Spring Collage

Some of you may have seen my Home Collage. Well, here is my Spring Collage. Same concept, just a spring theme going on. I also have a collage for Summer, Fall, Christmas and Valentines, and will post those when I put them out. The Christmas one is my favorite! But then again, that's also my favorite holiday.

Close-up of the top...

Close-up of the middle...

Close-up of the bottom...

And here is the collage hanging in our entry hall.

Happy Spring!

Jenny

A Little Spring Decorating

The sun is shining, the buds on the trees are blooming, the birds are singing!

There's nothing like the first sign of Spring to lift my spirits and make me want to bring a little spring into the house. Just a few touches here and there, and a new Spring banner, and the house is already looking more cheery!

The mantel is one of the easiest parts of the house to update for the seasons. All I added was some spring twigs to my metal vase (purchased from Target), a birds nest beneath one of the candles, and a new Spring banner stamped onto dictionary pages. Simple and quick!

My Spring banner. I love how it turned out!

A close up of one of the banner pieces. I tore out a page from a dictionary, folded the page in half (lengthwise), cut out a triangle to form the upside down V at the bottom, stamped 'SPRING', punched a hole in each top corner (I first reinforced the holes with a circle of paper on the back side of each corner), and tied each banner piece with ribbon onto some pre-beaded wire I've had in my stash. I also ran a gold leaf pen along the edges of the V on each piece. Super easy and cute!

A close-up of my candles and  birds nest.

I am in love with this turquoise piece I found at Beverly's Crafts a few months back.

It's hard to see this little guy, but there's a blue mercury glass birdie that I got at Cost Plus last Christmas. He normally lives in my craft room, but I brought him down for Spring :)

I added a real birds nest to a shelf and placed a little bird in it. He looks so cute that I might just have to leave the nest year round.

The buffet in our dining room. The red doesn't photograph that well, especially with a flash.

My uber creative friend Berta made me this antique fork picture stand and the little vintage tag.

A funky, fun turquoise birdie.

The full shot of the buffet.

And the easiest way to decorate for Spring.....add a new wreath to the front door. Simple and welcoming!

Have you decorated for Spring yet?  Looking for some ideas? I participated in my first "link-party", check my entry # 394 here for a plethora of inspiration and spring ideas! Also, shared here.

Jenny

Words for Monday

spotted here

Really good advice.

Happy Monday :)

Jenny

Door, Meet Tres Chic!

I have been itching to paint the interior of our front door something other than the tired oak stain that it has been wearing for the last 10 years. The exterior side is a fun, beautiful RED. Which I love and will never paint over. I had thought about painting the inside the same shade of red, but figured that might be a bit much, even for me.  

Our door isn't real wood, so I don't feel bad painting it. In fact, if I absolutely hate the paint, I can strip it and re-stain the door to look like wood again. The door is made out of hardy fiberglass, which handles well against the elements, from the beating summer sun, to the wet winter, and most importantly, my dog Molly who insists on pawing at the outside of the door when she wants to be let in. Lucky for her she's cute, and the door is fiberglass!

Here's a picture of the little rascal waiting for the door to magically open...

I had taken a few "before" pictures prior to painting, however, it wasn't until I stopped to take a picture of my progress that it dawned on me that my SLR camera did not have a memory card in it. This is not the first time this has happened to me. And I still don't understand why my smart SLR camera would even allow me to "take" photos without a memory card. Personally, an idiot light or beeping noise would be very helpful!

So here is a progress photo. You can see on the one sidelight the door color before I began covering it with Glidden's Black Onyx paint.

And here is the door after two coats of paint. Tres chic!

Now I just need to find a new rug to go with our new door!

Jenny

Roster Art

A while back I posted this inspirational Dictionary Art.

Well today I decided to make one of my own.

Here is my version...

I actually lifted this frame from the array of frames I have hanging going up our stairs and now have to find a frame to replace it. I've always loved this frame, and it hit me as I was carrying laundry upstairs to be put away, that it was the perfect frame for this project. I love it when I am able to go "shopping" around the house!

Coincidentally, I picked up the below new stamp set at Joanne's Crafts yesterday. It was marked $9.99 and I used me 40% coupon. I also picked up another stamp set from the same line (TPC Studio) because even without a coupon, the price is still a bargain. Before stamping directly on the page it's always a good idea to do a dry run.  I did a test stamp to make sure I had the stamps lined up the way I wanted them and I then stamped directly onto a page torn from a french book that I got in a kit. I was going to use a dictionary page, but I thought the french page was more fitting of the stamp set.

Here is my new Roster Book Page art hanging above my "Bird with a french fry" sign in our kitchen. I did not make the other sign, but found it while out shopping in Reno a few summers ago. I just had to buy it because it makes me smile :)

And here is where they hang in our kitchen...

This little project took me all of 10 minutes to make. Now that's my kind of DIY project!

Jenny

A Much Needed Weekend In!

Photo Credit - my coworker Tina

After being on the go-go-go the last couple of months

I plan to take FULL ADVANTAGE of this rainy weekend ahead of me

and go absolutely nowhere!

And I mean NO.WHERE.

Saturday, the Mr. and me plan to have a movie date on the couch 

and catch up on Netflix and dvr'd shows.

Sunday I might paint the interior of our front door black,

because I'm a painting roll don'tcha know?

Or I may just putter around the house.

Stay in my jammies all day.

All I know is that I am so very much looking forward to 

Staying Home!

What are your weekend plans?

Jenny

Seven Things

Gosh, my first blog award!

The Rich Life (on a budget) gave me a stylish blogger award.

Thank you Adrienne! I'm very honored for the mention, and ever so thankful that you talked me into starting this little blog of mine :)

Now, I must tell you seven things about me that you may not know and that might hopefully be of interest.

1. Two years ago I discovered that I was a runner. Who would have thought a runner was hiding inside me all these years! I went from walking on the treadmill for exercise, to running on the treadmill (that first time was really scary! And I about flew off the treadmill), and then running outside on pavement. In two years I have run 6 half marathons. There’s 13.1 miles in a half marathon and it takes me about 2 hours and 35 minutes to run one. Go me and my new running self!

Jim and I finishing our 1st Half Marathon

2. Over the years, I have learned to embrace my super, crazy, natural curly hair. In high school I used to straighten my hair every morning, only to have it frizz in the fog on my walk to the bus stop.

Doing my best Medusa impression

3. My home burned down the summer after 8^th grade. The fire started in the kitchen after my mom and her boyfriend left for work, and thankfully my brother and I were away at our dads for the summer, otherwise we would have been asleep in our beds, and I don't even like to think of what might have been! The fire was especially heartbreaking, because my home was also the "summer cabin" that my Grandmother's uncle built in back in1904. My grandma, my mom, and I spent all summers there as children, and when I was 5, my mom and I moved in and made it our home. The summer cabin holds so many memories dear to my heart. Sadly I don't have any photos of the cabin except for this one after the fire, and another one taken back in the 1950's?

The top window was my bedroom

The Summer Cabin - circa 1950?

4. My husband and I built the house we live in now. We learned so many things…most importantly how to compromise, or in my husband’s case - sometimes it's just easier to give in to the wifey!

Home Sweet Home since May 2001

5. My favorite color is chartreuse. I will buy almost anything in this color!

Purse and jacket - shades of chartreuse

6. I am an avid scrapbooker-stamper-crafter and people are always in awe when they first see my craft room. I have been accused of having my own craft store :)

My happy place

7. I once painted our bedroom 5 different colors before I settled on the current color. Jim made me promise that I would not make him move our heavy bedroom furniture again. So if I ever tire of the color, it looks like I will have to hire a moving crew!

 
Now, I'm supposed to pass the Stylish Blogger Award on to seven other bloggers.
 But since I'm a newbie blogger, I am just going to mention seven stylish blogs, and who knows, maybe one will accept the award? 

My friend Lisa's blog ~ It's not just paper...

The Inspired Room

Centsational Girl 

Little Brown Pen

Kasey Buick - one girl talks

LilyBean's Paperie

*Reserved for my friend Berta's blog which is still TBA*

Awards are always accepted at your leisure.
Please don't feel that you must participate.
But it sure is fun for the rest of us when you do! 

Jenny

On days like this, I'd rather be Home!

It's been raining non-stop where I live. And today has been especially stormy! It's days like these that I'd rather be at home on the couch with a good book or movie and a fire roaring in the fire place, instead of stuck in my cubicle at work. 

The below quote especially speaks to me today!  I downloaded my free copy from Becky's blog, put it in a frame, and have it sitting on our side table in the family room.

Jenny

Home Collage

In addition to painting everything that doesn't move in my house, I also like to scrapbook and make crafts in my spare time. I haven't touched my craft supplies in several months (too busy painting!), but I've been itching to make something. 

I had been thinking of re-doing the Home collage that hangs in our entry hall. I liked the general design, but was bored with the colors. 

Here's a picture of the first design...

I wanted the colors to be more vibrant. So last weekend I got to work on taking it apart.

I am not a "neat" crafter as you can tell by the look of our kitchen table. I tend to spread out and keep spreading out and keep spreading out...

Here is the re-designed and more colorful collage...

Close-up of the top...

middle...

and bottom...

And here's the collage hanging in our entry hall. I have several more collages that I change out for the various holidays and seasons. And I'll showcase those on my blog as I change the collages out.

If you are interested in making a collage of your own, all you need is a window box frame (I purchased my frame at Pottery Barn years ago, but I've seen a similar frames at Michael's Crafts and Target), some pretty papers, embellishments, adhesive and your imagination!

Jenny

Stencil Love

This stencil has all sorts of ideas racing through my head!

spotted here

I see a potential project coming to our bedroom soon....

Jenny

Words for Monday

Spotted here

Happy Monday!

Jenny

Laundry Room Redo

I'm on a painting kick and can't stop. The latest victim to succumb to my paint brush was the laundry room.There was nothing really wrong with the laundry room. It was a vibrant red with a punch of white. It made me happy whenever I walked through it from the garage to the kitchen.  But then I fell in love with Cool Dip. The same color I painted our Utility Closet a few weeks back. And suddenly the red had to go!

Here is our laundry room before my little paint marathon this weekend. As you can see, it's narrow and small, but it serves it's purpose.

I attacked the red walls with Zinsser Bulls Eye 1-2-3 Primer. That stuff is the bomb! It covered the red in ONE COAT. I do highly recommend opening a window when you paint with this stuff, as it will have your head spinning, and not in a good way.

Red walls be gone!

Now time for Cool Dip.

Don't you just love that name? What a fun job that must be, coming up with names for paint. How does one get a job like that?

I can't get over how light and bright the laundry room is. Of course, I did go from RED to light blue. But still, I was impressed! The yellow you see through the door, that's our powder room. I haven't decided if it's wall will be repainted yet.

The little shelving unit to the left of the washer and dry, I got from Pottery Barn many, many years ago. And some day a laundry sink will go beneath the shelves. The little clothes line of red doll clothes - my talented friend Berta made me this for my birthday one year. I envy her sewing skills!

Here's a close-up of the adorable clothes line...

Here's the view of the laundry room looking towards the door to the garage...

And no laundry room is complete without some laundry room art, right? I made the "wash" sign using some papers from my scrapbook stash.

 

And one last look of the laundry room from the kitchen...

Isn't it a bright beacon of happiness :)

Jenny