Spacey Lacy

pinterest love.....

2012-02-10T08:59:00.000-06:00

Everyone is on Pinterest these days and there is no wonder why. It's AWESOME!! And somewhat addicting as well. I'm sure if you are anything like me you have many folders on pinterest. Heck, I even have a folder for haircuts and styles I love. Yeah, it's that bad. But it could be worse, right????

Every Friday I am gonna attempt to share with you some of my latest Pinterest LOVE. Here is what I'm loving today.

(must do this in my bedroom using a poem my husband wrote me)

(part of my inspiration for mykitchen remodel)

(this is hilarious, seriously)

6.
(made these with my son's boy scout den and they turned out so cute)

8.
(my kids would LOVE this)

(cute for Valentine's Day, but I might need a shorter heel)

10.

can you HANDLE this?

2012-02-07T08:52:00.000-06:00

The next thing we handled on our kitchen remodel to buy list were the kitchen cabinet handles. Get it...handled?! Ha Ha Ha...I crack myself up sometimes. Ok, enough cheesy word play.

I have always loved the cup pull style handle. They are so classy yet functional.

We used them in our bathroom remodel and I still love the way they dress up the vanity.

So clearly I wanted to use them for the drawer handles in the kitchen, right? Of course. And because I shopped around for the best deal and paid under $2 shipped per handle I was overwhelmed with joy when I found out the same store on e-bay was still selling these pulls. (doing my happy dance) In the few stores I shopped around for similar handles they were priced from $5 and up.

Here is the link to the actual pulls I purchased on e-bay.

As soon as they came in my husband put them on my freshly painted cabinets. What a difference some shiny new hardware makes, right?

We kept the round knobs for the cabinets. They are a satin nickel finish and match nicely with my new cup pull handles.

And here are some other really cool handles we came across while shopping for handles.

3. (my hubby's favorite)

5. (looooove the glass)

6. (have these and LOVE them)

1. 2 3. 4. 5. 6.

Not all primers are created equal

2012-02-03T09:26:00.001-06:00

I have painted a good amount of furniture and my biggest complaint is that the paint often chips. I have tried many different primers and approaches to painting but the end result is often the same...the paint chips.

And then I came accross this blog and decided to go ahead and try the bonding primer. What did I have to lose, right? I chose Valspar because I buy my pain from Lowe's.

It turns out bonding primer does actually bond pretty well to what you are painting. So I knew that I would use it to repaint my cabinets. The last thing I wanted was any chipping after all my hard work.

The process of painting the cabinets went like this:

clean cabinets
lightly sand the surpface with a 220 grit sand paper
wipe clean
paint with bonding primer using a small foam roller to avoid brush marks
let dry (dries fast)
2nd coat
dry
and paint my white satin finish paint on the cabinets (2 coats)

Yes, decided to paint our white cabinets white again. You just can't go wrong with white cabinets.

Check out how Young House Love paints their cabinets.

320 Sycamore also shares her tips for painting cabinets

kitchen budget

2012-01-31T09:14:00.001-06:00

We have decided to keep our original cabinet to save some money and because they are solid wood and with the exception of needing some new paint in good condition. This will save us a ton of money. However we will be replacing the following:

countertops
tile backsplash
sink
cabinet harware

We will be adding the following to give our cabinets a more custom look:

crown molding to the top of the cabinets
beadboard to the side of the peninsula and a few accent areas
a new frame around the fridge

We will be doing all of this with a budget of ...............drumroll please........................

$1,500

Yes, only $1,500.

You can save a lot of money doing your own work.

We are at it again

2012-01-24T20:54:00.045-06:00

We bought this home when I was 6 months pregnant with my daughter. She is now 2 years old. In about three years we have managed to make over a dozen updates to our home and continue to work on it weekly. As rewarding as it may be sometimes it feels like we will never stop working on our home. Not to mention that having 3 children makes it hard to get much done around here but we do what we can, when we can. Our last big project was the main bathroom in our home. You can read about that here.

The truth of the matter is that we actually really enjoy (most of the time) remodeling our home and making it "ours". A few months back we talked about making some updates to our kitchen but then as usual we got very busy and it was put off. It wasn't until we had a dishwasher leak that required all new flooring that we realized that NOW is the time to work on the kitchen.

Cue....our next project. The kitchen.

I'm gonna attempt to blog about the whole process. I can't make any promises but this is my goal. I'm often asked how we did something when it comes to remodeling and I find that many people think many simple projects are 'too big' or 'too hard' for them to do themselves so they put it off unti they have the money to pay someone and then it often doesn't get done, right? Been there. But have no fear. If we can do it, so can you.

So let's get started. Here is our kitchen before we moved in. The previous owners' style was a little out of date for me but they kept a very tidy and clean kitchen. Very impressive.

Here are two more views.

And here is our kitchen now. As you can see we have already started some work (like removing some end caps at the end of the counter). We also replaced all of the appliances. I wish my counters were as clean as the previous homeowners. (sigh)

So there you have it. The beginning of our kitchen remodel.

Christmas 2011

2011-12-22T13:40:00.000-06:00

Every year I like to post pictures of our home all Christmas"ed" out. Unfortunately this year I wasn't able to go all out because we had to replace our floors due to a water leak. In fact we are still installing the baseboards but at least our flooring is in and it's quite beautiful.

We hardly have any snow this year. Just enough to dust the trees until it melts (but I'm not complaining at all). So here is the front of the house as you enter our main front door. I'll avoid any snowless brown grass photos for you. My mother in law and I made this garland many years ago and it's held up so well. I strung lights on it this year and put it around our planter box.

The snowmen wreath is a University of Arizona wreath which my husband loves to display. If he had it his way our whole home would be decorated in Arizona Wildcats stuff.

So come on in...

(I made this rag wreath with scraps from a quilt I made the first year we lived in North Dakota.)

The entrance is simple but I love it. My son made the green wreath on the left. I'm all about homemade decorations.

And continuing on to our dining area. On the left we have our Christmas cards on display.

If you sent us a card, then it's on display here.

We love Christmas cards!

I love this little snowman. He makes an appearance every Christmas.

And into the living room where the stockings are hanging above the tv (since I didn't finish my stocking holder I started this year, shocking...I know). I don't know why this picture came out crooked. I'm thinking I was trying to avoid a dog or child from being in the photo.

They love to sneak in my pictures.

(we watch Elmo daily)

And last but certainly not least...our tree.

It looked so much nicer a few weeks back when I first put it up. The kids decorated it and did a great job BUT over time my darling 2 year old daughter has added and removed so many ornaments that it's looking a little sad these days. But at least it's still standing. I was certain that it was gonna get knocked over a few times. lol

Well, that's it for us. I've actually enjoyed keeping the decor simple this year. Have a

Merry Christmas!

as if I have the time

2011-10-22T13:42:00.000-05:00

I'll start this post off with a cute baby picture.

It's weird to say that he's now almost 8 weeks old. Weird because it seems like we just brought him home but at the same time it's like he's always been a part of our family. Does that make sense?

I am extremely busy these days with my three kiddos and feel like I spend ~~all~~ most of my time changing diapers and nursing the baby. I keep reminding myself that soon enough he will be older and I will sleep again and hopefully have some time to do something other than change all these diapers. After explaining how busy I am these days it's gonna sound crazy for me to now mention that I want to update our kitchen/dining area.

You see it all started when we bought this new dishwasher.

pretty, huh?

Our old dishwasher was on it's way out and when this dishwasher went on sale a couple weeks back we took it as a sign and jumped on the deal. I'm excited to say we have now replaced all the appliances in this house.

Ok. so back to my never ending story...

Getting a new dishwasher had me thinking it was time to start thinking about finally updating our kitchen. I wish I had a current picture handy of our kitchen but I have a sleeping baby in my arms and won't be getting up anytime soon. Nothing super major but just some fresh updates to make it ours. I was thinking some new paint on the cabinets, new lighting, some curtains, new dining chairs, and maybe a new countertop. And then I came across this picture.

And I heard angels singing.

Ok, there were no angels but I fell in love with this kitchen from the blog the lettered cottage. I love so much about it that I don't want to waste your time breaking it all down. I shared it with my husband and he ~~didn't object~~ loved it too so it looks like we are gonna use this picture as our motivation for some of our kitchen updates. There are a few things I'd change so that the kitchen flows more with the rest of the house though. Probably use some darker colors that match our rung under our dining table giving the kitchen a warmer feeling.

So there you have it. My post about a beautiful kitchen update that I may never have time for but enjoy dreaming about anyways.

my baby story #3

2011-10-10T13:12:00.001-05:00

Let's see where should I start? How about the morning of August 30th at 5:30 am. This was the day I was I scheduled to be induced. I was 39 weeks and 3 days pregnant. My first delivery went all wrong and my son has problems now from all the complications that took place from my delivery so each delivery afterwards has been scheduled a few days early with my doctor on hand in case any complications arise.

So here I am at 5:30 am calling the labor and delivery department to find out when I am supposed to come in for my induction. I did this same exact thing with my last pregnancy so I expect the nurse to tell me to eat a little something and head on in to the hospital. Unfortunately, that didn't happen this time. This time 10 women went into labor the previous night and the labor and delivery department was packed. I was told that I would be called as soon as a bed opens. I'm totally bummed but try to go back to bed and rest up since I am certain they will call very soon.

12pm- I was losing hope that they would ever call. My husband kept telling me to call my doctor, to call the hospital back, to call my senator, etc. Ok, the last part was a bit dramatic but you get my point. I called my friend Jessie and complained about how bummed I was. She came over shortly after with a box of baby clothes and diapers her little boy grew out of and a bottle of castor oil. Up until this point I was certain that I did NOT want to try the castor oil but I was depressed and feeling like I would never have this baby (yes, totally dramatic). Jessie made a mint chocolate chip/castor oil shake and I drank it up. Looking through the baby clothes she brought over helped me feel a little better and so I decided to join my family on a walk a few blocks away to get some tacos for lunch. I quickly realized that leaving the house was a BAD idea after drinking the castor oil and I basically ran home to the bathroom (yes, tmi) avoiding food entirely and feeling like I was gonna die. My stomach was cramping so bad. I started to have contractions but was in so much pain that I couldn't tell what was a contraction and what was gas from the castor oil.

3:15 pm- Sure enough, while I am laying on the couch doubled over in pain the nurse FINALLY calls and tells me they are ready for me.So we pick up my son from school and give the kids a kiss goodbye and get in the car. We live over an hour from the hospital and shortly after getting on our way my contractions started to get worse. They were about 10 minutes apart. We stopped to get some food before we got to the hospital and at this point I was in a lot of pain. I honestly can't even remember what I ate.

5:30 pm- We arrive at the hospital and I am in labor with contractions 2-3 minutes apart and I'm dilated to almost 6 cm. They decide to skip the pitocen since I no longer need to be induced cause I'm in labor. The doctor pops my bag and they start entering my information as fast as they can. My sweet husband lets the nurse know that I prefer an epidural and they better get on it soon. Yeah, he's a keeper. The nurses were afraid that there might not be enough time for the epidural and gave me a pain pill of some sort. The pill works and I am now as high as a kite. The doctor finally shows with an epidural but I don't remember much of that. By the time I get my epidural I am 7 cm dilated and moving along fast. They keep informing me to let them know when I need to push which makes me think my little boy is coming soon. I still feel the pain from the contractions and let the nurse know so she ups my epidural. Looking back now I realize that was a mistake because I'm pretty sure now that I was feeling so much more pain cause it was just about time for me to start pushing.

9pm-ish- I am 10 cm dilated and my doctor is on her way. I am told that there won't be any practice pushes because this baby is coming too fast. She shows up and I start pushing. I realize now that the extra meds from the epidural was a mistake because I don't feel the urge to push like I should. I pay really close attention to my body and the nurse and push with the next contraction. I do this 2 more times, each time it's easier for me to feel when to push and on the third set of pushes my son is born.

9:48pm- Our sweet boy is born and nothing else matters in the whole world as I hold him and fall madly in love with him.

My labor was very easy and short but the downside of this was that my legs were numb for quite some time afterwards since my epidural was given to me just an hour or so before the birth. Both baby and I ran into some problems after the birth but we are both doing better now and he is a happy and healthy little boy. I honestly couldn't have asked for a better labor.

We are so blessed.

Baby is here

2011-09-28T17:59:00.001-05:00

As you probably already know the baby has arrived. He arrived a month ago. I'm hoping to post my birth story soon but at this very moment I'm typing this on our iPad which is hard for me to do. Imagine me typing one finger at a time while holding a newborn. Not easy.

So I'll share a quick picture with you until I can get my birth story up with some good pictures.

a shared room

2011-07-29T12:26:00.000-05:00

When we found out we were having a baby boy we had some serious thinking to do over the bedroom situation in our home. We have an extra bedroom BUT it's on the opposite side of the house and I like my kids all sleeping near my room at night in case of an emergency or something. Yeah, I'm kinda crazy like that. And the extra room is about half the size of my kids' current rooms so we would be downsizing furniture and more. Oh, and did I mention that my kids when babies, rarely sleep in their own bed. My toddler is still snuggling with me at night.

So it was an easy peasy decision to keep all kids on one side of the house and make two kids share a room. I figured that since my 7 year old son is the only kid who actually sleeps in his room and sleeps through the night (not to mention he has school and doesn't need to be woken up by a baby at night), that he would keep his room to himself. He was kinda bummed though. He wanted to share with the baby.

This is the only photo I can find of my daughter's room before we started turning it into a boy/girl shared room.

We painted the pink room a neutral green and pulled the crib ~~none of my kids have ever actually slept in~~ back out of storage and set it up.

I made a few little decorations and a simple mobile to go over his crib. I kept it simple.

I may add a pillow or another pop of color though.

The baby boy has the left side of the room and my daughter has the right side. Behind his crib is a little toy/ cubby nook where each kid has a few shelves and toy bins.

I bought a super plush crib sheet hoping it may help the baby love napping in his crib. You can buy one here.

I attempted t o get a good picture of my daughter's side of the room but the kids were having so much fun playing that I didn't want to shoo them out of the room. As you can see it's still a work in progress (like much of my home ~~life~~). I need to figure out window treatment and some wall art still.

My kids love playing with the baby's car seat, swing, and well all his gear.

I know I am a bit biased but they are the cutest kids in the world.

making the old new again

2011-07-15T16:05:00.000-05:00

I was looking for a rocker/glider type chair to use for the new baby but didn't want to spend $200 and up on it. After asking around (gotta love facebook) I had a good friend offer up this rocker/glider chair that she no longer had the use or space for. So it was completely free to me. It works great and is pretty solid but I wasn't crazy about the fabric cushions and considered painting the wood.

I decided to save myself a whole lotta headache and leave the wood alone. Instead I would sew new cushion covers for the chair. I was looking for a soft yet durable home decorator's fabric at a fantastic price (in fear that I would mess up and waste a ton of money onthe fabric). So I went to Jo Ann's and just so happen to find the last 2 yards of the perfect clearance fabric that was an additional 50% off. I paid $6 for the fabric. Fantastic, right?

Here is the chair now.

I should have taken photos of the process but I was kinda figuring it out as I went and doing it all with a toddler in my way. I basically covered the old cushions tightly with the new fabric inside out. I then pinned it, sewed it, and turned the fabric right side out and sewed the back or bottom seams. I tried to follow the layout of the old cushions but also make it more modern by skipping the buttons and trim on the new cushions. I think it turned out better than expected. And the ruffled pillow (from Pier 1) helps add a little pizazz as well. Not bad for $6, right?

We've been featured!

2011-07-12T10:42:00.000-05:00

I am excited to announce that our recent bathroom remodel has been featured on the fantastic blog the Remodelaholic. If you are stopping by from Remodelaholic to see the bathroom remodel post you can find it here. I will try to update the orginal post with any answers to your questions that come up. Thanks again for stopping by!!

blueberry pie

2011-07-10T21:17:00.000-05:00

This is by far one of my favorite pies and this recipe is so easy and sooooo yummy!

Ingredients

3/4 cup white sugar (plus a little extra for sweetening the crust)

3 tablespoons cornstarch

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

4 cups fresh blueberries

1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch double crust pie (I often just buy a double pie crust from the store's refrigerated bread area)

1 tablespoon butter

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).

2. Mix sugar, cornstarch, salt, and cinnamon, and sprinkle over blueberries.

3. Line pie dish with one pie crust. Pour berry mixture into the crust, and dot with butter. Cut remaining pastry into 1/2 - 3/4 inch wide strips, and make lattice top. Crimp and flute edges.

4. Brush top if crust with a little water and sprinkle some sugar evenly over pie crust.

5. Cover edges of pie with aluminum foil to prevent burning

6. Bake pie on lower shelf of oven for about 50 minutes, or until crust is golden brown.

bathroom remodel photos (finally)

2011-07-06T09:08:00.003-05:00

So I have been talking about our bathroom remodel for months and although there are still a few things to complete it's pretty much done. It felt like it took forever at times. I think that's probably because my husband ~~and I did~~ it all (with the exception of plumbing and major drywall work).

So here are some before photos from when we bought the house.

And here are some photos after we painted and started the work.

We replaced everything! The floor, tub (and added a shower head), toilet, vanity, we took out built in cabinets and made shelves and a closet, replaced plaster walls with drywall in some areas, updated electrical, and so much more. It was quite the project.

I am proud to say that we bought just about everything on sale. We waited for sales and deals on what we needed and we bought the items as we went. It took us a little longer that way but we have a brand new bathroom with fancy hardware, granite counter tops, and more and we paid a fraction of the retail cost on it.

Ok, so you waited long enough. Here are the after photos.

Here is the view as you walk in the bathroom.

Each family member has their own basket. I picked these baskets up at Michael's (with a coupon, of course) along with the frames and used chalkboard spray paint on the inside of the frame. That way I can change them up later with some chalk.

We framed the mirror and added beadboard half way up the walls. I love the contrast.

Painting the wood trim on the window really lightened up the room as well. See our fancy toilet? It's a dual flushing toilet that saves water.

The medicine cabinet pictured below still needs a handle but we will raise it up about 6 inches (like we did with other handles in this bathroom) to avoid little fingers from getting into bad stuff.

Need some toilet paper?

I bought this dual basket set at Pier 1 and I love it. Totally worth the money. I could use it in any room if I ever can't use it in the bathroom.

We bought our lighting fixture and pulls/handles on E-Bay. I love the brushed nickel. Oh, and the vanity is a taller backsaver model which is such a nice feature (even for my short 5'4'' self).

How did this picture sneak in there?

And one more for you.

Doesn't look like the same bathroom does it? We loved our new bathroom and are so glad to finally be ~~almost~~ done.

Edited to add:
The grey-ish paint color is by Olympic in their zero voc line. It took us a few tries to find the perfect shade so I don't have a exact name for you. We did however start with the color Quill as our starting point and went lighter. I do see there are some numbers on the can which I am guessing is the formula. It's 101-5, 105-30, 107-8

31 weeks and counting

2011-07-05T09:27:00.002-05:00

Here I am almost 8 months pregnant looking like an over ripe tangerine. I swear my belly is huge. If only my chest would stop growing so you could tell. Ahh, the joys of pregnancy!

my baby must haves

2011-07-02T12:38:00.000-05:00

Seeing as how this is my third pregnancy I have managed to get down what is worth the money at the baby store and what is a waste of my money and space. Of course things change over time and I had my first baby in 2004. It seems like every year there are these new fabulous items for baby that were unheard of the year before. Here is a few of my favorite things and I even threw in a few new items I'm excited about trying so I bought them to try with this baby.

The Moby Wrap. I made my own with my last baby and loved it. This time I'm going for the real deal.

If you want to make your own. Buy a queen sheet and cut it in half (longwise). Sew the two top parts of the sheet together very securely and you have a Moby wrap (minus the logo). The nice part about making your own is that you can choose a patterned fabric which is much more forgiving when baby spits up.

Another great carrier for when baby is older is the Baby Bjorn. I used my baby carrier so much with my last baby that it broke. To be honest I hardly even used a stroller cause my little girl was always strapped to me.

I have nursed both kids and plan on nursing this one as well. The Nursing cover up (mine is a Hooter Hiders brand) is fantastic. The boning around the top opens up the blanket and allows air flow and a chance for you to see your little one while nursing. I love mine.

We purchased a fancy digital monitor with my daughter thinking it would keep us from hearing our neighbors with monitors. To be honest it was a great monitor with a clear connection until it broke. When it broke I realized all my neighbors are older and there aren't any babies on this block so I went with a cheap monitor.

I often get static but we have found different ways to avoid that (moving the monitor to another space usually works). Unless I was having a problem picking up other people's monitors or found a killer deal on an over priced digital monitor I'd go with these cheap-o safety first monitors.

Super soft over sized burp cloths are a must! Here is the link to the one I pictured above from Etsy. I have always made my own and usually use flannel because it's absorbant. This time I made some using chenille (like the photo) and they are soooo soft. If I have time I'll try to put up a tutorial for these because they are so easy to make and so worth it.

Another great Etsy find is the car seat canopy. These are so nice to keep out rain, wind, or even nosey people who want to touch your baby. I love this version because it has an openning in the front so you can check on baby or crack open without having to remove the whole cover. Here is the link to this cover.

This is another item that would be so easy to make. You could even convert anice baby blanket into one of these by adding velcro straps. I plan on making one soon. We'll see how it turns out.

A definite baby favorite is the Halo Swaddle Sac. My babies (like most) loved to be swaddled so I bought myself a few of these for this new little guy.

I also bought some of these muslin blankets which are supposed to be great for swaddling as well. I figured that since I am having this baby at the end of summer it might be warm. I have never tried these but I'm hopeful.

Last but certainly not least is this cd. I must have the world's loudest stomach because my kids were comforted by the vacuum or lawn mower as infants. I put this cd on when we are in the car and the baby is crying and she went right to sleep and slept longer with it. I am a big fan of The Happiest Baby on the Block book and dvd as well.

Well, those are a few of my favorite things. I'm sure that once I hit the publish button another thing will come to me. Do you have a favorite thing that I didn't mention?

terrible me

2011-06-25T08:51:00.000-05:00

It's been months since I posted an update on my blog. To be honest I have considered whether I wanted to close it down or maybe take a break from blogging. I'm sure many of you moms out there understand how hard it is to find the time to blog (or take 15 minutes for yourself a day). To make matters worse my awful 5 month long morning sickness just made it even harder to find any time to blog or do pretty much anything.

But....I kept finding myself missing my blog and wanting to share my projects or news with my readers and decided after a nice break I'd like to come back and start blogging again. I'm sure with a new baby due less than 2 months away I won't be posting regulary but I will be posting again. Lots of updates coming soon!

and then there were 3

2011-02-21T17:30:00.000-06:00

If you are a friend of mine you already know that I am pregnant ~~again~~. If you are just a fabulous reader of mine I will share the good news with you now. We are expecting our third child in the beginning of September.

The ironic thing about me getting pregnant again is that at one time it wasn't such an easy thing for me. In the beginning of our marriage (back when we lived in Arizona) we struggled to conceive my son for over a year. As soon as we made that 1st appointment with a infertility specialist to get some answers I ended up pregnant without the help of any doctors. Unfortunately, my pregnancy ended in a miscarrage. This was devastating but also a sign of hope for us since we knew we could get pregnant. About 6 months later I was pregnant again with this guy.

My son was a hard baby to care for. Some people think it was because of his difficult birth and maybe that had something to do with it. He grew out of it and turned into the best toddler I could ever ask for. So when he was a toddler we decided to try for another baby without any luck.

We moved to North Dakota when he was 4 years old. Only 5 months after moving to North Dakota I was finally pregnant.

My son had a baby sister.

and only 5 months after she turned one...

we found out were are expecting again.

I realize that this can be a bit of a personal thing to write about online for all the world to see. My message isn't 'move to North Dakota to become fertile' but maybe to give someone suffering from infertility hope. In my case I learned to make the best of the blessing(s) I was given and to trust in the Lord and his plan.

happy valentine's day!

2011-02-14T09:37:00.000-06:00

As much as I love decorating for the different holidays I don't really go all out for them when it comes to gifts. We usually give the kids something small and then make something for eachother or do something together as a family. We try not to get caught up in the materialistic aspect of these holidays.

My gift from my husband today is a fabulous homemade dinner. I'm so excited. And we are gonna surprise the kids with some chocolate fondue for dessert. Yummmm....

Am I making you hungry?

Sorry.

Another fun thing we like to do it make Valentine's Cards.

I saw this cute idea for valentine's day cards last year and my son LOVED it so we created them this year.

Aren't they cute?

Unfortunately, my son is home sick today and is totally bummed about missing the Valentine's Day party at school. Poor kid. Luckily, his awesome dad stopped by school this morning to drop off his cards and arranged a time and pick up all his Valentine cards from his classmates.

I hope you have a great Valentine's Day!

fabric resolutions

2011-01-28T12:05:00.000-06:00

If you follow my blog you know that I sew a lot and happen to have a huge stash of fabric. If you don't follow my blog or just wanna see my huge fabric stash click here.

It's a sickness.

BUT there is hope yet for me. This year I've decided that I will refrain from buying any new fabric (unless absolutely necessary) and I will sew through ALL of the fabric I already have. By the end of the year I hope those shelves are bare. The reason for this? My craft room is always a mess and I feel so wasteful just buying new fabric all the time. It could also be an early case of the 'spring cleaning bug' taking over me. I'll keep my scraps cause I always use those but will have to find a better way to orgnanize them.

If there is such a thing.

Most of my fabric is about a yard or two long. Perfect length for toddler pj's. I made these spring pajamas for my daughter.

(notice that I've mentioned spring twice so far...yes, I'm ready for winter to be over).

I'm proud to say that I've been sewing clothing without a pattern and as challenging as it may be at times it's also very rewarding. I usually will just use a piece of my daughter's clothing to give me measurements for the new item I'm making.

I picked up this Eddie Bauer wrinkle free women's button down blouse at my thrift store for $1. I loved the design (but would never wear the shirt) so I made big plans to design my own toddler dress out of it.

And here is that same shirt in a toddler's size 12 month dress.

and the back.

Hey, it's hard to keep a toddler still.

And if you're wondering about the bathroom I'm happy to announce that we are over half way done. We are waiting on a contractor for some drywalling but aside from that and our closet area everything is moving along nicely.

Here is an action shot of my hubby ripping out the old vanity.

H-O-T!!!

i heart valentines

2011-01-12T20:00:00.000-06:00

After taking down all the Christmas decor it was nice to have some empty spaces. It seems like Christmas takes over the whole house and after a month I'm ready to take it down.

And only a short week or two later I'm itching to start decorating for the next holiday.

Valentine's Day.

I didn't have many V-day decorations so I decided to make some this year.

I decoupaged this $1 frame from Michael's with some scrap book paper my sister picked out while we shopped the Archiver's Scrapbook store in the Mall of America a couple weeks ago. I love it. The total cost for this cute frame was less than $2.

Next I just added a red doily to the center frame which brings a nice hint of color to this wall. Never mind the tiny white spot under the shelf. We puttied it and need to paint it.

I even decided to pull out the sewing machine (as if it's ever away) and sew up some cute dish towels to hang in my kitchen.

I used this free pattern to make myself a ruffled apron with some v-day cotton I picked up a year ~~or two~~ ago.

And since it's still FREEZING out here in North Dakota we keep our fleece Valentine's Day blanket my mother in law made us a while back on the couch. I snuggle with it daily.

This side table is one of the first things you see when you walk in my front door. I used my pottery barn vases I showed you how to make here and filled them with conversation heart candy and some pink filler I bought on sale last year. I also added some heart stringed confetti to fill my lamp. I love this lamp.

Last but certainly not least I added a few hearts and v-day cards to this open frame. It's looking a little sad now but I'll add a cute card or two to it soon.

Well, that's it for now. If you're wondering how our bathroom remodel is going we've got the new bath tub installed now. That cast iron tub was so hard to remove. My husband beat it with a sledge hammer for a good hour.

Look at this monster.

As soon as we get a chance to get into town to buy some supplies we are gonna rip out the vanity and built in cabinets and my husband will be putting in the new tile. Here's the latest picture with our new tub. The outside still needs to be drywalled.

day 1 of the great bathroom remodel

2011-01-09T20:26:00.000-06:00

My excuse for not posting since before Christmas goes something like this:

baby got tubes in ears, son went to hospital on Christmas with pneumonia, busy Christmas activities, and our usual trip to Shriner's hospital in Minneapolis.

So as you can see we've been busy. But I am back now and hoping to keep up with blogging but I just can't make any promises.

As you know from my last post we are remodeling a bathroom in our home. Everything must go so we are replacing basically everything right down to the cast iron tub. Here are some photos of our bathroom today before we ~~my husband~~ got started.

What you don't like pink?

This is actually a mild version of this bathroom because when we bought the house this bathroom looked like this:

That's a whole lotta pink.

So today was day 1 of our remodel. The tub is the first item to be replaced and it must be done in a timely manner since our other bathroom is a shower only and my kids require baths.

My husband removed all the tile and drywall around the tub today and tomorrow he will remove the million pound cast iron tub by breaking it into pieces. I will watch the kids while he does all this work.

Hey, it's a fair trade, right?

Here is a picture of the bathroom tub area at the end of day 1. My husband did a great job and we didn't run into any unexpected problems. He even cleaned it all up.

And here's daddy's helper.

So cute!

moodboard

2010-12-14T22:17:00.001-06:00

I love moodboards. It's great to see a collection of items all together to give you an idea of what your final room will look like. So I attempted to make one for our guest bathroom that we are remodeling in the coming months.

I won the bath sign from House of Smith's.

We went with natural colors. It's easy to add pops of color with accessories that way. I can change things up easily.

The stencil on the left is just to give you an idea of the design. I may or may not stencil on the walls above the beadboard. I'm still unsure if the stencil will make the room look too busy so we'll decide on that once everything is in.

Here's another look with a similar stencil.

We've bought just about everything. The only items left to buy aside from building materials are the mirror and a few other items. We will be framing a mirror ourselves so it'll look like this:

I also need to buy some shelving and artwork to add some color. Here are a couple of things that caugt my eye so far. All courtesy of Pier 1.

This one is definitely a favorite and will most likely be coming home with me.

Oh, and I also need a shower curtain. I'm leaning towards making my own or going with a classic white waffle curtain like this one. I like the simplicity of it and that it comes in an extra long length so that I can hang it higher.

Well, that's all I have for now but it's definitely a start, right?

my favorite things

2010-12-09T18:10:00.000-06:00

I'm going to be like Oprah and share with you some of my favorite things. Unfortunately, I'm not a millionaire and so you won't be taking any goodies home. Sorry, you'll have to go on the Oprah show for that one.

I included a link to the items but I actually buy these things in stores and not online. It's just to give you the actual item in case you MUST try one of my favorite things for yourself.

Ecos liquid laundry detergent
Ok, first up is this awesome all natural laundry detergent. We cloth diaper so natural detergent is important because dyes and perfumes build up on the diapers so we don't want that. Not only that but my kids have super sensitive skin and this stuff doesn't bother them at all.

Oh, and if you're worried about it not being able to to handle big stains please refer back to the beginning of this paragraph where I said I wash dirty poopy (had to say it) diapers with it. This stuff works great. Oh and did I mention that it's under $10 for 120 HE loads (at Wal-Mart)?

My beloved i pod. I rarely leave the house without it. I listen to it at home and in the car. My husband bought it for me and it's pink!! Need I say more?

I love cetaphil face wash and lotion for face. This stuff rocks. It's gentle on my sensitive skin but cleans without drying out or causing breakouts.

This is the facial lotion I'm using at the moment and it's great for the winter months when you're skin gets super dry but it never makes me feel greasy or oily. Love it (Oprah voice)!!!

Now I realize the photo is kinda weird but I've been using my Turbie Twist Towel for years. I even bring it on vacation with me. It's super absorbant, lightweight, and never falls off my head.

I used to have a diet coke a day habit but after reading the ingredients on the side of the can I decided to go with natural Zevia soda that's made with stevia sugar. We've tried just about all the Zevia flavors and Ginger Ale is by far my favorite. The nice thing is that this soda fits in nicely with my lifestyle ~~diet.~~

My family follows the Belly Fat Cure by Jorge Cruise diet and we love it. It's similar to a diet of a diabetic. I've personally lost over 20 lbs. and feel great. Even my hair and face look better. It's amazing what cutting back on the carbs and more importantly the sugar can do for your body.

As you know I'm an avid sewer and a bit of a fabric snob as well. My absolute favorite designer is Anna Maria Horner. I love her style and often use her fabric to make purses for myself.

And last but certainly not least is my Free Country Fleece Jacket. I LOVE this jacket. I picked it up for like $29 at Sam's Club and it keeps me warmer than my $250 ~~bulky~~ Columbia jacket. I was sporting this baby on black friday outside for an hour when the temperature was -7 degrees and I was comfortable. The best part is that it's not bulky and I don't heat up fast inside when I'm wearing it. Can you tell that I love this jacket??? The only place I was able to find the exact style/model that I have was on ebay.

I could add a few more items to this list like my earrings that dress up any outfit but it's taken me two days just to get this written so I better hit publish before the kids find me. So there you have it...my favorite things.

silhouettes

2010-11-20T21:38:00.000-06:00

As you probably know by now I am a fan of all things handmade and my children ~~most of the time~~. So of course when I saw this idea a while back I had to try it. I don't remember where I got the idea as it was years ago.

Nevermind the leaves I added to the middle frame. It has all of our names on that frame and I like to keep some things private.

These silhouettes also make great gifts for family members.

Oh, and yes these photos were taken around Halloween.

Here's what you'll need.

a camera
white cardstock
black acrylic paint
a sponge or paint brush
scissors
printer
frame (5x7 or larger)
scrapbook paper is optional to use as a background

Ok here are your directions...

take a side profile photo of your child. Having the background a solid light color (like a white wall) will help and upload it to your computer
open your photo in microsoft word and resize it so that your child's head fits in a 5 in by 7 in. frame
print your picture onto white cardstock
now the hard part...cut out your child's head. Be sure to keep the cute curls and small details
paint your child's head (the cut out of course) black. It will take a few coats. I like to paint on a paper plate.
Once dry...frame your picture OR you can scan it and make make several copies for family. I would suggest an oval 5x7 frame or a matted 8x10 but it all depends on how big you print your child's silhouette.

I used this fantastic scrapbook paper as a background for my silhouettes.

pottery barn vase on a dollar store budget

2010-11-06T12:26:00.000-05:00

I love Pottery Barn as much as the next gal but if I can make a similar product they carry for 90% less, I'm gonna do it.

I love filling vases with leaves, acorns, ornaments, and well, just about anything really.

These vases from Pottery Barn linked HERE retail for $39-$59 each plus shipping. I found another way of making them for about $3 a piece.

Here's how I did it.

Go to the dollar store or thrift shop and pick up a glass vase (cups work too) and a glass candle stick
Next go to the craft store (or Wal-Mart) and pick up glass and China glue
Make sure bottom of glass vase/cup is clean and dry (follow your glue's directions for best results)
Apply glue to candle stick top (I probably use more than really needed)
Apply pressure and push the vase/cup to the top of the candle stick
let dry
fill your new vase with whatever you want

This vase and candle stick was purchased at the Dollar Tree for $2 total.

My smaller vase was a glass cup and candle stick purchased at my local thrift shop for $1.50 total.

Of course my photos aren't as great as Pottery Barn's but once I get these babies filled with some goodies and displayed, you'd never know that they cost me a few bucks. Oh, and here is another great idea for filler this holiday season.

happy birthday to...

2010-10-28T19:37:00.001-05:00

me.
Yup, today is my birthday. It's been a great day, too. I woke up to 29 reason I'm lovable (all written by my dear husband) taped to the cabinets in our kitchen.

Actually, my 6 year old son woke me up asking me if these were clues to a toy hunt taped to the cabinets. Ha Ha Ha...kids are great, huh?

My husband also reloaded my i tunes balance (love me some music) and helped me reorganize my craft room/studio. He hung a curtain rod for me to hang the purses I make once they are completed.

He also put up some frames and shelves to hold all my ~~junk~~ treasures.

Oh, and he bought me this table and put it up all in the same day. It folds flat when I'm not using it.

(Nevermind the ugly wood trim. I'm hoping to paint it one day and hopefully replace the carpet too)

Here is my little sewing nook. I plan on painting my sewing table a fun color but haven't decided what color yet. Well, and I haven't had much time to worry about painting it. I've got a ton of sewing to do people.

I refolded ALL the fabric I have in the closet (which is a lot).

It's stacked top to bottom.

The cool thing about refolding it all was finding fabric I forgot I had. It's like it's all new all over again. Happy Birthday Lacy!

our arizona vacation

2010-10-20T20:22:00.000-05:00

We recently got home from a fantastic trip to Arizona. We try to make a trip out every year in the winter to enjoy their nice weather but this year we made different plans. My 10 year high school reunion was this October and after much debate I decided I wanted to go. It was fun seeing old friends and I was surprised by how many people were exactly the same.

I guess some things never change, huh?

Here I am with some good friends.

We also went to Apple Annie's Orchard in Wilcox, AZ. We took my son a few times when he was a toddler and it was fun so we went again and everyone had a good time. Here I am with my husband and little girl.

When we moved to North Dakota we had to leave our Sulcata tortoise behind. We left her in good hands though. She now resides in my in-law's backyard where she is spoiled daily with a wide variety of veggies. She has gotten so big.

My son is 6 years old if that gives you an idea of how big she is. And she's still growing.

We had a great trip and we loved spending time with our families. I also loved all the shopping. I have been deprived of great shopping here in the sticks (a.k.a. where I live). My new favorite store is definitely H & M. They have a ton of super cute yet affordable clothes. Although I'm not a fan of the men's or boy's section.

When we left Arizona the temp was in the 80's and when we arrived in North Dakota it was in the 40's. As much as we loved the warm flip flop weather it's nice to be home and experience the fall season. After living here I don't know if I could ever live anywhere without a true fall season. I love it!

Now don't get me started on winter though.

sewing

2010-10-13T09:39:00.005-05:00

One day after finding out I was having a little girl a huge wave of excitement hit me. I get to make girly dresses and fun bows for MY little girl.

I say one day cause that's how long it took me to accept that she was in fact a girl.

I love having a little boy and I've sewn my share of items for him but you can sew SO MUCH MORE for a little girl. And now that's she's one and running around (cause it's hard to put a crawling baby in a dress) I've started sewing her tops and dresses.

Here's her 1st dress I made her a few days ago.

From left to right: brown pillow dress/top (I made an inbetween version to wear with leggings), her dress pictured above, and a fall colored pinafore made from a pattern date 1964. Cool, right?

I'm working on the matching bows and already picking out my next pattern. I'm hoping to make more fall clothes and get ahead for next summer too.

one year

2010-10-07T13:39:00.000-05:00

My precious baby girl recently turned one. I'm sure every mom says that it's all gone by way too fast ~~now that they are sleeping through most of the night~~ but it's so true. I have truly been blessed by the Lord with an amazing little girl. She won our hearts over the first time we laid eyes on her.

She brings so much joy and happiness to our lives.

In just one year we've watched her grow so much.

from sitting to crawling

and big smiles

to running

and wet kisses.

I look forward to the next year with you my sweet little one.

mia & bathrooms?

2010-09-22T09:09:00.000-05:00

So sorry to have left for weeks with no blog posts. I have been busy making these:

and this

and some more of this

Well, you get the point. I've been sewing and crafting away for my shop. Actually, everything I've made/sold has been custom orders and not sold through etsy but I'm not complaining.

So after all that sewing (and did I mention a ton of canning) we've only had a small amount of time to work on our ~~never ending~~ home updates. We have managed to replace the baseboards in the living room and my husband is in the process of replacing the baseboards in the hallway as well. Oh, and lets not forget decorating for fall. I LOVE fall and try to put out as many pumpkins as humanly possible. If I ever finish before Christmas, I;ll share some photos. ; )

I think the most exciting new house project we've started since I went mia from this blog has been our bathroom renovation. We are planning on doing a complete over haul of our kids bathroom. Here is the bathroom before we moved in.

A whole lotta pink, right? Well, everything (including the super heavy cast iron tub) must go and we plan on remodeling this bathroom this winter. We started with a minor yet much needed new dual flush toilet yesterday. We were hopiong to wait to put the new toilet in until we had new tile BUT the old toilet decided to retire early. Here's my husband installing our new toilet.

and his assistant who is never far from any messy project.

We're still deciding on finishes, tile, colors, etc but we have decided on a few things so far. The 1st is that our bathroom will never look like this photo.

ha ha ha...but I wish it did. Atcually, this photo is my inspiration for our new vanity. I love clean white bathrooms and we'll be going with a white vanity and a framed in mirror like this one.

Aside from that, we're still in the trying-to-agree-on-the-same-things process. Luckily, we have a few months before any major decisions must be made.

broken

2010-08-25T17:22:00.002-05:00

It looks like the memory card reader on my ~~brand spanking~~ new computer has broken. Ugh! So I haven't been able to upload any new photos. I ordered a external replacement (cheap fix) until I can part with my tower to get it fixed.

While trying to get my card reader working I came across some old photos I saved on our laptop. I made a folder on the computer just for decorated rooms I love and craft inspirations. When ever I get in a funk I like to look through this folder for ideas and motivation.

I didn't save where I got these ideas so I don't know who to credit for the genius ideas I'm sharing.

I LOVE the colors in this room. What a fun playroom, right? You could make the alphabet prints using stretched canvas from Michaels and some scrapbook paper.

Another great kids' room. I love the colors and all the small details. I imagine if I had two girls they'd have a room like this.

I love the color combo used in this nursery and the pretty little flowers on the wall. I've seen these flowers used a lot lately and I'm tempted to buy some or better yet...make my own.

Moving on to my favorite part of the house...the kitchen. It's not often that I like EVERYTHING about one single room but this is one of those rare moments that I LOVE it all. It's so bright and airy. If my husband wouldn't kill me I'd repaint the kitchen and make myself a new curtain asap.

I often get teased for wanting to repaint rooms a few times.

Another great kitchen....

My workspace/office/craftroom looks nothing like this room but I really wish it did.

So there are just a few of my favorite inspiration rooms. Hopefully my external card reader will be delivered soon so I can start showing you some of my recent projects.

slow cooker chicken & dumplings

2010-08-14T12:10:00.001-05:00

A good friend of mine asked that I share some more crock-pot recipes so that she can have some new warm meals for winter. Here is a personal favorite that I found and modified to my liking from all recipes. The picture is from their site as well. My chicken & dumplings never looks like this but do taste FANTASTIC.

The recipe calls for 2 packages of biscuits but that was too ~~fattening~~ much for my family so we added only one.

Ingredients:

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

2 tablespoons butter
2 (10.75 ounce) cans condensed cream of chicken soup
1 onion, finely diced
1 package refrigerated biscuit dough, torn into pieces
1 cup of veggies-carrots, peas, potatoes (whatever you like)
1 can of chicken broth

Directions:
1.Place the chicken, butter, soup, broth, and veggies in a slow cooker, and fill with enough water to cover.

2.Cover, and cook for 5 to 6 hours on High. About 45 minutes before serving, place the torn biscuit dough in the slow cooker and cover them with some liquid. Cook until the dough is no longer raw in the center.

busy busy busy

2010-08-13T10:39:00.000-05:00

Since we got back from our trip to Minneapolis we've been super duper busy. I haven't had any time to craft, work on my new shop, or blog. Poor Lacy. What has kept us so busy, you ask?

Well, first it's the garden. We LOVE being able to go out back and pick food for dinner ~~along with 100 mosquito bites~~ daily. And lately, picking the veggies in our garden has been a daily chore because they are growing like crazy. We plan on pickling the cucumbers and canning some tomatoes for winter.

So far we have froze several squash (after blanching them) and will be blanching green beans for freezing this week as well. I think we'll have a nice supply of food for winter. I'm most excited about the tomatoes because I plan on making it into homemade pasta sauce (100% natural with no preservatives or sugar) and it looks like we'll have several jars when I'm done.

We go through a good amount of pasta sauce in this house.

We've also gotten some back to school shopping done for my son who's going into 1st grade. I've heard boys are much easier than girls when it comes to back to school clothes shopping and I'd have to agree. He picked out 5 new shirts in about 5 minutes and I bought him 3 new pairs of pants online and we're done. Everything else (new shoes, glasses, socks, etc.) was purchased throughout the summer as needed. I doubt my daughter will be this easy when it's her time for clothes shopping.

Luckily, I have about 3+ years before I have to worry about that!

Speaking of the little princess....

She has grown again and I'm packing away all her baby clothes 9 months and smaller.

She has a TON of clothes thanks to Grandma, my friend Janna (who has 3 girls and handed down a ton of stuff to us), and of of course my own love of shopping.

We've been so busy that we haven't even had time to take the old toilet to the dump.

Hey, I'm just keeping it real folks!

Oh, and if you're wondering, we LOVE our new toilet so much that we wish we would've gotten an extra one for our other bathroom as well. Can you imagine us trying to fit another toilet in the car?

road trip

2010-08-05T19:00:00.004-05:00

We spent the last week in Minneapolis! We all ~~squished~~ jumped in the car for a good ol' family road trip. The 5-6 hour drive took us 8-10 hours.

My husband drove most of the way. I did however drive in North Dakota. I wouldn't dare drive in Minneapolis. I prefer the desolate North Dakota roads.

I think the highlight of our trip was the Mall of America.

My son loves the Nickelodeon Park. He rode the rides with my husband and father in law. His favorite was Brainsurge.

My favorite part of the trip was the shopping. After you've lived in a super ~~duper~~ small town without a Target for 2 years you really start to appreciate shopping at a variety of stores. We may have bought a little too much. After our visit to Costco my husband had to rearrange the luggage ~~again~~.

Yes, we bought a toilet. Weird, right? We were super excited to score a great deal on this toilet.

I told you we live in a small town and are easily excited by big stores and good deals.

I got to change a dirty diaper while my in-laws and husband did all the hard work fitting the toilet and a dozen other bags in the car.

This is how my son spent his time in the car. The Nintendo DS got A LOT of play!

They finally got all our junk in the car ~~barely~~. But we no longer had enough room for my father in law's beer.

So he drank it right there in the Costco parking lot. I kid. I kid...he brought it with him. He's a bit of a comedian.

Our last stop on the way home is one of my favorite stores. Hobby Lobby. It's in Fargo which is about 2 hours from our home so it's a bit of a treat to shop there for me since it doesn't happen very often.

My mother-in-law and I were stoked about Hobby Lobby but the guys weren't. My father in law was especially bummed.

We had a great trip but we are so happy to be home. I have 6 piles of laundry waiting for me and a new toilet to ~~watch my husband~~ install so I better run.

taking the plunge

2010-07-27T13:29:00.000-05:00

I have been very busy lately (which is why I haven't posted) with the openning of my new Etsy shop. After years of being told, "you should sell that" by friends and family members I have finally taken the plunge. I'm starting small though since my time is limited with two kids ~~a high maintenance baby~~.

I'm starting my shop off with my sweet tooth fairy pillows.

I originally made one for my son before lost his 1st tooth and it was a hit.

I got many requests from friends to make more but was 9 months pregnant and had more on my mind at the time.

10 months later....

I've got a small army of sweet tooth fairy pillows made and more on the way. I am trying to get them all completed to list on esty or to sell locally. I've even added some girly tooth fairy pillows to the bunch.

I've got some other stuff for sale as well on Etsy and even more on the way. It's all a work in progress but I feel like I'm moving in the right direction. Here a link to {my shop}.

my new steamvac

2010-07-17T21:49:00.000-05:00

The older I get the more domesticated I get and the more domesticated I get the more I get excited over new cleaning appliances.

Weird, huh?

Good news is that I'm not alone. Apparantly this is happening to many of my friends as well so that makes be feel ok about it.

and...

my home is cleaner so it's all good if I get excited over a new steam vac right?

So if you haven't guess it after reading my title, we bought a new steam cleaner. I've been wanting one since I paid over $100 to a carpet cleaning service for a one time cleaning. I knew I'd save a ton buying one vs. paying for the service once a year. So we did our research and went with one of consumer reports' favorites.

We chose the Hoover SteamVac Dual V Widepath Carpet Cleaner

While doing research on this baby I came across some before and after photos on Amazon like this one.

Pictures don't lie and I love being able to see actual proof that a product works before I spend money on it, ya know?

Just like a kid with a new toy I put my new steamvac to work the same night I got it! It worked great and I was impressed to say the least. So I decided to take my own before and after pictures on the next area I cleaned (the dreaded hallway). Our hallway carpet is a light colored low profile carpet and it gets so dirty. I tried setting down a rug in that area but it just gets tripped over and moved around too much. It's a busy area and steam cleaning seems to be our only option at this time. Here is the dirtiest area I could find.

I was afraid it was too dirty in this specific area for even my mighty new steamvac but it proved me wrong. So it's two thumbs up on this Hoover for me!

I haven't been paid by Hoover. This is just my personal experience. But if you work at Hoover and wanna send some dough my way, I'll give you my address, K?

Just kidding...kinda

great chair makeover-part 2

2010-07-11T15:03:00.000-05:00

A few weeks back I posted {here} about this chair.

A quick recap for those of you who didn't read that post. I bought the chair at our city-wide rummage sale for $1.50.

Good deal, huh?

I reupholstered it using some Michale Miller laminated damask print cotton that I just so happened to have on hand. I chose to use the laminated cotton because I have little messy hands in my home and it'll be easy to wipe clean. I also used some left over spray paint from a previous project so this whole makeover really only cost me only $1.50.

So much nicer! You'd never know this baby cost me $1.50!

Nevermind the partially painted wood baseboards. We're in the process of replacing them!

inspired

2010-07-05T09:36:00.002-05:00

One of the things I love most about blogging is reading other blogs. There are so many talented people out there with so many great ideas. Most of the decorating or creafts come from other blogger's ideas.

I often put my own spin on things.

So when I saw the butterfly wall art project on {the csi project} I was inspired and even better...knew the perfect place for something similar.

This crafty {blogger} made this.

Click on the link to see how she did it.

I bought an old wood frame ~~with a hideous deer print~~ in it at my local thrift store for $2.00 and held on to it until I found the perfect project to use it for in my daughter's room.

One of her walls has been a little bare for too long.

So with my trusty can of spray paint, some old catalogs, and my new Marth Stewart Butterfly punch ~~that I used my coupon to buy of course~~ I made my own version of the butterfly art.

Now the wall has some more color!

Hope you had a great 4th of July!!

my garden man

2010-07-01T19:42:00.000-05:00

The other day my husband asked why I haven't blogged about our garden (this is our 1st year planting a garden and our 1st full summer in our new home). Aside from being super busy all the time I really didn't have an answer for him on that.

So here it is.

My husband has done most of the work on the garden because my hands are often full ~~with a baby~~. So the garden has been his labor of love. And when I say labor, I'm not kidding. The weeds crazy crazy fast.

I don't know how my 65 year old neighbor does it.

I'm the only one in this house who will eat a tomato (love them) and we have 4 large plants. I'm thinking I'll be learning how to can next.

My second favorite ~~tied with the pumpkins~~ thing we planted was the lettuce. I can't wait to walk out back and cut some for our dinner salad.

Oh, and I can't forget the cucumbers either.

Maybe we'll try pickling a few.

and the rhubarb...

I plan on making some rhubarb pie very soon

Closer to the house we have a ton of berries and some pumpkins, mint and cilantro.

I really hope to get a few pumpkins. Fall is my favorite season and having more pumpkins to carve or decorate with would be great!

This is berry lane. We have june berries on the other side of the house as well. I have yet to find a good recipe for the gooseberries.

We are a berry happy family.

I crack myself up.

And since I'm sharing with you all my husband's hard work I might as well throw this picture in there, too. He put this swingset together ~~with some help from my step dad~~ in just a few days.

He's so handy!

And this photo's for me. I LOVE this little chair.

Isn't she lovely?

momma's got a brand new bag

2010-06-26T15:20:00.000-05:00

I have been trying to find the time to make a new purse for quite some time with no luck. When it comes down to it making myself a new purse really doesn't take priority to other 500 ~~million~~ things on my daily to do list.

I know it'll get easier as the kids get older and I'm looking forward to that.

But last week I finally had to put myself first and I spent a few hours sewing up this baby. Thanks to the hubs for keeping the ~~monkeys~~ kids out of my way.

I used the market bag pattern that I've used a few times now by {Sandi Henderson}.

super easy pattern to follow with great pictures

I modified the bag a bit by taking off the large outside pocket. This fabric by {Anna Maria Horner} is just too beautiful to cover up with a pocket. This is my 3rd time making a bag/purse with her fabric. I LOVE it. It's so my style.

I added two pockets inside the bag. 1 large and 1 medium one for all my much needed junk.

I love my new bag.

I just hope it doesn't take another 6 months ~~or more~~ before I finally get around to making myself another one.

masking tape art

2010-06-22T09:37:00.001-05:00

I think the title says it all on this one. I took great photos of the whole process to share with you but they disappeared when my hard drive crashed along with 5 years old of photos.

Still wanna cry just thinkig about that.

Moving on...

My assistant was very happy to help me show you the goods used.

I grabbed a canvas 2 pack from Michaels (don't forget your coupon), some masking tape, paint, paint brush, and this little decorative tree I got from Ikea a couple years back that has yet to find it's purpose in my home.

I basically followed the design of the tree with the tape making sure to split the tree in the middle of the two canvases. After I was done taping the design I started painting. I needed 2 coats. When dry pull off the tape and wa-la. My lines weren't perfect (which is what I was going for) but I bet if I used some green or blue painter's tape they would be. I used the color we used on the opposite wall.

You can read that post {here}

So there you have it. For under $10 that blank spot on top of my dresser is finally filled. Oh, and I must thank my fabulous hubby who saw that I hung these ~~completely~~ crooked and fixed them for me. Thanks Honey!

stripes

2010-06-21T10:25:00.001-05:00

I got the stripe bug. What? You didn't hear about it yet? Yeah, it's going all around blogland and after you see a room with stripes that you adore you go out and purchase paint aind some painters tape and paint your own stripes.

I hear it's very contageous.

Our hallways is kinda dark as you can see so we didn't want to paint more than one stripe and turn the hallway into a fun house ~~plus my husband wouldn't let me~~.

We are thinking about trying track lighting in this hallway to lighten it up. Not only would it lighten up the room but we can position the lights to shine on our pictures.

I'm considering trying the whole strip thing on some curtains next like {the Nester}.

What do you think?

the great chair makeover

2010-06-18T18:25:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago my town had it's anual rummage sale. I didn't get a lot but what I did get I LOVE. Included in that is this chair that set me back $1.50. Yes, one dollar and fifty cents.

Crazy cheap, right?

I just adore the shape of this chair but don't care as much for the super itchy fabric that makes me a little scared to sit on it. Luckily, for both this chair and myself...I was itching to reupholster something.

You see I've never reupholstered anything but always see people doing on on HGTV or online and I've been ~~impatiently~~ waiting to do it myself. And let's be honest for $1.50 I'm willing to risk it not turning out all that great but I just know it's gonna look fabulous.

Here's a sneak peak.

I used a laminated damask print by Michael Miller that I've had sitting in my fabric stash for a while so this whole project was free so far.

It's wipeable so I don't have to worry about little dirty fingers. Yay!

But that's all I've gotten done so far because of a certain uh-hm two kids who keep me way too busy. I still need to paint the chair.

But they're cute so I'll let it slide this time.

out with the old

2010-06-11T08:45:00.003-05:00

We bought our home with some old and some not as old appliances. The stove was newer but the door kept openning and letting out heat while it was cooking so we replaced that. We later bought the matching black/stainless steel microwave and installed that above the stove.

The kitchen was looking better with matching appliances all except for the hideous and extremely old beige refrigerator. It had to go but a new refrigerator isn't cheap so we decided to keep an eye out for good deals on a new one and wait to replace it.

Well, one year after moving into our home North Dakota offered a $150 tax credit for replacing your old refrigerator with a new energy efficient one. At the same time we happened to run across a fabulous deal (under $700) on this beauty and knew it was meant to be. We pricematched Sears price and took advantage of Lowe's free delivery out to our home ~~a million miles away~~.

While filling out the proper forms for the credit we had to get some info off our old fridge including it's age. We weren't sucessful in finding an exact age but did find a date on it from the 1970's. Yes, 1970. The fridge is old than me!

We were so happy to say goodbye to that ancient beige beast.

6 years old

2010-06-08T22:43:00.001-05:00

It's kinda ironic that my last blog post was about birthdays because yesterday my son turned 6 years old. Sorry no great birthday decoration photos to share.

This year we had his party at an indoor water park and they supplied everything. No joke...we couldn't bring anything in. At first I was a little bummed about it cause I've always made the decorations, invites, party favors, etc. But the closer to his birthday we got the more relieved I was that I didn't have to make all these things. My parents flew out from Arizona to visit and my 8 month old daughter got pretty sick within days of his party and I seriously don't know how I would have put together a party with everything going on around here.

And you wanna know something? He didn't care that his party decor wasn't handmade. I doubt he even remembers what his invites look like. But one thing he will remember is all the fun he had. He didn't even make it home before passing out in the back seat.

I did however make one special thing for him to wear on his birthday. His shirt sporting his new age...6. I actually made it the night before the party. Wanna know how? Sorry no photos due to complete chaos while making this but maybe next time since I use this method often to personalize his blank tees.

I printed out a number six in a font I liked in Word and then cut it out
I cut out a square of fabric for the 6, and a square of double sided fusible interfacing (you can get it at JoAnn's)
You want to iron the back of the fabric square to textured side of the interfacing square BEFORE you cut out the 6 or decal (this makes it much easier to cut and keeps your fabric from fraying)
pin the 6 to the outside of the fabric so it's not backwards and cut out
peel off the back of the interfacing and iron it on to your shirt
I sewed a ~~sloppy~~ line around the 6 to reinforce it but it really didn't need it
you're done

birthday ideas

2010-06-04T08:13:00.001-05:00

My ~~occasionally~~ sweet baby girl is now 8 months old and we have just 4 months until she turns 1. I always hear people ask "where did the time go?" and I have an answer for them. The last 8 months were full of sleepless nights, car trips with a baby screaming bloody murder, running my $500 vacuum for countless hours to get her to sleep, and holding her in my arms for just about every single nap she would take. Don't get me wrong, I cherish these moments but I'd be lying if I said it was easy or the time just flew by easy. At the end of each ~~super long~~ day I rock her to sleep and just stare at her little chest as she breathes in and out and thank the Lord for my little monster and pray for a lifetime of ~~super long~~ days with her.

So when my husband is home and can watch her or she's passed out on my boppy after nursing I like to read other blogs and get ideas and inspiration for crafts, recipes, and home decor. Lately, I've been checking out birthday ideas. There are so many great ideas out there and when I came across Kara's Party Ideas I knew I hit the jackpot. She has so many fantastic party ideas posted on her blog. Makes me wanna throw a party right this very minute.

The rainbow party is definitely a favorite of mine. I LOVE the cake.

Another favorite is the classic pink 1st Birthday for a princess. The pink poms poms are too cute and I just so happen to have some hanging in my daughter's room.

And last but certainly not least is the pink and orange princess party. I am a sucker for flag banners and love the color combo.

And I know I should be looking at girl themes but the elephant theme was just too cute and can easily be transformed into a girly theme so I snuck this one in here too. Look at these treat boxes.

There are so many more super great themes and party ideas for all ages and different parties. I especially love the New Moon party ideas. Love the Type O blood bottles.

easy peasy headboard

2010-06-01T19:32:00.004-05:00

I'm finally getting back to blogging and have my programs download on my new computer. I bet you thought I was never gonna post again.

My son's monster room was the first room painted in our home once we moved in. This was his first time sleeping in his own room (couldn't get the kid out of my bed but I secretly didn't mind all that much) so we wanted it to be something fun and exciting for him to sleep in. He chose a monster theme with colors that I LOVE. It's easy to chnage the comforter when he's done with Monsters and still keep the walls and decor the same which was a must. I've shared pictures before here.

Although it was the 1st room painted it still isn't finished ~~like every other room in our home~~. We needed shelves, a headboard, and to paint the wood trim white. Well, all but the wood trim has been done and the latest of these projects is the headboard my husband built.

I saw some headboard ideas in a magazine and drew up my own version of what I thought would work in my son's room. I went and had the wood cut at Lowe's and shared my vision with my husband ~~3 times~~ so he could build it for me. My husband is so great about helping me build my visions and all my projects I throw at him. He's cool like that.

Here's my drawing. We used 1x8's for it and just cut them to fit his full size bed. I wanta say 54in. wide but it's been a couple of weeks and I still have my mommy brain (hoping to use that excuse for at least another 4 months). Our cost was under $20.

We chose orange to match his stripes on the opposite wall.

His room is really coming together nicely and it's a fun room which is important to us. I love decorating but more importantly I want my home to be a place we want to live in. My mom had a room when we were growing up that we avoided at all cost and I swear she would know if we even walked through that room. I never want to have one of those rooms.

I'm linking to:

My Backyard Eden

Fingerprints on the Fridge

It's fun to Craft

fried

2010-05-25T11:28:00.001-05:00

We are a two computer household. We use a laptop in the living room (where I often check my e-mail, facebook, and blogs as I nurse the baby) and we have a desktop down in the den (or what my husband calls the 'man cave'). I save all my photos and files, edit my photos, pay my bills, etc. on the desktop.

Well, last week the hard drive on our desktop died or as the computer repair man said, "it's fried". We were in the process of replacing the previous external drive which broke with a new one so that we could save our documents and photos BUT we didn't do it in time and all these precious files are gone now. We are looking into all options to recover them and have a friend ~~computer guru~~ helping us so we are hopeful.

On top of losing all our files we also had to replace our old HP desktop. This was our 2nd HP and they've been good to us. We decided to go with another brand this time to see what the competition has to offer. We went with a Gateway (arrived yesterday) and we love it! We got a great deal on it from TigerDirect.com which I highly recommend. Soooooo....I plan on getting back to blogging soon but need to finish getting the computer set up and going first. We have lots of projects going on here and I wil be posting all about them soon!

If you haven't backed up your files go do it now!

my personal yard candy

2010-05-18T09:47:00.002-05:00

or the start of it anyways. We are planting lots of flowers and watching old ones bloom again. This time of year makes all those awful winter days of sub zero temps almost worth while.

When we first moved here I never understood how people could spend all their time and money on flowers and gardens when they really could only enjoy them for 3-5 months total a year. After spending 2 ~~miserable~~ winters in North Dakota and buying a home here I finally get it. Infact I have spent most of my day working in the yard.

Remember my mailbox post?

the address has been blocked out for our privacy

We put the decal on the new mailbox, put the new post in (the green post is our newpaper box), and even started planting a few flowers. I think I may add a couple more flowers. Any excuse to go back to the greenhouse. I LOVE that place. Maybe living here will help me get that green thumb I've always wanted.

milestones

2010-05-15T21:47:00.000-05:00

My sweet little diva (well earned and deserved nickname at this time) is 7 months old and she is crawling. She has ~~servants~~ us to take her where she wants to go so at this time she just crawls when she really wants something. I have a feeling that once she understands the whole concept of crawling and the freedom it'll bring her we will be putting up the baby gates. She still doesn't have any teeth but her gums seem to work just as well at mashing up anything she can put in her mouth.

yard candy

2010-05-09T09:47:00.001-05:00

My mailbox was rusted and the paint was chipping on the wood post. It was in bad shape. We started keeping an eye out for mailboxes on sale and fancy new posts as the snow started melting. It was a good thing we started looking early because we scored big time. We found our post at Lowe's for $18 (originally $79). The actual mailbox was only about $11. That's under $30 for a complete new mailbox! But the mailbox still needed something to make it pop and since we saved so much money we decided to splurge a little and buy the vinyl address decal pictured above. You can get yours here.

I would share a picture with you of my actual mailbox but I prefer to keep my address private. I chose the same font and color as pictured above and it looks great! I really wanted to have the street name included beause we live on a street corner. It was easy to install and has a 6 year outdoor lifespan (which is probably 4 years in ND weather).

Now it's time to plant some colorful flowers beside our new mailbox!

the gak attack

2010-05-06T14:37:00.000-05:00

It's been raining nonstop for ~~too long~~ over a week and so we have gotten creative when it comes to indoor activities. The other night I made my son some Gak to play with. Remember that stuff? My inner child came out as I was ~~playing with~~ making it. Here's the link to the super easy recipe. I got the idea from the Make and Love It blog (how does she find the time to be so creative?). I used her suggestion and got the liquid starch at Wal-Mart in the detergent aisle. It wasn't the cleanest idea but most fun ideas are messy.

I was called crazy when...

2010-05-04T17:02:00.000-05:00

I spray painted fabric and sewed it up into pillows. I wrote about it here. I wish I was the brains behind this idea but it was Vanessa's idea!

Well, I did it again, and again! I LOVE the way they turned out with the white canvas material! Love it! I plan on changing them out for the different seasons. Here are my spring and summer pillows. The possibilities are endless!

after much review

2010-05-01T18:38:00.001-05:00

So my husband read my blog and saw the photos I posted of the headboard he made and he was disappointed. He thought the wall color and the headboard were too similar in color. After he pointed that out I completely agreed but was at a loss for what to do next. Do we paint an accent wall, paint the whole room again ~~please say no,~~ or wall paper? He liked my 1st suggestion so we ran down to our local hardware store and picked out a gallon of their finest ~~only~~ $27 paint.

I am glad he suggested that we do this because it looks a lot better. I am even tempted to change some more stuff around to match the new color but don't tell him that. Poor guy is always working hard for me and my crazy ideas.

So now you can see the difference in color between the headboard and the wall.

remember my must make list for 2010?

2010-04-29T14:01:00.000-05:00

If not, you can read all about it here. We (my husband and I) have been working hard and building items from this list. My goal is to have them all done by the end of the year. So far, I'm about half way done.

One of the items on my list was this headboard from Living with Lindsey:

She made it using a door and we just so happened to have an extra door laying around so I took that as a sign. Here is our new headboard:

See the 9 piece square wall art on the side wall? That was also on my must make list. I bought the ladder shelf for $20 on sale locally and painted it black. It's pine and so it's hopefully gonna ~~withstand my children~~ hold up over time. I got the mirrors at Target for a whopping $5 each and used 3 because it's a decoring must that I learned on HGTV. And the curtains are the ever so popular drop cloth curtains. Yes, I bought a $10 drop cloth and cut it in two and make a set of curtains out of it. We also made the headboard out of it.

My hubby did a fantastic job on the molding, didn't he? Our room is almost completed. We are considering changing the paint color or adding an accent paint color for the wall behind our bed but we haven't found a color we love for that yet. I do love the light and airy color in the room now but think we need something to 'pop' a little. You know, a little extra color.

I love my new headboard and how it ties the whole room together. And the best part is that it cost us under $30.

new hair + other things

2010-04-19T20:50:00.002-05:00

Well, since my title says it all, I guess that's all for now.

I kid, I kid...but I do like my new do. Isn't it funny how just geting some highlights or a new haircut can make you feel so great.

I haven't posted in a while because all this snow

has finally melted and the grass is green. Here is a picture from last year when we bought the house.

I need to take a new picture soon because in no time our home will once again be covered in snow. So now that the snow is gone (woo-hoo) we are spending countless hours outdoors getting our garden ready, doing yardwork, and playing.

Aside from playing outside I have started teaching sewing lessons to my 5 year old son who just HAD to sew up a pillow for his zhu zhu pet to sleep on.

Ok, I know I'm his mom and should praise all his many talents daily but I am gonna be completely honest when I say that he picked up sewing faster than some adults I have taught. More importantly he enjoyed it and was so proud of himself.

Oh, and my sweet baby girl turned 6 months old since my last post.

Isn't she cute? She's such a handful. A very happy baby with a very short temper. Isn't it amazing how God gives us so much patience, love, and endurance to make it through motherhood. We're still not sleeping through the night but I am hopeful that she will sometime before college.

So that's what I've been up to. I'm hoping to have some projects to share with you soon but I can't make any promises.

Did you know...

2010-04-08T16:21:00.000-05:00

that you can basically spray paint anything? Seriously. Of course, I haven't tried to spray paint every single item in or around my home but you get my point. Surprisingly, I never thought to spray paint fabric. I have painted fabric with a sponge and paint but I have never spray painted it. So when I came across this tutorial on how to make yourself an easy pillow using spray paint, I knew I had to try it.

I just used some leftover fabric from some curtain panels I made and some spray paint I happened to have on hand to try it out. Now that I know it works and looks good, I will be making a pillow that actually matches my living room. Check out the rest of v & co.'s tutorials. She is one crafty lady.

my name is lacy...

2010-04-01T15:24:00.000-05:00

and I had blue carpet. Ahh, there it's been said. Cats out of the bag. Wait, did you notice how I said I HAD blue carpet. Yep, that's right. It's a thing of the past as of today!!! My super fabulous husband ~~who reads my blog~~ agreed to replace the blue carpet this spring and so as soon as spring hit I made a point to start carpet shopping.

Here is the before picture of the room with the previous owner:

and now here is that same room less than a year later with new carpet:

and the before entry wall:

and now that wall looks like this:

Of course there are still some things we want to do like paint the trim and put up new window shades/treatment but we are so close to being done and I LOVE our living room. I will not miss that blue carpet.

my pottery barn inspired mosaic

2010-03-23T20:53:00.003-05:00

While browsing through tons of fabulous tutorials and crafty ideas online I came across the Remodelaholic's tutorial for a Pottery Barn inspired mosaic that she featured on U Create. After you check out this tutorial be sure to check out her blog. She has a ton of great ideas. My husband is thinking about using her bathroom vanity tutorial for our bathroom remodel. This mosaic idea was both crafty and thrifty and as you know that's right up my alley. My total cost was under $10.00!!

The only things I did different was:

I wanted to use a large square piece of plywood or board but they were all too bent and I was worried about the weight of it. I went with a 18x24 in. stretched canvas from Michael's craft store. I do however wish I would have gotten a bigger canvas (if such thing exists).
She added the square pieces starting from the outside and working her way into the middle and I started on the left side and worked my way up to the top right side using an L shaped pattern. I felt safer knowing I wouldn't run out of room this way but I am sure either way would work fine.

I am linking to A Soft Place DIY Day

leprechauns beware

2010-03-16T08:13:00.000-05:00

My son's kindergarten class is hoping to catch some leprechauns tomorrow by building leprechaun traps. The kids were instructed to use all their favorite things as bait. You know, lucky charms, gold, rainbows, and clovers.

Here's our trap. We are hoping to lure the little guy in with some gold.

Once he goes up the ladder to get to the gold he will fall through our invisible trap floor and into our jar for safe keeping. We won't know until tomorrow if the trap works though.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

quality fabric

2010-03-11T16:16:00.004-06:00

I LOVE rag quilts. They have a loved and worn look to them that makes me want to cuddle up in one. When we lived in Arizona a cozy blanket was really only needed for 2 months a year so it wasn't until we moved up to North Dakota did I really value my beloved rag quilts. And it wasn't until we moved up here that I started making more of them.

One thing I have realized when making them is that if you use poor quality fabric it will make a HUGE mess in your washer and dryer. I've had to clean the lint trap out several times in one cycle. Not only that but the fabric (especially the flannel) will fade and pill so fast. It's really a shame after all the work you put into them.

This last quilt was made with good quality fabrics and it really shows. I didn't even have to clean my lint trap out and the colors are still so vibrant and the flannel looks new after two washes. I didn't have all the fabric choices I wanted to use and didn't want to buy it online and wait for it to ship so I was resourceful. I cut up an old sheet we can't use anymore and used that.

I also used some minky fabirc because minky fabric is so soft and deserves to be used in almost every blanket.

I used Sandi Henderson's Farmer's Market line for this quilt (including the flannel) and I just never get sick of this collection. I love it and now that I have a little girl I am constantly using the scraps pieces of what I have left from her line. It's just too precious. Here are a few other things I have made from her fabric.

I'm linking to:

getting there

2010-03-05T10:32:00.001-06:00

Remember my console table that my husband and I built? If not, scroll down a few posts to read all about it and see the plans. I have been trying to find the right decor to compliment the table and haven't had as much luck as I would like.

I bought these mirrors on sale for $9 each at Target a few months back thinking they would go in my bedroom but that didn't work out so I painted them black and used them for this table. I think they add some height to the room. Target now sells these mirrors in black for $20 /each.

Next up was a lamp. I needed some light and have been drooling over fillable base lamps for some time but they were always too big for my tables. And then, I came across this one at Pier 1 (on sale) and had to have it. I love the thought of being able to fill it with different items for seasons and holidays.

I think the decor on this table will change frequently with the seasons but I wanted a few staples to work around. As you can see in the picture I have a St. Patrick's Day theme going on. It's a little scarce because I don't have many St. Patrick's Day decorations. It seems like everyone around here is already putting up Easter decorations. So that's it for now. When I get more done I'll share again.

happy birthday dr. seuss!

2010-03-02T18:10:00.003-06:00

If you have school aged children you probably already know that today is Dr. Seuss' birthday. A good friend of mine called me yesterday asking if we had any Dr. Seuss dress up items because her daughter's preschool class is gonna have a Dr. Seuss dress up day on Thursday. I didn't but told her if she picked up some felt I would be happy to help her make something great.

She came over today with some red and white felt and in less than 2 hours we had a fabulous hat and bowtie. My friend also glued on some white felt to a black shirt. I bet her daughter is gonna look so cute. My son loved the hat I made her daughter so much that I might be making another one soon.

our new console table

2010-02-17T21:45:00.003-06:00

I got hooked on Knock off Wood the first time I checked out that blog (thanks Kristin for letting me know about it). She has a ton of plans for fantastic furnture that you would normally pay 10 times as much for from Pottery Barn, Land of Nod, etc. I can't resist a good deal BUT...I also have never built a piece of furniture in my life. Luckily I had my husband to help and we were both excited to figure it out. We did however choose a pretty easy table. It's the Rustic Modern Console Table. Here is photo from her blog.

I mentioned in this previous post about how I wanted to build a set of small bookshelves from Knock off Wood but after seeing this table on her blog we decided it would work out better for our needs IF it had a shelf.

We decided paint it would keep it more modern. Here's a picture of the table before we painted it.

After talking to a friend who knows all about this building stuff I figured out how to add a shelf and modified the size to make the table a bit taller (taller than a little one's reach). If this picture is confusing just scroll down for more pictures that I added later.

We used one 1x12x12, and one 1x12x8 pine board and had the kind associate at Lowe's cut it for us. My total cost for the table alone (baskets not included) was $31.90 which includes paint (divided it up by 3 projects I am using the paint on), wood glue, and of course the wood.

The baskets were from Michael's and cost me about $20 for all 3 thanks to some coupons. Never mind the cords in the picture...act like they aren't there, ok? So my total for everything was $51.90!

That's about all the crafting I have in me for this week. My mom is coming to visit from Arizona so I'll get back to work next week!

*Edited to add:*

I have been asked for better or more clear measurements so here is my ~~sorry~~ attempt at that. If you need actual instructions for the original table go to Ana's instructions here.

patchwork wall art

2010-02-11T16:43:00.001-06:00

Remember my Must Make List for 2010? If not, you can read it here. On my list I have a link and picture to a ballard designs inspired wall art tutorial by Hope Studios.

My hubby and I decided a few months back that we are tired of having a thrown together master bedroom. We are no longer newlyweds using hand me down furniture. It's about time we make our room what it should be. So we have been working hard on creating the perfect master bedroom. The patchwork art is one of the new additions to our room. You can find different tutorials on this project online and they are probably similar. Here is how I created mine.

Supplies:

1x8x8 pine board cut into 8x8in. squares
mod podge (I used a matte finish)
foam brush to apply mod podge
9 sheets of scrapbook paper or pictures
black laytex based paint satin finish (got my quart in the paint department at Lowe's for $9)
picture hanging hardware for back of squares, you'll need 9
paint brush
sand paper

Click on the pictures to make them larger

I went to Lowe's and picked up the straightest 8 in wide by 1 in deep by 8 ft long pine board. It cost me about $5. I had the Lowe's employee (who was super nice) cut it in as many 8 in. squares possible. I did this so I would have a back up in case there were any defects in one of them. I picked up 9 sheets of 12 by 12 in. scrapbook paper that compliment eachother in colors/ patterns I like.

I sanded the wood squares by hand until they were semi smooth. My husband has a sander but I didn't have time to mess with that out in the garage (my garage is 30 degrees with a heater and I can't bring the baby out there).

I painted 2 coats around the outside of the squares using paint that I had bought for another project. Placing them on styrofoam cups to dry worked great (unless you have little ones who will hit the table or cups).

I added picture hanger hardware to the back of the squares next. Use a ruler and try to make them as even as possible so they are easy to hang later.

Next I turned the square over and traced it onto the back side of the paper. Even though each square should be 8x8 in. they are all a little different so I cut each paper to fit the square it goes on.

The last two steps are decoupaging the paper onto the wood.

Apply an even coat of mod podge on your sqare making sure it covers the whole area the paper will cover. Apply the paper and do it quickly because the the glue dries fast. Once you get it on smooth it out with your hand or a card to make sure there are no bubbles.

Repeat this step with all of them and by the time you are done the 1st one should be dry and ready for a top coat. Once again apply a smooth even layer to the top of the paper with the mod podge. Make sure you cover the edges of the paper and don't worry about getting it on the wood cause it dries clear. They will dry pretty fast.

Once they are dry you can hang them. That happened to be the hardest part. Luckily my husband hung them for me and he's a perfectionist when it comes to those things so they are as close to even and spaced out as you could get. Thanks honey!

Nevermind the blinding white snow out my window. I am hoping it melts sometime in the next month so I can see outside without going blind again.

And here is the original patchwork wall art from Ballard Designs. I like my version better and I paid quite a bit less for mine (under $20) Oh, and I was thinking this would also look great using black and white photos. I may have to try that next.

valentine's day wreath

2010-02-09T22:18:00.000-06:00

While searching the blogosphere for something I came across this great idea of using old Christmas beaded garland to make a Valentine's Day wreath. My local store had the garland on sale for 40 cents each (I used three 18 ft. strands). I had the foam wreath, glue gun, ribbon, and spray paint so this project costs me under $2. I found the idea here on Frills Fluff & Trucks.

I'm sorry for the bad lighting for the picture but it's late and if I didn't take it tonight it probably wouldn't happen.

the monster room

2010-02-07T19:54:00.001-06:00

If you have been following my blog for some time you will remember my son's monster room from this previous post. If not, go check out the before pictures of his room. It's hard to believe this is the same house we bought sometimes because we have done so much painting and personalizing to it.

So here's a refresher for you. Here is my 5 year old son's monster themed room.

I tried to focus more on the colors from the comforter than the monsters because as we all know, kids will grow out of themes fast.

I have been working on his room since we moved in and it's still a work in progress. I recently added these cool star lights up behind his bed. They are from Ikea and are great night lights. I put them on a timer so he can read with his flashlight and those star lights at night before he falls asleep. I have been thinking about making a fabric headboard for his room as well. They look pretty easy to make but I have to find the perfect fabric. Navy blue, maybe? Hmmm...Any suggestions?

I also bought a really cool lamp, some shelves, a mirror, and a magnetic board for his room when we went to Ikea but they are all waiting ~~patiently~~ for my dear husband to put them up. Our walls are plaster which is a pain to nail/ screw into so my husband asks that he does it so it's done right. And to be honest I don't want anything falling on my kids' heads so I like my husband to put those things up.

Once I get that stuff up I'll take some new pictures to share. I am tempted to paint the trim in his room along with his closet doors white (like we did in our room and the kitchen, what's with all the wood trim?) but that will have to wait until it's warm enough for me to open the windows to paint them. That should hopefully be in a couple of months. Have I mentioned lately how much I love North Dakota winters?

easy peasy weekend project

2010-02-05T07:31:00.001-06:00

I have been wanting a clipboard to hang by my sewing table for a while now. But just any clipboard just wouldn't do so the project had to wait until I had time. And well, I still don't have time so I just didn't do the laundry so I could finally complete this. Hey, something had to give.

I bough the clipboard and the scrapbook paper. If you sew you probably know this paper is also a fabric by Heather Bailey and she makes FABULOUS prints. I bought the paper on sale for 40 cents at the scrapbook store in the Mall of America (the name escapes me at the moment) when we went to Minneapolis last month.

I had the white acrylic paint, the foam brush, and mod podge.

I painted around the outside of the clipboard with the white paint. The paper wasn't long enough so I used the backside of the paper (that was trimmed from the side) in the middle of the clipboard to add a little something. If you plan on writing on the clipboard this isn't a great idea cause there will be a small bump where the papers overlap.

Once it's all ready just put a layer of modge podge on the board and add your paper. I used a stack of flash cards (cause that's what I had handy) to push out all the air bubbles but you can use a credit card or something similar. Wait until the glue dries (at least 30 minutes) before you coat the top of the paper with the modge podge. The glue dries fast but if you do it too soon it makes a mess. This stuff gets on your hands whether you want it to or not so it could mess up your whole project of you don't wait.

And here it is in all it's glory just hanging there waiting to be used. I still need to finish bringing stuff back in my craft room after painting and organizing it all so if may be a while before I get to use my new clipboard. Luckily, it's beautiful and matches my wall color as it hangs there waiting to be used.

4 months...milestones

2010-02-02T21:23:00.004-06:00

My sweet baby girl is now 4 months old. She is babbling, laughing, starting cereal, and trying to sit up and scoot. Sleep through the night, you ask? No, not even close. She is up every 2-3 hours to nurse and every night I swear I am gonna do something different to change this awful routine we have.

But then she smiles at me in the morning and all is well. This sleep deprived mama forgets it all until later that night. I know this like many other things shall pass and I should cherish those midnight feedings snuggled up next to this cutie because soon enough they will be gone.

my MUST make list for 2010

2010-01-29T08:22:00.003-06:00

I love finding inspiration from other crafty ladies in blogland. I have compiled a list of projects I plan (hope) to do this year.

1. Pottery Barn Kids Cameron bookcase from Knock Off Wood. I want to make one in black for my entry way.

2. Fabric covered headboard tutorial from Living wih Lindsey. I may choose another method but have a spare door in the garage so it makes sense to try this one.

3. No sew roman shades from Thrifty Decor Chick (love her blog).

4. Ballard Designs inspired shelves from TDC (told you she rocks).

5. Ballard Designs inspired patchwork wall art by Hope Studios.

6. The black door by Just A Girl. I love the house number on the door but am leaning towards a red door at the moment.

7. Another fav from Just A Girl is her organization station. I LOVE the vinyl calendar used as a dry erase board. LOVE IT!!

8. I must to make a ruffle butt onesie from this tutorial.

9. Onesie dress tutorial found here. I have to make my baby girl a few of these. So cute! I am loving having a girl!

I am sure I'll find more great ideas as I go! Thanks to all the crafty ladies who shared their creative ideas!

edited to add:

Oops, I didn't post the beadboard wallpaper I told a friend I would post. A cranky baby distracted me. Here's the link .

Here's another console table that looks thinner and super easy to make. I plan to make in black with a small shelf for a basket for keys and mail. This will work perfectly for our other entry way. I even have two stray ottomans to put under it.

burgundy

2010-01-26T11:01:00.000-06:00

We are so close to being done painting my craft room (just need another gallon of paint for one more coat) and it's so much brighter. Hopefully sometime in the next 5 years when it's all done and put together I'll share a picture of it with you. I'm not a blue person so that shade of blue was new thing for me and I am glad I chose it now.

Speaking of color...I have been obsessed with burgundy. I am usually a green and brown kinda gal. You know what looks great with green and brown? Yup, burgundy. I made this scrunchy scarf out of jersey knit cotton in and the color goes with everything I wear. I just love it and it's lightweight enough to wear year round. Here's the tutorial if you want to make one yourself or if you want to see how cool it looks on (cause I am not modeling it for you).

A few days ago while shopping I came across this beautiful cotton yarn in burgundy and so I bought it. I have been wanting to make a neck warmer/ cowl for a while and it looks pretty easy to do so I gave it a try.

Here's a picture of the style I was going for. This one is for sale on Etsy. This is not me or my neck warmer. She has a lovely neck and warmer so I thought I would share hers with you.

And here is my finished neck warmer modeled by my lovely lamp.

You can wear it open or shut. I love the way it turned out and actually plan on making a navy one next using some vintage sailor buttons I came across. Maybe navy will be next next favorite color

busy body

2010-01-23T12:20:00.000-06:00

I have done it again. As soon as there is any order in this house I decide it's time to paint, replace trim, or take on some monumental project. I am my own worst enemy sometimes. Maybe I strive for perfection or maybe I just enjoy the chaos.

As soon as we got back from Minneapolis (and still unpacking) I asked my husband if we could please start painting my craft room. We already had the paint and had some furniture to move in there (we bought new stuff from Ikea so the old stuff is finding a new home in my craft room) and the dark brown color in that room was really getting to me. Of course, being the fabulous husband he is, my man agreed and even painted half of it so far.

I went with the color Twilight (not because I love the series) which is a light blue. I think it'll brighten up the room.

This is our den (a.k.a. the man cave). My husband's cave has been taken over by all my craft stuff and there is limited walking space in this room until the deed (painting) is done. My goal is to get it done this weekend but it really all depends on these guys.

Please let mommy and daddy get the painting done, ok?

After this is done I will probably paint two more rooms/halls and then move on to making our new headboard for our bed. There is so much to do and so little time these days. I'm a busy body. It's a curse really.

ikea or bust

2010-01-14T20:41:00.000-06:00

Twice a year we make a trip out to Minneapolis for my son's doctor's appointment with Shriner's hospital (great hospital EVER). It's a good 5-6 hour trip for us and we always seem to go once in the summer and once in the winter. We are now approaching our winter trip which is great IF you don't have a 3 month old baby who doesn't travel all that well in the car. We are thinking it may end up being a 8 hour trip with all the stops we are preparing to do. Let's pray that she does well and we have a safe trip there and back.

One of the perks of going out to Minneapolis is the shopping. Hey, I live in a super small town with NO real stores and I miss it (soooo much) sometimes. One of my favorite stops is Ikea. Man, I love that place. Unfortunately, it's like we never really get enough time in that store and I always go home wishing I had bought something I didn't. That's life, right? So this time I am trying to go prepared. We have decided on some new dressers for our room (finally) since our last set has been damaged after moving 3 times. Aside from that we just need some organization stuff and random stuff I have been eying for a while. Here is my collage I put together with what I plan on getting. I am hoping that by taking this with me I will be better prepared and leave with everything I wanted.

5 minute project

2010-01-09T18:30:00.000-06:00

I am a fan of the blog Thrifty Decor Chick. Heck, her blog title alone sold me because I am a thrifty decor chick. While reading her blog and desperately wanting to redecorate after taking down all the Christmas decor I came across this project she did.

Everyone has one of those freebie vases sitting in their cupboard, right? Well, I do and I also had some craft glue so I ran down to my hardware store and bought some jute twine for under $2 and ran home to make myself a vase.

And here it is. BEAUTIFUL. Needs some flowers (and yes my plant is dying and my frame needs a photo) but it now has a purpose in my dining room.

See that fabric on the table? That's what I worked on next. I'll share pictures if I ever finish it.

my favorite things

2010-01-03T21:31:00.000-06:00

I am blessed with a husband who loves me dearly. So much in fact that he watched the baby while my son and I went into town to grocery shop (and buy some fabric). We live in a small town with no major chain stores, fast food, or big restaurants. It's all mom and pop shops around here. Our closest city with a mall, Target, Starbucks, JoAnn's (because these stores are all I need to get by in life) is about 75 miles away.

So my boy and I headed to get some groceries, get the oil changed on the car, get a car wash (where I managed to freeze the trunk shut by not wiping it off immediately after the wash), we got our groceries, return some items, and go to Jo Ann's craft store.
And color me surprised... all the clearance fabric was 50% off the sale price. I didn't pay over $5 a yard for a single item and I even picked up some jersey knit and minky fabric. If you sew you know how great this is, right?

Here is some of my new fabric.

And I even found some shabby chic cotton to complete my collection that I am putting together for my daughter's rag quilt. I am planning on having it done in 4 years when she moves into a big girl bed. I like to give myself even time to finish it. lol

Now I didn't NEED all of it since I still have this messy stash of fabric waiting to be cut into.

Oh, and this over here, too. (can't wait until we go to Ikea and get me some shelves so I can get my craft room organized)

But the fabric was on sale and it will eventually all be put to good use.

milestones

2010-01-01T21:22:00.001-06:00

My sweet little girl turned 3 months old last week. Three. Months. Old. Where did that time go? And today she rolled over from her belly to her back for the first time. Do I sound like a proud mommy or what?

With eyes like hers it's hard not to be crazy about this girl. I didn't think I could love anyone as much as I love my son. It honestly seemed impossible but God has a way of making your heart grow to share even more love. It's amazing.

Merry CHRISTmas!

2009-12-24T11:25:00.001-06:00

I will keep this short since I am typing with one hand and holding baby with the other. Have a safe (especially if you live in my neck of the woods and are getting all this snow) and merry CHRISTmas from my family to yours!