DE-Clutter Me!

Notice the piles of paper, miscellaneous tech gear, stack of bills and kid toys?  (and a 3 hole punch next to the coffee maker - I mean, really? Come on. URGH!!!)

I am sure all of you Moms, with children, or without children, have a messy corner ... somewhere in your house.  BE HONEST.   You know you do!  Mine is in the kitchen. 

Yeeeessss - it drives me absolutely baaaaaazerk!!!  I have tried many different things to organize. 
(B.T.W. I am an organizing freak!  Always buying baskets, tins, shelving, stickers and labels...I cannot help it.)

So this is what I did over a week ago AND it is still clean and organized.  Yeah! :) 

Here we go:

*Basket placemats from Pier One Imports under coffee maker and hot water kettle. Nice. (Already had these - but LOVE them)

*Basket for all of the tech stuff, video camera, chargers and digital camera. Convienient.

*Basket on top of TV for Hubby's wallet and kids SILLY BANDS that end up on the counter. Super great.

*Cell phone charger wires bundled together with an extra bread tie.  Crafty!

* Bamboo silverware tray from Wal-Mart turned upside down for my laptop.  Wonderful!

I like to have my laptop in the kitchen .... recipies, check the school menu each morning and weather.  However, I am ALWAYS worried that it is going to get wet with coffee or someone's cereal bowl milk.  Lifting it up on this tray seemed to be the perfect idea. 

Across the hall I added this wall organizer that I bought at Wal Mart for $14.  I put my bills in it ... which used to sit in stacks on the counter. 

Under it is a small dry erase board for MY daily list (ie; teach spinning @ 9:30am, go to football practice @ 6pm, buy Windex,etc).  Below that is a large dry erase board for my boys to draw on.  This keeps them from drawing on my walls!  They LOVE it. 

However, knowing me, the bills would stay in stacks in this organizer.  SO, I cut the tops off 4 manilla envelopes, labeled each one with a week, and now stuff each bill due per week in the appropriate envelope. 

Get organized!  

Mirror Mirror on the Wall...

Who's the best paint of them all? OIL RUBBED BRONZE!

This mirror was red, gold, silver and brown and although it was fun, I just couldn't' figure out a home for it in our house. Nothing 'fit.' So I got my spray on and turned it's brown upside down.

Horrific iPhone pic but you get the idea... Before ORB

Recycling a Parents Magazine

Thought my beauty of a mirror could look good above my newly distressed and painted foyer table! For now, I'm liking. For later it may turn white.

(Don't judge the phone on the floor and hideous wall plug.)


Here's our old entry. We piled everything on this entry table, I know you do the same and that's another blog entirely! And YES, that's a microwave on the floor. Again, don't judge. We like heating up nuggets in the front room! This was taken when we were renovating our house so we crammed furniture and stuff everywhere! Notice the lovely yellow paint?

BEFORE

AFTER

Me likey! You likey?

Sponge Bob Square Cake ?!

OKAY ... my four year old, I mean five year old, is obsessed with Sponge Bob!  His birthday was this week and all he wanted was the $50.00 SPONGE BOB CAKE AT PUBLIX!  YIKES.  People, we are in a recession ... $50 doesn't come easy.  So, what to do to make the little man's dreams come true?! 

I decided to make one myself!  I can do it!  Sure.  With a little patience (a lot!), lots of icing, food coloring, and a coloring book, this is do-able. 

I started with this:

9 x 13 metal pan, spray bottom with canola spray

Bake your cake as directed on the box.  Let it cool for about 10 minutes, then flip it upside down on a big tray.  (Unless you are Martha Stewart or Betty Crocker, you probably won't have a cake stand enormous enough for this big rectangle!  I used a cute acrylic tray.)
 
While the cake is baking, start mixing your icing with food coloring.  This step was quite hilarious in that I had icing everywhere, including my hair, and I had a major sugar rush ... okay yes, I HAD to taste each color "just incase" it was bad.  Ha ha ha.   Hello 5 lbs.  Why do I even GO to the gym?!

The most difficult color to mix was brown for Sponge Bob's pants.  Of course I was not smart enough at the grocery store and did not buy chocolate icing.  Instead, I bought 2 jars of vanilla.  Duh?! Why?

SO my husband and I couldn't figure out how to make brown.  NO, you cannot mix all 4 colors in the food color box to make brown (red, blue, green, yellow).  That makes army green!  After many tries, we figured it out (Seriously?  We went to college, I promise!)  You mix RED and GREEN food coloring with white icing = light brown Sponge Bob pants!  Yeah. (Yes, that brown stuff is icing.) 

All of the colors are finally mixed.

This picture is my inspiration ....

I waited 10 minutes out of the oven, then flipped it over on this cute tray.  Make sure you use the bottom (now the top) for the top of your cake.  Makes a flat surface to ice. 

First is yellow everywhere except the very bottom.  I found that the longer my icing sat out on the counter, the thinner it became.  It was perfect for this step.  Later, when decorating the eyes and tie, etc. put your icing back in the fridge for about 10 minutes to harden a bit. 

Add a small thin white line for his shirt, and brown for the pants.

Eyeballs ... I put 3 big spoonfulls of white for each eye.  Then spread with the back of my spoon in a circle (lightly!).  If you notice the spoon ... it is small and from Sweden.  Sorry USA.  It is a little bigger than a baby spoon.  So make your adjustments accordingly. 

No ... I do not suddenly have "man hands!"  This is my hubby drawing the black lines.  He is a really great artist.  After I tried once, then had to remove my black line, then refrost yellow, I decided to ask for his help! 

We used a small tube of black "gel" icing.  Worked great!  Draw a nose, mouth, medium sized circles for the cheeks and eyelashes. 

Add some pink for a tounge.  I used the back of my spoon to spread the tounge.   A little pink for cheeks.  I used my fingers to swirl the cheeks.  I also added red in 2 small globs to make the tie.  Then spread it out with a butter knife. 

2 spoonfulls of blue on each white eye. I spoonfull of white for each tooth.  I used my finger and a butter knife to form a square tooth, once it was on the cake. 

Black circles with the black gel on top of each blue circle. 

So we are finished .... 1 hour later!  Whew!  Put it in the fridge quick.  We kept it in the fridge all night, the icing reset, and the next morning it was perfect. 

Charlie LOVED it!  He didn't even ask for the Publix $50.00 cake ... he said can I eat some for breakfast?  My answer?  OF COURSE!!!  It's YOUR birthday.  :)
Good luck making one for your little one.

Pop of Color

These chairs have been on the screen porch for 4 years.  Yes, they have survived quite well, but they definitely need some love.

Hello ugly worn out chairs! Meet my paint can.
Paint can, meet ulgy chairs.

 

HOW TO:


1.  Clean off the chair (Remove spider webs and old food particles!)


2.  Get a sanding block from the hardware store.


3.  Go over the entire chair lightly with the sanding block.   


4. Wipe off all the sanding dust.


5. Paint - small sprays if you are spray painting and you will need several layers (I used spray paint), OR if you are brush painting get a medium size paint brush that is angled on the end.  The angle spreads paint better and is great for all of the little spindles.  Any enamel paint will cover wonderfully and be sure to get the sheen you want (satin, semi-gloss, gloss, etc).

I sprayed 3 chairs "Krylon" Avocado Satin and 2 chairs "Valspar" Mediterranean Gloss.  


The gloss is definitely the way to go for these chairs.  Now I have to spray the green chairs with a clear gloss so the finishes match. 


I'm loving POP of color they added to our screen porch ... and the boys fight over which color chair they get to sit in.  Maybe I should've painted them all the same?!  :)

To rooster .... or not to rooster?!

Ewwwww?  Yes ewwwww!

Hideous!  I know ... what was I thinking buying this awful piece of metal sculpture years ago?  The sad thing is that I paid a hefty price for it.  To keep it, or toss it?! 

I am frugal ... KEEP IT!


This rooster is begging to meet the oil rubbed bronze spray paint (a.k.a. ORB).  Please spray me!


Let us see what happens .....

WAH-LAH!!! 


You can do it! 
Go try it at your home on something you want to toss.   

OIL RUBBED BRONZE ... AMAZING!!!

OK ... here is the thing ... we are frugal sisters always looking for ways to decorate and save money.  I have had these lamps for who knows how long.  You can definitely tell they are older because of the little beads hanging off the edges of the shades.  OMG ... lets get into 2010, please.  Embarrassing!  They cost about $12 each.

So we found the most AMAZING thing on the paint aisle at Home Depot ... OIL RUBBED BRONZE spray paint!  I am in heaven :) I mean, really?! 

So this is before ... the not so beautiful gold and black laquer lamps with beads hanging off the shades(sorry to all those who love gold!)

A few quick and easy sprays on each side, and hour in the sun, and a pair of scissors to cut off the 1999 beading and WA-LAH! 

Beautiful lamps that look like I bought them at a designer furniture store.  Add some fake fruit on clearance from TJ Maxx and a yellow table runner folded in half = new look. 

Now pay attention to the table ... that is our next project.  Stay tuned.

Mason Jar Lanterns

Wide mouth mason jar. Check. $1 candle from dollar store. Check. 20 gage wire. Check. 20 pound fishing line. Check!

I love mason jars. Guess they just remind me of when we were kids and made blackberry jam and jelly every year with our mom. She would make take us blackberry picking... in the summer... in GEORGIA... in the blazing hot sun and then we would come home and start the whole canning process. At the time we probably didn't enjoy it as much as we let on, but looking back it was a great childhood memory. When I see a mason jar, I'm overwhelmed with nostalgia.

We thought they would make great lanterns and after doing a little research online we got to work.

Easiest project ever and the light that they create is awesome! I hung them on my porch and although I need a couple more hooks, you get the idea. I wanted them to suspend at different lengths and could have used one fishing line and one hook per jar, but really like how it turned out regardless! I adore how they hang at different lengths and kind of blow in the wind.
Love love love them!

               Simple supplies

5 little masons lighting my porch!

Good luck with making some of your own!

Shabby Chic Table

Our house is the constant recipient of change. I get bored. Flip through catalogs. Go bargain shopping. Find a deal or get some good ideas, then come home and start messing with stuff. My poor husband has to get so sick of me buying changing stuff. Nevertheless, we have a long way to go to get our house 'finished' which we all know never happens. Meanwhile, I'm having boatloads of fun along the way trying!

Project #1: My stepmom and dad gave us this entry table when we got married years ago and as our furniture has grown, this piece no longer 'fit' what we had in the house. I know, I know...What a way to thank them for such a beautiful piece. I'm sorry parents. Please keep giving us furniture! It needed a face lift to match our style so hopefully they will approve. I love the shape and lines of the table and thought it could look pretty fab painted white and distressed. So last weekend, it got sanded, painted and sanded again! 

Pretty cute, eh?

I'm digging our old new entry table. I triple heart the lamp from Home Goods and please disregard random stuff in the bowl. Once I figure out how where to put keys,wallet, phones, stuff I'll let you know. The painting is one of my favorites but thinking it may need a new home. We've got an awesome mirror that recently met a can of Oil Rubbed Bronze paint and think it will look even better above this table. I'll post those pics soon!

Let us know what you think!