Chalkboard Art!

I have done a few chalkboards lately.  More because I find it calming.  And less about making any money because well, everyone just asks for you to do it as a "favor"  yeah ok   

Anyhow, this is one that I quicky drew up and is hanging in my kitchen....

Also in my kitchen....  more to hide the wifi than anything else.  :)

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A chalkboard I did for my sister for Christmas time....

My welcome milk can out front.  (milk can was my grandpas!)

Chalkboard I did for my mom....

Its probably alot like coloring for some people in that it calms me.  Although i havent switched any yet for a while....  I do have a few more that Ill try to post later.  

Creating my coffee / hot beverage bar

 One of the major changes in my life is that I sold my home and moved to a small town near a military base.  It also meant decorating from scratch.  There was an inset area when I moved in.  The upper cabinets were built courtesy of my fiance but there was no lower cabinetry.  Since this home is smaller and space is limited, I found that my desk fit perfectly.  I had been wanting to make the space a beverage/ coffee bar of sorts for a while so this is my work in progress so far.  

 I am hoping to put a small decorative sign or something above the keurig, I just havent decided yet what that is.  On the table is my keurig, coffee cups, sugar, tea, and other items we use for coffee.  I may replace the desk in the future with a built in cabinet with a mini fridge below (my ideal) but for now this works fine.

 I believe I got the small coffee sign at cost plus world market, and red mugs are from Pier one as a gift from my fiance :)

 I posted this one because of the light - it came with the house and Im hoping to replace it.  It reminds me of an alien landing.  Or a trip to the dr.

Anyhow, a new home means new possibilities and new projects.  Im working on things as I go so wish me luck.  I promised myself I would make more time to blog.

Here is a link to my Coffee bar ideas on pinterest.  Here are some of the photos.  If you click on my pinterest link you can click on the photos there to take you to their original sources.

Modge podge magnet board

I have been wanting to post an updated photo of my magnet board with scrabble tile magnets.

Magnet Board Redo

For some time now I have had a large magnet board hanging in the hallway.  The frame was black and the background was plain silver metal.  Over time however the metal looked more scratched than anything and the whole thing was looking a bit blah!  So, after seeing a photo on Pinterest...  I decided to fix the background.  I used an old book that was yellowed and falling apart.  Then after cutting up the print into various sizes, I modge podged them to the metal.  When it dried it had a nice durable glossy finish.  It does look much better than the original and is one of those projects that I look at and wish I had stumbled upon a long time ago.  It is such an improvement!

I have not yet hung it back up yet because I am thinking I need to make magnets to go with it.  Which gives me another project to do!

Valentine Tree Quilt

Here is my latest project.  A Valentine's present for my guy...

I had wanted to do something that he would use, and enjoy.  But also something that would remind him how much I have come to feel for him.  He has been a rock for me these past months and wants to give us a new happy future.  Something I thought would never happen after losing my late husband to a sudden heart attack.

I am very pleased with the way it came out.  I found tree material at Craft Warehouse.  I also backed it with a soft soft material perfect for snuggling.

I wanted it to look like our initials were literally cut out of the wood material.

I am so excited to give it to him.  I wont be able to wait until Valentines Day! :)

Family Room 2012!

My family room...... 

Pretty simple, but I love my couches.  And I cant do a coffee table because we have spontaneous gaming, dancing and other things that go on in the center of the room.  A coffee table would just be in the way!

The other side of the room by the stairs.....

I moved the fish tank so Im still in search of something else to put where that too small table is....

The fireplace side...

The fireplace is double sided with the Kitchen....I do love that!

The bookshelf behind the couch...

So there ya have it.  Homey, basic, but good :)

I linked my family room photos to Thrifty Chick Decor!

Painting gnomes -cause they told me to!

I dont know how many of you out there have seen Gnomeo & Juliet, but it came into our house a while ago and we have seen it a couple times over the summer.  I will tell you now if you dont already know this.  It will change your life FOREVER.  You didnt know that?  Oh yes, you will never be able to look at gnomes the same way!

So, about a week ago my 91 year old Grandma asked me if I could spruce up her gnomes in the backyard.  Of course I said yes.  I then went out and collected them.  (she only gave me 3 at first - Im thinking its some sort of test :p  ) 

I didnt get to them right away because it has been busy around here but after a stressfull week I decided to hide out in my craft area and get to work.  And that is when I realized I was forever changes by an animated movie!  I no longer have the ability to just paint a gnome without imagining that it is coming to life when I am out of the room - yeah - Im crazy.  I even found myself excusing myself politely and promising to hurry back at one point when I left to go to the bathroom --- see!  Goin crazy!  At its worst I stayed up till after 1 am painting the two gnomes because I really felt they would be unhappy in their unfinished state.

I am somewhat done with 2 of them so I thought I would post a before and after.  That and I was starting to feel like I hadnt posted anything crafty in ages!

So here is the before....

they really were very sunbleached.  poor things.

And here is the after....

Much brighter!  My mother says they even look happier! 

Im still working on the third one - he is turning out much trickier than the first two.  Even still he is calling me from my craft area as I type!  Oh the Gnome guilt!  I just cant resist. 

Oh and did I mention that at my sisters I noticed some small gnomes in her garden.  All bleached out and worn looking.   They are calling to me too!  Will probably snag them tomorrow to give them a facelift.

Maybe Im the gnome whisperer?

Make your own Terrarium

Hello out there and sorry it has been so long since my last blog entry! :)

I thought I would share the terrariums I made for the center of my kitchen table.  They were really easy and looked cute.  I like projects like that.

If you want to make one I thought I would try and include a mini tutorial.....  Here are my supplies....

The jar I got for 75 cents at Tai Pan.  The moss and small fern were growing in my backyard as it has been very rainy lately.  I just cut out chunks with my handy knife :P.  Rocks came from the backyard as well.

Layer the rocks on the bottom and then I make holes where I want to add the greenery.  This is totally up to you.

I then gave it a quick trim and added water to the rocks.  I also mist it now and then to keep things moist.

This is the largest one and my fav.  The photos dont hardly do them justice.  Hope everyone is enjoying spring!

My problem in my son's room

I want to start off this post by saying that this is mostly in jest.  Only mostly.  Part of me is bothered enough by it to post but most of me is just trying to shrug it off and laugh over it.

Let me enlighten you...

Here is my special needs son Anthony's room.  He has a game room that holds all his toys and things and so his bedroom is just a place for sleep. 

his bed

his comic books above his dresser

his chair with his favorite Darth Vader and dog

Ok now here is the part that brings fear every time I go into his room to clean or make his bed.  Look carefully in case you may miss it.  **Hint** its just not something you see in every 16 year old boys room.

and this one

see them peeking away int he corner?

And my all time fav....

Do you now understand?

The thing is, Anthony went a while back through a rather intense LOVE of Wizard of Oz stage.  Just recently in fact over the summer.  I mean LOVE.  Word got out of his love for the movie so much that the women in my church found out and guess what they had laying around after girls camp.  You guessed it!!  Large cardboard Wizard of Oz figures.  Everyone needs some of these!!  Im kidding.  Actually it seems a bit strange in my sons room and they sometimes freak me out when I go into his room.  But, as a mom I will do my best to tolerate them because my son LOVES them.  Im hoping he will tire of them eventually.  Oh and the puffy colored paper balls are also sometime he loves and I pretend are not there.  Oh kill me now lol!

So now you know my greatest Halloween SCARE!

My "after" project - magazine rack

This was going to be a "before and after" post.  I was so excited even tho I only did a few changes.  Then, the worst happened and I deleted my "before" photo.  That's how bad my camera is (or my photography skills). 

Anyhow, after my mishap I wasn't going to post it at all.  But then all day long I kept thinking about it and every time I saw it I just knew I wanted to share.  So here goes...

My "After" project...

I so tickled by the way it came out.  Yeah I know a bit over the top but I really love this one.  WHY? because for ages now Sweetheart has been leaving his reading materials in the loo.  (ok bathroom but loo sounds so much more charming).  Plus my master bathroom has a small room just for the toilet (to make it feel special lol) and so when you are in that little room you just sit and stare at a BLANK WALL.  Oh My Hello.  If your like me you know staring at a blank wall for any length of time about kills me.

SO... I saw this rack at a garage sale last week.  In my before photo it was silver with blank canvas.  Ok but it didn't really match all the black and bronze I have.  So I painted it all black and then dry brushed bronze metallic paint over the top.  Then I realized that the canvas is actually just velcroed on.  Very cool! So I peeled it off and went into my office to decorate.  I used Office Depot Canvas cloths.

I LOVE them.  Ok like them a lot and go through a ton of them.  I then printed out 2 cute graphics from The graphics Fairy.  A queen crown and a king crown (hers and his in basic terms).  I then just went out to my workshop and sewed them onto the front.  I thought about a ruffle around it or some flowers but it is a his and hers bathroom and so I kinda liked it basic. 

Now when I go in there for um never you mind, I see Sweethearts magazines all neatly kept in his area.  I think I love his and hers stuff cause I just LOVE being married to him. 

Building a private coffee bar

Now that we are getting into the swing of back to school, there are a few things that I do to get better organized and help my sweetheart and I start our day relaxed and ready to go.

One of those things I do is set up a private coffee bar.  During the summer there is more time to get up later, get ready and dressed and then come into the kitchen and leisurely make coffee.  During school tho, it is more hectic,  alot earlier in the AM and alot more rushed.  I set up the coffee bar so that it is programed and ready to go off and have hot coffee ready for my sweetheart as soon as he is up.   This way he can sip on it while he dresses and gets ready to take Andrew to school while I get Anthony ready for the bus.

This is where I put our coffee bar....

There is a small section of bathroom counter that is pretty much unused.  I am not the type of person to sit and put on my makeup.  I start out by grabbing the coffee maker I want to use for the space.  Ok yes - we have a couple machines.   WE LOVE OUR COFFEE!!

I also put a lined waste basket so that sweetheart can put any trash or used coffee filters (I don't worry - it gets emptied often).  It looks pretty awkward sitting there all alone.  I then go get the other little thing we need in the morning to make coffee the way we like it.

This Includes a canister of freshly ground coffee,  a glass jar holding spoons, two glass containers holding cream and sugar,and  the white jar holding coffee filters.  I then soften the look by adding plants and a decorative jar with coffee beans for look and smell.  YUMMY :) I also do this to get ready for fall decorating and Halloween because for me green plants don't go well with my zombie decorations. So, the bathroom is a great tuck away place for these plants!

When I am finished the bathroom looks like this...

Which works for me and makes me happy.

A new Chalkboard

The kids walk in the house....

me:  "Hello hun, how was your day?"

Kids (anyone of them lol ):  " fine Im starving"

me:  " you can have a small snack but then wait until dinner"

Kids:  " ok but IM STARVING"

Then I spend the rest of the evening telling them to stay out of the pantry.  This isnt very long because we normally eat at 5:00! LOL  Oh the torture of waiting 2 hours!  This is not new for us and the reason we eat so early - plus I would rather they eat ALL their Dinner and then have DESSERT!!  I have to push weight on my kids so this is a good thing for them ....  VERY BAD thing for me (and my waist line ).

Anyhow, after this scene played out day after day last week when the kids got home I decided to remedy the situation and make a new chalkboard.  I have no idea where the old one went.

I was lazy and just used an old frame and painted it black.  Im going for a steampunk look in my house lately so I added some metal accents that I also painted bronze.  I then made it beat up looking because I wanted it to look old.

Here is my finished product:::

Normally it says menu and what we are eating for the night but yesterday was my hubby's Birthday and I didn't cook.

oh well ... works for me :)

My tray project

This is the serving tray I redid today!~

When I got it, well lets just say it was in sad shape. ...

It not only was falling apart, but the giant ceramic tile with the painted flowers (ok, I think they are ugly) were scratched.

I took it apart and turned the ceramic tile over - It was the same on the back so I modge podged decorative paper over it.  I then let that dry and put an antique glaze over the top.  I wanted something more so I then freehanded an R in the center with Dark Brown paint.  All that was left after it dried was putting it back together and then hammering tiny nails into the corners to make it solid.  I then put a stain glaze over the top.

I think it turned out pretty good.

I put it over the cabinets in my kitchen....