Wednesday, May 20, 2015

A Giveaway With Mel!

giveaway
Yup!  Look familiar?  Some of my wood letters are being featured in a GIVEAWAY over at one of our very favorite blogs MELS KITCHEN CAFE!!!

How cool is that?  Mel is one of our very favorite Bloggers that we've been following for years!  Candace just about died when she met her wonderful Aunt Marilyn when she moved here to Idaho recently and she is pretty amazing too!  So included in these gift boxes are a set of my WISH letters, some of Aunt Marilyn's Sagebrush Soapworks fabulous homemade soaps, Jessica from JessicaBe's Jewelry (one of our local favorite crafters!) and an adorable apron from Mel herself!

Make sure to head over and enter to win one of these babies!  The giveaway runs through this weekend with winners announced at the beginning of next week!  A huge thank you to Mel~she is A.W.E.S.O.M.E!  I got to meet her last week and she is the most kind, down to earth gal!
Best of luck!:)

Friday, May 8, 2015

Teacher Appreciation Door Decorations 2015



Hooray for Teacher Appreciation Week!
We got some really fun doors this year I just had to share with you!
This is our last year in Elementary school~I'm a bit tearful about it, so I took on doing 4 doors to decorate this year!  I know, I'm totally crazy, but I totally love it!
First up is my Ode to Yoda~for our Librarian Mrs. Mortensen.  I just love her!
I always try to personalize my daughter's teacher's door and since they have been learning all about U.S. History and the Constitution, this seemed fitting with Mrs. Webster as the Statue of Liberty.  She's done an AMAZING job teaching our kids about National pride.  We adore her!
This door is for our wonderful Principle Mrs. Gourley.  She has watched over my kiddo from Kindergarten and I'll be forever grateful.  I got my ideas for this door from a couple of differenct chalkboard artists I found on Pinterest totally from 2 amazing shops~make sure to go check them out Chalkboardhouse and Lily & Val!  Very cool stuff!
This door is for our School Safety Officer Mrs. Christianson~she does so much for our school and keeps our kids safe! 

Here are some more of the doors~there were some really great ones this year!
Check out the cute martian!  Look familiar to something I did a few years ago?
I got such a kick out of seeing this!  This is exactly why I post pictures of these doors each year, hopefully to inspire and help others out with what sometimes seems like an overwhelming task.  This made my heart just happy!
                           
My husband asked me how much time I put into my doors and it's several hours honestly.  I am not an over achiever, I am not a mom that has too much time on my hands, I'm a mom who is honestly so grateful for these amazing teachers and people that have such an impact on our kids.  I wish I had a hidden camera to capture the look on these teacher's faces when they see their doors, or even more so when their door isn't decorated.  It's like a kid on Christmas morning.  So if a few hours of my life is given so that they know they are loved....well, that's hardly anything compared to what they give to us.  Now, let me step down off my soap box...:)

Have a great weekend friends!







Tuesday, April 14, 2015

WYLTC? Spring Theme Wreath Hanger

Make sure to pop over and check out the fun "SPRING" themed wood crafts this week over at
We are up today with our Picket Fence Wreath Hanger!
As you can see it holds signs too and is so easy/inexpensive to make!

Friday, March 13, 2015

From The Crafty Sister Vault~Bunny Silhouettes

Picking from the Crafty Sisters vault today is our fun Bunny Silhouette Weather Vanes we did a few years ago.
Make sure to go HERE for the full tutorial!

One of our fun readers Tracie and her craft group just did 15 of these beauties and sent us a picture!  We love getting pictures from our readers!  I love how they did some in black!  Aren't they great?
We have the best readers!  Thanks again Tracie for sharing!

I've finally downloaded most of my pictures for our Church Talent Show from last weekend.  I was so grateful for Pinterest and the ideas I got there.  I'll have a post up soon!  Have a great weekend!

Friday, February 27, 2015

Fireplace Built Ins


I finally finished my fireplace built in's and never got around to taking a picture to share.
I can't even begin to tell you how much I love them and they were worth all the hard work!

I was trying to find a couple of pictures of before~honestly I don't have hardly any because I hated this room.  It had an awkward feel with no light and a fireplace that was ho hum.  So, we never took pictures in there.
About 1 1/2 years ago my hubby and his friend installed the windows....which was a chore since the whole wall was actually 12" thick.  It had the original wall, then a wall of solid pinkish brown brick and then a faux wall over the brick to hide it's ugliness from the unsuspecting new home buyer.....me.

This room was dark and dreary.  It made the golden tan paint I loved look olive green at night.  Not the good olive green either.

So I thought about ideas for a while, begged my contractor brother-in-law for ideas and finally settled on the one I liked best after searching endlessly on Pinterest for ideas.

I found stock cabinets at Home Depot on sale that I got for my birthday.  I had to use upper cabinets because I had only about 16" to work with before I hit the sliding glass door.
I built a base from 2x4's to sit the cabinets on.  That's when I realized the original mantel for the fireplace wouldn't work either and had to rebuilt it from 3/4" MDF.  It actually wasn't too bad since they are basically boxes put together.  The key to making them look professionally done was investing in the right router bit for the edges.

The best part was the top piece of the mantel.  I couldn't find anything that was thick enough without buying a huge big board to cut a 6" wide mantel.....so......I took two pieces of 3/4" MDF and using a lot of Gorilla Wood Glue, glued them together and clamped them overnight for a snug fit.  The next morning I was then able to run it through my table saw for a perfect clean cut and then run the router along the edge for a custom look.  It turned out better than I could have hoped!

 My Dad helped me to put together the basic shelves that sat upon the cabinets that I then trimmed them out with 1 1/2" MDF molding.  I spent a whole day filling in with wood strips and then caulking all the nooks and crannies from my old home which was very evidently not level.  The base boards went back in and covered the bases perfectly.

Dad also gave me a great lesson in electrical work as we moved the electrical outlet for easy access for the DVD player and HDMI cords to run up behind the TV which my hubby and I installed without any swearing if you can believe that.:)

I then painted the whole thing with Behr self-priming Interior Semi-Gloss Enamel which was delicious to paint with. I painted the room as well with Kilim Beige, a Sherman Williams color that you can't go wrong with.  It is the perfect warm neutral beige.
 I found the perfect rug at Home Depot in their random return section located in the back of the store that tied in the black fireplace and brown brick for only $100.  We installed a ceiling fan that makes all the difference in the summer.  Yes, I still need to tackle the popcorn ceiling.....eventually.

I'm just so happy with the result!  I have so much light in my family room now, it's my favorite room in the house!
Cost Breakdown:
Cabinets $150
MDF boards $72
New Router Bit $20
New Outlets $10
Paint $30
Caulk $5
Misc. $10
Grand Total: $297

Not bad for about $300 right?

Next project.....where do I start?  Have a great weekend friends!



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