It's been almost 4 years since my last post; part of me feels like it was just yesterday, and part of me feels like it was a lifetime ago. Crafting and bloggery was every lover-of-beautiful-things' way of staying busy when we couldn't spend hours shopping because everyone was broke; if we wanted pretty things we had to make them-on the cheap. Plus, no one reads long posts anymore (thanks to Pinterest and Instagram).We just like to quickly scroll our fave accounts, pray to God they tagged the source, and go straight to the website and buy it for ourselves (praying this time that it's cheap or on sale!!)- so much faster yes, but being a lover of pretty and powerful words, lyrics, & quotes, the pictures themselves lack connection. Plus, we used to have music to our blog-which made it even more emotional. Ugh!! I miss it! Where is mine anyway? I'll have to check.

I'm not quite sure what made me even look at this blog again. Actually, I guess I do know. A friend of mine who inspires me in all things found it a few months back and I looked at it then. It was like a time capsule-I hadn't come here in so long...it made me sad in a way, and a little embarrassed. I thought this part of me was long gone-the creative, reflective, softer side of me that used to tear up when I saw a sweet phrase or when I thought about how much I loved Haley. Life had hardened me some and I guess it WAS gone for a while-at least on the surface- and replaced with other hobbies, obligations, and maybe even a little emotional self-preservation.

Truthfully, no one will read this and I'm totally fine with that because I'm not the writer I wish I was anyway-though that wasn't really the intent of this blog in the first place. I only wanted to journal some of my time with Haley, and show off some of my McGuyvery skills. I'm glad I left this little blog up because it reminds me of who I was back then-the things I liked, the things I didn't-not about my decorating skills or how my tastes have changed- though they have, but rather the growth that's taken place in my heart and mind.

One thing i remember about blogging and crafting is I wanted the house to look perfect. I wanted my decorations to stay in the same spot without being shuffled around or toyed with, and I wanted my house to look like all the pretty magazine pics that had been staged for hours by professionals for a few good shots then loaded back in the truck for the next shoot. So ridiculous and completely unrealistic when you have a kid-or so I think...there were still those bloggers whose house looked perfect with 11 kids running around and homeschooling all day...talk about feeling inadequate haha. I was that way for about a year. I hated it. I kind of felt trapped by my own good intentions. On one hand I knew I wanted a pretty house and I knew there was nothing wrong with wanting to create a warm space for myself and my family, but on the other, I wanted my house to be lived in, and filled with love and warmth. So I struggled every day with trying to balance both and as dumb as this sounds, it was stressful.

Another thing I remember is Haley and I would craft together, and I miss that. Life got busy, as it always does, and the hours we spent together doing crafts turned to a few minutes here and there, to not being worth getting everything out anymore. I don't really remember when it happened, but we stopped. Now she's older, and has her own thing going, and I kind of step in and do what I can to maintain a connection with her. So for me, yesterday it was cutting and coloring her hair. Being a DIY-er and a cheapass when it comes to things I know I can easily do myself, saving money, time, & stress (how many times has a person paid $100 for a cut and color they didn't really like?!?!), I'd rather spend that time creating a memory with her. Luckily, she likes the color, and if she didn't and it was a horrible fail, I would have only been out $11, and we would have professionally gotten it fixed. Sure, it would have been a horrible time then, but again, something to look back on and laugh.

 

So I'm back, for now, hoping to document here and there some of the things unique to me and my small life, only hoping to share some of my adventures no matter how little, and in 5 years, I might look back on THIS post, and be surprised at where I am. 

~no sew window treatment~

It's you're lucky day.

This will probably be my shortest post ever, due to not being able to find any of my tutorial pics. :)

Buuuut I did do this project over a year ago so I guess that's to be expected......right?

This window above my kitchen sink faces my neighbors two story brick wall.

 

 

It's not the best view but I do like the light that streams in at different times of the day, so I took that into consideration when deciding what type of treatment I wanted.

I didn't want anything that was too long so I couldn't display anything on the ledge, nor did I want to cover up too much of the window and lose the natural light.

And I'm not really into or very good at patterned fabrics so I decided on a short valance with some leftover drop cloth.

 

  

After trying to give you a tutorial, I'm realizing it's not super easy without those pics.

Darn. Well I'll just do my best.

I measured the window and cut my fabric about 8" longer than the window to allow for a little "bunching". Cut your fabric extra long. That bunching takes up more fabric than you might think. I allowed about a 2.5" overhang on the back over the tension rod, and attached it with stich witchery to the back of the curtain.

It looked a little plain so I added some grosgrain ribbon and tied some little bows at the bottom.

 

I've been moving my Halloween decor all over the place this year.

I can't seem to get it just how I want it.

Free printable from last year and some white pumpkins I bought from our new

Traders Joe's.

 

I still need to print out some halloween labels for the wine bottles.

  

 

Thanks for stopping by!

Stephanie

~chevron pumpkin~

Like many of you I received my Country Living mag in the mail and was immediately in love with the chevron painted pumpkin on the cover. Suuuper cute. So today after church while Haley was taking turns riding her ripstick, bike, scooter and making a mess of the front yard, =0), I kept an eye on her while I went to work taping off my pumpkin.

It was really cold out. As in 52 degrees AND cloudy so we in Texas were dying. =0)

Haley was kind enough to take a picture of me and I forgot I was wearing her Monkey hat. #awkward :)

To be honest, I didn't really look at the instructions. I figured it was kind of common sense so went after it with reckless abandon, thinking it wouldn't take very long. And it didn't take too long but still longer than I thought it would. Taking into consideration that I didn't mark out the lines at all I guess it wasn't too bad.

 

After this I didn't take any more pictures because I kind of had a rhythm going.

The fun part about this project is that after you tape everything off, your kids can spray paint it or brush the paint it on..whichever method you decide to apply paint with.

I used my Rustoleum Heirloom White because Haley is ALWAYS begging me to let her spray paint something and she doesn't get to nearly as much as she would like.

Pretty sure when she's 15 I will need to hide the spray paint cans because that girls LOVES the smell of it.

She loved this part and it was perfect because it didn't matter if it was perfect or not. We had a few drippy spots but no biggie. It adds character and most importantly it was fun.

Please try and ignore the disastrous mess we call our garage. It's really bad in this pic.

While you wait for the paint to dry on your pumpkin before peeling the tape off,

you can do other random gung-ho projects.

Like clean out your garage. By yourself. While your husband watches football and snores on the couch, and while your kid watches you struggle to move things while she does this.

She set up an obstacle course for herself which I thought was pretty genius.

The cowboy boots crack me up. Isn't that what you would wear while riding a ripstick?

 



I would have included a picture of snoring hubby "watching" football but I'm pretty sure you ladies already know what that looks like. ;o)

 

Finally peel off your tape and forget to take a picture of it, so at least get one of the the final product.

 

Trust me I'm the first to admit it bled through quite a bit and isn't a total "beaut" up close.

I was kind of sad about it but decided to display it out front where passing cars won't have too much time to focus on the not-perfectly-crisp lines.

Tip: get the really thin textured painters tape. I've gotten it before by accident and had I still had any left I would have used it instead. It think it would be easier to get into the grooves.

I may try this again with black and white, using the thinner textured tape.

If I do I'll let you know if I feel like the results are better.

At least I have a clean garage now! Well, clean for us. We desparately need some storage shelves but they will have to wait until all of our credit cards are paid off at the end of December.

Two more months baby.

 

So what do you think? Have you tried the Chevron pumpkin? Did you have success with crisp lines? Do you generally get more done when it's a random project or when you plan a project?

Thanks for reading!

 

~Stephanie

(I started an Etsy shop, so please check it out here. More items to come soon.)

 

 

 

 

I love my girl

I'm waaaaay behind on blogging but that's ok right?!?!?! I knew I'd be back....eventually. =0)

The break did some good though b/c while I was away it looks like the entire posting

format has changed.

It's a million times easier to upload pics now.

 So I can't be to blame for loading way too many pics of Mother's Day.

It's just so easy!



I can't stop myself. =0)

We celebrated Mother's Day the whole weekend, starting off Saturday by waking up early

to go to Starbucks then Watter's Creek and duck watch.

You know...before the throngs of shoppers and diners scared them all away haha.

It really was fun. We climbed over a bunch

of rocks before we saw a sign saying not to climb the rocks.

Whoopsies.

At 11 once the stores opened we went to Anthropologie and Haley found

this cute pillow she thought would be a fun costume.

It was only $180 so, you know, we did not get it.

This was the last pic I got b/c Haley only smiles for the camera for so long until

she's over it. =0)

So I put the camera away for the day.

But Sunday I busted it back out again for our second duck watching adventure in Twin Creeks.

We actually just randomly stopped here to eat ice cream cones

and ended up having a really good time.

More duck momma and babies.

 The men went off on their own for some guy time. :)

The sun was going down and it was just so pretty. I should

get out more at sunset and take pics.

It gets miserably, terribly, unbearably hot during the summer

so we have to enjoy these times outdoors as much as possible before June heat hits.

From June through July we pretty much stay inside, under the fans or with our faces in the freezer door, only coming outside to go to the pool.

 Sleeping ducks. They weren't at all afraid of us.

 We fed them bread. Whole wheat of course. =0)

Sweet little duckies.

Me and Haley love animals. To death. We love talking for them and thinking out

loud for them. =0)

 Eddie was working so we went out for lunch on Monday afternoon to the Cheesecake

Factory in Watters Creek with him.

Funky white fish in the water...

 Looking for the funky white fish again.

 My sweet beautiful girl.

Truly she is the best gift I've ever been given.

 More pretty pictures...

Cannot believe she is nine years old.

Time is just flying by.

This blog is probably going to be more of a lifestyle blog/journal now.

I'll still post decorating pics and ideas and projects, but also family stuff

and just whatever my little heart desires. =0)

Have a great week!!



Trash to treasure

Quite a long time ago on my way to the gym I saw this dresser out on the road for trash pickup.

I immediately came back home and asked the hubs to help me load it.

Amazingly he obliged even though he had to be at work soon,

and I had myself a project to keep me busy.

Which in the end was probably in his favor as I tend to get bored often. =0)

And so, very gradually as months went by I finally completed it,

and ended up selling it on Craigslist.

In the before pics you can see I've used wood filler on the top drawer.

There was a pineapple-y carving in it that I felt wouldn't go

 too well with the shabb-ifying I was planning to do with it. After that I lightly sanded it, spray primed it, and used a sponge roller to paint with.

I had an old can of white paint I got in the oops dept at Home Depot and just used that.

I sealed it with water-based polyurethane so it won't yellow.

I also did some light distressing on the edges.

All of the hardware was in good condition with the exception of the knobs on the top drawer, (one was missing), so I bought two cheapo silver knobs, spray painted all hardware black, and slapped them back on.

I kind of wish I had kept it but I wanted to see if it would sell, which it did.

Once garage sale season hits I will be out I will be out in full force trying

to score some cheap furniture to redo, perhaps for myself or to sell.

Well I'm off to wake up my daughter for school.

Check out my Parties page for all of the fun blogs I will be linking to.

Have a great week!