Some updates...

Been thinking about my blog a lot lately...and really missing it! I've decided that I am committing to blogging once a week. Which is going to be really hard, considering my last blog was 18 months ago... Here's an idea of some things to expect... I am going to finally show you my living room with my finished couch that I blogged about last time! I'll give you a peek at my family room where I have highlighted my upholstered ottoman. There may be a kitchen makeover and possibly a powder room...it's going to get fun up in here! Having my husband home for past TWO *gasp* years has afforded us the time to really tackle this house and make it ours...probably just in time for us to pack up and leave it...but I will leave that for another post! Until we meet again...

I'm ba-a-a-a-ck....

Oh my goodness! I cannot believe it has been -gasp- SIX MONTHS since I last posted. Where in the heck did the time go? I can say, in all honesty, that my summer was insanely busy. My dear husband came home from Afghanistan in June and spent the entire summer...at home...with us. Yup. Many of you are probably thinking that I am not very nice, but it is a really difficult adjustment to have them back after being gone for 8 months. It was nearly an impossible adjustment to have him actually by my side for two straight months. But, we made it! Here's a little peak at the homecoming...

Cute, eh??

My crafting kind of took a backseat to family time for the summer, and although I missed it, I do not regret it for one second. I did miss my prime spray painting season, but have gotten into a few projects over the last few weeks...here is a sneak peek of some upcoming posts!

I don't know how I missed taking a before picture" but here is a sort of before...can't wait for you to see the transformation. I am in love and want to thank Rebecca over at you are talking too much for such an amazing inspiration.

I am also super tired of my coffee table in my sitting room, so I picked up this guy for $6 at the Arc and I cannot wait to show you what I am going to do with it!

That's all for now, but check back soon to see some great projects and some fun crafts!

Cute little Easter tees

I am all about holidays...love them. All of them. Well, except for Halloween...and I don't really know why, but I still go all out for it. As I was shopping around the last couple of weeks, I noticed that everything for Easter for kids is really girly...boys just don't have a lot of cute choices. With my little man's Easter parties (yes, more than one...I forgot about this possibility when they enrolled him in an advanced class in addition to his 3 y/o class!) coming up at the end of the week, I knew I had to make him something special. Here are 3 little tees I whipped up this afternoon - nothing like good ol' appliques!! I bought these applique patterns on etsy awhile back and found them today when I was looking in my stash. A quick perusal through my fabric scrap stash, some tees I had purchased when they were on sale at HL, and about an hour of my afternoon and I had these little guys!

Cute, cute!

Happy Easter!

Linking to I Made This! and House of Hepworths and I Made It Wednesday at Sweet Peas and Bumblebees and Show and Share at Just a Girl

Coffee Table Re-purpose

I have been looking for MONTHS for a new bench for my entry/living room area. I had a bench that came with me from my old house but, like soooo much of my other stuff, was just not quite right for the new space. No worries, though, she ended up in my master bedroom and looks just perfect...but more on that in another post! Anyhoo, the hunt for the perfect bench had been going on for quite some time when I stumbled upon this coffee table at the GW. I've seen some other coffee table renovations and thought I would give it a shot myself.

This has got to be the sturdiest table I have ever purchased! It is BIG and solid...the perfect base for a bench. It has great lines and perfect little details - and the best part of it?? $20 with two matching HUGE end tables!! The end tables are still stacked in my garage...not sure what I can do with them - but if all else fails they will go in my summer garage sale. I debated back and forth about painting it heirloom white as I did my chairs in my living room or painting it walnut brown like I did the accent table. I decided to go with the walnut, as I wanted to use the same fabric on the bench that I did on the chairs, but didn't want it to be totally matchy-matchy. I think the heirloom white would have shown the detailing better, but I am really pleased with the dark walnut. Plus, I am getting ready to change the railing for the stairs to white and since this bench sits against the stairs, I think the walnut will "pop" more.

What do you think??

I am linking up to Just a Girl SAS Day

Living Room Progress...

Wow! I didn't realize it had been so long since my last post...I guess I have been busier than I thought!

I thought I would share with you today, the culmination of a few different projects that are slowly coming together to form my formal living room. We've been in our house 9 months and I am slowly trying to make it all come together. Below is a picture of our LR, as it looked until about January - please try to look past my husband having a headstand contest with my niece! :)

You can see my little plaid sofa - with no legs - and my brown corner shelf. Both of these items made the move with us from Idaho - the corner shelf used to be red and the sofa used to have rockers. I was trying to decide if I wanted to keep it a rocker or turn it into something else. Below is a picture of my old great room, in my old house. It was perfect for there - but not wanting to keep the same color scheme (for a variety of reasons) - I needed to make some changes.

So, I painted the corner unit almost immediately after getting into the house and deciding where that monstrosity would fit! I added curtains to match the dining room - as they are connected and I wanted the open space to flow as much as possible. You can see some of revisions to the dining room on an earlier post here. I wanted the same bright look for the living room. I had redone a chair (shown here ) and had found another that was similar and I redid that one the same way. The before on the second one was not nearly as hideous as the first - but I still wanted a "matching" set. I spent $14 on this chair a few months ago at the Arc.

Here's the before:

And the after...

I was really drawn to the caning on these chairs, so imagine my excitement when I found this at Goodwill for $5!! Look at that beautiful caning on the bottom - and what a great shape for an accent table! I was IN LOVE. I am so seeing this piece in the same dark brown as the corner unit.

Lastly...remember my plaid sofa? Remember my friend Rainee who helped me recover that little number for my office? Put 'em together and I have this! We recovered the sofa with a golden/tan corduroy! (Oh, and see that little lamp there on the side? That was a $2 GW find - a basic brassy floor lamp that got a couple coats of ORB and is good to go! Still trying to figure out if I am going to make a different shade or not...)

So...without any further delay...here is the progress I have made on my living room...with my pals staged in (yeah right) for the big photo shoot.

Would love your feedback!!

I am linking to The Shabby Nest and Shabby Chic Cottage

Love Seat Redo!

*Disclaimer! Please forgive my horrible picture quality...my beautiful Nikon had a run-in with my beautiful three year old and the outcome was a definitely a victory for my little man...so in the meantime, I am using my old point and shoot.*

Okay, so I wasn't quite ready to do this post, as I wanted to get my entire office finished first, but since that might NEVER happen, I decided to go ahead and show my latest project!! I am so mad at myself that I never took a picture of this beauty in all of its avocado green and burnt orange cushioned glory, but I couldn't bear to bring those old dirty cushions into my home...yep, they were bad. So here is a picture of the before of the frame...well, sort of...I had already done the cleaning and started priming before I remembered to take a picture!

What a great piece she is!! Perfect curvy, feminine lines and in great, solid shape! But yikes! Don't look at the background of the picture - as you can see my unfurnished living room has become a mini workshop in this bitter Wyoming winter...the garage is too darn cold!

I did end up having to bring in the cushions so that I could measure them for the new covers, and I am glad I did. Underneath the dirty (but very well made) exterior were fully lined cushions in PERFECT condition!! I am so glad that I didn't have to replace the foam, as I was expecting.

I have to admit that this project was a big learning experience for me...I worked on it with my good friend Rainee and she showed me a million new techniques that are really going to help not only my sewing, but all of my DIY projects! I can't thank her enough for her guidance and wisdom and masterful sewing ability!!

Okay...here is my girl! Isn't she beautiful?! Living in a house of guys doesn't afford me many opportunities for bright and girly pieces...but this one is going in my space and she is all mine!

I am linking to Show and Share Day at Just a Girl and Saturday Swagger at It's a Crafty Life

Stylish Blogger Award!

Oh my gosh! A HUGE thank you to Nicole at Black Cab Designs for nominating ME for the Stylish Blogger Award! As an avid follower of her blog, this is really exciting for me! Thanks so much Nicole, you totally made my day and motivated me to get some more of my projects blogged!

There are rules that go along with receiving this award...and they are as follows:
1. Thanks and link back to the person who awarded you this award.
2. Share 7 things about yourself.
3. Award 15 recently discovered great bloggers.
4. Contact these bloggers and tell them about the award!

Okay...so here goes...

1. I am a military wife of almost 10 years to an amazing man...a Master Sergeant Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technician (EOD) with the Air Force.

I have two awesome sons - 6 and 3 - who keep me on my toes all the time!

3. Photography is my true love of a hobby. I have a camera with me all the time...

4. I love to plan parties and have a tendency to go way over the top when I am doing one...regardless of who or what it is for.

5. I've been crafting for a long time, but can't seem to focus on one craft or "talent"...I like to try it all and usually have about 10 different projects in 10 different mediums going on all the time.

6. I recently started running and am training for a half marathon in June. I know people say that running is therapeutic and gives them a high, but I truly hate it. I am doing it to prove to myself that I can, but I have yet to find one step of enjoyment in it! :)

7. My favorite foods are spaghetti and meatballs and mashed potatoes and gravy. I would love to eat them together as a meal.

That's it!! Thanks again to Nicole...Now I have some blog perusing to do so I can find my own nominees!!