Make The Best Of What's Around

2012-02-28T13:48:00.001-08:00

Where Did It Come From?

Where did the obsession with owls come from? Anybody know? I know they are very trendy in the blogging world and few years ago I would have thought you were crazy if you wanted to put an owl in my living room. However, after discovering thrift stores and being obsessed with trying to make junk into treasure, I just love finding a fun statue to make over.

There is something about the owl that is so intriguing. The wonderful, big eyes and the scallop pattern on the chest adds so much texture to a boring space in a room.

I know I'm following a trend, but it's one that's fun to follow. Especially when you find them in thrift stores or in discount home stores. The fun, blue one above we found at ROSS. I'm am always so proud of my thrift store finds, but every once in a while buying something from a regular store is fun too.

I know what you're thinking....too much! But, it's actually quite large. About the size of a basketball.

The rest of my collection actually does come from thrift stores. This little guy is from a Habitat For Humanity store. You can see what he used to look like {HERE}

This one has gone through two transformations. Gray, then Green then White. You can see what he used to look like {HERE}

And this little one is from Goodwill. It used to be an ugly little planter. Can you believe it was ever ugly?! Go {HERE} to check it out.

This growing collection of mine is all displayed in one of my favorite spots in our home. I don't think I've ever showed you what this bookshelf looked like when we found it. I'll share it with you soon!

Do you have a growing collection? Please share with me on my FB page. Might just make for a fun post!

2012-02-27T10:09:00.000-08:00

Footstool

Can you believe it? I actually have a new project to share with you. FINALLY! Sorry I've been absent lately, but we've been a little busy with life. I have a feeling it's about to get a lot more busy with our oldest starting soccer in a few weeks.

Anyways, back to the project. We had this dingy end table with scratches galore that either needed to be refinished or donated. We decided to make it into a footstool instead. Our living room needed a pop of color with fabric and we thought it would be functional as well.

I didn't take any pictures of it, but my husband cut down the legs by about 2 inches so that it would be a good height to rest your legs on. You can tell by the blue painters tape on one of the legs how much we cut off.

We went to the fabric store and bought a piece of foam cut exactly to the size of the top of the table and enough batting to cover the top and around the sides.

My husband was so helpful in picking out the right fabric. I tend to stick to what is safe, and he's open to being a little more bold. We decided on a bright green floral pattern that was luckily in the clearance section. I love it. It's a nice pop of color in our living room that's full of blues and neutrals.

First we place the foam on the top of the table....

and then wrapped and stapled all the batting around the bottom of the table.

Here it is stapled and trimmed up so the legs could be reinserted.

When we stapled the fabric to the table, we found it best to start with the corners first and then the sides.

Don't be afraid to use a lot of staples! No one will ever see the underside.

We reinserted the legs...

and now have a brand new footstool. It doesn't look like a normal footstool because of how the table turns downward, but I think it still turned out pretty good.

Much more useful than a scratched up, unused end table.

It's something we can kick our feet up on or use as an extra seat if we have company. My boys had to model how to use it.

I have a few more things to share with you this week and soon I'll have two room makeovers complete. Hope you'll stick around.

2012-02-14T14:09:00.000-08:00

Goodwill Dresser Turned Into A TV Stand

In the almost 7 years that my husband and I have been married, we've never bought a TV together. We've always had hand-me downs. This year, we decided to finally get a nice TV. However, we needed something to hold it. I refused to pay the hundreds of dollars that most of the nice ones cost. So, we went searching at thrift stores and on craigslist.

The day before we bought our TV, I walked into Goodwill and saw this sitting in the furniture section. Guess how much it was?

$26

Can you believe it?! It was perfect. It just needed some work.

So, we got to sanding it! It took a lot of sanding. Then we picked out a plain white paint at Home Depot for $9.

Here is how it turned out...

Ahhhh, I love it!

Here is a close-up of the detail right in the middle of the TV stand. You can tell that we slightly distressed it.

Here are the knobs we picked up from Hobby Lobby. They fit perfectly into our color scheme. Plus, they were all 50% off. Gotta love a good sale!

Here are the pretty clear knobs on the two smaller drawers. These came from Home Depot.

We decided to take out the two smaller drawers on the bottom so that we'd have room to store our DVD player or any other electronics that find their way into our home. It tends to happen with boys!

I have to give my husband all the credit for this part. Instead of a piece of plywood on the bottom, he took some old fence boards and cut them to the size of the shelf. I love how it turned out. Gives it a little rustic charm.

Here is a zoomed out shot of some of the details. We also decided to take the middle door off and fill in with an old locker basket. I think I mentioned before that we found this in a parking lot just hanging out ready to come home with us. I love giving things a new life.

I filled it with some of my husband's old baseballs from his coaching days. He loves, loves baseball and good thing I do to! They fit perfectly in the basket.

One final shot of our completed dresser turned TV stand! I think I tallied it up, and it cost us around $60 for this whole project. Not to shabby!
I linked up:
Primitive & Proper
Blue Cricket Design
Uncommon
Someday Crafts

2012-02-14T08:43:00.000-08:00

happy love day

My husband and I were able to get out of the house by ourselves on Saturday afternoon. My very sweet brother offered to watch our boys as they were napping. We went to JoAnn Fabrics to pick out some fabric to make an ottoman. (one of my many projects to share with you)

While we were walking around, there was a lady with a really cool Lotus tattoo on her wrist. I said to my husband how much I wanted to get a love tattoo on my wrist. It's something I've been wanting for several years. He looked at me and said,"lets just do it!" OKAY!

So, we found a local tattoo parlor downtown where we live and told them what we wanted. My sweet husband decided to get the same thing as me. A reminder of how much we love each other, our boys, life, friends and family. It's something to look at when we're feeling a little down to remind us of how much love we have in our life.

I hope everyone has a very special Valentines Day & remember to tell those you are close to how much you love them.

(sorry the tattoo looks a little gray, it's still healing)

2012-02-03T07:49:00.000-08:00

Happy Friday

Happy Friday everyone! I don't have a Friday Favorite for you today, but I do have some inspiration. My friend Michael G. sent this to me on my FB page this morning. It made me stop and think about why I started blogging in the first place. This saying is so very true to me. Thank you Michael.

Some other inspiration, my husband and I are one month in to our weight loss! We're both down 17 lbs. YAAAYYY! I know it's only been a month, but it feels great. I think we're off to a good start on a long journey.

Happy Friday everyone.

2012-02-01T00:00:00.000-08:00

DIY Blue Jars

I'm sure everyone has seen the DIY tutorials floating around on Pinterest about how to make your own blue tinted jars. I've looked up so many of them and I'm sure there is a ton a better ways to do this, but I used what I had on hand.

Some empty jars, Mod Podge and food coloring. I think the next time I try this, I will try the glossy finish Mod Podge instead of the matte finish. You can tell in the picture above that mine came out a little cloudy looking.

All I did was added some Mod Podge to an empty tin can, tinted it with a few drops of blue and couple green.

*there is no exact number...tint it to whatever color pleases you.

I put some tin foil under my jars to protect my table and to catch any extra drips.

Here is the one I did all painted on and starting to dry.

My husband even joined me while doing this project. I guess it caught his interest. He made his a little bit darker. To be honest, it turned out better than mine. HMMM, maybe I should have him do these small projects with me more often.

Here they are almost done. It took a few hours for them to dry, so be patient.

Here they are completely done with a candle inside. The little one in the back I did later that day because we had and empty jelly jar. On that one, I tried tinting the inside instead of the outside. I can't put a candle in it, but I'm sure I can find some other treasures to put in it.

I really, really want to try the glossy Mod Podge now. I'm curious to see if it turns out more clear. I am happy with these ones though. I think they look really pretty with a candle inside.

If you've done any of these, please share with me what products work best for you!

I was rearranging things in my kitchen today and decided to put them all in an old coke box along with some clear mason jars and a candle holder. Grouped together, I think they look pretty cute!

2012-01-30T00:00:00.000-08:00

A Little More Love

I thought I'd share with you a little more of the Valentines decor we've added to our home. All of this is from last year, so we spent absolutely NO money. If you want to see the tutorial on the XO paper from last year, you can find it {HERE}

This is honestly how lazy I was when decorating. I couldn't find the backing to these frames, so I just put a bit of painters tape to hold them in. Don't you love knowing other bloggers aren't perfect. I'm the furthest from it!

Here is the framed heart. So, speaking of lazy...look at the blue sign. Dusty! I didn't realize how dusty it was until I uploaded the pictures. Again, I'm not perfect.

Here are my favorite little Dollar Store hearts from last year. These were originally picks, but I pulled the pick out and they made the cutest filler. You can see the original post {HERE}

Alright, I'm going to keep this in the back of my mind for further posts.

*Remember to dust first*

I still have my Mantel to share with you, but that can wait till next week. I have another fun project to share with you on Wednesday. Stay tuned!
I linked up:
Uncommon

2012-01-27T00:00:00.000-08:00

Friday Favorites

"All You Need Is Love"

I think we'd all agree this is one of the best lines in a song, ever! Although I don't do a lot of Valentines decor in my own home, I couldn't resist featuring some of these adorable LOVE decorations.

Enjoy!

These yarn wrapped letters from My Sister's Suitcase really caught my eye! Not only are they cute up against that bright blue wall and Pink mirror(adorable) you could do this for any holiday. I love these! Go visit My Sister's Suitcase and see how they were made.

I am such a sucker for any decor that can mimic something from Pottery Barn. Go check out the original Pottery Barn sign and this super cute sign made by the gals at Uncommon. I think I like the homemade version better!

How cute, girly and perfect are these framed letters?! You will not believe how easy and inexpensive these were to make. Head over to I Will Craft for the details.

Shut the front door! Can you even believe this sign?! I can see this being Pinned a thousand times. You have to see how this was done at Indie Spotting

Hope everyone enjoyed this weeks edition of Friday Favorites. If you were featured, feel free to grab a button.

Happy Friday everyone.

2012-01-25T00:00:00.000-08:00

Nightstands

We have been waiting to give these nightstands a paint job since August! When we moved into our rental home, these nightstands were just left in one of the bedrooms. We asked the landlords if they wanted them anymore, and they told us to do what we want with them. OKAY! They had makeover written all over them. For a blogger and DIY freak, these are the little things that make us giddy! Am I right?!

They had so much potential, but look how worn out they looked!

Lots and lots of sanding.

After we were covered in a layer of stinky dust from these beauties, we gave them three coats of an off white color. We let them dry for about three hours, then took the sander over them again for that lovely distressed look, reattached the original hardware, and...

They were done! I love them. Everything about them is just pretty to me. The curvy legs and the new color.

A little distressing goes a long way. They look new and clean with the off white, yet a bit old still with a little wood color showing through in certain spots.

We debated whether or not we wanted to get new hardware for them.

I am so glad we didn't. These pulls leave them with some of the original beauty.

I might give them a coat of furniture wax when I have more time, but till then they decorate the sides of our bed nicely. I'm not showing you the room yet, as they are part of our bedroom makeover. You'll just have to wait. My goofy son, Jaxon wanted to be in one of the pictures. He knows just how to work the camera!

Here is the before and after again.

I can't wait to find more older pieces like these and give them a new life. These were so much fun!
I linked up:
Someday Crafts
Primitive And Proper
The Shabby Creek Cottage
Between U & Me
The Shabby Nest
Miss Mustard Seed
Fingerprints on the Fridge
Simply Klassic Home

2012-01-23T00:00:00.000-08:00

Giving Our Home A Little Love

Here is what my kitchen table looked like last weekend when we were trying to clean up the house a bit. I thought it was a good time to put out the few Valentines decorations I have. There was one I wanted to do last year, but never got around to it.

A few weeks ago, my boys and I were at a park and I found the perfect branch for the project.

You guessed it, a Valentine tree. I know! There have been so many done, but I think they're really cute, easy and cheap. Mine turned out to be FREE.

Here is my take on it.

I took one of the Faux Snowballs I made last year, and stuck the branch into it. I just used a glass jar that I had on hand.

Then, I filled it up with fake, plastic snow and the rest of my Faux Snowballs. It is still Winter around here, so the snow worked great!

If you don't have the fake snow, you could use something like rocks, marbles or even conversation hearts.

Here it is ready to be decorated!

Last year, I bought a big pack of foam stickers at JoAnns for a $1. So, these are leftovers from last year's projects.

Great thing about these is you just peel off the backing, and stick it on the branch. I don't think it could get any easier than this! About two minutes later...

I had a finished, little heart tree! I have to admit, Valentines is not my favorite thing to decorate for. We really don't celebrate it, but I know my kids get a kick out of all the little details put into each holiday.

I used the rest of the fake snow to fill up these jars.

All of this got put into this old gym basket along with some white lights.

(I still am looking for the perfect lamp for this bookshelf)

I also framed a LOVE Free Printable that I found through Pinterest. You can find it {HERE}.

The other XO in the frame I'll share with you in another post. This is nothing new though! It all comes from last years projects.

This hasn't been my greatest DIY project, but it was certainly easy and decorates this small area of my home for zero dollars.

2012-01-20T00:00:00.000-08:00

Friday Favorites

Finally, I'm back with my Friday Favorites! I just love browsing every ones blog posts and link parties all week long. There is just so much inspiration in the blog world I feel like my head could explode with ideas. I absolutely LOVE finding my favorite things during the week and sharing them with you, my blogging friends.

I usually feature about 3-5 different projects, but this week I'm featuring one of my very best blogging friends, Laura @Our Prairie Home! Her and I have been chatting back and fourth for a few months now, and I just love following along with every fun project she does. Not only are her projects great, but she is hilarious. She really put her hubby's phone number on Facebook one evening in order to get him to help paint a room. Harassment at it's best, ha ha!

This week she revealed an office makeover she's been working on. You seriously have to go visit her blog and check out the makeover {HERE}

It is absolutely amazing what she did to this room. There are so many cute little details and things to look at that you'll have to go check out her post on this makeover. You won't want to miss it.

While you're there, become a follower and tell her I sent you.

Laura, You did such a beautiful job on this room, it deserved 100% of my "Friday Favorite" attention this week. I just love it.

Happy Friday everyone!!

2012-01-18T14:32:00.000-08:00

Inspiration

My husband created this sign. I thought I'd share some inspiration with you...feel free to pin :)

2012-01-18T00:00:00.000-08:00

Eat, Drink And Be Merry

I've had this sign for eight years now! I love the saying. It will always remind me of a song by the Dave Matthews Band(my favorite band) Tripping Billies. We even used it on our wedding reception invites...Eat, Drink And Be Married. Yep, that's how much I love this saying and that band.

Anyways, the sign I love, but I was not loving the color. It just didn't match anything in our house. Nothing a little paint couldn't fix, right?!

So, while we were painting our bathroom this weekend I took some of the paint and used the existing letters as a stencil. Easy right. Just took a little time, but not that bad!

When it was dry, I lightly sanded over the trim and the letters.

I love how you can see just a little of the darker color peeking through!

Here it is in a color more my style! What do you think?

It fits perfectly in the nook above our kitchen sink.

I added a few other cute accessories to the nook...

an old meat grinder given to us by my husband's Grandma. We all know the famous birdie plate from Pier1. Plus a big white plate and a white tea pot. Super easy.

I'm loving the color now. So much brighter and pleasing to my eyes.

2012-01-17T08:43:00.000-08:00

Our Weekend

*Warning*

This post contains random photos with bad lighting!

Our weekend started Saturday morning(they were up at 5:50am...who knows why) with my boys at their first day of Sports Skills Camp. It's a fun class my husband runs every Saturday. It's a very basic introduction to sports, ie. Soccer, Baseball, Basketball. Perfect for them because they love sports and it burns off some energy.

About 10 min. before class started, this is what happened to our youngest...

Poor guy was kicking the ball and running faster than his little body could handle. He basically fell/slid into the cement wall. He's the type of kid that will scream louder than anything at first! To get him to stop we told him something funny(made sure he was okay of course)and a few minutes later he was back to running and kicking the ball around again. Seriously, I think we'll have a ton of doctor visits and injuries in this kids future. He just has that," I'm gonna get hurt in some way today" look about him.

The rest of Saturday was spent relaxing and just hanging out. Then Sunday, we decided to tackle this bathroom that's been needing some paint since we moved in. Mind you, this is a rental house, so all we can really do is paint with permission from our landlords of course. So, the ugly faux marble had to stay! However, it's amazing what some paint can do to brighten up a space. It's almost complete. We just have to change out the hardware and replace a missing board on the inside of the cupboard. Hopefully, I'll have pictures up by Friday.

While we had the paint out, I decided to give this sign a makeover. I love the sign, but I was just not feeling the color anymore. It just didn't really go with anything in our house. You know how that goes.

Here is just a little peek at what I did to it. I'll have the finished product up tomorrow.

Since Mondays fall into our weekend now(because my husband works Saturdays) I actually got a start on some Valentines decor. I bet you can guess what this it!

Sorry for all the teasers and unfinished projects, but I feel like it was a pretty productive weekend. By the way, Easton's head is just fine now and all that's left from that big knot is a small bruise. He's as busy as ever.

See you tomorrow with a complete project!

2012-01-10T00:00:00.000-08:00

Made With Love

I'm so excited to share this with you! It's one of those projects that isn't planned, but turns out awesome when you finish it. I just love how it came together.

This past weekend we were at the Habitat Store looking for sandpaper for our dresser makeover and some supplies to fix our bathtub faucets. Down the same isle, we came across some house numbers and letters.

I bet he gets sick of me taking pictures of him! I just love this guy.

These two stinkers are pretty cute too! They decided to play pretend guns with some PVC pipes. They're pretty creative too.

Back to the letters! The first one I picked up was the "O". Then my husband picked up the "7". Do you know when you get those ideas that just click in your head like turning on a light switch? Anybody? Well, I got that idea as soon as my husband showed me the "7". All we needed to find was a "V" and an "E". One we found at the Goodwill and the other we found at Michaels. Can you guess which one came from Michaels? The "V" cost around $3. However, we could afford it because all three letters came to a little over a dollar.

They also had this cupboard door at the Habitat Store for $3. It was perfect for what I had in mind. Plus, it is super sturdy. Solid wood and very heavy.

The only letter, or should I say number flipped up side down that needed a makeover was the "7". It was pretty grungy looking. Plus, we decided to tie the color of the dresser together with this sign. So, we painted it the same blue as the dresser, BEHR Clear Pond.

Luckily, because these were house numbers, all but the "V" came with hardware.

Here it is complete! I love how it turned out for a quick 20 minute project. It's very sturdy, cute and looks amazing in our living room.

Not only cute for Valentines Day coming up, but great for the whole year! It will always remind me of who helped me make it...my husband!

Here is a close up shot of each of the letters!

The "7" turned up side down and painted blue.

"O"

"V"

"E"

This is probably my favorite thing I've made since starting this blog. It cost so little, yet came out so cute.

You just never know what you can pull together with things from a thrift store.

* my brother wanted me to post this "artistic" shot he took for me from above the sign. Showing off how tall he is, ha ha.

I linked up:
Homework
Not Just A Housewife
Sweet Little Gals
Someday Crafts
The Shabby Nest

2012-01-09T00:00:00.000-08:00

Dresser Makeover

This weekend was a great time to get started on our first project towards giving our bedroom a makeover. We started with the dresser. It was given to us by my Dad. It is in great shape, but it was just not cute! Again, I forgot to take a before picture of the whole dresser. However, I did remember to take a picture of the drawers and the shell of the dresser.

A huge thank you to my husband. I always love doing projects with him. Since this is for our room, it was nice that we made this makeover a team effort.

Here it is empty and ready to be sanded and painted!

Pretty ugly, huh? Look at the bottom one! A temporary silver knob. This thing was really sad looking, ha ha!

We had a sample paint that we used on a bookshelf back in October. (Yep, I still need to blog about that one) We used BEHR Clear Pond. It was about half full, so we needed one more. The great thing about these little sample paints is they only cost around $3.50. They go a long way for smaller projects like ours. They're also fun to have on hand for other great projects, like one I'll be sharing with you later this week.

Bless my husband for doing most of the sanding. The sander kills my hands. Look at him all serious. Deep in thought.

Here is our other little helper, Penny! She wanted to be right by me when we were painting the drawers.

Don't you just hate the hurry up and wait game!? I do.

After they were dry, we took the sander over everything again to give it a distressed look. Just a little though, I didn't want it too rustic!

Here it is completely finished. I LOVE IT!

If you're wondering why there are green and clear knobs, well...we had two green ones from a previous project and the two clear ones we bought at Home Depot for $3.49 a piece.

I love having them mismatched. It gives it a more eclectic look. I would however like to replace all the wood knobs with clear ones as we can afford them. But for now, they work just fine!

Since this is the beginning of a room makeover for us, I'm only giving you a little peek at what it looks like in our room . You have to wait to see the rest when the room is entirely done. Hopefully, by the end of January! Stay tuned. I have a an impromptu project that we also completed this weekend. Isn't that how it always works out? You find a whole other thing to work on while doing something else. This one is awesome though....I can't wait for you to see it.

Till then, hope you like the dresser.

I linked up:
My Uncommon Slice Of Suburbia
Homework
Not Just A Housewife
Sweet Little Gals
Primitive And Proper

Someday Crafts
The Shabby Nest
Miss Mustard Seed

2012-01-03T08:25:00.000-08:00

Today Is The Day!

{Pinterest}

Today, I start my biggest transformation yet!

Getting healthy!

My husband and I are working on this together. It's not about the numbers, but rather how comfortable we are with how we feel both inside and out. Right now, neither of us are comfortable and it needs to change.

This is the first day of many challenges, but with only positive thoughts.

I'M GOING TO DO THIS! I'M GOING TO LOOK AND FEEL BETTER!

Don't worry, while I'm working on myself I'll also be working on a ton of new projects this year. Paint will be a big part of my blog in the upcoming months. I am so excited to share with you all the projects I have in store.

I hope you'll sick around with me for another great year!

Welcome 2012

2011-12-30T09:38:00.000-08:00

Happy 2012

{Pinterest}

This will be my last post before the new year! I can't wait to dive into 2012 with a ton of new projects in mind.

I wish everyone and safe, happy, healthy and prosperous year to come. I think 2012 is going to be a good one.

Happy New Year

xoxo

Tanya

2011-12-28T18:56:00.000-08:00

After Christmas Boredom

I think this picture describes it all! There was so much excitement with Christmas festivities that now, my boys and I are experiencing a little bit of boredom. It would be different if we could go outside and play, but the weather is horrible this week. Wet and windy. Yuk!

So, we've been doing a lot of playing with new toys, play dough, coloring, movie watching and adding touches of winter to the house. Just because it's not Christmas doesn't mean we can't decorate still.

We found this basket in a parking lot! It's one of those old locker baskets. Can you believe it?! Just hanging out in a parking lot ready to come home with us. Funny how something so small can make you so happy. I kept all my pine cones out being that it's still Winter. I always love bringing the outdoors in. And, since I already had them from Thanksgiving and Christmas decor, why not use them through January. Free is my favorite.

Speaking of Free, the blog Eighteen25 has some amazing Free printables. One being this cute New Year print. I love the Gray and Yellow. It's so calming after being taken over with Red and Green for the past month.

If you would like the Free printable for yourself, go {HERE}

Coincidence, I'm not sure! I happen to have a Gray couch and an old Yellow Coke box in the next few photos. I love when things mesh well.

All I did is add some fake snow to the bottom of my hurricanes and put a battery operated candle in each. I added some more of my Free pine cones into the Coke box to surround the candles and....

that's all. Pretty easy and it makes my coffee table look a lot less boring. Do you ever feel like you have a ton of junk tucked away, but then you bring it out and add a few more junkie things to it and voila, you have something awesome to decorate with?! I feel like this a lot.

I hope everyone had a fabulous Holiday(which ever one you celebrate during this time of year) Here is to a wonderful New Year!

2011-12-27T08:07:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday Erin

This is my older Sister, Erin and today is her 35th Birthday. I hope her Birthday is just as wonderful as she is. I wish I could be with her to celebrate. I love you Erin. You are the Best Big Sister ever! Happy Birthday.

2011-12-21T08:19:00.000-08:00

Christmas At The Old Goat Farm

Good morning Blogging Friends! If everyone has a chance today I would like you to go visit my FB page {HERE} and check out all the Christmas goodness at the Old Goat Farm. It's my Uncle Greg and Gary's home in Graham, WA. So many trees and all different themes. You will love it. My personal favorite is the Peppermint Bathroom.

Happy Wednesday everyone. Only 4 more days till Christmas!

2011-12-20T00:00:00.000-08:00

Cookie Of Christmas Past
I have a recipe that I posted last year and it has been pinned several times on Pinterest. I thought I'd share it with you again as it is one of my favorites. Enjoy!
Chocolate Crinkles

These oh, so delicious cookies will always remind me of my Aunt Kathy. I loved these cookies when I was younger and the only person in our family that ever made them was my Aunt. I've never attempted to make them and decided this year I would give it a try. Trust me...this recipe is so, so good! They remind me of a gooey brownie, but topped with powdered sugar. How bad can that be?! I hope you'll give these a try. Here is the recipe.

MIX TOGETHER:

1 Cup Cocoa Powder

2 Cups Sugar

1/2 Cup Veggie Oil

BEAT IN

4 Eggs(one at a time)

2 tsp Vanilla Extract

COMBINE IN A SEPARATE BOWL

2 Cups Flour

2 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Salt

ADD DRY INGREDIENTS TO WET INGREDIENTS

* Cover dough and let chill for 2-4 hours

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees

-Either line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or cooking spray

-Roll dough into 1 inch balls and then roll in 3/4 Cup powdered sugar

Bake 12-13 min.

EAT AND ENJOY

2011-12-19T00:00:00.000-08:00

Weekend Finds

My husband creates and runs special events for the city we live in and this weekend he ran a community indoor yard sale. I don't have any new projects to share with you today, however I wanted to share with you my fun finds. I'm already looking forward to Summer and yard sales.

Above is a really pretty bowl that is actually bigger in person than it looks in this picture. I love having a bunch of different serving pieces. This cost $2.

I also found on old 7Up wood crate. This can be used for so many things. This cost $5.

I was so happy when a lady walked in with this window. Finally, something for the big, blank wall in our bedroom. It's neutral, yet reflects light and adds that vintage touch I love so much. $5 woo hoo!

I love this little Pyrex Bowl! It was only $3. That is a steal for Vintage Pyrex. Right now I'm using it to hold our Keurig Coffee singles.

Finally, my husband found 4 of these cute candle holders. They were only .39 cents a piece. For dinner tonight, I added some Kosher Salt to the bottom (looks like snow) put a candle on top and voila! Faux Snow and a candle. These candle holders will probably be showing up from time to time in many of my blog posts. So much you can do with a candle holder.

So, those were my weekend finds. Happy early Christmas to me...I should just tell my husband to start a prepaid thrifting Visa for me. *hint, hint :)

2011-12-16T00:00:00.000-08:00

Wreaths

Last week I asked my Facebook friends & blog followers to submit their wreaths for a a wreath feature blog post. I had tons of wonderful submissions. Some are bloggers and some not. I have to say, there are some creative people I know. I hope you enjoy!

This is my Cousin Amanda's Cute Coffee Filter Wreath! They are a personal favorite of mine. You did awesome Manda!

Angie's beautiful Silver, Gold and Cream Wreath. Love the "C" in the middle!

This one is from The Toasted Coconut! I featured it a few weeks ago, but I just had to share it again. Love it.

This is my Aunt Lona! These are the two beautiful wreaths she made, part of the wreath workshop she runs every year. They are always adorable! Beautiful Lona.

This wreath comes from my Arizona Family, Angie and Chris. Traditional red & green with a cute little bear. Good job Moellers.

This looks so wintry and cold with the white and blue. Sparkly and fun! Submitted by Sissy's Salvation.

What's more traditional than a Poinsettia. I love them in white against the blue door. Very pretty. Submitted by Plum Patchwork.

I just love the blues and greens in this wreath submitted by Fox Hollow Cottage. Isn't it beautiful.

Here is one from another of my Aunts, Linda. I think I recognize that ornament from Pier 1. I might just have to get that one for myself. Really cute!

This one comes from a blog that I love following, Nest Of Posies. The colors make me so Happy. Love this one!

My Uncles Greg and Gary always amaze me. This is in their Gardening themed room. Yep, that's right. Each of the rooms in their home during Christmas is a different theme. We'll be doing a blog post on their home next week! You will love it.

Here is the Peacock Wreath! So fun.

Welcome to their Front Door! What better way to welcome your guests during the Holiday season.

This is also a personal favorite! Greg and Gary, you guys are amazing at what you do.

This one comes from another blog that I follow, All Things Home. I love thinking out of the box. Rolled paper to make a wreath. How creative and shabby chic.

This is really thinking out of the box and I will be borrowing this idea next Christmas. I love this idea from Eclectically Vintage. So cute!

Jennifer claimed her wreath was not blog worthy. I disagree. Jennifer, anything traditional is always welcome. I love how it looks frosty and your choice of colors. Very pretty!

Something so classic and timeless when using silver. I love a wreath all in one color. Thanks for submitting your wreath Jenna!

I think this wins for most adorable. Yarn, snowflakes and fuzzy berries....so fun! This comes from Mandi Being Crafty.

Finally, I am all about re purposing! You have to check out how this one was made. Talk about getting crafty. Wreath made by Art Is Beauty.

Thanks to everyone who participated. I hope you enjoyed all the wreaths as much as I did. Lots of inspiration from creative people.

Happy Holidays!

2011-12-14T08:00:00.000-08:00

Holiday Vignette

{Creating With What You Have On Hand}

So, by now you should know that I love, love creating things with what I have on hand or with what I can find for little to no money. I am a big believer in thrift stores, garage sales, and antiques. Being a one-income family, I have learned that it doesn't take a whole lot of money to make your home cute.

Here is a Holiday Vignette I created with objects and items that I've had for years or that are just laying around the house.

I think the only things that were bought this year are the big ol' Christmas Lights thanks to my Mom-In-Law, Linda Lue. They came from a local thrift store and cost around $2. The Christmas tin the lights are sitting on top of came from a friend. I wish there were still cookies inside. The large "J" normally sits by a picture of my Son Jaxon, however since our last name starts with a "J" also, it can be re purposed to represent our family name. The little "J" was mine and my husbands wedding cake topper.

This is my favorite Santa Picture yet. This was taken right before the tears started flowing from my son Easton. This was two years ago, and he was NOT a fan of Santa that year. I used and old IKEA frame to display it in.

For the top of the red box(I normally use it to hold all my boys dinosaur toys) sits a wreath we bought several years ago from Ben Franklin for 75% off. You gotta love those after Christmas sales. The big pine cone came in the same box my Grandma sent the nativity scene in. You can see that {HERE} I just spoke to her the other day and she said she found them in Reno, Nevada.

The two mirrors off to the side are ones that I've blogged about in the past. You can see those {HERE} & {HERE} I can't tell you how many times I've used both in displays for every season. I love them.

My challenge to you:

find things around your home next year when decorating for Christmas or for any other season and see what kind of beautiful display you can make with things you already have. It's a great way to be creative and save money.

I linked up:

Someday Crafts
Lolly Jane

2011-12-13T09:50:00.000-08:00

Blog Swap

I have a super, special treat for you today. I'm doing a blog swap with Bonnie and Trish from Uncommon. You are going to love this project. When you're finished reading, make sure to visit their blog and become a follower. They have bunches of great tutorials. Thanks Bonnie and Trish.

Happy Holidays Y'all!

We are Bonnie and Trish from Uncommon and we are so thrilled to be here today. We are going to share a super quick project that you still have time to make for this year!

The sweet folks at Lion Brand Yarn contacted us a few weeks ago to see if we would be interested in trying out a few of their products. Seriously? Pinch me now! We thought about it for half a second and quickly hopped over to their site to take a look at what they had to offer.

I immediately fell in love with the Lofty Wool Blend yarn from the Martha Stewart Crafts Collection. Just take a look at Snowdrift in all her soft and fluffy goodness. So cuddly!

Now, I don't knit, but it just screamed cable knit sweater to me! I instantly knew that it would be perfect to make a cable knit tree for Christmas! This was one of the easiest and quickest crafts I have made in a long time and I am so in love with it! It literally took me ten minutes to make it... no joke!

Here is what you will need...

Martha Stewart Lofty Wool Blend Yarn

Styrofoam Cone

Finial or Ornament for the Top

Hot Glue Gun and Glue Sticks

Step One. Glue the first layer of yarn to your styrofoam cone (make sure you leave a little at the start tucked under the bottom).

Step Two. Wrap all the way up the cone. You need to cover the styrofoam, but don't wrap too tight or your tree won't be "fluffy". When you get to the top, glue down the ends.

Step Three. Glue your finial or ornament to the top and you are done! Crazy easy and just so pretty!

Here she is with our ribbon tree that we showed you a few weeks ago. You can find the tutorial here. I also had to include a starfish, a jute wrapped ornament, and more shine and glitter to the mix. Just perfect for my Coastal Christmas decor. The best thing about these trees is that after Christmas is over I can keep them out all winter!

Hope you guys are enjoying all of the joy that the holidays bring!

Thanks so much for having us Tanya!

Trish

2011-12-08T09:34:00.000-08:00

My Grandma's Nativity

A couple of posts back, I told you that I received a few large pine cones in a box my Grandma had sent for me. You know it's going to be something good and something older when it comes in a box marked ATARI.

Here's what was inside...A large Nativity scene that my Grandpa Rex painted years ago. This is the Nativity that used to sit in my Grandma's dining room. Christmas Eve and my Grandma's home go hand in hand. I have so many wonderful memories of spending time at my Grandma's during the Holiday Season...decorating sugar cookies, eating Lutefisk and Lefse(If you're Norwegian, you know what these things are)

This Nativity is one of the things that stands out in my mind, and when my Grandma asked me if I wanted it, I did not hesitate to say yes. A lot of Love went into painting it and it was displayed in a loving home for many years. I feel honored to have it passed down to me and my family to enjoy for many years to come. Thank you Grandma.

2011-12-06T14:24:00.000-08:00

Angie's Holiday Home

The other day I was looking through some pictures on Facebook. Above is my Aunt Lona and one of her very Best Friends, Angie. They had a girlfriends get-together and had posted some pictures online. The get-together was hosted by Angie, and I couldn't help but notice a ton of cute decor in the background. A blog post kept running through my head.

I contacted Angie through Facebook and asked her if she would like to share some photos of her Holiday Decor. She so graciously accepted and sent me these photos.

Are you ready for some cuteness? Sit back and enjoy the tour.

This is her gorgeous wreath. My Aunt Lona does a wreath workshop through the Parks and Recreation department she works for and this is the wreath Angie made. She said the reindeer came from the Dollar Store and the "C" she spray painted white then glittered it. It turned out beautiful! I love the mix of Silver, Gold and White.

Now, I don't know a single person that wouldn't LOVE to have a fireplace like this to decorate for Christmas, or for any other time of the year. I would take it in a heartbeat. I love the pop of red with the stockings and super, cute Santa garland. It is adorable.

Did you notice these cute little trees sitting right under the stockings? Angie said she found them miss-matched and all she did was sprayed them with spray snow and then glittered them. I'm gonna be on the lookout for trees now. This is too cute!

I just want one of everything she has! Look at the Vintage Wish bucket filled with pretty ornaments. The glittery reindeer candle holders are so sweet. And the large reindeer with the snowflakes hanging off the antlers. I'm absolutely going hunting through the thrift stores with some of these images in mind. I also love the snowy touches with the white candles and frosty pine cones. So pretty.

Speaking of candles, take a look at these. I love the vase filler she used to look like snow. The second candle in, Angie said she painted on glue to some plain white candles and rolled them in fake snow and glitter. So smart.

Take a look at the last one. An upside down vase filled with pine cones and used as a candle holder. Brilliant!

I am a sucker for found items. If you look closely you can see wine corks and bottle caps. She said one of her personal favorites is the jar with the battery operated t-light and fake snow. I would have to agree. I'm doing this next year!

I am also very fond of a cheese dome turned into a cloche. Add cute, blue ornaments to it...just my style. Loving it.

The main attraction...The Christmas Tree. It looks like it's straight out of a Pottery Barn catalog. By the way, Angie has a view of the water! How could you not add a few beachy touches if you lived right on the water?! I just love those white starfish. So pretty. Along with the natural, frosty garland...it just screams Northwest!

You are not going to believe how she made these pillows. Plain brown pillows with a felt dollar store snowflake that she glued on to the pillow. How easy is that, yet they look like they cost $50 dollars a piece.

The pillows above are thrift store sweaters turned into pillows. I keep saying, I need to learn how to sew. I love the colors she chose!

I hope you enjoyed Angie's Holiday Decor. I know I'm a bit envious now, but also very inspired. Another little bit about Angie, she is an amazing painter. She does murals for a living and they are beautiful. If you'd like to look at some of her works of art, visit her website {HERE}.

A huge thank you to Angie for allowing me to share with my blog friends and followers pictures of her beautiful home. I'm thinking she should be a blogger. I would be the first to follow.

2011-12-05T08:29:00.000-08:00

Christmas Mantels

This is the closest I get to having a mantel in this house! Unfortunately, we don't have a fireplace so I do what I can to decorate these shelves. This cost me ZERO dollars! Free is always my favorite. Especially around Christmas.

This year I'm in love with using the big, old Christmas lights as a vase filler. They are so timeless and even better, you can find them for super cheap at thrift stores. Some of these we got from one of my husbands co-workers and some came from a thrift store thanks to my Mom-In-Law.

This Free Printable came from Pinterest via Eighteen25. It is an awesome way to fill a frame in any room of your home. I love this version of Holiday Subway Art.

Here I go again using my go-to frames. I think there are endless possibilities for empty frames when decorating. All I did was use some clear line to tie the lightbulb to the frame. Probably never thought you could frame a light bulb, huh?!

Another light bulb sits up top with some pine cones I just received in a box from my Grandma. I'll be showing you later this week what else was in the box.

These bad boys were also in the box. They are huge! Perfect for decorating.

Sometimes I feel limited to what I can decorate with for these shelves because they are so thin. However, it feels like a challenge to me to get as creative as I can and make it as cute as I can with the things I already have.

Hope you enjoy it!

*Remember, link up your Holiday wreath to my Facebook Page {HERE} so it can be featured on a blog post all about wreath inspiration.

I linked Up:

Uncommon
Blue Cricket Design

2011-12-03T13:39:00.000-08:00

Simplify

Here is a before and after of my Christmas Wreath. I really wanted to simplify it for a few reasons. First, I'm not a huge fan of bows. I really thought this was cute last year, but now that I look at it, it looks a little Minnie Mouse-ish. Second, I love the look of a traditional wreath with lots of shiny ornaments on it. Last years wreath was just not doing that for me. Finally, it overall looked way to girly. Yes, I know I am a girl. However, the rest of the people in this household are boys. I need to have some sort of happy medium. I think this years wreath is simplified, traditional and has just enough shine. For a two dollar Wally World wreath with cheap ornaments, I think it looks pretty good for the Holiday.

Do you have any wreaths you'd like to share with me. Post them on my Facebook Page {HERE} and sometime next week I will do a wreath features blog post! Send your friends.

2011-12-02T00:00:00.000-08:00

Welcome to this weeks edition of Friday Favorites. I am so excited to finally be featuring Christmas projects. I've come across so many wonderful things this week, but these four caught my eye. I hope you enjoy them as much I do....

I am in LOVE with this ornament wreath. I think I'm going to be saving and searching for vintage ornaments all this next year so I can make one just like it for Christmas 2012. Head over to The Toasted Coconut and check out the whole tutorial.

How fun would it be to have a few of these decked out bottles for a Christmas party. Do you really want to wow your guests? Head over to Celebrations At Home to learn how to make these.

This beautiful wreath would last from Christmas all the way through January. It is just gorgeous. Talk about a great way to re purpose a scarf! Go visit Remade Simple to see what she used. Love it!

Finally, this mantle is right up my alley. Very eclectic, blue, red and just plain vintage looking. I love everything about it. Head over to 52 Mantels to get a closer look.

I hope everyone enjoyed these wonderful Christmas projects. Only 24 days till Christmas. Are you all decorated for it?

2011-12-01T14:27:00.000-08:00

Merry & Bright

Since it's December 1st, I thought I should start sharing some of my Christmas decor with you. Absolutely everything in this display I had on hand. I've found myself decorating the same way every year since my husband and I have been married, so this year I thought I'd change it up a bit.

As you can tell, I love the traditional Red and Green for decorating. Instead of mixing them, I've grouped the like colors together. Very uniform and that's just how I like it.

The hurricane in the middle got a bright treatment. So stinking easy. Plug in some lights, toss them in a glass hurricane and there you have it. Not only is it pretty, but it lights up a darker side of our living room, especially with the mirror behind it.

I hope this will inspire you to use what you have already and put it to use in a new way.

More to come!
I linked up:
Someday Crafts
The Shabby Nest
A {Blonde's} DIY Life
30 Days
Tatertots & Jello

2011-11-18T08:26:00.000-08:00

Our New Baby

Happy Friday everyone! I would like to introduce you to our new baby girl, Penny. She is an early Christmas gift for our whole family & we couldn't love her more. She is such a sweetie pie.

We have so much to be Thankful for right now. I hope all my blogging friends have a wonderful Thanksgiving next week. All next week I will be taking a break from blogging and spending time with my family. Then the blog will be in full-on Christmas mode.

Happy, Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-16T13:51:00.000-08:00

Give Thanks

Last year at this time I had very few followers. So, I thought I would do a re-post of two of my Thanksgiving projects from 2010. Above are my Give Thanks blocks. You can see the original post {HERE}.

This is my sweet, little turkey I gave a makeover last year. He was a fun thrift store find. You can see what he looked like before {HERE}

Enjoy!

2011-11-14T03:00:00.000-08:00

Pine Cone Garland

Happy Monday everyone. Sorry for not having a Friday Favorites for you last week. We had company come in and I just didn't have any time at all to get on the computer. However, it was totally worth it. I had such a great weekend with some great friends.

Today I have the easiest garland ever! Find some pine cones and some twine...

tie the twine around the tip of the pine cone...

and that is it. How easy was that?! You could use this for Thanksgiving or Christmas. You could even attach pictures of things you are thankful for in between the pine cones with clothespins. Cute, right!

Thanksgiving is already next week. I'm so excited. I love this time of year.
I linked up:
Our Prairie Home
At Home With K
Uncommon
Someday Crafts

2011-11-09T06:58:00.000-08:00

Blog Swap

I'm doing my very first blog swap today! I've never done one before and I am so honored to be a guest at Holly's blog, Life as a Thrifter. If you love all things thrifty, cheerful and just plain fun, you have to go visit her blog. You will love it. Tell her I sent you.

I would like to welcome Holly here at Make The Best Of What's Around. She has a super fun, and very frugal project to share with you today. Read along, enjoy, and then go visit Holly at Life as a Thrifter. Take it away Holly...

Hello! I'm Holly from Life as a Thrifter, and I am thrilled to be a guest on Make the Best of What's Around today! I'm a huge thrifter and love making something new out of something old. Today I'd like to share with you some cake stands I made entirely out of thrift finds.

Here's what I did:

I found 3 thrift plates . . .

and 3 old wooden candle holders (and such).

Then, simply glued them together.

So cheap and so easy!

A BIG thank you to Tanya for allowing me to share with you guys today! If you'd like to see more fun thrift ideas, pop on over to Life as a Thrifter!

Happy hunting, everyone!

-Holly

Thank you again Holly for your fun idea. I'm going to be on the lookout now for wood candlesticks! Love, love this idea.

2011-11-07T03:00:00.000-08:00

Transition

I'm the type of person that takes down holiday decor the day after that holiday. I'm a sucker for a good decluttering and clean-up. I'm wierd, I know! However, when I decorate for things like Halloween there are always things I can use to transition to the next Holiday.

Thanksgiving is one easy Holiday to decorate for. To me, the more natural the better. In early October, I made sure to purchase gourds and pumpkins that were thick skinned and would last through two months.

These ones up top, are nicely decorating a new shelf that I just made over. I'll be sharing it with you soon.

On top of the shelf, I also used an old Coke crate with a worn sign in it that says Fall. Very plain and simple. Perfect for Thanksgiving.

Here is what sits by our front door. So colorful, yet natural.

If you're having a hard time figuring out how to decorate for Thanksgiving, go check out your local grocery store. You might just find everything you need in the produce department.

More to come.

2011-11-03T23:33:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know I've been totally absent this week. We had Halloween on Monday, the big clean-up or despookifying the home if you will, on Tuesday and then my oldest started getting a really bad cold. I think my youngest is getting it too. So, from Wed. on this week, we've just been laying low.

I haven't payed any attention to link parties this week, so I thought with Thanksgiving coming up, I'd share with you some of my Pinned photos that I have saved under my Thanksgiving category on Pinterest.

Enjoy!

{Source}

Have a fabulous weekend everyone & I'll be back Monday with a new post. Also, I'm doing my first Blog Swap on Wednesday, Yay!

2011-10-31T07:13:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween

Boo!

B is for broomsticks witches to fly,

O is outrageous spooks that go by,

O is for orange pumpkins so bright,

These are the signs of a Halloween night.

2011-10-28T03:00:00.000-07:00

Can you believe Halloween is on Monday?! This will be the last edition of Friday Favorites featuring all things Halloween. It makes me a little sad because I love, love Halloween. However, I am really looking forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas this year.

This week doesn't really have a theme, just some fun Halloween ideas that have caught my eye this week. Enjoy!

I need to add these to my Pinterest account for next year! They are so cute. Check out how they were made at Young And Crafty.

Could anyone resist this Candy Corn Fudge? I know I couldn't. You have to see how it's made over at Yesterday On Tuesday.

Finally, this is on my list of things to make this weekend. These are too cute and I love anything chocolate. They are so simple to make. Head over to Mrs. Happy Homemaker for the tutorial.

I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe Halloween Weekend. Pay these bloggers a visit and thank them for the sweet ideas.

*if you were featured, please feel free to grab a feature button on my sidebar.

2011-10-26T03:00:00.000-07:00

Ghost Lollipops

I have to give Gina @ The Shabby Creek Cottage a big thank you for this cute idea. I needed an idea for a special treat that would be handed out at my husband's pumpkin carving class for kids.(My husband works for a Parks and Recreation dept. and does some special event planning)

This idea was too cute, very easy and extremely frugal. I think it cost $2 for everything. I already had the coffee filters and hot glue on hand, so all I needed was the lollipops. Thanks Dollar Tree for cheap candy!

All you do is put a dab of hot glue on the filter and stick the lollipop right on the hot glue.

Pull down the coffee filter to give it that ghost shape. Repeat with one more filter. Gina @ Shabby Creek Cottage did three, but two worked fine for me. She also used smaller lollipops and now I know why. The smaller lollipops will allow for the ghost, when finished to stand on it's own. On mine, the stick was too long, so I had to lay the treats down. They still did the job though.

Don't you just love that crayon marking on my table!?

Last thing you do is draw on two black eyes. So easy. When my boys woke up from their nap, they wanted one of these treats so bad. Torture on a kid when they have to wait for candy!

Here they are ready to go to Daddy's pumpkin carving class.

Ew, pumpkin guts. Jaxon was in heaven.

Easton on the other hand, took out a few handfuls of pumpkin guts and then wanted nothing more to do with it.

Here are their pumpkins completed. Traditional Jack O' Lantern and Mickey Mouse.

Finally, at the end of the class, they were able to pick out a Ghost Lollipop. Oh, the fun of giving a kid candy at night. They took a little longer to fall asleep. Wait till Halloween, yikes! Yes, he does have a black eye. The play set at a local park was in his way. The life of a little boy, always some kind of bump or bruise!

2011-10-24T03:00:00.000-07:00

Another Little Owl

I think I'm lucking out finding cute, thrift store owls. I don't really collect them, but I see so much potential in them to make cute decor. Especially for Fall.

This little guy I found for .99 cents. What did I have to lose by buying it? If it turned out hideous, then I was only out a dollar. However, I gave it a few coats of white spray paint...

and it turned out so cute! It makes for a great candy holder!

Right now I have my Salt Dough Candy Corn in it. I could also see planting some grass in it during the Spring. Can't you picture this little guy with a grassy hairdo?!

I've been on a roll finding thrifty things lately. I can't wait to share them all with you.

Halloween http://niftythriftythings.blogspot.com/search/label/nifty%20thrifty%20sundayis in a week, whoo hoo!!

I linked Up:

Someday Crafts
The Shabby Nest
Lovely Crafty Home
Tatertots & Jello
Lolly Jane
Nifty Thrifty Things
Under The Table And Dreaming

2011-10-22T16:00:00.000-07:00

Halloween 2011

Our boys picked out their Halloween Costumes today. Jaxon is Superman and Easton is Batman. I love my little Superheroes!

2011-10-21T00:09:00.000-07:00

Welcome to this weeks edition of Friday Favorites @ Make The Best Of What's Around. This week is all about Halloween Mantels. I have a lot to work on for next year. These three mantels are so creative, and so cute! I love them and I think you will too. Enjoy!

First up is from Starshine Chic. Very spooky and very cute! I love the mix of cream, white and black.

Next is from 52 Mantels. I love the mix of spooky skeletons with the cute layered pumpkin, fabric pumpkins and trick or treat sign.

The final mantel is from The Diary Of Dave's Wife. What a cute way to incorporate everyday items into a seasonal mantel. Check out that cute cloche ghost. Love it!

I hope everyone enjoyed the cuteness as much as I did. Happy Friday everyone!

*If you were featured, feel free to grab a button on my sidebar.

2011-10-19T03:00:00.000-07:00

My Furry Kids

Have I introduced you to my Furry Kids yet? I don't think I have. Well, here they are. Bob(in the back) and Zoe(up front).

Bob was born to a back porch kitty at my Mom's home back in 2005. He was our first baby. We actually had to give him up for two years when we first moved over to Eastern Washington/Idaho. Thankfully my Sister Darcy took good care of him. Finally, in August we were able to get Bob back. We missed him sooooo much. He's a funny little guy. Just look at the two different colored eyes. He acts more like a dog really.

This little princess is named Zoe. We just adopted Zoe in September. She is about five years old. When we went into the animal shelter, she was the first kitty we said Hi to. She put her paws on my chest and sniffed my nose, then caressed the side of my face with her tiny, claw less paw. It just about melted my heart. She is a sweetheart and a cuddle bug. I am so happy we decided to add her to our family.

So, these are my Furry Kids, Bob and Zoe. I thought I should introduce them to you since they are usually the ones keeping me company as I do my blog posts.

2011-10-17T03:00:00.000-07:00

Halloween Vignette

Today I want to share with you a simple Halloween Vignette of items I already had in my stash of Halloween decorations. I never really understood how to decorate with holiday decor. I always just put it in a spot that looked alright. It just filled a space.

Since I began blogging in June of 2010, I've learned a ton about how to put together a vignette or rather, how to stage your decor around certain focal areas in your home. For example, I have the Martha Stewart-like Glitter Skulls that I made last year.

Instead of just placing them in a hurricane one on top of the other, this year I added the mini skulls with one and placed the other skull on the outside of the hurricane and proped it up on some vintage books. I also placed a famous Dollar Store crow to the top of the books. He looks like he's keeping watch over the room! Creepy and very appropriate for Halloween.

I decided to add a haunted house to the mix as well. It just fit in with all the black and darkness in this one spot. Isn't it kind of cute?! You never know what you'll find at your local Safeway.

To keep a bit of lightness to it, all of it sits infront of a mirror. I love how it's all staggered to keep your eyes moving. Halloween Vignettes like this one, adds interest and character to parts of your home. I love when a guest comes over and they stop and take a long peek at what's happening throughout your house. Better yet, your decorations don't look all cluttered and just thrown onto every surface.

If there is one good tip I could give you about decorating for a season, it would be to put away everyday stuff like pictures, vases, books, etc. to make room for seasonal items. It keeps the clutter down, and gives you something new to look at for a month or two.

I linked up:

The Shabby Nest
Tatertots and Jello

2011-10-15T03:00:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday To My Mom

The Happiest Birthday to my favorite lady in the whole world...my Mom! I love you Mom. I hope you have a wonderful Birthday. Take time for yourself today. You deserve it.

2011-10-14T03:00:00.000-07:00

You have to admit, mummy crafts during the Halloween season are pretty darn cute! I've seen so many cute mummy ideas that it was hard to choose just a few. Here are a few that caught my eye this week. Enjoy!
How fun are these posable mummies made by http://thethrillzofhillz.blogspot.com/2011/10/make-something-posable-mummies.html.
I could absolutely picture these on my dining room table. Adorable. Check out how http://wraysist3rs.blogspot.com/2011/10/mummy-and-spider-web-bottles.html

Wouldn't you love to serve these at a Halloween party? I would. Better yet, I would love to eat them...YUM. Get the tutorial from Crystal@ A Pumpkin And A Princess.

Finally, I could see dozens of these cute, Mummy luminaries adorning a mantle. So cute. Check out how to make these@ Hill Country Homebody.

Thank you for joining me for another Friday Favorites. Make sure to visit these bloggers and leave them a sweet comment. Happy Friday everyone!

*If you were featured, feel free to grab a button on my sidebar.

2011-10-12T04:28:00.000-07:00

Happy 56Th Birthday to my Dad

Today is my Dad's 56Th Birthday. This picture was taken of him with all of his Grand kids this past weekend. It's been 2 years since my siblings and I(with all our kids) have been together at the same time.

I hope your day is Wonderful Dad! I love you.

* Also, a very Happy Birthday to my Brother-In-Law Scott who shares the same Birthday with my Dad.

2011-10-12T04:15:00.000-07:00

Beware Of Something Cute

This has to be the easiest thing I've ever made! We went back home for a visit and just missed my Sister, Darcy's Birthday by just a few days. I really wanted to make her something cute for her new house, so I came up with this wreath.

I found a cute, glittery, purple sign at a local Dollar Store along with some feather boas. I used six of them.

*just a little FYI, the BEWARE sign is also available at Party City.

The grapevine wreath I had on hand, but you could use any wreath form you want. I just started wrapping the feathers around the wreath form using hot glue to attach the ends. When I got about half way through, I tied the sign with some wire around the wreath, then finished wrapping. Really easy....

and really cute! I wish I had taken a picture of it on my Sister's Red front door. It is absolutely her style. I hope you like it Darcy.

I linked up:

Someday Crafts

The Shabby Nest

2011-10-11T03:00:00.000-07:00

Happy 5Th Birthday Jaxon

The Happiest 5Th Birthday to my first born, Jaxon! He is the sweetest, funniest, most lovable little boy I know. I love you "J" Happy 5Th Birthday.

2011-10-06T13:24:00.000-07:00

Vacation

Just thought I'd share with you that I'm going on a quick vacation back to my Home Sweet Home in the Seattle Area. I can't wait to see my Mom, Sisters, nieces, in-laws and family up from California. I'll be back very soon!

Have a Wonderful Weekend.

2011-10-05T03:00:00.000-07:00

The Easiest Treat Ever

This is probably the fastest, most satisfying treat I've ever made! I found the idea on Pinterest and it is brilliant. If you have any kind of party to go to and are out of ideas for what to bring...MAKE THESE! All you need is a bag of Hershey Kisses, a bag of Pretzels, and any kind of candy topper that you like. I used Peanut Butter M&M's, but you could use regular M&M's, Candy Corn, Reese's Pieces, etc.

My boys were excited for these and actually helped me with unwrapping the foil off the Kisses. I think they knew that they could probably sneak one in if they helped out.

All you do is preheat your oven to 250 degrees, place the Kiss on top of the Pretzel and put them in the oven for 3 minutes.

Here is Easton helping Me put the Kisses on the Pretzels.

After 3 minutes in the oven, take them out and press your candy topper into the melted Kiss. Let them cool for about 2 hours and Enjoy! It's the perfect combination of sweet and salty. So easy, cheap, and yummy! Hope you'll give them a try.

2011-10-03T03:00:00.000-07:00

Bats & Halloween Decor

Last year at this time, I had only been blogging for a few months. Needless to say, I had very few followers. This is a repeat of a project I did last year that you can see {HERE}.

I loved this project so much, and it's so inexpensive that I just had to do it again.

All you need is black poster board from the dollar store, some scissors and a template to draw out your bats. I used some painters tape to hang them on the wall and that is it. So easy, yet so dramatic for any wall in your house.
As you can tell, I finally put up my Halloween decor too! I'll have more posts on that later.
This chalkboard was from a previous Earth Day Project that you can view {HERE}. You know me, always re purposing everything! The crows, like the poster board also came from the dollar store and all the mini pumpkins and gourds came from the grocery store.
This little owl was a makeover from the thrift store that you can see {HERE} and the Spell book came from Hallmark several years ago.
As you can see, you don't need a ton of money to decorate...Just a little creativity.

I Love dressing up the house for the month of October. Happy Halloween decorating to you. More to come!

I linked up:

Centsational Girl

TRESemme` Fresh Start Dry Shampoo

2011-10-01T07:05:00.001-07:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of TRESemmé for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Do you ever have those mornings where you have no time at all to wash and dry your hair? Maybe you need to run to the store, drop the kids off at school or just run an errand. Why stress about one other step in the day? Instead, try out TRESemme` Fresh Start Dry Shampoo!

TRESemmé Fresh Start Dry Shampoo

What exactly is TRESemme` Fresh Start Dry Shampoo? TRESemmé Fresh Start is a complete line of dry shampoos that revive your style’s look and feel on days you skip a shampoo. It is uniquely formulated to absorb the excess oils from your roots and remove any odor. They work without a drop of water and the burst of citrus extracts in every product, leaves hair with a fresh clean scent.

The full collection includes four different formulas: Strengthening, Volumizing, Smoothing, and Moisturizing plus there is also a No Frizz Creme and Refreshing Mist.

Want and easy way to learn how to use TRESemme` Fresh Start Dry Shampoo? Check out this Video.

how to use

Some important tips on how to use the Dry Shampoo:

-Shake well before using and in between spray bursts for BEST results.

-Lift sections of your hair and spray in short bursts 8-12 inches away from your head.

-Do not spray in continually like you would hairspray

-Leave it in for 1-2 minutes

-Use your fingertips or a brush to evenly distribute the product

-If clogging occurs, remove the nozzle and rinse with warm water then reattach the nozzle and continue use.

I am a stay at home Mom of two busy boys. Sometimes I am unable to get into the shower until late afternoon. TRESemme` Fresh Start Dry Shampoo is the perfect option for me on those busy, busy days.

A BONUS!!!

Please check out this video and enter to win a $500 Gift Card to Target! One lucky viewer will win.

2011-09-30T00:00:00.000-07:00

Happy, Happy Friday my blogging friends. Aren't you glad it's finally the weekend?! I sure am.

Today I am featuring some awesome Fall Wreaths that I've seen on some link parties. There are some super, creative people out in blog land. I'm feeling very inspired. I threw in three extra favorites this week. There were just too many to choose from. Enjoy!

Cute and colorful Spider Wreath by Just Us Four
Gorgeous Fall Wreath with a Monogram by Little Lovelies

Adorable and whimsical BOO Wreath by Home.Made.

Earthy and simply cute Moss and Pumpkin wreath by My Modish Mood

Shiny, bright and oh so cute Ornament Wreath by Uncommon

Warm and inviting Yarn Wreath by The Creative Imperative

Head over to these blogs and comment on these beautiful wreaths. Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.

*If you were featured, feel free to grab a feature button on my sidebar.

2011-09-28T08:23:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Darcy

Today my little sister, Darcy turns 28 years old. It's her magic Birthday...28 on the 28th of September. I wish her the happiest Birthday EVER! Only two more years and she'll join the 30's club.

Happy, happy Birthday Darcy. I love you Lots. Enjoy those dumplings later and have one for me :)

2011-09-26T03:00:00.000-07:00

Sparkly Spider

{A Dollar Store Makeover}

First of all, I can't even believe I made this! If there is one thing to know about me, it's that I HATE, HATE, HATE spiders. They creep me out like no other thing on this planet. YUK! I really had a hard time even holding this thing to make it sparkly. I did it though, and it makes for a pretty cool Halloween decoration.

This is the first of my Halloween decor for the year. Another thing to know about me...I LOVE, LOVE Halloween!
This big guy came from the Dollar Tree. Creepy, isn't he?! Yikes. I also used some Mod Podge that I had on hand and some of Martha Stewart's Black Onyx Glitter from last Halloween. Her glitter is awesome. If you haven't tried it, I encourage you to.
I started with the legs and brushed on the Mod Podge evenly. I did about two legs at a time and then sprinkled on the glitter. I did this over a paper plate to catch all the extra glitter. I do not like any waste when it comes to my craft supplies.
Pretty, sparkly, black glitter!
I couldn't decide what I wanted to use to hang the spider with, but then I came across this bright, Orange ric rac at JoAnn Fabrics. To be honest, I thought it would make the spider less scary! HAHA, how girly am I?!
I stuck it on to the under side of the spider with some Gorilla Glue, let it dry and...
hung it up on the turquoise window hanging in our living room.
Now, the only reason this doesn't scare me is because it is so big, it is very sparkly and it's hanging from Orange ric rac rather than a cobweb.

Overall, I spent about $4 on this Halloween decoration and I think it turned out pretty cute, yet creepy. I don't know about you, but I'm getting excited for Halloween.

I Linked Up:

Fingerprints On The Fridge

The Shabby Nest

Tatertots & Jello

2011-09-23T03:00:00.000-07:00

Welcome to this weeks edition of Friday Favorites. Can you even believe, I totally forgot to do my Favorites last Friday?! Totally just skipped right over it. UUUHHH, I'm losing it. I guess I can blame it on having a three year old and almost five year old. I think I forget a lot of things these days.

Anyways, this weeks Favorites are all about FOOTBALL WATCHING FOOD. It's finally Fall. With Fall comes College Football Saturdays. What better to do than have some yummy food while watching the game...Here are a few recipes that scream Football to me. Enjoy!

First up are these cute Cocoa Krispies Football Treats made by http://designdininganddiapers.com/2011/09/cocoa-krispies-football-treats/ How fun would these be to serve during a Football game.

Next is one of my favorite treats ever...Moose Munch. Homemade? YES! I'm doing this! Check out http://www.somethingswanky.com/2011/09/diy-moose-munch.html. DELISH!

Chicken Tostadas...YES PLEASE! These look so tasty. Head over and visit http://theletter4.blogspot.com/2011/09/chicken-tostadas.html and get the recipe.

Finally, I think these would please just about any kid or adult. This is one of those recipes where you wonder,"why didn't I think of that?!" I am absolutely doing this! Go over to Peace, Love, 2 Sisters and see just how easy this is and thank them for giving you an easy treat idea.
Well, that's all for my Friday Favorites. Aren't you glad I didn't forget this week?! Hahaha. Too much goodness to not share! Happy Friday Everyone.
*If you were featured, feel free to grab a feature button on my sidebar.

2011-09-21T03:00:00.000-07:00

DIY Scented Pine Cones

The other day, my boys and I took a trip to JoAnn Fabrics to get a little something for a project I will be blogging about soon. Upon walking into the store, the smell of Cinnamon hits you big time! It smelled wonderful, however Cinnamon is just not my favorite smell, especially for Fall. I figured, why couldn't I make my own scented pine cones with a scent that smells like Fall?!

First, we headed to a spot where I knew there were tons of pine cones just hanging out on the ground. Of course, my boys were more than happy to help me pick out a bag full of them.

Then, we headed up to one of my favorite stores, BATH AND BODYWORKS. I love that place. It always smells so wonderful.

We picked out a scented oil, Leaves. It smells like Fall in a bottle. These are awesome for the oil burners too! Can I just tell you how much I love Fall smells...Delish!!

We got the supplies home and put all the pine cones in a plastic grocery bag. I actually doubled it up just to make sure there was no mess. I then added about 15-25 drops of the oil all over the pine cones and tied up the bag.

I stuck them up on top the fridge for 24 hours so the pine cones could really absorb the scent.

And here they sit on either side of my couch. Some in a hurricane.

And some in a galvanized pot. They make my living room smell so delicious and just like Fall. This was so easy, and so inexpensive. I encourage you to give it a try!

I linked up:

Nest Of Posies

Someday Crafts

The Shabby Nest

Fingerprints On The Fridge

Simply Designing

Someday Crafts Fall Party

Under The Table And Dreaming

2011-09-19T09:03:00.000-07:00

Map Love

I'm sure by now, everyone has seen this idea on Pinterest! When we moved to a new state, I just had to make this. It is so cute, and incredibly easy to do. Plus, with a bigger home comes more wall space that we needed to fill. This artwork was perfect for the space. Here are the things you'll need.

A map of the area you lived in and one where you live now, frames, and scrapbook paper to attach your heart map to. I also used painters tape to attach the heart to the scrapbook paper.

We needed a Washington map! We are originally from the Seattle area. So, I took my heart template and traced it around the Seattle Area. It just so happened to include the cities where both my Husband and I were raised and the city we lived in before we moved to Eastern Washington.

Cut it out and attach it to the paper.

Easy so far, right?! Then I repeated the process of placing the heart over where we live now. It also includes the city that we moved to, two years ago and the city that we just moved to a little over a month ago. (we moved from Clarkston, WA to Lewiston, ID & they are literally right next door to each other, separated by the Snake River)

Then, we put them in some simple, black frames.

And we have super, cute artwork on our walls that represents the places we love so much.
Western Washington and now Eastern Washington and Idaho!

2011-09-14T03:00:00.000-07:00

Croutons

Believe it or not, I actually have a recipe for you today! You have to change it up every once in a while, right?!

A few weeks ago we had company in town and we were left with tons and tons of extra hot dog and hamburger buns. Do you ever wonder what to do with them all? I hate throwing them away. Instead, I make croutons! This is so simple to do and not only can you use them on a salad but you can eat them as a small snack like my boys do.

All you do is cut them into squares.

I had about 8 cups of bread cubes when I was done cutting!

I used about 1/3 of a cup of veggie oil and tossed it over the bread cubes. After doing this, I decided it needed a little more oil so I added in about a 1/4 cup more of veggie oil. If you want and extra richness to them, try adding a bit of butter.

This is when the possibilities are endless. The seasonings. For this recipe I used our favorite, Johnny's Seasoning Salt and a little Garlic Powder plus a pinch of salt and black pepper. However, you can use any seasoning that you like. For example, my husband made a batch one time that tasted like Thanksgiving Dressing. It had sage, garlic, onion....It was tasty!

Make sure to mix all the bread cubes and seasoning together and spread it out on a sheet pan. Preheat your oven to 250 degrees. The trick is low and slow. Mine took about an hour, flipping them every 20 min. or so. You want them to dry out all the way to the center. No one likes a chewy crouton.

Finally, you'll have a delicious salad topping that was made especially by you! Seriously, it's cheaper that buying store bought croutons and you can control the amount of seasoning and oils that go into them. I hope you'll give this a try...it's too easy not to.

2011-09-13T03:00:00.000-07:00

Fall{Pre-Halloween}Mantle

What do you get when you put together a hand-painted sign on an old fence board...

some sticks,

found by these two cute little boys....

and two thrift store owls painted white?

Well, my Fall Mantle of course! They're actually just shelves, but because I don't have a fireplace mantle, these work just as well for seasonal decorating. The rest of the items I'm sure you've seen before if you are a follower of my blog.

The empty frames, the blue mirror(seen in this post), and the iron star...they're all here.

For the sign, I free handed the letters and the paint. I wanted it to look more rustic. And, I'm not quite ready to go full force with all the oranges and yellows that you'd usually see in Fall decor. That's why I kept a more natural look with the whites, blues and natural wood tones.

Like these sticks in an old jelly jar. What a great way to entertain your kids...have them search for sticks(what little boy doesn't like to dig in the dirt with a stick?) and you can use them as part of your decor. It's a win win I tell ya!

I love it for the month of September! It's simple, clean, rustic and yet a bit modern looking with the white owls and blue mirror.

What about you? Have you started decorating for Fall? If so, please send me a link back to your blog. I'd love to include them in this weeks edition of Friday Favorites!

I linked up:

Under The Table And Dreaming

2011-09-12T05:00:00.000-07:00

Owls

Last year at this time, I was already gearing up for Halloween. By October 31st, I was really ready to take it all down! So, this year I'm taking my time with the season and coming up with some Fall-ish decor. I'm not quite ready for all the pumpkins and harvest decor just yet, however Fall will soon be here so why not decorate for it?! I found this little Owl at the Habitat For Humanity store for $3. It's actually a piggy bank. I knew with a little spray paint, this owl would look like it came straight from trendy store.

I also had this little green Owl that I made over for Earth Day. You can see that makeover HERE. I really don't have a lot of green decor in my home and I was so sad to take him down after Earth Day. I figured, maybe if I made him a neutral color I could put him out more to dress an end table or cabinet.

So, with the help of Rustoleum White Spray Paint, these two little guys went from this.....

to this! Paint always amazes me. It can make the ugliest thing so stinking cute. I put them up on my mantel shelves with some other Fall touches.

I will share the rest of the mantel with you tomorrow. Till then...

I linked Up:

2011-09-09T06:41:00.000-07:00

It's beginning to look a lot like Fall...in blog land anyways. Outside my home, it's still near 100 degrees. It's starting to change quickly and I'm holding on to the last bit of Summer. However, seeing all the fun Fall and Halloween ideas gets me excited to start on my own Fall projects. This weeks Friday Favorites is all about Fall/Halloween inspiration....Enjoy!
First, is this Candy Corn Bark made by Lindsay@ Lee La La. How yummy does this look(I'm a candy corn lover) and what a great gift it would make! I'm going to Pin this.

Next up is this super cute Fall wreath made by Beth@ Home Stories A2Z I just love this wreath. I might have to make something similar in the near future. It would be perfect to display from September to November.

Last, but certainly not least, Ali@ Honey and Maple Syrup created this cute display from Dollar Store items. I just love an inexpensive, cute and creative craft. Just goes to show, you don't need a ton of money to create something so cute. Great job Ali!

I hope everyone enjoyed my Friday Favorites this week. I'm now in the mood to run to Starbucks and grab a Pumpkin Spice Latte :) Happy Friday Everyone!

*if you were featured, feel free to grab a feature button on my sidebar.

2011-09-07T08:16:00.000-07:00

Perfect PearBack in March, I was at a local thrift store and came across this pear.

It was only .80 cents! I had to have it. It took me a while to do anything with it because I saw it as a great Fall decoration, and the only thing that made sense to do with it was to wrap it in twine. As you can tell by the close up picture, it has a weird texture.

So, fast forward to September and I busted out the hot glue and twine. Now, last year at this time I was already gearing up for Halloween. Let me tell you, it was just too long that I had Halloween stuff up. So this year, I'm trying to ease into Fall a bit slower. This is a perfect addition to the beginning of Fall decor.

I started wrapping from right under the leaf. The leaf is connected to the pear, so everything from the leaf and above had to be cut into small sections and glued on one by one. Sounds time consuming, but it really wasn't too bad. It probably took me an hour to complete the entire thing.

Here it is all wrapped. I couldn't leave the leaf gray. It just didn't fit.

I picked out of my paint box a foliage green and simple brown....

painted it green then added a layer of thinned out brown paint to get into the creases of the leaf.

This is the final product! It went from an .80 cent thrift store find to a Ballard Designs looking accessory!

I love it! It is the perfect addition to my Fall decor.

I linked up:

Nest of Posies, Fall Festival

The Thrifty Home

The Shabby Nest

2011-09-05T07:25:00.000-07:00

A Splash Of Color

So, do you remember back in June I had a post about these coffee bags my husband brought home?! Well, I finally put them to use. When we moved, we no longer needed our dining room set. However, we did need extra seats available for company. Two of the chairs would work perfect, yet they weren't very cute.

Well, I knew I wanted to use the coffee bags to recover the seats, however I was torn on what color to use for the chair. While I was looking over all the colors at Home Depot, I wanted so bad to grab a nice, neutral white. But, my heart kept telling me that we needed a splash of color to add to our new place. Which color though? Green, Blue, Pink, ahhhh!!! There were too many to choose from.

I ended up picking Rustoleum Lagoon. I love it! It reminds me of a Martha Stewart cast iron pot that I have sitting on our stove.
So, after some sanding and recovering, here is the end result...

It is absolutely perfect for our house. From previous projects, I'm sure you can tell that I love the color blue.

I was so scared when spraying them blue that is was going to be way too bright, but I think the chairs turned out perfect! I love the coffee bags as seat covers. It adds a little touch of mine and my husbands love for coffee. And, it's a sturdy fabric that will stand the test of time with kids.

We kept one in the kitchen and one in the living room. It sits perfectly under our mantle shelves, which by-the-way will be getting a touch of Fall soon.

I am so pleased with how the chairs turned out. They are just the splash of color our house needed.

I linked up:

Embellishing Life

Primitive & Proper

Domestically Speaking

Someday Crafts

Sweet Little Gals

The Shabby Nest
The Shabby Creek Cottage: Coffee Creations Party

2011-09-02T07:29:00.000-07:00

Thank goodness it's Friday!!! I am really looking forward to the weekend. The past few weeks have seemed to run together and this weekend we finally have some time to sit, relax, BBQ and watch some college football. Yeah!

Now on to my one and only Friday Favorite this week. Today I'm featuring Emily @ Emily Ann Designs. You just have to love her catch phrase: MAKE OPENING THE MAIL FUN AGAIN. With the products she sells on her Etsy, you will definitely have fun opening your mail.

I've had the pleasure of meeting Emily as she is my Sister-in-law's good friend. Emily has a love for all things cute, vintage and crafty. You can absolutely see her love of all three through her products.

She sells the cutest, personalized stationary. Like these super cute Thank You cards with a vintage camera on them. Any blogger would love to send these thank you cards off in the mail.

Check out this adorable Pirate themed Birthday Invite. Too cute for words!

She even does personalized art prints. Wouldn't you love this hanging in a little girl's room!?

Emily recently had some of her work published in a book, 1000 More Greetings. Congrats Emily! What a testament to how creative you are.

You have to go check out Emily's Blog HERE, then go right to her Etsy Site HERE! You will not be sorry you did. Pages and pages of paper cuteness. Let her know you're visiting from Make The Best Of What's Around. Happy Friday Everyone!

2011-08-31T11:31:00.000-07:00

Quick Decor

I had this old cupboard door sitting in our storage for months not knowing exactly what to do with it. I finally decided to make it into a chalkboard. Luckily when we moved into our new place there was a perfectly, awkward place for it. Right over an ugly phone jack. Once again, I forgot to take a Before photo, but you can see the original color in the middle. I gave the border a cute turquoise color and distressed it a bit. *the color is a mix of folkart paints, so no exact color is available.

I then taped it off and sprayed it with chalkboard spray paint. So far, so easy. It needed a little pop of color so I decided to paint a yellow number 3 in the bottom corner. The significance of the 3 is mine and my husbands anniversary day, July 3rd.

Finally, I hung it over that ugly phone jack and now we can leave messages for each other or just write our favorite quotes on it. Above is my favorite quote ever by one of my favorite singers. I haven't decided yet if I want to put some hangers on it and make it a key hanger as well as a message board.? Hmmm, what do you think? My fear of clutter sets in when I think of keys hanging off of it. Opinions please :)

I linked up:

Lemon Tree Creations

Under The Table And Dreaming

2011-08-29T09:15:00.000-07:00

Yard Sale Find & A Makeover

Finally, I have somewhat of a crafty post for you! Gosh, I feel like it's been forever since I've done anything creative. So, way back at the beginning of July we were out and about and came across a yard sale and spotted these chairs. We just had to hop out of the car and inquire about them. They were originally $15 a chair, but we easily talked them down to $15 for all three. What a bargain!!!

My husband and I got to sanding, sanding and more sanding. Then with the magic of some Rustoleum Heirloom White Spray paint, we came up with this...

Aren't they cute?! Just goes to show, with a little work and some spray paint you can make things look totally different. I love how these turned out. They fit absolutely perfect in our new kitchen. My boys love sitting on them for Breakfast and Lunch.

Here is a little peek at the kitchen. I'll soon give you a tour and some Before and After photos of our new place. It's really starting to feel like home.

I linked up:

Under The Table And Dreaming

2011-08-25T13:57:00.000-07:00

Happy 3rd Birthday Easton

I know, I've been seriously slacking on this blog. We just got all moved in to the new place, we've had company here for the past few days and today is our youngest son's 3rd Birthday. I can't believe he's already 3 years old. Needless to say, we've been busy. I promise I'll be back soon with a bunch of new projects that I have just waiting to be posted. Till then, the Happiest Birthday to our Baby Boy Easy(Easton) We love you buddy!

2011-08-12T13:52:00.001-07:00

This weeks Friday Favorites is all about furniture! Why buy new when you can refinish a perfectly solid piece?! Happy Friday everyone...Enjoy!

This dreamy buffet was redone by Natty @ Natty By Design. How much would you love to have this in your dining room. Absolutely beautiful!

Maps are all the rage these days and this dresser definitely does not disappoint. I love this dresser @ Altar'd Designs.

Finally, I adore this coffee table makeover from Terri @ Fresh Cut Flours. How many times have you seen a table like this at a yard sale or thrift store. Look how cute it can be made over. Love, love.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. If I'm absent for a few days next week, I apologize as we are finally making our move!!! More on that soon. Happy Friday.

2011-08-08T12:34:00.000-07:00

Have you joined yet? I did a few months ago and just the other day I tried signing in and all my pins were gone! :( Very Sad. I'm not sure if it was hacked or what, but I had over 400 pins and they were all gone. So, I had to start over. I just love being able to save such wonderful photos and ideas of things I love, inspiration and projects I'd like to work on. So, If you are pinning let me know. I'd love to come follow you and if you'd like, come follow along with me. Happy Monday everyone!

FOLLOW ME HERE

2011-08-05T13:34:00.000-07:00

Friday Favorites is back! Today is all about signs. I love a beautiful hand-painted sign. The three that I chose for this weeks Friday Favorites are all ones that I would proudly display in my own home. Enjoy!
First is this YOU ARE LOVED sign by Laura @ Corner House. How lovely is this sign.

I could absolutely picture this in my own kitchen. This EAT sign painted my Andrea @ Life.Love.Larson. is just too cute!

Finally, Jamie @ That's My Letter created this amazing knock off of a Pottery Barn sign, FOOD & FRIENDS. I just love this!

I hope you enjoyed all three of these signs. Head over to each of these blogs and leave a sweet comment. Hope you have a Happy Friday.

2011-08-03T08:58:00.000-07:00

National Watermelon Day

Today is National Watermelon Day! Let me tell you, we eat a lot of watermelon. Everyone in our family LOVES it. So, in honor of today I thought I'd share a tip with you on how to cut your watermelon.
So, my husband thinks this is the best idea ever. You know when you eat a triangle shaped piece of watermelon you always end of getting a ton of it on your face, especially if you are a two or four year old. Well, I started cutting it into a rectangle shape or as we call them, watermelon sticks.

Easy to put in your mouth, easy to hold and less mess. I LOVE less of a mess to clean up!

Next time you enjoy some watermelon, try cutting it into sticks.

HAPPY NATIONAL WATERMELON DAY!

2011-08-02T23:43:00.000-07:00

Natural Exfoliation

You're probably wondering what exfoliation has to do with the above picture?! So, it's been pretty warm here in Eastern Washington lately and we've been having lots of fun going to play in the river. FREE FUN! We found this swimming area in the town next door to us.

My boys loved it. By boys, I mean my two sons and my husband. He is like a big kid. Seriously, he's been compared to Jack Black more times than I can count. Anyways, while him and my younger son were enjoying the water...
my older son had the right idea! Exfoliating with sand. Actually, he was trying to look like a "grown up" with chest hair and a beard. However, I took his idea and pampered my feet a little bit. Why not take care of myself while my kids are having fun. Have you ever tried rubbing your feet with wet sand? It feels amazing. I have to admit, I wanted to cover my entire face just like my son, but I held back. Maybe next time, hehe. Later at home, I washed my feet up and gave them a quick rub down with some lotion....they felt wonderful!

Whether you live by a beach on the river or by the sea, I suggest you try some natural exfoliation next time you're having fun in the water. Your kids will get a kick out of it, and you'll get to pamper yourself while having fun!

I linked up:
Someday Crafts

2011-08-01T09:13:00.000-07:00

What We've Been Up to

July flew right by! We've been busy, busy and have NOT moved yet. There's been a little pause in our plans, but I will elaborate on that hopefully next week. In the mean time, we have been enjoying the whole month of July just having fun. I really have missed doing some projects, but our house is turned upside down right now with boxes everywhere.

So, here is a little peek at what we've been doing...above is a picture of my boys and three of our sweet nieces, Kinsey is the oldest and her twin sisters(left)Abbey and(right)Bailey. They drove six hours to come visit us in early July. We miss these girls so much. I love having them here and always hate saying goodbye. However, we did have some good times while they were here.

Hanging out in a Bouncy Castle.

and saying Hi to a Camel at a local street fair. After they left, we've been doing a whole lot of "us" time. I LOVE IT.

Exploring the area. This is a local pond that you can walk around. The boys were checking out the fish.

We've visited a few garage sales. Check out these chairs that we picked up...$15 for all three. YES! Makeover and a blog post for these guys in the near future.

We've been enjoying the warm(sometimes HOT) Eastern Washington weather. Here they are just chillaxing as my four year old would say.

And, enjoyed a free Movie In The Park-Spiderman.

We've even enjoyed some Hot Dogs and S'Mores at a local campground with some friends.

And, what would Summer be without playing in the sand. Yes, there is actually a beach in Eastern Washington. It's on the river, but still...it has sand. Our boys love it!

So, that's what's been going on in my world. Along with all of this is packing, cleaning and organizing stuff. I hope to get back to you soon on our move as soon as I know more info. Till then, hope everyone is enjoying their Summer.

2011-07-05T10:06:00.001-07:00

Taking a Break

I'm thinking, this may be a good time to take a much needed blogging break. We've been so busy this past weekend, I'm just exhausted! We have company coming tomorrow, My Mom, Older Sister and her three girls...REALLY looking forward to it. I can't wait to see them! Then soon after they leave, we will be getting ready for a move. We're crossing over the state line into Idaho! I've been a Washington resident my whole life, and soon we'll be residents of ID. (seriously, its not that far of a move...like 5 min. Haha, we live right on the border of WA and ID) Still, you know how much work goes into a move...packing, cleaning, donating, repairing, the actual move and then the unpacking and organizing a whole new space. UHHH, looking forward to a bigger place, but not the moving part.

I don't really have a ton of time to work on projects at the moment, so I think now is a good time to take a break spending time doing non-blogging things! I'll still be reading along other blogs, just not posting anything new. I'll be back in early August with some things that I've been saving up and new things that come with a new place! Have a fabulous July and I'll be back in August.

XOXO Tanya