Out to Pasture {Easy Art Piece}

While I loved my horse art.... I am kinda over it now for my family room. I am going for a whole new vibe. And the horses weren't feeling it.

I am desperately trying to bring some WHITE and CREAMS in to the family room. So I took it upon myself to come up with some new artwork.  I have seen a few inspiration pieces that looked pretty easy to replicate {can't find any sources right now, but I've seen them!}.

White on white. Subtle.

Here's what I did:

I left it hanging there for a whole 24 hours before we all (the kids and I) decided it was not right. The concept is cute, but it was just "too modern," my daughter said.

So, I gave it a 5 minute makeover. Literally, it took about 5 minutes and some of that canvas/burlap ribbon I scored at Hobby Lobby, a little Plaid paint, 6 pushpins and 1 fake flower, destemmed.  All of which I had on hand.

Much better, me thinks.
The peanut gallery agreed.

I have it hanging up again...

There's still a lot of work to do in that room, but I am going to tackle it one little thing at a time. Keep in mind, this is just a temp piece... I am still scouring my local junk yards for THE PERFECT old window to hang there. Until then....

Stay tuned for a reveal in like 20 years! ;)

The 7 Most Important Documents

As I typed that title, I realize there *could* be a few more to add to the list, if some of them existed {note to self: Must Update Will}.

But for now, there are 7 important documents that I hold near and dear to my heart. And now, for some, even closer than that. As in my office wall.

While cleaning out my office and going thru tons of file folders, I came across an OFFICIAL COPY {not sure where the real thing is} of our marriage license. We were just kids. /sigh  I just hung that sweetie above one of the bookcases in my O/CR (short for Office/CraftRoom - it's too long to type out). It's above the bookcase that doesn't have the license plate. You're welcome.

#2 is my High School diploma. Which I know I have a copy of somewhere. Again, not sure where the original went. On my To-Do list to find.

#3 - #5 The birth certificates of my three babies. They are in a very important accordion folder that also houses their shot records, etc. I've been carrying that thing around since Alex was a baby!! It goes with me to every one of their doc appoints and when I need to register them for school.

I had some free time during a conference call yesterday - I was multi-tasking. I took my diplomas out of their big, black, bulky frames and put them into new, old frames I made-over on Sunday afternoon.

I had three of the same picture frames, all dark brown in color. My neighbor Jen gave them to me.

I originally sprayed them Bauhaus Gold (which really looks like Pencil yellow), using Krylon. I am not a fan. I think I've mentioned this before. It doesn't spray well and always bubbles up on me. Now, it might have something to do with the fact that I refused to sand the frames ahead of time, but WHO wants to do that?!

So, after bubbling, etc... I sprayed them with Rustoleom basic white. Of course, I didn't wait until the gold had dried... which is a great thing. Some of the gold overtook the white and I ended up with an aged look that I simply love.

I think picture frames are one of the easiest things to makeover. They are generally cheap to purchase (I've found some good ones at Goodwill and the Dollar store) and easy to spray. I also like to add embellishments or use a ribbon to hang them with.

Really, the possibilities are endless.

Ta-Daaaa [Office/CraftRoom Reveal]

I am very excited to share my new, beautiful space. It was a labor of...

But that is okay, because it is so totally worth all of the hours, the crying, the swearing, etc etc. Actually, I found out - as this was our first big project of our doing - that the husband and I work really well together. Love that man.

As a reminder, here was the mood board I shared a few weeks back:

You can find the credits here: http://www.queenofthecreek.com/2012/02/moodboard-officecraft-room.html

And here is yesterday's BEFORE post.

While I did not use the six shelves I bought, I did end up purchasing more bookcases from IKEA. So for now, I have PLENTY of storage space and I am no longer taking up space in other parts of the house (e.g. formal dining room!).

I think I stayed pretty true to my mood board... but I will let you be the judge.

Of course the day I decide to take reveal pictures, the Mr. Sun is playing hide-n-seek. Durn him.

The real before picture of the room does the room no justice. As in, it was CROWDED and bad. And messy and chaotic. I knew I didn't want to fill the space up with too much furniture. Although, I am considering a crafting table for the south side of the room, where there is basically an empty wall.

Now that I've given you the big picture, let's hone in on some of the pretties that pulled it all together.

The license plate is a Antique Store find...$5. It's a 1976 (or bicentennial) plate from Illinois, where I was born!

Well... before I take down the Internet by adding any more pics... I will finish up here. =)
Besides, I haven't been able to do anything crafty in a few weeks now... and I am itching to get my Modge-Podge on. Working on re-doing the downstairs guest bath next. I plan on making homemade art for the walls!

Okay, one more look.

Have a wonderful Monday!

Hobby Lobby Shelf Clearer

I admit. I cleared a shelf yesterday evening at the Hob Lob.
I couldn't help myself.

They were beautiful.
They were 50% off.
Crazy them for considering it an Easter item.

Look!

I meant it when I said I cleared the shelf. It was already quite bare... I bought the last 5 of them.
It's a canvas-burlap type of ribbon and I am already having so much fun trying to decide what I should do with them.

Don't you love it when you find a great find?!
Don't you hate shelf-clearers?!

Sorry!

xoxo,
me

Cheap, yet Priceless

I had a hard time trying to figure out what I wanted to get my mom for Christmas this year.
Specifically, I wasn't sure which magazine subscriptions she needed or needed to renew.

I decided to go with my homemade theme and actually make {most of} her present this year.

I opened up my trusty PhotoShop and started working on a Subway Art piece. I prefer PhotoShop Elements, but my trial ended long ago {and I think I've guessed too many times on a key code}... so I worked with regular PhotoShop to figure out how to make it work.

With the presents all open, I can finally share what I made for my mom. It was cheap and easy. My time was free, the print was $5.99 at Costco {16x20} and the frame was 50% off at Hobby Lobby ($34 total). So for $40, I was able to bring tears to my mom's eyes.

She *loved* it. These are all of the key words that sum up most of her life. I could explain each of the entries away, but they mean most to *her*... so I will spare you.

However, I'd like to show you what I made for my grandma... following the same theme of PhotoShop and Cheap, yet Priceless...

It's her and my grandpa's birthday... Their anniversary... and then the birthday of their 4 kids.
Each of these pieces were framed in a nice black frame... and will look great in their perspectives houses.



We had a blast opening presents on Christmas Eve night...
Look at these doggies... they stayed like this with my mom for almost an hour:

We didn't even get to dinner until 9.
We had everyone back over {my parents actually spent the night} for stockings and breakfast this morning. And then I had to go the E.R.

A memorable Christmas for sure. But more on that later.
I am still kinda high from the morphine, so I am hitting the hay.

Buenas Noches, amigos.