I'd Like to Thank the Academy

I am all verklempt about having one of my projects featured for the first time on another website. I didn't know it'd be this exciting!

To see my window makeover project go here.

On a personal note, we just sold my first ever (and probably only) new car. I loved the Honda Element as soon as they came out. We bought a brand-spanking new one in 2004. I really loved that car. The only drawback is it's only a 4-seater. Within a matter of months we'll be a family of 5 (we're adopting), so the Element had to go.

Just call me mini van momma!

Farewell Element. I hope you're happy in your new home.

It's Party Time!

One of the most fun parts of blogging about your projects has to be linking them to blog parties. Check out these blogs for oodles of ideas.

MONDAY

Between Naps on the Porch

Keeping it Simple

Skip to My Lou

The DIY Showoff

The Girl Creative

The Graphics Fairy

Thrifty Decor Chick (first Monday of the month)

TUESDAY

All Thingz Related

Coastal Charm

House of Grace

Not Just a Housewife

The CSI Project

Young Nester

WEDNESDAY

Blue Cricket Design

Domestically Speaking

My Backyard Eden

Room to Inspire

The Thrifty Home

The Virginia House

Primitive and Proper

THURSDAY

504 Main

A Little Knick Knack

Beyond the Picket Fence

Fireflies & Jellybeans

House of Hepworths

Life as Lori

Somewhat Simple

The Shabby Chic Cottage

FRIDAY

A Few of My Favorite Things

Chic on a Shoestring

Finding Fabulous

Frugal & Fabulous Design

Just a Girl

Miss Mustard Seed Creations

Poppies at Play

Remodelaholic

Shanty 2 Chic

My Romantic Home

The Shabby Nest

Vintage Revivals

SATURDAY

A Little Lovely

Funky Junk Interiors

Perfectly Imperfect

SUNDAY

Tatertots & Jello

Under the Table & Dreaming

Flamingo Toes

Free Download-Christmas

It's almost December. You probably have all your Christmas decorating done already. I haven't started yet. In case you have room for one more little picture, use this charming Santa which originally came from The Graphics Fairy.

Click twice for the largest size. Enjoy!

Linking to some of these parties.

ETA: This little page of mine is getting a lot of hits! If you use this jolly guy, send me a photo of how you use it and I'll feature you! :)

This project was featured on Under the Table and Dreaming.

New Endeavor

I was talking to my cousin at Thanksgiving. We were talking adoption--she is a social worker at a large adoption agency and I'm an adoptive mom. She mentioned she has such a hard time finding adoption greeting cards. I think you could probably see the light bulb go off on the top of my head.

GET HOME AND DESIGN SOME ADOPTION CARDS, LISA!

So I'm giving it a shot. And I think they are turning out cutie-cute-cute!

I have ideas for a dozen or so different cards to start. Here's a sneak peek of two. I haven't had them printed yet, but when I do I'll let you know how to purchase them.

Can someone please figure out how to add a few hours to each day?

Antique Outing

Are you having a happy holiday? We're heading over the hill and through the woods to grandmother's house. My two grandmothers are still living--at 88 and 89 years old! Now that's something to be thankful for. So while I'm stuffing myself silly, enjoy some pictures from a recent shopping trip.

It's a potentially dangerous situation, but I have an antique mall within walking distance of my house. I try to limit my trips there for obvious reasons. But I hadn't been there in awhile, so one Saturday on the way to get groceries I stopped... just to... see. Yeah that's it.

I wasn't disappointed. Lots of lovely things, and some bargains too!

I talked about these Asian dolls yesterday. So pretty.

Loved this coat rack for $11! (hmmm, do I have a spot for this?) I am so in love with this pear green-ish color.

Simple, but lovely mantle.

I think this toy soldier was meant for Christmas decoration, but he'd be SUPER cute in a boy's room too. So hard to find cute boys stuff. I think he was on sale for $21!

One thing I didn't take a picture of... four cute children's folding chairs. I went back the next day and bought them. I put two in the boys room. I'll show you soon. $12 each.

Of course it wasn't all inexpensive. LOVE this vignette. Especially the mirror.

A bit out of my price range though. OUCH.

Do you have a favorite place for unique finds?

Dressing up the Dresser

I went on an antique outing the other day just for fun. Sometimes I'm guilty of thinking you can't get many good deals there, but that was definitely not the case!

Soon after walking in I stopped dead in my tracks. A Korean doll. Worn, but still beautiful. Wearing a hanbok (traditional Korean dress, worn on special occasions). I don't know that much about traditional Asian dress, and the differences between cultures, but in this case the striped sleeves were a dead giveaway (not that all hanboks have striped sleeves).



Just $12. Mine.

OK. Delaney's. I knew she'd look outrageously gorgeous in Delaney's room.

She had some lovely companions too, although I don't know their origins.





Even a little baby being watched over by Santa! ha!

I also found these baskets.

Already pink for $8.95!? Mine.

I mean Delaney's.

I thought it'd be perfect for hair pretties.

Look how pretty the doll looks in her new home, atop Delaney's dresser.

Turning out to be a perfect room for a Korean princess.

Does that green frame look familiar?

I bought it on my Thrifty Outing for 99¢. More on what I did to it later.

And how about those paintings above the dresser? I love how they turned out.

Here's a before.

Just one thing I'd like to do yet. The jewelry box looks like a big white blob with all the pretty patterns. So that will just have to change.

Do you have a pretty girl's room to share?

Linking to some of these parties.

Window Makeover

Funny story. My in-laws don't always understand my "junk habit" (neither does my husband for that matter). Sometimes they see something in my house and say "How did you think to use that?!" My answer is always the same.

I have no idea.

Even though they don't get it, they do pass along a few things they think I'll like. One time it was two grimy old windows. I think they thought I was a little nuts for taking them. But I cleaned one up and did this with it.

My entry.

My mother in law saw it and wants one too! ha! They gave me the windows and now she's getting one back. Let's make her one, shall we?

Start with a nasty old window with one large pane of glass.

Hopefully yours won't be this nasty.

But hey, they were free, right?!

I cleaned it with a stiff brush and some sandpaper to get all the loose paint off.

I painted it with some tan paint (I didn't even tape it off. Oooo. Dangerous).

Next I sanded it lightly with some sandpaper, and took a razor to the glass to clean off some of the hard gunk and stray paint drips. Then I cleaned the glass with glass cleaner. Until I was left with this.

If you haven't bought vinyl graphics before, I think this one came from Hobby Lobby and comes in a container that looks like this.

Follow the directions to adhere the vinyl to the glass. You should end up with something like this!

To hang it, you can find little hangers that pound right in. I peeled this off a frame I'm not using, but I have also bought them at Lowes.

Let's see the before and after, shall we?

Before.

After.

I think it's really lovely. Make one yourself!

Linking to some of these parties.

This project was featured on House of Grace.

With Apologies to the Simpsons...

It's my birthday today! 36.

Lisa it's your birthday! Happy birthday Lisa!

Off to celebrate with family.

Note to self: SLEEP NOW!

We got a medical update on Delaney, along with many pictures. These pictures were much better than the last ones. She looks more like her happy, curious self.

I SO WISH I COULD SHOW YOU. But it's against the rules. This is the best I can do.

She's had a haircut. She crawls. She makes funny faces. She is ADORABLE.

In the medical update the foster mother notes she doesn't sleep very much. She gets up between 4 and 5 every morning.

Oh no.

And she wakes up easily. If there's noise or anything.

Oh no.

And she still wakes up at night for a bottle.

Oh mylanta. This is going to be work! I don't drink coffee, but I might have to start.

She also sweats a lot so the foster mother says she has to bathe her often. Um, HILARIOUS. Can't wait to get on over to Korea and add this little lady to our family!

Free Download-Thanksgiving

A special shout out to the Graphics Fairy. Her vintage images absolutely rock. Here I took an image from the Graphics Fairy site, and combined it with some texture. Feel free to download it for your own personal use (in other words, don't sell it). Click twice for the largest size, download to your desktop and use as you wish!

Size is 8x10, so print it out and frame it if you'd like. No need to even print on photo paper. Plain paper in a color printer is just fine. Here's how I used mine.

Send me a photo of how you use it and I'll feature you.

Linking to some of these parties.

I stink

I have to apologize. If we saw each other yesterday and you smelled something, um, funky, that was me.

Wait, wait, wait. It wasn't me. It was my shoe.

Let's just call a spade a spade, shall we?



Excuse me while I hang my head in shame.

The funny thing is I kept smelling it and looking at the bottom of my shoe... which is squeaky clean.



And so I just went about my day... picking up Zack from school and running a bunch of errands. All the while asking the boys if they were "tooting". With poop. On my shoe.

The end.

Toy Box to Coffee Table Redo, Times Two

I don't always get things right on the first try. But sometimes if I keep trying I can get something I like.

I changed the configuration of the toy room and decided that we needed a coffee table instead of end tables. Problem is I only have one coffee table and it's being used in another room. I thought about buying one... even a cheap one. I decided I'd prefer it had storage, for all of these toys that keep multiplying. Then my eyes happened on a white toy box we already own and the wheels started turning.



Duh, why don't I turn that into my coffee table.



So I did.

First I removed the slats on the top to make it more "coffee table-like". I scrounged around the basement for some wood filler to fill in the dowel and screw holes. I found three kinds, but two of them were dried out.



I filled the screw holes and let it dry. Filled in the holes again and let it dry. Then sanded the wood filler flat.

I decided to paint it cream.

Something wasn't right.

I distressed it and rubbed it with some wood stain.



Better.

But still not right.

Back to the drawing board. I decided it was just too light for the rug, and the cream color was clashing with other creams in the room (I hate it when my creams clash. lol). So next the toy box, ahem, coffee table went dark.

I had some leftover "custom" (meaning I mixed a couple browns together in a disposable container) brown paint from the boys' room.The bottom of the coffee table went brown, and I painted the top black.

Better already.

Next I rubbed a little black paint over the brown with a rag.



Then distressed the finish pretty heavily with some elbow grease and sandpaper. I left the black top as is.

As you can see I never even took the toys out! lol



A little more wood stain (rubbed on with a rag) over everything, and it's done!



From toy box to coffee table basically for free. Everything I used I already had on hand.





What have you turned into your coffee table?

Linking to some of these parties.

This project was featured on Better After.