Star Wars Birthday Party

I survived the Star Wars sleepover birthday party.  Wow... That is a lot of work.  I decided one night when I was going to bed that I would make noodle light sabers for the kids.  I thought it would be fun for the kids to be able to fight each other, without getting hurt.  The kids loved them!  I first cut the noodles a little over half way with a kitchen knife.  I then used shiny duct tape, and taped about eight inches up.  I used black electrical tape to make some lines, and squares.  The last and final step was using red nail polish to make the red button on them.  They turned out awesome, and were a huge hit.  These are some pictures of the process.

I also made an attempt at making a photo back drop.  I had the kids all take pictures with Yoda, who was actually Noah.  I didn't think I should post the pics of the kids without their permission, so here is Yoda.  I used old black curtains to make the backdrop and hung some stars too.  I am going to give the pics that were taken to all the kids that were there.

We also had some Darth Vader pinata time.  We got the pinata at Iparty.  I also got some balloons at Walmart that had lights in them.  Iparty blew them up for me, they were so cool.  I had them hanging all over with the lights off, the kids pretended they were lasers. They didn't photograph well so no pics of balloons. 

I decorated the table with Darth the pinata as the centerpiece and got a ton of glow bracelets and put them on the table, so the table really lit up.  I got the table cloth and accessories from Walmart.  The cake was made local and was delicious.  I have been doing slim fast in combo with Atkins diet for two months so it felt great to indulge.  We also had Little Caesars pizza, it was so good and budget friendly.

It was a really good time, but a little tip.  It is never a good idea to talk to the kids about how to get out in case of a fire right before they go to bed.  Nothing like scaring the crap out of them before they go to sleep.  Tom thought that was hilarious.  I felt it was important.  Adam got the Death Star Lego set for his birthday. He told us that, that was what he wished for before blowing out his candles.  Made us so happy.

Birthday Party Planning

I have been so busy with my sons birthday party, that I really haven't had anything worth while to post.  I will when the party is over because I have been making crafts for Adams special day.  I got some pretty flowers from my Tom the other day that I can show. These are from the grocery store, where I personally like to get my flowers because they are cheaper than a florist shop, and HELLO you guessed it the money goes towards our gas.  Hope all is going well for you!  I am so nervous for this party, we have 6 boys coming for the night.  I will probably not be posting tomorrow, but Saturday I will post the results of the party.  

Bet I Save You Some Money

So this post is suppose to be my utter praise for our new vacuum, but it is turning out to be about my new obsession instagram, and a money saving tip.  I finally just figured out how to get my instagram pictures on my iPhone camera roll.  I do realize I am a little slow.  I feel like instagram could make a turd look like a piece of art.  I don't think I'll try that.

  Well anyway we purchased our Dyson at Bed, Bath, and Beyond a couple of days ago.  We went there because 1. You can use one of the hundreds of 20% off coupons I am sure you all get in the mail.  2. I don't know about you all, but we are totally taking advantage of the grocery stores that are offering money off of gas with purchases made at their store.  We bought $500 worth of gift certificates to Bed Bath so we accumulated an extra $1.00 off per gallon of gas. That's $20.00 more money in our pocket, for 20 gallons of gas. We  try to do this with everything.  Including eating out, Lowe's, and presents for people.  Hello......... sometimes they double the percentage off for gift certificates check the stores web site. We even buy gift certificates to the grocery store, then use the gift certificate the next time we go.  Hello....double the gas!  Tom has over $4.00 off per gallon right now.  Yeah crazy... Not really, smart!  Free gas.

  So in closing love the vacuum recommend it highly.  I know I am all over the place, but I have a 9 month old with the hiccups and she is starting to get mad, all you moms know what I am talking about when it starts to get to that point.

Living Room

I hope everyone had a good weekend. I went to a few garage sales. I got us this jig saw for $15.00.  It will come in handy for some projects I bet.

I am also hosting a birthday party this weekend for my oldest son Adam. Adam will be turning 10 and wants a Star Wars themed party. There was one garage sale selling this Yoda mask.
 I thought this would be perfect for a photo shoot. I could have my 2 and half year old dress up like Yoda and take pictures with the kids. I will have to make a back drop of some sort. I have quite a few ideas for the party though I will sharing those in another post.

 I thought it would be a good idea to show what my living room looks like. We had some people over this weekend, and since the room was clean I decided I better get some shots. It looks nice, but I am not loving the couches. They seem so 80's to me, even though I believe they are probably 90's. This is a reminder of the couch we want to get.  I think it might also look good to have a couple of chairs instead of a love seat since the room is a little small.

This is how it is looking for now.

 I am so annoyed. I had to for some reason download something called google chrome, and have no idea how to use it. I barely knew had to do things before, now with this I am lost.  

Heather Feather

We are still sick with a cold, and my motivation is in the crapper.  I did muster up enough energy to clean my son's room.  He is almost three and really into puzzles.  I had puzzles and miscellaneous stuff everywhere in his room.  I fixed it up a little bit, but it is not photo ready.  What I am going to show you is the couple small purchases we made at Pier 1 the other day.  The first thing is some coasters.  We haven't had any, other than some Hard Rock Cafe card stock ones that our son had chewed and bent, and had seen better days.  These were not expensive at all, I think like $3.00 a piece. 

Then I saw this glitter pen with a feather, I have no idea why I wanted it.  I do like it, but hope to have it sit maybe in an office space I may need to make for myself.  It is sitting here at our land line phone for now.  I had a little jar kicking around that I stuck it in.  I don't think anyone will be pocketing this thing.

Art Project

We went on a road trip the other day to New Hampshire.  We had lunch on route in Montpelier which for you geography buffs is our state capital.

We also stopped by an antique store.  I had seen a love seat on craigslist from there, and wanted to check it out.  It turned out to be more blue than grey which is what I want.  The material was also a little scratchy for my liking.  It was fun to check out the place though.  We also went to Pier 1 which is a store we don't have here.  We saw so many cute things there, and got a few nice things as well.  I will show the treasures in a different post.  There was one thing that did catch my eye.  This is it.

It was $179.00.  Tom thinks that I could make it.  I think I am going to take a stab at it.  So here is a project you will be seeing in the future.  The whole family has been sick with a cold, so there hasn't been much activity going on here.

Chevron Art

The other day I was thinking about how I would like to have something chevron.  I had a huge canvas that I had gotten for my birthday.  I remembered I had "liked" a "how to make perfect chevron lines" from pinterest, so I was off to work.

I needed to make square boxes all over the canvas, so I measured off the size boxes I needed, and used a level to draw perfectly straight lines with a pencil.  When that was done, I used painters tape and taped  from corner to corner.

When I was done taping I erased all the pencil lines with Magic Erase.  It is seriously magic, good bye pencil lines.

This is how it looked after that.

I then painted in every other line with black paint.

Then I painted in the other lines with grey/silver paint.

I couldn't wait to take that tape off, there was minimal bleeding of colors in the lines that I had to touch up.

This is how she looked.

Then I dressed up the console table below.  This is in our downstairs.  I have big plans for this room.

What do you think?  I think it turned out pretty cool.

Dining Room

Thrifty Decor Chick is having a linky party on dining rooms.  I took some pictures of mine this morning that I will be posting here, and on her blog.  The best thing about our dining room to me is the table and chairs.  We purchased the table off of craigslist for $100.00.  I sold my very first dining room set for $350.00 and bought the clear chairs from Ikea.  I love the set!  I also got my mirrored furniture from Target.  Tom got me the console table for Mother's day, and liked it so much he told me to order everything.  The turquoise chalkboard is from a garage sale it was $5.00.  There are people that either really like it, or just don't.  I am on team worship it. The other item that I totally love is my record player.  Tom got it for me for Christmas from Urban Outfitters.  It is such a nice piece, and it plays great.  We are always finding records at Goodwill, and garage sales for $1.00.  We have quite a few at this point.  I am hoping to get some new lamps for the console table.  I would like something more vintage yet glam.  The old style phone is from a garage sale, and the big clothes pin to hold my calendar is from Pottery Barn, I think it was like $10.00.  I got the star burst mirror at Marshall's.  I had a gift certificate, it was $50.00.  The 2012 disco ball display is from New Years, I liked it so much couldn't part with it.  I know I went nuts with the pictures.    You should check out the party.  Click right here......

David Bromstad

If you read my blog at all you know David Bromstad is my favorite designer.  I instagramed him a picture of our kitchen makeover and he sent me this tweet.

Holy Moly!! I was speechless..........

Kids Activity Table

Tom and I made this table for the kids.  We purchased a 2 x 10 at Lowe's, and recovered it in a black "leather" look material.  We wanted to dress it up a little bit so we went around it with silver tacks.  It has become the most used DIY project to date.  A time back I had found a kids chair sitting on the curb.  I picked it up and recovered it in the same material.  Check it out..

I know, I know what you all are thinking.. Does that, "Your Baby Can Read" work?  Yes... it does if you are consistent about doing it with your little one.  I am a major sucker for As Seen On TV chiz.  Soooo anyway.. I used some old barn wood crates to hold it up I got those at a garage sale many years ago. Those are hard to pass up, they are so versatile.   This is probably the neatest it has looked, because it's usually filled with coloring books, puzzles, snacks, and crumbs about. 

Soon To Come

The kitchen is almost complete.  Tom still needs to do some grouting, and we have a special touch to the island that will be coming soon.  It is hard to come up with original decorating ideas, because most times someone has done what you have done.  I am not even going to google what we will be doing, I will think of it as our original idea and think it will be.......(say in a hi voice AWESOME)  I hope. 
The decorating will soon be moving to our porch off the kitchen.  I want to show the couch I am waiting to get.  It is on sale, and I am just waiting for some free shipping.  Here she is.....

It will go perfectly in there, I am going with all shades of greys, mixed with some bright patterned pillows of sorts.
We are also getting so tired of our furniture in the living room.  I love this couch, and the good thing is Tom does too.  I see this in our future as well.

The home improvement took a break today for some bill paying and a Costco run.  I hope to get started on kitchen island project tomorrow. 

I sent a picture of our new kitchen to my good friend Missy in Massachusetts, and she wants my opinion on fixing hers up.  That makes me  feel so good. 

 Don't you love when you do spell check and you have no errors?  I wish it could fix my punctuation. I weren't no English major I can tell you that. Bah Bye.

Kitchen Updates

I have not really taken any good pictures of the kitchen.  I tried with two cameras, but the true beauty of it is to be seen.  We did this makeover all on our own.  We have added a few more touches that I love!   These are the latest pictures.  I am no photographer.

This picture shows the new trim around the window.  We were suppose to get stainless steel, but the supplier never called us back we were so annoyed! Tom built this frame and it looks great.  This also shows the new magnetic knife holder.  Tom is obsessed with good kitchen knives.

These are the most used pots and pans in our house, hung for easy access.  Love!

This is the new microwave and frame around it.  I literally got sent two frames before the right one was sent to us.  Major nightmare.

This pic shows the glass shelves in all their glory.  We keep all our most used items out.  They still have some tweaking to be done, but this is how it stands now.

Here is the dining room with the mudroom on the side.  Tom hung a new chair rail, and I painted grey below.  The three rooms really flow nicely.  We are going to put white trim through out. 

Here is a reminder of how it looked.  It is so much more open and functional now.