Fearfully & Wonderfully Made

Thinking Outside of the Jewelry Box: Jewelry Organization Center

2012-02-08T13:35:00.012-05:00

It all started with this empty corner in my bedroom, and my overwhelming, over-filled jewelry boxes.

My hubby, being the sweet guy that he is, went out and bought me this adorable jewelry hanger, but it doesn't work well for longer, heavier pieces of jewelry, which I have tons of (bummer).

I've been wanting to create some kind of jewelry organization for quite a while now, but for some reason I've been putting it off.

So my quest to create it began with something I saw on pinterest, which was originally from Martha Stewart . She used cup hooks, a wooden dowel and s-hooks to hang jewelry inside of a cabinet or closet door.

Isn't it great?

Unfortunately I have bi-fold doors on my closet so that wouldn't work. But, I adapted the idea---of course--using what I had on hand!

I took a cafe rod and hung it as if I were hanging it on a window, accept I didn't extend it, so that it would be strong enough to hold the weight of the jewelry that I placed on it.

Excellent! Loved it!

Except . . .what do I do with all of my earrings now?

Then I thought about adding cup hooks to the shelf above my necklace display rod. Then a light bulb went off---Eye hooks!

I slightly hammered the eye hooks into the shelf, about an inch apart and then simply screwed them in.

Oh yeah! That's what I'm talking about!

Perfection!

My little corner is almost complete!

Still need to fill those frames though!

Now I can easily choose my jewelry in the morning and match items up. Organization makes me sooo very happy! I think I might actually add another cafe rod below and move the necklaces to that rod and keep the top rod for bracelets. And as I acquire more earrings, I can simply add more hooks!

I might also add a small bowl to the shelf to hold my rings and stud style earrings.

How do you organize your jewelry?

Linking up with:

Board and Batten Wainscoting: Basement Stairway pt.2

2012-02-07T00:43:00.009-05:00

I left off yesterday comparing my inspiration pic for my stairway B&B, with my progress thus far:

At this point, I had only primed my wall and boards, but had yet to add the additional trim pieces.

I replaced the old cove molding at the base of the B&B with new foam cove molding found at Lowe’s. It cost’s about $4/8 ft piece.

When adding the ledge, I had some difficulty measuring the correct angle, so I used the same technique using a small level and pencil to mark the board where it should be cut. This was very tricky—I ended up needing to sand the ledge board’s angle down to make it fit.

Next, I went ahead and added the cove molding below the ledge to add a little more of a decorative touch.

You may have also noticed that I am updating the flooring on the landing as well, with the Traffic Master Ceramica Tile flooring left over from my kitchen project.

I am so ecstatic about this people! I’ve been wanting to tackle this project for months now! Thanks again to Lisa at Shine Your Light and Brittany at Pretty Handy Girl for the wonderful inspiration to get me started.

Here’s a before and after.

Before:

After:

Now all there's left to do is caulk, paint walls and stair risers, and grout the floors! (What about the stair treds? That’s another story . . .)
As always, Thanks for stopping by!

Linking up with:

Board and Batten Wainscoting using Scrap Wood: Basement Stairway

2012-02-05T22:45:00.008-05:00

Hi Everyone, I thought I’d share with you how I spent my Super bowl Sunday . . . You see that pile of scrap wood, well that is wood that belonged to a swing set that was never built. I mean, my hubby purchased this wood from a Wal-Mart auction, it belonged to a swing set that was missing parts, he got it all for $5! So whenever I get that itch to start building something, I’ve got tons of scrap wood to build to my hearts desire.

Now, you see these stairs? These are the stairs to my basement . . . Yikes, they drive me nuts! My hubby decided to spray paint them black a couple of months ago after a dark walnut stain fail . . . It was an absolute disaster (as you can see). The treads are soft pine wood that were dented and damaged very badly. I’m hoping that once I’m done with this wall treatment, I’ll be able to convince him to install new stair treds.

Believe it or not, I haven’t completed my hallway board and batten yet, it still needs paint, I’ll update you on that real soon, I promise!

I’ve got big plans for this stairway . . . and I’ve been so inspired to start it:

I was first inspired by this beautiful wainscoting I found via Google search:

(source)

It reminded me so much of my stairway, almost exactly the same (minus the ugly spray painted steps).

Then I visited Lisa’s blog at Shine Your Light, she recently did a beautiful entryway makeover,

isn't it gorgeous?? Lisa also shares a bunch of B&B resources and tips--you have to check it out!

I also found great inspiration from Brittany’s bathroom B&B at Pretty Handy Girl. She uses quarter rounds and decorative molding to “dress up” her Board and Batten, which gives it a beautifully finished look. I must also give her tons of credit, as she has an excellent tutorial for using a nail gun(as well as other tools-with videos!) great for people who are just starting out like me---Please go check her out!

And so I began:

I prepped the walls and removed the cove molding at the base.

I lined up the boards along the base of the stairway to get a measurement for the angle using a mini level and marked it with a pencil.

Because I’ve yet to purchase a miter saw, I used a jig saw to cut this angle at each end of the board, then sanded the edges to ensure that they were smooth.

Next was the fun part! I got to use my newest tool . . . My Campbell Hausfeld pneumatic Nail gun and compressor. I thought I got a thrill when I first used the jig saw, that thrill didn’t even compare to using this nail gun . . . I’ve done quite a few projects using a good old hammer and nails and although they came out okay, I now want to go back and redo every project with my nail gun!

Anyway, I digress . . . I began lining up the boards at the edge of every other step, no exact measurement needed. But I made sure the boards were level.

I finally got the top boards measured and nailed up ( I chose not to use construction adhesive this time around after dismantling my hallway B&B and seeing the damage that it did to my walls).

This part was a little tricky because I had to kinda depend on trial and error to get the angles right. On any spots that were a little off, I simply sanded them down to make them “fit”.

The top boards are MDF boards from Lowes (1x4x8’s)

Here You can see how much caulking and spackling I’m going to have to do . . . hopefully it’ll all be worth it.

My husband says I used too much spackle, I say I’m better safe than sorry, lol. But honestly you shouldn't use as much as I did, I get carried away sometimes, it just makes for more sanding and more dust!

Before I added the decorative trim and top railing, I decided to prime the walls and the boards.

So, what do’ya think? Pretty close to my inspiration photo so far huh?

Almost there, will be back tomorrow with more . . .

Now I must go console my hubby thanks to the Patriots!!!

Keeping it Simple

DIY Valentine’s Day Décor: Mantel

2012-02-01T20:57:00.007-05:00

While my daughter and I were cutting up hearts to make the "Tangled up in Love wreath" we also decided to decorate the mantel, once again almost all of the items we used we already had on hand.

The antique window that I found curbside, sets the backdrop for my little V-day vignette.

Foil doilies, hand cut hearts cut from scrap paper, ribbon . . .

an apothecary jar filled with strawberry flavored candy sticks, a silver charger from Christmas Tree Shops and a "Be Mine" sign that was purchased at Target for $2.50, complete my V-day mantel.

I took a break from the photo shoot and came back to find a decorated chalk board added to the equation . . . I guess my 11 year old thought it needed a little something extra . . .

My daughter and I made the heart garland by simply cutting paper into strips, folding them in half and gluing the inside points of the hearts together.

My amaryllis grew so tall before it finally bloomed. One day one of my children accidentally snapped the stem, I came home to find it scotch taped back together and it actually still bloomed beautifully! This is the first that I've ever grown, (a gift from my boss) this one has proven to be quite resilient.

Hope your 2012 is filled with love!

Tales from a Trophy Wife

Keeping it simple

DIY Valentine’s Day Décor: “Tangled up in Love” Wreath

2012-01-31T11:43:00.001-05:00

Hi Everyone! Every now and then I get the urge to do something hands-on, and crafty-like and almost always on a budget. Today my daughter and I made some DIY valentine’s day crafts, which were completely Free! What I’ll show you today is what I’m calling my “Tangled up in LOVE” wreath.

It started with this dollar tree wreath that I’ve had sitting around for months, some leftover white crepe paper from one of my children’s birthday’s, some red, white, and black scrap paper, some foil doilies and a piece of red ribbon left over from Christmas to hang it by.

We cut different sized hearts out of the scrap paper the old fashioned way . . .

Then I wrapped the wreath with the white crepe paper and glued it in place. We wrapped the doilies around part of the wreath and then layered that with the different sized heart cutouts in our desired pattern. I hung it on the front door using the leftover red Christmas ribbon . . .

Oh No . . . No, no, no! it was all wrong! It was a little too plain and the door was in severe need of a paint touch-up after being assaulted by my Christmas wreath.

So I took it down and embellished it a bit more, in fact I think I had an “ah-ha” moment and realized that it was missing some wording! . . . a “LOVE” bunting was in order!

***

I began cutting up the scrap paper in little triangles and then free formed some letters to fit and hung it across my wreath with some black paper ribbon (cannot remember the name of that stuff to save my life! oh, it’s raffia, that’s it!)

As I was hanging the bunting the raffia began wrapping and tangling around the wreath and I kinda liked the contrast of the black on the white so that’s how I came up with the name . . .

Tangled up in Love Wreath!

Ahhhhh, much better! Now about that door, there’s nothing a little touch-up paint can’t fix---I touched that up with some leftover paint. Now it’s a serious improvement!

Before: After:

and some more shots of my Love wreath:

I love how it looks all-handmade and I love creating things out of materials I have on hand!

What kind of Valentine’s day décor have you created?

Board and Batten Replacement? 1st big Project of 2012

2012-01-29T21:19:00.001-05:00

Hi Everyone! Excuse my 2 week hiatus . . . school started back and I’ve been super busy at work with some upcoming events. But I’m here today to share with you my very first major project of 2012. It involves some demo—Taking down the hallway board and batten. I know, when almost the entire blog world has been installing board and batten wall treatments, I’m the crazy one taking it down.

This project was certainly not on my to do list quite yet . . . but I began complaining to my hubby today about how I didn’t really like how the battens looked, and how I would like to re-do them because they were really rough and some were crooked. I used wooden lattice strips for the battens, which needed to be sanded down quite a bit, some of them were crooked and many of them just weren’t sanded down enough.

I was concerned however, that if I removed them, my wall would come down with it because I know I used more finish nails and liquid nail than even necessary, but my hubby began picking at one of the battens with a flathead screwdriver and a hammer and before I knew it my walls looked like this:

YIKES!!!!! I know! The original board and batten hallway project was actually my first project using a saw and a miter box. So now that I’m an old pro---a whole year later, lol, we decided on an impromptu demolition of the existing B&B to replace it with nicer, thicker battens. I had originally planned to just replace the battens, but then I realized that my new battens were way thicker than the original ones, as well as the top board.

See below: (the original, thinner batten on left and the new, thicker batten on the right.)

So, since I had my camera handy, I figured I’d do a small tutorial on how to remove board and batten.

What you’ll need:

Small Chisel, crow bar or large flat head screwdriver

Hammer

Utility Knife (optional)

Sanding block/sander

What to do:

My hubby first positioned the flat head screwdriver on either side of the batten and lightly tap it with the hammer to create a small gap/crack.

Continue making these small incisions all the way down each side of the batten.

Then lightly score the seam/crease between the wall and the batten all the way down the length of the batten to release the caulking.

Then carefully ply the batten off of the wall with the backside of the hammer, being cautious not to take any extra paint or drywall with it, if you see parts of the wall releasing, be sure to separate it with your utility knife or flat head screwdriver as neatly as possible.

Now that the new battens are in place, my plan is to sand the walls down where the paint peeled up and touch up the paint.

So not bad for day one, I’ll be back to show you the next steps my process. Have YOU done any demo lately???

More Kitchen Accessory Tweaking!

2012-01-16T22:08:00.002-05:00

In my last post I showed you my E.A.T letters/sign for above my kitchen cabinets. Well, at a recent trip to Salvation Army, I came across these adorable wooden trivets.

I bought all three of them at .49 a piece! Can’t beat that, right?!!

I had no intentions on actually using them as trivets, but more so for use as wall art in my kitchen. I spray painted them with Krylon spray paint.

Then I decided that I wanted to go ahead and give them a similar “glaze” treatment as I did with my EAT sign.

I dripped some of my raw umber craft paint along the trivet . . . .

and with a dry brush I spread the craft paint in and dabbed it in the deeper crevices. I then let it sit for a few minutes.

Then I dried my brush with a rag and dry-brushed the trivets to get the desired look I was going for.

I love the way they look and how they tie all of the blue-ish accents together in my kitchen, with an antique feel!

Linking up with these lovely ladies:

Tales from a Trophy Wife

Tweaking My Kitchen Accessories: EAT Sign

2012-01-11T21:40:00.002-05:00

I purchased some cardboard E.A.T letters from Joann’s, after seeing them in many blogger’s kitchens. Most recently I admired Noelle’s letters in her adorable kitchen at Home Preferred. I’ve been holding onto them for a while now, not really knowing how I wanted to finish them, then a light bulb went off in my head, STRIPES!

I used some painters tape and taped off some stripes, then took them outside and went to town with some Krylon spray paint.

After I sprayed them, I removed the painters tape to reveal the stripes.

I wasn’t super pleased with the results, but I hung them anyway.

Then a couple of days later, I took them down. They needed something, a little more depth and color. So I took my raw umber craft paint that I use to “glaze” stuff with . . .

I squirted a few drips along the letters . . .

and spread it over the letter with a wet paintbrush.

This is what it looks like when the paint is spread with the wet brush.

I then, dabbed the brush with a paper towel to dry it some . . .

and dry brushed the letter to create brush strokes on the surface.

Much better and closer to the look I was going for . . .

I then used the same technique to “glaze” this sign:

Trying to incorporate the blue into the kitchen, I’ve got a few more accessories that will get spray and glazed too!

Stay Blessed,

Happy New Year! 2011 F&WM Year in Review

2012-01-10T18:52:00.001-05:00

Happy New year to all of you! I know I’m very late. Wow! Where did 2011 go? Seriously, it flew by! Some times it’s hard to look back at things and really see how far you’ve come. This past year has been such a blessed year for me . . . no, I didn’t win the lottery, I didn’t get a new car or anything superficial, I’ve just overcome a lot of trials and I’m so glad to be where I am today. When I look back at the projects I’ve tackled, some I’ve finished, and ~~many~~ some were left on the backburner to be reborn in 2012. I’m just so thankful to have learned as much as I have in the past year, and not only trades and diy stuff, but I’ve learned so much about myself, my interests and about things that I’m passionate about and I’m extremely grateful for this. I also wanted to say Thank you to my blog friends aka followers, your encouragement and wonderful comments are what keep me going.

So enough rambling . . . I’ve seen many 2011 blog post reviews, so I figured it’s okay to be a follower, here’s my 2011 top11 most popular posts by # pageviews:

Quick bathroom makeover-So in LOVE . . . with Traffic Master Allure Vinyl Plank flooring, one of my top posts thanks to a feature by Melissa at 320 Sycamore.

2. Kitchen Updates: “Bead board” Backsplash in progress, thanks to a feature by Stephanie Lynn at Under the Table and Dreaming

3. “Little Big Boy’s Room” Makeover REVEAL! featured by Nicole at Thrifty Decorating

4. Makeover: French Provincial China Cabinet

5. My Faux Fireplace and Christmas Tree Take 2: Christmas 2011 in Photos featured by Kristin at My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

6. Stop Fighting Soap Scum: Clean your tub/shower the Easy Way!

BTW, this is not my tub, lol

7. How I “Tiled” My Floors on the Cheap, featured by Stephanie Lynn at Under the Table and Dreaming

8. Refashion: Mock Neck to Belted Tunic, thanks to a feature by Craft Gossip

9. My Valentine’s Day Vignette and a Fabric Rosette Heart Wreath tutorial, featured by Allie Makes

10. Upholstered Head Board: Complete

11. Living Room Updates: Spray Painted China Cabinet Makeover

Hope you enjoyed my 2011 review, I’ve got lots of little fun things to share with you this year, so stay tuned!

My Faux Fireplace and Christmas Tree Take 2: Christmas 2011 in Photos

2011-12-26T13:25:00.000-05:00

Merry (Late) Christmas to you all! I hope you all had a very blessed holiday . . . I thought I'd take a few minutes and post the final pics of my interior Christmas Decor. A few of you who read my yucky Christmas tree post, were curious to know if we ended up getting a new one, yes we did, the kids just weren't having Christmas without one, and this time decorating the tree was much more involved and appreciated ;)

Here are some pics of my Christmas Decor and as you'll see, I ended up moving the location of our faux fireplace and our new tree-I'm just ~~sick~~ spontaneous like that. I like it much more like this, it's much more cozy . . . well without further ado, here's my Christmas Decor 2011 in pics . . .

A lil' Christmas in the kitchen . . . as you can see I never finished adding the trim to the bead board back-splash, that will be on my to-do list for 2012.

Big black and blue got a lil' Christmas-a-fied!

I added this beautiful antique window to the mantel. I found it on the side of the road with a twin, I haven't found a spot for the other one yet.

I also slapped some foil doilies to the wall to flank the window-I just felt like it needed something to balance it.

I added some greenery from my front yard to an artificial wreath to add some bulk.

Happy Holidays!

Last Minute Dollar Store Yankee Swap Gift-Pinterest Inspired

2011-12-18T20:15:00.000-05:00

So I have a staff meeting tomorrow at work and after the staff meeting we plan to have a small Holiday gathering with a gift swap. We were instructed to wrap something we already own . . . well I just couldn't think of anything to give that I already owned. I'm just not good at these things! I need specifics! Should it be wacky, tacky, or a real gift?!? IDK.

So here I am the day before . . . (because there's nothing like procrastination-it's just how I function) trying to decide what to give.

Then I browsed Pinterest and came across this idea:

originally blogged about here:

I had re-pinned this idea a short while ago with the original intention of making a set for myself for when I have a girl's night, but I figured this would make a cute gift as well.

So I ventured into Dollar Tree to purchase some glasses, sure I own wine glasses, but none that I wanted to give away . . . So I grabbed up a couple from Dollar Tree (especially good because if I failed at this project I wouldn't have lost much money on it).

First I laid out some newspaper.

In the original tutorial it says to dip the glasses into a can of chalkboard paint, well I only had the chalkboard spray paint so I used what I had.

Second: I wrapped newspaper around the stem . . .

and then taped it off with painters tape.

I then used a combination of foil and newspaper to cover the rest of the glass.

Next, I gave the glasses a few quick shots of Rustoleum's Chalkboard spray paint. Then I let it dry and then did a second coat.

I removed the tape and foil and was able to get a perfect-clean line around the stem.

I bundled a few pieces f chalk and wrapped them with a festive red ribbon.

So there you have it!! A super-quick, easy and inexpensive swap gift.

We'll see how I make out-hopefully my gift won't get shunned for being too practical! Fingers crossed!

Oh (NO!) Christmas Tree! Conifer Aphids-Bah-Hum BUG!!

2011-12-13T18:37:00.001-05:00

via

Well you might remember a couple of weeks ago (10 days ago to be exact!) I wrote this post about my family and I putting up our Christmas tree. Well a couple of days ago, I noticed that the tree was turning brown-like really, really brown, but I wasn't sure why. I honestly assumed the kids weren't doing there duty of watering the tree.

Well today after spending my day wrapping presents, I began to place the gifts under the tree---when what to my wandering eyes did appear, but a million nasty black spider things crawling around the bottom of the tree skirt!!! I was so disgusted! At first I thought the culprit was the pointsetta that I had recently moved near the tree. I cleaned and disinfected the area and disposed of the pointsetta. I later went back to the tree to attempt arranging the presents again, and there they were again, scattered around the bottom of the tree!

Here's an actual bug that was on my floor (picture 20-30 of them!)

OMG! So I Google searched "Christmas tree bug infestation" and found out that these spider things are Giant Conifer Aphids.

Conifer Aphids “Tend to form colonies on individual trees. They secrete honeydew, which is eaten by ants and wasps and provides the substrate for sooty mold fungus. May cause some stunting or even death on small or already-stressed hosts, but generally not a serious threat.“ Any threat they might have posed to the tree upon which they had been feeding is irrelevant because the tree died when it was cut. Other than being a nuisance in your home, the Giant Conifer Aphids that fled your Christmas tree as it began to dry out will not cause any further damage, unless there is a potential host tree living nearby that they can infest.

via whatsthatbug.com

Yikes! The website goes on to say that they cause no harm to humans, but I don't know about you--but me no like giant 6 legged insects crawling around my home!

So if you thought I was sad about putting up our tree this year, imagine my devastation having to take it down before Christmas! Well at least I was able to get a little more participation taking it down.

I have never, ever in my life experienced this before. Now I have to decide if we will purchase another tree or not.

If you want info on how to Keep Your Christmas Tree Free From Bugs visit About.com

Scrap-Wood Book Ledges

2011-12-11T22:12:00.001-05:00

It all started with this bin of overflowing books:

This empty corner:

And this pile of scrap wood:

I know there is nothing original about this project, but I just thought I’d share the only thing that I accomplished this weekend, lol.

I pre-drilled three holes and screwed the boards together.

I then predrilled 3 holes to the front of the shelves, added some wood glue and screwed the smallest of the boards to the the front to keep the books from falling off of the ledge.

I let Nia choose the colors, Watermelon and Blue Ocean Breeze Krylon spray-paint.

These shelves quickly solved our book storage dilemma. Nia really likes them, she feels like she has her own personal library. Cayden loves them too, in fact, I think I’ll have to make a trio of ledges for his room too!

The hardest part about doing this project was hanging the shelves straight! I’ll correct that soon . . .

Thanks for visiting!

Linking up with:

Just Thought I’d Share . . . Please Read!!

2011-12-06T18:11:00.002-05:00

Never let anything or anyone rob you of the joy of living! God loves you.

READ THIS VERY SLOWLY..... IT'S PRETTY PROFOUND.

One of my very best friend’s forwarded this to me today in an email, please read it if you have a minute . . .

Will You Dance With Me?

Too many people put off something that brings them joy just because they haven't thought about it, don't have it on their schedule, didn't know it was coming or are too rigid to depart from their routine.

I got to thinking one day about all those women on the Titanic who passed up dessert at dinner that fateful night in an effort to cut back. From then on, I've tried to be a little more flexible.

How many women out there will eat at home because their husband didn't suggest going out to dinner until after something had been thawed? Does the word 'refrigeration' mean nothing to you?

How often have your kids dropped in to talk and sat in silence while you watched ' Jeopardy ' on television?

I cannot count the times I called my sister and said, 'How about going to lunch in a half hour?' She would gas up and stammer, 'I can't. I have clothes on the line. My hair is dirty. I wish I had known yesterday, I had a late breakfast, It looks like rain.' And my personal favourite: 'It's Monday.' She died a few years ago. We never did have lunch together.

Because we cram so much into our lives, we tend to schedule our headaches. We live on a sparse diet of promises we make to ourselves when all the conditions are perfect!

We'll go back and visit the grandparents when we get Steve toilet-trained. We'll entertain when we replace the living-room carpet... We'll go on a second honeymoon when we get two more kids out of college.

Life has a way of accelerating as we get older. The days get shorter, and the list of promises to ourselves gets longer. One morning, we awaken, and all we have to show for our lives is a litany of 'I'm going to,' 'I plan on,' and 'Someday, when things are settled down a bit.'

When anyone calls my 'seize the moment' friend, she is open to adventure and available for trips. She keeps an open mind on new ideas. Her enthusiasm for life is contagious. You talk with her for five minutes, and you're ready to trade your bad feet for a pair of Roller blades and skip an elevator for a bungee cord..

My lips have not touched ice cream in 10 years. I love ice cream. It's just that I might as well apply it directly to my stomach with a spatula and eliminate the digestive process The other day, I stopped the car and bought a triple-Decker. If my car had hit an iceberg on the way home, I would have died happy.

Now...go on and have a nice day. Do something you WANT to......not something on your SHOULD DO list. If you were going to die soon and had only one phone call you could make, who would you call and what would you say? And why are you waiting?

Have you ever watched kids playing on a merry go round or listened to the rain lapping on the ground? Ever followed a butter fly's erratic flight or gazed at the sun into the fading night? Do you run through each day on the fly? When you ask ' How are you?' Do you hear the reply?

When the day is done, do you lie in your bed with the next hundred chores running through your head? Ever told your child, 'We'll do it tomorrow.' And in your haste, not see his sorrow? Ever lost touch? Let a good friendship die? Just call to say 'Hi?

When you worry and hurry through your day, it is like an unopened gift....Thrown away..... Life is not a race. Take it slower. Hear the music before the song is over.

'Life may not be the party we hoped for...but while we are here we might as well dance'

(Unfortunately, I am not aware who the author of this piece is- I take no credit for writing this)

I’m Dreaming of a BLUE Christmas Pt. 2: Trimming the Tree and some sad stockings :(

2011-12-03T12:56:00.004-05:00

We picked up our tree for a great price the other day at Walmart. It’s an 8 footer I think for $32! The last couple of Christmas' we’ve purchased our trees from Lowes or Home Depot and spent at least double that price--so I was pleased.

Nia snipped the netting . . .

and we let Jyren trim the stem with the jigsaw (with supervision of course) and then began our Christmas tree decorating tradition . . .

(Nia posing in front of the tree-always ready for the camera! I cheated this year and bought the net of lights (typically for outdoor use) but it covered the tree nicely and evenly except for the bottom.)

Typically we blast Destiny Child's 12 Day’s of Christmas cd and sip some hot chocolate while we all gather around the tree to begin decorating. Jyren usually helps me drape on the lights and my daughter enjoys hanging the ornaments . . .

But this year it was different. As annoying as some of the songs may be (sorry Beyonce fans), it just became a tradition to listen to it while we decorated. But we noticed last year that that cd was showing some wear, like major, major wear. So we weren’t able to listen to it without it skipping every 2 seconds!

We let Cayden hang the first ornament . . .

and he was very pleased with himself (notice his hacked mohawk? I’m guilty of that)

Then Jy placed the star at the top of the tree.

After that . . . everyone disappeared!

My children are growing older(but not that old!), and I’m starting to realize this. What used to be an event that was so anxiously awaited, became more like a chore for them this year (*tear*).

Even little Cayden got bored with the tree decorating and found himself preoccupied with a game of cars under the kitchen table. Every now and then he would give me a heartwarming “Wow!” when looking at the tree, but that was it!

So friends, what’s a girl to do? Well, I took it upon myself to decorate the tree by myself for a while . . .

and then I got bored and began guilting the kids into helping me.

I added lights and some wood to the faux fireplace, I also hung the drop cloth stockings that I made last year . . .

The names were added using t-shirt transfers.

I hope to redo or reinforce them this year becasue after filling them, they began to tear apart, lol. I would also love to add a little trim to them--

something like Brandi did with her beautiful stockings at Don’t Disturb this Groove (you have to go visit her to see them!)

Overall I’m pleased with my tree. I’m sure there will be lots of tweaking (like removing that spool of ribbon Cayden added), but it’s coming along! Until next time!

Check out the sad thing that happened to us with our tree here.

Blessings,

I'm Dreaming of a BLUE CHRISTMAS! Pt. 1: My faux fireplace (and a little extra)

2011-11-27T23:18:00.014-05:00

I hope everyone had a blessed Thanksgiving AND I hope you all are ready to bring in some holiday cheer with Christmas decorating! I usually wait a couple of weeks after Turkey day, but this year I felt so inspired to get a head start on my Christmas decor.

Maybe it has to do with the 50 million home catalog's I've received . . .

Censational girl via Pinterest

or all of the wonderful inspiration in blog land and on Pinterest.

Well whatever it is, I dug out my jolly stuff today and got started decorating my faux fireplace!

If you recall I showed a glimpse of it in my my living room updates post. I purchased the mantel off of craigslist for $30! I had planned to build one, but then found this one which fit the space -- so it saved me quite a bit of work. I would eventually like to add some trim to it to bulk it up a bit . . . ( eventually).

My hubby cleaned it up and painted the surround white,

then spray painted the faux brick (inlay?) black. Then it sat in our living room like that for about a month and a half, lol, I slack!

We later found a piece of wood to use as the base and another piece as a backdrop, and it’s been like that for weeks, lol.

As you see here with my fall décor:

However, I got really excited today and began decorating it with my Christmas decorations . . .

Then my hubby walked in and supportingly (is that a word?) said, “Wow Babe, that looks great, but it would look even better if you finished off the fireplace”. (He thinks he’s slick with his nonchalant suggestions.)

But …. he was right . . . Here it is now, in it's finished glory:

And here' the little extra decorating I did today:

Here's "Big Black & Blue" china hutch, from my last post, I added some barn stars and made over the "Family" sign from my fall mantel with some primer, bahama sea Krylon spray paint and a sanding sponge.

Mantel Before:

Mantel After:

Even though I’ve only scratched the surface of my holiday décor--

I’m so happy I could squeal!!

I’m also EXTREMELY happy because “Santa” brought me an early Christmas present:

If you have one of these on your Christmas list, consider checking out eBay for some awesome deals!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Updated to include newer final Christmas pics of my faux fireplace:

See Pt. 2: Trimming the Tree

See My Final 2011Christmas Decor

Stay blessed,

http://firefliesandjellybeans.blogspot.com/

Happy Turkey day

2011-11-24T11:05:00.001-05:00

Kids playing at the park on a beautiful fall day

As I type, I am sprawled out in my bed. My turkey is in the oven and my house is filled with the scrumptious aroma of: baked macaroni and cheese, collard greens, ham, candied yams, corn casserole and stuffing.

My children are running around and dancing along with the performers of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade- as loud as can be.

When people ask what I am thankful for. . . I'd have to say that these are the moments that I am most thankful for.

We had planned to have a very low-key holiday this year, no rushing to dress the children and leave the house to make it to our family's homes by a certain time.

Today we will lounge, enjoy the parade, enjoy each other's company, eat a wonderful meal and praise God for all of our blessings (and then eat again). I pray that you all have a wonderful thanksgiving!

Blessings,
Carli

Living Room Updates: Spray Painted China Cabinet Makeover

2011-11-19T23:57:00.005-05:00

Hello Everyone! In my last post I asked for advice on painting my china cabinet in my living room.

I've had this china cabinet for about a year now. I purchased it at Salvation Army for $20. At first, I wasn't too fond of it because it wasn't really my style--but isn't it funny how things grow on you and your style changes?

My original plan was to paint it like this beautiful cabinet--white with a blue background.

Martha Stewart for Kitchen Aid "Blue Collection" in Aqua Sky

Here's what you all thought:

Quite a few people suggested that I leave the china cabinet as is, but, unfortunately it has many imperfections---imperfections that weren't extremely visible in the pictures I had shown.

YIKES! I know-it needs some serious repair!

It was also suggested by Jenny @ Simcoe Street to paint it blue to match the pillows . . .

While I LOVED that idea-I just don't think I'm that brave!

Lastly,

The Pink Bride suggested that I paint it black . . . and
since I had the spray paint on hand-I went with it-and so the transformation began!

Off went the hardware and glass inserts.

and out to the driveway it went--then I let my hubby prime it (in his style: at night, in the freezing cold--and real spotty-like, with Kilz spray primer. Gotta love spray primer-when it spits out like that! ugh!)

Then we went the quick route, $.99 Walmart Spray paint in flat black.

I figured-if I hate it in a week or change my mind in a month or two ~~which I tend to do quite often~~, I know that I didn't waste too much money or time on this makeover.

We used 2.5 cans of black spray paint in flat and then went over it lightly with a coat of Rustoleum's Oil Rubbed Bronze spray paint, just to give it a smoother, more even finish (that's also a great way to stretch expensive spray paint-use cheap spray paint as a primer-then lightly spray over it with the expensive spray paint to get a smoother look)

I then decided to use Krylon's "Bahama Sea" blue spray paint for the back of the cabinet (because I had it on hand and figured that I might as well try to copy my inspiration photo-somehwhat ;) that was my risk taking for the day).

My plate arrangement is a little random, but i just wanted to see how it would look with nice white plates and I'm loving it for now . . .

I will also need to touch up the shelves from the over spray. That I'll need to do with a foam roller.

Can you tell what I usually store in the bottom of this china cabinet? Yes-lots and lots of old dvd's (currently under the chair).

So, what do you think? $8 and about 3 hrs later-not bad for a quick makeover.

Carli

http://www.domestically-speaking.com/

Living Room Updates: Gallery Wall & New Pillows

2011-11-12T14:29:00.003-05:00

I’ve decided to make some changes . . . I’ve been dying to attempt a gallery wall for sometime now, but for some reason I was really intimidated by the thought of it. Organizing, scanning, and printing pictures, then matching up frames and deciding on a layout just seemed like too much work for me. However, I braved up and got to it in my living room.

The gallery wall was made with mostly Dollar tree frames and the rest were extras that I had lying around. I laid out a design on the floor first-but I didn’t get too technical. For a great guide on creating a gallery wall visit Jenny at Simcoe Street, she just did a wonderful how-to guide on layouts.

I also decided to make some new pillows to coordinate with the wall art that I took from my bedroom.

I decided to go with browns and blues to incorporate some color into the space, and mainly because I really want to use blue in my X-mas decorating this year. I found the fabric at JoAnn’s.

My printer ran out of ink so I wasn’t able to transfer all of my photos to sepia, but I’ll get around to it eventually.

Now here’s where I need your advice, The China Cabinet: to paint or not to paint that is the question.

I’ve seen some really pretty, creamy-white china cabinets and hutches out there, and ever since I purchased this cabinet I’ve dreamed of painting it, but what do you think?

Also, I still need to find some artwork or something to flank the china cabinet . . . any ideas?

Oh and did I tell you all that I bought a fireplace mantel off of Craigslist for the holiday’s-it’s a work in progress, but I like the thought of it so far.

the white scrolly thingy is another project.

Here’s a pic of my living room before.

And here it is now, just a few changes . . .

Carli

Upholstered Head Board: Complete

2011-11-06T15:23:00.013-05:00

So I’ve been trying this new thing . . . it’s called starting something and and actually completing it-- I think it works. I posted the other day about my inspiration and my progress of making an upholstered headboard on a budget.

Here’s the finished product:

It’s not perfect, but it was a great way to get the look for less . . . what do you think?

Show and Tell Blue Cricket Designs

Upholstered Headboard on a Budget

2011-11-04T23:21:00.002-04:00

Tell me, who doesn't want one of these? I’ve been browsing the Ballard designs catalog and of course-- all of the wonderful inspiration in blogland . . .

Brandi @ Don’t Disturb this Groove made an awesome upholstered headboard out of trim and cardboard!

Censational Girl, has quite a few (GREAT) tutorials for Upholstered headboard’s on her blog:

and most recently, I admired Jenna’s at Jenna Lou Loves You:

So I gave it a shot! I got my hubby to dig out some scrap plywood we had leftover from another project and propped it up on my saw horses.

I measured the length of my mattress, plus an inch and a half and cut the plywood to size.

I then looked at my inspiration photo in Ballard’s catalog. I eyeballed the curve that I wanted and sketched it on the plywood.

Then I cut the curve out using my jigsaw. I used the cut out piece as a template for the other side, then cut that side with the jigsaw as well.

I was pretty anxious to get this started and I'm ~~cheap~~ thrifty soooooo I simply used one of those egg crate mattress pads that I had floating around---instead of foam and batting.

Then it began to rain, so I brought it to the basement and began wrapping the foam (egg crate side down) around the plywood “frame” and stapled the foam tightly to the plywood.

I then trimmed the excess with scissors.

Next I folded the corners neatly and stapled the foam being sure to keep it smooth and tight.

Although you can see the ridges, you can’t see the texture of them from the opposite side.

Once again, because I’m ~~cheap~~ thrifty, I used an extra sheet for the fabric of the headboard, and then repeated the steps that I made with the foam.

My little guy loved it-he said “Nice soft bed mom!”

I then began adding the upholstery tacks, once again, eyeballing the curve. I would recommend measuring and creating a template of some sort, but I just kinda winged it .

I used my hammer and went to town! (With Cayden’s help of course!)

Here I am doing some more “eyeballing” . . . I’m rather pleased.

Here it is in my room, partially finished because------- I ran out of upholstery tacks, lol!

That’s what happens when you wing it folks!

“Little Big Boy’s Room” Makeover REVEAL!

2011-10-30T23:30:00.027-04:00

Finally, I’ve decided to reveal my little guys bedroom makeover.(Click here to see the before and the inspiration for this space)

Although I’m still tweaking it, I figured I better snap some shots of it today while it was nice and (relatively) clean--because my little man sure can mess up a room! (Warning Picture Overload!)

This room is an upgrade from his nursery in our home in Charlotte.

Cayden’s bed was bought at an antique shop, it’s cannonball style from the 1800’s, I had debated on painting it but then realized that I liked the warmth of the wood that it brings to the room.

The hutch was purchased at the Salvation Army for $20 bucks, I gave it quick paintjob, and wow what a difference it made! Unfortunately, we misplaced the shell drawer pulls when painting the hutch-so a trip to Lowes is in order (for me, any excuse to go to the home improvement stores will do!)

I posted previously about the"bead board" wall treatment and trim we put in the room, which is actually wallpaper.

I made the window "mis-treatments"

out of a King sized sheet (tutorial will be posted later) that was also used to re-upholster a chair in this room . . .

and the rest was salvaged to be used as a bed skirt (just stapled to the wood).

Here’s the flashcard wall art from my previous post.

I found these adorable wrought iron stars (finials?) at Goodwill, not knowing what I would do with them, but after creating the flashcard wall art, I thought they would look great hung by the Stars.

This adorable little antique child’s desk was bought at Goodwill, it was $9.99 with an additional 50% off, so luckily, I nabbed it for $5! Of course the condition was terrible. I fell in love with this desk because it reminded me of this one from Restoration hardware:

except, their desk costs $899!!!!

I built the little chair using ana white’s plans (modified) for the $4 stackable chairs using scrap wood and spray painted it

blue.

He has a coat rack hung within reach behind his door, it's the perfect rack to hold his hoodies, towel, back pack and hats.

A cute little metal-mesh Dollar Tree basket corrals all of Cayden’s trains and cars.

Letters purchased at a craft store,(can’t remember which one) were painted by my daughter with red craft paint.

Paper lanterns were purchased at Dollar Tree, Barn stars were bought at my fav store –Christmas Tree Shop, along with the “I love America” sign(below) and the wooden U.S. map (in pic above).

I made an attempt at re-upholstery-most likely my last, lol, but it’s actually quite an improvement from it’s previous state. (see pic below with my lil guy taking a quick nap in it)

My Hubby's old football jersey from when he was 10, was repurposed to make a memo board, love the bright pop of red on the shelf.

Before (Yikes!)

After (Nice!)

Before (Aghhhh!)

After (Awwwww!)

I’m really happy with the results--it’s come a long way! Now, I smile every time I walk by his room.

I hope you enjoyed my reveal! I love to hear your comments, please take a moment and let me know what you think!

Carli

Show and Tell Blue Cricket Designs

“Little Big Boy’s Room”: Easy & Cheap Flashcard Wall-Art

2011-10-27T13:22:00.002-04:00

While in the Dollar Tree the other day, ~~spending way more money than I had planned on~~ . . . I came across some playskool flashcards, nothing special really, but thought I should grab them for my little guy. They are the basic ABC ones that you can find just about anywhere.

When I brought them home, I let him play with them for a little while, naming the animals and objects on the cards. Then a light bulb went off in my head----I had planned on doing some type of alphabet wall art in his room, why not use these!?! My original plan was to try and copy Restoration Hardware's stencil alphabet wall art and put them up something like this:

But my idea would be a lot more colorful and much cheaper than $16 a pop!
I had purchased these two thrift store frames for $4.99 each, a while ago, I liked them because they were kinda chunky and they were already blue- which saved me from having to spray paint-- (you might not believe this, but I actually despise spray painting, I know *GASP* I may be the only blogger to admit that ).

I flipped over the original ugly picture and lined up my cards in 5 columns and three rows. Then added a 1,2,3,and 4 card to the end of the alphabet on the second frame to make it even.

I then added craft glue to the backs of the cards and glued them right to the back of the original picture, making sure they were straight. I would have preferred to use a glue stick, but none could be found in this house-- and I’m just a spirit of the moment kinda girl and just wanted to see the project completed, but--- I would definitely recommend using glue sticks instead.

I later received some assistance from my 2.5 year old and my 8 year old. They had fun playing with the glue. Unfortunately a little too much fun! So much so that the glue started weeping put of the sides of the cards, . Luckily, once it dried it was hardly noticeable and at least he can say he helped to make it.

After all of the letters/numbers were glued and rather dry, I placed the artwork into the frame. Now my guy has custom-handmade alphabet-art! I like how it adds pops of colors to his room.
This project cost me $12 total not including the glue. Not too bad!
Carli

Quick bathroom makeover-So in LOVE . . . with Traffic Master Allure Vinyl Plank flooring

2011-10-18T01:30:00.007-04:00

Wow, that title is a mouthful! As you may recall I’m in the process of working on my son’s tween (basement) bedroom makova (amongst other things, ah-hem). But while working on this project, we realized that his bathroom was in need of a major makeover as well-this makeover was super impromptu-so much so that I didn’t even get before pics, so I’ll show you some before, before pics from like 6 years ago, when we first moved in to our home-Of course it didn’t look like this for the past 4 years, but these were the only before pics I could find . . . trust me-it’s not pretty and don’t say I didn’t warn ya!

Who doesn’t like a good mauvey-purple wall and border paper? Joking, joking. To my defense, the floor tiles had a flick of purple in them.

So we began this makeover by painting the walls gray, the color of his bedroom ( I have to give my mother in law and hubby a shout-out for this one as they worked on that while I was in class—THANKS guys!!!!!!). My hubby also went ahead and gave the vanity a coat of black paint. The new paint color almost made all the the difference in the world--- but not quite enough, we still had to deal with the ugly floor tiles.

That’s where this vinyl-plank awesomeness comes in!

I LOVE the warm color grain and texture of this flooring-it looks soooo real!

--and it’s super easy to install! The hardest part was cutting around objects--but even that was relatively easy using SNIPS-not a utility knife.

Update: I had a few readers ask what snips are so I thought I'd add a picture:

I first saw this flooring at 320 Sycamore in Melissa’s basement bathroom and that is when I fell in love! They are the Trafficmaster Allure Vinyl Plank Flooring. I purchased it at Home Depot, the color is Hickory and they cost about $34/case. I think one case covers about 24 sq ft. This bathroom is about 60 Sq. ft so we ended up using 2 1/4 cases.

Can you see the excitement on my face-I was thrilled!

The best part about them is that if I ever get tired of them, I can simply remove them and my tile floors beneath should remain in tact, with no sticky glue, etc . . .

I promise that the reveal of my son’s bedroom and bathroom will be coming soon, as well as some updates on my “little big boy’s” room progress.

Take Care,

Carli

show and tell with Blue Cricket Designs

“Little Big Boy’s Room”: Wall Color, Wall Covering and Trim

2011-10-12T00:54:00.003-04:00

In my last post I showed you the new paint color for Cayden’s big boy room. But what I hadn’t shown you was what we ended up doing with all the extra bead board from our kitchen bead board backsplash project. Here are some more pics of the paint color (on the top half of the wall).

To create a classic look, that’ll last for years (I hope), I added bead board wall covering and trim to the bottom half of the wall. The wall covering is by Allen and Roth from Lowes. It’s very easy to do, check out my tutorial from my kitchen project

After installing/putting up the wall covering, I added 1x4 mdf boards to the top, and then created a little ledge by adding a 1x2 inch mdf board on top of that trim.

I used white caulking and paint to fill the gaps/seams.

I hate that the pictures are such low quality-because it really doesn’t capture how beautiful and REAL the bead board looks with the trim.
Next up:

I’m talking window treatments and linens.
Then Furniture-I need to decide on paint color for the bed and chest/hutch.
Wall Art
Lighting

“Little Big Boy’s” Room-Inspiration

2011-10-10T14:38:00.000-04:00

If you’re a follower, by now you should know that I am horrible at finishing projects . . . I’ve got several projects going on right now but I’m trying my very best to stay focused to complete one before moving on to the next. With that being said,I have a few more finishing touches to add to my oldest son’s tween bedroom –-and-- we began updating his bathroom as well, so those will be posted together within the next few days, so please check back.
But I’m very excited to share with you my inspiration for my little guy’s big boy room, which is in progress. I could also use a little advice too---so please give me some feedback!

My little guy’s name is Cayden he’s 2.5. He just recently started sleeping through the night and more often in his own bed, so what better time to give his space a makeover to make him feel comfy in his big boy room?!

I knew that I wanted to do a red/white/blue theme, to prepare myself for the impending Spiderman phase that usually catches little boys attention around the age of 3 or 4. So I began browsing some images and fell in love with these bedrooms:

Children Bedroom Upper Eastside Apartment at Ashley Whittaker.
I adore this room-especially the wall color, the light fixtures the red bed!

McGill Design Group
What’s not to love about this space-I love the black bed and the crisp white mouldings and built-ins-Just LOVE it!

Better Homes and Gardens
I love the bright red bed and the contrast with the blue storage bins and the bead board is simply beautiful!
So I’m looking to incorporate ideas from these three rooms to complete Cayden’s room.
Here are some pics of what I’m working with(I had begun painting the room gray for my oldest son, before he decided to move his bedroom to the basement):

Yes, it’s quite a mess . . . He was playing hard!

We’ll fix that!
Things I’d like to accomplish in this room:

Wall treatment/board and batten or bead board
Paint existing furniture-bed(I’m not 100% sure if I want to do the bed it’s an antique from the 1800’s), small chest and hutch and storage unit
Top portion of walls to be painted a light denim blue
Window treatments
ABC wall art/gallery
Organized toy storage
New Area rug
reupholster his small sofa chair
crown moulding (maybe)
New ceiling fixture

Ahhh!! I’m overly ambitious---Sometimes, I scare myself!
Here’s what we started with: Paint! (this pic was taken at night, the wall color looks much darker than what it actually is.)

Check back to see my next steps in this room!