The Stockings Were Hung...

In Arizona they don't have dumps where you can take all your large garbage to, they have this super awesome system where once a month you leave out anything on the street you want picked up by a truck. This works out great for two reasons. 1-You don't have to make trips to the dump- the dump comes to you. And 2- You get to look through other people's garbage to see if you want any of it! :) Last week as I was dropping my daughter off at preschool I drove by a house with a huge pile of wood to be trashed and immediately turned around and threw it in the back of my car. And don't worry, I went back twice more to get the rest. :) The wood is absolutely perfect and SO my style. Anyway...

We don't have a fireplace this year in the house we're renting, so I decided to make my own sign to hang our stockings...

 

Sorry about the background!

I LOVE how it turned out! Now I just need to add a couple holes and some ribbon or twine to hang it on my wall. 

HOW TO:

Items needed: 

wood

Citra Solv

Paint brush

Laser printer

1. Cut wood and assemble however you like.

A SUPER HUGE thanks to my awesome friends Jake & Jourdan for helping me with it! They have all the tools anyone could ever want, so I took it over to be cut and Jake totally cut and glued the entire thing for me!! So so nice of him!!

2. I found a way on Pinterest to transfer printer ink onto wood and it worked awesome! (click HERE for the full tutorial) This method I used only works with a laser printer, so make sure that's what you have before starting. I used Word to flip my letters because you have to flip the paper over to transfer the ink...make sense? If you're using Word also, go to create word art, choose lettering and use the formatting palette (the side bar) to flip your image. Press the rotate button and flip horizontal.

3. Once you have your image printed, line it up on the board and make sure it's exactly how you want it, then turn your image over, ink side down.

4.  Citra Solv is a natural degreaser that can be found in natural food stores, I found mine at Whole Foods. Pour a small amount of Citra Solv in a bowl and using a paint brush, paint on just enough Citra Solv to wet the letters just slightly. Turn your paint brush around and scratch each letter with the handle of the brush. Don't scratch too hard, just enough to help the ink rub off onto the wood. Make sure to work in sections, I painted the Citra Solv on about 4 letters at a time. And don't use too much or the ink will bleed and not stick nicely. Hold the paper with your fingers firmly in place so you don't move the letters or ink around at all.

 5. When you're finished, remove the paper and let it dry.

 6. These knobs are from Hobby Lobby. I LOVE them, but they were a little too white for the wood...

 So I rubbed a little stain over them to darken them up a bit...

Then I measured, drilled holes and put the four knobs in the wood. 

 That's it. Done. So easy and SO cheap. I think the knobs were $10 from 50% off, the wood was free, and the bottle of Citra Solve was $6.99 (which I only used about 2 Tablespoons of. 

 Click HERE for the tutorial of the stockings I made last year.

So sorry if this post is a little scatter-brained!! It's been a long week :)

Yellow

My husband would probably tell you I'm awesome at starting projects and not-so-awesome at finishing them... eh... oh well. I bought this credenza back in Utah for $40 or $50, which, usually would seem like a little much, but in this case the thing probably weighs 300lbs and is SOLID so it was totally worth it. I wanted to use it as a dresser for under my tv (yes, I already have one, but why not switch it up already?) so eventually that will be the case. I'm still waiting to decide what to do with the middle part... You'll see what I mean....

Before

After

I can't decide if I want to cut out a section of the cabinet doors so that we can put our cable box, x-box, etc. inside and still be able to use the remotes with the doors shut. Make sense? So let me think about it for a few more months THEN maybe I'll finish it :) Ideas or thoughts anyone?

 Love, love, love the handles from good ol' Hobby Lobby for 50% off...

I just noticed my daughter wrote on the dresser with marker the other day. Can you spot it in the picture? Yes, she got in trouble. Will it happen again? You can sure count on it.

Sorry for showing you, yet, another unfinished piece. But let's be honest, it might be a while before the thing is FULLY finished, so I decided to post it already. :)

Cutting Your Little Boys Hair

So here's the thing... I'm not going to encourage you to do this, because I'm a hair stylist and that's what we do, but let's be honest, everyone does it. Soo ya might as well know how to do it if you're doing to do it anyway. 

A while back my sister called me and asked if I would fix her little boys hair after their attempt to buzz it and it made me think maybe people might want a little advice before running into a screaming toddler that has to be held down to finish the job...

A Few Tips:

1. Get FULLY ready before you put your kid in his/her haircut chair. 

2. Portable DVD players, TV's, laptops are always a great distraction.

3. Have snacks ready just in case. I don't like to start off with them though, just in case hair gets in them- the kid just ends up super angry!

4. START the haircut in the BACK... very important. You want to keep as little hair on their face as possible.

5. Do the entire haircut EXCEPT for close to the face first, then finish off with around the face and top of head. Make sure the top is nice and wet though (if you're using scissors). I can't stress enough how important it is to keep hair away from their face! :)

6. When shaving their neck and around their ears have someone help you hold their head so they don't move and end up with a bald spot... unless that's what you're going for.

7. As soon as you're done put the poor kid in the bath and wash off all that hair :)

Questions?

(Sorry this was TOTALLY off topic tonight, I just cut my son's hair a few hours ago and had it on my mind!)

Next Up...

Isn't she pretty? :)

5 Months Later...

HERE I AM!!!

Wow 5 months of no blogging?!? What is wrong with me?!? Well, I have no excuse, but a lot of them at the same time. We moved to Arizona and I guess my focus changed. Changed to what? Well... I started working out way too much (stupid aging bodies- can't keep up with them), started being (or trying to be) better at keeping a clean house, cooking more with different recipes- not the same ol' ones that circle your kitchen week after week and somewhere in there lost time for my craftiness!! So sad, I know. BUT in all of that I've still finished a few things here and there. To start off with, the vanity you never got to see completely finished...

Sorry, I'm pretty sure a few of these pictures were taken with my phone :( ...

It was my Great Grandmother's that she got for her wedding. My husband FLIPPED out when the set was given to us and said there was no way it could go into our home. Sooo this is the original set that started my love of furniture refinishing. I painted everything but the vanity until now because we never had the room, but my daughter LOVES to dance so I thought it would be fun for her to put her dance clothes in the drawers and be able to twirl around in front of the mirror. :) I was right, she loves it!

 The mirror that you never got to see...

 And the finished product ...

 (well... with a few kid smudges that still need to be fixed!)

 I L.O.V.E. all the detail...

 Like I said, don't look at the kid smudges, but the knobs are from Hobby Lobby...

It turned out a little brighter than I would've liked, but I still love it. I wanted her room to be teals, grays, creams with a little pink so we're slowly making our way to that. SOMEDAY I'll have her room finished! :) 

Sorry so short and sweet, but I'm making my way back to the blogging world, so that will have to do for now!

Love For Clara

***PLEASE READ***

I don't even know where to start. The last few days have been rough, to say the least...

 

On Monday my brother's daughter was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma, a type of childhood cancer. Clara is 2 years old. It's very serious, she is now considered a high-risk stage 4 patient with such a long road ahead of her. If this doesn't sound bad enough, when their son was 18 months old (about 6 years ago) he was diagnosed with a brain tumor. This is their second child with a tumor! 

This has been incredibly heart breaking for our family as the bad news seems to never end. With each text I read or new post on Facebook I keep searching to find any bit of good news, only to discover something even worse. 

 Status updates from my brother:

"I don't normally do this, but I don't usually have anything all that interesting to say. Natasha is driving our two-year old, Clara up to the children's hospital in Spokane. She has had strep (maybe) for 2+ weeks and is getting worse. She can't walk normally anymore and is in constant pain. Her breathing is labored and erratic and she needs to see a specialist. Please keep her in your prayers."

 "Now I'm begging. Natasha just called. Clara has cancer. I can't believe I just typed that. Please pray for her. I can barely breathe."

 "Neuroblastoma on her kidney. bone scan in a few hours. minimum 10 days in the hospital. 2 or 3 days of tests, followed by chemo."

These updates were followed with news of the tumor being small but in a very dangerous area, the tumor being inoperable, spots found in her leg and spine, tumor linked to both kidneys through blood vessels, spots behind sinuses and eyes, very worried about vision loss, chemo, radiation, surgery... and finally, what we've just now learned, the cancer has spread throughout her bones.

I write this, not to bring you down, but to ask for your help. Your love, your support, your donations, and most importantly, your prayers. It's been amazing to me to see the generosity and sincerity that's been shown to them by so many friends and others whom they don't even know. It brings me to tears even thinking about how many of you have shown so much love to this sweet little girl. I cannot begin to tell you how much faith Brian and Natasha have. Their example has strengthened me sooo much it's unreal. I ask myself about 10 times a day, "how in the world are they handling this?" Natasha's blog is a true testament that our Heavenly Father is lovingly guiding them through this.

A fund has been set up to help Clara's mommy and daddy through this difficult time in their lives. Please, if you can help in ANY way, they would be so grateful. They live 2 hours from the hospital where Clara is and most likely will be there solid for 3 months, just to start off with. No amount of money can change their situation, but we hope it can make their burden a little lighter.

"We are overwhelmed with the outpouring of love and support. Every comment I read, every message I get, every visit makes me emotional. I'm touched that there are so many people who care, even people we don't even know. I certainly wish I could reply to everyone, but you all know that is impossible. Please know that your thoughts are appreciated and that you are loved." - Brian (facebook status)

***********

**If you wish to read more about Clara's story, our friend has written a beautiful post about her HERE.

**If you would like to donate to their family, click HERE

 Thank you in advance, this truly means the world to me and my family.

Vanity

Furniture Tip: Don't bring your painted piece into your house before it's 100% dry when you have a 3 year old running around the house. :) ...

Ok, it wasn't that bad. I finished staining the piece, brought it inside the next day (stain on paint takes a while to fully dry) and my little princess thought it would be neat to climb on the furniture. She learned quickly it was not that neat :). 

I half-way finished the vanity this week. The bottom part is done, but the mirror is still waiting for some love. Here are the before and half-way finished pictures...

Before (sorry it's not the best shot) ...

After...

 If you look close you can see where my daughter stepped... That will be fixed soon :(

I still need 2 more knobs, but I'm pretty happy with how these ones turned out. I bought them a while back at Hobby Lobby during their 50% off knob sale and they happened to look pretty cute on here. Yes??

*Sorry again for the pictures, I'm still needing to get my nice camera fixed :( . Half the pictures make the piece look SO bright and the other half make it look blue. Really it's aqua... if you were wondering :)

 More details to come when the piece is complete!

Sneak Peek

This is what I've been working on.....

 Sorry it's so small, it was taken with my camera on my phone.

It's a vanity of my great grandmother's that was given to her as a wedding gift and then given to me four years ago. I finished the bedroom set for my daughter (which is what got me started into painting) and never had room for the vanity until now. I'm so excited to finish it! It has a beautiful mirror that goes on the top, which I don't have a picture of yet, of course. Sorry :) This is a late night post so I'll get more details later. It should be finished soon!

Potential in Furniture

Wow I'm terrible. We move and my world stops?? Hmm... 

To be honest I've been trying to find the motivation to get moving again... painting, that is. I've been busy trying to find a preschool for my daughter--which has been ridiculously difficult by the way, doctors, dentists, insurances, etc... And as frustrating as that has been I've been trying to regulate my health issues at the same time. I won't go into too much detail, but I have a thyroid disease that affects pretty much EVERYTHING and every part of me. The worst symptoms for me have been tiredness and muscle aches so you can imagine trying to motivate myself with those issues. It's AWFUL, I'll just leave it at that so I don't bore you to death!  :)

Anyway, I have two pieces sitting in the garage waiting to be finished and paint on the shelf to finish them. With a hubby away for a few days, I think I might actually get some work done! In the meantime, however, here are a few pictures of some bar stools I helped my friend refinish a little while ago...

Before:

After:

Nothing too crazy, I know, but I thought they turned out so cute and she did a great job! This isn't so much of a tutorial post, but more of a FURNITURE POTENTIAL post. I hope this helps you see what things CAN turn into. Whoever owned these was probably so sick of the old, outdated look, but throw a little paint on them and they're adorable!

So what do you have in your house that needs a little love?

Here I am!!

I thought I should maybe wait a few more days to post anything just to hit my one month mark, but let's be honest, this site is getting no love lately! :( This, unfortunately is still going to be a quick post. Just wanted to let you all know I'm still alive, just in a different location now! We made it, our move was a success. And thank goodness it's over. So if you're wondering if I've been doing any crafting or painting lately, I gotta be honest, the answer is N.O. My house is almost completely organized, but the kids have been LOVING being outside so we go for about 3 walks a day + sometimes the park. And in my spare time all I've been doing is research on what to feed this little guy...

.

www.photographybyjocelin.com

We found out a little while ago that he's allergic to SO many things and found out I'm actually sensitive to most of those things as well. So it's been extremely difficult- to say the least- finding things we can all eat. It's a struggle every single day and I wouldn't wish it on any parent, but I'm slowly figuring it out. I've found so many useful resources and because of that I'd love to share with you things and products I end up coming across. 

A little background on my sweet boy: He's had severe eczema since he was about 2-3 months old and was only ever given topical creams to "treat" the problem. And by treat I mean "mask". He would scratch his skin until it bled and wake up in the middle of the night to rub his back up against the bumpers in his crib :( At 6 months we found out he was allergic to milk, then a few months ago found out he's allergic to dairy, all grains (except rice), food dyes, peanuts, eggs, dogs, etc. I found out I'm sensitive to dairy, yeast and gluten so you can imagine putting all that together = we can basically eat nothing :) Anyway, he's getting MUCH better thanks to finding out all of this new information, but it has definitely occupied a lot of my time lately. So, as soon as I figure things out I will return to the painting and other random things ... which, I'm actually extremely excited about so I'll get my act together and hurry it up!

Thanks for being patient with me!!