:: Valentine's Day - diy scrabble love note

Last year I made this card for my hubby for Valentine's Day.

It might have been one of the easiest cards to make.

Supplies:

- scrabble letters (I'm always on the lookout for scrabble games when I'm at thrift stores)

- doily or some type of heart cardstock

- glue gun

So . . . I think it's pretty self explanatory.

- hot glue the scrabble letters to the card and write a love note on back.

Easy enough.

I love homemade cards so much more than store bought cards.
They just mean more to me.

And it would even look cute as Valentine's Day decor after you give it to him.
Frame it and hang it!

Happy Friday!

:: Valentine's Day - diy/printable valentines

It's almost February.
Time to start thinking about making Valentine's Day cards.
Here are some fun printable/DIY Valentines.
Check them out.

Source: thecraftsdept.marthastewart.com via Amy on Pinterest

Source: innerchildfun.com via Amy on Pinterest

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Source: sherellechristensen.typepad.com via Amy on Pinterest

Source: armommy.com via Amy on Pinterest

Source: dandee-designs.com via Amy on Pinterest

Source: deliacreates.blogspot.com via Amy on Pinterest

Last year we made these for Ava's class . . .

Source: skiptomylou.org via Amy on Pinterest

Source: zakkalife.blogspot.com via Amy on Pinterest

This year I think we'll be making these . . .
{easy and glow sticks are cheaper than candy}

Source: kommunicated.com via Amy on Pinterest

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:: DIY - beadboard wallpaper and homemade baseboards

One thing I do love about holidays and family coming into town

is that things on my "honey-do" list actually get done!

We've had this beadboard wallpaper and these baseboards my husband made, up for awhile.

They just were never painted.

And it looks so much better now.

{I posted this two years ago . . . things get done slowly around our place.  :) }

Now on to the rest of the baseboards in our house . . . 

And please excuse our very messy kitchen . . .

So, here is the finished product . . . finally.

I love the beadboard look.

The only thing is, since it is where little feet are it gets scuffed very easily.

But that's life with kids, right?

Can't have everything perfect.

We found these iron corbels years ago at Tai Pan.

We took out the standard wooden ones that came with the house.

And then we spray painted these rusty looking corbels 

so they'd match the knobs and pulls that we placed on our cupboards.

I'm so pleased with how it looks.

And when we finally put up lights, I'll show you the finished kitchen with all the details.

Pretty Paper Lanterns

Saw these tissue paper petal lanterns and am dying! They're so stinkin' cute.

Can't wait to try and make them.

Can find the tutorial here.

Seriously. Martha thinks up everything.

DIY kitchen: beadboard wallpaper

I can't wait to show you what I've been working on. Beadboard Wallpaper. Did you know that even existed? I found this out maybe a year ago through blogland.

So, I finally decided to give it a try. I used the Graham & Brown Beadboard Wallpaper bought through Bed Bath & Beyond. Used it in our kitchen around the island. Amazing. Love it. And it looks exactly like the real thing.

I'll show pictures soon!

DIY Obsession: reach our goals?

So, our summer has almost come to an end. The hubby goes back to school the middle of August and I'm dreading it. I'm hoping we see him a little more than we did last year. Guess we'll see.

But really. What have we accomplished this summer? You might remember this post here where we had a list of projects at our home. They were piling up. My main goal is to have it all finished by the time baby #2 comes.

1. strip and paint kitchen cabinets - - check!

2. finish painting kitchen - - check!

3. place hardwood floor in kitchen - - check!

4. livingroom carpet and mantel - - not done

5. finish painting master bedroom - - check!

6. place hardwood floor in master bedroom and bathroom - - check!

7. cut and paint baseboards - - check!

8. put up baseboards - - not done yet

We've even finished our front yard, placed palm trees on the side yard, and started working on our backyard! Ava really needs a place to play.

So, I think we've done pretty good. A big thanks the the hubby, though. Couldn't have done it without him. He did most of it.

What projects did you accomplish this summer?

DIY Obsession: Kitchen Floors

I know, I know. It seems like it's taking forever to finish this kitchen. But, it's almost there!!!

So, earlier last week we finished painting and took all of the plastic off. It looked amazing. Not that our kitchen before was terrible, but this definitely just brightens everything up. It looks great!

And then the hubby started on the floors. (We'd started half of the flooring in our house in December of 2009 and you can see that post here.)

We had the cheap linoleum in the kitchen area that was scuffed up and ripped in some areas. We definitely wanted to get rid of that. Also, we didn't like how the bar stool area had no room to back up. The carpet was in the way (as shown in the pic below). By the way, the hubby had no experience with putting hardwood floors in (before putting them in our house) and it looks great! He's done an awesome job. This just goes to show that you can do it! You can learn. Don't pay someone thousands of dollars when it's something manageable (although you may need to if you have a strict timetable and you can't finish it in a few days).

Can I just say how amazing our kitchen looks with this dark hardwood flooring up against the white kitchen?

I'll show some finished pics soon. Still working on a few minor details.

With a big project like this, it can lead to a little bit of stress. But like little Ava often shows me, don't forget to have a lot of fun!

Just to answer a few of the questions I had from the previous post:

1. The paint sprayer we used was the Graco Spray Station 2900USG Sprayer that we bought from Lowe's

2. We are buying the pulls and knobs from esbsupply on ebay

Hope this helps!

DIY Obsession: kitchen update

So . . . last Friday we removed everything from the cupboards.

Then this was our Monday night activity . . . I have a new respect for painters. It was such a pain to put up the plastic! It was not a fun job. Not at all! I think we finished all the pre-stuff by 10 p.m.

And then we wanted to get the first coat of paint up before going to bed, but the huge paint sprayer that we borrowed from my hubby's uncle wasn't working. Bummer!

So, Tuesday morning, we did a little research on paint sprayers and went to Lowes. Instead of renting one for $75 for one day (are you serious?), we just bought one that was a little more than that (that we'll have for a long time - - and now I can finish all of my other projects that are piling up).

So this is what it looks like right now. We seriously have been living on peanut butter and strawberry jam sandwiches and cereal. We just finished the second coat and now need to paint the cupboards.

Also, found a great deal on ebay for the hardware. Just need to order it.

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DIY Obsession: kitchen cupboards

So . . . the hubby is home for the summer (thank goodness for school breaks) and so we're trying to get all that needs to get done with the house before he starts school in August.

So we have a list.

A crazy list.

Here's our list of things to finish by the middle of August. . . wish us luck. we'll need it.

1. strip and paint kitchen cabinets

2. finish painting kitchen

3. place hardwood floor in kitchen

4. place new carpet in livingroom area and remove weird looking fireplace mantel

5. finish painting master bedroom and bathroom

6. place hardwood floor in master bedroom and bathroom

7. cut and paint baseboards

8. put up baseboards

oohhh. that's a little daunting.
after finishing this, we start on the backyard.

Here's what the kitchen looked like last week. Right now all the cupboards are off and being worked on. Little Ava has been loving it and has found some new toys and snacks. hmmm.

Check back in a month to see the final reveal . . . of the kitchen, that is.

Nursery Room Reveal

We finally have our daughter's nursery almost finished (just waiting to put in baseboards and putting up a chandelier). Although, she just turned 2 so we'll soon be transitioning to a toddler room soon. We painted the walls a light pink and then had brown and cream accents throughout the room.

Here's the before:

And the after:

This was before my thrift store obsession. If I had to do it over again, I'd find a cute little crib and refinish it and I'd sew my daughters bed set.

I did: cross stitch the piece on the top shelf, was given the vintage Madame Alexander Doll (I know you're jealous), bought cheap fabric bins and tied ribbons around them (that I use to put her clothes, shoes, misc. items in), bought her curtains on clearance, found the bed set on ebay, made the bow holder out of an old frame, bought her book shelf from a thrift store, bought the rug on sale, made her hanging name on the wall, put in the hardwood flooring ourselves, and bought the frames on sale.

I love walking in this room, but most of all love seeing my beautiful, little girl in it.

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