No Feature yourself Friday tonight, but..

Hi ya'll...you all...friends..homies..

I decided to take one more week off of FYF just for the holidays and such, I think it's nice to remember to spend time with family, and well.. Husband got to come home tonight and we're having New Years Eve a day early! Woohoo! So I leave you with the funniest picture I have right now.

The joy on my youngest daughters face almost cancels out the look of horror on the oldest, eh?

So many things to love about this picture.

They dressed themselves.

They put their own makeup on

She looks like she just read there's no Santa.

Happy (almost) New Year my friends, hope it's everything you wished for.
xo

Top Projects of 2010

Hi friends! :) Since Rhoda is having a party and my number 1 click I get on my blog is my top projects page I thought I'd post a little 'ode to 2010 in DIY projects :) Sound fun? Yes I thought so...

Of course the project I'm most proud of is the one I did myself, with my little box saw and my strong arm. Our entry way board and batten project. It opened up the entry way and made it into a real MUDROOM which is fantastic. We have a place for coats, shoes, chalkboard, and pretty (free) art. Can't go wrong.

We also had a bedroom overhaul. From blue and ugly to light, white and airy.

Even though I didn't really blog about it as a before and after, our living room has taken a turn for the white too.. Something about this color I adore, and it's creeped it's way in this year.

And, my most favorite blogging project this year was when we were published! :) Even if I bought all the copies out there... Wait what?

http://www.fingerprintsonthefridge.com/2010/05/kitchenbath-makeovers.html

:)

Now, hopefully I can finish the girls room that I started this year and it'll be my top project for 2011! :)

Happy Almost-New Year!

A non-Christmas post. New dining room table.

Do you feel it? The awkward feeling like I should be still talking about Christmas right now and I'm not going to. :) Yes December feels like the month that is all about the glimmer and magic and this Craigs list find, technically was magic. Every once and a while I'll peruse CL just to see if I can find anything that fits my fancy, usually not. But then one day, the clouds parted and the angles sang. This table is EXACTLY like I wanted. At the time, we had a pub style table. Dark and way too tall for a two year old who wants to get in her booster seat by herself.

Crash.

A daily sound I'd hear.

 

I love the look of round tables, our dining room is small so a little round table is great for us and the chunky base. Goodness, I was in love. Leaf? Oh shut up. Can't get better.

Wish I'd taken a real before picture but this will have to do.

I mentioned it so sweetly to my husband and he said we could go look. Look means buy, trust me. So we did, then he asked what I wanted to do with it. Oh, sweet boy. Guess what color? Guess. Yes some lovely white. Can't go wrong.

She got two coats of Killz oil based primer. Yes oil base sucks, it's hard to clean up and tends to dry fast so you have to work faster. But, for a kitchen table I want something that is going to stick. No peeling for me! Then I went over it with a plain jane white. Followed by Deft clear wood finish, a top coat that doesn't yellow. The last thing I want is a yellow table.

 Oh, the dressers? Yeah, those are the built ins from the girls room, I figured since I had the paint out I might as well get those done too. We worked all day but everything that needed a fresh coat of white got one. :) Nothings safe when I have a new can of paint.

The chairs aren't quite done yet but eh, they will eventually. And soon enough we'll have a nice rug to soften the floor up and I'll finally put up those curtains I've had for the last year. While we're at it we might as well paint the kitchen, so sick of the yellow.  Don't tell my husband that though.

For now I'm just enjoying a table that better suits our family. 

:)

Christmas 2010

What a whirlwind Christmas.. Geesh! Enjoy some pictures of our weekend :) And, of course I hope you had the Merriest yet.

 We went to my Mother in laws for Christmas eve, she has a lovely house she's slowly but surely re-doing. Snapped a few pictures of the decor when I had a free minute.

Her gorgeous built-ins.. Christmas went a little crazy over here. ;)

Mantel Mania

Sister and I

Grizzly man and I

Annual girl photo

Santa came!

Our stockings wouldn't fit on our fantel with the huge garland, so we improvised. :)

Lots of smiles, food and fun. The next day, I hardly took one picture. I decided to spend less time behind the camera and more with my family. That's how it should be right?

Oh, and I wanted to say thank you to all the ladies who recognized my hair change! You have no idea how much I was smiling when you all were commenting on being at the right blog. Yes, I went darker in October, and now it's actually semi-red. I can't stay the same ya know, and the fact that I'm half gray doesn't help. ;) 

Time to go watch Toy Story 3 and clean up the Christmas mess! 

xo

Merry Christmas

From our family to yours, 

xo

The purpose of a giant corkboard

I remember when I first posted about my corkboard someone wrote, "Nice, but I don't really get the purpose." 

Yeah, I still remember that. Thanks, Annon. 

Anyway here's one super awesome reason for having a giant corkboard in your entry way. Christmas card holder! :) Love it.

I put ours in the frame and threw some colorful garland up there. I like that the entry way is full of color even though the rest of our house is very neutral. It's the first place people walk into when they come over and I like it to be fun.

Picutres are pretty wonky because I took them when the sun was setting and those silly glares came right through the back door, oh well.. Such is life. 

Oh, and for fun, because the mudroom looks so clean and nice, here's what real life is right now. Bags from the trunk of my car, socks on the floor, bag of cans, bag of trash because well of course I ran out of garbage bags yesterday. Whatever, judge if you must. ;) Oh, I also see a measuring spoon! It's like Ispy. 

Merry-almost-Christmas Friends!

xo  

Christmas gifts pt. 2

When I saw this post, over at the lovely Shanty2Chic blog, I knew...Knew they had to be mine given as gifts. So I made a batch. Just like an assembly line, and now I'm on my second. They look pretty all stacked up and ready to be wrapped.

I love them, I think they're absolutely fantastic, rustic, girly, gorgeous. 

 
I added a little bit o' glitter for some pizazz. And, the shanty girls are pros at glazing.. Me not so much. I used distressing ink and it worked just fine.

The whole project cost 22.00 and that made 10 gifts. So these are extreemly cheap to make and they have a big bang, don't they? I switched it up a little bit from the shanty girls however and bought a 1x8x8 which made 10 frames all at 11inches each, and one leftover that was around 10 inches (I'm keeping that one for myself! Lowes also cut it for me for free, bonus!) So these bad boys are big. The fabric flowers I had, they used linen for some of theirs which I was all out of so I went with the jute. I still think it's pretty. :)

Now, if you're in my family and just ignored my facebook status telling you to stay away from this post you're just gonna get coal. I warned you.

Feature yourself Friday!

Wow.. Just wow, ladies. 416 entries last week, you ladies are PHENOMENAL! You gals are busy this Christmas season!

Fun little post about your wrapping style! And, a linky too!

How sweeeeet is this jar of cocoa? Oh my goodness.

Look at this fun paper wreath! You could do so many different colors and themes with this!

I collect these little lovelies,  sock monkeys? Kinda weird I know.. Don't judge. Anyways, and look how precious this one is? :)

I think I squealed when I saw this link. How cute? I'm pretty sure I could even make this! I just need an itty bitty baby to go with it.

Goodness gracious, awesome links. Let's see if we can do it again this week. Show us the stuff!

Oh! P.S

The winner of the Something Diane Made giveaway is Kori M. #28 Thanks to random.org. 

Christmas tour

My short and sweet tour of our home. 

I don't think you really need the play by play for each and every tiny decoration that I've put out or an exact account of why I decided to put random paper and music sheets on my tree. {Crazy woman} But, in case you do you can go here for the tree, here for the table center piece(s), and here for the fantel. Enjoy some photos, because really.. Everyone comes for the eye candy. No lie.

Merry Christmas

xo

Nester & Kelly's Parties.. I'll be there.