Spring Fling

Yes, I had a little rendezvous with spring today!!

I went to the Indianapolis Flower and Patio Show! :)

It was absolutely wonderful!  All kinds of mock gardens and landscapes set up for inspiration.

And....flowers, flowers, and more flowers!

I took a gazillion pictures so I could share some of the SPRING scenes with you...because if you are like me, you are counting down the days to get out into the yard and get your hands dirty again!!!!! :)

I'm a novice gardener....but I love it all the same.

If you are a city dweller, they had some really great ideas for rooftop patios!

And check out this wall behind the outdoor sectional...those are plants planted into small holes in a wall!!

And can imagine having this in your backyard?!?!  It would be like being on vacation at your own home!

I was completely and utterly, head over heals in LOVE with this door!!!

And the succulent wreath ON the door!!

Although excuse my shadow...I'm not really BALD...even though I look it there. LOL

This tree had my name all over it!  50% everything at the show (for this vendor - when the show is over).  But, NOOOOO, someone else had already bought this little darling before me. :(

And just a couple more shots of spring goodness! :)

And you know what else I learned today....................I CAN take flashless pictures!!!  Because all these pictures were taken by ME, NO flash, with Doodle's little $100 point and shoot! 

I just, apparently, need a GAZILLION lights overhead. LOL

Laundry/Craft Rooms

Do you have a headache yet?

Sadly, I post in current time....so while I'm posting about half of Doodle's Room Reveal, Kitchen Decor Inspiration, and Redoing my Living Room....yep, that is exactly the order those are going in here at my house too...not just on my blog!

I AM all over the place like that. LOL

And NO...I haven't finished any of those projects yet. :)

I confess that I have "Project ADD"!  LOL

This week my office/craft room finally drove me over the edge!!  I couldn't stand to look at it one more minute!

Here is what it looked like:

 (Sorry, for the REALLY bad pictures!  It has been cloudy and gross here for days!)

It's looked like that for MONTHS!!!  I just could not take it another day!

I'm turning this room back into a bedroom. 

I do not use that room!  I usually surf the web on my little Acer Netbook in bed or on the couch, so the desktop, while staying, does not need it's own room.  And I do NOT do crafts in here.  I almost always use the coffee table to work on crafts.  So, really I just need good storage, not a whole room, dedicated to my craft supplies! 

So, the crap stuff needs to find a new home!

Enter my laundry room!  Which was turning into another dumping spot.

Somehow I had to combine these two spaces into ONE!! 

Don't laugh!!  It is possible....I hope. ;)

I took every. single. solitary. shelf. in my entire house at some point and put it in that laundry room to try out!  I can't afford some elaborate system...so I have to use what I have.

I wish I had taken pictures of all my trial and errors...but of course I became so fixated I forgot. LOL

Anywho...here is what I ended up with.  I am VERY pleased!!

It's not as claustrophobic as the big black shelves from the office felt.

What's behind the curtain you ask?

My laundry supplies (and my utility closet...which is why everything has to be removable as well)!

I'm not done. 

I have to find one more basket (did you notice that one was missing?  ARGH! They were sold out of that size when I checked. Those are from K-Mart by the way.  I bought them ages ago, but they still carry them for $9.99).

I need to label the baskets for easier use. 

Plus, I have a ton of projects still in the office that need to be finished or donated or something!

I am SOOOO thankful I bought a stackable washer/dryer years ago!  I don't know what I would have done when I bought this house without them.  They fit perfectly into my little laundry "nook".

That door to the right is my back door, it leads to the backyard. 

Can you believe I got that much storage into that teeny tiny space?!?! 

I will post more in the upcoming days about the additional changes I've made to this area!  I have some plans. ;)


UPDATE:  This project was featured at Delightful Order!

Upcycled Burlap Tissue Cover

Helloooo Ladies! :)

I am SO sorry I've been somewhat MIA the last week or so.  Losing my job, as strange as this sounds, was exhausting!!

I've had no gumption what-so-ever to edit pictures, type up posts or even be on the computer.  

But thank goodness I have been working on some projects. 

And I did complete a project last week that I was so excited to blog about that it sparked my mojo into gear! 

Here is the project that has me all giddy!! :)

I bought this little lovely months ago at one of my favorite thrift stores for $0.95.

I'm on a kick right now trying to get through projects I've had just sitting around and using what I have on hand. 

I'm planning a garage overhaul as soon as spring hits, so I figured I'd make it easier by actually finishing some projects that are just sitting and taking up space.  :)

So, with that in mind, I took my lovely circa 1988 tissue holder and spray painted it brown.

I planned to cover it in burlap, but you can somewhat see through burlap, so the paint just made for a neutral backdrop for the burlap.

Next I Modge Podged my burlap around the tissue holder, and a separate piece for the top.

I'm usually pretty impatient, but this time I actually had to wait for it to dry completely in order to clean up the edges with scissors.

Next, I hot glued a ruffled edge I purchased at JoAnn's Fabric (since I don't sew...I am SO thankful things like this can be bought pre-made!).

Too unfinished...so I also hot glued on some AWESOME trim I bought at JoAnn's awhile back.  This was around $2 a yard, but you can usually find it on sale or they run coupons weekly in the newspaper...which is the only time I buy this kind of stuff.

I had rough, unfinished edges from where I cut the top separate from the sides.  So, I also used the trim around the upper edge.

I just used a pair of small scissors and cut around the edge of the opening to create a clean look.  Since the Modge Podge makes the burlap super stiff, this was easy.

And here you have my finished...very cottage looking...tissue box cover!!!

And since I have a bit more time on my hands, I'm playing with my photography!  So, here's a few more fun shots.

And here is where my new tissue holder sits...

Isn't  it adorable?!?!?  I'm totally in love!! 

And just because...here's one more looksy! :)

Since I did not use anywhere near a yard of the trim pieces, and I had the burlap on hand, I estimated this whole thing cost me around $3. 

Update:  This project was featured at House of Grace

I'm leaving you behind!

Yes.  There.  I've said it!

I'm sorry...but you are just not working for me!

I lied to you.

I've tried to change you, so we could make this work. 

But it just isn't going to happen after all.

The truth is.....no matter what I do....I always come back to THE COTTAGE!! 

So, I'm done trying to make you work in my life!!!

I need that warm embrace of time worn love.  And as you are, you just cannot be that for me.

So, my dear, dear, dear living room...I'm leaving your current look behind!!

This look, while the yellow walls were always TOOOOO yellow and were going to need to be changed, was more, shall we say...ME.



Because, let's face it.....

My whole life I've dreamed of living in a cottage!! :)

******************

So, here's the story.

This look...

....was using what I had when I bought and moved into my first home!  Well, first home I owned.  

Most of that stuff I had for years.

Within a month of buying my house, I had repainted every surface of the house, and had most stuff unpacked and the house decorated.  I mean, I owned everything I needed already and had already decorated it in my head before I even bought the house! :)

Two weeks after we moved in...I met a man!

Actually, it was more like a boy...but technically considering he's my age (36) we'll call him a man.

Things moved REALLY fast.  Way too fast!  And I swear within a couple months he was staying at my house most of the time.

He owned his own home as well...about an hour and half north of Indy.  But right about the time we met he had gotten a new job in Indy.  So, it was kind of a convenience thing. 

He'd stay with me during the week and then I'd go up there on the weekends to his house.  (Doodle was at Grammy's for the beginning of this...although she had met him a couple times before she left.)

He knew he was going to need to sell his house and move to Indy, so slowly his 'things' started moving into my house....in Indy.

Have I mentioned my house it 950 square feet?!?!?  And he was close to being a hoarder!!!!!!!!

But because I lurved him (bluk), I wanted to make him feel welcome.

He liked a more modern look...so compromise ensued. :\

That's how we got to this look....

Can you feel the choke of sterile grabbing hold?? 

He didn't like throw pillows!  Who doesn't like throw pillows?!?!?  I should have known there! LOL

I had artwork he had purchased in New York framed...and I hung them in MY living room to make HIM feel more comfortable. 

Then he started moving MORE stuff in!  And eventually my house felt like this!

Source

And so I started selling some of MY stuff....like that darling rattan coffee table!  (Yes, as a matter of fact, I am bitter!) ;)

After just over a year, I lost it and threw him to the curb.  But the process has left my house in shambles!!  It's still not recovered from his time there!

What was once an organized, darling, little house...has been in limbo ever since!!

Since I had sold stuff, and purchased new stuff, like orange curtains and pillows to try to add warmth to his cold and impersonal decor, I felt like I needed to use them.

That's how, even though he was gone, we ended up here....

and here....

and yes, eventually here....

And while I don't hate this look.  It has a very nice, warm, uncluttered, more updated appeal...it isn't the cottage I dream of!!

It doesn't have that time worn appeal that I love!! 

It doesn't have RED or GREEN!!  And guess what....I love red AND green!!

It doesn't feel like you just stepped in from the beautiful garden and can just wrap up with in the warmth that only a cottage can make you feel!!!

So, I'm leaving this look behind! 

I don't care how much those curtains cost me...they are already gone!  ($60 at Target by the way...that's how much they cost...$30 a panel...just in case you were wondering.) ;)

And while some of my old pieces are gone....some are not!  And they will be making there way out of boxes in the garage and back into the house.

And I found the most beautiful inspiration piece last weekend at Homegoods!!!

I was able to purchase this with a $50 gift card I still had left from Christmas...which makes it even better. :)

So, now you know how I've gone through so many looks in such a short period of time.  I actually don't change looks that often, but I think because I got away from what I love, I was never going to get it right again until I went back.

Do you ever do that?  Try a new look only to find yourself back at your old stand-by's? 

A Book Review - Radical

Ok, so when my blog buddy, Melissa at Kaufman's Cottage (you can see her guest post on WBMF here and check out her blog here) wrote about Blogging for Books not too long ago it peeked my interest.

I like to read.  And free books...where do I sign up! :)

So, sign up is what I did!

I'm not paid for my reviews.  I receive the book for free to read and then review.

*********************

Here is where I need to insert...I do not typically discuss religion on my blog.  Actually, I have probably never discussed religion on my blog.  And it's not something I plan to do often.  Not because I'm not a Christian...I absolutely AM!!!  But I figure a design/crafting blog is not the place for those discussions.

But it is possible when you see a book review from me, it will be of a religious nature. 

I just wanted to preface with that.

*********************

The book I chose to read was a book by David Platt called Radical.

I think this book should be required reading for anyone who calls themselves a Christian!!

I cannot tell you how much I was dreading reading this book. I had read other reviews and just was not excited at all about it. But by the time I finished the first chapter I was hooked.

This book has alot of raw honesty. An honesty I think some people might even take offense to. But if you call yourself a Christian, how can you argue with logic that says in America we are content with the comfortable version of God that we've created in our churches? How do you argue that the money we spend on a multi-million dollar mega-church with lots of added in entertainment for us, could have fed hungry children around the world? Or sent missions across the globe to spread the world of God? How many Bibles could have been handed out instead? And I love that he explains in detail WHY it is our duty as Christians to be doing these things...ALL OF US.

This book really makes you take a hard, and I do mean HARD, look at yourself and what sacrifices you are making to make sure the unsaved have a chance at being saved!

He really makes you question, "am I doing what God has COMMANDED me to do? Or waiting for someone else to handle the 'dirty' work so I can observe from a comfortable distance?"

What I think I loved most about this book is that David uses direct quotes from the Bible to get his points across. It's not just his opinion. He uses countless stories in the Bible and also real life stories of people doing God's work.

If I had to state a negative about the book, I think the ending was lukewarm. He sets up a "experiment" in the end, basically a guideline for the reader to follow over the next year. But I think it's unrealistic to think that every Christian is being called overseas. I understand the point he was trying to make, but let me listen to what God is directing me to do, please don't 'command' me to do what you think he wants done.

But seriously, outside of that, this book was so eye opening for me!!!  I HIGHLY recommend it!!!