Percolating Projects

Ribbon Bookmark

2011-08-12T15:43:00.000-07:00

Here's a great quickie project that you can do with craft scrap that you probably already have in your house!

All you will need is:

ribbon (length depends on your book size)

1) button

1) hair elastic

You can do this by hand, but if you have amateur sewing skills like me and a machine, this project can make you feel that much fancier.

Take your hair elastic and fold your ribbon end over it.

Stitch (I used a zig zag stitch for extra strength)

This is a great time to use a zipper foot.

Cause Lord knows I'll probably never be using it for its intended purpose.

Easy, right?

Measure the ribbon by closing the book with the ribbon inside. Bring both ends to the front cover and cut, with a inch or so of space (for the elastic to reach over to the button.)

Take the cut end of ribbon and melt it near (not IN) a lighter. This will melt the end just enough to keep it from fraying.

Sew your button onto the nekkid end and viola....

Cute bookmark!

Unfortunately, this is how I'll be using mine

As you get further into your book, the elastic will stretch to accommodate for the pages building up between the ribbon and cover.

Kinda like a giveaway...but not

2011-07-30T07:14:00.000-07:00

Freebie alert! Niiiiiiice....

Nail Polish stickers! Any paint job on my fingers last all of about... 3 seconds. These are supposed to last WEEKS! Niiiice. They are $6 with free shipping but you receive a $10 credit for signing up with your email address. Easy peasy lemon squeezy!

Go here to get yourself all gussied up!

Napkins-Are-For-Fancy-People Pillows

2011-07-27T13:36:00.000-07:00

Disclaimer: this tutorial is for those with some (albeit minimal) sewing experience. Mainly because, I am redonkulous when it comes to teaching things. If you want some great tutorials on sewing, check out Make it and Love it. They always have great tips and awesome projects going on over there!

Ever see a bunch of clearanced napkins at your local bazzar style store and think, "Love the fabric, but fabric napkins are too shnazzy for my people." No? Me neither.

But I did love the fabric on these World Market napkins [same fabric as my table runner curtain.] They were a buck. Sounds cheaper than a dollar, doesn't it?

And yes, fabric napkins are too shnazzy for my people. We use like 3 napkins each when we eat.

Either we're really messy eaters, or strive for really tidy faces. Jurys still out.

Well I'm gonna show you another use for those napkins. A higher level of class mind you!

3 napkins per pillow is what you'll need (sounds like the first line in a terrible square dancing song)

Doing it this way gives you an envelope closure so you can actually take off the pillow cases and wash them.

Lets hear it for cleanliness.

This photo below only shows how you need to overlap your napkins. You don't actually sew it like this

because....1. right sides are not together
2. its crooked, yo!

There much better. Then pin and sew around the edges. Sew just on in the inside of the hemmed edge.

Then trim off your excess like so....

(I've always wanted to use "like so..." in a legit sentence.)

Turn right side out and stuff (we already had 20" square pillow inserts). Make sure to karate chop the pillow before you photograph it.

It will make you happy, I promise.

[The middle pillow is made from a place mat. Also for fancy people.]

The blue pillows are also made out of napkins, but no envelope covers. They are just straight up square pillows.

One helpful tip though is when you trim the excess after sewing (and you have remembered to leave a hole to stuff the fluff into) leave some of the hemmed edge of the napkin. It makes it easier to turn inside and stitch the hole closed.

Ahh....perdy ~~cheap~~ pillows.

Sharing at the Weekend Wrap Up

Mistreated Dining Room Window

2011-07-22T15:02:00.000-07:00

I'm over red. In our first house (a parsonage in Michigan) I was all about red. So much that we had the red accent wall...in our kitchen....just like everyone else.

Then we moved into our first real home (read: we actually have to pay for it and the fix stuff that breaks) I just transferred the red curtains from casa #1 to casa #2. And then they sat, for 3 years.

Well I'm over it baby!!!

Here is a (kinda) shot of the dining room window before. The dining room curtains is the panel on the right. The curtain on the left of the pic is in our living room, (we have an open floor plan) but those also got the boot!

And here is the window now...lurve it!

I bought two shutters from a local junk store and spray painted/distressed them.

Enter real life crafty friend: Missy. On a recent shopping expedition, we hit up World Market.

She told me about how she just uses their printed napkins for her kitchen curtain.

Ba-rill-iant!

So I got a table runner that was on clearance (woot!) and attached it to the wall....with thumbtacks.

Well hello new mistreated curtains!

Mistreatment:[mis'treet-ment]-noun.

1. A window treatment made all wrong. No perfect sewing, lining, interfacing, or measuring allowed.

2. Fabric that makes you happy and whatever method of attachment you prefer: tacks, hot glue, ring clips, upholstery tacks, whatevs.

Yay! Now go mistreat something...

But not an animal.

Jell-O Popcorn

2011-07-21T20:50:00.000-07:00

Hey kids, its snack time (my favorite time besides craft and nap time).

Today's snack: Jell-o popcorn.

Candied popcorn...in my in un-Marthaed kitchen?

Ya huh!

Here's the cast of characters

8 cups popped popcorn

3 Tbsp light corn syrup

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter or margarine

1/2 cup sugar

1 pkg. Jell-o

I used sugar free Jell-o cause thats what was in my pantry yo. And if I were going to do it again.....I would buy sugar free. For some reason it makes you feel better when you're adding all the other sugars in there!

By the way, here's my trick for plain ol' popcorn. No oil needed!

Put a handful of kernels in a brown paper bag. Roll the top down. Nuke it til you hear the popping 1-2 seconds apart.

Thats it!

note: LOOSELY roll the top down of your paper bag. If you roll it too tight, steam can't get out and the bag will start to burn!!!

Yum right? Just you wait....

Place butter and corn syrup in small saucepan; cook on low heat until butter is melted. Add sugar and Jell-o; stir until Jello-o is completely dissolved. Bring to boil on medium heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer 5 minutes (stirring frequently)

Mmmm candied goodness.

Drizzle over popcorn and spread onto baking sheet. (I wrapped mine in foil and greased it. DO IT!)

Bake 10 minutes at 300 degrees. But watch it! This can go from very good to very sad, very quickly.

And thats today's snack time kids. Enjoy!

Sharing at the Weekend Wrap Up

Dining Room Virtual Design Consultation

2011-06-09T12:15:00.000-07:00

I just can't help myself! This virtural design stuff is shweet! Its like shopping with other peoples monopoly money.

(I used to steal money when I played Monopoly...because I hate that game. But not as much as I hate losing.)

Here's another virtual design consultation for my college roomie, Joanna. aka...Helpy Helperton

(a bajillion points if you can name the movie Helpy Helperton came from!)

move your mouse on and off the photo to see the makeover

By painting the brick, the back of the fireplace is no longer the focal point of the room. Slipcovers over parsons chairs from Pier1 give Jo the pop of color she is looking for while having the option to change her style (and wash them after sweet Lily eats her PB&J's on them!)

The table was also from Pier1 but could be an easy make over from a Craigslist find to keep the budget happy.

Another great DIY project is to cover over the mantle (see far right of photo). By using reclaimed wood to make a box to slide over the mantle, a semi permanent and minimal cost change would make the mantle more substantial in the face of the humungo fireplace.

The "eat" sign is an adorable (and easy DIY) project. This particular one I found on etsy. (A fantastic shopping place for all you crafty lovers but not do-ers!)

The pendant light in linen is something I'm currently crushing on. As well as the globe, vintage books (both on the mantle) and the old crate housing succulents (top of the cabinets).

Oh and the cabinets? Great for storage but by either painting the hinges white or changing them to the inside the door kind, they would lose their prominence.

Also those blue milk glass knobs on the cabinet? An unexpected way to incorporate the blue Jo was looking for!

I may have to get some of those knobs for myself. With real money, not my stolen monopoly loot!

Word Sister!

2011-06-08T08:03:00.000-07:00

We threw caution (and my neurosis) to the wind last night and took our kids swimming until 10:30...pm

Then after the pool, we took them out for hot fudge sundaes. Once you have a 5 and 3 year old up til 10:30, staying up til 11 for some ice cream doesn't really make that much of a difference. But some great memories were made.

not my photo, but this is own community pool

I am incapable of making the news anchor-ish segways to my next topic, but I promise this was semi related.

A repost at a fantastic blog called Gypsy-Momma: You are more than your swim suit

Love it.

Run over check it out!

Because I love my friends...and shopping...and coffee

2011-06-07T09:54:00.000-07:00

I have a friend who I love more than my luggage (extra cup of coffee for you if you can name that movie!)

She asked me if I would give her a hand with a little redecorating in their living room this summer. She was wanting to try to lighten it up.

They haven't done much in terms of painting and personalizing their home since they bought it almost 2 years ago. So its time to make it theirs...

And excuse to go shopping with a friend for a day!? I'm in.

So I drew up a little inspiration board for Shelley to get inside my head...

Move your mouse on and off the photo to see the change (read: jump into my brain)

Keeping the major furniture (which is perfectly fine!) gives us more wiggle room in the budget for the accessories.

White beadboard on the bottom half of the already existing chair rail will help to lighten up the previous owners paint job. A big natural rug will help lighten, and still define the space.

White curtains instead of the current ones that blend directly into the wall. As well as lighter, drum shaped, lampshades.

A bench under the window can serve dual purpose as toy storage as well as bring more color into the room.

A big mirror over the couch will help bounce light around the room and make it feel a little better. Plus Kyle can make sure he looks just right before leaving for work! :)

Ode to Summer

2011-06-03T17:37:00.000-07:00

Today was the definition of summer day.

I loved watching this out my window...

Graham is in a baseball phase. The batting helmet is a hand me down from our niece (Thanks Kait) and it is by FAR his favorite accessory....yes my 3 year old son likes to accessorize.

I got to play around with my (only) willing model. My sweets, Anna.

It doesn't hurt that I bribe her with accessories either! :)

We ate this for dinner while my husband professed his love for another woman. But its ok, because I love her too!

If you ever feel like rocking your family's faces off. Make them this burger. I promise. (Ok, well our kids had the usual fixins but their faces were still rocked off.)

And over dinner we discussed this

and then I got sad thinking that my summers with them are numbered.

So now I wait, for my family to return home from the baseball game so we can enjoy our lemonade cupcakes.

Thank you Wal Mart bakery for letting me suck at baking but still make great memories!

Herald Introduction

2011-05-30T11:51:00.000-07:00

My husband started a new job this week as the campus youth pastor at Orchardville Church (Centralia branch). We got to meet the students last night for our first night of Modified Youth!

Here is the video we showed by way of introduction to the ridiculousness that is our family!

Dessert, Bedrooms, and UPS

2011-05-26T08:48:00.000-07:00

Lets have dessert first, shall we? Thats kind of how I roll anyways.

I'm in the midst of redoing our master disaster, but I'm just too excited not to go ahead and jump right to the best part (the dessert if you will).

How "in the midst of this redo am I" you ask? Well I have 3 walls painted and one of two windows dressed. Guess whats on my to do list for today.

So lets talk about dessert. I've had my eye on Ana White's farmhouse bed since Christmas. Adam even gave me a pink tool belt for Christmas to dive into this project. Woot! The only problem was, I've never built anything.

Well...thats not true, in 7th grade I built a model suspension bridge out of scraps.

Don't be impressed...it sucked.

My parents came out from Boston last week to visit (read:came to see the kids) and my Dad came with his work boots and back belt (how many of you just read that as BLACK belt and not BACK belt? Yeah...he is a ninja, but he's also prone to throwing out is back). Its almost like he knows me or something. So I showed him the plans and we were off!

Shweet pink tool belt huh? I pretty much used it to hold my cell phone and nails because thats still how I roll.

Project total came in around $170. Not too bad considering its a SOLID.WOOD.BED. This thing is a beast. And I love it!

Shout out to my Momma too for sewing the bolster pillow cover for the new bed while we were working.

The before shot of our bed is ridiculous. It reminds me of UPS, "what can brown do for you?"

Well, brown can show us some detail on that bed finish...take it away UPS!

Two coats of primer + one of white semigloss + sanding + chocolate brown glaze + one coat of Minwax polycoat = love

There is still more to come, nightstands to refinish, walls to decorate (including some jewelry storage ideas and photo displays) and....painting the other 1.5 walls.

Put A Bird On It

2011-05-05T15:37:00.000-07:00

Nailed it.

Lamp Shade via My Super Powers

2011-04-27T14:21:00.000-07:00

So I've discovered something great recently. The best place to buy junk is at antique stores and the best place to buy antiques are at junk stores.

Its brilliant really. The junkin stores don't know an antique when they have them, and the antiques just want to get rid of the junk because its taking up precious antique space.

So where'd I get this fine piece o' junk? At an antique store of course!

2 dolla....holla!

I wasn't really diggin' the vinyl wrapped shade though.

No problems. Just started ripping. See the fine craftmanship below? You can tell how long it took me to deconstruct this. Like .04 seconds!

I toyed with the idea of just leaving the metal frame as is on my lamp. But then I got all motherly and concerned about little fingers touching heated metal. I know....touching.

So I took a piece of burlap from my stash and traced out (with sidewalk chalk) the "rolling pattern" that my shade made.

Yep, sidewalk chalk. I've also been known to write a grocery list with crayon a time or two.

Cut and glue. If you have a finished edge (see the left side of the photo above) use that to your advantage. I used that as the top overlapping layer because it looked better.

Just work quickly gluing the burlap with your hot glue.

The burns were worth it. Actually, its like a guitar player...the more you do it, the less it hurts.

Touching hot glue with bare hands is like my super power now.

Happy Easter

2011-04-25T12:24:00.000-07:00

With 3 weeks left to this semester, my brain is gearing up with lots of great projects for the summer!

Thanks for hanging with me as the blog gets put on the back burner to my education.

Priorities. Sheesh!

Hope you all had a great Easter weekend.

Just because He rose yesterday, doesn't mean you should stop living it today!

Peer into Pier 1

2011-04-14T07:01:00.001-07:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Pier 1 for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

I have an announcement to make::deep breath::I am unoriginal

Its true. However, I have always been more than willing to give credit for my inspiration.

And am proud of the fact that I like to try to do it cheaper. Heh.

So I took some inspiration photos from the 'ol archive and since the new outdoor furniture has arrived at Pier 1, I decided to window shop with them to see how I could do it better, cuter, and cheaper.

Thats right, Pier1, the inventors of the papasan chair. Personally, it evokes thoughts of 1992, but not anymore. They've revamped her. Yes...papasan is a her.

Anywho...

Photo #1

source

Love the neutral room that you can summerfy by adding some pops of color.

Enter Pier One

Way cute, no? Plus this Outdoor Kaeden pillow would weather better than my other indoor pillows.

Resistant to rain outside, juice cups and dog/child drool inside.

Yes please.

Photo #2

source

looooove these statement chairs indoors! (Heller...my birthday is Thursday, just sayin) Where could a husband find such a wonderful statement chair for said wife? That'd be Pier 1

Jardin de Marie chair is my new lova lova.

One problem that we have in our house is that there is never enough seating. How great would it be to have outdoor furniture that looks just as stunning indoors?!

Join other bloggers and tweeters for the upcoming Pier 1 Tweet Ups!

Dallas: March 22th

Atlanta: April 5th

NYC: April 20th

Pier 1 Tweetups

Botox for Your Couch

2011-03-21T14:14:00.000-07:00

We love having people in our home.

Every Sunday night, we have our youth group over for small groups.

Love them.

But some of these...

combined with the damage that comes naturally from two kids, a husband and a...

our couch was looking pretty sad.

(Yes, I was half way into this project when I decided to blog about it. Blogging foul.)

Look at those back cushions! Can you say, emaciation!?

So while the cushion covers were in the wash, I decided to get a little MacGuyver-y and fix those wasted cushions!

1. Take some toss pillows that you were planning on clearing off the couch for the spring and summer to "lighten" it up a bit. Like these bad guys. And also the pillows that came with the couch ::cough oneyearago cough:: that you've never liked

2. unzip the bottoms of the cushions and stuff-and-fluff

Its like Botox for your couch!

Without any of those face numbing side effects (think: Tim Allen in 'Christmas with the Kranks')

Before

After

3. For an extra little sumin' sumin', I sprayed each foam cushion with Febreze before I recovered them. Let it dry, and rubbed carpet powder into each cushion. Then recovered. Now every time someone sits down, you get a whiff of Spring Rain....its glorious.

Thoughts on Faith and Home

2011-03-14T09:26:00.000-07:00

I take my home seriously. This blog is an opportunity to share my passion.

Some people think that decorating and crafting are just hobbies. But to me they are more.

It is my attempt to be a good steward of what God has given me.

It is my attempt to be a blessing to my family.

My ministry to them, if you will.

To give them a place to feel proud of.
...be sad to leave and excited to come back to.
...and a place to make others feel welcomed and wanted in.

Thats what our home is all about.

But sometimes, like this week, that all seems so insignificant.

I have a home. Two healthy children. A husband who loves me more than I can comprehend.

I have seen the photos and footage of the devastation in Japan. But none of them spoke to my heart like this one.

I know God has been pressing on our family's heart that His plan is so much more for us. As comfortable as I've made my home, He does not intend for us to stay comfortable.

I just read a Joyce Meyer quote via Twitter this morning:

Please don't ask God for something else if you are already griping about what you've got.

So I publicly release my comfort, my home, and my personal desires.

I cling tight to my family and God's claim for my life.

Matthew 10 has been speaking to my heart this weekend. I want to share a small portion of that with you:

You have been treated generously, so live generously. Don't think you have to put on a fund-raising campaign before you start. You don't need a lot of equipment. You are the equipment, and all you need to keep that going is three meals a day.

The blog is not going anywhere, and I am still trucking along in my last year in school, but I do know that He hasn't called me, or any of us, to be comfortable.

...and please pray for Japan as you cling tightly to what He has blessed you with.

Maw Maw's Carmel Rolls

2011-03-12T08:13:00.000-08:00

I rarely post recipes and the like because I'm not-so-much the baker.

Cooking I can handle cause I can mess with the recipe and adjust flavors as I go.

Baking? Thats a whole 'nother story because the oven is so....final.

Once you put that sucker in the oven to bake, there is no turning back.

I'm also not the greatest when it comes to reading directions.

And not to mention my aversion to measuring things. I like to eyeball stuff.

With that said, here is a little treat that looks a lot more complicated than it is.

This recipe comes from my mother-in-law, she makes it every Christmas morning.

I make it because its Saturday, and I'll be wearing sweats all day anyways so the sugar:butter ratio doesn't matter.

Enough with the rambling, here my friends, is

Maw Maw's Carmel Rolls:

1 stick butter

3/4 c brown sugar

3/4 tsp cinnamon

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1 box butterscotch pudding (the cook and serve one-not instant!)

1 bag of frozen dinner rolls (I use Rhodes pkg of 36 rolls, I only put like 30 in)

The night before: Spray bundt pan with cooking spray, more the better. Fill pan (about 1/2 way) with frozen dinner rolls. Sprinkle butterscotch pudding powder over the rolls (straight from the box baby- no measuring required!) Melt butter in a saucepan. Add brown sugar and bring to boil. Stir in cinnamon, and pecans. Pour butter mixture over rolls. Cover with foil (that has also been sprayed!) Place bundt pan on a baking sheet to catch the drips. Go to bed.

The next morning: bake at 350 for 30 min with the foil on.

If you have occasional moments of genius as I sometimes do, set your oven to self start and finish by 8 am. Wake up to the smell of ooey gooey rolls. Do a happy dance as you brush your teeth. Start the coffee. Consume. Repeat as desired.

Butterfly Effect

2011-03-11T15:02:00.000-08:00

I may or may not have gone to the thrift store multiple times this week.

I'm on spring break. Thrift stores are my Cancun.

Anyways, I didn't really know what I wanted to do with this $3 baby, but I did know that I always love me a nice chunky frame. And this guy is heavy...remember that for later...

so a quick paint job and some accessorizing, I have a new spot in my bathroom that I absolutely love!

Isn't is cute in its new home above my toilet?

Wednesday night it was not above the toilet

it was hanging by the door (the entire shelf).

Did you know that a bathroom door slammed by a 3 year old can generate enough wind to knock accessories off a floating shelf?

(Kinda sounds like the "butterfly flaps it wings" thing doesn't it?!?)

Well it does, and 3 year olds are not very good at catching.

Thats my 3 year old's head. With 2 staples, medical ones....not a DIY project!

So moral of the story is sometimes you have to test drive your decor before you let the natives loose in the room!

Awesomer Bathroom

2011-03-11T09:35:00.000-08:00

Just a quick before and after to show you the power of accessories.

The photo to the left is when we first moved in 3 years ago.

1 trip to Kohl's and $60 later, its like a whole new bathroom.

An awesomer, brighter bathroom.

Thats right...I said awesomer.

Pennant Wall Art

2011-03-04T18:53:00.000-08:00

The gallery wall is finally complete!

Check out from whence it came here (is that how you say it!? I'm notorious for getting cliches wrong!)

Next up in the hallway art is my favorite piece

well, besides the ones of my children's heads.

And if you missed a few posts, they're not actually my children's heads. They are silhouettes.

No need to alert the authorities.

A lot of the things I do have been inspired by other projects I've seen.

I'm proud to say that this one I dreamt up while trying to figure out how to fill that last frame!

1. Cut triangles out of cardboard. (I forget what type of triangles, geometry was so long ago!)

These will be your pennants. The number and size you cut will depend on what size frame you're using.

2. Cut scraps of leftover fabric, enough to cover the front and wrap around the backs of the pennants.

3. Run a thin strip of hot glue along the top of the pennant, fold your fabric over and press.

4. Wrap the sides like you would a gift. Tuck and fold baby, tuck and fold.

5. Trim away the excess. The back doesn't have to be pretty, it'll be attached to your background.

6. Flip, admire, and repeat.

7. I used just the frame. No glass, no backing. So laid the ribbon for my pennant across the front, then I hot glued some fabric pulled taut for my background. Then just glue a ribbon across the back to hang the frame from!

Incase you didn't know this, I love my hot glue gun!

8. Glue each pennant flag to your background. Then manipulate the ribbon to get the curve and attach the ribbon to the tops of each flag.

Tip: start from the middle and work your way out, just eyeball it. Even shmeven.

The last one is done!

Here's the final product(s)!

Sorry about the wocky angle, you can only press your back against a wall so much!

Gallery Wall Silhouette

2011-02-27T19:59:00.000-08:00

When I revealed our gallery wall in the hallway I had two empty frames.

Well nekkid no more!

Here's an art project for our first lil nudie...

This is another silhouette (because I love them) and it was done the same way I did the silhouettes of the kids. Google and all.

1. Google whatever silhouette image you desire, for our dog Braylin I searched "labrador silhouette"...because she's a labrador and all

2. Print and cut

3. Place your image onto a piece of black cardstock

4. Trace and cut

For the look I was wanting, I wanted the "matting" for my frame to match the actual matting that was used for the silhouettes of the bambinos. So...

5. Cut white cardstock to fit your frame, and then another piece just large enough to fit your silhouette.

6. Cut black cardstock about 1/4" larger than your smallest white piece

7. Layer and compare to your subject

See!? I just got a google image and saved so much time and frustration!

Can you imagine trying to get a big dopey dog to stand still long enough to get the perfect photo needed to make a silhouette!? I'll pass.

One nekkid frame down. One more to go!

Adelyn's Story

2011-02-22T08:28:00.000-08:00

This post is totally unrelated to design. Sometimes (ok....a lot of times) there are things in life that are far more important than getting our crafts on:

Ever heard of Dandy Walker Syndrome? How about Cortical Vision Impairment? No? Me neither.

Until our dear friends sweet baby was born a little over a year ago with Dandy Walker and CVI.

source

My husband had the privilege of sharing Adelyn's story in his message this past Sunday.

Please check out Adelyn's Story on Youtube.

And pray....because we have front row seats to the miracle God is performing in Adelyn's life!

Hall Wall (why do I always want my post titles to rhyme?!?)

2011-02-12T07:40:00.000-08:00

So I mentioned before that I was crushin' on Sandra's home tour at Sawdust and Paperscraps.

Here is one of my favorite photos

(pulled straight from my "Inspiration" photo folder in our photo program.)

I highly recommend everyone has one.

::stepping off my soap box now::

Is it not absolutely fantastic!? I love gallery walls but sometimes they look too busy. Instant solution to the business is to have frames that are all the same (or 3) colors.

Genius.

So here's what I had to work with.

A snoozer hallway which leads into our shweet foyer

So I measured out what space I'd have to work with on the wall and recreated that space on the floor with masking tape.

Then grabbed every empty (or with a photo but siting in a closet) frame I owned

Just start messing around with it!

Taking photos of each layout helped so much because then I could flip back through them to see which one I liked better. I have about 40 more....but I'll spare you with just one more option....

Then OCD me made a color plan before I started painting my frames. (And if you're super observant, you'll notice that I made a change even after I made my "map")

And here we are today!

I framed more than just photos.

Sea life corpses (ha...thats my starfish)

Quotes I love

Silohuettes of people I love (more on that later!)

and scrapbooking embellishments (the one I used says "Love")

yeah...we're kind of fond of love around here...

And if you're wondering the quote says

"I've fallen in love many times...always with you."

Oh yes, and a plate. Because its cute, and I can.

Notice that I have two empty frames? Thats because I'm brewing up two more craftastic things to do in those and share tutorials with you guys.

Because thats how I roll.

Life is hard...get a helmet

2011-02-11T09:02:00.000-08:00

When I decided to go back to school for nursing people would say, "Wow, I've heard thats really hard. But you can do it, I'm sure you'll do great."

After I was accepted into the program (a year of pre reqs later) and was well underway they would say, "I don't know how you're doing it all, but I'm sure you'll do great."

And now that I'm in my last year, I'm starting to understand what they were talking about.

Its hard...like wicked hard!

Not that I'm complaining, because I absolutely love nursing. But all this to say, I can't do it all.

So for our new followers (which I'm soooo excited about) I would like to say, hang in there. Please.

I have read several places that to have a successful blog, you should make at least 3 posts per week.

Yowzers.

I feel lucky if I get to shower 3 times a week.

I kid.

I have projects in the works, they just take longer to complete. We'll still be gettin crafty, but just think of it as a retirement home craft blog. Slow and steady. Ha!

But please stick it out, I promise I'm still here, and love you all!

So I would like to leave you with a blog that I've been oogling over, as well as a new blog.

Ooogle with me: Sandra at Sawdust and Paperscraps has been featuring her home tour.

One room per day.

She builds everything...EVERYTHING herself!

Kind of like a blonde Rosie the Riveter.

I had to play catch up today, but her before and afters are AMAZING. Check it out!

And the newbie blog: a shout out to the hubs.

He started a blog...like...yesterday. Its not design and craftiness, its inspiration and godliness.

Check out Procrastinating Tomorrow. It kinda rocks.

So do me a solid and pop by, leave him a comment, and tell him his hott wife sent ya!?

You guys are the best!

Now taking requests!

2011-02-07T14:55:00.000-08:00

I got an email from a reader today asking if I could add the option to receive new Percolating Posts to her inbox.

Wish granted.

So if you're ever so inclined to jump in on this madness, sign up!

(The box aaaaaallllllll the way at the bottom of the page)

I love getting feedback. If there is anything else that you think would make Percolating Projects a better place, PLEASE shout out!

And one more thing (because I believe its a crime to have a post without a photo...)

Happy Birthday to my sweet Princess. 5 years old makes Mommy feel old....and like she should stop eating french fries because as age goes up, metabolism slows down.

Dang.

Superbowl...my way

2011-02-05T14:07:00.000-08:00

Check out this super cute post by Ashley at 7th house on the left

Lets be honest, how many of us will attend Superbowl parties this weekend even though we don't really care?

Well I do care... about 3 things:

Socializing

Food

Commercials

But if it were my world (because its not...shocking I know) this would be my Superbowl.

Green Bay Packers

vs the Pittsburg Steelers

Who wins in your book?

.......

And even though they blew it, I'm still rootin' for the New England Patriots

source

Foyer Reveal!

2011-01-27T13:26:00.000-08:00

Remember when I talked about the hideousness that was our foyer?

Well hideous no more!

I teased you a few posts ago about the big reveal to come.

Well today is the day! (Mostly because the sun FINALLY came out so I could get some decent shots)

Lucky you huh?

(Maybe its lucky me because I'm pretty sure I'm beginning to suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder...along with 75% of the country!)

Lets travel back in time and look at what we started out with.

Yes, this was started Once Upon A Time ago in December. Hence the garland. Love Christmas and all, but come Dec 26th....that stuff is dooooown!

One of my concerns in knocking down the spindles that served no purpose, was wondering if the pattern on our textured ceiling was continued under the wood on the ceiling.

But my friend Travis was not as concerned. He had an idea. And I was in "go with the flow" mode!

See that GIANT plank o' wood!? That was the plan. We got that to put up on the ceiling just incase it was smooth in those two spots where the spindles connected.

Guess what...we didn't need to, but we did it anyways.

Mostly because we worked our butts off trying to fit that piece of wood in my minivan!

I love it.

Then we started hanging thin sheets of plywood on the top half of the paneling. I had toyed with the idea of filling in the grooves, but I wasn't confident in a solution that wouldn't shrink and eventually crack.

For those of you wondering why I didn't take the paneling down: there was no drywall behind it.

Fabulous.

I'm not a drywaller...thus liquid and finishing nails are now holding plywood up in my foyer!

Next step was to sand. I guess it would've been much more tedious without the palm sander.

I love tools.

Then some chair rail to make it look....well...nice

See!? Nice?

Then I primed, and primed, and primed some more.

(note: I seriously considered not putting this photo in. The priming didn't start til the next morning. Straight out of bed, straight to work. Thank you 5 year old for snapping this photo)

But I'm a team player....and this is the only photo I have of the primed foyer.

Then, I painted

Ack! I hated it. Its not a terrible color, but it just looked too nursery. See the plate on the wall to the right? That was more what I had envisioned. And believe it or not, more what the paint chip I chose looked like!? How the heck does that happen!?!?

So I started playing around with paint that I already had on hand. I loooove the color so much now! Unfortunately, since it was a mix, I have no recipe for it. (I did, however, paint an index card to use as reference for future purposes. I keep it in my wallet....because in a locket around my neck would probably be too weird.)

Muuuch better!

It changes from a blue to a grey color in the evening. Shnazzy!

The closet looks a million times better. The white porcelain knobs came from Hobby Lobby.

This is my favorite spot. The key bowl, window photo frame, and topiary. All on top of my made over cabinet. (Be on the lookout for that post!)

Love them all!

Lets see a side by side, shall we?

So there we have it. For about $100 I now have a foyer that I love.

And no longer crop out of photos.

Ch ch changes!

2011-01-26T18:58:00.000-08:00

Happy:

Figuring out how to make changes to the blog.

New commenting format.

Now I can reply to your individual comments and not feel like a snot for leaving ya hangin!

Now you can share and "like" posts via Facebook or Twitter

Unhappy:

Deleting Every.Single.Comment.Ever.

Kind of a punch in the gut!

But I can assure you that I, along with every other blogger, read all your comments, they make us smile.

Kind of give us a reason to blab like we do!

So thanks for all the comments. ever. They meant a lot.....even though I just deleted them all.

Shoot.

Cheap and Indecisive

2011-01-26T08:50:00.000-08:00

Has anyone ever heard of Home Reserve? I heard about it a few months ago from another blogger.

I've been looking for a chair to use in our master bedroom makeover. But I'm wanting options. Options people! Fabric, shape, legs, oh....and price. Ha!

The whole concept with the Home Reserve stuff is you pick your shape, and fabric, and then they ship it to you and you assemble it yourselves. Kind of like Ikea, but even cheaper (if you can believe it!) Their chairs start at $179

But I'm a skeptic. I'm not so sure that it would be that comfortable. Or look as good in person as it does online.

They look pretty cool online though!

If nothing else, it was fun playing around online and looking at their stuff.

Gave me some great ideas.

My question is though: has anybody ordered anything through them? Comfortable? Sturdy?

Sometimes you get what you pay for, so who knows!

But I'm also loving the slipper chairs from Target. Those babies start at $209.

I'd LOVE any input you guys have!

Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with Home Reserve. This is just girl talk. Trying to shop around and see what works for you. I have not been contacted by this company to discuss their products.

Rainbow Bookshelf

2011-01-25T12:20:00.000-08:00

So this afternoon, after I returned home from a class of a jam packed lecture (and a hand cramp)

I discovered that the kids emptied their bookshelf....Completely.

Awesome.

I literally had on my "to do" list this week to reorganize the bookshelf.

Sometime opportunity presents itself via a naughty 3 year old.

It literally took 20 min (including making my "trash" and "donate" piles).

Then I sorted the books by the color of the binding.

Little work, high impact.

My kind of afternoon.

And for anyone concerned with trying to enforce your OCD tendencies onto your children, look at it as a teaching opportunity.

We've already had our discussion about the "rainbow bookshelf", all of the colors, and where each books now belong.

And I'm not the only one to do this... check out these puppies

source

Of course I'm not holding my breath for this to last that long.

But its looks pretty darned good.....for now!

Capiz Shell Chandy

2011-01-20T12:43:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite tips to share with friends or random-strangers-not-seeking-design-advice is to start a folder of inspirational photos (either electronic or from trees).

I have a folder in iPhoto labeled "Ideas and Inspiration". At the moment it contains 82 photos. And I have yet to share one with you!

For Inspiration that requires more than just a photo to jog the memory, I use delicious. Its basically an internet based bookmark site so you can access your bookmarks from anywhere! (Anywhere? Yes, anywhere!)

I don't even want to count how many things I've "dog eared" there and have yet to share with my followers!

Tsk. Tsk.

So I resolve to start sharing more blogosphere eye candy with you all!

First up...

What do you get when you breed an old fan and capiz shell curtain?!

This!

What the whaaat?!

Awesome job, Elle!

If you want to get the low down skinny on this baby, check her out over at Switcheroom!

Make sure you show her some comment lovin too.

Us bloggers live for the ol' comment!

Folding a fitted sheet...nerd alert

2011-01-19T08:40:00.000-08:00

Ever have one of those days that you don't intend to be productive?

At least in the home sense.

Well thats what happened to me yesterday, until I watched this...

then I thought about this

::groan::sigh::wail::gnash teeth::

Pretty horrific, isn't it? I assure you my house is not normally like this.

Maybe my house doesn't get like this because my closets are.

Hmmmmm...

anywho, so I decided I should probably get on that and all.

Best way to clean something...empty it out, COMPLETELY.

Then I took all the stuff and sorted it into piles.

Towels

Bedding

Donate

Destroy

This closet also doubles as my gift/craft goodies closet.

Yeah, we're gonna need a bigger house.

Then refold (the correct way)

and label....because thats how I roll.

Yeah, I used masking tape to label.

Until I discover a label maker, or a Cricut (or Silhouette!) on my front steps thats how I'm gonna roll.

Then step back and enjoy the beauty that is organized chaos.

PS. When I (proudly) showed this to my husband later that evening he said, "Yeah....I'm not gonna be putting towels away cause I don't want to mess that up."

Nice Try, Love.

How to convince your husband the door on the wall is cool...

2011-01-17T08:40:00.000-08:00

This post really serves no purpose other than to show that even husbands can enjoy interior design

....in their own special way.

Just give them the kid's "Cuponk" game that they got for Christmas (Cup + Ping pong ball)

and permission to bounce the ball off of anything (because you're a skeptic)

and they're entertained FOR-EV-ER

This terrible low quality film was taken with my phone. Sorry peeps!

Christmas, Bedrooms, and a Sneak Peek!

2011-01-07T12:40:00.000-08:00

I've had master bedrooms on the brain lately. Normally as I move from project to project, I eat sleep and breathe the room that I'm currently on.

Normally. (More on that later)

Well as I've been collecting pieces to start our master bedroom makeover, I've kept an eye peeled for great inspiration. Lets start with the most important part of the bedroom. Ahh....the bed?!

Check out CSN's Modern Duvet Covers. Please tell me I'm not the only one who loves and unmade-ish bed?!

Surfing around there I found some great inspiration to make...err....unmake a bed.

I already told you about my plan for the bedroom here.

Well I can tell you that Santa was a rockstar this year.

(Ok, ok, lets give the man props. Husband...you did AWESOME!)

He got the lamps and even picked lampshades himself. (Successfully might I add!)

He also got me a pink tool belt and tape measure from Tomboy tools that we will use when we make our

FARMHOUSE BED (this spring) Yaaaaaay!

My parents got us a new featherbed topper for our mattress (great...something else to make me not want to get out of bed!)

as well as a new king size down comforter.

A "quick" trip to Ikea when we were home for the holidays ended with

a new bolster pillow (50% off thankyouverymuch) and 2 new curtains.

So we're getting there. The painting and all that jazz will probably happen around Spring break.

Yep, last year of nursing school. Last year of planning projects around class and clinicals!

Woot! Woot!

So remember that exception I was talking about at the beginning of the post?! (Me neither...the "I normally focus on one room at a time kind of deal") Here's a confession to my

Makeover ADD

I've just (almost) finished a MAJOR project in our dark dungeon-y foyer. (Check out the ugly here!) Just trim and a new light switch plate to go. (Which of course is not an easy plate to find!) So the final reveal and behind the scene breakdown will have to wait.

But because you guys are all so great...I'll sneak peak ya.

Trust me....its loverly!

Boston Blizzards

2010-12-27T12:44:00.000-08:00

While we're still enjoying some time away, I wanted to leave you all with some photos of what was left for us!

Better than a Christmas gift, we got a blizzard.

Big time!

My poor Dad had to work today. Despite the storm.

According to my Boston photos thus far, it looks like I don't have a Dad.

I promise I do.

Meanwhile

my hunny was hard at work around my parent's house...

and I was busy trying to convince the kids that it IS fun to play in the snow.

how'm I doing?

Once my Mom instigated a snowball fight with the kids, they were all in.

Hustle and Bustle

2010-12-24T09:32:00.000-08:00

I hope you're all enjoying your holiday as much as we are!

We flew out to Boston on Tuesday and have been running non stop since.

Wednesday my Mom and I went to see the Rockettes.

Awwwwwesome!

It was so much fun to head downtown for a girls day out. Just the two of us.

Later that night we did a gingerbread house with the kids.

My Mom bought the nekkid house at Ginger Betty's.

(Brilliant I tell you. I sweat the worst part of gingerbread houses is

making the darn thing "structurally sound")

The only rule my Mother gave me was to let my kids do whatever they wanted.

Going for Grandmother of the year I suppose.

Fun and a little traumatizing for a slightly OCD Momma like me.

Thursday was busy with hustle and bustle.

Shopping

Baking

Wrapping

yeah, what everyone else was doing Thursday

Cake Mix Cookies with Eggnog Drizzle

Brownie Covered Oreos from Picky Palate

I hope you're enjoying time off with your loved ones.

Friends, family, friends that are like family.

Someone.

Just remember the reason we celebrate.

Not the hustle and bustle

Or the bomb food.

But the baby.

And the gift we have because of Him.

Christmas Tour of Homes 2010

2010-12-13T06:59:00.000-08:00

Its time to link up and share some of our Christmasy decor @

and

And if you like peeking in complete strangers homes as much as I do,

you should head over to check out some of the other ~~participants?~~, ~~participators?,~~ ~~playingalongers?~~ people

Some of this stuff you've already seen before in some of my pre-tour projects.

Oh well, whatchagonnado?

Here is our cute little tree. We're trying to stay simple this year because we won't actually be here for Christmas.

(Bend knee up and pull elbow into body)Yessssssssssssssssssssss

So we used our regular faux tree and just put up the middle and top.

We're cheaters.

But I still wanted something live, so I found a cool little pewter ice bucket at an antique store near my in laws and planted a rosemary plant (from Lowes). Easypeasy.

The "new" door

With my quickie little wreath that I made.

I <3 my hot glue gun.

This has to be the best part. My kids (3 and 4) are convinced this is the key santa needs to get in the house because we don't have a chimney.

I never thought I'd enjoy not having a fireplace.

Ok, good feeling gone.

I think this is my favorite spot. My first (and probably only) chair makeover with pretty much all made over/repurposed stuff:

Chair

End Table

Pillow

My favorite thrifting find as of late...shweet mercury ornaments...for a buck and the 3 tiered wire stand that I may or may not have RUN to when I saw across the aisle. 3 bucks. Hollllllah!

My superfantastic Mom sent me out those two mercury glass trees from Homegoods.

They survived the USPS from Boston to Illinois.

Uninsured, unharmed.

Yeah, she's a ninja.

Looooove them! (The mercury ball(?) orb(?) is also from Homegoods. I picked it up this summer)

I mixed some mini Target glitter ornaments (from the $1 bin) with some misc. beach stuff I've collected from my trips back home. See that sand dollar? Yeah, we found a tide pool FULL of them last summer. Crazy right?! (I should've grabbed more, but I felt bad, them being alive and all. So I only murdered one.)

Yard sale-ed wire basket from this summer .50

Ahhhh, I miss yard saleing already.

And sometimes you have to decorate random things.

Like the menu board.

Looks like we're eating snow this week.

Don't worry Mom, we'll steer clear of the yellow.

Or the bathroom.

Thanks for stopping by!

Door Bore No More

2010-12-06T14:37:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago I woke up and decided that I didn't like the blue front door that came with our house.

I do that from time to time you know.

Good thing I had a small can of black paint lying around.

Oh, and a can of chrome spray paint. Can't go about painting doors and leave hardware feeling all left out!

Before

During. Yes, don't judge. I didn't remove the hardware. This was a quickie. And you know what?! Worked just as well to tape it off and spray!

A few days later I decided my little door makeover needed some accessorizing. So I grabbed the bathroom stool to sit on and a pack of these

10 minutes later (and a change of seasonal decor) I had this

Nice quickie huh!? The best part is, you can completely wipe it off (I used a diaper wipe) and start over.

Or change your message for the holiday.

Kind of like this

(pottery barn)

My Glass vs. Mercury Glass

2010-11-30T11:56:00.000-08:00

Anyone else getting the mercury glass itch this year?

(Maybe it was last year's itch and I'm a little slow?)

But I'm loving it this year! So I decided that if I could figure out how to DIY some mercury glass ornaments, then I could go wild and mercury everything else in my house! So here was the trial run...

Get some of these...

and a can of this

oh...and a

full of water. Easy enough.

Ok, well the Looking Glass spray paint by Krylon was a little tough to find. But its worth it! I tried it with their chrome spray paint in a moment of weakness and its not the same. Persevere! Find it!

I got mine at Hobby Lobby (the second store I checked). And get a coupon. Its 11 bucks a can!

So I started with a trial on one ornament.

I started on the inside:

1 spray of the spray paint

1 spray of the water

then swirl and dump whatever excess

let it sit upside down to dry and you end up with this

liked it. Didn't love it. So then I read the directions on the ca. Ha!

It said that one side has the mirror like finish.

I looked inside the ornament. Yep...the mirror like finish was on the inside. Woops!

No biggie. It was assembly line time anyways.

So I strung up the rest of the ornaments on the frame of the swing set

(just loop the string around the top of each ornament and they'll stay put without touching each other)

Repeat the same process.

Spray with spray paint.

Squirt with water.

No swirling and dumping this time...yay!

Lets compare shall we?

A vintage mercury glass ornament I got at the thrift store (more on that later)

Then my glass ornament.

Pretty darned close!

Here's the tree all decked out!

We're doing a small tree this year because we are leaving for home (Boston) on the 21st!

*pause for happy dancing*

So there you have it. My glass vs. Mercury glass!

linking up

Consider Yourselves Warned

2010-11-25T21:08:00.000-08:00

I've been having trouble trying to come up with items for my Christmas list this year.

But I have been finding a lot of cute things on etsy and such lately.

So I thought about just telling my husband to look for some fun suff he'd think I'd like on etsy.

Dangerous choice ladies.

Here's why....

.......................................

1. The "REALLY etsy!? Really?!" Seller

Glad to see this seller didn't skimp on the label. These are genuine fruit of the loom ladies. Besides the obvious, (like you make money off of these) and the price ($12 per pair!!!!!) I would NEVER...NEVER...NEVER gift anyone a pair of STAINED underwear :)

(ok....you can groan now)

.......................................

2. The "inappropriately priced" seller.

The "Scream" meteorite, $91,101. I kid you not.

'Nuff said.

.......................................

3. The "I only appreciate crappy stuff my kids make" seller

While I can't bok at the price of this gem (.20 cents), I can at the fact that someone took the time to photograph this, sell it, and then would be willing to haul themselves to the post office to mail it.

and the piece de' resistance.....

.......................................

4. The "holy shmoly just the photo gives me the creeps" seller.

Incase you were wondering, yes this is Michael Jackson. But no, its not actual flesh. Its a leather pillow. I'm not really sure where it would go. I sure as heck wouldn't lay my head on it. Or 'toss' it on my couch (drag my couch over it to keep if from watching me sleep maybe- but 'toss' never.)

.......................................

So beware ladies.

Don't let Santa shop etsy without some guidance.

Its a scary world out there!

Crafting Itch

2010-11-24T10:18:00.000-08:00

If you are really passionate about something, you can't stay away long.

Despite my crazy school schedule, I still get the crafting itch.

Just a lil' bit.

I have to craft something...

Or I'll lose it!

So while I was sitting in one my nursing classes totally paying attention, I came up with this quickie...

This is an MDF filing cabinet that a friend gave my husband before we were married, when our house was empty...of me.

We use it now to keep important stuff in. Like tax documents. Birth and marriage certificates. Passports. Yada yada.

Like- if the house burns. Grab the cabinet (and the children)!

So I decided to pretty it up and make it flow more with the rest of the house.

So I took out the bottom cabinet and did a quick paint job.

White on bottom. Light blue on top.

Love!

(Then I did a little redecorating on top and pillow swaperooney with my pillow shmillow)

(and yeah, there is a TINY bit if Christmas decorating! Shhh!!!)

And don't worry Mom, I didn't throw the important papers away, just sorted through the junk!

Sharing at

Master Bedroom Mood Board

2010-11-08T07:54:00.001-08:00

I made my first ever mood board!

I've had all these ideas floating around my head, and it feels so good to get them out! (You think maybe I freed up some memory space!?) Wouldn't that be nice!

So here's a look at whats been going on up in ol' la cabeza...

I already have the coverlet and bedding shown here (its patiently waiting in the closet to be used in a new room!)

Quick plug for my bedding. Click that link. Go on. Click it.

See that?! $80 for the bedding? Well one Target day I strolled past the clearance and found it marked down to $20! Can you believe that!? I did a jig in the aisle for sure!

And the leaner mirror (purchased this weekend at WalMart of all places!)

I plan on asking for some of the stuff for Christmas

Hello Santa, I would love

two glass table lamps for the nightstands!

I've been REALLY good this year!

;)

I've already spied the bench @ CSN

The plans for the Farmhouse canopy bed (which will be painted black to match the bench) @ KnockOff Wood (and husband already has them printed!)

The matchstick blinds and Chandelier @ Lowes

And the curtains @ Ikea

The armoire and nightstands I plan on buying on Craigslist and DIY-ing the distressed paint job as well as the board and batten walls.

The starburst mirror? Maybe something round turned mercury glass like? I don't really need another mirror above the bed, just something to bounce some light around. Hmmm.....

This Mood board now doubles as my Christmas list! Ha!

Its a lot but definitely doable!

So what do you think!?

CraigsEasy...my new BFF

2010-11-06T09:12:00.000-07:00

I just called my Mom.

Here's how the call went...

::ring, ring::

"Hello?"

"I JUST FOUND THE BEST THING EVER AND ITS GONNA ROCK YOUR WORLD!!!"

"Ok????"

....

There was more to the conversation than that, but I'm sure it wouldn't be that interesting to you, it involved blowing leaves, painting bathrooms, and my Dad's birthday.

Alas, I digress.

So here's the best thing ever thats gonna rock your world too....

Its amazing! All you do is head over to the CraigsEasy site and follow their instructions (two steps here people!) Basically, you drag the CraigsEasy button up to your bookmarks bar. Then proceed like so...

Head over to your local Craigslist...

Type in your search item (for example, I searched "Armoire")

Then click your CraigsEasy bookmark and your search will pop up over at CraigsEasy IN ALL PHOTOS!!!

No more having to click on every.stinkin.link.

(only to find that "Armoire" is really a painted named Juan looking for gigs!)

Consider yourselves informed!

You're welcome!

PS. Just for the record, I was not asked to share this by the CraigsEasy peeps. I just love you enough to want to rock your world as well!

I've Got Problems

2010-11-03T14:33:00.000-07:00

I've got problems.

Every house does. One of our problems is 1976 is still alive and well. In our foyer.

No windows, a dark wood door (also windowless) and vast amount of wood paneling. Ack!

My thinking is that I will fill the top half of the paneling in and paint it (maybe the color of our tv wall in the living room?), put a chair rail around the middle, and paint the bottom half white. Kind of like wainscoting? Well thats the thought anyways. Except, I can't figure out how to fill in those little groves of the paneling without it looking like, well...like wood paneling that got filled in. Any suggestions for products?!

Then I could paint the cabinet (currently housing pullups) a fun color,

and add a row of hooks for the children's backpacks under the "H" frame.

What I'd really love is a new front door. With a window! Ooo, the possibilities!

Of course, the thought of installing a new front door ourselves scares me to death. What if we do a shabby job and the bad guys can just push it over and get in!? Or the snow. That would be bad as well.

If anyone has experience with covering wood paneling or installing front doors so bad guys and snow can't get in, share the knowledge!

Pillow Shmillow

2010-11-02T11:53:00.000-07:00

I thought I didn't have enough time to do it all...

Family

Church

School

....................

Youth Group

Blogging

Crafting

But then you know what I realized?! They actually exist in my life better together than apart. Because when all the items listed above makes me want to cry and rock in the fetal position, the bottom of the list helps me cope! (Ask me about coping mechanisms...go ahead, Behavioral Health Nursing classes has them DRILLED into my brain!)

So while my blogging has been hit and miss, my crafting has not. I need it. And coffee. And chocolate....oh, and Glee.

So to compromise and try to allow everything to exist in harmony, I have to adjust. So for now, my crafty goodness consists of quick projects with stuff I can easily get my mitts on. Oh and cheap! (Hello...college student crafting here!)

Here's a peek at one

I found two down pillows at our consignment store for 2 dollah (hollah!!). Since second hand pillows from a stranger gives me the complete heeby geebies, I decided to use them for throw pillows on the couch. (These were clean. Unstinky. And nicely fluffed pillows here. I'm not recommending this unless you find a dazzling white pillow that is unstinky and nicely fluffed!)

To start I figured out the size I wanted my pillow to be and shook all the feathers into one side of the pillow and sewed up the opposite end.

Then I cut the end off that I didn't want and took the pillow outside to pick out the extra feathers that were trying to escape.

I cut my fabric a little wider and twice as long (plus a few inches for overlap) than my pillow form dimensions. (Can you see how exact my measurements are here!?). Then I overlapped the pillow to make an envelope and sewed it with wrong sides together.

(and to reiterate the fact that I only use stuff thats easy to get my hands on I included this shot. I forgot to grab some pins so I used my earring to hold the fabric while I stitched.)

Turn right side out

and stuff with dazzling white pillow that is not completely disgusting but is from the second hand store.

Cute. No?

And let the record show that pretty much all I can sew is pillows. As evidenced by my couch being over taken with pillows!

It's been way THAI long

2010-09-06T10:23:00.000-07:00

I haven't felt crafty lately but I have felt homemakerly! My husband just began the RN program at our community college AND is working weekend midnights at the hospital as a phlebotomist (blood taker) so he is insanely busy. When he is actually home it is either study time or sleep time! Dinner is about the only time that we can really connect so I have made a real effort to cook every night for him.

Finding new recipes has been a LOT of fun, and a little disappointing. Made a lemon chicken the other night that we took one bite of, gave 'the look' to each other, spit it out and I went to the freezer for pizza rolls. Anyway... I'm finding some really great recipes so I'll be sharing them every once in a while with you.

Today's recipe is actually for Thai Coffee- definitely not a dinner item but who cares?! We actually had about 17 people over for breakfast this morning since Dave didn't have school today and our church family wanted to see him. We had pancakes, biscotti, fruit salad, cream cheese braid bread, and LOTS of coffee! The Thai coffee was a HUGE hit and was one of the first things to go. So here it is!

Thai Coffee- Serve hot or chilled
4 cups of brewed coffee
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
1/4 tsp cinnamon (more to your taste than actually measuring)

Mix it and DRINK UP! Seriously amazing! (just put in the fridge overnight and stir before serving if you want it cold)

Where'd July Go!?

2010-08-11T13:27:00.000-07:00

I decided to take the summer off from blogging. Cause I can.

Then I came back and blogger changed everything up on me...grrrr.

Since I don't speak html or css, we're gonna stay looking old...and lame.

So here's what July looked like for me.

First it started with some of this

And we threw in a little of this

And you KNOW I've gotta have a bunch of this

While heading here

So we could do this

and this

finally we ended all with a day of this

So what did you do on your summer break!?

Master Disaster

2010-06-08T17:39:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I decided my room needed a good cleaning. But its never enough for me to just dust and vacuum a room. No, I have to stand in the room, think about what I dislike about it, then fix it.

Bedroom dilemma? Hand-me-down furniture that dwarfs the entire room!

Free fix? Take the hutch off my dresser (which = one less thing to dust!) and move the dresser into the closet.

Of course it wasn't as easy as just dragging the beast in there myself. I had to raise the rod up 16" so our clothes wouldn't drag on top of the dresser. (See that little patch of duct tape on the wall? Ahh yeah, I've got a small repair added to the "to do" list)

I even rolled all of my husband's ties and put them in a basket that I had floating around the house.

Once again, I couldn't stop there.

I had to rearrange the whole room! My husband was so thrilled when he came home from work and I said, "Hey babe, wanna help me move the bed!?"

Thrilled I tell you.

But he did, and it looks great.

As God would have it that same day, CSN stores offered me the opportunity to do a product review.

How awesome is that?!

I'm thinking...something to get the ball rolling on this bedroom makeover!?

One thing I've always regretted in my decorating, "Not making the bedroom a priority" (Tip a la Nester)

Stay tuned!

Frugal Finds

2010-06-08T07:43:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago I headed 3 hours north to hang out with my in laws for the weekend. My sister in law is new to the world of the yummy goodness that is vintage, shabby, and antique. Wait, aren't vintage and antique the same? Or no? Anywho, we drove over the river (Mississippi that is) to Clarksville Missouri. We visited the most amazing antique mall. Ever.

(Those two are not vintage or antique, I can vouch for that)

Probably my most favorite part was their porch. It was packed with so many wonderful things. There is an old shabby bench that I looked at, walked away from, went back and looked at again. Now I'm wishing I had just gone for it! If you're ever shopping and you repeatedly hear your name from inanimate objects, you should probably just go ahead and buy them.

Inside was row after row of different shops. The thing I love about antique malls like this is if you think one is overpriced, just wander over the next partition til you find a shop that is more your price range. One thing that I don't like about antique shopping is that sometimes people thing their goods are hott stuff. So they ask an arm and a leg for them. Where as garage sales and craigslist, people are just wanting to get rid of the "junk". But Clarksville had many reasonable vendors.

We had just about lost all our steam by the time we stumbled on this part. Behind those windows are racks and racks of vintage dresses. When I say this place was huge, I kid you not!

We ended up with some really great deals. My sister in law actually out bought me this time! She's planning on sitting that galvanized tub into the chair and plant it full of succulents. My favorite find was my scale. If you actually look back a post, you can see it sitting proudly in my freshly painted kitchen.

I did some rearranging in the master bedroom yesterday and have some plans of decorating floating around in my head. But thats always the case. I'm hoping my husband suggests a trip to see his family again soon because I think I need another trip to Clarksville!

Kitchen Switchin

2010-06-07T20:03:00.000-07:00

Whenever I told someone that I was planning on repainting our kitchen cabinets they'd do the sympathetic head tilt and say, "aww good luck with that". I never quite understood why until I actually got started!

Cabinets are a beast to paint. After you take all the doors down, you have to degrease them, sand, prime, paint, hardware (I just repainted mine with Rustoleum Oil Rubbed Bronze spraypaint). Then rehang them, and touch up for the next 1,000 years of your life. But I promise the hard work pays off!!!

Here's what I had to start with(I'm just showing my favorite nook for now, more to come later)

After I took off the doors, I decided to leave the ones in the nook off. I painted the inside of the cabinets black to offset my white dishes. After several coats with a paintbrush, I was really wanting to get a smooth streakless finish on there. So I spray painted. Inside. Unventilated. Drop cloth free. I also do my own stunts. Then I woke up the next day on the kitchen floor with an empty can of spray paint in hand...kidding! I wouldn't really suggest it, but it worked perfectly. (Hows that for a disclaimer?)

I didn't even wait til the doors were hung to put my dishes in there. We got them at the Pottery Barn Outlet when we first got married. Pottery Barn, OUTLET (Best. Place. Ever.)

The doors were hung and then I started the immediate hunt for corbels, baskets, and a plate rack for my platter on top of the cabinet. I also added two more jars for our flour, and sugar. Doesn't everyone line their dog bones up with their baking goods?

I got two pine shelf brackets for $6 at Lowes and painted them the same white as the cabinets. Then...hot glued em up!

Know what else I hot glued!?

Shoe molding around the cabinets! Now where the cabinets touch the wall and soffits, there is a perfect white seam and no more of this...

Here's a before and after. (You can tell my dishwasher is full in the after shot cause we're almost out of cups...priorities people!)

Linking up!

Framed Bulletin Board

2010-06-04T08:09:00.000-07:00

So I was given (yes, G-I-V-E-N) these old beat up pieces of a frame. Can I just tell you how much I love people's trash!?

Love the decorative chunkage!

I was also given (yes G-I-V-E-N) a bulletin board. No photos there but close your eyes and imagine with me: Framed. Cork. Blah.

Of course (because I'm a Murphey's law kind girl and my toast always lands jelly side down) they were not a perfect fit. (And because I'm optomistic I call out "5 second rule!" and scrape the top layer of jelly off and then eat the toast) So I had them cut down to the correct size by my buddy and handy neighbor, Tom (he always reminds me of my Dad...or Bob Villa, but they're pretty much the same guy. Fun fact for you, my first MAJOR crush as a little girl? Bob Villa. I kid not.)

Then I painted the frame and used some DryDex spackling to fill in the gaps. (Murphey's law once again here). And yeah...I used the back side of a plastic fork to dig it out cause I'm shabby like that.

Then I took my cork and wrapped it in burlap (using my love, my hot glue gun to secure it to the back). I popped that sucker into the frame and used 4 metal plates to keep it in place.

I'm loving the distressed blue frame with that burlap covered board!

I hung it up in the dining room as a family command central.

I'm not on the lookout @ Craigslist for the perfect sofa table to put under "command central"

We've also got new white molding on the "To Do" list.

Patience young grasshopper. Patience.

Sharing the decorative chunkage at:

At peace with the piece

2010-05-13T15:33:00.000-07:00

Here's another quickie for you.

I wasn't going to change my decor over for the spring/summer because well...I'm not really sure why, I guess because I really liked what I had out. And nothing screamed "winter" to me. Except the Christmas tree. And thats down now. (Kidding! I take that sucker down as soon as my kids open the last gift!)

Apparently my subconscious decorator is warring with me because I keep making things. And they're springy/summery. So thereyougo.

Remember the topiary I did? Well I had some boxwood left over from that so I was looking for another way to use it. Enter...giant styrofoam ball

Ok, not quite that big, but it was the biggest Michaels had. And if I didn't have a coupon, I totally wouldn't have gotten it! $20 for that sucker! Good thing I only paid $10 (and since that was the total of the centerpiece, I could be at peace with that price...or piece, get it?!?)

So I went through the same process, cut off all the little branches and pop them into the ball. Then I jammed placed the ball into a basket that I shopped the house for.

Because it was a big ball it took me a while to poke em all in. Its a good tv watching project. Because I've now learned that I'm incapable of just sitting and watching a tv show (Except 24). I've got to be doing something.

I'm now thinking its time to move onto the curtains...something flowy and light???

Sunday's Coming

2010-05-12T11:30:00.000-07:00

My husband sent me this video today and it made me laugh so hard I just had to share it with you all. It has nothing to do with crafting, DIY, or even peanut butter. Its just my kind of humor.

Disclaimer: its not meant to be offensive. We're poking fun at ourselves. Besides, you can't scare me by claiming I've offended you. My husband is a minister, we probably offend someone on a daily basis. Ha!

Enjoy!

"Sunday's Coming" Movie Trailer from North Point Media on Vimeo.

PB Troubles

2010-05-04T18:31:00.000-07:00

No not Pottery Barn troubles but peanut butter. I'm serious as a heart attack yo! There was a sale at a local grocery store on Peter Pan peanut butter- the ONLY kind my husband will eat. Long story short there was a miscommunication and instead of coming home with 3 small jars of peanutty goodness, my husband came home with 6 LARGE jars of peanutty craziness!

The 6 large jars already had 2 medium sized sisters at home, and it's just Dave and I so the peanut butteriness has now overwhelmed us. I NEED RECIPES!!!!!! Please help me, because this is on my counter since I have no room in my pantry......

We're Gonna Spoon You!

2010-05-03T11:19:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to our winner!

Comment #14...Tricia (via Random.org) She said...

"I'm thinking about all the projects I want to complete from Knock Off Wood!"

Let me rave for just a second on someone else here (after all this is our blog and we can do whatever we want!)

Have you ever checked out Knock Off Wood!? Its A-Mazing!

I spent more time on that site yesterday than I care to admit.

I've been wanting a console table for a while but have Pottery Barn taste on a Wal*Mart budget.

Enter...Ana @ Knock Off Wood!

This little sassafrass has a knack for carpentry and posts plans (and videos!) of how to build your favorite furniture featured by popular magazines/stores.

Heart Her!

Who knows, maybe one day you'll see a post of one of our Knock Off Projects!

Can't buy me love...oh wait, yes you can!

2010-04-27T09:31:00.000-07:00

Remember this post about Joy's fork turned keychain?! Well we had tucked that away in our catalog of spifferfic ideas. Fast forward 2 months and Jenna and I were at "the worlds largest yardsale" (it was pretty stinkin big, but I've heard of bigger...just sayin).

Jenna with her eagle eyes spotted a drawer of old silverware. Lo and behold...the ten cent spoon collection!!!

On second thought, since we're offering one of these to a lucky winner, I feel cheap telling you how much the spoon cost.

Lo and behold, the 50 dollar spoon collection!!!

There, much better.

So Jenna took her Hulk hands and snipped off the spoony parts with a tool that we don't know what its called, but is now dubbed the spoonypartsnipperoffer

Look at those bulging muscles!

(We also filed down those razor like tips with a metal file so you would not maim yourself reaching for your keys)

We didn't take a picture of that though cause I was too busy freaking out about the horrible noise it makes (Like when your pencil eraser is almost gone an you erase and scrape the metal on the paper...it hurts me to even type that.)

Then I took my horrificly neglected hands and disgusting cuticles and bent the handle around a pair of needle nosed pliers.

Then I stole keyrings from unsuspecting sets of keys (or if you're not as impatient cheap resourceful as I am, you could buy some)

Then we did what any mature twenty somethings would do, we arm wrestled chose which ones we could get

But guess what, there is three, and there is only two of use. So know what that means!?

GIVEAWAY BABY!

Yes, it is exhausting being this awesome.

To enter...

1. Become a follower (then leave us a comment telling us you've done so). Or if you are already a follower, just leave us a commenting telling us that you are already addicted!

2. Leave us a comment sharing something you have stored away in your catalogue of spifferific ideas

There ya go, 2 entries per person!

Make sure you leave us a way we can contact you if you win!

Giveaway closes Sunday night at 10pm

Sharing this at the Boardwalk Bragfest

At least SOMEONE has been crafty!

2010-04-20T21:18:00.000-07:00

'Ight folks... T-money and I have been crazy nutzo slightly psychotic busy and have completely neglected you wonderful people. Although we feel so terrible about this that we've dumped ourselves into several gallons of Phish Food ice cream, our lives simply do not allow for ANY type of consistency. (Just ask our husbands, dishwashers, or dusting)

But since a friend of mine 'lovingly' said I needed to do something on this blog because she was getting bored, I thought I would at least show you SOMEONE'S crafty abilities! A few weeks ago I won a gift card for the seriously awesome ebay seller Able Mabel on TodaysGiveaway.Net

The $25 goes a long way on her site, so I got 2 signs that are just adorable. I'll share one with you today and the other is a surprise gift for someone so you'll have to just wait to see that one.

I absolutely love it! If you need a last minute Mother's Day gift, she has some really cute things, and mails out orders very quickly.

*okay Melissa- there's your post. Happy?* ;)

World's biggest garage sale? We'll let you know!

2010-04-09T19:47:00.000-07:00

So the other day Tanya was listening to the radio and heard an ad for the "World's largest garage sale" so being the savvy crafter she is, she immediately texted me and had me look it up. I mean who wouldn't be intrigued by all of those words in the SAME SENTENCE?!?!?!

Here's the dealie-oh... there is over 200 booths all in ONE PLACE at Farimount Park in Collinsville, IL from 7-1pm tomorrow. Now at first this sounds pretty neat huh? YES! Then we found out that you have to pay admission to get into the sale. A bit of a bummer until we realized that every person that has a booth has to pay $25 for a space.... so they must have some PRETTY FUNKY JUNK they wanna get rid of! SCORE FOR US! Besides in our little town, a day of entertainment for $5 admission isn't too bad :)

Tomorrow we'll report in on how grand or ghetto this thing is and maybe even share some funky junk with ya! Sleep well all! I'm off to sleep early so I can be an early riser junk shopper.

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner er...Coffee Press!

2010-03-29T11:37:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to our first winner of our first giveaway!

Comment #47...Renae (via Random.org) She said...

"1. I'm so glad I found your blog! You have some really cool ideas - very inspirational.
Sooo...
2. I became your newest follower!
PS where did you get your fake boxwood plant at? I've been searching everywhere I can think of with no luck!! I've been wanting to make a topiary for a while but it's gonna look very un-cool without any leaves :( "

Just to clarify, this comment was only 1 entry, not 2 (although she did qualify for 2 entries [plain ol' comment and becoming a follower]). You gotta leave a separate comment for each entry.

Renae got super lucky. Congrats girl!

A BIG THANKS to everyone who participated!

You ladies were like a fart..you blew us away!

Giveaway

2010-03-23T19:21:00.000-07:00

We're super psyched to be able to bring to you guys our very first giveaway!

CSN Stores has kindly offered us a product of our choosing from their 200+ stores!!!

You can buy anything there from

bar stools and bedding

bakeware and baby goods

Since our goal each post is to perk up your day and inspire you to start your own projects, we thought it would be fitting to giveaway something that we find vital for every project...

CaFfEiN e

ok...so according to FDA guidelines, we can't just mail you out a vial of caffeine

so instead, we're sending you this...

isn't it Cuuuuute!?!?

A snazzy hoity toity french press AND two matching mugs, all packaged in an adorable pink box (hmm...cute box...repurposing!?)

We're jealous of you already!

How to enter

1. Become a Percolating Projects addict (aka. follower)

then leave a comment telling us you've done so.

2. Add our button to your blog

then link a comment back to us showing us you've done so.

**If you are having issues adding our button please make sure you are doing the correct steps-the link is correct**

3. Or just leave us a plain ol' comment!

There you have it, up to three enteries per person!

(Please make sure to leave a separate comment for each entry to increase your chances of winning!)

The giveaway closes Sunday night at 10pm (Central Time)

Good luck!

Spring Topiary

2010-03-17T11:57:00.000-07:00

"Every kick butt red toile chair needs a equally frugal topiary to stand beside it"

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ok...so he never really said that. Pretty sure he never said kick butt either. But this statement is completely and utterly true.

So motivated by my own attention deficit project disorder, I have decided to make myself the cutest little topiary in the midwest. Not that I wouldn't love to shell out $49 for a Ballard topiary like this one here...(no...actually...I wouldn't!)

So I've made mine for a whopping total of $9 dollars!

Granted: I did luck out by already owning the styrofoam ball, oh...and stick

But this is still a pretty cheapo project.

So here's how we do...

First I started with this

I actually purchased two of the boxwood plants and only used 2 strands from the second one. I think you could get away with just one plant if you stuck them in a little less densely. That was $6.99 (plan ahead and you could use a coupon and do even better!) The pot was $1.99 at Garden Ridge and I'm tempted to go back for another. The styrofoam ball was in my randomweird stash.

I also used this. River rocks from the stash and a stick. That I whittled. From the yard. (And the whole time I kept saying "may I please whittle wood with you now"...I'm probably the only person on earth that quotes Pauley Shore movies)

So I found it easier to cut a bunch of the sprigs off before you begin. You just move faster that way

Then start sticking them all over the styrofoam ball! (Leave a small hole for your stick too!)

This process took a while but it did have some calming therapeutic effect on me. Kind of like bubble wrap.

Keep going....

Even when you stop half way through to make dinner, it still looks cute!

Then I placed the rocks around my stick to hold it upright. I guess if I cared enough to, I could hot glue it in as well. I did put a bit of hot glue on the tip before I pushed it into the styrofoam ball.

Then jam it in (ha...I'm so not the fancy craft tutorial girl!)

And admire her beauty. Then thank Ralph Waldo Emerson for his words of wisdom...

My theory is if you put enough springy stuff around your house, it'll make Spring come faster. But then again, I almost hit a robin this morning so I'd hate to see what that'd do to Spring!

Gotta share this with my girls!