Isnt she lovely.....

My Minds Eye is one of my favorite scrapbook lines and companies. They always come out with unique patterns and embellishments that catch my eye and inspire me to create. I took this picture of Rachel this summer and it's one of my favorites, I think it shows her beauty -inside and out. She has grown into a lovely young woman and I couldn't be more proud of her. Love you Rachel!! I used the Stella and Rose line for the base of this project and some embellishments from Lush to complete it. Hope you like it!

Out of the Loveshack and into the house

It has been a really cold Fall and it's shaping up to be an even colder Winter, so I decided to move my scrapping stuff into the house. I love the Loveshack and it's been a really great space to create, but.. I feel really disconnected from the rest of the house when I'm out there. Now, don't get me wrong, sometimes that's a good thing! But I realized that I really haven't been doing any scrapping lately and the idea of going out there in the cold and hanging out by myself had become less and less appealing. So when Jim suggested we move my stuff into the house I thought about it for a few weeks and then agreed to take over Rachel's room as my new scrap space. It's kind of bitter sweet to use her room, I guess that means she's a "guest" now when she comes to stay since she doesn't have her own room anymore. So sad, but I guess I have to let go sometime. Once I moved everything in I started looking at the walls and wanted to do something to make it more "creative" of a space. I had a bunch of Theresa Collins chipboard covers in red from a project that Tiffany had done a few years back that I had an idea for. The red didn't match the paint on the walls so I used some papers from DCWV to cover them and then added some black and white pictures. A little bit of ribbon and some help from my husband to hang them evenly and I was all done within a day or two. Now that I'm in the house I am finding myself going up there to organize and play around a bit, I guess moving inside was a good idea after all.

Mike's WSU visit

Last Friday Mike and I made the long, 6 hour drive to WSU for a campus visit. Mike has picked UW, WSU and Western for his 3 choices to apply to for college. Of course he hopes to get into UW but he wants to have a couple of back ups just in case. So, off to WSU we went for a tour and lunch. We got into Pullman around 8:80 pm and got a quick bite to eat then headed to the hotel to get some sleep. We spent all day Friday walking around campus and meeting with advisors and students so we could get a feel for the campus. The weather was a little cold and the scenery is definitely different than the "westside" as they call it in Pullman. Mike really liked the campus and he is leaning toward it right now, but we still have Western to visit so we'll see. The best part of the trip for me was just being able to spend some one on one time with Mike, he's so fun to talk to and I just love him to pieces. I'm so not looking forward to him leaving home.

Mikes senior pictures

It's hard for me to believe that Mike is a senior and is less than a year away from going off to college. Today we went to the Olympia Capitol building and took his senior pictures. If you've been watching my blog for any time at all you know this is one of my favorite spots for pictures. It was a little rainy so we spent most of our time on the steps of the capitol under cover but we did manage to dodge the raindrops and get some others too. Mike really doesn't like having his picture taken but he was a good sport and posed for over an hour. These are just a few of the over 300 pictures I took. Check out my grown up boy!

$20 Goodwill table

I found this table at the local Goodwill and instantly knew it was a great project to use with my new Annie Sloane paint. I loved the details on the side of the table and thought they would look beautiful with the stark white of the paint. The bonus was that it was only $19.99! Jim took the top off so he could stain it while I worked on painting the rest of the table.Unfortunately he found out quickly that the top was veneer and the strip around the top was damaged. he ended up lightly sanding the top, removing the side piece and staining it heavily. I think it turned out great. As for painting the legs and details, I used white Annie Sloane paint. It  a chalk style paint and it took a little getting used to, the first coat dries a little streaky but after the second coat it looks great. Once the painting was done and dried for a day or so I waxed it with Minwax paste wax and it gave it a smooth sheen. We put the table upstairs in the living room for now, it doesn't seem like the "spot" for it just yet but it'll find it's home eventually. Enjoy!

Black to white conversion

We found these old black end tables at a garage sale in Tenino and paid $3 each for them. The lady told me she had planned on repainting them but never got around to it. Lucky for us she gave up! Jim started off by stripping them and then decided to tear them apart, not sure why exactly, I think he thought it would be easier to refinish them. So tearing them apart resulted in him having to make new side panels and modifications to the tops but in the end they turned out beautifully. So far he only has one done but has promised me he will work on the other one "next". He is in the middle of refinishing a coffee table though so it may be a while! I have this one next to our bed and it totally goes with the dresser we did as our first project. Now, I just need an antique iron bed frame, King size preferably.....wish me luck.

From yucky to yummy- Teal Dresser

Jim and I found this old  , maybe 70's or 80's,dresser at a garage sale in late September. The lady wanted $20 for it but a quick inspection (and smell!) made us offer her $10. It needed a couple of top drawer fixtures and had an "odd" odor, kind of like a dirty house with pets maybe. Yuck. So we took it home for the $10 offer and let it sit in the garage for a few weeks while we worked on another project. Then we slowly started working on this baby. I had found inspiration for the color on another blog, mapleandmagnolia.com, but it took alot of convincing for Jim to agree to play along. Basically we agreed that this was my project and he was just helping with it. He actually worked on other projects while I was doing this one, stopping just long enough to do my painting and "honey do" requests. I had a distressed finish in mind but I'm not quite ready to shell out $50 for Annie Sloane was just yet, so I used a Valspar antiquing stain instead. It took a couple of coats but it ended up being exactly the color I was hoping for. Once it was done, I waxed it with Minwax finishing wax and put the hardware back on. Oh, the bottom drawers hardware is all original, we just painted it with Brushed Nickle spray paint. The top drawer knobs were picked up at a local store. I really do like how it turned out, I have a vision for re-doing Morgan bedroom with this dresser and a few other items. I'll show the finished room once I get there, I'm still looking for a few more things. I hope you enjoy the dresser, let me know what you think!

http://mapleandmagnolia.com/2011/09/08/sideboard-makeover

Weekend dresser project

A few weeks ago I came across this antique dresser at a garage sale. I had been kind of looking for a project that I could re-do ala  missmustardseed.blogspot.com. I have been stalking her site, admiring her work and thinking it might be possible to do a project myself (with Jim's help of course!) I love the look of a white painted piece with a contrasting top and sides and so that was the look we went for. We started filling holes and sanding Friday night after work and by Saturday night we were reading to paint. We actually stained the top of the dresser on Saturday and just needed one more coat of stain to finish it up. We were too tired to paint on Saturday but we were definitely ready. So Sunday morning Jim got started on the first of several coats of spray satin paint. Now, I was super hesitant about using spray paint but it honestly turned out just like I imagined it would. We went to Home Depot to pick up knobs and I was shocked at how much they cost- $4 each and we needed 10, they cost almost as much as the dresser! By Sunday night Jim had completed all of the painting and we just needed to let everything dry completely so we could put it all together. This morning Jim called me out to show me the final product and I absolutely love how it turned out. It is exactly the vision that I had for the piece and I have already put it into the bedroom. So, I think I may have created a monster- Jim is already starting on the next project and talking about selling the pieces we make! I'll have to let you know how that goes.