repurposing

i have yet to really share many of the things i have repurosed (with MAJOR help from the hubby of course) on this blog.  i had wanted to start a seperate blog for just that purpose but i just want to share this now and hope for the new blog to start in the new year.  this old child's size dresser was sitting in my mother inlaws garage for awhile and they were intending to just dispose of it.  being that hubby is a master-woodcraftsman, i quickly had ideas for it.  we've done a few before too but this one i had a plan for, the others we sold after refurbishing them.

 

hubby took it completely apart and sanded it all down.  then he added a covering (to make it a shelf) for the bottom of where that last drawer was to go.  he could have doctored up the broken drawer but i love the look of some open space. 

 

(don't mind the books...i was moving some things around and stuck them there to get them off the floor, lol)

after a few coats of black satin paint (hand brushed on) i was ready to use this piece in my front room.  it will display my 'Cocoa Station' that i will be sharing soon with you all.  right now it holds mags and books and would even work well backed up to my sofa that sits out in the center of the room.  for now i need it near a plug for my hot water source for the hot cocoa. =]

have you repurposed anything?

more festive decor

just thought i would share a few more peeks at some things i've put up around the house.

here is the wreath that adorns the front entry of our home.  the blue coordinates with the blue lights that outlines our house roofline and the blue ribbons that go down our step railing {future updating project, lol} and the red berries coordinate what red is 'going on' in the front living room (see previous post).

i found some fun goodies while "thrifting" at my local goodwill/salvation army stores.  this red hurricane style lamp is about 10" tall and has a battery powered light that reflects the snowflake designs around the outter cover and it casts them on the wall and table (sure wish i knew how to take a photo of that detail, sigh).  i snagged this for $1.00! 

i can not tell you how giddy i was to run across this box of ribbon candy at my cvs.  it brought back a flood of memories of my grandmother and how she use to always have three tiered candy dishes on her tables with oodles of ribbon candy and other hard candies that i just loved to sample.

each color/design has a different flavor and the best part, they are FAT FREE! =]

happy holidays

it's almost here...the BESTEST time of the year!  i'm going to give you a run down of what fun stuff i did here at our home this year.  i didn't take pics of ever. single. thing. but this is the jist of it.

this first tree is in our formal living room.  i started, two years ago, to collect ornaments of black, glass and silver colors.  everything you see on this tree is a product of an after Christmas clearance or Hobby Lobby 50% off sales before Christmas.  this year i decided it needed a splash of another color...i chose red.  i. love. it. =]

see the lamp across the room there?  that has a sign hanging from it that says "Merry Christmas" that is in black sparkly velvet covering.  i snagged two of those at HL after Christmas a couple years ago for $.99 cents!!!!  they were 90% off. sweet.

{don't mind our lack of crown molding...it's on our 'to do' list, lol}

see the silver bows with black velvet designs on them?  i have them on each lamp around this room.  love the little 'extra' that it adds.

don't mind my terrible pics of my tree lit. =[  i'm not good at having a steady hand and choosing the right flash setting.  i THINK you can get the idea though.  this was about a week ago as i have oodles more presents under it.

ok, if you've read my past blog post you will see the mantle shelf i was talking about pulling out of my attic.  this is it.  with a quick dollar store/thrift store holiday makeover it's working for me this year. =]

that empty frame is for our family photo that will go in it VERY soon.  i still will probably add a few more photos here and there. {i only put black and white photos in black frames in this room, if you haven't read my past posts}

these stocking holders have been a major topic with me this year.  well, not these particularly, but the whole holder thing itself.  i haven't ever had any before as i've never had a mantle to hang my stockings from.  since i came up with this fabulous idea of putting this mantle shelf up i was destined to get holders for our pretty stockings.

well, as frugal as i am, i didn't want to spend much of ANYTHING on FIVE stocking holders. lol  i searched the net for a couple days on ideas to make my own with NO luck.  i searched the bigger box stores and even thrift stores and the cheapest i could find was $4 each ones that weren't pretty AT ALL! blah.  i was even ready to pull the spray paint out if needed...still NO LUCK.

THEN...out of the blue i was AGAIN back at my local dollar store and there they were.  albeit, gold, but they were ONE DOLLAR each...i was resisting the urge to jump up and down.  seriously.  i have every intention of turning them to silver but i couldn't wait to get them up and take some photos to share.  although the gold tends to fade into my yellow wall color. lol  they aren't heavy enough to hold FULL stockings but that is ok as Santa always leaves heaping full stockings laying on gifts left for the kiddos. ; }

now, this tree, is in our back family room that we use daily.  it's more of a 'whimsy' style that is still 'work in progress'.  again, all these ornaments were dollar, thrift or clearance bought.  i'm ok with that. =]

{don't mind the leaning star...we've grown to love it like that, lol}

we actually use this tree to display our gifts for distant family and friends.  we keep OUR presents under the front room tree and that is where we open gifts.  this tree here is where we hold gift exchanges with a few distant family members.  it's fun to keep them separate.

this lime green birdie is my fave.  he sits nestled near the top of this whimsy tree.

thanks for browsing our holiday decor.  please share a link to yours, i would love to take a peek!

happiest of holidays to you and yours.

Design Dazzle

ever been to this site?  if not and you have children then you should.  it's a great site for room decor and party ideas for children.  they even shared my idea for my son's Wii party i had recently...check it out here. 

other news....

see that black shelf (well i call it a mantle as it is heavily constructed) on the wall?  i got an idea the other day when i was doing my daily read over at this blog and i have really longed for a proper place to hang stockings as we do not have a fireplace in our current home.  so this past spring i found this mantle at a yard sale for $3.  it had a dark stained finish and it wasn't in too bad of a shape as it was but i'm not into the wood look.  it quickly went up into the attic and that is where it stayed until a light bulb went off in my head the other day.  i dug it out, sanded it down and painted it a satin black finish.  so when hubby came home off is job it was ready and waiting (ok he works on the railroad so i had a couple days, lol).  he couldn't put it off as it was all ready to go.

i will be back here to show you how i decorated it for Christmas.  i'm still puttin some touches on it. :)

 

hey, before you go...look at this peek of a project.

(don't mind the books, i didn't have anywhere to shove them temporarily) 

  

November flew by

we had a great thanksgiving and sadly i did not take photos other than catching my little guy in action while he helped me make desserts the night before.

 

i can't believe i did not make it to the black friday sales this year...a first in MANY MANY years.  it just didn't work as i didn't have anyone available to keep an eye on Brody.  it's all good as i actually got an early start on my Christmas shopping this year and i'm over half done.  i probably would have been done this weekend but my frugal side kicked in and i was resisting the prices on some things as i am confident i can find them less somewhere else. lol  this might come back to haunt me but my stubborn side won this weekend.

Brody was a big help with putting up both trees today.  he amazes me daily at what he can do and the things he talks to me about.  just tonight my daughter (13) asked me why i talk to him like he's an adult.  i had to stop and realize what she was saying but i then answered that i talk to him like i would anyone else.  i don't do the baby talk.  i don't discuss things that aren't appropriate either but i try every day to make situations...learning experiences.  Brody is my little sponge.  he knows so much and his memory he DID NOT get from me. lol

have i ever mentioned that he can make a mean cheese roll up??? lol

i'll be back soon to share some holiday decor and a project i'm working on.

holiday hugs! 

 

what a busy weekend!

hubby and i hosted a surprise 50th birthday party for his father.  we chose a 60's "peace" theme and it was fun with guests dressing up in their tye dyed shirts and john lennon glasses....loved it!

that was just saturday.

sunday was spent helping with a benefit for a high school friend that has been ill.  she is doing better now but doesn't have insurance and just spent 12 days in the hospital.  we pulled together a silent and chinese auction and a kickball tourney.  it was a blast!

 i actually won a few things...yay me. :)

 

hope everyone is excited about the holiday season fast approaching....i am, i am! lol 
  
  
  
  
  

Christmas music and shopping!

oddly our local radio stations are blasting the holiday music.  don't get me wrong, i LOVE my holiday music but not at the beginning of November.  not sure why they are doing it so early this year.  i shouldn't complain as it was nice hearing it in the stores i shopped today to get a start on my Christmas shopping.

i finally made it into this GREAT store today for the first time and i'm in LOVE!  i found several great Christmas gives at fabulous prices.  if you have a Gordman's near you...please pay them a visit!

i also managed to get a start on the stocking stuffers.  stocking stuffers for my kiddos have always been important to me.  every year i've made it a challenge to get the most unique and fun trinkets and special things to fill each stocking.  they rarely get candy but sometimes there is a special treat that they favor in there.  i just have a truly good time finding specific things for each of them.

well, i'm beat...it was a busy day shopping today and i'm ready to hit the hay and relax.

Wii themed birthday party

Lake turned 11 a week ago and his party was slightly delayed due to everyone being sick in the house.  at any rate his party day came and went without a hitch this past weekend.

it started off with guests arriving and getting their mii badges to wear during the party

the wii had a slideshow of photos going of Lake through out his 11 years.  everyone enjoyed the cute baby photos to those nekkid ones and then on to his accomplishments and school functions.

the rooms were filled with blue colored decor such as; blue light bulbs, blue mylar balloons, blue cups, goodiebags, etc...

speaking of goodie bags

i found some wii controllers that were candy dispensers, cute medal awards that go around your kneck, gold covered chocolate coins and blue neon glow sticks.  they also got waterbottles with labels of the birthday boys mii on it (didn't do well in the photo department).

i made a quick attempt at a wii controller cake but still wished i would have had close access to a bakery supply shope for better writing tools.  i did also have a cupcake stand of blue sprinkled cupcakes to go along with the party.

he doesn't look too thrilled here but he told me many times that he loved his party.

Lake and his friends and some cousins had fun playing wii games and snacking on fun foods.

other fun decorations where 8x10" sized mii images that were hung around the rooms of all the family and guests.  hand made banners weren't the best but done up to have different fun phrases for competing. 

 

everyone raved about the theme and had a great time visiting, playing games and snacking.  as for me there are more things i would have liked to have done but oh-well. lol

  
  
  
  
  
  
   
  
  
  

Happy Halloween!

just a quick entry sharing a pic of my two treaters from last night.  our treating was a day early in my town.  besides the rain, wind and lack of interest from my boys it wasn't all that bad. ha.

they got their share of candy and had fun visiting family and friends houses.  my little guy was a "in-ja" (ninja) and my NOW 11 yr old wanted to be a barbarian.  i enjoy every year making something out of much of nothing.  i don't think this was my best work as lingering colds kept us from getting a good head start on making costumes this year but it didn't turn out too bad.  i get satisfaction when someone guesses right off what he is and that happened at about our third stop at treating.  Lake was a real sport going to the Salvation Army store to hunt downt he perfect clothing pieces to transform into his costume.  fun times, good memories. 

hope your halloween is memorable.  be back tomorrow to share some birthday party pics of Lake's 11th birthday Wii themed party.

 

pumpkins....trains....fall....

love it.  fall that is. 

after a LONG week of being sick it was so nice getting out and taking in some fresh air.  sure we still have a bit of a cough but we put that behind us as we were happy to be doing something fun.  i ran across a website where they had a 'pumpkin train' at a local farm.

i was bummed to realize i didn't have the good batteries for my camera so i was very limited on the photos as the camera kept dying. *cry*  i did manage a couple for my scrapbook so i'm good for now.  as for the kiddos that keep swiping my rechargables for gaming controllers...that's another story. grr.