Nap Time Freedom

I try to make most of my crafts during nap time. This is really the only time that I can have all to myself. Both of the babies sleep and I art out. Today I found myself looking to make something with materials we already had. This is a tight month for Cole financially so we are trying to be super frugal... Damn taxes! Anyways I found myself in the garage holding this really cool frame I got at a local thrift shop for $4. Then I grabbed one of the coffee burlap sacks and my white paint. It was in the depths of my garage when I had my ah ha moment and decided that I would make an art piece. I wanted to make something modern and not super frilly. At first I decided that I was going to make a monogram for our house. I went to Pinterest for some ideas when I saw this.....

This chick does pretty cool stuff. I definitely got some other project ideas from her too. You can check her out here. I then decided that I was going to draw and paint a deer (remember the nostalgia post from earlier about horns and deer and stuff) with our monogram down below.

I got all my supplies together... All of which I had, score!
My coffee burlap coffee sack- $0.99, frame $4.00 open white gallon of paint. Not pictured black paint, sharpie, staple gun and paint brush. I got a little ahead of myself.

 Then I traced my frame with a sharpie and cut out my burlap a little inside the sharpie line.

 I used my paint holder container as my template for the deer bust picture.

 Tried my best at free handing a deer. Not too bad Huh?

 I decided to add a little monogram in the corner... So sweet... Home sweet home.

Then I took my old black paint (probably from college) which was really dry so I added some thinner to make it spread better,

 I painted in all the negative space around the deer... Lovely

 Now lets take a second to give a little shout out to my Daddy. He loves that I am working with tools and just knew that I desperately needed a staple gun among other things so he got me one. I love him... Thanks Dad you are the best.

Then I took my new toy and my freshly dried painted canvas and stapled it to my freshly white painted frame. I was sure to pull in nice and tight.

And.... Wait for it.... Instant art all ready to go and the it only took as long as nap time lasted about 1.5 hours.

 It took me a bit to decide where I wanted to put it but in the end I decided to put it by the door. We had an empty space and I was able to fill it with a meaningful picture that hits home for both Cole and I. (Looking at these pictures makes me realize I need to fill in my oval better its not perfectly rounded. Touch ups for tomorrow.)

Here is a too scale shot. See it's a nice size piece.

 If I can do this so can you. It was easy super cheap and super doable for anyone. If you need more of a pep talk to get going let me know and I would love to pump you up. I guess this post isn't for everyone cause maybe some people hate deer or monograms, who knows. Tell me what you think, or if you have betters ideas for things to paint on burlap I really want to know.

Outside Looking In...

Several of you have asked that I write a post highlighting what my house looks like on the exterior. I have described it several times as the big green monster and I think that left a lot to the imagination. This past weekend the weather was amazing for good old Astoria. Cole and I decided to get our booty's outside to mow and plant some of the hundreds of bulbs I purchased. So sunshine and all here is a look at our house currently...

 When Cole and I first visited the house I did not like it. The price was very right but I had no vision for the big green thing. Since we have moved in the place, it has started to really grow on me. I think with some curb appeal upgrades this baby wont look too bad. Below is a house that has given some vision  for our place. I realize that our house looks nothing like the one below but I want to replicate the shingles in the gables and the stone around the bottom of the house. I also really like the color.


 

As for the entrance way we have talked with several contractors (I guess we kinda lucked out cause Cole's dad and my Mark are both contractors) who  have given us the idea to extend a patio about seven feet the length of the front left of the house and zig zag wider framed in shingled stairs. The ones that are up now are pretty much a death trap. Death traps are not a good thing to have when you have kids or so we have been told. I also want to add some exterior moulding to the windows to make them look more manly, they need a little beefing up. (PS I hate the telephone pole in my front yard but I guess it is frowned upon to axe those down.) I also love the look of this door with the address painted on the front. The color is awesome and I want to replicate everything about it. If you love this door and want to feast your eyes on more click here.

 Here is a good picture to show you what we're working with yardwise. Yes those are blackberry bushes. The neighbor told us that the yard was let go for a while especially when it was on the market. There is a lot to be done. Cole and I are still trying to come to a common vision for the yard, then we will probably spend several years attaining the vision.   So Cole and I took some baby steps on Saturday and we removed our first hideous plant that probably was a weed gone crazy. The plant about to meet its fate is the one one the right... Bye bye ugly

 Here I go digging away trying to put the plant out of its misery. I had a vision to dig it out and all the grass all the way to the street to make a lovely flower bed. Cole told me I was being too ambitious and that we didn't have that much time . He also doesn't want the neighbors to think we are the type that start projects and never finish them. Not to mention it would effect all of their mail boxes.

 Cole took the last couple swipes at the bush ad viola it was gone.

Since I didn't get the flower bed I had set out to get that day I pouted and and made a strong argument that all my bulbs would have been bought in vain if we didn't get some into the ground. So we stripped out a little section and I got to plant one bag on a very sun exposed side of the house.

 The bag I got to plant. Whoop Whoop... Can't wait to watch them grow and then pick them.

After a big day of Easter egg hunting (Ummm how come no one ever clued me into the psychoticness of parents and Easter egg hunts in public. If I knew what I was getting myself into I would of prepped for the crazy parents in the 0-2 year old section with trash bags in one hand full of eggs and immobile infants in the other. Lucy got two eggs this year cause we played nice, next year watch out Seaside we're gonna be prepared.) and planting we underwent a series of first in Lucy's life..... Enjoy a quick recap of her adventures...

Lucy's First Easter Egg Hunt.... Her two awesome eggs...

Swings.... She loved them... We have the all-time greatest park by the house. Can't wait to use and abuse this place.

 Slide with Daddy...

 Also her second Easter but it was the first time I got to dress her up like a contestant from Toddlers and Tiaras. Her dress definitely pushed the boundaries on too fluffy. I loved it. Hope you all have a great holiday weekend. Any firsts for any of you? Or maybe you have some good ideas on how we should add street appeal to our home. I would love to hear from you.

Bringing in my own rays....

There is a room in our house that is kept closed up and shut off from the rest of the world. It is our dirty little secret that we don't want to share with the rest of the neighborhood. Today I am going to share this place with you. I have to talk about this room to tell you of my adventures in spray painting yesterday. You see I have had three cans of spray paint staring me down sitting on the counter for the last week. I needed to let the inner tagger in me out so I set out to the depths of our house, the GARAGE......  AAAAAAAHHHHHHH

 OK I know many of you are saying gross Angie you are a hoarder and a slob. Well I am a collector and yes a slob but in our defense we moved here in November. It's rainy here and Cole has a full time job and I work in the morning and have two infants in the afternoon so that's harder than real work.  This is why we cannot clean it. Also, we are awesome at procrastination on cooler projects. Anyways, I went into the garage with the hopes of finding two candle holders I had previously primed white and painted blue.....Found them

 I decided that I didn't want them to be blue anymore and that I wanted them to be yellow! Bright like the sun to light up our sitting room. So I grabbed them and then I found this little birdie friend. I picked him up the other day at a thrift store. Isn't he cute and wouldn't he look nice as a yellow bird. Fun! So I picked him up too and headed out back to start my tagging fest.

 Sitting in the dirt waiting for his makeover...

 The color of choice which can be found at your local Home Depot.

 One coat down... Then I had to run upstairs cause the babies woke from their naps. And wouldn't you know it when I came back out it was raining. Go figure, so I had to wait till the next day to add a second coat.

 Blue candle holders waiting for their makeover/ rain fest. I knew it was going to rain but I am into instant gratification and have no patience.

 Look what happened after one coat what the hell! Hold on a sec it kinda looks cool huh? So I added another coat and went with it.

 Tada all pretty bright and yellow. Very yellow. But I am a fan and I think it adds a nice splash to our room.

Lucy really likes Birdie too... Ooohh pretty....

Here are a couple shots of my amazingly, adorable, advanced Lucy Lou reading and admiring her moms work.

I've been moving the pieces around to see where they look the best. Personally I think they look good in a multitude of places so maybe they will grace many spots in my home.

 Birdie looks pretty cool even in front of my new pillow.

 Moral of the story...Spray paint is the best thing ever because it lets you make anything more interesting to look at and when you are bored with it you can paint it again.
PS.... true story, when I came out to save the pieces from the rain there was a fat bellied robin checking out birdie. True LOVE

Family Room Before and In Progress...

I thought that I would take a break from my sitting room for a bit and show you some before and afters of our Family Room. When you enter our house you enter into the Living room/sitting room which winds you around to our kitchen. Well there is a semi surprise of a room just past the kitchen. It was a nice surprise too when we first viewed the home. It's a very large family room with nice gas fireplace and a half bath built on. It also has lots of nice big windows that are still curtain-less by the way. Let's take a look....

 Above is a shot looking into the room from the kitchen/dining area. Notice the very green olive walls. It wasn't a bad color it was just a bad painting job. Since the house was a foreclosure I felt like the bank came in and slapped paint on certain walls to make the home more appealing. Just wait till I show you befores of the kitchen!

 Below is the view as if you were standing in front of the fireplace. You can see the door to the first floor/ basement and a glimpse of the dining room. The ceilings are not vaulted like they are in the entrance but the previous owner added a fan to this room. I like the idea of fans but this one is a mini fan that belongs in a kids room not in a big room like this.

 Here is a peek into the half bath. Oh yes and there is that lovely vinyl flooring. When we redo the kitchen floor it too will make and exit from this home. Sometimes I think the previous owner ran out of money when they built this house. There are some really nice features like a jetted tub then there are things like all brass fixtures and vinyl flooring. This house was built in 2006 which means that a lot of the fixtures were super outdated even then. (Side note... I just read a blog where they painted all the fixtures themselves to a darker brushed oil look. The fixtures turned out looking AMAZING! I really want to do it now, however I need a sunny day where I can spread all the fixtures out on our driveway. I live in Astoria so I might be waiting a long while. Boo..)

Ok so here we go... The Before....

And the After..... Nice huh...?

Look how much brighter the room looks with the yellow paint (this is the cheap recycled paint that I have talked about before) and the white trim.
Below you will find our fireplace and mantle. It is a corner mantle and I don't know what to do with it or how to decorate it. If you have any ideas I am all ears. I also, as you can see, got side tracked one day while painting the trim and painted the brown tile around the fireplace white. I love it... white...

Someday I want to knock that tile out and put in a cool shaped tile on all three sides of the fireplace. I also want to add more of a mantle. I've been looking at thrift store but damn mantles are spendy.

This is a view of our TV. We have found an awesome entertainment center at IKEA but it's like $900 so we are saving our beans. We really need something for the TV.  I think it's kinda an eye sore and Lucy loves to stand up and bang on the screen. Cole just LOVES when she does this... yikes

 My white moulding....

And then there is this...The bathroom door and moulding that I haven't finished yet. It gives me the stink eye every night while I watch TV because it hasn't been loved yet....

 Oh yes and I have to share this because it lets you know I am a real person who rarely has a clean house. This is the store all corner for Lucy's toys. I never thought I would be a person with baby stuff everywhere... I am totally one of those people. I need to find a better system to store her toys. Yes that is also a large pile of laundry. I cannot take credit for it because Cole does all of our laundry.. I love him to pieces. And Hurley's butt... Sorry for that.

Ok so lets end on a high note. Here again is a picture of my Family Room in progress. I like it. It is a comfy room that invites anyone in to rest, nap or play.