time for a shower

a sweet baby shower!

I had the pleasure of throwing a pintrest inspired baby shower for my friend Rayna....
she's pregnant with baby boy #2!

yesterday I shared about my cake pops or lack thereof for this shower....

I started pinning shower ideas to my 'party on' board
& was watching Rayna's 'Baby Rush #2' board

What to do with those Cards?!?!

Everyone has the same question....
     every year.....
          What am I suppose to do with all the Christmas Cards?

blog edit...I forgot to dedicate this blog to Betsy Fowers...she begged and begged me to make this post...okay, so maybe she just suggested I do it...anyways...thanks Betsy!

we know the time, effort, money, that goes into the cards every year
we shudder to think that our Christmas card is getting tossed into the trash at someone else's house....
....
yet we have no good way to display the cards that come thru our doors....

a few years back...must have been at least 8...
(wow...that's longer than I thought! but I did it in our apartment too, and this is our 6th Christmas in this house...)
I came up with this solution...
clipping them to a ribbon/wooden cranberry hanging thingy...
yep, that's my official term...

I hang the ribbon/wooden cranberry hanging thingy over our entry way into our living room...

at our apartment I used this same thing but hung it on a wall that had a large empty space...

*you could do this over a mantel, 

*somewhere in your entry way, 

*stairways always have some empty spaces...

*if you have an 'open' kitchen to dining room set up but with a bank of cabinets between the kitchen and dinning room you can put them on the back of the cabinets 

*a wall in your dinning room...

then I clip them onto the ribbon using mini clothespins that I picked up in the craft section at WalMart (I think)...I'm thinking next year I need to change it up (to go with my more greenish theme...the new tree skirt and all) and might hit the stores after Christmas to see what I can replace the wooden cranberries with, and I like the idea of changing out the clothes pins for colorful paperclips...

this is a close up of the 'how'...I hang the ribbon/wooden cranberry thing with these 3M removable hook things, I have been using them for 6 Christmas's and have actual never taken them down since they are clear and don't stand out...and then I'm able to use them for other decorations during the year, like birthday banners and stuff!

the girl child's birthday banner hanging from the 3M hanger thingys....

anyways...I think it's a nice way to display the cards that everyone has spent time and money on....

and bonus...EVERYONE that comes over during the season gets to see all the cards, and I always catch someone standing there looking at all the cards, feels good to know that the effort that my friends put into their Christmas cards are being appreciated.

Too Many Artists in the Bedroom

...you'd think it be like having too many cooks in the kitchen...

but it wasn't...

we started a few weeks ago when my friend Kim asked me to help her draw and then paint a peacock/filigree/swirly design on her bedroom wall....

on the same day Kim was also "hosting" a Rock Band morning for some wonderful college girls that work (worked...they are done for the summer and leaving us) in the church nursery!

and that's when we learned that dear sweet Alyssa is an artist...and knows how to draw peacocks...

BTW...Kim LOVES peacocks!

we grabbed the sidewalk chalk (Kim's idea to use the chalk since her walls were a dark red that pencil wouldn't show up on too well)...and it worked like a dream...when you make a mistake you just wipe it off with a wet towel...

sweet Alyssa 

I'm standing on an EXTREMELY high ladder in this picture (not sure why Kim cut the ladder out of the picture?) and I ALMOST fell to my death...

that is how much I love Kim...I would risk my life to paint her wall...
seriously...I almost died!
And I may or may not have screamed like a little little girl!!!

Kim...LOVIN' her new wall...

I had too many things to do today to stay and help finish painting...I was so bummed...this is what it looked like when I left...

and this is what it looked like a few hours ago...

I have no pictures of Becca painting or chalking on the wall...she helped a TON on this project...stayed all day and painted...

I will post before and after pictures when the peacock is finished...but I was just too excited to not blog about it tonight!

Credenza...Just Rolls off the Tongue

Everyone needs a piece of furniture that's fun to say...

and my piece is our Credenza...

say it with me...

"Credenza"

we started "Operation-Beautiful-Living room" about 2 weeks ago...

(and we are SO close to being done)

we needed to enter the 21's century and get a flat screen...

with all the stuff...

42"..Full HD....energy star...LCD...1080p...

(all geek to me...but it made my husband so very happy)...

but the problem was that our current entertainment center was a 6 foot tall very large piece of furniture that wouldn't work for the new tv...

so we needed to find something that would...

but I have expensive taste...

everything I found was around the $1000 mark...

can't spend more on the piece of furniture than the the tv you're buying it for...

or at least that's what my husband told me...

here is a Pottery Barn one that I LOVED...

so the hunt began...

I checked Craigslist about very 20 minutes hoping something would post...

NOTHING...

and then last Friday we went to a local consignment store and I found about 6 pieces that I would have been happy with...

all over $500 and all SOLD...and I had been given a budget of $150....

and then we saw it...

it was a very ugly color...

it needed some TLC...

it was ONLY $29...

we LOVED it...how could you not for $29!!!

and check out the ugly gold vintage handles

I removed all the hardware...was going to replace them and instead just spray painted them a new classic color

sanded and painted...I chose the color Dark Granite...a grayish chocolate from Lowes

and painted some more...
we decided to leave the inside drawers and doors off and just have the outside drawers and turn the inside 3 into shelves for electronic stuff....
we had to take off the wooden tracks that the drawers roll on..
and then I purchased a piece of wood that was 3/16" think and then asked them to cut it down to fit on the inside shelves (I wanted them a little bit more sturdy...)
and then I also bought a drill attachment that cut out nifty holes in the back for all the cords to run thru

and I spray painted the old vintage gold handles a dark bronzy silver 

(there was no color name for the metallic paint, just the color of the lid...and I have to say it bought my daughter and I closer together...she picked up a very shiny silver and said, "not this one, it looks like cheap jewelery!"  which was the exact thought going thru my head when she picked it up!)

the end result...

I still need to work on the wall art for this wall so "Operation-Beautiful-Living room" isn't finished yet...but it's way better than it was...

also check out the new rug...it was 1/2 off...LOVE that!

so our "New" Credenza cost us $29 (old dresser), $15 (gallon of Dark Granite paint that I will use for 100 more projects), $5 (metallic spray paint for handles), and $11 (for the wood for the shelves, that I didn't even use 1/3 of...and have many fun projects planned for that wood)...$60 for our Beautiful Credenza!

Saying the word Credenza-Priceless!

Oops...turned...Awesome...

okay so we are elbow deep into

"Operation-Beautiful-Living-Room"

you know the moment where nothing has a home and everything else is all over your home...

(oh, and nothing in your home that NEEDS to get done is actually getting done...laundry, dishes, meals...)

that's where we were Friday night with ALL of the old living room framed family pictures are resting on our bed...and now I need to sleep in said bed...so husband so kindly moves pile of framed family pictures (only about 75 10...but weighed a TON with all the wood and glass)...

which I so thoughtfully piled largest frame on bottom to smallest on top...

not realizing that all the weight of all the pictures rested on the inside glass of the largest frame on the bottom...

oops...

...and CRASH....

all frames crashing to the ground...with 5 pieces of glass shattering on the hardwood...

...and all I wanted to do was crawl into bed after a long day of "Operation-Beautiful-Living-Room"...

...now "Operation Clean Up Millions of Pieces of Glass!"...

...and in the morning...

"Operation What-to-do-with-empty-frames-that-the-glass-broke-in!"

and after spending a few hours lost  some time in blog land...I was inspired...

so with 

*one free frame...

...well I know I paid money for it back in the day...but it had wedding pictures in it, so it's almost 12 years old...and might have been a wedding gift...so I'm going with FREE and that's my story!...

*free paint (it's my last gallon of white paint that we used to paint our kitchen & bathroom cabinets & all the trim in our house with...so I paid for if 4 1/2 years ago...and I've used if for countless other projects so it's more that been paid for...so FREE)...(oh, and the gallon of chocolate gray I bought to turn the ugly's retro vintage 70's dresser into our new entertainment credenza...fun word)

*sandpaper...that was laying around

*metalic spray paint (purchased to use on another project)

*shoe box inspiration...

so here is my free wall art that turned an

Oops into Awesome...

here is my shoe box inspiration...the side of my daughters Easter Shoes box...I am really into the filigree/swirly thing lately...

I sketched it on the wall

using a few different brushes I painted the design and filled it in...using the chocolate gray paint that I bought to paint the dresser that I'm converting to our new entertainment center...which I am now calling a credenza because it's a fun classic word!

then painted the frame with the broken glass white...and hung it on the wall to "frame" my new design...

but didn't like the white...too much of a contrast...

so I spray painted it with a bronzey-silver (there was no actual color name on the spray paint...just the color of the lid...) and the combo of the metallic on top of the white made it do this fun crackle...wish I could tell you the reason why or how to reproduce the crackle but it surprised me when it happened so I can't help you...but I like how it turned out...

"Operation-Beautiful-Living-Room" and "Operation What-to-do-with-empty-frames-that-the-glass-broke-in!" meet in the middle and create this...

so two/three birds with one stone...

I had a wall with no art...

an empty frame with no glass...

oh, 

and some retro vintage items that needed to have the retro toned down and the classic brought out

...I think this new piece of wall art...that cost me $0!!!...fits the bill...

and it's Nifty Thrifty Tuesday...

tick tock

I'm still working on my office at work...

a project that I started weeks ago...

(but what project that I started weeks ago is finished)...

I started with a huge blank wall

painted some filigree, swirly design...

added some dots...

and now I have this

the color in the top picture is more true...

my problem now...

I wanted to paint large Roman Numeral's of the 3, 6, 9, & 12 on the wall and make a huge clock....

then I become overwhelmed with having to make the numbers 

(all of them have I's in them...III, VI, IX, XII) 

and the I's looking the same...

I started with the 6=VI...

liked it and the realized I DID NOT want to try to make more I's...

so I then my friend Kim said to just make them large dots...

so I did...and LOVE it...

but now my question is...do I paint over the 6=VI or leave it...

what do you think...all dots or leave it with 3 large dots and the VI....

today or tomorrow I will go shopping for clock hands that I can mount on the wall and have an actual working clock...

Spring Break Project

need a little project to keep you going during Spring Break?

...

get a canvas (from Michael's, JoAnn's, or from a thrift store already painted on...up-cycle one!)

cover it with a paint color of your choice...

add another if you choose...

break out your fancy paper cutter (I have the Silhouette SD)...and have it cut out the words/design that you chose out of the paper that you choose.

okay, sorry not everyone has one...if not you can print out what you like off your computer, and then hand trace it onto the paper you want to use, and then cut it out by hand...(or have your wonderful in-laws buy you this for Christmas...I didn't even ask for one...and I LOVE it!)...

and then using Mod Podge...

decoupage your words onto your painted canvas...(lay your design/words out first to make sure you like the layout)

and just fyi...I know that this ends with a preposition but it's a definition, not a true sentence...and if you've read the dictionary lately (I do ALL the time!) you know that ending definitions with prepositions are the norm...maybe...not sure...just wanted to justify my sign!

a few other looks to inspire your creativity this spring break

panted the flower onto two canvas's and then decoupaged the butterfly and word onto them

loved the monkey one...sold to a friend Connie...

the "sweet pea" and vine are cut out using my silhouette and then I painted on flowers and swirls

I love this "all girl" one, with all the words describing a girl...maybe a certain girl that happens to live at my housel...this would be a fun one to customize for a child in your life, might even have them help you come up with descriptive words.

now go craft away your spring break!