Pier 1 Knockoff

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!

My Challenge

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.

Fresh Flowers

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!

Back To Business

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.

A Blog Makeover

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.

Madison

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.

Home Is Where Your Story Begins

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.

The Youngest Jonas Brothers Fan

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.