A new camera!

I'm back!  I'm back!  Life has been soooo busy AND my old camera died.  Well, it didn't die, but it did start casting a vibrant pink hue over all of the photos and occassionally it wouldn't focus AT ALL - every subject would turn out as a big blurry blob.  So I got a new one!  Yeehaw!  It's a Samsung WB600 (or HZ30W) and it has 15x optical zoom!!!  Eeeeek!  Our old one only had 3x.  The new one will cover focal lengths from 24 mm to 360 mm - I'm not entirely sure what that means, but I think it's good.  It's not a DSLR or anything, but that's fine because I wouldn't have the first clue how to operate a DSLR.  It's a point-and-shoot with great zoom in a compact body and it's my new baby.  Here it is:

(I'd give photo credit, but I don't remember where I snagged the pic.  Oops!)

I've been playing around with it a little bit.  Here's the memo board I made a few months ago.  I hung it on a pre-existing nail and it partially covers the switchplate.  I've been meaning to move it ...

These are quilts.  I HEART quilts.  The top one is quite old - made by my great-grandmother.  The lower one is newer - made by my grandmother.  Lots of sentimental value!

These are some old books.  That front one is dated 1811 and belonged to an ancestor on my father's side.

Only 19 more days until Summer Break, but who's counting?

 

I'm still here! And I have curtains!

I'm still here!  We've had a tearful few weeks with the loss of my Nan-in-law after a battle with cancer and the diagnosis of cancer in my Dad.  Blogging has fallen by the way-side, but I thought I'd pop in tonight with an update on the dining/kitchen window.  It's finally dressed!

I used a piece of burlap 36"x54", cut in half lengthwise to get two pieces 18"x54", and then sewed end to end to get one piece roughly 18"x108" (1.5'x9').  The rod pocket band at the top is made of ribbon that I found at Walmart.  It was wire-edged ribbon and so I had to remove the wire - kind of tedious, but actually not as difficult as I thought it might be.  I used hem tape for the first time on the side hems, but sewed the rest.  The curtain rod was a real score - on sale at Zellers for $4.97!

I have some other projects in mind, but I'm not sure when I'll get around to them.  Hold your loved ones tight!

Linky Parties:
Funky Junk Interiors ~ Saturday Nite Special
A Vision to Remember ~ Check Me Out Saturday
Cottage Instincts ~ Make it for Monday

Kicking my Butt in Gear

I'm about to administer a swift kick to my own rear-end...figuratively, not literally.  There are a few projects that I've had floating around in my head for a while now since seeing them around blogland.  I'm going to list them here and then commit to checking them off the list.  Soon.  Very soon.  Of course, I'll take pics and blog about them as I get them done.

1.  A framed monogram like Jessica's @ This Blessed Life.

 (photo from www.thisblessedlife.net/2010/03/easy-framed-monogram-project.html)

 

Don't you love it?  I picked up a truly hideous gold plastic picture frame from the dollar store...I'm hoping I can transform it with some paint.  Anyone know if you can paint plastic frames?  I guess I'll find out...

2.  A burlap valance for the dining window like Vanessa's @ Vanilla Lavender

(photo from vanillalavender.blogspot.com/2009/06/no-sew-window-valance-featuring-burlap.html)

I bought a curtain rod on Friday and I've had the burlap and some accent ribbon for a while now...just have to fire up the sewing machine.

3.  A family name sign from an old cabinet door.

(photo from www.americanwoodcrafts.com/PersonalizedFamilyEstablishedSignMonogram-idv-481-4.html)

I've seen a few versions at various blog linky parties.  There's one in particular that I quite liked, but I didn't bookmark it and I can't seem to find it again.  Sigh...when will I learn?

Wish me luck!

Sponge-Painting Begone!

We all wish we had more storage in the bathroom, don't we?  Our bathroom needs some major updating, but for the short-term, a little extra storage space would be lovely!  

(I took this pic at midnight...bad lighting...sorry.)

Quite a while ago, my mother-in-law did a complete makeover on one of her spare bedrooms.  She changed it from an adult-type guest room into a kid-friendly sleepover room for grandchildren.  Primary colours and bunk beds are now the name of the game.

In the transition, we fell heir to an old nightstand.  It's not very big and that's ideal because it fits perfectly in our bathroom.  It has a drawer -- another added bonus since we only have one drawer in our bathroom vanity.  It's just made of particle board, but...uuummm...it was FREE, so who cares?  Then there's the paint job -- white and periwinkle blue -- some solid white, some solid blue, and some white with blue sponged on top.  If you're thinking that my mother-in-law must be stuck in a time warp, I assure you this is not her current style.  I'm sure it was all the rage in it's heyday (early 90's?), but I felt it needed a little facelift and my mother-in-law gave her blessing.

Here's the "before" in all her sponge-painted glory:

 

What I did:

1. Cut a bigger opening at the base of the apron so that the bathroom scale would slide underneath.  Okay, okay, my dad did that part.  It was my idea, though, AND I drew the line for him to cut along.  That counts for something, right?
2. Removed the drawer pull and filled the screw holes with spackle.
3. Sanded and painted the whole thing -- Pittsburgh's "delicate white" in semi-gloss.  
4. Drilled holes for the new drawer pull and attached it.  I love the patina on the cup pull.  I got it at Re-Store (Habitat for Humanity's thrift shop) for 50 cents!!!
5. Added a cute little lined basket and took pics!

What I didn't do (yet):

1. Sand the edges for a distressed look.  I'm undecided.
2. Apply glaze for an aged look.  I'm undecided.
3. Paint a third and final coat.  I will do this later today, but I was anxious to take pics and blog about it so I skipped ahead.  Do you do that, too?

The "after" shots:

 

(Another midnight photo...bad lighting...sorry.)

(Yet another midnight photo...this one with flash...hence the blinding white.)

I either mis-calculated or mis-measured because the cup pull is not positioned where I wanted it.  It'll stay for now.  I'll add it to my to-do list...

Linky linky!  Check out all the awesomeness at these parties:
Remodelaholic ~ RA Meeting
Thrifty Decor Chick ~ Before and After Party
Between Naps on the Porch ~ Metamorphosis Monday 
Cottage Instincts ~ Make it for Monday 
Making the World Cuter ~ Mondays 
The DIY Show Off ~ Project Parade 
The Girl Creative ~ Just Something I Whipped Up 
The Persimmon Porch ~ Made it Mondays 
A Soft Place to Land ~ DIY Day 
Today's Creative Blog ~ Get Your Craft On 
Domestically Speaking ~ Power of Paint Party 

DIY Curtain Rod & Brackets

I've been making plans to transform my son's room into a "big boy" room.  I like the idea of a rustic lodge theme for his room.  There's always good inspiration to be found at "Rate My Space":
Kaison's big boy room
Jack's Bedroom: Before & After
Rustic Fishing

I was browsing Dollarama one day when I saw a collection of rustic-looking walking sticks standing in an open box.  I immediately thought that two of them connected together would make a great (and frugal) curtain rod.  Each one was 36" long.  I sweet-talked Hubby into cutting about 5" of each one and drilling a hole into the end of each one.  At first, I tried connecting them with a piece of 1/4 " wood dowel, but it wasn't strong enough and so I ended up using a piece of threaded 5/16" metal rod instead.
 

Then I had to come up with a way of making brackets for the curtain rod.  I picked up a package of two ugly brass coat hooks from Dollarama.  I cut a couple of small wooden blocks and painted them and the hooks black.  I found some screws that were longer than the ones that came with the hooks.  I wanted the screws to be long enough to go throught the wooden block and into the wall beyond.  If the hooks were mounted directly on the wall, the curtain rod would have been too close to the wall.

 

The "handle" on each walking stick, makes a perfect finial.  I spent $3.75 on the two walking sticks and the one package of coat hooks.  I already had the black paint and the curtain rings.

Partying at:

Domestically Speaking ~ Power of Paint Party
Blue Cricket Design ~ Show and Tell 
My Backyard Eden ~ Make it Yours Day
We Are THAT Family ~ Works-For-Me Wednesday
The Thrifty Home ~ Penny Pinching Party
Someday Crafts ~ Whatever Goes Wednesday  
The Shabby Chic Cottage ~ Transformation Thursday

Ooh La La!

After the kiddo was tucked in bed last night, I dug out some black paint, brown kraft paper, burlap, ribbon, and my trusty glue gun to turn a $3 thrift store find into a much more appealing French memo board.  Ooh la la!

Here's the result:

And here's how it started out:

I started by removing the canvas panel from the frame.  Then I sanded the frame a bit, wiped it down, and gave it a coat of black paint.  While the frame was drying, I covered the canvas panel with brown kraft paper and then burlap.  I added criss-crossing ribbon and secured the "intersection points" (that's the math teacher in me coming out) with pushpins.  Popped it all back into the frame and it was done!

I think the "after" is much better than the "before".

Partyin' it up at:
Remodelaholic ~ RA Meeting
Funky Junk Interiors ~ Saturday Nite Special
Thrifty Decor Chick ~ Before and After Party
Between Naps on the Porch ~ Metamorphosis Monday
A Soft Place to Land ~ DIY Day
The Girl Creative ~ Just Something I Whipped Up
The Twice Remembered Cottage ~ Make Your Monday
Reinvented ~ Trash to Treasure Tuesday
My Frugal Family ~ Talented Tuesday
Silly Little Sparrow ~ Toot your Horn Tuesday
Today's Creative Blog ~ Get Your Craft On
Domestically Speaking ~ Power of Paint Party
The Shabby Chic Cottage ~ Transformation Thursday
Finding Fabulous ~ Frugalicious Friday

Blog Browsing Highlights

We need a new kitchen table.  The little 4-seater that I've had since my days as a single gal is simply not big enough.  I have been thinking that I'd love an old farmhouse-type table and six mismatched chairs - natural wood for the table and black paint for the chairs.

When I saw this on The Decorating Diaries, I fell in love.  Her chairs are white and they look divine!  I still think I'd go black for my kitchen, though.

Rita at Curbside Creations dressed up some lined baskets with ribbon.  

Such a simple thing to do and so so cute!  I have some lined baskets on a stand in my bathroom and I've been thinking they look a bit plain.  This could be a perfect solution!

Nicole at Kicking it in the Suburbs has made an amazing transformation in her bathroom.

I love the artwork on the wall - closeups of old-fashioned cross faucet handles.

Jen at Notes from the Heartland has been busy sprucing up her entryway.

What a radical change!  Truly remarkable!  Any adjective I can think of seems an inadequate description.

Kim at Starshine Chic gives a tutorial on creating letter art.

So fun!  I have to try this!

I'm a sucker for quilts and this one at Brown Paper Packages is just so darned cute.

I love the colours!

Okay.  Enough procrastinating...tomorrow is the first day of exam week...work,work,work!

Signage

The Nester is featuring Danielson Studio Designs and offering a giveaway.  I tried out the design studio and had a ball playing around with all of the different options.  I made myself stop before I got completely sucked in and ended up wasting an inordinate amount of time.  Here are a couple I came up with.

 

I think I like the second one better...but the first one is nice, too...

Hop over to the Nesting Place and check it out for yourself!

Out with the Old and in with the New (window treatments)

For over a year now, the windows in our basement family room have been sporting these beauties:

They were kindly left to us by the previous owners, but, well, they just weren't our style.  Y'know?  So I went fabric shopping and a few months later I finally got around to sewing.  It was then that I realized I didn't have enough fabric for all three windows so I had to scrap my original plan.  I ended up settling for one single panel for each window -- just big enough to fit inside the casing.

I wanted an easy way to gather the panel up in the middle so I finally came up with a jute twine loop and a button.  It works perfectly.  We can drop it and let the panel hang down if we want to block out light from that window and when we want to raise it again, it's as easy as placing a loop over a button.  No fussy tying.  No obsessing over the bow.

Please note, these pictures were taken at night and I had to use the dreaded flash.  The paint colour on the walls is not really powder blue!  And yes, I know I still have to remove the brackets from the old curtain rod...

I'm linking up to Saturday Nite Special, Frugalicious Friday, DIY Day, and Just Something I Whipped Up Monday.

My Top 10 Picks from Blogland 2009

Okay, so since I just started this blog a few weeks ago and since I don't even have a grand total of 10 posts under my belt, I can't possibly list 10 of my own highlights from 2009.  Instead, I've chosen 10 of my favourites from out there in Blogland.

The list is in no particular order.  Well, that's not exactly true.  It's not in order of rank/preference, but it is in alphabetical order.  I'm just a tad too anal to type the list all willy-nilly with no order at all.

320 * Sycamore
before and after: entryway

A Soft Place to Land

The Door Coffee Table

Funky Junk Interiors
Layering your vignettes 101

It's the Little Things that make a House a Home

Hello, Storage...

Just Beachy

Quick and easy trim upgrade

Our Suburban Cottage

Framing a Mirror

Resolved 2 Worship

Kitchen Make-Over

Southern Hospitality

Before and After: Brass to Bronze Light Fixture

The Lettered Cottage

My $82 Fireplace Makeover

Thrifty Decor Chick

A New Dining Room Centerpiece

THANKS FOR THE INSPIRATION!