Nothing says LOVE like crafting in bed

Nothing says "come to bed honey" like doing a craft project in bed! And instead of a bottle of wine next to the bed, I have my over sized QT cup full of ice water. Roooooooooomantic.

Last Friday night, I needed to make my new nephew a gift. I had bought one of JoAnn's Crafts over sized paper mache letters for him. (On the slim chance that baby snatchers read my blog, I'm not going to tell you him name.....but clearly it starts with a "K". And please don't snatch my nephew.....we dig him).

I started by spraying the edges red. Then I realized that choosing paint colors after midnight should be illegal!

I ended up redoing my base color in navy 10 minutes later (ok it wasn't really midnight, but when you are almost 40....10:00 FEELS like midnight).

This is when I know my hubby starts thinking things like "we have a whole studio in the basement and she is crafting in bed". Or maybe he is thinking....."nothing says love like Modge Podge". IDK what he thinks because he never complains. He just lets me do my thing!

I covered the "K" in paisley navy paper, Modge Podged over it all and let it dry overnight.

In the morning, I lined up my embellishments....

And grabbed my cup of coffee and finished my project on the floor. Clearly, no corner of my house is safe from an open can of paint. Good Lord what was I thinking????

But look at how cute the "K" is!

I am digging the red push pins that I used on it.

And hope baby K. loves it.

Cuz' we adore HIM!

Linking to A Girl Creative, Remodelaholic and The Shabby Nest.

We "blinged out" the vinyl in the exercise room

The vinyl saying we put up in Shauna's exercise room from A Great Impression is super cute.... but was just lacking a lil' sparkle. And thanks to our friend Melissa, we learned the line at the bottom of the design is for positioning only and supposed to be taken off. Oops......

So after a recent workout, we removed the straight line and went to town gluing rhinestones to the design.

Oh yeah, how can you NOT like the bling??

And Shauna caught me on camera flexing the ole' calf muscles.

Which made us giggle.....

And then do more flexing in front of the cameras and mirrors....

and then giggle some more.

Who am I kidding????? I am more mush than muscle....but it is good to the fruits of our workouts!!!!!!

Ahem.....back to the vinyl. The rhinestones were just what it needed.

Life's too short not to flex and add some bling.

Horchow inspiration

Sometimes I wonder.....




.....if money were no object.......

(my fav for $699 + shipping)

....or if it grew on trees....

....let's say a "special tree"....in my backyard.

Would I just order the already beautifully painted pieces from Horchow?

Or, would I continue scouring Craigslist to find dressers to paint just like it???





Yeah.....I'm pretty sure I'd be ordering.

Spring wreaths hate me.

Every stinkin' time I get a beautiful wreath on the front door.....Mother Nature wrecks it.

Seriously....this wreath was beautiful last week. But I thought I'd be cute and put it on the outside of our front door.

Forgetting about that little thing called "rain".

And "wind".

Now, in the words of my friend Kristin........it looks like "a sad, wet flamingo".

Seriously, what is it with me and spring wreaths?????

Do you remember this post from the last spring wreath I made???

It was adorable.....

Until the heat hit it.

And in the words of the the wicked witch on the Wizard of Oz.....it was "melting....melting".....

Do me a favor and someone please save me from myself next spring.

Is this normal at any age?

This post could also be entitled "She doesn't get this from me"....



You have all met my 3 year old daughter.



We have recently discovered she has a hidden talent.

She is able to walk with her toes curled under.

Like a ballerina.

Except not quite as tall.


Even when walking up our steps....

She can keep her toes curled under.

It's kind of gross and adorable at the same time.

Can you do this??????

And more importantly.....do I have a child prodigy on my hands?????????

We may have to apply for "Toddlers and Tiaras" soon!

I decided to get on the tissue paper ball bandwagon before it was over

Last fall, my church had a women's conference that I was asked to decorate for. The theme was "Freedom in Every Season", so we decorated our church lobby for each season of the year. My personal season was "Spring".

(my beautiful momma and I in the "spring" area)

I knew I wanted to make tissue paper balls, but had to engage the help of a few friends to do so.

Thank you Ryan for your coming to my home for a personal tutorial. You seriously rock.

And thank you Aimee (my photographer) and Kishan for your help spraying painting them all! You girls are so creative!

If you remember this post , we do the tissue paper faux finish often in my business.

(one of my favorite ceilings that we tissued)

So a few years ago , when I found 2000 sheets of white tissue paper at a garage sale for $10, I scooped it up and ran before they could change their mind!

I knew I wanted the balls to be yellow for my display, but I wanted to use up some of my ultra cheap white paper. So I SPRAY PAINTED the balls in yellow and hot pink AFTER they were made!

It was a little challenging in terms of garage space, fumes, painting in running clothes.....

.....plus rolling the balls every which way to try to get the yellow paint even. But we weren't aiming for perfection.

And making the "bouquets" of balls on sticks was total cuteness!!!!!

The end result was a-DOR-able if I don't say so myself!!!!

This was our "Spring" booth....all tissued up!

We had them on candlesticks, in chairs, hanging from the ceiling and in a wheelbarrow.

It was a cheap, easy way to bring color to the decor.

I know you want that white chalkboard, don't you? Me too. Nice job Kishan.

I saved the balls and reused several of them at Ava's 3 year old birthday party.

Hey, Chuck E. Cheese seemed to like them, so I know they rocked.

Glad I got on the tissue paper ball bandwagon before it pulled out.

The Magic Brush: It's a family affair

I am in beautiful homes every day with my job. But the truth is..... it takes a lot of manual labor to get a home to a beautiful state. A ton of my time is spent loading and unloading supplies, setting up ladders, setting up scaffolding, carrying ladders, taking down scaffolding.

Let's just say I am not starring in "The Real Housewives of Kansas City" anytime soon.

My doting husband is often recruited to help me with the heavy stuff. One morning last month, I needed scaffolding taken down from a job site and loaded back into my truck. This normally isn't a big deal......but it all had to be carried up this hill.....

....which is covered in snow....on top of ice. Typical Kansas City crap. It's no fun on a work day.

Never complaining, my darling hubby carried supplies and ladders over slick rock, thru snow, and thru mud for me.

While I oohed and aaahhhed over the walls and fireplace we just finished fauxing.

At the same time, my sister-in-law Jeri was hard at work in the wine cellar doing some touch ups. Jeri has worked for me for almost 10 years......and I love her!

And.....the princess was in the back of my truck watching a movie and supervising Daddy's "scaffolding-loading" capabilities.

It made me pause for a moment and think ...I am so blessed. How many people get to have their family with them at work?

How many people actually LIKE their family enough to WANT to have them at work???

My job is an absolute blessing. Remind me to never complain about loading scaffolding again.