Roadkill Rescue - Hubby files

Hello all, I hope you are having a nice week so far. I finally, finally tackled a diy project. It-has-been-a-while. haha! This Summer has been a busy one so far so I'm having a hard time keeping it all together. School routine will be here before we know it, so I'm taking advantage of lazy beach days and being a blob :)

Remember back when I showed you the mirror that my hubby found with a "free" sign on it??

As I mentioned previously, I was SUPER shocked when he actually brought a piece of "junk" into the house rather than out. I instantly fell in love with this mirror and knew it had to go somewhere special. I also knew I wanted to paint it.....hmmm....what to do?

First - I had to tape it.

UGH! It was a total pain to tape. Took forever.

Finally!! haha! NO fun.

I decided the guest/kid bathroom would be the best spot for it. It doesn't exactly "go" with the fixtures in there really, but those will all change eventually so I thought I would try it out. Here is a before pic of the boring bathroom.

Not terrible, but definitely not fabulous either. This bathroom doesn't get any natural light at all which is a total bummer. Hopefully the new mirror helps brighten things up a bit in there :)

Here's the after shot for ya :)

I stayed in my comfort zone and went with my go-to favorite color aqua. I like the way it looks with the yellow accents that I already had in there. That awesome wooden sign is from my friend Pamela at PBJStories. She's super talented and I was lucky to win the first giveaway ever on her blog. I was sooooo excited when I found out I won!

The mirror had some old hardware on it and I decided to leave it on there. I want to remember that this was a piece that was used somewhere else in it's past life, and now it lives with us :)

From what I could tell, it looks like it was attached to a dresser.
Along with the light distressing I gave it, there were also some fun chippy patches that I left alone. I wanted to let the mirror show it's age and character a bit.

All in all I think it looks pretty cute in there.

("Hayden - look in the mirror and smile for Mommy.")
fail #1.

fail #2

She's just so cooperative, huh!?

I hope you like this mini makeover/roadkill rescue project. I am still so proud of my sweet husband for dragging it home! He must reeaalllly love me ;)

Have a great day!

Sweeter Sweets

HaPpY weekend everyone!!!
I've been a crafting fool lately and added another new item for my Etsy shop. I had a bunch of felt strips cut after making the fancy felt hair bows so I decided to continue with the fancy felt theme. Introducing the Fancy Schmancy Dessert Flags by OohLalaCo!!!

(Cute packaging is a must for my little shop so I obsessed spent lots of time figuring out the best way to package these little flags. Now they will arrive at their new home safely while looking cute at the same time. Yay!)

Here is a look of them in action....

(What? You don't bring your cupcakes outside in front of your old wood fence to take pictures? Weird).

They're very colorful and fun, and make your sweets taste even sweeter. I promise, try it!! haha! I plan to make some holiday color stories for these little flags too so stay tuned. Working with felt is fun and once I get going, there's no stopping me (and yes, I bought these cupcakes specifically for this photo shoot. My kids were not sad about getting to eat them after).

So, go. Go! GO SHOPPING!!! Haha, j/k of course. Hoping these little flags sell well. If not, I'll just have to throw a cupcake pity party (YUM).

Happy day to you people!

Fancy Schmancy etc

Hello there friends, happy day to you all :)
I have finally finished making & packaging my fancy schmancy felt hair bows for my etsy shop. If you follow me on instagram (my user name is arichardson79) then you already saw this pic.

 Seriously....my thumb has been numb for the last 3 days after the scissor marathon it took to make these beauties. Not joking. I made a bunch of these fun bows and fumbled through it on my own. After I figured it out and got rolling, I saw this tutorial on pinterest. It would have been handy to have this info prior to getting started. Ah well :/

Ready for some eye candy?!

Summer Sorbet.....

Sweet Love.....

Sunny Day...

Ocean Dreamin'.....

You likey??! I likey! I'm discovering that I like what I make more than the masses do. Haha. Still crickets chirping in my shop but hopefully as I keep adding new pretties, that will change :)

And here's a pic that makes my heart smile....

Noah had his first Lemonade stand at the park on Saturday and had a blast. He made $29!! A cute little old lady drove by and just gave him money as a donation for being a cute boy :)

Check!

AND - my heart is also happy because my sweet hubby begrudgingly planted 3 big hydrangeas in the front yard (against his wishes). He's not a fan of the bloom but they are one of my favorites. It was a lot of hard work to prepare the neglected, sandy soil for plants, but he did it just for me. Love that man!

(I will try not to kill u).

Happy Summer everyone!!!

ALERT - I used my sewing machine.

H-e-l-l-o people! You read that title right. I actually sewed. Straight lines. A LOT of them!!! Remember me?? The girl that glue gunned seat covers on my chair cushion?? Remember me?? the queen of the no-sew bunting using iron-on hem tape?? Yep, that's me. I am no longer a sewing machine avoider. Nope. Not anymore :) Yay!

Back story....My Etsy shop has been at a bit of a stand-still. I haven't been focusing on it much lately, and it shows (insert crickets chirping sound here). Anyway, I've been wanting to get crafty and use some supplies that I have on hand to make some new fun items for my shop. I have a couple other things in the works, but this first one I want to share with you is super girly and fun.

Introducing The Garden Party Bunting :)

I had some fun this morning and set up a little "garden party" in my backyard. Haha!! If only Hayden was the type of child that would cooperate, I would have had her pose for me. Nope. Not happenin'!

I know the idea of a bunting made out of vintage sheets isn't original to me, but I think I put my girly eclectic spin on it. I also think these would look so cute at a tea party, baby shower, in a craft room, etc. The possibilities are endless!

All of my vintage sheets have a water-color floral look to them so I thought they were perfectly suited for a girly garden party. Oh how I wish I had an occasion to throw a fabulous garden party {sigh}.

I made five of these so far and they are packaged up and ready to go :)

And here's a close-up of my straight lines...YAY. Seriously people, this is a big accomplishment for me :)

Hooray for sewing!!!

Now c'mon someone...throw a garden party!

 

Seeing RED

Monday, Monday, Monday. Haha!
This past weekend, I spent my time standing next to one of my best friends as she married her best friend. My beautiful friend Susie married her sweet Grady in Pasadena and it was wonderful!!! Here is a pic of the happy couple (isn't my friend stunning!?). They are SO in love and it was really sweet to be a part of such a special day.

As promised last week, finally I have a diy to share. I know, it has been-a-while. haha! Thanks for hangin' in people!

A loooong time ago, I painted some boring windsor chairs white. I bought 4 of them for $20 on Craig's List to be my filler chairs when we have to put the extra leaves in our table for guests. Josh wishes we could just use the hideous folding chairs we have stacked in the garage, but I am not on board. These ones don't collapse, but they are much more pleasing to the eye. Here is a pathetic before shot....(and please disregard my dead lawn. Our backyard will be getting an overhaul as soon as the budget allows).

They have been white for a couple years now and they were looking super dingy and boring. It was time for a change.

Had they not already been painted white, I would have been seriously tempted to attempt this look that I saw on pinterest....

source



Aren't those dreamy!!? I'm pretty much in love with them. But, they were painted white, and I am not a fan of stripping so my dream ended there. Moving on.

First, I taped up the feet....

Then I saw RED.

BAM! Red!!! Oh yeah - Love!

My favorite part are the chippy white feet....

I know this look is supposed to be "dipped" but this is sort of the reverse ....like the chairs were dipped and the feet stayed the same.

I originally thought I wanted to "distress the heck out of these bad boys" so I went to town with my sander. NOT a good idea. The distressing ended up looking fake and because of the white undercoat, it kind of gave it a pinkish tint that I was not loving.



Not a fan.

So they went back outside and got re-sprayed. Fun. NOT.

Here they are at our table after we expanded it for out 4th of July dinner...

Big picture...

feety feet.

I think I will like the look of them more as they get naturally distressed over time (which they most definitely will).

Off to swimming lessons we go :)

Happy Summer!