DIY Topography Sign

So here's the deal with this post. I started doing this project last week, only it had a word on it, not the Roman Numerals you see here. I was in the middle when my husband came in and was like "what are you doing? ....That is just...odd." ODD? Thanks for telling me, since in our old house I had this exact word on a board like this (that was ruined in our move) and he never said anything then! (insert emoticon of me sticking my tongue out)
Well, the wind went out of my sails. So I took a few days to dwell on it and maybe try again. And I did. And FORGOT TO TAKE PICS! DUMB! So here is kind of HALF A PROJECT. Sorry!

(but the ending of the saga is the best....)


To start: I had this piece of reclaimed wood from an old, old house that use to sit on my Grandpa's farm. I did a project HERE that came from that old home. They just tore it down and it was the first house built in the town of Enoch! Somewhere there is a Historical Society crying.


I took it home and sanded it and spray painted it this Blue Slate color (above) from Rust-o-lean. I'm in love with color so prepared to see more of it! Then a Walnut from Rust-o-lean (not pictured). The wood is untreated, so the paint just soaks right in and gives it a nice worn look.

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After the dark colors were on, I took a page out of this blog HERE and used vinyl Roman Numerals and then sprayed over them with white spray paint. Which again, soaked into the wood and had a nice patine look.

This pic above is after I peeled off the vinyl. I love this look of the wood grain showing and not being vinyl.

So how did this go over with the husband? Well these Roman Numerals are the year we got married, 2002, SOOOOO..he hasn't said anything bad about this SIGN and I don't think he will! Looks like I got the last laugh!

ps. he actually likes it.

Re-Post, Back to School Treats

This is a re-post from last year, and since it's back to school time I thought I would share again. It was easy peasy!

My friend got this idea from gourmetmomonthego.com. So late one night we decided to make them! And that's probably why mine aren't as pretty and probably why I didn't take enough pics. But I did have fun in my jammies!

Go to this link to download the labels that you wrap around the "crayons" then print it out on the same colors of paper that you're dipping your chocolate.

Instructions for dipping:

Pretzel rods, break in half.

Melt melting chocolates or baking white chocolate.

Add food coloring to white chocolate (after melted) if you don't use colored melting chocolates

There are 2 ways you can do it. Dip the ends like she did or I dipped the whole thing like I did. Probably over kill but it taste good!

Let the chocolate harden on wax paper

Wrap the rods in paper after chocolate has hardened. SO CUTE!!! The kids can totally help out with the dipping OR you could do it while they were at school and have a snack for when they get home OR make as a gift for a teachers!

Guest Room Cozy-- Visitors Welcome!

Here was the beginning of my guest room.

 Here it is this now.  

The bed frame is from Ikea.  Hydrangeas from my side yard.  Euro Pillows from Target.
Bird Pillow from steinmart. 

 Frame is Laura Ashley, needs to be filled.
Lamp was from Marshall's.

The side table is an ikea table with some fabric thrown over the top. 

  It serves as the guest/craft/mom's time out room.  I go in here and lock the door to take a break from the 3 kids when I need it.:-)

Wing Back Dining Chair, Re-upholstered

Oh where do I even start?....How about I'm soooo glad this is finished! 90 days of late nights, diet cokes ( I wonder if Coke would be a sponsor) Harry Potters and a stabbing to the leg later, I have 2 new dining chairs!


Before. These lovely Wing Back Dining Chairs I bought 2 at DI for $15 dollars each.
AFTER! I found this beautiful woven upholstry fabric Home Spun fabrics for $3.99 a yard.
So here is the stripping of the old! Thank goodness for parents right?! My mom was here and is a master of stripping old seats. She could do it fast but still keep the old peices in tack! How? oh I don't know because she only totally re-upholstered a MOTOR HOME by herself. Yeah, she's that good.
Eww, I like yellow as much as the next person, but no.
This is mom working behind the chair, doin' her thang! I dilegently took notes like a good pupil.
Then I spray painted the legs High Gloss White, then did a clear Laquer. I didn't feel like I wanted to glaze these.
So when re-upholstering, try to keep the pieces as templates. Here is the seat. Now, like everything on these bloody chairs, it was complicated. It wasn't just a seat. It was was tufted pillow top on top of a seat. So after I re-upholstered I had to connect the two, but we'll get to that later.
Here is where I traced the darts with chalk. This was my first time doing darts! Have you ever done darts? Not as scary as I thought it was going to be...but connecting the 2 together with piping...now that was a beast!
Sewing the piping. Simple to do piping. You can buy the cords at any fabric store in the drapery/upholstry section. Then using your zipper foot sew a piece of fabric tightly around it.
So here is the finished seat, with the pillow top on top of the hard seat. The hard seat I just covered and stapled to the back, that was easy. The pillow top had 3 parts (like I said, a beast!) First the darts, then sewing the piping to one side and then sewing the sides together. I FAILED the first time because my darts didn't match up. So I had to unpick and shorten my darts and try again! But when I did the second chair I had the experience to take notice of my darts.

Next, using chalk, I marked where I wanted to put my tuffs. Oh gee's, even the thought of what comes next makes me shudder....
So here is my 12" upholstry needle with a 4blade tip sounds deadly right? Doing the tufts were different then normal, because like I said before, there was the pillow top that had to be connect to the seat and that was done by the tufts. So I had to go through 2 big masses. Oh the horror! Well on my first attempt I proceeded to go through both but then kept going until it stabbed my thigh. Yeah, it hurt. Like a mother.
Well, many nights and 7 Harry Potters later, I finished my tufts!
Of course I still had to put my buttons on. I did my own buttons by buying a button cover kit at Joanns. Really simple and kind of fun.


Ok, on to the wing back chair! I know, I always have to pick the most complicated learning project. I couldn't just find a normal backed chair? Oh well, I feel some what like a master now ;)

So I cut a piece of fabric and pulled it over the front and through the back and stapled. Not to hard....

But I still had to staple on the piping.

Stapled piping.


The front/middle I did the same way, pulled around taute and stapled.

Now, I had to put the backs of wings and the back on. This actually had to look good, no more staplin' staples willy nilly! I folded it under to hide the raw edge and stapled every few inches evenly.
This is the back, I added some batting to soften the frame.

So here is the finish back and sides with the staples showing and I proceeded to cover those with nickel nail heads. Oh nail heads how I hate thee. I tried 2 different ways because the frame was to hard to actually nail the nails into it., they would just bend.
Finally I just embraced the bending and I put the tacks in at an angle and then hammered them and purposely bent them. They're for decoration really, because the staples hold the fabric taute and the nails cover the staples.

Some I even cliped off the tack part and just "bedazzeled" them on with glue! ha! I win!

All I can say is thank goodness they're done! I think my husband is glad too.

Everything is Better in Chartreuse

This is only zero dollars because I mixed a bunch of left over paint I had to get these colors.

It all started with this wall being SNNNOOOZZ! Boring! So when I was home alone for the weekend and bored (when the cat is away the mice with play!) my mind stated turning and this slowly developed.
The walls are a nice warm grey, but I kept feeling like it was little drab, and I love greens especially lime and chartreuse, so this really brought a nice life to the room!
I painted the lime green one night, then I still felt like it needed something so the next night I free handed the frame and then painted it a darker shade.

It's such a happy green! I also feel like it kind of defines this t.v. area, since it's just one big Great Room.

p.s. out of all the colors this wall appears to be on this post, this bottom one is the most accurate! :)

Styling a Book Shelf

Nothing like having house guests to make you look at your house closer and get it together!
Here is the bookshelf in my master Bedroom, kind of a catch all for keeping things off the floor.

Before: ...Embarrassing!

(nice to see Nephi keeping a watch on things:-)

 After: Orderly

(a little blurry, it's in a dark corner and hard to get a pic)

I sorted all the books by color, then  searched the house for accessories I already had (some in my garage sale box--glad I didn't have a garage sale yet!)  and I'm really liking the results.

This didn't take long at all, and the kids even liked sorting the colors with me.  It's a great quick and easy project, so... go tackle that shelf!