Projects GALORE!

When the minis went with the Mr, i was able to do MANY projects. When i'm doing crafts, i'm one happy girl!

One thing you have to know is i STEW on projects for weeks, sometimes MONTHS trying to figure out where or what i should make. Sometimes, project ideas just happen right away-

This first project has been a LONG one. i forgot to take before and afters of everything, i'm a loser- but.. under this pic you'll see a pink canvas. My best friend in Sc was going to throw this away. i knew i could use it for something- i tried spray painting and that didnt work-

I hand painted black acrylic paint on the entire front and sides.

One dried, i sprayed each of the pieces of scrapbook paper with spray adhesive and layed on the canvas. i simply used the "Q" that i already had ( once again, another fun thing from Corky's daughter) that i've literally had for 3 yrs and didnt use. i sprayed it a tiffany blue-

had a 5x7 pic printed of lil muffin and used a vinyl rub on i've also been stashing for over 2 years. How cute is this simple piece of art?! i'm in love!

Monograms- i love them. I used to not "get it" because in Oregon, you dont do monograms. Well, things have changed and i look for ANY reason to have a monogram! I was burnt out on wreaths on my front door- while in hobby lobby ( my second home) i came up with this idea- a GIANT monogram ( joanne fabrics), a yard of fabric and modge podge. i literally layed the H
on top of the fabric and kept 2-3 inches around it and cut. i then cut every 2 inches all around so that i had small pieces to glue on the H and wouldnt get bubbles. you literally get your fingers messy and use them as your paint brush. This is a TIME CONSUMING project, people! we're talking 2 plus hours WITHOUT interruptions! once glued onto the H, i glued on TOP of the fabric to seal it, once again to not have bubbling. I then thought of a random do dad to match the fabric- on my neighbors i glued a mini owl on .
This idea has TAKEN OFF and we now have neighbors making their own spin offs-

these were those old 80's pantry doors with horrible gold hardware on them. i literally took tons of pieces and screws out. i spray painted them and then sanded to look shabby. I bought picture wire so that they could hang on the wall and had the Mr. screw screws into each side of the back of the shutters with the wire hanger, and then put square chair pads on ALL four corners of each so they wouldnt scratch the wall. i literally paid 6 dollars for the shutters and maybe 8 for the spray paint!

(ps the wicker trunk i also got at the garage sale for only 15 bucks and holds clean sheets)

i made this wreath using a round wreath form from the dolla store- i also bought my shells there and literally hot glued them on - super easy, super inexpensive!

While blog stalking, i came across a tutorial from a blog called Little apartment on the prairie that gave a tutorial on how to make your own beach glass with MODGE PODGE and food coloring! AGain, so easy- i went to our goodwill and got many bottles, however you can use what you have- the tall one is actually an old liquor bottle and the small square one was a reed oil diffuser at one time!

And that my friends is what i got done to show for.. there was more made

and many good trips to goodwill -
I think the best thing in all of this,is you dont have to fork out boatloads of money to do a project! The key is patience! Get an idea, and wait for the right thing to come along! its taken nearly over a year to get my room together and i'm still not done, but all the waiting and time pays off i promise you!

Spring Has sprung at our house!

Spring is in Full effect at our house!!! Thought i'd share some pictures of how we've decorated- i'm a nut about decorating ( Mini me calls me the " Holiday Hoarder" ) . A little Terrarium ( is that how you spell it?) that mini me made with the neighbor across the street for my birthday- we live in the country and they found all of these things, minus the egg out here. The white thing is a baby turtle shell, about the size of my fist-

Good ol plants.. they make me happy and they are my first ones since we've moved here- i had to give all my other ones away when we moved-

Mini me made the brown birds nest in art class- i stole it and used it for decor ;)


The wire cross was also a birthday gift- my plant in my planters is pathetic i know, but i'm holdin out for my dad whose coming in a few weeks so he can spruce them up and i CANT wait!

A bad day- a GREAT idea, and so i rolled with it. Did you know they sell SHEETS of moss?! Any craft store, and you can use a coupon on it!

These too will have plants in them- - -

Bunny from last year ( pi@R 1) that got a little coat of ballet slipper pink spray paint

Birdhouse i stole from the neighbors across the street- they downsized their home, and then her mom died, so i feel like a kid in the candy store when i go over there.. they give stuff to me all the time

Mish Mosh- Corky's daughter birds nest and eggs ;)

Another nest- pack of 3 last year from Tj's

EgGS! i'm OBSESSED!

More Mish mosh from everywhere! Just painted the frame and will print out a word to put in it. The white stand - Corky's, and spray painted white


This picture- EVERY time i pull it out, i cant believe how little she was!!!! She fit into an Easter basket- this year, this picture means even more to me. Gosh.. i miss her!

How have YOU decorated for Spring?

X's and O's from Georgia!!!!

I'm a holiday freak- but There's something special about Valentines day to me.. maybe its all the LOVE, the SWEETS ( i am a self proclaimed sugar junkie) , the colors of red and pink, or giving gifts to the ones i love.. Today - were making some sugar cookies for our nieghbors to show them some LURVE- in leiu of sugar cookies for you, since we cant send them thru the computer...

Here's wishing you a special day from our family to yours!!!

(X and O from Hobby lobby and the fronts of these letters are now glittered in red and standing on a pink and red vintage looking plate from Michaels, and on a red cake stand- )

Subway Art!!

First off.. my midterm went really well and i ACED it!!! that's right... 100% baby!!! Thanks for all of your prayers!!

Now.. i've had MANY people BEGGING for me to post the directions on how to make this- SUPER EASY, just extremely time consuming. I got this idea from the blog Tatertots & Jello- CUTEST blog ever, my new fave!! SO, these are her directions, re-iterated: "Here's what I did:

* I bought a 12 X 16 canvas @ Hobby Lobby using a 40% off coupon- you can get them @ Michaels too ( and if you sign up for emails, you can get coupons too)


*I researched what typeface the original subway signs used and found out it was Helvetica. I used Mircrosoft Word to make my lettering, and it did not have that font, so after a little more research I found out that Ariel is an offshoot of Helvitica. So that is what I used.

* i thought of words associated with Ryan and Stacey- marriage, etc

*I used three different types of Ariel -- Ariel narrow, Ariel bold and regular Ariel.

*I printed out the fonts and arranged them on top of the canvases to see how things would fit. Then I took a picture so I could remember where I was going to put all of the phrases. ( i actually just left all words on canvas - after it was dry and worked my way gluing from bottom to top)

*To make this project easier, I printed out the fonts using the highlight option - using black highlight so the font inside is white. Note: For best results, take this file to Kinko's and have them print it out on their color copy machine. It will cost a few dollars, but the black will be a true black.
* i went to FEDEX/Kinkos with a zip drive and had them print my words
* I painted the canvas all black, using black acrylic paint
* i cut out each word as best as i could, and mod podged the back and stuck it on canvas


* I started at the bottom and worked my way to the top- once they are all on there, i mod-podged over top of all the words- Note it will look MILKY when you do this, but DRIES CLEAR~

* you can buy mod podge at any craft store, as well as Walmart in the craft section

I think the total of my project was 8 dollars BECAUSE i already had the paint and the mod-podge! This was the FIRST gift she opened at the shower and i literaly had people asking if i took orders.

I LOVE the black and white...so clean, mod and BOLD!

Its Beginning to look alot like Christmas!

Ok--- here's the Christmas pictures i've promised so many of you- there will be another post on things as well.. We'll start with the front porch!!! We're the first house on the street, so we need to represent it well ;) I think, GO BIG OR GO HOME!

If someone stole these, i'd laugh.. they'd get lots of boxes of ROCKS! - thanks to the construction workers and their LARGE pile of rocks next to our house, they helped make this porch possible, HA!

My husband LOVES this white bench ( KIDDING! he hates it) so he was happy when it was put on the side of our entrance and covered. HE thinks its junk- he cant appreciate Shabby Chic, i guess.

Last year we came up with the candy cane idea- we went to NewSpring church, one of our FAVE to visit in SC and in the childrens area, there was a white tree with candy canes and that's how our tree this year came about!

One of my fave blogs, 320 Sycamore had the idea to put her childrens Christmas books under the tree and wrap each one and each night a child can unwrap it and read it every night leading up to christmas . Great idea, however, i didnt wrap them, in all honesty due to NO TIME-

Candy canes- Target

All things glittery- hobby lobby ( seriously, my FAVE store)

green and red ball picks and green flower picks- Wally world

Sled- clearance @ marshalls last year

Sleigh- 1 buck @ goodwill, and found the same one @ Carolina Pottery this year for 20 bucks!

Boxes- burlington coat factory after christmas.. had them seriously for like 5-6 yrs and redo the ribbon every year

Bottle brush trees- Target last year in the dolla spot

jingle bells- dolla tree

Glisten above mantel---Corky's daughter, along with my elf on the shelf, my 'we still believe' sign and my 'Believe in the magic' sign on my tree, and my BIG lime green ball ornaments.

MARIE- OPEN A STORE HERE, I MISS YOU LIKE CRAZY! Every season, there are touches of your store everywhere to remind me of all of my fun talks and visits. XO!!!

Oh my goodness do you not LOVE this cake plate?! only 15 @ Target and i'm SO glad i snatched it.. it was sold out everywhere and online. - y ou can use it for so many holidays!

My willow branch nativity i wanted to make a statement since Christ's birth IS the reason for Christmas!I put it on my Kitchen countertop so everyone can see it when they walk in.. See the red nail ornament in the back behind Joseph? That's the nail to remind us of Jesus dying on the cross for us. Another one i love that i've saved for years and never used because i could never find the right place. And the Noel- the first Noel!!! Tinsel tree-- in love, Another Corky's daughter!

And the star in this pic.. i love how it all turned out. So classy-

There is MUCH more to be seen, so i will be doing another post on our house-

Weekend of Fun & Celebration!!

This last week, my BEST friend from Birth turned the big 3-0. All of her friends got together and planned a lil suprise party for her- and suprise it was.. Even better, we showed up! ;) I had to make sure it was all decorated, after all what's a party with lousy decor? These chocolate covered marshmallows have become my trademark.. had to make them for the party.. threw some things together and made a dessert table.
I had a stack of scrapbook paper so based the colors around that paper-

The table set up- BEFORE all the food

I found this cool idea in blog land- ribbon tied in a knot in all colors..

made it almost look like a corset top - HUGE HIT

The girls at the party- including mini me holding the wine glass we gave her- in pink said "30" and had glitter all over it

She was SO happy -- probably to have a get together, NOT to be 30.. she's still in shock over that one

My fave part of this picture? Lil muffin in the bottom left corner.. look at her face!

The party hat was a hit... DOLLA TREE where else?

CHEERS TO ANOTHER 30 years!!

I have some more pictures from this trip on our way home that i KNOW will intrigue you.. little clue..GYPSIES!