Super Saturday Cuteness

This last weekend was our church's Super Saturday Craft Day. There were lots of cute things to make and I was REALLY excited about it all ... so of course my husband had to work unexpectedly. Which wouldn't have been a problem (they were offering free child care), except my children also got nasty colds. Which quickly ended my fun day of crafts and self-indulgence. So, I finished up one of the crafts last night & had to show this cuteness! It's just simple wood, painted with craft paint, add the vinyl & paint mod podge all over ... wah-lah! SUPER CUTE! :) I've ordered four more now for gifts for next year ... LOVE IT! :)

Girls Room - The Dresser -

I love this little dresser and the color green I painted it! I want to get some pink crystal knobs, but I'm waiting until they go on sale at Hobby Lobby (at $6 a pop, I gotta get them on sale!), now I'm keeping my eye out at the auction for a little vanity ... here's hoping one comes up soon! Butterfly blogged about here.

Busy, Busy Days

So on Monday, after a very full day of school, my husband surprised the kids by getting off work an hour early. We quickly packed up and went to a local state park, where we fished , roasted hot dogs & made smores and the kids were in heaven. To say we all slept well after such a busy day on Monday would be an understatement. I keep thinking the days will slow down a bit now that school is going, but they seem to be even busier than ever. So I have finished nothing in almost a week now ... and most of the projects require next to nothing to finish either ... maybe I should start drinking soda again, it would certainly help me finish more on my to-do list, lol. I realized I never posted pictures of the things finished in Savannah's room, so here's the first project for her room. I cut out a TON of circles with my cricut to make some bunting for the room. When you can't paint, you gotta make more pops of color wherever you can! Then I saved all the little scraps for another project I'll take some pics & post tomorrow. :)

Boys Room -Postcard Frame-

I love it when we can use one thing to cross off many goals on a list. :) Hunter needed to start a collection of some sort for a cub scout goal ... and since there are so many places we can travel here within an hour, and he already had a fun postcard from San Fransisco & Japan (from my Mom's travels) ... it seemed like the perfect idea! We picked up this AWESOME frame at the Goodwill for less $4 ... than Hunter sanded, and I showed him how to use spray paint primer. We picked up cork from Hobby Lobby for 40% off and used some extra batting I already had and some fabric I saw at Hobby Lobby as well. We decided that using ribbon along the board would make it more friendly for the younger boys ... and wah-lah! This is actually the most expensive thing I have done so far ... but still less than $20, and it passed off a cub scout goal for Hunter too! Double woo-hoo!

Improved Hair Clip Holder

I got this HUGE frame for $2.50 at the auction last summer. I popped the ugly before picture out and painted it this teal. Since it's so large, every attempt I made at putting ribbon on it to hold hair clips led to the ribbon bending funny, and I didn't know what I was going to do with it instead. THEN (!!!) I saw a picture of someone's hairbow holder with chicken wire (genius!) and I told Ryan that's what I needed him to do for me! :)My husband is awesome ... 'nuff said. Now to make enough bows to fill it up more properly ...

Our new sitting area

So right after Lizzie was born, a double seater bench came up for bid at the local auction, and Ryan was sweet enough to go get it for me. $40 was a pretty high price for something at this auction (especially if you had seen it before we painted it!), but he knew how much I wanted it and was sweet enough to get it for me. :) I finally got around to painting it, and now I just have a few spots to touch up ... but I love it! I made a slip covered pillow cover with some yummy fabric my friend gave and I think it looks fantastic right at the top of the stairs ... a lot less cluttered then it was before! :) And just wait until you see the new curtains I made out of the same checkered fabric ... that is ... if ny husband ever is home long enough to hang them up for me, lol.

PB Vintage Keys Artwork

This has been on my list of things to make for way too long ... and I finally got a chance to do it! Thanks to my new crafting partner. :) I haven't never had a friend to sit and do crafts with like this since Danielle moved to Texas ... love it! Here's the link to the tutorial.
We did follow her directions, but I cut out the circles and letters with my cricut. Then we placed them both down in their spot and dabbed paint all around ... so much faster that way! I love the end result and have already hung it up ... and as soon as I finish the part underneath I'll have to show the full reveal! :)

Book Wreath

I know, I know I'm like the LAST person on the planet to make one ... this project made me nervous ... seriously nervous. What if it turned into an epic fail??? And I spent $1 on the wreath form (from the dollar store) ... and hot glued an entire book for nothing??? I know ... fake drama in my mind ... but I seriously worry about things like that and as a result I NEVER start the stupid project. LOL. I actually finished this BEFORE the baby was born ... but never hung it up until just the other day ... love it! :)

Last Week's Goal

So last week I had two goals. To make another butterfly artwork for a sweet little girl who was having her princess tea party and the other was to finish the last three throw pillows for our bed ... and here's the pillowcases I made also with this tutorial. I was so excited as I was finishing the final stitches on these pillows. I looked at my husband and told him, "isn't it awesome?!? Now we won't have the plain pillow forms on our floor anymore!" To which he replied, "Yep! Now we'll just have the covered pillows on the floor."He's such a teaser. LOL. But it's true ... at least now I feel more motivated to "think" about making the bed. ;)

Savannah's Blanket

I realized I forgot to post finished pictures of Savannah's blanket! I did the super simple 9 patch with sashing between the squares. I wanted it to be something that would look nice, have all the fun, different prints in the ginger blossom set and still be okay to be used. I know she'll color on it with something permanent at some point, or put her dirty feet on it. And that's okay. It's her blanket, for her to love and destroy.I used the stripe print for the sashing and the backing is just the sheet that came with the sheet set I got for the mattress. My kids never really use the sheets anyways and the coloring looks perfect. When I gave it to her (all finished), she hugged & kissed it and kept telling me, "thank you mommy!" :) (Blogged about: Here, here, here and here.)

Tile Wording

I keep meaning to post this, and now is as good a time as any! My friend Lacie had a cricut and cut out all the vinyl lettering for me and Ryan painted the board & put the knobs on while I was pregnant (and couldn't paint). The tiles were only 20 cents each and I picked up a box of 48 of them. I have lots of cute sayings, but for the everyday, be kind seemed the best idea & reminder for our home. I also have boo, gobble, joy (for christmas), love and a couple others. Thanks Lacie for the darling cut outs!!! :)

Our Improved Front Room

Nothing like a baby blessing to get my butt in gear and get some UFO's done! Here's the before: And here's the after:The fabric was all only $3 a yard from a local home fabric store. The rug ended up being the "inspirational piece" for all the coloring ... reds, greens, browns, & yellows.

I used the thrifty decor chick & nesting place's ideas for curtains. Upholstery tacks were only $1.47 at Wal-Mart and look at the awesome pleated windows as a result!Seriously the whole window "mistreatment" took about an hour from start to finish ... love it! :)

Then I did a knock-off version of the temples from the cultural hall website. I was able to photoshop a similar looking version of the St. George temple (where we were married) and even to personalize it for only $3, the frame was $17 ... a lot cheaper than the $200 on-line price tag ($140 at Costco). The rest of the odds n' ends were picked up from Tai Pan Trading (in St. George ... love that place!). It helps complete that odd little corner ...

Then the family tree I picked up (for only $2.50 from a Hallmark clearance center a couple of years ago) was put on that little section of a wall on the window. I love the gold frame that frames it all in. It fits and fills up the space perfectly. And here's the throw pillows (I stole the stuffing from the other pillows). We pretty much already had everything, but the total spent was around $100 for all the throw pillows, curtains, frames for Ryan's diplomas, everything! LOVE IT!!! :)

Butterfly Artwork

So this was the inspirational piece ... and this was my version ... and my friend Christy who did one on the same day with me. (I like hers better)An awesome friend of mine cut the circles out for us using her cricut. Then it took us most of a day to lay out the pieces, and get the shapes we wanted. We hot glued the buttons down. And we stitched the paper pieces, then spray glued them down. The process of actually adhering the pieces all down took less than an hour. And the best part is, it's a LOT less than the $150 price tag of Pottery Barn Kids! :)

Price Break Down:

Scrapbook Paper - $1.20 (Bought @ Jo-Ann's for 5 sheets for $1)

Canvas Board - $9.00 (size is 24" x 24")

Buttons - $1.50 (found in the bead/craft section at Wal-Mart, one bag is 4 oz & was enough)

Over a year in the making

This took a bit longer as the final project & so it's more like 7 projects in 17 days. I under-estimated the paint time, touch up painting and then touching up the touch up painting time. LOL. :)

I have spent a little over a year collecting and looking for bargains on alphabet letters. I had seen this cute collection of different sizes, colors and shapes on a Pottery Barn Kids magazine picture and have dreamed of it ever since.

The last month or so though I really have been spending more time on it. I found those letters at Goodwill and then some clearance letters at Wal-Mart for only 18 cents each! The kids helped paint them all... and then others have scrapbook paper on them ... some have an attempt at the "artistic" set up ... and some are VERY large ...I had earmarked this etsy shop, Under My Umbrella months ago, just waiting for a chance to order from her and she was awesome to work with and a FANTASTIC deal! :) I e-bay'd Hunter's old set of curtains (from Pottery Barn Kids) and that money was almost enough to get six letters from her (with shipping). Look at how cute her letters are! So I spent last week doing a couple of letters a day and here's the end result! I love, love, love this alphabet mural. It's got different sizes, shapes and it really hasn't cost us too much out of pocket (about $30!!!). Mainly sales, and slowly, slowly working on it. I pulled it out the other day to show some of it to Mati and she made the comment that I had been working on this for a loooooong time. But this was so worth the wait! Now to find a cute new light switch cover. ;)