dandelion key hook picture frame

When I went to DAV the other day I got this cute picture frame with some key holder hooks on it.

This is actually a pic of the back, my camera was dead when I started painting so I improvised.

I'm definitly not into the whole folk art country hearts teddy bears and stars and stripes kinda thing so it needed a little tlc. Since everything in our living room is black well, I decided this little baby needed to be black too. So, out came the trusty flat black spray paint. The center picture was a flag. Not really my style so it became white. I painted a pretty little dandelion on it in black and I think it turned out FABULOUS!

The frame cost $4.95, a little expensive for a thrift store picture frame but I really liked it and had plans the second I saw it so.... I already had the paints so that didnt cost anything. So total for my adorable dandelion key hook picture frame: $4.95! And I LOVE IT! I'm going to find a couple of cute black and white pics to go in the spaces and it will be perfect. And once I get that painting I have planned finished it will match perfectly with the rest of the room. I am excited to get the rest done :)
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I <3 naptime
sugarbee crafts
young nester

one more

I have to work one more night then I have the weekend off. fabulous. I really love my job but it is more then a little stressful sometimes. We went curbing last night and only found one good thing :( there wasn't much to pick from unfortunately. But the one thing I did find is a pretty cool old cabinet so we will see what I can do with it. It is also just the beginning of spring clean up season so hopefully we will find many more treasures as the weeks go on. Layla and I went to the DAV today. We spent a grand total of 31$ on: 4 pairs of shorts, 8 shirts and 2 jeans for Mikey, 2 jeans(gymboree and zana di!!) and a pair of Nike shox for Layla, 3 picture frames(one is really neat and has key hooks on it, I'm excited to paint it and use it as the "hole it the wall cover", & yes there's a hole in my wall that I cover) and a 500 piece puzzle. I wonder if all the pieces are in the puzzle... I absolutely LOVE thrift stores!!! and there are so many around here that I have NO trouble what so ever finding good quality stuff at an AMAZING price. I also found a couch set that I really really want but I don't have the 400$ they are asking for it :(. oh well. my couch works just fine. And a pair of jeans but they didn't fit me ah....hhh....hhhh.... I was going to go garage sailing tomorrow but it is unfortunately supposed to rain and that doesn't sound like fun to me. not at all. I want to get some good garage sailing in soon. 
Update on surveys: thats a no go capitan. I havent earned enough from them to even be able to cash out yet(you have to earn 20$) I dont qualify for anything! oh emm gee! I'm going to find a different site hopefully that has some better ones that I CAN qualify for. The best one that I have been doing is inbox dollars, only because you earn $$ for reading emials and playing games but it's only 2 cents for each email....

spring clean up

I just found out that this saturday and next saturday is Clive's spring cleanup. Guess what just made it to the top of my to do list for the day :) for those that are not aware spring clean up is this nifty little thing that we hicks here in central iowa do to get rid of extra junk(or in my case dumpster dive for more things to hoard) for one week in each of the towns around here (or a day) you can set out your big things, extra stuff, ect and they will pick it all up with your trash. How cool is that! hoarder heaven!! I'm not rally a hoarder but I really do FIRMLY believe Your trash is anothe man's treasure! We have found and been given so many cool things for absolutely free that I have to believe this. Seriously, we have spent a complete total of 80$ on all the furniture in our home. And it really isnt junk, totally useable and cumfy. Especially my bed. Oh how I LLLLLOOOOOOOOOVVVVVVVEEEEEE my bed. for real! and It was given to us by my friends amazng mil! So, now I am going to embark on a treasure hunt :) wish me luck!  oh my garsh I have turned my child into a hoarder too! lol! se just brought the empty egg carton to me and said "hey mom, dont throw this away! we can make something out of it! Like bats or a rainbow or something." in her favor we did make bats out of egg cartons, but I'm not really sure how the rainbow thing came about or how we would do that. Hmmmmm.... I love my little girl, She is her mothers daughter!!!

procrastination

Last night was my day off. I havent been to work in 25 hours. And guess what I have accomplished! Not a thing. great. I have a to-do list a mile long and really need to get to work on something, I just really dont want to :(. Actually. I do have things I want to do, I just dont have all the supplies to do them and I have alot of things that I have everything for and I just dont want to do them. hmmm go figure. well, SOMETHING will get done today. probably chores. stupid chores. I want a maid. If I ever get rich a maid will be the first thing I get. seriously. Probably not really I am too cheap for that. ah oh well. guess for now, here in reality I will do some chores today.

Bathroom shelves

I have this space in my bathroom. I have this shelf that has been a plant stand thingy outside for a few years now. Ya know, for those plants that I forget to water and kill. We need something fo this space that can hold towels and other bathroom related stuff that wont fit in our too small linen closet. So, I took the outdoor shelf thingy and popped the ugly sunbeam thingy off the little side bar. straightened out a coupleof the bent bars(the ones I could) added pretty gloss blue spray paint. And now we have a bathroom shelf. fabulous. Made with a shelf we already had (that I got for free) and some left over spray paint, total cost: FREE!!

Before

   After

work, work, work

I am tired. I had a long night at work last night and I have to work again in an hour and a 1/2. :(  but tomorrow is a normal shift an I don't have to work with the girl that I despise tonight so it's ok. I miss my kids. Layla has been gone all day and Mikey has been gone since Thursday. I'm used to Mikey being gone, that happens every other week but Layla is always home so it is really quite without her. I miss my princess. I found out that its 90$ to replace my phone. Not really sure why I paid the insurance on it for the last year. The phone only cost 25$ to begin with. urgh. frustration is setting in... searching ebay and cl for good deals now........

cancelled...again...

I picked up an extra shift today. I was supposed to work a double. My goal is to work 5 extra shifts in the next 2 1/2 weeks. So, I picked up today. They called me at 1:15 and cancelled me for my 2pm shift :( shucks. I dont really want to work that much but we need a different vehicle and with all that overtime we could afford a little pos that gets way better milege. hopefully the rest will fall into place next week. Working a 12 hr shift sunday and I have to call monday and see what all is open next week. wish me luck!! Also, sounds like I may have found a replacement phone!! (Thank you Lisa) woohoo!!!! It will be nice to be able to make calls again. hopefully I have learned my lesson this time. DO NOT THROW YOUR PHONE!! It will break and you will be sad. k?k.

revamped tv stand

My little bro and his darling wife are moving to Texas here in a few weeks. They gave us some of their furniture including this little old TV stand

It is a good sturdy solid wood thing that is just the right size for the TV and small overfilled living room. I'm not quite sure about the color though....so What Do I DO?? of course, Spray paint! not just any old spray paint, flat black of course! My favorite color is blue, any blue, but there is NOTHING in my house that is blue! well, actually the bathroom has a few things and the kids bunk bed. everything else seems to be black or become black with the occasional tan thrown in there. I AM trying to expand my color wheel, I PROMISE!! So after several coats of paint and some repainted handles we now have:

I seriously LOVE it!! I thought the little teal for the handles would be a nice little touch but it is awesome! I think I am going to incorporate more teal in my living room. I cant find my polyurethane....I am going to have to get more in the next couple days and get some protection on this little puppy. You know haw much this cost me?? $2.91!! the stand was free, almost 3 cans of cheap spray paint (.97 each) and lots of time. It'll be a few more dollars once i get a protector coat on but, I'll buy a big ol can of that and use it on more then one project so we aren't gonna count that. I also need to find a drill bit that will cut 2" hole in the back so I can get the dvd and vcr off the floor next to it. I think my dad has one but it's a little late to call him :) tomorrow tomorrow there's always tomorrow. 
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a little tipsy
House of Hepworths

day off

I have tonight off. YAY!!  It's supposed to be mid 60's today. no rain, a little windy good day to get some spray painting done :) Maybe I'll update later with some new stuff ;) maybe. I have a perfect little project in mind to show you (once I get it done that is) Check back this afternoon and I'll show you something fabulous!

word magnets

The kids like playing with magnets and are learning to read so I decided that word magnets would be a good idea. well, they are pretty pricey for words that are too complicated still for my kids. So, off to walmart I went.  

I bought these ^^ little puppys from the craft dept for ¢97. I bought 2 pkgs. Took yesterdays newspaper, cut out some words I like, peeled off the lining and stuck away. I cut the strips in between the words and voila, customized word magnets for $1.94!!

Finished product :)

Linked to the following parties:

youngnester

ladybug blessings

sugar bee crafts

sugar and dots

blue cricket design

a little tipsy

      house of hepworths <<have I mentioned I LOVE this blog

sunscholars

rain rain go away...

It has been raining almost constantly for weeks now :( rain makes me depressed. I'm cool with a day or 2 but not weeks. I have a buttload of stuff to spray paint and I need it to stop so I can go outside and get it done!! I have so many projects to show you guys. The one that I don't have to go outside to complete I just have to put the finishing touches on and I'll photograph and post it later(after I get some sleep and donate some plasma) We went junking on Sunday and got a few good finds, a glass patio table and 2 chairs and a cute old end table. I have big plans for the end table, but, it needs to stop raining so I can get outside and get it painted... hopefully this afternoon. You guys are going to LOVE this table when I am done with it! really!! I promise!! check back this afternoon, I'll update with something awesome then :)

fur ball

About a year ago we had this cat. Thomas (Mikey named him) was the sweetest cat but he was an escape artist and wanted to be outside so bad. So, around a year ago he disappeared. He reappeared a month later then disappeared again. We moved (about 1 block) He reappeared at the new house 3 months later (its now septemberish). He then disappeared again. We have been assuming someone else has taken Thomas in and so he just doesn't want to come back. We now have a new escape artist, Gremble. Gremble will not go anywhere though. He is a big momma's boy and will only stay outside for 2 minutes in the driveway soaking up the sun before crying for me to let him in. This morning gremble was hanging out in the drive when who should appear? Thomas! wow! 7 months later?? he came right to me when I called too. he is all scruffy and dirty but when I was petting him he flipped ove and attacked me. I guess he got what he wanted. He is most definitely an outside cat now, we cannot have him being viscous here.  Poor baby. I'm definitely going to have to keep a better eye on Gremble I do not want the same thing to happen to my little fur ball.  When Thomas attacked my hand Gremble came to my rescue (he didnt have to do anything though). What a sweet little boy I have!  I love my little Gremble!

Peanut butter(black and white) and Gremble (little black fur ball) this is in september or so gremble is much bigger now.

pretty black knife block

So, I was just doing a little blog surfing and found where I got my pretty black knife block idea :) House of Hepworths. There is a ton of awesome crafts and ideas on here! what an awesome blog! I love it!

This was way simple and  I love it. I used my trusty 97 cent flat black spray paint. and our already existng knife block and it matches perfectly. Thank you HoH for a great idea!! (sorry once again about the awful pictures)

how much is too much?

So, I have seen that a lot of people seem to have trouble keeping up with their blogs. They forget to post for weeks and then apologize for not doing so. I seem to have the opposite problem. I post too much. probably annoys some of you. although I really only have 2 followers. I'm pretty sure there are a few more people out there that read this. So, Sorry if I post too much. You don't have to read everything, I wont be upset I promise! cross my heart. But, If you like something share it with your friends! I am getting slightly better at all of this so it is more entertaining (for me at least) and I am trying to make it a little more organized and personalized to me. Oh, and click on the little ad thingies puhleeze and thank you :) And I LOVE comments so if you like (or hate) something, or have a suggestion/idea for me,  let me know :) Thanks for reading all the stuff I have to say. I appreciate it. really I do.

out the ying yang

I hit a road block. I could not think of a single thing "crafty" to do. So, I decided to sit down and brainstorm. I made a little list. Then it got bigger. and bigger. and now I have a list of about 30 different projects. I am satisfied with that being my goals for the next few weeks (or months lol) Here is a small list of whats to come: dandelion painting, I am super excited about this but it may take sometime to find the right size canvas.
tea pot herbs, another one that excites me :)
bucket garden(of course)
end tables :( not so excited about this, but we NEED them...
cloth boxes, I found a cute pattern for cloth storage boxes.
something to fill the recessed cuby in the bathroom, a cabinet, shelf, bench something...
also want a shelf up on that wall
do something with the shelves that are sitting in the basement. hmmm....not sure what yet
Thats a good start :) hopefully I will have something new and fun to show everyone in the next few days. Something besides my pissed off rants. Maybe I should seperate the blog, one my projects, one my insane pissy rants.... there is an idea. Don't know if I'll actually do that though. Oh, we found something interesting to do with pork! chili! This is only really interesting because we really didn't have alot of the ingredients to make chili. What we did: 2 cans of kidney beans (we did have those) 1 can chili with beans, 2 cans tomato soup 1 can mild enchilada sauce, we didnt have tomatoes or tomato sauce so we made do with what we had on hand. add regular chili spices(onionpowder, chili powder, garlic salt, oregano, cilantro) a minced onion and jalapnos and cubed pork, and viola, pork chili. It was AWESOME! I think the enchilada sauce really made it!  yummy.

bucket gardening

Our lease is up in august. I want a garden. So, I had to come up with a solution. I don't to plant a garden and then move before I can even pick anything. I am going to attempt a "bucket garden" My goal for the week is to somehow acquire 12-15 5 gallon buckets and plan exactly what to plant in each. I am also trying to find cheap canning equipment so that I can preserve some of the things that we grow for use in the winter. I was told that walmart and hyvee give away 5 gallon buckets that they use for icing. I'm going to give them a try. Hope I get lucky :) It would save me quite a bit of money to find free buckets instead of having to buy them for 3 or 5$ a piece. I have been doing some research on the subject and hopefully will have a pretty good little garden growing soon. I haven't tried to grow anything successfully in a long time so it should be interesting. If I remember to water my plants we should be ok. I have a black thumb though when it comes to house plants :( wish me luck!

stupid yarn

So I have been trying to follow this pattern for a bunny eared hat. It is not going so well. I have taken it apart and started over 4 times now. not good. it is always pointy at the top for some reason. I think I'm going to find a new pattern. (I am terrible at typing, I just put parretn both times and had to fix it, hope to get better at that soon).  I'm going to do some searching for different patterns(just did it again) later. For now, I MUST sleep! goodnight (ish).

beautiful:)

So I finally took a few minutes to change my background to something that I actually like. I see so many blogs. Especially crafting blogs. They are all soooo pretty. Pink and yellow and tans and butterflies and whimsical and adorable. soooo NOT me. lol. I kinda like this black that I have it set as now. I need to learn HTML so I can design my own. sadly, computers are an area that I SUCK at. and by suck i mean horribly terribly awfully suck. I can refinish a wood floor, change a tire, sew a dress, hem pants, all these fabulous things but it takes 5 tries before I can get a picture to upload the right way lol. I am awesome. I should get to the library here sometime this week and see if there are some books about it.

furniture, furniture, where for art thou funiture?

I have been searching CL for furniture that we need for the last 8 months. with very little luck :( The kids got a second dresser a few weeks ago though. We have never had a tall dresser before. for some reason it didn't occur to me that it could fall over. Well it did! onto Layla. Poor thing was scared to death! guess I need to get some of those anchor things to hold it to the wall. I work all weekend :( boo. Maybe I'll get some crochet done. I don't have much yarn though and I am broke.Time to start on a new project. We NEED a tv stand. Searching thrift stores and CL later this week for something usable. Garage sales should be starting up soon so that could help. woohoo! I think my neighbors are moving. They are being extra loud(more then their usual) and just backed into the front steps with a truck. awesome. Maybe the next neighbors wont be so loud and will clean up their garbage out of the back yard. I can always hope!

so, you think you have a leg to stand on?

I made my adorable son a fb yesterday. Yes, My 5 year old now has a fb. i moderate it, read everything before he does, let him add people that I approve, so really it's kind like a child friendly extention of my fb. I'm not happy with some of the things I saw when I was reading status updates that some of the friend he had chosen have put up. I really dont understand how someone that claims to be christian can judge me based on anything I have ever done, let alone something that they were so very wrong about. So, I am going to clear a few things up for those of you who want to judge the type of parent I am. 1) I have NEVER one time ever bought something for myself when my children needed something. Ever. period. I haven't bought anything for myself in years. I haven't gotten new clothes for myself in a couple years, no shoes, no jewlery. nothing. the only things that I have gotten in the last few years were given to me as gifts. 2) I have had my hair done once in the last year. 1 freaking time. and yes I got it done at a perfessional salon (OMG!) and yes it was expensive but! a big but! I got it done with a gift certificate that I recieved from a raffle that smeone else bought me the ticket for! I have not had my hair cut, colored nothing in 9 monthes and the one time I did, IT WAS FREE!! 3) I aquired every item of new school clothing for MY son. with no help from anyne except my MIL, which you are not, so stop complaining about it. 4) you or noboy else has ever lved my life or been through the things I have been through so while you are on your high horse judging me maybe you should stop your spoiled steed for a second and realize were I come from, and were you come from. You are 22, live with you mommy and go to school. You claim to work hard yet you have no idea what hard work rally is. You aren't street smart, you know that, but you want people to not judge you for that and in the same sense you want to judge me because I am? where the hell do you get off? So for the record, I did not donate plasma to dye my hair(I do that for gas and grocery money) and then say that I dont have money to buy my son school clothes in the same day. THIS IS COMMON SENSE! and sense you are not a mother and dont claim to be, stop judging those who are and are in much harder situations then yourself. MY children are doing fine and were doing fine before you and your bf ever entered the picture. Keep your mouth shut about me and my child or you will no longer be a part of his life.