Third Place Feels Like First!

I just wanted to let you all know that I won third place in the Crafting competition over at Sew Dang Cute!!  I just wanted to say THANK YOU to everyone for clicking on my link.   I am off for now, but don't forget to join in on the next round of the competition, the theme is "upcycle".  So get out there and upcycle your hearts out!  THANK YOU AGAIN!!! 

One Man's Trash = Luci Rae's Kitchen

As I mentioned on Wednesday the next week's theme for Crafting With the Stars and Crafting From the Sidelines is "Upcycled."   Well, have I got an "upcycling" for you! 

A few months ago I was driving home from work to relieve my mom from babysitting Luci when I got a call.  It was my mom and she was EXCITED!  She told me to take the back way home and that I would see a pile of furniture on the curb waiting for the trashman.  Knowing what treasures could be found and giddy with excitement, I of course took her advise... and I am sure glad I did! 

Sitting on the side of the road amidst an old refrigerator, some yucky shelves, and old boots sat this little treasure:

It was wobbly and rickety and had a family of spiders living in the back... but I loved it anyway. We snatched it up (screaming when I found the spiders) and threw it in the back of the Xterra.  I left it outside for a month or so (for fear of the spiders) and then when I was sure they were gone I started on a little face lift.  I thought it would be the perfect gift for Luci's first birthday.

I started by power washing... A LOT!  I mean look how dirty it was!

Then I had my hubster put some nails in it to make it sturdy again... he's so helpful.


Finally I started sanding, and sanding, and sanding some more.  After I had sanded it to my satisfaction I started spraying.  I used Rust-Oleum's Berry Pink in Gloss.  It was the cutest color! 

I handpainted some aqua to give it a little bit of contrast:

And sewed a little curtain for the cabinets:

The end result makes me so happy!  The little oven door works and everything :)  Now Luci has her very own little kitchen in the corner of our kitchen.  While mommy is cooking (rare, but it does happen) Luci can be playing in her kitchen too. 

Here it is, all pretty and finished for Luci's birthday!



It turned out better then I thought and it was free to boot!  I don't think it gets any more "upcycled" then that!  I mean this thing was doomed to die at the bottom of the dump but thanks to my mom, it has been given a new life, with a new little girl to love it... Thanks mom for the great tip!

Anyone else been dumpster diving and proud of it?? 

Or am I the only crazy dumpster diver out there??

Anyone... anyone...Bueller???

Well peeps now this little party is in your hands! Check out the host of this week's Crafting From the Sidelines Bernadette from b3 Home Designs for all of the competition entries or to enter your own project! You can either vote by commenting at the blog of the project you like the most.  OR you can hop on over to b3 Home Designs and comment about the project you want to win!  Check out all the projects, vote for your favorite and link up if you have an awesome "upcycled" project you want to submit! 

Also, don't forget to hop on over to Sew Dang Cute on Tuesday and click on your favorite project.  Each click counts as a vote... and I would love it if you clicked on my project!

So comment comment comment:)  I will love you forever and ever!!

I am linking to:

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BOO YA... My Fist is Pumping

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA. 

I am pumping my fist and doing the running man all at the same time... and it isn't pretty I assure you.  Just wanted to say THANK YOU to everyone for the likes and comments that won me the Crafting from the Sidelines contest.  I WIN!!!  What do I win you may ask yourself....

GLOOOOOOOOOOOOOORYY   

Don't believe me???   I had to double check myself.  Head over to Northeast of Eden  and see for yourself.  There is pageant music and everything!

Ok, now that I have that out of my system I just have to say how much fun I had doing that project!   Thanks to all the amazing ladies that were my fellow sideline competitors.  ALL of the projects ROCKED my socks off:) 


Next week's theme is "Upcycled".   I am so So SO excited.  It's like they knew me so well when they picked these themes.  Upcycling is my favorite thing to do!  So hold on to your hats ladies, we sideline peeps are gonna blow you all away!  The competition is fierce and I must say, now that I got a taste of the glory I am not backing down easily;)  And if anyone wants to join in feel free, even if you didn't play along this week. 


The competition is still happening over at Sew Dang Cute  where you can win real prizes and even more glory!!  So head over and click on the projects you like.  The person with the most clicks wins! 

Thanks again for all the votes peeps!!

A Drop of Golden Sun

In just one week Ms. Luci Rae will be celebrating her first birthday... ONE WEEK!  I went back through pictures from this last year so that I could "re-live" the best year of my life.  I may have gotten all sappy and teary eyed... ok I balled like a big old baby, snot bubbles and all.  I am doing this in two separate posts since I have WAY too many pictures and couldn't cut any out:)  You can catch the second half next Wednesday the 12th... her actual birthday.

So here she is in all her glory (the first 6 months at least).  My sweet, energetic, charismatic, hysterical, jabber box LUCI RAE!!

Here she is on her first "birthday", all 5 pounds 8 ounces of her.  Not my prettiest hour but definitely my proudest:)  I still tear up looking at this picture.

At 1 month old.. yes I did put her in a pumpkin, yes I did.

At 2 months old.  So pretty:)

At 3 months (love her little smile).

4 months old with her BFF Taylor. ( I have no idea what they are looking at but it must be pretty interesting)

Her dedication at church at 5 months.

At her 6 month photo session with Molly at Cedar House Photography.  Molly is AMAZING.  Seriously people, she did my wedding pictures too.  I HIGHLY recommend her.  She is so fun, so professional, and SO talented.

The first 6 months were a whirlwind. 

I learned how to function with no sleep. 

I learned how to be flexible. 

I learned to appreciate my body for the first time in my life. 

But above all, Luci Rae has given me a small glimpse into what God's love for me looks like. 

 I never imagined that I could be so in love with someone I have only known for 12 short months... but I loved her the moment I knew she existed. 

Her name means Ray of Light... I couldn't describe her any better then that.

Knock Your Socks Off Knock Off!

Are you all ready to see the awesome knock off I created??

I chose to do a knock off from the one and only Mandi from Vintage Revivals.  She is also one of the stars of Crafting with the Stars which makes it that much more fun!  Yep, I am aware I reference her A LOT... I just can't help admiring her awesomeness. 

This is actually a huge coincidence.  I just HAPPENED to do a knock off the week before the contest.  I had no idea what this week's theme was, I just genuinely loved her idea and wanted to recreate it for myself.  I did a knock off of her amazing compass rug.  I used her tutorial and made a TON of mistakes but the end result was fantastic.   

 

She started out a little rough.  I found her in a small thrift store and she wasn't even put together.  Her legs were sitting across the room from her top.  It was sad really.  I rescued her from certain doom and brought her home for a little Remley Re-do.  I had dreams of a turquise table... and still think it would have ROCKED... but my hubster wanted a table "the color of a wine cork".  Have no idea where he gets this stuff... Apparently I have been drinking too much wine lately.

I coated her with some primer and painted her turquise (so that when I sanded  and gave her some "age" the fun color would peak through.)  Then I sprayed  about a thousand coats of RustOleum's Almond.  It is the perfect color and the turquise looks so cute peaking through! 

After hours of sanding, deciding it looked like crap, repainting, and sanding again, I came to the conclusion that I needed some new direction.  That's when I remembered Mandi's (from Vintage Revivals) rug.  Check it out here.  I used her tutorial and it worked swimmingly!  I am the proud owner of this amazing kitchen table!

Here is the progression of the project  (I won't even attempt to do a tutorial because I could never do any better then Mandi already did):

So, linky on up and join us for our Crafting from the Sidelines contest.  It is easy and fun and we would love to see your knock offs.  Don't forget to vote as well.  (you can vote even if you aren't a part of the contest.)  Vote by commenting on this post or by hoping over to Northeast of Eden the host of this weeks ***Crafting From the Sidelines*** and commenting there.  Hop around and check out the amazing projects peeps.  It will be fun!

I am linked up over at Sew Dang Cute's contest as well, and would LOVE you all to click over.  The more times my link is clicked the more likely I am to win!

ANY WHO thanks for playing!!

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Not Quite Stars but Still Super Awesome Runners Up

Do you all remember Crafting With the Stars??? 

I entered the contest and sadly, did not make the cut.  After a few tears, ok not really but I was disappointed, I decided to get back on that horse and craft with the "not quite stars but still super awesome second runners up" instead.   I am participating in *** Crafting From the Sidelines ***.

A bunch of the peeps who didn't quite make the cut decided to get together and craft along side the stars.  Each week over at Sew Dang Cute they will post the theme of the week.  Then we loosers will link up together and run a contest of our own.  The prize is just the good old fashioned glory of winning.  And being able to say "BOO YA, In your face" while fist pumping.  That would be immature though so I probably won't do that if I win... out loud at least. 


The first weeks theme is Knock Offs.  You do a project that is a knock off of something you have seen... in Target, on a blog, in a high end store, etc.  The rules are simple... anyone can enter by linking up your knock off project over at Northeast of Eden, our host for this week (and the master mind behind the contest).  Even if you didn't enter to win Crafting with the Stars and you just want to play, come on over, link up your project, and get your fist ready to pump!  You have until Oct. 3rd to link up your projects and then the polls will be open for voting for 24 hours.  You all can vote by either commenting on my blog or hoping over to the host and commenting there.  (but not until October 3rd of course!... Don't worry I will remind you:)

Sew Dang Cute  is also running a contest for us runners up and you can win actual prizes!  So, don't forget to link your projects up over there as well... in case you wanted to win something other then glory.  I just want to mention that the Crafting from the Sidelines contest in no way supposed to take away from their amazing Crafting with the Stars contest.  It is simply a way for us runners up to play along.

I am super excited about this weeks theme.  I have already completed my project and it is, dare I say, fantastic...TOOT TOOT (that is me tooting my own horn not farting).  I will reveal this fantastic project on Monday the 3rd and let the voting frenzy begin! 


You can link up your projects here as well and add the link to your blog if you would like!  Good luck and happy crafting!!  BOO YA!

Business in the Front, Party in the Back

I have been a painting machine lately.

In an attempt to make my bedroom slightly more pleasant... since it will most likely be the very last room we actually get to... I decided to give my bedside table a little face lift.  I should also mention that not only will this be my bedside table but due to our TINY bathroom this will also be where I do my makeup and hair (which lets be honest, only happens a few times a week anyway).

I have been hauling around this old sewing table for some time now.  My initial intent was to actually use it as a sewing table... but how much fun would that be??  So I took out the old sewing machine that was still on the inside and began to dream up fun ways to use this table. 

(side note: notice the grass is getting greener, I have been trying to bring it back from the brink of death!)

I want my bedroom to be lighter in color since it is on the smaller side and I don't want to make it feel even smaller with dark furniture.  So I chose to paint it ivory.  I am loving the off whites lately!

I washed her down, sanded her up (or would that be down... she feels violated either way), taped off her hardware and got to spraying. 

After this, I sanded a few spots to give her a little "age."

Then I used Mandi's glazing technique over at Vintage Revivals to give her a little more character.  ( I know I reference Mandi a lot.  But seriously, I would give my left arm to have half the girl's talent!).

See how the glaze brings out the lines! 

I love how she turned out!!  I plan on hanging a mirror so I can sit and get ready there. 
Oh, and I totally forgot to mention the best part!  I painted the inside purple.  Kinda like the mullet of side tables.  Business on the outside and party on the inside. 

(I had to retouch that left front leg... so don't worry I didn't leave it all unglazed like that)

I plan on finding/making a basket that is the size of the hole where the sewing machine used to be.  I will keep my makeup, blowdryer, brush, etc in it so that it is hidden when the table is closed.  I think it brings new meaning to the phrase "repurposed!"

Have any of you "repurposed" anything lately??   I love getting new ideas!

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