I have to say that I come from a line of crafty women. Not all the women in our family got the craftiness, as my cousins can attest, but I got lucky. My grandma was quite the crafty woman, and during her time on this earth she had quite a collection of supplies. My mom and aunts were dreading having to clean out my grandma's stash when she passed away, she had that much stuff. My aunt wanted to send it to me, but I have my own "stuff" to deal with.

Growing up my mom did all kinds of things. We were very much the "do it yourself" house of women. We grew very independent and found ways of doing things inexpensively. That has stuck with me, and I have followed that rule while decorating our home. Now it seems that my mom is taking pointers from me. Every time we talk, she asks me what new project I'm doing. When I first told her that I was going to paint my kitchen cabinets, she really thought that it was a bad idea. That is until she saw them. So what did she think of them? Well I guess she liked them because she went home and did this to her bathroom.

So here is the before...



and here is the after...





I think she did an amazing job, and did you notice she even made some of the squares for her wall over the toilet area. By the way, that shower curtain... yup, it's a sheet. Oh and she made the frame for the mirror, then painted it using a pewter kit from Michaels. Great job mom. Looks awesome.

Okay, I'm off to paint some more grout. It is looking amazing. Alex is way impressed, and it seriously looks like brand new tile in there. Woohoo!!!

Have a great day.
*ciao*
deb

So over the past few months, spray paint has become my friend. Yes, we were once strangers out of fear, and misunderstanding, but I have come to love this friend of mine. Why you ask? One word... CONVENIENCE! It is just so easy to use, fast to dry and if you don't like it, choose and different color and start over. I have found many ways to use it as you can see in my previous posts. Here are a few other things that I have invited my friend to beautify for me.

First I found these wall tins at Marshall's. Perfect for my stairway, that is weird, and hard to decorate, and dark.. Anyway, as you can see they aren't the same color. Actually the two that are the same print were different colors, which totally wouldn't work for what I wanted to do. One was the color of the center tile and the other was green. I know... GREEN? So i broke out my tan spray paint and painted them the same base coat. Then I went back with some black paint that I brushed on and wiped off. This got the paint into the crevices and gave me the perfect look that I needed. So now they match and work perfectly. I'm hoping Alex will hang these up for me this weekend.



These candle holders were Goodwill finds. They were ugly. Actually I really wish I had taken a before pic so you could see how ugly they were. They were white and gold and crackled. Yuck. So I just broke out my favorite black can of paint and voila.



This pedestal was brown, dated and ugly, but it was only $1. See for yourself.



Again, I broke out my spray paint, then sanded it down a little so it isn't so perfect.



Finally, a little Halloween decor. See those BOO letters in the pic with the ugly pedestal before pic? Well, I decided to use more spray paint for those.




I spray painted them black first. Then I tried to crackle them. Well that didn't work out so well, so I just painted them white. Not super white, but just a light coating of white. Then I went back and sanded the edges. I wanted them to look rough. I think I accomplished that. Super easy, and really inexpensive. I got the letters at Michaels on clearance for $.49 each. BARGAIN!!!

Okay, I am off to work on my grout. I also am finishing off a cute Halloween project that I saw today. I'll share those pics tomorrow.

Have a great evening.
*ciao*
deb

Well the day has finally arrived. I am an empty nester... as far as having little ones who don't go to school are concerned. My baby started Kindergarten today, and I have to say I did get a little emotional today. I am so used to having my shadow with me everywhere I go, that I found myself stopping and looking behind me to find her. It was weird. Of course she was nervous this morning and kept saying, "Mom, my stomach is feeling funny." In the end, both my girls did great. After school they were both little chatter boxes about what they did, and who they saw, and during dinner, Tori tells me, "Mom, I really love school." THANK GOODNESS!!! I ran into her teacher while making copies for her at school and I asked if Tori had cried, and she said no, but that she was quite the chatty Kathy. Well, unfortunately that runs in the family. Look at me, I couldn't shut up if my life depended on it.











So I started my project for the "Spray Paint Party", but have been so busy that I haven't finished it. But tomorrow is the day. I will do it tomorrow, I will, I will, I will. I have a list of projects that I want to do, and now I have no excuse. I also have a little bit of a tease to show you. I am painting the grout in the kitchen as I have said, and Alex is loving it. Well, he would ABSOLUTELY love it if it was the exact same color as the original grout, but since we can't find that, this will have to do. And from what we are seeing, it is a MAJOR improvement over what was there. So here are some before and during pics.







So this is what I walk into everyday. The area where the girls sit and eat most of their meals when it is just them eating. Like most kids their age, they make a mess. I swear I think they drop food more than they eat it. Popsicle stains, water or juice stains, paint stains, you name it and it has fallen on the grout. Well, okay almost everything...YUCK. My point is, it is hard to keep the grout looking nice when you have messy eaters. So I have had it with this area, and now I have a solution. It is really simple. I am using the same paint that Judy used and even the same color...Linen. It is a slow process, but it is actually kind of addicting. You find yourself wanting to finish more, and more, and more. So now you've seen the before of this area... GROSS! Tomorrow I'll post the after of this area. Oh, and hopefully my completed Spray project.

Okay, I'm off to get some sleep. Have a great evening.
Deb

1. Getting ready for the beginning of school means trying to get our routine in order, and working on the PTA Newsletter (my new job). Girls are totally excited and I'm a little nervous but thats okay.

2. I am totally painting my kitchen floor... GROUT that is. I read about it on both Southern Hospitality and Gracious Southern Living, and decided to give it a try. All I can say is AMAZING!!! All my frustration with my horrible floor is being literally painted away. I will post some pics of the finished product soon.

3. Finally, Joy is hosting a Spray Painting Party on Monday. Hmmm? What can I paint now. I have some ideas. Check back on Monday to find out.

4. Okay so I forgot one major thing... apparently someone leaked some chapters of Midnight Sun on the internet. Google it for yourself and you can read like the first 12 chapters. OMG!!!

Okay, now I'm off to bed. Lots to do tomorrow. Have a great evening.

*ciao*
Deb

So I finally finished my version of the wall squares I've been seeing on all the different blogs I stalk. I first saw them here and thought that would be the perfect thing for one of the random walls in Alex's office. The best part about it was it was really inexpensive. What do you think?





I had read that a lot of people had used styrofoam or core board to do this, but some said it came out bumpy. So I decided to use some left over MDF that Alex had in the garage. I asked him to cut out some 12x12 squares for me, then I just used Modge Podge to adhere the paper. I liked the way it looked but it still needed some aging, so I used my handy cat's eye chalk ink pad (i love that thing), and some left over furniture tacks that I had, and voila... instant art.



The verdict is still out about the piece hanging next to these squares. I'm not sure it goes there, or if I should try something different there. Any suggestions?

So we have four days left until school officially starts. Everywhere I go you see mothers with frustrated looks on their faces. There are people everywhere trying to get their kids ready for school... clothes, school supplies, etc. The kids are excited and hyper and... well you know the rest. So I am standing in line at HobLob yesterday, and my girls were on my last nerve. Seriously I was considering strapping them both into the seats of the cart and just pushing around two carts, but then they would have thought that was hilarious. So I'm standing in the check out, and the woman in front of me is having a really hard time with her kids. I'm talking, she needed a good 4 hour, bottle of wine (not glass mind you), Calgon take me away bath. So I'm standing there totally feeling for the woman, and she turns and says, "How many more days till school starts?" Girlfriend I feel for you.

Okay, I'm off to fold laundry and get my girls in bed. I've been trying all week to get them to bed at 7:30...yeah, not being so successful with that. I'm so not looking forward to the getting up reeeeaaaalll early part of school starting.

Have a good night.
*ciao*
deb

I am starting to get the Halloween decorating bug. I have seen several stores with the decor for Thanksgiving and Christmas up, but I keep thinking, "Hey, what happened to Halloween?" After visiting some blogs and seeing the vintage Halloween look using banners, and cloches, and lots of unusual items, the wheels in my head are turning. So here are some pictures of some fun ideas I've found online.










Angela at Cottage Magpie gives us a tutorial on making a "Boo" Garland. Check it out. Soooo easy.



Jen at The Cottage Nest has some great ideas for decorating your mantle for the Hollowed Day. Check out her blog for some fun ideas.



Susie over at Bienvenue made this awesome tree with some spooky black birds in it. I'm definitely going to making this. And the best part, is the birds were found at the Dollar Tree. Go check out her other great ideas.



Paula over at Olivers made these fun skeleton candle holders. Elegant and fun. She also has amazing ideas that you just need to check out.



How about this idea for your front door area. It is from Lemon Annie's Blog. I want to make some of these for each side of my front door. I just want them to be faux pumpkins so I don't have to buy new ones each year.



Bella also has a fun idea using a thrift found tin bucket, feathers and pumpkins. Check her out.



I have a couple of Halloween decor projects that I'm working on, so I'll post them when I'm done.

Do you have some Halloween ideas you want to share. Let me know, and we'll do a part Deux to this idea fest.

Have a great day.
*ciao*
deb

i stand up proudly and say, I am a member of this club. After sitting and reading some of the other blogs involved in the Nester's mistreatment party, I realized I have lots of mistreatment in my house. Actually a lot more than I thought I did.




So here are a few of my greatest mistreatments for your viewing pleasure.

Okay so first of all, I have to say that probably my favorite mistreatment material is SHEETS! HUH? I know. But they are huge, come in some great colors now, and can be used for lots of stuff.

Fist up here is the shower curtain that I made out of... a sheet and a yard of not so cheap fabric for our hall bathroom. The benefit here is that I got the sheet at Target for $10 and bought the fabric on sale for like $5. So for $15 dollars I got a shower curtain that is the right length, the right color, and only took me about an hour to make.



Next we have the curtains in the girls' playroom. Two king size sheets that I cut a hole in the top pocket of and hung on a pole. Thats it. Add some colorful tie backs and you're done.



Another king size sheet with some left over black and white fabric as a top valance and a glue gun to add some fun pop pop fringe and I've got another cute shower curtain to go in the bathroom of my studio.



Next we have the window treatment in the girls' bedroom. I made the valance, then...



stapled it to a piece of wood and some "L" brackets. I didn't even cover the wood from the backside. I probably should do that though.




The white panels are left over fabric my sister gave me, but it was too short. Not to worry, I just added some leftover fabric from their bedding to the bottom. Don't get to close though, it's quite a hideous job.



And finally in the spirit of reusing, I made this valance for that odd window that is in a spot where, really what can you do with it anyway. The fabric for this came from a bed skirt that my aunt gave me a while back. The colors were nice but didn't go with my bedroom. Well, I most certainly couldn't let it go to waste. So, tada...



Do you have mistreatments? You might be surprised. I was.

I'm working on an art project for the main office here. I'm just about through so hopefully I'll post those pics tomorrow.

Also, is fall here yet. It is getting nice and cool here and I am totally in the mood for some Halloween decor ideas. Got any? If you do, send them to me. I'm putting together some ideas to post.

Okay, gotta go feed the kiddos.

Have a great day.
*ciao*
deb

First of all, thank you to all of you who emailed and left me your beautiful comments on our recent loss. It means a lot to have such sweet people out there reading my little rants. We got back safely last night, and hit the ground running today. I had a PTA meeting, grocery shopping and laundry to do, so I am just now getting around to posting.

So although I was away, I was presented with a project opportunity, and from what I hear my eyes were huge with excitement about it. So, Saturday morning, we wake up prepared to start boxing up Alex's grandma's things and help out my mother in love in any way we could. Who could have imagined the work that would be done that day. So my sister in love tells me that they have a project that only I can do. Of course I have no idea what they are talking about. So the mission, if I should choose to accept it... very mission impossible huh?... is to paint his grandmother's furniture. Alex's grandmother lived with his mom, and so having it there in it's current state was going to make it that much harder for her. So I jumped at the chance. The only problem was that I had one day to do it, since we were leaving early Sunday morning. So we opted for... you guessed it... SPRAY PAINT!!! It worked great. I went off to Lowes, with my sister in love, to get all the tools we needed. We were totally surprised to see all the furniture laying out on a tarp and my nephew sanding and Bella wiping them down, all ready to be painted. I had to take some befores of everything layed out. (Click on each pick so you can see all the details.)






And here are the afters...






They looked amazing when all was said and done. We decided to go with a green color since that is my mother in love's favorite color. Then we added a little gold rubbing wax to the edges to make everything pop. We finished this project in about 4 hours, but we couldn't have done it without everyone's help. You should have seen that house... it was like there were little worker bees everywhere, buzzing around. Hopefully those are the memories my mother in love will have when she sees all the changes that have been made. Thank you Bibi and Javo, and all the little ones for all your help with this. I couldn't have done it without you.

Okay, I am off to bed. Still trying to recover.

Have a great night.
*ciao*
deb