Projects here and there

So I decided to take a little break and spend some time with my family.  It sure has been nice and  we have had some fun.

 But it is about time for school to start here (in 2 weeks) so I better get in gear and start posting again.  I mean can I really expect the kids to get back in to school/homework mode if I myself can not get back into blogging?  So here I am back from a fun summer break.  :O)

I thought I would show you all some fun little (and I mean little) projects that I have been doing over the summer.

  I had painted the inside of the front door black last fall.  I love it.  But it needed something.  I had  leftover ruffles from another project and thought they would work great to make a rag wreath.

 Next, I changed out the blue Christmas ornaments that were in the cloche I made a couple years ago.

 I had gotten these green moss rocks quite a while ago so this was a no cost change-a-roo.

 If you have never gotten on Groopdealz than you are missing out.  Check out the fun personalized kitchen rules subway art I got.  It was an awesome deal.  I LOVE IT!!!  It has even helped the kids table manners.  Maybe the kids can learn to be civil at the table.  Ha ha ha.

 It is hanging in my dinning area.  I also FINALLY made the curtains for the window in the dinning area.  They match the living room curtains.  I know why did I have them match?  Because I loved the fabric.  I was thinking of doing different curtains in the dinning area but did not want to spend any more $$$$$ so I had to use the same fabric as the living room.  That is alright cuz I still like them.  Just gives it a little more of a finishing touch in there.  See...

 I had decorated the tops of my cupboards last fall and never showed you all.  I know shame on me.  I had these miss match baskets and some fake grass ( from my neighbor who worked/worked for Albertson's warehouse here in Utah) and he had all of this fake grass that he was getting rid of.  I guess they had an over abundance and was going to throw it all away and he saved it.  Then I got some.  Wish I would have gotten lots more.  Anyways,  I spray painted the baskets black to make them match and put the grass in them.  The memories sign I got from an antique store that was going out of business.  And wouldn't you know it,  the lady that owed the store and I had met via our blogs a year earlier and did not know we lived in the same town.  CRAZY I tell ya.

 I don't know?  I am wondering if I should paint the memories sign.  The finish on it right now is like galvanized metal.  What do you think?  Come on give me your input.

Another part of the cabinets is small so I needed something to fill it up with out it looking cramped.  I made the "B" blocks back when we were living in Michigan.  The egg basket I got from the Goodwill there too.  More of the grass and some fake fruit.

 Here is a better picture of the "B" blocks.

 Just another view of the top of the long cabinets.

Thanks for stopping by.  Hope you have/had a wonderful summer like we did.  As always have a great week.  :O)

A trip to the Big Orange Box...

We took a little trip to the big orange box and ended up coming home with all of these goodies.

I am so excited for this project.  Can you decipher what it will be from the following pictures?

Any guesses yet?  I will be letting you know very soon.  The hubs is almost done with his part then its over to me for the sanding and painting.  My mind is just racing with the make over that is NOW in the process...  So exciting...  And YES, we have a carport and it was FINALLY snowing here.  This is like only the 3rd time this winter it has snowed.  And now it is warm again and starting to melt.  The kids did make a snowman at 8:30 last night.  We needed to get one in this year some how.  LOL

Hope you all have a great week.  :O)

Favorite Projects of 2011

After going through this years posts, it seems like I did not get very many projects done.  When in reality I have gotten quite a few more done than I have posted about.  I better get on that.  *New  goal for 2012:  Be a better and more frequent blogger!   So here are my favorite projects this year  (and in no particular order)....

 

1. Board and Batten in the living room.  You can read about it here, here, and here.

2.  Shelving for our food storage.

3.  New flower garden for next year (2012).

4. Book page wreath.

5.  My Halloween table scape.

6.  Room redo on a very tight budget.

7.  Our ADULT Christmas tree.              

Hope your have had a wonderful 2011 and here's to making 2012 the BEST ever! 

Book page wreath

So I have been loving all the book page wreaths in blog land and knew I needed to make one some time.  We have decided to be on a very strict budget and cut down on a lot of things.  You see every General Conference weekend I come up with some type of home project to work on while listening to the Saturday sessions.  Well, this last Conference I had no project to work on.  The April conference I redid my bedroom and did not spend much $$ at all so the challenge was on to make something and NOT SPEND ANY $$$ at all.  Enter  the book page wreath. 

 I used what I had here at home.  I was getting a large box ready to send to the DI and had put a book in it so I took it out and went to town.  I marked and  cut a circle from another box I had using a paper plate as my guide.  Then ripped out the pages of the book and started to roll.

 I cut a smaller circle out of card board and wrapped it with some of the book pages and glued it on.  The whole wreath was hot glued together.  The large "B" was one I got a Hobby Lobby about a year and a half ago while living in Michigan.  I just painted it black then added black Martha Stewart glitter to the top. Then glued it on the wreath.  It turned out so pretty I think. 

 I hung it in the hallway over the cabinet I painted earlier this summer.  But more on that later.  What do you think?

 On another note,  I have been playing with my new camera.  So much fun. Here are a couple pics I took while at my sons flag football game. 

 Is she not just the cutest?  It helps that she is so sassy.  AND loves to have her picture taken.

Hope you enjoyed the wreath.  Have a great week.  :O)  Until next time...

Back from the Dead...

Wow,  not having a camera sure puts a damper on blogging.  It has been over 2 months since my last post.  So sorry.   Well I finally got a new camera and am in L.O.V.E. with it.  It is a Sony something something or other.  The hubs picked it out.  His father is a wedding photographer and the hubs has been talking to him for the last 2 years about cameras.  So I let him pick it out.  It only took him 2 hours in the store to finally decide which one.  But that is alright.  I GOT A CAMERA!!  :O)


Well, remember this picture I showed you all last year after going shopping at the case lot sales?This cold storage room needed some serious help.  It was semi organized.  I wanted shelves so bad.  The hubs said he would do them and here we were a year later and it still looked like this.  Until... Today...  :O)  When the hubs got up today ( he had the day off) I told him to get to work so I could get all the canning from this year in there.  It was ALOT!  So, I took everything out and here is the final result....

Now it is super organized.  I did not ask for pretty, just functional and sturdy.  And that is what I got.

Oops, need to restock the cereal.  I have 2 bins empty..  I learned how to use the pressure cooker this year.   I canned green beans.  :O) They are right above the bins.  Hope they last us till next summer.

The tomato's are canned in quarts for my favorite tomato soup.  I will have to share that with you all another time.  It is DE-LISH!  Then pints are all salsa.  YUMM-O!!  It is my friends recipe.

It is a good start on our food storage.    Wish the room was bigger.  I would love to have look like a store like you see on TLC's Extreme Couponing.

Well, thanks for coming to visit.  Again sorry for the long break in posts.   I do have a lot of projects  that I did during the summer break.  Can not wait to share them with you.  Until then have a great weekend..  We get to go to the groundbreaking for the Payson Temple.  So excited.  :O)

What have we been up to... The roof!

( I am apologizing for the horrible pictures in advance..  I hate this camera and can not wait to get a new one..  Hopefully soon like for our anniversary or my birthday...  They are only 2 weeks apart so I will accept the camera for both.. Like the hubs even reads this blog...  LOL ) 

So I told you that we had a huge wind storm that took off about a third of our shingles from the roof.  The insurance company came through and paid for  the repair.  We just had to provide the labor...  With out even asking, the day after everything was delivered for the new roof there were a bunch of men from our church on my roof waiting to help..  Have I ever told you how much I love being back in Utah and how much I love our church ward..  We may not be a rich ward but we are a ward that knows how to help and when to help.  These guys are AWESOME!!!

 The men just kept coming and climbing up the ladder..  No complaints, just a "Pay is forward".  That is the kind of people we have in our neighborhood...  Are you jealous?  I will share them if you move here...  You would not regret it in the least... 

 They were almost done here..

 It only took one day to do the roof...  I took it on myself to feed them and keep them hydrated..  Least I could do...

Thanks again everyone for spending your Saturday with us on  our roof.  It is pain staking  work and you will be so very blessed for your willingness to help others..  I know that the hubs and our oldest are willing and able to help the next one in need...  Especially with a roofing project...  We are on the look out...  :O)

It's "PRIME" time...

When I last left you, this is what my living room looked like.  Well, not any more...

So I got ALL the nail holes filled with wood putty...  Then the room sat for a couple days as my oldest left his Geometry report and Science Fair project for the last minute..  So needless to say that is what I have been helping with.  They are all turned in so back to business...  Yesterday, I sanded all the nail holes smooth then wiped the boards down then cleaned my floors of all dust...  THEN I painted the upper part of the walls in Glidden Autumn Haze (thanks Shelley from House of Smiths).  It is very neutral..  I am in L.O.V.E with it..

 Today, I primed the Board and Batten......

 Looking good....

Oops...  Need to get to the side of those boards asap...  I can not wait until it is done...  This is really changing the look of our house...  You see, EVERYONE in my neighborhood has the same house..  The only difference between mine and everyone else is mine is a couple hundred square feet larger..  But that is it...  So I am doing my best to make mine way different.  And I think it is working...  :O)

As always, have a great week...  :O)

While the Hubby is away....

The wife will play... With power tools... :O) I told you yesterday that I had a project I was super excited about and we started it last night... Here is the pile of MDF I had cut at Home Depot over the weekend... Can you guess what my project is? Well, I am jumping on the band wagon or rather the Board and Batten wagon... :O)

Last night I had the hubs help put up the baseboards.. I needed the extra hands for that part.. Boy, I wish I was Elasta Girl... That is who I sooo long to be... Would it not just be wonderful? Okay, back to the board and batten..

I had the guys at HD cut the MDF to 6 inches high for the baseboards. I am loving it...

So the hubs went to work this morning and here I was with the power tools.... H.E.A.V.E.N!!! Thought I would get going on the next step.. I had the guys at HD (again) cut the slats 2 inches wide and the top piece 3 inches wide. So on I went putting the slats on the walls...

Looking good so far...

L.O.V.E it!!

So sweet!!

Ignore the mess in the middle of the room... But does that not look good so far?

I just need to put up the 3 inch top piece then comes the daunting task of caulk and painting... I will show you how it turns out later this week, I hope!!!

As always have a great one....