Sparkle Pumpkins...

Ahhh, YES!  Fall craftiness!  So, glittering pumpkins is not {obviously} my idea...I think it was Martha's idea originally.  A fab one at that because these little guys are adorable all glittered up!  =)  

A Big THANK YOU to Lisa for giving me these little punkins from her own little punkin patch.  

I started with Martha's glitter. {this stuff goes far, but it IS a mess...hence the reason we were on the back porch } Decoupauge or modge podge, pumpkins{any size} and foam foam brushes. 

Here is my little "Vanna White" demontrating the first step, which is brushing on a thin-ish coat of the modge podge...

and that was the last of the photo tutorial ...we got too busy and distracted with the glitter to take pictures of that part, but just sprinkle the glitter on like crazy!  =)  We did it over a craft tray and re-used all the "over sprinkle" =)  

Aren't they cute?  So sparkly! 

Ta-Da!!!  

I had one last little punkin left over so I decided to decopauge him with book pages!  Love it!  Now I'm going after the big pumpkins and some fun scrapbook paper =) Stay tuned!

I also grabbed this out of my scrap book stash.  I sprayed a light coat over the pumpkins to keep the glitter from glittering all over the house.  Brian likes to refer to glitter as the herpes of the craft movement...  "Once it gets on you it never goes away"  He is not always politically correct.  ;)  

Happy fall crafting!!  ;)

A fall wreath just for me! An update just for you {not that you asked}

Oh how I have missed crafting for myself and for our home.   This summer brought our family new ventures, challenges, experiences and  life changes in general.   I have to say, it's been a great summer and the changes have been good ones for us.  I feel pretty blessed as I start this blog post!

This summer was busy for sure!  We took a couple mini vacations, worked on the house and yard.  I quit working at the gym part time and took on a part time job working for a couple girlfriends who opened up a wine bar/restaurant {Rendezvous Wine and Brew} in Enumclaw and that has been a blast!  I love it!  If you live in this area you have to go check it out.  Very fun, hip, cozy and a great selection of wine and food!  The employees are pretty awesome too =)

In addition to the wine bar I have been busy with my own Etsy store!  Brian finally encouraged and pushed me to open up an Etsy store to see how a few of my projects would sell; I'm happy to say that a couple items have been a huge hit!  My Etsy store is called House of 3 {don't judge too harshly, I'm still working on the store front}.  My amazing sister in law created my logo and banner for my store.  Thanks Brenda!!

House of 3

 I feel blessed and so flattered that people want to buy my artwork!  It feels amazing!!  A few times I found myself pretty overwhelmed with the amount of orders I was getting so I had to take a step back and figure out how to balance my family, my home, my friends and my work.  I think I've got it...well, at least today I think I've got it. Ask me again tomorrow ;)


As our summer comes to an end Brian has started down a whole new path for the next 4 years and enrolled at WSU {I guess we are now Cougars...Go Cougs!}  for the MIS {Management information systems} program.  I am so proud of him!!  Finally,  McKenna started her first year of preschool **Big, Big sigh**  Life is ever changing!  I just had this conversation with my best friend, Stacey, about how just when you think life is starting to settle in and you have things under control God hands you a new card to play.  I feel like this summer we just got quite a few new cards handed to us =)  I'm always looking forward to the next open door and hope that we continue to make the right choices for our family and keep moving forward.

With all the changes in our life the past few months, I'm looking forward to fall.  I know that my friends and family here in WA may not all see it that way since our summer was so short, but Fall is my favorite time of year.  I love everything about it!  I can't wait to make Chili!  I am dying to go buy a few new sweaters and some cute jeans.  I'm looking forward to creating some seasonal items for my Etsy store, but most of all I am dying to decorate my own home for fall!!  I've been so busy lately creating items for customers and friends and for my Etsy store that I haven't taken the time to craft anything for our own home!  Today was the 2nd day of Kenna's preschool and I decided to take a little bit of that time while she was in school to make something to get fall kick started in our home!  Here is what I did...

Fall Ruffle Wreath

I was so excited to make wreath just for our door that I didn't even take the time

upload a tutorial or take the step by step picture for you to follow.  But that's OK, because

the ruffle wreath tutorial can be found right here.  

The fabric flowers I used were so easy to make but since I didn't take the time to create a tutorial I will have to follow up with that one later for you.  However, there are a hundred + things you can do to add color and interest to this wreath!  I love how versatile it is.  The little, glittery, leafy thingies {that is the technical term} I have had in my stash for-ev-er!  I finally found a place for them.  I made the tag from a piece of scrap sheet music paper I had and stamped the word "fall".  

So, go get some burlap from JoAnn's and create a fall wreath for your door!  Ok, off to work on other projects with my girl now.  I think next I will be glittering some pumpkins!  =)

xo
Shell

Kitchent Remodel...IT'S DONE...for now...

Yesssss!  It's done! For the most part, that is...Of course I follow that statement with "there are still minor details to finish up", but I have cabinets, drawers and shelves for my dishes and all the tools are put away! Thank you to our super amazing friends, Michelle and Doug who helped Brian and I with skills that they learned through trial and error from their own remodels in the past. You guys are beyond amazing with all the work you put in for/with us in the past week!

Seriously, who knew that a small little galley kitchen on the "cheap" would take so long!!!! Just in time for hosting Bunco last week and our gourmet club dinner this week. I won't go on and on about all the stupid girl emotional feeling of what it's like to have my kitchen completed and love making my coffee in the morning in a little, pretty space...oh wait, I think I just did go into that, didn't I? Haha...oh well, thank for reading...here are the before and afters!

Before:

I know, I know, you are thinking "why would you change that??? I dont know...maybe the dark brown oak, the green wallpaper border, the low hanging soffets...do you want me to continue? I didn't think so...

We thought this suited our style just a little better =)

 Mmm, yummy open shelves...

I love my pendant light.  As you can see {if you look close enough} I took this picture before the kitchen was even done!  I loved it so much, that as soon as the last screw was tightened up I pushed Brian out of the way to get this picture!   

I love this little window behind the sink.  It's amazing how much light it brings in the kitchen and how much this kitchen needs this.  I also love  my soap pump!  =)

So, there you have it!  It's small, but now it's pretty and functional!  

Just a recap, what we did in the above picture:

Ripped out cabinets, soffets, had can lights and pendant light installed. Ordered pre-formed laminate counter, installed with the help of Michelle {who knew I would EVER be so excited about laminate}, painted cabinets {after lots of sanding, cleaning, priming and painting}, added hardware, replaced window trim, installed bead board, open shelves and painted...whew...lots more to come...

When I started researching the best layout for a small 70's, lake community rambler I knew I wanted open shelves like Emily Jones. I knew that it wasn't going to be fancy and I wanted it open and bright. Although I know her kitchen is not a galley kitchen, I saw this picture of her bead board, open shelf wall and fell in love.  So, we started there and ended up here...

What we did here {with help from M&D}:

Raised the cabinets 6" and added crown moulding. Yummm, I love the small touch of crown moulding and let me tell you what a difference it makes raising cabinets 6". Seems like your ceiling grows at least a foot!!! My 6'4" husband was stoked...me, well, my 5'4" self is happy for him! Also happy the yummy, Martha Stewart "zinc" gray crown moulding adds a touch of detail that I can't live without now! =)

I'm pretty sure I want to paint everything Gray now!!
There are quite a few small details that I want to add to the kitchen.  Like the back corner I want to incorporate a bit more of a coffee station.   I have some empty wall space that I love, but I think it needs a little something pretty that can also be storage.  I'm sure as we live in this little kitchen longer we will know what to add and what not to add.  That's the thing with living in small spaces...the challenge is living with what you need and making it pretty and functional.

Now that you have seen the before and afters, here are the "during" pictures...kinda like the out takes =)

This is our pantry door when I had it off the hinges, sand, prime, paint...repeat (4x)

This was the begining stages when Brian tore down the upper cabinets and we started taking off the cabinet doors to prep them for painting...

How gross is this???  Seriously!   So, this is what my kitchen looked like for about 3 months.   I guess I thought if I tore down the cabinets and stared at the hideous insides, I would get it done faster...haha...not so much.   I just hated it even more and decided to ignore it and move on to different, smaller, instant satisfaction type projects.  It was like getting my "fix" withouth fixing all that.

Time to put the hubs to work again!  This was fun!!  I'm pretty sure I found something way more important to do right about then...after I took these pictures of course.  Bye, bye green, flower wall paper/border.

Our Amazing friends Michelle and Doug volunteering their skillz!  In all honesty, they felt sorry for us, rolled up their sleeves and crashed our kitchen!  We love them for it and for so many other reasons!

I was itchy with my kitchen and dining room being in disarray for a week!  I was so excited when it was done...I actually cried!  =)

Crown Moulding!  Yuummmm!

The back yard became the work shop.  Good thing we were blessed with no rain that week.

Michelle fears no power tool!

Installing the pretty new, white, shiny sink!

Almost done!

And one last time...Here is the final results of all that hard work!

Ok, now I'm going to do dishes!  =)  Thanks for reading!