attach to your wall then your ready to hold your clips.

Hopefully now I won't be running around trying to find a clip when we were supposed to leave 5 minutes ago.

A Chair With A New Life

2009-03-12T07:15:00.002-04:00

I've had this old chair for a long time. So long it was still at my parent's house. It wasn't more than $10 at a resale shop. I finally decided I would refinished it and use it as my computer chair. Just a coat of black paint and a chair pad I had laying around and she's as good as new.

Madison

2009-03-10T17:54:00.004-04:00

I stumbled upon iheartfaces blog and decided to enter their contest this week, "creative crop". I was shooting some photos of my girls in their baptism gowns and this is my favorite. I love doing face shots and love how it's a little "off".

Check out all the other entries here.

A New Addition

2009-03-10T10:11:00.004-04:00

To our home's decor that is...

I picked up this up at Anthropologie yesterday. Isn't she cute??

Here she is in her new home on our kitchen wall.

I've never been in that store before but I'm definitely going back! They had so many cute knobs and hooks. Makes me want to change out my kitchen hardware or refinish a new dresser!

I Am Happy

2009-03-08T12:13:00.001-04:00

Don't you just love it when things fall into place??

I went into HomeGoods awhile ago and spotted a pink toile comforter that would be perfect for my little ones room when she moves into a big girl bed but it was $100 and I didn't have the money at the time to buy something that I'm going to have to hold onto for probably another year. They only had one of them so I cast it off as something that would never be in my home.

A few weeks later I went into the same HomeGoods and saw it still sitting there but $100 is more than I have ever spent on bedding so I stayed and drooled over it, feeling the sample of fabric they had on the outside of the package (it's a really soft microplusg) then walked away.

So this week I went into a different HomeGoods with my tax refund in hand to look at dining room chairs. While I was there I browsed through the kids department and was surprised when I saw my pink toile comforter but at this store it was $69.99! It was calling my name and I couldn't say no.

Here she is...

The $160 Bathroom Makeover

2009-03-06T09:20:00.001-05:00

One of my goals for a beautiful life is to finish my home's makeover one room at a time. The bathroom is finally done! Here's the before...

Now are you ready for the after??

The shower curtain, which was the color inspiration, and the rugs I already had. The green paint was $12, I only had to buy a quart and still have some left, the white paint I already had. I spent $30 on the shelving and about another $30 on the accessories (including the picture frames). I love it because it looks pretty but also gives me storage that I desperately need, after all this is America's smallest bathroom. The best steal was the towel bar, toilet paper holder, and towel ring, I got them all for a total of $11! I kept the existing vanity but added knobs ($2 each) and a new faucet ($40). I changed out the medicine cabinet for a smaller one ($30), the old one was too big you couldn't open the doors all the way. For the artwork I just took a couple pictures of my kids in towels. Then lastly a new curtain I made with some leftover white fabric for about $3 . There you have it, a complete bathroom makeover for only $160!

For more inspiring ways to live beautifully visit The Inspired Room's Beautiful Life series here.

Crafty Wednesday

2009-03-04T07:22:00.002-05:00

Another card today...I'm working on something better for next week. I used another $1 stamp. the card is the same size as last week. The background paper is by Amuse (love them!) The "thanks" I stamped on white paper and used a scalloped square punch. I attached it to the green paper (don't remember the brand) with pop dots. Add a little ribbon and a button and you have yourself another handmade card!

Invitations

2009-03-03T15:29:00.001-05:00

One of the things I love most about throwing a party is designing the invitations. Here are some of my recent creations...

This is one that I'm about to send out.

This was the cover of the invitation for my daughters 1st and 3rd birthday party. I used this digital photo edge kit.

This was the cover for my husband's welcome home party invitation. I used the same grunged photo edge kit.

This was the cover for my oldest's 1st birthday invite.

Hope this gave you some ideas for invitations of your own...

Check This Out

2009-02-26T16:22:00.009-05:00

Everyone needs to head over to an Etsy shop I just found. WasteNot Saks has reusuable sandwich and snack sacks made from cute fabrics. You can pack your or your kids sandwiches or snacks in these stylish washable sacks and who doesn't like saving the environment while you do it? I bought two (for now) of them for when we have to take breakfast on the go or to hold snacks to keep my little quiet.

Now off to go shopping with the tax return!

Crafty Wednesdays

2009-02-25T08:27:00.007-05:00

I recently started getting into card making. I love creating things and I love not spending $3 for a card. My favorite stamps are from the $1 bin at Michael's and AC Moore.

OK, you ready for a bad tutorial... I used one of my $1 stamps, stamped with black ink on white paper and colored it in with Copic markers. I LOVE them! I hand cut the oval (an oval punch is still on my wish list) and mounted it on a scrap of blue cardstock. I used American Crafts paper (The Goods-Lil' Man and Champ). The piece of paper measured 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" and just fold in half. I glued on a 2" strip of the coordinating paper and punched the pretty edge. I tied coordinating American Crafts ribbon around the oval and attached it to the card with pop dots. Very quick and easy to make!

A Homemade Island

2009-02-25T08:17:00.005-05:00

I made this island for my kitchen awhile ago. It started as an old console table that I got at a yard sale for I think $10. I (err, I guess I should give hubby some credit) started out by cutting either side of the top so it wasn't so long, my kitchen is small so you might not need to do that. Then I got a piece of plywood at Home Depot and it was already cut that size, I also bought 4 bun feet there. I screwed the bun feet into the plywood then screwed the table onto the plywood with the bun feet. I painted the whole things red and distressed it by sanding some of the edges (my cat has since distressed it more by using it as her scratching post). I bought a piece of butcher block countertop from Ikea and screwed that onto the cut down table top and added a bathroom towel bar on the side. Walla, you have a "new" kitchen island.

Head over to Sanctuary Arts at Home for more trash to treasure ideas.

Home Is Where Your Story Begins

2009-02-24T12:01:00.004-05:00

This is my story...

I married my high school sweetheart when I was 19. He had joined the Air Force and we got married on his leave after Basic Training. Our honeymoon was driving across country in a Uhaul truck (we have yet to have a real honeymoon). His first assignment was Holloman AFB, New Mexico. Boy, was that a culture shock! Driving down Route 54 we passed the sign that said "Welcome to Alamogordo" we both looked at each other and said "Is this really it?" I thought as long as there is a mall I'll be all set. We drove a little farther and there was the mall on the right, Kmart on one end and JcPenney on the other. Later on we found out the mall's nickname was the "Hall" if you stood at Kmart you could look straight down and see JcPenney, the mall was probably only 200 yards long, I guess I should have been more specific about my mall requirements. New Mexico did grow on us and we ended up loving it there.

So, we moved into our first apartment. I loved the location, beautiful views of the mountains, after all the street was named Scenic Dr. There was a big cactus beside the driveway, you had to be careful walking beside the car or it would remind you it was still there. The kitchen and bathroom both had the same cheap dark cabinets and bright orange countertops. I didn't care though I was so excited to finally have my own place. We brought the bedroom set I used in my parents house and bought a futon from Walmart for our living room couch. It was ugly but it was home, our first home.

After 9/11 with the added security measures to get on base it made the lines long, you had to leave quite a bit earlier to get to work on time so we decided to move into base housing. Had we known they had air conditioning we probably would have moved sooner. I loved that house it was the first house I had ever lived in with 2 bathrooms. It had grass in the backyard for our dog. It was 2 stories, which is unusual for the area and it was newly built. It didn't have carpet, every room had linoleum tile like schools. We did upgrade to a leather sofa set. I hated it, It was the one time my husband got what he wanted, as far as home furnishing go, and 3 years later I got the sofa set I wanted. It was comfy and oversized and all the pieces filled our big living room nicely. When we moved into our current house I realized when buying a sofa you should consider the fact that you may live in other houses (I'll explain more a little farther down). We did lose our cat there though. I opened the door to take the trash out and the cat ran right out. By the time I slipped my shoes on I couldn't find him anywhere. We drove around the neighborhood and put up a lost cat poster at the BX but no luck. A year later my hubby went next door to play poker and saw that our cat had been living next door the whole time. At that point he had been living next door longer than with us so we let him stay, he did come by and visit every once after that.

In 2005 hubby decided to leave the Air Force to pursue another career field (that still hasn't gone as planned) I started looking online at houses as soon as we made the decision and was all excited that I could finally paint walls and decorate the way I wanted. Little did I know it would take 1 1/2 years before we would find good enough jobs to make my dream a reality. We moved in with my parents while we were job and house hunting. We started trying to get pregnant a year before hubby left the Air Force and wanted a baby so badly that I didn't want to give up completely so we just stopped actively trying but just let nature take it's course. Well what do you know, I got pregnant that next month. I never thought we'd be bringing our baby home to my parent's house but we did, everything was taking a lot longer than I had wanted. We realized with the housing prices so high and only one income (we decided that I should be a SAHM) we would need to buy a two family home. My Brother-In-Law (hubby's identical twin) was renting at the time and wanted to buy also so we decided to buy a duplex together. This is it. The outside is ugly but I have big plans for that (plans that are bigger than my wallet).

We finally closed on the house a week before Christmas. We were going to rent a moving truck that next weekend so I thought I had plenty of time to start ripping down the wallpaper and painting before we moved everything in...Wrong! I really don't know what I was thinking. I got the living room, dining room and kitchen started before we moved in but nothing finished. We rented the moving truck 2 days before Christmas and filled the house with boxes. Remember that big oversized couch I mentioned? Well it spent a little time on the porch. It was too oversized to fit through the doorway. A couple weeks later hubby and his dad took out the living room window and shoved the couch through. Hubby says when we sell this house the couch goes with it! Two years later there are a couple unpacked boxes in the basement and I'm still working on the inside.

My Weekend Project

2009-02-19T11:17:00.002-05:00

I've been looking at a lot of photos lately where people have a dresser in their kitchen, dining room or living room and I LOVE that idea. I first saw it from the taming kid clutter linky party and this one person had all their kids art supplies hidden in one of the drawers (can't remember who or find the pic again). That's exactly what I needed to do and I've been determined ever since to find a place to put one. I bought a new dresser off craigslist for my bedroom makeover that hasn't really been started yet so I took the old, much too small one and put it in my dining room. I added new hardware and accessorized...Notice my new Apothecary jars! Hubby doesn't like it, he says there isn't enough room to walk around the table, which was what I was afraid of, but I'm going to keep it. It takes care of a lot of the storage problems we have. The dining room was the only place to put the computer when daughter #2 arrived and we needed the last bedroom for her, so one drawer hides all the computer supplies (printer paper, extra cords, disks, blank cds, etc.) and one drawer has all the kid's art supplies then I still have 3 drawers left to fill up! I finally realized the key to dealing with all kinds of clutter is hiding it in attractive ways (baskets, dressers, etc.). I think I am going to spray paint the lamp and basket white but that will be for other day.

I also worked a little more on my bathroom, it's almost done!! It should have been done this weekend but I have a sick manchild and a sick baby.

10 Minutes To A Room I Love

2009-02-18T14:55:00.001-05:00

I've been following the Nester's series 10 Minutes To A Room You Love. I thought I'd show my kitchen. It was more like 5 minutes...I added a lamp to the countertop.

The countertops were already decluttered since I can't put anything on them because they are almost nonexistent and I haven't figured out how to add seating or more fabric since I don't have a table in there. I am going to add pillows to my dining room chairs though. The sink was fabulously shiny until I had to fill it with sippy cups so I won't show you that mess. I loved how the Nester had a mirror above her sink and since I don't have a window above mine I thought I'd copy that idea. I was trying to think if I had a mirror hidden in the basement I could use, but no luck. Then I was trying to decide which store I should visit to look for a mirror when I walked into the kitchen and remembered I had a dish rack on my wall above the sink! I was so disappointed but there is nothing I can do about that situation. I am the dishwasher so I need a place to dry the dishes and the countertop next to the sink is only 18" wide. Oh well, maybe in my next house. I love all the ideas and I'm definitely going to use the master bedroom and bathroom tips when I get around to "remodeling" those rooms.

The top of the refrigerator

Crafty Wednesdays

2009-02-18T10:27:00.001-05:00

Let's see how long I can keep this up...

My husband was deployed to Iraq this past year and we had a big Welcome Home party for him this summer. This is what I made for the centerpieces.

The star was an unfinished box from AC Moore. I painted it red and covered the front and back with scrapbook paper. I did the same thing to a small wooden star that I glued to the front of the box, then I tied a ribbon around the whole thing. I stamped "HOME" on a piece of white paper, put two eyelets in it, inked the edges and glued that on the front. I also inked the edges of the box. The picture sticks are just a dowel cut up into different sizes and I glued on an Aligator clip (I found them at Walmart in the electrical supplies) then spray painted them black. I stuck the sticks into a piece of floral foam then filled it in with shredded paper (the gift basket filler stuff).

These were the favors. I filled them with red, white and blue M & M's.

They're called Sour Cream Containers. Here is a better tutorial than I can do. I used a 4 x6 piece of paper instead. I saw one on another site that used a 4x6 photo to make them.

You could also use these ideas for a 4th of July party or a red, white, and blue themed birthday party.

Opinions Please?

2009-02-17T18:22:00.000-05:00

I went looking for lamps for my bedroom for the nightstands, I was thinking white ones because the nightstands and the rest of the furniture is black but I fell in love with these black ones.

I took them home and I've been using them for a couple weeks then I found these white ones that I love.

But which ones should I use for the bedroom? If I go with the white ones I'll probably still keep the black ones and use them in the living room or something. I know not many people read this blog but I would like as many opinions as I can get...please??

A Well Spent $43

2009-02-17T16:58:00.002-05:00

I went back to the Christmas Tree Shop to get one more Apothecary jar. Of course I couldn't not look around too. The last time I was there I was with my husband who gets very annoyed if you look at something other than what you came to look at so I didn't get to do much browsing. I guess I did too much browsing today. These are my finds...

Wire Basket $6.99, Two Lamps $9.99 each, Frame $2.99, Ceramic bird $2.49, Jar $4.99, Birds on the pinecone thing $3.99, Nest for one of my apothecary jars $1.69

Don't You Just Love A Bargain!

2009-02-16T08:02:00.000-05:00

I'm jumping on the apothecary bandwagon after seeing these photos. I'm going to use them in the bathroom to hold cotton balls and bath salts and maybe one in the dining room. If you are lucky enough to live near a Christmas Tree Shop then you need to jump in your car and head there now! I went yesterday to look for a couple picture frames and some baskets then the plan was to head over to Pier 1 to get a couple apothecary jars but there was no need to go to Pier 1, the Christmas Tree Shop had them!

I got two of these for $4.99 each.

I got this one for $9.99! It's probably 20in tall.

photos from Just a Girl

America's Smallest Bathroom

2009-02-13T19:52:00.000-05:00

While I'm in the process of fixing up the bathroom I'll give you the before pictures...

I'm officially giving my bathroom the title America's Smallest Bathroom. I don't know how many other full baths could be smaller. If you stand in the middle of the room and stretch your arms out to the side you can touch the shower wall and the wall on the other side. This is our only bathroom and it doesn't have any plugs! This room actually isn't bad compared to the other rooms in this house but I hope to make it a lot better. We definitely lack storage.

Can you guess where the sink is?

It's tucked behind the shower wall and the window. Not great space planning!

Check back soon for the after pictures.

I Love Organization Tips

2009-02-11T07:24:00.000-05:00

I came across this post at Pretty Organized Palace. I think it's a great idea! I am constantly making lists, I have little pieces of paper all over the house. If I don't write things down I forget them 5 minutes later so I ran right out to Staples and picked up my notebook and self adhesive tabs. Until I find all my lists all over the house I only have two categories "books I want to read" and "things I want to buy." One of the things on my "things I want to buy" list is this ceiling light for my oldest's room. I love it so much! We recently gave her a "big girl" room and it's just waiting for this light and wall rub ons.

Etsy

2009-02-09T16:54:00.000-05:00

My Etsy shop is now open! Here's the link...Hope you enjoy my creations!

Altered Window Treatment

2009-02-09T12:21:00.000-05:00

I took some pictures of my kids and had them printed 5 x7. I glued them to some mat board, or you could use chipboard, cardboard, anything that will make them not so flimsy, and then applied rub-on words. Clipped on a curtain clip and tied them to the rod with some ribbon. I also tied ribbon around each tab.

I wonder if the Nester would call this a mistreatment....

Wedding Idea

2009-02-08T07:34:00.001-05:00

I have a friend that's getting married in June. She's doing a beachy theme and I thought of a centerpiece that was a little different than a vase of flowers for each table. They sell giant wine, champagne, margarita or martini glasses at A.C. Moore, I thought it would be neat to put stones in her colors in the bottom, fill it with water and put a Betta fish in. You could scatter seashells on the table around the bottom of the glass.

Somebody Stop Me!

2009-02-06T18:45:00.000-05:00

Alright It's time to admit that I have issues! Why can't I decide on one project and get it finished before moving onto the next one? Right now I'm buying stuff to start on our Master Bedroom , I still have touch ups to do in the kitchen, living room and dining room, I have a bench that I'm in the middle of recovering (that's a whole different story), then today I buy stuff to work on the bathroom. I don't know where to start. When we bought this house every room was covered in the ugliest wallpaper. We closed on the house a week before we were going to move in, so in my naivete I thought I could rip off all the wallpaper and get it all painted before we moved in, while taking care of an 11 month old. Needless to say it didn't get finished and two years later I'm still ripping off wallpaper. I need to make a decision...Master Bedroom or Bathroom. I think I'll take a break from the bedroom and stick to the bathroom now. I think it's the "easiest" project (nothing in this house is ever easy). Another reason I'm thinking the bathroom is next is because I'm really excited about the locker basket I bought. It's going to sit nicely on shelving (that was purchased today) holding extra toilet paper. I've had the new toilet paper holder, towel bar and towel ring for probably almost 2 years. The new faucet that is yet to be installed I bought this summer. Just need a gallon of paint and wallpaper stripper and I'll be all set. I think I'll tell my husband to set up an intervention if I stray from the plan. Check back "soon" for finished bathroom photos.

Taming Kid Clutter

2009-02-04T08:47:00.002-05:00

I'm joining in on my first Linky Party! Wendy at The Shabby Nest and Pretty Organizer are hosting a taming kid's clutter linky party. Kid clutter is definitely something I have a lot of! Right now I'm buried...with Christmas and then both their birthdays a month later, we have an abundance of toys! Our house is small, so no separate playroom, our living room is where they spend most of their time (Ok now I'm singing the Fresh Prince of Bel Air Theme).

We have this storage unit that I bought at Target in the living room.

This wall storage from Ikea holds diapers, lotion, Hair accessories, Etc. for the living room.

This Ottoman from Target was a great purchase!

Both girls have a hanging storage organizer (Ikea) and a basket for stuffed animals (Target) in their room.

I picked up this cute box at Michael's yesterday ($5.39 with a 40% coupon).

I love this bookcase I bought at Target.

My oldest has this door organizer from Babies R Us that we used to hold pull ups after we got rid of her changing table.

Hmm, can I get paid for every time I mentioned Target??? Hope you got some good ideas!

Shopaholic

2009-02-03T19:29:00.001-05:00

I went to my favorite store, White Home Collections today. I just get all warm and fuzzy every time I walk through the door and yet I hate myself every time I go there because I find so many things I want to take home. I was looking for night tables and a new dresser for my bedroom. I've very excited that I found tables and I saw a few dressers that I like but I don't think were quite big enough and of course found a few things that weren't on my list.

My new nightstand, exact finish as my bed. ($39)

I'm going to put this cute vase on my new nightstand. ($14)

I've been wanting a locker basket for awhile so of course had to buy this one when I saw it. ($16)

Hubby's nightstand is still at the store. I also saw a vintage kitchen scale that I think I'm going to have to get when I go back.

Genius

2009-01-31T16:33:00.001-05:00

I saw the most genius thing on HGTV's Color Correction. They were redoing a purple bedroom and gave her a tufted headboard with gorgeous white satin fabric. I've seen them make tufted headboards before, normally they take a piece of plywood, drill holes for the needle to go through, cover it with foam and wrap it with fabric, then tuft. This time instead of plywood they used a piece of pegboard, no need to drill holes! I've always wanted to make a tufted headboard and I have a piece of pegboard in the basement. Unfortunately no room needs a headboard, but maybe tufted wall art??

The Youngest Jonas Brothers Fan

2009-01-28T14:35:00.001-05:00

My Madison got a MP3 player for her birthday and she's been asking me everyday to put the Jonas Brothers on it. Yesterday I caved and downloaded 2 songs for her. Burnin up and Lovebug. Her favorite is Lovebug, I have now heard it 203 times! She sings along to the chorus and everything. Yesterday we were at Walmart and I stopped at the magazines. She said "Hey it's the Jonas Brothers," so while I looked at decorating magazines she looked at J-14. She's only 3 but I guess I can't say anything, I'm going to see the New Kids On The Block again in March.

My Kitchen (part 2)

2009-01-28T13:34:00.001-05:00

Ok so I finally finished my kitchen cabinets. It was more work than I thought it was going to be and I was stressing to get them finished in time for my girls birthday party. I am sooo happy with the finished product though!

I only have one pic to share. I now have to get out the ceiling paint to touch up my black roller marks. Oops! I am a horribly messy painter, but I only ruined one pair of pants this time :-) I'll have to dig up the pics of my kitchen when we bought the house and I'll post before and after pics of the whole kitchen soon.

Rate My Space

2009-01-28T13:28:00.000-05:00

I love Rate My Space! Anytime I need motivation to work on my own house all it takes is looking at a few pages of RMS. Today I'm tackling my bedroom. It has become a dumping ground for everything that doesn't have a place and we desperately need a storage solution to our clothing situation. I'm not an infomercial person but I will definitely be buying these. I already have my bedding and pillows and curtains but I need new furniture. I'll be on the lookout for anything I can turn into a trash to treasure project. I can't decide on the furniture or wall color. the bedding and curtains are white and I have accent pillows and a throw that's a pretty grey/green/blue (not sure what the actual color is called). I'm thinking I'll take that color and maybe just do the bed wall with it and the rest white? Currently the bed is black, I'm not sure if I want to keep it that way or go with white furniture. Oh, the choices!! I just can't wait to get to the accessorizing! HomeGoods I'll be there soon...

Two Girls, One Party

2009-01-21T10:36:00.001-05:00

I had a birthday party for my girls last Saturday. I didn't go with a theme this time, just lots of pink.

Favors: I wanted to do something different for party favors so I made these Kool Aid playdough kits. The Kool Aid playdough idea I got off the Split Coast Stampers website and the package idea came from this post on Stamp A Sweet Impression. http://stampasweetimpression.blogspot.com/2008/10/taylor-tuesday.html. The little girl stamp I used is by Amuse (my favorite brand).

Entertainment: My mom did face painting on the kids. My 3 year old wanted everyone to color, so I got little packages of crayons and I printed off some clip art for everyone to color. We also made homemade vanilla ice cream. We got this ice cream maker a couple years ago and haven't used it. I thought it would be fun for all the kids to pass it around to shake it up. It was super yummy too.

Cake: I made my 3 year old a barbie princess cake. My dad took all the pictures of the party and I haven't got them from him yet so I can't show you pics of my disaster of a cake. I was really excited with the barbie I found. It already had a painted on bathing suit type thing so I didn't have to worry about trying to decorate her with frosting, which was my biggest worry, or so I thought....

So I made the cake mix and poured it into my Pampered Chef batter bowl to cook it and it only filled half the bowl. I made hubby run to the grocery store to buy another cake mix to fill the rest of the bowl. When he came back and I finally put the cake in the oven, I started panicking because it takes an hour to cook and 3 hours to cool and I only had 2 hours before the guests arrived! After an hour of cooking I thought it should be done, I opened the oven and realized why the recipe said to use one cake mix. For some reason I completely forgot that cakes rise!!! So I had no idea how much longer the cake was going to take to cook. I kept checking every 20 min and at some point the knife inserted in the center came out clean! I let the cake cool while we did other party activities and came back to decorate it soon before it was time to blow out the candles. Decorating it was a disaster too. I couldn't find my food coloring. My plan was to tint the frosting the same color as barbie outfit and then use my new Pampered Chef decorating tool to make cute flowers and swirls on her dress. Well, I had to go with plan b instead. Frost it with plain white frosting and throw on some sprinkles. Everyone was still impressed and said it tasted really good.

My favorite cake is what I call strawberry jello cake. My family has been making it forever and no one knows where it came from. I made a cupcake version for my 1 year old. Now you all can make it too. My cousin found the recipe on the Jello website. Here's the link for "Gelatin Poke Cake" http://brands.kraftfoods.com/jello/recipe.aspx?s=recipe&m=recipe/knet_recipe_display&wf=9&recipe_id=53184 Enjoy!!

Chalkboard Paint

2009-01-21T10:23:00.001-05:00

I love chalkboard paint! I like the idea of painting a pantry wall or door to write down needed ingredients, making a message center, or painting playroom walls. Now you can make your own chalkboard paint. I just stumbled upon http://studiomdesigns.blogspot.com/ and there was a recipe for chalkboard paint off Martha's website. Here's the link to the recipe http://www.marthastewart.com/article/make-custom-color-chalkboard-paint. If you don't want to make your own I found they have tintable chalkboard paint at Home Depot. They also carry dry erase paint, glow in the dark paint and magnet paint. I had an idea to paint one of the insets on my kitchen cabinets with magnet paint so you can stick up a recipe that you're currently working on.

My Kitchen

2009-01-08T09:01:00.001-05:00

I bought two cabinets at a salvage store for $10 a piece. The doors didn't match each other or my other kitchen cabinets but I thought it would be easy to find other doors for them. Well, turns out they are odd sizes so I'd have to have custom made doors which would be around $100 which is more than I wanted to spend. Yesterday I was on theletteredcottage.blogspot.com and there was the answer to my problem! I looked at pictures of her kitchen and she had door less cabinets! She added a little moulding around the openings to make it look intentional, added baskets and other pretty stuff. I'm headed to Home Depot to buy moulding and I'll post pics of the finished product.