cooking and painting

What a perfect way to kick off Fall! We made the ultimate classic cookie and we think we solved our 'thin, soggy cookie problem' by adding more flour. mmm!

Here are the birdies all in a row waiting for their next layer of paint. This is what our studio looks like when I get a job! I am now employed at a 'Paint your own Pottery' store in town. Aren't they cute?! The design is by Ali at www.paintedpigstudio.com and they will be the most adorable cardinal Christmas ornaments you can buy this year!!! Check out the website!

Happy Fall Y'all!

Acorns can be so cute that I wanted to bring the idea into our home for some cozy fall decorations. Here are several oversized acorns I made by painting paper mache 'eggs' from the craft store and gluing rope (from the home depot) around the top in a spiral pattern! They measure about 7" tall! The best part: instant gratification! They were finished in about 1 hour!!! (I have the burn marks on my fingers from the hot glue gun to prove my impatience :)

Happy Birthday sister Melissa!!!!

Melissa's birthday was this week (of course you already knew because it's a national holiday...isn't it printed on your calendar?) Everyone LOVES her... obviously... and everyone was there (except sister Maradee, who was there in spirit...and on the phone at one point in the evening, but the party was still in full swing, so not sure how successful the conversation was! :) so her party was a hit!
Mom and dad did a fantastic job with the planning, hot dog cooking (well, there were those burnt ones, but some of us appreciate their 'smokey flavor' so it was fine), hosting and general party regalia!

Here's a foam photo backdrop I painted quickly before the party! Her favorite things include: friends and family, her being the center of attention, parties, music, dancing, anything about Elvis (the last three can be grouped together as 'fun essentials') and photos of all the above! So I think she liked the festive photo op. Each guest got a picture with her behind the birthday 'frame'!

Shown here with her boyfriend! Can her grin get any bigger? :)
Happy Birthday dear sister!!! We love you!

Early Christmas gifts???

Get your handmade Hog sign now!
$18.00
I had so much fun making these! It is hand-painted on a wood block. It's great for Christmas gifts, birthday gifts or just for fun!
Let me know if you want one! (If I need to mail it to you, I'll add shipping costs)

I was feeling so crafty that I repainted this magazine box too! It's been plain white for several years and I think it was about time for a little color! (I think that about everything though huh?)

BEHOLD! The Ceiling!

Ta da! The beadboard on the ceiling is complete and we're so thrilled to have it painted and the can lights operating!!! (pardon the mess on our counters!) We're holding our breath (because it's hard to part with so much money) and considering the floor next.

The bathroom remodel

Just for fun I thought I'd post photos from our master bathroom remodel earlier this year. (Plus, seeing these reminds me how productive we've been....a nice reminder every once in a while! :)

One tiny mirror...that's it!

They painted over the flocked wallpaper which I think is so unfortunate because I actually like the way it looked on this hidden piece we found behind the (tiny) mirror. It's kelly green with an aqua background! Are you kidding me?!

We removed the wall between the sink and tub...which happened to be the wall with all the power...oops! Sorry! :) Thank goodness for 'Lieutenant Commander Awesome' and his electrical skilz!


The beadboard went all around the room!


The closet wasn't worthy of a master bedroom...only one height of rod. Really? (and how can carpet in a closet have gotten sooo dirty? Steve installed a new piece so now we're more comfortable about walking in there barefoot!)

New built in cubbies by 'Greg the Kern'! Thanks a million dad!!! it's awesome!

A perfect spot for our hamper...

...and for everything else!!!

The only things we kept were the floor tile, sink cabinet and hanging lights (and toilet and tub, but the tub might get replaced one day and turned into a master shower...we'll see. It works at the moment so we'll ride that out as long as possible!)

Love the light/vent fan too!

Framing out the window made such a difference too! I love the way it looks now!

We started the demo in January and were using it around March. Success!!! Hope you enjoyed our bathroom tour! :)

a little closer...!

On the other side of this plastic, Steve is sanding and priming all the sheetrock in the great room !!! Soon it will look like a real space!
You're also getting a glimpse of our cabinets in all their glory!! This is looking from the mud room into the kitchen, then ultimately, into the dining room. I call this set of drawers "The Six Pack", used to tell Steve (who has no earthy idea where I've put things away, then rearranged...and rearranged again until it makes the most sense where the spatulas and foil wrap should live) how to locate items in our humongous new kitchen :) Isn't it so cute?!

cooking in our kitchen!

Thanks to Steve's mom and her repertoire of recipes, we enjoyed a new cheesedip....which we made in OUR NEW KITCHEN! It's so exciting to be able to use appliances and have a countertop, and working drawers, and a perfect space for everthing...I could go on!

mmm...fresh produce! (ok, so the backsplash isn't tiled yet, but everything else is pretty much done :)

What I've been up to...

...the past few weeks. This 4 foot by 5 foot painting that I call "Night Lights" is for some college friends that asked me to do a painting for their house they've recently remodeled (and they've done a great job with their improvements! Definitely motivating for Steve and I!) We delivered it to their house (thanks for the van mom and dad!) where I saw all of the wonderful sewing projects she's decorated with and I'm itching to get my New Home machine out from under the dust cover (which is in fact covered with dust) and put it to use again!
Part of me has been waiting for our remodel to be finished before I continued with crafting simply because our space is in such disarray that it seems exhausting to move everything around...just to move everything around again later. However, I'm getting past that and past all the mess that was holding me back earlier. Piles of pantry items, boxes from new appliances and stacks of paint cans are "no longer going to hold me back" I proclaim! :)

Meanwhile...

Meanwhile, I'm so ready for our kitchen to be usable again! We have our appliances in place and most of the trim work done around the windows and cabinets....but I can't start the wonderful task of putting kitchen things up until the walls are sanded: the messiest thing so far.

Happy 4th and happy kitchen!

We had a very happy 4th of July! It had everything that makes it great: summer heat, a short power outage,
hanging out with the whole family, games, and of course...


homemade ice cream!!! (once the power came back on)

Here are a few snipits of our happy kitchen!

We LOVE the farmhouse sink from Ikea! Unfortunately, the corner broke off during install! (sniff sniff) But our amazing contractors are replacing it soon and we're very thankful!

The appliances and plumbing are yet to be done, but after that, there are 'little' things for us to finish up like: tiling the backsplash and laying hardwood floors ourselves, then I'll post some more finished photos!!! If you can't wait that long, then come on over and see it in person! :) We love showing it off if you don't mind walking through our maze of furniture, boxes, ladders (and dirt...dirt of all kinds that reappear immediately after I sweep and vacuum. It's inevitable. I give up.)

a teaser!

As we 'speak', the painters are on the other side of this plastic giving the kitchen base cabinets their shade of aqua!!! (technically, 'scuba green' from Benjamin Moore) Isn't it exciting!!!!!!!! I love how this glow is so tempting!!! Can't wait to show other reveal photos later this week!!!!

When it rains it pours

Our new kitchen cabinets came the other day!!!!
The one day in weeks that it's rained!!!
They were soaking wet and I almost lost it when the guys tilted the cabinets over to let the gallons of water pour out of them...! But everything worked out ok. Only a couple had to be refaced and the others dried out nicely, thank you Lord!

Steve and I had lots of sheetrock finishing to do before the cabinets could go up, and we have to let everyone know out there who might be hanging sheetrock soon that there is a lighter weight material out there!!! It's called Ultralight and it's literally almost half the weight of normal drywall. Who knew!? But it sure made it easier for Steve! (Really, all I did was hand him tools...) But I am really getting good at mudding! (If you're seeing this photo and think "...she's not really doing a good job mudding.." please let me know! )

The beadboard is up on the ceilings and we're so excited about how it's looking! The 'grid-looking' trim pieces will cover all the seams later...probably going to let the contractors do that as well seeing how miserable it was for them to hang the 4x8 panels over their heads. Thanks guys!! You are the best!!

A corner cabinet will be added soon. (also why I was lazy and didn't mud all the way up the wall...shhh)