Christmas Tradition...

I haven't been that "into" christmas this year. No I'm not a scrooge. I think it might have to do with, my mom and brother (only intermediate family that live in California besides my lil family) have decided a few years ago not to celebrate christmas. because the "Meaning" has been lost. It has become way too commercialized for them, and being strong in their faith, they have chosen not to celebrate.
I'm beginning to agree. When my 7 year old was asked "What is christmas all about?" He answered presents. I know...Someone hasn't been doing their job *guilty*.

I just left Centsational Girl and Kate (I feel weird calling her by her name...since I don't know her and all) inspired me very early this morning. I believe the main straight to the point part of her blog was this "Even though December is a magical time of year, with little ones counting the days until Santa arrives, it can quickly become stressful and commercialized. I try to take it all in stride and focus on more meaningful moments: making cookies with the kids, crafting, decorating the tree, snuggling up with Christmas movies, and remembering the reason for the season." Straight from Kates writing.

She also said “Sure, the season is hectic, but you only have a few years to put tradition in their hearts.” shes so right! I have focused on the commercial aspects of it. Making sure my home looks greatly decorated (to my standards). I think I need to re-think things, I just hope its not too late...to put tradition in my boys' heart.

I know I took her beautiful post, with beautiful pictures, and turned it blah with my own twist on things (I tend to do that sometimes. I didn't mean to. I just wanted to vent a little. Have any words of wisdom for me? I'd love to hear em.
Have a wonderful day!

The life and Perspective of "my" 2 year old

On an average day, I start pretty early...
Wake about 3:30 make the hubbies lunch...try to go back to sleep, then wake at about 6:30 to tend to my boys...get ready for school and so on, nothing extravagant.

This morning, I wasn't able to go back to sleep, so as I was laying in bed watching a p90x infomercial I heard some wrestling coming from the kitchen. I figured it was one of the boys...so I waited for them to come hop in bed with me...

About 5 minutes go by and no kid in my bed, so I go to see whats up... and I find this *sneaking to get camera* :)


I say "whatta you doin" he gets startled, laughs then continues to enjoy his frosted flakes.

Ooops my camera bonks at me and tells me that my memory card is full...I'm thinking I better go unload it now, so I don't get all p'd off when I go to take a pic later... and heres what I find...
A whole lot of randomness... Hence the perception of my 2 year old...Surprise...Surprise...








This itself has made my day!
I love my kids! and I am super jazzed my camera didn't get broken!
Have a great day!

I have a dream...

That one day (soon?) I will have one just like these...

source:alittlebitofsanity


source: unknown


source:unknown

source:Unknown

I have had this in mind for awhile... I just need a fire lit under my behind...and just do it!

What do you think? Great idea huh?

Sleep 'til you're hungry...Eat 'til you're sleepy...

Today has been a lazy day. Gotta love lounging around the house on a sun warmed day. The boys have been playing outside all morning...the hubby is napping on the couch, and I'm bored? hmmm... what to do?
I know eat...hee hee...

I have been on a mission lately to try new things...when it comes to food. My family has gotten way to comfortable with the same foods, tacos, spaghetti, beef stew...

So by luck I stumbled upon this wonderful blog. Val over at ValSoCal has an amazing blog featuring great recipes...I browsed around a bit, and found one that I HAD to try immediately... so I did.
And OMG! Can you say heaven! Best part is that my boys loved it too!

Cheese Steak Mac 'n' Cheese...yummy.



So I ate...and now I must sleep...
Thank you Val...you rock!

Christmas Mantle

I know ...I know...I've been a bit MIA...But I'm back and hopefully for good :)
I just wanted to share a bit of my christmas cheer with all of you. I decided to mix some "old" with "new" on the cheep...
I threw in a few of the insulators and old glass bottles that I collect.
Here is a little look at what I get to enjoy every day :)


A door mirror on its side...perfect for my 12 foot long mantle...


A collection of Dollar Tree Ornaments thrown together...and one of my favorite bottles...(btw...Krylons Matte finish Aluminum spray paint was my very good friend while decorating this year)


A clear glass insulator mixing the old with the new...


Before

After

I hope you all are having a wonderful time getting ready for Christmas...I now it can be stressful...please take a moment to stop and appreciate the most precious things around you ;)

Starting is the Hardest Part...

Okay so first off I would like to thank Alison over at Stuff and Nonsense. Her blog is awesome, and best of all she gave me this great little award...I'm so excited...
And now I am suppose to reveal 7 random things about myself..here goes...

♥I love to talk with different accents ...I think my kids think I'm crazy ;)
♥I am a pro at changing tires
♥I don't know how to swim
♥During a crazy time when I was about 20... I mud wrestled for a short time (shhh don't tell anyone)
♥Swinging on swings makes me dizzy
♥I chew my mashed potatoes (I think its weird)
♥My hubby and I were married in Vegas!
One more to send you on your way! I know this is #8 but owell...
♥When I'm watching a movie I find myself ghost writing out the words with my finger (I dunno why)

That was fun!
Now to pass this award on to some deserving blogs...15?! What? wow that's alot, and easy :)
Here they are, in no special order :)

From Chaos Comes Happiness

My Dear Trash

Word of Me Project

New Nostalgia

Debbiedoos

Decor to Adore

Mrs. Smartie Pants

Dreamy Nest? Not!

Life in the Fun Lane

Pearls, Handcuffs & Happy Hour

retropolitan

That Looks Like Craft

Tattered and Inked

Under the Table and Dreaming
My Repurposed Life

Alrightie! now off to find somethin to do :)

Refreshing Mantel Revamp

So I'm on a trip...trying to satisfy my craving for all things white!
I have two young boys...so alot of white is totally out of the question for me.

I have been debating with myself whether or not to paint my kitchen cabinets a creamy white, and distressing, or glazing them... When I mentioned the idea to my hubby....he was like "serious?"he had a smile on his face...so this might be something he'll let me take on the future. (hopefully near future)

So in the meantime...I'm trying some other things. Like...

My new coffee table...



And I painted my mantel.


BEFORE

AFTER
I totally love it...but it didn't serve its purpose, I want to paint the kitchen more now?

Should I flip a coin? lol

Center of Attention-Coffee Table

I'm gonna try this one out for a bit....I love that it has some storage...and It seams that every toy in this house get drug out of the playroom and into the living room at one time or another...and now I can load up the drawers, and close them away :)

I have had this piece for a while now it has been in the center of my garage taking up quite a bit of space...I had no clue what i was gonna do with it...whether I would keep it or sell it?

I got her for free on "Freecycle" the couple who had it also had a couple kittens who scratched the heck out of the top...they tried to sand the scratches away without knowing not to sand too deep... because the veneer top is only so thick... they ended up with a big patch of "not real wood" right on the top...and thats when I came in :)
Heres a pic before... (my lil guy...had to get in the pic)
I have been on this kick lately trying to talk myself out of painting my kitchen cabinets white with a glaze done to them them...my kitchen and living room is pretty much one big room... I'm thinking it will make the kitchen look bigger...but I don't want to do the work :)

So on a whim I decided to repaint my mantle (coming up later) and to paint this table an crisp creamy white with a brown glaze, and sprayed the hardware ORB!...hopefully this will fulfill my obsession right now?
So here you have it... I really like her...

I think I'll keep her around for a bit ;)

Ima Party Over here!

New Favorite Things

I know...I know....I haven't been around lately...sorry. I've gotten caught up and that little thing we call life :)
Took a little (long awaited) vacation to visit family. Witnessed my cousin marry the greatest and most beautiful woman ever ;) Now I'm planning my sons 7th birthday party...I've realized I need to plan way more ahead of time that before...

Buuuut....I want to share my most favorite things right now. If you know me, you know I absolutely HATE shoes...yeah they are pretty, and I buy alot of them...but never wear them...A simple pair of black flip flops, is what you'll find me in almost every day....until that is I saw a commercial for these "Fast Flats" yep by Dr. Scholls
I got mine from Walgreens for $13.99 and was a little pissed when I saw them 1 day later at Rite Aid for $9.99...big difference. But they are worth it!
I felt like I was going around barefoot...but not, ya know!
I know, there are ballet flats everywhere...but I have a super wide foot and those normally just squeeze my toes beyond belief.
So anywho...go out, get yourself a pair...and the little wristlet that comes with em makes a cute little blingy coin purse...
Wow! I just read over this post, and I sounded liek a cheesy infomercial! lol Owell...just get some...I bet you'll love em!

Oh and I totally pinky-swear that I'll be back soon with a project I've been "slowly" working on :)
Have a great weekend all!

Art Work made from Love

I have been holding off on posting this...only because I didn't want to spoil the surprise...

My cousin Jesse just married his love, Celestina on September 11th, 2010. The ceremony was beautiful the bride even more...and the groom was the happiest I've ever seen him(and didn't look so bad himself)!
When Jesse and Celeste got engaged, they had their engagement photos taken...they are all amazing, but this one stood out to me, I can feel their love just by looking at them, looking into each others eyes...
When I was trying to figure out what the heck to get them for their wedding...I started browsing through their pics, to maybe get an idea...and it worked. I decided on a custom piece of art done by yours truly.


Here is the original photo...I just love it!
And here after tweeking it a bit with PICNIC.(great site by the way)

I printed out my tweeked version, then traced it onto contact paper.Broke out the ol trusty exacto knife and cut out everything that was black in the tweeked pic.
After making a little trip to Home Depot to pick up the right piece of wood, to do this project, I first cut the board to size, in this case I have to ship it so I chose 8x11. I adhered the contact paper to the wood.

Then spray painted the whole thing with black paint.
After the paint dried I peeled off the contact paper (almost the funnest part, if you know me...you know I love to pick) And voila! a customized piece of art...inspired purely from their love for each other, and my love for their awesome little family! She just received it in the mail...and loves it...Yay! I'm so happy!

I entered my little project over at the diyclub.com Check it out!

Curvy Television Stand

I have been working on this piece off and on for a bout a week or two. I am super excited because first of all its done....and second it looks great!

I have a client/friend that purchased a dresser from my first sale, you can see here , and she said she really needed a t.v. stand, that looked like a piece of furniture and wanted it painted black...So I had been on the hunt.
...and came across this China cabinet. It was 2 pieces, and the bottom piece was PERFECT for Sarahs t.v. stand, I sent her a pic, and she thought so too...so Off I went to transform this little guy.

Painted him black first. Kept the original hinges...sprayed them black than srpayed them lightly with an ORB...and metallic brown, to add a bit of depth. Painted the inside a warm caramel color also.

Then decided to do a little something different...Sarah was all for it, so I did it. I glued wrapping paper to the top...and the glue caused little wrinkles all over, so I smoothed it out, took a rolling pin to it, sanded it a bit, and once I was happy with the whole texture (similar to leather)

I glazed the whole top, with a warm caramel color....Looks awesome if you ask me.
Close up!

I deconstructed the top drawer keeping the front only, and added a shelf to the drawer slot...

I added some hinges to make it open down instead so that it would be easier to access her cable box and or dvd player... drilled a whole in the back for the cords, and VIOLA!!!!!

Sorry for all the pics, I just love it! Hope you enjoyed seeing it be transformed into a gorgeous t.v stand!

Places I'm Partying!