Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Happiness list #8 ~

Well helloooooo friends!

I hope you are having a great week so far.  

I'm still in those January blues.  Which better get outta here quick like... tomorrow is February!  What the WHAT?!?!  

*Sigh*  

Here is this weeks list: Kinda short... it was a stretch this time.


Caeleigh spent the weekend again.  She got this dress-up outfit with the money she earned working with me.  Awwwwww!!




Here she is reading to her Uncle Drew.  She's such an amazing reader and speller.   She's not even in school yet!  It astounds me!






 Kita's 'marshmallow feet'.  Actually, these have made me happy since the first day she was with us.  




Mirasole, our asthma kitty feeling well enough to attack the string.  




Orange muffins.  Messy... but OH SO YUMMY!!!


My Ballard inspired inspiration boards. 



Hoping your happiness list is very long this week!


XOXO

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Ballard Design knock-off ~

Howdy friends!  

I'm really excited to show you my little project this weekend.  

I love Ballard Designs.  I love every. single. thing. in their catalogs.  The prices?  Yeah, not so much!  Their Spring catalog came in the mail recently and I got the idea for this next project from their pages.  The price difference is staggering... I mean, staggering. 





I saw these and knew I could make something just as gorgeous. 

I got all my supplies at Joann's, even printed a 40% off coupon. 

The cork boards were on sale for $7.49. I got 3 of them:





Then I got 3 yards of the dark brown burlap and 6 packages of decorative nails.  Don't ask the store person for 'nailhead trim'... they won't know what you are talking about.  The burlap was on sale for $2.99 a yard and the nails were $1.49 per pack.  I went a little crazy at the store and got too much burlap and nails.  Better to have too much than not enough!  I really only used about 1 1/2 yards, if that.  








I cut the burlap and used my trusty hot glue gun to secure it to the back:




These cork boards were mounted to cardboard.  So, the nails just pushed right through.  I didn't even need to hammer them into place.  That also meant that if I  didn't get one spaced just right, I could take it right out and place it again.

  





I made all 3 of these in 1 hour.  No joke.  The Ballard boards are sold for $89 each.  Mine:  $7.49 per board, $1.49 per pack of nails (1 pack per board), and a half yard of burlap per board $1.50... so mine were just under $11 each. 














I love you Ballard... but, $89?!?!?!  Really?!?!?





Another mind blower: The $89 cork boards are on backorder at Ballard.  HELLO?!?!? 


My own 'Ballard' inspiration boards!  Hope you love them as much as I do!  


XOXOXO 

Linking to: 


Faded Charm
French Country Cottage




The Shabby Nest

Funky Junk Interiors
Craft Junkie Too

Thursday, January 26, 2012

How to contact Meg ~



Wednesday, January 25, 2012

My talented hubby and his Princess ~

Hey ya'll!  Having a good hump day?  

I've told you about our cancer baby, Nikita (Kita Bug, Bobo, Kita Bo Bita, Hannah Montana... she actually responds most to Hannah Montana, go figure.) and how she won over the heart of her Dad from day 1.  

Kita is a miracle.  A living, breathing, meowing, purring, running, chasing, playing, biting miracle.   Her love of her Daddy is legendary.  We have a power struggle, Kita and I, when it comes to her Daddy.  When Kita is being held and loved on by her Daddy, she looks at me giving me the dirtiest looks.  Almost saying "Na na, na, na na!!" and I cuss her out.  Little snotty girl.  

Even though she is completely Daddy's Girl, I adore her as well.  Sure, the past few years we kinda have a love/hate relationship... but I have cried oceans of tears, lost months of sleep, used up weeks of sick and vacation time and paid a fortune (literally) for this sweet soul.  It's truly a miracle that she is with us 2 1/2 years after being diagnosed with cancer.  She is happy, healthy and thriving.  She is so brave and strong... not to mention a fighter.  When I look at her... my heart skips a beat and I choke up.  All that we have been through... has been SO worth it. 

I wanted to share with you these spectacular images Drew caught of our girl, basking in the Sunday afternoon sun.  


















And this one... kills me:    





We love you Kita Bug... our little miracle. 



XOXOX

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Happiness list #7 ~

Howdy friends!  Having a good week?  I hope so!  

I've been struggling to focus this week... anyone else?

Here is my list of happy for the past week: 


The beautiful flowers my hubby sent me for my birthday.  He knows I've been in a funk, and these cheered me right up.  




Aren't snickerdoodles divine??  *slurp*!!




Lionel Logue's (Geoffrey Rush's) office in "The King's Speech".  This room is absolutely gorgeous in my opinion.  I love every little detail. 



 My new blogging station/desk re-do.




A 'real' snow event.




My sweet little 'stray's no longer' babies.  They are loved, safe, warm and fed.  I wish this for all animals. 





Enjoy the little things this week!


XOXOXO

Sunday, January 22, 2012

It all started with leftover paint ~

Happy Sunday nutty people! 

What a crazy weekend here.  Friday was my Birthday, and I painted.  Woke up Saturday to POURING rain.  Yes, it's January and it was pouring rain.  So, what does that mean??  Basement flooding... yet again.  So, Drew and I were out in the freezing rain trying to keep it from getting any worse.  To top it all off, it was too dark to get any decent pics of my project.  

But, just like they say in "Annie"... The sun will come out tomorrow!  And it did.  Beautiful (cold) sunshiny day today. 

I've been looking online for a cute, cheap desk to refinish for a blogging station in the master bedroom.  I've been tweaking out my neck, laying in bed with the laptop while I blog.  Not a happy thing.  Anyway, I really havent found anything I like that isn't far too expensive.  Then I realized I have the table that was replaced by the refinished farm table just taking up space.  

I wasn't thrilled that the table was black.  The bed frame is black, the TV stand is black... I wanted something different and something I could make look 'old'.  I was afraid to paint this one because I knew it would be hard to get a good finish.  But, I saw a table online that used this technique and I LOVED it!  I knew it would be perfect for this table/desk.  

Here is how the table started out: (Sorry, bad night time pics)

 


I have so many leftover paints hanging around from previous projects, I gathered them up and started painting the different pieces different colors:



Yep, I painted this table in my living room.  With only old catalogs under the legs.  I'm that good.  :-) The best part about a paint technique like this, is it doesn't matter how perfect it is.  The more imperfect, the better I say!

I then coated her with 2 coats of the kitchen cabinet paint.  Which, although it's a gorgeous cross between white and cream... turns out to be a VERY durable paint.  And quite hard to sand nicely!  We live, and we learn.  

Saturday I spent about 2 hours with my electric sander (220 grit paper) sanding her.  Yes, I did this in the living room.  It was pouring rain, the table weighs a ton and I'm the one who has to clean up all the dust.  So, don't judge me.  :-) 

We did take her apart to move her upstairs.  And here is how she looks today: 




Aw, I LOVE it!!  

The swag light is from Ikea.  The light itself was $3.99 and the shade matches our bedding (which was also from Ikea) and was $15.  



The chair, was free.  We found it next to the dumpster at our last residence.  HELLO!?!  It's exactly like the $600 chairs sold at Pottery Barn!  It's in mint condition as well.  The cute little green throw was a steal at Ikea (LOVE Ikea!!) for $2.49.  Everything else you see, we already had on hand.  

Now, I need your help.  I have OCD issues with power cords showing... what do I do with these???



I'm a freak.  OMG this bothers me SO much!  Do I run the cords behind the drywall?  Buy cord covers and paint them to match.  HELP!!!


My favorite part of the table/desk are the legs.  I LOVE the peacock blue paint showing through:




And the yellow details on the skirt: 




I'm really going to enjoy blogging from this lovely little spot.  














 Hopefully you are all having a good weekend!  At least your basement didn't flood... I hope!!  :-) 

Linking to:

Faded Charm 

House of Hepworths
Common Ground 
Stuff and Nonsense 

French Country Cottage 

The Shabby Nest 
Addicted 2 Decorating
Miss Mustard Seed



Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Happiness list #6 ~

Happy hump day friends!

Yes, it's that time again!  Time for this weeks happiness list.  

This one is pretty short and sweet:


Finishing the framing of the other bathroom mirrors.  All. By. Myself. Huzzah!!


We actually had a little bit of snow.  Although, snowmageddon is supposed to hit us this afternoon.  We'll see how happy I am about that!  




My favorite catalogs/magazines coming in the mail on the same day.  Awesomesauce!




The jar holder project Drew made for me. 




Hope you are all having a wonderful week!
XOXOX

Monday, January 16, 2012

Mason Jars and Hose Clamps ~

Happy Monday everyone!  Yeah, who am I kidding? I've got the snowy Monday blues.  I hope it's nicer where you are!

Sharing this darling cheap & easy project.  Whoa... that sounds bad, doesn't it?!?  Well, it was cheap & easy.  Just ask Drew.  




My sweet hubby can take all the credit for this one.  I found the idea on




I had one piece of cedar fencing leftover from my sign project and thought this would be a darling use for it.  

Here are the items we used: 




3 hose clamps @ $1 each, old cedar fence post, small screw & washer and a drill. 



Turns out, Drew needed to drill through the metal of the hose clamps.  He resorted to using 3 different sizes, gradually moving up in size. 


Clamping and finally drilling through the metal.


Action shot!






2 more to go... 



We've had this picture hanging kit for years.  If you have one, have you ever wondered what these are for?




Well, let us just show you...











DOH!!!  They mark the wall where you should put the nails to hang it correctly!!  Could you just DIE?!?!  All this time, and I never knew what they were for!  Honestly, some days I wonder about my mind.  



Here is how lovely this turned out!




I'm thinking flowers and flameless tealights.  






Maybe even some cutie little clay pots, and grow some herbs. 
Up here, the kids can't chew them up and barf them onto the carpet.



I was also thinking of adding a couple hooks to hang my apron's on.  That might be too much clutter though. 

Drew does good work!  I LOVE it!!


xoxoxox 

Liking to: 
Faded Charm  
 

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