Love Where You Live

When it comes to the home, I'm a firm believer in learning to be content with what you've got by making what you've got, work! Everyone should love where they live. Get over the things you can't change, and take charge of the things you can. If you hate it, paint it! If you can't paint it... well, then you may just have to live with it (but there are very few things in this world that can't be painted). I love, love, love changing things up and moving things around, cleaning things out and throwing things away. But, I predominantly use what I have and hold onto many items for later use and frequent rotation. There are many things I would change about where I live now if I had the money, but that doesn't change the fact that I truly do, love where I live!

There are very few pictures hanging on my walls, decorations sitting around or furniture being used that I have not owned since childhood, were hand-me-downs from other family members or have been picked up on the side of the road! If I don't like something, I'll spray paint it, switch out the picture, replace a picture with scapbooking paper or material, etc.

I love surrounding myself with colors that make me happy and bring me enjoyment. Don't put something on your wall just for the sake of putting something on the wall. Hang it if you really like it, and if you don't - spray paint it!

Find enjoyment and beauty in the natural decorations that God himself has supplied! I love the bright colored forsythia bush outside the dinning room window, and the colors in the oak tree as it comes into bloom. If you're having a hard time seeing the beauty outside, maybe it's time to clean the windows! (No, really, clean your windows. It's crazy what a difference it can make.)

~Sarah

Old Ladders and Burlap = Love

As promised... the unveiling of my completed projects!

I am so excited with how this turned out, and could not be happier! My husband, on the other hand, is still a little weirded out by the ladder hanging on our wall. He just doesn't get it :)

I have included here, the pictures of everything put together. I went ahead and wrote up a separate tutorial for the wreath, which can be found here: Burlap Wreath Tutorial 

I must be up front with you. The whole ladder thing turned out to be way more work than I initially bargained for. I kept asking myself, is this really worth it? Of course the answer was YES! If you happen to have your hands on an old extension ladder or plain ol' ladder that is just one single piece, by all means, go for it! Hang it on the wall as soon as you possibly can! What I had, was an old step ladder with the two sides that fold in together. The issue is, it's old, and old things were made really well. This baby was riveted together. Rivets are a pain to remove. I didn't take real detailed pictures, so just go ahead and Google "removing rivets." I used a hack saw, a sawzall, a drill, a hammer and a flat head screw driver before those babies finally came off. The drill with a metal bit was a must. The sawzall may have done the job faster, but the battery died on me and I was, frankly, too impatient to wait for it to charge, so I continued on by other means. The nice thing is, if you're going for that rustic, antiquey look, you really don't have to do a thing beyond that! Seriously, I didn't even clean this thing (gross?), sand it or paint it in any way. I just left it totally as is! One thing I would suggest, is not going into a rivet removal project in your living room. If you must, at least put down a drop cloth. Otherwise, you'll be scrubbing up rust stains and tediously vacuuming up microscopic shards of metal from the carpet (not that I had to do that or anything).

And on the other wall... some new frames off the clearance rack at Hobby Lobby. So what if they were a little banged up, nothing a black Sharpie can't fix!

Burlap Wreath Tutorial

I spent a LONG time trying to recreate an exact replica of this wreath. I figured out in the end, that they must have used a much thinner burlap, and possibly took several extra steps. My way is super easy and I think it turned out pretty nice! I purchased about a yard and a half of burlap from Hobby Lobby. With a 40% off coupon, it ended up being about $2.50 a yard. I used an old metal hanger (literally, one of the last metal hanger in our house), and a couple sticks of hot glue. Total cost for this project: about $3. Now, if you aren't crafty or just REALLY like this particular wreath, here is the link to the Etsy site where you can buy this one! Burlap Wreath on Etsy Oh, by the way, it's $65 But hey, it's super cute!

*Check out my updated tutorial here!

First I formed the hanger into a circle. I cut the burlap into long strips, no more than 12" wide. Then, I folded these strips in half. I simply fed the metal hanger through the burlap, weaving it up and down, twisting the burlap on occasion to give it a more bunched up look. There really was no clear cut way of doing this. You really just have to play around with it till you get the look you are going for. I used the hot glue to poof certain spots and make it stay exactly where I wanted it. Then, glued the backside in various spots to keep the burlap from sliding around. Have fun!

*Check out my updated tutorial here!

Things to Come...

I have fallen a little behind in my posts lately, for which I apologize. I promise, I have many things in the works that I will be posting soon! Here is a sneak peak at what I am working on right now:

A scene from my living room! My husband nearly flipped when he walked in and I informed him that I would be hanging this ladder on the wall. This is also a picture of the burlap wreath I am working on. I have a recently fallen madly in love with burlap! How many uses for burlap can I find? We shall see, oh, we shall see. Here are some of the pictures I've been looking to for inspiration... oh the possibilities!!

Lima Bean Wreath

I have seen so many of these super cute wreaths pop up on Pinterest. I had also seen the idea to use a piece of pipe insulator foam to form a wreath base. So, here was my endeavor to make one of my own! I think it turned out pretty cute, but in no way perfect... there are several things I would do differently next time.

I bought this 4 pack of pipe covers which cost 2.97, the lima beans cost 2.88 - I had black duct tape and a glue gun already, as well as a left over can of spray paint. I only used one pipe and half the Bag of lima beans. My husband and I put the kids to bed at night and usually sit to relax for a couple hours with a movie or show. Many nights, you will find him sitting on the couch while I sit on the floor working away on my projects! This project was completed within the time frame of one, hour long episode of Alcatraz :)

I wrapped tape around the two ends to secure them together. Works pretty well! The only thing is... it was hard for me to get it to stay in a perfect circle, it is slightly deformed for my taste! All I did was glue the beans on in random order. The part I would be more careful of in the future, was strings of glue being left behind. Only if I will be painting it again, the spray paint clings to the glue strings and looks a little messy. I have seen these wreathes left unpainted, just the natural color which looks cute too!

Hang with a bow and we're done! I will be VERY interested to see how well this holds up, if the beans fall off or crumble, or if the birds eat it! I am thinking the spray paint will hinder them. I am just very happy to have something new up, since before this, I still had a Christmas wreath up!

*Update: This wreath survived all Summer long and into the Fall! It did start to dry out and crumble just a bit, but I kept gluing it back together to prolong it's life :) Maybe next time I'll use a little more glue and a little more spray paint plus some kind of clear sealer. The pipe insulator does not hold it's shape very well. I would use an actual foam wreath form or add a piece of wire inside the pipe for stability. 

Teal and Yellow Obsession

I Love these colors together! After seeing picture after picture of things like this on Pinterest...

I got myself some yellow spray paint and started painting everything in sight! These were once boring old brown lamps...

I spray painted the bases, then bought these plain shades at Target. I embellished them with rolled flowers. I used the tutorial for rolled flowers from this site: mysparkle.blogspot.com

I love all the little pops of yellow!

Color!

It has to be noted...

While I am obsessing over certain colors in a crafting or decorating project, I definitely tend to see my wardrobe gravitate in that direction as well!

I Love You, a Bushel and a Peck

I could not resist...

When I saw this picture on Pinterest, I just had to replicate it for my wall! This is one of my Grandpa Cavanaugh's all-time favorite and most memorable sayings that he has greeted us with ever since I can remember. It means a lot to me, and I can't believe I had never thought to frame it before!

An old picture frame, some scrapbooking paper, and a sharpie paint pen later, and this is how mine turned out. I just free-handed the letters, so they turned out a little sloppy, but who cares! It's cute :)

Update 1-7-13: I've been thinking, I really should create a cute printable version of this sign! So here you go, an 8x10 image to print and frame. Simply right click on the image and select "save to computer"