Is it October yet??

http://thisblessednest.blogspot.com/2010/09/fall-festival-week-4.html

First thing first... grab my wreath I purchased last year at a craft show in Birmingham and devise a way to hang it on my new front door.

ok... check..

now to make my ferns look more substantial I purchased two pots from Lowes and placed the ferns on top... and of course I picked up some pumpkins.

My pumpkin on the right was purchased at Bella Vita.

Now... indoors...

Last year I was given a $15.00 budget and free reign to design whatever. 

First thing i did was go to Joann's and buy the cinnamon witches broom and ran over to mom's to raid her ribbon stash. 

All that was done was the hot glue gun was heated up and i looped the ribbon and glued it on...

Easy peasy lemon squeezy....

The circles are just pipe cleaners woven together and intertwined into garland.

I printed label's off of Love Manor's Flickr stream and just Modpodged them onto the jars I bought at Joann's.

Think I like Joann's cause... I DO!!

Oh... and don't forget to decopage the edges!! gives it the authentic look.

Here are the label's used for my Poison jar and the Werewolf's Fur. CLICK HERE.

Then I took some green food coloring, filled the jar with water and stuck some eye ball bubble containers into the jar.

There was a little bit of soap left over from cleaning the jar out last year and the bubbles added just the right amount of spooky effect to make this look like a real poison. haha.

On to the next bit.. I wanted to complete a vignette for our dining room. 

This is what we had to start with....

So I gathered a little of this and a little of that and here is what I came up with for the sterling/silverware cart.

Now.. has anyone ever see the vintage halloween boxes stores have??

They are precious but upwards of $85.00 for a paper mache box and glitter... I think not. 

Used this little guy as my inspiration... bought some 89 c. craft paint and went to town.

this guy was $4.50 at our local Schunck's grocery.

Then I found these 3 boxes out in the guest house.

I used craft paint and painted all components flat black.

Clearly my dots and free handing skills were not so hot so I ran to Michael's for reinforcements. i.e. paint pens and some silver glitter..... Then I found this AHmazing ribbon.....

I completed one box at a time and some looks more modern... That is until I found these incredible images and the vision started to emerge...

                                 

Then I downloaded the Circus font from dafont.com

Click here for link.

Went into word and spelled out Happy Halloween

used some resume paper I have lying around, cut out and modge podged it on.

In the end a little glitter, and lots of dots later, here is the completed look.... soooo in love with this guy.

And all three layers stacked together....

The table was missing something so, again i headed to google and searched spooky silhouettes...

After what seemed 37 pages of results I found a link to a pdf containing these wonderful silhouettes...

Well the child was by far my favorite so I used an old picture frame and printed her out and added her to my entry table.

Hope each of you are enjoying decorating for fall as much as I have... 

Check back and see what else I do to complete my halloween decor around the home. 

I am linking up to the fall festival at This Blessed Nest

http://thisblessednest.blogspot.com/2010/09/fall-festival-week-4.html

Kitchen Inspiration.

Now the time has come to move on to the next room in the house.

THE KITCHEN!!!

I have been wanting to work on this room since we looked at the home almost 2 years ago!!!

Here is a picture of the main source of inspiration.

We have a single window in the dining area and I have already purchased the fabric for the cafe curtains. 

This is it. 

For the bench it will be white and the fabric for the cushion will be a flax linen.

we will add a heavy coat of scotch guard to ward off little bit's messes.

For the wall most of the bench seating we will do a tufted headboard in a subtle houndstooth.

Now on to some technical aspects....

The light over our table has had an electrical short and desipite our efforts to reconstruct the wiring and rework it about 4 times we have come to the conclusion there is too much voltage being drawn and we need a lower voltage light. 

Here we have decided to use a Ballard pendant light. 

I really like the "French Script" on this shade and we haven't decided yet if it will remain solid linen or possess this script. 

Our countertops are the faux granite in the darker coloring and since its impractical for us to replace countertops; (due to the short amnt of time we actually plan on living here) they will remain. 

The cabinets are already white and will remain so, for the hardware I am wanting either of these

For the backsplash we know we want the white ceramic subway tiles hung borizontally. 

I like this picture for showcasing it with a trim and this is being considered for around the outline of the cooktop to add some visual interest.

For upper cabinets, we are wanting to replace just these (leave the bottom) and put in window cabinets.

Here are several images showcasing this look with the darker countertops.

This image below reminds me most of my kitchen and hopefully with lighter walls and white trim and cabinets we can maintain and light and airy feel.

And for the fridge.....

It's my parents old fridge, we painted it black before we moved in and now i want it to look stainless.

This product looks very promising.... 

I will let you know how it goes. 

And for the artwork over the dining area we are leaning towards a collection of very basic botanical prints.

Okay that is all we have for now. We are toying with some other ideas and would love your feedback and comments. 

i.love.my.job

howdy folks....

how's the week treated ya??

hopefully not to shabby.....

Have a funny story to share....

It's about one of my kids... 

See back in June i prayed a very very scary prayer with my husband one thursday night. 

I prayed the lord would tell me if i needed to quit my job the next day and where to head to next??

well... the lord answered in a big way, by 4:15 that afternoon i had been laid off (with several others) and little did i know how much of an answered prayer/blessing it would be. 

you see, while i worked there i enjoyed my co-workers, but i LONGED for craft time.

I often went to work exhausted and sleepy because i stayed up late trying to do something.... anything to feed my desire to create.

Well within 2 short weeks of being laid-off, the lord cracked open a creeky small window behind my closed door and began to whisper ever.so.softly his plan for me.

Current plan that is....

{sidenote: I have ALWAYS been a babysitter, my brother and i are 7 yrs. apart and who needed dolls when you had your own baby?? then in highschool i was given the rare and wonderful opportunity to nanny for a family in the summers and almost every weekend. To this day these children have molded me into the person i now am. Those precious brown eyes of 3 little boys and one little girl always full of adventure and memories i now daily reflect on. The oldest, one of the smartest most curious children you will ever meet, with a heart of gold (like his mommy) always wanting to read and absorb as much as he could; and the twins, oh the twins, how they loved their Dora, and turkey and apples baby food. Spending time with them over those years in high school and even college, (when baby sister was born).... i knew i could handle childcare. You see the lord had been preparing me for this, slowly but surely over time. I was being "trained" so to speak to teach preschoolers.}

I went to the school where lil' bit goes to and asked if they needed anyone to sub?? Well they did, AND that 4 of the teachers (who had been there for about 5 yrs.) were all leaving at once. 

Well WHOLY GUACAMOLE!! sounds like the good ole lordy to me....

Here i am now, teaching 3 yr olds..... going into our second month of school I have learned alot.

For example.... did you know if you give ten 3 yr olds too much free time they get unbelievably out of control roudy??

And, if you pull out playdoh they all go into precious little cheribs learning mode and will melt your heart in an instant??

well it happens....

this leads me to wednesday....

it was a normal day, everyone did well, even our non-english speaking vietnemiese child didn't cry and was happy. teacher (me) was happy, teacher anna(other teacher) was happy, we were tired but happy. 

Well 2:15 came around and we were making sure everyone was clean, pottied, etc. before mommies arrived. Our sweet little soft spoken double named child's mommy came, we were talking the usual, "how was she, did she eat lunch, yada yada" Mom opens the half-door for double named cutie to leave and our very precocious full-of-life blonde-headed bowl cut (the cute know it all type) stepped up to the door and said "bye double name" she said good bye as well and began to leave classroom.

boy grabs girl by arm and gives a heart-felt hug, she smiles says good bye again... then boy passionately grabs girl smacks a big ole kiss on her cheek. Teacher (me) gasps, mom gasps, girl blushes and runs out of room... boy starts making the awww shucks face and looks up at me and says....

"what??" in the most innocent honest face you have ever seen.....

That my friends, is why i love teaching three year olds. 

And tomorrow, we will talk about loving our friends.... with boundaries of course...

Then we will make homemade playdough!!

Any pointers?? this is make on the oven kind.. Is there a no bake kind?

Nurseries

okay okay... don't freak....

NO WE AREN'T EXPECTING.

However, a sweet friend of mine is, and with her in mind i have found some pretty stinkin' cute rooms that have me wanting to decorate for another little one.

in a couple of years that is....

this cross collection is adoreable...

I believe i found these images at decorista, and pink wallpaper. it's been about a month or so that i found these and forgot to list where from. soo sorry

PS. Have you noticed our new look?? I am trying to FINALLY come up with a almost year round cohesive look. Hope you enjoy, and check back i should be adding more new elements in the days to come. 

Detergent

Here is the link as promised to my previous post on detergent. 

Enjoy!!

And if  you have any questions please feel free to ask!

Laundry Detergent

22 months.

No one told me how once your child hits 18 months old they start changing 

EVERY. SINGLE. DAY

Lil' bit is now talking up a storm... consisting of but not limited to...

• i want that
• uppie ousi (puppy outside?)
• weeezzzz (please)
• i need to potty!!( yippee, that happened this weekend, so far so good)
• calling people by name; jaxsie, gangy (grammy) poppy, dad, nick, still nothing for ainslie yet and haven't heard her say mimi or papaw but we are getting there... oh.. and mommy is a 5,000 an hour word.
• i can do it
• where's my baby?
• watch arnie? (watch barney)
• gullah gullah (gullah gullah on nick jr)
• hey there
• oh dear...
• lordy
• buh bye

Here are a few pictures of her this past weekend.

the infamous "oh my" face

cheese!!!

could anything more describe a 22 month old??

this is her questioning face. 

cracks. me. up!!

notice the sneak peek of the screened in porch...

as you can see we have begun painting, filled in hot tub and sanded everything else.

Hope you all had a wonderful Labor Day.

Laundry Room Facelift.

Okay I am sure most of you have seen The House of Smith's Pantry facelift. 

I must say i was beyond inspired and my wheels immediately began spinning!

You see Mrs. Smith owns a vinyl business, Wonderfully Wordy, therefore she had the means to use a nice amount of vinyl to create this quatrefoil design you see and paint to her hearts desire and create the most "perfect" looking pantry in America. 

Well, being the absolutely Martha/ i-can-do-anything-if-i-set-my-mind-to-it me i went ah-pludering.{if that isn't a word it is now;) } I knew my husband would laugh hysterically at me if i told him i wanted to order this large amount of vinyl and actually spend $ on this project so i had to think harder....

I needed to spend less than $10.00 and create the same look. 

Well if you know me at all, you know I like to have things that other people don't have, I really love different. 

Well, how many people do you know that have used their favorite wedding wrapping paper from Hallmark and turned it into their absolute favorite wallpapered room in their house??

 I DID!!

Have no fear my friends, Spray Adhesive came to the rescue. 

Whenever I am ready to "change the look" all I need is my handy-dandy Magic Eraser and a slight amount of elbow grease and all the tackiness is gone. 

Like in an hour.....

Here is a closeup of the pattern, has a slight sheen to it with a pretty small repeat, i.e. makes it easier to match the pattern.

Here is the whole project. 

I tried my very best to eliminate as much unnecessary junk as possible.

I think the top right corner is a lost cause though. haha

Took two of my Arthur Court canisters and added them in here. The are filled with sweetnlow and soup mixes, not something i use all the time. 

My sweet friend Anna wrote me a thank you note, and i just love the way she wrote our address so much i had to add it to the "decor."

Needed to add some hang tags to everything so we would know where our items were hiding. haha.
{all fonts are compliments of the incredible Amanda from www.kevinandamanda.com}

More or less, this project was really good to weed out the clutter and send everything we don't use on a daily basis out to the "satellite kitchen" in the guest house. 

Speaking of the guest house: I hope to one day make it out there and begin working on projects but as i am continually learning.... slow and steady wins the race. 

Also for those of you still wondering, we are going strong with the homemade detergent. Only good things to say and my pocketbook is loving the slight relief!!

Happy early Friday/ first football weekend for most of us!!

ROLL TIDE!!!

ps. did i mention i only spent 6 bucks and some change on this project??


I am linking up to Serenity Now for Amanda's weekend bloggy reading!! 
 


and Remodelaholic's Anonymous!!

{i just love these linky parties}

Den Redocorated

My style has definitely changed since we purchased this home.

I was into deep dark colors but with a home barely at 1400 sq. feet; I have learned white, cream, and natural light can give the illusion of a much larger space.

I am not entirely sure why i never took a "before" picture of this room and saved it, this is all i could find.
this is the picture from our 2 yr. anniversary, unmatched plaid curtains drove me nuts!!!!

Welcome into the new space!!

These lamps are one of my favorite touches in the room. 

adds a bit of elegance, yet stays true to the colors and style.

This is the rug in the entry area of the den.  

(one of my favorite purchase, Allen and Roth from Lowe's)

Nice subdued tone with a hint of brown to pick up on the hardwood floors. 

There is a halfwall here that my sweet FIL helped us add some molding to. 

This is my painting underneath our massive sectional sofa. 

I really like how it ties all the colors in together. 

Our ceiling fan has been a HUGE addition to the room. 

Again, my sweet FIL put his stellar electrician skills to use and installed this for us!!

I am OBSESSED with these crewel fabric pillows.

 I have wanted crewel fabric for as long as I can remember and upon a recent trip to my local 

Calico Corner Fabrics i found this for $19.00 a yard. (i know right its usually like $56 a yard, much too  rich for my blood)

Anyway, called hubby once i located this and he agreed I could get enough to "complete" our den, and I am so pleased with how well this fabric ties the other elements together. 

These pictures are so special to me. 

One of my very good friends, Hayley took these for me when Little Bit was 9 weeks old.

I am so glad we captured all the adorable features of my little baby!!

This cabinet has a really funny story. Not only is it my favorite thing in my home, but for quite a while this cabinet called my parent's attic home. That is, until a garage sale in fall 08 when my mom wanted to donate it and i offered it to my friend Hayley,(yeah, same girl that took the pics). 

She gladly accepted it and he went to live in her attic.... For a few months, until i had a dream about the cabinet and how great it would look in my kitchen, and she graciously brought it to me. 

This little lonely cabinet, who was used to being cast-out to the various storage facility of others, finally he found a safe home with me!!

 

not a great angle here, but the watercolor above the other corner of the couch is a portrait of our precious beagle, Luke. 

The way the artist painted his eyes looking up reminds me so much of his expression when you catch him doing something he isn't supposed to.

And last but not least, the dresser converted to tv stand.

Hope each of you had a wonderful tuesday!!

Thanks for letting me share this remodel, more or less redecor with each of you!

New Obsession... Typography

After watching a recent Dear Genevieve episode I started looking at how she used Typography and incorporated the print into a wood relief coffee table for a family room/playroom.

now i am seeing this stuff EVERYWHERE. and loving it might i add....

Funky...

Still cool...

And Can remain sophisticated!!