{GROCERY} sign

Happy Fourth of July eve everyone :) Our 4th of July plans tomorrow will include a trolley ride, the beach, a bbq, and fireworks...oh, and root beer floats :)

I wanted to share a quick kitchen project I did recently. I made a sign :) Ooooh, ahhhh. lol.

First step, buy a board. I got mine at Home Depot and it was pretty poplar wood with a great color and grain to it. I had a 3.5' piece cut and was on my way.

I loved the grain and grayish color to the wood so I decided to keep it as is instead of painting over it.

Next step, pick a font.
I printed my BIG letters out individually on card stock.

Then I cut them out...

And traced them on my wood board using a pencil.

I used basic acrylic craft paint to fill in the letters...

After they were completely dry, I took out my palm sander and went to work. Once the initial distressing was done, I made a white paint/water mixture and sort of "white-washed" the whole piece to give it more of an aged look.

Here is the final product :)

close-up shot of the lettering...

And here is a shot of it from the doorway of the kitchen....

(& a teaser kitchen cabinet shot).

I was trying to wait till we got our new kitchen windows before I did any reveals. Alas, it is taking WAY too long and I am getting impatient. Kitchen reveal will be on Monday (with old windows). I'm soooooo excited to show it to you!!!!

Have a happy and safe 4th everyone :)

Burlap flag o' Comfort

Hello there friends. Are you annoyed with me for leaving you hanging on the kitchen reveal? Do you not really follow me anymore because I never have new posts? Well, if you are out there, I promise the kitchen reveal with happen sooooon. There are just a couple finishing details that need to happen before I show her off :) Stay tuned, k!?

Moving on.
Burlap. Comforting? Wha!?

O.k. You know those moments as a mom when your head is spinning, your temper is boiling up, and you just need to take a big deep breath and calm down before you explode. I know this feeling all too well (remember, I'm the mom that yells). The Summer "non-routine" was starting to get to me just as the crafty urge struck. I remembered one of my "stuff to make" pins from long ago and I knew it was a must.

"It's O.k."

I got my tools set up (including: sewing machine, iron, glue gun, spray paint etc) and got to work.

First I took my dowel and ball caps outside and spray painted them, what else, gold. While those were drying, I ironed my burlap (wrinkly from not being stored properly, ugh) and cut it to size.

I used my sewing machine to sew around the edges as well as sew a rod pocket (sorry for the lack of pictures, I never claimed to be a good tutor).

Next, I sewed from fancy trim along the bottom.

 After all the sewing was done, I printed the letters out on card stock and cut them out. I used them as stencils and traced them right onto my burlap.

After that I just filled in the outlines with acrylic paint and called it a day :)

I'll apologize again for my poor tutorial skills and skip to the end:

 

Now, when I reach my boiling point, I can look up at this comforting burlap sign, take my deep breath, and calm the heck down. lol.

Happy Summer everyone!!!

It's the little things

Hi friends! I'm back :) It has been a while, huh!? I have my little miss on Spring break this week, and Noah's is next week. Josh's gramps passed away :( and my boy had the stomach flu last week (my very least favorite illness on the planet) and we have been busy busy with life. One thing we (by we, I mean my husband and father in law) have been up to is drywalling our icky garage.

Back story: My grandparents moved in to this house in 1982 and not one thing was done to the garage (except it was filled with the hoarded goods of ALL of my relatives). Ever since we moved here 3.5 years ago, Josh has been dreaming of having a nice garage. I am happy to report that we have accomplished phase one. Drywall. Ooooh, sounds exciting huh? Lol, well, it is for us :)

Before: EEEEW!

The first step was to add some electrical outlets. Eventually my hubby wants a work bench and possibly an energy efficient deep freezer so we needed to add these prior to drywalling.

After the electrical was done, it was time to drywall, mud, and paint :)

I didn't take too many "in progress" pictures, but here is what the after looks like:

Oooooh, ahhhhhhh! So clean and pretty! Love it!

I told my hubby that I wanted to make the laundry area "cute." He wasn't too thrilled with my gold polka dots suggestion, so I decided to keep it simple. My first addition.....

Chalkboard :)
Next, Josh added a cabinet for all of the laundry detergent etc...

My favorite feature that he added was this Martha Stewart hanging bar (from home depot I think). Lately I have been buying clothes that require "hang drying" (typically, I shy away from high maintenance laundry items) so this is going to be PERFECT!

(hang dry and iron. really, sweater!!? ugh)
LOVE love LoVe!

It is definitely still a garage. Cords, junk, water heater etc.

But still, it's definitely a HUGE improvement from where we started. I am sooooo lucky that my hubby is so handy and that my father in law was able to help him execute this big project. I'm still lobbying for gold polka dots and a cool light fixture. Baby steps. Pick my battles. Enjoy the ride :)
Happy almost Friday everyone!

If it ain't broke.....

Fix it anyway!! Lol


Happy Tuesday everyone. I hope you all had a nice long weekend. We had really beautiful weather here in SoCal so we had a beachy, picnicky weekend. Birds chirped. Leaves blew in the breeze. My cheeks got rosy in the sun. It was wonderful.

Life really is beautiful.

That leads me to my project for the day. A few years ago, my sister bought me this awesome painting from Pier1. I just loved it so so much and since she loves me so so much, she bought it for me. awwww. My sis is the best!

 

It has been hanging over the "brown beast" aka our guest bed in the den that sits in the center of our home. I walk by it a zillion times a day. I often notice it hanging there, but sometimes I don't. It's just a part of our house. I love it. It means a lot to me. It makes me happy.

 

Well, today, I walked past it and noticed it. Only, not for the awesomenss that I usually do. I noticed that hanging over the brown beast, the plum/gold/brown hue looked kinda muddy and dark. I never saw it that way, but all the sudden I did. Instantly I new what to do....

If you have been reading this blog for a while, you know that nothing is safe from my aqua paint. I used my Martha Stewart craft paint (color: Surf) and simply painted over the background color with a foam brush.

Two coats later and poof!

 

Lighter and brighter and very much more "me."

I may end up moving it into my bedroom. It would look really pretty hanging over my bed now that it's so bright and happy. I didn't factor in that the new aqua color may clash a bit with the icy blue color of the highboy dresser. That's what happens when you are impulsive I guess. haha!

 

It wasn't super perfectly painted to begin with...kinda free form and splotchy. This made it so I didn't have to be super careful when I was painting over it (which works out nicely for me - lol).

 



I like it so much better now :)

 I looooved it before, but now it just pops more and fits in with the rest of our decor. The brown beast with all ways be beasty. Some day I see an awesome murphy bed or caned day bed or some other less unsightly guest bed solution. For now, the beast is brightened up with some aqua love. Sigh. I love you aqua!

Happy day to you :)

Holiday Home Tour

Hello everyone, I hope your holiday season is going smoothly so far. I have been a maniac lately, but let's face it, that's par the for the course. Anyway, my house was finally clean enough to take pics (I had guests over yesterday), so I thought I would share my 2012 holiday home with you. Ready?!

Let's start with the outside, shall we!?
This is what greets you at my front door. If you weren't feeling the joy before you got to my house, you are now :)

Don't forget these guys...

The one on the left with the pom pom nose is Rudolph, and the one on the right is Hello Kitty (can you tell which kid named which deer).

Big pic

Now let's take a look inside.
Living room...

Here's a close-up of my favorite addition this year:

Can you tell what my new favorite thing is??
closer.....

Vintage vintage vintage! I am IN LOVE with all of these pretty vintage ornaments. I want them on display year round. lol.

Where for art thou baby Jesus (Josh hides him from me until midnight on Xmas eve and then he magically appears in the manger).

Those are the vintage bulbs I got at a garage sale in the Spring for $.50. Major score :)

Here are some more living room pics...

My ultimate favorite Xmas decoration of all time...

I will putting this wreath up every year until the end of time. Period.

I got this sweet angel tree topper at the flea market. My husband is not a fan. It reminds me of one my Grandma had long long ago. Definitely an acquired taste, but I love her :)

Sooooo many sentimental and adorable ornaments on our tree. The more the better, that's my motto.

In the den to the right of the living room, I have a fun new addition ($20 after Xmas sale last year)

Here's a closer look...

I wanted to find a galvanized pail to put the ugly stand in, but no such luck. Maybe next year.

 

Pom poms, book pages, cherished family pictures. I can't really think of much more that makes me this happy :)

Moving on.
I can't, in good conscience, show you my whole crafting space. Messy. But here are a couple holiday cuties that help keep me in the mood while I'm glittering and glue gunning everything in sight.

Elfie Elf is risking getting glittered. apparently he likes vintage florals ;)

The hall between the kid's rooms has their handmade Xmas tree banner from Smartbottom Kids. They got so excited to see it when I pulled it out of the box this year!!

Each kid (spoiled) got their own tree this year ($15 after Xmas sale at wal mart last year)
Hayden's:

 

Hayden threw a tantrum because she wanted a greeeeeeen one. See. Spoiled.

Look at this cute little ornament I got at the flea market for her...

Noah's: (Noah has my hubby's childhood lionel train in his room too)

He added this to his tree topper...

And he picked these out at the Dollar Tree...

 

Last but not least, the kitchen...

Chalkboard....

Table....

 

Bulletin board filling up with happy cards. The Frosty bunting was an awesome gift from one of my besties last year....

Coffee station...

 



We've been using the cute little Santa plate I got at the flea as a spoon rest. I think on Christmas, it will be holding a very special cookie for a very special someone :)

 

Well, that's about it. My bedroom/bathroom get holiday neglected. The guest bathroom has a few holiday touches, but I forgot to take a photo. It's a bathroom. Nothing magical. Lol.

 

Thanks for coming on the picture-mania tour. I hope you all have a great rest of the week!!