Busy Bee

This past December had to be the busiest month of my life! I can't ever remember having so much I needed to do - all by the end of the month. On top of being a stay-at-home mom to the rascaliest child ever, I had my regular part-time web design job, several free-lance/Christmas gift design projects and the craziest of all - being the secretary for a primary of 110 children... which meant putting together 30+ manuals, designing the front bulletin and updating all the forms and rosters. I'm getting anxious just thinking about that actually. Ha. So anyway, despite it being a busy month, I really enjoyed creating some fun pieces for a few friends.

My lovely friend Amanda just had her baby shower and I was so honored to create her invitations! She is going to be an amazing mother. Baby Mufasa is seriously the luckiest kid in the world to have such great parents. Her shower was honey-bee themed so these were the invitations I made. I also made little labels for the food.

Another project I did was commissioned by our awesomely weird friends (well, one of them - she gave this to her husband for Christmas) who are seriously one of the best-matched couples I have ever met. This quote describes them pretty perfectly. :)

(if you're wondering why they're dressed like Ewoks, see here)

And lastly, I promised my awesome friend Lauren Strobot I would make her a robot print for her to hang up... And... that was like, a year ago. I'm quite the procrastinator - but I finally got it done just in time for Christmas! I printed it and put it in a 7x17 inch frame. I like that it's kind of vintagey looking - I think it will match her home decor better. I wanted it to be kind of personal to her and her husband - she loves to read and he loves basketball. And I love them. 

Anyway, these were a lot of fun to make even though I'm a huge procrastinator and had a lot of late nights finishing them up. I also worked on a birth announcement and a free-lance website that is still in the works, but hopefully things start slowing down a bit and I can post about Christmas!

Lately

Finn has taken comfort in my hair. Whenever I get him up from his nap or anytime he's been crying about something, he lays his head on my shoulder, wraps his arms tight around my neck and puts one hand in my hair and just softly feels it with his little fingers. A sweet habit that I hope lasts a while. :)

We Woof You A...

All is Calm, All is Bright

I saw this garland on Pinterest the other day and I just loved the choice of lyrics. Whenever I look at it, instead of thinking of presents and carols and holiday treats, I think only of Christ's birth, which is appropriate. And it's pretty. So win-win. I grabbed some metallic red paper, fed it into my Silhouette Cameo, and hot glued it to some twine. My favorite part from the inspiration garland (link referenced above) is this trick to line up the letters nice and neat.

 

So here is my version. I bought these giant antlers at a flea market a couple of weeks ago and right away I knew they needed something lovely strung between them.

Christmas time... is the best time... of all the times. 

Also, I miss when The Office was good.

Must-Dash

Just a little logo I did for a friend's racing team. Dash on, folks.

General Conference

So this is a late post because General Conference was over a month ago. But anyway, among the talks and guidance that was given, one comment really struck a chord with me. I should look up who said it, but one of the authorities talked about going to visit a poor family's home in... a country. Forgive me, I really need to look it up, it's been a while. When he entered the modest home, the only decoration he saw was a sign on the wall the read,  "My testimony is my greatest possession."

I was so moved by this because I was reminded how important the Gospel is to me... And how so much of what consumes my thoughts each day is not even important (and coincidentally, a lot of that has to do with materialistic possessions like those in the posts below). Right away I knew this was something I wanted to be reminded of each day (I wrote it on my little chalkboard and put it on the wall right by our front door as soon as the session was over) - because when it's all said and done, while everything I own and hold dear could be taken away from me, the one thing that will always be mine and only mine is my testimony.

My testimony.

I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior. I know that He is the reason I have a family that will be together forever. I know that He made the greatest, most loving and selfless sacrifice to give me that gift. I am so grateful to know that His church is on the earth today and that I am able to find so much joy in it. This knowledge is what makes life beautiful to me and everything I love and hold dear can be traced back to this truth... and my testimony of it.

I am so thankful for General Conference and the lessons I am taught as I listen to the words of inspired men and women.

Mid Century Dresser Makeover

Phew! Knocked out a couple of old project posts and now I can finally post the one I'm actually proud of!

So this is the story of finding my beloved mid century dresser/credenza. I had been wanting one for agesss. But dang it, I could not find a cheap on on Craig's List so I contented myself with drooling over ones online and hoping that maybe someday I'd find one magically at Goodwill for super cheap.

Like these lovelies.

Well, my waiting finally paid of. The street behind our's has a bunch of apartments and one day while driving by I saw a whole pile of junk in front of one of them, out by the sidewalk. So naturally, I stopped to look because junk piles are my fav. And I saw this dirty, junky old dresser underneath a huge 200lb TV. But there was no "free" sign. And no indication that they weren't just in the process of moving.

So I got all creepy. I stalked this thing out... for like a week.

And finally after driving by twice a day for 4 days I saw a the owner and asked if he would sell it and he said he'd give it to me for $20! SCORE! So me and Chaser dollied this beast down the street to our house. To say Chase was as excited as I was would be the biggest lie in the history of the world, but hey, he let me buy it.

The before:

I realized a few things after we got it home. While the dresser is solid wood, the tops, sides, and drawers all had a thin veneer on them - still it was at least a real wood veneer. But I realized there were too many chunks on the top and sides to be able to stain those. Instead I ended up filling them with wood filler.

After giving the top, sides, and legs a light cleaning and sanding, I primed them with a coat of Zinsser oil based primer. I'm super glad I did, even though it was a little annoying to clean the brushes afterward. It just gave it a really good, strong base. I then painted two coats of regular latex white off-the-shelf paint. I used a foam roller for both the primer and first coat of paint, but then used a brush for the second coat or paint. I also used Floetrol which I am now a huge fan of! It is so perfect for our dry, warm weather because it slows down drying time and helps prevent brush strokes. It worked wonderfully!

For the drawers, I used Citristrip to carefully scrape off the stain of the veneer. I was so worried about going through it, so it took me a while to strip. Then I sanded the drawers lightly and cleaned out all the cracks (those middle drawers have grooves in them).

I mixed some stains we already had to get the color. It came out exactly how I wanted, which is a miracle because that never happens on my projects. I had a small can of English Chesnut and added maybe 5 or 6 tablespoons of Ebony to it. I applied the stain with a foam brush and left it on for 20 minutes before wiping it off with a clean rag. After the drawers had dried 24 hours, I put on two coats of poly to seal them. Note to self: spray poly is not a good idea and regular poly (at least for this project) does not need sanding in between coats.

To finish, I added two coats of clear Briwax to the painted surfaces and it's done! I really love how it turned out and how it looks in our little living room.

And the after:

I still can't believe how much I like this piece. Hooray for a project that actually turned out.

And we love our Karlstad sectional. We just bought it a couple of months ago and it's perfect for us. We even added new tapered legs, custom made by Uncle Bob's Workshop. They screw right into the old holes without having to install mounting plates.

And lastly, I need decorating help people. I bought this chair at the antique mall several months ago and I am agonizing over choosing a fabric to reupholster the cushions! I cannot seem to find something that jumps out at me as perfect. I'm not good at decorating. I'm much better at looking at other people's choices and getting inspiration. I just don't know what color or pattern to choose that is under or around $20-ish a yard. The few fabrics I have found that I really like end up with me saying "THIS IS THE ONEEE -- oh... $80 a yard..."

So... if anyone even reads this post (which really isn't likely) and has an idea (that would still match the rest of our living room as shown in the photos above)... please share!