A barn bed for Carter

Ever since we made our bed last month we have been drawing up plans for more like crazy.  First, Brandon was hired to make one for his good friends son. He wanted to make it a little more childlike so made it with a barn peak. Carter also got to pick out the light for it, which was one of our favorites, good taste Carter! He also made little steps for it since it's big and chunky and it's occupant is a small cutie:) Here it is in the making....( we get going and forget to get many shots of the process:)

                                

                                  

                                    

                               

Here it is finished in its new home:

                            

                             

                                                 

And one happy little boy:)

                  

HUGE Christmas sale

Who couldn't be jolly this time of year?! Especially here in North Idaho right now. We just got a fresh batch of snow that is sticking around for awhile and it is soo beautiful! It really makes it seem like the Christmas season. Its been so long since Ive blogged I am about to throw out a whole lot of pics and info. Heres some of the winter fun we've been having:

Santa!! (So sweet, Emma told him she wanted a "jiggly" tooth brush(the electric one), so she is convinced, and fine with that is all she is getting for Christmas:) I love these young years, when they are still so easily made happy with  little toys and simple things)

A morning at Macies school. 

Helped my bestie decorate the church stage for the season

Its the holidays in here!!

Decorating up the house

Brandon took the girls into the woods in the back and let them pick out the tree this year:) and I then let them decorate it. It was soo hard for me when I'm so set in my ways about the decor, but I let go, and they LOVE it! Next year, I think we'll have two:) One for them and one for me:)

Brrr!!!

And last weekend I had the privilege to sell at a great annual show "Home for the Holidays". It was so fun! Here are some pictures of my booth and what I still have for sale. I've lowered prices as we get closer to Christmas, so contact me for questions!  

beamdesign4@gmail.com

One view of my booth

(Still for sale: "On Lake time" barnwood signs-$20

'Noel' and 'Peace' barnwood signs-$12

'Joy' blocks -$8

earrings and rings-$6.50

dishtowels-chevron and anchors-$5

Still for sale:

gray baby cradle from this post-$30

gray chair-$22

Still for sale: 

'home is where the anchor drops' sign-$20

"LOVE" sign-$15

"Let it snow' barnwood sign-$20

6' growth charts-$20

burlap stockings-$15

joy manger sign-$20

Grateful barnwood sign-$12

Growth charts in the back still for sale-$20
childrens vintage anchor chairs-$10 each
burlap stockings-$15
Let it snow sign-$20

$15

 6.50

$15

Buy local, peeps! Handmade love is the best kind of gift:)
Happy Holidays!!!!

Side Board redo

I got this piece on our local Facebook yardsale sight for $15 a few months back. I have always wanted some kind of sideboard piece for the kitchen or behind the couch, so Ive been waiting to this piece for our own home. Here she is before:

I painted her gray, distressed her, took off the existing handles and drilled new holes for these new beauties.

And after:

And all decorated up for fall:

Partying at:

Primitive and Proper

How to make your own custom rubber stamps

I have always wanted a chevron stamp. Who doesn't these days right?? But the only one I could find was by Tori Spelling and was like $50. (Ill admit though, I make no apologies, I do love me some Tori)

So after seeing a few blogs on it like this one here from my ALL-TIME-FAVORITE- BLOG-I-READ-EVERY-SINGLE-DAY. I ordered a speedy carve block on amazon and my sister happened to have the carving tool set i needed. You can take any image (off the web, a magazine, a logo) and turn it into a stamp! For my chevron one I:

1. Traced some chevron fabric I had onto plain old printer paper (with a pencil, that's the important part)

You could use a printed image or anything else.

For this one I found this image online and then just altered it a little:

2. Place the paper on your carve block, image side down.

3.Rub over the image with a flat surface like a debit card.

4. Remove the image and you will have the penciled image now on the rubber.

5. Trace your image with a permanent marker or pen so it doesn't rub off while you carve.

6. Carve out the parts you want to be the 'negative space' on the paper.

7. Carve some more

8. Carve a little more

9. It will take a few practice stamps to see where you need to carve a little more. 

10. Stamp beautiful things!!

I have gone a little crazy with my few favorite images and am in need of making a few new ones.

Ive done some on paper with a stamp pad, but mostly on fabric mixing acrylic paint and textile medium.(Theres not much of a fabric paint selection in our little town. neons and puffy paint mostly, so I just get the textile medium to mix with ANY of the beautiful colors that come in acrylics! You just follow the t.m instructions, and heat set it after. 

Here are my favorite projects Ive done lately:

These directors chairs were my first project with the anchor.

Redid the curtains in my laundry room

This coffee table turned chevron bench.
Take that expensive chevron fabric!!!

Some chevron flour sack dish towels.

my price tags


Now go stamp on! I want to see some projects people:)

Vintage vanity redo

I found this old vanity and brought her home earlier in the summer. I loaded her up in the back of the truck by myself(kind of awkward) because I knew what would happen if I asked for help with this one. And I was right. When I got home, my dad told me to throw it back and my husband looked at me like I was crazy and walked straight into the house. But come on!! My nana, grandma and great aunt were all beauticians and I kind of love me an old vanity. Even sans the mirror, hardware and two drawers. And even despite the fact that it was filled with spiders, leaves and what looked like potting soil.

And then came the silliness of it all. Those drawers will ONLY fit in those two spots. There's no moving both to one side, or moving them both to the top or bottom. So, then again, my dad said to throw it back. But I didn't:) I think she is so cute painted white and distressed and with thee old heavy handles from the Hobs. I thought about either making a fabric cushioned pad on the middle section or making cute little curtains over the shelves I made. I have tried to sell it a few times and this piece has stuck around much longer than most. What do you think? Should I make a padded top, or some curtains?? 

AFTER:

I love Brits

These pictures don't do it justice. I love the dresser redo I finally did for my hubby! I know he loves the wood look, but I'm trying to lighten up our room. So I let him keep some distressed stripes of wood:) (and a whole other wood dresser I might add.) This is the first piece of furniture I have deemed male. His name will b Prince William:) Here he is:) before and after:

Partying at :

Primitive and Proper

Rock a bye baby

The girls have wanted a baby cradle for their dolls for as long as i can remember. We got them a doll bunk bed a few christmas ago, but the cheapo plasic thing was finally breaking down. 

I got this cradle a few days ago and didnt tell the girls about it until i redid it. They were soooo excited:)  Here it is before:

I added a little embelishment to pretty it up and then Emma and I applied a good coat of gray chalk paint. And that was it!

Then of course I had to make some blankies and a piilow for the babies:)

I have some vintage fabric Ive been collecting. I love it so much that I keep 'saving' it. So I think this was the perfect project to use a little. Im made Macie the stripe/flower one and Emma picked out her butterfly/damask one:) The pillow I just traced a crown off this french graphics site and then sewed the pillow. Macie wanted a crown sign I had made, so she was pleasently surprised with the pillow. 

shhhhh, the babies are sleeping.................

My first Funky Junk sale!!!

I wanted to do some before and afters today, but my lack of technological smarts is making it a little hard. I finally got an iphone, which is great! But all my before pictures from the whole summer are on my old phone. I've tried dropbox, an htc downloader, and connecting it to my PC. All without success:) So for now Ill post some pictures of my last show, my biggest show yet.....Funky Junk!!! It was so much fun and a great way to spend Labor Day weekend! Here is our booth ( Amy from Vintage Farmhouse and I)
BEFORE:

It was in the feeding barn thingy. Sooo cool. The perfect location for a sale like this!

And here it is after Brandon and I arranged and rearranged(and rearranged) for about 2 hours:

My hubbys got the eye right?????!

Heres the sandwich board I made to put out in front of our booth:

Look at the line!! So exciting:)

Heres a bench of Amy's and a towel/coat rack I made from an old headboard(both of which sold, yay!!)

Here's a table and chairs I redid(bench on the other side built by my dad)(sold)

Heres a vintage dresser I redid. The sides of the drawers are navy blue and the original wood casters are on the bottom. I didnt sell this one and am trying to decide if I should bring it to the Vintage Farmhouse sale tomorrow. I kind of want to keep it:)The stool Ive already made a spot for in our kitchen:)

Heres Amys super cute spindle coffee table(which sold) I wanted it! She made all the little dividers in the bottom from different chair spindles, ax handles etc. How creative!!

Heres my favorite piece I have done thus far!! This beautiful antique desk. 1 of the drawers was missing, so my dad helped me turn the two bottom spots into shelves.

Heres the before and after:

Its so heavy, sturdy and beautiful. I was so glad to see this go to a great home with a new client K, who is now having me help her redo her bedroom. She has such amazing taste for a (17?) year old!

Here are two end tables I did. The legs were actually on a beautiful table I got at my churchs yard sale, but the top needed a lot of work. So we took the legs and made it two baby tables instead:) (sold)

Heres a vintage vanity I redid (that maybe didnt sell because its buried over here:)

Those beautiful vintage butterfly clips were a collection of my friends mother.  The ones that are left will be at the Vintage Farmhouse sale tomorrow! 

Some of my chalkboards at the sale(all sold!)

Some smaller chalk boards and these lovely drawers for storage!

Amy did the adorable "cowgirl" seat...love it!

Broken bookshelf turned table/stand/bench and a memo board in the back made out of an old window frame. Cork, magnet and chalk!

Check out that AMAZING coffee table made from an old sled Amy made! 

Coffee table turned burlap bench(sold)

Amys awesome chair, signs, spindle boxes, and milk jug

No joke, this man bought my oars!! You kidding me?! perfect!

Amys handmade cabinets and spindle boxes up top(I think she has one left that she will be selling tomorrow) 

And heres the girls and I modeling Crazymomadrama head wear!

It was sooo much fiun! I cant wait until the next one in April!!!

Come see whats left at Amys Vintage Farmhouse sale tomorrow, Sep 22! Her daughter just got married too at their house, so they are selling bunches of tables and benches in addition to these lovelies.

Heres a few new signs I've been trying out that will be at the sale tomorrow:

Ill also have the vanity, some pretty chairs, a shelf, a dresser, my dishclothes I made, my union jack record player, and much much more!!! Hope to see you there!