Getting In The Groove Again

Have you ever come home from a wonderful vacation and tried to jump back into normal life?

It's not easy.

Especially when you spent a week in Florida with you parents, 5 siblings and their spouses plus 17 grand kids.

In one house.

For one one week.

At the beach.

Am I repeating myself?

 

Anyway, it was great.

 

 

 

Then we came home.....

 

 

I sat in a lounge chair in our back yard trying not to move a muscle.

Trying to hold on to the memories.

Bragging (via text) to my two younger siblings who were still driving back to VA about how wonderful the weather was here and how I wasn't doing anything but relaxing.

 

Yup.

That's what I said.

 

Then a ball got stuck on the roof and our boys tried to get it down.

With rocks.

Life is always interesting.



 

Teacher appreciation week was also last week.

I had fun creating a few things for our wonderful teachers and staff.

Beau specifically asked that I find or make a piece of jewelry for his teacher.

He wanted it to say "I love you".

I had fun making it and thought it was sweet of him to want that for her.

 

 

You know those bloggers that have beautiful homes?

You know.

The ones that show your their home one day and then the next day they post again with the new flooring they installed the evening before.

On a whim.

With only a toothpick and a paint scraper as her tools.

She actually did it all by herself while she took care of her 4 kids and 3 dogs.

Look at her go.

 

Yeah that's not me.

We have started the demolition of our flooring.

We are down to the nasty, gritty concrete that forces me to wear shoes all the time because I can't stand the feel of it on my bare feet.

Yup.

That's the stage we're in.

It's a stage we will remain in for a while.

We're buying a new back door.

Ahhh!

It's good to be back!

Renewed, Upcycled, Recycled , Cube Footstool

I can't even begin to tell you how long I've wanted to do this sort of project.

Let us hear the story of how it came to be...

 

So Derek and the two older boys went on a men & boys camping trip this last weekend.

Fun for them, fun for me.

Now those of you who have been around for a while will remember I have a third son.

My in laws (who are awesome btw) called and asked if they could keep him for the day.

I may have interrupted them before they finished asking with a hearty yes!

 

I love my kids.

I do.

But in the back of my mind I've been wishing for a trip to HomeGoods.

I wanted it to be the kind of trip that memories are made of.

But not the kind where memories must be paid for because they were accidentally broken.

 

I browsed through HomeGoods at my leisure.

I. looked. At. Everything.

Twice.

At the end of my browsing then I set one measly item on the counter and asked if they could mark it down even more for me since the lid was missing.

They did.

Nice people those HomeGooders.

I rushed home with my burn-your-eyeballs-pink-cube.

I yanked out my burlap coffee bag that I had been hoarding for just such a moment.

(Not sure who I was hoarding it from? Perhaps myself?)

I realized as I lovingly draped my coffee friend over the pink cube that the pink cube was still showing through.

I ran outside with my pink cube and quickly sprayed it down with some black spray paint.

Then I went to stapling....

 

 

 

The lid was next.

Not very exciting.

I cut.

I screwed my planks to another piece of wood.

I stained.

I stuffed.

I stapled.

I banged tacks around it. 

 

And I was happy.

Toothpaste - It's Not Just For Teeth Anymore!

Do you use toothpaste?

I mean really use it?

 

Yes I see you have shiny white teeth, but come on!

We can make it do so much more!

 

Let's take a look...

Sorry about the blur

 

So if you're a mother and if your kids have ever gotten into the markers then you're going to need this one.

My youngest is one of those kinda kids and his brothers are his suppliers.

They leave markers out that just lay there, begging to be used in the naughtiest of ways.

 

On one two three such days he decided to add some decoration to my living room coffee table.

Now luckily this coffee table is very rough and rustic, so they weren't glaringly obvious.

 

Anyway, after staring at them day after day, I remembered...

TOOTHPASTE.

So I went and brushed my teeth.

When I came back I rubbed some onto the marker spots...

Let it marinate...

AND VIOLA!

Okay, so they aren't gone all the way.

In real life though you don't even see them unless you know where to look.

Plus, as I mentioned, this table is very rustic so... ya know.

I could have most likely done it again and gotten them all the way out, but I was happy already.

I will mention that it kinda dries out the finish of your wood.

I simply applied some olive oil to remedy that.

 



 

Now here's another pretty cool one.

Once again, if you have kids then you have scratched DVD's and CD's.

I had many of them.

I did this with CD's that would skip and stall.

VIOLA!

No skipping.

No stalling.

I did this with DVD's that would freeze up due to scratches.

VIOLA!

No freezing.

 

Okay, so this is a miracle worker but it's not a magic wand.

If you've got scratches that you can stick your fingernail in then probably not going to work for ya.

Sorry.

Now I got this handy little tip from this lovely lady's blog.

(via Pinterest)

Now she suggests using Kids CREST toothpaste.

I had no Crest, but I did have Kids Colegate.

Worked great!

As she mentions, you may have to do it more than once on some of them.

Check out her post because she gives you the step-by-step that I am obviously not doing for you.

 

Have anymore toothpaste miracles?

Do share...



Etsy Spring Fling & A New CHRIST IS.. Sign

If I had a dollar for every time someone has emailed me about this sign...

I still wouldn't be rich.

But, I would have made a decent chunk of change.

 

I painted a few.

I plan to paint more.

Sometime...

 

 

You can find this lovely gray and white one here.

 

Or this dark brown stained and creamy white one here.

 

And lastly, this rustic, weathered gray and white one here.

Believe it or not, this one is my favorite.

It actually didn't photograph as neat as (I think) it looks in real life.

 

So to celebrate the glorious arrival of Spring and of these new items, I am having a SPRING FLING sale!

Stop by my Etsy Store and pick out something special for yourself or someone dear to you.

 

Enter the code SPRINGFLING when you checkout and get 10% off!

Sale will end on Monday, April 8th.

 

Wedding Signs... again

If you're still in the wedding mood then raise your hand!

 

 

 

 

Nobody??

 

Okay...well the great thing is, these don't have to be wedding signs.

 

They can be front porch signs, pool signs, bedroom signs, kitchen signs.

 

Well maybe some of those would be slightly odd.

The point is...

Anywhere you and the Mr. or Mrs. are, there can be a sign to make sure you know that you're there.

Or is that odd too?

Whatever.

Decorating is 50% trend and 50% whatever makes you happy.

Go with the happy.

It'll last longer.

 

 

I added some new signs to my Etsy Store.

(Not the one right above since it would require a U-haul to transport it)

 

Make yourself happy.

Buy a sign.

Let's Lay A Cow There

I've been without Internet for a few days.

Sad that it felt so strange to be without.

 

Anyway, I've always wanted a cowhide rug.

Didn't like the price tags attached to them though.

 

 

 

During one of my every-few-day perusals of Craigslist, then I happened to come across this one.

I love it when you find something and it's about 2 miles from your house.

Good for my pocket-book that it doesn't happen to often.

 

 

 

Our boys don't normally give a hoot owl about what decor decisions I make.

This is one they were very pleased about.

If you ask Lee where the cow is then he heads into the family room.

 

 

How has adding a cow to our family changed us, you ask?

He eats very little .(just crumbs really)

He's deadly quiet. (is that too much?)

He doesn't take up too much room. (actually he covers half of it)

Really he's brought much joy and comfort to our lives.

We call him Earl.

 

Not really.

David Corle Photography - Inspiration Photos

I want to keep this professional.

I surely do.

*I'm just bursting with pride though*

 

I have a special photo contributor today that I am trying to convince to contribute regularly.

He is not only an amazing photographer, but also paints, writes, is proficient in construction, does some pretty awesome graphic designing and best of all, is a father to one my precious little nieces:-)

 

People, give a hardy round of clicks to my little brother!

 

DAVIDCORLE PHOTOGRAPHY

 

 

David has been involved in photography since he was a teen.

He has done weddings, engagements, portraits, head shots, commercial shots...

 

 

Obviously some of my favorites are his home decor and architecture shots.

 

 

 David and his wife Laura have been redoing their house over the last few years and I have begged him on many occasion to share some photo's on my blog.

 

Laura's clean, simple decorating style is so calming and inspiring and I love how David's photo's complement the style of the house.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am seriously one of his biggest fans and can't wait to see what he sends me next.

 

David has recently made some career changes that will enable him to focus more on his photography.

(YAY!)

David makes his home in Richmond, VA with his wife and daughter.

If you are interested in getting in touch with him, or just want to follow along to see some of his work then here's a few ways to do that.

 

DAVIDCORLE PHOTOGRAPHY Website

David Corle Facebook

David Corle Twitter

 

You are welcome to pin any of the images above.

Share the love is what I say:-)

Gli Speciali di Casa Chic Feature

A few months back I was very honored and excited to be contacted from the Italian Magazine

 Gli Speciali di Casa Chic.

I got to work with a lovely lady there by the name of Annarita who did an amazing job of making our house look magazine worthy.

 

I did copy and paste everything into Google so that I could translate to english and see what was said.

It was all good stuff:-)

Annarita tried to send me a few copies through the mail so that I could have them as souvenir's.

Alas...

I received an empty envelope instead since fedex couldn't see to it that they arrived safely.

If any of you over in Europe ever see a copy then email me and I would LOVE to reimburse you any expense to have it shipped over!

Anyway it was a fun experience and I thank Annarita for her patience and her immense talent!

Thank you!

P.S. I also saw this little shout out over on Apartment Therapy that I thought was cool! 

Congratulations! {Giveaway Winner}

Congratulations to the winner!

Random.org picked out the lucky number 3.

Sometimes it pays to be the early bird.

Lori from My Heart With Pleasure Fills was our early bird this time.

She won a $25 gift certificate to sorrythankyou79

Thank you so much to Andrea from sorrythankyou79 for teaming up with me for this giveaway!

Also, a hearty congratulations to her for having her books splashed hither and yon across the pages of Fossil!

Love...

From my boys

Calling You Book Lovers! {Giveaway}

I've got friends in high places...

like Etsy:-)

I happen to be a lover of all things bookish.

Old books... even cooler.

I can't quite match Andrea, the owner of sorrythankyou79 though.

Her passion for books led her to opening an Etsy store and sharing all her fun finds with us.

An even cooler thing is when Fossil hit her up for hundreds of books for their Spring Catalog!

Allll them blue books....yup.

AWEEESOOME!

(yes I said that in my highest sing-songy voice)

Pretty neat stuff eh?

Okay, so a few of you may remain unimpressed and have yet to jump on the book lovers bandwagon.

I will now work at recruiting you....

Cannot begin to tell you the ways one so crafty, wise and witty as you could use books to decorate & stage with.

Calling all you photo-graphers!!

Props dude!

I LOVE these shots and as darling as the little girl is, the books sell these poses!

The photo below just makes me happy.

The way the light is filtering through...

Makes me think of summer days, ice cream trucks, jelly beans and rainbow bright dolls.

Those are my happy thoughts okay.

Don't you be crack'n on them.

Why?

Because it's cool.

Blue books. White suitcase. Old camera.

Cool.

You're jumping on the book wagon now eh?

Let us now find out the small details of how YOU can win a $25 gift certificate that sorrythankyou79 is so graciously sharing.

(don't be fooled by all these books, she keeps other retro items in stock at any given time)

It's so simple you could do it in your sleep!

$25 Gift Certificate Giveaway!

1 Entry:

Hop on over to sorrythankyou79 and tell me what you would choose (leave me a comment)

2 Entries:

 Leave me a happy little comment just saying happy things!

3 Entries:

 Let me know if you are a follower on me wee little blog. (leave another comment.

4 to 156 Entries:

Facebook it, Tweet it, smoke signal it, sky write it, blog it or just shout it from the rooftop!

 (but be sure you leave a comment for each thing!)

Giveaway ends 02/20/12 @ 12:20 AM Central Time.