A Craft You'll Love

Let's make a sweet little decoration

for Sweetheart's day!

First, gather your supplies. You will need:
Scrapbook Paper
Scissors and Glue
Ribbon
Paint
A Glitter Heart (Package purchased at WM for $1.50, but you could easily make your own)

Artist Canvas (You can find these in any craft store. These were purchased at WM, 3/$2.50 for 8x10 size. They can be also found in 7x9 sizes at the dollar store 2/$1.)Next, mark and drill two holes on one side of all three canvas panels. Then on one canvas, drill two more holes on the opposite side. If you don't own a drill, you could easily make the holes using a hammer and nail to punch through the canvas.Paint the two canvases with two holes. I used spray paint, but any craft paint will do. Or you could cover them with scrapbook paper.Cover the canvas with the four holes with scrapbook paper.
Glue on a large glitter heart.Cut two large I's and two large U's out of coordinating paper. Stagger the two pieces for a shadow effect and glue them onto the painted canvases.String ribbon through the holes in the canvases to tie all three together.And there you have a sweet, and fairly easy, Valentine's Day decoration!

I love a craft that you can personalize to your own taste!

You could connect the canvases horizontally to have a bigger area for words, instead of letters. You might choose: Be Mine, Happy Valentine's Day, Hugs & Kisses, to name a few. If you have a passion for scrapbooking, you might want to get more decorative.

If I've inspired you to make this sweet little craft,
I'd love to see yours!

Grand Opening Giveaway!

Today is the day! I finally have my Etsy store up and running! Hooray!!!

To celebrate I'm giving away this darling Scrabble tile pendant featuring my little crown drawing!

Here's the lowdown...

• To enter leave me a comment on this post (if you don't have a blog, make sure to leave me an email address).
  
• If you post about this giveaway on your blog, I'll give you an extra entry - make sure you tell me that you are posting about it.


• If you become a follower of my blog (or if you are already a follower) I'll give you another entry- again make sure you tell me that you are following my blog.
  

This drawing is open until Sunday night at 11:59 p.m. I'll post the winner early next week.

So head on over to my Etsy shop and check out the fun home accessories and pendants! Hope you enjoy it!

And please be getting your Taming Kid Clutter posts ready...we'll all be linking up here on Wednesday to share our ideas!

Have a lovely weekend~

Putting odd wall space to use

I have a major staircase redo in the works, but until then, I'm adding this post to Beth's party!
Thank you for your encouragement about my last post! You are all so wonderful and it warmed my heart. Thanks to those who have already gotten in touch with me -- I'm so excited about working with you all!!

So you may have heard me complain about our lack of beautiful stairway railings in our house. (Especially at Christmas with the GORG garland wrapped around them.) I only have myself to blame for this -- hubby wanted them when we were building our house but I was already hyperventilating about the growing size of our mortgage with every. single. little. thing. we were adding. The extra four grand for railings (come on) was enough to put me over the edge.

So I've dealt with what we have. Which is a bunch of HUUUUGE walls on our stairway. It is open to the top of our house, about 25 feet up, so there's lots of space to work with. I've done a couple things to fill these spaces, the first of which I wanted to share with you today:

I started with a vinyl rub on from Uppercase Living. If you haven't heard about them, I wrote about the products here. I love this stuff!! Luuuuurve it!

I found floating frames at Joann's at half off -- I've probably spent about $50 on all of them. I love that there is no mat, just the wall showing through:
I started taking my own pictures of our son when he was itty bitty -- the baby who NEVER cried screamed like a banshee for his first professional pictures -- so that day I went home, stripped him down, laid him on black fabric, and shot away. I did this often his first year or so:
**This does not work with a two-year-old. :)

I didn't use any kind of design to put these up -- just hung them willy nilly, and I love doing it that way:
It's one of the first things you see when you walk into our home and it's one of my favorite spots. I just added a new one today, and may add one more, but I don't know. I like all the "white space":

I always suggest this kind of wall for weird hallways and stairways. I think it is a beautiful way to deal with awkward spaces like this. The pictures cost me nothing because I print them at home, on regular paper. Love it!

And yes, I hang my head at the awful lack of stepdaughter pictures. I am really a good stepmom, I swear. It's hard getting a good picture of a teenager -- especially when they don't live with you full time. (Or hardly ever come over anymore cause they are too busy with work, choir, friends, boyfriend, school, sporting events....wait, sorry....rant.) Sniff. :)

You've Been Framed!

I love my foyer table and mirror. I'm so proud of the way I was able to transform them. I'm happy that they look so good together. But, there has always been one little thing that has bothered me. The mirror is just not the right dimension for the table. The balance between the two is off, large table, small mirror.I've managed to create balance by placing large objects like plants and candles on each side of the mirror. Yet, it still seemed like it needed a bit more.
The other day as I sat contemplating my design dilemma, it occurred to me that the solution was right in front of my face.A little tweaking and I had my solution. I love the layers and balance, as well as the repetition of design from across the room. I even like the look of the hanging wire. It helps to tie the two frames together.

Could there be a solution to your design dilemma
right in front of you?

Snowed In~

Yesterday was a snow day here. So I had all the kiddos at home. It was a surprisingly peaceful day. Mr. One was very helpful with his little siblings. He babysat and entertained all morning while I tried to get some work done. But by afternoon, his enthusiasm was waning. Perfect time to break out the craft supplies, says I. So we all went to work. The kiddos created a variety of Valentine's inspired stick puppets. And I made some fun little glittery x's and o's. Well, really one 'x' and one 'o'...that's all I could finish between helping with the puppets. But everyone had a great time, and this evening the Hubby and I enjoyed a puppet show. (A very clever one, if I do say myself, that had the Hubby laughing out loud.)

And so many of you asked me after my Pixie Tutorial, how to make your pixies Valentines-ish, that I thought I'd share with you what I did. This little Cupid pixie is a break from my traditional pixies. I used some pink damask scrapbook paper for the wings. (I forgot to distress it before I added the glitter, so it's a little brighter than I'd like). Overall, I think this little Cupid is enchanting. Can you see the little heart-shaped arrow? Wish I could share my Valentine's tree with you too...but the hearts are still waiting to be hung.

"Why?" you ask. (Okay, I know you didn't ask, but I'm going to tell you anyway.)

Because I worked hard today on finishing up some more pillows for my Etsy. Oh yes, my dear readers, the opening is near. Really. I just have to get all the techy stuff done. So watch for my grand opening...and a giveaway in the VERY NEAR FUTURE!

Finally, another reminder...the Taming Kid Clutter Linky Party. Wednesday, February 4th. Please be there. It's going to be fun!

Have a lovely day~

Painting Progress

The work on the cabinetry continues and is progressing on schedule. However, the process is truly creating a mess! I would encourage anyone having similar work done to make arrangements to stay elsewhere for the duration, as I quickly decided to do once the painters got to work.

The good news is that I can already start to see how the space will look, even with just the white primer applied. I love the change and can't wait until the workers leave and I can get in and start...cleaning!!

Sad then Happy~

I was having such a sad day yesterday. Just one of those days when the weight of the world comes pressing down, and the pressures of reality are all too...shall we say...real. I was also lamenting the fact that another one of my favorite magazines has bitten the dust. You've probably all heard by now that Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion is no more. I had heard the rumor. Then my card came. The card telling me that it had ceased publication. Sigh. Let us all now have a moment of silence for the demise of another lovely publication. Tick. tick. tick...etc. MEHC you will be missed.


But then what should arrive in the evening? A package! Pour moi! Hooray! I knew what it was because I have been waiting ever so patiently (okay, not patiently at all) for it! My QUILT!!!! It came! A HUGE thank you to cute Camille for hosting the giveaway of one of her beautiful quilts, and to wonderful Lissa who made this beauty that came to live at my house! (I hope these two uber-talented ladies will forgive the horrid photography, but I was so excited to share it with you all that I couldn't wait for morning and natural light.)

The quilt is spectacular! I wish you all could see the beautiful patterns in the stitching (forgive me because I'm not a quilter and I think there is another term for it). I promised the Hubby that I'd crop out his feet when I posted the pictures, but then I thought it was so cute that he humors me the way he does and was willing to hold up the quilt so I could get a photo of it for my readers. He even reminded me to take a photo of the back...which is lovely too! Sorry, honey...the feet are staying!


Thanks again Camille and Lissa! You made my day!


And a reminder again about the Taming Kid Clutter Linky Party next Wednesday, February 4th. Please come link up with your best ideas (or any ideas for that matter) on how to store, hide or camouflage kid paraphernalia! I can't wait to see what you all come up with!

It's about that time

So I’ve been debating on doing two things on this blog for a long time now… my mind started spinning when I started to get really into this bloggy thing a few months ago and I’ve been mulling over it since then.

Because I spend more time blogging then on my real job lately (it’s only a part time job but…seriously) and because I have dedicated so much time to this site (and have loved every second of it), I have decided to go ahead with these two things and I hope you’ll support me…

Nervous giggle. Bites nails.

First of all, I’ve decided to accept advertising. I would love it if any of you (or anyone you know) would want to advertise on the site. My hope is it will become an avenue for Etsy sellers or moms and women who sell items and services. The rate is $10 a month and will go month to month. For more info on this, please contact me via e-mail (see left column).

Another one I’m REAL nervous about is consultations. Back in the day I thought I would never do this, but the idea has occurred to me more than once and it’s been growing on me. I have decided to offer simple decorating consults for $10. They can be just about anything you can think of – help with paint colors, molding ideas, furniture placement, accessorizing, organization ideas, draperies – you name it. I can’t offer any fancy-schmancy graphic programs though, just ideas and inspiration and maybe a kick in the you-know-what to make it happen. And when I say this will be simple, I mean it. You can send pics, videos, etc. Whatever you want. And I will use what knowledge I do have about decorating to help you out. If the project is bigger, like ideas to finish off a whole room, we can discuss pricing.

Click here to try it out and then e-mail me:

I have to say – I LOVE LOVE LOVE when you all e-mail me questions on how do something I’ve posted about and I welcome those, adore those, please keep those coming. I really don’t want to sound like I’m taking advantage of you…and I hope you all keep the e-mails and questions coming. I am thrilled when I get a message from one of you telling me that I have inspired you. That is part of the reason I’ve decided to do this – it has been an honor to be that inspiration and I want to help you make your home even more comfortable and beautiful.

I don’t know why I’m so nervous about this. I guess I don’t want any of you to think I think I’m all that. I most certainly don’t. I have thought long and hard about this and am fully prepared for them to totally flop and that is OK with me! My love of decorating and blogging will keep on…and you’ll all still be my BFs. Foreva.

Thanks for your support!

More Green for Less Green

I love to look in popular home stores and catalogs to see what's current. I never want to have one of those homes that an archeologist can date it (or me) by the furnishings and decorations. You know what I mean. Think of that house down the street that still has country blue and mauve wallpaper adorned with geese and a old dusty dried floral arrangement. Your home design, like water, should never be stagnant. My mother taught me that "a change is as good as a rest." And making small changes in your home can really make it a more restful place.
You don't have to change everything in your house to keep up with the styles, just incorporate a current item or two.

(photo courtesy of Pottery Barn)

Recently while in a very trendy store, I noticed these "moss spheres" adorning several surfaces. You know what I did? Yes. I stopped by the dollar store on my way home and picked up a few items. The glue and thread were items I had on hand.I turned on some relaxing music and started to craft. Working in sections, I applied glue to the styrofoam ball and then stuck on the moss. It was a bit messy, but really easy. Knowing that these spheres might tempt the young men in my family (a ball is a ball to them), I took a clue from the original items and wrapped each with green thread to additionally secure the moss.I was able to make five moss spheres for substantially less than purchasing them at the popular store. Won't this arrangement look gorgeous in my fireplace or as a centerpiece for my table?

I promise to light the candles
and not leave them unattended.
I'm pretty sure that fire and smoke damage
is not a new design trend.

Kitchen & Family Room Redesign - Progress?

The doorbell rang at 8 yesterday morning and in stomped a herd of painters. Within minutes the floors and appliances had been taped off and work on the cabinetry had begun. This work makes the removal of the kitchen backsplash look like child's play. The house is an absolute disaster!

Luckily, this is a good team and work should progress quickly! (I am definitely counting on it). The painters are caulking, filling holes (knotty alder wood), sanding, priming and painting. The door and drawer fronts will be completed off-site, taking two to three weeks to go through a series of priming, sanding and painting. So it will be quite awhile until the kitchen is completely put back together, but I am excited to have this work underway.

Inspire-Me Tuesday~

I'm taking a bit of a different approach to Inspire-Me Tuesday today. I have been thinking a lot about the nurturing the creative process in my life. I also feel the need to foster creativity in my kiddos. I think that one of the best ways to do that is to allow them to see their parents being creative and to show them the value we place on our creative pursuits.

So today I wanted to share a couple of the ways that I nurture the creative process in my own life.

First, I have an inspiration binder. Well actually I have a few. The one I'm sharing with you today is my decorating binder. (I also have one for crafts, and one that just miscellaneous inspiring stuff...photos, images, whatever I find that tickles my fancy.) I have it divided by rooms. When I get ready to throw out my old magazines or catalogs, I go through them and tear out the pages that I love. Then I stick them in page protectors and put them in my binder. This binder has inspired many a project in my home. And when I look through it, I see all images that I love, so it has become a "happy place" or sorts also.

Second, I wanted to share my notebooks. As you can see I have three of them. The large plaid one sits on my night stand. It is for miscellaneous ideas that occur to me in the middle of the night. I don't know about you, but that's when some of my best ideas occur. But I have to write them down, or they stir in my head all night and I can't sleep. Once I know they are safely on paper, I can finally settle down. The other two are divided into sections so that I can "file" my ideas and sketches (or I would never find them again.) I transfer any and all ideas jotted in my night-time notebook or on bits of paper throughout the day into these notebooks for later. I can't emphasize to you all how important these books are to my creativity. Ideas grow, you know. From a partial thought or a sketch into a full-blown something-or-other. That's how I get inspired!

Now, on a completely unrelated note. I have had several people ask me for ideas on how to tame kid clutter. You might think I know how to do this because I have four little kiddos. Well, I'm no expert by any means, but I do have a few tricks up my sleeve that I'd like to share. Thing is, I bet there are plenty of people out there in blogland who have wonderful ideas on how to store toys, and books, and art supplies and all other manner of kid paraphenalia, sooooooo....I'm holding a linky party. My very first. I'm working with Pretty Organizer from Pretty Organized Palace, and hosting it here on Wednesday, February 4th! So, my dear readers, be getting your ideas ready to share, and let's all meet up here on Wednesday and use that fun Mr. Linky thingie to share all our CREATIVE ideas on taming kid clutter. Hope to see you all here!

Now, go forth, inspire, and be inspired~

I'm baaaaack!!

Well hellooooo there! First of all, thanks for your sweet thoughts about my son! He's doing GREAT -- actually improved quite a bit within 24 hours. So I felt OK leaving town with my stepdaughter, more on that later. And I am overwhelmed by your comments on the pantry. Glad I wasn't the only one who was gaga over it!

Before I tell you about our trip...I have to give you a rundown of my VERY VERY BAD week last week.

Saturday night, on a date with my husband, our car was broken into while we had dinner. Window smashed, bags taken, police report, all the fun stuff. Felt so relieved and blessed when an hour later, they found our bags tossed just around the corner and all that was taken was my husband's iPod.

Took three days to get my window fixed because of two mess ups with the window replacement companies.

Found our our son had pneumonia, as you know, right before both my husband and I were leaving town to separate places and leaving him with family. NOT fun. He's never done breathing treatments and was a champ, but I was a bit of a mess at the thought of leaving him.

He was doing much better the next day, I was feeling better about leaving town. Then we realized a STUPID financial mistake that cost us $1,000 -- and I felt like it was MY fault. My sweet husband argues that but I felt completely responsible. I cried. A lot. (A lot a lot.)

I had to leave by 3 a.m. Friday morning to get us to the airport, and ended up getting NO sleep that night because of my mind racing. None. Zilch.

I pulled out of the garage at 3 a.m. and proceeded to back (slam.) right into my sister's car. Hard. Cussed a bit, pulled up into our garage to get around her, and then ran over my son's not-cheap stroller. RAN OVER IT. Needless to say, it's a goner.

So, you can tell by now, I really, really, REALLY needed a weekend away. That came in the form of a school trip with my stepdaughter to New York City. Some of you already know my love for this city. We love it so much, we got married there. So it was just what I needed. I had to share some of my love with you all:

I took advantage of our free time that first day by walking around and getting my NYC mojo back -- it's been a couple years since I've been there. I stumbled upon this:

Any of you that are Sex in the City fans know this little bakery -- I never really watched the show, but have heard about this place for awhile now. I knew I must. have. a cupcake. I wish I had the nerve to take pics inside...but I will only go so far. I'm a tourist through and through. But these were REAL New Yorkers in line...I couldn't do it! It was just beautiful...old fashioned tin lights, tile floors. Beadboard everywhere. Aqua subway tiles. Carrera marble countertops. GORG!!

I got a pumpkin cupcake with cream cheese icing. Oh. my. Goodness:

Stop with the goofy eyes, my girlfriend said. So she tried again...

Now, stop with the freaky eyes. Tried again:

There we go. I wasn't processing well -- I had been up for 24+ hours straight and that cupcake was blowing my mind!!

Times Square is ALIVE. No other way to put it:

People don't think of NYC as a family vacation but you SHOULD!! There are so many fun places for children! You could spend days just in FAO Schwartz, Toys R Us, Central Park, the Hershey's store, the M&M store -- it's endless.

There is a massive ferris wheel inside Toys R Us:

There are so many fun things to look at in the store -- a life-size Barbie house, massive Lego buildings, the coolest Thomas train table I've ever seen (my son would DIE!), and more fun stuff, like this guy, who moves around and gives you the stink eye:

Told you:

Look at the all of the M&M colors to pick from at the M&M store! Three floors of this stuff!:

If you go, you must see a show. One of our favorites is Wicked:

This time we saw Billy Elliot and it was A-mazing. I can't even tell you how amazing. It will take your breath away:

Kids would LOVE Lion King, or Little Mermaid. This time we saw Shrek, which wasn't one of the best I've seen, but young kids would have a blast!

And you have to go to the top of something. On my first trip to NYC, we were able to go to the top of the Statue of Liberty, but you can't do that anymore. We've also been to the Empire State Building, and this time went to the "Top of the Rock" -- Rockefeller Center. Best view I've seen yet. This is facing north, toward Central Park:

Looking down at the city:

And south, toward the Statue and the Empire State Building. The twin towers stood all the way down at the end, slightly to the right. You can see how bare the sky looks there now. Still hard to see it that way:

Sigh. I love this city. I just adore it. I can't really explain it, but I love it like a person. Weird, I know...it just makes you feel alive.

Boy, did I need it this week!! Now, I'm recovering from 18 hours of sleep in four days. I'm off to take a nap. :)