Yes I am still here!

For the few of you who are my followers, Yes I am OK!!  Life most certainly gets in the way of our best intentions, but I have not forgotten about this blog.

I will make no promises I cannot keep, so I cannot tell you when my next post will be but I will tell you there will be more.  I am just not sure when.

Bear with me and don't give up on me.  I will be back with great ideas and other fun stuff, I promise!!

Happy Easter! A bunny, wreath and a nest!!

Happy Easter to everyone!!  I hope you are enjoying your day with friends and family!!  We are off to eat our Easter ham dinner shortly!!

In the meantime, I thought I would share some fun Easter photos!!  First is of some bunnies.  The vintage looking one I purchased at my workplace about 5 years ago.  He is my fav and they don't make him anymore.  Too bad, I would have bought more!!  The second bunny is a yard sale find from last year, as is the nest.  These sit on my sideboard in the dining room!!

I also thought I would share with you the spring wreath that is on my front door. I made the wreath using the tutorial from Jones Design Company.  I also made the nest using the tutorial from Miss Mustard Seed.  I love the way it turned out!!

Enjoy!!

Kari

Linked to:
Newbie Party at Debbiedoos

Ace Hardware Paint Giveaway

First let me say that I am not being paid by Ace hardware for this post.  The opinions are strictly mine!

Today, our local Ace Hardware, just a mile down the road, was giving away quarts of their new paint by Clark and Kensington.  It is a paint and primer all in one.  All you needed was a coupon, which was e-mailed to us because we are a member of the hardware rewards program.  Yes, we are frequent visitors!!

So, we brought in the coupon and had it custom mixed, also for free, and home we went with our free quart.  Do you want to see what color I chose.............

Picture credit-Ace Hardware

Its the pretty orange called Crouching Tiger.  And yes, I love the kitchen! And what am I going to paint with it?  That has yet to be determined, but it will probably be a piece of furniture.  When I do use it I will most certainly share it with you!!

So, hurry and run on in to your local Ace hardware and get your free paint!!

Kari

Little White Cabinet with a Touch of Turquoise

Oh how I wish garage sale season would get here.....I am so ready.  The thrift stores are so picked over and I need some "stuff".  Up here in Michigan it will be a couple of more months!!!

Anyway, I picked up a cute little cabinet last summer at an estate sale.  It looked like it had been handmade, and I found out later than it was, by the gentleman whose estate this was.  Sad, he had passed away but there were a ton of treasures to be found!!  The cabinet was pine and his dear wife had painted fruit on each of the drawers.  Cute, but not the style I wanted!! 

Sorry, I don't have a "before" pic.  I am not very good at that!!

I removed the old hardware and painted it with Annie Sloan chalk paint in "Old White" -2 coats.  I then distressed it- just sanding off some of the paint in spots.

The finished product!!

I purchased some cute turquoise knobs at Hobby Lobby( half off) and added those to the drawers. They just add that cute touch!!

 I put this little gem in my booth and she sold the very next day!!  Maybe I will find more "gems" like this when garage sale season starts!!  For now I am only dreaming!!

Kari

Linked to:
Newbie Party at Debbiedoos
Sunday Showcase Party

Easy and Cheap Valentines Project- Take 2

I promised another Valentines project before Sunday so here goes!!

I wanted again to create something with things I already had.  So here is what I came up with.

This is what I used:

1 felt rose placemat
cream wool felt( I used an old sweater)
twine
burlap rosette
hot glue
heart pattern ( mine was cut using my cricut)

Make a heart pattern, any size you would like.  Cut out your heart from both the felt placemat and the felted wool.  Glue the placemat heart onto the wool felt heart using hot glue.  Glue a burlap rosette at the top point of the heart ( see pic).  There are plenty of tutorials out there for making rosettes just use your fav one!!  Glue a piece of twine on for hanging and you are done.

Easy, easy and cost nothing.  How cute would these be hanging form doorknobs, a hook, or some bare tree branches stuck into an urn!!

Kari

Linked to:

Sunday Showcase Party

Easy, Inexpensive (cheap) Valentine Project

My goal this week is to do 2 blog posts by Sunday, and they will both be about Valentines projects!!  Yippee, lets see if I can do that........Yes I think I can!!!

OK.....lets start out with the first one.

I wanted to make something cute that I could sell in my booth and I did not want to spend any money.  So I combed my craft stash and came up with these:

A $1 frame from Michael's
A wooden heart left over from another project
2 pieces of scrapbook paper ( one black print, the other red)
Some mod podge
Off white paint for the frame
some e6000 adhesive

So first I painted the frame off white ( sorry I did not take pics but all of this is easy) 2 coats.
Then I covered the wooden heart with the red scrapbook paper, using mod podge. 
Then, I covered the cardboard backing that came with the frame using the black and white scrapbook paper and mod podge.
I added a little bit of brown distress ink to distress the heart after it dried, but this step is optional.
I then put the frame back together and using the e6000 I glued the heart right on the glass.

Voila, done.......and here is the finished project.  Cost to me, $0, because I had all the supplies!!  YES!!

 So....what do you think? 

Look for another Valentines project coming up before Sunday night!!

Kari

Linked to:
Tater Tots and Jello Weekend Wrap up Party
Wow us Wednesdays at Savvy Southern Style

Orange and Cottage Style....um?

I know that the color of year according to Pantone is Tangerine Tango......so in my mind its a bright orange.  Not one that I currently have in my house and not one that really goes with my style.  Or so I thought. 

My style is most definitely "cottage style" and maybe a touch on the traditional side. I am not sure that orange would work with "me".  But before I jumped to conclusions I decided to search and see what I could find that was orange and "cottagey". 

There was much more out there than I thought and I liked a lot of it.  Maybe not enough to redo a room in my house, but I liked it nonetheless.

Here is what I found:



I really liked this living room with its touches of orange combined with fuchsia.  Just enough I think!!





This room is so very coastal.  I loved all the texture and just small pops of color.



The orange and periwinkle pillows were what drew me in here.




This one is by far my favorite.  It looks so calm and serene.  Now, this room is one I may recreate!!

I should add that all photos are from pinterest.  It was fun to see how I could make this color work with my style!!

What do you think?

Kari

Happy New Year and My Fav Posts of 2011!!

Happy New Year to all of you!!  I wish you a wonderful and prosperous new year!!

Looking back on all of my posts(which I know were irregular and erratic and followed not order and gave not a clue when and if I would ever post again,) I decided to pick my favorites.  But before I do that, I want to say that one of my resolutions is to post more often, share more projects, and to be a better blogger.  I am going to try very, very hard to do that!!  I promise!!

That said here are my favorite two posts of 2011!

First, I loved how the pics of my guest room turned out and I just love that room.  Its my favorite in the whole house.  If you missed that post you can see it here.

My favorite project of 2011 was my farmhouse chair.

 If you missed that post you can see it here.

I look forward to sharing new projects, and new decorating ideas with you in 2012!!

Kari