Creating Moments That Matter
I’ve been busy getting sign up sheets and schedules ready for our Saturday Spectacular a.k.a. Super Saturday. Here’s a taste of what we’re doing.
Placemat purses you can use as gift bags.
24 Christmas Story Album
Family Name Board
Trick or Treat Board
Here’s the poster I made displaying all the fun crafts.
The sign up sheets.
The schedule.
It should be a fun day! Are you left for wanting more? Here’s 60 craft/DIY ideas.
When I’m stressed out I paint. It doesn’t take a psychologist to figure out that when I’m faced with challenges I can’t control, I change something I can control. Like the color of my kitchen.
I hired a lady who does murals to come over and consult me on the color and I painted it on Tuesday. I’m not exactly thrilled with the finished look. However, I’m just going to live in it for a while and make curtains for the breakfast nook before I take drastic measures.
Breakfast Nook: Before
Breakfast Nook: After
Pantry Area: Before
Pantry Area: After (I still need to hang my rolling pin – it’s too heavy for me to do it alone.)
Family Room View: Before
Family Room View: After
I’ve finally done it. After 2 years of living in this house, I’ve finally finished organizing the last closet in my home.
This is the guest room closet that doubles as my “craft” closet. You could barely consider it a walk-in closet, but with 2 new shelves my man built for me over the weekend, it’s got just enough space for what I need.
Closet Before
Closet Before – complete chaos!
After – view from hall
(I used a different camera because mine is still broken. It was so hard to get these pics the space is so small. I hope you can get the idea.)
Small shelf with hanging space for guests clothes – just above the door that goes to the attic. I spray painted 2 of these tins pink and glued flowers onto the other 3.
Top Shelf
Middle, 2 new shelves that Jason made and I painted white.
I added these “curtains” to cover the other white bins and to make the space less messy. I used 2 tension rods and they open up in the middle. I was inspired by this craft room (1st one).
I hot glued black pom poms onto these pink fabric bins I got at Wal-mart. (I know you’re going to ask where I got them.)
I got the black bins from Wal-mart and glued on pink pom poms and ric-rak. I made these oval tags out of scrap book paper, hung them with fun ribbon, and hot glued them to the bin.
I spray painted the wicker baskets hot pink and glued on black pom poms. Yes, I already had these flowers. 😉
I am so excited to get my messy closet all pink and fabulous. Now my guests will actually have room to hang their clothes and store their suit cases. ha ha
I hope you’ve found some fun ideas to use in your own home or have at least been inspired for another project!
May flowers? I didn’t pick many blooming plants with the landscaper. I wanted hearty plants that required nothing but water. However, I do really appreciate color and the green thumb of others. I was so delighted to find these fun tin flowers to “spring” up my backyard.
My roses in the front yard started to bloom a couple days ago!
Over the weekend, I took some “me” time and went shopping with some friends at Canton. Since my camera’s flash is broken I can only show you what I bought for outside. I got this awesome iron bee and butterfly.
Some fun animals for Drake to enjoy.
And these iron flower boxes. One of my kitchen windows faces this fence and thought if I have to look at it daily, I might as well make it look nice! Now I just have to fill them. 😉
I love Canton not only for the shopping but it’s a day just for me. No kids, no worries, just girlfriends, laughing, and creativity flowing. Didn’t get enough? Click here and here for other Canton finds and home decor ideas.
Recently, I’ve read several blog posts about people struggling with getting their homes organized. I think “up keep” is the most difficult task in having a home.
One day I’ll have to sit down and figure out my philosophies in organizing. But quickly for this post it’s:
1) It should be a no-brainer
2.) Everything needs a home
3.) If you don’t use it in 2 years, toss it! No exceptions. Scan it and include it in your digital scrapbook if you have to, but then throw it away.
I’m all about systems, and I love a good one. But it has to be so easy that it becomes automatic and I can go into “robot” mode and talk on the phone as I’m putting everything away. 🙂
The past year I have been focusing a lot on my closets. In keeping with #2 Everything needs a home, sometimes you have to create a home for it. I also think it should look pretty and have easy access. 🙂
I’ve quickly gone through my home and taken pictures of all the shelves my man has built for me to accommodate my compulsion for order.
Davis LOVES Lego’s. I’ve tried to get him into other things to no avail. So Jason made these shelves down low for all his Lego’s and Knex. I have picture labels on the clear bins so he can clean them up himself.
Off Topic: The boxes on his top shelf are a project that I still need to get to. I like to cut out the pictures on the boxes and then include them in the correlating bin. That way Davis has lots of pictures to be inspired from and can remember what pieces go to what. (Also, he can see how many dadblasted he has and be grateful – can you say spoiled. Thanks Grandparents!)
Davis doesn’t use the instruction packet so I keep it nice and pretty in a my Lego file for the younger boys when they’re ready to play with them.
Dylan couldn’t reach his hanging clothes – so Jason made him a lower bar. We also built it so a dresser could fit in there if we needed it to. He then added a shelf on top for Dylan’s exclusive toys, one he doesn’t like to share. Just because there was waisted space – he made me an extra shelf up high for things like diapers and toys I want to hide from the boys. {{ha ha}}
Off Topic: I love toys! It’s sad that my two oldest are getting out of that phase and would rather be on the computer on the PS3. Since we have several sets of Grandparents we tend to accumulate lots of toys around birthdays and Christmas.
So to keep everything clean and fun, I rotate toys. I buy those cheap bins at Wal-mart and make a picture label. It makes clean up easy and I keep a bunch of them high in a closet so I can control how many bins are out at one time.
I hope this post has helped at least one of you! “Make it Work!” {{giggle}}
Life has been so crazy busy that I haven’t been able to blog about it. So here’s a recap of what I’ve been up to the lately.
Last week Lisa and I painted this desk blue to go into Davis’ room.
With the holidays and birthdays now behind me, I finally repainted the mirrors and small table that I purchased at a garage sale last fall. It’s about time, geez. They went in my guest room.
Last Satuday, After I did my pantry makeover the boys decided they wanted to start taking their lunch to school. What?!? I don’t have room for school lunch stuff in my pantry. That always happens to me, once I get a good system down, things change and spoil my plans.
Thankfully, here comes Jason to the rescue and he added more shelves to my master closet to accomodate the school lunch stuff I have to hide so it won’t get eaten, as well as some food storage items I want to keep handy.
As I was painting the shelves, Drake came in and put his ‘Mommy and Me’ gymnastic lessons to practice by hanging on the bar. He was seriously so proud of himself. Great job, baby!
I still need to get some bins and decide what goes where and what I want to keep stocked, but here’s the final product in the meantime.
Monday, I stained the roof and the floor of the boys play ground. There’s still a little more to do inside but that won’t take me long. After being on a ladder from 10am to 6 pm painting, my body is still so sore. ouch!
I met a couple of my neighbors that live behind us while I was up on that ladder. Can you say awkward. Here I am holding on for dear life, praying that I don’t fall and live out my days paralyzed due to my obsession with completed projects, and strangers want to make conversation. At least they liked it. One guy said, “it was a work of art”. Thanks neighbor.
Tuesday, I had a minor panic attack when I realized that our “Emma’s Garden Party” for church is next week and I haven’t done a thing for it. {{oops}} So I spent the day making flower pens for the center pieces. Each guest will be able to take one home at the end of the evening.
I’m “OTT! Yeah you know me!” so I also hot glued flowers onto green spoons for the use for dessert. Lisa gave me the hardest time when I told her what I was doing. However, once she saw how insanely amazing they were – she changed her tune. She even helped me finish the last couple dozen. Thanks Sis!
I can’t remember where I was, but I felt so loved and girly when I used a spoon with a flower on it to eat my dessert. I want the Ladies at church to feel the same way on such a spiritual “girl power” evening.
Wednesday, Drake and I drove 4 hours (picked up Lisa and Billy on the way) to Houston. My brother Scott came home from his mission for our church.
I’ll let you read all the details over on Lisa’s blog. She’s so much funnier than I am!
Thursday, we spent the day hanging out with the family, driving around town to see how our home town has changed, and shopping for new clothes for Scott. Scott has changed a lot and I am so impressed with the man that he has become.
Friday, was a Par-Tay! Drake and I got home at midnight Friday morning and once I woke up I got busy preparing for my good friend Lisa’s birthday party. She was born on Leap Year, so since she only gets an actual birth “day” once every 4 years – we made it a big celebration.
Front of Box – I decorated the top and bottom of the game box
We played a “Celebrate Lisa” game that I made out of a game that I bought for a $1 at the Goodwill. You can go to Executive Homemaker for more details on how to make the game.
Board
Game pieces – I hot glued buttons onto the pieces that came with the board game.
I didn’t get any other pictures of the party, I was too busy hosting. {{drat!}} Lisa got lots of pictures with her camera – I’ll have to have her e-mail me some.
I can’t believe how long this post turned out. I’m now realizing that you didn’t need a play-by-play of my week. I guess this post was more for my anyway, I hope it excuses the absolute exhaustion I feel today. My body aches to the core, but seeing all that I’ve accomplished and served I can see it was worth it. Hopefully I can get a nap on Sunday. {{yawn}}
I’m featuring my OTT bathroom make over for Tip Junkie’s Talk to me Tuesday!!
My sister, Lisa, came into town over the weekend. So you know what that means – Project Time!!
This time we did a huge make over on my downstairs power bath room. It’s been completely ignored and needed some TLC. Here’s the before picture.
Before (brown iron)
After!!
I’ve been designing this project in my head for months. I had originally planned on doing this in my upstairs guest bathroom but the ceiling isn’t as tall and it’s a funky shape – so the concept wouldn’t work. After much deliberation, I decided to just Go For It!
Lisa took video of the bathroom so you could see it. Thanks Sis!
First, we taped the baseboards and measured out the stripes. I was completely inspired by the trash can (pictured below). I kept the base paint color the same (Monarch Summer Suede) and painted the stripes using BEHR’s Pearlescent Gold Veil. (pictured above)
I was inspired by the towels and reproduced the images on them by painting them on canvas. (If you don’t paint, you can have Whitney them for you! She can match any bedding, towels, etc.)
Just my luck, Drake found them in my room last week and decided that he would add some finishing touches. Grrrr!
After way too much time repainting the canvas art, here’s how it looks on the wall. I added some black ribbon to outline it. I decided it needed some kind of border after hanging it on the wall.
We spray painted the iron towel rack and soap holder black.
I used the iron from my banister as the design for the wall. I just traced it onto a posterboard, cut it out, then used it to draw the design onto the wall.
I LOVE it! This is the first room in either of my homes that hasn’t been painted blue, dark blue, light blue, brown, or some sort of neutral color. I’ve decided that this is my new Time-Out spot. If you need me – I’ll be in the bathroom. 😉
Lisa you ROCK!! Thank you so much for all your help and motivation. I love you so much and had the best time painting with you. ‘God made us Sisters, We made us Friends.’ xoxo
I’m featuring my OTT bathroom make over for Tip Junkie’s Talk to me Tuesday!!
My sister, Lisa, came into town over the weekend. So you know what that means – Project Time!!
This time we did a huge make over on my downstairs power bath room. It’s been completely ignored and needed some TLC. Here’s the before picture.
Before (brown iron)
After!!
I’ve been designing this project in my head for months. I had originally planned on doing this in my upstairs guest bathroom but the ceiling isn’t as tall and it’s a funky shape – so the concept wouldn’t work. After much deliberation, I decided to just Go For It!
Lisa took video of the bathroom so you could see it. Thanks Sis!
First, we taped the baseboards and measured out the stripes. I was completely inspired by the trash can (pictured below). I kept the base paint color the same (Monarch Summer Suede) and painted the stripes using BEHR’s Pearlescent Gold Veil. (pictured above)
I was inspired by the towels and reproduced the images on them by painting them on canvas. (If you don’t paint, you can have Whitney them for you! She can match any bedding, towels, etc.)
Just my luck, Drake found them in my room last week and decided that he would add some finishing touches. Grrrr!
After way too much time repainting the canvas art, here’s how it looks on the wall. I added some black ribbon to outline it. I decided it needed some kind of border after hanging it on the wall.
We spray painted the iron towel rack and soap holder black.
I used the iron from my banister as the design for the wall. I just traced it onto a posterboard, cut it out, then used it to draw the design onto the wall.
I LOVE it! This is the first room in either of my homes that hasn’t been painted blue, dark blue, light blue, brown, or some sort of neutral color. I’ve decided that this is my new Time-Out spot. If you need me – I’ll be in the bathroom. 😉
Lisa you ROCK!! Thank you so much for all your help and motivation. I love you so much and had the best time painting with you. ‘God made us Sisters, We made us Friends.’ xoxo
I’m featuring my OTT bathroom make over for Tip Junkie’s Talk to me Tuesday!!
My sister, Lisa, came into town over the weekend. So you know what that means – Project Time!!
This time we did a huge make over on my downstairs power bath room. It’s been completely ignored and needed some TLC. Here’s the before picture.
Before (brown iron)
After!!
I’ve been designing this project in my head for months. I had originally planned on doing this in my upstairs guest bathroom but the ceiling isn’t as tall and it’s a funky shape – so the concept wouldn’t work. After much deliberation, I decided to just Go For It!
Lisa took video of the bathroom so you could see it. Thanks Sis!
First, we taped the baseboards and measured out the stripes. I was completely inspired by the trash can (pictured below). I kept the base paint color the same (Monarch Summer Suede) and painted the stripes using BEHR’s Pearlescent Gold Veil. (pictured above)
I was inspired by the towels and reproduced the images on them by painting them on canvas. (If you don’t paint, you can have Whitney them for you! She can match any bedding, towels, etc.)
Just my luck, Drake found them in my room last week and decided that he would add some finishing touches. Grrrr!
After way too much time repainting the canvas art, here’s how it looks on the wall. I added some black ribbon to outline it. I decided it needed some kind of border after hanging it on the wall.
We spray painted the iron towel rack and soap holder black.
I used the iron from my banister as the design for the wall. I just traced it onto a posterboard, cut it out, then used it to draw the design onto the wall.
I LOVE it! This is the first room in either of my homes that hasn’t been painted blue, dark blue, light blue, brown, or some sort of neutral color. I’ve decided that this is my new Time-Out spot. If you need me – I’ll be in the bathroom. 😉
Lisa you ROCK!! Thank you so much for all your help and motivation. I love you so much and had the best time painting with you. ‘God made us Sisters, We made us Friends.’ xoxo
Really quickly, I remembered another gift that I make almost every year for the Grandparents, a calendar.
There are so many ways you can do this. I make 12 layouts w/ pictures in Microsoft Publisher and print it out on card-stock with this calendar. I take it to Office Depot and have it spiral bound with a plastic front cover and black back cover.
To personalize and make the calendar more useful, I add all the families birthdays and other special days.
You could go one further and make this calendar holder. It’s seriously so easy!
My friend makes a calendar every year for her parents using her kids artwork from school. I’ve always thought that was a great idea.
You digital scrapbookers have got it easy! Simply print out 12 of your favorites, use this calendar, and have it bound.
(The calendar is in portrait format – if you’re going to use this idea and want it in landscape format – e-mail me and I’ll fix it for you.) laurie at executive homemaker dot com (no spaces)
