HoHoHo! Christmas Gifts for Dummies...

This post is about Christmas gifts, so if you're even remotely related to me, you can stop reading right here. If you don't, do me a favor and act all surprised at Christmas, k?

I LOVE the Ballard Designs catalog. Talk about a source of inspiration! I 'bout flipped out when I saw these adorable monogrammed mugs. Would these not be the greatest Christmas gifts?!

Oh...but wait...they're 25.00....EACH. So much for that thought.

You'll never know how thrilled I was to find some similar "design-a-mugs" at the Dollar Tree! Yep, you heard me - the dollar tree. I pretty much cleaned 'em out.

Then I had figure out how to make them Ballardish. I STILL don't have an embroidery machine (did ya hear that, Santa?) so I couldn't monogram them that way. So here's what I did...

Wrap the template with fabric.

Print out a letter on the computer.

Cut it out to make a stencil.

Lay the stencil on the fabric, paint with fabric paint.

Voila. Monogramming for dummies.

And here's what they look like.

Since I used fabric remnants I already had, I made these for less than 2 bucks per mug. I'm feeling pretty smug about that. I've got this Christmas thing whipped.

I'm also drooling over these Ballard stockings. But to buy 4 of them... yikes. The checkbook just called. It said "don't even think about it."

I wonder if I could make some of these the redneck way...

So have you finished any projects lately? Be sure to check out Chari's Finished Object Friday for more ideas!

Beachy Blues

I am so notorious for my inability to choose paint colors. I have been known to paint a room 3 times looking for the right color...

It's really pathetic. Well, let's just say...here we go again.

Here's a BEFORE shot of the room we're going to use as a den. The beachy room! The horizontal planks are perfect for a beachy look, but it's got a ways to go yet...

I knew I wanted a pale aqua, so I chose a color called "Harbor Mist".

Meet Harbor Mist.

Eek. Way. Too. BOLD. It's beachy alright, but I was thinking more subtle...

I finally found a wonderful friend - Home Depot paint samples. Oh Glory. Where has this idea been all my life? I bought 4 samples...tried 'em all...and found a winner.

It's called Sea Turtle.

Ahhh. I likey. Much more calming and easy on the eyes.

So, this weekend I'm off to give the whole room a good dose of Sea Turtle! Well, after I finish the trim work, the ceiling, the bookcases, the spackling, the sanding......

Chandy Revamp

Progress is slowly being made at the parsonage. The dining room now sports brand new sheet rock, and has been freshly painted. (YAY!) Now it's just waiting for the crown moulding, and a good floor scrubbing. The chandy was nice, just a bit outdated.

Before:

But it was nothing a little spray paint couldn't fix right up!

After:

I just spruced it up with a coat of white satin paint, and updated it by replacing the amber glass globes with cutesy little shades. I can't believe the difference it made! You can see the new wall color in the background. More on that later.

My sweet hubby let me get a new lens for my camera for my birthday, and boy, have I been having a grand ole time playing with it! It does awesome indoor photos, without flash - something I've always struggled with before.

He let me practice on him for just a few minutes.

He makes cute little prop, eh? And I am SO digging that lens....

The Jar Project...

When we move, I will have a nifty little pantry in the kitchen. (YAY!) So I've been thinking of ways I can make it all cutesy, even if it is just a pantry. I despise how messy and cluttery my cabinets get, and I'm trying to come up with ways to avoid it. I want it all to be more organized, and user friendly. So when I spotted these cheap jars at Wal-Mart (where else), my little wheels started spinning.

Naturally, I spray painted the lids oil rubbed bronze...

You may laugh at my spray paint OCD, but I've found there are some good advantages to spray painting. Just yesterday, it really came through for me. A great big ole dog wondered into my yard, and came right up on the deck with me. I had just seen him get in a fight with my neighbors 2 dogs, and I wasn't taking any chances. I promptly sent him packing. Somewhere in our neighborhood wanders a pit bull with an heirloom white head...

Anyway, then I added little chalkboard signs with jute string. (The signs were wood rectangles from Michaels that I spray painted with chalkboard paint.)

I LOOOVE me some labels. I plan to grab a few more jars every time I grocery shop, until I have enough to fill my pantry shelves. Hello Organization, Bye Bye jumbled up mess!

Can you believe it? I finished an object, and it's not even Friday...

The parsonage in the works...

Yay me! I remembered to take some pictures for you. Sunday, we had a beautiful sunny day, perfect time to snap a few shots...

Come on in and see what we've done so far...

This is the living room "before".

I LOVE the mirror, but it seems a touch too big for that spot, it overwhelms the fireplace. I think I'll hang it over my piano eventually. And here's the new color...

It's called muted gold, and I looooove it. I also love that antique fireplace! Here's another before shot in the living room...

And another "after"! The drapes look way more red in this picture, they're actually a tad darker.

It's amazing how just a simple coat of paint can really bring out the woodwork. One room down , and ooh, I don't really wanna think about how many more to go. I've started painting the den, but I'm not 100% satisfied with the color. I may change it before I go any further with it. I'm trying to find a pale aqua blue, and on the walls it looked baby blue. It's a little too much, so back to the old drawing board...

A very frightening thing happened over the weekend. My first baby boy turned 6 years old. How could he do that to me?! I mean, I'm still so YOUNG! OK, so maybe I'm not... Boy, time is going by way too fast! He's pretty happy about it though :) Since our birthdays are 2 days apart, we celebrated them together. I always said he was my birthday present.

My Mom made cupcakes for Jackson, and Dave surprised me with a strawberry cheesecake ice cream cake from DQ :) Yummy! What a "sweet" hubby!

The Punkin Project

Is it Friday already?! Is everybody sick of looking at pumpkins yet, or can you put up with one more variation? I finally got a bigger pumpkin to put on my pedestal (I was waiting for them to go on sale...). It looked sorta plain, and I wanted to try out my new Monogram die for my quickutz machine...so, when you put the two together, this is what you get. My contribution to Chari's Finished Object Friday linky party.

I Likey! And it just don't get any easier. Just a quick zip-zop on the die cut machine, and a bit of Elmers glue stolen from the kindergartner's stash, and presto...a monogrammed pumpkin.

I even scattered some more fallishness about the house. Remember my pocket of daisies on the front door? It was really starting to look a little out of season, so I finally gave in and swapped out the daisies for something a little more fitting for the season.

Eh. It's growing on me.

And I tried out a new arrangement for the coffee table. Still can't decide if I like that one.

It didn't help it any when the boys pretended the candles were skyscrapers and drove their cars around them and flew their little planes all over them, crashing occasionally, and shooting imaginary missiles. Boys....

Kid Prints Go Beachy Chic!

Happy Friday, Y'all!

For today's Finished Object Friday, I thought I'd share one more thing I have up my sleeve for my beachy room. When the boys were smaller, their room was done in a cars theme in primary colors. Their Aunt Heidi found this cute set of 4 prints for them. They used them for several years, until the cowboy craze finally won out. So now...what to do with these...

I hope you don't mind, Heidi! Because it's...um... a little too late if you do...

I claimed them for the beachy room. Bye-bye little dump trucks.

I've only finished one, but the others will be done the same way, using various shells and starfish. The best part? It was FA-REEE! I made it using things I already had, a little white spray paint, a scrap of burlap, and a starfish hot glued on top. Easy Peasy.

Drop by the Chari Tree to see other Finished Object Friday projects!

I'm giving in...

Y'all will be so proud of me. I got out 3 fall decorations and it's not even October yet. You know what they say, If ya can't beat 'em, Join 'em! I can't keep fall from happening, so I may as well try to like it. It's a bitter struggle, it is. But do I at least get an E for Effort?

Actually to be totally honest, it was either use the decorations, or start packing them. And I thought it may help the house to look cozy...you know, staging and all that. There's a whole lot more STAGING that needs to happen around here.

The piano was the first victim. I know you're not supposed to use personal photos when staging your home to sell, but it's such a fallish photo, it just looked right...so I let it stay.

Woopsie.... make that 4 fall things...

I can't leave out my bowl of candy corn!

But I always did think the little pumpkins tasted better.