XO

I did this X O project last year for Valentines day to post, after I did it, I honestly wasn't really thrilled with it. Then I kept seeing more and more people doing crafts like this and was thinking "hey mine isn't so bad!". I dug it out of the holiday box and actually really like it, I didn't do too shabby of a job. I'm not good with Mod Podge, so I was grumbling the whole time. 

Step 1: I bought an X and O paper mache letters

Step 2: I painted the back and sides of each letter

Step 3: I printed all my pictures I wanted in black and white 2X2 size

I had to pick and choose which picture fit correctly on the letters, then out came the Mod Podge and off I went. It was a little time consuming I'll admit. But I don't really decorate for Valentines Day so this little "splash" of holiday decor looks nice on my shelf. I added the red sequin lines in to separate the awkward cutting lines between each picture.

Happy Valentines Day!!

Reminding myself about my Inner Awesomeness

Ok I'm on a roll.....2 posts in a month!!! I've had this jewelry box/collage frame hanging in my bathroom for a while now...empty and lonely. I wasn't excited about adding the pictures to the frame, even though I have some awesome pictures that I could see in there, I have a "slight" problem with getting bored with seeing the same pictures over and over again....and in a bathroom???? I just wasn't feeling it. 

Here's my jewelry box before hanging there lonely and boring on the bathroom wall---

Here's the inside with a few of my necklaces, the other thousand I have hanging on a curtain rod behind my bedroom door...which that is a great idea too that I got from Pinterest!

So I decided there were a few quotes that I love and I've listed them below:

• Liberate your inner awesome
• We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned, so as to have the life we have waiting for us
• Go the extra mile, its never crowded
• Be so happy that when others look at you they become happy too
• I live in organized chaos and I'm good with it
• Peace
• All you need is love.....and a dog
• Remember this, that very little is needed to make a happy life
• Today I will be happier than a bird with a french fry

These quotes make me happy, so I thought "hey why not print them up in my bathroom colors, in cute font and put them in the collage frame so I can see this everyday and remind myself of these certain quotes that make me feel happy". AND my husband approved the design too! Woot woot!

So I just played around with Word and different fonts/colors, printed them up....and mind you it was a lot of work getting the sizing, luckily I'm not overly anal and this was a QUICK project, so I just eyeballed a lot on measurements. Also I added some shading to the edges to give it a little more depth:

Ok so here it is....I'm so happy with it!

Ok I'm hot on my New Years Eve Resolutions list of getting my projects done, so happy that this is complete and I can remind myself everyday to just BE AWESOME!!!

Round and round I go...

Yes its been a million years since I've posted, BUT my goal is to be more active on the blog. I can foresee most of the posts from me being about my total home makeover. I have big plans on a budget.

• Finish painting my ENTIRE house...yes I said ENTIRE phew!!!
• refinish my kitchen cabinets, laundry room cabinets, and 2nd bathroom cabinets phew!!!
• Paint 3 different wood art products...darn Pinterest they have my project list about 1000
• make pillows
• make curtains
• slipcover a chair
• refinish about 4 pieces of furniture
• make a duvet for my bedroom....ok maybe I'll buy that one, heck TJ Maxx is so stinkin' affordable

Those are what I consider low monetary projects, now onto my list of "saving money and begging husband" projects:

• sliding barn door into our "office" which I want to switch into a simple clean straight desk, flat screen and pull out sofa...so it becomes an office/kids room/guest room
• pull out my kitchen island and redesign it
• knock out the windows in my living room and have a sliding wall put in
• new outdoor furniture
• totally overhaul my backyard to make it more entertaining friendly

Ok after all is said and done, that is not ALL of my wish list but a big part of it. I am in the midst of painting the entire house now, as you can see thats only #1 on my "affordable" list so far, I've got a long way to go. My husband and I stopped by the Bicycle Graveyard out in Rye, AZ and bought these old rims (let me add my husband is a HUGE Mountain Biker so the biking theme was a subtle hobby decor)

Here they are....I love them!

These were bought in November, with Christmas and all they just sat until now, I've finally got one wall all painted so my husband went to town today and did a lot of my "honey do" projects...this being one of them. So he got some REALLY long screws and hung them on the wall for me. This may not be for everyone but for me...well I'm super happy with it. Once I move the furniture back and incorporate my decor colors....turquoise, tangerine, cream and brown I'm going to paint a few of them, but for now they are truly rustic.

The blue tape line next to it is for some wall art I want to do, ummmm thats down on my affordable list somewhere :)

See how rustic they really are???

Anyway it was easy to get hubby to do all the work today because if it has to do with a bike then he is in heaven....hmmmm I wonder how I can incorporate a bike into fixing the leaking toilet????

Well it feels good to be back and posting again, see you on #2 of my "Affordable" list!