Pompin’ up those grad gifts!

Get it? Pompin’?  As in “Pomp and Circumstance”–the refrain that will be heard throughout the hallowed halls of learning in the US over the next few weeks. From preschool to grad school, that infamous dirge will be pumping through the speakers.

Anyway.  My daughter has a close friend that graduated from high school this year.  She wanted to get her friend something that wasn’t typical, easily found, or expensive.  While out shopping we ran into a couple items we thought about buying.  But then I was all “Hey!  This would be easy to make, we can just do it ourselves!”  And for once, I was right.  It was easy to make.  Wonders never cease!

Well, that didn’t go as planned…a DIY Fail

In the spirit of keeping things real, I figure I better share some of the ugly that goes on when it comes to my home improvement efforts.  Thankfully it doesn’t happen as often as you would think.  Maybe that is why my stinking projects take absolute ages to finish, I do everything to avoid it being awful.

So click through to find out how I took this wonderful inspiration photo

 

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Free Card Love

I’m betting I had your attention at “free”.

Way back in the early 2000’s I started stamping…you know, where you invest a small fortune in rubber stamps, ink, paper, fancy doodads, and more.  My friends and I would all take turns hosting “Stamping Parties” so we could get deep discounts on stamp sets and accoutrement for ourselves.  The infamous Leah even started selling the product line so she could get as many stamps as she wanted.  Considering she has an entire room devoted now to her collection I’d say it has remained a passion for her.  Me?  Not as much.  Some of that may be due to the fact that I don’t live near my stamp-a-holic friends anymore, but more of it is likely due to time.  I also never really got into using them for scrapbooking.  And, like the design esthetic of my home, my taste has changed.

Art on the Cheap

This post is really about a very simple idea.  Many, if not most, of you have already attempted this in your own home.  But maybe, just maybe, this will be an light bulb moment for some folks.  This post is all about how to get some really nice artwork in your home.  For a really, really low price.

Curing the Blahs

Say you’re almost an empty-nester (both kids are in college in towns far, far away).  And say you have always dreamed of living either in a log cabin or a cottage by water so you are thinking of selling your current home in the next couple of years.  And also say that you’ve lived in said home since it was built 14 years ago and have done only minor decorating modifications to it since you moved in.  Then say to yourself that you and your husband are both borderline tightwads that hate to part with large sums of money.  What do you do?

Well, if you are my friend Kim, you enlist me to think of ideas for minor renovations and decorating choices!  And then, with a gleam in my eye, I proceed to create a Pinterest page just for your house, barrage you with paint colors and decorating ideas, talk about ideas for almost every square inch of that 3500+ sf home, plead with you to paint almost everything, including the kitchen cabinets,  and even compile a long list of paint ideas and schemes.  But even I have to focus, so I decided recently to devote my attention to her kitchen.  Because man, does it ever have a case of the blahs.

Sitting Pretty

I had a couple options planned on what to talk about today.  One was to show you some of the yard work we’ve been getting accomplished the last few weeks.  I have some before pictures to show you however we have had relentless rain this week, so no after pics to share!  I also wanted to show you how to use an online photo editor to fix/edit/create images–but my wonky ancient computer won’t let me view the full screen without some huge pop-up ad.  I decided it may be best to do that on a different computer so you can really see what I’m talking about without being hit over the head for some product.

So instead, you are getting to hear about how I turned this:

Listen to Your Elders

When we last saw our curvy table…..

It was looking pretty blue.  I had decided to do an antiquing finish to the table but it had been years since I had tried to do a faux finish.  In our first two homes I had done sponge paint, rag rolling, and faux plaster techniques on a myriad of walls.  Yet when trying to figure out how to do a technique on this table, and what to use, I was drawing blanks.

Put a Cork In It

Or rather, put a cork–or a hundred–on it.  And let me start this post off with this:  Yes, Leah, I know I still owe you a cork wreath.  For about the last 15 years.  But hey, this looks so much cooler don’t you think?

Curves Ahead!

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No.  Not those kind of curves.

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Nope.  Not those curves either.

Time To Reenlist

I am a list maker.  I love that feeling of making a list and then getting to scratch things off.  Oh, the sense of accomplishment!  So naturally, when we moved into this house back in 2010,  I made a list.  And it went something like this:

The real deal list