Christmas season

Hello my bbf (best bloggie friends).  I hope you are feeling well and ready for the Christmas season ahead.  Before I show my lastest crafty designs I just wanted to pause for a second and remember that Christmas is not about gifts or the designs, it's about the world receiving a Savior.  I don't consider this to be a religious blog, but sometimes I need to get a little personal, now and then.  I don't know about you but a Savior is a great and wonderful gift to me.  Being forgiven of my sins, my flaws, my anxieties, concerns goes beyond words.  Plus knowing that there is a plan and a purpose for everything is breathtaking to me sometimes.  2tim 1:9/10  who has saved us and called us to a holy life not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace.  This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.   Now that's a gift.  I can do no better. 

 Okay so on to decor and crafts!  

This weekend I was feeling inspired to make some gift tags.  These are 3 x 5 inches each, so quite big and each has a jute ribbon.  I love the patterns.  Once again a shameless plug of my etsy shop. 

 

 

 

This week I am really going to try and reupholster my cowboy chair, so I will be doing tutorials on this, to show the process.  My mom and her new husband are coming for Christmas and I don't have enough seats for everyone in the family room.  So come back this week and see how I try and transform this into something fun and useful.

 

Hint:  There maybe some faux cowhide involved!

joy picture

I'm a little obsessed with silver german glitter glass.  I can't seem to stop making stuff with it, I may need an intervention if this doesn't stop soon.  It is all over my counters right now. 

I bought this frame at a garage sale this weekend.  It was 50 cents and perfect.  I have seen so many 3 picture frame word craft projects that I knew I wanted to do that for christmas this year.  The glass was removed.  The backing is a french music sheet modpodged on it.  The german glass glitter was put on 2 inch chipboard letters and glued on the backing, just with a glue gun.  The star embellishement is made with the same glitter and the beads and silver bells are leftovers from my silent night garland.  This was the easiest project ever. 

New christmas decor

Ever since I got back from my trip I have been making Christmas stuff.  Today I made a little silent night german glass glitter tree or mantle garland.  All the chipboard letters are glued to twine and then I added beads, rhinestones, and ribbon.  Silver glitter is hard to capture on photos.  Very fun to make while watching a christmas movie or listening to music.  The heardest part is waiting for your glitter to arrive in the mail.  

 

 

 

Excuse me as I shamelessly plug my etsy shop!   Anything you see here is always available there.  I have also made a bunch of christmas tags and a silver joy frame I will show a little later today.  Now off to clean.

 

My favorite things

I'm posting a few of my favorite things at 320 sycamore:  In particular order

1.

  Not to be confused with Diet pepsi, which is disgusting in my very opinionated opinion.  


2.

Maybelline's new falsies mascara.  My mom used to wear false eyelashes and I now know why.  We seem to lose them after having our babies.  I still have them, but they are sparser and shorter.  This stuff gives me some eyelashes.  Love it!

3.

Cetaphil is the best.  Every year I go to the dermotologist to get a skin check and every year I ask if there is a new miracle product.  Every year she rolls her eyes at me and says stick with the cetaphil.  I also use lubriderm as my mousturizer.  I would pay big bucks for something that worked better, but every dermy I have ever seen says the same thing.  Eyeroll!

4.

Once I got serious selling online I dug deep for a canon rebel xt.  It is easy to use and a wonderful camera.  I am used to taking outdoor shots, but now that I blog, blog, blog, about decor I use it indoors.  It's a different thing and I am learning alot, but this camera makes it easier.


5.

 

This dog.  Her name is Talledaga, Tally for short.  She is a 6 year old black lab and somedays she is the most loveliest creature in the entire world.  If my children cry, she sits by them and laps away their tears.  Once while feeding her (labs live to eat)  I bumped my head so hard on the corner of a cabinet I was positive I would blackout or have a seizure, really it was bad.  She sat at my feet licking my leg until I felt better and then she ate.  THAT'S LOVE!!!!!!!

6.  My Roomba vacuum.  There is something very decadent about doing the dishes or watching tv while your robot vacuum vacuums your house.  I love leaving and setting it up and coming home to cleanliness.  A wonder thing.

7.  And lastly I really like Grace rather then judgement.  One time I was feeling particularly annoyed with a family member for doing the SAME thing AGAIN!  My husband listened to my rant and then very calmly asked me if everytime I made a mistake in the same way over and over again would I rather have someone respond with grace or judgement, because wasn't I already judging myself and feeling terrible for making the same mistake again and again. I very truthfully said that I would like to give judgement but always receive grace.  Not nice but true.  We laughed but the message has stuck with me and I now try very hard to remember that we all need a little grace, especially during the holidays when we are all stressed and our worst human tendencies seem to pop up unchecked.  So my favorite is grace (and the wise hubby)!

lisa

from thanksgiving to christmas

I mentioned in a earlier post that I really like to keep the same containers, frames, displays all year round, but change out the stuff that goes in them for the season.  The cheaper the better.  Well I am in the process of changing my house from thanksgiving and halloween to Christmas.  Here is the bowl on my kitchen island with the blackboard painted silver dish from thanksgiving .   And now here it is for Christmas

 

For this I simply changed the saying in tossed in some silver sparkly ornaments and the german glitter chipboard pieces I tested the other day.  Everyday I will showing things that I change, from the thanksgiving to the christmas.  It is so easy to add color through the seasons and holidays if you keep the basics in your house the same color.  It could be black, white, hot pink, aqua, just the same for the basics.  I've gone with black, but I still have plenty of color.  This dough bowl has been in my family for generations.  It was on my mom's coffee table and my grandmas and greatgrandmas.  I have it on my kitchen island.  I am posting this at the nester.

dining room table

I got a little off track because I remembered it was friday, so I need to post this to Miss mustard seeds  furniture feature friday.  

Before my blogging days and before my kids were even in school I was a big garage sale person, this was before it was cool :)  We didn't have much money, but my mother had instilled a little fearlessness in this area and I always figure I've wasted 20 bucks on stupider stuff.  So one day I was at a garage sale and came across a pink pickled wood conference table from someone's business in the eighties.  You remember that light wood stain that had a pink tint to it?  It was 10 bucks, because it weighed about a ton.  mdf with veneer over it, really heavy.  So I called my husband who I call big daddy ( I really do, remember I'm a texas chick) and asked him to pick it up for me.  Well he made that sound that he always makes when we have these calls.  I'm sure some of you are very aware of the sound.  I'll interpret for you, " I will do this, but I know it's stupid, it will be dirty, It will be ugly and I will be taking it to the dump next week, so why not just save the 10 bucks and leave it there" sound.  But he's actually pretty sweet, so he picked it up for me.  I spraypainted that sucker for about a week, I think my thumb was numb for a few days.  Many layers of spray paint later it was completely black everywhere.  NO primer, no sealants.  I had no idea what I was doing, I'm just a little fearless that way.  So 10 years later here is the table, all the scrapes and rubbings and everything are from wear and I think it looks like a million bucks.  

 

 

 

 

Sorry about the blanket under the table, just keeping it real.  Don't worry I'm still working on my mantle/tree garland.  Hopefully I show it tomorrow.

 

I'm back

So excited to be home.  I had a great trip.  There was 6 inches of snow one night, a big deal for a Texas chick.  The next morning I begged to walk to church, when would I ever get that opportunity again?  Of course they thought I was crazy but it was beautiful.  They live in a small minnesota town that was built over a hundred years ago.  Town square and a church on every corner.  I think I walked about 1/8 of a mile total.  But the beautiful crisp air and the snow crunching underfoot was a moment I'll never forget.  I got home 2 days ago and of course am sick.  What is it about air travel and sickness, those germs must just hover all over me.  I'm feeling a little better today.

I have been wanting to try some german glass glitter ever since I saw miss mustard seeds tutorial.  I ordered 1 oz of silver glass glitter from meyer imports ( no link, but I just googled it)  I  didn't want to order more then an ounce in case I didn't think it was any better then normal glitter, but it is.  I will be ordering some more I think.

 

I had these chip board stars and hearts hanging around.  I brushed on mod podge on the fronts and the edges with my new glitter.

 

It comes in a baggy, so I put it in a jar, but I didn't need to paint or prime the colorful chipboard, it completely covered it all.

 

As you can see it's pretty dense and very glittery.  You really can tell a difference.  If you have a hobby lobby by your house the chipboard letters are 50 percent off this week.  I am planning on making a banner for my tree that says" silent night holy night".  Miss mustard seed just glued twine to the back and had the twine seperate the letters but I may try stringing some white and silver beads I have inbetween.  That's the project for tomorrow, hopefully I will be feeling much better.  Just another tip, with the german glass glitter you really do need to use chipboard, even thick paper won't hold the weight of the glitter.  Have a great day my blogging friends and hopefully tomorrow will be tree garland day.

 

 

Irish twin week begins

I explained it in a previous post that my sister and I are irish twins.  2 siblings born within a calendar year of one another.  She is the older sister, so of course I love to harrass her for those 17 days each year and the best part is that she always ends up the older sister at the end of the 17 days.  Let me tell you that is the best part now that we are in our 40's.  

So anyway I leave tomorrow and will return Tuesday.  I ended up finding a tshirt and already mailed it to her .  This was the best I could find.  Let's just say there are alot of irish twin tshirts out there with ill placed shamrocks ;)  

Hopefully I will be able to upload pictures at her house and post.  I can't imagine a day without blogging.  

little red riding hood dress

Good afternoon my blog buds!  How are you today?  I have been working on this little number yesterday and today.  I think I may love her. 

 

Yep I'm pretty sure it's love.  I am listing this in my etsy shop of course.

But I am also posting to some linking parties.  Tuesday tagalong, anti procrastination tuesdays, tutuorial tuesday, sew cute tuesday , get your craft on, night owl crafting, and tots tuesdays.  I can't seem to figure out how to do the link with their pictures.

christmas mantle garlands and lollipops

Today I listed these items in my etsy shop. 

 

 

I will probably do a tutorial on the lollipops next week.

I am going on vacation in a few days, how I will miss my blog friends.  But don't worry it's a short trip.  I leave Thursday and will be back the following Tuesday.  So I will still blog this week, but it will be a little quiet after that.  Want to know what I am up to?  Oh good.  Every year my sister and I try to see each other for our Irish twin birthday, if you don't know what that is It's siblings that are born within a calendar year or less of each other.  My sister is the oldest, her birthday is Nov. 30th, the next year I was born on Nov. 12th. Shocking right?  My poor mom went to her 6 week checkup from having my sister and found out she was already 3 weeks pregnant with me!  To which my parents now blush everytime it's mentioned, cuz now that we are adults we know what that means.  So I being the younger sister have fully embraced this over the years and hound my sister to no end during the 17 days we are the same age.  She has come to embrace, um endure it herself.    This year I was planning on making t shirts, but it has not worked out.  But I will still be there bugging her and telling everyone we see.  Little sisters are a pain!  My sister has mentioned she needs help with a project while I'm there so hopefully I can still blog and of course I'll be right back on as soon as I'm home.  

But it's not goodbye yet.  Today I am working on a little red riding hood outfit and will show a picture when it's done.

My sweet bloggy friends

How much I adore you.  I wake up in the morning excited ( not something that has happened in a few years) Excited because I have thought of something I want to show you.  When you are facing an empty nest the days can get a little long and lonely, but not anymore.  What you have done for me is amazing, it's not explainable unless you have the weird need to blog also.  But you get me!  

So last night I was scrolling through etsy  I found this little shop selling silver tray s and platters that had been turned into chalkboard.  Cute idea.  I linked the shop if you are interested.  I'm not endorsing the shop.  I don't know them or their quality.  But I thought it was a neat idea and if you want to see, I wanted to provide the link.  So like I am rich in cabinet space I also happen to be rich in silver plated platters.  I inherited a bunch, I seem to be magnetically pulled to them at estate sales and flea markets.  I just have piles of them.  Their a buck and I want them.  I never use them, I just like them piled on a shelf and when I am feeling particularly industrious I may even polish them.  So I took probably my most tarnish yucky platter and painted some kilz 2 primer on a circle.  Kilz 2 can pretty much adhere to anything.  Then when it was dry I painted it in chalkboard paint.  3 coats.  Here it is:

 

I love it!  It was very easy.  The bowl is sitting on my new kitchen island.  The wood bowl was just given to me by my mom, it was always on the coffee table growing up, she says it was always on her coffee table growing up and before that it was in her grandparent's house.  Supposedly made by an indian family my great grandparents lived near to on their farm.  Who knows, I just love the dark wood and the heritage of it.  Inside the bowl are acorns i have found walking my dog and some pinecones I had.  And now one of my many plates will be used and seen instead of sitting in a pile on a shelf.

garage sales and a new listing

Today my 13 yr old daughter and I went garage saling.  We hit a garage sale that the husband was running for his wife's craft supplies.  Ziploc bags stuffed with stickers and stamps and beads etc for 25 cents each.  It felt a little criminal.  I don't have a picture, but I love garage saleing (SP?) just for that alone.  

I listed 3 little girl outfits in my etsy shop if you are interested, here's a picture.  Size 12m, 2t and 3t and they are cheap because I made them last year and didn't have time to list them and I am sick of looking at them.  What can I say I'm strange.  Anyways happy saturday, it's very beautiful weather here today and I am off to walk my dog.

living room/dining room reveal and some questions

Okay so prepare yourself for abunch of pictures.  I am standing in the entryway by the front door.  My guest bath and daughters room are behind me and my family room is to my left, got it?  Front door to the right.  Big rooms are hard to take pictures of, so some aren't the best but I am going to ask for some help at the end and I think it will make sense.  Okay so starting with the stairs

 

Notice the blue horizontal stripes in front of the staircase, I love how that turned out.  The green behind the ironwork is venetial plaster, keep your eye on that because that involves one of my questions. Now the wall below the stairs

 

I am asking a question about the armoire too, so I wanted you to see it.  Next we are going to the room next to the armoire.  This room used to be the living room and the room next to it was very tiny and the diningroom.  I just decided to change it one day and have been thrilled with the change.  I don't like being squished in a diningroom and we never ever used our living room.  It took some talking about, but eventually my husband was up for it and he loves it.

 

So we turned the dining room into a sitting room and vicey versy.  The blue is the same as one of the staircase stripes.  The orange is just for halloween and thanksgiving.  It's all going lime green and red for christmas, but basically blue, tan, textural tans, black and a little silver.  okay, so the next picture is the right side of the now diningroom.

 

So this picture shows how high the dining room is.  My husband built the cabinets for me awhile ago.  It was his first attempt and I was very pleased with them.  They have beadboard in the back of the shelves (that will be another question) and I don't know if you can see but the corners have the same texas star motif as my kitchen island.  

 

Ok almost done, sorry about the cruddy picture, but this will be a question too.  See the curve of the window.  It's about 18feet up and there is at least 3 or 4 feet above that.  I have this cornice board already made (sweet husband) and want to see what people think for colors.  

 

Here is the cornice board.  Notice the curve, it's going to look beautiful.  this is the back end.  Now here are my pillows in the sitting room that I am thinking about covering it with

 

Another not great picture.  It's brown and nubby, it looks a little burlapy but it's upholstery material.  Here's a more closeup picture

 

Okay are you still with me?  That was alot, so finally here are my questions:

1.  I would like to but this brown on the cornice with a b monogram in the center, what color would you use for the monogram?  black, a blue linen that matches the wall color or white?

2.  Would you paint the back of the bookshelves?  I don't want to wallpaper because they are beadboard and beadboard is throughout our house.  If you painted what color? blue, tan, maybe the green on the otherside.  The green venetian plaster is in my family room in art, tv niches and the inside of a archway.  I'm not sure I should have put it in the front of the house.

3.  would you change the color of the venetian plaster? 

Thanks in advance for any comments.  And of course anything that I do I will show tutorials and the finished product.  I would like to have this done by Thanksgiving, since I'm hosting Thanksgiving and Christmas this year.  Truly my family could care less, but I like to take these moments as incentive to get projects done.  So thank you my blog friends for being part of my incentive program. 

 Im posting this on the nester

 

 

 

 

 

new monogram pictures

If you are like me, little things can start to bother you.  I actually felt uncomfortable all day because my monogram was too shiny.  CRAZYTOWN, right.  So this morning I sanded the paint down.  the previous subtletly was not working for me.  Then I glazed it with a little black flat paint and reset the vinyl and here it is 

 

it's not a huge difference, but the shininess was just bugging me.  Thanks for revisiting.  I am working on some cute little red riding hood dresses today and may make my self a christmas pillow.  Plus I am going to post my living room/dining room flip and ask you guys for some much needed advice.  See you later today.

 

fun monogram tutorial

Today I made this

 

here is the tutorial if you are interested.  

I got a piece of wood, a rustic, not smooth one.  I cut it to the size I needed and sanded the edges.

Here's the proof, seriously I'm very proud of this.  

 

I painted it black

 

The candle is to rub on the edges and a few places on the board.  It's a very subtle paint relief for the next step.  I do this when I want it to look less like sanding.  Then I painted the next layer pink

 

Then I got my blowdryer out and dried the board.  It is very wet here today, that's why I'm stuck in the garage instead of my usual backyard painting locale.  Then I got some steel wool and just lightly went over the paint on the edges and where I had put wax.

 

 

  See pretty subtle.  After that was completely dry I put on a frame vinyl sticker that I have and a letter I made using my cricut from black vinyl.  I made two of these but have not done a final coat of sealer yet because I am going to list these in my etsy shop and I will wait to seal it till I know what initial the buyer wants.

 

Once it's sealed there won't be an obvious shine from the vinyl sticker and letter.  I think it turned out pretty cute. 

 

 

 

our dinner menu

TToday I was complaining to my husband (yes complaining)  that it was impossible to make everyone in our family happy at dinnertime.  I pretty much make what appeals to me, because I can't please everyone else with one meal.  If someone requests something I try to make it but otherwise it's what I want.  During dinner my husband gave our kids a pen and paper and asked them to write down their favorite dinners.  Here was the list:


my daughter                                              my son
brinner (breakfast for dinner)                     not brinner
not taco soup                                             taco soup
spaghetti                                                    Not spaghetti
pot roast                                                    Not pot roast
tacos                                                          tacos 
grilled cheese                                              grilled cheese


Guess which two aren't my faves:  Tacos and grilled cheese.  Making dinner is impossible!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

new etsy listings

I'm listing these little cuties in my etsy shop today along with the vintage kitty pictures from my daughter's room.

 

I have this in a size 4/5

And these shrugs are available in size 2/3, 4/5 and 6/6x

 

My poor mannequin, she's had some traumas!

 

Thanksgiving subway art

I have been really enjoying all the subway art out there.  I really wanted something to put on my table, but even though I have a cricut didn't want to go to too much trouble.  So I bought this frame from the dollar store and painted it a oil rubbed bronze.

 

Then I took a piece of scrapbook paper and just one of those scrapbook sticker sheets, this was a dollar at hobby lobby and basically put it on the paper the way they had it lined up on the sticker sheet.  

 

  You know I never notice if things aren't totally straight until I post it on my blog.  So please excuse the lines not all being straight.  But you are smart and I am sure get the idea.  I will put this on my Thanksgiving table somewhere and I think it is cute for very little effort.  I will be posting this to a ton of monday link parties.