Bedroom Furniture Revamp

Hello lovelies!  I hope everyone has been having a pleasant few weeks since we last talked.  I've been keeping myself very occupied trying to juggle all of the projects I decided to take on at once.  The master bedroom overhaul is so close to being finished I can almost taste it, but alas a few little details are keeping me from posting the final pics.  What I can show you are pics of the largest, and most time consuming part of the project and that is the repainting of my dresser and nightstands.

Being the complete goob that I am, of course I forgot to take before photos (I'm SO annoyed by this, grrr...) I was able to find our exact nightstands online, here is a before pic:

Photo Credit: Mysears.com

I got my nightstand when I was in my early twenties and then years later when helping my then-future husband buy bedroom furniture I talked him into buying the exact same one because then we'd have a matching set someday.  Then we bought an equally dark, huge wood dresser with very mod silver knobs, and a huge dark wood headboard at a going out of business sale right after we got married.  My dining room table, and living room tables are ALL dark wood and at this point I'm just sick of it.

Sooo... with a wonderful Christmas gift of a new vintage-ish bed, I saw my chance to make a change!  But buying all new furniture was not in the cards, so I decided that we should paint what we already have.  My new color palette for the room is aqua and gray.  The bed is black metal so the hardware on the furniture would also have to change.

After several coats of paint, distressing, and 2 coats of poly, meet our new nightstands:

Please bear with me in regards to the color and quality of these photos.  I literally detest my camera, but I'm stuck with it right now.  I've recently discovered photo editing with Flickr/Picnik but I think it takes a little finesse.

I really wanted to get these knobs from Anthropologie:

Photo Credit: Anthropologie.com

But they're something like $12-$14 each. so they'll just have to wait.  Instead I spray painted the existing hardware black and in the process discovered that if the can says to use between 50 and 90 degrees farenheit, take it seriously.  I tried it one day when it was in the 40s and had severe issues.

Now the dresser.  I also wanted new knobs for this because I hate these mod looking knobs. They are very weird and each have two screws holding them in place, which a normal knob would not cover.  In an effort to save time and money I painted these also and will revisit them later. 

The door in the middle used to have a wood panel in it, but it had been damaged at some point.  I decided to take it out and replace it with fabric.  It's not the best job in the world, but it'll do in a pinch.

So that is my bedroom furniture revamp.  I can't wait to show the finished room soon!

I'm off to bed.  Good night, sleep tight, and don't bite the bedbugs!



Happy Valentine's Day Blogland

Today is the day we celebrate love. Traditionally I've never been very hyped about the whole commercialization of the holiday.  I think we should celebrate love, and those we love every day.  This year there were a few crafts I've been itching to try my hand at, so I took a homemade approach to Valentine's day and had fun doing it! 

I got some Clover pom-pom makers a few weeks ago to make some stuff for my master bedroom overhaul (which is almost done, YAY!).  I picked up some yarn, paper covered wire, and mason jars and made these home-made flower arrangements for my mom and sister.  What I love about these is they'll still be just as good as new in a few weeks instead of in the trash.

Another craft at the top of my "To-Try" List were these cute felt flowers from I Am Momma - Hear Me Roar.  All that these required were some felt, hot glue, and ribbon.  I glued them to the top of these little treat boxes instead of using a bow.  These also make adorable baby headbands, which I hope to try soon for a friends baby girl.

Even better than the flower on top is what was inside.  These super yummy brownie bites were so cute at the store, I couldn't resist buying them.  One or two might have accidentally jumped into my mouth while I was packaging them up (oops!).  I had wanted to make Parisian Macarons but the book I ordered from Amazon was delayed due to the horrible weather across the U.S. last week.  Oh well, these little guys were still pretty tasty, even if they were store-bought.

Here is a pic of the whole little assortment, all put together.

I hope everyone out there has a wonderful day filled with love and happiness.  The husband and I are going to take in a movie tonight and try a new restaurant.  I know, what thrill-seekers we are.  Truthfully, paying full price for a movie these days is about as wild and crazy as our budget allows, lol!  I'm just thankful to spend the evening with my true love .. who could ask for anything more?

XOXOXO,
Caylee



Anything is cuter with a ruffle on the butt!

At least anything to do with baby and little girls that is.  With this in mind and a friend expecting a new baby girl, I set out to add some ruffles to the rear ends of some cute little onesies I bought at Target.  I decided to use t-shirts for the ruffles, because I didn't want them to fray.  Click here to see a blog with a great tutorial on making a ruffle-butt onesie. 

My ingredients: Cute little monkey onesie and t-shirt strips

My ruffles, awaiting a onesie-butt

Pinning the first ruffle on (making sure to unsnap the onesie first so I don't sew it closed!)

And the finished product! 

If I ever have a little girl, she'll never go a day without a ruffle trailing behind her.  I've also got my eyes on a few other baby projects to tackle for this little lady, as well as a new nephew we're expecting some time this spring.  I started a baby quilt today for him which I hope to finish lickety-split. 

We're right in the middle of redecorating our master bedroom right now, which HAS to be done by the time Steven's family visits mid March.  At least that gives me a deadline to work with.  But until then my house is turned upside down.  Aaaahhhhggg!

To much of the USA covered in feet of snow from the Feb 1st blizzards, I'm sending warm toasty thoughts your way!  God-willing, we'll all be seeing Spring soon.  I hear ol' Punxsutawney Phil did NOT see his shadow yesterday so perhaps soon we'll see more of this:

And even if that means my husband will have our television overtaken by this:

That's a sacrifice I'm willing to make.

Keep warm everyone!

Winter, I'm SO over you!

Every year I look forward to the the cooler crisp temperatures, the smell of wood burning in fireplaces, and the changing leaves that fall brings. fall inevitably gives way to winter, which I'm usually ok with.  You see, I live in the southern U.S., Tennessee to be exact.  We experience fairly mild winters here normally.  You wouldn't find many years in the record books that we had more than 1 or at most 2 light snowfalls accumulating more than 2 inches.  This year is one for the record books though.  We've had 4 or 5 snows with accumulations this winter, and its not over with yet.  We even had a good snowfall on Christmas Day, which was really beautiful.  But now, I'm just sick and tired of frigid cold temps, gray cloudy skies, and cold wet stuff messing up the roads and making me worry about my sweetie driving to work at 4 in the morning.  The kids here have only gone to school maybe 5 days total since they let out for Christmas break a week before Christmas.  I know many of you out there have far worse winters than this, but this is Tennessee--the south, where its usually mild in the winter and HOT in the summer, and I didnt' sign up for this!!! lol
Here is a photo outside our front door a few weeks ago.

During all of this cold weather, I did manage to get a few finishes under my belt, YAY! Below are two quilts that I worked on off and on from about June of last year until now.  They were meant to be Christmas presents for my niece and nephew.  I wanted to get some good pics of them finished, but the dreary, snowy weather wouldn't cooperate so here are a few crappy dark, pics =(

Our little niece is two and her little brother is one.  I made these bigger than an average baby quilt because I wanted them to be able to snuggle up with these for years to come.  The long arm quilter did a great job with the quilting.  She did swirls all along the border and added little swirls in the zig-zags too.  It gave the quilt a bit more whimsy I think.  Here is the best detail shot I could get with the bad lighting.

I've also been working all week in my spare time on a flannel quilt for my friend who is having a baby girl on February 1st.  I used some Bliss flannel fat quarters and red thread and I really like the way it turned out.  Again, dark photos, sorry!

I also started another baby project that didn't quite get finished in time so I'll post pics of that soon.

If you are also feeling the winter blues, let me suggest you try these YUMMY Krusteaz Key Lime bars.  They're like sunshine in your mouth!  A friend turned me onto them a few years ago, and I've loved them ever since.  I made them for the baby shower this weekend, and everyone loved them.  Even if you aren't usually a key lime fan, you'll probably still like these.  They are SO easy to make.

Photo Credit: ContinentalMills.com

Until we meet again,



Merry Christmas, Happy New Year-- Better Late Than Never!!

As usual I'm a day late and a dollar short with the holiday greetings.  Actually, more like 2 weeks late, but who's counting (hopefully no one).  The holidays around here just get so busy, as I'm sure they do everywhere.  I feel like there hasn't been a spare minute since three days before Christmas. 

Speaking of Christmas, I hope everyone was blessed to spend it with people they loved and enjoy being with.  Steven and I always go to my parents house in the wee hours of the morning on Christmas to open presents with my parents, my sister, and her boyfriend.  We all received such beautiful and thoughtful gifts from each other that I can't help but think that we are truly blessed, and a bit spoiled to be honest. 

Remember the "Sweet Broderie" fabric from Lecien that I fell in love with a few posts ago?   Well one of Santa's helpers got wind of my fabric crush and this kit was waiting for me under the tree.

I can't wait to make this quilt!  The fabric is so expensive, but this kit is surprisingly affordable.  It can be purchased at Wooden Gate Quilts.

I caught site of Santa's handsome helper as he tried to sneak out after delivering this last minute gift.  After much begging, he conceded and let me take a picture of him.

I didn't know that they let the elves wear Redsox hats ... must be casual Friday.  Actually Steven and I spotted this funny Elf t-shirt at Target a few weeks ago, and being the goofballs that we are we had to try it on and take a photo.  We're weird like that. Don't judge, lol.

Right before Christmas I had pre-prepared homemade orange rolls to easily pop in the oven that morning.  They smelled divine baking. I wish with all my heart that I could give this recipe rave reviews, but alas, I cannot =o(.  It turns out, there is such thing as too much butter.  It was just TOO much!  I may try them again as cinnamon rolls far, far in the future and with far less butter.  But right now, the Pillsbury dough boy and I have such a good thing going, why bother?

One new recipe I tried for Christmas dinner that I can completely recommend is Guy Fieri's Mac Daddy Mac n' Cheese.  Most homemade mac n' cheese comes out to dry or too bland in my opinion.  Not this stuff!  It was soooooo good.  Everyone who tried it gave it two enthusiastic thumbs up, and Steven wouldn't even let anyone else take home leftovers of it because he wanted them all to himself.  If you decide to try it, I would suggest add more of each cheese, and cooking more bacon to add into the mixture as well as on top. You can't really go wrong with more cheese and more bacon (but not more butter!!)

Did anyone else try any great recipes over the holidays??

Hasta manana,

Eau de Homemade Orange Rolls

For the past two nights I've been making Pioneer Woman's famous homemade cinnamon roll recipe, except I used the modified version and turned mine into orange rolls.  This is probably one of the most complicated culinary procedures I've attempted in my 28 years.  Scalded milk, had to google that.  Active dry yeast, turns out has to be put in the milk at just the right temperature (learned that one the hard way). Then as if all that scientific stuff weren't enough, I had to roll out the dough and slather it and roll it back up and... Sheesh, you get the picture!  I'll never lie and say these were easy to make, but they sure do smell GOOD, like REALLY REALLY GOOD!!

The recipe made 7 pans of rolls so I'm going to freeze some, and give some away.  I actually made these early in preparation for Christmas morning.  It'll be so much easier just to pop these bad boys in the oven for 15 or 20 minutes then to try and make something from scratch that morning.

Here they are fresh out of the oven, smelling divine

And after I added the orange icing (which I did taste and it was delish)

I'm hoping they taste as good as they smell.  I'll be sure to let you know the reviews once they're in.  If you'd like to make them you can find the recipe by clicking here.

I love getting in the kitchen and making yummy stuff this time of year, with Christmas music blasting from my iPod.  Two of my favorite Christmas albums this year (and every year) are Christmas by Rebecca St James, and Wintersong by Sarah Mclachlan.  Do you  have any favorite holiday music?  How about recipes to share? 

Jingling all the way,

Hello Again!

So I think I've come to terms with the fact that my blogging is sporadic, at best.  If I could just squeeze an extra 3 or 4 hours into each day!  I'm sure so many people out there feel exactly the same way.  I don't even have children yet!  I know once that happens my available time will dwindle to near non-existence.  To all of the ladies (and guys) out there who manage to hold down jobs, keep the household running, put meals on the table,  AND raise children who turn out to be contributing members of society, my hat is off to you.  To take it a step further, those same folks who also find time to create beauty in their world, whether it be quilting, baking beautiful cakes, decorating spaces, painting, building, you name it-- you guys absolutely ROCK!  I hope to be just like you when I grow up (wink,wink-- get it? lol) 

So since we last met I've had a birthday, and turned 28.  It was a tough birthday for me.  I was kind of down-trodden and slightly emotional all day and couldn't really figure out why.  I mean, it isn't as if I was turning 30 (which will probably be a hard one for me). I finally figured it out towards the end of the day that deep down I had never pictured being 28 and not yet having children.  Turns out, it really bothered me.  I hate it when I let stuff like that get me down.  So many people out there have so much bigger problems, it seems petty to dwell on such insignificant things.  But dwell I did.  I had myself a good little cry about it and now I've resolved to move on and leave that behind.  However, if I find myself in the same predicament next year on my birthday, then I reserve the right to cry and stomp my feet and whatever other unreasonable actions I feel are deserved.

I've been exploring a lot of blogs out there lately and have come across some really beautiful lines of fabric that I'd never even heard of before.  I could look at fabric all day, every day and twice on Sunday I think.  Usually I gravitate towards some of the more well-known designers/manufacturers.  I like a lot of Moda fabrics.  Some of my favorite designers are Bonnie and Camille, Fig Tree, 3 Sisters, French General, Kate Spain, among others. I also like a lot of Free Spirit fabrics.  Tula Pink, Tanya Whelan, and Anna Maria Horner ( a fellow Tennessean!) are some of my faves.  And who doesn't like Amy Butler or Kaffe Fassett?? 

This past week I stumbled across this Japanese manufacturer called Lecien.  Two lines in particular really caught my eye.  One called Sweet Broderie is designed by an Aussie named Rosalie Quinlan and it is just adorable!

Photo Credit: Fatquartershop.com

The other fabric line was from an American designer who I had actually seen before on Moda Bakeshop.  Monica Solorio-Snow, aka Happy Zombie, designed Happy Holiday for Lecien fabrics.  I had never before considered a palette like this for Christmas, but I really do like it!

Photo Credit: Fatquartershop.com

Head over to the Happy Zombie blog to see some of the cute stuff made with this fabric.  Both lines can be purchased at Fatquartershop.com, as well as other online retailers.  LOL, I swear I'm not trying to sell this stuff!!  I just hate it when I see something I like with no mention of where to buy it. Both of these are going on my Christmas wishlist. What did you ask Santa for??

I could keep rambling now, but I think I'll leave well enough alone and save some off whats in my head for another post.  And next post I promise to include some of my own photos!

Until next time, Be Good For Goodness Sake!