I wish.....

So this is a post about wishes and goals, and how I wish to be able to complete some of my goals!

So I have been feeling terribly guilty this month about the lack of post and DIY,  I just can't seem to get caught up on things that I WANT to do and accomplish!  I'm really not sure how you ladies who work full time AND have a family seem to get it all done!

I've been working over time, and still have one more week to go, so I'll have more time when thats done!  We have also been super busy worrying about Josh's gram, she has been in the ICU for a while and has finally been moved out of the hospital, hopefully for good!  

I am an artist so I get down when I can't create, I'm so ready to get back to it all!  

So, I've decided that I need to make another New Years resolution, and that is to TAKE some time for me, whatever that may be, whatever I feel inspired to do at the moment. 

I am so excited, we are going to Ikea next weekend and I am hoping to get a new sofa and shelves and stuff! I need a room refresher!  

I love the look of this sofa that Audrey Hepburn is lounging on, I love that low and sleek look!

 I'm hoping to be lounging on my new sofa sometime after next weekend!

Do you guys ever find yourself getting behind on your creative stuff?

Let me know what you are OR are not getting accomplished!  Maybe we can motivated each other!

Painting, painting, painting!

Here's a little peeked at what I was doing today.....

My sister found this great changing table for $30, but the color was all wrong.  It just needed a little face lift to match the rest of the room, so I gave it a light sanding and pulled out the Behr paint, in Ultra White.  We went to Home Depot looking for a low VOC paint, and found out that Behr is now making all of their paints low VOC!  I thought that was great!  I had never used a low VOC paint, as I wasn't sure if it would change the way the paint adhered or the durability.  But, because she is almost nine months pregnant, and the little one really may be here any day, I really wanted to keep things healthy for her and the baby, so trying the low VOC was a must.  Well, I LOVED the stuff, it hardly had any smell, which was very refreshing for a paint, and it went on beautifully!  

I don't think I will use anything BUT low VOC paint anymore!

It still needs one more coat of paint, silly me I forgot to get a primer!  Oh....I wonder if they make primers that are low VOC?   

Hmmm....I will have to look into that....

I don't have time to finish painting until this weekend, so I will share after pictures then!

Cupcakes!!

So this past weekend I threw a baby shower for one of my sisters.  One of the desserts I made was a whole bunch of cupcakes.... I used a box mix, however I wanted to give the mix a little upgrade, did you know that you could upgrade a box mix?  Well it's super easy, just substitute butter for the oil, and you can also add any sort of extract you want, almond, vanilla, or even orange!

Anyway here is a little glimpse of them while they were being decorated... and.....yup I even decorate cupcakes on my coffee table....

They were so much fun to decorate, and such a hit at the party!

Baby Things

 Have I told you all that I have two sisters who are preggers!  Well I do, one of which is actually having her little girl as we speak!  Alas, she is in California, so I will not get to see her little one for a while.  However, my other sister literally lives right around the corner from me and  her baby shower is this weekend. So I thought I would make some cute bedding for her.  Well, actually she asked me to when she found out she was pregnant and couldn't find anything she really liked.  This is the first little blanket I'm going to make for her, I also want to do a green and white one that's monographed in the center! 

But as I have never made a baby item in my life and I couldn't find a pattern I liked,  I thought I would start with an easy one. 

I don't think its going to take long to make, cutting the fabric is probably the worst part for me, and thats only because I don't have a work space!  I make everything on my coffee table!  Just in case you were wondering why my pictures always look like they are taken in the same area, thats because they are!

I really should show you all my coffee table, it's actually what got me into DIY!

In college someone gave me this great piece, but it was such a hideous oak color, that I repainted it white then a pretty green and used several different techniques to give it a distressed look!  I've had it for over 6 years now, but I still love it!  Several friends are begging for it, if I ever decide to get rid of it.....who knows....

Anywho.....I have completely gotten off topic, and really should  get back to my project!

A tutorial and more photos to follow!

New Look!

I've been tweaking the look on the ole blog, what do you all think!?!

I liked the old look and really it wasn't even that old, but I think this one shows a little more of my personality!

I've got a few more little bits to change around the blog, but so far I love it!  I would love to figure out how to customize my navigation bar as well as add new fonts to certain areas, so if anyone has figured out how to do that, or knows where I could find a great tutorial, I would love for you to pass it along!  So that's what I've been up to tonight......

Maybe now I'll get back to home DIY instead of Blog DIY!

Junk Mail

Guess what!  I finally took down my Christmas tree!  I know!  I know!  I'm probably the last person on the planet to get around to taking down the Christmas decor, but my tree was doing so well until this last week that I hated to take down a perfectly healthy tree!  Well, now that all the decorations are boxed up and put away, I've been cleaning and organizing the rest of the day!  There is nothing like getting rid of the clutter!

Since it was my New Years resolution, and I shared that with all of you, I thought you may want to see how it's going.

Do you get a crazy amount of junk mail?  Well I seem to get a ridiculous amount, and I know I'm not suppose to just throw something away with my name and address clearly printed on the front.  The risk of identity theft is to great!  So it all seems to pile up until my mail area looks a little something  like this......well exactly like this actually....

I figured it was time to do something about it, so I filed everything that I needed to keep, and the rest got sent through my handy little shredder!

My mail center went from bulging.....

to completely empty and ready for the next round of junk mail.....I'm hoping to keep up with it so it won't get so bad in a few months or so!

I also thought you might want to see how I organized all my fabric and sewing supplies!

I've got a few more boxes of fabric to go through, but I have plenty of room on the top shelf to add a few more!

Just is case you were wondering what sewing supplies could possibly be in the magazine organizers, I find them perfect to hold extra ribbon, trims, and things like zippers.  I like to wrap trims around a heavy-ish sort of cardboard to keep them from getting terribly wrinkled.   I hate pulling out trim thats all bent out of shape!

Anyway, what have you all been up to this weekend?

Another Thank you for the shout out!

I just wanted to say another thank you for the feature!
My Coffee Table turned Bench was featured recently on these lovely sites!
Thank you!

Go check them out!

Thanks for the feature!

I just wanted to say a quick thank you to these lovely ladies for featuring my Navy and Coral Pillows!

A Few of My Favorite Things

Beyond the Picket Fence

Thanks Ladies!

Fabric Organization

Today I attempted to take on a little organization as part of my New Years resolution.  My fabric and fabric supplies seem to take on a life of their own and tend to get out of control and unorganized very easily, so I decided I was going to hide it all in these great little boxes I bought from TjMaxx and Ikea.

So I organized everything my color and sorted them into boxes!

I've got a lot more to do, more boxes to fill and more fabric and sewing supplies to organize!  

How are you all coming along with your New Years resolutions?

Modern Chic Home

Not much going on over here, have I mentioned that I keep getting sick?

I just can't seem to get over it, whatever IT is.....

Anyway the motivation to DIY has not been here lately, hopefully I'll be back in the swing of things soon!  

So I came across this great store called Modern Chic Home, I think I may be in love! AND they are having a fabulous sale right now!  If I wasn't saving for new furniture I would be going crazy over there!  I need to get this furniture thing done with so I can get on to the decorating!

Check out these gorgeous things that are dirt cheap right now!

I can't wait to do a little shopping for my new living area!

West Elm Love.

Operation organization 2011 has begun!

  However, I have to admit I was regretting my resolution to get organized this year when I started cleaning out my linen closet/art/laundry closet!  ugh!  Organization is just not my thing, which is one reason I needed to make this resolution, and one reason I'm kicking myself for making it!  I need to find some shelves and a few more bins and then I will share my results!

In the mean time I have been dreaming of a new living room and found some things I LOVE at West Elm!

I LOVE this new rug!

Maybe I'll have room for this gorgeous lamp, if not I have some ideas for a gorgeous DIY pendant lamp!

Have you all looked at West Elm lately?  What are some of your favs!?!

Fabric Problem!

Have I mentioned that I have a little bit of a fabric obsession?

 I just got done ordering these fabulous prints from Fabric.com 

I have yards and yards of unused, but fabulous fabric! ( I have plans for most of it, it's just finding the time to get it all done)  But I just couldn't help myself, I can not pass up such wonderful fabric especially when they were having a sale, AND I got to use a coupon code!   I have no idea what I am going to make out of these delicious choices, but they happen to be the colors I'm currently working with in my bedroom, so who knows!

Go check out Fabric.com if you get the chance ( I have not been paid to promote them, I just love them!) they have such a great selection of Home Decor Fabric, shipping is free over $35, and they have always cut more than the yardage I ordered!  BONUS!  Thats definitely come in handy when my guess-timations have been off!

Anyway, all of the above fabric choices are from Premier Prints, I have used their fabric for many projects and just love the quality, especially for the price on fabric.com !  I think I ended up paying only $5.50 a yd for this last round of fabric!  Just an extra tip, google coupon codes to find an extra discount!

Keep checking back to see what I whip up for this lot!

Do you guys have something that you just can't stop buying, even though you don't have any need for it at the moment?