Painting, from a Women' Perspective

Recently, when reading a post from Finding Fabulous, Jane and her husband are at opposite ends on whether to paint the brick/fireplace in a recently spruced and painted room.

Don't we all have that? Shouldn't this debate be covered in Relationship 101 Manuals, right up there with toilet roll placement and toothpaste squeezeability? Why is it that men just get completely cold feet when it comes to painting things like wood or brick? It's not like it takes away from the durability of the item. It's still wood, dude! Just prettier.

Anyhow, my husband and I had this lovely conversation when I wanted to paint our kitchen, from its boring, er, solid oak cabinets. But we ended up painting them --- er, I even got them to be blue lol!

And we had the conversation again, when I wanted to paint the brick over the fireplace. I never did a post on it but here are some pics.

Isn't the white brick so much nicer and lightens up that room? I think it's a much nicer transition to my blue and white kitchen than red brick!

And we will have the conversationagain when I bring up how I now would like to paint that actual fireplace. Thinking a deeper red.....

And oh boy, will we have the conversation, when I mention that I have now been recently very VERY inspired by Design Mom's Painted Piano. That's right, I said PIANO. She went green y'all!

Consider this your heads up, hon :)

I'm partially kidding, as my "crazy sounding" ideas do turn out to be quite fabulous, if I can toot my horn. My husband even liked my turquoise dining table, which he painted for me :)
Again, I need to do a post about that one as well....

My thought is that it's your house, make it your home. Let it reflect who you are. Surround yourself with what you consider happy, calming, beautiful.

Or at the very least, you've got a conversation starter. Or, free passes to Hands-on Couple Conflict Resolution Workshop :)

The Writing on the Wall

It looks like I am getting into the swing of things, juggling a 3 year old and an infant. And with Jed getting a little older, I can actually put him down after nursing and he will stay asleep - allowing me to return to my nighttime crafting routine.
So, I am just ticking off items from my Pinterest or Bookmark list.
And obviously, I am in the wreaths category, for I've done three this week (previous two were the Turquoise Coffee Filter Wreath and the Spring Pinwheels...)

Now on to a bigger one: the Book Paper Wreath.

And I'm sure you've seen these all over, yes?

Well, have you seen any with robin eggs? :)

Now, in my dining room....

some close ups...

can you guess how many pages I used?


Linked to:
Between Naps on the Porch
Making the World Cuter
DIY Showoff
The Girl Creative
Sumo's Sweet Stuff
Made By You
Today's Creative Blog
Blue Cricket Designs
Fireflies and JellyBeans
Tales from Bloggeritaville
Somewhat Simple
The Shabby Creek Cottage
Beyond the Picket Fence
Sweet Little Gals
Raising Homemakers
remodelahoilic
finding fabulous
romantic home
fingerprints on the fridge
kojo designs
Sugar Bee Crafts
Topsy Turvy
Funky Polkadot Crafts
Let Birds Fly
Kitchen Fun with my 3 Sons

And another wreath...

This is 2 of 3 wreaths that I made...I was on a roll apparently.

This is what I call my "I'm pretending that Spring is more around the corner than what it looks like outside" wreath.

Because I am in Canada.

And it's cold.

And I need some pretty spring looks around here.

Or maybe turn up the thermostat.

Hey, I've got Caribbean blood people :)

Linked to Domestically Speaking

2012 Book List

Of my 40 books on my 2012 reading list....
Each book has a link to their listing on amazon.com. I post reviews on some books, but do let me know if you want it on a particular book.

I've read,
1. The Happiness Project
2. The Coming Revolution
3. The Blythes are Quoted
4. Baby Days

*updated February 15th, 2012

Mama's Got a Wreath

I finally got around to it.

I've seen these wreaths all over and I "reserved" the box of coffee filters and put them aside. Actually, it was more like "hey no one drinks coffee here right, so these are up for grabs...these are mine."...

I had seen the natural color filters and thought I was going to make that one, but having only the white ones, I decided to frugally make do.

But I wasn't really impressed with the way the white ones looked. Maybe it was just me, but they were so darn obvious: Hi, I am a scrunched up coffee filter. Trying to look pretty.

And besides, I wanted to do a completely different color. And I hadn't really seen any turquoise wreaths....so.

No need for a full blown tutorial -- it's pretty much along these lines...
1. Grab a box of coffee filters.
2. In a bucket, mix warm water and a few drops of food coloring. Make the color a little more intense than what you are desiring as it will fade a little when dry.
3. Place filters in colored water and pretend you are a human manual washing machine.
4. Take filters out, squeeze excess water out and lay flat to dry on newspaper.
5. After drying, you may want to repeat Steps 3 and 4 to get the desired color.

When dry,
6. Place filter in palm of left hand and push in middle with available right pointer finger until you get a slightly scrunched flower look. Sort of like what you do to dinner napkins when you put then in the napkin ring holders.
7. Hot glue "stem tip" and place onto desired spot on wreath. Push down with end of unsharpened pencil (so as to not burn those fingers --- you do use a whole box of filters lol).
8. Keep going until wreath is complete.

Some tips:
About halfway, you WILL think it looks like a piece of junk...just keep going. Ignore the "look at me, using stained scrunched COFFEE FILTERS as art" comments dancing in your head.

Also I put the filters in the middle of the wreath and fluffed as I went.I didnt want just the flat/folded look. I also filled in whatever spots showed.

And my biggest tip --- HOW TO SAVE MONEY ON THIS WREATH, as it only cost me $2 bucks....
DON'T buy any wreath, especially from Michaeal's. It's just gonna get all covered up. Instead, I bought a foam board (pk os 2 for $4) and just asked my husband to cut the wreath shape from it. Now, I also have an additional foam piece to do another wreath.

Linked to:
Between Naps on the Porch
Making the World Cuter
DIY Showoff
The Girl Creative
Sumo's Sweet Stuff
Made By You
Today's Creative Blog
Blue Cricket Designs
Fireflies and JellyBeans
Tales from Bloggeritaville
Somewhat Simple
The Shabby Creek Cottage
Beyond the Picket Fence
Sweet Little Gals
Raising Homemakers
remodelahoilic
finding fabulous
romantic home
fingerprints on the fridge
kojo designs

Midnight Crafting

Do you remember those commercials, probably back in the 90's, that said: "It's 10pm. Do you know where your children are?".

Well, I have my own version.

It's midnight. Do you know your wife is crafting?

With a 3year old and a newborn, my days are quite busy and often it's just me going back and forth between the children, meeting their needs. And not only am I feeling like I am not really getting anything done -- it's a good day when I can get food on the table --- but I am feeling my creativity is just pent up. I need to do something. Even a small craft project. Though, with me, nothing is ever small, so to even come up with an idea is an ordeal. Just saying, y'all.

So it was on my mind and aim to get something, anything, done. Tonight. So after putting a strong willed preschooler to bed and nursing a newborn,
I went on my mission.

Decided to do a small project. One of those that you always see as "need to get done" because every time you pass it's future location,
the lack of "project doneness" irks you.

Evidence 1. Notice anything about this wall? Something missing?

See the smaller blue frame? I am notorious for putting up frames, without their pictures. Why? Because putting pictures up is a two step process. You find an awesome frame but need to find the right picture to go into it. Or, the reverse and then you got to find the location for this match made in heaven. It's not rocket science.

Though in my case, I usually find an awesome frame first and then have to find that picture. And usually before finding the picture, I put the frame in the desired location, because, honestly, sometimes that determines the picture, right?
You can't have too many lovey-dovey pictures in your kitchen...

So I had this antique-looking robins egg blue and gold frame (from the clearance section, I think in Marshalls) on the wall for a while. Still not coming up with a picture, I thought I would do something a little different. And during this craft lull, happy cheery pinwheels were perfect.

Using the tutorial from The Mother Huddle, I made an antique-ish pinwheel from fabric scraps by gluing a sand colored suede fabric to a cream lace piece. Then I went through my stash of buttons and actually glued two together. I was really happy to have come across the button that said "Embrace Life".....good message to read daily.

Actually, kind of funny for the message to be Embrace Life, for now, with my completed craft, I'm gonna go and embrace some sleep. :)

There. Now isn't that a happier wall....

On being Set Apart...

Our Memory Scripture last week was from Romans 12...

Therefore, my brothers, in view of God's mercy, present yourselves as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. This is your spiritual act of worship. And do not conform to the patterns of this world, but be renewed by the transformation of your mind.

I have to say that, for at least the last year, I really have had my eyes and heart opened to "patterns of this world" and the very important need to renew my mind, to transform my mind, to set myself apart.

Jeremiah 1:5
Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations...

Romans 1:1
Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God...

Galatians 1:15
But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by his grace...

We've been set apart and called to live a different way of life. And with this, I'm giving you a heads up on a 30 days series in February (I guess, then a 29 days series :P) that I will be launching called
"Being Serious about Being Set Apart".

I think a lot of people, Christian women included, struggle with what a Christian woman "looks/acts" like. And it seems, to me, that we do the things we aren't supposed to do and don't do the things we are supposed to do.

The series will take a look at what "set apart" means in terms of:
our ambitions and desires,
our dress and presentation,
our homes and families,
our beliefs, values and actions.

This will be a great journey of both the mind, heart and spirit. There will also be some great giveaways too!
I can't wait to go on it with you!

Stay tuned February 1st....