Feature yourself Friday!

Happy Almost Friday friends! Last week we had an amazin' turnout! With over 346 link ups theres PLENTY of eye candy to go around! Some of my favorites, however were...

Such a pretty take on a coffee filter wreath!

Super cute maternity shirt.

Adorable nursery.. love it.

Such great ideas ladies! Keep it up! :) Before we link up I want to have one last call for the October advertising special :) 10.00 per month that you'd like to advertise for. It's a great price for a lot of views you'll get daily! Whoohoo!

Oh, and have you voted today???? 

Okay okay, enough business.. Time to party!

Scrapbook paper fixes everything

First things first, Thank you to all of you who have emailed, commented, shouted from the rooftops, telling me that you've voted! I'm so seriously thankful for each and everyone of you! Remember you can vote daily until November 5th. So any extra votes you can give me would be great! Think of all the awesome blog posts I can do if I win! A brand new basement? Geesh, that would be quite the blessing since we've decided to take the house off the market. One more time, Thank you! Still haven't voted today? Hope on over, it's just one click!

Now onto the fix ups. :) My living room is super small as you know, so anything I can bring in to add interest I try and do, for cheap of course.

The main focal point of the room is
#1 The large and in charge fantel that sits above the t.v.
#2 The T.V, say it isn't so huh? I know, but it has to go there and the couch has to face it. No fabulous fireplace for me. Boo.
#3 The bookshelf next to the t.v, these drawers are the ones that hold all the hidden toys and movies. Sneaky huh? It's not the best unit in the world, it was from Meijer. I wouldn't choose to put a bunch of heavy books on it but it serves it's purpose I suppose with the storage. I think I'll keep it. :)

But it did need a little more personalization, case in point. Scrapbook paper. This isn't any new idea, I think everyone started using it to line the back of their hutches once the Nester did hers way back when I'm just jumping on the bandwagon a little late...er, two years or so. Hate me, but I couldn't find the right paper. Until this glorious faux wood planks showed up in my life. They came from Hobby Lobby and they're fantastic.

I just used a little tape and slid them into place. Done and done. I threw some little items on it for a little bit of "pretty". A vintage milk carrier from the thrift store and some candles and the girls shilouette and a photo of my Mom and Aunt in a Ball jar. Love it. I tried to find the picture of my cousin and I in our halloween costumes from when we were little. We had those creepy old plastic masks on, I was a princess and she was Bert (sesame street) but she bit his nose off. Priceless, where is it? Gah.

 See the teeth marks from when my youngest chewed on the bottom shelf? Kids..Seriously? Sometimes I wonder about them. 

Then some of the fall magazines I want left out for the yummy recipes, plus the colors are perfect of course.

Top shelf, the scent burner. Gotta keep it away from little fingers :) A birdhouse I won from a giveaway and little lovies pumpkin from years ago. Is it perfect? No, but everything on this shelf is something I love. I'm good with that.

Sticking with the creams, blacks and hints of orange, you can see that I dress my children according to our decor.

Just kidding. But she's just too cute not so share, even when she's messing with the T.V no matter how many times I say no.

Linking up to Thrifty's Before and After party..even though I'm lame and missed out on the before part. ;)

I need a favor friends!

Okay dear sweet and lovely friends, I need a favor! About a month ago I had my friend video tape me pleading for a basement makeover from True Value. It's a horribly embarrassing video but you know what? For a new basement, it's worth it! Guess what? I'm in top 10! So now it's time for *you* all to vote! Can you do that for me?

Go here and vote for me Rachelle C #403! 

Remember what I did with 2,000 in my kitchen? A lot. I can do some serious damage to the basement with the money they'll give me and guess what, I'll blog the entire thing along the way! FUN! So help a girl out, please!

Don't laugh at my hives in the video, or how dry my throat was. Does the song "Let me clear my throat, nah nah nah" come to mind? Yes. But I don't care. :) Love me anyways?

Plus, c'mon-- this girl needs a nice-clean-non scary-non spiderinfested basement!

Feature yourself Friday!

 Hello Friends!
It's that time once again to all join up and share in the ah-mazing things we've done recently! So fun, and I'm so glad you came to visit! Want to see some highlights from last week? Yup, I knew you did. 

Love this gorgeous candy corn filled mantel 

We make these muffins at home! Love em!

This broom is fabulous.

Have you seen this nook? Seriously now, gorg.

Alright alright, let's go ahead and get to it! Show us the goods ladies, have fun! 

Wall art for the girls room

On my quest to find something cute, colorful, and fun for the girls new bedroom I had a thousand and two different ideas but for this certain project I wanted it to have a dual purpose. Pretty and functional. I like that.

It started with a frame that was once spray painted black, then in a high gloss white. Gotta love that white. Looks stunning against the blue we picked for the wall color. Which I might add is the perfect feminine blue color, and I know you're going to ask me what color it is and silly me wrote this post without looking at the can.

Okay okay, so we have a pretty white frame, a chipped one I might add but it was a markdown at Hobby Lobby and I can't say no to a good frame. Although our definitions of good may be different, chipped is not a biggy to me.

Time to get a bunch of different bright colored lovely ribbons. LOVE each and everyone one of these, love them I say! I threw in a little purple and pink for good measure, since those were a few of the requirements for a new bedroom.

Cut to length and glue your little hearts out! If I could find my staple gun I would have stapled it, it probably would have been faster and helped it to be as tight as possible, but alas no such luck. Trusty glue gun it is.

Don't forget to figure out a pretty pattern, that's important too. Even in a rainbow of colors and patterns there's always a theme hiding in there. Always.

Hang 'er back up and fall in love.

One thing I learned? Wire ribbon will not look tight no matter what you do. It waves and I'm okay with that, you'll see why.

See? Can't even tell! A pretty little ribbon holder for some pretty little girls.

Linking up with

Funky polkadot Giraffe
DIY Show Off

Little girls bedroom makeover

How do you like my title? Think google can handle that? ;)

Remember my 2010 to do list? The one I'm close to finishing? Well, the clock is tick-ticking! And, the house isn't selling-- nor are we magically coming up with more room. So, it's time for them to share a room. Most of the time they end up sleeping together anyway, depending on who sneaks out of bed and which bed they end up in, or ours. :) Silly little girls and their musical chairs beds. Out with the polka dot and in with the... It's a secret. Bwahaha.

 Sorry, dark photo, new mac and I'm lost at how to edit photos right now.

  You may already know if you search through my recent posts and see my little sneak peek. It was hard to convince my children that it would look good. My oldest decided recently her new favorite color is purple, and gave permission to my youngest that her's can be pink now. Because, we all know that no two sisters can have the same favorite color. Ahem. But they're slowly but surely starting to agree with me, I think. 

So.. I have to tie their likes in, try and keep the bright plastic toys out and make it "Little girl lives here, and a five year old who thinks shes 13" While keeping it easy to transition if we choose to continue to live here...dun dun dun.. Forever. Do you know what else this means? I'm also transforming the nursery into a playroom. Double decorating duty! I'm thinking of it this way though, making these two rooms work for us is a lot cheaper than our closing costs would be! :)

 Good bye horrible messy pile of books. See you in your new organized home!

At least they're reading right?

Right.

Can't wait to show you what I have in mind! If you have your children share rooms, how's it going? Do you love it, hate it. Is it nice to keep all the toys out of the room and have a designated room for them? Or is it just going to make me go insane because toys will just end up everywhere.

Hello, friends! Hope you're all having a fantastic fall Saturday, full of pumpkins and scarfs and the smell of autumn in the air! We sure are, with a little computer shopping thrown in since mine has recently bit the dust!

I wanted to give you the up and up on what's been going on around FOTF lately, our friend group has grown! They're 100% loved by Fingerprints so I'm sure you'll love them too!

If you've been around blog land at all in the past few years you know Cap Creations, if you don't-- you should.

She's a wonderful jewelry maker with an awesome collection of hand stamped goodness!

She has something for everyone and her prices are absolutely reasonable, love that!

Plus, she's a huge advocate for adoption and helps many many families on their road to getting a new family member. The chosen necklace she makes, help fund adoption agencies by donating 10 dollars with each purchase of one! Awesome!

Did I mention she has a blog? Yep! Full of great ideas from bento to bottle caps, girls got it.

New to the scene be seen, is my friend Diane with her new site Something Diane Made.

She's an up and coming crocheter and, let me say-- girl's got some talent!

 I'm in love with these scrubbies. Love them. They're an awesome idea for stocking stuffers don't you think? 

Hint hint.

 How about these cute slip ons? She makes them for children too, something you definitely need for cold winter days.

Another great gifting idea? Hats! Kids always look cuter with hats on, throw a big ol' flower for a girl on it and they're down right adorable.

Be sure to check out her Etsy shop for all your holiday shopping! 




 Need some blog reading for the weekend?
Handy Man, Crafty Woman 

Laurie and her husband Rob are two do-it-yourselfers that have taken on blogging about it for our entertainment. LOVE that.

Look at their amazing kitchen redo!

She also cooks, with great recipes like this..

 Organizes, and shares the tips with us..

 

And, decorates with everyday things. Easy projects, something the girls and I adore.

So for some good weekend blog reading, be sure to check out Handy Man, Crafty Woman!

Our awesome Utah photographer! She's from Northern Utah and has a fantastic eye for baby photos! That's probably why she's called Bouncin' Baby Photography, but that's just a guess.

;)

She has a few great special going on for anyone who's interested in booking a session with her,

1) Book a maternity or newborn session and get a in-hospital session FREE, because they are only one day old for ONE DAY!

2) Book a maternity and newborn, save 20% off of newborn session, and 15% off everything ordered.

I didn't have any professional photos of either of my newborns done and I highly regret it. Sure, our little camera took nice pictures but I would have loved to have a huge picture of each or 100 of them. 

 So whether it be a Maternity session which includes

• Approximately 1-2 hour of time (this is not a limit, just information)
• On location shoot (within 25 miles of Farmington)
• Up to 2 outfit changes
• Post Production
• Password protected online gallery for viewing

 Or a home/hospital visit

if you're in Utah you should most definitely get a hold of Cortney!

  Sugar and Dots {whom you may remember as Live Fancy} is full of funny posts, random thoughts, super cute crafts, awesome {cupcake} related things.. yum! It helps that Kimmie is awesome, funny and down to earth. Check her out! Then while you're at it go look at her Etsy shop! Remember those princess clips from Disney week? All her, baby!

Or some super cute training pants for your littles?

She also creates buttons on the cheap! Need a blog button? She's got it! 

She just revamped her blog and has a lot of fun surprises in store for her readers so make sure you go check her out!

Erin Dietrich Photography.

Our former go-to photographer from California has moved!
Yup, now she's located in Myrtle Beach South Carolina! 

So..If you live in the Southern California South Carolina area she is SERIOUSLY the person to go to. Yup, enough so that I had to use all caps. :) Her work is gorgeous!

I'm in the process of trying to get her to move to Michigan to shoot us. Think she'll give up the sunshine for snow? Okay, maybe not move but she does travel. So even if you aren't in a location close to her, she can come to you! Go check her work out, it's stunning.  

 She also has a fun family blog worth checking out, if you're anything like me and love stalking reading about other peoples families. That's what blogging is about right? ;)
So that's it ladies! Hope you have a fantastic weekend, special special thanks to my sponsors who help me fund all these projects to keep this place going!
See you on the flip side!