New Year's Eve Fun

 I'm looking forward to ringing in the New Year with my favorite people!

Vintage Mirrored Mantel

A mustache for party-goers of every height!

(bathroom makeover reveal to come)

And a festive print from Custom Printables!

May 2012 bring you much love, happiness, peace, prosperity, and good health!  

Happy New Year!

11 Years and Counting...

  I consider myself a lucky girl!  I'm spending the day celebrating 11 years with 

my awesome Hubby! 

 (we only wear our togas on weekdays)

post-Chrismas, pre-New Years time out.

  I hope you all had a great Christmas!!  I'm still trying to find a place for all the new toys!  Oh the excess!
...not to sound Grinchy or anything... 

Thoughtful Hubby bought a respirator for me.  I can no longer blame my craziness on paint fumes...

I could really use a nap though.... 

 (you do NOT want to nap anywhere near this guy - he snores!)

Here's a sneak peek at some of the projects I'm working on....

...and about that... 

I just noticed that my blog subtitle is "decorating with love and drama, ONE project at a time."  

This is a lie.  

I can only dream of the day when I'm disciplined enough to START and FINISH one project at a time!

Stay tuned for some fun in 2012 (including a big announcement and some giveaways)!!!  I can't wait!

Happy New Year!!!!!

Linking my cute pup to this party!!!

Mistakes have been made, people!!!! (my strange day)

I can only plead NOT guilty by reason of sleep deprivation and an overwhelming to-do list.

 I woke up yesterday morning very disoriented (3 hours of sleep will do that to you) and rushed to get the kids ready and feed them breakfast and get them in the car and drive them to school.... at 7:35am.

They go to school at 8:40am.  So we drove back home and played for an hour.
"Oh Mommy, you're so silly."

And then today:

I'm in the middle of a bathroom redo/update.  For now the walls were only getting a paint touch up due to some of the changes.
(stay tuned for the reveal, I hope)

I pride myself on being organized, but today I have proven that I am only organized enough to be dangerous.  I have the paint cans in the basement labeled with what room, wall or piece of furniture the paint was used for.  So, I grabbed the paint can that said "1/2 bath".  It's been a couple of years since I'd used that paint, but here are some guidelines my paint guy told me to follow when it comes to old paint.  1) has it ever been frozen?  No.  Then 2) does it smell bad, as in rotten?  If no, then shake or stir and see if it looks okay.  If it's under 7 years old and has been sealed, then it's probably okay.

this picture has nothing to do with the story, I just really like these chairs


Well, the paint smelled kinda funny.  Not bad, just strong.  Weird.  But, I was too busy to give it much thought. It looked fine, so off I went.  This morning, the second day of painting, I looked up and it occurred to me that the paint seemed really LIGHT compared to the tan/beige/taupe color that was already there.  Maybe it's just the bad lighting.  But come to think of it, it was kinda hard to wash off my hands and ..... CRAP.... yes, I'd painted with the trim paint (Alkyd) instead of the wall paint.  This is not my first paint rodeo, how did I not notice?

Keep calm, carry on, sigh in exasperation, decide it's too late and I'll probably be thankful in the long run so just...keep...painting.  (if you say this in the voice of Dory from Finding Nemo, it sounds better)

(source)

 

Oh, did I mention that I'm supposed to be baking cookies for my sons' Christmas program tonight?

 Oh, and my laptop monitor seems to have a short, so I better take that apart and see what the problem is.

Most people... "darn laptop... I'd better take it somewhere for a repair".  Me... "darn laptop, I'd better pop the hood, easily find the problem, quickly repair it and put the laptop back together before lunch."
Um, yeah.

You see, I don't let things like rational thought sneak in and disrupt my plan of complete domination of inanimate household objects. (which may turn into destruction).

So far I've remove 147 screws from the laptop and it appears I'm halfway there.  I'm taking a break to bake cookies and finish painting that bathroom!

**9:40pm update:  The bathroom is nearly complete, the laptop fix was a success, the Rudolph and Clarisse cookies turned out cuter than expected and my kiddos went to bed happy.  Funny how a strange day can end so happily.  Thanks for listening.

Craftiest Time of the Year? Paper Rose Tree Tutorial (and more!)

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Does anyone else take the Pinterest DIY & Crafts section as a personal challenge?  I think I need professional help (but isn't it fun?)!!!

I spent the better part of the Thanksgiving weekend down-time cutting up grocery bags for these Paper Rose Trees. (what is it with me and grocery bags?)  I'm pretty sure my Sister in Law thought I had gone completely bonkers, but I needed something to busy myself with.

First, I cut a paper bag into uniform sized squares.  They started out approximately 5" x 5".  Then I cut those into spirals.  I spent the drive home rolling them into roses and tossing them into a bag.  I wasn't the one driving, I promise!

For the first tree, I rolled the circles from the center of the spiral outward and then hot-glued each rose to the foam cone.  I kept them rolled really tightly until the glue was dry.  Once I'd covered the whole cone, I went back with smaller roses (I just tore the spiral in half and rolled 2 or 3 roses from one spiral) to fill in any gaps.  I finished by using a small paintbrush and wet q-tip to clean out most of the glue "strings" and sprayed it with a few coats of gold glitter spray!

Here's the first tree with it's friend Thumbtack Tree.

For my second and third trees, I cut larger spirals (from rectangles that started out 5" x 7") and rolled them from the outside of the spiral in towards the center.  Doing it this way made it easier to roll them without looking, so I could do it while I was watching TV!   I also let them unravel on the cone a little before the glue was completely dried.  I sprayed this one with about 4 coats of glitter spray.

 

The verdict is that they look identical, whether they were rolled from the center to the outside or vice-versa. 

 Then, I decided to add a little bling!  I found some gold Marti Gras-type beads and cut them apart.  I glued them on to the center of the roses one one of the trees (on the right).  I think this adds some fun sparkle!

 

 Sparkle, sparkle!

(Okay, admittedly not the best photo.  I swear it's festive and warm rather than blinding in person!  The camera goes in for repair in January!)

I can't wait to make a wreath with pink felt roses for Valentine's Day and maybe add a pearl or rhinestone to the center of each flower!  Did I just add to my To-Do list at the same time I crossed something off?  Typical.


I also took this great Layered Candle idea from Pinterest.  I didn't pin it though, so if it was your idea let me know and I'll give you credit - I promise!

I bought new wicks from Michaels, but only ended up using one.  Most of my used candles were previously used on a warmer rather than lit, so the wicks were just under all the wax.  I really think these are pretty, but the project made a serious mess in the kitchen!!  (and cleaning the glass will make photographs so much nicer - oops!)  I made a couple of Christmas "mixtures" as well as one for fall and one I really love for Spring/Summer - can't wait!

Also, here's a pic of our Christmas tablescape.  Some of the hurricanes are filled with Epsom salt "snow" under the candles.  The hurricanes are homemade.  I took dollar store glass candlesticks and glued them to various sized glass vases with E6000 - and you'd never know they were inexpensive!!  I'm in the process of adding monograms to a few of them, too.

What about this fun picture!?!?  My models are telling me they won't pose for me ever again!
'Tis the season for Mommy to take too many photos!!

 {{{ You may have noticed that I added an "Available Pieces" tab at the top of the page.  I will be adding a LOT of furniture and accessories to this tab soon and am currently in the middle of a couple of custom orders as well!  If you're in the Kansas City area, let me know if you see something you'd like in your home or have furniture you'd like for me to take on! }}}

These were Featured here (woo hoo!):



I'm sharing all this fun here: