Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Striping a Bland Vanilla Rental

Recently I was blessed and thankful to be able to visit my son and daughter-in-law in their very first home in Massachusetts. They have recently moved there while being stationed in Boston with the United States Coast Guard--SEMPER PARATUS!

Their first place is a town home rental and is very VANILLA! We wanted to jazz it up and make it fun for them and a memorable first place. Well, that's all I needed to hear! How do you get the biggest bang for your buck?? PAINT!!! Since the walls will have to be painted back their original white again upon moving, we opted to paint accent walls instead of the whole place--saving time and money.
Here is the before shot of the dining area. Cute and all but with a little paint, bright accessories and staging (my specialty! check out Ready 2 Stage Home Staging & Redesign HERE) it's gonna POP!


Here's how we began. the lovely ladies in the pic above are measuring for horizontal stripes--18 inches wide on this one wall--for a focal point. Using a Yaaaaadstick, (inside joke for the ladies in the pic) level and pencil, we measured down in 18 inch increments starting at the ceiling. (Why 18 inches you ask? Well, we saw a wall at Ikea that looked like what we wanted and we measured it! And wide stripes are less busy in my opinion.) We used the level to make a pencil line across the entire width of the wall.


Then using Frog Tape--the green stuff is best--perfectly crisp line!--we taped off each section that was to be painted gray. Keep in mind that your tape goes above the pencil line where you want the top of the gray stripe and below the pencil line at the bottom of your gray stripe. Keep those lines straight and try to use one continuous piece of tape if possible. Two people and four hands is helpful! We also used a Pampered Chef pan scraper thingy to make sure our tape had a good seal on the wall. It worked because our lines were beautiful!


Our next step is to begin the painting. I find it helpful to write with your pencil on the wall on the areas to be painted: PAINT HERE Just to keep from making a boo bo0!

Use a nice full roller of paint and roll sideways to keep from pushing any paint up under your tape line. And two coats always gives the best finish--so don't scrimp!



After you have rolled your second coat (and while the paint is still wet!) begin slowly peeling off your tape to reveal those beautiful lines. Wad your tape up as you go to avoid getting it stuck to the wall....or the carpet.....or your clothes....!

Here's a shot of our two lovelies finishing up the wall. Two working together can get it completed in a snap!

And here is the finished product! We all love how the stripe is the perfect backdrop for the "starsby" mirror made by Uncle Mikey Neyman. And the gray is the perfect color to make those red accents "POP!"

Cost breakdown for dining room:

Table: $5.00 yard sale find (And yes it is Ikea!!)

Chairs: $25 yard sale finds for 4 around the table and $10 for 2 extra at base thrift store!!

Paint: about $25 from Home Depot (Mickey's Shadow--Behr) we used it for 2 other projects also and still had some left!

Time spent together: PRICELESS!!!

NEXT POST BY ME: HOW DO YOU TURN AN UGLY BOOB LIGHT INTO A UPDATED DRUM FIXTURE FOR FREE!! (See light in above photos)

--Til next time

LORI

Monday, February 20, 2012

Spinning a Yarn......Our February Pinterest Party!!





Beginning in January, Crystal decided to begin a fun "excuse" for us all to get

together. Each month a hostess chooses a theme and offers her home to do Pinterest projects. All the projects are

to be found on Pinterest and can be posted to our monthly Pinterest board.















YARN........

Our February party is everything YARN!!!!


We chose a number of projects and everyone is to bring

their own supplies to share.













February's hostess was Lynette--your blog host for Family, Friends & East Tennessee. I'm guest blogging for her today--so I send everyone a big ole
HOWDY!
**You can see Lynette giving us specific instructions for our yarn projects!**






Let's also don't forget a very important part of any party--FOOD!!
We make and bring one of the yummy
recipes that we have found on Pinterest and are wanting to try.

Lynette made Broccoli Cheese soup and cheesy bread! Yummyoli!!










And if you haven't tried this fruit salsa with crispy cinnamon tortillas then you are MISSING OUT!! Thanks to Sandy we all had to waddle outta there! ha














Here are a couple of smiling faces and their completed projects!!










Emma with her yarn wrapped bracelet!

Too cute!










Yarn wrapped letters were fun too, but much more challenging to do than we thought. It's is difficult to get all the
ends covered without having to do some fancy wrapping!












Lynette made this cute yarn wrapped jar pencil holder! Now don't tell me you can't spin a yarn!!














Yarn wrapped bracelets were one of my favorite projects along with a wrapped wine bottle.



Here is a parting shot of the hostess with a few of her cousins (including me!) getting a quick pic taken by Tanner before we headed home. Had a blast--now isn't that what it's all about???.....
FAMILY, FRIENDS & EAST TENNESSEE.

This will look cute sporting some crazy daisies come summertime!!




Twins in Oklahoma!

Shipped these out Saturday to Oklahoma!
Order yours today from my Etsy Store!

Jack's Treasure Basket

A few days ago I made Jack a Treasure Basket...

Jack discovering some of his Treasures!

This piece of wood-his favorite!

Checking out the River Rock

He did not like the feather!

Shells and Wood make an interesting noise!

What else is in there?

Tanner's boot is pretty interesting...


Make a treasure basket for you little ones when they come to visit or when
you need to keep thoses little hands busy for a few minutes.
Can't wait until he's big enough to find treasures of his own for the basket!

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Island Fun

Add colorful toys and plastic dishes within reach for your little ones.
Will make kitchen time - happy time!
Fun to pull out and throw around!

Treasure Basket

I guess it's ok to repost from another blog. If it isn't, maybe one of my entire "19" followers will correct me! Anyway, ran across this great blog with some terrific ideas.

Below is a link to the blog and the Treasure Basket. There's a ton of great rainy day activities there. And with the weather we've been having, you might want to check it out!

Mod Parents Messy Kids

Here are a few of the things that are going into Jack's Treasure Basket:

Feather that Greg found
Frog that we bought in Pigeon Forge
Rock that we picked up in the Hiwassee River on our anniversary a few years ago
Water in a squirt bottle-want that be fun!
Shell from the Outer Banks
Wood circle that Greg made
Boot from the 70's that belonged to Tanner

We can add to the Treasure Basket or remove items as he gets older! Fun times!


Treasure basket!

Will add more things later for the basket!

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Yarn Covered MatchBox!

It's magic!

First you see a matchbox....


Now ya don't!



and here's how the magic happened:

I took one of my paper covered matchboxes.
(you see where Jack chewed on the corner, don't look Jessie!)
and swiped over it with glue to make it sticky on all sides.


I started covering it with yarn, like this.



Then, I just simple started wrapping it tightly with the yarn.

You will find it helpful to hold the matchbox
with your fingers as you wrap.


Continue to you have it wrapped completely.
Then, snip off the yarn.
 (I added another dot from the glue stick when I tucked in the yarn.)


Tie a cute bow with a contrasting color.
(I added a dot of glue under the bow)
Now you have  one of a kind gift box that only cost pennies!














Monday, February 6, 2012

Etsy Shop

I'm trying to learn how to use my "etsy" shop. Sold 2 bracelets today, I hope anyway. Didn't have my shop set up to order multiples! Hmmmm....hope it works now, and hoping the customer wasn't too frustrated. Nothing is worse than having difficulty ordering online!

Thinking I am going to focus on the newborn bracelets. Needing a name for the shop.
Any ideas??



Saturday, February 4, 2012

"Matchbox" ID Bracelets for Newborn!

If you look long and hard on esty you might just find these
"Matchbook" ID Bracelets!  I will add a link that should make it easier!
But now I ask you, are these not the cutest little things you've ever seen!
The best $6.00 gift that a new mommy will receive!

Just take note these are for newborns. Once they find how to get those
little hands to their mouths, it's time to take off the bling!

They each come in their very own "giftbox"!
Mom's will be thrilled when they slide it open and see the treasure inside!


Lily and Liam will be the the "hippest" babes on the block!

Friday, February 3, 2012

And the purpose of this Pinterest is?


Some people think this Pinterest thing is a big waste of time! What? Blasphemy! Without Pinterest I wouldn't know this:



That you can use a comb to hold your nail and save your finger from the hammer!



Or this:

You can make a pour spout from your salt container that will fit onto a Mason jar lid!
Get outta town!!








Or this: The parmesan cheese lid fits the top of a Mason jar perfectly!! You have GOT to be kidding me........





And last, but certainly not least, this little jewel:

When filling up a big ole mop bucket out of a little bitty sink, use a dust pan with a hollow handle as your funnel!!

Now that little tidbit alone is worth thousands to me!!







And this is just the tip of the iceberg folks--there are so many wonderful ideas on Pinterest that you will spend countless hours going ooh and aahh and "Why didn't I think of that!!"


Now if you still have questions about what Pinterest really is, check out this definition:

PINTEREST: Where women go to plan imaginary weddings, dress children that don't exist, and decorate homes we can't afford.
(Too funny!)

But anyway, Pinterest is a lot of fun and yes, time consuming. But if you are just going to sit and watch TV anyway--why not be Pinteresting instead!


HI, My name is Mystery Blogger. And I'm a Pinoholic!












Thursday, February 2, 2012

Etsy...yes, think I will give it a whirl!


These Tag Blankets are beautiful, if I do say so myself!
Joel Dewberry Fabric, love that stuff!

Backing is Blue Chenille

...Or Orange Minky Dot. What baby doesn't love their Minky!


If you can't find me on Esty...just comment and I'll get back to you!