Coming right along … just not very fast …

    Before

After

The pictures don’t allow you to appreciate the change nearly enough, in my opinion. Alas, this will have to do. We love our newly “frankincensed” wall and the new knobs on the pantry doors. Now if I could just figure out what else to put on the wall above the pantry. Suggestions?

(And please don’t say vinyl. I love vinyl. Vinyl has its place. Above my pantry is not its place. If you have vinyl above your pantry, I bet it looks terrific. Seriously. I might even have to come over and admire it. I just don’t want it above my pantry. Savvy?)

P.S. Remember the knob company I told you I would totally recommend, if they came through on delivering the goods? Well, they came through all right. We got them today … about 4 weeks sooner than we were expecting them. We LOVE them! So, if you are itchin’ to replace the knobs on your cabinets, go to Kitchen Cabinet Hardware. You will not be sorry. Or you could always buy our big ol’ fat white ones that we just happily removed. Yep. You could do that to. Very inexpensive. Are you tempted yet?

Before

Tomorrow is going to be a busy day for us. A trip to IHOP for free pancakes, stop at Lowes for the last few painting supplies, and then to the library. All with a 3-year-old and a 1-year-old in tow and all early enough to get home for lunch and naps. That makes you tired just reading it, doesn’t it?

So what do I do? I stay up past my bedtime reserving books at the library and posting a “before” picture of our kitchen. Smart.

I am starting to have anxiety over the red. Not the color itself, but the hue, or is the correct word shade? I never did like those art lessons. Whatever the case, I just want it to be the perfect red and I’m not sure if it is. I will probably dream in red tonight based on all the times I have walked past and studied the test patch on my wall.

Here is my kitchen as of tonight, never to look the same again. Well, starting tomorrow at naptime. Right now I am going to be responsible and head to bed.

Changes on the horizon …

I hesitate posting this because then I am going to feel obligated to post  “before” and “after” pictures and I don’t think I will get to the after for a long time. Well, at least the “everything-is-exactly-how-I-want-it-and-I-wouldn’t-change-a-thing” after, at least. Does anyone get to that point outside of TLC and HGTV?

Alas, my excitement outweighs my hesitancy.

We bought red paint today for my kitchen. “Bangkok Rust” to be exact. It is a dream come true.  I believe every home should have a red wall and I have lived in my home for two years without a red wall. Such a travesty.

Soon to change. Very soon.

We also bought a can of “Frankincense". Lovely name, isn’t it? It is on the same paint chip as “Butternut Tree” and “Pronghorn”. Who comes up with these names anyway? Wouldn’t you love to just sit in a chair eating vending machine snacks and making up outrageous names for paint colors? What a job, but I digress. “Frankincense” is for a wall that sits between our kitchen and living room.

Once the walls are painted I can finally make the window treatment for my kitchen window (and possibly frame the kitchen window, but I haven’t presented this one to the hubby yet). I have had the fabric picked out for about 1 1/2 years. I suppose that means that I still like it, right? 

And finally, we bought new hardware for the cabinets. We bought them online at a great price. If all goes well with the shipping and such I will definitely recommend this company to you. The knobs were 66% off the price that we found at Lowes. Now I can put that money I saved towards replacing the chandelier, or maybe a new dress. It’s a toss up.

Sewing Can Wait

  I have a few projects up my sleeves in the fabric department, but my current addiction (aka digital scrapbooking) is keeping me from them. I’m OK with that.

Last night I learned a few new tricks of the trade, thanks to a friend (thanks Jamie!) that so willing offered her fantabulous expertise to a small group of novices.  Now a page takes me, oh, I don’t know, like 3 hours, instead of 4.

I am still trying to figure out my plan of attack. I have so many pictures to document, like, all of them. I can’t decide where to start , hence the randomness of these two pages.

Halloween 2007 and Marie at 2 months

Credits: Mass Production Template from Manda Girl; Paper and Embellishments from Shabby Princess Holiday Sampler

Credits: Template from Manda Girl; Paper and Embellishments from the Golden Girls Welcome Kit

Doesn’t This Make You Happy?

This is the desktop on my computer. I smile every time I see it. Thank you Shabby Princess.

I couldn't resist this...

This is how this works:
The first 5 people to respond to this post will receive something made by me for you.

My choice.

Made especially for you.

Of course there are some restrictions and limitations:

1 I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
2 What I create will be just for you.
3 It will be done sometime this year.
4 You have no clue what it will be. It may be a story. It may be poetry or an article on properly cleaning your face before a masque. I may draw or paint something. I may bake something and mail it to you. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure.
5 I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

The catch? The catch is that you must repost this on your own blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on their blog.

The first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did will win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me!!

First Haircut

Credits: Paper and embellishments from Ronna Penner's Express Yourself Kit; Overlay from Edge Stax Mixed by Kim Liddiard

V-Day

At 5 pm today my “desk” looked like this

after I finished making this. (inspired by this tutorial)

Thank goodness dinner was quick or I might have had mutiny on my hands.

Fine (Fee-nay). Or as Baby Girl would say, “Aahhh Dahhhhn”

One Yard Half Apron from My Byrd House

 

This is completely cute and hardly practical.  (Is any apron half apron really practical? For me it isn’t. If it doesn’t cover my shirt it isn’t doing its job) This apron makes me want to thrown on some high heels and start vacuuming the house.

Mother-Daughter Aprons --  inspiration from here and here.

Adorable, practical, easy. Three ingredients for the perfect apron. Can you tell I’m biased? I am. I cannot tell a lie. But please don’t let me stop you from making the apron of your dreams, whichever one that may be.