PROJECT GALLERY

Teacher’s Survival Kit

Teacher Appreciation week is already here!
May 6^th- 10^th

I wanted to come up with something quick and easy for the boy’s teachers.

I have seen some different versions of “teacher’s survival kits” and loved the idea.

I decided this would be the perfect gifts for some awesome teachers that have been so wonderful to my boys this year.

I purchased a plastic organizer from Joann’s
(don’t forget to use your 40% off coupon)
and filled it with some basics:

Band-Aids
Paper Clips
Push Pins
Sewing Kit
Rubber Bands
Staples
Hand Sanitizer
Super Glue
and of course I couldn’t forget the
CHOCOLATE

Next, I needed something snazzy for the tops of my kits.
I found an adorable digital scrapbook kit from
“Just So Scrappy“.

I made covers for each of the boxes (filling in the teacher’s name),
laminated them and attached them to the lid with tape.

Katie from Just So Scrappy was gracious enough to let me
share a free printable with you!

Thank you Katie!

Click here to get your “Teacher’s Survival Kit” printable.

Thanks Mandy for having me,
thanks again to Katie
and
THANK YOU
to all of the wonderful teachers out there!!!

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Ethan’s Baby Nursery

I’ve been so busy the last month working on two different projects!

I went straight from the Evangel House Office Project
into re-decorating a master bedroom/bathroom and a baby nursery.

I finished up Ethan’s Nursery (just in time for a much-needed
vacation far, far away).
I’m thinking it might be one of those vacations when you need
a vacation after you come home .

Ethan is due in May. His Mom (Shannon) contacted me in February
and asked if I had ever painted horizontal stripes.

There is always a first time for everything and I was up for the challenge!
(Tutorial will be coming later).

Ethan’s nursery was simple.
Shannon knew what she wanted, all I did was take her ideas
and make them happen.

Her inspiration was a special quilt that had been made out of Ethan’s
grandfather’s old polo shirts
(unfortunately, he passed away long before Ethan was planned).

Grey, khaki, yellow and navy blue, with wood accents
was what Shannon chose to use in Ethan’s room.

This is what Ethan’s room looked like before I got started.
(Okay, I had actually gotten started and almost forgot to take a before picture.)

You can see the quilt hanging on the crib. So cute and original.
Love the white furniture Shannon chose.

Shannon and I worked on a gallery wall above the changing table.
Pictures will be inserted later.

Gallery wall close-up. Love the prints she had made by Jennifer Anderson-Bier.
She has a Facebook page called Designed by Aiden’s Mom.

The giant ruler was a gift that Shannon received.
ADORABLE.

Shannon found this “Latchy Catchy” on Etsy.
All you do is attach it to the door knob
and it’s quiet when you open and shut the door.
GENIUS IDEA!

Why didn’t I have one of these?
Better yet, why didn’t I think of this??

More prints made by Designed by Aiden’s Mom
that were hung above Ethan’s crib.

This is JAXON.
He is working on his barking manners so baby Ethan gets to sleep.
He is doing a good job.

Now we just need baby Ethan to get here….

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Evangel Home Office Reveal

I’m so excited to be sharing this reveal with you!

Remodeling Joyce’s office and spending time at the
Evangel Home was a HUGE blessing for Carrie and I.

Joyce’s office looks VERY different from what it used to look like.

Let me give you a quick peek:

And this is what it looks like now…

TA-DA!!!

Evangelhomecloset
The gray baskets turned out really cute.
The black strips of wood on the edge of the shelves are chalkboards!

Evangelhomeoffice2
We also put in an accordian vinyl door.
It takes up so much less room than a swinging door.

Evangelhomeoffice3
Joyce wanted a place that she could meet with a new volunteer.
She also wanted an area for a volunteer to work.
Because there wasn’t much room in the office, we installed
a 4 ft. shelf under the window and out of the way where someone
could sit and work.

Evangelhomeoffice6
Here’s a close up of the picture that is hung between the two chairs
in the picture before this one.
One of Joyce’s volunteers made it for her.
It means alot to Joyce, so we wanted to make sure we framed it and
hung it in a prominent place.
Every woman needs a nice pop of pink in her office!
Don’t you agree?

Joyce is thrilled.
She said, “I know I’m supposed to be humble… but how can I be humble with an office like this?”

What do you think?

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Evangel Home Office Phase 2

In Phase 2 things really started shaping up with the

Evangel Home Office Project!

If you haven’t been following along, you can read about Joyce’s office here.

IVHbaseboards New baseboards were installed and paint went on the walls.

IVHdeskbefore A cool thrift store table started being transformed into a beautiful, modern desk.

IVHfloralfabric
Floral fabric for some pillows.

Plaid fabric for more pillows!

IVHfilecabinet
A thrift store 4 drawer file cabinet got painted.

IVHsilverplatterchandelier
A new chandelier was hung.
A thrift store silver platter as a medallion was added.

IVHphotoholder
We made a picture board for Joyce out of chicken wire
and a thrift store frame.

IVHchairback
We found the perfect chairs at TJ Maxx!
(love the nailheads on the back)

IVHfrontchair
Picture of the front of the chair… sorry, it’s blurry.

IVHrug
And a gorgeous rug for that ugly floor.

IVHfloormopping
Floors were mopped.
Is there any other way to mop a floor than on your hands and knees?

IVHsubway
Carrie and I made Joyce a fabulous subway sign out of old siding
from a house we refurbished a few years ago.
We think the siding is from the early 1900′s.

I will have tutorials on the subway sign and the picture board
posted in a few weeks.

Early next week we will reveal Joyce’s office!

It’s pretty fabulous if I do say so myself .

Have a wonderful weekend.

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Evangel Home Office Phase 1

Thanks to all of you who dug into your pocketbook and donated to
Joyce’s office renovation at the
Evangel Home.

Carrie and I have spent the last two weeks working there and it was an amazing experience!

Joyce is thrilled with her office and we were so excited to show it to her.

You can see the BEFORE pics of Joyce’s office here.

Our first priority for Joyce’s office was lighting. The only lighting she had was a lamp on her desk. She did have natural light from a window, but not enough to make her workspace a well lit area to work in! I don’t know how she did it during the winter. Fresno gets some really cold, foggy, dreary days. She must have been sitting in the dark!

Carrie has a friend who is an electrician that was nice enough to install 4 canned lights, a new electrical outlet and a new light in the closet.

Can you see the canned lights? They made a HUGE difference in the room.
When we asked Joyce what color she would like on the walls, she said, “I can see cool gray or blue in here.”
So gray it was.

The electrician had to go through the wall to “pull” electricity from the light switch.
We had to patch the hole up too!
I’ll show you how it was done in another post.

We replaced the baseboards.

My awesome hubby painted the baseboards.

Shelves were built in the closet so Joyce could store all her goodies.
A tall, 4 drawer file cabinet will go in on the left hand-side of the closet.

Here are some of our thrift store goodies.

This sweet little round table was free.
We found it in the Evangel House donation room.

This is our $7 bench. I had a vision

Our $12 chair.
Easy upholstery job!

Baskets we will paint with spray paint.
They will look fabulous painted gray.

I’ll be back soon to show you more…

A Dollhouse Tutorial You Are Gonna Love

I’m honored to share a special project that Susan

from Second Chances by Susan shared on her blog last month.

When I saw her amazing dollhouse that she made for her granddaughter,

I fell in love.

I was flooded with memories of my own childhood dollhouse.

I never tire from looking at all of the items and details

that Susan used to make this special for her granddaughter.

I need a granddaughter to make one of these for….

oh heck, maybe I’ll make one for ME!

Take it away Susan!

Where does the time go? I can’t believe it’s been two months since my last post. It’s not like I’ve been sitting around doing nothing. Actually, just the opposite which makes it hard to fit in time for blogging. I thought I would share something that took a good chunk of my time prior to Christmas. My granddaughter wanted a dollhouse for Christmas. They live about 900 miles away and don’t have enough room in the car to bring home a full-sized doll house, so after spotting this great idea I decided to make something similar. Instead of using three-ringed binders for the structure, I went with thrifted double album covers. I got them for 10¢ each.

I needed four double album covers for the project, and a couple of single covers as well. The first thing I did was to place white duct tape down the outside and inside spine of each double cover, making sure to fold the tape over the top edges. I then placed two covers together and taped along the top and right edges. I left the bottom edge untaped for the time being. I did this with all four covers so that, when finished, they were all connected together and would create four rooms when standing up and open (see one of the following pictures.)

The next step (which is an addition to the original idea) was to add a floor to each room. I did this by taking apart the single covers, cutting them down slightly, and taping them to the bottom of each double cover. I taped them along the top edge (of the floor) to the front and the back. After taping, I folded the floor up and closed the cover to make sure it was going to fit okay. If the fit was okay, I finished taping around the rest of the floor edges. I did the same to each “room” of the doll house.

When I was all finished taping, it looked like this with all the edges covered with duct tape.

The next step was to decide on what scrapbooking paper I was going to use for the walls and floors of each room. I adhered them all with mod podge, letting each room dry before moving onto the next.

The finished doll house folds like this when its not being played with.

Before I go further, I thought I would mention that I entertained the idea of cutting 12 x 12 squares of masonite for the doll house, which would make it pretty sturdy. I opted for the album covers because they were recycled and lightweight. But, they do warp a little when applying mod podge to them. So do what you want with that little bit of information!

Anyway, now for an overall tour of the house before I get into more of the furniture details.

The bathroom and bedroom.

The bedroom and living room.

The living room and kitchen.

The kitchen and bathroom.

The bathroom started with these thrifted pieces…a tub-shaped soap dish, a small ceramic dish, and a candle holder. I didn’t have to do anything to the tub. I spray painted the candle holder white and glued the dish on top to create the sink. I used E-6000 for all of the furniture gluing.

I used a vintage crocheted pot holder for a rug. All of the images were found on the internet, resized, printed, cut, and mod podged into place.

The family room was created from an old wooden box, two candle holders, and an acrylic dessert cup. (I didn’t end up using the wooden piece…probably because I couldn’t find it at the time!) The lamp was easy. All I had to do was turn the dessert cup upside down and glue it to the top of the candle stick. The ottoman was just a matter of gathering a circle of scrap leather around some batting and gluing in place. The couches were a bit trickier. I removed the hinges, ran the front edge of the lid through the table saw to barely cut of the front edge. I had to run the base of the box through the table saw to make it the same height as the lid, then cut off the front edge and put a new bottom on it. Once they were the same size, I glued some decorative wood pieces to the bottom for feet. I completed them by making little cushions and pillows.

The drapes, plasma tv, fireplace, basket, and plants are all images from internet.

The bedroom began with a wire napkin holder, picture frame, and air freshener. I sprayed the bed pieces white. I then drilled holes through the wooden frame and wired it to the head of the bed. (I actually turned the napkin holder upside down.) I removed the board of the picture frame, drilled small holes spaced alternately, then covered it with batting and green fabric. I then pushed white brads through the fabric and holes and secured them to the back. This created a tufted look for the headboard.

I removed the air freshener liquid from the lamp, made a mattress, pillows, and cover for the bed, and mod podged some coordinating paper to a cute little trunk. I pulled a thrifted doily from my stash to use as a rug. Once again, the images were from the internet.

The kitchen was a lot of fun. The furniture was pretty easy. It consisted of four wooden salt and pepper shakers (two not shown), a pedestal candle base, and a ceramic trivet. I glued the trivet to the candle base to create the table. If you’re worried about it breaking, you could use a cute lid from a metal canister instead. I cut the tops off of the shakers. Originally, I was going to make a padded cover for them, but went super simple by gluing a canning lid to the top of each and adding a scalloped paper medallion to the top with mod podge.

The fun part was finding all the cute images to glue to the walls. Another thrifted doily makes a cute rug.

An aerial view of the kitchen gives you an idea of how the house stands when its open.

This project did take quite a bit of time (especially waiting for the mod podge to dry) but it was fun. Everything but the canning lids, scrapbook paper, duct tape, and air freshener lamp was thrifted.

And, the best part is that my granddaughter loved it!

Thank you so much Susan for sharing your amazing project.

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Evangel Home Project

I’m so excited to be sharing a special project that my sweet friend (Carrie) and I are tackling within the next few months.

We are calling it:

The Evangel Home Project.

Carrie literally stumbled upon this special place one morning.

Carrie says:

“I felt drawn to volunteer at the Evangel Home after it kept “showing up on my radar screen.” (Love how God does that.) First, I read about the shelter in a local magazine, then I heard it mentioned in church, then I happened to hear their short radio program one Saturday morning while driving. On the program, they were celebrating a young woman who had just graduated from the program. She said her favorite class was the “Boundaries” class. I was impressed by the fact that the Evangel Home doesn’t merely “house and feed women” they help change the course of their lives. This resonated with me because I believe that simply giving someone food and shelter isn’t enough to begin a change in the broken lives of hurting women and their innocent children.

Shortly after relocating to the downtown area, I was taking a walk and I looked over and there was a sweet little old house with a pink door with a sign that read “Evangel Home.” I felt the Lord gently nudging me to find out about this place. And so I did.

I remember feeling nervous the day I went to meet Joyce, the Volunteer Coordinator. After she showed me around, I confided in her that I wasn’t sure why I was there. We chatted for a bit and she described some of the various volunteer positions. She wondered if I would answer phones one day a week. For some reason that just didn’t sound right to me. Somehow our conversation moved to the fact that I love doing decorating projects with one of my dearest friends. I told her that Mandy and I love to take thrift store finds and redo homes on a tight budget.

Then she got excited, “Oh! We have a studio apartment that is in big need of updating.” She took me into the apartment and I saw the dingy little kitchen, the awful white walls and the outdated linoleum floor. I got so excited. ”This is what I want to do! I want to redo this apartment!” She was so appreciative. As we walked back into her office to discuss the details of when I would start the project I started noticing the office she had brought me into. I asked her if by any chance I could do her office too? Her face lit up. She could hardly contain herself. She said, “Oh can I pinch you? Are you for real? Oh I’m so excited, so excited.” She said all this while doing a little dance and hugging me. Then, she shared a little of her story and with each word she shared, I realized why God had brought me here.”

We are going to begin with Joyce’s office.

Joyce is a petite woman with a big heart.

She smiles and laughs and loves her work at the shelter.

Joyce spent 28 days in the shelter in 1989 after life threw her a “curve ball” and she found herself homeless. After that she realized that she wanted to be a part of this life-changing ministry that had helped her at such a crucial time. She came on staff as the Volunteer Coordinator and has worked there to date.

Joyce’s favorite part of her job is working with all the various volunteers who come to bless the Evangel Home. Her office is full of hand-drawn notes of love for her and photos of some of her most precious memories. Joyce is respected and loved by co-workers, volunteers and women and children who live at the Evangel Home. Joyce’s only request was for her office to be a warm and welcoming place to interview and meet with the volunteers.

Carrie and I have big plans for Joyce’s office.

If you would like to be part of this project, we would appreciate your prayers and/or a small monetary donation. The Evangel Home is a 501(c) 3 not-for-profit corporation and all gifts are tax deductible. Year-end receipts are sent upon request. The only source of income that the Evangel Home receives is through tax deductible donations. They do not receive any government agency funds. If you would like to know more about the Evangel Home, please visit their website at www.evangelhome.org. If you would like to make a donation on line, you can do so quickly and easily by clicking HERE. An address is also provided on the same page, if you would like to send a check.

PLEASE NOTE: The only way that the donation will be ear-marked for our project is if you clearly state on your donation or check, “OFFICE PROJECT”.

♥Thank you so much!♥

CARRIE & MANDY

I’m linking to:

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Emergency Contact Phone Numbers and A Free Printable

Emergencydoc

We recently had to change our emergency numbers due to the move.

The boys were having a hard time memorizing our new numbers
(home and cell phone numbers) and their address.

I decided I better be prepared.
You never know what can happen
(especially with four boys and an accident prone mommy) .
I even taught my four year old how to call for help!

As I went to hang up my sticky note with the numbers on the fridge,
I realized I needed something a little more permanent and cuter.

After searching a bit, I found this amazing digital scrapbook kit from
A-Manda Creation.
You must check out her store,
she has adorable stuff and so reasonable!!!

I made up an “Emergency Contact Form” with her graphics.
It came out pretty cute
(better than the sticky note for sure)!

Amanda was kind enough to allow me
to post it on the blog and share it with all of you.
Thank you Amanda!

Click HERE for a free printable.

EMergency Contact numbers

Have a wonderful week!

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Contact Paper Ideas #2

Last year I did a post on Contact Paper Ideas that you can see here.

I thought I’d seen everything! But to my amazement
(and with the help of Pinterest),
I have run across more awesome ideas.

It’s amazing how contact paper can change a rather
dull-something-or-other into a stunning piece of art!

I’m sure you will be ready to purchase your own contact paper and turn your dull-something-or-other into something fabulous!

Be sure to check out the websites at the bottom of this post to see where you can purchase your not so ordinary contact paper.

contact paper stripes 008tpm

City Farmhouse

contacttrashcan
My Little Crafting Corner

contactdresser
My Sweet Savannah

contactfilefolders
The Homes I Have Made

contactbunting
The Sweetest Occasions

contactwallchevron
Cindecor

contactstainlesssteal
Curbly

contactbookshelves
Sweetly Scrapped Art

contactmercuryglass
Gorgeous Shiny Things

contactconsole
Cindecor

contactcookietray
Martha Stewart

contactpolka
Apartment Therapy

Did you see anything that inspired you?

Here are some websites that offer some amazing contact paper.

Design Your Wall

Contact Paper

Chic Shelf Paper

Interior Place

I’ll be back this week with some more Valentine ideas!

Glazed Box Beamed Ceiling

My husband has a habit (he calls it a hobby) of purchasing homes downtown and restoring them.

The latest purchase had a beautiful box beam ceiling. Someone had actually painted it a bright green! Ugh. (Sorry, no picture of it.)

Once it was painted white, the beams were lost in the white ceiling. They looked terrible. Nothing is worse than seeing layers of paint that has been added over the years. In order to get rid of all those layers of paint, the beams would have required alot of labor. Instead, we decided to add some glaze to them.

Here they are finished.