Day 8

Hey I am caught up! Only to fall back behind, I'm sure. But for now, victory! Sweet victory! Today's project is this:


Oh yes, it was this badly cluttered. (Thus my day 10 goal of organizing the kitchen) My brother-in-law had this butcher block island thingy (technical name) that he gave to me...he had heard I'd been wanting one. So I got this and it sat in the corner of my kitchen for a while. And by a while I mean several months. I had originally wanted to paint the bottom and put a slab of marble on the top to become my baking station. (*side note: Why marble you ask? Well marble stays cooler than room temperature, making it perfect for rolling out doughs, etc). Anywho, back to the marble. Well of course there is not a piece of marble I can just buy at HD that would fit this, so it's looking like it'd be a bit more than I want to pay for. So I decided to stain it. Welp...some ideas are good, some are great, and some just don't work out like you hope.

Before:



Here is where I am at now.




Oh sure, it looks good (not the pictures due to poor garage lighting). But the problem is the stain on the top is not drying. It's because it didn't soak into the wood but stayed on top of the finish that was previously on it. I sanded the top before I stained, but apparently not well enough. So now I have a stain on top, which I LOVE the color of, it's just what I wanted but it's tacky and has had almost 48 hours to dry and it hasn't. Here's where I need your help. What do I do? I don't think I can paint over it, but if I can I will...I can't sand it because it gets all gummied up because of the stain, I've tried that. I just don't know what to do. I'm loving the look and the direction it's going, but just don't know how to salvage the top.

What do you think?

Day 7

Taxes. Not done. I hope to finish them...and by finish I mean start, do and finish them, by Friday. Wish me luck.

Day 6: My momma always said...

"Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get." Oh, wait ...no, that was Forrest Gump's momma. MY momma always said, "If you want something done right, do it yourself...especially when it comes to home improvement or projects." Thus my own toolbox when I moved into my first place, and lots and LOTS of teaching by example :)

Bless my husband's heart he has the best of intentions. He just doesn't always follow through or think about anything after I ask him. So while I had asked and we had planned for 4 weeks now to build Kennedi's crib...well let's just say I had to go back to momma's trusty saying. Saturday morning dawned bright and beautiful, I ran some errands without the kiddo's and had asked the hubs to have her crib at least started by the time I got home. 1 1/2 hours later I come home and let's just say, I got the privilege of opening the box. Ok ok he helped open the box and take out the parts. Then he got himself ready to go to the movies with Kai for a much needed boys day out. He told me he would help me build it when he got home.

This is what he left me with:



This is what he came home to:



That's right baby. Built it by myself. Well not by myself, I had my trusty helper


It was no small feat as some parts of it required a second person to hold up one side while you fastened the other side...but due to much resourcefulness and some sweet jams to boost the spirits I was able to build it in about an hour. And yes I am very proud of myself...even though it was pretty easy!

The mattress is now in and today's project is to redecorate the room. I'll show the results later!

Day 5 Friday Fun

I saw this picture on a blog and thought it was such a fabulous idea!! I loved it and knew that I had to do it.


So this is my version of it. I wanted a fancy frame, but couldn't find one cheap enough that I loved. Then I found one at walmart for $3, and couldn't beat that. Especially since it sort of matches my hideous fridge. Not that the frame is hideous, because it's not. It's actually cute. But matches.

Before:


After:



The woman who did this on the blog I found took the glass and back off of the frame, put magnets on the back of the frame and then took a plastic sheet protector and fitted it to the size of the back of the frame. Then she takes her kids' art/reports, whatever and slips it into the plastic protector.

My frame was a little different and had like a "door" that you can slip the picture into, instead of just taking the back off, so I did not do the plastic protector. I will say that I put on about a million magnets and my frame does not stay up on it's own...thus the ribbon to help hold it up, and the alphabet thing holding it up as well. But I was wondering as I just loaded these pictures, if I take my glass out it might make the frame light enough to stay up on it's own.

Final thoughts...I love the idea. I love the frame. I would recommend getting super strong magnets (or maybe it's my horrible fridge?). But I love it, and someday when I have a really nice fridge I can't wait to get a super fancy frame!

Love my baby

Day 2 completed

on Day 5. Is anyone else getting confused?! Frame calendars are done, and I love them! They're not perfect, but they work for now, and it was fun. Here's the process.

Before:




Really, really bad. I got both frames for $7 total from Goodwill. Love 50% off day! I knew I wanted red, I love red (Cameron doubted, but loves it now) and another color. So I went to trusty Walmart and found Krylon spray paint for $2.97 a can. So I got the cherry red and then Celery I think it's called. I should probably check. But I'm not.

I should have taken the glass out before I painted, but I was too lazy, so I just covered it with paper...yeah, that was way more work than just taking it out. So I had to scrape some paint off the glass where it didn't get covered well enough. I am dumb. But I learned my lesson! And here they are now!






Sorry the pictures are so blurry and crooked, I was in a hurry..today's a busy day!

All in all I LOVE the red one..the green not so much, I may change it in the future. I was going to do just red, but I want to throw another color in there, since once I have what I want for the office it's going to be a lot of white, and I thought another color would be nice in there. What color would you suggest?

Off to make cookies, copies and get ready for my first activity as Ward Activity Chair...wish me luck!! Oh and if I can manage to find my magnets this afternoon I will finish my fridge frame...sheesh, lots of frames.... but you probably won't see that till tomorrow anyway, sorry!

Day 4....

and catching up on days 2 and 3!

Day 2 - Picture frame calendars - Not done yet! Tuesday was a beautiful day to paint, and I did! But it took more coats than I thought so I had to wait all day for them to dry and then yesterday I was gone most of the day (another nice day so we had to go to the park!). This morning I've been doing my other projects, but will finish my calendar today! So there are pictures coming...but here's a teaser before picture...be warned, they are hideous frames!



Day 3- Kai's invitations. I actually did this! And I hate my printer. How are these related? I got his invite ready, went to print it out, it printed ok, but I needed to make an adjustment. Printed again, it was fine, so I clicked on print 5 copies. I'm not even kidding...the PICTURE printed out on the page, but not any of the typing. How does this even happen, especially when I had printed out 2 copies before this that were fine? I don't even get it. So I had to have Cameron print them out at work and bring them home. So they are cut out, ready to go, I just have to get envelopes tonight. So they are going out in the mail tomorrow! I also decided to plan his party today, we are having a superhero theme! I don't want to give too much away, but it will include a Superhero Training Center and much fun! Hopefully.!!



Day 4 - Kennedi's announcements! I finally have a picture (the best I could get, it's so hard to get a good one of babies that like to move!), announcements are done! Again I have to get envelopes tonight, but they will go out as well. I won't post the picture until after they have been mailed out, but here's a picture anyway :) (1st week)



Stay tuned as I finish my frames!!