TODAY IS MY BABY'S BIRTHDAY!

Wow am I the only one who feels like time just fly's by? Like I stepped into a time warp zone or something. I mean it seams like yesterday I was coming home from the hospital with my new born baby boy in my arms. Today he is 10 years old, I would still carry him around if he weren't so big! No I wouldn't really, but it just makes me a little sad that If I wanted to I couldn't.My baby is growing up so fast :( it almost makes me consider having another before my time is up, birthdays are a big reminder of that one..  

Ok mommy enough of the sad stuff, we gotta get our fun on! We have a birthday party planned for tomorrow full of fun activity's with all of his friends. A bunch of 9-10 year old boys, lets hope there is no blood..these boys are little dare devils!  To say the least I will have my hands full but am exited to share another special birthday with my little boy (even when he is 40 I will always see him as that, my little boy.) Happy Birthday Brandon, I love you Lots! (He sometimes gets on his computer and reads mom's blog, how cute is that?) Here are some pictures I hope he wont mind me sharing (its just a few Brandon promise!)

School Carnival Picture In the back of a Police Car (for fun) 2nd Grade

Pumpkin Patch Trip (Kindergarten) One of my favorite photos

This is how you can tell they are getting older..Mr. Moody on this day..hehe (4th Grade)

This is him now all big and stuff (too big to carry) :(

Thanks for letting me get all corny and sentimental today, promise this will only happen twice a year (both of my boys birthdays) 

Have a great weekend everyone!!

THUMB TACK EMBELLISHED DRESSERS

Hi Guys! Well I got one of the dressers completely finished! The other is half way done, I had to take a break for half a day, my thumb is sooo sore! Pushing on those thumb tacks can sure make a sore, throbbing thumb fast. Enough of my DIYhining.. I had to sorta style the finished one just to let you guys see how it turned out. When I finish the other and move them into my bedroom I will post the final pictures. But for now here is the finished one....This I have to say was one of the cheapest and coolest projects under my DIY belt. 

The dressers looked like this before..

What a difference, right? I knew I wanted to embellish these dressers and thought about doing a greek key painted stencil, but I am so in love with nail head design lately I decided on this instead. I also wanted to keep the design simple so that it could adapt to my ever changing designs and didn't want it to compete with the bold patterned duvet on my bed. Speaking of didn't wants, I didn't want to spend a lot of money on nail heads, so I needed to have a brain storm session on what I would use instead, and after a little brain racking (me looking up at the ceiling thumbing my bottom lip with my finger, seems to work.. hehe) my little idea bell dinged in my head "I could totally use thumb tacks instead"!! I went to Rite Aid and picked up 5 packs of these guys.. ($1.98 a pack if your curious)

So A tacking I went, for one dresser I used almost 2 packages (150 tacks!) That's why I am whining about a sore thumb..hehe that's a lot of tacking. But hey $10.00 for 500 tacks, much cheaper than nail heads right, so I did save a lot of money. 
Ace was having a sale (always looking for a sale girl here) this Memorial Day weekend on spray paint, 2 for $5.00 so I picked up two Rust-Oleum's painters touch Ultra Cover 2x in white semi gloss. It took 1 can per dresser. I did prime and sand them before painting. The primer I already had. So the total was $65.00 for both dressers, $50.00 for both dressers from Craigslist, $10.00 for the tacks and $5.00 for the paint and I think they came out totally cool!

And just for kicks here is the before and after again..

BEFORE

AFTER

Anyone else making something ugly, pretty? I would love to see your projects!

NIGHT STAND / DRESSER PROGRESS

Happy Memorial Day! I just wanted to stop in for a minute and show you a little of what I have been working on this weekend. I hoped that I would have been finished by now but I underestimated how much work this was going to take, I seem to do that a lot.

Scraping and sanding, my right arm is probably a lot buffer than my left at this point..

This one is a little wonky being the first one I started, but I think I got a pattern down now.

Well I am off to go back at it maybe I will get it done today, we will see. Have a great Memorial Day!

PATIO REVEAL.. WELL MOST OF IT

On to today's post.. the patio..Yippee it is definitely coming to life out there!!( Me jumping up and down while doing a fist pump) Before there was no color what so ever, bland and boring, dirty too. The winter had taken its toll for sure (sorry no before pics right now, I uploaded them and was too embarrassed to show them..yes it was that bad). If I get the courage I might show one..hehe.. On our San Fransisco trip we took on Sunday I stopped by Ikea (I love this store hadn't been there in a year) and picked up a few things that I mentioned in my last post. Well these super fun rugs were 2 of my purchases. They were $9.99 a piece, I bought two of them and just butted them up together to make one large rug. Just the rug alone added so much needed color, they make me smile!

The pillows I made from some fabric that I purchased online from HERE if your curious. If you have been following my blogging journey you know I LOVE greek key anything. Its like peanut butter and chocolate, you could never go wrong with that combo right? Yumm that sounds really good right now :) so when I seen this greek key outdoor fabric, it was a no brainer. I still have two more pillows to make for the chairs on the other side of the sofa ( I will post some pics when I get those done). The two rose trees on either sides of the sofa my hubby and the kiddos surprised me with on Mothers Day..they are the loves of my life :)  This transformation was super cheap which is right my alley, yeppers I am a self admitted cheepie! The rug(s) at $9.99 each I bought 2 and the fabric for the pillows was a total of $14.00. The tray was a yard sale find at .50 cents and with a quick paint job its a whole new tray. The lanterns were a Ross find at $7.99 each. The bag in front of the planter was a dollar store find, and the trellis behind the sofa were a yard sale freebie, found them in the free pile(planning on painting them and getting some climbing plants) so thats no too shabby and totally makes a huge impact. Now for the pictures..warning..be prepared for picture overload and you might need to put on some shades, the colors are bright.. jk...hehe..

Anyone else preparing your outdoor space for summer? 

SAN FRANSISCO BEACH FUN

It was beautiful in San Fransisco on Sunday! We arrived at our hotel around 5:00 pm which is right across the street from the beach, it is so beautiful there. We unloaded our bags from the car and settled in for a while and it didn't take too long before my little one Brandon was begging to go across the street to "see the ocean". Of course we would be cruel if we denied him, so a walking we went. ( tip..I only brought sandals so I threw on my bedtime slippers, not the greatest choice, I had huge sandy toe boogers after all that walking, so tennis shoes next time) TMI..sorry..anways here is some pics of the little walk we took..

There were these flowers growing on the ground everywhere, so pretty.

Here the boys were having a competition on who could make it to the bottom first, Brandon lost his footing and decided it was ok if dad won this time.

This is what you saw as you got over that little hill they were racing on. The sun was starting to set which made this all the prettier. 

It was another competition on who could throw sand balls the furthest..

It looks like they were ready to surf the waves (who knows they may have done it if I hadn't begged them to back up from the water), my little dare devils.

Brandon showing me these HUGE Coast Guard ships in the water, he thought they were so cool.

After all that running and playing the boys were pooped so back to the hotel we went. I did get to go to Ikea this trip, I only picked up a few little things, more on that later this week. Have any of you been lucky enough to visit the beach lately? What does your family do?

MY RECENT AFFAIR WITH CRAIGSLIST

I have had another affair with Craigslist...not literally..but we are a match made in Heaven! A Cheepo + Craigslist  =  a perfect relationship...  here's why. I had intended to buy a couple of Rast dressers from Ikea on Sunday because I need more storage in my bedroom desperately, (I am going to put each one on the side of my bed as a night stand/ dresser.) The Rast at $37.00 a piece I couldn't go wrong with that price. I would have like something larger but the larger dressers were more money so the Rast was gonna have to do. There are tons of Ikea hacks online for inspiration to make these baby's super cool, I did a search yesterday and was amazed at what people have done.

I decided to do a quick search on Craigslist for some matching dressers just to see what I could find and guess what y'all?? I found these two baby's at $25.00 a piece! Even cheaper than Ikea and I didn't have to pay taxes and haul them back home with me ( a 5.5 hour drive). I was so exited to say the least. And they are the perfect size, much larger than the Rast..woohoo!

 Next week I am hoping to get them cleaned, and repainted. Here is a sneak peek at what I am considering.. Anyone else have a frequent love affairs with Craigslist?

                                                             

THE CASE OF THE FRUMPY SOFA

A couple of years back I was so in love with the idea of a slip covered white sofa. They looked so clean and fresh and made all decor "pop out" around them. I love high contrast designs and couldn't wait to get my hands on one. We had our previous  furniture for 6 years and it was falling apart, it was completely broken down rips, stains and all and it was a burgundy red color( no one of my favorite colors). It may have been because we only paid $600 bucks for them brand new for the sofa and the love seat, the price definitely reflected the quality in this case.

I had a sneaky idea that on one of our San Fransisco trips we could swing by Ikea and just pick up some new furniture! ( Like how I just made that seem so non-shalant no big deal right?) It took some major convincing begging (maybe a little nagging too) at the hubby but I had convinced him finally. Now the fact  that we didn't own a truck on top of it  was an obstacle  in its self, but when a girl is determined to get her new white furniture I had to find a way to make it work. We ended up borrowing a friends truck for our trip (a terrific friend, thank you) and the sofa and love seat came home with me. I sold our old furniture to a college student here locally to help purchase the new set ( we did sit on the floor for a few days) that was no fun, but worth it I thought.

The point of this post is even though I thought that I desperately  wanted a white slip covered sofa and loveseat, I am sorta of regretting that now :( I love the fact that you can remove the covers and wash them and that is what really did sell me on this idea of having white, but kids and a dog can really make white dirty quick. I know you can purchase new slipcovers for them ( I got the ektorp line) they can be really expensive, your almost able to buy a whole new set ( the actual sofa and loveseat) for the price of one sofa and one loveseat cover!  My sofa always looks so frumpy and disheveled too, cushions mashed down the cushions sliding off things like that..see my pic of  the sofa, its embarrassing but hey this is real life in my home..

I wish I would have chosen the Karlstad line, it comes in this awesome grey color (dirt less noticeable) and just looks more put together I guess is the word I am looking for.

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I may just have to beg the hubby one more time (wish me luck) to sell our set and purchase the Karlstad set in the grey color. We do have only a few days left before our trip I hope I can pull this off, we will see.Anyone else having buyers remorse about thinking you love something until real life interrupts?

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!

Happy mothers day to all the momma's out there!  (I say Momma cuz I grew up in the south you know with that southern way of drawling out every word)  I feel so blessed to have both of my kiddos still at home to share this day with. Happy mothers day to the people I know who are still in the incubation period of becoming a mom, enjoy the sleep and rest while you can, that will soon all change..hehe, but in a good way! 

This is a bitter sweet day for me, I lost my momma  when I was 19 years old to cervical cancer. She was the best mom a girl could ever ask for and I miss her every day, especially on this day. She was the kind of mom who would cheer you up and make you laugh when you were having a bad day, comfort you when you were sad and upset and never judged a poor decision made by her children, she knew that was part of growing up.I love you mom, and I always will! And ladies, make sure you have your annual exams with your gyno, it is so important, because you just never know. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Hope all you mamma's have a restful, wonderful days with your family!

NEED YOUR OPINIONS PRETTY PLEASE?

I have some fabric in my cart over at buyfabrics.com with the intention to make some outdoor pillows for my little loveseat I have on my patio, but I'm on the fence about how I should do them. What do you guys think? 

                                       Here is the sofa

                                And here are the options:

More color or more black and white? That is the question.. Thank You!

JCP JONATHAN ADLER HAPPY CHIC

Hey y'all! Just wanted to tell you about something super exiting (for me it is)!! I LOVE Jonathan Adlers designs and his design pieces but holy moley they are totally out of my reach as far as price goes..that is until now..J C Penny has his line in stores and online right now, and guess what? They are totally affordable!!
I don't have a JCP near me but I went online yesterday and took a look and I totally fell in love with I swear every single piece! 

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This is just a small dose of the things in his line, I am glad I don't have a credit card (try and stay away from them) because I would probably max the baby out! Have a great day!

PATIO PROGRESS

This weekend was filled full of dirt and weeds! Literally a trash can full, oh and a sun burn, forgot to put on my sunblock..ouch! My patio was in a horrible state let me tell ya, but its looking better. I need color for sure, so the first thing I want to do is recover some pillows I found at a yard sale with some fabric I had left over from THIS bench project, its called Richloom Solarium Outdoor Kirkwood In Admiral, you can find it Here if your curious.

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 I also have two patio chairs on the other side of the sofa that I want to make some pillows for too. I would love an outdoor rug and I had planned on using my living room rug which is an indoor outdoor rug I posted about Here, but...it has very little color so I am on the fence about using it. I just might give a good cleaning and put it on Craigslist instead, then use the money to replace it. 

There is an Ikea trip coming up for me in a couple weeks (woohoo yey!!)so I may just hold out until then, they have super cheap prices, and I love a good deal! Here is a picture of my current rug in my living room, what do you guys think? Not enough color?

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Here is a little snipit of the patio progress, and guess what? After all that hard work it's raining! (See the pillow mark on the sofa? Its all wet out here) What a bummer, hopefully it wont last long. Have a great day!

MODERN MASTERS GOLD RUSH TABLE

Happy Friday!

 I got one of my tables painted, one more to go! I went back to Ace and exchanged my champagne color for a new color called gold rush, definitely more of a gold color which I think looks a lot better. Here she is..

                                                       
                                                             

 Here is the before shot..

So many projects so little time but I am chipping away slowly but surely. My nail heads did finally arrive and they Are still sitting in the box they came in :(   maybe I will have to recruit the hubby to help( bribing  sometimes works ie.. favorite dinner maybe) we will see how that one works out. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

NO GOLD FINGERS BUT I GOTTA GOLD BRUSH

Hey guys, on Friday I posted about painting my tables I got from World Market last year, remember? Well, I was pretty sure I was gonna use my trusty rub and buff on this project, that is until I went to Ace Hardware this weekend for something (light bulbs) and decided to take a quick stroll through the paint isle (my favorite isle). I am always looking to see if they added anything new in the paint department, and I ran across this.. 

 It's called Modern Masters metallic paint. I never seen this here before and opened up the lid ( I don't think your allowed to do that but I'm a rebel like that..hehe) and holy moley this paint was so freaking cool! It looked like real metal all ground up in a liquid form! I got all exited and giddy and was probably making people think I was a nutso or something (Look at that lady in the paint isle kinda thing) I gets exited over paint, yep I do.. anyways, I had to try this stuff!

I ended up picking a color out called champagne. I was on the fence about how bright I wanted my gold to be, this one is kinda a mixture of silver and gold, a muted gold.

 I have now decided I wanna a more bright gold after applying some of it on my table so I will be getting the other color today I hope. I gotta tell ya this stuff is pretty awesome though it goes on like a dream and really does look like real metal, no that fake look you sometimes get with certain spray paint. 

 I threw down my painting tarp and used one of those cheepo foam brushes (49 cents), just dip and paint. I did a small section and decided I wanted more "bling". Easy fix.  See pic above. Well I better get to work, see you guys soon! Oh and btw, I was asked if my posts are "sponsored" posts and the answer is no. Everything I post about is my opinion and I buy with my own mullah. Maybe one day I will get the opportunity to try out some products, but that hasn't happened yet. Have a great day!