Travel Wall Decor, Camper Card!

 Good morning!

So I came from a city house that was pretty boxy and had standard ceiling heights.  When we moved, one of the features of the town home that I loved were the cathedral ceilings.  Unfortunately, I was a bit stumped as to how I wanted to fill this space.  When we traveled to Alaska, it hit me. Create a wall that celebrates all the places we've been!

Our family has been blessed to have had the opportunities to see so much! My kids have been to Disney numerous times, Jamaica, Mexico, Busch Gardens, and lots of other Midwestern states. The last couple of years has afforded Brian and I the chance to travel alone. In the last two years we went to Vegas, New York, San Francisco, Nashville, and Alaska. We have definitely been bitten by the traveling bug and are hoping to go somewhere next summer!

I love that this wall can be added to as the years go by.  :)

Now, on to my card!

I found this stamp set by Stampendous(Campground)at Michaels and knew I had to have it.  I have a friend who has a camper very similar to this, so I wanted to make this for her.  I hadn't pulled out my Prisma Colored Pencils in quite awhile, so I decided to use them here. 

I added little yellow rhinestones to the stars. 

I used a white gel pen to fill in the words, Road Trip and then added a bit of glossy accents to make them stand out a bit.  

For my final touches, I tied rustic twine to the left of the sentiment and added a few more rhinestones. It was such a fun card to color! 

Thank you for stopping by today! I really appreciate your visits and your comments!

Finally! My Craft Room!

Good morning! I know I've been promising to post pictures of my craft room for some time.....but it seems that each day brings new things to do!  I completely forgot to take an official "before" picture.  This picture is blurry because I got it off realtor.com.  (So it's not your eyes!)

This room was dark navy, brown, and had the carpeting. 

Carpeting and crafting are NOT friends! ;)

The first thing we did was paint the room a soft lilac color.

Hubby took up the carpet and is using it in his "Man Cave" in the basement. 

Our good friend, Jim, laid the vinyl plank flooring for us. 

 So if we start the tour, I am starting through the doorway and towards the left wall, then the back wall, and then finally to the right. This spot is where I keep my ribbon, embossing powders, and my TV.

The baskets hold some of my ribbon.  I sort it by color.  OF course I have even more in my closets, but I won't be showing that because then you might think I have a problem.  Which I do. 

The back desk is where I have my computer and Silhouette machine. The drawers contain embellishments, adhesive etc. Most of the furniture is from IKEA. 

This is my main desk area where the die cutting and coloring happen. I love it because I get the natural light from the window and I can watch my TV. 

Inside the tall cabinet is all of my stamps.  I got rid of a ton when I moved.  I kept my favorites and I have to admit, I've been purchasing a few new ones. 

I added this shelf and this vintage window.  I love the signage board with my blog name on it.  I am hoping to use this space for holiday decorating. The cabinet underneath is my favorite piece.  I love that it has a bit of country charm.  It houses my dies, envelopes, water color paper, Washi tape, and embellishments. 

This piece was a natural pine, but I wanted it to coordinate with the rest of the room, so I sanded it and painted it white.  I use it store all of my paper. If you look to the far right, I have two very large closets.  I didn't take a picture of them, but they are spacious and contain a lot of my additional craft supplies.  

Thank you for your patience! 

I hope it was worth the wait!

Bathroom Remodel

Good morning!

When we moved into our new town home it was "move in" ready.  However, there were still things about it I wasn't crazy about.  Like this bathroom for instance.  It is Kyle's bathroom upstairs.  I wasn't sure I liked the blue and debated about changing it. 

I really wasn't a fan of the vanity and sink combo.  But we are trying not spend a fortune remodeling....so that leaves us with an inexpensive solution. 

PAINT!  

Kyle liked the blue and we found some cute bathroom decor that coordinated with the color. So what did we paint then? If not the walls?

The vanity.

Now maybe you are handy and have done this before....but me?  Never.

This was new territory.

We took the handles off the cabinets and filled them with wood putty.  We sanded the varnish off the doors, primed, and painted.  (many,many coats)  We added new hinges, and to go along with the nautical theme, we sanded the edges to give it a distressed look.

The whole bathroom looks so much more cheerful and bright!

The project took us a few weeks, but it was nice completing this project with Kyle.  

We apparently love orange....since I have it in almost every room of my house!

Just a quick before and after!

I finally took pics of my craft room and will be posting those tomorrow! 

Let's Talk About my House and Manly Cards!

Okay maybe I should have entitled this, Manly Cards and My House! 

You came here for the cards (I think) so I will share that first! 

This entire week will be dedicated to the men in your life! 

I have to admit, I don't like masculine cards.

I can't add glitter.

Or flowers.

Or any of the frou frou stuff, I usually like to add.

BUT....I DO like shaped cards!

So here is one that was cut using my Silhouette. 

I layered in shades of blue and did a bit of inking in a darker blue for more depth. 

I added a sticker sentiment from SRM and a little twine bow. 

Is that allowed?

No glitter, or flowers though! 

We are making our way through the house making it our own.  My poor kid had a hot pink room when we first moved in.  It would be fine if he LIKED hot pink, but he doesn't.

So...we painted the walls a soft gray.  Kyle wanted a pop of color, so he decided on orange.

After a hundred trips to IKEA, Home Goods (my absolute favorite store!) and Amazon, we got his room together!

Love this city sky line!

He wanted a shelf to display his painted War Hammer figurines.  (Any other kid involved in War Hammer?  Or is it only my kid?)

I found this at Home Goods and thought it was a good reminder for him, for me, for all of us.

He loves maps and globes....and books.

Aren't these orange lockers the bomb? LOVE them! (IKEA!)

Stop by tomorrow for some more masculine cards and hopefully my craft room photos!

Coffee Bar!

Good morning!  

Since we've redone our kitchen a few months ago......new counters, backsplash, painted cabinets with new handles, our floors redone.....I've wanted a coffee bar!

I've been finding little odds and ends for the past 4 months and was happy to put it all together.

I picked up the coffee tray in Indiana when we went apple picking.  The sugar and creamer were my mom's.  I think she told me it was carnival glass?

The little cake stand was from the Home Goods store.  ( I LOVE that place!)

The yoga sign was from a friend of mine....it says:

I do yoga.

I burn candles.

I drink tea.

And I still want to smack 

Somebody.

LOL! 

The red ceramic baskets were also from the Home Goods Store and are perfect for holding my teas and coffees.  The metal sign was picked up last week in Nashville in a quaint little shop in the MotorWorks building.

I added a few pops of green with a couple of (fake) plants from Marshalls. 

 The red canisters are from Crate and Barrel.  My lit cabinets right now have yellow fabric backing them.  I am thinking about swapping it out for a bold black and white fabric instead. What do you think?  I think it might be more dramatic than the yellow.   

I will be back tomorrow with a crafty post!

Have a great day!

Updated Kitchen!

Good morning! 

I am so happy that school is over and my summer vacation is starting!

I will be able to concentrate on my kiddos a bit, and accomplish some things that have been long neglected.

Like my house.

And laundry.

Lots and lots of laundry!

We were looking for an economical way to update our kitchen and decided paint was the way to go.

Our cabinets were in pretty good shape but the color wasn't really what I wanted anymore. 

So after many layers of white paint and some tarnished nickel handles......

This was the result. A much brighter, airier kitchen! 

We are headed to the doc again for Cortney's 3rd wound care appt.   I can not tell you how frustrating this whole thing has been. This poor girl has been through so much....

Please continue to pray for healing.

Thank you all so very much!

Bathroom Remodel!

Okay bathroom "remodel" might be a bit of a stretch! Our remodeling consisted of paint, new handles for the cabinets, a new ceiling light, and a change in decor. So the total cost of renovating our bathroom was under $500 bucks! You see, in the 90's hunter green and wallpaper were VERY popular.  We decided to finally catch up to the new millennium!  Can you see the lovely, yet very busy wallpaper?  And the extremely fashionable ceiling light?  Pretty right? ;)

The walls were painted a light grey, wallpaper torn down, new window coverings, cabinets painted white with new tarnished nickel handles, new drum light, and a cool piece of artwork from Minted.com. It is literally like walking into a breath of fresh air! It is so light and airy! I will have kitchen pictures to share tomorrow. We painted our cabinets in there as well and it is like a brand new kitchen! It is amazing what a bit of paint can do! 

       























So What do you think?

Easter Egg

The temperatures here are supposed to slowly creep up this weekend....which I am grateful for. 

This has been an exceedingly long winter. I am looking forward to warmer temps, longer days, and not needing 800 layers of clothes on!

Spring is around the corner. (I hope!)

Which means,  so is Easter.

And Easter means, eggs.  (Sounds like a version of, "Give a Mouse a Cookie!") 

So here is an egg I created using my Silhouette.  I added white liquid applique to all of the flowers.

Once dry I added heat to puff it up, and while it was still warm, I sprinkled glitter. It has great touchable texture, which unfortunately, my camera really wasn't able to capture.

I added glittery flowers I cut using dies from Papertrey Ink.  The leaves were a Silhouette cut.  I used a bit of ribbon, a sentiment from JustRite called, Welcome Spring, and a scattering of sequin flowers to finish it off. 

I finally switched up my living room mantel!  I couldn't stand looking at my snowmen for one more day! It was time to put up my spring decor.  Which is rather ironic considering there are 5 foot snow piles still outside! ;) I have various glass jars and canisters filled with green moss.  I bought the mantel scarf from Pier 1.  It can be difficult finding decor that matches a living room such as mine.  (Red and gold are not always the easiest colors! LOL!)

I have a tray on my coffee table filled with moss and eggs.  I added a couple of rabbits to the mix.  It isn't Easter without a few rabbits!

I appreciate your visit! I know how busy everyone is, and it means a lot that you spend a few minutes here!

Have a wonderful weekend!