my first craigslist purchase

I’m always searching Craigslist to see what I can see. 

Is there something for sale that could be cool possibly after a little bit of paint. 

I came across some book shelves. 

They looked old which I liked.

They had storage at the bottom of the shelves which I liked.

And they had some character which was most appealing to me.

The description was VERY vague.  There were no dimensions in the listing.  Plus there were 2 listings of the same thing.  The description said, “sold as set your choice”.  So it makes one wonder does the person have 4 book shelves or was it simply just a mistake.

So I called.

The gentleman said he indeed had 4.  The book shelves he had left were the ones with the door.  Yippee!  Those are the ones I wanted in the first place!  I didn’t know what I would do with the shelves that had the desk unit. 

I also asked if he had dimensions and if they were laminate or wood.  He was not at the location so he didn’t know.  OK.  The back looked laminate, I can do something with that.  I’ve painted laminate before and it was just fine.  I just didn’t want the sides and tops to be laminate.  Also it looked @ 36” wide but I couldn’t tell with the depth.

We made arrangements.  His location was close to my husband’s work.  Perfect!  My husband has a truck and he went there after work. 

He pulls up and he sees the book shelves in the picture I showed him the night before.  Apparently the gentleman had 4 but the ones in this picture were the ones he was classifying as the ones with the door.  So they weren’t the same.  Do I like the desk unit?  Could it be something I could take out?  Hmmmmm

My husband also thought they had a lot of laminate on them.  Hmmmmm  Should I go for it?  They were cheap!  The gentleman owns storage units and after someone vacates they have x number of days to get their stuff out.  He was selling bits and pieces of a lot of different stuff.  He just wanted the stuff gone so he can rent out the unit again.

So I decided to go for it.  (You could probably guess that from the blog title).

After my husband got them home, my first thought was they were DEEP!  They measure 18” and I’m not crazy about it!  I want to explore if there is anything I can do about that.  The desk door does not look like you can take it off, which I’m not trilled about.  But maybe it could be our computer desk area.  Not what I had in mind for them.  I’m also not trilled about the handles.  They look to bedishy.  At least that's an easy fix.

On the plus side, the book shelves are all wood veneer except for the back!  The back is just stapled on and can be easily taken off.  I was thinking painting it a different color or doing some strips or chevron pattern OR I was even thinking of wallpapering it.  In any of those cases it wouldn’t matter what the surface was.

So I’m happy!  My first Craigslist purchase was a success!

Now they sit in my garage waiting for me to decide where to put them and what exactly to do with them.  I’ll keep you posted.

Stay tuned…..

kick start this old blog

 I once again feel the need to kick start this old blog!

 

Seeing that I haven't written since October 2012 and it's now mid-summer 2013 I have a lot of catching up to do.

 

A "Lego" themed birthday party right before Christmas for my youngest.

 

 

Enjoying a "white" Christmas at home.

 

 

Hosting a glorious celebration at Easter with family and extended family.

 

A wonderful Florida vacation in the month of June.

 

At that brings us to today....enjoying a sweet treat on a hot summer afternoon.

 

 

And let's not forgot all the chorus and violin concerts, gymnastic practices, ballet recitals, swim lessons and homework, homework, and more homework.  To say the least it's been busy!

 

I still am doing daycare during the day, but I am feeling the need to restart this blog. 

 

I HAVE a degree in interior design.  I went to college for 5 YEARS!  I've asked myself recently, "Why I am not using it!"  So in the middle of our life, I would like to redo bits and pieces of our home. 

 

I found a wonderful group on FB in my community that you can sell items.  I'm sure every community has something like this, or you can use Craigslist.  I've already sold 2 items in the last 3 days and plan to sell more.  My hope is to sell and then buy.  So yes it's going to take me sometime, but I'm in no hurry.

 

That's where the restarting comes in.....I want to document the whole process on this blog.  My long term goal is that this can be a new venture for me as a designer.  I don't know!!!  It's a ways away, but I guess I have to start somewhere.  And let me tell you that I was pretty pumped from my first 2 sales!

 

Wish me luck!

 

Thanks for stopping.

 

Bye for now!

 

fall entry way

  I thought I would start today by showing my fall entry. 

 

Right when you walk in is my famous Pottery Barn chair.  As I have blogged about it before, my husband and I were not in totally agreement about.  Or it's been so long since I've purchased the chair I might have the story wrong.  I think I told him I was buying a chair and he said fine.  OK.  Once it is in our home he couldn't believe I spent money on it as it is not even an ounce bit comfortable.

Yes I have to admit that, but I sure looks great!

 

Next to it is our computer desk that we refinished red a couple of years ago.  Today, I am rethinking the red or should a dare say I've been thinking about it for awhile now.  Don't tell my husband!  He did all the work, he sanded, stained and lacquered.  All I did was distress it with a little black paint and ordered the knobs.  I didn't even put those on. 

 

 

I love the look of curly branches!  I have kept them all spring and summer season basically naked with nothing at the base.  For fall I decided to add some fall orange flowers with beads and brown feathers.  It creates more interest at the base.

 

I see metallic pumpkins everywhere this year and I bought a small one from Hobby Lobby.  The pumpkin picks up the orangey color of the flowers in the branches.

 

I have had my book page wreath displayed here for the longest time, you can see it here.  As I was browsing Pinterst one day looking for a new wreath, either to make or buy, I came across this one at save-on-crafts.com.  It had all the colors I wanted to incorporate and it was just the right size.  Plus the colors I thought could carry into the winter season after the holidays.  I contemplated on buying feathers and making it myself.  But once I looked at prices for feathers it would have been too costly.

 

On the other side of the entry is my gallery wall.  I do change out photos according to the seasons. 

 

One might think it's a bit nutty but I usually coordinate the photos to the season. 

 

The ones I have up now are from my kiddos at the pumpkin patch last year.  We are going to go in October and I'll take a gazillion pictures of them doing all sorts of pumpkin patch activities.  Whether or not I put those up I don't know, but at least I have fall photos up now. 

 

I always try to include some art work, and it's usually simple stuff that I do.  Like this one of the leaves.  I just double-sided taped these leaves onto white paper and stuck it under a mat.  I also did it here on my fall mantel.

 

 

I also included pictures of pumpkins that are ironed onto fabric and then stapled onto a canvas.  These are the first I did a couple of years ago.  Now, instead of stapling them onto canvas, I use a piece of wood.  The wood is free.  We have wood lying around in our garage and my husband has a fancy table saw that he can use to cut me whatever size I want.  If I want to hang it I simply hammer on a wall hanger. 

 

I just did a search on Etsy to see if these images are still available and I did find the smaller pumpkin here. 

We hope to go to the pumpkin patch this Saturday.  We are all looking forward to it. 

I just saw the weather forecast and it's suppose to rain.  Boo! 

Thanks for stopping.

Bye for now!

rolled flowers

My favorite thing in the kitchen right now is my vase full of rolled paper flowers. 

 

I'm at my kitchen sink a lot through-out the day and the flowers are so pleasing to look at.

 

I change out the flowers according to the colors of the season. 

 

I collected an array of fall colored papers at the craft store:  yellows, oranges, bronzes and even white with a scrolling gold design.

 

 

Rolled paper flowers are nothing new.  One can find tutorials all over the Internet. 

 

Today I'm going to show you how I make mine.  It's easy and the technique can be used as seasons come and go over and over again.

 

I started with all sorts of colored card stock paper - I've used text weight paper and it works fine too

Some sort of stem, I used floral wire

Scissors

Glue gun

 

I start by cutting a square.

 

Then I cut a curvy blob.

 

From there I cut a curvy inward circle, leaving the center uncut.  I've seen tutorials on people drawing this out and cutting along the lines.  I've done this many times I can cut it free-hand, plus I like how it's curvier and more unpredictable.

 

Then I start to roll from the outside.

 

The center of the uncut circle creates a base to hot glue the flower together.  From this point I might unravel the flower a bit to open it up and then I hot glue it together.

 

Next, I take floral wire bend the tip and create a hook that is perpendicular to the stem.  This will create a base for you to hot glue to the back of the flower.

 

I cut a leaf shape out of green paper...and I usually just free cut this.  I don't want all my leaves to look the same.  I cut a slit in the base of the leaf, fold one side over and slightly bend the leaf upright.

 

Finally I hot glue everything together and I have a nice paper rolled flower.

Add it to a vase and you have a beautiful long-lasting flower arrangement.

 

I hope you have enjoyed my craft today...it's a fairly fast and easy one that can be used in various decorations schemes.  It's not JUST a "fall" craft!

 

I'll start on some Christmas flowers to add once the season changes.

 

Thanks for stopping.

 

Bye for now!

 

welcome back fall and me

  Yes, it's been awhile! 

 

I don't have any reasons why I haven't written.  No major life changes or illness which is always good news.  I guess I've been busy, lazy and I honestly haven't had much to write about. 

 

Until now!

 

I've been really motivated with the upcoming holidays.  My house is decked out in fall.  I've even looked through my Christmas ornaments packed downstairs to see what I can do differently for this year. 

 

So again I welcome fall with my corn husk wreath for the front door.

 

 

Instead of tying the orange ribbon into a bow like last year, I wrapped it and tacked it to the top of the door.  This gives the wreath a cleaner and more polished look.  You can read how I made this wreath by clicking here.

 

Then off into our living room...

 

 

I don't believe I've ever showed a complete picture of the room.  We do not have a fireplace with a mantel, but I have a little niche above our TV that I change out as the seasons come. 

 

Right now I have wicker pumpkins, leaves, gold candlesticks, a collection of books and 2 pictures: one of my 3 favorite people and one that I put together a grouping of leaves.

 

In somethings I like order and symmetry and somethings I like random placement.  In this situation, I like how there are varying heights in all areas of the niche.  It's not predictable!

 

 

I did notice that it is some what hard to see the larger pumpkin in these photos.  So I did raise it up a bit but did not retake the pictures.

 

Also I'm not totally sure on my leaf art picture.  I don't know if I like the white mat on the white piece of paper the leaves are placed on.  The mat blends in and it's hard to tell that it's even there from a distance.

 

My Dad has given me a cutting mat contraption along with several different colored mats that I know one would look good in this grouping, but the thing looks COMPLICATED and haven't asked for a tutorial on how to use it. 

 

So there is my fall mantal and hopefully my first of many blog posts yet to come and finish out the year.

 

Welcome back me!

 

I look forward to sharing with all of you as the seasons go.

 

Thanks for stopping,

 

Bye for now.

 

Sharing with Kate at Centsational Girl

 

an invitation, a thank you and a free download

  I wanted to share my birthday invitations and thank you notes I made for my daughter's birthday.

If you missed my gazillion pictures of the party, you can view them here. 

I made the scalloped border in a pink color and then glittered it.  The invitation envelopes are a glittery gold lined with a shimmering hot pink paper.  The note card envelope liners are what designers say "is the jumping off point".  I found this wrapping paper at Hobby Lobby.  The polka dots are playful but seem more grown-up when it's in gold.  I snatched the roll right up...not like it was the only one left or there were tons of people in the aisle.  I just knew this was the direction I wanted to go.

The glitter really does stay on....yeah it made rub off a bit when you run your hand over it.  I really don't know why I didn't see that when I was taking the picture!

 I made these four note cards for personal download use. 

I buy my envelopes from Paper Source.  These note cards fit perfectly in the 4 Bar size.

I wanted to show different embellishment options that you could do...

The first card I simply just rounded the corners - nothing too fancy.

Second card I added I flower and a ribbon leaf.

Third option I again added glitter.

And finally the fourth I tied baker's twine around it with a simple pearl flower attached to the bow.

Now for the download part....this is new for me so please let me know if there are any kinks.

All that I ask is that if you are not a follower or if you are a new visitor, if you wouldn't mind following me and sharing the link. 

You should be able to click on the "Scalloped Note Card" title below and it should take you to Scribd where you can download it....or you can click DOWNLOAD here and that should take you there as well.

Scalloped Note Card

Thanks for stopping!

Bye for now.