Summer vacay

So I've been gone. 
First of all, 2 weekends ago, my husband and I left our children for the first time ever and spent the weekend in Illinois for a wedding. 


Hubby was a groomsman and I was the photographer. 


 One day after coming home from the wedding, we went here for a few days...


then moved to Disney, Hello Mickey!!


to watch this little cutie...


dance down Main street, along with 799 other girls, in the Magic Kingdom parade. 


We also saw the sights...


and swam in the pool to beat the heat (It was crazy hot - I've never been so hot in my life!)


We just got home yesterday and now I'm buried in this.  I'll be here a while!  I hope to be back with projects soon!

Favorite yard sale find

I haven't been to a yard sale once this year.  That is sad.  We've been super busy and on a rare Saturday morning that we don't have something planned, all I want to do is sleep.  In years past, I have scored some awesome deals at yard sales, but I think my most favorite thing I've ever bought is a hutch...a hutch for $30!!!
I bought it before my blog picture taking ways, so this is the only photo I could find of the hutch in it's original state.  It was a pale yellowish-cream color with a crackle finish.  I took the doors off of the top and painted the entire thing black.  Then I put some scrapbook paper on the back of the open shelves. 


Here it is in our dining area a few years ago.  It stayed this way for a while.  Then it started to feel too crowed in there.  So I started plotting and planning.  When I decided to do board and batten in my living room, I took out the huge tv cabinet we had and needed a smaller tv cabinet.  The lower part of this hutch fit that bill. 


 
I painted it a light blue color from Home Depot. 


 
Then sanded it down a bit so the black underneath would show.  Then gave it a few coats of poly.


I was left with trying to figure out what to do with the top of the hutch.  I figured it would make a pretty decent side board in the dining area. 


I just added a piece of MDF to the top and bottom of the side board. It's super heavy and sturdy.


So to recap, I took a hutch (that I scored for $30) from


and now looks like this!  I think I got my $30 worth!!




Gift Wrap organizer

Do you have rolls and rolls of gift wrap underneath your bed, in the closet and ribbon all over the place?  Organize those rolls with this idea for  Gift Wrap Organizer


Gift Wrap Organizer - store wrapping paper and ribbon in unused space behind the door

Busy, Busy, Busy

I heard someone once say that the end of school year/start of summer time frame is busier then even Christmas.  I never believed that until this year.  Between end of year picnics, the last day of school, 2 photo shoots and a big ol' youth activity at my church that I helped with last week to Memorial Day, my kids being home and thinking they need to be entertained all day, dance practice and getting caught up on my housework this week I haven't had a second to even sit at my computer let alone blog anything.  It's been crazy.  
In the midst of all of that, we decided to redo my daughter's room.  She is 8 and thought she was too grown up for the yellow and pink princess room she had.  :(  But I love a good decorating project so I got to work.  It is almost done.  I just have a few details to finish up and will post pics.

Here are a few sneak peeks:



As you can see there is a black, white and pink Paris theme going on.  Things are turning out pretty well.  Hopefully it will be done in the next couple of days.