Mother's Day 2011

I have quite the little Munchkins who call me "Mommy"!  They fill my love tank and I'm so thankful to the Lord for each one of them.  They can all be sweet as sugar but feisty as fire!!

How can I go but a few posts without mentioning my friend Marie?  Look what she made me and my sister for Mother's Day. These AWESOME fabric flowers, attached so craftily to scrap book paper with an encouraging scripture to boot. 

And now I'm bustin' to tell you where the "netting"came from on the white flower.   Any guesses?  Well, I if you said the plastic netting around a bag or oranges, you win the golden cigar.  Always room to re-purpose!!!

A close up of my flower.  I love it!!  THANKS, MARIE!!!  Happy Belated Mother's Day to all of you wonderful mommies out there!!!

Ty Squared

So we are almost COMPLETELY MOVED IN TO OUR NEW ADDITON!!!!!!!!!!!!  I'm not ecstatic or anything.......  JUST SUPER DUPER HAPPY HAPPY 0 WOO HOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!  So today I will introduce you to Ty The Guy's brand new bedroom. (Ty is my 2 year old who is in deep trouble at the moment for soaking my 2 cats with Lysol and making them extremely ill.... is it strange for me to ask you to pray for Dolly and Taffy?  Please pray for my pudy cats).

Yes, I mixed my own green paint.  These are just the colors that went into the green!  And we won't even go into that story.... about how the dark green was nasty and lumpy and I put it in a big strainer and WOW, I should have just spent the money and gotten NEW!!!!!!!  My thriftiness didn't pay off this time.... I admit it....

So let me give you a run down on all the money saving-ness that went on in here.  All the paint was leftovers from other projects and we mixed them all ourselves.  We used painters tape for the 2' x 2' squares on the wall but peeled it off and resued it until it was no longer usable!  Hey, painters tape is expensive!  Notice we even painted the ceiling.  Of course I did my typcial - didn't mix enough of the tan color for the middle and got about 90% covered.... grrrrrrrr.... so had to mix a new color.  My mom just rolls her eyes at me!!  Okay, she had a few choice words for me too which included "I told you so".  The cute little chair is from the Jackson Resale Factory bought with just a few bucks, $2 Goodwill As Is mirror I painted to match the $2 garage sale dresser , and the $5 Rocking Horse (Click for before and after), the trim around the windows was salvaged from the old laundry room we tore off, and the last but definitely  not the least was the great Craigslist carpet!!  Really beautiful like new carpet for 1/3 of the price that we had installed by a local guy who did a GREAT job for a GREAT price!

Marie's Tissue Top Table

I'm telling you.  This woman Marie is a genius.  She strikes again!  Check out her awesome side table.  I think she said it was red in it's previous life.  It must have been a very upright and good red citizen because it reincarnated and came back to life as a marvelous snazzy black piece.... do be prepared to be wowed by Marie once again.  (Pretty soon this will have to be Kammy and Marie's Korner).

Here's what she told me.  She took a few pieces of tissue paper.  Turquoise tissue paper at that.  Crinkled it all up in her hands then spread it on top of the black paint while it was still wet.  Then she took her brush, "dippy dippy dippied"  it in the new black paint again (that's for you, Sue) and spread a coat over top the tissue paper.  Done.  Wa La!  She's a creative genius, I'm telling you!  For a small fee, I'll get you her autograph....

Oh, and I think she may have put a coat of polyurethane on top too.  She only told me how she did this about 10 times because I kept forgetting.  I should remember, but alas, I just hit the big 3-0 not long ago and I think dementia is setting in.

The Free Ceiling Fan

We went up to Forest, Ontario during the winter to visit hubby's Aunt Dee.  She called me in to the spare bedroom and asked me if I'd like this ceiling fan that was taking up residence on the bed.  Ummm... not sure how to say this nicely, but no.  Then after not being there for four years, we were back in a matter of three months and the fan was still there!  We needed a few ceiling fans for our addition, and hey FREE is always good!  So I decided something could be done with it and we loaded it into the trunk.  It was an off white color, which you can't tell from this pic, but it was and so I spray painted it white.

Then I painted the details black with acrylic paint and lastly painted a silver glaze on top of that for an" antique-y" look.

I'm not overjoyed about the glass votives (globes?  what are those called, anyway?)  around the bulbs, but someday I'll hopefully stumble upon some fabulous ones at a garage sale and replace them!

Oh, and I wish you could see what was hanging at the end of the chain before I stuck a big silver earring on the end.  A big, bright, colorful rooster!  At least it didn't cock-a-doodle-do when you pulled it!  Thanks so much for the fan, Aunt Dee!!!! :)                   linkin' up to:  http://serendipitychicdesign.blogspot.com/2011/05/meet-me-on-monday-theme-party-1.html 

 

My Brand Spankin' New Laundry Room!!

Dear brand new UPSTAIRS laundry room,  I haven't used you yet, but I know I'm going to double heart you.  You will make me countdown the hours until laundry day.   Love, Little Miss Housewife.

So.... this is what happens when you mix your own paint color.... AND DON'T MIX ENOUGH!!  I did an impromptu free hand checker/plaid/striped something-or-other pattern to hide ummm stuff.  I sent this pic quick to a friend, my sister and my mom.  My sister said it was "interesting.... but not in a good way".  My brutally honest pal Maran (which is one reason I love her so!) had this to say "it looks kind of like a hazy checkerboard. hmmm... not sure i like this one. STOP under mixing kammy!!!!!!!! dork :)".  Well.......  I think it turned out maybe a leeeetle cuter than she thought it would???  I added this to the wall:

I painted the word LAUNDRY, but of course it was "BORING" to my super artistic over-achiever mother and as you can see her hairy arm in the picture decided to fancify it!

A few minutes later (yes minutes, people), it looked like this!

Does it look any better Maran?

It still needs some shelves and what-not for my laundry paraphernalia, but let me know what you think!  And you can be Maranishly brutally honest with me - I promise not to be offended! :)

   

Marie's Window

Beautiful, isn't it?  Me and Marie.  We got a lot in common.  Ummm... wait a minute.  Should I admit that?  Just kiddin', Marie. :)  One of those is our love for junk, like old windows.  And I covet this one every time I see it.  Ain't it just gorgeous in her Granny Smith Apple Green kitchen?!  And don't ya just love the little white shelf/sconce thingymabobber?  Too darlin'.  Yes, I'm being a cheater and not posting one of my projects.  I'm in the middle of some MASSIVE ones though and will hopefully be able to blog about them soooooooooon!  Toodleooooo.

There was plaid in between.

This is me lately.  If I don't have a kid in my arms, I'm rockin' a  paint roller.  Painting trim.  Painting walls.  Painting ceilings. Painting casing.  Painting, painting, painting.  WILL IT EVER END? :)

This "before" is brought to you by mi madre (my MOM).  It actually went from that weird red stuff, to the burgundy and green plaid that was all the rage and then some in the 90's to what it is today.........

Dark brown and all cool, yo.  Except, Mom, don't ya think you forgot the bottom???

Before and After Bedroom

Guest room before.  Can you believe EVERY. SINGLE. WALL.  in our house when we bought had this color of paint?  It kind of took on the hue of it's surroundings, in this case, lavender.  Mom found this amazing bed in an antique store for $200 in Iowa, called me up, and I said "BUY IT"!

Too bad the carpet is BLUE!!!  Also, it doesn't really look quiiiiiite like this anymore since the Tybo is in it at the moment... but since the drywall man just left my house for the last time yesterday (victory dance!), his new room is SUPER DUPER close to being filled with little boy toys, muddy socks, and a way cool new bed from Trusty Ole' Craigslist.  I can't wait to blog about what I'm doing in that kiddo's room!!!  Oh and MY MOM IS HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOO  HOO!!!!!!!  I told her to get up bright and early and put her paint clothes on - we have major things to accomplish this week!

A Shirt and Scissors. Period.

My easiest shirt transformation ever.  All you need is a long Tee and some scissors.  I folded it carefully in half, got out my duller than the love life of a toothpick scissors, and sliced it up the middle.

And that, folks, is how I changed my boring $1.99 KMart Tee into a cute cardigan in just seconds.  Now go cut some shirts up!
"

10 Cent Dresses from London

So when we were in London a few weeks ago (London, ONATARIO, wow you were impressed there for a second, weren't ya?)  We had some time to kill before an appointment and so we went to this store called Liquidation World.  My kind of place!  There were two HUUUUUGE boxes full of clothing (mostly size 57 yellow elastic waste pants) and the sign said EXTRA 90% off!!!!  Of course I started digging. I found this adorable little soft and stretchy baby girl dress.

Here was the price tag.  I was shocked however, when it rang up to 10 CENTS!!!!!  Hubby was already heading for the car, but that was something I couldn't let go.  I remembered seeing a few more.  I did a full sprint back to the big boxes and started pulling little black dresses out.  I managed to grab five altogether, plus an odorable little polo onsie ALSO FOR 10 CENTS!! The dress was super cute just plain-o that Sunday on little miss Tori, but with so many of the plain little dresses, I figured it'd be fun to jazz 'em up a little. 

Now GET THIS.  My mother made this little rosette for me out of an old T shirt.  Big deal you say.  Well my boys happened to be dying easter eggs that morning and being someone on the hoardish side, I couldn't dump all that dye.  Good thing, cuz only about an hour later, it came in right handy - I used it to dye the rosette!  Worked great!  Not sure how it'll come out in the wash, however....  Then I sewed a black button into the middle, and sewed it onto the dress.

Sewed a few turquoise beads on the pocket and.........

it's fancified!!  Stay tuned for the next little black dress makeover! :)

Antique Tobacco Stand Before and After

Twas a lil' shabby.  But SO PERTY!  Reachin' back in my memory a few years but pretty sure the price tag on this baby was $3!  Yeah, you wouldn't have been able to pass it up either, would you have?  No sirreeeee.

The leaf fan pattern was actually carved into the wood so I used a super fine paint brush to trace it with oil based gold.  I did this a few years ago actually when I was really into gold and black.  I was hoping to have the desk I've been working on done and ready to blog about BUT, alas, it ain't done so I pulled this out of my picture files. :)  I'm running out of these old standbys! 

The top was old and well worn (okay duh, the whole thing was), which I thought gave it some good character.  I put several coats of polyurathane on the top to finish her off.  I sold it to a dude my hubby works with.  A real cool one at that.  He sold us his tractor, and cleaned the corroborator in our four wheeler with hubby, and all kinds of swell things like that, which automatically puts him in the "way cool dude" category.  He's not an annoying 'know it all' yet he honestly seems to know it all!  I'm saying all kinds of good things about him hoping he'll read this post, since I bug hubby sometimes if he ever tells his co-workers about my blog and he says he does... haha!  Lynn, you're awesome.

 


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Top 10 Reasons For A Break

The drywall in our addition is taking eons to get done.  He is a nice man.  Too nice.  He can't work and talk at the same time.  Then again, not sure most from the male species have mastered that talent.  Sorry guys, I know there might be a couple of you out there.  Somewhere.  Anyhoo, he likes to talk about everything.  But aside from chatting about the amazing jock he was in highschool and the stray cat he so lovingly took in, here are the top 10 reasons he finds to take a break:

10. Gotta have a smoke.
9. Have to talk to at least half of the contacts on cell phone for a couple minutes each day.
8. Gotta have a smoke.
7. Needs to break for an hour (or two) to mushroom hunt.
6. Gotta have a smoke.
5. Tore pants open on a nail and have to purchase a new pair.
4. Gotta have a smoke.
3. Has to give me a rundown of the bars he's been kicked out of because of his mad pool skills.
2. Gotta have a smoke.
And the NUMBER ONE REASON TO HAVE A BREAK???
1.  Gotta drop everything to buy bird feed for the homing pigeon found in my garage when getting more mud!!!!  (Which then got smacked by a truck 3 days later when he released it back "into the wild").

Hey, they might be a little sloppy, but at least they'll get r' done!

I don't know about you, but I'm ready to be in our addition.  Yeah, you're probably not.  In fact, I'm pretty sure you're quite content with the noise level in your home.  If you moved in here, you might be sackin' out to the barn reeeeal fast to get some quiet and peace (hey, peace and quite sounds right, but pretty dang sure quiet precedes peace, okay?).  BUT that is if you can tolerate coons takin' a whizz on your head.  Somedays, that does seem more tolerable than the noise level 'round here!

By the way, drywall man, where are you?  You can't have a break before you've even started for the day!!! :)  Adios readers, I need to go bake him some cookies.  Although slightly begrudgingly....

Happy Belated Easter!

Clad in paint shirts and bankies

Ty doesn't understand what coloring eggs has to do with Easter.  Besides, aren't eggs for eating?  I'll take mine with salt and pepper, please!  I suppose I could google it and find out, but where on earth did dying eggs come in to the celebration of Jesus's resurrection from the tomb?  Thanks Liz, I'm stealing this from you because I think it says it nicely:

Greatest man in history is named Jesus - He had no servants, yet they called Him Master. Had no degree, yet they called Him Teacher. Had no medicines, yet they called Him Healer. He had no army, yet kings feared Him. He won no military battles, yet he conquered the world. He committed no crime, yet they crucified Him. He was buried in a tomb, yet He lives today.

 Let's remember this EVERY day of the year, not just during Easter!

We Have A WINNER!!!! One Cute Girl Just Got Cuter!

I'm SO THRILLED to announce the winner of my GIVEAWAY today!!!!!  And the randomly selected winner from Random.org is..........

Kayla!!!  Kayla Darling, you have your choice of ANY hair accessory from Kammy's Online Store!  Happy "Shopping" on me! :)

 

You can head over to her blog to congratulate her at Breaking Free From Old Ways, but don't send her hatemail just because you didn't win and she did!  What am I SAYING?!!  Of course you wouldn't - you all are a FAN-DOUBLE-TASTIC group of followers!!!  Sheesh, if it wasn't for ya'll, the giveaway wouldn't have been possible!  I hope you continue to follow along - lots of furniture before and afters coming up since it's spring, I have a barn load of "stuff" needing paint and attention, and readers who wanna see it!!  Woo hoo!!!!!!!!  Uh... can you tell the sun is shining today after a long couple of rainy days?  Just puts me over the top!!!!  Even more so since I woke up from a dream this morning that our house was an island since it had been raining so much....

 

Miss Maci! Thanks, Stephanie for the picture & being a great customer and for entering!!

Back to the subject at hand:  There will be more giveaways in the future!  PLUS, Why wait for a giveaway??  You can purchase these beautiful hair accessories for super low prices at Kammy's Korner Online Store.  Know why I keep my prices so low?  Because I'm also a woman who likes a deal.  I like to support "handmade" but I also am a thrifty, money-conscientious mama!  So I try to put a minimum price on my items so that we both win.  I make a small amount of profit, but you get a good deal.  I wouldn't buy something if it wasn't a good deal, so I wouldn't expect you to either!

Maci loves Kammy's Kammy's Korner Headbands!

Winners of the last giveaway!!!!  The Wahls girls!!!  Mama, you better barricade the doors - those boys are gonna be hot on their trail!