A GIVEAWAY

 Ok, I'm a terrible person, it's been f.o.r.e.v.e.r. since I've posted! I've been taking a much needed break though! Our family went to Washington for Christmas, got home on Monday and the last two days you'll never guess what I've been doing. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. And it's been great. And by nothing I still mean a little cleaning/laundry/packing on the side. But I still managed to watch a movie while my kids were napping, which was fantastic! Usually I'm a 'get it done NOW/ OCD' type of person, but this week I decided to take a break and not care. I think I've mentioned we're moving to Arizona the end of January, so I have plenty to do before then, but for now, since my blog has been neglected, I've decided to do a GIVEAWAY. 

Remember this:

I made if for my sister, who is due in 2 weeks, and her baby girl, Indie.

I made another one for my sister-in law for Christmas, for her baby, Chloe...

...and had so much fun doing it that I've decided to make a CUSTOMIZED one for one of you. It can be for a baby, for your home, you pick the saying, I give you options of a saying, use the sayings in the pictures above, it can say your family name, ... you get the idea!

If you don't get the idea, here's a few options :) :

- "Smith Family est. 2005" (or whenever you were established :) )

- "Shhh... baby sleeping" to hang over a baby door

- Holiday sayings

- Names

-Lyrics to songs> twinkle twinkle little star

etc.

Here's how to enter:

 1. Leave a comment (obviously ;) )

2. Follow me 

 (if you don't know what that means or how to do it, -- yes, people have asked-- on the left side bar there's a button that says "follow me". Click it. It will keep you updated on when I post new things on the blog.)

3. Grab my button, add it to your blog (left sidebar)

4. "Like me" on Facebook (click the link on the sidebar)

5. Tell a friend about my blog/giveaway

**You MUST leave a comment for each of the following things you do so I can enter your name in the drawing!!! And YES, you can leave more than one comment to be entered multiple times.

comment example:

comment:"Hi, I'm awesome" :)

follow: "I'm now following you"

button: "I grabbed your button"

...etc. you get the idea.

**And p.s. if you're already a follower, have "liked me", or have my button, add a comment!**

Good luck!! The contest will end Tuesday, January 4th 11:59pm and the winner will be announced Wednesday, January 5th

My Love, Wherever You Are

I finished this dresser over the summer and I still miss it to this day. Pathetic, I know! I just loved how chunky it was, yet so feminine. Some of you have seen this one already, so I'm sorry about that, but here it is anyway...

Yes, all of the handles are missing except for one... that's because I always get too anxious to start my projects and forget to take the pictures first! So, this is me, remembering to take them right before I took off the last handle :) 

Before & After...

I sold this piece to a cute couple waiting for their sweet baby girl to arrive. It was going to be put in her bedroom... how cute is that!? :)

So going back to the title of this post,

My love, wherever you are... I miss you.

Ok, a little creepy, I know. :)

Remember This Post...

Hello everyone!
The holidays are here! If you STILL don't know what to get your MOTHER, SISTER, MOTHER IN LAW, or WIFE...HERE IT IS!! My friend recently started selling Mary Kay and is offering 10% off your entire purchase through her website. Mary Kay has amazing products and fun pampering items that you can give to people who wouldn't normally buy it for themselves or the ones who have 'everything'.

The great thing about this party is it's ONLINE so you don't have to leave your couch! :) This time of year is so busy so it's a great way to do your Christmas shopping in the comfort of your own home! 

*If you need gifts in time for Christmas please place your order by 12/15/2010
p.s. that's TODAY :)

Just go ONLINE to www.marykay.com/trisha.jacobson and place an order.

GET 10% OFF YOUR ENTIRE ORDER!! At checkout just enter code E7A861 in the event code to get discount etc.

I am hosting this through Trisha Jacobson's site. Please visit her facebook page and become a fan to get more deals....Mary Kay By Trisha
Her email is Trisha.Jacobson@marykay.com if you have any questions about products etc.

**And p.s. she also has a super cute website so head on over and check her out! ... www.delishatalk.blogspot.com
 

HAPPY SHOPPING!!!!

You're invited to visit your pretty place and party with a purpose. You'll look fabulous and feel good because you're supporting a company that cares. So join the girls and me. And feel free to pass this invitation on to others who could use some quality pretty time too.     Host:   Ashely Treu   When:   12/13/2010, 12:00AM-12/18/2010 11:59PM   Where:   http://www.marykay.com/trisha.jacobson

See who will be attending the party and invite friends.

Take this quiz and learn more about you, and your friends. See the results on the party page.

Upload a photo and get a head start on finding your next fabulous look.

Connect with a company committed to giving back. Every day Mary Kay® is making life better for women and children around the world by helping stop domestic violence and funding research for women&'s cancers and environmental concerns.

©2009 Mary Kay Inc.

Burlap Baby Sign

My sister and her husband had been trying to have a baby for over 3 years, I won't go into detail for their sake, but after many failed attempts they finally got pregnant! I'll never forget the day she called to tell me they were pregnant, it was a tearful conversation, I'll leave it at that! :) Anyway, I wanted to make them something special for the baby's room and decided on a sign.

They're naming the baby Indie, which I LOVE!!! So this is what I went with...

 If you can't see it that well it says:

You're our tiny little miracle

Remember that everyday

The lord made it all possible

For you to come our way

I still need to get an easel for it and I thought I took more pictures, but unfortunately I didn't so this is all you get of it in her room...

and for some reason it looks tiny, but it's actually bigger than this :)

What I Did:

1. Staple burlap to a piece of wood (I doubled the burlap), make sure you pull it tight.

2. I used my Cricut to make stencils for the letters, but you can just buy the stencils if you need to.

3. Taped my stencils together and then taped them to the burlap

4. Painted the letters on with acrylic paint and q-tips. This is a delicate process so be careful so you don't smudge your paint outside the lines.

5. Wait for it to dry a little but not all the way or the paint can peel a little bit.

6. Cut fabric for the little strip and stapled it to the back.

7. Followed THIS tutorial for the flower piece and hot glued it onto the fabric.

****

My sister is due January 14th... wish her luck!!

*More pictures on the nursery later... if my sister will let me! It's SO SUPER CUTE!!! :)


I'm linking to:
http://www.bystephanielynn.com/2010/12/sunday-showcase-party-with-ceiva.html

ONLINE CHRISTMAS SHOPPING

Hello everyone!
The holidays are here! If you STILL don't know what to get your MOTHER, SISTER, MOTHER IN LAW, or WIFE...HERE IT IS!! My friend recently started selling Mary Kay and is offering 10% off your entire purchase through her website. Mary Kay has amazing products and fun pampering items that you can give to people who wouldn't normally buy it for themselves or the ones who have 'everything'.

The great thing about this party is it's ONLINE so you don't have to leave your couch! :) This time of year is so busy so it's a great way to do your Christmas shopping in the comfort of your own home! 

*if you need gifts in time for Christmas please place your order by 12/15/2010

Just go ONLINE to www.marykay.com/trisha.jacobson and place an order.

GET 10% OFF YOUR ENTIRE ORDER!! At checkout just enter code E7A861 in the event code to get discount etc.

I am hosting this through Trisha Jacobson's site. Please visit her facebook page and become a fan to get more deals....Mary Kay By Trisha
Her email is Trisha.Jacobson@marykay.com if you have any questions about products etc.

**And p.s. she also has a super cute website so head on over and check her out! ... www.delishatalk.blogspot.com
 

HAPPY SHOPPING!!!!

You're invited to visit your pretty place and party with a purpose. You'll look fabulous and feel good because you're supporting a company that cares. So join the girls and me. And feel free to pass this invitation on to others who could use some quality pretty time too.     Host:   Ashely Treu   When:   12/13/2010, 12:00AM-12/18/2010 11:59PM   Where:   http://www.marykay.com/trisha.jacobson

See who will be attending the party and invite friends.

Take this quiz and learn more about you, and your friends. See the results on the party page.

Upload a photo and get a head start on finding your next fabulous look.

Connect with a company committed to giving back. Every day Mary Kay® is making life better for women and children around the world by helping stop domestic violence and funding research for women&'s cancers and environmental concerns.

©2009 Mary Kay Inc.

My Red Chair

Slowly, but surely my garage will be cleaned out! First up, my yard sale chair from my previous post...

I finished it last night after months of it just sitting in my garage. I'm sorry chair. And husband. :) I've also had a credenza sitting in my garage that I WAS going to sell, but couldn't part with that either so now it's going to be moving with us to Arizona. The point of me telling you all this is because I wanted the credenza to be a light yellow and glazed in tobacco and I thought it'd e cute to have my chair next to it painted red. So here she is...

How To:

Take chair apart to see what's underneath- the seat should be screwed into the base so just remove the screws and the seat should pop right out. Mine looked pretty scary!...

 If you're lucky enough and the seat is in pretty good condition you don't even need to worry about removing anything, just skip all the next steps and staple your fabric right over the top! Mine was nasty so I removed all the staples, nails, 2 sets of fabric, and the cotton in between and completely re-did it.

After the seat was off I filled a few holes that needed filling. Most of the time I like holes, I think they give it more character and look great once you've glazed over the top, but sometimes the holes are just too much. To fill the holes just buy a wood filler-I like the minwax brand, but this time I think I used Elmers and it was just fine. You can find filler at Walmart, Lowes, Home Depot, etc. in the paint isle. Fill the holes with your finger, just pushing the stuff in so it's over-filling over the hole. I don't like to scrape away anything because sometimes it makes it so you can still see the hole afterward, so I just leave it and deal with it after it dries...

 After that dried, I gave her a light sanding over the dried holes, around the edges and the areas that were really bad...

This is what your holes will look like after you've filled them and sanded them down (it's the lighter stuff in the picture)...

 After that I primed the chair with KILZ spray primer. Sorry, this is when my camera died so no pictures of that part :( Then I spray painted with Krylon Cherry Red in gloss sheen and glazed over the top (for questions on glaze refer to THIS post).

Now for the reupholstering part:

I traced the wood part of the seat onto my foam and cut it out with a knife (If you have a carving knife those are best).

 Lay your seat on top of batting. This step isn't absolutely necessary, but the fabric I loved wasn't upholstering fabric and, therefore, not as thick, so I wanted the extra layer to help pull the foam together.

 Pull tightly on the batting, one side at a time and staple your batting to the wood. I knelt down on my seat so the foam would squish to it a little, making the edges of the foam curve down a bit. This part doesn't have to be perfect!

 Now lay your seat on top of your fabric. Since mine wasn't upholstering fabric I doubled it to make it thicker. 

Then do the same as you did with the batting- fold the fabric over the seat and staple pulling tightly. I knelt on the seat again to do this.

 Fold and staple one side, then the opposite, then the other two sides leaving a little space around the corners. When you've finished all four sides, finish off the corners by folding however you like. Work with them a little until you decide what you like...

 When you've finished stapling cut off the excess fabric...

Now turn over your seat and see if it looks even. You might have a few parts that look like they've been pulled tighter than the rest, if that's the case you can either pull out the staple and re-staple it or just add a few more staples to the side to make it all blend.

And the final...

 Its current position until the move...

And the before & after again:

*I debated on putting a little applique piece on the top, but decided I didn't want it to take away from the cute, simple design of the chair... hopefully I made the right choice! :)

Do you like my yard sale find??