grow: my life in boxes

my weekend has been slightly depressing....nothing creative to blog about......it started with a failed attempt at making cute picture frame refrigerator magnets....too many colors...they just look like slop....when i am feeling a little more inspired, perhaps I will resurrect them and post them again....
so the failed frames were on friday night....then saturday was spent packing up every last bit of my belongings....or at least it felt that way.....so my life, or at least 3/4 of it, is now sitting in the garage ready to be U-Hauled down to STL....

and while i strive to not be defined by that which i own, it is a little depressing to see all your DIY projects and crafty creations boxed and stacked....even if its just for a short time....i would much rather enjoy them on my walls :-)

then sunday was spent saying goodbye to the church that we have called home for the past 3.5 years.....not a fun or easy thing to do....and while we are SO EXCITED about the opportunities for us in STL, part of us still wishes things could have worked out so we could stay in Chicago....

so after our many goodbyes, my hubby napped in our big comfy chair....which is one of the last remaining pieces of furniture in our house....and i turned to my blog for comfort :-)

so this was my weekend....boxes and goodbyes.....and hope for the journey ahead :-)

create: recipe box

two things inspired this post.....

1) moving inspires organizing, which inspires me to find a place to stash all of those little scraps of paper with last-minute recipes scribbled on them....im not really a traditional recipe follower....my recipe cards look more like this:

some chicken breasts....
...a little salt....
....garlic, onion, peppers.....other veggies....
....put in oven....watch til brown.....

they are more like footnotes to cooking....an abridged version of your traditional recipe card...

2) the second thing that inspires this project is the bachelorette party that i am throwing for my girl leigh in a few weeks.....this is not the male-anatomy-balloon-and-streamers type of party....but rather a retro inspired cooking party....so fun!

so with those two things in mind, here is a whimsical retro-esque decoupaged recipe box, perfect for catching all my cliff notes versions of allrecipes.com.....
heres a close up of the lid....i used some letter paper left over from my spice rack revamp, as well as some rub on letters (the OO's)...the tag i found in the scrapbooking aisle of Michaels.....the recipe box itself was originally from Michaels too.... $0.60 on clearance!

and heres a close up of more rub on letters....they are my new favorite thing! i love how you can rub lightly, and come out with an intentionally worn look....the ribbon is hot glued around the edge of the lid....the black and white felt very retro to me....

and heres a peek inside at the recipe cards....these cards were actually another ONE CENT find at Michaels....that must be a trend there these days!

love: farm country

I am sorry that my blog has been silent since thursday! we traveled home to central IL to see our mothers...then i got caught up with the start of the work week.....then theres the fact that 7/8 of my life is packed up in boxes.....ok, enough with the excuses!

anyway, while at home, i was struck with the beauty of simple farm country.....and realized that even though i have been living here since leaving the nest:
....and i am moving here in a few weeks.........my heart still belongs somewhere in the cornfields, country roads, and weathered barns of my home.....enjoy these photos that i captured out the car window on the way to see our parents this past weekend......

create: mothers day gift...angel revamp

so heres a lesson in value being more than a price tag:

i was browsing through Michael's looking for mother's day gift inspiration, and I came across this adorable cherub for $7.99. It was just plain white, but i knew that i could spruce it up a bit! so i go to the check out, and it rings up for ONE CENT! no joke....i asked the cashier twice if she was sure that was correct....and her reply: "Dont ask questions...Just find me a penny somewhere in that giant purse of yours." Thankfully I was able to scrounge one up (I never carry cash!)....heres my receipt to prove it!
so i took home the BEST BARGAIN CHERUB EVER....and i started painting....when i began, i was a little undecided on how the outcome would be...i started with a coat of teal....then some crackle paint....then some beige....then i got a little sandpaper to bring the white base through.... then finished up with a thick coat of clear gloss.....and i have to say, I LOVE the way it turned out....
And here is a close up of the wings...my favorite part!

i think this little project is just a reminder that its not the price tag, but the love and care that is put into a gift that makes it meaningful!

create: mothers day gift...personalized glass magnets

so here is another mothers day gift, personalized glass magnets! I found the actual magnets at Old Navy, of all places.....they originally contained pop-art prints that would have appealed to a teenage audience...but i picked them up anyway, knowing that i could "work my magic" with them :-)

i thought they made a beautiful, yet functional gift.....great for tacking up the grocery list, reminders, or maybe in a few short years....crayola drawings from her grandkids! (no, im not preggers!)

first i removed the original magnet, soaking the glass in soapy water so that i could remove the original paper design....once removed, i found this really pretty scrapbooking paper...and penned/painted on four words: faith, hope, love, and family.....i cut each word out, Modge Podged it to the glass, then added the magnet to the back....
once dry, i went around the perimeter of each magnet with an exacto-knife to remove any excess paper or glue....the Old Navy logo is still visible on the back, but the front is much more Mother's Day friendly :-)

create: mothers day gift...family handprint plaque

so this is the first of a few mothers day posts you will see...as i have some wonderful mother-figures in my life! And I am sure that by posting their gifts, it may ruin the gifting surprise, but thats ok! i hope they love their gifts, none the less!

this first gift is a family handprint plaque for my mom...since i was able to have my entire family up last weekend (see my garage sale post) i took advantage of that time together to grab each of my siblings and get them to "make their mark"on this family plaque i put together for my mom!

i took a clearance plaque from Hobby Lobby (originally with some corny saying, as expected from HL), painted it a creamy beige color, stamping a pretty damask design with a coordinating green....stained the edges black with a little paint.....then glossed over the top....

this seemed like a great way to capture our family right now.... all five"kids": two of us grown and post-grad....navigating things like taxes, marriage, and career....three still at in grade school...learning to read, shoot lay-ups, and roller blade without wiping out :)

i think it will be fun for my little sibs to look back a few years from now, measuring their hands against this print from 2010....and a nostalgic snapshot for my parents of this stage in our lives together....

create: makeshift seating

my husband is so great...can i just say that?

i came home tonight, to what i thought would be a barren living space (see my garage sale post...we sold all our furniture!)...but my wonderful husband had gathered the remains of the crafty nest within which we once lived, using random dining chairs to create makeshift seating where our sofa once sat....he even put one of the pillows i made on each chair....

its not as comfy as a sofa, but super cute and inviting! and best of all, my husband did it for me :-).....in his words, "to bring a little order to our transitional lives".....

....so heres to makeshift seating and only a few more weeks of transitional living!

love: vintage fabric prints

my new favorite antique mall in Chenoa, IL has TONS and TONS of vintage fabrics....all at like $1-$2 a yard! I am often overwhelmed with the walls of vintage prints and textures, so i have yet to commit to making a retro textile purchase....but there is so much that could be done with these lovelies! Here is a sampling of pretty retro prints...

maybe i will pick some up the next time I am passing through Chenoa....OR, I could be the lucky winner of Apple Blue's craft stash giveaway, which means five vintage prints to use in my own crafty endeavors! While you are checking out Amanda's blog, stop by her etsy shop too! Super cute headbands and vintage finds!

create: spice rack revamp

so im not going to lie...this project was not an original idea....but i had this spice rack that we received as a wedding gift....and it needed a little....spice....(lame joke, i know)...so google led me to this link where Dreaming of Beaches blogger revamped her spice rack....which happened to be just like mine! so here is my take on the whole project....

#1 The original spice rack

#2 distressed with teal, antique yellow, and burnt orange acrylics.....basically the technique is to apply very little paint to your foam brush, layering the colors but never doing a full coat of one particular color.....its super easy and fun!

#3 a close up of my "distressing"...when i finished and let it dry, i sprayed a thin coat of clear acrylic gloss over the whole thing so it didnt look so "arts-and-crafts"...a little more professional finish.....

#4 i picked up these fun scrapbooking pages at Michaels....i loved the vintage bingo board and numbers/letters....

#5 i traced the tops of each spice jar, used my "country time" handwriting (as my sister likes to call it) to label each spice....then i decoupaged each label to the jars....i let them dry then added another coat of decoupage over the label, just to ensure longevity....

#6 once all was dry, i assembled it! heres a close up of thyme...it turned out as one of my favorites....

#7 another view of the finished product....you will notice that some jars are empty....they are waiting to be filled by the yummy spices at the Soulard Farmer's Market Spice Shop....even my spice rack is anticipating our big move!

#8 and, a final glimpse.....

love: blog awards

my STL friend Katie from More from the Mohrs gave me a shout-out this week via the Happy blog award! Thanks so much, Katie! needless to say, it made me happy :-) Here are the rules of the award, according to Katie's blog post:

1)Copy the award to your blog
2) Note who gave it to you and link to her blog
3)List 10 things that make you HAPPY!
4) Share the love with other bloggers by passing the award to them

easy enough, right?

so heres my list, in pics (thanks to flickr.com):

love: garage sale saturdays

this morning i hosted my very first garage sale!!! With our big move coming up in just a few weeks, we had a lot to get rid of! I invited my family up for the day, and my little sisters held a bake sale to raise money to go to basketball camp...adorable!
we had a lot of fun, and sold a lot of stuff! Unfortunately, no one loved our little loveseat...so its still sitting in our garage :-(

i even put out this wedding dress...it has been sitting in my closet ever since our engagement....i changed my mind and went with something a lot less formal.....any buyers? :-)

since i invited my family up, they brought TONS of kids clothes....a big crowd bringer! so we sold a lot of stuff, soaked up some sun, and i learned the ins-and-outs of haggling from my sales-savvy mother....

while my mom, my sisters, and I sold furniture and puppy chow, my little brother spent the day doing traditionally boyish things....playing video games, finding large sticks to swing around, bothering his sisters...but i was able to capture this adorable pic with my new camera in a moment when he dropped his wooden weapons long enough to pluck a dandelion and blow its petals into the breeze...he's such a boyish little six-year-old cutie :-)

life IS good on a garage sale Saturday :-)