Pops of Green

In true, never satisfied fashion, I looked around my newly painted living room and it seemed so...I don't know red and blue. I have tons of red accessories that I love, but I don't know if you can say that I have "pops of red" when most of the square footage in my living room is covered by the red couch and chair.


It started with a lamp. A $3 auction lamp that I didn't want to paint "just" ORB.

I wanted a pop of something. Red wasn't an option. I thought about a dark blue, but I just couldn't find the color I wanted. Then I remembered the leafy green spray paint I had in the garage and the pops of green idea was born.

I've tried not to go overboard. We'll see how that works out for me.

At any rate, here are some shots of my poppin' living room.

This was red, but a shot of leafy green allowed it to participate in the popping party!

This shot you can see my new chair I got for Christmas (from Target).

I love it!

You can also see the green fern stand that I WANT my family to use as a small side table (enough for a drink or the remote) but my kids seem to think it is a "stand and spin." (Like the old school "Sit and Spin" but you stand up and spin around and around on it while you are asking me a question or blankly staring at the TV. You continue spinning until I say "Please stop doing that." And think "for the thousandth time.")

I've been looking for some fabric with blue and green in it. I've bought 2 different toiles, but I wasn't sure about it. Then on yet ANOTHER trip to Hancock's, I found this on the "cut" table--where I get probably 90% of my pillow and curtain fabric--and I fell in love with it. It is a medium scale design that doesn't compete with the other fabrics or colors going on in the room. I recovered a gigantic red pillow that came with the chair and a pillow from Little Man's room. I see these being fireside/floor pillows.

And here is a full shot of the living room.

Hubby hates all those pillows.

He says "How many pillows do we REALLY need on the couch?"

Just you wait Henry Higgins, I'm going to cover that couch in pillows.
I think it is a man thing. He throws all the pillows on the floor, Little Man throws all the pillows on the floor, even Toto-the male dog- shoves all the pillows to the floor. What's that about? Anyone else have a similar problem??
Finally, the last pop of green that I just acquired last night:

They called them fishing floats. They are HUGE! I think at least 12 inches in diameter. I don't know what I'm going to do with them yet. Maybe on the island? One in the built-ins? On the dining room table (that room needs some green too). I'm not sure yet, but they were just too cool to let slip away. And $20 each was a pretty good deal-at least I think so!

Come back early next week and see what that orange blob was about in my "Teasers" post!

Field Trip-Part 2

We are back in the classroom today.

I showed you the entrance and a few details yesterday. Today let's go look at my desk.

If any of you are teachers, you know that most of the furniture in your class has been handed down since the beginning of time.

That bookshelf was no exception. I spray painted it red this summer to brighten it up. That task was more than just a little pain in the bootay. At least 3 cans of spray paint and then it kept getting this weird film on it. It just about did me in.
If any of you know me at. all. then you will not be shocked by the baskets. It's not that I have a basket fetish, I just have a "it has be cute fetish." I made little chalkboard labels for the baskets and tied them on with ribbon.

Above the bookshelf are my decoupaged letters.

It says "Mrs. Cash" if you can't tell.

I went to Hobby Lobby and found the letters I needed in as many different styles as possible. The "M" is just as it came. The other letters I decoupaged with scrapbook paper or fabric. (I used the same fabric from the drop cloth drapes.)

I hot glued magnets on the back.
(Many of the walls in the school are metal. Or magnetic. I'm not sure how to say that. Magnets stick to the walls-k?)

I originally wanted to put the letters above the windows in the room, but those walls weren't magnetic. Or metal. Or whatever. Then I couldn't even get 3M strips to stick to them. Plan B was to put them behind my desk. So there.

On the front of my desk I made this nameplate with some extra scrabble letters. Remember my sign on the door?
But I decided to spray paint the tray red.

#1 because it is the school's color (and my favorite color) and

#2 it is against the law for me to leave it plain.

It's helpful to have that nameplate there just in case someone missed the ginormous name on the wall behind me.

Here is a shot of my pencil cup. I had another one but it got on my nerves that it was really full and all the pens and pencils and highlighters were all mixed together. I found this polka dot one at Cracker Barrel and it is perfect for sorting!

Plus it spins and it is polka dot, you just can't go wrong with a good polka dot!

Behind that is my "To Do Thing." I am constantly making "to do" lists and sticking them all over my desk. I am also always remaking "to do" lists because I lose the first ones under all the stuff that accumulates throughout the day.

I got this from Wuslu this summer. It was when they had their "surprise box" deal. Honestly I was a little disappointed when I got it, but then I thought about making it into something to hold all my lists! Of course I spray painted it too. I went with blue this time-the other school color.

I have gotten a ton of compliments on this and it has helped me cut down on the number of post-its I use in a day!

Next post I'm going to share some of the artwork I've made for the room. Check back!

Quick B & A

I have a booth space-did I ever tell you guys that?

You all know I love auctions and shopping. But there is only so much room in my house.

Plus I love redoing furniture and accessories with paint and paper. By having a booth space it gives me the opportunity to craft to my heart's content and then possibly sell it and make some money.

Now I must be honest, by Dave Ramsey's definition my booth space is just a hobby (i.e. I don't make any money on it). But some months are better than others and it is just fun to redo stuff.

Anyway, here are two little somethings that I whipped out over my spring break.

First up, gold glamour girls:

I taped off the picture portion: Then spray painted a super girly pink: I also decided to tone down the pink with some glaze-plus I wanted to age it a little more like the pictures (or whatever you would call those things). The picture on the left is sans glaze, the one on the right is glazed. Once again before: And the after: Here is the other before and after (it is a little quicker because I don't have as many pictures!)

I had some old pictures in my booth and I thought I would just paint the frames to freshen them up. I thought they were black and white, but there was a light coloring on them and I couldn't decide what color to paint the frames. Plus I didn't really like the pictures anyway. When I took them out to paint the frames it hit me to whip out the frosted glass spray paint. Remember that? No? Well, go read this and this. I threw the pictures away before I could take a picture (that sounded kind of strange) but maybe you get the idea:

I used my Cricut and cut out the letters "home" and then a bird and branch (shocked aren't you). I used contact paper to cut the stencils then stuck them on the glass.

I shook up the spray paint and then went to town (not literally. I always said I never want to live in a place where I have to use the phrase "go to town". Maybe that's just a southern phrase and you guys have no clue what I'm talking about)

ANYWAY... before I digress any farther here is the after:

And a few more shots because it is cute:

This may be one of those things that I will kind of hope won't sell!!

S is for Spray Paint

Getting closer to the end.

I'm not really sure what I will do after the letter Z.

It will probably be all random and scattered and I will lose every follower and faithful reader I ever had.

Oh well, at least I'll have you guys for a few more weeks.

Here we are week "S." This post is actually going to kill two birds with one stone. Not any of these birds, mind you, but some random pesky birds that pooped on your car or something.

I am going to keep up with my plan and follow through with "S" week. But I am also participating in the "CSI Project." It is going to be so fun! You should check it out, you will probably want to play too!

For those of you who follow me fairly regularly, you probably know how much I love to spray paint. On a nice day, I could go through about 5 cans of spray paint.
I have some favorites, Heirloom White, Canyon Black, Oil Rubbed Bronze. Those are my standard go-to's.
I am going to try to branch out with a gray and blue color. I'll have to let you know how that goes.
Today's post; however, is about a color that you may have seen but aren't sure of:

This paint creates the look of frosted glass.
Okay, that was a little obvious, you all can read. Sorry.
Anyway. I have some really nice sidelights by my front doors. I liked them, but it kind of creeped me out that people could see inside them at night.
Yea, I could have put shades or curtains up, but they are kind of skinny and I just didn't like that idea very much. Plus, that would have been WAY TOO EASY.

Here was my solution:

I bought a big stencil and traced the design onto contact paper that I had cut to the size of the window and then put the contact paper onto the window:
Here it is on the window.
That was the easy part.
All those nice swirls had to be cut out.
With an exacto knife.
With a pretty steady hand.
There were TWO windows.
I am VERY impatient.

Hubby stepped in and cut them all out for me. I am sure there was some whining and bottom lip sticking out (on my part) going on, but he did it cause he is sweet that way.

Oh, and let me mention, that I wanted most of the window to be frosted so the bulk of the contact paper had to be cut out, leaving the cute swirls.

Anyway, from there I shook up my neato can of Rust-oleum paint and started painting the window.
Two tips: (1)try to block the area that you are painting (I used cardboard) because frost shrapnel kind of gets everywhere and (2) ventilate the area.
This is pretty stout stuff and I may have had a few hallucinations during this process.

When you take the contact paper off, be very careful because some of the frost might come off. Hubby cut around all those swirls before we took them off (again, there may have been more pouting and lip sticking out, but he did it because he is sweet that way). I have since learned (with some other frost projects I will share later) that if you use an exacto to help pull off the contact paper it does better.

Anyway, here is the after all dressed up for Christmas (I have Tom the peepers no more!)

I am more than pleased with the results. The look is really subtle during the day.

Like I said before, I am joining up with The CSI project. This week's challenge is "Paint."
Come by and see, you might want to join the fun!!

Job Chart!

I am just getting this one in under the wire.

Week #10, "J" week...

My kids are like every other normal kid--they don't really like chores, but they do like getting paid. I have tried to come up with some encouraging (actually CUTE) way to display a "chore chart." My girls have begged for one. They have created their own (but it wasn't cute enough for me) and my son could care less.

One day, I stumbled across this great idea at Shannon Makes Stuff and it was exactly what I had been waiting for:

Visit her blog on the above link for a great tutorial on her version.

I live about 45 minutes from a Hobby Lobby or Michaels and I tend to get a little impatient once I get something in my head. (Who me, no.....never impatient)

Anyway, I REALLY wanted to get this done so I picked up the little tin cups at Walmart and I already had the button magnets to glue to the back. Then I started scouring my local Peddler's Mall for at least a 10" by 10" frame. Then I ran across this little beauty:

It was 12" by 12" and it was already metal! One less thing I had to buy for it! And, I think the tray was about $4. I was so excited!!!

I proceeded to spray paint her the same color as "Bluebell". Yeah, spray painting again, I'm sure you all are SOOOOO shocked.

(Complete disclosure, I went through 5 cans of spray paint in one day this week!)

I found some cute scrapbook paper to line the back with and then I started cutting paper to put inside the cute little cups.

I am missing two cups because I couldn't find the last two magnets.

Yes, I am one of THOSE people who loses EVERYTHING! I can't find my cellphone about 3 days out of 7. It drives my friends nuts.

This 12x12 will hold 5 rows of 5 tin cups. Inside each cup I put a "chore" on a slip of paper, along with the money they can earn for the chore. I have 3 kids so each kid gets a row and each kid has a different pattern of paper. I have two extra rows that I use for "extra" chores. The kids have the option to earn more money by doing a chore on one of these rows.

This squirt is my youngest daughter. She was totally pumped about this chart. I think she woke up at like 5am to do one of her chores. No joke.

Once I got the tray upstaires, the blue was a little too bright for my room. I just took it outside (the scrapbook paper is not glued down--too impatient to wait for the glue to dry. The magnets hold it on!) and lightly sprayed over it with Heirloom White so some of the blue shows through.

Here is the final product sitting on my kitchen counter and all filled up with the chores and the cash:

Thanks Shannon for your inspiration!

For my family, each chore is worth $1. I thought it would be fun to fill it with change as well as dollar bills. It is cute, but the change makes the cups too heavy for the magnets. Next week I will probably just use the bills.

Next week is "K" week and I have some more great knock offs ( I just need to get some permission from the owners before I talk about them!)

Linking up to:

Come by and take a look!

The End of an Ugly End Table

Hey ya'll! I hope ya'll aren't mad at me over the one big fat post for "D" week. I had some other ideas, but that fake snow day really got to me. Let's just say I was all about homemade chocolate chip cookies and dyeing (spelling anyone??) my hair. I guess I could have made that another "D" post, but you'll just have to picture me with brown hair all by yourself.

ANYHOO...Week 5, "E" week in:

I have at least 2 projects for you, one will require some help on your part, so check back often!!

I have a booth at a local "thrift store/antique mall" place in town. I am a little addicted and told the owners that I think I spend more there than I make, but that's okay. On one of my weekly "check on my booth, run through and see if there is anything I NEED" trips, I came across this little beast:

This time I got a little screwdriver happy before I took pictures. Still not used to showing befores AND afters. I'll get there, someday.

Anyway, I roughed it up a little (remember me, ADHD on decorating, little patience for prep work) and spray painted this little baby a really good shade of blue. After the paint was dry I lightly sanded the high spots then used some brownish glaze, like in some other projects (here and here), to brush in the crevices and help pull out some of the detail. I also put about 3 coats of polyurethane on it.

The end table was ugly brown 1970's with wire in the doors, but it had some great details and the glaze helped pull it all out. After I finished the painting, I stapled fabric in where the wire used to be. The fabric was actually my inspiration for the color. I spray painted the door pulls black and put it all back together.

Here she is again, before:

and her cutie patootie after:


I kind of started a thing with Scarlett (you can read about her here ), so I can't leave this little lovely without a name.

Hmmmm (thinking music)

Okay, I got it. Hence forth and forever more she will be Bluebell. She's ready for her close-up Mr. Deville

Bluebell's inspiration: the blue birds

(I know bad picture...sorry, teacher here, not a photographer nor a teacher of photography)

Oh and I forgot to tell you. She cost me almost three times as much as Scarlett. (To refresh your memory, Scarlett was $2, I must have loved Bluebell more, she was $5! Don't tell Scarlett though, she'll get a complex!)

Linking up with Miss Mustard Seed and SNS with Donna:

I've also joined into the "Power of Paint Party" at Domestically Speaking, I'm telling you a little can of paint can make a HUGE difference!

Have a great week! Come back and see me!