Be Present

Today a few boards taught me a lesson. Sounds weird right? Let me explain. I had all these goals today:

Finish unpacking the house

Finish enough projects to take pictures and apply to Farmers Market.

Make another sign for my booth.

I didn't fully finish any of them, but it was a GOOD thing. 

I found the perfect old cupboard door to make a sign on that Ive been thinking about making for awhile. I want to make a sign that says "BE PRESENT". I feel like it would be a good reminder. I get going on so many things and I just go go go and don't slow down. I tell the girls "one second" or "we will tomorrow". I hear myself doing it too much and I can see them being disappointed. So today the girls and I took a trip to the dump for our weekend scavenger hunt in the lumber pile and there was the top of a play fort. Macie wanted it sooooo bad.  We came home and after 5 minutes of puppy dog eyes, papa hopped on his tractor, headed over there and hauled it back. The girls were thrilled!! So then they wanted to do a "project like mommy" for their new clubhouse. I told her, "maybe later this week, I have to finish a few projects". Macie said "Mom, you do so many projects you are always so busy." That twisted my heart a little. I explained that I am doing it so that I CAN stay home and get to be with them more. Its such a hard balance. Especially just starting out my little business, I need to do a LOT of work, but I can tell it really puts a strain on the girls. I need to find balance. SO,  as I was sanding the sign I realized:  HELLO!! EARTH TO APRILL!! LOOK WHAT YOU ARE MAKING! NOW ACT ON IT!!

I'm trying to make a sign to remind myself to be present and in the meantime pushing the girls aside so I can get it done. Makes no sense.

So I stopped what I was doing and went and grabbed the girls and we went on the hunt for a special project just for them to do with my FULL attention. I accepted that I would not meet my goals for the day, but that that was ok. There's always tomorrow for projects. But Macie and Emma will only be these amazing girls THIS age for THIS day. 

 Macie insisted she needed this wooden sawhorse, but couldn't think of what she would do with it. Then we found a giant spool like for wire and decided it could be a table for their new fort. I let them paint it themselves and we even had a paint fight. I pretended not to notice when they painted pink stripes on my butt and they thought it was so funny. I love when they giggle so hard. They were amazed I was letting them use "real" paint and do it themselves) They want me to use my cricut and write "The Lytton Clubhouse" on it. So cute. Macie definitely has the 'trash to treasure" bug.

Don't you love their paint clothes:)

So, I didn't get my application sent to the market. It will be there tomorrow. I still have the same six boxes sitting in the kitchen. But the girls don't care. I did get to have an awesome time with them...and made a table we will look at, play at and remember for a long time to come.

I love my family

I told Macie she would be the star of my blog today for her wonderfulness last night. She so deserves it! She said she is going to write that in her journal:)

I was outside last night working on projects for my booth and the girls were playing around like little rednecks in the driveway. When I am in the shop I'm not by the yard anymore, so they are forced to play in the driveway/garden area. They make the most of it though. They shovel around the rocks, play in papas van, drive their jeep around and get into as much mischief as possible. 

Anyway, I was out there working and I showed Macie two jewelry boards I had just finished. She looked at me, paused and said "Mom, that is amazing. And anyone who doesn't think so is out of their mind.!" Is that not the sweetest thing you have ever heard??? I am so nervous about doing our farmers market for the first time, getting rejected, looking like a dork.........but this made me feel so good. She then stood at a construction pole sitting there and sang into it for 15 minutes while I painted outside. Here is what her song was like

 "My mom is the best artist I have ever seen. All her things are in our house. I love them. I love them. If people don't love them they are crazy. Oh ya my mom. Oh ya. She is such an artist."

I know shes my daughter and she has to say that and she was playing it up a bit, but it was so adorable and soo sweet. I am so thankful for my little cheerleader.

Also a little shout out to my dad who has been helping me out sooo much. He has been cutting the boards for my chalkboards.(I'm a little scared of the saw, but I'm going to give it a go this week:) He also made me an awesome stand out of an old ladder for my display that I found at the dump. I heard him out there cutting it this morning at 6:30am. He is so full of ideas and knowledge that I much appreciate! 

Papa you rock!!

On another note I was up until 1am covering my couch pillows. I love how they turned out. Pictures coming  as soon as I can get the curtains done.
Now I'm headed outside to finish up a few projects. My goal is to have pictures taken and sent off to the market jury by tonight. Cross your fingers and your toes:)
I'm taking the leap!

And one more shout out to Trish who is designing a new blog look for me! It is amazing and I cannot wait for you all to see it!! Love you!

Jewelry Frames

I rarely wear jewelry now that my job consists of getting apple juice, scrubbing toilets, and cuddling Emma. But I accumulated a lot when I was working at the bank, so am always looking for more organized ways of displaying and storing them. I have seen these all over blog land for awhile now and was so excited to make my own. I am going to have them at my farmers market booth(please approve me jury:) for sale in lots of pretty colors and sizes, so come and get em!! I'm also going to add hooks at the bottom for hanging necklaces. Isn't is fun to look at all that pretty jewelry. Now if I could just have somewhere to wear it....................... 

I'm subbing at the Christian School today and did spice it up with a necklace:) But one of my ears is closed up!!!

Lace Jars

How pretty!! I saw some like these on pinterest and had to try them. They were so easy. The gray ones were actually the product of my mess ups. I think I may like them the most! I may sell them as a little extra goodie at my booth for a couple bucks. Vase, stick a tea light in it? What do you think??? 

Subway sign art (a tutorial)

Im so excited about this project! I have done one previous pallet project here and am now hooked. I have wanted to make a subway inspired sign for awhile now, and finally had all I needed to make one. My friend gave me a cricut (score!) and my dad found me the perfect pallet! Now I know subway signs have street names, or locations on them but I wanted to make some with sayings on them. I have a few ideas, but this first is for my kitchen.

 Here's the how to:

Start with a pallet or piece of plywood: 

I sanded this one down with a 100 grit just to get the big sliver chunks off. I was going for a distressed look so didn't make it perfect on purpose.

Next I painted the whole thing white with a small roller. I decided to use the actual letter for the stencil and not the stencil part. My letters were huge (up to 6 in.) so I thought that would be easier and save some vinyl rather than use the negative of the letters. So, in this case, I painted the base the color the color that I eventually wanted the letters to be. 

 Next I cut out all the letters with paper first so I didn't waste vinyl. I only did six words, so wanted it to fill up the space and knew I would have to adjust my letter size depending on the length of the word.This part was pretty time consuming. Almost 3 hours!

Then its time to cut out the vinyl letters (on my awesome cricut machine!) and attach them to the board. I measured half way down and did the middle line of letters first, drawing a straight line on each row to keep them even. You can use contact paper which helps keep your letters straight, but I didn't have enough to do this whole thing, so I placed them by hand, which was also time consuming. (This took 10 feet of 8 in. vinyl, so I didn't want to use that much contact paper) Here are all the letters layed out.(the vinyl I used is gray and sticky on the back)

I smoothed them all down so no paint would seep under and then mixed up my own shade of gray since I didn't have any on hand. Now its time to paint. I started with a foam brush only painting outwards away from the stencils.

And then quickly decided that this would leave weird brush strokes and take forever. I realized that I spent so much time making the letters perfect that I should be able to paint right over them and be fine, so I grabbed a regular paint brush and painted on two coats right over all the letters.

Now taking them off is a little tricky. You don't want the paint to be dry because then the vinyl could take chunks of paint with it. But if its too wet, its hard to get a start on the letter to peel it off. So I got some tweezers and carefully peeled them off.

And here it is in the kitchen.(on the half painted cart I'm working on.......that coming soon)

I decided I wanted it to look even more distressed. I took a fine grit(220) paper and quickly went over the whole sign to roughen it up a little. I can see myself becoming a sign making fool. More to come soon I'm sure.......

I want to do some black ones with distressed white letters. Here's kind of what it would look like. I cant decide which I like best, so I guess I'll just have to make another one:)

Partying at:
My uncommon slice of suburbia
The Ivy Cottage
Primp
Miss Mustard Seed
Somewhat Simple
My Repurposed Life
Redoux

Mirror Mirror on the wall

I forgot to take a picture of this mirror before, but got it at a garage sale awhile ago. My intention was to paint the whole thing, but wanted to do something a little different. It was all wood before and here it is after. I loooove it. Now I just need to find a spot for it.

Please excuse the blinds in the reflection:)

Paint chip art

I've been seeing different paint chip art around and decided to try my own. I had all these at home, so no hate mail on me wasting please. I'm serious. I saw a post on how immoral it is to 'steal' paint chips. It was a doozy. I hope to do something cooler with some scrapbook paper I have soon now that I have a die cut machine (oh yeah! The Cricut baby!!) I cut all these by hand...what was I thinking??? My hubby thinks its 'out of this world'. No, not cool out of this world....like a weird-what-were-you-thinking- out of this world. What do you think?

Pallet coat rack (18)

Here's a quick how to of the pallet Trish and I made in Long Beach a few months back. 'Quick' because that's how easy it is. And I was a horrible picture taker during the process. Her hubby Eugene did the hardest part for us. Here it is before, just a plain old pallet:

He cut off the back half of it for us so it wouldn't be so heavy. Trish wanted it to match the accent wall she did in her living room behind the tv here:

It turns out she only had about an inch of paint left in the half gallon can, but it turned out to be a good thing  and we ended up with a nice distressed look that we were really happy with. I just lightly washed off the pallet and sanded it really quickly just to get rid of the huge sliver parts. Then I took a dry paint brush and put a tiny bit on the brush. I dry brushed the entire thing really roughly just barely covering it. I didn't get a picture if it hung up over her beautiful black cabinet, but here it is after:

    Then you just add knobs, handles or hooks and hang as you wish. Easy peasy and oh so cute.

Linking to:

DIY by Design

Southern Lovely

Redoux
Primp
Miss Mustard Seed

and

Somewhat Simple

Pallet Love

I love pallets. Now how many of us could say that before pinterest? I mean really, am I right or am I right? I also love the awesomeness that is living-in-the-sort-of-redneck-woodsyness that I do:) Now Ive always loved it, but after not having it for 8 months, I reeeally love it now. We have pallets everywhere!! My dad always has them to store stuff on, my neighbor who is MIA has them everywhere and lets not forget that I love by the dump which is pallet heaven! Any of you who are not into pinterest may not know what the heck I'm talking about. Let me give you a little peek into my obsession. I'm warning you though, its dangerous to look at this. You will never look at a pallet or pile of scrap wood the same. Don;t say I didn't warn you. Here's some loveliness.....First here's one that my friend Trish and I made to hang right inside her front door for coats and bags. (Here's the how to.)

And here are some Ive pinned:

Awesome right??? As soon as it stops raining around here I'm going to try my hand at a subway sign. I had a pallet all dried out...and then it rained, And then I dried it out again.......and then it rained again:) So, here's hoping for tomorrow! I'm also hoping to do some shelves and an ottoman in the near future.
Its funny that I see and hear quotes all the time that I love, but now that I need one I just cant pick one. Its this huge statement piece that everyone coming into our home will read. Its kind of a big decision. So now I'm on the hunt. I'm thinking I may take the easy way out and use a food quote I love and put it in the kitchen. That was I can take a little more time finding a meaningful one that I can live with. What kind of wording to you display in your home?

Feeling crafty!

Woo hoo!! Still no Internet....but Im back in the I-to-the-ho.  I am so busy unpacking and finally got to start organizing my craft room today. What does that mean you might ask? It means, watch out peeps, watch out!!! The creative juices are flowing and Im ready to make make make....which means sell, sell, sell.

 Ive been making some really cute baby wipe holders my friends on Vegas have, some cuuute pillows, and my brain is going crazy with ideas. Im going to start some cute decor 'letters' next week, some etched glass projects and I have some hats ready to go. And my passion is in full force too.....my furniture doin-up:) I got the coolest dresser yesterday that needs my love. And 2 benches almost ready for some bums to sit on:) Im also going to make a bunch of cute chalkboards to sell. There is a facebook yardsale event in June that I think I am going to get a booth at and also call this week about having a booth at the farmers market. I think my stuff is just what it needs:) Our farmers market has some cute booths, so that means I need to get my stuff up and running so I can fill mine up. Its hard without the Internet knowing about all the shows, so if anyone knows of any please let me know:)

Im so happy to be back and have the creative juices flowing again!! Im finally not working, so I have time to work on things. (Also a little more pressure to bring home some bacon, but Im up for the challenge.)