Just added...

I added 6 new items to my etsy shop this morning.

I felt inspired yesterday since I hadn't added some things for awhile.

I got on a creative streak last night, and watched 3 movies while I was creating.  One movie twice.

Oh well, the juices were flowing, and while everything I listed wasn't homemade, some were.

Here's what I listed this morning...

The bunting idea came to me just the other day when I needed something for the "picture window" I have hanging above our desk in the living room.  I made this one and loved it...

and decided...Hey, I could make some of these to sell...so I did.

The other items, except the denim pouch, was bought at tag sales and goodwill, and served me well for awhile, but I don't need them anymore...so I'm selling them.

To see what else is in my store, just click on my etsy button over on the side of this post.

Thanks for looking!

What could I do with a whole week?

I don't know what about being off of work that gets me motivated, but it just does! Of course I sleep in past my normal wake up time of 5:45 am, but after a couple cups of coffee, I'm ready to go!

A day off usually means a room gets reorganized. Don't judge me, it's just a given! It was Grace's turn today, and of course we needed to also do a craft to make her room more "Parisian."

So, right away I had her start on the craft. I needed her to color the same picture (6 copies) 6 different ways. This took her on and off all morning. The focus wasn't there. It was a little upsetting.

I have had these old window frames that my wonderful hubby brought home for me months ago. I haven't used them all up, but this idea came to me the night before, and I had to go with it.

So, we have 6 pictures, all the same, but yet different, mounted behind this chippy window frame hung with chocolate ribbon.

Cute, huh? It works, and her room is looking more "tweenish" by the moment! I guess that's the look we're going for anyway.

Next, the living room, or maybe Grace's room and the living room were in reverse order, but this is how it's flyin' out of my mind right now.

I've had this wall behind our large recliner (not REALLY my style, but too comfortable for me to care anymore) that just needed something. If you remember, this is how it used to look:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Of course the room has been rearranged since the BEFORE picture, but it's the wall we're focusing on! Oh, and the coffee filter wreath which I posted about the other day, and which I gave to my church for their bazaar, but I made one for me, so it HAS to hang in this space too. I LOVE it SO MUCH!

The little red table between my recliner and couch is from my kitchen. I replaced it in the kitchen with this little one instead, so I could line up some of my cookbooks.

Good swap I think. I needed the red from the little table to tie in with the red from the game boards on the wall.

After all that, just for the fun of it, I took some pictures of some of my favorite things in my home.

(ignore the hideously ugly carpet. Someday I envision beautiful hardwood floors or warm, soft, cushy shaggy carpet.)

An old bendy yardstick makes a great picture frame too! (yeah, I'm sure bendy yardstick is the right term to use...ha!)

My reading tastes definitely run the gauntlet.

I know I have run on about the color of the living room needing to be changed. Don't worry, it will, but that's for another vacation. Thanksgiving maybe, or Christmas? Who knows!

Please don't ever hesitate to tell me what you like/hate about my rooms. They always need improving or changing, and sometimes a little insight from someone else pushes me in the right direction!

Have a happy day!

Paris anyone?

A lot of you wished me well this past weekend when I went away (10 whole minutes away) to a scrapbookin' retreat. Thank you by the way! I got plenty done (not as much as I'd hoped...there was a lot of socializing and some other stuff to do) and even got a start on my Christmas cards (which ALWAYS take a lot longer than I plan for them to.)

We took a class which was in short AWESOME! Here is a glimpse of how it was done.

Carmen and Deanna Beth are just as excited as I was to start this.

We all got a lampshade which was stripped of it's shade,

and a pizza box (clean of course) full of goodies!

We were then told to go find the fabric we wanted to use for covering our shade.

Just look at all this yumminess!

It was hard deciding. I knew I was gonna make this craft for Grace. I wanted to save it for Christmas, but I just couldn't. I was too excited to give it to her, so she got it when I got home!

Anyway, then we started wrapping strips of material around the bare shade.

(excuse my fat fingers. Unfortunately I got the fat Sommers fingers! Ugh!

This is what it looked like totally wrapped before I added all the goodies.

So, we opened our boxes (total nirvana for a scrapper or crafter let me tell you!) and got to work making each delicate strand.

The hanging pendant in the middle.

And the finished product, hanging in the corner it was intended for.

Since we made Grace's room a Paris themed room several weeks/a month ago (I can't remember) I added little Eiffel towers to the finished product just for her.

She LOVED it. But who wouldn't? It was amazing and very fun to do. I got enough to make my own to hang over my craft table.

It was a perfect craft for Grace. Any girl who puts a peace symbol bracelet around the neck of her 4-h project...

deserves a frilly yet decadent mobile in their room! Don't cha think?

Paris, France or New Paris???

The other day on our trip to Hobby Lobby, Grace picked out a wall sticker that got me thinking.

First of all, it was 1/2 off, so it wasn't a bad price, and it was adorable! It was the Eiffel Tower and it was brown.

Now, her room is purple if you remember, which is a hard color to decorate with. We're trying hard to bring it into the tween years without being too garish.

So, along with the brown wall sticker, I bought some brown paint (espresso to be exact.)

Oh, and just a side note, if you don't have one of these....spray paint "guns" I call them, you MUST get one. It keeps the paint off your hands.

As you can see, mine has other paint colors on it from many uses before this. It was a GOOD buy.

Anyway, I used the paint to paint this side table,

this lamp,

and these drawer pulls from her desk.

The table turned out good, and so did the lamp, well, everything did actually.

(I don't know why this picture is fuzzy....was I really that excited about the color?)

So, the lamp also needed some sprucing up.

I took the rather boring tan shade, some cocoa colored ribbon, some gems, and my trusty hot glue gun.

I had an idea in my mind the whole time, but this is what evolved, and I really like it!

Tell me, does a girl going into the tween years still love having a jar full of bouncy balls hidden out of view behind the curtain? (the answer is YES!)

Next we hung up the wall sticker. LOVE it by the way! (note the drawer pulls and side table)

Of course, since we now have a wall sticker from Paris and we live in New Paris, we needed a Paris sign for the door.

By the end of this project, we were BOTH happy, and that's sayin' alot!