Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Cute Find At Good Will

I have a confession to make. I hate clothes shopping and if I go out looking for clothes I usually end up looking at house stuff instead. I never did show you the $7.00 lamp I found at Good Will. I could prolly be on What NOT To Wear for my dislike of clothes shopping. I have the best intentions but fail miserably when I have to go buy clothes.

So anyway, about the lamp - I thought I was going to spray paint it to change it up but I left it as is because I thought it was sooooo cute. I never used to go to Good Will for house things but you CAN find some neat things if you look hard enough! It goes great in our son's bedroom. It matches perfectly and if I ever want to change it up, I will! I especially like the whimsical shape of it. So what kind of things have you found?

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Kitchen Makeover

Today was about the laziest day I've had in a while but it was nice. I piddled out in the yard and inside the house and still have lots to do, but today I have the "it can wait" attitude. Hope YOU had a good day!

I wanted to share our KITCHEN MAKEOVER! We started it a few years ago and made the changes slowly, as we could afford them, but it's pretty much complete now. The house was about 7 years old when we bought it and it really was a bare bones house with a good bit of wallpaper and borders and no real upgrades.

The RESULT

BEFORE PICTURES BELOW

The kitchen had light wood cabinets (which we kept) with light vinyl flooring that showed every speck of dirt that collected. The white counter tops were difficult to keep clean. I could set a wet grocery bag on the counter after unloading groceries from the car, and the lettering off the bags would stain the counters. I spent a lot of time scrubbing to get the stains off. We also had white appliances, which I LOVED the appliances but we decided to upgrade refrigerators to buy in bulk and so we went with stainless steel.

We chose Uba Tuba granite. It looks green outside but indoors it appears darker. We lucked out because we got a really good deal on the slab we picked out and the granite installers were able to do our kitchen using only one piece and no seams!

NEW GRANITE - The start of the redo

We chose a simple back splash with glass tiles.

We chose a goose neck pull down faucet. The other one started leaking and broke so it wasn't just for aesthetics. ; ) The undermount sink is really nice. The old sink was white and had several cracks and stains so it was great to be able to replace.

We chose porcelain tiles in the kitchen and kitchenette, on a diagonal to give the room a nice look, although it was tough on the man doing the floors because of all the cuts he had to make. It seems to give the room more dimension and contrasts well with the cabinets and other flooring in the house.

I like pictures and I like seeing the pictures of progress instead of just the Before and After! Hope you enjoyed too. I look forward to seeing YOUR kitchens too!

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Cover A Lamp Shade With Fabric

How are you? It has been a VERY busy week and a VERY busy weekend. I am sitting here doing one of my favorite things. I'm sitting watching HGTV and eating popcorn in peace and quiet. I adore our children and feel blessed to have them but some days it's just nice after they go to bed. If you have kids, you might understand. ; )

The week was jam packed with work, soccer practice, two games over the weekend and lots of yard work and oh a trip to the Urgent Care late one night because our almost two year old dislocated his arm. I think I have a few more gray hairs after this week.

So I must share a fun project that got me into blogging! Do you notice all the awesome lamp shades in stores these days? I really like them and would take home so many lamps if I.) I had room and 2.) I had the money. A lot of the lamps and lamp shades I have seen are outrageous in price, which I just cannot see spending, especially if I can do it myself!

So all you need to do this project is a neutral lamp shade, preferably white or offwhite, the fabric of your choice, adhesive spray in a can, a pencil and fabric scissors! It's so easy and so much fun. Be sure to do it outside!

Play with your fabric and position it around the lamp. Lay it on a table and using a pencil, roll the shade and mark the fabric with a pencil. Leave about an inch wider than the lamp. Using fabric shears, cut the fabric, spray the adhesive on and wrap the fabric to fit the shade. Spray the shade and lay the fabric. You can smooth out the fabric as you go. It's so easy to fix too because the fabric is very forgiving. The glue is tacky so you can pull the fabric off and easily re-stretch it if you need to! You'll need about a quarter of an inch on top and bottom to wrap the edges over the shade. Let the shade dry overnight. You'll have an awesome new shade when you're finished! Do you think you'll try this? I'd love to hear if you do!

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Funky Artwear Review!

I am so excited to have the opportunity to review an awesome jewelry line! Spoil yourself with Funky Artwear pieces! If you haven't yet found this site, you MUST check it out! It's www.funkyartwear.com. If you like simple, handmade pieces, this jewelry is for YOU! Each piece is handcrafted, and made in the USA and made with great care.

Funky Artwear has classic-styled bracelets, necklaces and earrings that will always look good with the ever-changing fashion trends. You can customize to a point, choosing accent colors and whether you want wire, lever back or clip earrings.

I ordered the Soda Bottle Blue Glass Disc Earrings on wire hooks and when I received the package I was so impressed! Below is a picture of the earrings. They came in a cute red and yellow zippered pouch. Love them!

The hooks are silver and the earrings are very well made with good quality glass beads. I LOVE the color combination of the glass. One thing I look for in drop or dangling earrings is that they aren't heavy on the ear lobes. These are great! They are fairly light weight and a great length.

These earrings put a smile on my face and make me feel good! YAY!

Spoil yourself or someone else with Funky Artwear jewelry!

Disclaimer: I received the choice of any pair of earrings for this review from www.funkyartwear.com. All opinions are my own.

Sunday, March 11, 2012

Matted Scrap Book Paper On The Cheap!

So do you feel the hour we lost in daylight savings or are you feeling pretty good? I am pooped! This is my favorite time of the year because we have more daylight at the end of the day. Do we really need to change the time these days? It would be awesome if we had more light at the end of the day all year in my opinion. That's just my opinion though! So what did you do this weekend? I dug around in the dirt weeding and cleaning up the yard. We have soooo many weeds it's not even funny. I love working out in the yard though so I'm pretty excited about it. Do you like doing yard work?

So I haven't been posting as many project lately and I want to apologize. I have been doing so many things and trying to make house updates but I haven't been posting them as much because my digital camera broke. Yes, this is the second one that has broken on me. I am starting to think it is ME with the problem! I accidentally dropped it at my son's basketball game. I am shopping around for a decent one at a good price so hopefully I'll be able to catch you up on things soon!

Here is a very small change that I really like. A while back I framed some fabric in our kitchenette. I thought I liked it but the longer it hung, the more I disliked it. I just didn't care for the fact that the fabric wasn't matted so I changed it out. Quick and easy fix!

I found some scrapbook paper that I fell in love with. It's whimsy but simple with a feminine touch but not over-the-top. I don't like anything frilly.

The AFTER ABOVE - Matted scrap book paper!

The BEFORE ABOVE - Framed Fabric I bought a pad of textured cardstock paper for $5.00 at Wal-Mart. Great stuff! Using a mat board and the glass, I cut the white cardstock to size.

I used my cricut paper cutter to cut the mat out. I did about a two inch matte and then reframed.
It's very simple and I think it looks cleaner and crisper with the white cardstock framing the paper!

Have you made any updates to your home lately? I have one big one I am working on but it may take a couple more weeks to complete. I'm hoping to purchase a new camera this week so I'll update you on more things as soon as I can! Have a great Monday!

LeapFrog LeapPad Giveaway

Welcome to the Leapfrog Leappad Giveaway!!!

We are giving away:

1 Green Leappad, 1 Carrying Case, and 1 $20 App Card!!! This giveaway ends on 3/17 so be sure to enter!

Several bloggers came together to offer you this wonderful event so please take the time to stop by and say hello.

Enter to win via the Rafflecopter form below.

Requirements: Contest is US only. Entrants must be 18+ at the time of entry. All entries will be verified, and winner will be notified via email within 24 hours of contest ending. Contest will be accepting entries until 12:01 am on March 17. Winner MUST respond within 48 hours to winning email to claim their prize or another winner will be chosen. Void where prohibited by law.

2,000 Fan Giveaway

The prize is 1 personalized Tote Bag or T-shirt (winner's choice) and $28 Paypal Cash or Amazon (Winner's Choice)!

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