Tuft Love

If you could have one new piece of furniture for your house what would it be?  Most of you probably have an instant answer to that question…I know that I do!  For me, it would definitely be a new couch, but it has to be a tufted couch!  I lloooovvvee tufted couches, especially the ones in velvet!  They are so amazing! 

Since I am in the process of redecorating my house I am on the hunt for that perfect tufted couch/sofa.  What the heck is the difference between a couch and a sofa anyway?  Is there even one? The couch I have needs to go bye bye yesterday. We have had it for almost 10 years, and I can not stand it.  I have been looking for a long time for a new couch, but am quite cheap, so it is hard for me to spend the money on what I really like.  But…I just got a new inexpensive rug (thanks to HomeGoods) and am ready to take the plunge and purchase a new couch.  Thankfully, my husband has given me the green light to buy whatever couch I find, and he wants NO part of it.  How awesome of a husband do I have??? 

Now the hard part…finding the perfect ONE!!!  So the search/hunt is on, but unfortunately I have such a hard time making a decision! Also, my room that the couch will be going in is not that large and most of the couches I love are a little big for the room.   Luckily for me there is this little thing that I am obsessed with called Pinterest (Ever hear of it? hehe), that has made searching so much easier! 

 

Z Gallerie Royce Sofa.  I am really loving the shape of this and the velvet!

West Elm’s Chester Tufted Upholstered Sofa.  I like this one, but don’t love it.

How flipping amazing is this sofa?  Gorgeous everything.  I don’t know where to get it though.  So frustrating!

Terrain’s Slate Tufted Sofa.  This one is perfect, but way above my price range.  Ugh!

Really, really, think this couch is the bomb!!!  Oh, and love the lights!  Only problem is can’t find where the couch is from and it would probably be way above my price range as well.  Lame!

West Elm’s Elton Settee in velvet!  This couch is great and it is a lot smaller than the others, but maybe a little too small?

Swedish Teak Sofa.  How gorgeous is this couch?  I know it is not tufted, but think the color and style is amazing!

So which one do you like the best?  I am totally undecided, they are all amazing couches.  They all have a different look/feel to them.  I need to figure out which would work best for my room and which is comfy.  I think that it is time to hit a few of the above stores and sit my little bum on each of the couches to see which is the best.  I will NOT buy a couch without sitting on it first!

Wish me luck as I sit on a ton of different tufted couches/sofas!  Once I choose and purchase the perfect one, I will post a picture of it.  Knowing me, it will probably be a while though, but it will happen! 

Oh and ladies, if you are wondering, the key to having full control of purchasing a couch, is to drag your husband to each and every store there is and having him sit on every couch, twice!!!  He will then want NO part of it!  Brilliant, huh?

Cupcake, Anyone?

Cupcake stores have been popping up all over the place this last year.  Have you ventured into one and paid over 3 dollars for a cupcake?  Was it worth the 3 dollars?  Now, I enjoy a good cupcake…especially a red velvet one, but I honestly feel like I can make just as good of a cupcake at home with a box mix as some of the ones I have bought.  Of course I have had some amazing homemade cupcakes like the ones that My Sweet Creations has made, thanks girl, but then everything she makes tastes delicious! 

I love to bake as long as I have step by step directions.  I am not one of those bakers who likes to experiment and make up her own from scratch recipes…maybe one day!  Yeah right, who am I kidding? 

My mom gave me the cupcake book, What’s New Cupcake?.  Have you seen it?  It has amazing, fun themed ideas with easy to follow instructions…which I need! Most of the cupcakes are so cute and have many different edible things on them that I am not even sure I would want to eat one, but they make cute gifts!  

 

Here are a couple of ‘apple’ cupcakes I made for two of my son’s teachers last year for Teacher Appreciation Day! I put them in some cute baskets and bought a wooden apple sign that I had my son write his teacher’s name on! I think that they turned out so cute. See what I mean…they are too cute too eat!  Would you eat them? 

Unfortunately, I didn’t take step by step pictures of them, cause I wasn’t blogging back then.  They were quite simple to make…wait, I mean they were so hard and took me all day to make!  Wow, sometimes I amaze myself! :)

 

My friend and I threw one of our friends a 40th surprise Karaoke party!  I made karaoke cupcakes, which were a huge hit!  They were a lot of fun to make and I think they turned out great!  The microphones are made from mini ice cream cones, that we got from McDonalds, and donut holes with frosting and edible glitter.  Can’t go wrong with edible glitter, huh?

Hmm, why am I suddenly craving a cupcake?  Someone please bring me one!  Thanks.

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What a Hoot!

This has been a long week.  My son has been home sick from school for 3 days, and when he is home, I get nothing done!  Wait, now that I think about it I don’t get a lot done when he is at school either…but I could if I wanted to!  I have been stuck at home, unable to go thrift store shopping or to lunch with my friends.  I mean, how terrible is that?  Don’t you feel super sorry for me?  I even had to postpone a girls trip to Hobby Lobby!  :) 

I am totally kidding…well kind of, but it was a long week and I HATE to see my son sick.  Nothing is worse than having a sick child.  The only positive thing is that he was way cuddlier than usual!

All week I have been wanting to make a burlap owl, but just couldn’t seem to motivate myself and was busy taking care of my child.  Finally today, he was a little better and I found my motivation…yep with Hershey Kisses.  NO, I am NOT addicted to chocolate!  Sheesh, why would you think that?

This project was super easy, but it had a lot of little steps to it.  For some reason, I took a picture of each step and ended up with like 15 pictures!  Don’t worry, I won’t show you all the steps, just a few.  Coolio?

      

Now, I am no artist so I needed some guidance in making my owl.  My sister-in-law, Robin, gave me this adorable owl cutting board for Christmas, that I used as a guide.  

Here is a list of things I used:

• Burlap (which I did iron, ugh)
• Cardboard
• Scissors (mine are lame)
• Adhesive spray
• Felt – 3 different colors
• A candy dish (to trace for the big round eyes, because I can not do perfect circles…I know it is hard to believe)
• Buttons for the little eyes
• Needle and thread
• An orange sharpie (love sharpies)
• Hot glue gun
• A branch from outside
• Yellow sticky stuff (no, that is not what it is called, but what I call it) to stick onto the walls

Here is my cute candy dish from Ikea, which may or may not have been full this morning!!! 

Notice my son’s owl drawing!  Not bad, huh?  I should have had him trace my owl. 

My amazing frame, which was already hanging on my wall, that I found at a thrift store for $2.50!!!  One of my best finds ever!  Holla!!! 

Okay, how totally cute is that?  It will probably go in my friend’s daughter’s room which we are redoing, but for now he is perched in my hall!

                          

Making this was such a HOOT!  Yes…I know I am a dork!

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Oopsey Daisy

Burlap Heart

So…guess what?  My sweet husband sent me flowers! And, he ordered them last week, before I even posted my flower blog…so he says.  Hehe, I believe him.  I would post a picture but the flowers aren’t looking too good yet.  In fact, my husband was not impressed with them at all.  If you have ever received flowers from ProFlowers you know they come freshly cut and don’t always look their best to start with.  Give them a couple of days and they look awesome!  Supposedly they last longer that way. Who knows?

Even though Valentine’s Day has passed I wanted to share with you a quick little I Love You pillow my son and I made for his 89 year old great grandma in Nebraska.

                  

Isn’t it the best when you have everything on hand you need to make your project?  I think so!  After digging out my burlap, and yes, ironing it, I folded the burlap in half.  Ryker used a red sharpie to draw a heart on it. 

                 

Burlap is not the easiest to cut, or maybe my scissors just aren’t very sharp?  Anyway, after cutting around the heart, my son wrote ‘I Love You’ on the front.  See, I told you he has way better writing than me…and he is only 7 years old!

                 

Next I hand stitched around the heart, leaving a little section unstitched to add the stuffing.  Notice how awesome my nails look!  I have become addicted to getting my nails done in Shellac.  If you have never done it, go do it, you will love it!

             

Once done stuffing it with filler and stitching the last of it up, it just didn’t look quite right.  To give it a finished look, I hot glued Jute around the edges, trying not to cover up the red heart my son had drawn.

Yes, I know you can see the hot glue, but my grandma is 89 and she isn’t going to notice it or even care!

My son is so proud of his burlap heart that he (ok, we) made!

                                                                     

Love it or Hate it?

Oh Valentine’s Day…the most loved and/or hated holiday!  You either love it or hate it.  Which is it? 

Those who love Valentine’s Day are florists, Hallmark stores, nice restaurants, newlyweds, women with good boyfriends or married women whose husbands are awesome.  Oh…and single men, cause there is no pressure on them at all. 

Now those who hate Valentine's Day are single women and all men in a relationship!  It is funny how single women HATE this day, but all of a sudden LOVE it when they are in a relationship.  It is easyish (yes, I know that is not a word) to see how men do not like Valentine’s Day.  They feel there is all this pressure to get just the right thing or they will get in trouble, which is sooo not true.  Or there are those guys who don’t care and don’t get their women anything, which is a big NO NO! 

Most women will say ‘oh I don’t want flowers, they are a waste of money and will just die in a few days anyway’! Well guess what guys?  They are LYING!  Yep, all women want flowers!  They may deny it and I bet a few are even shaking their heads right now saying ‘I don’t want them’, but they do.  Here is another thing, they want them randomly throughout the year!  In fact, getting flowers on a non-holiday is even more special to them.  Trust me!  Oh man, I sure hope my husband is reading this!!!

So ladies, which is it?  Love it or hate it?

Me?  I will let you know tomorrow.  Guess it will depend on whether or not my husband reads this today! :)

                                                                         

Bad Flower!

How cute are all the book page flowers going around Pinterest?  They are so stinking cute and the best part about them is…they never die!  Well, being that tomorrow is Valentine’s Day, I decided to make my son’s teacher some cute book page flowers and put them in a cute vase.  Which, I am sure many of you crafty people are doing as well, right?

So I pulled out an old book that I had just finished reading and was going to make these freaking adorable flowers made by Sunday Baker! 

                                                           

I thought how hard can it be?  I mean, everyone and their uncles are making them on Pinterest…it must be so easy! 

WHATEVER!  It was so flipping hard.  I could not make a single flower to save my life. The instructions were simple and easy to follow.  But nooooo, for some reason I could not do it!  Ugh, so frustrating. 

Being one to not give up, I searched Pinterest to find some other page flowers I liked, ones that I could easily follow.   Of course, I found quite a few, but once again, I FAILED! 

So, I said forget it, I will make my own version.  I am crafty and smart, I can totally come up with something awesome on my own!  And guess what??? 

Nope, you’re wrong. 

I was UNABLE to come up with anything that even remotely resembled a flower.  Why oh why, I ask, am I unable to make a flower out of a book page?  Does it take some kind of special talent that I obviously do NOT have? 

Here is the disaster that was suppose to be some pretty book page flowers.  I am not going to give up on the flowers…well, I am for today!  But, never fear, I will conquer these flowers.  Just you wait and see.

So, I guess I am off to Starbucks for a gift card for my son’s teacher!  Everyone likes Starbucks, right?  Umm…well, actually, I don’t.

                                                                           

PS. I totally know why I couldn’t make those flowers!  I was OUT of Hershey Kisses!  Phew, I am so glad it wasn’t because of my lack of talent, but the lack of chocolate in my body!

Yep, Drop It!

The other day after doing about 10-15 minutes of housework, I decided it was time for a much needed break!  Being in the mood to make something, I dug through my pile of wood and found a little piece that said ‘pick me, pick me’!  So, guess what?  I picked it…of course! 

Months ago I had bought this crazy, ridiculously expensive($18) hook from Anthropologie that I had yet to use.  Looking back, I ask myself, “why in the world did you spend so much money on a hook”?  The answer is, to me quite obvious…I wanted to buy something/anything from Anthropologie and it was the cheapest thing in the store!!!   Good reason, huh? 

Anywho…I decided to make a smaller version of the Shanty 2 Chic mason jar holder.  I have already made 2 of the bigger ones that I have given as gifts…which have been a huge hit!  I know that I have said this before, but I will say it again…I love the Shanty sisters!  And by love, I don’t mean the ‘will you be my Valentines’ sort of love.  But the ‘you are totally awesome, creative and I love how you share your ideas with the rest of us’ sort of love!

Moving on…

                             

The first thing I did was stain my 7x10 piece of wood. 

             

I decided to try a new way, at least for me, of painting.  There was this certain color of spray paint I wanted to use, but didn’t want it to look spray painted.  I sprayed the paint onto a paint brush, just enough to get it a little wet, then brushed the paint on the wood to give it an old look.  After going over it many times to get the look I wanted, I was quite pleased with myself!  Until…I tried washing my paint brush.  Ugh, I didn’t let the stain dry long enough before I did my new technique, so it made my brush super icky and I couldn’t wash it.  So into the trash it went.

Now, pay attention, because this is thee most ‘important’ step!  Are you ready?  Make sure that you drop your piece right after it is painted!  Yep, you heard that right.  Drop it onto the cement to get that chipped look on your edges!  Trust me…it works! 

It looked so cute!  Until I hung it up!  I just didn’t like how it looked on my gray walls.

So…down it came and it got a new coat of paint right over the jade color.  With, of course, the same technique!  Then I added distress ink on the edges to get the darker look that I wanted.

 

Now…it looks much better on my walls!  Plus, the little flowers are too cute!

All in all, it was a productive day…well, my husband may not completely agree with me, since 10 minutes of cleaning didn’t do too much!  Hey…I made the bed! Oh wait, maybe he did?  Oh well…whose keeping track?

                                                                         

What’s Tomorrow?

So…I am not the most organized person there is.  Not even close!  But, I have decided it is time to get organized and hopefully stay that way!  A girl can dream, can’t she?  

One part of organization is having a calendar where all appointments and obligations are written down.  Yes, I know, most everyone has a calendar on their ‘smart’ phone, but is it staring you in the face daily, reminding you and more importantly, your husband, what is happening?  I didn’t think so.  There are so many different DIY calendars out there that are awesome but I decided to do one that I saw on Pinterest by Lindy Cottage Hill using a picture frame and burlap. 

After digging through my ‘junk’ in my garage I found this picture frame that I had purchased at a Goodwill.  I removed the glass and backing, which I used to size my burlap.  Burlap can wrinkle quite easily which it did when I cut it to fit in my frame. 

Do I iron it or not? 

Now, I abhor ironing.  In fact, I DO NOT iron.  Yes, I am sure you are all thinking about my poor husband who has to iron his own shirts.  But don’t feel bad for him, his dad taught him to iron and he is way better at it than I am!  Lucky me, huh? 

In the end, after much debating (in my head) I decided to iron it.  Next I sprayed an adhesive on my cardboard backing and stuck the burlap onto it. 

Straight lines and I do not get along.  Using a sharpie to make a chart was very intimidating to me.  I decided I wanted to add a ‘TO DO’ list and a ‘Birthdays’ section, since I am terrible at remembering birthdays!  And then I left a section blank to write other miscellaneous stuff in.

Next I wrote the days of the week and stenciled on my little design at the top.  I am not one of those women who have great handwriting.  In fact, my 7 year old son has better handwriting than I do. Ugh, so not fair.  Anyway, I did the best I can and thought I was doing a great job until I wrote birthdays.  Oh well…perfect is boring.  At least that is what I tell myself, to feel better!!!

Before I put my burlap back in the frame, I painted, sanded and stained my frame. Easy peasy!

Notice the not so great handwriting next to the frame?  Yep, that is mine. 

The calendar turned out great…at least I think so!  My husband thought it was a great idea, but that I wouldn’t actually use it.  He thought I would do one month and then never change it!  I mean, come on, where is the faith?  Just to let you all know, I have changed it every month…so far!  So there!!!

Time to start your calendar!