Candle stick apothecary jars

The idea has been floating around the web for a while now. My friend Hollie told me about it and I went to her house one morning to make them. I love the green. . . because I'm obsessed. It was perfect timing to make them right before Easter.

Just find 3 candlesticks. Mine happened to come in a set at Ross. 10 bucks. I spray primed them and then spray painted them green. The jars were old Fry's salsa jars soaked in bleach solution and labels peeled off. The lids were spray painted to match the candlesticks. We glued the jars onto the candlesticks with gorilla glue. Easy peasy.

Apothecary Media Console

We've been working on another one of Ana White's amazing plans. The Apothecary Media Console. I originally wanted it in green, but after the amount of work that I forsaw with the painting, I went with a safe antique white. I don't regret it. It's a lot easier to change accessories than to repaint a massive piece like this.

The Golfer modified it to fit our needs. It's longer than Ana's plan and the center cubby in the top is wider to accomodate a sound bar in the future. Also, we went with 4 cupboard all the way across, mostly because he didn't want to tackle drawers. He used wood and mdf. I love that the top portion is hardwood so that we had the option to stain where the baskets and sound bar will go. The top is made of 4 beams stained to match the interior.

I painted the outside with white paint that matches our baseboards. The glaze made it look a little more creamy.

The faux drawer fronts were painted, then lightly sanded. . . this process repeated twice and then twice more with the polycrylic. They're as smooth as butter!

Take a look at the pb version, then ours. Can you tell the difference? I can't.

I love ana-white.com!

Softest Blanket Ever

I made a blanket.

From the tutorial here.

Except, it was much larger.

After I made it, I didn't want to give it away. . . but I did anyway.

It was soooo soft.

If you choose to make a blanket like this

Please do yourself a favor and invest in one of these:

Or risk losing your mind.

I have to admit, I was scared to wash it.

It looked so pretty, but it wasn't soft at all.

I wanted it soft.

So I washed it like the instructions said.

It came out of the dryer all fuzzy and warm.

That is when I considered driving to the store to buy something for the inlaws for Christmas.

No one would ever know.

MWAAA HAAAAA (evil laugh)

Don't worry your pretty little head.

I did the right thing.

I handed it over to the kids to wrap it, before I got too attached.

holy moly!

Guess who has their very own post on Ana-White.com? That's right! I was face booked by an old friend and mutual admirer of Ana's site, telling me that I had my own post. So I checked it out. Sure enough. There were my pics and my bed .

Honestly. . . I want to build all of her plans. They're amazing.

I think the golfer wants to also.

Our little 1600 square foot home cannot physically accommodate all of the ideas in our minds. Someday. . . someday.

Now, I need to get my hands on a kreg jig ASAP. . . . Santa?

halloween 2010

The kids have been over-the-top excited about these costumes. Paige has been OBSESSED with How to Train Your Dragon, ever since we saw it in 3-D. Plus, she kind of looks like the girl from the movie "Astrid." Um, who names their kid that?

We collected random viking-like items from Goodwill and some fabric from Joanne. The skulls and spikes were made from lightweight sculpey clay. The skirt skulls and spikes were baked onto bolts and then bolted to the leather skirt. SO FUN to make! I hightly recommend lightweight sculpey clay, but don't forget your coupon. . . it's a little costly at full price.

In AZ, we don't wear furry boots. Especially my daughter, who is her own little space heater. I made a shoe cover out of felt and the fur just slips on like a leg warmer. His are the same, but he already had brown shoes, so he just wore those. His vest was one of the goodwill purchases, cut down to size. Then I added the tan leather, spikes and fur around the edges. We bought the hat and mask at a costume store.

"Astrid's" skirt was made from vinyl off of the clearance rack at Joanne. We made her shoulder armor from craft foam. Her axe is made from an old broom handle covered with some of the leftover leather and topped with the backside of cheerio boxes as the axe head. His is an old toy that he got from Medieval Times a year or so ago. we just painted the blade silver.

Costumes ready.

We headed out for their shoot in the "spooky trees."

Here's a scary dragon now! Watch out, she looks fierce!

wait! Don't hurt her. I hear that dragons can be trained.

They make great pets!

And apparantly they suck their thumbs. . who knew?

Happy Haunting!

Ginormous fork and spoon

I picked up this ginormous fork and spoon set months ago at Goodwill. I'm talkin' giant. Almost as tall as my 6 year old. I knew they would amount to something if I could figure out a way to change the handle. I'm not really into the whole tiki pole theme. I shoved them under my bed, waiting for inspiration.

Months passed. After we finished the girls bed, we had wood lying around, and I had a plan. Giant Fork and Spoon needed a makeover.

I don't have a BEFORE. I was in a hurry and forgot to take the picture. But, here are the handles that I chopped off. lovely huh?

Here is what they look like on my wall. Ahhh, much better.

Even the golfer likes them. He raised his eyebrows when I originally brought them home. He thinks I'm crazy.

Sometimes I am.

I left off with a trundle and the beginnings of a bed. We now have the finished project. Here is the headboard before the final paint job.

and, here it is all put together in the girls' room.

The Golfer did the building and I did the filling, sanding, priming, painting. We make a good team. I thought there would be arguing and stress. There really was none. The Golfer is already talking about building an entertainment center.

I wanted the head and footboards the same height so that when the bed is up against the wall like this, it feels like a daybed. I can just add some pillows along the wall to give it more of a daybed feel, or we can turn it the other way and it becomes a twin bed again.

The trundle fits nice and tight so no little limbs will be smashed in the night. I think we will end up getting a twin xl for the top mattress to fill in some of the extra space on both ends of the bed.
The girls both LOVE it! We've had no trouble transitioning from crib to big-girl bed. They're both so excited to crawl into their new beds every night.
She's a little scared of the height. . . which is great because she insists on sleeping on the trundle. Mission accomplished.

A huge shout out to Ana for her plans which can be found here. We LOVE our farmhouse bed!