Sunday, January 31, 2010

Hello February~

Can anybody tell me where January disappeared to? I blinked my eyes and it was gone. Seriously. Of course it may have something to do with the fact that I moved across the country, the hubby started a new job, the kids started a new school, etc. etc.

But honestly, it's okay with me that January is over already because I love February. Must be the romantic in me, but February always makes me nostalgic and a little giddy. So in the spirit of Valentine's day...I thought I'd share a few fun projects with you...


First up, this fun Valentine's wreath. Vintage Valentine's cards and glitter. What more could you ask for? You can learn more about how I made it here.


Next up, cupid...or close enough. This is the Valentine's version of my famous pixies...you can find the tutorial here.


And finally, a great craft to do with your little ones. Valentine's votives. Learn how to make them here.

Only 14 days before Valentine's day...
Have a great Monday~

Before and After Party! (A TV cabinet redo.)

Well hello! I am posting this party early this evening because I hope to spend the night finishing up loose ends on my home show presentations and spending quality time with my boys. :)

beforeAndAfterButton

I hope you had a great weekend! Since hubs was out of town, the Bubs and I were busy tearing up the house so my husband would come home and wonder what in the heck I was up to again working on the family room.

There is a major, serious thorn in my side when it comes our family room. You see, in the model, the fireplace was on the back wall, between two windows and the TV was in the corner. Somewhere along the line we both decided a corner fireplace would be super cool!! (Dripping with sarcasm.) So moving the fireplace then gave us the option to put the two windows together, which we did.

So that left exactly one five foot wall we could do anything with as far as the placement of the TV. FIVE FEET. Our TV cabinet fits in the space great, but the blasted subwoofer for our sound system is like three feet by four feet so it totally cramps that area. OK, it’s about 12 inches by 14 inches, but it has to go on the floor next to the cabinet, which makes everything tight. It has always really, really driven me nuts. Here’s an old pic that gives you an idea of how close the TV and cabinet were to the fireplace:

That doesn’t really do it justice – I mean, I was afraid they would burst into flames, they were so close to the fireplace. Really. I’ll have you know I even called our electronics store to see if they have any updated subwoofers (ours is six years old) that are smaller. Yes, they did! Yes, they are only ten by ten inches! And YES, they are only $700!!

OK, moving on. Dealing with the mongo speaker. So the other day, I decided to ignore the speaker and center the cabinet on the wall. The mongo speaker would just have to jut out the other way a bit. Fine!:

(Yes, I love Y&R. Sue me. Can you even believe Adam? And can you believe the woman who plays Ashley is 50-something? OMG!)

I decided a while ago that hanging the TV may help the cramped feeling of this area. A friend of ours told me how to hide the wires (yessssss) so I went for it. I got the right sized TV mount for only $50 at Target and it was surprisingly easy to hang. Just hang the mount into the stud, using a socket wrench (Dad is that what this kind is called?):

mount

Easy! Next step is to take it down and hang it again because you forgot to put the washers on the screws. Next step after that is to take it all down and hang it again because you hung it too low. Easy!!

Then you just attach the brackets to the back of the TV:

back of TVNow for the FUN part! Hiding the cords!!!! Glorious! You just find a spot in between the studs and drill a hole into the wall. There are large drill bits just for this type of project:

008 009

I placed mine where the cords came out of the TV, but it didn’t really matter where they were, as long as the hole was covered by the TV. Then I drilled another hole straight down the wall, put the cords down through the wall and reattached them to the TV. Then I hung the TV on the mount. It was so intimidating at first, but ended up being insanely easy to do.

(The next few pics are fuzzy because I took them at night, so bear with me.)

I looooved the TV hanging on the wall! It immediately felt like a breath of fresh air. But the TV cabinet was feeling so dark! It’s always been a dark hole of sorts. You couldn’t even see my lovely $3 Goodwill baskets! I decided to paint just the back of it so they would show up just a bit more:

Didn’t that work GREAT?

Uhhhh. Notsomuch. I realized the problem hasn’t been the dark cabinet, it’s been the doors on the cabinet. I love them, but you can’t see a darn thing inside. I mean, why have $3 Goodwill baskets if you can’t see them? And the picture frames look like they’re in jail. So I just took the doors and the hardware off!:

jute

Getting there!

I wasn’t crazy with how the accessories were working out, so I moved some things around. I used an apothecary jar instead of the flowers and covered some styrofoam balls with jute for some additional filler:

037

Love them! They weren’t exactly fast to make – but good mindless project while watching TV. And they were free. Score!

I moved the baskets down below so they didn’t block the back quite so much:

(The back is painted the same Sisal color I used on the wainscoting squares from last week.)

I couldn’t be more pleased with the result!:

after

Well, maybe I’d be more pleased with a 10 x 10 speaker. But saving the $700 meant I only spent $50 on this entire project – and that was for the TV mount. We watched about eleventy billion videos this weekend because the Bub can now access his DVDs (in the baskets) so easily! Those doors were hard to open, even for me. :)

So this month’s before and after…drum roll please…

before after

Love it! For those that are interested, the cabinet was a find at the Pier 1 outlet store about seven years ago. I found it on a lunch break and my girlfriend helped me drag it up the stairs of our old apartment. It was a long lunch break. ;) (Thanks Cheryl!!)

Can’t wait to see what you have worked on! Any project will do – we just need a before picture. Remember to copy and paste the url from your post into the linky, not your blog address. (I have to delete those!)

Have fun and let’s party!



Saturday, January 30, 2010

A note of thanks

Happy Sunday! I hope you're enjoying your weekend.

Sunday means a new challenge at Magnolia Down Under. The challenges have gone back to being weekly now, instead of every 2 weeks.



For this week's challenge, there is a sketch to follow. And there is also an added theme and colour--make it Girlie and have some Orange on your card.


I'm also using this card for the following challenges:

Cute Card Thursday Challenge 97 - Blooming Gorgeous.

Alphabet Challenge - N is for New. This is a newly acquired stamp for me, although it is from Magnolia's 2008 Autum Collection. She is called Sitting Fall Tilda.

Creative Inspirations Challenge 45 - Feminine.

A Spoon Full of Sugar Challenge 88 - Freestyle.


I've decorated the inside of the card with a thank you message and another Tilda image. This on is called Lazy Summer Tilda from Magnolia's 2009 Lazy Summer Days collection.


This is my last card as a DT for MDUC. Kellie, thanks for giving me the opportunity. I've enjoyed myself tremendously in being part of your team for the past 6 months. And to all the DT members, ladies thanks for putting up with me. Thanks for your support, words of encouragement and the inspirations that you've given me. I'll be popping in every now and then to see what you guys are up to. I'm only a click away.

Thanks for visiting. Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Stamps: Magnolia Sitting Fall Tilda and Lazy Summer Tilda (if you're in North America, they can be purchased from Magnolia-licious), Inkadinkadoo sentiment stamp "thanks for thinking of me".
DP's: Chatterbox Happy Bloom, Scenic Route Paper Co. North Shore Stoked Stripe.
Tools: Martha Stewart hydrangea flower punches, leave punch, butterfly punch, Marvy Uchida Scallop circle punch, Coluzzle circle template.
Misc: Recollections autumn pearls and brads.






Friday, January 29, 2010

SNS #15 brings you a week's worth of giveaways!




Welcome to Saturday Nite Special #15!

If you're new here, kick off your shoes and join in! The theme is always a *DIY themed anything goes, so feel free to post your project, past or present that you're proud of so we can share your moment with you!

Party starts at Fri night and ends Sunday 11pm, so you have all weekend to join.

I LOVE to highlight inspiring posts, so make sure you check the sidebar while the party is in full swing. You may be next. :)


This weekend we're ending the 1000 Followers Event Giveaways with *Sunday Jan 31 being the last day.
(*giveaways extended 1 more day to work with SNS) 





So if you haven't yet, HERE is the best place to throw your name in each of the 7 draws before then. I cannot wait to deem the winners!

(winners to be announced early next week)

How about we kick this party off right with some SNS#14 inspiration?


Most of you know my passion is thinking outside of the DIY box. Is this real rust, AMY?!?!? EEEEE!


CLEVER flower arrangements. This last one is so outside of the box I gasped! A great shot, by The Lemon Cottage.


This is one of the coolest projects ever and something I really want to try for my own fireplace, or for a clock face. A Ballard knockoff that sent me into a frenzy! Full tutorial and place to download this print by  No Minimalist Here.


Take a good hard look at this image. You will NEVER believe what that side hutch is made from. Never. You walk by them in thrifts with your nose in the air all the time. Now you won't! The Little Brown House, this is brilliant! And gorgeous too.


This is SO COOL. It's a zipper bracelet. With a tutorial to boot. A bracelet with EDGE. LOVE this, Craftaholics Anonymous. 

 

There isn't anything this girl does that I don't adore. And this hutch is no exception. Flea Market Trixie, you amaze me. Look at those lines!


This side table created from a shipping crate flat out got me the moment I laid eyes on it. Loaded with rustic charm, by Whisper Wood Cottage.

Aren't these crazy?!?!??

SNS blah blah linkup rules -

1. Please help keep this a DIY themed party.  Tutorials get bonus points. :) Items linked for sales only intent will be removed. Sorry.

2. Please link up your intended post, not your blog home page. (post, then click on title of your post, cut and paste that url)

3. Please put a link in your post that leads back to the party so others can see what's up! (scroll button on sidebar if you wish)

Did your link disappear? No prob! Please reread the rules and try again!

Go ahead. Try and blow me away. I'm ready. :)



RIP Squishy (and come see me!)

fishWell, Squishy croaked. Or choked. Can a fish choke? I don’t know, but hubby checked on him the other night (he did every night, isn’t that adorable?) and all I heard was “Uhhh…honey? Did you feed the fish?”

Poor Squish was a floatin’. I almost cried. I couldn’t believe it! He was fine when I fed him the night before, and I saw him eating his food. But the food was still floating too. So sad! Squishy the Second will join us soon I’m sure.

If you’d like to see how I made his home, go here.

I know I promised the coffee table today, but I got caught up on another project and lost the good light to take pictures. :) Hate when that happens. I realized I forgot to remind you all about the Indy Home Show next week anyway:

Indy_125x125

I’ll be speaking two times a day on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday:

Monday, 2/1 -- 11:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m.
Tuesday, 2/2 -- 1 p.m. and 3 p.m.
Wednesday, 2/3 -- 2 p.m. and 3 p.m.

Monday the topic is molding and woodwork, Tuesday is using fabric and Wednesday is transforming Goodwill finds. Most of the presentations you all have probably seen on this blog at some point but I don’t care, come put your butt in some seats!!!!!!!!

Sheesh, sorry. Can you tell I’m afraid I will hear crickets? :)

I would love to meet you!

Have a great weekend, and I hope you will link up on Monday (probably late Sunday night) at the next Before and After Party!

A Light Transformation

A few months back my heart skipped a beat when I found this gorgeous chandelier for ten dollars at the thrift store. It looks right at home in our foyer.There was just one problem with updating the foyer light.
The dining room light now looked a little tired and dated.
I love the fixture itself and knew that with just a little transformation it could look fresh and new.
These socket covers can be found where light fixtures are sold. I am drawn to the warm color and the details that resemble a burning candle.
I've used them before on our master bedroom chandelier. It's a simple fix. Simply pull off the old socket cover and replace it with the new---but first measure the length of the existing covers to be sure they'll fit.
The new covers and some pretty crystal (that are actually Christmas ornaments) are all this chandelier needed to give it new life.