NashvillePug

Burp Cloth Tutorial: How to Make a Pretty Baby Gift

2012-01-30T07:00:00.000-06:00

Guess who didn’t have the Internet at home last week? ME! While it was highly frustrating because I teach two online classes, it was kind of nice knowing that I couldn’t get on the computer. I’ve got a log of blog reading to do!

I’ve got an easy tutorial for everyone today. If you know how to sew a straight stitch, then you can make pretty burp cloths to give as gifts. Burp cloths are my go-to gifts for new moms because I firmly believe you can’t have too many! Ever since the day Elliotte went through every single burp cloth we owned plus some towels, I’ve given them as gifts. I used to order them through Etsy until I learned to sew and realized how easy they were to make.

All you need is a pack of cloth diapers and some coordinating fabric and thread. I like to use fat quarters from JoAnn because I can make three burp cloths with each one. These burp cloths are obviously for a precious baby girl.

Start by unfolding one of the burp cloths and measure the length and width of the center strip. Then, using a cereal box or something similar, cut out a strip equal to the center strip of the burp cloth. This will make things so much easier!

Using the cut-out as your guide, cut your fabric a little bigger than the strip. A rotary cutter makes things go super fast! I usually go ahead and cut all my fabric at the same time.

Now move to your ironing board, and iron your fabric around the cut-out. I also iron the burp cloths at this point too.

For the ends, I fold them over just like I’m wrapping the ends of a present.

Once the fabric is ironed all around, pull the cut-out from inside the fabric. Now you’re almost ready to sew!

Place the ironed fabric right side up on the burp cloth and pin it down in a few places.
Note to self: get a new ironing board cover! Gross!

Now it’s time to whip out your sewing machine! All you have to do is sew a straight stitch around all four sides of the fabric. Make sure you back stitch at the beginning and once you get all the way around the fabric. It’s “sew” easy! Yep, I typed that.

Once you’ve done all this three times, you’ve got a super cute and sweet homemade gift for a new mom and baby! If you want to get fancy schmancy, use a zig zag stitch or add some ric rack around the edges. I used a zig zag stitch on the bottom burp cloth below, and it adds a little extra touch.

Wrap the burp cloths up with a pretty ribbon and you’re all done! I love picking out fabric for these gifts and making them look pretty. I like to make them pretty for boys too.

Now you know how to make an easy baby gift that a new mom (and dad too) will use all the time! What’s your go-to baby gift? Give me some more ideas!

Linking up to some of these fabulous parties! Tatertots & Jello, Between Naps on the Porch, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Serenity Now, Mommy By Day Crafter By Night, The 36th Avenue, The DIY Showoff, Today’s Creative Blog, At the Picket Fence, Home Stories A to Z, Gingerbread, Remodelaholic, Thrifty Décor Chick, The CSI Project, Beneath my Heart, Crafty Scrappy Happy, Perfectly Imperfect, One Artsy Mama

Kitchen Reveal: Going from Black to White Cabinets

2012-01-20T07:00:00.000-06:00

The kitchen cabinets are finished!!!!! I’m am so excited to show them to you! I thought it would be fun to dig up pics of how the kitchen looked when we moved in our house 5 1/2 years ago so you could see just how far it has come. There are a million tutorials on painting kitchen cabinets, so I’m not going to tell you how to do that. I sanded, primed and painted…6 COATS OF PAINT! Going from black to white cabinets will take you 3 coats of primer and 3 coats of paint. Trust me on this one! The white I used is "Antique White" by Glidden. Onto the pics.

Here is our lovely kitchen the way it looked when we moved in. (These are the pics from the MLS listing.) Shiny, paneled walls. Peaches and cream cabinets. Linoleum floor. Chili peppers hanging from the windows. No dishwasher. It was a jewel.

And here is how the kitchen looked before I painted the upper cabinets white. We moved the peninsula against the wall and added upper cabinets. All the cabinet doors and drawer fronts were replaced. We added a dishwasher and new appliances. I obviously painted the cabinets black. We installed hardwood floors and granite countertops. We painted the gleaming paneling a pale, minty green. My chosen colors were black, pink and green.

Here they are all finished! I really love the contrast of the black and white. It’s amazing how much the white paint has brightened up the kitchen. I hardly need to turn on the lights at night anymore because they just glow.

There’s always a sweet pug peeking in while I take pictures. My counters are never this clean, but the bright, white cabinets have inspired me to keep the counters as uncluttered as possible.

Here’s the main view of the kitchen! See how gleaming it is?! And don’t you love the “artwork” on the fridge? Priceless. I wasn’t about to remove it for pics. Keeping it real, people.

We all love a good before/after, so here it is!

BEFORE

AFTER

Six coats of paint and a week and a half of hard work was totally worth it! Don’t be scared to go for it.

Perfectly Pink Baby Shower

2012-01-16T07:00:00.000-06:00

For those of you waiting on a kitchen cabinet update (is anyone waiting on a cabinet update?), they are done! I do not have pics yet because I literally have not been home during the day to take any! With school starting back and planning a party (keep reading), my days have been FULL! I promise some pics very soon if anyone is still reading…

On Saturday, I helped host a baby shower at my mom’s house for my cousin, Paige. Paige is expecting Baby Charlotte sometime the end of February. It was a family shower full of yummy food and pretty baby girl things.

Here’s the wreath I made for the front door. Two pink feather boas tied together and wrapped around a piece of pipe insulation makes a pretty wreath! I sprayed the pipe insulation pink in case any showed through all the feathers. Mom added a “C” for some cute personalization.

Mom made these cute topiaries! She wrapped feather string around a foam ball and secured the string with pins. She painted a dowel white and used glass beads in a small pink bucket to secure the topiary.

I designed the invitation using Pixlr and Picnik. Both are super easy to use, and I never thought I would say that I had designed an invitation! I will have a hard time paying someone to do them now.

The gorgeous flowers were done by a sweet friend! The china doll was mine as a child, and I can tell you that it’s a miracle it was not broken. I hated dolls!

My friend, MJ from 517 Creations, designed the beautiful “cupcake” toppers. Since we had brunch, they were placed in the Danish. Charlotte’s monogram and a pink baby onesie were the perfect little accent.

Aren’t they stylish and sweet? Thanks MJ!

We wrapped the forks in pink napkins and tied them with a pretty pink ribbon.

We had to have some pink rock candy stirrers for the coffee!

MJ also designed the “Sweet Baby Girl” banner that we hung going into and out of the “big room”.

Even the dog was festive!

The food included egg casserole, cheese grits, hot fruit, banana and pumpkin bread, sausage balls, Danish and Russian tea, coffee, and tea punch!

These two, Elliotte and my neice, Leah, were the life of the shower. E was so excited that Paige let her help open presents.

All the ladies in the “big room” at my parents’ house.

We had such a good time “showering” Paige and Baby Charlotte. We can’t wait to meet her!

I hope to have a kitchen cabinet post for you all very soon! Don’t you hate it when your day job gets in the way of your hobby?!

A Little Organization to Begin 2012

2012-01-09T07:00:00.000-06:00

I don’t know about everyone else, but taking Christmas decorations down starts the slippery slope of getting things organized and purging in our house! Nothing is safe! I’ve cleaned out my closet, E’s toys, Ben’s closet, and the garage. There is lots more that needs to go!

Our kitchen table seems to be the catch-all for everything when we come in the house. It’s been driving me crazy having E’s bags and coat right there where we eat our meals. I didn’t know what to do with all her stuff until I spied this little guy at IKEA last month and knew that it would solve our bag and coat problem! I had the perfect wall for three of these, and at $1.99, they were a steal. Who doesn’t love a cute little dog bootie hanging on the wall?! I knew E would love them!

This is the wall by our backdoor. I’ve got my dry erase calendar on it which I have resolved to actually use this year! I knew the hooks would fit perfectly below the calendar, and they would be low enough so E can hang her bags and coat on her own. She loves to hang her coat on the back of the chair, so hanging it on a dog tail hook on the wall should be a no-brainer.

Here they are hung on the wall all ready for some stuff! I think they are so cute! They are really strong too. They can hold two bags of stuff without any problem!

My little, nekkid girl was very excited to hang her coat on her own hook.

I’m so happy this stuff is off our table and hanging on the wall! E comes inside and takes off her coat and hangs it straight on a hook. We also know exactly where her bags are and can get to them easily.

See those black cabinets in the top right corner of the pics above? Well, they are black no more! I’m finishing up the cabinet doors today, so hopefully I will have some pics to show you this week. They are looking really good! It’s amazing what a ~~little~~ lot of white paint can do.

Happy Monday!

What did I get myself into?

2012-01-04T07:00:00.000-06:00

Long story super short: we had to do some repair work in our basement because of a cracked cast iron pipe. The result of that work landed me priming some new paneling on Monday. Since I finished priming the paneling in record time and didn’t want to waste any of my primer, I decided I should just go ahead and start priming my kitchen cabinets! I’ve had the paint for months and just haven’t found the right time to start painting. Of course, I figured the right time should be the week that school starts back and I start teaching again. Perfect timing.

I did get a whole lot done though! On Monday, I removed all the upper cabinet doors and primed all the cabinet boxes. The rest of the work will take some time. The cabinet doors are in pretty bad shape. Whoever painted those doors five years ago did not know what they were doing! (That might have been me.) I’m going to have to do some major sanding and cleaning before I can prime and paint. In the meantime, this is what we’ll be looking at:

I’m using Kilz Clean Start primer, and it is fabulous! Definitely the best that I’ve worked with so far. These are the cabinets we use as our “pantry” since we don’t have a walk-in pantry. The majority of the cabinets are on the other side of the kitchen. I’m only painting the upper cabinets to lighten the kitchen a bit. I still love my black cabinets and don’t want to lose them completely! Plus, those lower cabinets get SUPER dirty from a certain two year old and two dogs, so the thought of white cabinets down there actually scares me a bit.

I had my external hard drive out because I was making our yearly photo book and ran across this picture from five years ago. These are the same cabinets. The uppers were new and not painted (doors not yet installed) and the lowers were a lovely peach and cream. The paneling was a super high gloss, and we had vented doors EVERYWHERE (even the bathroom!)! Thank goodness I could see past all this when we bought our house! Prior to the hardwoods, there was a lovely linoleum that the pattern actually looked like there were footprints in it.
It. was. so. bad.

Looking back through all the pictures from when we first bought our house over five years ago has made me so proud of how much we have done! I’ll show you more “before” pics when I’m done painting the cabinets so you’ll really appreciate the transformation. The former owners, in addition to all the lovely treatments above, had plastic chili peppers hanging from the kitchen windows!

Happy Wednesday!

Broccoli and Mushroom Egg "Muffins"

2012-01-02T07:00:00.000-06:00

For our Christmas morning breakfast, I needed something quick and easy. When I spied these Broccoli and Sausage Egg Muffins on Pinterest, I knew I could change them up to meet our tastes. I substituted mushrooms for the sausage because I LOVE mushrooms!

Here’s what you’ll need:
1 small bag of frozen broccoli, thawed
1 carton fresh mushrooms (I used sliced Portabella)
8 eggs
1/4 cup milk
1/2 T vegetable oil
1/2 T baking powder
shredded cheddar

Preheat your oven to 375.
Sauté mushrooms until tender. Add thawed broccoli during the last minute or so, then remove from stove.
Whisk together eggs, milk, oil, and baking powder. Add in other spices to your taste preference.
Spoon equal amounts of the broccoli/mushroom mixture into a greased 12 cup muffin tin.
Pour equal amounts of the egg mixture over the veggies and top with some shredded cheddar.
Bake at 375 for 15-20 minutes.
These were so good!

You can see in the pic above that I didn’t have enough egg mixture for all 12 muffins, but that’s because I poured too much in the first two! It kind of glopped out on me when I first poured it. There was definitely enough for all 12.

This recipe can easily be changed to fit your family’s tastes. Anything you put in an omelet can go in these muffins. I think I might try a Southwestern spin on them for my next recipe!
Let me know if you try them!

Linking up to some of these fabulous parties! Tatertots & Jello, Between Naps on the Porch, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Serenity Now, Mommy By Day Crafter By Night, The 36th Avenue, The DIY Showoff, Today’s Creative Blog, At the Picket Fence, Home Stories A to Z, Gingerbread, Remodelaholic, Thrifty Décor Chick, The CSI Project, Beneath my Heart, Crafty Scrappy Happy, Perfectly Imperfect, One Artsy Mama

Stenciled Burlap Pillow Covers

2011-12-28T07:00:00.000-06:00

Did I tell you that I went to Atlanta a couple of weekends ago on a girls' trip? Well, I did, and it was SO.MUCH.FUN!

Su, Me, Lu, and Heather. We are missing our other two peeps, Claire and Kristen, who didn’t get to make the trip this year.

At least once a year, my girlfriends from childhood (we went to school together for 12+ years!) get together for some kind of weekend trip. This year we chose Atlanta for the relatively short drive and shopping. We went shopping, ate, slept, and went shopping! Stops during the weekend were an outlet in Dawsonville, GA, IKEA (I was a first timer and fell in love), Lenox Mall, Crate & Barrel, and not one, but TWO Ballard Designs outlets! I had no idea there was even one Ballard outlet, so when we found out there were two, we had to check them out.

One of my finds at the Ballard Outlet were $5 burlap pillow covers! I scooped up several knowing exactly what I wanted to do with them. I've been dying to stencil something, and I finally found my project!

For this stenciling project, I used freezer paper. For those of you not familiar with freezer paper stenciling, check out this tutorial. It is so easy!! I’ve been wanting some personalized pillows for our front porch with our monogram and house number, so that’s what I decided to do. I found a font in Word I liked, enlarged the letters and numbers to fit the scale of the pillows, printed them out, and then used my exacto knife to cut the stencil out on the freezer paper. An exacto knife is really key to cutting out the stencil since you want really precise cuts so the paint won’t leak under the paper.

To make my paint fabric-ready, I added some fabric medium to it. You can also buy paint made specifically for fabric, but I didn’t have any of that kind of paint.

Here is my stencil all cut out and ironed onto my fabric. The shiny side of the freezer paper goes against the fabric, and once ironed, adheres to the fabric until you peel it off. So cool!

Before you begin to paint, make sure you place something under the fabric so the paint does not bleed onto the other side. I used aluminum foil for some strange reason, but it worked really well. I used a sponge brush to paint the fabric so I could help push the paint into the rough burlap. I just dabbed a generous amount of paint all over the fabric to make sure it was well covered.

Here’s what your stencil will look like once it’s been painted. You should not have to worry about it bleeding around your stencil if it’s been ironed on well. You’re supposed to leave the paper on the fabric until it is dry, but this impatient stenciler pulled it off after only about 15 minutes! I couldn’t wait, and it turned out fine! I guess you could have a problem if you ended up needing another coat of paint…

The house number pillow is my favorite! I think it will add such a personal touch to our front porch. The layout of your numbers will depend on how many you have. I made one for my Mom as well using three numbers placed diagonally from the top left corner to the bottom right corner.

Don’t forget to save any small pieces of paper that go inside letters and numbers like the ones for the “8”. Let your paint dry a few ~~minutes~~ hours, then peel off your paper!

Let me tell you, it was so much fun peeling off that freezer paper and seeing perfectly stenciled letters and numbers! I now see why so many bloggers say freezer paper stenciling is addictive!

Here's a completed pillow looking pretty on our front porch!

A little side by side comparison.

Have you stenciled with freezer paper? I hope I've inspired you to give it a try!

Linking up to some of these fabulous parties! Tatertots & Jello, Between Naps on the Porch, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Serenity Now, Mommy By Day Crafter By Night, The 36th Avenue, The DIY Showoff, Today’s Creative Blog, At the Picket Fence, Home Stories A to Z, Gingerbread, Remodelaholic, Thrifty Décor Chick, The CSI Project, Beneath my Heart, Crafty Scrappy Happy, Perfectly Imperfect, One Artsy Mama

Christmas Wrap-Up in Pictures

2011-12-26T21:52:00.001-06:00

Here’s a final Christmas post to wrap it all up. We had loads of fun and were blessed to be surrounded by family! I’m going to let the pictures speak for themselves (for the most part)…

E and my niece, Leah, on Christmas Eve.

My “Nanny” and all nine of her grandchildren and spouses and great-grand girls. Adding two more great-grand girls next year!

Santa made it to our house!

A Christmas explosion!

Christmas night at my parents’ house

This one was too funny not to share!

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas! Our decorations are all packed away and we are ready for New Year’s! We don’t usually do much to celebrate New Year’s because Ben and I both think it’s highly overrated, but my bestie and her husband are flying in from Houston, so we’re headed to the Music City Bowl on Friday and then a nice dinner and fun party are in order for Saturday!

Oh What Fun!

2011-12-21T07:00:00.000-06:00

Elliotte and I had a little messy fun the other day! I broke out the washable paints and let E do her thing. She loves to paint at school, so I knew she would love to paint at home too. Every Tuesday and Thursday when I pick her up from school and ask what she did that day, she says "PAINT!" with tons of enthusiasm.

So that's what I let her do...we started with green.

I had envisioned a "hand print" Christmas tree, but E had other ideas...and that was fine.

Then we moved to yellow.

And finished with a little red.

When she started to paint herself, that's when I called it quits!

Luckily a dip in the tub took it all away.

What are some activities you do with your kids to beat the winter blues?
Christmas is just a few days away!! Are you ready?

Merry Christmas from NashvillePug!

2011-12-19T07:00:00.000-06:00

We wish you a Merry Christmas
and a Happy New Year!

I hope everyone is enjoying this Christmas season! I have been taking it a little slower lately and just hanging out with my family. I've been cooking a little more and just sitting back and relaxing at night. It feels so nice! We get 2 1/2 weeks off school this break, and instead of doing projects like a mad woman, I'm going to spend most of it hanging out with my girl who's out of school too! We're having so much fun right now building forts on the couch, reading, and just playing. I hope everyone gets to take some time out this season and enjoy your family!

Semi-Homemade Teacher Gifts {Spiced Tea Recipe}

2011-12-12T07:00:00.000-06:00

Every year I struggle a little to think of what to get for all of Elliotte's teachers. This year, she has two fabulous school teachers and four amazing church teachers. I really enjoy giving something homemade, instead of just going to a store and buying something or giving a gift card. All these teachers put forth so much love and effort in teaching my child that I want to put forth some effort in their Christmas gift. We don’t have much money to spend on gifts, so I got to thinking.

I found these adorable mugs at Southeastern Salvage here in Nashville, and I immediately knew that I wanted to give them as teacher gifts. They came in a pack of four mugs, so I bought two boxes.

For the homemade part of the gift, I decided to make a spiced tea mix. I don’t like tea, but I LOVE this mix! Here’s the recipe I used:
1 jar Tang
2/3 cup decaf instant tea
1 1/2 cups powdered lemonade mix
2 cups Splenda
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 tsp. ground nutmeg
Add more of less of each ingredient according to your taste.

Mix it all together and then add 2T to a mug of hot water!

For the gifts, I divided the mix into 1 cup portions, and then poured it into Ziplock baggies. The one cup portions should yield about 12 mugs of spiced tea! I was able to get all six teacher gifts out of this one recipe.

I wrapped the baggies in green tissue paper and then stuffed them into the mugs. Attach a printable gift tag with the mixing instructions, and you’re done!

I hope E’s teachers enjoy sipping their spiced tea while relaxing in front of their Christmas trees! At least that’s what I picture them doing!
What do you give for teacher's gifts? Give me some ideas for next year!

Let there be light!

2011-12-08T07:00:00.001-06:00

Our garage is not pretty. It’s a garage, so it really shouldn’t be. You’ve probably seen our garage in the background of DIY posts/pictures like this one from my project table:

One of the first things you probably notice (other than the mess) is that it’s very dark. This photo has actually been adjusted for light, so it really was darker than what the photo suggests. The one and only light in the garage is in the foreground of the picture over the work bench. See that area back by the garage door and boxes? That’s where I do all my DIY projects. I used to lift the garage door up and down multiple times while working on a project so the light from the opener would stay on!
I’ve been asking for more light in our garage for a very long time now. Well, we finally got it done!! Last week while Ben was on a hunting trip out of town, I asked my Dad to come over and help me install some additional lighting. While not very exciting, it was very much needed. We he installed two more 4 foot shop lights, and the difference is night and day (pun intended)! It also helps that the garage is now much cleaner and less cluttered. Once I had some light, I got to cleaning like a mad woman. It was literally so dark in our garage that I had to use a flashlight to see which paint I needed.

Isn’t it as beautiful as a garage can be? No light adjustment in these photos!

Every time I turn on the light in the garage now, I’m surprised by all the light! I don’t know how long it will take to get used to it, but I sure am happy!

Well, I’ll tell you!! It’s my new 12 inch sliding miter saw from Harbor Freight! It was a much anticipated birthday gift from my parents. Now that the garage is cleaned out and lit up like it’s Christmas, I can start using it! I’m quite excited to start looking for my next DIY project that will require a miter saw! Crown molding anyone?

Christmas Door Decor

2011-12-05T07:00:00.000-06:00

Our Christmas door decor is up and burning through electricity! That electric meter sure is making Nashville Electric Service really happy right now! Don't you hate getting your electric bill in January? I do! I do my best to be conscious of turning the lights off, but they are so pretty!

Here's a look at the Christmas decor that surrounds our front door. I hung artificial garland wrapped in lights around the door and added a few red, green, and gold ornaments. I stuck two pre-lit topiary trees into the painted urns. And my puffy Christmas wreath is still looking B-E-A-utiful!

The daytime pics are not very pretty at all. Christmas decor meant to be pretty at night always looks bad during the day. Don't you think? All those icicle lights hanging from the gutters and garland wrapped around columns just looks horrible during the day! But it sure does look great at night! I love driving around to look at Christmas lights at night!

Here it is all lit up at night! I love how it just glows! And my yellow door is smiling too!

Do you decorate the outside of your house or just stick to the inside? Does opening your electric bill in January scare you as much as it does me?!

Make sure you enjoy the reason for the season!

Breakfast with Santa

2011-12-03T14:04:00.001-06:00

This morning was Breakfast with Santa at our church. E has been very excited to see Santa and to tell him that she wants a "pig" for Christmas. Seriously, every time I ask her what she wants from Santa, she says "a pig!". She's very consistent. My niece, Leah, got to come see Santa too. The girls had a lot of fun, but it sure was a rough morning waiting until #47 was called for our picture! We will arrive much earlier next year!

Two sweet girls, Leah and Elliotte. Leah is 4 months younger than E, and Leah will be a big sister in April!

Nonna and Ba or Pops (E calls him Ba and Leah calls him Pops!) with their girls.

Santa and Mrs. Claus

E trying to decide what she thinks about Santa! After all that talk, she was not too excited to meet him!

Finally deciding that he's ok after she got her candy cane!

Christmas Mantel

2011-11-30T07:00:00.000-06:00

Christmas, Christmas time is here! I sure do love looking at all my Christmas decorations, but I can't stand getting them out and deciding where they should go! It seemed like it took me forever to get things ready this year. I already dread getting things all packed away in a few short weeks...I'm one of those that has to put my decorations away the second Christmas is over. I have to have my house back in order ASAP!

I'm so happy that I have a "mantel" to decorate this year! Making my own cafe shelves was the best thing for displaying my seasonal decor! For my Christmas mantel, I shopped my Rubbermaid containers full of Christmas decorations and used what I had. There are only a couple of new things on this mantel that I did not already have!

I've had my glittery, red wreath for quite some time now. It used to be my "front door wreath", but I thought it would look great on my mantel this year.

A mantel is not complete without some glittery ornaments.

I added some curly Q's that I used on my Christmas wreath to my WUSLU bottles. These bottles are turning out to be quite versatile!

Here is one of my new items! A well dressed pug ornament I found at TJ Maxx! Couldn't pass him up!

I have a thing for Santas...

I have so many Santas that I think I'm going to do an all Santa tree next year! You'll see many, many more Santas when I show you my tree!

I'll be sharing my mantel at this fun blogger block party!

Puffy and Personalized Christmas Wreath

2011-11-28T07:00:00.000-06:00

Have you seen all the fun, "puffy" Christmas wreaths out there in blog land? I've been wanting one for awhile now, but I didn't want to pay a lot for one. I also didn't think I could make one and have it look the way I wanted. Well, I got over that and decided to make one using some ribbon I bought at Michael's on clearance after Christmas last year. The ribbon is firm and bendable, so I thought it would make a good wreath. I also plan to use it on our Christmas tree. I decided to use two different colors of ribbon to give the wreath a fun look. This wreath was surprisingly easy to make! I am no longer intimidated!
All you need is your ribbon of choice (make sure it “bends” and holds its shape), wire wreath form, and some coordinating pipe cleaners or floral wire.

To begin, I cut my pipe cleaners in half so the ends wouldn't be so long when I tied the ribbon down. To make your loops, all you do is loop a section of ribbon and then twist the pipe cleaner to secure the "bend" of the ribbon to the wreath form from the back. You can see it better in the pic below. I was a little worried as I started out on the wreath because it was looking skimpy, but once I added in several more layers, it turned out great!

Here's the wreath with all the ribbon attached! I ended up going around the wreath twice with each color ribbon. I went around with the green ribbon, then the red, then the green again, then the red for the last layer. With each layer, I worked it into the other ribbon for the layered effect. I didn't even use all of the ribbon on the rolls!

My wreath needed a little personalization, so I painted an "M" green and then added some white dots. I drilled a hole up in the corner of the M before I painted it, so I could attach it with a pipe cleaner.

Those of you who have known me personally for longer than a day know that I am not the least bit artistic! I used to get panicked when I had to go to art class as a child! Most kids love art class, but I dreaded it! I'm a math, English, and science girl, so the fact that I actually painted something with craft paint is HUGE! (Painting furniture is totally different!) My dots are horribly uneven, but I'm still proud.

Here's the wreath with the M attached and ready to be hung on the front door.

I added a few "curly Q's" after I got the wreath on the front door. It needed a little something extra! I think the wreath looks great against the yellow door!

The curls totally make the wreath!

I love my new wreath!

For any of you paying super close attention, yes we still have a storm door. I propped the storm door open and hung the wreath directly on the front door just for the pictures. The wreath actually hangs on the storm door, but it makes for horrible blog pictures with the glare!

Linking up to these fabulous parties! Tatertots & Jello, Between Naps on the Porch, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Serenity Now, Mommy By Day Crafter By Night, The 36th Avenue, The DIY Showoff, Today’s Creative Blog, At the Picket Fence, Home Stories A to Z, Gingerbread, Remodelaholic, Thrifty Décor Chick, The CSI Project, Beneath my Heart, Crafty Scrappy Happy, Perfectly Imperfect, One Artsy Mama, Hi Sugarplum

This Week I am Loving…{Elf on the Shelf edition}

2011-11-25T07:00:00.000-06:00

Now that Thanksgiving is officially over, I can move onto Christmas! I am very strict on not putting out Christmas decorations until Thanksgiving is over. One holiday at a time! Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday because of the focus on being thankful and being with family. I love Christmas too, but I hate that the focus has turned to elaborate gift giving and not the real reason for the season: Jesus Christ.

I have challenged myself to remember why we celebrate Christmas and to remind E in a simple way this year. I don’t want her growing up focused on presents and asking Santa for gifts. It sure is fun to see her get excited about Santa though, and we will definitely have our share of magical moments! We will be adding an Elf on the Shelf to our traditions this year, so I have compiled some resources for some fun ways to use your Elf, if you have one. If not, it’s still neat to see how creative everyone can be!

101 Elf on the Shelf Ideas!

via

This site has some really original ideas with photos, including stuffed animal spin the bottle! Hilarious!

via

15 more Elf on the Shelf ideas from Parenting.com

via

Do you have an Elf on the Shelf? What are some of your favorite ideas? I don’t know how crazy we will get with our Elf this year since E is only two, but I’m keeping all these ideas pinned for future reference!

I'll be back on Monday to show you my new DIY Christmas wreath for my front door!

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T08:25:00.001-06:00

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving! I am so thankful for my wonderful blog buddies!

Yellow Door, Yellow Door, What do you see? (Corrected Post)

2011-11-21T07:00:00.000-06:00

*Update: I'm so sorry if you could not see the "after" pics when I posted this last week (silly Blogger). It should be all fixed now if you don't mind taking another look!

I've been contemplating painting our front door for a couple of years now. Before we replaced our exterior doors a few years ago, I had painted our front door black to match our shutters. We had white, steel doors installed, and I have been reluctant to paint the front door since (very unlike me!). Well, I finally got over it! The white wasn't bad, but it just didn't have the pop of color I've been wanting for our front door. I didn't want to do boring black again and have it blend in with the rest of the houses in our neighborhood. I had thought about red, but our house is red brick, so that wouldn’t look good either. So, what did I do? I painted the front door yellow!
I decided on Glidden's Goldenrod in semi-gloss. It was the first yellow I was drawn to while standing in front of all the swatches. After removing all the hardware, I primed the door first to make sure the paint would "stick". Then I brushed and rolled on several thin coats of paint. It really killed me that I couldn't spray paint the door! That would have been too much trouble for such an easy project.
Here was my set up last Sunday afternoon. I completed this while E was napping. I left all the hardware off the door for the rest of the day and did not close the door until the following day. I was really worried about it sticking. (And yes, Jessie, my front door was unlocked and wide open or cracked for a solid 24 hours! Ha!)

You will always find two lazy dogs lying around while I'm painting.

Here's the finished, outside view! The storm door has a horrible reflection in the picture, but it still allows the yellow to shine through!

View from the walkway. You definitely notice the new color when driving by! Ours is definitely the only yellow door on our street!

Here's a before shot of the porch with the plain, white door. Now that it’s yellow, the white door looks so plain and sterile.

Inside view of the door. Our front door is always open when I'm home, so the yellow really helps to brighten up the room. I love all the natural light the storm door lets inside, and the dogs love to lay in the morning sun.

Have you painted your front door a fun color?

Linking up to these fabulous parties!
Tatertots & Jello, Between Naps on the Porch, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Serenity Now, Mommy By Day Crafter By Night, The 36th Avenue, The DIY Showoff, Today’s Creative Blog, At the Picket Fence, Home Stories A to Z, Gingerbread, Remodelaholic, Thrifty Décor Chick, The CSI Project, Beneath my Heart, Crafty Scrappy Happy, Perfectly Imperfect

Drop Cloth Headboard with Nailhead Trim

2011-11-14T07:00:00.000-06:00

Oh, you have no idea how excited I am to share our new headboard with you! A couple of weeks ago, I asked y’all for your opinion on a tufted vs. nailhead headboard. The overwhelming choice was NAILHEAD! I was leaning that way too, so y’all just sealed the deal. I completed this project in one day a little over a week ago during E’s naptime and then after she went to bed. It really was so easy as long as you have the right tools.
Here’s a quick reminder of how the old headboard looked. It was a very pretty headboard, just too big and bulky for the room. I pulled out a really old pic of our room with the old drapes and old bedding so you could REALLY appreciate the transformation! What was I thinking with that bedding? Oh my!

After! Doesn’t it look so much lighter and brighter (and look great with my new Roman shades)? I am in love with it. I walk by the room and just stare. It has made such a huge difference in how the room feels. Read on for the tutorial, price breakdown, and LOTS more pics!

We found a piece of fiberboard at Home Depot for $10 and had them cut it to our specifications of 78”x45” for our king size bed. I knew I wanted the headboard notched out on the corners, so I made a template from a piece of standard printer paper and traced it on both sides of the board. The notch is 11 inches wide and 8.5 inches long. I just drew a curve from one corner of the paper to the other.

Then I got to cutting with my new jigsaw! It is so easy to use and fun. Ben is scared I’m going to get too excited while using it and cut off a finger…

My fabric for this project was a drop cloth! I bought two of them a couple of months ago with plans to stencil them and use as curtains. That didn’t happen after I realized it would be the perfect neutral fabric for my headboard. And even better, they were only $10 each! To use a drop cloth as fabric, make sure you wash it with a good amount of fabric softener and then iron it really well. I purchased 5 yards of 1/2 inch thick batting from JoAnn’s to use as my padding. Foam is too expensive, and I figured two layers of batting would be plenty (and it was).

This project is so much easier if you have a nice long work surface. Luckily, our dining room table fit the bill. I laid my drop cloth (wrong side up) down first, then two layers of batting, and then my headboard.

My batting was barely wide enough to staple to the headboard, so I stapled each piece separately. This took a little more time, but I had to really stretch each piece to have enough material to staple down. After the batting was secure, I went back and stapled the drop cloth down. LOTS of stapling!

Here it is all ready for some nailhead trim!

I ordered my trim from Beacon Fabric, and it was $20 for a 10 yard roll. This stuff is so easy to work with! I am so glad I did not get individual nailheads. I would have pulled my hair out! Do be careful though when stretching out the trim. I think I got a cut on each one of my fingertips on my left hand. Ouch!

I started at the bottom left of the headboard and worked my way around. You pound in a nailhead with a rubber mallet every 5th head. There’s a small hole so you know exactly where to put the nailhead.

The corners were a little tricky, but the trim cuts easily with some heavy duty scissors.

I figured out a little late in the game that it was easier to get a straight line with the trim if I went ahead and stretched it all the way across and nailed the end down. I then went back and filled in the rest of the holes. Live and learn, my friends. It’s also easy to go back and pop out any unruly nailheads. You can see a couple in the pic below. The nail stem bent a little when hammered in, so I popped them out and replaced them with a new one.

To hang the headboard, I used a French cleat. When I asked the guys at Home Depot which aisle they were on, they said “a French what?”! Ben said the only cleats he knew about were the ones on the bottom of his football shoes! I used a cleat because I was not about to hang this bad boy with D-rings. No way was I going to try and line those up straight. A cleat makes things so much easier because you can slide the headboard to the left and right until it’s in the right spot. This one even came with a little level on it, so we knew it was straight. It was $15 and well worth it! They come in different sizes, so you can use them to hang all kinds of things. I went with the 200# cleat because I didn’t want to take any chances of the headboard coming off the wall. It may not look it, but it is heavy!

Here’s the part of the cleat that went on the top of the headboard.

And here is Ben screwing the other part into the wall. It had these fancy screws with teeth around them, so you’re not supposed to use a drill. Luckily one of the screws went into a stud, so the headboard is not going anywhere!

Here’s how the back of the headboard turned out looking.

And here it is hung on the wall! So pretty! The drop cloth did have a seam down the middle of it, but I knew it would be hidden by the bed and pillows, so I was not worried about it.

Here it is all dressed up and ready for it’s debut!

Again, I’m in love! Doesn’t it look good with the shade fabric? I didn’t even plan that! I literally made the entire headboard, and the first time I saw the fabric in the room was when we hung it! I’m the kind of person who doesn’t even take paint swatches home to make sure they look good. I pick out my paint right on the spot, fabric too. It’s a blessing and a curse. I go with my gut, and it most always works out.

One more time…Before and After pic

And here was my little helper while I took pictures. She saw the headboard first thing when she woke up and said “ooooohhh, new pillow!”! So cute!

Here’s the cost break down:
Drop Cloth $10
Headboard $10
Batting $20
Nailheads $20
French Cleat $15
Grand Total $75

Not too shabby when stores are charging over $1000 for one of these!

Next up, I think I want to paint our bedside tables with chalk paint. I’m thinking ASCP Old White? What do you think?

Linking up to these fabulous parties!
Tatertots & Jello, Between Naps on the Porch, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Serenity Now, Mommy By Day Crafter By Night, The 36th Avenue, The DIY Showoff, Today’s Creative Blog, At the Picket Fence, Home Stories A to Z, Gingerbread, Remodelaholic, Thrifty Décor Chick, The CSI Project, Beneath my Heart, Crafty Scrappy Happy, Perfectly Imperfect

Tree Hugger

2011-11-11T10:45:00.001-06:00

Happy Friday everyone! My little "Tree Hugger" and I want to wish you a happy Fall weekend! We've got a hayride at church tomorrow and then our much anticipated new church building dedication on Sunday! I hope you get to enjoy the beauty of God's colorful trees this weekend! Happy Fall Y'all!

Beth
I'll be back on Monday with a post about our new headboard! I'm so excited to share it with you!

Easy Applique

2011-11-09T07:00:00.000-06:00

If I can applique, anyone can do it! I’m flying to Houston next week (girls’ weekend!) to see my Bestie, Jennifer, and I want to take some treats to her three kiddos. These are not the kind of treats that the kids will appreciate, but their Mommy sure will! She’s already seen the pics of the shirts, so I’m not ruining any surprises!

I only learned how to sew back in March when I took a four week sewing class with my Seester, Drennon. We learned to make a child’s “Johnny” romper, and the sewing bug hit. I can’t do anything fancy, but if I can make an entire quiet book from scratch, then anyone can learn to sew!
I bought three t-shirts (2 girls, 1 boy) from Wal-Mart at $3.88 each, as well as some Christmas fabric from JoAnn’s a few weeks ago on sale. I only needed a 1/4 of a yard, so the fabric only cost a couple bucks, if that. The girls’ shirts were easy. I cut out a Christmas tree and sewed it on their shirts and placed a button at the top for a “topper”. The boy’s shirt was a little harder because I thought the tree was a little “girly” for him. I finally decided on an “a” for Alex. I made the “a” using Word Art in Microsoft Word. The font is “Howser”. All I did was stretch it on the screen to the size I needed and then printed it out.

I then made sure the size of the letter would work on the shirt. I traced around the letter with a Sharpie (my black ink was running low in my printer) so it would show through the back of the page (more on that below).

Heat n Bond is your best friend when making an applique! It eliminates the need to pin your fabric to the clothing. Make sure you follow the package instructions when ironing it on your fabric.

One thing to remember when using Heat n Bond is that you need to reverse your image on the smooth side of the paper so it will turn out correctly on the fabric. (I think there is a way to do this in Word, but I don’t know how yet!) This will make much more sense when you are actually working with the paper! I turned my computer paper over (the side with the “a” printed on it), traced the “a” on the back side of the paper, placed the Heat n Bond on top of the paper, and then traced again onto the Heat n Bond. Clear as mud?!

Cut around your letter so there’s not much paper around the edges (this keeps you from wasting fabric). Then, use your iron to bond the paper to your fabric. Again, follow the package directions.

Once the paper is bonded to the fabric, cut out your letter and make sure it looks good on your shirt.

Then peel of the paper backing to reveal the “glue” that will hold your fabric to the shirt. It will be shiny but not sticky.

Place your letter on the shirt exactly where you want it to stay and then iron it on. It’s so easy!

Once your letter is bonded to the fabric, it’s time to sew! Pick out a coordinating thread and sew around the edges of the letter. I’ve used a zig zag stitch as well as a straight stitch in the past. For this project, I chose a “tight” straight stitch in bright green. Don’t forget to sew around the middle hole if your letter has one!

Here are all three shirts! I am so excited to get these on those three kiddos! I made E a tree shirt too! Hers is white with a red button.

The total for all three shirts was about $15 since I already had the thread, buttons, and Heat n Bond.

Beth

Linking up to these fabulous parties!
Tatertots & Jello, Between Naps on the Porch, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Serenity Now, Mommy By Day Crafter By Night, The 36th Avenue, The DIY Showoff, Today’s Creative Blog, At the Picket Fence, Home Stories A to Z, Gingerbread, Remodelaholic, Thrifty Décor Chick, The CSI Project, Beneath my Heart, Crafty Scrappy Happy

Men’s Shirt Christmas Pillows

2011-11-07T07:00:00.000-06:00

I went to Goodwill a couple of weeks ago looking for some cable knit sweaters, so I could make some winterized and cozy pillows for our den. I didn’t see any sweaters that I really loved, but I did see these two button down shirts that screamed “make me into Christmas pillows!”! I had seen this tutorial on making pillow covers from men’s shirts, so I knew what I had to do. The shirts were $5 each; not a steal, but I thought they were worth a try. Doesn't that look like a Christmas plaid?

We have two of these pillows residing on our den couch that I wanted to use. They measure 20x20, but I made the pillow covers about 18x18 so they would fit snugly. I like the idea of being able to take the covers off once Christmas is over and not having a bulky pillow to store.

To make the pillow covers, keep the shirt buttoned and use a rotary cutter to slice through both the front and back of the shirt at the same time. For the first shirt, I cut through the side seams, and this was not the way to do it. It really goes a lot faster if you lay your shirt flat, lay your pillow on top and eyeball the size, then cut with your rotary cutter. Plaid shirts make it super easy to cut since you can just follow one of the lines with your rotary cutter. Make sure you pay attention to the pocket on the shirt (if it has one). I liked the little extra detail it gave the cover, so I left the pocket on and worked around it.

Once your pieces are cut, turn them right sides together and sew around all four sides using about a 1/2 inch seam allowance. I love that you can sew all four sides since the button down part of the shirt acts as your opening. No going back and hand stitching!
Isn’t it cute?! I love the extra detail that the buttons add to the pillow.

And guess what? These can be taken off and thrown in the washer! How awesome is that?!

Here they are looking all nice and cozy on our den couch.

I played around with a few different layouts of the pillows…

And decided that I liked the buttons facing out the best!

There are so many different possibilities when using button up shirts as pillow covers! Go raid your husband’s closet and turn those ugly shirts into cute pillow covers! I’ve got my eye on several of Ben’s shirts…

Beth

Linking up to these fabulous parties!
Tatertots & Jello, Between Naps on the Porch, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Serenity Now, Mommy By Day Crafter By Night, The 36th Avenue, The DIY Showoff, Today’s Creative Blog, At the Picket Fence, Home Stories A to Z, Gingerbread, Remodelaholic, Thrifty Décor Chick, The CSI Project, Beneath my Heart, Crafty Scrappy Happy, Nap Time Crafters, At Home with K

I am Thankful for…

2011-11-04T07:00:00.000-05:00

A couple of weeks ago while teaching clinical in the hospital, I saw the article below posted on the white board in the nurses’ station. After I read it, I immediately took it down and made a copy so I could share it. I have no idea where it is from, but at the bottom of the article, it said it had been submitted by “Frances Shipp, Weaver High School, Weaver, AL”. With Thanksgiving a few weeks away, I think it is good to remember all our many blessings. Not just at Thanksgiving, but all year long. If everyone looked through the eyes of this article, the world would be a much different place. I hope you find it as inspiring as I did!

I am thankful for the wife who says it’s hot dogs tonight because she is home with me and not out with someone else.
I am thankful for the husband who is on the sofa being a couch potato because he is home with me and not out at the bars.
I am thankful for the teenager who is complaining about doing dishes because it means she is at home, not on the streets.
I am thankful for the taxes I pay because it means I am employed.
I am thankful for the mess to clean after a party because it means I have been surrounded by friends.
I am thankful for the clothes that fit a little too snugly because it means I have enough to eat.
I am thankful for my shadow that watches me work because it means I am out in the sunshine, and for a lawn that needs mowing, windows that need cleaning, and gutters that need fixing because it means I have a house.
I am thankful for all the complaining I hear about the government because it means we have freedom of speech.
I am thankful for the parking spot I find at the far end of the parking lot because it means I am capable of walking and have been blessed with transportation.
I am thankful for my huge cooling bill because it means I am comfortable.
I am thankful for the lady behind me in church who sings off key because it means I can hear.
I am thankful for the pile of laundry and ironing because it means I have clothes to wear.
I am thankful for weariness and aching muscles at the end of the day because it means I have been capable of working hard.
I am thankful for the alarm that goes off in the early morning hours because it means I am alive.

“In every thing give thanks”
I Thessalonians 5:18
Beth

Toddler Bean Bags by 517 Creations

2011-11-02T07:00:00.000-05:00

Boy I have I got a treat for y'all today! When MJ from 517 Creations asked to feature my Pottery Barn Project Table Knockoff a couple of months ago, I had no idea we'd become fast bloggy buds! MJ was so nice to help me with some Blogger brain farts I had, and we've been emailing and commenting back and forth ever since. Don't you just love the WWW?! I told her that if we lived in the same city, we'd for sure be best buds. But, on to the treat for today! MJ is here to share her toddler bean bags tutorial. I think they are the cutest and can't wait to make some for our little ~~tornado~~ sweetie! Take it away MJ!
Happy November! I'm so excited to be guest posting here at Nashville Pug, my bloggy buddy Beth's blog - say that 3 times fast! :)
My name is MJ and I can usually be found blogging over at 517 Creations. I hope you'll grab a cup of coffee, pop on over, and read a few of my posts...after you're done reading this one, of course!
On to the tutorial...

I love these “Toss and Learn: Colors” bean bags that I created a few months ago. They are the perfect present for any toddler in your life. Bean bags help with gross motor skills and sensory integration, and these help with color recognition…says the former teacher in me. :) We all love bean bags, right?
Of course, we are talking about bean bags here, so they’re pretty simple to make.
Here’s what you’ll need:
8 different fabrics (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, brown, black).
You could add more or less depending on how many colors you want.
Coordinating or contrasting thread
Printable fabric – this adds an extra little bit, but I think it makes these bean bags what they are! This can be found at most fabric stores. I bought mine at Hobby Lobby with the 40% coupon!
Beans – this takes more beans that you’d think! (A funnel makes this job much easier!). I used pinto beans as they are sold in large bags at Wal-mart.

Step One:
Following the directions on your printable fabric, print the names of the colors on a single page. If you’re interested in a .pdf of this, e-mail me! The printable fabric that I used had to dry for a few minutes, so I recommend doing this step first. Cut your color names apart – be sure to size them so they’ll fit on your bean bags.

Step Two
Cut your fabric into 6-inch squares. If you have a cutting mat and rotary cutter, this step goes by quickly!
Step Three:
Lay out 1 side of each “bag”. Pin the color name to one side of each “bag”. Sew your color names on! You could use a fusible webbing to help secure it. The printable fabric that I bought already had the fusible webbing on the back, so it made it a little easier. Be sure to back-stitch to secure it!

Step Four
After each color name has been sewed on, match up both sides of your bags and pin them together. Be sure that the RIGHT SIDES of the fabric are together, and sew with a ¼ seam allowance. Be sure to leave a 2-3 inch opening along one side of each bean bag – this is where we’ll put our beans in.

Step Five:
Clip the corners, turn the bean bags right-side out (be sure to poke the corners out), and iron flat.
Step Six:
Fill the bags using whatever type of beans you have on hand. One cup seems to be a good amount to fill this size bag.

It helps if you have a trusty assistant!

Step Seven:
After you have filled the bags, pin the opening shut. Then either hand-sew or machine-stitch the opening closed. I like to machine-stitch it, and then top-stitch around the entire bag for added strength…we do have a 2-year old boy in the house! If you top-stitch around your bags, you’ll have to move the beans out of your way as you sew. This takes a little practice to move them to one side or the other, but you’ll get the hang of it!

Step Eight:
You're done! Enjoy your Toss and Learn: Colors bean bags!

Step Nine:
Make your cute little toddler’s day by “letting” him practice his colors while playing with the bean bags!

You can take this concept of "Toss and Learn" and use it to teach all kinds of skills...letters, shapes, numbers, etc. Start a little bean bag-making factory in your sewing room this weekend!
Thanks so much MJ! Aren't the bean bags so neat?! They are definitely on my list of things to make for E very soon. Be sure to also check out MJ's series "31 days of warming up to the Holidays" that she just wrapped up on her blog. The link is below. She has lots of great printables and Christmas ideas!

Beth

Halloween Treats from Mama Bear

2011-10-31T07:00:00.000-05:00

On Thursdays, I take a group of six nursing students to the hospital for their clinical day. It's a fun but very hard and exhausting day keeping up with six students, their patients, all their charting, and all their care of said patients. My students have done a great job this semester and have improved so much! I decided I would make them some Halloween treats since they are poor, starving college students! They don't call me "Mama Bear" for nothing! I love to take care of my sweet students.
I don't even know what you call these treats. They are super easy to make, and the salty/sweet taste is so yummy! I made these for E's birthday party back in the summer but decided to give them a fall look for Halloween.
To make these chocolate/pretzel treats, you need: a bag of pretzels (I like the square, checkerboard kind), Hershey's Kisses, and Reese's Pieces or M&M's.

Preheat your oven to 275 degrees. Then lay out your pretzels in a single layer on a large cookie sheet. Place a kiss on top of each pretzel. Unwrapping the kisses is the longest, hardest part of making this treat. Stressful, I know.

Bake the pretzel/kiss combo at 275 for FOUR minutes. You want the kisses soft enough so you can press a Reese's Piece or M&M into the kiss. The Hugs (white chocolate striped kiss) melted a little faster than the milk chocolate kisses, so you could do these separately if you wanted and only bake them for three minutes. Make sure you press the Reese's Piece firmly into the kiss so it "bonds" to the pretzel. Don't these look YUMMY?! I may or may not have eaten a ~~dozen~~ couple in the process...

Then, place the whole tray into the fridge so the chocolate hardens.

Now, the fun part! Either keep them all for yourself (because you can’t bear giving away such a yummy sweet/salty treat) or package them up to give away. I placed mine in baggies and then into these little, tin buckets I found in the Target dollar section. A little orange tissue paper, and you're set!

My students were so excited about their homemade treats! They don't call me Mama Bear for nothin!

These treats can be changed up in all sorts of ways. I plan on making them again once the red and green M&M’s are out for Christmas. These are so easy and always a huge hit since you can satisfy a sweet and salty tooth with ~~a dozen~~ one bite!
Happy Halloween!
Beth

Linking up to these fabulous parties!
Tatertots & Jello, Between Naps on the Porch, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Serenity Now, Mommy By Day Crafter By Night, The 36th Avenue, The DIY Showoff, Today’s Creative Blog, At the Picket Fence, Home Stories A to Z, Gingerbread, Remodelaholic, Thrifty Décor Chick, The CSI Project, Beneath my Heart

This Week I’m Loving…

2011-10-28T07:00:00.000-05:00

This super cute Christmas banner was designed by my bloggy bud MJ from 517 Creations. She has a great “31 days of warming up to the holidays” series going on this month. You can rest assured that this banner will be hanging from my new “mantels” this year!

via
Aren’t these appliques precious?! Appliques are a quick and easy way to dress up or personalize a plain t-shirt, and these patterns would be easy to free hand!

via
This is just genius! In our next house, we will have a hidden dog food drawer!

via
The website Bump Smitten is entirely dedicated to baby showers. There are some of the sweetest and cutest ideas on this site! The picture below is from a Pat the Bunny themed shower with adorable invitations.

via
One more party…I see this one in my future! This homemade Mickey Mouse 2nd birthday party is so cute, and I love the color combo of light blue and red!

via
I hope everyone has a great weekend and a happy and safe Halloween!
Beth

Redneck Girl

2011-10-26T07:00:00.000-05:00

Much to her Daddy's delight, this little redneck girl loves animals, the outdoors, and loves to go looking for deer and turkey. We’ll be driving down the road and she’ll say, “I don’t see any deer! I don’t see any turkeys! Go look!” Her Daddy is thrilled, of course. Ben bought her a camo hat that says “Camo Cutie” on it. She loves to wear it!
A true redneck girl loves to sit in the back of a pick-up! She may follow in her Mommy’s footsteps and drive a 4x4 truck as her first car! Though, the only boy’s lap she will be sitting on for quite some time will be her Daddy’s…

She cracks me up in this picture. It looks like she’s saying “Hey you! Whassup?”

This little Camo Cutie will be decked out in some real camo before too long! Ben can’t wait to take her hunting and fishing!

Love my sweet redneck girl (who also wears very pretty smocked dresses)!

Beth

Playroom Gallery Wall

2011-10-24T07:00:00.000-05:00

I decided to make some changes to Elliotte’s playroom this weekend. I’ve been wanting to add a chalkboard to the wall so she can draw and color to her heart’s content. Anything to keep her occupied for a few minutes! I also wanted a place where we could display her “artwork”. I picked up a thin piece of plywood from Home Depot and painted it with chalkboard paint. I also got some trim so I could add a frame to the chalkboard. After cutting the trim with a friend’s miter saw (the cuts with the miter box last time were too rough, and I really wanted to use a miter saw!), I hot glued the frame together and then spray painted it.

Below is a pic of the green paint I started out with. It was WAY too bright, so I went with a softer blue, and it turned out much better.

The color is Peekaboo Blue by Krylon.

Much better!

After the paint dried, I glued the frame to the chalkboard with Liquid Nails and placed some of Ben’s weights on top to make a good seal. After a few hours, it was ready to hang!

Here’s the chalkboard all finished along with a new gallery wall! I am so excited about E’s new gallery wall in her playroom! The white frames are from Michael’s, and I plan to paint them a few different colors. The pink frames are from Goodwill. I spray painted them and added some scrapbook paper and metal clips to display artwork.

The table and chairs were mine when I was little and they received an update a few months ago.

E now has a proper place for tea time!

I ordered these baskets from WUSLU knowing that I would use them for playroom storage. The bottom basket holds favorite friends, and the top basket holds E’s chalk for now.

E can draw on her tabletop too! It’s coated in chalkboard paint as well.

I still need to fill in two of the white frames, but I couldn’t wait to post about the new gallery wall! I can’t wait to see E playing in here now and all the pretty pictures she will draw on her new chalkboard!

Please excuse the horrible lighting in these pictures! The playroom is in the end our basement that does not have any natural light! It’s a fabulous space, but you have no idea if it’s day or night!

Beth

Linking up to these fabulous parties!

Tatertots & Jello, Between Naps on the Porch, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Serenity Now, Mommy By Day Crafter By Night, The 36th Avenue, The DIY Showoff, Today’s Creative Blog, At the Picket Fence, Home Stories A to Z, Gingerbread, Remodelaholic, Thrifty Décor Chick, The CSI Project, Naptime Crafters, Crafty Scrappy Happy

This Week I am Loving…

2011-10-21T07:00:00.000-05:00

We have had one hectic week! E had a stomach virus, then passed it to me, then add in 32 nutrition papers, 32 reading guides, and 5 care plans to grade=NO blog/Pinterest time this week! So sad! I did manage to squeeze in a tiny bit of pinning…
My phone disappeared into thin air last week and I HAD to get an iPhone to replace it. Why not? I will definitely be making these DIY phone covers to change out whenever the mood strikes! Too cute!

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These fabric flowers are so easy! I made one the other day from one of Ben’s ripped Mossy Oak t-shirts! Oh, the blasphemy!

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It is never too early to start thinking about Christmas décor. Although I am adamantly against decorating for Christmas until after Thanksgiving, I can Pin ideas all year long! This spray painted pine cone wreath would be so cheap and easy if you have a nice, big pine tree in your yard! You could even spray them red and green!

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Have a fabulous weekend!

Beth

Roman Shades from Mini Blinds

2011-10-17T10:26:00.000-05:00

We’ve been needing some major updating in our bedroom. I’m working on a headboard plan, so I thought I should tackle the window treatments as well. We’ve had these treatments for about five years, and I have loved them.

My mom made the valances, and we used some of her old drapes to balance out the windows. They have held up well and looked great, but it was time for a change. I’m going for a less-is-more look in our bedroom now since it’s so small. It's always been small, but I just now noticed! We have a huge bed and dark furniture, so I want it to feel larger. When I saw this tutorial on making roman shades from mini blinds, I knew that’s what I wanted to do. I was going to attempt doing a tutorial for y’all (took pics and everything), but this one is so clear and fabulous, I just want you to use it instead.

First, I had to find some fabric that I loved. Our walls are blue and our coverlet is cream, so I wanted to keep the fabric neutral. Enter this fabulous fabric I found at JoAnn’s! It was on clearance for $8 a yard, then 50% off that, plus a $1.50 end of bolt discount, plus a 20% off entire purchase coupon. I got 3.8 yards for $11! I did a happy dance in the aisle when I found the fabric. E was yelling “No Mommy!” She hates it when I dance. I’m not THAT bad.

I got these mini blinds at Wal-Mart for about $10 each. I needed two.

I used Liquid Stitch to glue my blinds to the fabric and Stitch Witchery to hem the sides of the fabric. The main thing when gluing your fabric to the blinds is to make sure you don’t get any glue on the lift cord. Your blinds will not slide up and down if the lift cord is not completely free.

Ben decided to take a pic of me hanging the blinds. I love a good power drill!

Here’s the before of the other side of the room. Don’t you love my alarm clock I’ve had since I was in middle school? I just can’t part with it!

TaDa!! Here are our new Roman Shades! I am so happy with the results. The room looks so much lighter and brighter. I still need to get some black out shades to go underneath because we like our bedroom nice and dark.

The blinds go up and down very easily. I chose to extend the fabric outside of the molding because of the way our windows had been installed. There was no room to mount the blinds on the inside of the window. The window frame is almost flush with the molding.

Close up of the pleats. This fabric could not be more perfect for our room! I am still pinching myself that I got such a great deal on it!

Here’s the whole room with both Roman Shades. Tiny, isn’t it?

Tackling the headboard is next, and then I’m thinking the bedside tables need a nice coat of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Old White. Then, maybe I’ll be done!

Making these shades was so easy! The hardest part was measuring and making sure my fabric was even. I think my total for this project was around $35 for BOTH shades!
Beth

Linking up to these fabulous parties!
Tatertots & Jello, Between Naps on the Porch, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Serenity Now, Mommy By Day Crafter By Night, The 36th Avenue, The DIY Showoff, Today’s Creative Blog, At the Picket Fence, Home Stories A to Z, Gingerbread, Remodelaholic, Thrifty Décor Chick, The CSI Project, Beneath My Heart

Headboards: To Tuft or to Trim with Nailheads?

2011-10-14T11:16:00.000-05:00

I’m having a bit of a headboard dilemma. To tuft or to nailhead, that is the question? My original plan was to make a tufted headboard for our master bedroom. Currently, we have a big, dark wooden headboard that looks massive in our tiny bedroom. I'm looking to soften up the room a bit with some fabric. I've ready many tutorials on tufting headboards and thought I was all ready to go!

Then, I started seeing more and more headboards trimmed in nailheads. I like this look too! The tufted headboard will require more time, work, and supplies. I will need to buy foam, batting, embroidery needles and thread, button covers, and who knows what else. For a headboard trimmed in nailheads, I can eliminate the foam (it’s expensive!), embroidery needles and thread, and button covers. I will need to buy the nailheads, but I’m thinking they will still be cheaper than all those other supplies. I would use thicker batting with the nailheads, so I don't have to buy foam too. I already have my fabric, and I’m leaving that choice as a surprise! It was super cheap, and I’m so excited about using it (it’s a solid color)!

My dilemma is that I don’t want to do the nailhead headboard just because it is cheaper. I want to be happy with my headboard for years to come! Please help me decide which look to go for, please! We have a king size bed, so this will be a big project!

I like the shape of this headboard. It’s neither tufted nor trimmed in nailheads, but the shape is awesome, but it might be a little ambitious for me.

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This one is nice and simple. I like the nailheads only trimming the side of the headboard.

via Pinterest

Love the shape and nailheads on this one! I know it’s not a headboard, but you get the idea.

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Oh dear, this is gorgeous!

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Tufted headboard with tutorial by Centsational Girl.

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More nailheads. This is the simple shape I think I’m going for…

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More tufting in solid colors.

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Had to include the puppy dog in this one!

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I like the height of this one.

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Please let me know your thoughts in a comment! I would love some help deciding on tufted vs. nailhead, please!

Have a fabulous, fall weekend!

Beth

Linking to:

Pinning and Singing Weekend Pinterest Party

Weekend at WinShape

2011-10-12T07:00:00.000-05:00

This past weekend, Ben and I attended the "Romantic Adventure" retreat at WinShape Resort in Rome, GA with a group of 20 couples from our church. We had heard from many couples that it is the most gorgeous place, and that we would have a blast. We were not prepared for the gorgeousness and all the fun that we would have! WinShape is set among the 29,000 acres that make up Berry College. It is media free, so no there is no Internet or TV’s. You’re also asked to turn off your cell phones (I kept mine on because of E, but it stayed in the room). WinShape used to be a working dairy farm, and all the barns have been converted into lodges. Read more about it’s history here. It was amazing! This is what WinShape has to say about their marriage retreat,

“An exciting retreat for couples who want to increase their passion and have a blast doing it!Forget routine for a couple of days and have some fun with the one you love. From special meals in our Dining Hall to outdoor activities, the Romantic Adventure offers couples unique ways to enjoy time with each other and God, while enlarging their vision for how thrilling and fulfilling marriage can really be!”

Warning: this post has a ridiculous amount of pics because I wanted everyone to see all the beauty that surrounded us!

This was the view from our “barn” the evening we arrived.

These little guys were everywhere! They are protected on the campus, so they just wander around and are not scared at all of people. One of the staff members told Ben that it’s not unusual to see around 1,000 deer in a field when the feeders are out! We saw deer, turkeys, swans, geese, horses, cows, and smelled a rotten skunk!

Another view from our “Barn”. There are horses and cows in the distance.

This was our “Barn” called “Dijon”. The rooms were gorgeous, and those upstairs had rooms with lofted ceilings with exposed wood beams.

Another converted barn. All the bricks for the buildings were made on site by the students of Berry College back in the day.

We had a little surprise on our bed when we arrived!

This statue was outside the chalet reminding us of the dairy farm days.

We got up early on Saturday morning to watch the sun rise, and I was able to get some pretty neat pictures around the campus. This is looking through one of the breezeways back toward the chalet.

The whole WinShape campus in the early morning light.

The cows and horses were up early too!

The chalet in the daytime. There was 24/7 coffee, soft drinks, popcorn, and soft serve ice cream! I drank WAY too much coffee!

The dining hall was beautiful too!

This was looking up in one of the spiral stairwells in the dining hall.

And now we’re to the FUN part! The weekend included games and “couple-building” activities. You didn’t have to participate if you didn’t want to, but of course we did! Ben and I (well, mostly me) decided we would climb a 40 foot telephone pole with a tiny platform on top. Once at the top, we had to stand up and jump off to a trapeze bar together. It was much harder than it looked, but so much fun! I am bruised from head to toe from clinging to that silly pole and platform!
Strapped in and ready to climb!

I was first to climb because I was worried I wouldn’t be able to get onto the platform if Ben was already on it.

Almost at the top. One of the harder parts was figuring out how to get from the pole onto the platform. It was a tiny platform, and we are not small!

I don’t have a pic of us both on the platform, but it was tight, and we each had to get to a standing position with that pole swaying back and forth! I was shaking like a leaf. Ben was able to grab the trapeze bar!
I
Our partners in crime. Adam and Sophia climbed the pole too!

We took a small hike to the old mill on campus. It was so pretty!

The Normandy Inn on campus.

Looking at the campus from the Inn.

Others from our group.

We had church service in this old chapel on Sunday morning. It was gorgeous! We began church while it was still dark and as the sun came up, the stained glass inside began to glow!

Possum Trot church. This church was 1.4 miles up a rough, gravel road. It was so old and so pretty.

Overlooking the pond behind our barn when we were ready to head home.

One of the beautiful views on our drive back!

We had an amazing time at WinShape and strengthened our marriage while there. I would encourage anyone to go, and see what God has in store for you as a couple! You won’t be disappointed! We can’t wait to go back next October!

Beth

Linking up to these fabulous parties!
Serenity Now, At the Picket Fence

Guest Posting at Housewife Eclectic

2011-10-10T07:56:00.001-05:00

Happy Monday everyone! Today you’ll find me guest posting over at Housewife Eclectic sharing my Pumpkin Topiary tutorial. Debra was so sweet to ask me to guest post during her “Month ‘O Pumpkins”! What a cool idea! She’s got a whole month of crafts and recipes all centered around our favorite fall pumpkin! So, head on over and pay me a visit at Housewife Eclectic and check out all the other pumpkin goodness! Make sure to let Debra know I sent you, and while you're there, be sure to check out her spray painted cowboy boots!

Beth

This Week I am Loving…

2011-10-07T07:00:00.000-05:00

I’ve written of my love of Pinterest many times. (If you need an invite, just leave your email address in a comment or send me an email) I find myself pinning A LOT. I have quite a few boards that keep me busy. Ha!
This week, I am particularly loving this casual and comfy style board. I’m a jeans and t-shirt kind of girl. Throw a cute cardi on top, and I’m set! And I’m always in flats! I’m not the least bit vertically challenged, so at 5’10”, I’d rather not tower over everyone in heels.

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This 8x11 indoor/outdoor rug is only $165 on Overstock.com! I am strongly thinking about it for our family room! I love that it’s neutral but has a pattern.

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I have an office chair at my new project table exactly like this! I will be recovering it in some fun fabric in the near future!

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This is such a fun gallery wall! I love the mixture of colors and types of frames. I really want to do something like this around our TV wall in the den!

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These frames are made out of foam board with scrapbook paper ModPodged on top. They were originally intended to use on a fridge with magnets on the back, but I’m thinking you could easily use them on regular walls! Tape your picture to the frame from the back and add a picture hanger, and you’re set! Oh, and these would be much easier to cut and lighter than the wood versions I’ve seen.

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That’s what I’m loving this week. What about you? Have a fabulous fall weekend!

Beth

Family Room Redo

2011-10-05T07:00:00.000-05:00

I am so excited to share my Family Room Redo with you! Our family room has been a work in progress for a long time (almost five years!). I painted the walls Cape Red when we moved in five years ago because I was in my red, green, brown, gold phase. I got over that a couple of years ago, but didn’t really have time to change anything in the room until recently. Several months ago, we painted the room a soft yellow to brighten things up and moved our HUGE brown couch, chair and ottoman to the “man room” downstairs. I shopped my parents’ basement for a “new” couch and chair that better fit the scale of our room. I felt like I was in a new house! Of course, that started the slippery slope of me wanting to change EVERYTHING!
Before: This is how the room looked back in the spring after the couch and chair switcheroo. I can’t find older pics of the rom for some reason. We had our house for sale, so everything was neat and tidy and minimal. The flat screen TV was hung on the wall on the right with a green cabinet underneath. It was positioned between two windows, which was where I thought it needed to go because of the couch position.
Before:

After:

Here’s the TV wall now! I moved the buffet from the kitchen into the den to serve as a media cabinet. I plan on making some sort of gallery wall around the TV, so I’ll have to do another update! The desk/hutch that was in the right corner of the room was moved to the wall between the windows where the TV used to reside. The desk/hutch is one of my favorite pieces of furniture and was given to me by my Nanny and Granddaddy when I was young. It’s got history to it, and I’ll never part with it! It’s also something I’ll never paint.
I found a rattan storage chest at TJ Maxx for $30 to corral all of E’s toys in the den. It doesn’t look like a toy chest and adds some texture to the room.
The couch wall has changed quite a bit. I made the wood shim sunburst mirror over the summer and slipcovered the couch with one of my winnings from a blog contest. The couch was white, and now it has a cream, twill slipcover on it. I spray painted the round side table yellow and gave the lamp a makeover. Hopefully the blue recliner will be replaced in the near future!

Before: Here’s the TV wall looking in the direction of the front door back in the spring. I really like the green media cabinet, but it just wasn’t substantial enough for the den. It’s now in the guest bedroom and looks so much better.

After: I moved the blue, club chair over by the window so it faces the TV. It sits in front of another of my favorite pieces, our Grandfather clock. Again, it was given to me by my grandparents, this time as our wedding gift. I hope to pass it down to E one day. The lamp by the chair received a makeover too. I think this seating arrangement lends itself more to conversation since the chairs and couch are closer together.

Before: The couch wall. This arrangement stayed the same, but I changed up the accessories.

After: You have a better view of the couch, mirror, and display shelf in this picture. The slipcover has been so useful. I just pull it off and throw it in the wash. So easy. And I love it when E looks up at the mirror and says “Mommy make it!”.

I use the shelf to display family photos. I think the pictures people have in their home tell a lot about them. Pictures make a house a home, and I like being reminded of my amazing family. The door beside the shelf leads into the kitchen. It will be getting a major makeover here very soon!

Here’s a pic of the table beside the front door. This table used to be a darker wood. I spray painted it Rustoleum Heirloom White over the summer and distressed it. It lightened up this wall so much! Of course, I have more family pics displayed here too. I’m not attached to this mirror and am thinking of how I can change it up a bit.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my family room tour. I have enjoyed making it over, and it feels so much more like home to us now! Ben and I both will be sitting in here watching TV and just say “I love this room now”! It’s amazing how just rearranging furniture and changing out some accessories can make such a difference in a room?
Are you a rearranger like I am? Happy Wednesday!

Beth

Linking up to these fabulous parties!
Tatertots & Jello, Between Naps on the Porch, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Serenity Now, Mommy By Day Crafter By Night, The 36th Avenue, The DIY Showoff, Today’s Creative Blog, At the Picket Fence, Home Stories A to Z, Gingerbread, Remodelaholic, Thrifty Décor Chick, The CSI Project

Lamp Makeover

2011-10-03T07:00:00.000-05:00

Once I completed my table makeover, I expressed my desire to makeover the lamp, shade and base included. I had a few things in mind, but I really wanted to see some texture. When I saw Centsational Girl's sisal rope bowl,

I knew that some sisal rope was needed in our home somewhere!

Here is the lamp before. The shade was boring and the base was too gold for my taste.

For the shade, I grabbed some sisal rope from Home Depot, along with my trusty glue gun.

I started gluing the rope along the back of the shade at the seam. Be careful not to use too much glue because it could melt through your lamp shade! Keep winding and gluing until you get to the top.

In addition to the sisal rope lampshade, I sprayed the base of the lamp with some oil rubbed bronze paint. I love how it looks!

It really looks like an ORB lamp.

I think the lamp really makes the room look more pulled together, and the sisal rope looks great with the wood shim sunburst!

Linking up to these fabulous parties!
Tatertots & Jello, Between Naps on the Porch, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Serenity Now, Mommy By Day Crafter By Night, The 36th Avenue, The DIY Showoff, Today’s Creative Blog, At the Picket Fence, Home Stories A to Z, Gingerbread, Remodelaholic, Thrifty Décor Chick, The CSI Project

Big Girl Room Pinspiration

2011-09-29T07:00:00.000-05:00

As much as I don't want to face it, my baby is turning into a big girl. She even tells me so, "Big Gull" and, "Myself" is a fav of hers. I started thinking about a "big girl" room a few months ago and began pinning. Her room right now is cute with a green, pink, and black color scheme and subtle (ok, maybe not so subtle) "pug" theme. The pugs will always stay in some form or another, but the colors need to change. The walls are green and her furniture is black, and some of it will need to be painted.

I'm leaning toward a pink and blue color scheme and have found LOADS of inspiration via Pinterest. Here is some of my favorite Pinspiration!

A possible color palette. I love the varying shades of pink with some blue and green.

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Love the blue and white polka dot wall and soft pink curtains. Those pillow shams are pretty awesome too!

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This room is just precious in every way. Love the shades, daybed, pillows and wall color.

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I think E's dresser needs a coat of pink paint!

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Of course I heart this dog fabric!

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These pink and white striped curtains are adorable!

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I would love to incorporate a loft bed into her room, but that's not going to happen in this house. There is absolutely nowhere in her room for one! Hopefully our next house will have the perfect wall for a loft bed. E also needs to be a bit older...I can picture her trying to "fly" off the bed at this point in her life.

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This room has the perfect little alcove for a loft bed! I love that the bed is not taking up any floor space, so you don't lose any play space! It's the perfect spot for a play kitchen.

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I have no idea when this big girl room will start to take shape. Right now, it's just all in my head. And, thank goodness for Pinterest, since my head is not the place to be storing things! Isn't Pinterest the greatest!

Linking to:

Fall "Mantel"

2011-09-26T20:14:00.000-05:00

We don't have a fireplace in our house, so therefore, we do not have a mantel. I miss having a mantel to decorate with the seasons and holidays. After seeing all the amazing mantels on Pinterest, I decided it was time to remedy my mantel-less situation.

Since adding a fireplace to our house was not going to happen, I decided to make a "mantel". I had seen Shelley's kitchen shelves tutorial here,

and knew that I could make some too. So, off to Home Depot I went. I decided I wanted my shelves 3 feet and 4 feet long, so I purchased an 8 foot long 1x6 ($7.22) and had the guy at Home Depot cut it for me. I had found some brackets that I really wanted to use, but they were $6.85 each, and I needed four. I found some cheaper brackets that were not as pretty but would do the job for $1.98. Problem was, there was only two of them. Here's where it pays to chat up the associates at your favorite stores. I told the guy cutting my board that I had found two brackets but needed four and that there were other brackets I loved but were too expensive. What did he do? He gave the prettier, more expensive brackets to me for the cost of the cheap ones! SCORE! I got four, really pretty, more substantial wooden brackets for $7.92! He told me it was their fault they didn't have what I needed, and you should always ask for an upgrade when that happens. I think I thanked him about 100 times.

Below is one of the beautiful brackets!

Ben and I actually worked together on this project. Those that know us, know we do not work well together. We almost killed each other once on a canoeing trip because we both are crazy stubborn, and I like to be in charge. Big surprise. We will never go canoeing again.
Ben helped me cut the trim for the shelves with the miter box (still don't have that 12 inch miter saw with a laser). I actually only got frustrated once during the whole process! After all that cutting, we both decided that the shelves looked better without the trim. If I change my mind, I've got it already cut and ready to go...

Here is my priming station all set up under the carport one night. Yes, those are diaper boxes. I used spray primer for the first coat, and then gave the wood a good, fine sanding. But for the actual paint I used, wait for it........regular paint and a real paint brush and roller! Shocker, I know.

I used Glidden Antique White in semi gloss because this color will be showing up on my kitchen cabinets in the very near future. I added some Floetrol to my paint after reading Centsational Girl's praises of the stuff. It's supposed to minimize brush strokes in latex paint, and let me tell ya, it does! I am now in love with Floetrol. There is not a brush stroke to be found on my shelves. It makes me want to paint my kitchen cabinets yesterday.

Here's my painting set up on Sunday. I had to position myself in the garage so I could see the "man room" TV since the Titans were playing.

Hoover was my painting companion this time. Had to give the mutt some blog time too.

And here are my new shelves, all ready for fall decor, hung in the dining area of our kitchen!

Now I have not one, but TWO "mantels"! I am in love with my new shelves. In total, they cost just $16 to make!

I added some pumpkins and gourds that came from Michael's and Wal-Mart. The little urns had silk flowers in them and were on clearance. I knew I could pluck the flowers right out and use the urns for something else.

The wreath was a $2.50 Michael's find. The "M" I already had.

Love this little wire basket I found at PD's in Franklin.

The tray was a hostess gift and has leaves and acorns on it. I found a great place to display my WUSLU bottles and caddy!

One last look...I love it!

I'll be linking up to the Fall Mantels party at The Lettered Cottage!

And here as well:

Painted Planters and a Fall-ish Front Porch

2011-09-25T20:49:00.000-05:00

I have been looking for urns like these below for our front porch for a long time now. I wanted the lightweight urns that look like concrete. Everywhere I looked had them for at least $40 each! That was way more than I wanted to spend on front porch decor, even if they would last me a long time. That kind of money is just not in the budget right now.

Enter these cream, plastic urns.

I look at the planter section every time I'm in Home Depot or Lowes (or anywhere that has planters) hoping that they will have my dream urns on clearance. I walked right past these urns in Lowes because they were turned upside down and not put together like the one on the right. The urn base caught my eye, so I went back to take a closer look. I knew right away that I could spray the urns black and have them look much more "Ballard". So, at $12 each, I grabbed two!

Here's my partner in crime again...black spray paint made specifically for plastic.

I had to get a shot of the sign that hangs over my husband's work bench. It says "fishermen, hunters, and other liars...Gather Here!" It cracks me up! I'm actually the one that "gathers" there the most!

In process

All sprayed and looking festive with some pumpkins!

I took the middle size pumpkin and stuck some round stickers on it, and sprayed it black to break up all the orange. I love the polka dots! Also, the pumpkins were having a little trouble standing up straight, so I drilled some holes into the tops and bottoms and inserted a wooden dowel...everyone has wooden dowels lying around their house, right? I live on a busy street, and I know I got some funny looks from drivers by as I took a drill to my pumpkins right there on the front porch!

The urns and pumpkins were missing something...a little hay! Looks much better and more festive. You can't have a fall porch without a little hay!

Looking much more fall-ish around here! The pumpkins go quite nicely with my fall wreath and Goodwill monogrammed pumpkin!

I think those holly shrubs need a little trim so you can see the urns a little better!

These $12 urns make me so happy!

On a side note, yesterday a neighbor down the street stopped by while I was outside to tell me that she loved my urns and pumpkins! She made my day! She said she loves to drive by our house to see what I'm doing to the front porch. She said she noticed I had moved my ferns from the front porch and told her husband she couldn't wait to see what I was doing next! So sweet!

Linking to these fabulous parties:

I'm a Winner!!

2011-09-24T07:31:00.001-05:00

Well, we're all winners, at least that's what our parents tell us. But, a few weeks ago, I actually won a real-life giveaway. Not only did I win one; I won TWO! I'm not bragging (maybe just a teeny bit), I just want y'all to know that you can win too!

While I was standing in line at a consignment sale getting ready to ~~push and shove~~ quickly walk to the 2T girls section, I received an email from Ashley Mills at The Handmade Home telling me I had won the WUSLU giveaway she hosted on her blog! I was so excited I may have started cheering at my phone! I LOVE the WUSLU daily deals (LOVE Ashley's blog too, check it out if you haven't already), so I couldn't wait to see what they would have to offer in the coming days.

When I saw this wire caddy with six glass bottles offered, I scooped it up! I knew it would add the perfect touch to our den.

I clipped some pretty, purple flowers (I don't know flower names unless they are roses, daisies, or mums!) from our yard, and I think they are perfect for these bottles! They were also the only flower growing in our yard at the time...

Thank you Ashley!

To add even more to the excitement that week, I received an email from Beth Hunter from Home Stories A to Z telling me that I was one of the winners of the UglySofa.com giveaway! I had won any slipcover that they sold on their website! Wooo Whoooo!! I've been wanting a slipcover for our den sofa so badly but didn't want to pay $150 for one. The slipcovers offered on UglySofa.com are mostly from a place that rhymes with Lottery Yarn (the tag on the slipcover proves it!). They can't advertise where they get their slipcovers since they are overstock or damaged in some unseen way. I can't find a thing wrong with mine!

It took quite a bit of ironing and finagling, but I finally got the thing to look decent. Slipcovers are not for the faint of heart. When I do a post on our den rearrangement, you'll be able to see how bad the couch was before. It's quite an improvement and really lightens the room! Thanks Beth!

It really does pay to enter all the blog contests out there! I'm proof! Now, go and enter something!

Fall Vignette

2011-09-23T07:00:00.000-05:00

I love fall. I love fall decor. I love decorating with pumpkins.

Here's a little fall vignette that I made with clearance lanterns from Lowes. They were a shiny silver, and I gave them a quick update with some oil rubbed bronze spray paint. I think they look similar to the much more expensive Pottery Barn version! Both of the lanterns together were about $6! The pumpkins and flower pot were on sale at Michael's.

If we had a fireplace and mantel, I would love to display these there. But, we don't, so I can't.

These are placed on the buffet turned media center in our den. We've done a total overhaul of the den recently, and I will post pics soon of the transformation! It was as simple as moving furniture in from the kitchen and out to other rooms. It looks so much bigger now!

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A New Lamp Shade + A Craft Fail

2011-09-21T07:00:00.000-05:00

I had the bright idea to recover a lampshade one day last week. I thought it would be a quick and easy update to a boring, cream lampshade in our den. I already had fabric on hand that I wanted to use to bring a little more color into the room. I gathered my supplies,

measured my fabric and ironed the fabric under on the ends,

began to hot glue the fabric to the lamp shade,

I was so careful...

And then I realized that gluing fabric to a tapered shade was not going to work out. No matter how much I tried to make it work. I knew the shade was tapered when I began, but I really thought I could cut and stretch the fabric to make it work. Nope.

Enter new lamp shade from Wal-Mart. It is a 14 inch drum shade that was $14.99.

Let's start this process again, shall we? I started by hot gluing one end of the fabric to the inside seam on the lamp shade. I applied a little spray adhesive to the wrong side of the fabric to help it stick to the shade while I rolled and glued the fabric to the inside of the shade.

What is this???? Why is is puckering? Oh, upon careful inspection, this shade is not a perfect drum shade. The top part of the shade is just slightly smaller than the bottom. Thanks Wal-Mart. I decided to make it work. I was ok with a few puckers.

The inside looks messy...

But the outside seam looks pretty good! This side will be turned so it faces the wall. I love all these colors together.

And here it is! A nice, little update to a boring lampshade.

One of my fall vignettes. I spray painted two shiny, silver lanterns I found at Lowe's on clearance in an oil rubbed bronze color and added some fake pumpkins and gourds from Michael's. The second lantern is larger, and I think I got them both for $6! Take that Pottery Barn!

You can really see the puckers in this shot, but they do not show up like that in person, I promise.

Have you had a craft fail recently? Please tell me you have!

I Love Spray Paint (and Naptime Too)!

2011-09-19T07:00:00.000-05:00

One afternoon last week while E was napping, I decided it was time to paint the old, rickety side table in the den. To say I dislike the table would be giving it a compliment! A lot of things need changing in our den (some took place this weekend!), and this one was a quick and easy fix that involved my favorite tool...spray paint!

A look at the table before. That ugly recliner has got to go!

A bigger view. Yep, I made that sunburst mirror this summer out of wood shims. A $40 project that I love!

Sidenote: That tapestry was made from a photo my amazing Granddaddy took on one of his many travels.

I sanded the table down a bit since it had such a glossy coating on it.

These were my partners in crime. The color for the table is "strawflower".

Every girl needs this little accessory!

Primed and ready to paint! The leaves of the table come down if you twist the top.

All ready to go back upstairs! I did a little distressing after I took this picture. The perfect yellow paint job was bugging me a bit. It needed to be messed up!

A little distressing did the trick!

I think it looks so much better! Now, what to do about that lamp and chair!
Update: The lamp has been made over! Pics to come soon!

Linking to:
Metamorphosis Monday

Thrifty Decor Chick
Home Stories A to Z
Tatertots and Jello

A Day at the Zoo

2011-09-18T07:00:00.000-05:00

E and I went to the Nashville Zoo one pretty day last week. We needed to get out of the house, and she needed to literally run off some energy.
Here's my monkey looking for the monkeys.

Where are they?

You can see it was NOT crowded. She ran/walked the entire zoo. No, she does not sit still.

There's a monkey!

Meerkats!

I can't take my eyes off this child...

Zebra spotting

E: "Fish! Big!" There's a gator in there too.

Mommy needs a Diet Coke

Love the flamingo exhibit

They are so pretty!

Off to run some more in the foam playground area!

Had to go see the "Nake"!

Anything in there?

And she still had enough energy to swing for a bit!

This mommy was worn out, but E did take a 3.5 hour nap that afternoon! Thank you zoo!

My Wish List

2011-09-16T08:35:00.000-05:00

I've never been a jewelry, clothes, and make-up kind of girl. Power tools and technology gifts have always been my favorite. I would much rather have something for our house than new clothes. Now, that's not to say that I wouldn't appreciate a lovely pair of diamond earrings from my husband!
Since my birthday is rolling around next month (I totally thought I was going to be 32 again, and my "seester" had to remind me that, in fact, I was going to me 33. What a downer.) and Christmas is two months after that, I thought I would help my family out with a "wish list"! HeHeHe (Insert an eye roll from my mother)

The Shark Navigator Lift Away vacuum

I have a Bissell Healthy Home vacuum, and I HATE it! It's large, heavy and loud. I bump into everything when I use it.
Here's what the Shark website has to say: "The NEW Shark® Navigator™ Lift-Away® is the most versatile, portable, powerful and affordable upright you'll ever own. Clean faster, easier and better than ever before with Navigator™'s No Loss of Suction technology, Lightweight Detachable Canister, Swivel Steering, and Anti-Allergen Complete Seal Technology™ - all backed by a 10 year warranty!"
I have read many reviews on this vacuum, and all of them have said that this is the best vacuum ever! You can find it on Amazon for $179, but I plan on buying it at Bed, Bath, & Beyond and using a 20% off coupon (unless someone wants to buy it for me! :) )

A 12 inch Miter Saw with Laser

I'm not going to be "brand picky" on this one (though I do love the DeWalt yellow!). For my needs, a miter saw from Harbor Freight will do just fine. I asked some fellow bloggers what they would recommend, and they all said to go ahead and get a 12 inch and make sure it has a laser! I do have a miter box and have used it for projects, but my patience level and the miter box do not go together well!

Brad Nailer/Air Compressor Combo Kit

Doesn't this look like so much fun to use?! If I had the miter saw AND the brad nailer combo kit, I may never leave the garage!

Jig Saw

Again, I'm not picky on the brand. Many DIY'ers say the cheaper models are the way to go since I'm not going to be building a house anytime soon. This would make projects with curvy cuts so much easier! Centsational Girl used her jig saw to make some fabulous cutting boards! I have plans to make a tufted headboard for our master bedroom very soon, and I would love for it to have some "curves"!

I don't think I'm asking too much, do you?! Don't answer that!

Guest Blogging at 517 Creations

2011-09-15T08:30:00.000-05:00

Hey there NashvillePug followers! You can catch me today over at 517 Creations! MJ asked if I could do a guest post about my Pottery Barn Project Table Knockoff. I jumped at the chance and hope you will join me there today!

When you stop by, make sure you check out the beautiful *FREE* printables that MJ offers on her site. These are just a couple of them.

Love these! Hope to see you sometime today over at 517 Creations!

Tuesday Teaser

2011-09-13T07:00:00.000-05:00

Thank goodness the coffee can was empty! :)

Upcycled Goodwill Pumpkin

2011-09-12T07:26:00.000-05:00

I took a trip to my local Goodwill on Saturday hoping to find a piece of furniture to restore. I didn't find any furniture, but I did see this pumpkin sitting in the front window priced at $3.99. I grabbed it immediately and put it in my cart! It's metal and has a stand in the back so it sits up straight. I thought it would look great in the front yard. It did look great, but it was missing something. It was too plain. It needed to be personalized!

I made a large "M" in Word and printed it out. I toyed with painting "Boo" or a pumpkin face on the pumpkin, but then I couldn't keep it out after Halloween.

The "M" all cut out.

Taped and ready for a sharpie outline.

What's a post without a pug in it?! This is my first love, Buster, also known as "Bubba". He'll be 14 on 12/31 this year. He's my craft/painting/sewing buddy. The only hazard in having a pug around while you paint...pug hair!

I had this black paint on hand from painting a counter in the bathroom in our basement (it was white with gold flecks and I really couldn't have made it look worse no matter what I did to it). I really wanted to use spray paint, but the curvy lines of the pumpkin meant I couldn't. :(

All finished and looking much better!

Adds a fall touch the the front of the house! It's a nice compliment to my "Hardware Store Wreath".

One last look. I love the personal touch it adds to the house.

Linking to these awesome linky parties:

Metamorphosis Monday
Thrifty Decor Chick
Home Stories A to Z
Tatertots and Jello
Today's Creative Blog

Thomas the Train Comes to Nashville

2011-09-11T17:10:00.000-05:00

Ben took Elliotte to see Thomas the Train on Saturday morning after Lu informed me that Matt was taking Austin. It was a good day for a Daddy/Daughter outing. The tickets included a 25 minute train ride into downtown Nashville. We have lived here our entire lives, and I never knew Nashville had a Tennessee Railway Museum! Ben said they had a lot of fun, however, a certain toddler decided to be terrible during the train ride. Any guesses who? Enjoy the pics!

Sliding down the inflatable slide while waiting to board the train.

Playing a little golf with best buddy "Aussie"

Daddy/Daughter train ride

Looking out the window. I guess this was before she turned terrible.

Matt and Austin

The buddies

What's that?

Always has a "nack" on hand

View of the Cumberland River from the train

Sleepy girl with her Pinkie Dog lovie

My Knock Off Decor Was Featured!!

2011-09-10T19:54:00.001-05:00

I received an email that absolutely made my day! Beckie from Knock Off Decor was letting me know that my Pottery Barn Project Table Knockoff would be featured on the Knock Off Decor website! What an honor to be featured among so many talented bloggers! To say I'm excited would be a horrible understatement!

Go check it out!! Show me some LOVE!

I also found out (shortly after the email about the above feature), that Amanda from the awesome blog Serenity Now, featured my project table in her Highlighted Weekend Links! So cool!

And to make the day that much more exciting, I ended the night being chosen as one of the top 10 projects of the week on the CSI (Create Something Inspiring) website! I am truly thrilled and honored to be among some pretty well known bloggers (ahem...Centsational Girl to name drop).

Click on the buttons to view the websites!
Now, on to creating something else inspiring!

Custom Birth Info Sheet

2011-09-08T19:37:00.000-05:00

One of my new favorite blogs is The Morgan Family: Everyday Blessings. Haley Morgan is one talented blogger! I love her style and dedication to her faith in the Lord.

Right now, she is offering custom birth info sheets for $5! You read that right, $5! I had to have one for Elliotte. It is pictured below. I gave Haley the info and told her I wanted pink, green and light blue, and I am in love with it! She sent it to me via email, so I can print it at home and frame it right away.

Hop on over and see Haley to order your child's birth info sheet today! Click here to see what info she needs and then shoot her an email at haleymorgan82(at)yahoo(dot)com. You won't be disappointed! She also does blog designs too!

PB Project Table Knockoff

2011-09-05T18:08:00.002-05:00

Pottery Barn is going to hate me...
This is the desk I wanted for my craft/work/laundry room. "The Bedford Project Table" It's from Pottery Barn, and it costs $1,099 (plus $120 shipping). Nope, not in the budget. Not even close.

It took me a quick second to realize that I had seen those cubes before in the form of the below Closetmaid Cubeicals, found at Target for $40, on sale. I could use two of those for either end, and then all it needed was a tabletop, and I would have my craft table! So, I sent Ben to Home Depot for some wood. (If you know me and my projects, sending Ben to get some of my supplies is HUGE!) I decided I wanted the table to match the PB specifications of 55 inches long x 37 inches high x 38 inches deep. The cubes are 36 inches high and 36 inches deep. He came home with 7, 2x6 boards that they cut at Home Depot to 55 inches long. The boards are actually 5.5 inches wide, but for some reason they are called 2x6. Probably to confuse people like me who would have trusted that they were 6 inches wide like it said and not bothered to actually measure.

I knew I wanted to stain the wood instead of painting it white like the PB version. I wanted the top to contrast with the white cubes. So, I picked up a can of wood conditioner and a can of stain & poly in one ($24 total). The stain color is "Mission Oak Satin". The stain plus poly is different from regular stain in that you don't wipe it off in between coats. You brush on a thin coat, let it sit for 6 hours and then apply another coat if needed. I only needed one coat, and it looked great!

Don't let the smile fool you; he HATES projects!

My staining setup in the garage. Who needs a saw horse when you have loads of paint cans?

This is my craft area before:

The desk is long, but not tall or wide enough to do my sewing projects easily. I envisioned something that would let me stand to cut fabric with lots of storage.

And after!!! I am in love with my new table! To assemble, we screwed the boards to the cubes from underneath the top shelf of the cube. That way, when we move, we can just unscrew and go. I think we're going to add some braces in between the boards underneath as well to give it more stability.

Look at that wood!

Can't wait to start using this guy at my new table!

I think it looks quite similar to the PB version! I love having all the cubes to store my craft & sewing supplies, stationery, etc. The PB version has a back on the inner sides of the cubes, but I think I'm going to leave mine open since I can grab things from either side. Now I just need to make a trip to the consignment store, also known as my parents' basement, and grab a bar stool!

Project break down:
White cubes from Target: $80
Wood from Home Depot: $20
Conditioner & Stain: $24
Project Total: $124
PB Project Table: $1,099 + $120 shipping
Savings: over $1,000!!
I made this table for the price of shipping!

What have you knocked off lately?

I Made A Wreath Out of What?

2011-09-04T14:05:00.000-05:00

Hate buying expensive wreath forms at Michael's and Joann's? Try using pipe insulation from Home Depot to make your next wreath! I got a 4 pack for $2.47!

Just bend the insulation and secure the two ends with tape. I used painter's tape because that's what was closest to me.

For this wreath, I decided to wrap it in yarn and make fabric rosettes again. I wanted another fall wreath for inside our house.

I placed pins equal distances apart around the wreath so each section of yarn would be the same width. Then I started wrapping very carefully so each loop of yarn laid neatly beside the one before.

Then it was time to make some more fabric rosettes. I used the same technique that I did for my last wreath. I made a few different sizes then hot glued them to the wreath.

Finished product! I'm waiting to find the perfect place for it once I get out all my fall decor!

Linking to: