Print Makeovers

On my Goodwill trip a few weeks ago. I bought these prints. I thought the actual print was nice but new they had some potential to be better than they were. I knew they had real hardwood frames but they were a little "blah" to say the least.

After a little gold metallic and black craft paint, I think these little prints are adorable now! Total cost of project was next to nothing since I had the paints on-hand already and the prints were $3.99 each. I liked the result so much that I decided to give a few more prints a makeover! (coming soon!!!)

Hope your having a nice Monday! The weekends are always too short! :)

I have joined Kimba's DIY party at Soft Place to Land ! Come join the fun! :)

Broadening my horizons

I don't think I have blogged about my "work" before. In my former life, as I call it, I worked in the building industry for 10 years before having my children. I worked in almost all aspects of the building supplies business(aka lumber yard) servicing builders accounts, directly with the public and also in the accounting end. I had every intention of going back to work after I had my first baby. Then I found out that my first baby was my first and second baby. That is a story for different day! Needless to say, I became a stay-at-home mom and haven't looked back.

However, I needed something to do that let me use my creativity and my love for decorating. I hesitate to use the word design because in no way am I accredited. That is when I started decorating model homes for Builders. It started out that I would just come in when the house was done and work my magic. Sometimes I would have furniture and other decor to work with (from previous models) and other times I would have to start from scratch and shop for furniture, accessories, window treatments and etc. Then that evolved into me doing the house from the ground up, where I pick the siding colors, toilets, kitchen and etc. It has been a VERY fun and creative outlet for me. Which I enjoy so much. And my husband loves it because he says it slows me down from ripping things apart and starting over here at home!

I always worked with builders because it allowed me to work on my own time and with three kids, we all know how much time that leaves! But I recently started offering my services to homeowners. Which is very exciting! I am currently helping someone with their family room.

When people say "do what you love" this is one of the things I love. And I have realized how important it is to do what you love. Life is short, live it to the fullest!

photo courtesy of my foyer

A Birthday and my love for chalk boards!

Well this past weekend was my twin baby boys' birthday party, say that 3 times fast! :) They turned 9 and I honestly don't know where the time has gone. I find myself saying this all the time now, a sure sign of getting old!!!

We had a family party, which we always do. Lots of cousins, aunts, uncles and mema's and papa's! I saved myself some work and ordered the food. I NEVER do this, but when I priced it, it would have cost me the same in the grocery store! So I did it and it ended up being delicious!

I also finished painting the island doors and drawers black. You can see a glimpse of it here. Don't mind the pile of cookbooks underneath, they are patiently waiting for the shelves to be put on the island again. Hopefully soon!

And I had this ornate frame in my basement for a few years and couldn't decide on a corkboard or a chalkboard. I bought it for $40 at one my favorite stops. You see which won! It's a pretty big frame too, All I did was had my dh cut a piece of AC plywood (that I already had) and then painted it with chalkboard paint (that I already had) After that I used liquid nails to adhere it to the frame and VOILA, Ballard Designs chalkboard without the Ballard designs price! :)

I have a thing for chalkboards anyway. I figured I'd show you my little french pig chef who sits next to my sink! They are so much fun to leave little messages on and switch things up some!

Enjoy!

ADD decorating

While following LifeinGrace, Edie talks about being ADD. If you aren't reading her blog, go ahead and visit. You will thank me. I realized, while literally laughing out loud reading her posts that I am definately ADD as well. Seriously, I started painting my kitchen island in July and it's not entirely done. Well, let me rephrase this. I sanded, primed, painted and poly'd the kitchen island from start to finish. But I didn't do the doors and drawers, until tonight almost 6 months later. I'm getting it done though right?

Some projects I whip out like you can't believe. Others can drag on and on and on and ON! I am showing you some pictures I would probably never post on here. But I need to do this to hold myself accountable! My boys will turn nine on Friday (which I can't believe) and I will have 30 people in my house on Saturday night! So these drawers and doors need to be DONE! And then I can reveal it in his glory.

Do you have projects that drag on? I am a person that I'm in creative mode or NOT. There is no inbetween for me. I'm either painting, decorating, rearranging and ripping something apart or I'm doing nothing creative. And let's not even TALK about sidetracked! I will go downstairs in the basement to frame a few prints and two hours later I walk upstairs with baby pictures, some fleur de lis tacks and the prints are still on the craft table with no frames on them. I digress. FOCUS Kristi, FOCUS! :)

A lil' bit of Christmas

We have a little bit of Christmas going on at our house. My 17 month old is having a GRAND ole time with the Christmas tree this year! So needless to say, we are going light on the decor this year. I figure instead of decorating, we'll do some more baking. The boys are SO excited to make cookies with mom. I am trying to narrow it down to four different kinds so that it is simple but yet has variety. I think I have a plan. I think. LOL

We also got our FIRST snowfall of the season! I LOVE SNOW! We are supposed to get more on Wednesday and Thursday. I will be SO happy to have a white Christmas!

Here are some pictures of our home this year. Very basic and plain but with a lot of love! I had to sneak in a picture of Miss Moo moo in her very festive dress! :)

ps- am I the only one that cannot figure how to arrange pictures the way I want them on blogger? Please tell me I am not that blonde!

A Dreamy Nursery......

I will warn you now, it is PIC heavy!! Of course I still have a hard time putting pics where I want them, so you have probably noticed I have twenty-something pics in this post! I just couldn't narrow it down. I love this room! There is a lot of sentimental things in here. A lot of my own things are in here. I found the crib on Craigs list for $25, still in the box!!! The bookcase was John's grandma's and he painted it white and painted the inside pink. I picked up the side table at Salvation Army probably 3 or more years ago. I loved it then and still do now. My dear friend Pam made the pillows on the chair, the diaper stacker and the beautiful handpainted "M" above the chair. There are alot of things that make this room special. But the most special part of this room is the sweet baby girl who sleeps in here!!

I obviously enjoy decorating (ya think?). So stay tuned for the boys' room makeover. They were sweet enough to give their baby sister THIS room which used to be their room! But they got a cool room as well now! :)