little projects need a little advice!

So here are some snapshots of some things going on at my house right now...some things I need a little advice on! Will you help me out?!

Here's the first thing. It's the window frame I bought at the Junk Jubilee sale...I had been wanting one for sooo long, and had actually found a really cute one at a super cute store near my house called A Kinder Touch. They have awesome stuff that's priced decently (which can be hard to find with antiques/vintage stuff!). Although I loved the frame I bought there, I ended up giving it to someone else that would love it too...someone I love very much...mom! She had just re-done her kitchen and she had been wanting a window frame to go along with the twig wreath I had given her another time. Well, it was worth giving away because she loved it and it looks perfect with the wreath against her new kitchen walls (I will have to share a pic sometime). Ever since then though, my heart has been pining for my own window frame ;)

 Here it is! The only thing I was semi disappointed about was that it didn't have any glass with it. The one I got my mom did, but then I thought that could maybe be fun for something different. I was then going to hang my twig wreath on it, but it just didn't flow right...I think it's the way the frame is divided. I kinda like it with nothing on it, but I am up for any suggestions!

Rachel shared this idea with me on Pinterest:

 Very cute!

 Another view...

 Onto the next project....do you remember when Rachel posted about Pinterest? Well, if you don't have one by now, you need to get one!! Check out this awesome idea I have pinned:

I absolutely LOVE this!! And look what my amazing sis and bro-in-law gave me after I told them about the idea....

 Ahhhh! I was so excited! I kinda want to paint it, but also kinda don't. Any suggestions?

 Annnd here is the next one....

I've been wanting to paint this baby for a long time after I got it for $10. I love the design of it! However, I do not have a lot of experience with re-finishing furniture, so I wasn't sure the best way to approach it....some people told me I would need to get special stuff to remove the paint after they tried to sand it, others told me I could just paint over it...help please! Janice!! (Maggie's mom) :)

Look at the nice design someone painted on there for me....

I'm also debating the color to paint it. Any of you that know me well know I love pretty much any shade of blue/teal. But, I already have this teal table from another junk sale...

and I have another awesome green table my friend Marissa gave us as a wedding present. 

I honestly was thinking of a shade of dark yellow (my sister has her walls painted this color and it is awesome). I am planning on putting this desk upstairs where the walls are painted a darker green...so I need something lighter. The yellow goes with some other decorating ideas I have for up there, but then again...I have a lot of ideas going crazy in my head with other painting/decorating ideas I have for other rooms in the house. Any advice for color for this dainty table?!?!

Help friends!!

Hang in there.

So, as I've blogged before, we're moving our bedroom into a very teeny-tiny "spare" bedroom so that the square footage of the upstairs of our house (our old bedroom) can be utilized better.

It's quite the challenge to fit all of our belongings into such a small space but I am taking on the challenge with an eager heart, ready and willing to get creative and make it work (gotta throw in a little Tim Gunn once in awhile).

One of my problems was solving where I was going to store my copious amounts of chunky jewelry.  I'm from the School Of Thought that if you are going to bother to put on a necklace, it should make a statement. :)

Needless to say, I have a lot of jewelry that takes up a ton of space.  Because the room is so small, there isn't even a place for a dresser (hence, the reason Jared made a bed with built-in drawers) so I can't use my old "jewelry tree" that used to sit on my dresser.

After searching around Pinterest, I was inspired by this beauty and thought I would create my own version.  

With a space as small as ours, ya gotta use every square inch for storage, including and especially, the walls.  

I found a large, ornate frame at my favorite junk shop and sprayed it white.  I didn't want it to be a perfect coating of paint because I wanted to keep the ragged look of it.  

I then dug some sticks out of storage in my basement and trimmed them to fit the look of the frame.  They were already spray painted white but I did a few touch-ups.  

I went to World Market and picked up some cute knobs to set my sticks on.  

After measuring where I wanted the necklaces to sit in the frame, Jared drilled some holes and attached the knobs

He also attached a wire to the back so it could be easily hung on the wall.  

We set the sticks on the knobs, adorned it with jewelry and voilà, it was finished!  All you have to do it undo the clasps on the necklaces or lift the sticks up and pull the necklace over the others to take off the jewelry you want to wear.

The white frame doesn't take away from the jewelry but it's still interesting because of it's detail.  I also purposely let the sticks flow over the edge, unlike the inspiration piece,  because I thought it flowed better and added more interest and functionality.  

This is one of the easier DIY projects we've tackled and, in my opinion, with some of the best results.  I love how it makes my jewelry look like a work of art and how the colors pop off the wall. But I really love that it's helps me maximize the space of our bedroom in a beautiful way!

P.S. Does anyone else have loads of necklaces like I do?  How do you organize or display them?

3 Trees, 3 Dozen Easter Eggs, and 6 Hours Later...

After seeing this craft idea in Woman's Day magazine, my mother-in-law, sis-in-law, and I all decided it would be fun to attempt ourselves:

Cute, huh? And it looked simple enough!

So we gathered our needed supplies...

• Foam Trees
• Plastic Easter Eggs
• Paper Napkins
• Scissors
• Hot Glue Gun
• Spray Adhesive
• Modge Podge
• Paintbrush
• Easter Grass/Gift Confetti
• Container for tree (optional)

...and got to work Saturday morning.

 

This is the napkin pattern I chose. It looked Easter-y enough to me and it was all Hobby Lobby had really for bright patterns (I was kinda disappointed!).  It actually ended up being really neat because we were able to create many different designs on the eggs since there were three patterns on the napkins.

Start by peeling off the layers of the napkin--this will help the napkin stick better to the egg. We realized halfway in that we had only been taking off one layer when there were really two (hard to see, and very tricky to get off!). It stuck better when we took both layers off, but it was pretty see-through, so we did a little of both. Also, on a side note, the magazine said to use white Easter eggs but those are not that easy to find. We got colored eggs which actually provided more to the design element. You'll see.

 

 

The magazine also said to cut the napkin into diamond shapes. This helps with being able to glue them on easily. However, after a while we got tired of being so meticulous and started trying different things of our own including squares, circles, and rectangles. You'll see this later too :)

 

 Now's time for the modge podge. This is Rose podging her egg (notice the large brush...yeah...she switched to a smaller one later when discovering that was much easier). And as with any time you modge podge, you have to be careful of not getting too much or too little. 

 Due to the fact that you're podging (yes, I made this word up) eggs, you have to do the first side, let it dry, then do the other side. We found it easiest to do the top and bottom last. Here are all our eggs drying!!

 Rose and I spraying the grass on our trees...taking a break from the eggs (trust me, we needed it!).

Some of my favorite eggs...

 These two were mine and both were with the diamond pattern.

 This one is one of Diane's! I liked the two patterns she chose and how they overlapped.

Rose did this one and  you can see how the color of the egg comes through and has a neat effect on the paper's pattern.

Another one of mine..using rectangular strips. This is another fav...there are some wrinkles, but you can't really see them in person unless you're inspecting the eggs.

And yet another of mine...

After you're done with the eggs and they are done drying, hot glue them to the tree The example had them all in rows, but we decided to mix it up a little, both by having different sized eggs and randomly gluing them. Looking back now, I also notice the example had an egg at the very top of the tree (I'll have to go back and add one). Anyway....after all that...

taaa-daaaa!

 

 Mine! I got brown grass because it matched the bucket I bought and goes better with the rest of my home decor.

 Rose's! Fun and bright!

 

Diane's! Very bright and fun! Definitely Easter-y.

I seriously don't think the pictures do them justice. They look really cute. We were proud of them....granted, we cracked a lot of jokes along the way about how sick we were of making eggs (really the reason we got kinda lazy about cutting out the napkins!), how our trees look like cousin "It", and how we weren't sure we would even be done in time for Easter! It did take a lot longer than we anticipated, but it was for sure worth it for the time we were able to spend together--crafting, laughing, and bonding.

We also thought how it would be fun to make similar trees for other holidays, especially Christmas. I can just envision now a white tree with bulbs or pinecones on it...hmmm....

 Proudly showing off our creations.

But we're sure glad we're done!! Haha! Love these ladies.

P.S. Have you ever done a craft that took you way longer than you anticipated?! Did you feel like it was all worth it in the end?

pillow-tastic

this past saturday was spent with my mama, who graciously gave me a lovely tutorial on pillow re-covering.
mom has been "cleaning out her life" and trying to get rid of things she no longer needs or uses. she had about a dozen old throw pillows, clothed in some outdated fabric and taking up space in the basement. i have been itching to get some new throw pillows into a few of our rooms, but just couldn't justify the price tags. throw pillows are annoyingly expensive. DIY has been on my brain lately, so it only made sense to steal up those puppies from the basement and give them a nice makeover.

here they are before:




i know nothing about sewing, but have always envied people who did. i would love to have the capability to create clothes for peyton or even clothes for myself. but at this point in my life, between my job, family, friends and activities, sewing is a hobby that may have to be put on hold for a few decades.

mom showed me the drill and it comes down to this: pressing, measuring, cutting, pinning, sewing, pressing, stuffing and lastly, hand-stitching. it's actually pretty easy once you get going, but we were juggling a curious baby, a feisty bobbin, and a hungry papa, so it took a little while longer than expected. not gonna lie, mom did the majority of the hand stitching, only because i was super sllllloooooow, but practice makes perfect, right?

overall, i scored eight pillows and only spent about $30 for the fabric. now if that's not a deal, i'd like to know what is:)

here i am, hard at work. don't be deceived, i look pretty hard core, but this pic was staged:)


 


here are my pretties showing off their new look. i love how they all turned out! it's crazy what a few pops of color can do to a room.

orange damask....one of my favorite patterns, fo sho!

this pillow ties in our khaki green couch and the bright orange pillows. i also have one of these in our bedroom, which is currently too messy to take of picture of. just being honest:)

 

this is the guest room. the front pillow is the newest addition. that headboard is also a DIY creation of mine (using this tutorial).

close up

this little guy (girl?) will live in peyton's room. i plan to add a DIY flower on it (pics to come?). i told you i liked damask...this pattern will most likely show up in my house on more than just pillows!

the basement couch. i picked the fabric and mom sewed 'em! 

 here are some of mom's creations...she redecorated her guest room and needed a change in pillows:

love this pattern combo... it looks great in the new terracotta guest room!

peyton's doll house got some upgrades too...mom, are you going to re-upholster the couch next??:)

a big girl in a big-girl chair

a happy hubby after being reassured that orange is a good accent color... "don't worry, babe. the room will come together....just trust me":)

on a completely different note, i have to give a shout out to my new favorite obsession, Pinterest.  rachel is the one who inspired me to jump on this trendy, new bandwagon, but I LOVE IT. (she blogged about it here.) it's a great place to go to just get inspiration. think of it as a virtual cork board, full of images that you love and have "pinned" to your own personal board. i 'm probably not explaining it very well, so you may just have to hop on over and check it out!

how do you feel about my pillows? wanna come over and see them in real life? i love me some visitors:)