Oooh, I am really behind on posting. I haven't got to do a whole lot of crafting lately, but I have been busy spring cleaning. I finished one bathroom, the laundry room and about 1/2 the kitchen.

I spent one afternoon making this boxwood wreath.


I am not very proud of it for several reasons. First I HATE HATE HATE the smell of fake boxwood! Second, even at half price at Hobby Lobby it was still $4 a bunch. It took 3 to make this and I really needed 4 (to do the inside) which makes this not an inexpensive wreath. Probably still much cheaper than Ballard and such but not cheap enough for me.

Maybe you can improve upon it. I started with a foam wreath, boxwood, and glue.



I then spread glue in small sections at a time and pushed the boxwood in.






I think that I may make another some time, only smaller.

Here is a wreath I made for the front door that I am a little more proud of. I just spray painted a grape vine wreath yellow and then tucked in some forsythia. You can't really see in the picture how yellow the wreath looks. Happy spring!

Good Enough Clean and Ready for Christmas

I find that I could spend my entire life cleaning. Everywhere I look is something else that needs to be scrubbed, dusted, wiped, sanitized...blah, blah. I constantly struggle with the inability to just let things go. You would find that statement hilarious if you were at my house right now, because it is a serious wreck. I mean bad. I was gone yesterday from morning until 11 pm and my family obviously forgot themselves. Anyhoo, the system that I try to use to calm my Mrs. Clean attitude is the "good enough" clean method. Some things just have to be cleaned daily, if not 10 times a day. The dishes have to be washed, the counters must be wiped, the floor must be swept, my bed must be made (okay this is a personal one). However, the corner where the shower door meets the shower does not have to be scrubbed. The floor underneath my fridge and cook stove do not have to be spotless. My trash cans do not have to sparkle. Oooh but I want them to. So everyday I do the things that must be done and when I notice things like the corner of the shower or the trash cans, I write them on my to do list and get to them when I can. Today, for example, I am bleaching my kitchen trash can. Alas, she shower door will have to wait. Priorties!

Enough about that little obsession. One of my other current obsessions is making Christmas gifts NOW! I have been busy making these cute little burlap bags, hopefully to hold jellies and such. I sewed the bags and added the embellishments that I just free cut and zig zag stitched on. Some are not very Christmasy - I may use them for birthdays. Have a blessed day.

Magnetic Board with Goodwill Frame

Just a quick post to show you a magnetic board I made to put by our front door. Here it is hanging by our overflowing coat rack.




I started with this frame I paid a dollar for. It still had the $22 price tag on it.




My hubby has a metal cutter so he cut a piece of metal for the frame, but you could just use magnetic paint.




I distressed the frame and painted the metal black, then added a ribbon. I took some magnets that I already had and dressed them up with scrapbook paper and a sticker with each child's initial. Now I have a handy place to place notes and other things they need for the day.

Welcome Sign, Our First Craft Party, and Helping Others

We have had some beautiful snow days around here the last couple of weeks. Unfortunately, the kids are using their summer days up one by one. In the middle of all this I have just a couple of quick projects. First is my welcome sign. Sorry I don't have "as I worked" pictures. Often I start out doing something and it turns into something totally different. When I was making it, I was thinking it would not turn out blog worthy, but it turned out pretty cute. Best part - made out of things I already had.




The sign itself is the back of a dresser drawer that we took apart. I painted it black and stenciled on the burlap. I then frayed the edges of the burlap and glued it on. I already had those little wooden "buttonie" things on the corners, I just painted them black and glued on. I think it has kind of a western look with the font I used.


This past weekend my sister, Melissa, and I had our first craft party and we had so much fun! We made the cupcake liner wreath from Tater Tots and Jello. Thanks Rhonda for teaching me how to add a link. Anyway, the wreaths turned out great here's a look!








With the help of my kids and Sarah, we made a cake for my niece Nora's 2nd birthday. She loves Elmo and this one was so easy.




We just baked the cake in an oven safe bowl, decorated with a star tip, and made eyes and mouth with junior mints and powder donuts. Easy!

While I have you here, I have a friend who lost her 4 year old daughter late last year after a very short battle with leukemia. Monday the 15th would have been her 5th birthday. Her mother is requesting that everyone do something kind and spontaneous in Hannah's honor on Monday. If you do participate, please come back and leave a comment about what you did. Kimberly plans to make a scrapbook for her son about what people did in Hannah's honor. I look forward to hearing from you.

Starting My Daughter's Room Makeover and Valentines

I don't know about you guys, but this talk of another ice storm has got me a little nervous. I don't mind the idea of a few days at home hunkered down again. I just want everyone to be safe. Earlier this month, I told you I was going to be redoing my daughter's tiny bedroom. We will hopefully begin painting it soon, but I am already working on some things for her wall. She found her color inspiration from one of her school folders. It has this black, white and aqua design on it. She also has a great love for the ocean so that is kind of the direction we are going in. I made this "A" sign for her last week. I keep all old signs or even pieces of wood that can be turned into new signs. This is made out of an old "home" sign that I was no longer fond of. I spray painted it black and then gathered a million buttons. I spray painted the buttons aqua and then glued them on in the letter shape. Super. Easy. However, if I did it again I would probably print out the letter form MS Word and stencil it lightly on the board, then fill with buttons - just so it would be more perfect. The best part was that she actually liked it.


I have also done a little decorating for Valentine's Day. I made this wreath for the front door. It's a little plain but I kind of like it that way. I simply spray painted a grapevine wreath that I already had red.



Then I added this yarn.





Then I couldn't stand it - I added these little polka dot flowers you can barely see.



This weekend I am having my first girls craft get-to-gether with my sis and friend. I am so excited - we are planning on making the cupcake liner wreath at tatertotsandjello.blogspot.com. (can someone teach me how to put links in here?)

I'll let you know how it goes.

Resolutions and a Finished Laundry Room

Where did 2009 go? Seriously, we just started it and now it's gone! I was looking back over last year's resolutions and no kidding out of about 30, I completed 2 or 3. Argh! I guess that is better than nothing, but does not seem very efficient of me. Maybe I should start setting goals I can definitely meet to make myself feel good. Okay, low expectation resolution #1 - only gain 5 lbs this year - #2 - check email and Facebook waaay too much - #3 exercise only on days that start with a "W". HAAA! So seriously, I will continue to set the bar way too high because that is what I do. For 2010, I again have way too many resolutions. I always kind of divide them into categories - God, family, finances, self etc. I won't bore you with all of them but here are a few.

God - to find a church for our family and attend enough for people to stop giving us visitor cards
Self - to finally go on a canoe trip and to buy a bra from Victoria Secret
Family - to get Georgia out of my bed - she's almost 7! and to take more camping trips this year
Finances - hummm to have some finances!
Home - to redeco my room and Adrian's room
Others - to participate in a fundraiser for children's cancer research

I usually reevaluate my goals every month. I try to find things I can do every month - if not everyday to reach my goals. For example, one of my goals is to lose a few pounds (of course), so I will schedule a workout everyday to help meet that goal. Also, one of the goals I mentioned is to redeco my room with a tufted headboard. I will schedule a day to measure for the board and then I will schedule a day to buy the plywood and materials. Wow, you would think I would accomplish a lot more. Sometimes I have to really sit back and look at my grand plans and ask myself where all this matters in the big picture. I get so caught up in the planning to live sometimes, I forget to live. You know how it goes..

On to decorating, I finally finished my laundry room! Well, we're never really finished but I am at a resting point. Here is the before...




Oh my those pics are awful, why am I putting them on here for the world to see? And who, who, who? picked that pink and green wallpaper?

And here is after....










Omigolly, it looks so much better. I got rid of a bunch clutter and those horrid stripes. I am thinking about putting a red toille (umm how do you spell that word?) curtain on the door. What do you think? I don't want the area to look cluttered.


Coming up this year on my blog:
Redo of the master bedroom, including a tufted headboard.
Redo of my teenage daughter's tiiiiny bedroom.
Some low fat/cal recipes!
Mindless rambling!
Thanks for stopping by...

Why am I Really Doing This?

Hi all, it's been a long time since my last post I know. I was substitute teaching a lot and I don't balance work and home as well as others. I thought I might just delete my blog if I am not able to keep it up regularly, but for now I have decided to leave it - sporadically updated and all.

Georgia also has had a rough few weeks - pneumonia and another virus - but she is doing better now. I realize that things could be much worse. Another dear cancer mom lost her 4 year old daughter to leukemia last week. Last year at this time, my friend Tiffany lost her daughter to a rare tumor. Another family from Siloam Springs is hoping for a miracle for their baby boy also struck by leukemia. These are just the ones I know. There are many others I follow through caringbridge that I have never met but battle just the same. Childhood cancer is an beast that must be stopped! But how? I was talking to one of the nurses at Arkansas Children's Hospital yesterday and she was relaying to me that they are seeing a large increase in oncology patients. Why is this happening? Logically, I care more about this issue because I have a huge stake in it, but shouldn't everyone care about a disease striking our children?

The survival rate for childhood cancer is about 8 in 10. Sounds pretty good doesn't it? But what if your child is one of the 2? The kind of cancer that Georgia had, has a survival rate of somewhere in the 90%. That's awesome especially when you consider that it was 0% only 15 years ago. A cure is awesome, amazing, wonderful, but I would love to see more focus on prevention! The medicines that Georgia and other leukemia patients take are wonderful and horrible at the same time. Yesterday the nurse and I were discussing the drug that Georgia was receiving through her port - as she does every month. The drug is called Vincristine - and I thank God for it. However, one dose of it in the tissue or spine - rather than a vein causes immediate death! That is sobering. Prevention would be so much less dangerous and painful.

That brings me to my title today. Why am I blogging? Why am I blogging about home decorating of all things? I am reminded daily of how trivial most things are. How the things that really matter are usually the things that get put aside. Yet here I sit typing away the precious minutes. I guess I do this because it is an escape. I used to tell myself that I was making a wonderful home for my family. But we all know that a home is made by love and dedication, not chalkboard plates or refinished chairs. So I have come to the conclusion that I decorate and blog about it as a means to escape the realities of life and sometimes to think about them while I am crafting.

So I hope that I have not brought you down, but reminded you that the family inside the home is more important than the home itself. BUT decorating and crafting are a fun way to get away from it all. I will keep decorating and rambling about a cure!

So here are a few of my Christmas projects:


Here is the wreath that I made per Kimba at A Soft Place to Land. See the link on the right of my blog.



Here is sign I made by simply painting over an ugly one I found for $2.




Here is a little display on a cabinet in the dining room. Simple candle in a jar with fresh greenery from the yard, add a wreath I already had and VIOLA!



I found this "ready to paint" sign at HobLob for 1/2 price, of course. I painted it red and then covered the bottom. I then splattered the top with white paint to create the snowed on look.


These are my favorites, but of course there is more- such as my burlap table runner. If I find time I will post more pictures. I leave you with a picture of me under our Christmas tree - literally! It fell on me while I was steadying the base. I wasn't hurt but could not get up - it is a real tree and HEAVY. The kids were too busy laughing like mad and taking pics to help me. Merry Christmas!

Fall Ideas

I have never had more than 1 or 2 comments on my blog so I am really feeling the love from last week, thanks guys! Now to answer the question about the dressmaker tracing paper. My package is probably 10 years old. I venture to say this stuff could last a lifetime. Our local Walmart does not sell it anymore but you could probably find it at Hancocks or Hobby Lobby. If not, I have heard that you can use a piece of newspaper with dense print in the same way. First, I print out the words that I want to use from my computer. Then you place the tracing paper face down on the object you want to transfer to. Place your printout face up on top of the tracing paper and then trace with any writing object. Try not to move either your tracing paper or your print out while you are tracing. Lift the papers and TA DA! Now you are ready to paint the words or my favorite -use a Sharpie or paint marker.

Now for my fall stuff. I went a little overboard decorating for fall this year - but I think I like decorating for fall even better than Christmas! Here are a few of my projects:

I wanted a new fall wreath but all the ones I really like were about $40! No way, I just see those prices as a personal challenge now. I saw a square wreath that I really liked and decided that I could just use an old frame. I already had the wreath garland, so I just snipped off the leaves and hot glued them on the frame. The little scarecrow head is not attached, again just something I already had.



I don't usually decorate for Halloween, but when I saw these pumpkins in BH&G I had to have them. I looked high and low for the small white pumpkins, but when I found them they were $6 each. So I bought the $2 mid-size orange ones and painted them. I used my tracing method to put the letters on them. My teenager pointed out how crooked the letters were, but I pointed out how cute they were anyway. I also spray painted this owl black (previously all white found for $1). All of this sits on my entry shelf.










I found this burlap bag at Tractor Supply of all places and then put the images on. I stuffed if with newspaper and propped it up against the shelf. Then I put some crates and a straw hat under the shelf and filled with pumpkins and gourds.




Here is the whole shelf. Just try to pretend I don't have horrendous green carpet.



Thanks for stopping by!

Dollar Tree Fun

I like to occasionally check our local Dollar Trees for something I can transform to fabulosity. Most of the time I don't find anything, but this week I hit the jackpot. These silver trays come in assorted shapes. Not pictured is an oval scallopy (I know, not a word) one that I got too excited about and painted before taking a picture.
The rectangular tray went to my bathroom for a catch-all. We don't have drawers in our bathroom, so there are a few things I have to keep on the counter. I do not like it, I would rather the counters be empty except for a few decorations, but this is a nice alternative. The trays will rust (they are not real silver you know) so I keep an old rag hidden under this one.

The round tray went on a shelf in our entry. Tray chic (he, he).




Finally, I primed the oval tray with spray primer. I then painted it off-white with craft paint. I used a paint marker to write "PRIVATE" and then lightly brushed black craft paint on the raised edges. I used my usual method with dressmakers paper to paint the word on. I used the sign for our bedroom door. I was going to use a plate hanger to hang it, but I decided I didn't want a hole in the door. So I went with sticky tack. It is holding surprisingly well.
The new sign has really kept the kids out, well not really but isn't it cute?

Also, this week I found this metal tray type thing at a junk store for $.50. It was already painted blue and red. My good friend Melissa wanted a sign for her bedroom that said "honeymoon suite". This was perfect.


Using the same technique as the "private" sign, I created her sign. She hasn't seen it yet but I think she will like it.







A little bonus: a stool makeover. Those of you that are my Facebook friends have already seen this. I found this stool at the same junk store. It cost more but is so worth it. I just painted the legs, ripped off the old material, and stapled on the new. The whole thing took about an hour. It now sits next to our front door next to our shoe box. Thanks for stopping by.


BEFORE:



AFTER: