Sometimes you just need a little color

The front of our house definitely did after this long and confusing winter. My plants don't have a clue anymore what to do. Is it cold? Is it hot? Is it supposed to be cloudy outside or should I start greasing up for my tan? Who knows!

I'm hoping Mother Nature will notice the new pretty flowers that bloomed on my front door and follow suit. Fingers crossed she takes note before the Giant gets home (which is very, very soon)!

Wreaths are important for a home. They are sometimes the first thing visitors see when coming to your front door. They can be formal. They can be loud and fun. They can reflect your own personal style or reflect the mood of a home. I love making our wreaths myself. Its something easy that allows me to have full creativity and I take a little pride in it. Its something that I watched my mother do every season growing up, and I loved helping her with it. Maybe one day Cheyanne will do the same thing.

I decided that we needed something bright right off the bat. And since I'm in love with creating felt flowers for Cheyanne's hair bows right now, I thought I'd incorporate them elsewhere.

With a dollar store twig wreath, a skein of cheap chunky white yarn (you know the big ones you see in the $1 bins), and a few sheets of pretty colored felt, I think mission accomplished at creating a bright and cheery front door.

This was an easy project that cost me almost nothing-literally only the price of the wreath ($1). Everything else I already had on hand just sitting in the craft closet waiting to be used. The only difficult part of this project was the amount of time it took to sit and wrap the dang thing. One good movie and I had the wreath completely covered in two layers of yarn. If I had more patience, I probably could have done a third. Eh. Coulda woulda.

 

Next I (with the help of a friend who came over for a different movie night- yes we watch a lot of movies while our husbands are away) made a handful of assorted felt flowers. They ranged in size, color, and design. This is not a science people. Like I said. This was easy.

A little hot glue and a last minute made "Welcome" burlap bunting…. and as Cheyanne would say with arms spread wide… TaaDaa!

I pretty much Luhve it! It makes me happy to walk in my front door and that's all that really matters, right? Just fyi- the pictures make it look more neon than it actually is. Its not radioactive like it appears I promise.

Of course this post wouldn't be complete without a little Chey sighting, though. She just makes any picture better.

What does your front door wreath look like? If you share it, link back to this post so I can see! I'd love to see what creativity you have out there.

Window (mis)treatments

Now, I'll start by saying, this is not THIS. I am not gutsy enough yet to do complete stripes so I decided to take baby steps. And I am so glad that I did. 

Knowing that I couldn't really afford fancy drapes for my french doors, I thought, "I can make drapes on my own." So, I bought two white full flat sheets and got started. I washed, dried, and ironed them then they magically became drapes. "Magically" meaning I ironed a hem to hang them because, you know, I haven't figured out the whole sewing thing yet like I said I would about a year ago. 

Two weeks ago, I got the nerve up and decided to go for it. I did what every good DIY'er would do and turned on a movie and got DIY'ing.

I laid out my drapes as flat as I could  (with cardboard underneath the section I would be painting).

I measured and taped the lines with painters tape. I get why this is the most time consuming part for those that paint stripes over the whole sheet. They've got to be s.t.r.a.i.g.h.t.

Then came the fun part. Painting. One foam roller and a bottle and a half of black acrylic paint did the job like a champ. You know, the little $.89 acrylic paint bottles from Michaels? That's it. 

I waited for it to dry (about an hour) and then carefully peeled off those tape lines. Taa daa! Then I did it all again for drape #2 which went by much faster since by then I was a pro.

Now look at my pretty drapes. Pretty suhweet, right? I'm in love with them. 

Love. Love. Love!

.

Closet Cleanup

of maybe I should call this the "Closet clean out."

With a month left of the Giant's deployment, my butt is in high gear of cleaning up around here. While the big projects are much easier to turn my attention to, its the small ones that i'm really making sure get done. For instance, I have now cleaned out and de-cluttered a junk drawer and two closets in the last few weeks. Projects that usually would have been kicked to the sidelines if I had the Giant home, but without him here to have a say, things need to find good homes around here. I'm ridding us of cardboard boxes. I'm tired of looking at them for the last 6 months. Outta here!

I thought I'd show you my easy peasy and much more useful craft closet cleanup.

Hi, my name is Molly and I'm a craftoholic.

Since nap time has become Mommy's project time, I did a craft purge the other day while Peapod slept. I pulled out every craft/project box that I could find hidden throughout the house and put everything in piles. Ribbon goes with ribbon. Paint goes with paint. Craft paper goes with craft paper. Trash in the trash pile. You get it.

With no money in the budget for storage, I took matters in my hands and made my own. Its not beautiful, but it sure is functional.

An old shoe organizer, three same size cardboard boxes and a whole lot of duct tape did the job just fine.

The end result. An organized craft closet.

A fully functional, $0 budget cheap, life simplifying solution to an addiction that had spun out of control. I now know why my husband has forbid me from going to Michael's. For now. But, I'm thrilled with how my little space turned out. For an hour of my time and zero dollars, I'm pretty proud of it.

It won't always stay this organized...

… but that's what closet doors are for. Hide the mess and/or keep the little fingers out of the crafts.

And when your little one is just dying to play with the paints, you have a finger painting day outside in the sunshine.

Or belly painting, whatever floats her boat. And hopefully, you catch a little foot print or hand print in the process to make something fun like this for her "under the water" themed room as a memory. See the footprint and handprint? Baby art.

The unexpected

With a sick little girl on my hands this week, I've found very little time to get things done during the day. There is nothing in the world better than cuddling with my little one, I just wish she felt better while doing it. I'm so far behind in house work. I've never let it get this bad. Too many projects being done at one time. Too much laundry that has gone unfolded. I can't lie- its bad. But, when given the choice of cleaning and blogging or holding my coughing baby, I'll choose her hands down. Thus the house is a wreck and the blog is empty. I'll be better soon once my little one's better too.

I do want to share this little unexpected find in my day since I can now laugh about it. I took advantage of a sunny afternoon nap time a few days ago and actually made use of myself. After cleaning the house and getting a couple craft projects finished that I've been staring at for the last two months, I still had time to tackle the broken tree that fell into my back yard from a freak storm back in November a little while ago. 

While cutting it up, I reached down to pick up branches and caught something in the corner of my eye.

Do you see it? 

GROSS!!!

Of all days for my backyard neighbors to be outside.  I might be referred to as the crazy neighbor with *&%$!* tourets now after being surprised by this guy. Oops. I hate snakes. Whether they are plastic or grossly real- they freak. me. out. I'm that girl that will walk on the other side of the room at the aquarium to avoid the snake exhibit that's in 10 inches thick glass. ::shiver:: Thank God that plastic fella didn't have a body attached or I might never venture outside again. I'm not scared of much but this little jerk got me. For a girl who grew up on a farm, I'm pretty weak with the slithers.

He might have kept me out of the backyard the rest of the afternoon, but I've had so much inside to do, I kept busy until my heart could slow down. I'll fill you in on all that later. Lots of projects. Lots of cute stuff making its way into the house. 

Want a quick sneak peak of one in particular? I found this idea and made my own version. 

Or something like that…. I hope. But, who knows?!

Diamond in the Rough Part Two (and Three)

Things are just never as easy in real DIY life as they are in my head. I'm just putting that out there ahead of time so its clear why there is a part two and then a quick and final part three.

Let's back track and remind you what I started with HERE.

Rough, I know. Set me back 2 bucks.

Part Two was the first attempt at a redo. After removing the hardware, I did a quick clean wipe down and sand job. I took it out back and sprayed some primer on this sucker.

Here comes my moment of What. Was. I. Thinking? Insert disaster!

Sometimes my laziness pays off. Sometimes (and specifically this time) it does not.

I was too lazy to go the two miles to Lowe's and search for a new and fitting paint color, so I went through the spray paints that I already had lying around and might as well have picked eeny meeny miney mo. A while ago, on  Pinterest I saw a bedside table that was glossy black with silver drawers. I had those colors already so I thought lets go for it. Bad bad decision.

This is what I got.

PUKE!! What was a I thinking? Not only is it just plain gross, it doesn't even remotely match any of our stuff. 

After I threw out a few worse than PG words and stomped my feet in tantrum, I grew up and decided the drive to Lowe's would be worth it after all.

A quick trip to Lowe's, and we were back on track. On to the quick and final part three.

Success. I think.

Valspar Frost saved my tantrum self. What do you think? Better right?! Not too filing cabinet'esque is it? 

I wasn't satisfied with the metallic hardware redo so I changed it today with a little white paint. So, technically there is a Part Three B. Picture will be up in a minute.

So here we are now. My $2 bedside table has found its new home in our very incomplete guest bedroom. I say "very incomplete" so you don't judge- so don't! Its a work in progress. The framed picture will be above the bed eventually, for now, it sits wherever I keep moving it to.

Its gonne come together one of these days.

Diamond in the Rough Part One

I love thrift stores. I think my "wanna be a DIYer"brain about explodes when I find little gems that need a little TLC. Like this piece for instance. And I got it for a whole whopping Two bucks! That's right. TWO.

Yeah, it definitely needs some major love, but its nothing that a little sanding, prime, and paint can't fix. I've been keeping an eye out for a simple night stand in the guest room. I think I've found it. 

So, here's where I need some feedback. Any thoughts on color? We're working with stark white walls so the possibilities are endless.

Cheyanne's room re-do

With a sick Peapod on my hands, I didn't get much time to take pictures today. I thought about letting the blog slide tonight, but with the Giant away and me hoping he gets a chance to read this sometime, I can't disappoint him if he does. 

My day consisted of saying goodbye to my parents this morning and quickly getting to base for a last minute sick visit with the pediatrician. I spent the rest of my long day tending to Cheyanne's sensitive needs. For the second time in a month, my sweetheart has caught a bug, this time a cold. Freakin' a! I kept her healthy for 12 months and now all of sudden, despite still nursing and "unintenionally" keeping our bubble walls still up, she's found a germ.

I decided that since I don't have much news to report from our day besides that I finally had a good conversation with the Husband and he is doing well, I thought I'd do a little home update. I've gotten lots of requests for pictures on the new digs and its changes, so I think I'll start with the most cheerful room, the princess' room.

What's the theme? I'm still not sure how to describe that one. It all started with a girly under the water theme and that evolved into classy under the water which then became the girly paisley/stripe subtle under the water beautifully colored baby to big girl transitional room. What a mouth full. Should I have just gone with a safari theme? Kidding kidding. I LOVE her room! Its still not done but its closer than any other room right now and I think its beautiful. 

It went from this….

to this….

to this…!!!

You like her alphabet wall? Its very DIY made by yours truly. With a pack of stencils, pretty paper, Mod Podge, and 26 mini canvases- her alphabet wall was complete. Right now, its my favorite part of the room. That and the stripes. However, the stripes and I have a very serious love/hate relationship after days of do and redo. 

So, here's the list of things left to do so you can get the big picture (via bullet list):

• First things first, chair railing. Its going up when the Giant gets home. It will be beautiful once its up!!
• On the wall above the toy chest (which will soon be pushed over by a dresser/changing table), I'm still looking for some really stand out artwork or a fantastic shelf set. She has so many little pretties that I want to put on display that I am thinking the shelf set might be a better choice. 
• And, above her bed I'm working on a large monogram of her name in pink and glitter. 
• White (or pink) sheer drapes
• To top it all off, we'll have paisleys. I haven't decided exactly where these gems will be going, but my original thought was to stencil paisleys in coordinating colors around the top border since we have no crown molding.

Ok, that's the list of Princess to-dos in her heiness' room. I'm open for comments and suggestions. Let's have it ladies (and gents)! Thoughts on the shelf idea?

Sweet Giant, I know you're flying so I'm sending up extra prayers tonight. We love you. Hoping that tomorrow will be a better day for us girls so I'll have photos to share.

Its the most wonderful tiii-i-ime of the year

That's right. I'm saying it! Autumn is by far the best time of year- not the cold winter months like the song would lead you to believe.

Nope.

The best time of year starts when footballs are flying through the air, when green is no longer the it color and is instead replaced by rich shades of maroon and orange and even brown, and when pumpkin is cooked into pretty much everything feasibly edible. Yep, that's when you know it is the most wonderful time of year.

Despite the fact that we still have boxes everywhere and new paint still going up on the walls, fall is starting to make its appearance in our house. That's probably mostly because I stumbled upon a wedding decoration box full of autumn beauties- our wedding just so happened to take place in my favorite season. (Speaking of which tomorrow is OUR THREE YEAR ANNIVERSARY!!!)! Not too many are up so far, but a few pretties are up.

There is one lovely in particular that I feel like bragging about. I am so proud of it and it took me all of fifteen minutes to make. I've seen similar wreaths on my addiction and by Kate but since I'm cheap and determined to use what I've already got in my twenty craft boxes sitting in the closet, I made it my own for under $3. And, I love it!

How'd I do it? I'll show you.

Step 1: Why spend mucho $$ on a wreath when you can buy plumbing pipe for $0.96? COST: $0.96

2. Cut burlap in long strip and begin wrapping around wreath folding one edge down to show depth. COST $0 since I already had it.

3. Continue wrapping until completely covered. Dab hot glue on ends.

 4. Decorate as desired with small pumpkin/gourd pack and leaves from found wedding decor box. COST: $1 from Dollar Tree.

5. Hang lovingly and stare at it frequently. COST: PRICELESS!

Seriously, under $3. Love it?! I do!!!