Do-It-Yourself Season

Hey Y'all!

Hope you are each enjoying some cooler {if not down right cold&snowy} weather this week!
Even though we're in 'South Georgia' - it's been mighty cool... I shall not be grumpy that this week's high is 80 .. psh.

Anyway - y'all know I love to do me some DIY and lately it just hasn't been happening due to my event / fundraiser in October and all of the madness leading up to that.
Now I'm shuffling my belongings again, just down the road to live with a sweet friend of mine. I'm looking forward to having a roomie again :)
My hope is to be pretty settled by Christmas and have a wonderful season of baking and DIY gift-making!

I had to share some of these sweet ideas with y'all ~

Paper Trees - to compliment the colors of your decor! Not overtly Christmas'y so they would stay up in my house probably til January!
{www.u-createcrafts.com}

Greenery Wreath with a Monogram {of course!} Tie off with any ribbon that matches your style ...
{lookiewhatidid.blogspot.com}

This would be a precious wreath / gift for a grandparent! Easy peasy directions to follow at {thecraftingchicks.com}. . . I could see my grandparents loving this one!

I'm so loving hand-made gifts - if you're on my list, you'll be getting at least 1 handmade goodie :)

Happy Crafting~ I have a mirror to work on ... this beauty ...

Scored her for $20 @ a shabby beach antique store. Love!

Happy Tuesday!

xo
B

Creative Brain-Drain

It's been an embarrasingly long time y'all - do forgive me for the lack of posts on my behalf...

BUT I CAN EXPLAIN!!!!

You see, there's this tiny, itty bitty, teenie weenie, not-so-big-deal event that has consumed my every waking / working moment for the past 2 and 1/2 months. It's called only my non-profit's biggest fundraiser of the year. And ya know, being employed since only mid-August naturally, I was brought in to be  

Lead Event Coordinator for it all.

But really, it's been baptism by fire these past couple of months. And not to complain, I'm more thankful than ever that my supervisor and team saw the potential in me - but boy, I'm sure looking forward to not tackling this monster for another year after this coming Sunday! 

So, it didn't occur to me until tonight, while wandering aimlessly through one of my "happy places" {Tarjet} that the reason I have been basically brain-dead in the *CreaTive* department, is largely due to the fact that every day my creativity is drained, only to be slightly refueled by an hour or so of Pinterest'ing and 7-8 hours of sleep each night. And even then, no amount of wandering through the aisles of Jo-Ann's, HLobby or Michael's ~ 

has peaked my interest.

And y'all - that is just plain sad.

 And frustrating.

But all of that ends this Sunday. I must say, I'm amazed, but not so "amazed" at how peaceful I feel about it all. I had one minor "eeek" moment last week, and asked for prayer for peace and strength from my Lifegroup girls, family + friends. And wouldn't you know - my supervisor even complimented me on "remaining so calm and collected during such stressful times"

Ha!

Thank you DC, but - I have no control over it!! Thank God for that one :-) 

So, I've been "pinning" {or as I call it "Pinterest'ing"} last night and tonight, viciously adding to my "DIY to TRY" board, when I realize, I didn't ever lose my creative want, it's just not the time for it right now. 

So, I have quite a few things I'd like to try... and I'm excited that Christmas is only a mere 2 months + some-odd days from now, so I can begin Christmas shopping / crafting!! 

Yippee!! 

Since I don't have any photos of recent accomplishments {just you wait til Sunday - I'll be sure to upload some from the food+wine festival} I wanted to leave y'all with something pretty to look at 

...and maybe that will inspire you. 

 xoxo

b

 

Clear Frame + Decals = monogram art !!

Yarn Wrapped Letter for Door!

Love This "Where We Met" "Where We Married" "Where We Live" - too precious!!

Glass frame + scrapbook paper = chic whiteboard!

                                                                                                 

I already have about 5 of these types of books, but they're so fun & inspiring to make!

 

My Little Pumpkin

Hey Ya'll ~

Hope you enjoyed your last summer fling this Labor Day ... for me&mine it was mostly a day of relaxing.
I met with three awesome girlfriends of mine for brunch and pedicures, and then relaxed the remainder of the day.
 After an always-uplifting chat with one of my *bests* -talking about everything under the sun ~ I realized just how low I was running on creative projects. And in my current state, more projects would probably be really beneficial to my mindset. I have some small projects to learn {i.e. embroidery kit sitting in the craft closet} but earlier trials have left me frustrated. Then I got to thinking, it's officially the end of summer, so I can start decorating for fall - right?!
Well, fall colors aren't exactly in my seaside-cottage color palette, so I'm going to have to get creative.
First, I want to know when the pumpkin patches start to pop up around town ... I really have a thing against buying pumpkins in a grocery store. That is just not how it's meant to be. You buy pumpkins & indian corn where they cover the ground with hay. Outdoors. When it's supposed to be cool.
Now, back to the pumpkins and my decor. . .

 

ya'll saw above - that "orange" {I prefer "Creamsicle"} is my accent color

and when I say accent, I mean, use sparingly. As in, do not place orange in every corner of the cottage. 

So, pumpkins are orange. And pumpkins can be tiny. So I'm thinking of taking the inspiration from here on making this precious fall gem, match my decor. 

Instead of using all real pumpkins, I will use a few "Funkins" from my local arts+crafts store ... have you discovered "Funkins"??  They're just fake pumpkins. And they're awesome if you're going to put some time+effort into your fall decor and won't want to watch it rot by Thanksgiving.

Here's what I did with one a few years back ... 

FSU Funkin

  So, I'm going to score some Funkins, maybe a few of these awesome "albino" babies

and get to makin' nice. 

I think I'll paint some, add some ribbon, maybe run some ric-rac up and down the seams of the pumpkins, make a bow or two out of aqua bakers twine ... and nest them all in one of my very favorite antique finds from Raleigh, N.C. : a pretty little footed ceramic bowl, she's so crackly and perfect! {photos to come}

Sadly, I'm allergic to hay - but that doesn't mean I can't get a small bale or two to put on my porch. I'm thinking some mums would be the perfect addition to a welcoming fall front porch ... to me, nothing says 

"Welcome Friends + Lovelies" like mums and a festive porch:

That's all I have for now, hope to post some pictures in the next week or so of my little fall projects.

In the mean time, I'm looking forward to my upcoming back-to-back weekends of out of town trips. My little heart needs that right now. Have a beautiful week! 

xo

B

Spell It Out Loud !

Hey Y'all!

You must forgive me, I'm back to workin' full time and my creativity hasn't had much of a chance to flourish in the past few days {hence no blog posts} ... I was really proud of myself in my stint of unemployment / "summer vacation" for all the blogging I did. I suppose one day when I'm retired I will be a super-creative-old-lady :)

So, I'm back to work & definitely learning a lot these days. The non-profit I'm working for is just even more amazing than I could have imagined, and seeing faces to the stories I've heard makes all that I do, worthwhile.
I've been there a week but I can see already how some of the employees have been there for 15-30 years and still love it! I thank God for this job and am so glad it's a fit!

Now on to the creative stuffs - y'all might or might not know, but I am kinda a big fan of board games. Isn't every 80s baby?? I mean, we didn't have cable or MTV until later in our lives {at least in my parents household we didn't} so the hours whiled away playing games and actually interacting with each other.
And that is something that I'm really glad Handsome Man and I enjoy doing together. At first, we were "Yahtzee'r's" but then I bought him "Farkle" in his Easter basket and we are now "Farklers". And the trend spread to his family, and mine, and well, we should probably teach everyone to Farkle :)

Getting sidetracked - so I love board games. And I love the creative second life that you artsy people out there can give to old pieces of games. Most commonly, I just love those scrabble tiles. Maybe it was the hour long Scrabble matches at my Mama and Papa's house with cousins while growing up, each of us having our own Tupperware "colored cup" for the summer - and my endless losing at the game {in all fairness, I was the youngest until Lulu came along}.

I have seen some really creative uses for the actual Scrabble tiles, and then some cute replica pieces to use in parties, around the house, in art, at weddings ... here are some of my favorites!

 

 

 

Uhm, How Could You Say No??

 

 

Well Suited For The Above Photo !

Loving the PinWheels & Scrabble to Celebrate!

 

 

 

I Could Nap For That!

 

 

 

Cute Little Decor Accessories!

Alright y'all - I've got to get a decent night of sleep and I'm so looking forward to the weekend, where I'll get to spend time with Handsome Man, friends, and relax!!!

Be A Blessing To Someone Tomorrow! 

xo

b

19 Days More !

Hey Y'all!

I can't help but be in the mood these days for some football!!!! Watching the Bucs pre-season game Friday night just got me all excited for NFL & college ball to be back!
I know that I posted not long ago, about the countdown+traditions of my Florida State Seminoles. But today, we're down to 19 days. And boy do I have some ideas churning in my head for football season in general...

First up - I was born&raised a Dol-Phan, but have become a Bucs fan from when I lived in Tampa & it just worked out perfectly because Handsome Man is a Bucs' man through&through!
I bought my first Bucs t-shirt last fall & {admittedly} felt a tinge of guilt, for all the years that my Daddy had dressed me in aqua and orange, but oh well! This year, I scored some cute NFL wear from Victoria's Secret "Pink" line...

I also am ready to start decorating for fall, and although the 98 degree temps aren't helping that cause - I have made a fun little wreath for football season. It's all about Florida State!! I borrowed some inspiration from Etsy....









& then went to JoAnns and bought the floral foam wreath holder, 4 coordinating garnet+gold fabrics, as well as 3 little wooden letters "F"- "S" - "U" that I will hang inside of the wreath. Here's a step-by-step of my process ...

• Buy 1/2 yd of each fabric
• Buy a 12 inch wreath form
• Garnet+Gold acrylic paints
• Wooden capital letters for your school / team 
• Foam brushes to paint the wooden letter 

                                     Also, really loving sweet FSU gameday cotton dresses...

Well, anyways I hope y'all are getting super excited for football season! And enjoy the rest of your weekend!


XO
B

Tying Up Loose Ends

Whew! Y'all - I have been some kinda busy these last few days! No matter that it's the weekend, it turns out this is my last weekend living back at home with my wonderful, sweet, loving family + it's back to my BigCity on Monday.
Momma & I road-tripped on Friday to find an apartment for me - which I had easily made appointments to see each by the priority they stood in my "likes" category. Amazingly enough, God had just let it work out that the first place we stopped, was my favorite {from online photos and reviews}, and had just been made available that morning from a law student who had chosen to attend a school elsewhere. They had the apartment ready for her on Monday, the 8th, which worked out perfectly for when I needed to move up, attend orientation for work, and get settled in to life. After a quick tour of the actual apartment I'll be moving in to, we signed paperwork, turned in funds, and checked off one very big "To Do" from our list.
Then it was all fun & games. We had lunch at a local Italian / pizzeria, scored some cute little knobs from Anthropologie {for the trash-dump-treasure entertainment center}, checked out & scored at Pottery Barn, and then went along our merry way back to my Hometown.
Once back home, it was back to finishing up {quickly, now} the projects I had leisurely started.

• The dresser / entertainment center got her final coat of paint on the top and her accessories {knobs&faceplates} painted. The DVD drawers were lined with scrapbook paper & modpodged to stay.

ModPodge Drawers

Dresser+Baskets, Missing Cabinet Door

• The 3 small canvas sea-life prints I had started, had to be finished up.

 

Free Hand Acrylic Paintings by Moi!

•  The bronze wall decor had to be painted.

 

Before

 

 

 

 

After

• $7 Ikea Lazy Susan Facelift

Getting Her Stripes On

 

 

 

Finished Lazy Susan + All New DIY/+New Fabric

Whew! And most of that, y'all, was done today. I just haven't stopped.Then Lulu {sister} & Chief {her husband} came by the house & we all went out to eat and visited back home. I'll really miss being only 40 minutes from Lulu. She's a lot of fun :)

Oh, and I went to my Mama and Papa's house to score Mama's old soon-to-be-curb'd computer desk and a white plastic drawer storage bin thing. {photo+DIY project to come}

I'm tired just thinking about it all!

More info within the next few days... for now, I need to finish going through boxes of "stuff", re-packing my clothes {didn't I justttt do this??} and get a good nights sleep. Tomorrow Dad & StepDad will load up the U-Haul. We leave Monday.

....It's sort of bittersweet. I came home knowing it was temporary, and it ended up just being the perfect "summer vacation" - bettering myself, my health, my relationships with family... overall, I couldn't have asked for a more perfect way to start fresh this fall. I feel rejuvinated, my faith has grown stronger, and I'm more prepared than ever before, to face what is to come.

xo

B

Project Weekend Re-cap

Hey Y'all! 
I hope the weekend was kind to you! We had a really busy weekend around here ... complete with my sweet cousin / "older sister" & her baby boy in town to visit, surprise early birthday gift for Momma, antiquing & decor shopping with Momma & the sister, as well as lots of painting and DIY'ing on my 2 current projects.
Man - I'm tired just thinking about it all!

Vintage Staple Gun, circa 1970s

I wanted to share with you my "Chair Redo" ... as I mentioned a few posts back, this little chair came from a thrift store over near Clearwater - snagged her for $15 & knew she had potential. In the past few years she had been recovered in whatever my living room decor was at the time, and most recently, she needed to become neutral to go with a new color palette. After much deliberation over paint colors, I went with Sleighbells by Benjamin Moore. You can't tell much in the photos but it is a very very light grey. Painstakingly I hand painted her, as spray paint would have just beaded up / run down the sides. Then it was to the details with a tiny artists brush. On the rest, I used a 1& 1/2 inch brush of nicer quality {to avoid streak marks}. 

Painters Drop Cloth

The seat was recovered in a $5.99 painters drop  cloth from a home improvement store. You can do so much with these drop cloths, this was just my first experiment with them! 

The hardest part of this whole project, was knowing that I needed to find the right tangerine/orange colored fabric for the pillow, which will be the "pop" of color in my living room {when I move in to my new place in a couple of weeks}. Thanks to Hobby Lobby, this fabric works!! I didn't make the pillow yet, I just sort of draped the fabric over another pillow to give you the illusion of it all together :) 

Chair Re-Do

Well, as I mentioned, we did a lot this weekend... Momma is re-doing her breakfast nook / piano student "waiting area" & now that the walls are primed, we scored big at Homegoods and a few antique stores with the Sister on Friday. Here's a sneak peek at some of the decorations. The door is from an old governor's vacation house, and the sign, which I found - is a perfect addition for the room which we eat in and serves as a waiting area for her piano students. I'll be sure to post photos when it's all put together! 

Preview, Antique Door & Sign

 The dresser-turned-entertainment center is well on its way to becoming what I envisioned. Last night I began to sweep out the ... vermin droppings ... {aka - roach poopie} when all of a sudden, I see little brown antennae in the back of the dresser. I dropped the shopvac and screamed, which is when Step-dad jumped in with the can of Raid and out fell 4 roaches. UGH! I was sooo glad I didn't take this piece inside the house to work on, I'd have had a coniption fit~ once they died, we puttied up one corner of the dresser and bunjee corded it to stay til it dried. Momma helped me to get 1 coat on the dresser in Sleighbells, and we are painfully painting the insides of the drawer slots, since I *Finally* found baskets large enough {but yet, smaller than 6" tall} to fit where we've removed the drawers. I'll be sure to add photos of our progress later. 

Baskets From Old Time Pottery

Well it's time for me to be off ~ tomorrow I'll be able to share some of the dresser, a preview of Momma's early birthday surprise, and a few other goodies. Enjoy the day! 

xo 
B

Painting Day 2

Hey Y'all!

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! I spent the evening {once the sun went down + it was no longer 107 with the heat index} painting the entertainment center / dresser.

Now since the white latex paint it was previously done with is peeling off in chunks, this hasn't exactly made my job easier. After going at the top with the mouse sander, and the drawers {the 2 that will stay} with a block sander by hand, I realized it was going to require some Kilz primer to cover up whatever wretchedness had happened to the top of this dresser. We're talking, orange paint, globs of paint running down the edges, puddles of glue stuck to it - so with sanding tools, hammer and screw driver, Momma showed me how to gently "knock off" the globs of randomness stuck to this piece. Last night I took the tack cloth to it and began to prime the top, and painted 1 coat of Benjamin Moore "Horizon' on to the drawers. It's a beautiful clean finish paint, but it's a bit too close to white for what my minds-eye had in mind. So, off I go to the paint store today to get it darkened up a bit.

Figured I would share with you a fun little craft that Momma and I also did on Friday - the $4 pillow.
Get ready - it's as cute as a West Elm or PotteryBarn one!

1. Buy or round up some mis-matched buttons
2. Use a pillow you have {we found ours for $1.50 @ a thrift store & since no one will be laying their head on it, we figured it would work!} 
3. Satin ribbon, approximately 12'' {left over from a headband I made}
4. Scrap of fabric that coordinates, approx. 12" {we used linen scrap}
5. Needle & thread

• Line up all your buttons on the ribbon ... we like the randomized look best

• Attach each button to the ribbon first, then sew the ribbon to the fabric scrap in 3 places, to keep it secure 

• Once finished, put in your favorite chair or bench. Ours is going in the old church pew that mom has out in the breakfast nook. By the way, we lint-rolled and Febreezed this pillow, and it's solely for decoration. :) 

Happy Monday! 

xo

B

Creative Friday

Hey Y'all!

Thank Goodness It's Friday - right?? I mean, I'm not currently working so I didn't have to "earn" my weekend, but you don't need a reason to enjoy a Friday!

The day started off in creative mode - dropped my little car "Audrey" off to get her air conditioning fixed and then Momma & I ran off to JoAnn's to browse. I found 3 out of the 4 fabrics I had been looking for to go in the new living room {soon to come!!!} and now I'm only missing the "pop" fabric, which needs to be a tangerine / orange color. I ran in to my aunt and one of my cousins there also, always a fun surprise since I'm not used to living here and having that opportunity! My little cousin was taking a summer Wilton Cake Decorating class and using fondant! Guess I'd better get on the ball to sign up for my class soon or she will be opening up a sweet shoppe before me :)
So, then the day took us around town to a few random thrift stores and Momma found a cute little tan and cream checkered pillow {$1.50} for her breakfast nook room {which now has no wallpaper and all new orange peel / drywall...primer and paint coming soon!!} Last night she ordered the PBarn curtains & rug so we knew what color scheme we wanted to work with - neutrals!!
Once home, we got to crafting ~ the drywall guys were working hard and so were we. First up, wrapping some bottles in random neutral fabrics and trims ... these will replace the {dead} herb plants in Momma's garden window. The curtains will be the statement so we decided whatever went in the window, would need to be very minimalistic.

• Here is the process 
• Tacky glue
• Foam craft brush
• Various trims from craft store
• Various neutral and textured fabrics

Step 1 - brush on tacky glue in a very thick layer

Step 2 - we wrapped this Ball jar in a scrap of fabric purchased for $1, it has a cream knit pattern in it, and wrapped the top cuff in trim as well as the bottom layer.

This little jug came from G'ma W's house in Ohio. It's old and really cute, so instead of covering everything, we just added some braided trim in tan and cream to the neck.

Now, this trim, ohmygoodness !!! Definitely glad we had a 40% off coupon so we could get several yards, but up close it's tiny rosettes made from the softest cream fabric, all stitched onto the simple trim. It's sooo girly and kind of really fabulous!The bottle is nothing fancy, just a Nantucket Nectar juice bottle!

Finished product, 3 adorable jars with maybe some more to come as we find jars and bottles that have a good shape. There's plenty of trim left over and the window could probably hold 5 bottles without looking overwhelmed!



Well, the weekend doesn't hold too many things for me ~ mostly going to start tackling my entertainment center-to-be, and then next week, Momma and I will be taking on the hoosier cabinet. Our goal is to get the biggest pieces of furniture done before I move back to my Big City!

Hope y'all have a wonderful and fun weekend!
                   Be with the ones you love!!
                                       
                                      xo
                                                                                                       B

Furniture Updates

Hey Y'all! 

Sunday is here & I finally got started on some of my furniture projects! There was a really nice breeze out {impending clouds with rain} and I grabbed the chair & sanding block and got to it! An hour later, the varnish was off & her edges were smoothed over.



Here are the plans for the soon-to-be entertainment center ... going to require some power tool usage - thankfully I have my step-dad around to help with instructing me! I really can't wait to pick out hardware for her - I'll have to wait til she's all done to see what "goes" with it! The two drawers on the top {either side} will hold board games, Yahtzee, Farkle {have you discovered this game??? Holy Moly Fun!}, Wii remotes, etc.
I know the baskets will just hit me when I see them - but we're going to need 8 of them, so unfortunately I think the PBarn baskets I love, are outta the question!! These can hold magazines, books, remotes, etc.

 Now here is the inside of the cabinet in the center, she holds 3 drawers, 1 of which we're taking out & adding a flat shelf for the DVD player and cable box. Then we're going to have to drill a hole for wires in the back ... to keep it from overheating!
The drawers have some hideous paper lining in them which I want to remove and maybe replace with a Mod Podge covered fabric {something fun & funky!} or maybe some old book pages covered over with Mod Podge.

Going to be saving for a medium {girl-sized} flat screen TV to be on top here, with some accessories / vases / photo frames on either side of it to personalize it! And we're going grey with her! I have a coupon to any Benjamin Moore retailer for 2 free pint size jars of any paint ~ so might be able to score some of {or all} the paint for free! whoo-hoo!





And last but not least, I had to show y'all this little plastic {yes, great faux look} frame, she was an ugly gold color and I took at her with Krylon Heirloom White. Not sure what I'll do with it, but one day I'll figure it out!

xo

B