MY CREATIVE PINK!

Home Progress & Decor Dream Come True !!

2012-01-16T00:00:00.000-08:00

(I would love some color advice from you all, which is sought after my ramblings, thanks!)

Today is most certainly one of my favorite days, minus the fact that my younger daughter is sick with an ear infection and possible sinus infection. Why is today such a favorite day? Well for starters 2 1/2 rooms are done in my house, soon it will be a total of 3. Well actually the guest/craft room was just painted so that room is also on it's way to being finished. My two daughter's rooms are done and the 1/2 finished bedroom is my son's. I have been working on his Nautical/Pirate room but it is taking some time. His mural is a pretty detailed paint by number one which requires tracing the image on the wall then going back and painting. It is going slow but I am making progress. I have to say his room will probably be one of my favorites in the house (second to mine of course)! I will come back with a full picture post of his room soon. I wish I had daily projects that would give me something to blog about, I could of course come on here each and every day and tell you how I painted stripes, that I painted the pirate boy's hair, now his eye patch, okay today I painted boots, today I made an Ikea trip and here is my haul... yeah, I don't think that will work.. BUT today, today I do have something fantastic to share. I have dreamed about the Colette Bed from Crate and Barrel forever, okay not forever but I have dreamed about having an upholstered platform bed for a long time. Once I saw the Colette, I knew it would be the bed that would fullfill my dream. I have talked about this bed to my husband and God love him, he never once said "women, you're crazy!" He just smiled and said it was nice, and he never squashed that little dream for me. Well, the work in my son's room is mine to finish and my hubby wants to get started on painting our room. In order to do that I had to find a duvet cover to set the color tone and I invited him to join me for a browse at Pottery Barn, he couldn't wait! I selected the new Lewis Paisley Duvet, and the Silk Channel quilt in Ivory. I can't quite figure out the base color of the duvet, but it in the blue-green color with beige/tan/greige colors.. so pretty! My husband is very particular about bedding weight, he doesn't like anything heavy. We looked a a few of the quilts and he liked the weight of the Silk Channel quilt. This quilt was also displayed with the duvet. Unfortunately it was sold out in their store, other local stores and when they looked on-line it is on back-order until April. That is a long time! Fortunately they located one at an out of town store, which will be shipped this week.

This made my day, it was exactly what I wanted for our room, I was going home a very happy girl.. BUT then we went to Crate and Barrel to look around. I also wanted to show my hubby the Colette bed, he has only seen pictures. Never in a million years did I think I would be walking out of the store an owner of my dream bed: Colette!!. My husband decided differently, of course the deal was this purchase covers all potential gifts for the year through Christmas. I am okay with that, in fact he could have said for the next ~~5 years,~~ okay maybe not that long! So starting on Sunday the quintessential bed of all beds for me will reside in my bedroom.. I would be lying if I said I didn't jump up and down in the middle of Crate and Barrel, so I just won't go there. (Security, there is a crazy lady acting like she just won the lottery on second floor).. again I am not going there!
Now, I am trying to decide on colors and I would really appreciate your help on this. I go between wanting a cozy spa like feel to the room to wanting it light and airy. I found two Behr colors called Verdigris and Silver Sage which look lovely against the duvet:
These ones are various tans:

This is Colette!

This is our bedroom (picture from the listing), the doors on the right were taken down and walled off. It lead to my son's room, which he thought was great.

I think the top colors have the more serene spa feel to it. I also really liked the way tan/greige/ivory colors looked and I think this would give the room a different feel. The bed is a natural linen color and I don't want it to blend into the wall. One idea I had was to paint the room a Ivory/tan color and the master bath the blue/green color. My call out to you is to ask where you would go with color. I also need to select drapery so any thoughts on that would also be appreciated.

Thank you for visiting my blog!

Linking To These Parties:

A Princess's Kingdom!

2011-12-07T15:53:00.000-08:00

I am so incredibly pleased with how my daughter's room turned out. She slept in her room for the first time since I started this (3 weeks ago) and I asked her today what she thought of sleeping in there. She said " oh mommy, I loved it! I felt like I was in a fairytale!!"

I know I gave what was suppose to be a sneak peek a couple of days ago, here. Of course I was a bit picture happy and showed you the whole room minus the furniture. Today I will show you the room complete with furniture. I had in mind to purchase a brand new bedding set but wasn't having much luck find the perfect one. Well as it turns out her current bedding was perfect for the room. I was lucky enough to find curtains at Bed, Bath and Beyond.
Just a quick recap:
The mural was created using a stencil kit from My Wonderful Walls. I added shading details and the special detail to the princess's dresses.
Wall Color: Serene Sky (Behr) Peridot (Behr), hills faux painted using glaze and craft paint.
I added a clear protective coat made by Valspar because the hills seemed to wipe off during touch ups. This added a sheen to the stenciled images (craft paint is matte) and makes me feel more comfortable that all my hard work is protected
Toy Storage is the Trofast from Ikea and I LOVE them!
My Wonderful Walls is offering my readers 15% off of their entire purchase now thru December 31, 2011 just use coupon code: Mcp15

Okay on to the complete room, you may now enter:

Before:

After:

A little detail:

There are a total of 3 princess on the wall, I posted up close pictures in my sneak peek here: Princesses

Thank you so much for letting you share my daughter's room. I worked really hard and it was totally worth it to see how delighted my little girl is. Next up will be my son's room which will be finished a a few weeks.

Linking to these Parties:

Princess Room a Big Sneak Peek!

2011-12-05T09:28:00.000-08:00

Moving into a new house doesn't leave much time for blogging but I am excited to give you a glimpse into what I have been working on the last couple of weeks. The first project I have tackled in the new house is my 5 year old daughter's room. I wanted to do something more then paint the walls and had researched DIY mural's. I was happy to find several options from paint by number, wall stickers, and wall stencils. I showed my daughter several different styles from fairy's to garden themed but she was adamant about having a princess room. I decided to go with My Wonderful Walls Perfectly Princess Stencil Kit, (see coupon code below) I liked the number of stencils and thought with this I could really create a "Kingdom" in the room. The stencil kit arrived very quickly and included brushes and a color suggestion chart. I changed up the colors slightly but only in the shades of the particular colors. I started out painting the backdrop for the stencils, a sky and hill scene. I have to say finding the perfect sky and hill color took me some time. I had planned on painting the sky portion pink but my daughter told me "the sky is not pink it is blue" and she wanted her sky to be blue too. Okay, finding a sky blue color that wasn't to blue, gray, or loud was a process but I finally found it and it is beautiful!! I chose Serene Sky by Behr and for the hills I chose Peridot. Once the room was painted (thanks to the help of my sister and hubby) I decided to add addition depth to the hills and faux painted them.

On to the stenciling, I had some concerns with how the stencils would work on my textured walls. I spoke with the owner of my wonderful walls and he did say they would work but that it would had some bleed through. It did have bleed though but I had plenty of background color and it was easily touched up. I will show this to you in the pictures below. The hardest touch up was on the faux painted hills because it wasn't just a solid color that I could dab into but I figured it out. It took me quite a few days to complete the room but I am so pleased with the results. I think I would have been done sooner but I really wanted to add a little more detail to the images and I went back and added shading and detail to the princess dresses. It is not necessary to do that because the stencils on there own are loving but I do like the effect he added detail gives. If you are looking for something to make your child's room special I would recommend My Wonderful Walls. I am giving you just a sneak peak into the painting of the room because the room isn't fully put together yet. I havent' decided on curtains and bedspread just yet. I will be back this week with the "BIG" reveal! Once this room is complete I will be starting on my son's room which is a Pirate theme, I just order his mural which is a paint by number Pirate Map Mural. Well I hope you enjoy this little sneak peak!

Here is a coupon code especially for my readers: Mcp15 Enjoy 15% off your entire purchase at My Wonderful Walls until December 31, 2011.

Before:

Painting:

Adding the faux touch:

Bleeding Through

Touched up

Finished Painting:

Just a little detail:

The three requested Princesses all dressed up!

I hope you enjoyed looking at my blog today. I will be back in a few days to share the completed room with you!

Linking to these great Parties!!

Making the World Cuter Monday

All Moved In, Let the Projects Begin!

2011-11-14T10:44:00.000-08:00

The great thing about moving is it allows you to get rid of a certain amount of junk that has been collected. I thought that I would have a difficult time doing this but low and behold, I got rid of a lot of stuff. The only thing I didn't seem to go through was my crafting stuff but I will get to that when we put my craft/guest bedroom together.

I want to do so much to the house it has overwhelmed me. We bought our house through a short-sale and the house was not cared for at all. Every where I look there is scuffs, dirty walls, holes, leaks, an area of a window where the dog scratched straight to the metal, and the list is growing. We had quite a bit of rain and discovered a link in the roof. The good news is other then the leak most of the list is cosmetic and patch up and painting will make a huge difference.

If we knew for sure this was our forever house we would do a kitchen renovation, new flooring and carpet but that is on hold until we are sure. The first 2 or so weeks I have sat around so unsure of what I can do in the DIY fashion that isn't going to break the bank but that will add style and value the house. I have decided that the kids rooms was a great place to start.

One of the main things I wanted to do was figure out toy storage and buy dressers for my son. So off to Ikea I went and purchased 6 Trofast storage systems, two 3 drawer Malm dressers and one 6 drawer Malm dressers. Well actually I ended up having to build the frame of the 6 drawer twice! My older girl was helping me and lost her balance falling through the back of the dresser (she is fine). This broke three pieces but thankfully Ikea exchanged the whole thing. I don't have pictures of mine but just so you can see what I have done the last few days, most of which happened yesterday (all three dressers and two Trofast) here are pictures:

I have to say, Ikea is so easy to put together. I know it isn't top quality but I think it is top quality in this type of furniture.. okay did that make any sense? It is sturdy, cost effective and again putting it together was a cinch, time consuming but easy!
I have ordered a princess stencil kit for my little girls room and for my little man room a Pirate Map.. I am excited to get started on the decorating and painting for their rooms. I am still trying to figure out paint colors and such but the building of the furniture and has given me a boost to start doing what I can.

I hope to come back in the next few weeks with progress reports and maybe a project or two!

Flooring, Painting, and Kitchen's on my mind!

2011-10-11T10:51:00.000-07:00

It looks like I will be moving in the next couple of weeks. Several and when I say several I mean forever ago, we made an offer on a house being sold through a short-sale. It was a house that was not in an area we had previously been considering. We decided to look at it anyways because it had the number of bedrooms we wanted and we figured it would give us layout ideas. Now, my husband and I have looked and many, many houses over the years from brand new model homes to fixer-uppers with the swap-thing living in the pool. We had a pretty good idea of what we wanted but the two main things were 5 bedrooms and a large backyard. We had been focusing on a particular area which would have moved us 20 or so minutes further north but with the location came the $$$ price. We looked at the house, the BACKYARD and then left. Over the next few days both my husband and I were thinking the same thing, should we seriously be consider that house. It has the two main things we want and it is offered at a much lower price than anything we have seen. We talked about it and decided to go take a more thorough look at the house. Even though the house is only 10 years old it needs some help. It is a house where at one time had 5 teenagers living in it and it shows. It was built with all builder grade materials with absolutely no upgrades. We looked past that and saw what we could do to make it home. Walking into the backyard is a highlight of the house, with palm trees, pool, deck all wrapped up in about 13,000 sq feet! We again questioned the area, it's not in the hood but wasn't where we planned. We had to adjust our thoughts on that, we realized we would not get anything like this anywhere else, we could put a little money into it and make it amazing, and still be in for less then what the new houses or even the older house are going for in other areas. Our offer got accepted a few months later but then we had to enter into the loan phase of things. This was the hardest part but in the end we got the loan approval and signed loan docs on Friday. We should have keys this weekend!
Although I am excited, I am also very nervous. I am so exited to move in and start the upgrading but the whole change part of moving is tough. We have money to start upgrade but the furniture part will have to wait. We will have a mish-moshing of stuff for the next couple of years but seriously if we had money to fully furnish a house we would be buying in La Jolla, so it's okay.

We have picked out our new flooring, which I love but every time I mention my flooring selection I am met with "dark floors show everything". Here is a room scene with the flooring:

It made me second guess and I went back to the flooring store to possibly change but in the end I love the dark floors and I will invest in a Swiffer! We are going to focus on the first floor upgrades only and will be adding the flooring to the entrance, walkway, family room, kitchen and dining room (leaving carpet in the living room and stairs) The best part about the flooring is we got them for 1/2 off what the normal sales price would be. In all honestly I had planned on a color a shade lighter then this but the price difference was double and it just didn't make sense. The other major upgrade will be to the kitchen, yikes!
Oh, this is what I want to be the highlight of the house. I have many kitchens pictures saved, they are all white cottage kitchens. Of course my kitchen isn't close to the size of any of these pictures but I am hoping to have a mini version. Here are a few of my saved ideas:

The last picture is a good representation of the actual size of my kitchen and what I have planned. There are 3 elements I am planning for the kitchen, creamy white cabinetry, an amazing back splash:

An apron front sink:

and a nice cooking range. Of course the budget will dictate what actually becomes the kitchen but boy it is fun looking at these pictures!
Painting will take place all over the house but the one area that I have no clue about is the living room, entrance and stair area. These area's are all second floor high. Which means what ever color we paint has to be the right color because repainting will not be an option. In my last house I painted rooms more then once, one room 4 times! I want to have a warmer color or even a cooler mid-tone color. It also needs to be a color that can be considered a neutral color so that I bring colors in through accessories. I am really drawn to greys as well as grayish browns.

I have to remember that this isn't going to all happen overnight, that it is going to take time, possibly years before we get the house looking the way I would like it to look. I know decor doesn't make a home, my family makes it home and what a lovely home I have!

Baked Oatmeal

2011-09-24T14:09:00.000-07:00

My family loves this Baked Oatmeal and I have made it several times for various morning potlucks. I found the recipe about 3 years ago on a blog but it has been a long time and I can't find the blog to credit. I had printed up the recipe and it was adapted from a Cooking Light recipe, however my family doesn't drink non-fat milk so I use 1% milk and I have used the whole egg vs. just the egg white. I also double the recipe which will fill a glass 9x11 baking pan. I hope your family enjoys this as much as my family has.

Baked Oatmeal

Ingredients

2 cups uncooked rolled oats
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup raisins, dried cranberries, or any other dried fruit
1/4 cup chopped, peeled apple
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves or allspice ( I use allspice)
1 1/2 cups fat-free milk
1/2 cup applesauce
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
2 tablespoons butter, melted
2 egg whites, beaten (I use the whole egg)
Cooking spray
Fresh Berries

Directions:
Preheat Oven to 375
1. Combine dry ingredients (first 8) in medium bowl. Combine milk, applesauce, butter and eggs in a separate bowl and beat well. Add wet ingredients to dry and combine until moist

I was so into taking my pictures that I forgot to actually mix up the dry ingrediants prior to pouring in the milk mixture..

2. Pour mixture into an 8 inch square baking dish coated with cooking spray. I use a 9 x 11 pan since I double the recipe. Bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes ( a tad longer if doubled)

3. Serve hot with a dash of milk poured over it. Serve with fresh berries

Yield: 5 to 6 servings

Enjoy!!

Linking:

Refinishing Decision and a Cane Chair

2011-09-23T10:47:00.000-07:00

I need to stop looking on Craigslist or I need a workshop! I see quite a few things that I would love to purchase but I have no where to store anything. As it is my den area looks reminiscent of a Sanford and Son episode. I mentioned earlier that I purchased a Henredon Table and 10 Henredon chairs off of Craigslist. I had the table and chairs outside ( shaded area) for about a week until I could make room for them in my garage but then it rained. Yes, it rained in San Diego in September. Thankfully one of my daughter's friends was getting picked up right as it started and her dad helped me get everything inside. I love the table and I have been afraid to start the refinishing on it. I contacted Henredon to see if I could get any information on the table and chairs. I sent them a picture and the numbers that were under the table. They got back to me the next day and they told me the table was from their Capri collection manufactured between 1968 and 1976. The table and the chairs are solid pecan wood and the table has a cherry veneer facing. It was so neat to be able to get that information but they stressed not to use harsh refinishing products on the table. I have been flip flopping back and forth as to what exactly I would like to do with the table. My plan was to refinish the table top with a wood stain and paint the table legs white like my Oak table however, I am starting to really love the warmth of an entire wood table offset with white chairs. This is a bit of a problem, if the table top was in great condition I would just leave it as is, even though it is has the speckled finish it is actually nice looking. There is no way I would be able to match a stain so I am contemplating trying to refinish and entire table. I know it can be done with time and patience's. I would love some input on this.

I started to strip off the caning from one of the chairs, which is a LOT of work. In a perfect world all the chairs cane backs would have been perfect but many were broken. I really had hoped the captains chairs would have been intact but they were not. I plan to recane just the captain's chairs and then upholstery the other chairs. So much work but the whole set was $95, and I know I will enjoy working on it. Here is the picture again for reference:

Well prior to finding the Henredon I bought the oak table and I found other cane back chairs. I finally got around to competing one of those chairs. I am happy with how it turned out. I used Annie Sloan's Paris Gray and Old White but instead of mixing the two colors together I dipped the end of the brush in each color. I used clear and dark wax and did a light distressing. I covered the seat using a canvas drop cloth. I did not sew the seat the way it was but I do plan to do that with the Henredon Chairs..

I would really love your feed back and input as to what I should do with the Henredon table, should I go with my original plan of refinishing the tabletop and painting the rest white, or go with what I am being drawn to know a whole refinished table look? Do you have any experience refinishing an entire table and if so what advice would you give?

Here is the before picture of the random cane chair I have:

and the after

Linking:

http://missmustardseed.blogspot.com/

Who Made This SALAD!!!???

2011-09-14T19:59:00.000-07:00

I have decided to make an effort to cook healthy for my family but I also want it to be fun and tasty. One of the recipes I found was for a Couscous & Fruit Salad. I made this for dinner the night before my kick-off meeting for my MOPS group and decide to make extra to take the next day. When I pulled out everything that I needed, I realized my kids had eaten all but one of the nectarines. The raspberries I had purchased just 3 days prior were molded and had to be thrown away. I had blueberries which was great, but I knew it would need something else. Luckily, I had just purchased these delicious dried white grapes from Henry's Market. These actually made that salad for me. One other modification I made was to drizzle honey over the salad tossing it, and drizzle honey again. The shallot's in the salad were very strong and the I was hoping the honey would help, which it did very nicely. Next time I will actually half the amount of shallots called for.

How did this salad work for my family? My husband seemed to eat most of his and added a second serving, my 17 year old ate hers right up, my 5 year old did alright with it, and my 3 year old son ate the fruit and left the couscous. I loved it, and I hoped my MOPS group would too. The next morning after having been chilled over night (when we ate it for dinner it wasn't chilled and it is way better chilled) I took it to my group. I was nervous that nobody would eat it. I like different salads but I didn't know if this was too different. Then half way through the meeting I hear "Who made this Salad???" I look up and I see Susie holding up my bowl and exclaiming how amazing it was. After the meeting 3 moms came up to me asking how to make it.. I found a winning recipe and wanted to share it here with you! I will note the modifications I made in the recipe in pink. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did and my MOPS group did. In a few days I will be sharing with you my Baked Oatmeal Recipe which is another favorite amongst my MOPS group and my family!

Enjoy!

Couscous & Fruit Salad

adapted from Eating Well

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons orange juice
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
2 teaspoons finely chopped shallots
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
2 cups cooked whole-wheat couscous
1 cup chopped nectarine
1 cup mixed fresh berries, such as blueberries and raspberries
2 tablespoons toasted sliced almonds, (see Tip) ( I did not toast mine)

Honey for drizzling and dried white grapes (purchased at Henry's Market bulk section)

Preparation:

Whisk oil, orange juice, vinegar, shallots, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Add cooked couscous, nectarines, dried grapes, berries and almonds; drizzle with honey (twice) gently toss to combine.

Tip:
To toast sliced almonds, heat a small dry skillet over medium-low heat. Add nuts and cook, stirring, until lightly browned and fragrant, 2 to 3 minutes.

The recipe as is serves 4, so just double or triple as needed!

Linking to:

Grain Sack Wanna Be..

2011-09-07T16:23:00.000-07:00

Vintage grain sacks seem to be a big part of the French country look. People are using them to make pillows, purses, framed art, seat covers and many other projects. I do not have access to vintage grain sacks and if I did I don't think I would want to pay for them. I have seen a lot of DIY'ers making their own grain sacks by using graphics from the Graphic Fairy and fabric.

While cleaning up my garage I spotted a frame that I had purchased a few years back. This frame had a fun vintage like apple farm picture. It accidentally got left outside for quite some and the rain ruined the picture. I didn't want to throw the frame away because I thought maybe someday I would do something with it. When I saw it I thought the framed grain sack idea would be perfect. I do not have a before picture because I painted it before I remembered to take one. The frame was already a pretty Robin's Egg blue but I wanted it to be black, so I painted one layer of Old White Chalk Paint and over that I painted one layer of Graphite. I printed up this image from the Graphic Fairy:

If you click on the image it will take you to the Graphic Fairy and a towel project, which I hope to try out. I liked the look of the grain sacks that have the lines on them, so I taped up the drop cloth I was using to section off lines. I mixed a bit of Aubusson Blue, Versailles, and just a splash of Old White to make a greenish blue color. I then painted the lines waited for them to dry and got to work on the image. I had hoped to use a Freezer Paper transfer technique like this one: http://gardenberger.blogspot.com/2011/09/freezer-paper-transfer-tutorial.html but my printer is a laser printer. From what I have read, laser printers will not work ( I do have an old ink jet so I will dig that out for my future crafts). Instead I used a projector to project the image on to the drop cloth and painted the image using acrylic paint. This was tedious, and in the future I will back the fabric with spray adhesive and maybe cardboard to give it a hard surface to paint on. I didn't do this and the brush just didn't paint well. Learning as I go is becoming my motto! Once that was all dry I took a little bit of sandpaper to try and age it and then I stapled the cloth to the frame. This honestly was the hardest part, I could not for the life of me get it straight. So the image is a little wonky, which will drive me nuts. I will again in the future stabilize the material first, then paint. I have to say if it wasn't for the crookedness of the lines, I would be pleased with the outcome of this project. I will re-do it in the future, but not today! As always, I welcome helpful tips and tricks that you may have.

If there is any doubt how wonderful this could look here is some actual Grain Sack Eye Candy for you!

http://bushelandapeck.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/09/vintage-grain-sack-and-a-picnic.html

http://thegrowersdaughter.blogspot.com/2010/11/reclaimed-rustics-vintage-grain-sack.html

Linking to:

My First Feature and I'm a Giveaway Winner!!!

2011-09-06T22:55:00.000-07:00

One month ago I found a wonderful blog, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia. I was so inspired by Kristin's blog and the many other blogs I found through her's. Shortly after finding her blog I contacted her via e-mail asking a few question and she was so friendly and helpful. She is the reason why I started blogging again, she inspired me to get out there and just do something. I really believe had I not found her blog I would not have done the projects that I have done recently. This has had a two-fold affect, first today my oak table refinishing project was a feature (6th the one down) on her blog!! Every Tuesday My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia hosts a linky party, and a few of the previous weeks projects are featured. I linked up my table last week along with 100+ other really terrific projects. I was so honored to see my table featured with 6 other amazing features. So, where does the two-fold part come in?? Well, last night before I went to bed I received an e-mail from Brad and Amber with Shades of Amber. They host a link party each week to share your chalk paint projects. Last weeks party was a special link party in which every project you linked up was an entry into their drawing for 2 cans of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. If that wasn't enough the colors being given are the newest, have yet to be released colors: Coco and French Linen. What did that email say, well that I was the winner of course!!! I couldn't believe it, I was on cloud 9 all day today! The paint is currently being mixed and is expected to hit sometime this month. So, If it wasn't for My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia I would have never tried being a DIY'er nor would I have even heard about Chalk Paint. If I had never heard about chalk paint I wouldn't have had projects to link up to Shades of Amber's link party giveaway!
It is late, so I am not sure if I tied that together the way I wanted too but hopefully you understand.

Please visit both My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia and Shades of Amber. There are many talented people who link up there projects and many take the time to share how they did it. Plus, they are great blogs!!

Many thanks to Kristin, Brad and Amber!

French Inspiration Table.

2011-08-31T16:06:00.000-07:00

I bought this table about 2 weeks ago. This table was purchased primarily because I needed chairs for the oak table. When I saw the picture on Craigslist, I was keeping my fingers crossed that this table was a good quality table. The reason being is in my "design wishlist" is this picture:

I love this table and it is one of the reason why I refinished the oak table in the way that I did. When I actually went to pick up the table it was a so-so quality but it came with the chairs. Now, just a few days later I came across another table and chair set. This time it was a Henredon table with 10 chairs for $95.00. I couldn't refuse, this was the quality and style that I wanted. The Henredon table is of course done in the speckled finish, so there will is ANOTHER table in my future. Here is a picture of the Henredon:

Can you believe it, it is beautiful and it looks like my dream picture (almost)!

Okay so on to the so-so table, this is a project table for me. I am not sure what I will do with it, maybe try and sell it to at least get my money back. My idea for this table was to first do another refinish on it to get practice for the Henredon table but as I said this table was so-so quality and as I stripped it it showed. On to the next plan do a washed finish on top using Old White, then clear and dark wax like One Nutty Girl. It didn't work out so well for me. Okay on to the next plan, paint the table top in Annie Sloan Graphite. Graphite was not my favorite to work with. It shows so much dust and such as I was painting and looked so dull even after waxing. I was also having an issue with the previous wax (from the white-wash technique) I had put on the table. I know you can paint over the wax with this paint but I wonder if I was suppose to do something first. I did try wiping as much of it off as I could. Anyways, once I added the dark wax it made a world of difference. I don't know if this is a good thing or not but if I had to describe the look of the table top I would say worn leather. It really has a faux leather look to it and I like it. I would like to see a piece in person painted by a professional ASCP expert to see the finish. If I had t guess, mine is not how it should be. I painted the base of the table Paris Gray (love Paris Gray!!), waxed in both clear and dark wax. When I went in with the dark wax I wasn't loving how dark it was so I mixed up the wax with a little bit of mineral spirits and it seemed to go on not as dirty looking and was easier to wipe off. I am still working on the chairs which will go with this table. I don't need them now, that I have 10 Henredon chairs. I am a little nervous about trying to finish the Henredon table because I know at one point this table cost a lot. Well I hope you enjoy my project table. If you have any tips on painting after having waxed please let me know.

Here are the Beauty Shots!

Table Before

Linking to:

$25 Oak Table Turned Beautiful!!

2011-08-29T14:30:00.000-07:00

Little Disclaimer: I think my blog should be renamed My Creative Pink's Mishaps and redo's!!!

IT'S DONE!!! This table is the second piece of furniture I have purchased off of Craigslist and I purchased it for $25. I bought it because of all the beautiful refinished tables I have seen and thought this would be a great practice piece. The table was actually a solid oak table, not veneer and was in good shape. I know nothing about refinishing furniture but there is so much information on the Internet that I got to work searching out ideas. I of course looked at Miss Mustard Seed's information on table stripping and refinishing. I also found Lauren's blog First Comes Love where she refinished a table and I used the stripper she used. I knew exactly how I wanted to finish this table, dark stained top and creamy white pedestal. There is no shortage of inspiration for this look. I went out and bought a little palm sander (I have since decided to look for a more macho sander), Citristrip Varnish remover, gloves, mask, different courses of sand paper and wood stain. I noticed that many people use Minwax Dark Walnut stain so naturally I purchased this. Things started out really well and the Citristrip seemed to really work.

Once the table was stripped I sanded the table smooth and I got out the wood stain. I started to apply the stain with a rag but I didn't do it exactly right. As I was applying the stain I was also wiping it off vs. applying it liberally, letting it sit, and then wiping it off. Either way it looked good. The next day I went back and applied the second coat as per the directions, leaving it sit over night. This is where things went wrong. I wish I would have saved the pictures I had taken to show you but basically the table wasn't looking so great. First I could see variations in the way the stain was taking and I could see sanding marks. Not scratches but the marks from the sander itself. Then to make matter's worse the stain was weeping out of the chevron's in the grain. All over the table it looked like I had taken a spray bottle and sprayed stain all over the table. What?? I wiped it away, went on-line to figure this out, and found some instructions on Minwax to use a clean bristle brush with mineral spirits and scrub up the stain. I can't find the link now but that is what I did. I waited a few more days and it still seemed to still be doing this, not as much though. To top that off I was disappointed in the the color. It seemed dull to me, not the rich look that I had seen on other's projects and the end grain (the lip of the table top) was so much darker. Now what? I decided to take the leaf from the table to Rockler a woodshop hardware store. They were very helpful and when I told them which stain I was using 2 people on 2 different days said it wasn't a good stain. I said that can't be, everyone uses it and they said it was a well advertised. They directed me to use General Finishes Gel Stain and although this is my first time ever re-staining a table and I am no expert, this stain was a huge difference right from the get go!! It was amazing, but before I could see just how amazing it was I had to sand so much.. so tiring. Finally the reward of applying stain. I applied the stain with a rag and it went on so smooth like butter and wiped off just as smooth. The first coat wasn't enough and so I ended up applying 3 coats of the Java color, but I knew with the first few swipes of Java that this was a rich, beautiful color. Once the table was stained I had my husband unscrew the table top so that I could paint the pedestal base. I used Annie Sloan Old White Chalk Paint. Of course if you have read my blog, NOTHING goes smoothly for me. The first coat dried and I was able to see various small cracks in the pedestal (nothing that hurts the stability) so I went back with wood filler. I also was able to see little dots of bleed through from the pedestal underneath.. seriously!! Now if your are reading this and aren't familiar with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint then you should know it is fabulous!! What makes it so? No sanding, no priming, just grab your brush and go. It covers over everything but occasionally there will be a bleed through and well if it is to be, then it would be so with me. I went back and sanded in those areas, repainted, only to see the bleed though again. I then went in with some clear wax, waxed, repainted, and the result was only a small area still showed through. I finished the table with a few more coats, waxed, distressed, dark waxed, and finished!!
Well not quite, I still needed to apply the top coat on the table top. If this post seems like forever, it is because this table feels like it took forever! When reading other blogs you see the transformations but not the many hours behind those transformations.
For my top coat I used Polyurethane Gel Wipe-on Satin Clear Coat purchased at Rockler and I have applied 5 coats. This is a very helpful instruction that I found on how to apply wipe-on poly. Read it if you plan on using wipe-on.
I finished that last coat last night and will apply a clear wax in a few weeks for added protection. I will have recap at the end of this post but first enjoy the beauty shots.

Here is a recap of what I have learned and maybe it will help you with your project:

It is very important to make sure the previous varnish is completely removed. It may look and feel as though it is but make certain.
Clean the table thoroughly with Mineral Spirits using a stripping pad or fine steel wool to remove any remnants from the stripper.
Sand, Sand, and Sand some more. I was working with a solid oak table and didn't have to worry about a veneer. Please keep that in mind when working with a veneer top. I used 80 grit, 100 grit, 120 grit, 150 grit, and finally 180 grit.
On the last sanding (min was with 180 grit) sand by hand using a sanding block. This will sand away the various palm sander marks.
Clean away all the sanding dust with a tack cloth, I also went back in with a cloth slightly dampened with mineral spirits.
Seal the end grain of the table, this will always stain darker. I used the Polyurethane gel on recommendation from the guys at Rockler. I wiped it on the lip end of the table and let it dry. it prevented it from getting too dark when the stain was applied and the table top matches perfectly.
Read directions, and read them again. With everything I read, when I went back to double check the instructions I caught something different.
I strongly suggest reading the link above on the technique to applying the varnish.

With the Annie Sloan Chalk Paint:

Cut the paint with water. I didn't do this with this project or my chair and the can of paint went very quickly. I did this with my secretary and got beautiful coverage using less paint. It may take a few more coats but it is still using less paint. This stuff is expensive and it is awesome it can be stretched with water.
Clean older pieces more then a dusting. Older stains can seep through. I used paint thinner when cleaning my secretary and this was a much older piece. There was no bleed through. If I had done this with the table maybe the bleed through wouldn't have happen or maybe it would have.

Misc. Bullet Points:

Just because it worked for everyone else doesn't mean it is meant to work for you.
It will take longer to complete your project then it was to read this post, I know hard to believe!
And Lastly, enjoy yourself. It might be frustrating and you might discover you have super hero strength when you pick up your project and heave it across the room but the end result can be very rewarding as is my brand new table.

and just to prove just how fun this is:

Stay tuned!

Thank you so much for stopping by!

Linking to:

Just a Little Blue!!

2011-08-26T13:48:00.000-07:00

When I started this journey (painting furniture) a few weeks back I purchased a very old secretary off of Craigslist. I bought it from a girl who had just moved to Ocean Beach from out of town. When I saw the posting for this she was asking $20 for it, which was within my budget. I was so excited because I could tell it was a very old piece but when I went to pick it up my excitement fizzled. It was in fact old and but it showed. It had a separation of the wood straight down on the side (plus other stuff) and it was actually smaller then I had expected. The girl told me it was her grandmother's and that her grandmother used to pay her bills on it. I loved that history and for $20 bucks I decided to take it. For the last several weeks I have just stared at it wishing I hadn't bought it. It was pretty beat up for my skill level. I spoke with a wood guy and he said the type of separation in the wood was not really fixable. So I just left it and got to work on my chair, and then my table. My table needs a few more coats of poly but it has been so hot that I haven't wanted to mess with the poly drying to fast. In the meantime I decided to do something with the secretary. I had a vision in my head and have really loved the French Images from The Graphic Fairy. I wanted to put a graphic on the front and on the inside of the secretary. The funny thing is when I went to check out her blog, there was a vintage secretary that did the same thing! Well, I had to figure out how to get that image onto the secretary and saw that it mentioned a Modge Podge technique. I printed my images, this one for the front and this one for the inside. I wanted to paint the outside of the piece Paris Gray and the inside Aubusson Blue (Annie Sloan Chalk Paint). I painted the inside first and then started on the outside but it wasn't looking right. The two colors weren't working that well together and the Paris Gray didn't look like I had thought. I continued painting until the whole secretary was finished. It was getting late and I had things I need to get done so I started to clean up. As I was cleaning up, I spotted a paint can and was like "which one is this" I took a look "uh-oh, Paris Gray, oh-no!" running outside "what have I been paint with??, Are you kidding me, DUCK EGG BLUE!!!" Yup, I painted the whole thing Duck Egg Blue, which would explain why Paris Gray just didn't look right. I AM NOT EVEN COLOR BLIND!! The crazy thing is, it wasn't until I read the words Duck Egg Blue that I saw it as blue... geez! It is a good example of how the brain can trick you. The next day, I got to work and re-painted again with Paris Gray. This time the Aubusson Blue looked beautiful! The two colors were working so nicely together... more work but I was happy! I left the desk to dry and waxed and worked on my images. I woke up this morning and well the Modge Podge thing didn't work out so well. The imaged is still on the inside but there isn't one on the outside anymore. I found Red Hen Home blog and she used a projector, my hubby has one so in the future this will be the technique I will use. I really wanted the modge podge to work because it seemed so easy. When I look at others who have used this technique I don't see any paper left but mine had paper still. Any tips?
I didn't mention it above but with the secretary I just filled in the split wood with wood filler and nailed it together where I could. You can see a line but that is okay.
Here are the pictures of my Secretary. I am still trying to figure out waxing with both clear and dark wax as well as the distressed look. I want it to look naturally distressed and in some areas it does look like that but in others not so much. I would love your feed back and tips. Currently I have Annie Sloan's clear wax and Fiddes and Sons Clear and Ruggar Brown wax. Okay while on that topic, I want to give a shout out to John Millen Hardware who I bought the waxes from on recommendation from Miss Mustard Seed. I ordered it and it was to me in 2 days!
I am still trying to figure out linky party etiquette so if you could also give me some tips on that I would appreciate it!

Paris Gray's feeling a little Blue!

Mommy's helper!

Thank you for looking!

Linking to:

Stocking up!

2011-08-18T23:25:00.000-07:00

New hobbies are incredibly expensive and time consuming! The problem with me, okay it isn't a problem per say but when I decide I want to try something I go all in. For instance sewing, I have sewn off and on over the years and I am more then a novice at this craft but still a long ways from being an expert, well since I sewed I had to have a serger (Anniversary Gift). I like to make cards and do paper crafts so I bought a Cuttlebug and well since I had one of those I needed a Cricut Expression (also an Anniversary Gift) and lets not forget to mention the time my Abigail was 5 months old and I just had to have her wear bows and headbands. Yes, I had to go out and buy every e-book tutorial on how to make bows.. Do you see where I am going with this??? So here I am trying my hand at being a DIY'er and it started off easy enough (have I met me?) I heard about Annie Sloan's chalk paint and really wanted to try it out. I went to pick up Old White and Paris Grey and walked out with 2 additional colors. Now I found a really sturdy vintage desk on Craigslist but it is in great shape and I worried about messing it up, so I had to find a practice piece. That steal of a desk turned into a side table (which I actually sold !) that side table turned into 2 chairs (1 finished), those chairs turned into a secretary desk (still shaking my head at that purchase, I may just give it away), the secretary turned into a table, and well that table turned into 4 more chairs (1 is primed and it is sticky, what's up with that?).
Now each one of these items were purchased through craigslist and the most I paid for a single item was $25 or less. The little hiccup in my budget was that I had absolutely nothing, nada, zip, zilch, with regards to supplies. We rent, not much fixing up and painting going on here. So off I went since having blogs upon blogs of inspiration, Craigslist furniture and no supplies just wouldn't do. Yeah, supplies really add up especially since I had to buy an air compressor and pneumatic upholstery staple gun. (Did I mention, I jump in feet first, head first, etc.) I do have to preface the fact that I have really bad wrists and I gave it a valiant effort to use a manual and electric staple gun but I literally ended up with my wrists in my braces and Motrin for 3 days. I wonder if we could write those off as preventative medical expenses? Okay I digress, so I am armed with supplies and then there is the table fiasco (mentioned in another post, but bad stain job, stain weeping back up etc.) , which by the way has turned around nicely thanks to a nice man at Rockler Woodworking Store. I ended up taking the leaf of the table to this store and he told me hope was not lost. I just had to put on my "big girl panties" (okay he didn't say that!) but what he did say made me happy and I will post all about it in my Table reveal post.

So, I am not quite sure where this post came from, oh wait I remember now. So I am working on this table and I have 4 chairs. Hubby is really loving the progress on the table and asked how many chairs I have, well he wants 6 chairs and not mismatched. He said check Craigslist and if I find chairs in a set then we could just dump the table (I snickered at that!). This was actually music to my ears because I had my eye on a beautiful table and chair set on Craiglist for over a week, the table is very similar to Miss Mustard Seed's new dining table and the chairs were all cane back chairs. I had no money in my budget to buy this set with all my other furniture purchaseses but it was a good lesson, wait until it's just perfect, not because it's cheap. When I saw the add for this table I really kicked myself because it was a beauiful table and was a full set whereas my table (it is a nice table) and the 4 little chairs is are not. The kicker, this set cost only $20 more, again I saw it as a lesson learned. With hubby giving the go ahead and look at Craigslist (he may block this site in the future!), I immediately checked and the table was still posted, I made contact and it is still available and they will sell it for $75 which is now $5 less then my original set. I am going to look at it tomorrow and most likely buy it. I will also be faced with a dilemma. If this table is indeed nicer then the oak table I have pretty much poured my crafting heart and soul into, what do I do? I still have a ways to go on the current table, poly coating and painting the base. Maybe I will sell that one when it is finished. All I know is that I have never worked this hard physically, man it is hard work refinishing a table. I actually sweat (Carol Seaver "I do not sweat! I glissen!" Mike Seaver exit's room "Glissen like a pig!!" Carol Seaver Growing Pains..) when I am working but I truly have enjoyed it and when I wake up in the morning I look forward to finding time to work on these things. I will update on the new table and chairs as well as the old "new" table!

My First Reupholstery is DONE!!!

2011-08-15T11:57:00.000-07:00

I don't know how all the DIY'ers do it. I am amazed at how many projects they have done and seem to do overnight. Me, well my little project turned into what seemed like forever. I painted, repainted, and then started the upholstery part but with my weak wrists stapling became a "wear your brace, take three Motrin's and check back in the morning" kind of deal. My husband already had a manual staple gun but I knew I would need something with a bit more power so I purchased an electric stapler. For every 10 staples I shot, 8 of them had to come out. I also couldn't hold the fabric tight and hold down the gun very well. I was so frustrated after all that I have put into this project to come to this road. Hubby called me at the tail end of my discovering I just couldn't do it with the tools that I had. I broke down in frustration telling him my woes and the fact that I have discovered from various blogs that pneumatic is the way to go. Bless his heart, he said "well, I guess you will have to get one". So with hubby's go ahead I went out and purchased a pneumatic upholstery staple gun and air compressor. I first purchased one from Home Depot (just a basic pneumatic stapler) but it had way to much power and shot those staples clear to the other side. That just won't do so I did a search and it seemed that upholstery guns need to be purchased online. I kept searching and actually found a local tool store that had one in stock. I immediately returned the first gun back to HD, and then bought the upholstery gun from Tool Up. The night before when I had the first gun I found this post about Upholstery Basics:Tool Time which walks you through getting your air compressor and staple gun all hooked up. I have to say the instruction manual for the air compressor scared me crazy and I feared I would get blown up. So see this post it took the scary away (sort of) and I followed those instructions again with my new staple gun. I immediately noticed a difference with this gun, the size was more comfortable and I could just tell this was the right one. The first time I shot a staple through the upholstery gun it was such a huge difference, it had just the right amount of power to drive the staple into the wood with out blowing through the wood. With in 10 minutes I had the back of the chair completed and was so happy, I had to run in the house and give hubby a big kiss!
I still needed to pull the fabric tight but no pressure on my wrists while stapling. The next night I worked on the base of the seat and it isn't perfect but for my first upholstery project I think I did really well. I used gimp to cover the staples and I burnt burnt the heck out of my forearm with the tip of the staple gun..ouch!! I do believe is going to scar. I have to say with all the trial and error my first project was a success. I do cringe at the fact that I have a whole other chair like this one to complete. The actual painting an reupholstery was not biggy compared to removing the original fabric. This was a big, big pain! I am trying to decide if I want to do the chair exactly the same or completely different. I currently don't have a spot for them in my house so these are just for fun projects.
I also have 4 dining chairs to start on, these will be a much easier project with just a base seat.
I wish I could update you with something positive about my dining table but this project has become worse and worse. It seemed like everything was going great but when I applied the stain it went from bad, to really bad. I talked with someone at a wood shop and they said I needed to re-sand the table. This is not going well at all. I will be taking the table leaf to the store to see if this is salvageable or if I just need to scrap it. Good thing it cost only $25 dollars. Of course that is not factoring in the cost of supplies.. I will update later! Here are the pictures of my chairs! I mentioned it in this post, but my inspiration was from Marian from Miss Mustard Seed, she is amazing and with how busy her blog is she was responded to my email so quickly. That made my day, well that and my finished chair!! Paint colors used: Old White as base, Duck Egg Blue all over, Paris Gray dry brushed, and clear wax

Dining Table Progress and a Sneek Peek!

2011-08-07T10:18:00.000-07:00

I have two trains of thought right now. First is, if they can do it so can I and if I can do it anybody can do it! Let's add one more thought, "they make it look so easy and it's not!" The last few days I have been paint one of the Craigslist chairs I purchased. This chair has gone through quite a few changes. I first decided to paint the chair white, distress it, and wax it with both clear and dark waxes. I only got to the clear wax and I kept looking at the chair with the "not sure" look. I love the white chair look however I felt like it need something else. I went hunting for more "drop cloth inspirations" and happened upon the fabulous Miss Mustard Seed blog and this french chair and the paint technique she used to achieve the look. I also found Little Place Called Home Sweet Home who used this same technique on a chair she had. What I really appreciated about LPCHSH's chair is she used what she had. She mixed a little paint here and there and came up with colors to achieve this look. I also posted a question on her blog and she responded right way, which really impressed me. So on to my chair, I invested in 4 Annie Sloan Chalk paints and really could not see my self spending any more money on paint. So working with what I had, I painted over the white with the Duck Egg Blue, let it dry, dry brushed Paris Gray, distressed, wax with clear, waxed with dark wax, showed it off to my hubby, kissed hubby as he headed off to bed, sat down looking at my chair for a half hour, and yes I picked up the paint brush again. It wasn't perfect! The dark wax gave it a more aged yellow look then the lovely antique look and the distressing had a hard look to it. So, I opened up more Old White and dry brushed it, and wiped it off, distressed in some areas just until the white underneath showed, then sat back and knew it was finished!!!

Yesterday I started to work on reupholstering the chair. I have read many times over that any staple gun other then a pneumatic stapler is a waste of time, however after looking at some pricing on the whole thing (air compressor + staple gun) it didn't seem like an option. Plus, not everyone who does a reupholster job has a pneumatic, right? I went out and purchased an electric staple gun and got to work. Well for every 5 staples I shot, 4 of them I took out. Not only that but I couldn't pull the the fabric taut enough and get enough strength to staple. Now figure in the fact that I have weak wrists, I have tendinitis pretty bad (at times) in my left wrist, mildly in my right. I have been dealing with this for a couple of years and there really isn't much that can be done. Not only that but when I have gone into the Dr's. since my tendons don't swell up like the typical swelling they look at me like I am crazy. Top that off with the fact that the last flare up (the time before yesterday) I had was so bad they gave me Vicodin (can't take it) for the pain, something with that flare up did something and since then I have a constant dull (very manageable) ache and noticeable weakness in my wrists, who knew being a DIY required first-aid...haha! Okay I digress, but needless to say last night I started my regiment of Motrin, ice, and brace. So frustrated! I just can't handle the upholstering with weak wrists and a staple gun that needs strength and might! I complained to hubby, God love him and all is support of my various projects! Well, I think we will be getting the pneumatic staple gun. Until then my chair/s are put on hold, but I did want to show off a sneak peek of my paint job. I am pretty happy with the results and hope I can get to upholstering them soon.

What's a girl to do when she has the DIY bug and her project is put on hold? She starts another. I bought a table off of Craigslist for $25 dollars and started sanding it down, but I ended up putting a Varnish Stripper on it since sanding the edges has proved more difficult. With the sanding I got most (if not all) of the varnish off but wanted to make sure. I sanded the table and leaf on Friday night, added the stripper to the table yesterday (leaf today) and will sand and apply stain at some point this week. My older daughter has been on a mission trip to Israel since June 22nd, and comes home on Wed. (so happy!) so DIY will be put on hold when she is back. In my search of table "how to's" I have found First Come's love and her table. I posted a comment and she responded right way. I am using her tips with my table.. Here are some pictures of my progress thus far.

Table top!

Leaf with Stripping Gel

My supplies!

Until next time!

We got the house, oh wait no we didn't!

2011-08-04T21:40:00.000-07:00

One of the reason's I started to search out decorating blogs was because we put an offer on a house 2 months ago. Over the course of my marriage we have owned one home, sold that home, rented our current home, and have looked at a gazillion other homes. Honestly, all the "For Sale" homes should be a blur in my head, we have looked at so many. But it isn't a blur, it is very clear. We have looked at beautiful brand new model homes that make your heart race because of how beautiful they are. Of course these come with a large mortgage, and some annoying thing that raises your monthly cost some $700+/month called Mello Roos (it should be illegal). These house are amazing, they are big, beautiful and there is nothing small about those homes except of course the yard. We have looked at more budget friendly houses, some needing just paint, some needing big updates, and I think one the houses even had the Swamp thing living in it's pool (green, yucky, smelly!) In the mix of all this we went to go look at a house that was in an area that wasn't even in our radar. We had decided to look because it was a good price and we figured "why not?" I wish we would have just skipped it all together because we loved it, we made an offer, (it is a short sale house) and 2 month's later the bank just accepted it! At this point I should be so happy right? Well, for about 1 day I was and now I am disappointed. You see the house we sold was sold on a short sale, this was a good thing for us at the time however there is a law that doesn't allow you to get a new loan for 4 years. We were aware of the restrictions but at some point in the last 5 months we were given misinformation and we were told it changed to 2 years, so we started looking for a house. Well, yesterday we found out that there is a clause for the the 2 year limit and we don't qualification. So now this house can't be ours. I am sad, my heart really was set on this house. It was a house we could see being our forever house and out of all the houses we looked at, it was the only one. Not to mention I could be a DIY decorator again.
I don't know how long we will be in this house that we are renting. The truth is, I have been very happy in this house. It has a beautiful back yard, it is in a wonderful neighborhood, and whenever there is a link we don't have to pay for it. If I allow myself to remember how I felt when my husband said we were going to start looking for a house to buy, I was not happy. I don't like change and that would be a change, not to mention I was happy (am happy) in this house. I have however decided that just because we are renting it doesn't mean I can't decorate. I am limited in one respect, paint, hanging curtains, couches but there is a lot more I can do and will do.

So with that, I am an official Craigslist addict! The great thing about that is, i have scored some great pieces of furniture for a great price. Two days ago I purchase a round solid oak table. I am so excited about this table because of the plans that I have for it, white pedestal base and dark walnut stained top. I have seen this look all over and just love it. My current dining table is also a round wood table that I purchased along with two chairs for $25 off of Craigslist 2 years ago. It isn't anything special and it has served it's purpose it isn't the prettiest thing to look at. When I take a look around my house I don't really see "me" style. In fact there really isn't much style at all. I have simply gotten into a renters funk. The house we bought when we first got married (6 years ago come August 14) I spent months, painting buying curtains and making it home. I enjoyed that so much and I miss it. My thoughts with renting has always been, why invest when it might not fit in our new home. I am changing that slightly because if I pay $25 dollars for a table and it doesn't fit later that is okay. Today, I purchased 4 cane back chairs for $55, that's $13.75/chair. These chairs have ugly corduroy fabric but the frames are solid, heavy, and in great shape. One of the chairs does have a section on the leg that is missing wood but I can work with that. That chair is also an arm chair, while the others are not but again they match. I will be painting these white to go with my table. I have found a few blogs that have given some great tutorials and once I come back with my progress updates I will share.
I have been diligently working on my two cane arm chairs that I bought earlier this week and I really didn't realize how difficult pulling off upholstery would be. The base of the chair was quite easy, 4 screws off the the base of the chair, lots of stables and I have a base board (with mildew, yucky!), a piece of foam that has a dent ( I will fill it with something), and fabric to make a pattern out of. The backing of the chair took a lot of sweat, and might to get off. You will notice in the picture below, the chair has a groove all around the backrest, well the not only was the piping stapled into the grooves, but the backing as well. This was very difficult to pull up, I did it though. There are staples still in that I could quite get to. I will say, there has not been any tears but I bought two of these chairs!
I cleaned the seat board today with tsp, and Clorox and spay painted them, not mildew yucky anymore. I have been paint the chairs with Annie Sloan's Old White Chalk paint. Now, I am not a painting expert but I feel like I had to put on many more coats then others seem to have needed. I have put on 3 coats and in some areas, all I see is white but in others the darkness of the wood is poking through. I suppose it is the nature of the paint (best when distressed) and my inexperience in painting furniture. I started to distress the chair today but I am flip-flopping as to the look I want for it. Many of the blogs I have happened upon have a very distinct French Antique, French Country, or Shabby Chic style. I absolutely adore that style and there are elements of that I want to use, like the table idea I have, the drop cloth decor, the french stencils and many other fabulous elements. My struggle is merging that with the style that I have been gravitating towards, which is a Beachy Chic (not cottage), East Hamptonesque look.

I love the clean, crisp, bright white, neutral background, with the pop of color, and the dark wood mixed with white wood, swoon! I have googled search French Beach, Beach French, Beachy French, Frenchy Beach, well you get the idea.
I would love input into the little decor conundrum.
Well, I will say I am leaning towards either putting Paris Grey or Duck Egg Blue over the Old White and then distress down to the old white in some areas and then to the wood in others. My struggle which color? I will leave you with a few pictures of my chair progress, along with one of my newly acquired cane chairs. I am happy to say, these will be so easy to reupholster and I will be able to pull out my sewing machine to do it.
Thanks for stopping by!

Painted, and some distressing

Cane chair love! Look at the leg detail..

Duck Egg Blue or Paris Gray (side by side)

Dry Brushed Duck Egg, not loving!

I appreciate the indecision a $15 chair can affored me!

Upcycle, Thrift Store, Chalk Paint Bug!

2011-08-02T13:25:00.000-07:00

I can't remember what I was searching for but about two weeks ago I happened upon a really great and inspiring blog: http://www.myuncommonsliceofsuburbia.com/
I spent 3 full days going over her blog, looking at all the projects she has completed and wishing I could do that. Then from her blog I was directed to other inspiring blogs and became determined that "I can do that!" Now, the "I want to do that/I can do that" mentality is nothing new. I usually think that when I see something I like but at the same time I know there are certain resources needed. With these "projects" I need two things, an unwanted piece of furniture and then paint. I am happy to say I have just entered into the world of Annie Sloan Chalk Paints and upcycle furniture.
Now I tend to forget that several years ago when I moved into my first apartment I purchased some black lacquer side tables and a coffee table. I also had cheap particle board hutch type book case/entertainment centers. I was thankful to have them but boy they were real eye sores. I ended up spending a few nights and a weekend painting and glazed them. This was 8 years ago and these pieces were very reminiscent of what I see on the blogs today. The great things is I turned those things into something pretty nice looking.

Well this past weekend I searched Craigslist and hit the swapmeet. I only found a side table at the swapmeet but currently in my den I have my said finished table ($10), $25 vintage desk and chair, $20 vintage secretary (I should have skipped this one on further inspection, the side I thought was a little crack is broke straight through), and a pair of $35 French like cane chairs, and 4 chalk paints. If you haven't guest it, when I decide to do something I jump in feet first! I am so so so excited about the chairs and as the picture will show I am in for a big project. I have never attempted to reupholster before so boy oh boy, google search commence! Now I will need to work on my photo staging but that will come with time. Well with out further ado, for the side table I used Duck Egg Blue, and Versailles chalk paint. I lightly distress, waxed, and lined the drawers with matching scrapbook paper..

Before:

and the finished table:

Lastly here is a picture of the chairs that are a work in progress. I have to say I really thought ripping off upholstery would be much simpler. The frame of the chair is in great shape but the guts are yucky! I took mesh fabric off from under the chair and found mildew on the wood seat base. I am figuring I will have to go to the hardware store and by another piece of wood to make a new base. Once I take the fabric off of the seat I will use the base as a pattern..easy right! haha..

I will be using the drop cloth that are so popular to reupholster the chair. Well, the chair is staring me in the face, so I am off to rip out more staples..

Rag Quilts for Two Little Loves!

2011-07-30T22:01:00.000-07:00

In the last week or so I have come across several blogs that have really inspired me. Most of the blogs are about decorating and furniture up-cycle projects. I was so inspired that I have purchased 3 pieces of furniture off of Craigslist and plan to try my hand at painting. That is not what this post is about but just wanted to say I am inspired, which will give me some meat for my blog in the future!
Okay onto my quilt post! My sister Tiffany had twin boys a few weeks back.Gavin and Landon are such a blessing and this Auntie wanted to put her crafting skills to good use. I knew I didn't want to just go and buy a gift at the store but I had no idea what I could make. The thing with my crafting is I don't craft as much as I desire too. I sit and think about how much I would like to make a dress, make a blanket, play with my Cricut Expression but in the end I just don't do it. I think a lot of my problem when it comes to crafting is that I get intimidated by the whole process. I am self taught in most of what I do and well I am no very organized.. No matter I was determined to make something for my nephews and whatever I made I wanted it to be special and something that they could use long after their newborn days. I was searching blogs and came across this tutorial on a Minky Stripe Rag quilt. I looked at this quilt and just knew this was what I was going to make. I went to the fabric store and found a cute owl print fabric, came home and got to work. Not only that but I finally got my embroidery part of my machine working again (just needed a serial converter). These are the first rag quilts I have ever made and I am so happy I went with the stripe quilt vs. the square. I ran into some challenges but mmainly getting all the fabric to be cut evenly. Overall I am so pleased with how they turned out. The blankets vary slight in size but you would only know this if you laid them on top of each other. I will definitely make one of these again! She sent me pictures of the boys (they live in VA) with there blankets, highlight of my day. Here are a few pictures of the finished blankets...

Yellow Owl Print

Blue Owl Print Both together

Both together

Lollipop & Feather Clips and More!

2011-05-11T21:46:00.000-07:00

It is time for my once in a blue moon post! I have made several paper crafts over the last few months and just recently started to make these fun Lollipop flowers. I have wanted to make these for some time. I happened upon a fabric store that was selling satin fabric for $1.50/yard, and feathers for $1.95 plus 30% off, you can't beat that! I purchased about 6 colors and love making these. All the ones I have made so far have been for gifts but I plan to buy a cheap t-shirt and use these flowers to embellish it. I haven't yet motivated myself to start the actual sewing process however I just cut out a pattern and have gotten out the fabric to make something for Abigail. It won't be long before I actually sit down and sew. Sewing is usually like that for me, a process of preparations. Well here are a few of the things I have made, and I am seriously liking the lollipop flowers.

Lollipop Flower Headband made for Noelle's teacher

The flower detatches and can be worn alone.

Made for M & A's teachers

Close up

V-Day Cards!

Birthday Banner for my two nieces' birthday (used my Cricut)

Pixar Car decor for M's 3rd birthday, used the Car's Cricut Cartridge!

Lemon-Ricotta Pancakes!

2011-02-23T11:31:00.000-08:00

When I decide to get creative with my cooking, I enjoy it! When I bake and try out new recipes, I enjoy it. I love the various food blogs that I run across and I always think I could blog about that. Of course as my little posse of followers have figured out I get an F in the blog world, none the less I do think about my blog and decided I should do my annual update..haha!

I have yet to start crafting again even though I hear my sewing machine and serger whispering to me through out the day. I do wish I had an amazing project to share but I don't. I do however have a delicious pancake recipe. I had the idea to share this recipe the first time I made them and figured I should take some pictures. Yes, these pictures have been sitting in my camera forever but it is never too late to share pancakes! Now, I also have pictures of Butternut Squash soup, Banana Bread, and Pumpkin Bread.. those may have to wait until the Fall.

So last year John and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary. We went and stayed the night at a hotel and ate breakfast there in the morning. I ordered these divine Lemon-Ricotta Pancakes and could not stop thinking about them well after our celebration. I knew at some point I was going to want these again and went to search out a recipe. There were actually quite a few recipes but I chose the recipe that I found on the Martha Stewart website. I modified the recipe slightly because I wanted more of a lemon flavor, so before I folded in the egg whites I squeezed half of a lemon (maybe more) into the batter. The second time I made the pancakes I omitted the poppyseeds and decided I could go either way, with or without poppyseeds. If you are looking to make something quick these are not what I would recommend but if you want a special breakfast and can devote a little extra time, you must try these. The batter is quite different the normal pancake batter and the consistency of the pancake is also differnt so just keep that in mind. I hope you enjoy them as much as I and now my family do!

Lemon-Ricotta Poppyseed Pancakes

Makes 16 pancakesIngredients

6 large eggs, separated

1 1/2 cups whole-milk ricotta cheese

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

Zest of 2 large lemons (and additional lemon juice)

1 tablespoon poppy seeds

Vegetable oil, for griddle

Maple syrup, warmed

Berries, for garnish

Directions

1.Place egg whites in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat until they form firm, glossy peaks.

2.In a large bowl, beat together ricotta, butter, egg yolks, and vanilla. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, lemon zest, and poppy seeds. Using a rubber spatula, stir flour mixture into ricotta mixture.

3.Fold a large spoonful of whipped egg whites into ricotta mixture. Continue folding in remaining egg whites.

4.Coat a griddle or large skillet with oil and heat over high heat until very hot, then reduce heat to medium. Working in batches, place 1/4 cup batter for each pancake on griddle, leaving space, as they will spread. Cook until golden and top begins to bubble, about 2 minutes. Gently turn and continue cooking until bottoms are light brown. Transfer to a serving plate and keep warm until all the pancakes have cooked. Serve with maple syrup and berries.

Recipe by: Martha Stewart

Too Long Away..

2010-10-09T08:25:00.000-07:00

I don't actually have anything to post at the moment but I have been working on two tote bags and will be leading a craft day with my MOPS group. I have a very busy weekend planned and hope to come back and post some of my up and coming creations. Fall and Winter are usually my crafting months so I am gearing up to sort and organize my craft area, so stayed tuned...

Outfit for Emma..

2010-04-13T21:43:00.000-07:00

Jumper Top with frayed flower rosette
Back of the jumper
Pant/Capri's with rushing detail
I taught myself how to do this rushing detail and love it!

Never mind the disaster that is my house (with exception to the kitchen) , forget about the huge mountain of dirty clothes piled up, just take a look at this adorable outfit I made!! It really is a terrible thing that I cannot manage to keep house and craft at the same time. Something always suffers if I clean I don't craft and if I craft I don't clean. The crazy thing is I craft to keep sane, but if the house is messy I feel a bit crazy... LOL No matter the cleaning or the crafting happens in between my needing to be mommy.

Sewing is not something I can just sit down and do. It is a few days in the making. Today I cut out the pattern, tomorrow I pin the pattern on the material, next day, I cut out the fabric, and finally the day after that I will sit down to sew. Basically what should take two or three hours takes me around 72 + hours. Even though I have been sort of sewing since I was 13, I am still a novice. Well I will give myself a little more credit and say I am a senior novice, ready to graduate into intermediate sewer. Here is a little bit on my sewing history: My mom is a beautiful seamstress who made many dress, pants, costumes, etc. over the years. She hasn't sewn in a long time, but if I can get to be half as good as my mom I will be very happy. She was not the first to show me how to sew, in 8th grade I had Home Economics. We had to complete a sewing project and I chose a skirt. I did not finish the skirt, but I did learn how to thread a sewing machine. Fast forward 5+ years later, I was pregnant with Noelle, had lost my job, and was bored out of my mind. My mom told me to start sewing, so I went out bought a sewing machine and with my moms guidance made a maternity dress. This was a maternity dress of yester...yester year, but I made it with my own two hands ( and machine) so I wore it. Well that and the fact I really couldn't afford anything else. Several months later it was Noelle's 1st Halloween and I made her ( again with my moms help) a cow costume. To this day I have yet to see such a cute cow, I mean really she was the cutest cow ever!!! Well life got in the way and I didn't sew again for many, many, many years. I think the cow was the last thing I had sewn until about 3 years ago when I started to sew for Abigail. In the last three years I I have sewn maybe 10 times. I will say that I am mostly self taught, in that I research on-line and read books. I take a class here and there but really the last few years has just been me. I need to learn how to make button holes and sew a zipper, which is a goal I would like to accomplish this year. I have an awesome serger that my hubby bought for me back in August. The fact that I have the Babylock Imagine is crazy considering my sewing skills. If I had a good metaphor I would insert here but I don't. All I can say is this machine is for the Merlot sewer and well I am still stuck on the wine-cooler level...okay did I do it, was that a good one??? LOL We got this for a steal, really! A customer had purchased it, used it in a class and a couple of days later traded it up. The store couldn't sell it as new and voila, it was mine! I am still learning about this machine, but I use it in conjunction with my sewing machine.

Here is the latest thing I made. This is a two piece outfit for my niece Emma. I have not actually met my niece nor have I met her mommy yet. I know that doesn't sound right, but it is true. I have two sisters from my biological fathers side. I never knew about them because I had never had contact with him. Well back in November through Facebook my sisters and other family made contact. My "new" younger sister has a beautiful daughter, Emma who will be 8 months tomorrow (I think). Now, this is risky to make an outfit for little Emma even if I am a slightly elevated novice sewer, but I just couldn't resist. I have had this Michael Miller Fabric for about 2 years. I had a custom outfit made for Abigail (she has long since outgrown it) using this fabric. I love this fabric and I never wanted to sew something myself using left overs because I love it so much. I didn't want to ruin the fabric, but I got over that and made a top and bottom for Emma. I am pretty sure it won't fall apart but I am worried about the fit. The pants pattern is sized 6 to 12 months and the top is 12 months. I used the serger and sewing machine on both pieces. The pants gave me a little problem because there were curves and serging curves is tricky. I also don't know how to do button holes and the straps were suppose to have buttons in the front. I ended up just sewing the straps on both front and back. The outfit looks great from the outside unless you start looking for my mistakes (please don't) the inside could use some work, not a ton but this is where practic will come in. Overall I am really pleased with how it turned out and can't wait to see a picture of Emma wearing it.

I also have some left fabric ( I originally bought 5 yards!!) that I will use to make Abigail a little short set. Hopefully in July when we go and visit my new family the girls can wear their outfits together... photo op!! Well I am tired and when I get tired I don't write very well. I tend to go back the next day and correct my postings, so I better go that way I won't have too much more to correct. My next projects will be a skirt for Abigail, shorts for Mason, and a handbag tote.

Messenger Bag and Toddler Skirt.

2010-04-11T18:02:00.000-07:00

I did it!! I had a goal and I met it. I wanted to sew this weekend and even though it was challenging with the kids I was able to make two things. The first thing I made was a messenger bag for Noelle. We went to the the fabric store a few days ago and she picked out this pretty floral fabric. She wanted me to sew a skirt for her but the last time I ventured into adult clothing it was a disaster, so we settled on this bag. I purchased two books from the fabric store "One-Yard Wonders" and "Making Children's Clothes". I used the first book to make Noelle's bag, which as the title would imply only took 1 yard of fabric.

The second item I made was a Market Skirt for Abigail. Now this skirt went through a full day of play before I had a chance to take a picture of it. For this skirt I used a free tutorial that I found here at Made. I really wanted to add pockets but ran out of time, so the next Market Skirt I make will include pockets.

Both books I bought have many projects I am wanting to try. I will say that although the bag was easy to make I got confused a view times at the explanation. I learn better with things like this from a picture. It had some pictures but then explained with out visual. So, needless to say I had to use my seam ripper quite a few times. This bag did not have an included pattern (both books comes with patterns) so I needed to make my own using wrapping paper (it's all I had) and the measurments that were provided in the book. I also need to do this for the skirt. Making the patterns used up a good portion of my time. The good thing is, I labeled both patterns to be used later on. Now if I was an organized person this would be great, however I am not organized so I probably will not find those said patterns when needed. LOL!

Currently I have fabric cut for a pair of baby pants from a pattern I have used twice before. Once I finish these pants I am going to make something from the children's book.

If feels good to meet a goal and better yet seeing my children wear my creations!

I Am Back...Hopefully!!

2010-04-06T11:46:00.000-07:00

My goodness, it has been a very long time since I have posted anything on my little blog. I am guilty of neglecting my blogs as you can see from my Neglected Blog Post. I am hoping to start posting again real soon. As far as my creativeness goes I have actually been creating but right now the things I have made are part of a "Secret Sister" recipe swap and if I posted the cards on here I might give myself away. I also participated in a Charm swap back in February where I made 80 charms and received back 80 charms. That was so much fun, I can't believe the talent of the ladies that participated in that swap. I have a picture somewhere and can't find it. Right now I am have really been itching to sew. I haven't sewn anything in so long, most of the things I have made have been paper crafts and using my Cricut Expression. The next couple of weeks I plan on sewing an outfit for my daughter, skirts for my two older nieces, and something for my baby niece Emma. I would also love to make something for my son, but I am not sure what. My husband bought me the Babylock Imagine Serger for our anniversary back in August and I haven't even used it. I am more then a novice when It comes to sewing but I get very intimidated by it all. There is still a lot I need to learn and I think that holds me back. I get most of my ideas from free tutorials on-line but when I do purchase patterns one of my favorite places to buy from is youcanmakethis.com . This is where I bought the patterns for the skirts I will be making. The creators of this site have just started a new website called The DIY Dish here you can watch webisodes of different craft projects. When you get a chance check them out. Here is their latest video, and until next time!

My first Centerpieces..

2010-01-11T20:29:00.000-08:00

My sister is turning 40 this month and we are celebrating her big day this Saturday. We are meeting at a restaurant which is what we usually do, but because it is such a special day I wanted to add a few special touches. I really am doing all this last minute so it is a rush but while walking through Michael's I found some Christmas willow branches in the clearance area, a big bunch for $1.50 and these beautiful butterflies in the $1.00 bin, added terra cotta pots, $1.00 bin crystals, moss and Voila here are my creation. I will set them on the tables at the restaurant, along with some balloons.. This is my first time making up center pieces and I love them. It is just what I had in mind..

My Son's 2nd Birthday Cake...

2010-01-10T11:01:00.000-08:00

We had a trained themed birthday party for my sons 2nd birthday. I wanted to make a train cake and set out to find a cake that I would be able to make. Looked on line, gather a bunch of ideas and here is the finished product. I even used my Cricut Expression and the Everyday Paperdolls cart to make all the paper details. I have to share the Vanilla Buttercream Frosting that I have made for two parties already and will continue to make. It is so delicious!! I found it on the Annie's Eats Blog, simply the best buttercream! Overall I am very pleased with how the cake turned out and I think Mason really liked it too!

Gift card Explosion boxes..

2009-12-17T11:24:00.000-08:00

I am so excited for tomorrow to come! Tomorrow I will be presenting my son;s two teachers with these gift card boxes. I collected donations from other parents and each teacher is going to receive 3 gift cards that total $110, wow!! I know they will be very happy with that blessing. I was looking for a unique way to present the cards to them and a member of the Cricut Message board directed me to these boxes. You can can see go here and see the video for the original ones. I have so many more projects to get done, so I am off..

Brown and Gold Ornaments...

2009-12-08T09:09:00.000-08:00

About a month ago when Walmart was putting out there Christmas decorations I saw these beautiful brown ornaments, glitter, frosted and shiny. They were in a big container with about 25 and they were the shatterproof ones. I just knew they were going to be on my tree. Of course I think it was just after Halloween, so I wasn't quite ready to buy them. Once I decided my tree was going to be brown/gold and it was time to buy I went off to Walmart to get those ornaments. Three Walmarts later I was minus those wonderful brown ornaments. I did find a container with 4 brown, and then a bunch of gold with brown accents. I was going to have to make that work. Well, I decided to try and make a few brown ornaments for my tree and these are what I came up with. I used brown cardstock, overhead projector transparencies, and the Joys of the Season Cricut Cartridge. I only made 4 but I am pretty happy with how the turned out..
You can see the tree here.

Grand Prize Winner!!

2009-11-21T08:56:00.000-08:00

I was the grand prize winner of Scrappin Attacks raffle drawing. They were celebrating their 1 year anniversary and I decided last minute to go and check out the make and takes they were having. I also spent $20 which entered me into the drawing. The drawing was going to be held at 1 pm, and they would call the winner shortly after. So as the day went on I knew I hadn't won, boohoo!! Well, I got a call at 5 pm letting me know that I did in fact win. I couldn't believe that I had won, it was a great basket fill with a bunch of goodies..

Thank you Scrappin Attack!!

Check out Crafty Chatter's Blog Candy..

2009-10-23T14:25:00.000-07:00

One way for me to build up my supply would be to win some blog candy. I haven't had much luck but I keep on trying. This one looks amazing ( as most of them do!) Please go check out Crafty Chatter's Surprise Blog Candy. If I don't win maybe you will! Good Luck!!

Combined Challenges...

2009-10-23T09:58:00.000-07:00

This has been such a hard week for me. My son (21 months) has the flu and yes the doctors are saying it is H1N1. I have been house bound since Monday and the only time I see daylight is when I look out the window. It has been tough and I need a break!! Since that break isn't coming anytime soon it is nice to know that I can combine challenges. I am able to take a moment, make a card, and have a feeling of accomplishment. I have combined 3 challenges in this one card, and I have to say thank you to these blogs for allowing this.
The most challenging part for me is trying to create something even though my supplies are lacking. I had all the paper and even some fibers for the color part of the challenge, but not much else. The stamp is from a set I bought a couple of weeks ago. I know I used one of the faces in my last challenge but it seemed that the faces would once again work here. I must say you will most likely see many of the same things until I can build up my supply.
Okay so the challenges I am participating in with this card are MMSC24 (card sketch), Play Date Cafe (color scheme) and finally Creative Inspirations Challenge Blog #19 (number).
When I started out making this card I had the first two blog challenges in mind, but then I remembered my sisters birthday and thought about Creative Inspirations challenge.
Well I don't have much more time, my son is crawling all over me but I hope you enjoy my new card. I am loving these challenges because I don't have to start from a blank slate and at times that works just fine...

It's All In The Attitude!! MMSC#23

2009-10-20T14:52:00.000-07:00

I am still new at sketch challenges, in fact this is only my second attempt. I am thinking I may have missed the deadline, but I still had a fun time making this card. This card is for the MMSC #23. It takes me a few attempts to figure out exactly what I am going to make. This is very challenging for me since I am still building my supply and it is lacking quite a bit. For this card I used some old tulle I had around from my making tutu days. I used a 1920's stamp. The patterned paper is from a kit I bought on clearance (like 4 years ago). I only had white flowers that I bought from Walmart a long time ago, so I inked them with black ink and then sprayed them with glimmer mist. The stamps on the tickets, and the side is from a Close to my heart set. I used my Cricut Expression to cut the ovals (In my Kitchen) and Fabulous Finds for the tickets. You might not be able to see but the paper that the "IT'S ALL IN THE ATTITUDE" is stamped on is pictures of Theater tickets..

I am pretty exited about how this card turned and I am going to try the MMSC # 24 .

Peachy Keen Blog Challenge 13..

2009-10-08T22:01:00.000-07:00

I figured it is about time I put my crafting to good use and enter my very first blog challenge. I am entering this card into Peachy Keen Blog Challenge 13 http://peachykeenstampschallenge.blogspot.com/. The requirements for this challenge were to have a stamped image, use blue and purple, have at least three snowflakes, and it must have a greeting.

I used the "A Child's Year" cart to cut out the card base in a deep purple (hard to tell from the picture) cardstock. I embossed the front of the card with the Snowflakes cuttlebug folder and inked that with a white stamp pad. It just so happens that Abigail got into my ribbon bucket yesterday and has been playing around with this blue and white snowflake grosgrain ribbon, perfect! I embossed a chipboard ribbon slide and used that for the bottom of the cards, along with the ribbon (added stickles to the ribbon), and a snowflake.

The stamped image part worried me a bit because I am a basic stamper ie. stamp, ink pad, and voila, art! I don't generally color in my stamps (when I use them) but I didn't want just a stamped image. I dug up some watercolor pencil and colored the tree in with those. Then I used a q-tip and paint brush to blend. I used stickles on the tree for a more detail. I can't remember (to lazy to go look)which cart I used for the scalloped circles or the greeting (embellished with stickles). I used two more snowflakes and Ta Da!! My first blog challenge card is complete.

Now we just have to keep our fingers crossed!!

Joy: Card

2009-10-06T12:58:00.000-07:00

When Abigail was a baby I got into making bows and clippies. I went crazy buying a ton of ribbon, mainly grosgrain and embellishments. As she got older (she is now 3) and I got pregnant with my son, making bows became less and less of a hobby. I have tried to figure out what I will do with all that ribbon and I have come up with one way to use it.

I made this card using a card cut out from "A Child's Year" Cartridge, both the marquees from "A Storybook" cartridge. I embossed the card using the Cuttlebug and d'vine swirl. I used Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Tattered Rose.

I made the flower, I can't believe how happy I am with how it turned out. I saw this tutorial on Just Magnolia when I was looking up info on how to make your own paper flowers. I don't have the Sizzix die so I went through the Cricut Carts that I have and found the poppy flower on "A Storybook". I modified it to work with this cut out.

Of course I used two colors, and sizes of grosgrain ribbon from my stash and a stamp I bought for .99 cents.

I am going to try to use up some of my ribbon on a few more cards. Hope you like my "Joy" card..

A Workbox Giveaway...

2009-09-28T13:28:00.000-07:00

This is such a great giveaway and I just couldn't imagine what it would be like to own one of these Workboxes. If you would like a chance to win a Workbox in your choice of color visit Rachelle's Writing Spot for all the fun details. She along with 9 other blogs (all listed on her site) are hosting this giveaway. Each blog is hosting a giveaway for either a Ribbon Box or a Scrapmabob. The winner from each blog will then be entered into the drawing to win the Workbox. There are many ways to get entries for the individual blog giveaways, and wow if you win one of those then your chances for the Workbox are 1 in 10, I like those odds!!
So go check it out, enter in all the available ways... and good luck!!!

Check out http://www.theoriginalscrapbox.com/catalog/ for product information. I looked at to see what else The Original Scrapbox carried and I think the Mini-box would be perfect for my craft area (that is of course if I don't win the Workbox!) If you look and decide to make a purchase Enter this code when you place your order to get $100 off your shipping: 100Writes

Quick reference:
http://cricutchristmas.blogspot.com/
http://www.rachellewrites.blogspot.com/
http://makeitandloveit.blogspot.com/
http://auntiethesis.blogspot.com/
http://www.vanillajoy.com/random-giveaway-the-workbox-from-the-original-scrapbox.html
http://www.themommy-files.com/
http://capadiadesigns.blogspot.com/
http://www.myorganizedchaos.net/
http://lifeaslou.blogsome.com/
http://priscillastyles.blogspot.com/

Little Girls Birthday Card!!

2009-09-27T22:19:00.000-07:00

There is a certain someone who will know exactly who this card is for and I hope you like it!

This card was made using my Cricut Expression and Cuttlebug. I embossed the pink paper with the Cuttlebug using the swiss dot embossing folder and the white paper was embossed using the d'vine swirl embossing folder. The little dancer was made with the Paper Doll Dress Up cartridge (hair from EDPD). I used glitter paper for the outfit and the number 2 (cut using Storybook Cartridge).

I added a flower with a brad and added Stickles to both. I also added the plastic rhinestones for a little extra bling. I hand drew the face and used chalk to blush the cheeks. I just ordered a set of stamps from Peachy Keen, so my faces are going to start looking much better. Overall I am pleased with the way this card turned out and the best part was I finished it in 10 minutes!!

Can't wait for the party on Saturday!

Scraps 4 Fun and Peachy Keen Stamps Blog Giveaways...

2009-09-27T10:20:00.000-07:00

I love Blog Candy Giveaways and I am hoping that I will be able to host my own giveaway one day. For now I am entering and spreading the word about Blog Giveaways. Check out my side bar and check out all those great giveaways out for yourself. One that I really have my hopes up for is the Scraps 4 fun candy (click picture above). I have been using my Cuttlebug on my cards and with my having the Paper Doll Cartridges I have had my eye on getting a few Peachy Keen Stamps. One of the rules to enter the Scraps 4 Fun giveaway was to become a follower of the Peachy Keen Stamps Challenge blog.

Peachy Keen Stamps Challenge blog is also having a fantastic giveaway. Look how mnay Stickles they are giving away, wow!! So go check out those two giveaways by clicking on the above pictures and don't forget to look in my side bar. Have fun and good luck!!

Witch Girl Card..

2009-09-25T10:16:00.000-07:00

I have to say that I am getting a bit frustrated with myself and how my projects turn out. There are people who were born with the crafting gene and I am not one of them. I love to do crafts and try to be creative, so when my light bulb won't turn on, it is frustrating. I am going to keep moving forward because I am hoping the more I create the better I will get at it.
Last night I worked on a Halloween Card using the PDDU cartridge. I found some clearance Halloween paper and used just a small portion of that. I must have sat there for hours trying to come up with some creative juice and eventually came up with a witch card. I also used the Martha Stewart Drippy Goo punch for the borders... My face drawing technique needs some help, but I am hoping to buy some stamps from Peachy Keen and then my faces will be perfect. I used black diamond stickles on the hair, bat, and kitty cat. I am enjoying the Paper Doll Dress Up and Everyday Paper Doll Cartridges. They are so fun and I think I will end up doing lots of projects with those.
My creativity is a work in progress.....

Train Frame and Anniversary Card.

2009-09-23T14:03:00.000-07:00

I have completed two projects. Hurray for that! The first project is an Anniversary Card for my in-laws. If I do the math right they are celebrating 54 years. I used my "A Child's Year" cartridge for the boy and girl and "Storybook" font cartridge for the "Once upon a time". I embellished the wording with baby blue Stickles (still trying to figure out how to use that stuff). I used the Cuttlebug to emboss the white cardstock and then used chalk to add a hint of color to that. I used glue dots on the back of the boy and girl for added depth. I am REALLY a horrible when it comes to sending out cards, really I should be ashamed..
I am very happy that I am ahead of the game. I have a whole 9 days to get this in the mail to them

My second project is a picture frame that was given to me for my son Mason's class. Mason is 21 months old and his teacher sent home the frame to be decorated for a family picture and then brought back to school. This is so the kids can see their family through out the day. Mason loves Thomas and trains. Really it just amazes me how much. My husband drew Thomas the Tank Engine on Mason lunch bag and he goes crazy, yelling "train" every time he sees it.

It was only fitting that I would decorate the frame with Thomas in mind. I found a piece of Thomas the Tank Engine cardstock at Michael's which worked out perfect. I traced the frame onto the back of the cardstock and then glued the paper on to the frame. I used the "Everyday Paper Dolls" cartridge to make a train Engineer (Mason). I was so exited to see it had a curly hair feature, since my son has curly hair.. see here, I go on and on about his beautiful curls.

I then used the "A Child's Year" font to spell out Mason's Family. I used Mod Podge over the paper for added protection, then I put glue dots on the back of the train engineer for added depth. All in all I am please with my first two projects using my Cricut. Have I mentioned that I just adore my pink Cricut Expression..

Introduction to My Creative Pink..

2009-09-22T20:08:00.001-07:00

I have done it! I have started a crafting blog. This is actually kind of funny because my poor family blog is often neglected. I am working on this, first step is to admit the neglect right? So why have I started this blog? Well for one thing I want my family blog to be just that, about my family. In my entry into the craft world I have stumbled upon lots of craft sites and giveaways that require me to post on my blog. This has just made my blog kind of busy and detracts away from the kids. My second reason for starting this blog is so that I can document progress with different projects that I will do. I hop around from blog to blog searching ideas, getting inspiration and then I come to my little corner and try and create. The key word is try, but I do try and that is what is important.
I will be doing different types of crafts but mainly I will make cards, scrapbooking, and sew. I just purchased a Pink Cricut Expression and have added to my sewing with the purchase of a serger. This is going to be a lot of fun and I can't wait to see where my creativity will take me.