Another Umbrella Bouquet

Do you remember my umbrella bouquet? I made it for our front door in April to signify APRIL SHOWERS BRINGING MAY FLOWERS?!?!?

 

 

Now the seasons are changing again but at the same time I made my umbrella arrangement in the Spring, I made another one for my mom and dad for their front door. Here it is BELOW. 

 

 

 

From The OUTSIDE - I LOVE the umbrella and flowers my mom picked out - green with a wooden handle and two shades of pink tulips to give an awesome contrast to the dark green door on the yellow house.

 

 

 

From The INSIDE - The umbrella bouquet offers a calming addition to the front door and even helps brighten the inside of the house. LOVE! LOVE! LOVE!

 

On that note. Have a lovely Friday.

 

If I Can Just Find A Lamp!

I got to writing my post for some quick mommy alone time this morning and, "BUMP", I heard my 4 year old jump out of his bed to call me to help him get out of his pull up and get dressed. So I took a break from my post for a few and now I'm back! 

Yesterday I was feeling a little under the weather so my husband rented a movie for me as a surprise. He rented Mom's Night Out. I sat up and watched it last night and it was cute. It was a little far fetched in some areas and cheesy in others, but overall it was cute and had a nice message that sorta hit home with me in a bunch of ways. I won't give away the story line too totally much but one point it made was that being a mom and taking care of her young is enough and important. When I was working outside the home I always used to say I could never be a stay at home mom (and I thought it for all different kinds of reasons!). Isn't it funny the things we say and the words we eat? I didn't want to be home and thought I would do horribly at it if ever I had the choice. I'm home with my children and have been for a while. Some days I feel as though I am failing miserably and others I feel pretty good at it. For the most part it feels good but it took a while to get to the point of being okay staying home taking care of our children. Anyhow, no matter what your job is, it's important, and as long as you do your best at it I think that's all that really matters!

As far as decorating goes, I LOVE this lamp shade below. I purchased it at Ross three years ago because it matched the rug and curtains in our play room. I just can't seem to find the right floor lamp to go with it. If anyone sees a nice simple floor lamp, let me know! I am on the hunt!     

Now it's time to run to the school because my hubs called - my oldest left his back pack and lunchbox at home by the back door. One thing I can say about being a mommy, whether you are working full time outside of the home OR if you're home with the kids, being a mom and having all the mom duties never ends! I better get to the school! Have a great day!

and... WOODEN Ampersand

Good Afternoon! How are you? I'm good but going a little nuts at home with two sickies today. Calgon!!!! Ha! To help ease my sanity, I'm diverting to some home decor fun for a few!

 

I picked up this wooden ampersand at Michaels a couple of weeks ago on a clearance rack. I had a 40% off coupon too so that always helps. I found a place for it and sat on it for a few days trying to decide what color to make it. 

 

I was going to use spray paint but instead used chalk paint that I made with leftover plaster of Paris, white ceiling paint and water.

It's more rustic looking because I sanded the edges with my electric hand sander after painting. I think it's kinda cute! So back to nursing my little sickies! Have a great day!

  

 

Use Metal Spoons Instead Of Plastic In School Lunchbox

 

Hello all! What's up on this beautiful Friday? Hope you have a great day no matter what you are doing. Just wanted to check in and tell you what I'm doing new this year in my child's lunchbox. It's really no biggie but he eats yogurt, applesauce and pudding and takes a spoon for those types of snacks. I pack his lunch every day...

 

This year I decided I'm done with buying plastic spoons! I bought a pack of two metal spoons at Wal-mart for $2.00.  They had packs for $1.00 but they were too close to what our regular silverware looks like and I didn't want them getting mixed in with ours.

 

Super simple - saves $! + saves waste + saves environment. I slapped a dish washer safe sticker / name tag on the back of the handle sent to me from Lovable Labels. So far it has worked out great. He brings it back home every night and I rewash.

 

What do you do to conserve or save money in your kids' lunches?

 

 

Organized Craft Cabinets

Craftastic Magic In The Cabinets (if I do say so myself)!!!!!!!!!!

Oh how it good it feels to get organized and have things set up with total uniformity. This is another job I did a couple of years ago and I'm so glad I did! 

Here is my craft cabinet (in our kitchen) BEFORE I got organized! It was a total and complete mess! I've got a lot of stuff I use for arts and craft projects and this was seriously bugging me. Not anymore!!!

BEFORE I used baby formula cans to organize pencils, paint brushes, etc. but I had too much and it did NOT work!


The cabinets went from an eye sore to a place the whole family goes to for things they are looking for!

I found these RE Sterilite organizers in various sizes at Target. It took me a while to purchase them because I did it in shifts with sales and what they had in stock. I finally got all our supplies in these boxes. 

AFTER I found these removable label stickers at Wal-Mart and went to town labeling everything! Now we can find things! This is one thing that has truly made it easier when working on projects!

AHHHHHH The uniformity! I am certainly an organizer through and through! HA! Happy day everybody!

How do you organize your things? Are you to this nutty degree of organization?!?!?! This isn't even the project I told you I'd share that I thought would change our household for the better! Yay for more to come!

Lamp - Meant For Play Room But Now In Dining Room!

I'm excited! My parents gave me my Birthday present early and here it is! They asked me if I wanted it early or not and I said either way. What the heck if it's early! YAY for them coming to visit and YAY for them bringing it early. I love it!

 

 

I'm not sure if it will stay in this spot permanently yet or not. It was supposed to be for the play room but the kids still play lots of basketball in there so we're holding of on putting it there. Many objects in our house seem to be interchangeable from room to room - this lamp could go in several different rooms really, but I think it fits here!

 

 

 

Below is our cozy little reading nook with the new lamp added! What decorations or things have you gotten for one room but then decided they worked in a different room? Hope this finds you doing well!

 

 

Toy Organization

H   a   p   P   y       S   a   T   u   R   d   A   y! 

School is back in session so it's time for schedules and organization! If you haven't noticed, I'm an organization FREAK. We have limited time to do things so I'm kicking it in high gear to make our lives easier! Next week I'll share one small organizational purchase i made that I think is going to change our lives for the better. 

I've been working on both my kids' rooms and closets and did this a loooong time ago. It helps keep the toys organized in the bottom of our kids' closets. They know where everything goes and it really helps keep their bedroom floors tidy.  

Road Signs As Wall Decor!

TGIF! Have you been doing anything around your home to decorate or change things up lately? I surprised my little one with these wooden wall signs last week and he LOVES them! Our kids' rooms are themed and they are my favorite rooms in the house. We really try to have fun with them but this one has been a slow process. I originally found a big metal stop sign at Hobby Lobby but then after browsing the interwebs found all these wooden ones for half the price. So do you think my child will pass the road sign test when he turns 16?!? Happy Friday to you! Do your children have themed bedrooms?

 

 

First Day School - How To Keep Track Of Each Grade!

Happy Tuesday! Yesterday was our son's first day of school and it was exciting to see how excited our little guy was about it(minus the sugar high he had at 11:00 the night before because he snuck candy from a goodie bag into his room without us knowing). LOL! 

I'm not that great at keeping up with firsts and the baby book, though I do try. This year I jumped on the bandwagon to "try" to keep up with first day pictures for school.

I had a slate sign I just picked up at Michaels this week. It was $1.99 with a 40% off coupon. BAM! How's that for cheap. I also ordered a chalk board marker off ebay for a buck and some chump change and made this super quick sign yesterday morning for our son! I'm going to try to keep this up each year!

He held it all ready and packed for his first day of school. It's a great little marker and a nice touch to his first day picture!

When he got home, I had decorated the outside of the house to welcome him home. :) Nice touch, eh?!?! Hope your little ones and big ones have great first days of school. So far we're off to a great start! Happy day!

After Beadboard

Good Morning on this gorgeous Friday! This morning has been great. Got in a good workout and grocery store visit before the kids or hubs ever woke up (well except that I purse dialed the house from my cell phone while in the check out line at the grocery store! OOPS). This week has bee a little busy trying to deal with some repairs on our home and keep the kiddos happy. I hope this finds everything going well in your home! 

I'm still catching up on projects I did when my parents kept our kids over a week this summer. Here is another thing I updated with an easy change. I added beadboard(bought and cut at Lowes) to the back of this cabinet in our kitchenette. The piece of furniture was given to us and was used as a microwave stand before. I changed out the natural wooden knobs for some brushed nickel ones and this summer I added a little bead board as a nice and simple decorative backing to add a little something something to this piece. I still want to add a little something else to it. The basket came from the upstairs bathroom. One of the handles had broken off of it and I wanted to repurpose. I added the wooden "H" for a simple little touch.  

Below is another picture before I added the beadboard!

I think the beadboard adds a nice casual look to the piece!

Happy Friday and have a great weekend if I don't talk to you!