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Sunday, May 29, 2011

Do you PINTEREST??

My new love…PINTEREST.
I cannot GET OVER all of the inspiration.
It’s a PLETHORA of inspiration…ideas…and creative WONDERFUL YUMMINESS!!!
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You can find ME by clicking HERE!! Swing by…say hi…FOLLOW me! Join the FUN!!!!
Happy SUNDAY!!!

XOXO
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Friday, May 27, 2011

Family MOTTO chalkboard DIY info

OH goodness..it’s FRIDAY!

And FRIDAY of a HOLIDAY weekend! Yipeeeeeee! I can already feel the sunshine…taste the watermelon…and feel SUMMER is on it’s way!!

I put up a teaser of my new family MOTTO chalkboard earlier this week and I wanted to take a minute to share how I made it!

I salvaged an old dry erase board at our local dump a few weeks back. Remember all my furniture finds ?? I found this board the same day!

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I had full intentions of using it as a dry erase board. But after scrubbing and trying every chemical I could think of to clean it…the old writing just would not come off!
See what I mean….LOL!

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Soooooo…I held on to the board and thought a few weeks about what I could do with it. I have been itching to do a chalkboard wall for awhile. But have you seen the price of chalkboard paint?? Then I found a recipe for homemade chalkboard paint…gulp…I was STOKED!
The recipe called for 1 cup of paint mixed with 2 Tablespoons of unsanded grout. That sounded easy enough!!

I knew I had about 3/4 of a gallon of black paint…and my parents had recently tiled their kitchen so surely they had grout left over!!
Yay!!

My Mom checked her grout…and it was sanded grout. Hmmmm…..I couldn’t help but wonder what the difference would be??? I decided to just go with it…what did I have to lose?? An old dry erase board wasn’t a BIG loss!!

So I made the mixture….Tiffany style. I used sanded grout…and my paint was semi-gloss. Lol…nothing like the original recipe.

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The mixture was a little runnier than I anticipated…it’s really a weird texture. Maybe it was the sanded grout? And it stinks!!

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First coat….

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I ended up putting 3 coats on!! I let each layer dry completely before applying the next layer!
After it was GOOD and COVERED I primed it by rubbing a piece of chalk over the entire board. I have read that you are supposed to SAND it before this step. I was not in the mood for sand paper. LOL. Feel free to sand if you feel froggie!

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After priming it…wipe it down with a damp cloth. Allow it to dry completely…and VIOLA…brand new CHALKBOARD!!!

I knew I wanted to put this MOTTO up in our house. And this board was DESTINED for our new family MOTTO.

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I adore it!!!

A few notes:
♥I probably wouldn’t use a dry erase board for a HEAVY use chalkboard. Or maybe PRIME it before you paint it??? OR maybe FLAT paint with adhere better?? There were a few spots that pulled up when I was drawing on mine!!If you just want to use it as a decoration…then this is PERFECT!
♥The sanded grout works fine…but it is a little GRITTY. I don’t know how the unsanded texture would be…but it does work! I painted a little piece of a door in my laundry room to test it on a surface that wasn’t a dry erase board…and it works perfectly!
You know what my favorite part of this project was????
IT WAS F R E E !!!

My favorite PRICE!!!!

I love it…and it makes me smile every time I walk in my kitchen! IT’s GINORMOUS…and I love that! I’m seriously contemplating an entire chalkboard wall…I have enough paint and grout. Hmmm….oh and did you know you can do the chalkboard pain recipe with ANY COLOR??? Yeppers. I love the black…but any color works! How super cool!!

And ONE MORE thing!!!

I finally have a few FAMILY pictures of Jaxon and I. Finally. I was a little emotional doing the whole “single Mom” family pictures…but it was also empowering. We have survived almost a whole year…on our own…and guess what…we are doing better than ever.
God is so good.

He has blessed us…protected us…and prospered our lives in ways I could have never imagined. There really is a rainbow after every storm….and LIFE is beautiful!!

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Hope you all have a SUPER DUPER weekend!! Wear SUNSCREEN!
XoXo
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Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Our family MOTTO chalkboard [[sneek peek]]

I simply CANNOT wait to share with you...how I made this....

From this....LOL..


Yes... it's another JUNK treasure!!!

XOXO

Friday, May 20, 2011

Rainbow–Tie Die Cupcakes

If you have read Easie Peasie for awhile, you are well aware of the fact that I have wanted to make a rainbow cake!! And I’ve wanted to make one for a looooooong time!! I’ve just never had a reason to! I just love all the yummy colors!!!

Well fabulous peeps….instead of a rainbow cake…I made rainbow CUPCAKES this week! They actually turned out more like TIE-DIE CUPCAKES! Either way…they were SUPER CUTE…SUPER EASY and SUPER YUMMY! Here’s how I made them!!!

R A I N B O W   C U P C A K E S

I used a regular white cake mix, gel food coloring, vanilla icing, M&M’s and rainbow sprinkles.

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Mix your cake mix according to the box instructions….

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Separate your cake batter into bowls for each color….and then drizzle gel coloring into each bowl and mix away!

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They turn out really PRETTY!! Gel food coloring is amazing. It turns out so rich and true to the original color. I wouldn’t use the regular food coloring drops…I’m just sayin’. Lol.

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I read on one blog that a lady started with one color and then as she added each color would add smaller amounts. I tried that…and it didn’t really work. The colors just blended anyways!
I LOVED how pretty the batter looked! I made an all-out mess on edges of the pan though…a little Jackson Pollack style!!

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Here are a few pictures as I added the various colors…you can see how it starts to blend.

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I was really curious how they would bake????
This was my first glance…..

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P R E T T Y!!!!!!
I love how they look!!!!

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They were so cute that I almost didn’t want to frost them!!!
Here they are in all their frosted, delicious GLORY!

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They were entirely too much fun to photograph. Loved them!!!
H A P P Y     C O L O R S!!!

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And just for you…I took a few bites to show the inside yumminess!!! LOL!

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They are TOO STINKIN’ CAAA-UUUUTE!
You simply MUST try them soon! You cannot help but smile when you see how PRETTY they are!
I’m thinking about concocting some homemade chalkboard paint this weekend…..oh the possibilities! YAY!

Hope you all have a MARVELOUS and BLESSED weekend!!!

XoXo
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Monday, May 16, 2011

Burlap flower make-overs, canning jar soap dispensers and other happenings!

Howdy doooooody!
It always feels a little awkward saying hi…after such a long absence. Is anyone else struggling to keep up with blogging in all this gorgeous warm weather??

The past couple of months have not been BIG BLOGGING months for me. I hope to get back on track as summer progresses. My little photo business that my BFF and I run has really taken off…and finding balance with that…plus my REGULAR WORK…and MAMMA WORK…and well…you can see how sometimes…blogging is on the bottom of the totem pole!

I think the experience of blogging is priceless…and I so love it…so I hope to get back on my BLOG HORSE and start GIDDY-UPPING! LOL!

I have made a few crafties recently. I had a friend/reader ask for a few burlap flowers that are on my front door wreath to finish a project in her daughter’s nursery. I was so excited to share one of my crafties…but with all this UN-BALANCED craziness around here… I BARELY got around to making them this weekend. Whew…sorry RACHEL! They are on their way now!!

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I love making these flowers. Easiest…cutest little things. When I started…I couldn’t stop…and I made over a few pillows in my office/front room.
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I seriously love burlap. I could have burlap EVERYTHING.♥ And I think it’s perfect for these little rosette flowerdy thingys! Yes that’s a WORD! LOL!

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thought I would share a few pictures of the room too. I found a few treasures recently that are a MUST SHARE.

This little-oh-so-groovy-green chair….
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was found a few months ago in an alley by a dumpster. You know this Junk Art GIRL loves the alley treasures. She radiates vintage beauty. And is FABULOUSLY comfortable.
This dresser was a recent find. Want to take a guess where she was???

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at the….

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It is perfectly chippy and beautiful.
And yes.

I’m that girl. The girl who WILL haul treasures from the dump with NO SHAME.
My parents were renovating their front and back porches and had a few loads to haul to our local dump.

I went to help unload their junk…and found MANY treasures. You aren’t supposed to really “scavenge” at the dump…but I am a JUNK rebel. Wasting decent furniture should be against the rules I think.

There’s a desk that goes with that dresser. I’m saving that “reveal” for later. I found 2 desks actually. A huge outdoor table and some yummy vintage junk for picture props. Very AWESOME!
Here’s what is on the top of the dresser…for now.

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Oldie vintage goodies in my collections….

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And here’s another little salvaged table next to the vintage GREEN diva chair….this is my favorite cowgirl print.

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And one more creation!!
I made these for my kitchen!! YAY!!!

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Lot’s of bloggers have made them so I didn’t create this idea. But I did make them Tiffany style. The small one is my hand soap…and the large one is my dish soap. I wanted pretty soaps for my sink. I haven’t seen anyone do one for both types of soap. Love it!
Want to know how I made them?

For my hand soap, I used the soap dispenser pump from the hand soap and a jelly jar. For my dish soap, I used a large, wide-mouth jar and a lotion dispenser pump.
To create them I got down and really technical. Watch out.

Screw the lids on the jar….grab a knife…and stab a few holes in the center of each lid. Not very big! Just enough for the tube to push through.

Then push the dispenser down until it is flush with the lid! Open the jar…fill it with soap…reattach the lid…and VIOLA…CANNING JAR SOAP DISPENSER!
I did not glue it…or secure it…it’s pretty stable with just the little hole. I also had to trim the lotion dispenser to fit in the large jar.

Other than that…it took a whole 5 minutes to make!
So easy. And SO CUTE!!! Way cuter than the regular dispensers!

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Okay so I’m off to write my articles for today! Fun times!!!
Have a SUPER Monday!!
XoXo
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Friday, May 6, 2011

Need a last minute Mother’s Day gift?

Hi there! How has your week been? Mine? Oh thanks for asking! It’s been sheer chaos! I say that all the time though I guess. But really this week = BUSY and LOOOOONGEST week ever! I’ve already decided on Suday I will not do a thing. N a d a. Zilch. NOTHING. It’s my day…and I will be taking it easy (fingers crossed.)
Okay so I haven’t officially blogged or announced it…but I started an Etsy shop awhile back. Right now I just have digital prints that I have created that you can purchase. They are super cool and super cheap.
I am working on orders as we speak…or as I type this rather.
They make a great Mother’s day gift! I can email them to your Mamma with a message…and she can print it out..save it…and do whatever she wants it with it!
And you don’t have to pay shipping…or deal with the crowds.
I think that’s S U P E R!
Did I mention they are super cheap too! $2.99 a pop! What a deal!
Here’s a few samples of the prints I have!
wood flower final proof
Home Mom proof
flower final proof
And a FEW MORE!!!
Click HERE to visit my JUNK ART GIRL Etsy shop!!!
Have a SUPER weekend!

Sending MUCHOS love to all you MAMMAS out there!!!!!!!
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