Holiday Boutique {Weekend Recap}

I'm really behind on blogging life. Much has happened {including a fabulous two weekends ago that will make it up here someday soon}. Over this past weekend, I participated in my very first craft selling boutique. It was also the weekend of an amazing block birthday party that included a whole roasted pig, jump house, and beer on tap. Annnnnd the stomach flu for the boys. Seriously, never a dull moment.

I had several reinforcements throughout the weekend to help: my mom, dad, and neighbor {who sold some cards too}. W stopped by throughout the weekend to bring me things I had forgotten at home, feed me, or take/bring back V. I'm so glad it happened so close to home.

My table neighbors were fabulous and sweet. Of course, Juju was the highlight for everyone. If I came without her, everyone would ask where she was. I was never short of arms to hold her while I ran to the bathroom, ate lunch, or needed to sit. It really was a blessing to have so many sweet and gracious women around. 

Another highlight was meeting and exceeding my costs for the experience. Meeting cost was the goal I set out for myself since I had no clue what to expect. I was so excited to get two custom orders while there too. One for a bridal shower that was happening Sunday afternoon. I made it over the night and she picked it up on Sunday morning. 

On the flip side, I seemed to have brought the majority of my traffic. Most of those that purchased from me, I already knew. So I'm not sure if I really needed the boutique other than to have a place to set up shop. I also had plenty of inquiries from strangers on whether I had an online shop. Still have my work cut out for me.  I had a blast, loved trying it out, but with a full weekend away from my family, I'm not sure if I'll do it again. Perhaps, I'll do a virtual store-front first?! 

A GIANT thank you for everyone who encouraged from both near and far. And to my family who supported me through time and energy! This was certainly NOT a one-woman show. ;)

We've Been Busy!!

Projects. Projects. Projects have been filling most of our weekends. We tackled quite a few since I've been on a nesting kick to get things done before I pop. One such project was our downstairs tv situation. It had become quite a situation...

{the before... all manner of bad.}

We got a tv as a birthday gift a few years ago from my parents. We don't have basic tv but sure enjoy movies and hulu. So, it's been sitting on this small entertainment unit right from the beginning. One of those "temporary solutions that quickly turned permanent" as the years piled on. Enter Theo: our tornado toddler. He would get into the DVDs and fiddle with our player every.single.day. It was getting old. Quickly.

So, W found a great deal on Amazon for a tv wall mount and I hunted craigslist {like it was my part-time job} looking for a dresser that would fit our mini-wall's dimensions without being a road obstacle for foot traffic. Found a dresser, but didn't love its look so I knew immediately when we bought it that I'd be re-doing it. But it had a veneer finish. My quick search online led me to chalk paint.

I'd heard of the stuff but didn't really know much beyond the words "chalk paint" "shabby chic" and "Annie Sloan". So after a mini-lesson {there are a lot of posts out there on it}, I learned about its "chalky" or thicker properties, zero prep-work benefit, and that it adheres to pretty much any surface without hassle. I also learned the price point of AS chalk paint. Yikes! So when I found I {Heart} Naptime's homemade recipe, I figured "why not?" All I had to buy was my normal paint in the colors I wanted + plaster of paris. Easy enough.

4 T Plaster of Paris to 2T HOT water

Mix in container until all the clumps are gone

Mix into 2 cups of paint

At the store, I bought my Plaster of Paris {$6}, my normal gallon of classic white, and then four sample sizes of a paint card I liked: graduating shades of mint. I went with a half batch of chalk paint in each of the five colors because my dresser had so many different colors and not much of each. Worked like a charm.

I did minimal sanding since I didn't really want a distressed look for the dresser. I then covered it in a polyurethane protective coat that we already had on hand. I would love to try the wax finish sometime. Heard it really finishes off the piece nicely. Next time. ;)

We mounted the tv, put the dresser in {after drilling a hole in the back of the top drawer for cords}, and mounted my antler project: ebay antlers + white spray paint + gold craft paint

We are loving the extra storage {currently the bottom two drawers are still empty! So huge for us. ;)}, and the simple fact that T is not creating a mess nor are our movies out for all to see {tacky!!} Definitely one of those "feels so good" projects.

{DIY} Advent Pocket Calendar

It sure was nice having a whole week between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year. I was actually able to prep a little for advent and be ready to go December 1st. One of the projects that I wanted to add to this year's list was an advent calendar. We had been using mine that I grew up with and loved, but I wanted something bigger that would eventually include all our kids and be more interactive.

I had pinned a ton of ideas over the year for advent calendars: ones shaped like Christmas trees, made from felt, paper envelopes or brown paper bags, etc. Then I stumbled upon this image a few weeks ago and knew this was the one.

 source

Buuuuut it don't come with a tutorial. So I fished around and found a few more images with the same modge-podged, saggy-pocket, rustic look.

 source

 source

 I bought a ten dollar 6 by 9 drop cloth {canvas tarp that painters use} from Walmart and got to work. {This is waaaay bigger than you'll ever need, but I want to make a tree skirt out of the same material.} All the "extras" I already had in my craft stash: buttons, ribbon trims, pom-poms, doilies, embroidery floss, fabric, felt, sewing machine, sharpie, and paint.

I cut and hemmed a piece of the drop cloth to measure about 36 inches long by 31 inches wide.

We have a little wall between our kitchen and eating are where our thankful tree was so I figured I'd hang this there too. So, I worked off the wall's size. I had several burlap squares leftover from my bubble burlap wreath project that I used for placement and pocket size. Then I just started switching some of them out for fabric and felt squares. And that's where the laborious, time-consuming part came in: decorating each pocket. Oh, the hours spent! And the mess that my kitchen table withstood!

I didn't plan ahead nor really tried to spend too much thought on any one pocket. I wanted it to look slightly messy and non-uniformed.

Once the pockets were decorated, I sewed each one in place. With the burlap ones, I went over them twice just to make sure wee lil' hands wouldn't tear them. I added three tab on top and stuck a wooden dowel through them. The last thing I did was tie some ribbon to each dowel end and hung it up!

Filling them was fun! I've been wanting to purchase a nativity set that the boys could role-play with for awhile. After some hunting, I decided on the Little People's set which has a bazillion pieces {make sure to get the one that has the shepherd!!}! I picked that up at Wally World along with the drop cloth.

I wrapped each nativity piece in some brown kraft paper and washi tape. I mingled the pieces with some chocolate and "activities tags". The tags are basically index cards that I added ribbon and tape to. I looked over this list and picked several that fit our family and the traditions we like to do during this time of year: Christmas lights drive, bake cookies, watch a Christmas movie, do a Christmas/winter related craft, have a picnic next to the Christmas tree, and make this year's ornament. I also tried to include a few "service"/acts of kindness type activities too. I was really inspired by this blogger's kindness project from a few years back. Hoping we can add more of these as the years go on and the kids are more capable!

I half-jokingly told W that this advent better end up as a heirloom after all the time I spent on it. It seriously took 3+ days to complete. Labor of love. But I love how it turned out and know it'll get many more years use out of it in the meantime. Our Christmas count-down has begun!

Gallery Shelves

Our master bedroom has been a work in progress for what seems like FOREVER. It was re-painted well over a year ago, and every since, we've been slowly changing things out or updating them. The most recent addition has been some gallery shelves that W whipped up a few evenings ago. 

You can buy these from Pottery Barn for the hefty price of $55 but that would only get you one 4-foot ledge when I wanted two five-foot ones. Instead, we used Ana White's plans for these..she calls them the "$10 shelves" since that's how much the wood costs to make these. We just used pallet wood that we already had so they were free! Yay! Favorite price. They're basically just three pieces of wood nailed together. Super easy to make in a single night and very easily custom size-able.

So W built, I painted {high gloss white; 2 coats}, he hung, and I filled 'em with this and that from around the house/garage to have a look-see.

And so they sit above our yellow dresser,

where I can enjoy more memories from my bed! Yay for fewer blank walls!

Time for some more gushy, lovey dovey, romantic prints and pictures, no?!?!

Gettin' Spooky! {decor}

A few weeks ago, the fall box came down and slowly but surely our house is turning a bit spooky! I've made a new front door wreath which I'm in absolute love with. Already scheming up Christmas ideas so I can keep it out!

{tutorial found here}

Our entryway inlet has a few added touches:

I got the print a few years back and added my mustache hoop art that wonders around downstairs without a permanent home. The beware sign was a dollar store score.

Our mantle:

At this point, just a hod-podge of what was already on it plus a few random additions. The candy corn garland I made out of felt and is hung on black ric rac. The witch print is found here. And the centerpiece pallet sign is incomplete {still need words} and will eventually go to another home. But it works there for now until I mail it off.  

The winning space thus far is our bat wall! It turned out so awesome. Amazing what 50 little card-stock bats can do! The flight of the bats:

{tutorial found here}

Happy harvest month! 

Rise & Shine {Pallet Art}

Mmmmkay, so I know how I mentioned here that I was working on a piece?! Way back in MARCH?! So, that piece. I didn't really love it. It took up the dining table for way too long since I just couldn't get to finishing it. I was forced to move it into the garage where it was abandoned. Until last week. 

Leave it to crafty inspiration or whatever, I lugged my big pallet canvas back into the house one night and just got to work. I actually already had some words stenciled on it so I had to work around those and cover them as I went. I was inspired by this google image...

{source}

With some frog tape, sponge brush and craft paint, I just went for it. Most of it was free hand and I worked pretty quickly through it. No lolly-gagging this time. I just wanted to create something and finish it. Well most of it.

I used the cricut machine to make stencils for the "Rise & Shine" then painted those on a few days later.

 W hung it up with some screws, wire and a heavy weight picture hook.

Ta-da!

This is what it was meant to be...right?! It's such a fun bright piece that lightens up our downstairs!

It looked a little lonely up there so I added something else. Excited with my version of the "pallet art madness" trend!

Rise and shine and give God the glory!

Monthly Contributor

I'm super excited to announce that the girls over at Newlywife have asked me to contribute to their blog on a monthly basis. Yay! Megan and Emily want me to share projects, ideas, and tips about DIY, crafting, and home decor. Such a honor so I'm feeling nervous. :) But at least this will give me a big kick in the pants to finish some of the projects that I've been neglecting. heh.

Check out my introduction here.

Striped Curtains {DIY}

One of the projects that really got me smiling in our updated eating area was the striped curtains. I'd fallen for stripes when they began to pop up all over the place. I wanted some of my own somewhere in the house. But anything worth buying was out of our price range. I went so far as to pin some other ways of getting stripes: painting, buying fabric and making it from scratch or using some other material. Well, I ended up going with the third option, but only after finding the best resource off one of my favorite blogs. I saw this post mentioning how Ashley from Under the Sycamore turned this duvet from Target into curtains. Perfect! I thought. I could totally do that! 

Off to Target to purchase this...then time for some quick math on the back...

Since the curtains had to cover our sliding glass door, the width of the duvet was perfect. I didn't have to mess with the measurements. The duvet's back made for a perfect lining. So I just cut the duvet in half, turned it inside out, and hemmed those two sides. By doing it that way, I had clean lines on both sides of each panel. 

I made the button end the top. The first stripe was gray. I folded that over to make a loop to slide the pole through. That took the length up by 6 inches, making it the perfect height for our door. I sewed on the front side of the curtain, along the line where the white stripe met the gray to get it as straight as possible.

Before...

After...

I truly LOVING these $35 curtains. I may or may not spend extra time downstairs during the day just to be near them. Or invite more people over than necessary just for them to see them. Wanna come by and visit?? ;)

Things I learned along the way...

...having a large space/table was super helpful. I used my mom's huge island to cut and pin...

...I'm still not a very straight-line kinda of sew-er-- W was the one who recommended sewing against the line where the two colors meet...

..the iron was my BEST friend with this project...

Stay Awhile {Dining Area Re-do}

Our eating area has gotten a big fat face-lift these last few weeks and I'm so excited to share the updates. I really didn't intent to update this space, although I constantly see it since we spend so much time downstairs. I think it must have all started when I added our up-cycled chalkboard-- from there, things just kinda morphed into lighter and brighter.

So here's a peek of what it looked like before {that is after two large, dark, flower prints were replaced with the chalkboard}...

And here it is today...

We've had {and still have} many gatherings so I've kept the two leaves in our table. I've updated the curtains, added a paper circle garland to the chalkboard {more on those later}, and hung a custom banner {courtesy of my talented new friend, Heather, from CMHandmade}.  I also still have some spring loot hanging around on the cabinet, including the faux blossoms I made`with tissue paper.

Our jasmine bush is currently in bloom. It smells oh-so-yummy in our backyard. E has been helping me bring in some of its flowers to fill a jar with. It's seriously the only plant we haven't killed yet and is so massive right now. We're getting ready for veggie garden attempt #3. Third times the charm, right?!

I would love to exchange the chandelier for something more simple and re-cover the chairs. Upholstery definitely terrifies me, or at least the tops of the chairs. But maybe there's a pinterest pin for that? ;)

I wanted to eventually update this space, but figured it'd be while. So, things just happened without much forethought. Ideas and resources that I'd been looking for just seemed to pop up at the right time so I jumped on them. It really is a fun place to eat, craft, and entertain now. Hopefully, folks will be encouraged to stay for awhile.