Getting Crafty

For some time now I have been wanting to try to make a monogram plaque like the ones I seem to see everywhere lately around blogland. I was happy to find out it was a easy as everyone said.

I started with this.

And ended up with this. I am so happy with it.

I also tried my hand at a picture frame. This is how it started.

And the finished product. It turned out well also, I just love the paper.

I am so happy that I decided to try these projects. Love the way they turned out and can't wait to make more. Jaz wants one for her room (she actually thought it was for her at first, but I fixed that thought right away - told her it was going in the kids free zone)

Have a great weekend.

Bedroom Changes

I have been wanting to update my bedroom dresser area for sometime and have finally found the time to do it. Here is how it started. A dresser and mirror that is very long and holds lots of stuff.
Our master bathroom is tiny with no counter space at all. Because of this I use the mirror above my dresser to get ready every day. One drawer of the dresser holds my makeup and "stuff". The bigger items like hair spray and other supplies have had to sit on the dresser or on a small shelf on the other side of the room. I have never liked this setup mostly because it seems to clutter up the room and secondly, it seems to be a kid magnet. In order to streamline this area I did a little shopping and came up with this.

I know it is supposed to be in a bathroom but I loved the look so much I thought I could make it work. Hubby helped me hang it up and it works better than I thought it would. It has two glass shelves inside along with a mirror on the back of the door. The mirror works great for putting on my makeup (real up close and personal like). It holds all I need it to. I still have more room than needed.

I just love the way it turned out. I think it has a cottage feel which I am slowly working to add to my house. The area seems a bit bare right now, but don't worry I HAVE PLANS! I have been working on painting some photo frames to hang on both sides of the cabinet. I hope to also add some cute items on the dresser, maybe a bowl or pretty platter to hold a few things. I'm just not sure yet. I do know I want to keep it simple, less is more in my mind.

p.s. I still need to come up with a plan for my hair dryer and flat iron. I very much dislike it sitting on my dresser but I have not been able to come up with options. The outlet is behind the dresser so that limits me a bit.

Cute Mini Frames

Sweet little mini frames. I noticed them at Michael's last week and could not resist picking them up. I just love their frills and the colors. Not sure what I am going to do with them yet but I can't wait to have some free time in my project to-do-list to figure it out.

I have spent the morning washing walls. Not my favorite job at all, my poor arms feel about to fall off. It does feel good to have it done though, the living room, kitchen, hallway, three bedrooms and the stairway complete, that is until my 5 mess makers realize they have a clean slate. I just can't seem to understand how they get so dirty. I know on a daily basis I have 5 kids running around the house but goodness this is ridiculous. Did I miss a day at mommy class when they talked about how to prevent this! Or are my kids just really messy?

Attempting a Slipcover

I started this project three months ago became so frustrated that I balled it up and stuck it in my closet. This past weekend I dug it out and started working on it again. The left side is starting to look good. Still need to work on the rest. I love the fabric and think it will look great in my living room. Wish me patience and luck. I'll keep you posted. It may end up back in the closet for three months!

I've had a scrapbooking breakthrough!

I love to scrapbook. I love the paper, the cutters, the punches, and the little embellishments. I. LOVE. IT. ALL! As much as I love scapbooking it is also a big stress maker for me. I get caught up, I fall behind, I scrapbook my little heart out to get caught up again, then I fall behind again. It is a never ending cycle for me. In the past I have tried many idea's to attempt to stay on top of things. For example, I have kept a notebook to record my thoughts and events throughout the year to make things easy when I sit down to scrapbook. I have made myself limit the amount of pages for each year(for the kids books I assign 10 pages for each year so I am able to get two years in one 12X12 book). I have also tried to scrapbook bi-monthly, that is to say, order all my prints for two months, for all 4 books I work on and then get to work.

All these different ideas have worked well in there own way. But I still was not completely satisfied. I felt rushed, I had to quick hurry up and get as many pages done at a time. It was still STRESSFUL!

Along came this,

A cute little book that holds 4x6 prints. What a relief. Now I just add my prints, a few embellishments, maybe some journaling and I'm done! So easy, so more relaxed and I just love the look. It's simple, clean and the photos are the star. Check it out!

I have now completed three books in three weekends. Each book holds 260 4x6 prints. Sometimes I use the 4x6 print alone and other times I crop them and add a couple to one spot. I have also found that I love to add a boarder before printing it seems to add a little more pizazz. Here are some more pictures. Enjoy.

Playhouse Disney Rocks!

Little Z has discovered the fun at Playhouse Disney. She could spent all day on the computer if I let her. She just loves it. I love it too. Homework time is much easier with her occupied. Technology Rocks!

Thrift Store Finds

A week ago I made it to the thrift store and scored! I was able to find a couple cute creamer pitchers, some white cafe curtains with red stitching(sigh), a vase, purple sheer curtains for J room and some cute white plates. I am so glad I stopped, I almost put it off for another day. Here my new treasures.

The cafe curtain coordinates with my kitchen perfectly. They only had one valance and four cafe curtains. My kitchen window is very large and the valance worked great for only one side. I whipped out my trusty sewing machine and shortened the cafe curtain. Two panels was the right side for the other half of the window. I decided not to sew those two panels together thinking that it might be hard to match up the border. I am glad that I didn't bother with it, when hung you have to look pretty close to find out it is not one panel. Now I have two panel leftover to make something else with, I'm thinking maybe a pillow slipcover. I just love the finished product. Take a look(below), COOL HUH!

Kids Artwork

My favorite artwork made by the kids are hung in my kitchen. I love it. I change it out as often as possible. Right now my all time favorite are hung up. On either side I have hung some posters from the dollar store. Not very pretty I know, but very helpful. I would like to take them down and replace with more framed works of art but they are so handy I can't bring myself to do it.

(please ignore the broom and mop, I still haven't found a good place to store them, any suggestions?)

Happy Valentines Day

Hope you are all able to spend the day with the ones you love. Enjoy the moment.

Spreading the Love

I finally have my decorating done for February 14th. I love the red and white color combo, which makes Valentines Day one of my favorites.

Lantern Love

It always amazes me that I have so many lanterns. I wouldn't part with any of them, they all make me smile.

My New Love

Isn't she pretty. I just love it. It is a Christmas present from my hubby that I finally had the time to purchase and assemble. I picked it up at Ikea on Friday night and spent most of the day Saturday putting it all together. I started at 10 a.m. and finished at 6:30. Why did it take that long, you ask, it's not like it's that difficult or anything, right? Well . . . three little kiddo's "helping", hubby needing my help on various things, car to have towed because of a flat tire, kid to take to a birthday party, car to pick up at the shop, and a family that was constently starving. I'm pretty sure that I only worked on it for a total of ten minutes at a time. It was ALL worth it though. I just love it! Can't wait to decorate it. Hope I have enough stuff to fill it up.

Here is what I had on this wall before. I of course forgot to take a pictures before I had removed everything from the shelves but you get the idea.

Spring Is Teasing Me

The past three days have been warm enough to melt half the snow and ice around our town.
A high of 34 degrees today, and possible 43 degrees tomorrow. This heat wave is making me think spring. Glorious spring! Thinking about it has made me pull out all my garden books, magazines and idea book. I have poured over every page marveling over how green everything is. Wishing I could go pull on my garden gloves, grab my shovel and start digging. Sigh!

But I sternly tell my self "it's only February" I have to wait at least a month and a half before any digging can happen. So I turn to this cute little ray of sunshine sitting in my kitchen. My green thumb is somewhat content, my urge to dig is calmed and it makes me smile.

Hurry Spring, if I have to wait much longer I may have to have hubby hid my gloves and shovel.

Ahhh...............Organized

I'm at a stand still with J's room project. Have to wait until hubby can help me cut the shelves for over the dresser. So I am calling the room done and can move on to something else. Yipee!

Here are some pictures showing the finally project. J picked out the shelf brackets, horse pictures, and hooks. I think she is very happy with them. Enjoy.

It still seem cluttered to me and not as cutesy as I would have like to make it. But that is not J. This is more her style. It is organized at the moment and that makes me happy. I have to say I had a hard time painting the walls. The color is so dark, it made me cringe constantly. But it is bold and pretty so that helps.

Looking at the pictures I feel that the dresser would look great with a coat of white paint. Hmmm, next project perhaps?

Home For Boots

This was my Christmas present from mom and dad. Dad made it for me and I think it turned out great! I don't have a mud room, which I would love, but this I think is the next best thing. It will sit by the backdoor and hold boots in the winter and flip flops in the summer. Now the girls and I have a cute place to keep us organized!
I still need to add one more coat of paint, find some baskets and possibly add some beadboard to the back. I'm not sure about the beadboard. I'll have to see what it looks like once it is all filled up.
This makes me so happy!

I Love To Read Month

To celebrate I love to read month the girls are participating in "Tracking Down Our Favorite Tales" at school. They love reading to fill in their animal tracks, handing them in to get a bead on their necklaces and entering themselves in the weekly drawings for prizes. What a great way to get them reading more, and more. Both J and E have a bead already and they just started on Monday. I am so PROUD!