Ready For A Giveaway??

Well, Halloween is just about over which means Christmas is just around the corner. Oh wait, it's my birthday, then Thanksgiving, and THEN Christmas...but I still think it's pretty safe to say that the giving season is here, and to celebrate, the lovely folks over at CSN are giving one of my lucky readers a $35 gift card to use on one of their 200+ websites!!

They have so so much to choose from! Like this barstool that would look perfect in Elijah's cowboy room. But of course they have many more barstools to choose from.

They also have home decor, rugs, cookware, and the list goes on. You can check 'em out here to see all they have to offer.

So how do you enter, you ask? Just become a follower and leave a comment letting me know. You have until Monday, November 8th!

P.S. Due to shipping, this contest is only open to U.S. and Canada.

Good Luck!!!

Lake Lefferts

I've been a busy little bee trying to get my new place in order and it's gettin' there slowly but surely. I didn't want to leave you guys hangin' though, so I thought I would share some pics of a lake I live by. It's called Lake Lefferts and it is B-E-A-U-tiful during the Fall season. It's right smack dab in the middle of the suburbs and we have to drive over it to get to the park, so today I figured I would actually stop and take some pictures.

There is a little parking lot right off the main road, which is where this path starts.

I found a bunch of acorns that I stuffed in my pockets for a possible craft project. I think my son thought I was nuts. Get it? Ok, so maybe that was a little acorny! Ha, don't stop me now - I'm on a roll!

The end of the path opens up to a grassy hill. Elijah was in heaven!

Yes, that's dried snot on his face.

Over to the left is a cute little gazebo.

 These little bad boys were as tall as me!

 As I got closer, I saw someone had spray painted graffiti all over. I just want to go and cover it up with a nice fresh coat of paint!

 Wouldn't it be great to live on the lake in a cute house?

 

 This last picture is of a house right by where I live. It's so adorable! But everytime I want to take a picture of it, there is someone standing outside, so I had to just do a drive-by snapping (yes, that would be my side view mirror at the bottom of the pic).

I'm gonna try and take a better picture of this house because it's SO adorable, but I just don't have the guts to take one knowing there are people inside. 

Would you take a picture if people were home or are you a chicken like me?

 

I'm Alive and I've Got New Curtains

I would love to tell you guys that the drive from California to New Jersey was the best road trip imaginable, but it wasn't. It was long. And tiring. And my butt hurt from sitting so long. But at least I can cross it off of my bucket list now =)

I would also love to tell you guys that my place looks fab and everything is put away, but the truth is that there are still boxes everywhere. I'm just waiting for the unpacking elves to pay me a visit in the middle of the night so I will wake up to a box-free apartment. Yeah, I've been waiting about a week now and they still haven't shown up! So, while I wait for the boxes to be cleared out of here, I figured I would at least show you the curtains in my living room.

About a year ago, I did a post about my mom sewing some burlap curtains for me. 

Don't worry, I don't expect you to remember because I had about 2 followers back then which I think were my sister and my mom. Did you realize I said a year ago? Yep, that's where I get my procrastination from! Love ya mom =)

I also did another post a while back about a teaser where I showed you this pic:

Throw in a little espresso brown spray paint and I've got a new window treatment!

 I knew I wasn't going to be able to find any curtain rings big enough to fit around the bamboo, so I got a bunch of 4" embroidery hoops, spray painted them to match the bamboo, and used thin wire to attach some curtain clips from Ikea to the hoops. Originally, I wanted to stain the bamboo and embroidery hoops, but I couldn't get them to match, so I just painted them.

As I've mentioned before, my math skills are horrible and I ended up hanging the curtains a few inches too low (you can see the door frame at the top of the curtains), but I love the way the curtains pool at the bottom, so I was able to forgive myself for stinking at math.

In case you were wondering what was going on above the window treatment, I got these clocks years ago at Ikea (I think $9.99 each and I wanna say they still sell 'em) and I had typed up cute labels with different countries and showed the different times. 2 of them got lost in storage and all I have to show is now Tokyo. Guess I'll be making some new ones!

 

Road Trip!!

Well, I'm starting my loooong drive from Cali to New Jersey tomorrow and I will be cut off from the world for a few days. My laptop is broken so I have to wait to get that fixed before I can do anything blog related ::sniff sniff::.

See ya guys soon!

#1

Woohoo! My Ballard Designs Medallion Wall Plaque knockoff made first cut over at the CSI Project!

You can check out all the other fun projects here!

PB Knockoff Airplane Panels

Have you guys seen these airplane panels in the PB catalog?

When I saw them, I fell in love and knew I needed to recreate the look for less since they were $299.

PB's version is 2x8, but I went ahead with a 1x4 pine board and cut it into (4) 12'' boards, then painted them off white.

Next, I took a scrap piece of newsprint paper and measured out (2) 12'' squares, then using PB's version as a guide, I sketched half of the airplane.

You don't have to draw the details, but I find it helpful to make sure the scale is right.

Next, I outlined it with a black marker and cut it out.

I traced it onto 2 panels, then flipped it over and traced it onto the other 2, then I drew in all the details. 

(Sorry for the picture quality, but you can't see the pencil marks if the pic is lightened)

These are the colors I used.

I used PB's version as my guide when painting. I think the key is to stipple the paint so you get an aged look.

Here it is with everything painted.

(Please excuse my piggly wigglies in the picture)

Next, I took a sander to all the edges and on some random spots on the boards...

And stained it with Minwax Dark Walnut.

The left board is with stain. Right is without.

And here she is all finished...

And PB's version for comparison...

I love love love how it turned out, but I'm thinking I might do another coat of stain so it looks more aged like PB's.

UPDATE: So right after I posted this, I went ahead and did another coat of stain. Usually, I am pretty conservative with distressing because I'm afraid I'll ruin it, but I'm glad I took my chances with this one. I hope you can see the difference in the pictures!

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