It seems I've been absent for a couple of months but it doesn't mean I haven't been doing anything! I painted my living room .....actually this is the dining area*
And this is the (very small) great room...

                                                               
You can see that this house doesn't know what it wants to be so as  I try to renew and redo I have to wait for the house to speak to me.  It's a slow process and I'm NOT losing sleep over it, it is what it is...

               These chairs were my grandmas and are very comfortable and in good structural shape.  I must have them recovered tho' and probably new legs.  I have a swatch of fabric I really like so I'll post an after pic soon........  

                             I finished this pillow last night, so cute huh!?! Does that picture look blurry to you?  I don't know if its my camera or its my eyes shorting out, anyway, thanks for lookin'!                                     

Salvaged Mirror is Now a Shabby Mirror

I finally finished my mirror that the glass was scratched and damaged here and there but I liked the frame alot soooo...
                                                

                                               

Apparantly this is the only pic I have of before

       And now it's been brought back to life!

I love the sheet music idea for the backing!

I've seen some ideas for the removal of more of the scratched and damaged places on the back of the glass but this was the easiest and safest way I came up with....

Get a rag and rub on the lacquer thinner-this removes the black paint and most mirrors have another layer of paint too like a goldish or yellow color and the thinner takes that off too.

Use a plastic scraper to take off what you want, the silver should be showing now...

Then spray the Clorox on the silver, it will turn black in a few seconds, start wiping it and the black will come off or you can leave some of it black if you want...That's it!

This pic is a bit dark but you can see where I left some of the black in places.  I was trying to sorta blend in the other rough spots and I think it turned out ok.  I play the piano so it will look nice near it as soon as I get that wall painted!  Do you know how hard it is to take a pic of a mirror and not get yourself in it or your messy craft room?

I think I'll share this with.........

Tuesdays Treasures

Nifty Thrifty Tuesdays

Frugalicious Friday

                                                               
                                                                                                                             

A Pillow I Couldn't Resist!

 I've been working on  my new master bedroom.  I pretty much decided on a soft grey for the walls}
                        

           {and this soft blue grey, cream, and beige is just perfection}

These colors are so cool and calming

That's what I'm shooting for anyway...

                                                             
Last night I made this pillow after seeing here and knew I had to have it! It turned out gorgeous!

Except for burning the fingerprint off my left ring finger it was a piece o' cake!

One more pic...

I know you want to make one too so be sure and go here and leave a comment for Alisa on her fabulous tutorial and pillow ideas!

I will be linking up to....

                                                                                 
                                      Somewhat Simple                        

                                       House of Hepworths
        
                                  French Country Cottage
                                                                        

I Needed a Lamp, I Like 'em Easy, Cheap and Cute so.....

I guess I'm like many others who have a stash of GW stuff waiting to be beautified.  Sometimes I have ideas and I go looking for what I need, buy it, take it home and look at it forever til I actually do something. 
                  This is another one of those...I needed a lamp for my craft room....

                            This is what I started with

                    After spray painting Gloss White that long white section was very annoying........so I tried wrapping it with twine, hot gluing every inch or so and I liked it!  I also sprayed it lightly with the same gloss white just so the twine and the shade didn't look too much the same..ok that problem solved....

I bought the shade at Target and made some rosettes just to go around the bottom

This was one of the easier projects and I think it turned out cute!

                                                                            
                                                                            Whatcha think??  

                                                     I'm going to link up with these party girls:

                                                            Tuesdays Treasures
                               
                                                  The DIY Showoff
                                                            

Another use for old jeans And Yaay it's Spring in the Garden!

When the weather warms up we here in the southwest desert flock to our yards, we pull, plant, prune and just generally hurry to do the hard stuff BEFORE the real heat hits.  I planted my veggie garden a little late but I hope its ok. 

This is just a small sample of the back yard, I wish the pool was finished so I could post pics but that's soon to come!

I came across this cool website called Indygojunction.com and I saw the cutest apron made from old jeans.  I whipped one up and thought I'd share it with you, I even found a gorgeous model to help me..

Here it is finished:::::>

So Cute!  I think she wanted to take it home with her (she may get it for her bday)

Here's a quick tute in case you want to make one...

A pair of old jeans

3 different fabrics cut  into strips ... 2 strips about 6" x 44"

the next fabric color cut into 2 strips about 4" x 22" and the last fabric cut one strip about 4" x 22".

Now you take your jeans and with a heavy duty seam ripper (this makes it so much easier) rip those seams apart.  OH! First measure down from the waistband about 14" or if you might want the apron longer cut it longer!  Now rip those seams all the way up, then rip out the waistband and the crotch seam just up to the zipper.  This sounds like alot but it only took me 45 min., really!

When you get that done lay the jeans flat and pin down that crotch seam and sew it down.  It should lay nice and flat, easy easy...

See how it lays flat...ok take the strips that are 4x22 and press them in half long way wrong sides together, then (just like bias binding) unfold and each side press to the middle just to that center pressed line got it!?

Sorry, forgot to take pic of that but you get the idea right??

Ok now after you pressed both sides to the middle fold back on the original pressed line and press now you have your sides pieces.  Encase the side edges in the strip about 1/2" and topstitch.

Next for the waistband...You will join the two strips together like this....

Can you see the faint dotted pencil line from pin to pin?

Just sew there, trust me it's ok, then trim that whole corner off.

I should've taken more pics but hey it's my first tute don't judge...hehe

Now my friends you have one looong strip which you will do the same as the side strips, right now, did it ?

OK center the strip to the center of the waistband and sew just like the sides...Got it?

Ok the last thing is the bottom band :  just sew it right sides together over the bottom edge and leave sides hanging out on each side cuz you're gonna cut the extra off leaving about 2" past edges..

Fold in side edges of strip then the bottom hem is also folded up and stitched

Almost done!  Isn't this going quick??  OK kids now after you have sewn that down (did I mention about 1/2" seam) press it down and trim off excess to about 2" beyond the edges of side binding. Next fold in about 1" twice so its nice and even with the sides and stitch that up right quick.  Now for the bottom hem fold up 1" twice and topstitch that.  You're DONE. 

Topstitching bottom strip

                    

                                                               
            Thanks for visiting and if you got this far you rock!!

                                                                         

                                        Linking up with these party girls...

                                    Someday Crafts for Whatever Goes Wednesday    

                                    Blue Cricket Design for Show and Tell

                                    The Creative Itch Boutique for Sew Cute Tuesday

                                    House of Hepworths    Hooking up with HOH

Very Special Little People

Taking a photo break today with some "portraits" of 2 special little people in my life...

You know how hard it is to get a 4 year old to sit still, smile, and not mess his hair up again?!!

Is this the sweetest face ever????? He's 5 and already loves his picture taken!

Linking up at Tracy's Trinkets & Treasures  for a Portrait Party!

                                                   

I have been wanting to springify my front porch and found these pics I think all have elements I can copy

and this is my backyard.....I wish

cute plant stand

You realize it seems great now but in a couple months front porches with their nice chairs and benches will only be occupied by lizards...

                                                          
                                                         
                                                              

                                                                                

Easy Spring Cuteness

I think 86 degrees = SPRING don't you?  I always feel so much better when the weather warms up so I've been out pruning all the frost damage from the plants and getting things pretty again. 

                  I saw this so cute idea in the PB catalog for spring branches....

                              and these adorable eggs......

        
  I was also inspired by these adorable and do-able eggs and branches by tizzilish.....** So I gathered some of the branches I had just cut and sprayed them white.  Then while watching American Idol I took my hydrangeas and pulled off the flowers and hot glued them on the branches where it looked like a bud would be.  Some of the flowers I glued shut like a bud then glued on the branch.   Since my white pitcher is small I didn't use as many branches..........they are just right I think! 

                                                        

On the front porch....ooh need to clip those stragglers!

                         Looks kinda real huh?!

The eggs are my version of PB's - I found them at Michaels already in soft colors and speckled...all I did was find rub on transfer letters and it took 3 minutes, really!

                                    

                                     

                         Very cute and so quick and easy!

                                    Thanks for stopping by!

                                                    

                                   Linking to:

                                    Strut Your Stuff Thursday

                                    Frugalicious Friday

                                  

                                

        

                                                             
                                                           
                                               
                         

When Rustic turns White it changes to SHABBY!**!

In my quest to paint every rustic wood item of furniture I have WHiTe I have proven once again that our tastes and homes do change all the time.  It's good!  IT's fun and keeps the creative instinct alive and moving!  I started out with this solid wood bookshelf/cabinet from Mexico given to me several years ago and it looked like this:>

   
    Notice the gaps and the uneven places...all perfectly ok with me!

      A coat or two of soft white and a bit of sanding on a beautiful day...

                                    Now you can really see the gaps but that's what makes it Shabbylicious.........

     I have to show you a close up of those drawer pulls, they have no screws, just attached with rusty wire which I had to pull out (not easy so hubs did it) and not easy to push back thru again but I managed it !

    I like this pic with the light streaming thru the gap...should I leave it on the back porch?

                   I'm not sure where it's going or what room but I really like it now!

I don't understand it but hubs is NOT sold on the shabby look...because of that I compromise and let him have his way sometimes...
                                                                  
                            Linking to these party girls:::::>
                                                        
                  Finding Fabulous--Frugalicious Friday                              
                                                     
                    At the Picket Fence

             French Country Cottage