Creating The Perfect Backyard Retreat

We are in the process of creating the perfect backyard retreat.

Soon it will feel like we are on vacation at home!

Wait until you see the pergola!!!

Shabby Chic Dress Form

Over twelve years ago I worked for The Limited and when my store closed this dress form was going to be put in a dumpster. I just couldn't see it going into a landfill. I originally thought I would try to grow plants and moss on it as a cool garden statue, but Chad hated the idea. I still think that would be really cool!

Over the years I've mostly used it at Halloween dressed up as the Headless Horseman.

note: I think this is the only picture I have left of the before of my counter tops. We've repainted the kitchen again too. Soon I'll post my kitchen makeover.

Recently I decided to make it a bit prettier. I used Mod Podge to glue scraps of text paper all over the form. I used Scor-tape to add the pretty lace at the bottom to make her a skirt. Instead of the attic her new home is in my craft room next to my treadmill. It's now pretty inspiration to get my butt in gear on it!

I found this lovely bird jewelery finding at Hobby Lobby and just knew I had to have it to make this necklace. In the fabric dept with ribbon I found the crystal and pearl beaded strand sold by the yard. Such a perfect piece to make a necklace, no time consuming work required.

Here is a close up of the satin ribbon flower I made to hide the seam where the ribbon overlaps.

The third necklace is a fun find from an Etsy shop. When I saw this Dandelion Wish Necklace I knew it would be perfect for my shabby chic dress form!

I thought I'd share my Shabby Chic Dress Form with The Charm Of Home, Common Ground,

Stone Gable, The Shabby Nest, Jennifer Rizzo, Craft Berry Bush, Let's Get Shabby and

Tatertots And Jello.

Home Improvment Check List

The last year has totally flown by! It's kinda hard to believe we have lived here one whole year already. We have worked so hard on making our house feel like Home. Before we moved in last year we made a list of things we needed to buy and projects we wanted to complete. It was a long list! We have done just about all of it. And added some projects as we went along. Some projects were because of discovering issues with the house, others just to make it a bit nicer.
 

 

Chad's list... painters caulk in all rooms, caulk bathrooms, down spouts replace back of house, fix garage door, replace door knobs & add dead bolts, paint all rooms, fix shower tub upstairs, remove and re-caulk kitchen counters, replace door bell, replace window locks in dining room, clean air ducts, replace air registers or maybe fix, sand & paint front columns, trim bushes, weed flower beds, paint garage floor, replace outdoor lights. I have no idea what the last thing on his list says. lol
I added door guard for bathroom upstairs to his list. My handwriting is terrible. So I tend to print in all caps in order for someone else to try to make it out what I have written.

Here is my list.. paint, granite, new carpet, kitchen dining set, formal dining room set, slip covers, area rug, shed, deck and pergola, grass, refinish floors and stain darker, picture frame molding around mirrors, new toilet seats, new door locks and keys, fence, blinds, paint garage floor, shrubs, shower curtain, dryer, bistro set for front porch, fireplace, grill, fire extinguishers, cabinets, guest room bed, ironing board, bookshelf doors, glass door, bar stools, soap dispensers, clean air vents, steam mop, vacuum.

After going through my list I don't know what my problem is!?! Seriously, I don't know why I haven't bought a fire extinguisher yet! I hope I don't ever need to use one, but I still want to have one just in case of emergency.

One thing I crossed off the list was slip covers. About 10 years ago I bought a couch, chair and a half, and ottoman from Rowe Furniture that looks exactly like the Pottery Barn Charleston collection. I decided on buying it from Rowe Furniture because A) it was about $1000 less expensive, and B) even if discontinue a piece they still keep the pattern so you can buy new slips covers. With having a six year old the washer and dyer had gotten to know the slip covers very well over the years! After getting one quote from a Rowe Furniture Dealer I quickly crossed them off my list. I know that it's been 10 years and all, but I did not expect to get a quote for so much higher that what I even paid for the furniture in the first place. It was even higher than buying a new couch, chair and ottoman. Really??? Um, yes I can continue to deal with the faded fabric.

 

There was so much dog hair on the floors when we looked at the house that it reminded me of tumble weeds!!! I'm not kidding! In the pictures we took you can see gray blurry areas, it's dog hair!

 

 Whelp because of this we did not realize just how badly the hardwood floors were damaged.

You can see where the dogs ran though the house and scratched at windows and doors wanting to go outside.

Here you can get a glimpse of one of the large kennels in the living room and the back end of a big dog. I guess I did not hold still when I snapped this picture with my cell phone.

There is raw exposed wood, big gouges, dents and scratches. Most hardwood floors have a 15-20 year warranty on the finish. The house was only 5 years old, the abuse the floors suffered in about 18 months from the renters was like more like 50 years. By the time we started to clean before moving in it was too late to get the floors refinished. There were places that needed immediate attention like the stair treads that had been chewed on.

 It takes a good week to refinish hardwood floors. We needed to get moved in because staying in a hotel for a week was not in our budget.

Then Chad found a miracle product. Yes a miracle product! It's from SC Johnson called
 One Step No Buff Wax .

You can find it at my favorite store, Lowe's. It's also at other stores like Walmart.
If it's ever discontinued I will cry.
I've not been paid any any way, shape or form for mentioning this product or stores. But my feelings certainly wouldn't be hurt if a case of it made it's way to my doorstep. ;)

 We will have to put all our furniture in storage for a week while we stay in a hotel to have the floors refinished. Someday I'd like to have it done, but Parker will have to be older. I know he has plenty more oops moments ahead of him. lol

Another thing that has gotten pushed back was replacing all the carpet. I'm not sure the renters ever vacuumed! Again I am not kidding. The carpet was professionally cleaned before we moved in. There was so much hair embedded in the carpet that it clogged the man's machine and broke it on the very first bedroom. OMG! It looked like a 25-30 pound dog. Ugh so disgusting. Well after a trip to the emergency room with Parker, my budget for new carpet was blown. Parker is way more important that carpet!
We had it professionally cleaned twice. We'll get it replaced once he's older and I don't have to worry about koolaid stains or play dough.

There are only 2 more things on my list left to check off. A glass door and a bookshelf door. Spring and warmer weather is on it's way so we'll need to get a glass storm door. I love to open the front door and let natural light flood the room. The other thing on my list is "bookshelf doors". I have not talked Chad into doing it yet. The door I want replaced swings out into the room. Last time he made a secret passage it swung into the attic space.  So I know it will be a bit more challenging to make a secret door with the hinges hidden. I'm lucky to have a husband that is super talented and handy. I've seen a bunch of companies that make them starting at $1000 before shipping. It will be easily under $150 for materials to make it.

Soon I'll get the pictures up on the kitchen remodel with granite and tile back splash. Plus we decided to change the color of the living room and master bathroom. I love the new paint colors! We've bought a new hot tub which means another backyard landscaping project is in progress.

Making Valentines For Kids

 Where has the time gone!?! I can hardly believe it's almost the middle of February!

Over the weekend I helped Parker with the best homework assignment!

 The assignment was simply to address Valentine's Day cards for the other kids in his class. But why not make it a bit more fun! Instead of buying some cheap and girly looking cards we made fun robot cards for his friends and teacher.

I was pretty excited getting him to smile for a picture! I normally get a mean or crazy face. lol

Here's a close up of a boy and girl robot. Some of the boys looked like they had mustaches!

 I already had all the tools plus plenty of paper, tape, glue, and googlie eyes for us to make the cards. Poor little ol' me was out of envelopes. So what else was a girl to do. I just had to go to Hobby Lobby. They ended up being out of stock on the envelope size I needed. One option would have been 25 blank cards and envelopes for $6.99. But then I found a set of 20 fun retro circle invitations and matching envelopes at $4.99 (before the 40% off coupon). Next the only other thing I needed to buy was miniature Hershey candy bars. All together it was under $7 to make 20 Valentine's Day cards. Most importantly it was a fun project to create with Parker.

First Parker stamped Happy Valentine's Day in purple ink on all the envelopes. To make the robots I randomly cut strips of gray paper for the arms and legs. I held the crimper so Parker could load it full of the strips and turn the handle. Parker cut a bunch of squares for the robot heads. For the girl robots we used "girl googlie eyes" they are so fun because they have eyelashes. To make their lips we used a paper hole punch and I cut the dots in half. Parker decided the boys cards should only have one eye. lol  He drew the noses and mouths with a black sharpie marker. Next I had him go crazy punching red hearts. He loves making a mess punching paper. I cut strips of  green and blue paper at 1.5" x 3" to cover the Hershey's chocolate bars. Parker wanted the boy robots to be green and did not want them having hearts. He glued the hearts on the girl robots. After all the cards were assembled Parker glued the extra hearts on the envelopes for the girls in his class. Then most importantly as his homework required, he addressed the envelopes for all the kids in his class. I think his friends will love them just as much as we do!

This was the inspiration for our cards. I saw this cute robot card and knew I'd just have to make them!

I'd like to share our Valentine's with CAS On Sunday, Crafting When We Can, Come And Get It Challenges, Challenges 4 Everybody, Addicted To CAS, Inspire Me Fridays, Cards For Men,
 and Tatertots and Jello.

The Stuck On You Giveaway Winner is...

The Stuck On You Giveaway winner is Basement Stamper who said "The stationary sets are great, but I have to say that I love the laundry hampers! I'd definitely use the $$$ to buy one of those, they have such wonderful assortment of gifts."

Congratulations! I am sure you will love your laundry hamper!

She has a crafty blog too. I hope you will all stop by and check out all her lovely creations!

There really are so many fun products that Stuck On You makes from personalized labels, clothing, wooden blocks, stationary, to backpacks and lunch boxes.

If you follow them on Facebook you can keep up with all the latest news and possibly catch a coupon.

Getting Organized For Christmas With Stuck On You + Giveaway!

I'm thrilled to be hosting another giveaway for Stuck On You!

They really have the most fabulous personalized gifts and labels! There is not another company out there that makes a better label for clothing. Period.

 Parker loves his Dog Tags and wears them everyday. He's constantly using the colored pencils and markers from the Artist Series Activity Pack on his homework and drawing pictures.

Getting organized for Christmas this year has been a breeze with  Personalized Christmas Cards. They have the cutest designs to pick from. I ordered Christmas Charm. It comes with the 3 designs you see above. They are so adorable!

 And you get to personalize the sentiment for the front and inside. It took me a little while to decide what I wanted them to say. It's so cool that you can see a preview to know if you'll like it.
 There's cute coordinating stickers to seal the envelope too.

Plus, they make matching Christmas Address Labels! I had a hard time deciding on the design because they were all so cute! It can't get any easier than this. I have a ton of labels that I will be able to use for years to come.

 

I can hardly wait to see Parker's reaction when he finds a Letter From Santa in the mail box!!!

 I can only imagine how excited he's going to be when he reads it! I love this idea! I'm so glad there's several styles. I look forward to being able to personalize more of them over the next few years.

Note: I did use Photoshop to remove our address from the envelope.

 

Oh! And let me tell you that I am so excited about the Personalized Christmas Story Book I ordered for Parker. I think that he's gonna love having a book that features him as the star of the story! It warms my heart to listen to him read me a story.

 I loved them so much I actually bought him 2 different designs. It's a good thing he's only 6 and doesn't read my blog otherwise it wouldn't be a surprise. lol
 

I think this is such a wonderful keepsake that I just had buy one for my niece Jade too! 

The Personalized Christmas Story Book  also comes with a mini Christmas Activity Book featuring the characters from the story. Seriously, how awesome is that!

November 30th was the cutoff for guaranteed Christmas day delivery. But no worries,

Stuck On You would love to give one lucky reader a $25 voucher for what ever you choose! 

All you have to do is stop by the Stuck on You Homepage and check out all the other super fun personalized gifts, which include stationary, backpacks, pencils, labels, clothing and so much more!

Then enter by leaving me a comment below telling me how you'd spend the $25.

For extra entries, Like them on Facebook and/or follow them on Twitter!

If you are nice enough to share this giveaway on your blog, Facebook or twitter please feel free to leave another comment.

And for another entry, follow me in any way you like - Google Friend Connect, Facebook, or email.

This giveaway is open through Saturday December 15th. I will randomly pick a winner on Sunday.

Merry Christmas!

Give Thanks

 

I'm still so happy we put the stone around our fireplace! I just love it!

I decided I wanted to make a banner for Thanksgiving to help show it off.

I made this banner using a paper packet called Felicity from Close To My Heart. I'm not sure how long I've had it now, but it's about time I cut it! Lol You won't believe what I used to make the base of the pennants. I used the chipboard from a 3 ring binder that was broken. I'm sure you've seen what a binder looks like once it's worn out. The plastic exterior "breaks" and starts to tear. Well inside is really heavy weight chipboard. So next time you have one that is worn out, pull out the chipboard and make something new with it. It would be perfect for things like boxes.

 

I used rust colored glitter on chipboard for the words Give Thanks. I just love all the colors in nature during fall. Such beautiful shades of red, orange, yellow, greens and of course my favorite color brown. I try to take a week of vacation every year in November to begin making my Christmas cards and gifts. It also gives me a chance to get a really good cleaning done before family joins us for Thanksgiving dinner. For me making cards is a wonderful way to relax and express my love for the people I make them for.  I'm not sure anyone other than us card makers know just how much time can be involved in the card making process.  But I believe they know it's special because it was handmade just for them.

I hope you have the most wondeful Thanksgiving!

And that you can take time to reflect on all you are thankful for!

I'd like to share this with Really Reasonable Ribbon, Simon Says Stamp, The Sisterhood Of Crafters, 

 Pixie Dust Studio, Divas By Design, For Fun Challenges, Word Art Wednesday,  and Tatertots and Jello.

Who Is Marking Your Life?

 

Several years ago I received this postcard in the mail. I thought it was pretty cool and wanted to save it for something special. It's kinda a deep thought "Who is marking your Life?"

The back of the postcard says "Tattoos have been around for thousands of years. No matter your view of tats, we all have marks on our souls because of what someone has said or done to us. They feel permanent and we allow them to define us. But what if we listened to what God has to say about us instead of others? Because all of us have been marked by someone. Who is marking your life?"

It's so true. No matter what we look like it's what is on the inside that counts. It's about what we do with our lives that matters. I hope during my lifetime I will leave a good lasting impression on another human being. Especially my little man, Parker!

 

I want to share another beautiful quote with you.

 

“People are often unreasonable and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.
If you are honest, people may cheat you. Be honest anyway.
If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway.
The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough. Give your best anyway.
For you see, in the end, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.”

― Mother Teresa

 

Well this concludes my deep thoughts for today. Well maybe :)

Anyhow I made this picture with the Hanging Decorations Stampotique Designers Challenge in mind. I'd also like to share this with Artistic Inspirations, and Eureka Stamps.

Bathroom Mirror Updates

Here's another glamour shot picture that was used in marketing our our when it was for sale.

And another great picture. Don't they just scream buy me. LOL!

Well at least you can see the giant corner tub, his and her vanities, and tile floor. There was no mention of the shower or separate toilet room. But do we really want to talk about that part. Maybe in a later post when the shower is tiled ;) Oh but look closely at the pictures, the curling irons are left plugged in just sitting on the counters. Isn't that brilliant.

Yes, we had to replace the counter top to get rid of the horrible burn marks.

 

Ok, so I did not exactly take the best before pictures, but you can see that lovely 1980's look on the mirror. Really!?! This house is not that old to have put a mirrored frame up.

So they had to come down. Chad used a damp towel and an iron to loosen the adhesive backed foam tape. Then slowly pried each mirror piece off using a hand trowel. We scrapped the rest of the foam tape off with a razor blade. As soon as that was done it was time to build and hang new frames.

It feels so much brighter and cleaner to me with the white frames around the mirrors. I love that the frames are separate on the mirror. It feels like they are hung in place. It simply looks better too because the counters are at 2 different heights. Now I need find a chair to sit and put on my war paint in the mornings.

I am so much happier with our bathroom now!

The next thing I have in mind is to rip out the shower stall, tile it, and put on a glass door.

I'm sure that project will take me a while to talk Chad into :)

I'm sharing this mirror makeover with The Stuff Of Success, and Tatertots and Jello.

Stone Fireplace Makeover

Even though this picture is not in focus it was actually used to market our home for sale. Yes, seriously! It does however give a hint that is has 9 foot ceilings, full length windows, hardwood floors and gas fireplace. I am not an expert in real estate by any means but it still baffles me that all the benefits were never mentioned and the photographs were crappy. I guess since I am a HGTV addict, I think when homes are on the market the pictures should be like glamour shots highlighting it's best features.

Here's a close up of the cheap boring tile. Really? Fake mosaic tile? It looked ok I guess.

But I had something better in mind :)

Bye Bye tile!

Chad removed all the tile. I think he likes the demo part the best. Chad had to cut out a small section of the base of the wood surround so the hearthstones could slide under it easily. Next he stapled a metal lathe into place.

Then he coated it in mortar. The blue painters tape on the floor marks out the area for the new hearthstones. The rest of the tape was used to make cleanup easier if mortar fell on the metal edge of the fireplace.

Voila!

Can you believe it's the same fireplace!?!

Stacking the stones in place was like a giant puzzle. Not Chad's favorite part by any means. I heard a lot of profanity during this step. lol

I just love the fireplace now. It has such a strong presence and feels like it should have always been like this. Painting the walls a warm beige certainly helps the fireplace stand out now too. LOVE IT!

After all it has a craftsman feel to it with the wood, brick and stone. It seemed like the stone needed to be carried in from the outside.

I'm linking this up to The Stuff of Success, and Tatertots and Jello.

Geek Is Chic

 

I recently was lucky enough to win a giveaway from Scrapbook Modern. Jason was kind enough to send me some items from Imaginisce called Geek Is Chic. It is just the cutest set of school theme paper and embellishments. Since is is starting to get cooler and we spend more time indoors having a box of Kleenex is a must. So I decided to make a tissue box holder and matching card for Parker's 1st grade teacher. I added a few bright paperclips on the card. The "hello" stamp came from Stampin' Up! a very long time ago. I stamped it on a left over snip it of paper and stapled in place. I used Mod Podge to glue everything in place on the house. Hopefully it will give a layer of protection against all the little hands that will need a tissue this winter.

 

I thought I would share this with Ladybug Crafts Ink TLT, Through The Craftroom Door, Tuesday Alchemy, Papertake Weekly, Loves Rubberstamps and Anything Goes.

What Costume?

 

I've finally made a scrapbook page! It's been a long time. I just had to make one for the

Stampotique Designers Challenge Scrap It!

I just love all the Daniel Torrente and Jill Penney stamps! My other must have is the Fabulous stamp by Carol's Collection after all that is my favorite word!

What costume? This is how I look everyday!

I hand cut my witches hat and crinkled it up for some texture then added a snip it of Halloween Baker's twine and a big rhinestone. I love how it does not sit flat like I'm really wearing it. I had fun playing with my new toy, the Cricut. I used it to make the black cat, spooky ticket, beware and the candelabra Linda is holding,  The spider is a punch from EK Success. The spiderweb edge punch is from Martha Stewart.

I also want to share this with Forever Night Challenges, Opus Gluei, Craftymess, Just Some Lines, My Time To Craft, Really Reasonable Ribbon  and Milkcoffee.



And The Stuck On You Giveaway Winner Is...

I truly thank Stuck On You for allowing me to do a giveaway on my blog!

They really do make the coolest personalized gifts!

 Parker is loving everything and wears his Dog Tags everyday!

The Artist Series Activity Pack is awesome!

And every parent needs to get their young children the Orientation Pack!

The heat transfer labels wash and wear beautifully. A total must have for daycares and school!

Congratulations to Kathy Davis who said

This is perfect for my granddaughter Nellie. Both of her parents are artists. I love the sketchbooks. You can never start creativity too early. The Orientation Pack is awesome too. As a retired school teacher,

I know it makes life a lot easier when every thing is labeled. !

I can hardly wait to hear about how Nellie likes her new Orientation Pack and Artist Series Activity Pack!