::Making simple things beautiful::

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Outwitting the universe and moss monograms

The universe is trying to prevent me from posting today, but I think I found a way to outwit it.  I brought my camera with me to the shop today only to find out that our computer is on the fritz.  So, says me, I will post tonight after the kiddos are tucked in bed.  Hmmm, where is my camera cord?  I scratch my head and remember that it is at the shop!  Arrrr.  So tonight will be a semi lame post with pictures that I nabbed off of google images (dearly sorry to the owners).

I have been seeing these Moss Monograms ALL over bloggy land.  What a simple concept!  I have covered just about everything else imaginable in moss, why didn't I think of this?

I love this large one for the front door in place of a traditional wreath.  Can you say adorable?  Go ahead and say it just to humor me : )


This monogram display is pretty spiffy as well.  Oh how I cannot wait to have a mantel to decorate.  Have I mentioned that before?  Maybe just once or twice.



I am also a huge fan of this smaller scale door hanger.  You could stick this one anywhere and it would be A-D-OR-ABLE!  Yes I know I need to come up with some new adjectives.  Feel free to buy me a thesaurus for X-mas.



Tomorrow night is craft night at my house (really, what night isn't) and you guessed it, we will be getting our moss on.  I am sure it will be messy as all get out, but will still be fun and by the end I will have new pretties to share.  Betcha can't wait to see what I will be crafting up!  Have a fab week.  Love Me

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Nursery link

Bonus post for the day!  I wanted to share a link for our cutest and sweetest pregnant customer who is decorating a shabby chic nursery for her baby girl on the way. 

Elisha-I hope you get some ideas from the nursery post on one of my favorite blogs.  It is not exactly shabby, but still very cute and she has good ideas.  I love her hanging branches in her girl's rooms.  Here is the link to her nursery

Couldn't say no to the lightbulb

I was just trying to take a much needed nap the other day.  It sounds so simple, but I got this wacky idea and couldn't go to sleep. 

This topiary that I brought home from the shop needed some major help, and I had been thinking of ways to bring it into this decade.  Originally I thought I would cover it with sheet moss, but during this would be nap, the light bulb went off.  Cover it with those brown coffee filters that are sitting in the pantry.  And of course, I could not say no to the light bulb.  It is a sickness I have.

Here is the sad leaning before shot.
 The faux moss was peeling back,


And presto chango-coffee filter covered topiary.  I have had it finished for a week or so but I still can't decide if I like it.  It does look pretty cute sitting on my island.  Does that really sound like me, being unable to make a decision?  Oh that's right, I am the queen bee of indecision, so yeah.

Either way, it is funky and fun, and much better than before so I might let it stick around for a while ; )  For me, a while is at most two weeks.

And in other wacky project news, I have a cheap and super easy kitchen cabinet revamp coming up.  And for those of you (there are thousands I am sure) wondering about my garage clean up, yes it did occur.  I forgot to snap a before pic so the after will not look good at all.  There is still a ton of stuff in there but it is organized now and I could park my car in there again if I wanted so I am happy.  I do have a pretty hilarious flip video of my sis in law shimmying her way up into my rafters though.  She would dis own me if I posted it, so I better not, but at least I have some blackmail.  Have a fab week!

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Dining room chandelier reveal!

For some strange reason I thought that I finished this post earlier but nope!  So here I am finally getting it done.  I have made two major accomplishments this week.  One being removing this eye sore of a light fixture.
I cannot believe that it has taken me so long to change it, but there have been so many other projects that have needed to be done.  I wanted something pretty, but not one of those home improvement store fixtures, and I wanted to be super thrifty.  I found this little chandelier in my mom's black hole garage.  Boy I'll tell you, that garage has never failed me!  I thought I would make a cover for the chain.  I bought drop cloth at the depot and oh yes I HOT GLUED it!!!  I love it when I don't have to sew!
Please excuse the disastrous counter!
Here it is all hung pretty like.  Did I mention that I figured this out by myself???  My sis in law came over and helped me do it and we were beyond impressed with ourselves.  This is us giving ourselves a ginormous pat on the back! It was unbelievably easy, despite the horrid feeling that I was going to blow my house up when I turned the power back on. (ps my house did not burn to the ground so by my standards, it was a success)

Here is a shot of the cover I diy-ed.  I even sprang for one of those medallion ceiling covers.  It was only $7 and made a big difference in making it look nice and finished. I even like that I decided not to paint it black.

I also busted out the tools and fashioned myself a new dining room table out of a mismatched table top and base (pictures to come).  The daffodils my father in law picked for me the other day.  Aren't they beautiful?
So here is where the heart wreath and O come in.  I got inspired and did a mini dining room revamp in honor of the new chandy.
This is my favorite basket.  I found it at my favorite spot, momma's garage!
I brought this lamp out of my bedroom since I love having a lamp on at night, and I never used it in my room anyway.
If this cage isn't reason enough to come to our Junk Swaps, then I don't know what is.  I LOVE it so much.  Sorry to the one who let it go!
Coming up, pillow covers made out of my drop cloth scraps with ribbon ties, and a garage transformation!  Thanks for reading, have a lovely inspiration filled day!

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

A heart and "O"

Happy Tuesday!
I have been a busy little bee in the two days since my husband left.  I don't have my camera cord so I can't share pictures of my accomplishments thus far (boo), but I thought I would at least show some pictures I nabbed of the internet for a little sneak peak.


Numero Uno-Major score by me at the Antique Mall.  The French Hen booth had a heart shaped boxwood wreath similar to this one (but much much cuter) marked down to $12!!!  I wanted one last month when I saw they were selling them at their show but never made it to get one.  This one was meant to be mine <3.
Numero dos-I found an identical letter on a different trip to the mall.  I was saving it for Marsdon's bedroom wall collage but thought I would stick it out now rather that shoving it in a bag for months.  It looks pretty cute on my buffet...I can't wait to share.

I have also made headway on my dining room chandy hanging.  By headway, I mean my sis-in-law and I spent and HOUR trying to get two screws out.  I was hoping to accomplish much more while she was helping me yesterday, but those darn screws were stubborn.  This morning I made a trip to the depot and got all the first round of necessary supplies to hang it.  I can't decide if I should leave it black or paint it white.  I also scrounged around the house and found a bunch of crystals that look pretty snazzy hanging from it.  More on that later.  For now, have a lovely day. B

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

$0 Art center

When yesterday began, I had high hopes to clean my floors and scrub out the shower.  Then something interesting happened.  My sweet boy decided that he wanted to eat breakfast at his sister's little green table, so he hauled it from her room into the dining room.  So what?  It sparked the inspiration bug in me.  Do I dare ignore this creative prompting?  Not a chance.

The wheels started turning.  Hmmm...That table is too cute to be shoved in the corner of a bedroom, and it would be nice to have a spot where they could color.  The art supplies had been previously stored in a plastic tote and buried at the bottom of the pantry.  It was messy and inconvenient to get it out, so there has not been much art happening at casa Alloway lately. 


 The next thing I knew, I was emptying the art bin, and trying to find cool containers to put everything in.  It turns out, I have plenty of extra pails, jars and vases.

And if you promise not to tell my kids, I did manage to weed out quite a few coloring books etc. and snuck it all out to the garbage can.  Sneaky mom.
Here is a good view of the chaos.  It is always a disaster before it gets organized.  The spot to the right of the french doors is where it ended up.
I pulled this little shelf out of my entryway.  I thought it was cute there but it really was serving no storage purpose and was just in the way so over it came to the new art dept.


 I knew I needed something tall to hang on the wall next to the shelf, and I had the perfect frame in my stash to make a chalkboard out of.  Who knew I would have the perfect green spray paint out in my stash?  Love it!  A few trips out to the garage later, and voila,a chalkboard was born.  (Side note-before I knew it someone had colored on it with an orange crayon!!!  Darn kids) 


I brought this pillow home from the shop the other day and it ended up being the perfect little prop.


 Working with the "using what you have" philosophy, I filled a cookie jar, a vase, and two little pails with crayons, markers, and play-doh.  I like being able to see everything that is inside them rather than digging for gold down at the bottom of a tote. I have a couple jars I want to bring home from the store to replace some of those, but for now these work.   



 I made sure that there was no glass within Reese's reach.  She can't hurt anything on the lower shelves.  Which was a bonus until she climbed on to the top of the table. 



Here is the sweet boy enjoying the new setup.  Elmer's glue is all he wants to use out of all of those fun art supplies.  I am thinking it may have been smart not to make the glue visible.  That stuff is washable right???




I wish the pictures showed how cute this really is but just use your imagination and pretend these are fancy schmancy pics you see on other blogs ok?  Have a fabulous day, and thanks for reading!