Wreath Project

I made this wreath for my dear niece. She had seen one that I made for a baby shower here and wanted one. I made it to match her bedroom. 

Hudson's New Room

I don't have a before shot, because this room was totally empty, so just use your imagination.

Hudson is my oldest.He loves dogs, but he is about to be a teenager so I tried to make his room a little more grown up but still kid friendly. All the furniture is from Ikea, except for the bed. The dresser and the nightstand are from the Hemnes line. I really like the look of this line. It reminds me of Pottery Barn, but without the price.

I still need to make an upholstered headboard, but I wanted to show my progress thus far.

I bought ready made panels, and I'm hoping to get some trim to spruce them up a bit.

My favorite thing in this room is this abstract dog canvas that I got at Homegoods for $50. It looks like it belongs in a teenager's room to me. Hope you enjoyed this tour of Hudson's new room!

I'm linking to Between Naps on The Porch for Metamorphosis Monday.

My New Nephew

So Precious!!!

First Day of School

This guy is the oldest. Starting middle school for the second time. At his new school middle school starts in 7th grade, but at his old school it started in 6th. I kept telling telling him he was a step ahead of everyone. He was nervous because he didn't know anyone. Well, his day turned out OK. He said it wasn't as good as his old school, but it was alright. I'm sure in a few weeks it will be just fine and he'll be having a blast.

I wasn't worried about about this guy. I can't believe he's in 4th grade already. He had an awesome day. I knew he would. He's a super likable kid. We would always joke with him because every time we would go out and about, we would always run into someone that he knew. When he got into the car after the first day, he already had 4 friends. Yeah!

Oh my littlest one. We call him Mr. Personality. I knew he would have a ton of friends the first day, even if he couldn't remember anyone's name. He has always been more about the social part of school than the learning. We are definitely going to start focussing more on the learning this year. All he could talk about when he got in the car that first day was the the big white twirly slide with the stripes on it. 

It was a great first day for everyone. I'm so glad the transition to a new school was easy for them. What an answer to prayer for us.

Sneak Peek - Hudson's New Room

Hudson loves dogs, so his room will have a dog theme. Here's a sneeky peek.

I made some DIY art. I printed off a dog silhouette from the computer onto cardstock, cut it out, did a little paint job with a few polka dots and put it in a frame.

There's still much to do in this room, including painting, hanging drapes and making a headboard.

Here are the acent fabrics I'm using.

 I'm also using solid brown, and the bedding is blue and brown stripes and plaid. Can't wait to finish this room. School starts Monday, so I'll have more time to work on it.

Hope you're having a great weekend! I'm trying to get everything ready for school on Monday.

Table Centerpiece

My new front entry has a space that lends itself to a round table in the center. I was at a little loss as to what to put on the table. Ideally, I would like to have fresh flowers on it all the time, but that's just not practical. I didn't want it to be a dumping ground for everything when we come in the front door, but it usually does get the mail stacked on it. I need to find a solution for that problem. I know some people are adverse to FAUX flowers, but I believe there are bad faux flowers and there are good faux flowers. There are many realistic silk flowers out there. There's more to life than plastic ivy above the cabinets. I think we were all guilty of that one, me included. I think the key to a good faux arrangement is mixing it up a bit with some dried, silk and naturals. All together these make for an arrangement that has great texture and movement and is a far cry from plastic ivy. Here is my version of good faux. I hope you all agree.

I'm linking to Between Naps on the Porch for Metamorphosis Monday . Stop by and see what everyone has transformed.

What is usually located on my floor

My floor is littered with legos and I love every minute of it.  Someday my sweet little boys will be all grown and I won't kill my feet stepping on these little torture pieces.  I will miss seeing all their creations. So even though the floor is litterred all the time, I'm glad their little creative minds are at work. I'm happy they are using their imaginations, and the next time I step on a lego I'm going to try to smile instead of screetch out in pain.

My solution for large frameless bathroom mirrors

 I have been trying to figure out what to do with all the frameless mirrors in the bathrooms of this rental house.I would have loved to put a large frame made out of moulding like this one.

Since I can't make any permanent changes here, I had to get a little creative. Here's

what I came up with for the boy's bathroom.

These letters are cut out of outdoor vinyl since the bathroom can be a messy place. I got these these letters custom cut from my good friends at Gracie's Accessories.

Now if only my 3 boys could remember to do all of these things before leaving the bathroom! Ha!

I'm linking up to Between Naps on the Porch for Metamorphosis Monday.

Before and After - Window Treatments

This was the last job I did in Atlanta. I was sewing the day before the movers came when I should have been cleaning my basement. Oh well, it all turned out fine and these windows turned out beautifully.

Now here is the after

Sorry about the photos. These were shot with my phone, befor I got my new cannon.

I'm joining THe Shabby Chic Cottage for Transformation Thursday today.

Baby Love

We made a quick trip to Atlanta last weekend to see this cutie!

Her cousins thought she was pretty cute.

Hudson didn't want to give her up. It was a fast and furious trip, but we needed to see her before she moved north to NJ in 2 weeks. She was worth the 12 hours spent in the car. So sad we won't be able to see her often. Congratulations Becca and Dwayne! She is too precious.

Getting Ready for Guests

I started to get the guestroom ready last week in case we had some last minute guests. We are still living amongst the boxes here, so I wanted one room that was semi ready. It's a good thing I was proactive because Saturday my brother-in-law and sister-in-law stopped in on their way home from Orlando to spent the day and night with us. We had a great time, and I wasn't stressed about the boxes because I knew they had a nice place to stay.








This is still a work in progress, but I think it's a good start. I plan to make an upholstered headboard for this bed in the near future.



I attached some realy pretty trim to these ready made panels.





I know I sew custom window treatments, but this is a rental and I don't want to spend alot of time and money on things that may not fit the windows if we have to move in another year. I will do some custom windows in this house, but where it has the most impact. I may make a cornice, but I want to do the headboard first.






My son's Hemnes dresser from Ikea is now in this room. The 2 youngest boys are sharing a room so that we have a guest room. Both of their dressers will not fit, so I'm getting them one bigger dresser. There will be more on that when I show their room. I'm going to slipcover this chair with a pretty paisley from this post and also try my hand at copying the nightstand in that post too.


I don't have any before shots because it was an empty room with builder cream walls. Use your imagination for that;)

I'm linking up at Between Naps on the Porch for Metamorphosis Monday

Happy Birthday to me!

Last Saturday was my birthday. I turned 40. Whoa that's old! I remember when my mom and dad turned 40 and and thinking it was old. Oh well, life goes on, 40 is the new 30 they say. I did have a really nice day. My sweet husband got me one of these.




I have no idea how to use it properly. I'll be scouring blogs and the Internet trying to learn all I can. We ended the day at the beach.



It feels like we on vacation living here in Jacksonville. So far I love it. I just need to get this house put together. I have been a slacker the last couple of days. I have lots of projects and ideas that I'll be featuring. Hopefully I'll be joining some linky parties and someone will actually read this blog!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Saying Goodbye is Hard to Do.

Well we said goodbye to Atlanta and hello to Jacksonville. The movers came and packed all our stuff and loaded it onto the truck.




It's strange seeing all of your belongings loaded like that. They were so fast. It took me months to get organized and they came and boxed it all up in about 6 hours. We get everything delivered tomorrow. Then the real work begins. Where am I going to put everything? We have 894 boxes/items on that truck. Oh my, it's going to be a busy summer!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Time is Running Out!

I am still alive, but barely! I am moving in 9 days. Goodbyes are horrible. I am sad to be leaving here after 12 years. I am trying to say goodbye to all my friends. Today some of my friends took me out for lunch. We went here-




It was so YUM! They have the BEST muffins. When I walked into the restaurant, this was sitting on the table



My friends are so sweet. Isn't it so nice? It's vinyl on a large floor tile. I love it and have the perfect spot in our new house.

We have been trying to do a few Atlanta things, so last weekend we went to the Sun Dial restaurant to celebrate my husbands 40th birthday. The restaurant makes one revolution every hour and you get 360 degree views of the city. The boys thought it was cool.




Here they are in our booth.




The restaurant is at the top of the tallest hotel in the western hemisphere. Here the boys are in the lobby of the hotel. We had a great time.
I'm not sure I'll blog again until we move. My Internet is being turned off this weekend. I will be blogging more regularly as I make our new rental house into something fabulous!!

My - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

So Cute Nightstand and Pulled Muscles

I had an interesting morning. My allergies have been bothering me. I wake up every morning and sneeze. Not just one little sneeze but multiple sneezes in a row. This morning was no different. On the 5th sneeze pain shot through my back and I screamed. My boys looked up from their cereal and asked what happened. I replied saying I think I pulled a muscle in my back. They were perplexed since I was only sneezing. But yes folks, a sneeze brought me to my knees. Who does that happen to? People have been giggling about it all day. It is kind of humorous, but still painful. I really didn't want to clean out my closet today anyway, or go to the gym. I'll just have to take it easy for a few days.

On another note, yesterday I was out and about and stumbled on this cute little nightstand that would be perfect for my new guest room.



It had all the colors I was looking for and matched the main fabric perfectly.




I had to have it until I saw the price.


It was a bit much. I think I'm going to have to make my own. Now the search begins for a second hand piece to paint. I don't just want a plain top either. My creative juices are flowing, so stay tuned.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Spring Break Fun

So we spent spring break in Florida with my husband. It was so nice to spend more than a day in our new city. We got a feel for how life is going to be in just a few short weeks. Yeah!

We took advantage of this week and got Disney annual passes which was our little present for moving to FL. We spent 2 days at the Magic Kingdom and Hollywood studios. The kiddos had a blast. I'm pretty sure my 7 year old is now an adrenaline junkie. He kept wanting to ride ALL of the thrill rides.




Toy Story mania was a favorite ride. I got beat by the 12 year old. He has more video game practice than I do. Ha!




Lunch at Pizza Planet

We got to spend some time at the beach




I think we will be beach bums. I am going to get used to this fast.

I got my rug set up, but something is not right.



It feels lopsided. How do you place a rug with a sectional? Do I need a bigger rug? This one is 8x10? Do I need to orient the rug differently? HELP! I hate the vertical blinds, but it's a rental so I'll have to cover them up with window treatments.
On the way home to Atlanta, I stopped and picked up my new upholstered chairs. I love them!! I got 2 of these.


They will go in the room with the sectional.
I hope you had fun on your spring break. It's back to daily life for me. Gotta get a move on and finish up all the wedding decor this week. I'm going to be busy. Later.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Stones of the Kidney Variety

I was abruptly woken up from sweet slumber yesterday morning by screams of pain from my oldest son. After I realized it was 3am and this was not normal, mommy panic mode set in. He had severe pain in his right side, so off to the ER we went. Luckily my FIL lives with us, so he stayed home with younger two and I was free to focus on the matter at hand.

We got to the hospital and the nurse said it was possibly his appendix. The doc said not appendix so he was sent to X-ray. He was such a trooper, even after the IV was put in.




This pic was taken before the pain meds.




This one was taken after pain meds.

Fluids, a CT scan and 5 hours later, they told us he had a kidney stone and the pain was him passing it through the ureter to the bladder. He was sent home with meds to rest. They don't think he has any more stones, but we will be following it up with a visit to the urologist soon.
Needless to say I slept the rest of the day away and didn't get any work done. So today it is work, work, work.

Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Clean Out

The great clean out starts today. I have about 7 weeks until the movers arrive to pack us up. We cannot take everything we have, it simply won't fit. I have decluttered some. I had a huge garage sale a week ago and will have another one in May. I am going to start today on the most disorganized room in the whole house, the middle child's bedroom. The poor guy has all the clothes that don't fit his big brother anymore, and the clothes that are too big for his little brother stored in his room. if I can just get a handle on the clothes and the books today, I will call it a success. Pics to come later.

We had a great weekend here. My husband got home around dinner time on Friday and we headed to the mall for dinner and the funniest movie I've seen in a long time.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Pink and Lime Baby Shower

My sister in law is anticipating the birth of a baby girl. She has two boys from her husbands previous marriage that live with them full time, but this is her first pregnancy and the first baby girl on our side of the family. I have 3 boys, so it is so nice to have some pink around. Today I threw her a baby shower. Full on hot pink and lime, and it was so fun.











My large artwork didn't work with the decor, so I covered it with half of a white paper tablecloth and stuck the vinyl polka dots on it with the mesh wreath that I made.



I used paper lanterns that I fancied up with ribbon and polka dots ( they're hard to see because these pics are from my iPhone). One fell down in the middle of the shower and almost hit me on the head.



The food was great, we had a good time and my SIL got a lot of great stuff. It was fun decorating for a girl for a change.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad