Check!

My little guy has been DYING to put the last check-mark on the chalkboard. DYING! He has been asking about daily since about mid-September.

Check! Ha ha. Apparently I need to show him how to make an official "check" mark. I think it looks cute though :)

After we checked off the final item, the list was erased and this spooky scene appeared. That orange blob towards the bottom is Noah's version of a spooky happy face. SPOOKY!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN people!!! xo

"Initial" Intervention

I LOVE INITIALS! No need to be subtle or quiet about it. I do! Initials. Monograms. Full names. If it's personalized, I am sure to LOVE it. Seriously - I may need a support group for this. This first shot is of my "gallery" in our living room - "R for Richardson"

This is over my crafting desk in the den - "A. A. A. for Ali"

This is in the hall leading to the kitchen. " J-Josh, A-Ali, N-Noah, H-Hayden" Our whole family in initials. Oh yeah!

Baby sister's room - "H. H. H. H. for Hayden" and I'm embarrassed to admit that I have 2 more "Hs" in the works as we speak. See..... S-u-p-p-o-r-t G-r-o-u-p.

Big Brother's Room - "N for Noah" (p.s. that swatch of brown fabric with white polka dots is from his nursery when he was an itty bitty baby. Sigh.)

Me again. How else would you know where I sleep!? Duh! "A for Ali "- again.

And even the hubby gets his bed-side labeled (you know, in case he forgets which side of the bed is his) "J for Josh." I also currently have the letters EAT in progress and once I finish those, they will go in my kitchen. Not quite the same thing, but definitely on the border. So you see. Issues! I don't think there is actually a cure for my disease though. Every time I see a letter that relates to one of my special people, it has to come home with me. Whether I buy it, make it, steal it (ha ha, j/k), it will be mine! I could think of a billion worse things to be addicted to I guess, and I am not currently a danger to myself or others. So for now I will continue "tagging" our house with our letters. I'll run out of wall space eventually, right? Ha ha. I know. I know.

My Saturday Night.

If you are someone like me (we're a rare breed to say the least), these pictures makes you smile. If you are of the other breed, these pictures make you feel really really sad for me. Either way, it sort of needs an explanation. First, my hubby is a (HOT) firefighter. This means that he works 24 hour shifts about every other day. BUT, when you are a young family with 2 kids, a mortgage, car payment, etc and are trying to survive on one income, sometimes that 24 hour shift turns into a 72 hour shift. That was the case this past weekend. Sigh. While my hubby worked Fri-Sun, the kiddos and I had to fend for ourselves. We kept busy most of the weekend. Spent some time with family members, went to a friend's Halloween party. I even went to an Estate Sale (which was a total bust by the way. I definitely am NOT in the market for old lady designer clothes or collector dolls). Anyway, even though we were missing our man, we hung in there and made it work. Saturday night comes along, and what is a crafty girl to do? Kids are in bed, Hubby is out saving lives, and here I sit. Alone. With my glue gun :)

See....I'm sort of in "production mode" these days. My sis-in-law and I are doing a craft fair this coming Saturday at a local church. The booth will primarily feature her awesome Kid-Kits, but I thought it would be fun to sprinkle some of my flower clips around in case anyone wanted a cute, cheap, impulse buy. Anyway, I have a ton of random flowers and goodies on hand so I thought I would get to work. It could have only been better if I had a bunch of Friends episodes saved on my dvr for background noise. Actually, I really enjoyed the quiet. It's rare around here so I soaked it all up. I was very productive and made a ton of clippies. If they don't sell at the craft fair, I'll be adding them to my etsy shop. Ok. That's enough rambling ;)

Clippies...

I'll be adding a few new clippies to my Etsy shop over the next couple of days so hop on over and check 'em out (see link on my sidebar). The ones pictured below are the ones that are already in the shop and ready to go. To be honest, I don't really sell many clips on Etsy. I love Etsy! I really really do. But there are SO many shops that sell them, it's sort of challenging. I definitely feel like mine are well priced and pretty cute, but it doesn't seem like enough to get in the game. No biggie of course, because if they sit around here long enough unsold, I just claim them for my baby girl Hayden. It's like an Etsy insurance policy or something. So you see, either I sell them and make a buck, or my baby girl gets extra fancy accessories. See, win win :)

My Craft Cabinet Runneth Over

Hi there, meet my craft cabinet! My craft cabinet has been with me since I started crafting. We had a pretty small condo when we first got married and all of my supplies fit perfectly inside it. Now a days, I have to get a little more creative in order to "stuff" it all in there, but it still gets the job done. In our condo, green was our accent color of choice. Now that we have a house, I tend to stick to more neutral colors and am going for more of a "beachy cottage/french chateau/Anthrolologie.....ok wait. Really, I don't really know what I'm going for. All I do know is that I'm over the green." Luckily, it's a super easy fix :)

First I removed the green fabric (which were old curtain panels from my college apartment). The cabinet doors didn't have any fabric to begin with. I think if I had a craft room, I would be fine with keeping it open. But, this cabinet lives in the center of my home so I think it looks too busy and messy without fabric.

At the moment, I'm fairly organized with my supplies. This is not always the case. Often times I have to brace myself as I open the doors so I can catch whatever falls out. It's actually a fun game sometimes, ha ha.

I got some cheapy muslin type fabric from Walmart. You can't tell in this picture really but it's a bit linen-burlap like and you can see some of the natural fibers. I really like the fabric, but if I'm being honest, it looks a bit boring. I'm fine with it for now, but down the road I may replace it with something that has a bit more texture and interest. Ideally, I would love for this cabinet to be white with the wrought iron panels removed. That's a much bigger project than I'm in the mood for at the moment, so this will have to do. I'm glad I checked this off my to-do list though, I've been meaning to do it since we moved here over a year ago.

I just used my glue gun to make some basic pleats at the top. I feel like this makes it look a bit more put together. All in all, I'm happy with it. Happy crafting people! XO

Painted Pretties

Oh craft paint, how I love thee! What can't you do!?! Check out my Pretty Painted Pumpkins People (ahh, alliteration....see, I was awake most of the time in English class)!! These pretties are super fun and festive, I smile every time I look at them (I also smile when my 19 month old uses them for soccer balls. However, that smile is more out of defeat than anything else, ha ha).

You may be thinking that turquoise isn't exactly a traditional Fall color. I agree. BUT, after the addition of Mr.Coffee Table into my world, I feel like sprinkling turquoise all over the place. It just makes sense in my space now, you know!?

Here's the view from Mr.Coffee Table. Pretty, huh? That birdcage is one of my faves. It can adapt to any season. I glued the little flower to the top of the little pumpkin to make it "cage worthy," ha ha. I know. I'm a freak. I obviously prefer fun/pretty Fall, over "spooky" Halloween decor. I definitely can appreciate both though, especially when my baby girl says "gooky" as we drive out of our tract and pass all the "spooky" headstones and skeletons scattered throughout our neighborhood. Boo!! xo

Drum Roll Please.......

$10. Yep. $10.
Some of you may be thinking that I totally over-paid for it. Others of you may think I got it for a steal. I am definitely in the second category. SERIOUS potential here people. SERIOUS.

"Hmmm, I wonder what will happen when I try to take off the "railing" thingy. Fingers crossed!" And of course, eighty billion holes! Not one or two...eighty billion. Ugh.

I didn't have any spackle (of course), so the hubby said caulk would do the trick. I kinda wish I made a trip to the store to get spackle. I feel like the caulk is a bit less sturdy (since it dries kinda rubbery), but it turned out ok.

Let the spray painting begin! This is my super official spray painting system, ha ha! As you can kind of see around the edges, my grass got a makeover too :)

See....SERIOUS! Mr.Coffee table is A-mazing (in my opinion of course). I am so in love with this little table. I was a bit nervous at first to step outside of my neutral comfort zone and go bold, but I am SO glad I did.

AND, as a bonus, we can now safely tuck in our remote when it is not in use (which I admit, is a rarity).

I painted the "R" on the shelf turquoise too....you know, to tie it in so Mr.Coffee Table isn't the only random punch of color in the room. It's a subtle addition, but I think it helps. IN LOVE, In Love, in love! xo

DREAM re-do

Me: (kids in the car on the way home from dinner one night) "Hey Josh (hubby), can we swing by Goodwill on the way home from dinner please? I just wanted to check something really quick. Oh yeah, and there's this thrift shop on the way home that we need to go to also. I have something on hold there that I want to show you."
Josh: "Seriously? Now? O.k., but be quick. The kids won't last long in the car."
Me: "Yippeee! Thank you SO much! I promise, if we end up getting stuff, you won't have to help me re-do it. I'll do ALL the work."
END SCENE.



(Notice the man and sander in the left corner)

Eeeeeew. pink speckled contact paper. NOT cool.

NOTE: I super promise that I did NOT ask them to help. I was inside putting the baby down for a nap and when I came out to the garage they were both hard at work. AWESOME!

Oooooooooh. Ahhhhhhhhhhhh.

Ta-daa!!!!! Seriously IN LOVE with this! I have been dying for more storage in my kitchen and this buffet is perfect!! $65 at a thrift store makes it even better. I often daydream that my home will someday resemble a page in the Ballard Designs catalogue, and this pretty chalk board is a nod to that dream. $20 at goodwill on a last minute-rushed trip definitely adds to the magic. This is a re-post from my family blog from August but I definitely thought it was worth sharing again here on "My Third True Love." I am happy every time I walk into my kitchen because of these beauties. Yay! p.s. to defend myself, I did the chalkboard 100% on my own. I also did the final coat of black on the buffet, distressed the edges, painted the hardware, and did like 5 coats of poly over the top. It was hard at times, and very fun. It is AWESOME!!! Ha ha, can you tell I'm feeling a tad guilty about having the boys help me. Again - I didn't ask (but was thrilled we could do it all together). xo

Baby Blocks...

From this.......

To this! C-U-T-E (if I do say so myself) I love to craft. If you know me, this is not news. My craftiness has primarily been used for personal needs (those of you who know me have probably never seen a picture of my baby girl without a flower clip in her hair, ha ha). I get crafty for my Etsy shop too. Sometimes, along with Etsy and my personal crafting, I take some orders from family & friends. These cute baby blocks fall into this category. A friend of mine was going to a baby shower and wanted to bring a unique gift for the bun in the oven. The nursery scheme was "shades of green" and his adorable name is Kellan. Ta-daa! Hopefully these little blocks will be the hit of the shower. Super easy to do. All I used was unfinished wood blocks (that you can get at any craft store), craft paint, pretty paper, mod podge, and Alphabet stickers. Simple, sweet & easy. That's my kind of crafting!

From the archives....

(Re-post)
I would first like to thank the awesome thrift shop for having this awesome-ish chair for sale for $15. I'LL TAKE IT! Look at those awesome lines, and the caned seat, yummy!!! All it needed was a little TLC, spray paint, & fabric.

Ta-daa!!! Oh yeah! Girly and chic. I am in love with this chair. It is currently living in baby Hayden's room amongst all of the pinky pink and it looks ADORABLE! Never under estimate a cheap chair with pretty lines!

IN.LOVE.

NEW blog baby!!!!

Hi friends!!! Welcome to my SECOND blog - "My Third True Love."
I first want to stay that I am definitely keeping my original blog http://www.happyrichardsonfamily.blogspot.com/ (& keeping it private). The Internet can be a scary place sometimes, and I feel better about keeping our personal stuff private. I will still be updating it often so definitely check in from time to time to see what we're up to. The reason for the second blog is because the craft-blogging community is a very social place and I definitely want to be a part of it. In order to do so, I've started this little "crafty" blog where I will showcase some of my crafts, DIY projects, thrifty finds, inspiration, and really anything else I want...(ha ha). I'm not a very good "tutorial" blogger, but I am always happy to share my methods and helpful hints. If there is ever anything you are curious about, please don't hesitate to leave a comment and we can chat. PLEASE become a follower so I can feel like an official crafty blogger. Also, please hang in there while I re-post some of my crafts & stuff so I can have them all in one place :)
xo - Muah!