Motivation, schmotivation...

Last post was EXACTLY one month ago...

Go ahead, give me the thumbs down and all the "boos" you want! Because even though you can't hear me, I'm doing the exact same thing to myself! Do not loose hope though, for I have not! I've discovered Pinterest!

YAY!

I have received a multitude of inspiration from this website! Other designers and stylists that have online blogs; i.e. Emily Henderson and John and Sherry , to name two, had what they called "The Pinterest Challenge"! I'm challenging myself with this new challenge to challenge my motivation :-). Stay tuned, this weekend I shall begin! I'm working on my procrastination, just you wait and see!

Home on the range

Well I think I earn the reward for the longest pause in blogging history! I have no room for excuses; I had the time, I had the resources, I had the projects being completed! No excuse. My sincere apologies!

It's crazy the amount of things that occurred over the vast time that elapsed since the stone age, aka my last post.  Where to start:

Purchased our home:

Sold to the Bostics! Yay!

Refurbished a Chandelier From Craigslist, $20 find:

Before: Cast iron with oatmeal-y colored shades

Primed. My favorite spray paint brand is Rustoleum, so that's what I used.

Rustoleum brand spray paint in glossy black.

Add some industrial clear, round, light bulbs (25-40 watt, any brighter and you'll need to offer your guests shades to eat their meal), and VOILA!

Reupholstered kitchen chairs (seen poorly in above picture).



Where will my Dorothy red shoes ($10 steal from TjMaxx) take me next???

Scarf-aholics Anonymus (must read!)

Hi my name is Sarah, and among other things, I am a scarf-aholic. Thus, I was so excited when I found this article in one of my favorite blogs to follow!
The following link shows you how to take old cotton tees and transform them into fun, unique, and comfortable scarves! They give you the basic steps but the artistic and creative reins are in your hands to make your scarf uniquely yours! What makes me love this project even more is the particular style of the scarf that is becoming increasingly popular; they're called infinity scarves. 

Photo found on Method blog

 You will be amazed at how super-duper these are to make! Try it out for yourself!

The best word combos come in 3's

Health is wealth, forgive and forget, nothing is impossible, to name a few. But the best one to date..."YOU GOT IT!"

Ben and I are going to be home owners!!!

Let the hunt begin!

As you can see, my blogging was put on hold for almost over a week! GASP! I was a serial blogger there for a while, blogging everyday like a champ would. But this blogging machine needed to oil her parts and take a break. Spending more time with my husband and doing the things I love, with the one's I love, was the perfect home remedy to refuel me mind and body.

So much has happened in the last week that it all seems so crazy looking back on it. My husband and I have started a huge important "next chapter" in our life; becoming home owners. Be vawwy, vawwy, patient, we're hunting houses (like Elmer Fud may say).

It's safe to say, not only do we need a house to fulfill the bare necessities of life, but I need one to open up new opportunities for projects! I've recently become addicted to thrift stores; spending a max of 50 green ones on a gazillion pieces that have endless possibilities! Just to name two of the MANY:

OTTOMAN: ($5 dollars) Found a small circular ottoman that I would have liked when I was in college because it was bright pink and orange, but the cord fabric had seen better days. It cost me $5 for that, took it home, and reupholstered it. When I removed the old fabric, I cut it so that I could use it as a pattern for the new fabric I was going to put on it. I left an 1.5 inch extra fabric to be able to create seems and tuck it under the bottom. The ottoman turned out like a charm. It has sweet little chrome legs that give it a modern touch. All in all, it was about a $10 project. Can't beat that! Wish I had a before picture for y'all, but I was so anxious to get the piece started, taking pictures wasn't the first thing that came to mind!

PICTURE FRAMES: ($3, $1 each, bought 3) Picture frames have endless possibilities! I painted mine a celery green. A friend of mine is having a baby girl who's room colors are pink and green. I thought they would be a perfect addition to the babies room and add a bit of design and functionality at the same time.

So long, farewell, auf weidersehen, adieu...

Sad day for the record books. My two cats, Luna and Sol, have destroyed my pie stand and my darling little lemon pitcher. They will remain sheer figments of my imagination.

Luna on the right, Sol on the left. Getting into trouble but being caught in the act!

How can you be mad at those faces?

NOTE TO SELF: Don't display anything glass in house for the clumsiest cats in the world to demolish. Point taken.
I suppose an upside to this is finding replacements! The hunt is ON!

You are my sunshine...Family, Art, & Lucketts!

What a fantastic weekend I had! It was so busy, but that kind of busy that keeps you buzzing on Monday, because the previous two days were so stinkin' fun!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Saturday mornings is when I go into super-woman-cleaning-mode! Cleaning from the baseboards to the shower drain and everything in between. This is also when I find myself noticing the things in the apartment I want to change or enhance. Like our laundry room, its a little nook that's off the hallway that leads in from our doorway, so it's the first thing people will see when they come through the door. This bothered me because who wants to see our dirty laundry? No one. I had found a shower curtain a while back at Target that was on sale for under $5.00 and a left over shower rod that had traveled with us for this exact purpose (not). To boot, I had just recently found some curtain hangers at Joann Fabric for under $2.00. Throw all these together, and what-a-ya get?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This was just the beginning, because once you get me going, there's just no stopping me! So to the thrift store I went! Just call  me bargain-opolis because I made out like a bandit! Let's see; 2 bolts of fabric, 4 candle stick holders, 6 plates, and 2 matching solid wood side tables, all for 25 dollars! All purchases are to be used in future projects. One project I fulfilled within this trip; I introduce you to my PIE STANDS made from candle stick holders and vintage plates:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Next it was off to the Mechanicsburg Art and Wine Walk with my MIL, Kathy. What a beautiful day it turned out to be! After a week of nothing but rain we lucked out by having a full day of SUNSHINE! It was nice supporting the local artists and businesses! So many cool places, people, and finds! By far two of the coolest shops were my Aunt and Uncles Violin Shop and Gallery and The Lavender House. Mechanicsburg sure does have some hidden gems!

Kathy and I starting at my Aunt and Uncles Shop

Teapot Collage in the garden out back of the Lavender House

Pretty Tibetan Prayer clothes fluttering in the wind

My husband joined me<3

Small world: The lady on the left is the mother to one of the designers for a clothing line by Kohl's Department store. She comes out of the trellises and remarks to Kathy, "nice shirt", and proceeds to tell Kathy about her daughter and how she got the shirt fresh off the press for mother's day, before it went out for public sale! Can you say, "whoa"?

Saturday ended with a always delicious dinner at the Bostic household when the spontaneous plans for a trip to Lucketts was planned for early Sunday morning. Smiles all around!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Oh Lucketts, there are no words to describe my infatuation with you, you never let me down! So much inspiration packed into one tiny section of Virginia!

Project ideas galore! I focused in on two projects, well tried to anyway. You will see I failed, but more projects=happier Sarah! If you could have seen my mind gears a-turnin', I sure was in rare form! I fell in love with a pillow from the get go, hah, yeah, you heard me right. It just wasn't any pillow, it was a pillow made from a vintage feed bag! The feed bag was from "Stickell's", a feed company out of Hagerstown, MD. There were vendors selling empty feed bags so-a-sewin' I will go! 

Bought a book of poems entitled "Sunshine and Shadows" finding it fitting for all the right reasons! But then I step foot into the Lucketts store and find this:

My rendition will be slightly different and about $50 cheaper:). I bought a $5 hanging plant holder, took the mossy stuff out of it, and will hang the pages from my poem book from it. Take a look:

Sunlight and Shadow

The bowl is upside down, I'll flip it when I do the project! Final pictures to come!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Too many ideas to pile into one blog! There are projects in my head to last me for ages! These will do for now:).

 

"There is some sun, let us chase it!"--Sense and Sensibility

Well, today reminding me so much of scene from a favorite childhood film, "Sense and Sensibility".  In this particular scene, To try and escape whatever gloom is lurking from her father's recent death, Marianne takes a dash for the hills with her younger sister. When a storm approaches sans run, they spot a hole of sunshine in the clouds that give them a glimmer of hope, hence, "there is some sun, let us chase it!". That glimmer of hope is all lost as Marianne stumbles and twists her ankle, unable to "catch the sun". The happy ending that Hollywood always promises us was the sun catching Marianne in the form of a man. Not just any man; a handsome, strong, dashing man, who sweeps her off her feet and carries her to safety.
Without delving into too much detail about my day, let's just say the scene from "Sense and Sensibility" was a grand metaphor to the day I had. 
There isn't a thing that a good game of Scrabble can't fix! Plus Scrabble letters make fantastic DIY art! Don't have a Scrabble game at home, or don't want to use the tiles you have, ordering the tiles from Hasbro isn't difficult at all! You get an entire bag of 100 letters for $6.50 plus S&H. I'd recommend getting 2-3 bags depending on the words or sentences you want to create!

CLICK HERE to order your Scrabble tiles!

Nest yourself a little SuNsHiNe

Nothing says "bring it on spring" (and all the sunshine you have to offer, please) than a charming little necklace to grace a mother's neck! It's easy!

Make one yourself! CLICK HERE!

Inspired by the Rain

“Anyone who says sunshine brings happiness has never danced in the rain”

I'm singing in the rain today because I just found out about one of the greatest craft sites online! Don't let the rainy weather bring you down! This website gives you a plethora of reason's to dance in the rain, and to show up with your own sunshine!

From trash to treasure

Our paper towel tube collection at school was stacking up faster than I could think of projects to whip out with the kids, so I took a few home with me. And by a few I mean like 30 paper towel tubes, leaving a nice collection yet at school. Most would just trash these, but no sir-ree, not this lady!
A website a great friend of mine shared with me shows an awesome project you can do with the rolls I have. You can use any kind of rolls; toilet paper rolls, wrapping paper rolls, or in my case, paper towel rolls is what I am choosing to use. This great friend of mine that I spoke of (who gave me the website I'm going to share with y'all) her name is Crystal Elworth, and she and her sweet family moving into a new pad at the end of the week. 30 Paper towels will go a long way, so she's going to get a housewarming, homemade, piece of home decor that has sunshine written all over it! The end project will be very similar to the image below, except I'm spray painting it yellow!

www.designsponge.com

Keep It Simple Sunshine (KISS)

I was given advice from a very close, dear friend, that I needed to start a blog to chanel all my creative thoughts and actions.  Hm...where to start? Check back later, you will not regret it:) PS. Go! Quick! KISS someone you love, and don't regret it. It's simple. And full of sunshine;)