Memory Quilt for an Amazing Teacher

I wanted to make something special for my son's 1st grade teacher - she is an amazing lady. I wanted something she would keep forever, enjoy and would reflect the children in her class. So I came up with this quilt. I had each of the children draw a flower on applique paper and choose the fabric. I appliqued their flowers in the center of each block and wrote their name by their flower. I pieced the blocks all together and added a few boarders. I machine quilted it and finished it with hand-stitched binding.
This is the back of the quilt - I used the Moda Freebird panel for the back - super cute!

We gave her the quilt during the end of the year party. She was so surprised and loved it so much. The children loved showing her "their" flowers. She will hang it in her home office!

Retro Telephone

I know I'm the only person in the USA with a land-line! As long as I have a "home phone" I might as well be crafty about it! I found this telephone at a garage sale - and yes it works! I spray painted it bright red and then mod podged the face plate with some scrapbook paper. A few ribbons and it was done! I love how it sounds when it rings! Only no caller ID - but that's ok because at least I always know where this phone is!!

Just Made This Tote Bag!

I just made this tote bag from Bijou Lovely Designs. It is a great tutorial with easy to follow instructions. That bag is a perfect size for the beach. Wait till you see the fabric I choose! It's for a gift.

Front Porch Make-Over

The front porch needed a little fixing up. I sewed a little fabric banner for my old window. I vinyled this sign, "Love where you Live."
This rustic sign used to be black - I painted it blue. It had a star cut out and I covered it with a spray-painted frame. In the frame is fabric and a fabric bird silhouette. I love how it turned out!

The milk can is actually a family heirloom. It was from my Great-Grandfather's farm! I vinyled our street address on it.
I bought this chair at a garage sale for $2. It was brown before. Not anymore! Aqua spray paint to the rescue! I sewed a little pillow to match out of Amy Butler fabric.

This is how the table used to look - then I spray painted it Heirloom white and now it looks so much happier!
This was a plain walmart special ceramic pot. Now it is darling cherry red with our initial on it!! Love it!


I had this owl and I love him. But he was a little drab.

Now he is noticeable!! I think I am addicted to spray paint!

Lamp Makeover

I bought this lamp at a thrift store over a year ago. It has been sitting in the garage ever since then. I either had to get rid of it or make it work.

So I gave it a new chance at life! I spray painted it green. Then I sewed long strips of 1 1/2 inch ruffles and hot glued them to the lamp shade. It took about 5 minutes! The longest part was waiting for the glue gun to heat up!! (I have to drill a hole in the book shelf so I can put the cord through the back.) I think it is darling!!

BE sign

Why Be Yourself when you can......BE Awesome!

I bought this "BE" sign at Hobby Lobby. Cut off the bow and spray painted it and.....now it says "BE Awesome!"

"LA Dodger" Themed Bridal Shower

We had a fabulous bridal shower this weekend for a special friend. She and her fiancee love the Dodgers - and I love a theme party!!! We served all the traditional baseball foods: peanuts, popcorn, nachos, licorice, hot dogs, and more!
That is the popcorn from Valentine's Day. I couldn't resist a splash of red in the decor.
I spray painted some frames Dodger blue and was lucky some of their engagement photos were taken in their Dodger uniforms. How cute are the bride & groom!

I went to Smart & Final and loaded up on paper goods: paper trays for the nachos and the peanuts and cups, lids, and straws just like at the ball park. We even got those papers to wrap up the hotdogs in.


I made little cupcake toppers with their initials "K D" - I tried to make it look like the "LA" in the Dodger logo - but my hubby just said "what does KO mean?"

We needed to turn the bride into a Dodger Homemaking Queen! So I sewed a ruffle apron in Dodger colors, made a blue fabric flower corsage, and decorated a tiara. She looks sooooo cute - don't you think?


The favors were bubble gum - you have to have that at a baseball party!! It was a beautiful day and the bride received so many lovely gifts!!

Kitchen Art from Junk

I needed something different to hang above my stove. It was cold and rainy and I didn't want to go to the store - so I went shopping in my garage! This is what I came up with:

I bought this board at a garage sale for 50 cents. It was white and dirty. I cleaned it up and painted it aqua. I had some scrapbook paper, glued it on. The cricut was next. I love this font - it is actually Taylor Swift's signature font! Cute! I found this metal heart in a box of junk. It was dark metal - from the days of rustic, dark metal things! Painted it apple red and epoxied it on! Yea! Happy! I love paint!

Bathroom Spruce-Up

I found these FREE printables at J and A & Company. She had a gallery wall of all these cute printables in her bathroom. These are my renditions:

I bought these two matching frames at a garage sale on Saturday - $1 for the pair! They were black with black & white drawings of Thailand in them. Out came the pictures and out came the spray paint! Now they are white - I kept the mattes the same and framed the bathroom words. Love them!!

The larger frame I had. The matte was really cream so I spray painted the matte white!! Did you know you can spray paint ANYTHING!!!! I love the little birdies in the art work. Super cute!

A Valentine for Hubby

I love projects using paint sample cards - oh, and in case you didn't know I love paint! Here is the card I made for hubby. It also makes a cute bookmark too! The colors on the paint swatch are: Sweet Simmer, Sultry, and Blaze! Perfect for Valentine's Day!

Red Hot Popcorn

I thought this would be fun to make for the Valentine's Day school party. It is super yummy! Here is the recipe (I have changed slightly from others on the Internet)

Popped popcorn - I used my hot air popper and popped 2/3 cup and then another 2/3 cup. I have no idea how many quarts this is. It filled up my roasting pan.

Lightly butter your roasting pan and place popped corn in pan. Heat oven to 250 degrees.

1 cup butter
1/2 cup Karo syrup
1/4 cup sugar
10 to 12 ounces red hots ( I guessed because my bag was a 14-ounce bag)
1/4 tsp. salt

Melt the above ingredients on the stove top. Bring to boil and boil for 5 minutes. (My red hots took a long time to dissolve almost until the 5 minutes was up.) Turn off the heat and add 1/2 tsp. baking soda. Stir well. Pour the molten hot mixture over the popped corn and toss to coat. Place in the oven for 1 hour stirring every 15 minutes. Yum!!!

The knobs arrived toady - more kitchen

My kitchen knobs arrived today! I am happy to say I did not spend $3+ on each knob. I did my online shopping and found that ebuilderdirect.com had the best price hands down. These satin nickel knobs were $1.20 each and the drawer pulls were $1.50 each - and they arrived in about 3 days! Yea!

So, it's almost time for pictures of the whole kitchen - we are getting there!!!

Heart Hair-Do

We did this hair today! I found the idea at Princess Hairstyles. It is one of the easier heart hair-dos!

More Kitchen...ughhhhhhh

Today I have got to finish the painting of the cabinets! I took the rest of them off the hinges carted them outside, sanded them, then I was ready to paint. Only, it started to rain! So, the operation got moved inside. I am happy to say they are all painted!!!
Of course, I could not have done it all without the help of the Bengal cat!!

A Word on Spray Paint

Not all spray paints are created equal. Today I have used three different brands in my chair painting projects - it was nice to compare each brand. Now I know which for sure is my favorite.

Home Depot's Rustoleum Painters Touch is my absolute favorite and my favorite spray primer as well. The paint covers beautifully and the nozzle works great even till the last bit of paint. If they have the color you like - this is the best paint!

Next is Lowe's Valspar. They reinvented this paint and it has a new container and nozzle/lid. It also is over $1 more than most spray paints - it can add up if you are using 6 cans a day like I did today! This paint also covers nice - the nozzle is a bit tricky and it is a little harder to press down. But really nice paint and nice colors.

Walmart's Krylon - Oh my I am throwing this can out - it was awful. It was splotchy, drippy, uneven and covered horribly. I will never buy this paint again - no matter what kind of pinch I am in!

So there you have it! Now I am off to buy more spray paint and I have a major cramp in my right hand from pushing the sprayer so much!!!

Kitchen Update

This is how things look this morning....ugh!!
A while ago I watched a home improvement show about kitchen makeovers. On this particular show they were completely remodeling a family's kitchen all within a $45,000 budget! They bought new cabinets, counters, flooring, appliances....the works. I had to laugh when the designer unveiled the beautiful new kitchen! Like who couldn't come up with a beautiful new kitchen on their own for $45,000! It was a lame show! The trick is doing it on a budget - right!

Which brings me to my kitchen update project - so far I have spent $47 - paint and paintable wallpaper! Here is today's project: painting more cabinets! I am taking them all off the hinges, lightly sanding them, then painting them white. The work sure goes faster when you have a Bengal cat helping out!!!