Important Dates. . .

June 22 . . . I turned 34 (where has time gone?!?)

June 23 . . . turned in my LAST assignment for my Master's Degree (in Special Education)

June 30 . . . GRADUATION from Converse (with my Master's +30 hours above)

August 8 . . . I start my new job!!! Woo Hoo!! (I will be teaching 6, 7, and 8 year olds with moderate mental disabilities)

I am beyond the moon excited!

Summer Project 2. . . Complete

So, I was really tired of looking at the cardboard box my cats had fallen in love with. They love to get in anything and the box was no exception. Since I have been in project mode I figured I might as well keep going. (That mood doesn't hit me often so when I does I have to run with it!!) I made my cats a simple bed / box with a pillow made from a drop cloth.

I didn't take any pictures during the process because it was extremely easy. I bought pre-cut boards for the front and back, and cut down a 1x4 for the sides. I wanted the sides a tiny bit shorter to make it easier for them to get into. Measured and attached a piece to the bottom and painted with a mistint sample (that I wound up loving!) Added 4 ball feet to the bottom for a little flair and a cute cat bed was finished.


Now, to see if they like this anywhere near as much as the cardboard box!

Linking up to these great parties:

A $3.00 Makeover . . .

Another orange redo (technically it is a LaFonda Copper redo but . . .) This one is also in my living room and just adds another small pop of color. It is the same color I used on my tv stand redo (You can see that makeover here). This is an end table that my mom bought for me for $3.00. No handles, no color, and a top that, well, had seen better days. But I really liked the size and the drawers are great for more storage and it fit. Oh yeah, and it was cheap!!

Here is what it looked like before. Plain.


And the top that was in such "great" shape.

Using these supplies (that I already had on hand)


. . . I got a "new" end table. For only $3.00! (the cost of adding two new knobs) I love it!!

(You can see the post on the lamp makeover here)

*Several people have asked about the Gripper that I've used. It is a product made by Glidden that I buy at Home Depot. It is a primer and comes in white and grey. I hate, absolutely HATE, to sand anything and sometimes things aren't able to be sanded (laminate, etc.). You paint this right on the piece without sanding first and let dry according to directions. It adheres and the paint sticks right to it. One of my absolute favorite products!

Linking to these great parties: (click on site name)
House of Hepworths

Cheap, Simple, Practical. . .

Cheap = $1.00

Simple = paint

Practical = Organization


Before:





After:




The hooks are great for extra keys and just enough to hold a bill or two!
My type of thrifty makeover!

Just a Bit of Color . . .

Ok, so it's a lot of color! I have looked everywhere for a cabinet to put my television on. I wanted a piece of furniture, not just a "tv stand". (If you read between those lines it says that I not only wanted somewhere to put my television I needed some extra storage for some of my stuff). I finally found a dresser that I loved. Isn't the wonderful yellowish / white color with the gold trim just beautiful?!?


And, if you look really close, at the bottom you can see the lovely bow and flowers that are intricately added as detail and how nice and "clean" it was once the handles were removed. Although this piece was exactly the shape I wanted I have to admit it just wasn't quite what I had envisioned for my snazzy storage space to sit in my living room. No problem! First things first, goodbye bows and flowers! Just a little bit of filler did the trick. I primed it with Gripper (love this stuff - no sanding needed and it sticks great to slick surfaces). Then I painted it with the perfect shade of Yam from Martha Stewart. Only, it wasn't so perfect once painted. First off, the paint was really thin, definitely not my favorite paint, and the color was, well. . . yam. No so much what I had envisioned. I was so ready to get new paint and repaint that I forgot to take a picture of the not so lovely shade.

No more flowers or bows,


and it is now finished and sits so lovely and proud in my living room.


The color I finally ended up using was La Fonda Copper (the close up of the bottom detail shows the shade much closer to the true shade than the full picture) - exactly the shade of burnt orange I was looking for. I spray painted the original brass handles with ORB and now I am totally loving my new piece!

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2011 . . .

"She went out on a limb, had it break off behind her, and realized she could fly."

Kobi Yamada



My thoughts exactly . . . Welcome 2011!

A Sunday Afternoon Craft . . .

Well, I painted my front door black and I love it. The only problem is from the road it looks like a big. . . black . . . hole. It really just looks like there is no door. I love how it looks but it just needed something. I decided that I wanted to make a fall wreath and saw a square wreath on someone's blog (sorry, can't remember whose it was - would love to give credit so if it was yours please let me know!)

I didn't want to spend much money because I'm "frugal" like that - so my budget was $10.00. I bought 5 stems of leaves from the Dollar Tree (but only used 4), a roll of ribbon from the Dollar Tree, 6 picks from Michael's (4 at .59 each and 2 @ .99 each - in the Christmas section but great fall colors), and the cardboard I already had at home.


I simply cut my cardboard into a square"ish" shape and cut out the middle (trust me, I didn't measure and it is no where near a perfect square - but in the end it makes no difference). I pulled each of the leaves off of the stems and separated into colors (I am usually not that organized but felt the need to do that this time!) Then, I simply went around the board hot glueing on the leaves. I did find that the leaves on the top looked better when I cut the stem off of the leaves some so they wouldn't show. The ones underneath you can't see so I didn't take the time to do that, plus the plastic "veins" helped the leaves keep some shape. I am tickled with how it turned out.



It looks so good on the front door, you know. . . the front door you can now see!

I'm linking up to these parties: