Kreativ Blogger Award!!!!

I just received an award from Jen over at "The Thrifty Home"!!! I had to do a double take and make sure it wasn't a fluke, I never get anything, but I must have done something good! Thank you Jen! You have totally made my day!

The Rules:
1. Thank the person who nominated you for this award.
2. Copy the logo and place it on your blog.
3. Link to the person who nominated you for this award.
4. Name 7 things about yourself that people might find interesting.
5. Nominate 7 Kreativ Bloggers.
6. Post links to the 7 blogs you nominate.
7. Leave a comment on each of the blogs, letting them know they have been nominated.

7 Interesting Things... (Might be difficult for me!)

1. I come from a HUGE family, huge with a capital HUGE!!! Ever seen "My Big, Fat, Greek Wedding?" Well, that is my family, just minus being Greek and roasting a pig out in the front yard. My mom is one of 5 kids and so is my dad. I have 4 brothers, 1 sister and over 30 first cousins. I told you it was big!!! But we don't all get to see each other often but thanks to Facebook, I talk to most of them almost everyday.

2. I got married 2 months after I graduated high school at age 18. No, I wasn't pregnant, I just have always known what I wanted and didn't think that waiting would change anything. This August will be our 6 year wedding anniversary! I truly married my best friend and we have had one crazy ride these last 6 years, including adding our two children.

3. My favorite color is red. I have red EVERYTHING! A big red wall in my living room, red polka dot shoes (a must have in any girls wardrobe!), red purses, and my personal favorite, my red crock pot!!! My husband got it for me last year for my birthday while I was pregnant with baby #2 and got a lot of flack from the family about getting me an appliance for my birthday. But I was so excited when I opened it! I use it all the time and it is my favorite thing to use in the kitchen.

4. I know the lyrics to every Disney song ever created. And the sad part about this is that I knew them WAY before having kids! I was banned from bringing my music to work on Friday's for music day because no one wanted to listen to, "Its the Circle of Life," with me singing in the background using my scissors as my microphone.

5. (It's getting harder to think of things about me now!) I have an aversion to things in between my toes. I can handle flip flops, but anything in the other toes will warrant getting kicked! I cannot get a pedicure for this exact reason because I would boot the nice lady touching my feet. Just thinking about it is making my skin crawl!

6. My family (on my mom's side) and I have this very strange talent to watch any movie and be able to quote it moments later. Even when I was a child I would do it. Have any of you seen the movie, "Roxanne" with Steve Martin and Darrell Hannah? I used to wander around the house yelling, "The ladder... Is up!" as a child. Anything with Tom Hanks are my personal favorites, like "A League of Their Own." "Are you crying? There's no crying in baseball!" Classic!

7. As I am a stay at home mom of a 2 year old and a 5 month old, I have acquired a new title other than mom: Diaper-Changer-Extraordinaire! I feel like some days I am swimming in a sea of diapers, but let me tell you, I am like a cattle roper! I get the assembly line going and I can change both diapers in under a minute and yes, I do throw my hands in the air like the cowboys do after roping their calf! And yes, I do get strange looks from both of my kids because they are usually the only ones that watch me do it.

(Whew! That was harder than I thought it would be!)

7 Kreativ Blog Nominations:

1. Suzi at Suzi Homemaker

2. Marie at Emma Calls Me Mamma

3. Beckie at Infarrantly Creative

4. Lindsay at Living with Lindsay

5. The Nester at The Nesting Place

6. Ashley at Make It and Love It

7. Donna at Funky Junk Interiors

I look at these blogs almost every day and I just love them! There are so many others that I look at, but it is so hard to narrow them down to just 7! Thank you again Jen, this has been one of the most flattering things anyone has given me!

Remember when...

Do you remember these?

Well, now they're these! Yes, I painted them in less than a month. Because I have so much red in my living room, red tables were just a little much. As much as I loved them, they just needed to be changed. So I painted them a very dark brown, looks almost black and sanded them down.

And my favorite part about them is that the red is still peeking through!!! I love them.

As we were watching HGTV's $250,000 Challenge, a designer said to cut open a fruit or veggie and look at all the shades in there. Nature doesn't clash colors. So I love red, and I did this with an apple and got totally inspired. This room is going to be red, cream, green, and dark brown. But now this chair needs some help. SLIP COVER HERE I COME!!!

Another little project that I did, that I have been on my husband to do for months but just has never taken care of it, is I took care of an eye sore.

Exhibit A:

Yes, you do see the surround sound speaker wire. Its been there for years.

Exhibit B:

My Handy Work (only took a nail and throwing away that AWFUL little shelf.)

Whew! Had a busy day! Now off to bed to dream of my next project. I'm thinking about windows!!!!

Finally Finished!!!

After 5 months, this room is finally finished! Here is our journey!

This was the color before the room was painted. It was a fun girl room but in the sun this room was a little too pink. (I was just really excited about having a girl!)

You can see the chandelier a little bit here. But little boys and chandeliers just don't mix well.

This was the finished paint job. Nice and clean.

And here it is! This is Zoe's bed (yes with an Elmo and Zoe pillow, but she just loves them!)

These pictures were done by my sister-in-law. We just printed off some characters online and gave them to her and she went to work! Aren't they amazing?!

This one is my favorite, but they are all so good that it is hard to pick!

These are from Kohl's. They were $5 and went to charity. So the next time they have them I will stock up and get the ones that we don't have. I just love them!

I wrote this above their closet. Might need a little more color up there, but for now I am happy with it.

I just love doing kids' rooms! You have so much freedom to do all the fun things that you can't do in your normal living space. I might just have to have more kids so I can do more rooms... Well, maybe not that. Let's not get ahead of ourselves!

Teaser

I have been working on my kids nursery for... well ever since we found out we were having #2 in January, but being put on bed rest the last 2 months of that pregnancy has prolonged the finished product a wee bit. We decided to have both the kids share a room because it is just across the hall from our room and the third bed room is all the way across the house and I just don't feel comfortable having my babies that far away from me. I know, I'm weird. But here is a little teaser of the room with a small project that only took me an evening/afternoon to finish.

Have any of you seen the Pottery Barn Kids room with the Dr. Seuss decals and prints? That was my inspiration. Yep, I am doing a Dr. Seuss theme room. I like Pottery Barn's concept, but I think that how wild and crazy all the Dr. Seuss books are, things could be done a little differently and for WAY cheaper!

Now because some of the room is not complete yet, I am only going to give you just a taste of the entire room with this lamp. It originally was a really dark brown that we spray painted white for Zoe's uber pink room with a chandelier and everything. But with baby boy moving in, the pink and chandelier had to go and the lamp needed to be taken up a notch.

So I printed off a few pictures of Dr. Seuss characters and cut them individually. Then I Modge Podged each character onto the shade.

Then I took it outside, taped it off in stripes like the Cat and the Hat's hat (if that makes sense.) And TA-DA!!! Cute little lamp that didn't cost me a penny. Already had the paint, lamp, shade, paper to print the pictures, Modge Podge and scotch tape.

Now if you look behind the lamp and see the writing on the wall... Dr. Seuss titles. But you will have to stay tuned for the rest! Aren't you so excited?!

Jazzin' It Up

The other day I was feeling the need to spice things up, but I didn't have any money or a car. So I looked around the house to see what I could do that would have a large impact on the living room, but not cost us anything. So I rearranged the furniture... Well, just the couch and chairs, the rest of the room is the same because of the surround sound and large items, i.e. our 500lb TV (you may laugh, but we have moved that thing only a few times because it weighs so much that it takes 2 grown men to lift!)

Here is the before picture. This room has been like this for almost 2 years and just has never set well with me but I never did anything about it:

This is after. I think it opens the room up and makes the chairs seem a little more cozy. I am currently working on fun things to go on the end tables (which are being painted black in a matter of days, too much red, hard to decorate with). And I am also working with my mother on a slip cover for the rocking chair. It has served its purpose and has rocked 2 babies, but is now looking a little sad and needs a face lift. Also I am working on new pillows for the couch and big chair, again, I love me some red, but it limits what you can decorate with.

I am also thinking of making a coffee table out of one of my many windows and some old wood. Still in the works, but I think it will be fun. This is cheap way to spice things up and make your space different but not really.

I Ventured into New Territory...

...And said a lot of swear words in the process. First, let me apologize for not posting for the whole week. The reason for this is that all the projects that I was working on somehow blew up in my face. Let me explain. I learned a few very valuable lessons this week.

#1 Have all your ducks in a row and do your research before diving into a project!!!

&

#2 Be Patient (So not me, but I learned that slow and steady is better than fast and ruin everything and have to start at square one after hours of work.)

How did I learn these lessons, you might ask. Well, if get too in depth with it all I will just start to get angry want to throw things, so I won't. Plus, it would turn into the longest and most boring "vent" post you will ever read.

Now because I am not totally in love with one of the projects that I did, I won't show you all of the letters. I saw this post on Joys of Home and I loved it so much that I went out and got the letters of our last name and was going to do what she did. Well I didn't know how to use Modge Podge, I had never used it before so I just assumed that it was so easy that I could just wing it. BIG MISTAKE!!! I ended up having to rip up everything that I had spent hours cutting and gluing and all that jazz. So here is what I learned on my journey with Modge Podge.

#1 It is SUPER easy to do, but you have to do it right or you will be swearing.

#2 Apply a healthy coat of Modge Podge to the back of the paper, fabric, whatever and get it as flat as you can and get all the air bubbles out. I used a butter knife and worked from the inside out (didn't do this the first time and that is why I had to redo it.)

#3 Apply layers of the Modge Podge on the top only if the the back of the paper is dry first (again, didn't do this!)

So here is a picture of my favorite letter, still deciding if I like the others.

I also finished a project that was inspired by countless blogs and their love for numbers. We have had these two stools since we got married and they are just your basic stools.

I had some paint left over from painting my kid's room and thought I would just use some of it. So I sanded down both stools, not much, just roughed them up a bit. Then I primed and painted them. It was so hot out today that I had to work fast because the paint was drying too fast and that is never good.

So after I got them all painted (one coat of primer, two coats of color) I got out my transfer paper and my paint pen and went to work. I first printed off my text that I wanted and put the transfer paper underneath the page and traced it.

Then I used the paint pen and followed the lines from the transfer paper and filled it in. It looks a little whibbly if you are looking super close to it, but they look great I think! And when I paint my cabinets they will be that perfect pop of color.

Now I don't know about you, but when I am gettin' my craft on, I like to listen to a movie. I usually pick one that I have seen a gozillion times and I know what is going on without looking at the screen. Now I got this movie for Christmas from "Santa" and if you have not seen it yet, go and rent it. "Dan in Real Life" with Steve Carell, Juliette Binoche and Dane Cook. You will laugh and cry, sometimes at the same time. My favorite line in the movie is, "YOU ARE A MURDERER OF LOVE!!!!" I still cry in this movie and it still makes me laugh.

Goodwill Party

Thrifty Chic Decor is one of my favorite blogs.  She shares my passion for making cheap decor that doesn't look cheap.  She is hosting a Goodwill party today and I thought I would share a project of mine.  This isn't new by any means, I have had this hanging up for a few years now, just never finished it.  So last night I rolled up my sleeves and finished it.

Remember this?

I bought this window at a barn sale for $10 a few years ago.  I decided to make it into a fun pot rack for the kitchen, but never put the pots on it.  My mom had given me these really cool copper pots awhile back and they needed some cleaning and have been in my garage ever since.

So last night I hung the pots.  And I added the lids and some odds and ends above my cabinets.  I am a little angry with myself for not finishing this project before now because it looks AWESOME!

All in all this project cost me, around $12.00.  We had to buy the hooks to hang it.  The berries I had from an impulse buy that I got awhile back on sale.  But I will have to change those out because when I paint my kitchen cabinets white, there needs to be a different color up there.  Hope this inspires you to look through your garage and finish a project.

As Promised!

I had such a blast doing this project.  Not only because it made my husband shake his head, but because I knew that I had something original in my house.  Well, I'm sure other people have a chalkboard door, but in Kelsee-Land, its totally original.

Here's how I did it:

First prep your area, taping off anything you don't want paint on.  Then slap a coat of a good primer on there.  I did this at about 11:00pm after I got the kids to bed and had a HUGE piece of chocolate cream cake... Had to have energy for the project!  Well, that's what I will tell myself anyway.  It literally took me only about 20 minutes to prep and about 10 minutes for the coat of primer.  Maybe that cake made me work freakishly fast... hmmmm.

Cooper had to help me while I painted this afternoon... well actually he just sat quietly and stared at himself in the reflection on the oven for a half hour.  But the sitting quietly helped a lot!

Then I put two coats of the chalkboard paint on and let it dry for a few hours and TA DA!!!!

I wrote this message for my husband because he is always giving me a hard time about having 15 started projects but none that are completed.  Strange, but he didn't find it very funny.

As soon as Zoe got home from her Grandma day I showed her the door and she went right to work.  I love it!  This has to be my favorite thing in the house, other than my kids, husband, jewelry, and red wall.

Now go out and get some chalkboard paint and feed into that inner child of yours!  

Christmas Came Early!!!

Yes, Ladies and Gentlemen (well, mostly ladies) I have received 10 more windows!  And the best part was that they were free... well for the windows they were free, bribing my sister to drop them off at 11:00 at night cost me a batch of chocolate chip cookies.  I found an ad on Craigslist on Tuesday in the Free section for wood framed windows.  So of course I sent her an email to ask for directions to her house.  She lives in Sandpoint and was a very nice lady.  Because my sister is currently living in Sandpoint I begged her to go and get them.  And here they are!!!  Aren't they pretty?!  Well, they will be when I'm done with them.  They've been in a barn for 20 years!

I have to admit that I have no idea what I am going to do with them, but the possibilities are endless!

Contemplation

Not a great picture but I'm thinking about painting this chocolate wall a mustard yellow and have the color run all the way into my kitchen to compliment the off white cabinets I'll have soon.  Any thoughts on the matter?