In a good way. We are 99% finished with our laundry room!
BEFORE:
AFTER:
It feels so good to finish up some projects that we have been wanting to get to. A good friend of mine (hi Sandra) gave me this cute table awhile ago and I have had plans to re-finish it for quite some time now. This weekend was the perfect time for me to do just that. So here is the BEFORE:
and here is the AFTER:
Amazing what a little paint and elbow grease can do! Love it!
When you've been MIA from the blog for so long, the question is where do you begin? And an even bigger question is anybody still reading my silly little posts? My Mom assures me that she is, so Mom, this is for you (and of course anyone else that may still be checking this little blog of mine.)
The never-ending projects on the house are still progressing.
1. The railings are complete!
2. The front yard is 1/2 re-landscaped (ignore my dead planters, I'm still trying to figure out how not to kill my potted plants)
*I spy with my little eye a cute boy creeping into my photos!
Some of my flowers are doing really well...
these roses where on the brink of death and I brought them back (maybe I don't have such a brown thumb after all.)
and the most exciting thing as of late is...
3. The new patio cover!!! Isn't this a work of art?! Brett and his dad (Jed) had this built in just a couple of days! They did a great job, and we are enjoying the shade that it provides.
*Notice the new house color....
We are loving all the progress on our house. It has been a year of hard work, but the house is coming together.
I have been wanting to make a wreath for my front door for a while now, so today I found a little time to craft! Here is my dollar store wreath! I already had the grapevine wreath, so I just needed some spring flowers to jazz it up. So, off I went to the dollar store where I found all the flowers, the glitter eggs and the cute polka dot ribbon to finish my project. Simple, easy and inexpensive....my kind of project! $9.00 for a fun spring wreath, not bad!
and I'm taking advantage of the fact that the little rays of sunshine that have been streaming through my windows amidst the rainy days have motivated me to get a few things done. So with that, I'm back or at least I'm getting there. I actually crafted this week and finished a project that has been in the works for a while now and I must say that I was way excited to finish this project and here's why:
Before:
I love these big windows in my kitchen, but this wall was just way to plain for my taste, so.....
After:
I sewed the curtains and Brett made those awesome shelves for me! We make a good team. He did an amazing job! I love how they turned out here is a close up shot of the detail:
and here they are closed:
for me!!! So, remember the cool toy that I won? Well it showed up on my doorstep earlier this week and it was like Christmas morning for me! I've been playing with it over the last few days, just learning about all the cool stuff that I can do with it and let me tell you, it is FUN!!! So then a week or so ago, Brett bought me another super fun toy (a scroll saw) that I have been playing with and I combined the two and came up with this cute project that we will be making for our Terrfic Tuesday (Super Saturday on a Tuesday night)in Relief Society that is coming up next month: (can you believe that I cut the wood myself?!)
I woke up this morning, and it felt like a crafting day. I was pretty excited so with a head full of ideas, I was ready to sit down and do some crafting and while I did manage to complete a couple of projects, it wasn't quite as quick or relaxing as it could have been thanks to this little munchkin....
But in spite of the many interruptions, I did manage to finish two simple projects and with that my home is a little more festively decorated in honor of Independence Day!
This is my first project, and probably my favorite. I just took 2 plaques that I bought at Wal-mart (I originally bought them for another project that I never got around to)and painted them light tan and then I distressed them. Next, I cut and distressed scrapbook paper to create the stars and stripes which I adhered to the board with mod podge. Notice that the little blue paper is embossed...I love my cuttlebug. Finally I added the little wood star and then I drilled the holes in each plaque so that I could wire them together. There you have it! A fun little flag. So cute, simple and inexpensive (a great way to use up my stash of crafting supplies).
This second project was even simpler than the first, and again I had all the supplies on hand. Just used a little $1 frame from Michaels, painted and distressed, added the little wood star in the corner and then framed a small flag inside...Done! How easy is that...Now go and make your own. I found the idea for this cute project here.
And finally, even though this is not a 4th of July decoration, I still wanted to share my idea for hiding my funny little wet bar. One day this wet bar will be a distant memory, but because there are many projects on the list ahead of removing it, I decided to "cutesify" it....here is my attempt.
I think that it worked. Now I have something cute to look at for now. Next step with the wet bar is figuring out what to hang above it...I'll let you know what that is when I decide what to do there.
So all in all, I think that it was a pretty successful craftin' day if I do say so myself!
I managed to finish up a couple of really simple, spring crafts this weekend. I think that I spent all of about 45 minutes tops for both! Love those quick and easy crafts!
First up: My dollar store Easter tree.
All I did was paint the pot black (it started out as an orangey brown color) and then I glued some moss on top of the (ugly) foam that was in the pot. Then I picked up some fun little ornaments at JoAnns (40% off!) and then I tied a cute little bow to the pot and the top of my tree. I forgot to take a before pic, but I think that the after turned out pretty cute.
Second: My little nest in a can.
I saw this super cute nest in a flour sifter, and I knew that I wanted to make something similar. Since I didn't have a cute vintage flour sifter, I grabbed a tin bucket while I was at the Dollar Tree and spray painted it green to cover up the cute little chicks that adorned it. Cute, but not the look that I was going for. Then I just threw in some moss and then while I was at JoAnns picking up the Easter ornaments, I found this cute nest and the speckled eggs to place in my bucket, used some ribbon from my stash and that was that....another cute little SPRING project complete!
So now I have spring fever. I am ready to create more spring projects, pull out all my spring decor and I am ready for a little spring cleaning!
I made this little craft several weeks ago and I am just now getting around to sharing it here on my blog. This is the Theme for the Young Men and Young Women this year. My friend sent me this link and I knew that I wanted to make something similar to display in my home. I love to have scriptures and spiritual inspiration throughout my home. So even though I am no longer serving in Young Women's and I don't have any boys in Young Men's (yet) I love this scripture and I wanted to make this to remind us to "Be strong and of good courage".
I just cut a 2 x 4 down to the following dimensions:
2 small blocks 3 1/2" x 3 1/2"
middle block 3 1/2" x 7"
Here is the pattern for the paper flower.
and the instructions.
Very fun and easy project!
Finding time to craft these days has proven to be difficult. I find myself coming up with lots of ideas for things to create, but no time to complete them. Well, I am happy to say that I managed to finish a project that I have been needing for sometime now. Here it is:
It is my new write on/ wipe off weekly menu. Every day at our house I answer the question "what's for dinner" multiple times (usually to moans and groans when I give my response). So in order to divert the question, give my kids a chance for dinner input and also to keep myself more organized, I created my weekly menu board.
First:
I created the little baking embellishments for my menu. I used to do a lot of paper piecing several years ago, and I forgot how fun that was! I also created and printed out the weekly schedule.
Second:
I found some fun scrapbook paper in my stash that matched my kitchen and pulled it all together.
Third: I found this cute "leather" frame at a discount grocery store near my home and I "jazzed" it up a bit. I hot glued scrabble tiles (that I found at a garage sale) to spell out DINNER and I am happy to announce that I only burned myself 3 times while trying to get them all lined up neatly. :) Next I decorated a clothespin with scrapbook paper and a ribbon and attached that to the frame as well. I will explain the purpose of the clothespin in just a minute. Last, I wanted my dry erase marker to remain with the frame so that I wouldn't have to hunt it down everytime I needed it, so I took a small piece of elastic from my sewing stash and stapled it to the frame. Then I took some more ribbon and tied it around the elastic to make it look cute! *hint* Be sure to place the marker in the elastic before tying on your ribbon to make sure that you don't tie it too tight.
Once the frame was completed, I put it all together. Now I can just write out a weekly dinner plan on the glass of the frame and just like that it wipes off when we're done so I can start over the next week.
The clothespin is a handy little contraption, because its job is to hold my cute grocery lists that I created to match. Now as I am planning dinners, I can just jot done on my list what I need at the store each week to prepare the planned meals. So simple, convenient and organized. The clothespin is also handy at holding on to your recipes that you are using that week.
One more tip. On the back of the frame I adhered an envelope and in the envelope is a card with a list of some of our favorite dinners to help me plan for the week. I often find that I can't remember what my family likes to eat, so now I have a quick little reference guide to help me plan. *see 30 meals here*
That's it! Now go make one for yourself and one for a friend. Makes a great Christmas gift! And my gift to you...
my grocery list and menu plan
FREE for you to print and use!
at our house. At least inside, outside it is still 100 degrees and can I just say that I am not happy about it. Every fall I ask myself why I live here. Fall is my favorite season of the year with summer being my least favorite go figure. But it is what it is and even if I can't enjoy fall outdoors (yet), I can bring a little bit of it inside to help me get into a festive fall mood. Now if only I could justify turning on my oven in this heat, I would make up some yummy loaves of pumpkin bread! So in honor of the first day of fall yesterday, here is what we did...
My shelf. 
I just hung this up yesterday and I love it. The black frame, apple topiary and the grapevine wreath were all thrift store finds! The black frame was a lovely lime green when I bought it and I just painted over it, put new ribbon on it and used a vinyl letter C (our family monogram) to jazz it up. And how cool is that grapevine wreath?! I love that it is square and oval. Cute! The pinecone was a little souvenir from Tahoe!
My mantle:
Remember my pumpkins from last year? Here they are...I still love them.
My Table:
My dining table:
I made these pumpkins last year using this tutorial. So cute, easy and fun. I may have to make a few more this year as you can never have too many pumpkins ♥ 
My hutch:
My living/ dining room:
