Meet my enemy...

Meet my enemy....this dark, drab, basement brick fireplace....

picture this.....brick ripped out....mantle/molding in white added....bookcases flanking each side of the fireplace....SNAP...back to reality....

I am posting this hoping I will get some great advise on what to do that would be budget friendly. The wall color is a great smokey blue/green....the art on the mantle I got for $28 at Jcpenney that had been $180! It looks less blue in this photo, but trust me, it's lovely....

Help me! I am leaning toward this to address the dark brick issues I have....then adding a molding....

http://www.theoldwhitecottageblog.com/2010/11/whitewashing-brick.html

thoughts? thoughts?

Wall Tree

I found a decal mural online that I liked for my daughters room, but decided to go with just painting it myself. I sketched it out on the wall, then used paint for the tree trunk/branches. I used scrapbooking paper for the leaves and flowers (with help from my Cricut) This project cost me about 2 dollars for paint and paper.

cakes

Flip Album

This mini flip album was so much fun to make! I used my snap shots from my sister-in-laws wedding and had it ready for them when they got back from their honeymoon.

For instructions to make this go to:

http://www.making-mini-scrapbooks.com/flipalbum.html

Painting Furniture Black

In July we moved into our new home. The livingroom furniture has been on my mind for years. It was light pine, that was supposed to be "American Cherry" when we stained it...that's another story..... Here are the before/after photos. I primed and painted 5 pieces, changed hardware and am love with it now! The next step is adding wainscoting. I can't wait for the final vision of this room to be complete.

before......(house in Cali)

after.....(back in Missouri)

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Changing Table to Kitchen

I have been wanting to make my daughter a play kitchen for a while. I love the look of the wooden ones, but not the price. I found this changing table on the curb down the street, check out what I did! I spent about $20 on cream spraypaint, fabric, drawer knobs, 9x9 baking pan used for sink and a plumbing pipe used for faucet.



upside down to make my "cutting marks"


I think I use my husbands saw more than he does...



Put back together, I used the side rails as a shelf, and used white hooks for tea cups

All I have left are the burners, I traced a DVD with a sharpie, but I need to work on it a little more. My daughter picked out the fabric. We love it!

It's mine!!

I spotted this advent house at Kohls earlier this month and decided it would be mine after Christmas when everything went on sale! So here is my advent house that I got for 75% off the day after Christmas.

I am so excited to use it next year. Our church gave us this AWESOME advent list to do. We barely got any of it done this year. I had my tonsils in mid December...so yeah...not really up to doing ANYTHING before Christmas.

Here are some of the things listed for advent I was given. So much better than candy...

Day5- birthday candle -- for Jesus' birthday

Day6- a key --- Jesus is the key to life

Day7- a crouton -- These croutons would not go very far if you were hungry! But Jesus can make much out of little. Read John 6:1-15

Isn't that awesome?! Each day has a bible passage to read your children...So I may add some candy to some doors WITH the items suggested on this list.

Photgraphy Name Art

I saw this idea on a website that actually spammed a post I did.

http://www.alphabetpix.com/

Of course I am all about DIY, so why would I pay them to do

this for me? My sister in-laws last name is POPP, I made this

for their Christmas present. I struggled with coming up with

3 different "P"s So I reused one...It is amazing how many

letters I find in iron work now when I am out and about!

I bought the frame at Kmart on clearance for $6, it this was a

fairly inexpensive gift, but personal and I had a blast doing it!

I hope they like it!

My daughter, the party planner

I love to make anything into a "lesson"...My daughter wanted to throw a tea party with her BFF Milla. I told her she may as long as she planned it all. I explained she needed to make a menu and shopping list. She was actually thrilled to do these things! She made the shopping list (cookies and pudding, hey it's a start), decorated the deck/playhouse area and even created a sign to direct her guest to the bathroom (which she lost, but we found it after the party)

I think little things like this will make her a better mother! Now personally I hate making menu plans and shopping lists (anyone who knows me is laughing right now) I love that she is learning what it takes to "throw a party"...

Milla and my daughter Allison (on the right)

Wall art transformation

Oh, the Home Interior Party days.....Ever have one of these? I received a print like this for a wedding gift. I was able to transform this print for $10 and now it can actually hang on my wall.

I first tore it apart to see what I could and couldn't use.

I was able to reuse the frame and matte. I purchased a new print at Michaels for around $7 then bought craft paint in brown and then a metallic bronze color. I painted the matte brown, then painted over the gold frame with the metallic color.

Letters on a wall

Here are a few pics of how I have used our last name "W" initial around our home. My newest one was a find for $5 at Ross last night. (oh, how I love Ross) I like the way it looks with my newly painted hutch (see other posts)

We moved out here with such short notice that had to rent. We are planning on buying a house next spring...so wait until you see all this with some wall color!

Here is a "W" in a photo grouping. This was found at home depot in the house letters section on clearance by my in laws. They knew I would figure out something to do with it. They know me so well.

Want to make it more personal? You can buy the cardboard letters at Michaels/Hobby Lobby and cover them with scrapbook paper. I had been considering doing this with a black and white damask pattern for my dining area, but this larger black letter will do for now.

Pirate Cake

I got this idea from www.familyfun.go.com for a pirate ship cake. Here is my attempt... I suggest not making it the day before because it fell apart the next morning, so I had to bake another cake. So this idea is great, but save the assembly part for the day of the party....oh lessons learned :)

Homeschooling!

I am thinking this blog is going to turn into something else...I started homeschooling my daughter last week. Never say never, because years ago I said I would never do this. God can do works! :) Here are a few pics of our first week that I wanted to share! I can't believe I was so scared to homeschool.

A little history of my homeschooling experience....My parents decided right after Christmas break of my freshman year of high school that they should homeschool me...yeah, that went over REAL well...I hated them for it. I cried every morning I heard my bus drive by. What was this social butterfly to do?!? Ahh yes..do her school work, then slip into her room to "study" (which was really turning on my TV to watch The View and other soap operas) So of course I said I would never homeschool.....

I have been such an emotional wreck these days with the fact that I moved 2000 miles away from everything I ever knew and am now in Southern California as a "nobody"....

Having school time has been such a blessing. I feel so organized and focused (for now, hee hee) I mean I totally love life out here (hello?! we have Disneyland passes!!!), but I miss my friends so much, and I find myself longing for them daily, hourly, minutely (is that a word?) I also signed up for MOPS and am very excited to meet other mothers in my area.

Reading....we are using the McGuffy series (old school)

Mud painting for art...we used cotton balls and Qtips...this was their favorite this week!

A visit to the new Library! (our new fav place)

The beginning of our own ABC book. We do a letter each day, then cut pictures out of magazines that begin with that letter.

Shabby Chic Photo Display

This has been one of my favorite projects lately. I have had this idea for a while now, but finally found some cheap enough crystal knobs to get started! I would of done this in cream (to match my daughters furniture), but with us renting right and NO wall color, I went with a light pink.

Here are steps to create this photo display (or coat rack)

I purchase crystal knobs on ebay for $1.25 each and FREE shipping! Frames are from dollar tree and the wood was FREE from my garage. Of course you will need some pink spray paint.

I sprayed the frames and piece of wood.

I then measured, marked and drilled the holes to attach the crystal knobs. After this, I attached the knobs to the board, placed photos in frames, hot glued ribbon to use as hangers!

Give it a try!

Memory Board

My daughter has been wanting to display photos of her family and friends in her bedroom, who can blame her? We just moved 2000 miles away from everyone she ever knew! So I decided to make this cork board a little more "girly" for her.

This is a cute, fun, and inexpensive project that you could customize for any room in your home.


Here are my step by step instructions....




After ironing the fabric, wrap it tightly and staple around the edges. I also used the stapler for the ribbon.



I bought these white push pins to put at the intersections...


final project! I can't wait to hang it up in her room, but it is 11:30 and she is sleeping :)