Bieber Fever

Let me start out by saying, I do not have Bieber Fever, but I do have an 11 year old daughter - enough said... 

My daughter, Olivia shares my love of creating anything and everything and we have a lot of fun doing projects together.  She's been asking me to help her make a Justin Bieber shirt.  Sure there are a gazillion JB t-shirts on the market, but she wants to make her own, one of a kind instead.  I love the way she thinks!

This week we were on a quest to find a plain black t-shirt.  Believe it or not, this was not that easy to find.  I checked Target, Walmart, Shopko and came up with nothing.  We had some time to kill on Tuesday and decided to run into Michael's.  Why I hadn't thought to go straight to a craft store is beyond me!  Needless to say, they had plain black t-shirts along with every other color you can imagine!  And they were on sale - 2/$5.  We snatched up the black and then grabbed JB's signature purple.

I had purchased some heat transfer vinyl a couple of months ago and just haven't had the time or a project to try it on. 

I buy most of vinyl from H & H Sign Supply and have been so happy with them!

I used my Cricut and Sure Cuts a Lot (SCAL) to create the image.  At the last second I had the sense to realize that I need to reverse the image for it to work properly.  Thankfully SCAL makes it easy with a simple click of a button.  After the image was cut I got to work weeding out the unwanted vinyl.  Last step was to iron it on to the purple shirt. 


Front of shirt



Back of shirt

 Simple and inexpensive project (only cost about $5) and it turned out so stinkin cute!  I'm not sure what's cuter - the shirt, or the 11 year old in the shirt! 

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New front entrance!

A couple of years ago we decided to paint the house a beautiful red color that I absolutely LOVE!  What I don't love so much is the mauve door that remains...  I hate the color mauve to begin with, then add a newly painted red house and YIKES! 

Every time I walked through that front door it drove me nuts!  But, life gets busy and you find other things more important to do - like watch your child's soccer or baseball game.  Slowly you learn to live with it until you "have time". 

Well last weekend I finally "had time" to tackle the front door! 

My husband was gone that weekend so I didn't even attempt to take the door off.  I just taped the window panes and hardward off and got to work!  I did rough up the surface a little bit so the paint could adhere better.  When I finished the first coat I thought, "What in the world were you thinking painting the metal door?!  It looks horrible!!!!"  I thought for sure I'd be out buying a replacement.  : / 

Keep calm and carry on...  With every coat it looked a little bit better.  The panes on the window are plastic so they really tested my patience.  Eventually I won the battle with them too! 
It took several coats, some patience and a small brush, but it's done!!!

Now I really need to get some fall decorations out there!  Maybe some mums, pumpkins and gourds?  I love fall and can't wait to get the decorations out! 

I did pull this little itty bitty fall wreath out.  It's not quite enough, but it'll work until I get to Hobby Lobby to find a new one!

Have you painted a door recently?  How did it turn out?  What was your process?  I'm certainly no expert on the subject so I would love to hear your experience. 

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Bathroom planning

So now that the bathroom is partially demo'd I need to have a plan to put it back together!  At first my husband was just going to replace the tub/shower with another tub/shower.  He insists that I requested this at some point and was a little confused when I mentioned the option of a tub and then tiling the shower area.  I guess we were both a little confused...  The tub/shower combo was fine, but just that - fine.  No Wow factor there! 

The hubby is on board to do the tiling and now it's on to the fun planning stages!

THE PLAN:

Install tub
Tile the shower walls
Paint the walls
New shower curtain - I have been searching and searching, but haven't found the one yet.  I may have to use the white one until I do...
Frame the mirror
Add new artwork, shelving and accessories

I recently fell in love with blue/gray rooms with rich wood tones and crisp whites.  Here are a few things I was thinking about:

I think I may need to buy some samples to try on the wall.  This way I can see how they look at the different times of the day.

Here is a quick before pic of the space:

I'm so ready to have our main bathroom back!  It's been a long couple of months with all four of us showering in the basement mens bathroom.  I'm hoping we'll have a chance to get started this weekend!  Somehow life always seems to get in the way.  I will shower in the basement a few more weeks if necessary.  4th grade football games, birthday parties and family time are all too important! 

Check back soon for updates! 

Surprise renovation

Hello there!  I hope you all had a great Labor Day weekend.  I was a bit under the weather so I didn't get as much done as I had hoped over the long weekend.  Oh well, I guess the list just got longer for next weekend! 

So a couple months ago I discovered a crack in the floor of our tub/shower in the main bathroom.  It is 30+ years old, so I guess it's probably about time to be replaced anyways!  (Hopefully my husband doesn't think I need to be replaced since I'm 30+...  ;)  Anywho, the tub was inevitably going to need to be replaced and just when I didn't want to spend any more money - trying to save for a bigger renovation people!  We've limped along by all four of us using the shower in the basement.  Not the best of situations, but things could be a lot worse.  :)

Well little did I know that when I came home from work yesterday I would be confronted with my daughter hanging a sign -

Closed for Construction!

And behind the door this is what was awaiting me... 





Eww!!!  Look- no don't- at the hard water stains.





Yikes, what a mess!!!



Surprise!!!  The new tub/shower is here and ready to be installed.  I love surprises, just not sure if I like a surprise renovation...  Don't get me wrong, I am thrilled at the idea of having our main bathroom working again.  I just could have had the bathroom all cleared out and made the job easier had I know. 

The to do list just got longer!

• Install new tub/shower
• Replace linoleum with tile - maybe?
• Paint the walls
• Add fun accessories

I'm thinking maybe a blue/gray color I fell in love with in an office at work.  I've been looking for a place to use it in my house and here it is!  Homburg Gray from Sherwin Williams. 

Have you had any surprise renovations happen at your house without your knowledge?  I'd love to hear how they turned out! 



Happy 4th of July!

Welcome back from a long weekend.  I hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday!  We couldn't have asked for better weather, family and friends.

Happy 4th of July and God Bless America! 

White Dining Room Chairs?

White Dining Room chairs with kids?  What was I thinking?!?!?! 

Looking back four years to when we purchased our dining room set, I remember worrying about the white cushions, but the price was right.  Surprisingly, they have actually held up fairly well.  The chair that has taken the biggest beating is my son's chair of course!  Between the spilled food, dirty fingers and zippered sports pants, this chair has seen better days.

I decided that it was finally time to recover the chairs and I was on the lookout for fabric.  On a recent trip to Joann Fabrics, I purchased a fun black and white patterned fabric to use.  While I was waiting to have my fabric cut, I browsed through the clearance rack and found a beautiful fabric!  I didn't quite have a plan for it, but at $6/yard on clearance and an additional 50% off I couldn't pass up a bargain like that!  SCORE!!!

As I unpacked from my shopping trip, I kept going back to the clearance fabric just wondering what I could do with it...  I was sure I would think of something!

 Sale Price - $3/yard!

I was excited to get started on my project, so I got out the power drill, staple gun and got to work! I removed the first cushion and tested the new black and white fabric out.  Something just wasn't right.  My dining set is not as black as I thought it was.  Turns out it's more of a black/brown color.

I was a little bummed out - I just knew I wouldn't be happy with the end result.  I grabbed my purse and was ready to head back to the store when the clearance fabric caught my eye.  Why hadn't I realized it before - this fabric was perfect!

I had plenty of material to cover 6 chairs and I even have enough to make a faux roman shade for the adjoining kitchen!

The best part - I only paid $11 for it!!!

I'm thrilled with the end result!  The new chairs have such a rich and luxurious look to them!  Why did it take me so long to do this?  Now I can't wait to work on the faux roman shade - that project coming soon.

Have you recovered any chairs?  Or have you found a fantastic deal just hiding on the clearance rack?  I'd love to see and hear about your recent projects.  Please share!!!

Linking to:

Not JUST a Housewife - Show Me What Ya Got

Today's Creative Blog - Get Your Craft On
My Girlish Whims - Your Whims Wednesday

From the begining...

The begining, starting line, commencement, inaguration, creation, establishment, launch - whatever you call it.  I have been going to start a projects blog FOREVER, but have failed miserably! 

Tune in to see what cheap thrifty decorating and craft ideas I come up with.  Who knows, maybe I'll even throw in a budget recipe from time to time!  I've really been on the lookout for inexpensive yet healthy meals to make for my family - not always an easy task.  Why is the junk food so cheap anyways?!   

Well, now that it's finally started, I am looking forward to cataloging all of the projects and crafts that I have going on.  I always look back at things and wonder when I did this, how I did that, etc, etc.  Well no more!  I pledge to post at least once a week with updates and progress of the many different projects I have going on, starting tomorrow.  I promise. Seriously I will.