Love Blanket For Christmas

This cute “love Blanket” was started way back at the beginning of this year.  I know, I know what happen to finishing it?   Why did it take so long? Trust me I have asked myself these questions many times.  When rearranging my sewing area I looked at it along with all my other unfinished projects and thought “I should finish this”. So, I did! I pulled it out this last week went to work finishing it. Each day I did a little on it. One day Pinned the edging on one side then sewed it then the next day I pinned the other side and started hand stitching the edge for a nice finishing touch. Hand stitching it took me 3 days. All the hand stitching means that the quilt is a true “Love Blanket”, because it is full of my love.  Just a little of my corniness there!  It will make for the perfect Christmas gift for my niece. I imagine her, mommy and daddy (my brother) spending many hours snuggling with it as they read together.  The truth is I started this quilt for my niece before she was even born. I won't be tell how old she is now...she might be 9 or 10 months old now! 

Opps, wonder if my sister in-law reads my blog. Maybe I should have waited until after Christmas to share this.  Hope they don’t see this post! Gotta share, I am so excited that I finished it.  

Do you have an unfinished project haunting you? 

Purple Folding Chairs

Before

I attacked it with a can of purple spay paint. 

 After

Sad truth is that I ran out of spray paint before I could get a second coat on them. But, that will be quickly remedied with at trip to the local Home depot. Just ran out of day before doing so. I love the way they look already! I gotta give credit to Kelly from "The Moon and Me" for inspiring me with this idea which she posted here.

Mirror Mirror

My beautiful mirror has been calling out to be painted black. As I was already spray painting on this, it simply made sense to give the mirror just what it was asking for. 

 I prepped it with my favorite dollar store wrapping paper and painters tape. When Christmas is over I go buy 3 or 4 rolls of dollar store wrapping paper because I use it for many different things. This is just one of the many ways I use it.

 It took roughly 2-3 coats to get it looking just as I have been imagining. It was hard to be patient while it dried. I wanted to get it hung up as soon as possible. Now that it is up, I love it.

Now the angle of the photo that I took is a little odd because it was really late at night and I was looking tad hooky.  Alright, I was in pj’s while hanging up my mirror and toilet paper art.  My hair was scary. I knew that if I got in front of that mirror to take a picture I might scare everyone, because you would have seen my reflection.  I don’t wan to scare anyone just yet. It is not Halloween yet. 

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Hoarder

I'm a hoarder! That is right mom, I am ready to admit that I am a hoarder of information. I have a folder on my computer full of projects that I want to make. Recently I realized that I have so many in the folder, it is hard to tell what is there.

Here a few of my favorites that I came across:

This is a pillow mattress created by Southern Disposition. I really want to make a few of these for my family room. They would be fun for when we have a bunch of girls over to hang out, or when the boys come over to watch a movie. I just love how soft it looks. Kendra gives such a great step by step instructions on how to make it, that I know I could whip this up pretty quickly. 

Twistable Crayon Roll, was found during a google search on how to make something to hold crayons. Because, I love crayons. So, do a few of my girls. I was looking for something to hold them so you could see each color. Once again the tutorial is amazing on this project. Ten Cow Chick, Mariesa explains this with photos. Since it is back to school time, I am going to be picking up my twistable crayons so I can whip a few of these up.

(photo found here)

The wrap skirt has Capulet my attention recently. Boy do I want to make one. I found a great tutorial on Sew Mama Sew.  When I get done finishing up a few other projects, I would like to make one for me to wear on Sunday's to church. It looks really comfy. The skirt in the photo...it took a little searching, but I found who it belongs to here. 

There was small peek into what projects I have in my folder called "Crafts I Want To Make". I am going to sort through it. Because it has become a mix of recipes, sewing, crafts and furniture tutorials. Do I actually ever make any of them. Yep, I sure do. Can't wait to share what it is I am making right now from that folder. 

Flower Pot Re-do

This cute flower pot was given to me for FREE!!! 

 The inside was gunky from having real plants in it. After cleaning it out, it got a nice coat of black spray paint. Such a simple and easy way to make it user friendly again. 

Look at this amazing garbage bag of greenery I got for FREE when cleaning up a classroom at the end of  school last year. The teacher was moving to a different classroom and was done using it. Basically it would have gone to the garbage if I had not taken it. But, I saw it's potential to be re-used.

 Bubee needed something to do while waiting to attend a party. He was great at spray painting the inside of this planter. Then he got tired of doing it and went off to ride his bike. Note: when my children help paint anything, I make them wear a face mask and even goggles when needed.

Finished and Lovin it! 

Kitchen Bling

I gave a sneak peek of this project here last week. Which I finally finished up today. It ended up taking four coats of spray paint to get this kitchen bling, bling looking just the way I wanted it to. I am totally lovin it now that it is hanging above my kitchen window. 

Working on a curtain to hang up tomorrow. My kitchen has turned into a two week project. Here is what I have done so far:
Cleaned out all the cupboards
Gave away extra dishes that I never use or had to many of.
Wiped walls down.
Cleaned window
Cleaned blinds (which I hate to admit but will, they were gross) 
Still need to clean out pantry and fridge (that will happen tomorrow)
Finish and hang up new curtain.
Clean stove.

Since my laundry room just happens to be right off the kitchen it got a good cleaning as well. Which included cleaning behind the washer and dryer. Wiping down the walls and cleaning the cupboards out. Could not believe some of the junk just thrown in one cupboard. I can't help but wonder why I let it get so bad or that everyone thought it was a junk cupboard. I know, I know I should have taken some before photo's, but they would have scared everyone. Glad they are clean now! Hmmm, sweetness!

Well, off to finish that curtain.
( will have a better photo up tomorrow, lame camera and lighting) 

Pottery Barn Dorm Rooms?

At our house we are all about preparing for College this summer. So, I was a tad surprised to find a current issue of Pottery Barn "dorm rooms" in my mail box this week. I had not asked for one to be sent to me. Then I realized that it wasn't even addressed to me. But, none the less I flipped through it on my way to give it to my daughter, whom it was addressed to. She had the nerve of tossing it to the floor, without even taking so much as a glance at it. Agh!!!...that it was on the floor and Agh!!!...again that she wasn't that enthused about it. I love pottery barn. She is going to need sheets and a new quilt. So, I grabbed it, flipped through it one more time and then found myself tossing it to the floor for her to look at later. I was not as impressed with this years line of dorm room suggestions. Here is my favorite one. Although, it really is not her style at all. The search will continue for just the right style, that says " Hey, I'm a big girl. Oops. I'm a young adult now." Pottery Barn, you let me down this time, but I am sure you will come through for me later when I am ready to decorate my sons bedroom. 

Parade of Homes part1

One of my greatest joys in life is to attend a home show. It brings back wonderful memories of my Dad, taking us on Sunday's to walk through model homes. I love it, love it, love it. When the kiddo's where all small it was hard to attend. Now I take a daughter and we just eat it up like a good pie of pumpkin pie. 

This is part one, because I split up the map and took one daughter to see 6 of the houses that I just could not wait to see. This next weekend I will take another daughter to see 6 other homes that I am just as excited about. This is really the perfect mother/daughter date in my opinion. (I am smiling) 

 I just love this chair! 

 The yellow and turquoise just make me feel like the sun is shinning in this room. 

 I need to paint something this turquoise color soon. Looking around my house and trying to decided which piece is getting a make over. 

 I could curl up here with a good romance novel! 

 This was interesting, it was at the top of this lovely stair case in this really large home. Great way to display a collection of colorful plates, glass art or any kind of  art for that matter. 

 I kinda wondered about a few homes, that seemed rather bland... like this room. Where is the pop. It might be relaxing for someone. Certainly not me! I need a little more color. I took the photo, because we loved the glass side tables. 

 My daughter wants to make this bench. 

 This was in a child's bedroom.which had a secret door disguised as a book shelf. Hmm, great idea! I could use a secret hideout from time to time. Just to hide from all the children. Sometimes I need a timeout. 

 BEWARE great idea... That brown stuff above the bed is cork board that runs all the way around the whole room.  A great way for that artist in the family to always display their work. 

 Simple cuteness! 

 Beautiful Daughter, who got excited over how big the closets were in a few houses. 

 That wall to the right of the drafting table, was covered in floor plans and photos of the houses that went with them. Another one of my favorite decorating ideas. 

This basement garage, caught our eye due to all the great man/boy toys that were in it. 

 My daughter loved these colors. 

 Favorite piece of art, after seeing lots. I just loved the simplicity of it. ( cute little girl was out to trip me in this house. Because every room we went to there she was running right through us.We even tried to escape her by going a different way, but still here she is one last time getting in my photo. ) LOL....

 Dream bath tube..."OH, calgon take me away" 

 Love these lights!

 Very shabby chic!

 I want to try and make one of these for my son's bedroom. 

 Finally a punch of color, that I really like. 

My dream home! 

Whew, if you made it this far, thanks for taking a peak at all my top photos. I did not post nearly all of them. I plan on taking many more photos for inspiration when I finish up attending the Parade of Homes here in lovely Utah Valley. 

Eddie Ross

Let me first just say that Eddie Ross is one of my favorite designers. When I grow up/finish raising children, I want to be a designer just like him. He knows how to create the most inviting rooms. Has exquisite taste when it comes to putting together the perfect table settings. It would be so great to someday go hang out with him at one of his special events. I keep hoping that  he will make an appearance in Salt Lake City. I would love to learn from him in person. For now I will follow him on his blog,and read magazine articles that feature his work.