Fingerprints on the Fridge

Feature Yourself Friday

2012-01-26T22:09:00.001-05:00

Lots of items to go over tonight.. :) Since this chick has been MIA for a few days.

The winner of the Mia Bella 9oz jar and an assortment of melts.

41. JamieM. said...: I'd choose Carribean Cooler...; December 24, 2011 12:46 AM; Who didn't have a public blog, so Jamie! Email me!; The winners of the Shaklee Basic H cleaner; Michelle; Erin; Kimberlee; Meghan; Diane; Winner of the Crafty Colleen 25.00 shop credit; Karen; Whew! That's a lot! So email me ladies so I can get you in contact with your loot!; Onward.; In honor of the month o' love.. I'm going to run a special on advertising, one month really means TWO months. :) Because I love you. And, that's what February is about! If you have a handmade shop, or a blog you want to promote email me at {FOTFBlog@aol.com}; Lot's of fun to come to these parts and I'd love for you to join the team! Okay okay okay.. I think that's it. I'll quit the talking and let you all party hardy, deal? Be back tomorrow with some Valentines Day deliciousness!; Source

Hello!

2012-01-24T21:03:00.000-05:00

Why ello! I haven't fallen off the face of the earth I promise.

I am however, having a hard time balancing 2 jobs...2 kids..1 husband..1 blog.. 2 pets.. and 24 hours in one day! haha

But in all seriousness I think I'm starting to figure out a good schedule for myself. So hopefully after this weekend (My last shift as a part time server.. can I get a simultaneous yahoo and shed a tear?) I can whip out all the posts I have written that need pictures added.. answer some emails.. oh and breathe a little? That might help. ;)

Have I also mentioned I forgot to announce some winners from... gulp.. Weeks ago?! Yup I did. I'm going to announce them on Friday at Feature Yourself Friday. So, enough biz.. more fun. How about a little bit of my life via instagram? Yes..!

Sometimes I send pretty pictures to my husband in the middle of the day. I'd say I've perfected the come hither look if you ask me.

Puppies! Oh he was very snuggly.

Comfortable...huh.

Um! People, I'm a reformed nail biter! Check out how long these babies are.

Friday nights at the Czuk house.

If you feel like following my random photos check it out at fotfblog

20.00 Change

2012-01-17T20:00:00.002-05:00

Want to see how you can make a big ol' exciting change for cheap? Okay, truth be told it's not big nor is it exciting. But it is a change, and for less than the price of a night out at dinner or something equally as fun but more of a want and not a need. Which is what the Mr. keeps reminding me of during this spending freeze we're.still.in.

That got off topic fast.

Okay so the handles on the entertainment unit bugged me. Big time. I mean, to anyone visiting they might not really notice them but when you live with them every day and they're super contemporary and I'm more traditional meets vintage meets whatever sparks in my crazy mind, they weren't doin' it for me.

So home depot it was.

They're actually the same pulls that I used on the dresser because I love them so much. But that's how I spent 20.00 on a want and it made me smile a lot. It really is the little things.

I could have at least vacuumed for you huh? Oh well. This is life. Guess what else we've done to the family room? Painted! But I'll show you that later this week. Goodbye Cliveden Gray, I sure have loved you, but it's time for a change.

How about you? Have you made any small changes to your place that weren't really necessary but made your heart happy?

Craft Colleen and Cohort {Giveaway}

2012-01-15T12:27:00.000-05:00

Ya'll. I've tried to write this post a few times and Blogger keeps eating it. Let's all cross our fingers and make a wish that deleting the whole thing and starting over works. Bahh!

Okay so I've got something cute for you today friends! The lovely Colleen asked if she could give some of her goodies away and of course I jumped on it. A lot of her items could be something that little boys adore and I know I tend to have lots and lots of bows and girly giveaways so it's nice to have somethin' for the mamas of boys too. Even though some of her things have me saying

"Coooooool!"

Because well.. It is and I like it. Especially the light switches.

What about birthday party treats? Awesome pencils? Pretty sure these would be a hit.

Little scrapbooks for birthdays or weddings? Love the detail put into them.

Cute cute cute.

Now want to know what you could win?

Sure!

Today Colleen is offering up a 25.00 shop credit. Woohoo!

How can you win?

Go check out her shop and let us know what your favorite item is.
Head on over to her facebook page and *like* her! Make sure you tell her who sent ya!
Tweet/blog/facebook about this giveaway.

As always this contest open to FOTF public followers only. If you're not currently subscribed/following now is a great time to do so. Also, please leave a separate comment for each entry. Contest ends 1/22/12.

Feature Yourself Friday - HACKED!

2012-01-13T11:24:00.000-05:00

Hello lovely Fingerprints on the Fridge readers!

My name is Kimmie and I blog over at Sugar and Dots.

Rachelle is my BFF, and she texted me from work this morning asking if I could please open FYF for her.

So here I am.

And since I don't have the power to feature anyone, I decided I'd do a little giveaway so that you don't walk away empty-handed.

It happens to be my two year blogiversary today, so I'm in a giving mood.

;)

Up for grabs:

One Premium Ad Space for the month of February.

(That's the big pink one, ya'll.)

You can read all about the awesomesauce that comes with Premium Ad Space here.

To enter:

1. Leave a comment below thanking your hostess Rachelle for this lovely party.

2. Follow FOTF and leave a comment for Rachelle telling her that you follow her blog.

3. Visit Sugar and Dots sometime and say hello.

(You can do one or all of those options.)
Rachelle will announce the winner next week!

Now on to the party!

Have fun!

Happy Friday.

2012 Resolutions

2012-01-09T20:39:00.001-05:00

Okay.. I'll admit it, I love them. I love the idea that I can start FRESH. Kind of like when I say I'm going to start working out but it can't be on any day other than a Monday. New week. New year. You get the drift. New beginnings, and I enjoy them. Mucho.

A few things I want to work on this year..

Quit looking for perfection in my marriage. It wont happen. We can't erase the past, nor is it a romance movie where he'll sweep in and say all the right things and I'll feel that twinge in my stomach, with a twinkle in my eye and know every things better. Nope. Nada.

We'll still have fights.. Will they lead to divorce? Lord help me I hope not, but it's NORMAL to fight. I don't have to stay awake after every fight worrying that this one was the one that broke the camels back, we should have just agreed on where to have dinner damn it.

Source

Breathe Rachelle. LIVE. Stop worrying. Be happy. Quit being so concerned with the idea that he might not be happy. You make him happy, shut your head up.

Source

Be a Yes Mom. Sometimes I think I'm the cranky Mom who doesn't want to do anything. I'm also not really a "play" Mom. I love to take the girls to lunch dates, or movie dates, or shopping. We snuggle all the time or color but I don't really.... play and I always feel like I'm scarring them for life by not rolling on the floor playing barbies.

I mean, I'm probably not scarring them, but I want them to grow up and have memories of me being fun, loving and a part (Not to be confused with APART.. Thankyouverymuch) of things.

Not remembering me working on something while they played in the playroom. I want to be in their memories. All of them.

Source

Be in photos.
LOL this one sounds so superficial, doesn't it? I'm always behind the camera. I say to Mr. Fingerprints all the time, "What if I were to die. You wouldn't even remember what I looked like!" I'm trying to be better. Say, "hey! Take a picture of us." But I feel so lame doing it. Stop it Rachelle.. Quiet that head up again! ;)

Be happy with my body. This also means taking care of it. Sure I want to lose 20 more pounds but if I don't that's okay. I've been working hard as a mother trucker to lose my baby weight.. (Ha, the baby who is almost...Four. Gulp) But my body will NEVER be pre-baby. It's okay. Learn to live with it, learn to like it. I should probably quit messing with my hair too because it's a hot mess and can't afford any more fried ends or patches from it falling out all the time. ;)

Be a happy person. Be a good friend. Be content. Be the sunshine in someone's life. Be the blog that people feel good after they read. Be the best me that I can be.

Because I only get one shot at this lil' thing called life. I fully intend to rock it this year.

Source

What about you? Do you have any new years resolutions that you're going to work on this year?! Share with us!

Sharing over at Amandas!

Feature Yourself Friday

2012-01-05T21:50:00.000-05:00

Hello! Welcome to Feature Yourself Friday 2012 edition! Can you believe another year has flown by? Me. Either.

We had lots of eye candy last week.. Things like this seriously ah-mazing play kitchen.. Go see the before. It's nuts!

Lots of pretty projects in one spot, just how I like it.

Ohh, more before and afters. Keep them coming, this is the best part of January in the blog world!

Love this little touch of winter in the kitchen.

Great job ladies, your talent never ceases to amaze me! Time to party on peeps! :)

Hello there, Friend.

2012-01-04T14:11:00.000-05:00

Our Elf Christopher popped in the other night (Okay a few weeks ago. I wrote this and then never posted it. Pretend with me that it's 3 weeks ago..And, scene.) and brought a friend with him.

Oh boy. Here we go.

:)

Okay as much as I complain he is pretty cute. He's already totally in love with his brother and likes to jump around on him and bite his ears. Don't worry, big brother plays back. :)

His sisters? Well, he's not exactly in love with them yet. Getting there... slowly.

Me though? Every two minutes he's under my feet purring so I think that means we're friends.

There's our new family member Oliver.

He shhhore is fluffy!

Shaklee love and a {giveaway}

2012-01-03T22:28:00.000-05:00

One of the best things about blogging is the people that you wouldn't otherwise get to meet. People like Latoya who has such an amazing spark it blows my mind. The kind of sweet person who asks if she can send you something in the mail which on it's own is amazing and thoughtful and then surprises you at Christmas with a Christmas card too.

Did she have to do that?

Nope.

But she did and each time it was just that little sparkle in the mail that made my day. Love those days. Love those people. She's also very down to earth and has a fun blog about family life. I especially loved her cleaning post from the other day, I'm totally the same way. Once the tree is down I feel like I can't breathe unless the whole house gets a good scrub down. Weird. I am.

Onward!

I'd heard tons of things about Shaklee before, and if you've been around the blog world long then you probably have too. I'd never gotten to try it though and when I opened that little package of heaven, oh boy. 'Twas on.

I got a little over eager and tried it on our really messy table. I used more than I needed but, what can I say? I was ready to go. Trust me though when you read that you only need a little bit, they mean it. Anywho I put a big ol' plop of the scour off on my table and it was like new. The best part of cleaning is it makes you want to go a step further and keep things nice. Or is that just me? My table has been clean since I broke out the scour off and I couldn't be happier.

Clean table..Ahh.

She also sent me some of the Basic H. I wanted to show you that but, I'll be honest with you here... I put it in a different brand's bottle when I ran out of said brand. And it wouldn't be very nice of me to show how great Shaklee works in a photo with a different bottle. Ha! Anyway, it works wonders. When I looked online for different ways to use it I wandered on this site, holy-moly! So many different ways to use it. It's like the miracle cleaner. And, SAFE to use! Love that.

So with Latoya being wonder woman and all she wants to give 5 of you the chance to try out this magic cleaner. FUN! I'm excited for you, really. It's that awesome.

Here's how you can win

Leave a comment telling us your favorite thing to spruce up your house after the holidays
Head on over to The Scott's Crib and follow along
Check her out on Facebook so you can be in the know when it comes to deals and steals ;)

Please note, contest only open to United States and Canada residents. Also, you must be a public FOTF subscriber, so if you aren't currently following along, now is a great time to start! Leave a separate comment for each entry as to make it a little easier on random.org's life. :) Shanks!

Feature Yourself Friday!

2011-12-29T22:00:00.002-05:00

Whew! It's been a minute hasn't it?

Yes!

Christmas kind of took over, plus Miss. Rachelle got a new job. I know, I know. Crazy. As much as I love staying home with the girls and being the manager of the house.. it was time. I'll tell you all about it this week. :)

Hum..Hum..Hum.. what else what else? I did a little 2011 review and if you feel like browsing through the archives with me, it's a nice ride down memory lane!

In sponsor news.. The winner of the Bellabyte 25.00 shop credit is...

18. Monsters33 said... I liked Bellabyte on facebook.

The MiaBella giveaway is going to be open for another week because of the holiday and what not so GO SIGN UP and win some scenty goodness.

And, if you have some Christmas cash you have (thanks Mom!) check out TinkerBboutique.. She's got an awesome deal going on for 30% off if you use the code FAM30! LOVE her necklaces, she joined in our Birthday giveaway extravvvaaaganza and was a huge hit. Check it, yo.

Okay okay! On with the party! Since it's been so long since the last party and because I already wrote a mile long post.. ;) We'll just jump right in, what have you been working on? What are you gonna feature tonight?! Let us see!

Best of 2011

2011-12-29T20:27:00.005-05:00

It's time to wrap up 2011 and take a look at the highlights of the year..

One project that we got done this year that I'm super excited about is the...

Playroom!

It was slow and steady that's for sure but I'm so happy that it's done and is a nice comfortable room for the girls to play in. Tons of details here, and here.

We did a little magic to the hallway, and even though it's 6 or 7 feet of space that usually gets unnoticed I love the new closet doors we built.

Definitely better than they were. Plus the white is so fresh and pretty compared to the black.

I did a quick face lift to the bathroom with some fabric art.

Put a Bird on it.

Worked on the kitchen a little bit by adding a Chalkboard wall, Kitchen shelves, beadboard backsplash, and some bun feet.

Had some fun in the mantel department

Some favorites..

'Twas quite the year. I hope you have fun browsing the links and going through the memories with me. :)

And, of course it wouldn't be possible to run this place alone, and thanks to my ah-mazing sponsors this year.

Thank you ladies from the bottom of my heart.. Thank you!

And, of course there would be NO blog without the love and support from you lovely ladies. Every reader..subscriber..every one of you. You mean more to me than you'll ever know. Through your encouragement as I fluff my home, mother my children and learn how to make this thing called marriage work. You're my cheerleaders and there isn't anything quite like real friends is there? Even if you friends are thousands of miles away. I'm honored to call you friends.

Group hug.

This year was pretty tough for some of us, so I'm praying for us all to have one hell of a 2012. Can I get an Amen?

:)
Love. Just love.

Jen is having a best of 2011 party! Check it!
Lovin' it over at TidyMom's!
I'll be joining Rhoda for her 2011 party!
And, Petals to Picots The best of 2011 party!
Don't forget My BFF's partay!
The lovely Ange is having a best of party too!
So much fun going around blog land.

Christmas 2011

2011-12-26T18:59:00.000-05:00

I actually didn't take 1000 pictures this year, I kind of just lived in the moment and didn't have a free hand with all the fudge and shhnacks I've been munching on. But I did get a new Cannon Rebel for Christmas so hopefully with this new toy I can take a lot more pictures in 2012 to make up for skipping it this year, yes?

Anyway.

From our family to yours, Merry Christmas..Happy Everything..And a Wonderful New Year. Let's make this one the year, shall we?

Kitchen details

2011-12-20T12:58:00.000-05:00

It's the little things that matter right? Just like the little details that make you say "Huh? Now that's cute!" It also helps take away the stock cabinet look that we had going on before.

It started with a few bun feet from Home Depot.

Then a builder Dad with a saw and a lot of courage.

I say courage because the bottom of the cabinets by the sink aren't as deep as the ones by the stove and dishwasher. I definitely didn't want them sticking out because goodness gracious everyone knows that I'd be stubbing my foot every ten minutes can we all agree on that? Yes we can. So we cut it in half and Builder Dad was shaking in his boots trying to cut something that rolls 2 inches away from A SAW.. you know because it can become a bloody mess if you're not careful. ;)

Anyway, it worked out in the end and he only lost one and a half fingers.

Kidding.

But the next issue was that they were half an inch too short. Now, you wouldn't be able to notice unless you got down on the floor and looked. We thought about leaving it but, I figured it would probably be something that kept me up late at night being irritated that I didn't spend an extra dollar and some brain power figuring out how to make it taller.

So I did.

I thought about using those discs you can find at Hobby Lobby in the wood section, or a small bead something small enough that we could fit under the foot but something curvy enough that looked like it was supposed to be there.

Then on an end cap I found these suckers! We cut a little bit off but the bottom of the bun slid right in. Perfecto! Best two bones I've ever spent.

They remind me of horse legs, boney knees and all. Do you see it?

We also painted the toe kick the color of the walls just so that they would pop a little more. I like it. I've seen it done with black paint but we don't have anything super dark in the kitchen and I thought that the black would overwhelm more than enhance if you know what I mean. So we added two more to the corners and I couldn't be happier. Adds a little custom charm to the little kitchen that could.

Dear Kitchen, you've come a long way baby.

How about you? Have you added any little touches to your kitchen to spruce it up lately? Share! I want to hear it all!

Scent Stations Mia Bella {Giveaway}

2011-12-19T22:16:00.000-05:00

My friend Lisa sells Scent-Stations Mia Bella and when she emailed me asking if she could send me a few samples? Of. Course!

They smell A-MAZING. The apple pie? Delicious. I could really eat it I think, mmm nothing better than warm apple pie.

Plus a really nice thing about these candles are they're way more natural than the big ol' stores out there sell, and they're clean and practically soot free. No nasty black soot? Yes please. And, anything natural I'm all for!

Today Lisa has graciously offered up a 9 oz. Jar and an assortment of melts! Ohhh your house is going to smell so good! :) Want to know how you can win?

Check out the website and let me know which scent you'll choose if you win.
Become a fan on the Smell A Bella facebook page Make sure you tell her FOTF sent you!
Are you ready for Christmas? Done with shopping!? I want to hear about it!

*Please leave a separate comment for each entry as it makes random.org's life a little bit easier (and mine!) Contest only open to Fingerprints on the Fridge readers so if you're not currently a subscriber/follower now is a great time!*

Feature Yourself Friday

2011-12-16T09:53:00.003-05:00

Friday? Friday already? For serious? And 9 days till Christmas? Are you KIDDING me!? December seriously flew by and I don't like it one bit. I also don't like that there is no snow in the forecast and I need to get in the Christmas spirit. It's Michigan people! Snow is expected in what? June? December 16th should be full of the white stuff.

Anyway.

We should probably just jump into the party since I'm way late but I can't post without a picture so let's post one of one of my favorite men. I said one. Don't worry husband, you're still the favorite.

Party on playas!

Christmas giving ideas..numero....Three!

2011-12-15T18:16:00.000-05:00

How about some more Christmas ideas for those lovies in your life. I have a nice little list of things I know that the people in your life would enjoy.

I recently went to a craft show and met so many fun women who own their own shops. I love that! I'm a big supporter of buying handmade, not only do you get something made with love but you're probably helping a mom follow her dreams and pay the bills. Bonus..and Bonus!

First up, Joy Sparks Designs.

If my camera weren't dead I'd take a photo but I bought the cutest typewriter ring from her. It says 1/2 1/4 which.. 2 & 4 are special dates to me as it's my kids birthdays! How cool huh? Once I got home and browsed her shop I saw these.

SUCH a cute idea for that man in your life. Unique and fun. She's got lots of other goodies in her shop and if you join her on facebook you can get 10% off your order. There's still time to order for Christmas ya'll JUMP on it.

Whimzie is another shop I recently fell in love with. Her shop doesn't have a lot in it because of the recent craft show but I promise you, she's a shop to look out for when it comes to headbands and bows. I purchased some for my girls and they adore them.

Tons of feathers.. Tons of flowers.. so dainty and pretty. I'm excited for her to get new items in, because you'll love them! She's got a facebook too if you want to check her out more!

One more Michigan shop :) Remember my facebook post about these lovely finds?

They're from Two Charming and it was really hard to stop at just two things! Her shop is so fun! Look at her booth photos! Big fan..Big big fan! It'd be really easy to find something for a secret Santa gift from her!

With love Marie
I just bought these the other day and I'm itching to get them in the mail! My oldest wants feathers so bad and these were a good price and they had really good reviews.

If you've got a little fashionista on your hands like me check it out. Plus right now she had a special going on where you get a free gift. Whoop whoop. Great stocking stuffer!

I love that these are gifts that you know they aren't going to get from someone else, you'll be the cool friend who knows where to buy all the awesome finds. ;)

Please note I wasn't compensated at all for this post. I bought all these gifts with my own moolah and I just wanted to share a few shops that I'm really happy with and thought you might be too! Merry Christmas!

Christmas tour of homes 2011

2011-12-14T17:45:00.000-05:00

Why hello there! It's that time again, time for the Christmas tour of homes 2011 with The Nester! I'm so excited this year, I know I say it every year but this one is really my favorite.

Until next year I'm sure.. ;)

But for now, I'm so in love with it! I decided yesterday that it was my absolute LAST day I was going to spend decorating anything, I could tweak and perfect forever so it was time to put a stop to it and sit back and actually ENJOY the last 12 days until Christmas.

Things like sitting around the Christmas tree with hot chocolate and watching Elf for the 200th time? Bliss.

So I worked my tail off, finished some projects, cleaned like a maniac (Because lawd knows my house is never this clean, trust.) and anything that I didn't get to do? Well, that's just okay. It's time to be present in my families life. Even if it means being present cuddling in front of the t.v ;) Just kidding.

Less talking more pictures right?

Thar she blows!

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night :)

If you're still in the Christmas mood and want to browse around a bit how about some fun links to check out?

Christmas 2010 decor

Christmas tablescapes 2011

Christmas tablescapes 2010

My wreath that is getting massive pinterest love

My post popular project to date (Crazy since it was years ago and my photography is cringe-worthy)

Handmade gift ideas part one.. two.. three

Christmas tree o' Christmas tree

2011-12-13T23:08:00.003-05:00

Well, I got my cozy red and gray theme goin' on.

And

I.LOVE.IT.

Basket o' Christmas books :)

It's so warm and fun and not the usual gold and white I've rocked in the past.

2010 White, Gold, Sheet music garland and chalkboard ornaments

How about 100 pictures just because? :) Enjoy!

I'll be back with the mantel and a tour of the whole house tomorrow! :) It's official..

12 days of Christmas ya'll. Can't wait!

ho ho ho

Want to see the rest of the house decked out for the holidays?

Linking up with The Inspired Room's Christmas tour, ThriftyDecorChick's Christmas tree party & Nester's tour of homes!
and
"I am sharing my holiday home decor and cleaning tips for the chance to win prizes from The SITS Girls and Great Cleaners."

Christmas Ornament making

2011-12-09T12:26:00.001-05:00

When it came to my Christmas decor this year I wanted something a little different than my usual gold scheme. I tried my hardest to rock the blue/green/peacock combo but I just couldn't love it. And, if mama don't love it, she can't deal with it in her face for a month. It just wasn't cozy enough for me, but it shore was purdy.

On to something else though.

Red, because it screams cozy to me. But with a twist, some gray. Which could feel really cold and the opposite of warm and cozy but, I think with the right color gray and with the soft textures it works really well.

First up, some yarn ornaments. These aren't new to the blog world at all so I'll spare you a how to. It's easy, hot glue a bit then wrap. Over and over and over it can feel like forever. I also only glued the ornament and didn't add any more on once it was all covered because as you wrap the yarn holds itself. Easy. No mess. Non-breakable. Yes please.

Next up. Faux mercury glass ornaments.

Now, a few things.

They aren't exactly mercury glass looking, almost like old foggy glass mirrors? Spooky looking windows? This is because I couldn't find any mirror spary paint at Michaels the other day. Clearly everyone else wanted to make these ornaments too when I thought I was on to something new and awesome. ;) I also wasn't going to drive all the way across town to HL.. Oh well.

I used Chrome instead. Chrome works, I like how it looks.

First I did a super light coat on the ornaments and then I used a spray bottle filled with water and spritzed the ornaments pretty heavily. Then I sprayed the chrome once again and let it dry.

Once they were fully dry I wiped them off with a paper towel, you could take a light sander to it, which is what Katie did on her mirrors but I didn't have one on me and it was coming off really easily anyway.

Cue the Ohhhh and ahhhs Aren't they pretty? I love them! They're not reflective like mercury glass but they're so.. lovely! See through and splotchy but good splotchy! And, where the chrome was more heavily applied it's more shiny. All around good, okay. All. around. good.

The tree looks so cute now! I can't wait to show you. :) Let's all cross our fingers and say a prayer that we get some nice weather in Michigan so I can take some pictures of it!

Until then.. me being artsy.. with one heck of an awkward pose going on.

Linking up to Centsational Girl's holiday party!

Feature Yourself Friday

2011-12-08T22:00:00.002-05:00

Shhello!

It's time for another round of Feature Yourself Friday.. Woo-to-the-hoo. :) But before that, a little business shall we? We shall.

If you didn't check out my post yesterday, I opened the shop for the weekend for some holiday cheer. If you're looking for a little something to add to your wardrobe, check it!

Also if you check out the Smell a bella facebook you'll notice they're having a giveaway! Yess! I love giveaways! So much so that you can check out her giveaway on facebook and check back here this weekend for another treat. :)

Speaking of giveaways.. The Bellabyte 25.00 shop credit giveaway is still up and running! Great time to win something for yourself or for someone you looove I'm a fan. Big fan. Cute stuff. Trust!

Now on to some eye candy.

Definitely digging these linen and lace trees.

I tend to stay up late at night getting lost watching youtube make-up videos. That's a little tidbit for you, I'm obsessed with make-up. Okay, obsessed is a bit much. I enjoy make up. And, I love hearing what other women use.

Look at this cute winter wreath! Love that it's something you can keep up until feb.. or June in Michigan's case.

*Gasp*Speaking of Michigan..You know..the Mitten. Um, Wisconsin? 'Sup bro, what are you doing here?

Anyway, now that I went totally off topic, and probably offended a few.. ;) Just in good fun.

Easy frame re-do.

Love me some yarn balls.

Okay time to party yes?

Fingerprints on the Fridge on Etsy.

2011-12-07T15:15:00.000-05:00

Every once in a while I like to open up my shop to spark a little creativity and well, contribute to the family income. ;) With Christmas rolling around I had a very informal poll online if you'd like to see a small variety of FOTF pretties up for sale for a short period (Short enough that I can get everything sent out fast, in time for Christmas parties or in time for Santa to bring it ;)

So here 'tis.

I put a little spin on the old version of my flower pin/hair clip combos.

Only three different types but I think they're way cute. Right now I have the red one pinned to my wool jacket and I get so many compliments on them! Plus they're pretty big. The size of my hand almost.

Remember the pearl detail? She got a little sprucing too with some glitter. It's the holidays and the holidays always call for more glitter.

And, I added a natural ticking one. Which happens to make my heart flutter. I'm already a big fan of ticking, but make it cream colored which goes with everything? Get outta here. Loves.

There ya go. They would look adorbs on your little girls headband, or clipped up in a pony. Added as a "bow" on your Christmas packaging. Or heck, pinned to your apron if you work one day a week as a waitress like this chick. ;) Compliments galore.

Want one for yourself? Your little girl? Your mother? Sister? Aunt? Postal worker? Snatch one (or ten) up while they're hot. I'm only leaving the shop open until Monday the 12th so that everything can be shipped out ON MONDAY. :) The best part? Free shipping.

Wooden plate chargers

2011-12-06T13:24:00.001-05:00

I showed you the sneak peek yesterday and I thought I'd go in a little deeper on how I made the wooden plate chargers from the rustic tablescape post.

First of all, these are all the ladies at Shanty-2-Chic's idea. They're the geniuses behind these, I just put my own spin on it. ;) Let's just get that out in the open first shall we? We shall.

They painted theirs with a stencil, which is fabulous but instead of painting on snowflakes I thought it would be fun to reverse it a bit and have the wood be the focal point.

First up, stain. I used ebony first and it was too dingy looking for this, so I switched to walnut. See the difference? The ebony is great for the aged looking color that's totally in right now but wasn't warm enough for the look I was going for. :) Oh, and don't bother getting a whole can of stain if you don't already have some laying around. I got the 2.00 tiny pot of it and it was more than enough.

Once it's applied and wiped off and dried long enough it's time to put on the stickers. I used two packs of foam snowflakes from Michaels. If I were doing it again I would have gotten a few more packs, so I could use more big flakes. They had three different sizes and the small ones were very abundant in the pack. ;) Oh well, next time.

Instead of doing all snowflakes I thought it would be fun to switch it up and also do three striped chargers.

This gets fun.

I didn't want to go into measuring them so I just started taping different widths of stripes. Slim, thick it didn't really matter and it wasn't perfect and I'm 100% okay with that. Because, they turned out great I think. Plus it saved me a lot of time and sanity not worrying about measuring, but if that part doesn't bother you go ahead and measure! They'd look cute with perfect stripes or even chevron if you wanted to get really detailed with cuts and taping off. MMM chevron..

Anyway.. I spray painted right over the tape and stickers, trying my best to spray straight down and not angled so it wouldn't by any chance get under the stickers.

I swore I took a during photo but it's MIA so you get the idea. Paint..dry..paint..dry.. Then the fun part. Pulling off the stickers! Oohh, ahh! Love them. I distressed it some more and that's about it! I'd love to put a glossy clear coat on them but didn't have any in my stash.

Easy peasy! Thanks to the Shanty chicks for letting me run with their idea, check them out.. They rock the socks. :) Now go make some!

Tie some bakers twine around a stack of them and you have a perfect handmade Christmas gift!

Christmas Tablescapes 2011

2011-12-05T09:00:00.001-05:00

Hello, hello! I had some fun yesterday playing around with a couple tablescapes and I wanted to show you! I got to use my peacock color decor a little bit, and even though I vetoed it for our everyday colors this year it was fun to use it at the dinner table.

I could look at tablescapes all day, they're so fun aren't they? You could spend a lot of money trying to get the right look too but I'm trying to save money for Christmas and well, I like trying to use what I have so everything here is super cheap or something we already had ie. Free. Want to see? Yes.

*Excuse the nighttime photos..It happens ;)*

All the bulbs I got for this last year at the after Christmas sale at.. gasp. Walmart. I know I know. The devil. But they were like 80 cents and the blue is so pretty! The chargers I've had but I think they were from WM too. The runner is a scarf that I threw on ~~and didn't bother ironing~~ carelessly. ;) So easy!

The feathers came from HL during their 50% off sale so they were a buck a piece. Cheap! The small group of ornaments came from Michaels for 2.00 a pack and I love the way they look tied around the silverware.

The second one was way more casual and inspired by the girls at Shanty 2 Chic.. They made some really pretty plate chargers the other day and I adored them so much I made some own with a little spin on them.

I'll share a more detailed post later this week all about these little guys. Love the snowflakes on them. :)

Everything here was something we had from last year's gold tree. And the "runner" is the paper you get in the paint section at Home Depot. I got a huuuuuge roll for 12 and it's great for coloring.. painting on.. Love this stuff!

I still have a few others up my sleeve that I plan on sharing this week if the sun ever comes out again! Grr! But if you haven't had enough table-scape love you can check out the quick and easy ones I put together last year. The 12 days of Christmas one was my personal favorite ;) Happy Decorating!

I'll be joining Layla for her Holiday table party!

Sunday Giveaway

2011-12-04T19:00:00.003-05:00

I know I know, yesterday was supposed to be the giveaway but then, life happens. :) So it's here today and I'm so excited for you to see what we have for you!

Jayna who owns the lovely design shop Bellabyte wanted to give FOTF something to brighten your day.

And, oh does she have some pretty things!

Prints..

Cards..

Funky fun Jewelry..

She has a lot, trust me! So much eye candy and one lucky reader is going to get a 25.00 credit to her shop! That way you can pick whatever you want, or be super generous and use it for a Christmas gift perhaps? ;)

Want to know how to win?

Check out the Bellabyte shop and let me know what you would use your store credit for
Head on over to Bellabyte on facebook and *like* her.
Go to Jayna's blog and follow her
Tweet/Facebook/Blog/Share this giveaway

*Please note, as always leave a separate comment for each item you do. This makes random.org's life a bit easier when choosing a winner ;) Contest open to FOTF subscribers only so if you're not currently a public follower, now is a great time! U.S residents only please.*

Feature Yourself Friday

2011-12-01T21:17:00.002-05:00

Hello! Sorry about those who went to the card swap thinking it was FYF.. Whoops! If you're interested in joining the group card swap, check it out here! If you're here for Feature Yourself Friday, well you're in luck. Because it's back and ready to party hardy.

First off did you have a good Thanksgiving? We did! It was a giant family affair and lovely.

But, to be honest I'm ready for Christmas. I love the holiday season..

I tried to put my tree up and throw in some blue and green decor but I just couldn't do it. I love peacock colors when it comes to Christmas but it just wasn't me. I think I have an awesome alternative though to the basic Christmas colors though but still cozy.. I'm so excited to show you!

For now though, let's get right into the party since we've had what? Two weeks off. For shame!

Party on peeps!

Holiday Card Swap

2011-12-01T09:00:00.008-05:00

*PLEASE NOTE! This is not feature yourself friday. That'll be up at 10:00 :) This is to join in a Christmas card swap. Do not link up projects, etsy shops..anything unless you plan on joining the swap. Linking up when you don't plan to send a card will potentially hurt a lot of feelings, and we don't want that. Read before you link..mmk! :) If you're here for FYF it'll be up soon! *

Why hello there! My BFF and I teamed up for something extra special for you today and I'm so excited to finally be able to share it! :)

I think we can all agree that it was the coolest thing since sliced bread back in the day to have a pen pal yes? Yes, it was. Even as an adult going to get the mail and getting something other than bills? Brightens my day 100%

Especially Christmas cards..Holiday cards..Christmas letters..Photos.. Love it!

Before I was a Mom I never really "got it" when it came to holiday cards. I mean, they were cute and all but I didn't understand how much effort went into picking out the card, addressing them, adding a little note..Not to mention picking out a photo if you're doing a photo card! That brings a whole 'notha task like picking out outfits, on a perfect day, making sure everyone was smiling..

Geesh.

But you know what? I love sending them

And, I love receiving them.

Sunshine in an envelope.

Let's all give eachother some sunshine shall we?

We shall.

Kimmie and I are encouraging you to link up and we'll pair you up with another linker so you can exchange cards.

I don't care if they're Christmas cards, Holiday cards, Winter cards.

But something homemade..with love. Not just a card that came from a box of 500 with no name or words of holiday joy..mmk?

But they can be digital cards, with your pretty faces on them if you feel comfortable with that! Or they could be scrapbookesque--I've seen some of your ladies work with scrapbook stuff and it's amazing okay? You've got talent.

It can be something with your silhouette or cricut. It can be a drawing, or have your kids draw one. The possibilities are endless really, just handmade with love.

Those are really the only rules. Just love in card form. And, of course--if you plan on linking up don't forget to send your card, the whole point is to send one and receive one. I'd hate for anyone to be left out! But we have a pretty friendly bunch in blog land so I'm not too worried about that. :)

You can link up on either Kimmie blog or my blog. The link will show up on either, so no extra work on your part just link up--spread the word and on Dec 7th we'll pair you up and look out for an email from us on how to contact your partner to swap addresses.

No serial killers here. Pinky swear.

Then you have until the 20th to send out your card and we'll have another linky party that week to give you a chance to whip out a post showing off the handmade holiday love you got in the mail! How fun.

Not only will it brighten your day, and tons of fun-- it'll be a great chance for you to get lots of new people to meet and "hang" out with. Plus twice the audience since it's both our blogs that will host the link. Get it? Yes. Double the fun!

If you need help with Holiday cards a couple of my favorite card-makers are..

Urban Frontiers

(She's done all my girls' birthday invites and she's so good! Once I finally upload my oldest's rainbow party pictures from July you can see all her awesomeness)

Tiny Prints

Cute affordable and fast- yo! And, they're now a sponsor over at FOTF! How cool is that? VERY COOL because I've always loved them. Such awesome designs. *Drool!* They currently have 20% off and offer free shipping!
Vista Print
Another awesome sponsor I'm so excited about not only because they're a huge company, but because I use them for business cards so I know they rock the socks. AND they have a special for 50% off cards & free shipping! Shweet!

If you have an etsy shop or another favorite shop you'd like to share in the comments for anyone looking for card makers let us know too!

Now enough chatter..Link up! Let's party!

Christmas ideas part..ONE.

2011-11-30T09:46:00.001-05:00

So I thought it would be fun to do a little series on Christmas gifts. I was going to start with a sponsor-ified one but then, the Heavens alined and Nester is doing a favorite things linky so, let's go with my favorite gifts first, yes? Yes.

****

These pants.

I first read about them on a Mommy-type message board and everyone raved over them. I didn't order them but I thought about it, you betcha--But I'm cheap. ha.

One day while browsing Targets clearance though, I got lucky and found a pair for 3.00 or something ridiculous. Then I was hooked, they're seriously like silk. I got over my cheapness and bought a few more pairs at regular price, which okay-- it's not a bad price at all but when I wasn't sure if I loved them.. well you know. I bought some for my cousin for her birthday last year and she said the same thing.

They're HEAVEN on your tush.
There I said it.
You will too.

****

I finally kicked my nail biting habit, for now. And, I'm definitely digging being able to paint my nails. I've been changing them weekly and right now, I have *two* favorites for neutrals. They're just too pretty not to love right?

(Marshmallow)

(Bubble Bath)

I get the Essie colors at Target and the OPI at the salon. I also saw those cool nail sticker things and I could be wrong but I think they're one of my BFF's favorite things. Maybe she'll chime in for us and tell us how they work!

****

I have horrible skin. Okay, let's get that out there. It's bad. It used to be really oily and then I had babies and they both sucked the nutrients out of my body ;) And, now? It's dry as hell okay. Like, flaky by the end of the day. GROSS. So, I think it was Kandee Johnson who told me (Yes just me.. Okay no, it was on a video, she told everyone. We're not bffs......yet) to get this stuff.

Hello soft skin, I've missed you!

****

Oh oh oh.. One more!

This movie.

Oh my gosh ya'll. I don't think I've met anyone who didn't like it but I could watch it 100 times. Maybe more. I love it. It's probably on the pricier side for a favorite things party (which, btdubs is an AWESOME idea) but I've seen these on Amazon for cheap. So you could get them for 5 people and it wouldn't be too horribly expensive. Ryan wants you to, okay? Try and tell him no.

So there you go. Some fun, affordable things that I can promise you, you'll love. And your gift recipient will love too. If they don't you can cuss me out, but it wont happen. Pinky swear! I'll be back later with a sponsor-themed gift guide. Can't wait. Totes in the Christmas spirit I am.

Home-made Christmas gift part two!

2011-11-22T19:20:00.001-05:00

I'm back with another from the heart Christmas gift, woo-to-the-hoo right? Right!

This one is a little more expensive than the fridge board, but it's ohsogood.

First things first, you need this.

Obviously you could get any brands you want but these are my personal favorites

*side note I actually didn't use the pudding. I remembered seeing on pinterest about putting chocolate pudding in hot chocolate mix to make it extra delish, but then I couldn't find the pin and wasn't sure how much to put in. Second guessing myself wasn't fun so I skipped it.

Cost breakdown was really affordable.

2.00 for the box of candy canes and I only ended up needing 5 of them, I have a whole box left!

2.00 for the jar, Hobby Lobby has glass 50% off right now! If you decide to get it when it's not on sale it's still only 4.00-- good deal right there.

5.00 cocoa mix from Target

1.99 chocolate bar..I'm partial to Dove so you could get a cheaper kind or go all out and get some Godiva.. Yum.

Put your candy canes in a plastic bag and crumble them up. I had a helper do it for me, a tiny hammer and a cutting board.

While she's making tiny slivers of delicious peppermint, it's time to cut up your chocolate. Take 2/3rds of it and leave the rest for later. Because, well you'll want to eat it. Trust me.

Take your giant murder scene looking knife and chop up your chocolate. It's easier if it's room temp, mine wasn't and I had to let it warm up a bit from the fridge.

Then layer it. Cocoa powder, chocolate and peppermint.

Glorious.

There you have it! Super affordable, cute and yummy. You could one up a notch and give it with some mugs and a spoon.

*Second note* It'd also be really cute to add another layer of marshmallows if you like those in your hot chocolate, I personally dig the whip cream so I opted out of that, but while I was making these I thought it would also be equally as delicious to do a white chocolate version, yes? Yes. Think about it! And, one more. Don't fill it up quite to the top, leave a little room so they can shake it up so the chocolate and pepper mint are equally distributed when they get it. It tastes better that way but isn't as pretty. ;)

Want to see Christmas gifts part one? Check it out here!

Linking up to the Weekend Wrap up Party!

Home-made Christmas gifts

2011-11-21T09:05:00.001-05:00

We're a few days away from the (suggested..Psh! I've been rocking Christmas scents and music for a while now) kick off to the holiday season so it's time to think about gifts! And, what better gift is one that's hand made..with love.

The first one I want to share is a fun little memo board that I saw floating around on Pinterest. I don't have any ornate vintage frames but I do have a Wal*mart and they're cheap. 4.00 cheap. Yes, please.

I bought some yummy spray paint colors but I actually ended up liking this one the way it was. Since, it's for my kitchen and all. I used brown painter paper from Home Depot for inside the frame. I really dig brown and black together, classic and neutral but you could do anything inside these! Scrapbook paper, fabric, a photo, the possibilities are endless. That's the beauty of this.

I bought the paper for our Thanksgiving tablescape so technically it wasn't in the total cost of this project but if you want to add it to it, it was 10.00 for a HUGE roll. Awesome for coloring at the table for kids, seriously.

I wanted to use magnets but, let me tell you about these suckers.

They were a dollar something at Wal*mart and to put it bluntly they suck. I put about 100 of them on the back of the frame and they still didn't hold it up. Boo! I could have went to Michaels and used the heavy duty ones, because I have before for other projects and they do rock the socks, but.. I didn't want to waste the gas driving there. Hello, I'm Rachelle and cheap.

Next best thing, these velcro command strips. I can't rave enough about these things! I used them in the playroom makeover to hold up all the girls art on the walls and they're still going strong. If you're giving these away for gifts you could buy a pack of these and just put two on the back and leave the paper on the strips so they don't lose their sticky, and it's great because of the velcro you can still take it off the fridge to write on.

Which leads me to my next point, I'd wrap up a sharpie with the gift. Get a pack of 6 or whatever they come in for 5 bucks and tie it with a ribbon, instant cute! Bonus is with using a sharpie rather than a dry erase marker, if you bump it while you're writing on it, it doesn't come off but, it does come off clean with windex or a baby wipe if you're like me and always have them in the house for messy faces and what not. Love those things!

So there you go.

This was a pain in the butt to photograph because of the glare but you get the gist. Super cute, super cheap and everyone would use it. If you wanted to go up one notch you could always order some cute vinyl and put the families last name on it, or something equally as cute like "Meal planning..Calender..To Do" Like I said.. Possibilities? Endless!

I'll be back all week sharing fun handmade gift ideas, woohoo! See you tomorrow!

*Also I'm joining Chris at Just a Girl for her Handmade Holiday party! Check out all the fantastic links won't ya?*

On marriage and divorce.

2011-11-18T20:25:00.000-05:00

How's that for a title, eh?

Okay well I really don't know where I'm going to go with this and it might get wordy or it could be simple. That's the best part I just don't know yet. And, I'm going to try and not edit it down much, because you all want my raw emotions right? Thought so.

Very slowly over the last few weeks I've hinted that things were getting better between my husband and I. Thank the Lord on that one, right? Yes. And, for some reason I wanted to jump for joy and share it sooner but I was completely terrified to jinx it. How ridiculous right? Like, if I admitted it out loud that he came home he'd change his mind and then I'd have to tell everyone again, "Hey guys, um. He moved out...again" Not a fun time.

I kind of felt like I was living in a cave, with a new secret boyfriend that I didn't want to tell my family or friends about because well, a lot of things happened that I didn't blog about that I didn't want to be judged for taking him back. Does that make sense? I was scared that people (in my family..in my circle) would hate him forever because of xyz or they'd say "That Rachelle, she's one big ol' dummy" I mean, I'm sure more than one person did say that a time or two but then Jami who takes exactly what I'm thinking and is able to articulate it better than I, wrote this.

"well we aren't in this to look good or to "save face". we don't care to keep it secret. what holds us back from letting the secret out? really, ask yourself. because you care about what others will think of you. not what God thinks of you. we care about glorifying ourselves, not glorifying Christ. we are unsure where our identity lies, and so we hold back for fear that God is not bigger than our secret."

See.. I can't even explain why that makes so much sense to me but it does. And, if what my husband and I went through can help even one person go through a similar situation in their life, well then I did the right thing by sharing it. If Jami wouldn't have shared it on her blog, you know what? The night he left I wouldn't have emailed her at one o'clock in the morning with the words "So, my husband just left me. Asked for a divorce, what are you doing" Or something as equally stupid and nonchalant because that's what I do when I'm having an emotional breakdown and try to make light of the situation when really-- I was on the cliff, with one leg off, ready to jump. I would love to share with you the other emails and stories I received from other women saying "Me too" Oh how I wish I could hug each and every one of you because I know that hurt. I know that horrible pain that can't go away because it's not a physical pain it's inside and it's an awful thing to go through, and if my story of HOPE helps one person cope. Then well, God had a plan for me to deal with months and months of crap to help someone else.

With the holidays coming up I'm having an extra hard time for some reason, I think mostly because this summer I had set my mind up that I was going to be a single Mom for Christmas. That in February our divorce would be final. That chances are, he would have another woman in his life. That the girls would have another woman in their lives. Makes me anxious typing out but it's whats on my plate right now. It would have been really easy to walk away and let him go. To wash my hands clean of the situation and start new with someone else and not have to work through the emotions of regaining trust, learning why it happened and what we can do together to avoid it happening again. To stop the mind movies of what happened while he was gone and to quit listening to the voices in my head that say "He's going to leave you again." Goodness gracious I wish I could get those nasty things to quit it. But all the zoloft and xanax in the world can't do it. It's talking about it, it's working through the shit (Jami's words, I told you..She's my mentor..and the divorce whisperer..Knuckle bump) so that we don't end up there again. It's HARD I can't stress that enough. I can't stress what God's doing in my heart and in my life right now and what the last few months trying to work our way uphill have been like. Amazing because we're together and working for the goal, but damn hard. I wont lie.

So.. in a nutshell. That's what's going on right now. How's that for Friday night entertainment. Life is crazy, crazy hard. But we're working through it. God's working through us. Together. I have no idea what could happen, could he leave? Yes. But like my therapist says, I could also get hit by a bus tomorrow-- I'll never know. As annoying as it is to have no set in stone answer to the rest of my life it's the best that I can do. Just have enough faith that whatever happens, it's meant to and the big guy has it all planned out for me..us.

Kitchen Backsplash

2011-11-17T09:30:00.000-05:00

Oh how I wish I had some before-before-before pictures of this kitchen! You know when it looked like this:

But before that it was some ~~gnarly~~ lovely thick baby blue wallpaper which was used to cover up a horrible plaster job. The walls were pretty damaged and uneven but we lived with it for as long as we could before it was time to cover them up. (Three years later,*cough..cough*hey! Life happens)

Tile would have been nice but I wasn't up to fixing the uneven plaster job so bead board it is! Plus it was so cost efficient it's ridiculous. Something like 20.00 a sheet and we only needed two. Yes please!

Builder Dad came over and lent a hand with everything. He forgot his saw horses, but you know what? We improvised. ;)

This time we went for the thicker bead board, I like the look of it and it breaks up from the thinner bead board that goes along the sides of the cabinets.

Some plastic trim caps it off and there you go. It's lovely. Well, this wall is lovely, the other side of the room.....

That's another story. I can't even go there with you yet. Ha! Anyone else out there decide to go with bead board over tile back splash? Share your links in the comments!

Kitchen Shelves

2011-11-14T10:51:00.000-05:00

A while back we added a couple Ikea shelves to the kitchen (after I drooled forever over them in Emily's Kitchen) and I figured they weren't exactly blog material but you know what? Today they're going to be.

Well, more so the knock off Anthro letters that I made this weekend. I kind of have a crush on them, a big ol' one.

They were inspired by these beauties

Source

Anyway, back to the fridge and all it's ~~boring~~ glory.

Our fridge floats by itself in our kitchen and it annoys the heck out of me so I thought some shelves would help anchor it a bit. The wall is too small for a built in enclosure and this seemed like the next best thing. A little illusion if you will, yes?

I threw the Pepsi crate up there for some vintage love, and I'm digging all the different textures together. Creamy white dishes (Because they wouldn't fit in the cupboard and we don't drink coffee at home) metallic letters, dusty old books and aqua ball jars.

I like mixing items that have a touch of masculine and feminine (metal & flowers) old and new. Go with it.

My helper decided to get in on the action too, with some left over Halloween candy in her mouth. Who the heck told her she could get so big? Pretty sure I JUST had her.

Feature Yourself Friday

2011-11-11T09:14:00.000-05:00

Friday Friday! It's a winter wonderland here in the mitten, and I'm definitely feeling the Christmas bug to decorate and listen to holiday tunes. But, I'm trying to hold off, I can't promise much longer though. haha

All found via Pinterest

The Scentsy giveaway is still open and if you're thinking about ordering anything I have a party open still since I can't decide on a scent to order myself! Order some deliciousness, wont ya?

Let's just jump right into the party shall we? Yes.. We shall!

Basement

2011-11-09T14:41:00.000-05:00

If you follow me on Facebook you might remember we had a leak recently. Actually, two leaks. Then the sewer outside got clogged and made all the nasty junk come up from the basement floor.

Basically I'm saying our basement is a mess.

Insurance came to dry it out once, but then it happened again and well..Now we have to change up our game plan a bit.

Demo started.

And, to put it lightly. It's Hell. But it has to get worse before it gets better, I know this.

So if you're wondering what's going on at casa Fingerprints that's basically it. Lots of dust, lots of clean up lots of gross.

But I did make an impromptu trip to Hobby Lobby today to work on a small project

*gasp*

I know, I'm seriously lacking motivation and inspiration lately and something had to be done about it. I let my creative side come out a tad, let's all cross our fingers I finish it tonight so I can show ya'll tomorrow! :) Whoop to the whoop!

Feature Yourself Friday

2011-11-04T13:38:00.002-04:00

Oy! Sometimes I forget which day is which, I woke up thinking "Oh Thursday, why can't you be Friday!?" Guess what? It was.

Halloween must have just did me in haha, I'm losing my mind! :)
But it was fun, and worth it to see these little pirates have fun

So I apologize for the mishap. How about a peace offering and I'll announce the winner of the
Mi Line Jewelry Design giveaway?

#89 Jen! Check your email lucky lady!

For the rest of you, the Scentsy Giveaway is still going on! Woohoo! There's also a party where you can go purchase some goodies if you can't wait to see if you win or not, plus it gets ya a few extra entries. Bo-nus.

So how about we get this party started?

You know the rules! Party hard, have fun. You guys are pros at this I don't know why I have to remind you. ;)

And, then I broke linky tools! So sorry ladies. Today is obviously not my day. Lets try this again.

Scentsy Giveaway

2011-11-01T13:14:00.001-04:00

*Giveaway Closed*

Happy.. NOVEMBER everyone! Can you believe it? I can't. This year has been one surprise after another around these parts, and it went by really quickly. Don't tell me I'm the only one who thinks so right? Super fast year.

But, my friend Michelle and I thought it'd be fun to have a little nod to November with a giveaway! I for one *LOVE* my Scentsy. Actually I haven't met anyone who didn't love them. The bars last so long and the scent stays, not to mention is so delicious. But that could be because I like food scents. :) Yum. Fall is my favorite time to have my warmers going, I love coming home to a house that smells clean, warm and yummy. It's the small things in life right? :)

The warmers that Scentsy carries are super cute too. They have neutral enough ones that go with any decor or seasonal ones that you can break out during the holidays.

Gorgeous.

Today Michelle is offering up a plug in warmer of your choice and one scent bar. Good golly Molly someone is going to be so lucky winning this. Totes Jealous I am. ;)

Want to know how you can win?

Check out the collection of Scent Bars that they carry and tell me which one you'll choose if you win.
Tweet/Facebook/Blog/Holler from the rooftops about this giveaway and leave a comment letting me know.

3. Also, woo-to-the-hoo Michelle let me have an online party for Fingerprints on the Fridge readers. And you know now is the time for buying Christmas presents! Yay! If you do purchase anything through this party leave a comment and you'll get *Three* extra entries. Buy something for someone else and win something for yourself. Win..win!

Time to shop? Shop now and let me know!

Feature Yourself Friday

2011-10-28T08:58:00.003-04:00

Friday Friday Friday! It's finally here! I don't know about you but I'm knee deep in Halloween to-do lists and parties. Whew!

Let's get in the Halloween Spirit shall we? Yes, we shall.

Spooky snacks.

Pretty awesome scrap paper pumpkins.

The cutest gumball machine I've ever seen.

Cute cute ombre pumpkin art

Awesome job ladies! Ready to party hardy? har har har.

Mi Line Jewelry {Giveaway}

2011-10-22T21:00:00.001-04:00

Oh do I have something fun for you tonight ladies! The lovely and talented Becky from Mi Line Jewelry has asked if she can give something away to the Fingerprints on the Fridge readers and of course I jumped for joy with yes yes yes!

She has such gorgeous pieces it was hard for me to pick a few of my favorites.. but I tried!

I love that almost all of her pieces are simple enough for everyday wear but fancy enough for that somethin' special going out look. Especially her earrings.

See? It would fancy up that white fitted t-shirt or little black dress.

Versatile. That's what that is.

She also has some of the leather wrap bracelets I've been swooning over lately.

I'm really jealous I can't have a chance to win. Just sayin.

But Christmas is coming and I pinned a few of these into my wish list so my ~~Mother, Mother-in-law, Cousins, Besties, Husband~~ everyone in my circle knows what to buy me this year ;)

Plus, you know I love me some handmade and what's better than buying your Christmas gifts from a stay at home Mom who is doing what she LOVES and is probably helping her buy some more Christmas presents this year, rather than a big box store crowded with grumpy shoppers.

There's my shhhpeal on the matter.

Onward.

Today Becky is offering up a 25.00 credit to her shop. Woohoo!

Want to know how to win?

1.) Hop on over to Mi Line Jewelry Design and let me know what you'll choose to spend your credit on.

2.) Go over to Mi Line Jewelry Design Facebook and *Like* her. Make sure you drop a line and tell her who sent you!

3.) Halloween.. What are you going to be?

4.) Blog/tweet/Facebook about this giveaway

*Please note, giveaway only open to Fingerprints on the Fridge followers and subscribers. If you're not currently publicly following FOTF now is a great time! Separate comment for each entry please, as this makes random.org's life a little easier. *

Feature Yourself Friday

2011-10-20T19:56:00.000-04:00

Hey ya'll.. :) Hope you had a wonderful fall-licous week, we're having an extremely rainy one here in the mitten but it's not snow so I can't complain. :)

Totally digging this Halloween table runner

This is bread. Seriously. Crazy.

Love this stencil art.

This made me laugh. Hard.

Gorgeous wreath.

Great job ladies! I'm always so impressed with all the projects on FYF.. :) I wish I could highlight them all, but that may take a while!

Feature Yourself Friday is brought to you this week thanks to

Christmas is coming up and Diane has some awwweeesome handmade goodness that anyone in your circle would love. Check her out!

Okay, it's that time. Party on!

Halloween Mantel 2011

2011-10-19T16:40:00.002-04:00

I totally went crazy this year guys.

Just nuts.

Ready?

Okay, there you go.

When I put everything together Mr. Fingerprints said, "Isn't that the same as it was last year?" Um.. No! There's a bird. I put a bird on it. Geesh, Men.

2010

2011

In all seriousness no, it's not any different from last year because I just love the black and white look. It's creepy, neutral with a little pop of orange. You can't really go wrong! Plus I'm on a spending freeze still so that glam-glitter Halloween I pictured in my head has to wait till next year when my money tree is in full bloom.

I got a few emails last year about the bats on sticks, and they're from Meijer. This year though in my store they have witches! I want to buy some more but I'll wait until they go on sale because I'm cheap. :) The Happy Halloween sign is also from Meijer (Go grocery store decor!) and the creepy witch picture is something I printed from the internet and seems to be pretty crooked. I'll get to that, maybe.

The sticks are a lovely gift from Mother Nature and the vase is from the ~~decor hoard~~ stash. Easy peasy.

Are you totally in the Halloween mood now like me? If it wasn't so blasted dark and rainy out I could finish the pictures of the rest of the house! Maybe tomorrow.

Until next time boys and gouls.. bwaaahahaha.

Oh! And, I chose a winner via random.org for The Bird's Papaya giveaway and it was Sarah B. Check your email Sarah!

Linking up with Beth for her Fall Mantel Party!

Feature Yourself Friday

2011-10-13T22:32:00.000-04:00

Hey friends! Happy Thursday..Er..Almost Friday..October..Fabulous fall day. :)

Our newest sponsor Brooke from Get out of my head please is having a super awesome giveaway going on! Make sure you check it out!

Giveaway

I had lots of intentions on whipping up some posts this week but.... it was a little hectic.. Good hectic though. How about a little rundown of this week?

First Field trip.

Pumpkin carving..Free hand, pretty shhweet if you will.

Seriously?

Yeah. I know.

Family bowling.

The whole family.

*Smile*

It was a good week, a good good week.

Let's just jump into the party shall we?

Feature Yourself Friday

2011-10-06T20:26:00.000-04:00

Hello Friends! If you didn't notice there were a few changes here this week! Woohoo! I'm sure loving it and I hope you are too. I'm tweaking a few things and trying to re-tag all my old posts so they're a little easier to manage, hopefully it gets finished sooner rather than later! ;) Oh! Don't forget the giveaway is still going on from The Birds Papaya! You could win a lovely necklace and set of earrings! Yay!

How about some pretty things from last week!

My friend Heather who has an awesome love for Disney like me updates on all her trips and I drool most of the time. ha! One day we'll plan a trip at the same time! :)

6.00 Duvet? Yes please.

Seriously swooning over this faux fireplace. So pretty!

Love it ladies, such talented bloggers around here. :)

Now if you'll excuse me it's time to snuggle up and watch some Jersey Shore and check out this weeks link ups! :)

Chevron, Aqua, Mustard oh my!

2011-10-06T13:43:00.001-04:00

Well here she is! The new Fingerprints on the Fridge.

Gosh she's pretty, right?

I loved my soothing neutral design before, but was feeling the need for change. Enter Kim from 733 Designs.

She did a GREAT job. She's super affordable and fast! If you're thinking about changing up your design a bit or are planning on getting a whole overhaul, she's your chick. Check her out!

There's also a couple more things we added.

A House Tour tab.

But, don't click it yet. Ha! It's a little work in progress right now.

More ways to follow.

You might already follow FOTF on Twitter and Facebook but did you know I'm also on Pinterest? My friend Mandi says she can tell what kind of mood I'm in that day by what I pin. Haha, silly girl.

We also have some new sponsors for October!

The Holidays are coming up and so many of the sponsors here at FOTF have amazing shops that I could spend all day looking at. Why don't you take a minute and check them out eh? There's going to be some fun giveaways from a few in the next couple of weeks too! Eek!

The Bird's Papaya {giveaway}

2011-10-01T13:49:00.000-04:00

Yay! Giveaway Saturday is back and it's back with a bang. The lovely Sarah from The Bird's Papaya is here to offer you a little something lovely from her shop!

She's got some wonderful dainty and whimsical jewelry

Today she's so sweetly offering up a necklace and a pair of earrings to one lucky winner! Woohoo! Want to know how you can win?

There's a few ways!

Hop on over to The Bird's Papaya and let me know what you'll be choosing if random.org picks you to win!
Follow Sarah at her blog The Bird's Papaya, this way you'll be in the know when she has great discounts and specials too!
"Like" TBP on Facebook. Make sure you tell her who sent ya!
Tweet/blog/facebook about this giveaway.

Easy peasy! Now go friends, go get a chance to win some super cute loot!

Feature Yourself Friday

2011-09-29T21:39:00.000-04:00

Why hello there you! I hope you're having a wonderful week and getting pumped for this weekend, I sure am! I'm ready to not get up at 6 every day that's for sure. :) How am I going to do this for 12 more years? Someone tell me that! haha.

So I have some fun things coming to FOTF that I wanted to give you a heads up on. I'm working with a lovely designer and getting ready to have some things tweaked around here. So next week should have a whole fresh new look for you! Yay! I'm really excited.

I'm also changing things up on the sponsor end and I'll be offering two different sizes for ads.

125x250

125x125

I have a few slots left for October so If you have a shop or blog that you think would be a good fit here at FOTF send me an email with the subject Advertising and we'll set something up, we'd love to have you!

{FOTFBlog@aol.com}

Oh! And, Giveaway Saturdays are coming back! Yay! :) You're going to love the shops I have lined up for you, I might be a little jealous that I can't win..Just sayin'.
If you have a shop and would like to get some exposure now is that time! It's gettin' close to Christmas shopping time! As always it's free to sponsor a giveaway at FOTF. Shoot me an email with the subject Giveaway and we'll make it happen!

Enough with the business end, time for the party end right? Yes.

Gorgeous Mantel goin' on here!

Love this ode to fall and the pretty outfits!

SOCK MONKEYS!

Lovely lovely! Alright, your turn. You know the deal, link up--feature yourself--mingle--have fun!

Fall Pumpkin Wreath

2011-09-29T15:05:00.002-04:00

I know I've said it once or twice before, but I truly love fall. I just love it. It's the one season that Michigan really wins with. The leaves are amazing, it's so pretty to drive around in. Not to mention the breeze! Pumpkin patches, apple orchards..mmm.. Love it all!

So I thought hey, let's make that William Sonoma inspired pumpkin wreath that's ~~all over pinterest~~ floating around. Melissa made one recently and I actually liked hers better so I should say, her's is my inspiration. But with a twist..White pumpkins.

Yeah, don't look so surprised.

I actually loved the contrast of the orange to the green but none of my stores had pretty enough pumpkins. They looked way too cheap and fugly.. Whoops.. Sorry Mom. Ugly. They looked ~~freakin~~ ugly. So white it is. I also looked around for this moss and let me tell you something, they had bags of this moss in the back of Michaels for 5.99 a bag. BUT, if you look in the Halloween isle they have the same bags for 2.99. Steals I tell you, you just have to look. Which I usually don't so that's why I had to tell you. Ha!

Just rip sections of the moss apart and glue it on, I wont lie it's kind of a pain in the butt. Moss was flying everywhere and when the pizza guy came I'm pretty sure he thought I had tons and tons of illegal drugs on my table. Not that I would know, but I do watch Weeds a lot. Hate me.

So anyways you take your illegal looking moss and glue it on and strategically place the pumpkins on. It's as easy as that. If I were smart then I would have used a foam wreath form and left the picks of the pumpkins on so I could change it out and move them if I wanted. But, I'm cheap and already had the straw one. Live and learn, and save a buck or two on glue sticks.

These pictures are pretty bad but it's been raining like crazy here so I didn't have good lighting on the front porch, not to mention I was getting rained on while taking these pictures. :)

Dun dun dun..

Thar she blows.

Lovely, just the right amount of fall for the door eh?

Did you miss my 2011 Fall Mantel? Well check her out too while you're at it!

Make sure you hop on over to Rhoda's Door Decor party!

Tatertots and jello's weekend wrap up party!
Julia's Fall Decorating party

Blog Sugar 2011

2011-09-27T08:00:00.001-04:00

When you buy your ticket the day that registration opens...and wait..and wait for the day to come.. then bam life happens and you can't make it.

You know what you do then?

Or, I should say..what your bff does then?

Makes a ~~flat-Stanley~~ Flat-Rachelle and brings you along for the ride. No airfare needed!

Oh look, we're driving in the car. Hey Kimmie! Stop for some Pumpkin Spice lattes.. You don't like them, so I'll take yours too.. Extra whhhip please. *Slurp*

Let's get a seat up front. My foots been acting up, I can't walk far. But I sure am ready for some bear hugs.

Kimmie Es, Jacqui, Casey

Seriously who has the prettiest friends? Flat-Rachelle.

flat Rachelle flat Rachelle flat Rachelle you'd think someone was making a horrible joke about my boobs or something, wouldn't you? I bet I get some awesome google search stats from that one. ha!

Feature Yourself Friday

2011-09-22T22:07:00.000-04:00

Everyone ready for Fall, isn't it official tomorrow? I sure hope so because I'm 100% ready.

But, in other news. . . Woowee did we have some great link ups last week 'ch-yall.

Just guess what this mirror is made out of.. Awesome.

Gorgeous playroom reveal

Pretty paper wreath.. swoon.

Great work ladies.. fabulous! Now, lets get this party started!

Lots of words

2011-09-20T14:42:00.000-04:00

Alright ya'll I've tried to write this about three million times so I'm warning you right now this could get lengthy, and it might not make sense..In this silly brain it does though.. Let's go with it.

In the past 16 weeks this is what I've learned.

When something devastating happens I'm not the strong woman I thought I'd be. More like, crawl in a hole and wear the one Tshirt that was left here and never wash it so his smell wont go away type. Gross. I know.
It took 10 weeks for me to cry it out. Literally, randomly all day long.
My family is amazing. Especially those who sat around with me when I wasn't exactly glamorous. (Nasty old tshirt anyone? Yeah..sorry.) Not to mention my house was a wreck.
My children are wise, wise wise beyond their years.
Having a true friend to call all day long helps. Especially when she knows how you feel. Let's encourage her to come chat it up with us. She's seriously the scorned wife whisperer. Ha. That'll be her book title when it comes out, just you wait.
I'm going to get a little spiritual here so if that isn't your cup o' tea bear with me. The Lord, help me prayer is about the only one I said for 10 weeks. Just that. "Help Me!" And you know what? He did. If this little bump in the road was my test and taught me anything it was to let go of control! Rachelle, knock it off! You can't control what someone else does. You control yourself and yourself only, let the big guy deal with the rest. It works out.
Follow your gut. If your intuition is telling you something is off, it probably is.
Nothing, nothing is too broken to be fixed. Sometimes it takes the leap of faith and saying, okay. I'm giving it up. I'm giving it to God. You fix it. It takes (me) 10 weeks to cry, another week to get angry and another to be at peace and do what YOU have to do to give it up, and let the person go. If it's meant to be they'll come back. God's got your back. Jump off the crazy train, make the drastic change and let go.
I'm a closeted Country song fan. Seriously they speak to me. Don't judge.

So that's where it's at. Right now I'm happy, good things are happening. It took some drastic moves. It took some really really bad things to happen. It took some serious strength and forgiveness, it took faith that all those words that were spoken, all the hurt that was dealt, it had a meaning. Still working on that meaning but, I'm getting there.

Feature Yourself Friday

2011-09-15T22:00:00.000-04:00

Hey ya'll.

It's baaaack

Did you say it in your head like in the Poltergeist? I sure did. Anyway I'm so glad to be back to share some awesome Feature Yourself Friday with you. :) It was a much needed break but I'm happy to be back to partying that's for sure!

Since it's been so long I don't have any past features to share but..let's see what I have on the computer that's some eye candy..

My recent library chic mantel..er..fantel.

This little chick started preschool..Gosh she's cute.

My first grader's best friend started kindy this year.. She's super excited to have her be in the same school and sent this in the first day. be still my heart, it's too cute

Want to see just how cute they are? Here's a fuzzy iphone picture of them dancing and the best friend's parent's wedding. The older girls have some moves, seriously but look at little miss and her boyfriend...Oh my gosh. I die.

Sleeping buddies.

Okay enough cute for the night, I wouldn't want you to get a cavity or anything ;) Let's party on! You know the rules..link up..be nice..visit..comment..have fun.

Fall Mantel 2011

2011-09-15T20:49:00.006-04:00

Here goes.

You might recall last years mantel (fantel, if you will) it's also seen here {squeel!} I had an idea to do something a little more glitzy this year and really work the glitter but, I'm on a tight spending freeze and had to work with what I had. Which is a lot of old books and broken frames. Oh, and three pumpkins. Yes three. Where the heck did the rest go? The pumpkin fairy must have stolen them.

So, it's simple. Super simple and I liked it even more because there's no orange. Don't get me wrong I love me some orange for Halloween but since that's a while away it's nice to have something a little more subtle, but still looks warm and cozy.

It's cozy right? Library chic.
Not to be confused with..Poor girl has nothing else to work with.

Hopefully I can get everything else out and find the missing pumpkins before it's Halloweens turn to take over and I switch it all. :)

Not to mention figure out something cute for the shelving next to the giant ugly box smack dab in the middle of the wall. Wait, I mean giant ugly box full of fingerprints and smudges. Yeah, that one. Someone come clean for me while I sprinkle some fall around the house, will ya?

P.S! Check out the Michaels Ad on the blog right now! You can get yourself some white pumpkins just like the ones I used for 50% off..Woohoo! Click and print buddies, click and print.

Layla and the girls are having their Fall 2011 party! Woohoo!

Go party on with Melissa and the crew for the Fall Nesting Party
And Kimmie's What I Whipped up

Hi.

2011-09-12T13:29:00.000-04:00

Why hello.

I'm back.

I've missed you so, and I have so much to share with you but for now..I'm back. Let's all meet back here tomorrow for the nitty gritty of the last 13 weeks of my life.. Okay not really but maybe I'll have a fun profound thought or two. But for now, this is my to do list.

Welcome Abbie from Five days 5 ways!

2011-08-29T11:09:00.000-04:00

I’m so excited to be guest-blogging for Rachelle and want to say a huge thanks to her for having me here at FOTF!

Before I tell you a little about myself, I thought you might want to know that I’m hosting a Pleated Poppy giveaway, and you can find out all of the details here.

See? I told you you'd want to know!

And now that you’re back…Hi there! My name is Abbie, and I’m a thriftaholic.

But that's not all I am. I’m also a follower of Jesus, a wife, a mama to three kiddos under six, an exercise instructor, a writer, and a DIY fanatic.

Oh yeah. And I run not one but two blogs (I think that makes me a blogamist):

1. Five days…5 ways, my everyday blog where I like creating thrifty projects like these:

2. Secondhand or Bare Bottom—my smart-mouthed style blog where everything I wear or carry (accessories, bags, shoes, everything) is 100% thrifted.

Obsessed much? Why, yes, I am.

So obsessed, in fact, that I wrote up a little post for you to answer some of the FAQ's I get on Goodwill Hunting in hopes that you too will join the Super-Thrifty Chicks club (I'm considering making capes! :)).

1) When do I go?—Early in the week and early in the day. I like to go on Mondays or Tuesdays in the morning since they’ve had time to get themselves organized from the weekend rush. DON’T go on a Saturday at 11 or you’ll get nothing but picked-over racks and a headache.
2) Where do I even begin?—Ignore the racks that are always there at first, and, if your store has them, start with the racks that they roll out on the floor every 45 minutes or so. Some stores will even make announcements when they roll out new racks so you can do your best Usain Bolt impression beating all the other bargain-obsessed chicks to that mint condition Anthropologie skirt huddled behind those pleated maroon polyester pants from 1984.
3) What do I pay?—Most Goodwill items are reasonably priced to begin with, but all of them are priced by separate people in the back who sometimes get bitten by the random bug and pop a $7 price tag on a pair of cute-but-hardly-worth-it flip-flops. If you find something you think is overpriced, don’t be afraid to ask management to lower it. Especially if you have a comparable item that is already marked lower that you can show them.
4) How do I decide?—Goodwill’s return policy only applies to clothing and that can only be exchanged within seven days of its purchase. So, even though you may only be spending $4 on a skirt, it wouldn’t hurt to ask yourself, “Will I REALLY wear this, or am I only buying it because it’s cheap?” Keeping an open open mind is crucial to finding amazing clothes, but try not so open that you get home what you were thinking buying this junk!
5) How often do I go?—It depends. If want to overhaul your closet, once-a-week trips are best since frequency yields the best awesome-finds scores. If you just want a good deal every now and then, wander in on your lunch-break during the week sometime, and see where it goes from there.
6) What if it’s not perfect?—If something I love is flawed, I ask myself two questions: 1) Can I fix it/how long will it take me? and 2) How much can I get them to lower the price because of the flaw? If the answers are 1) Yes/not too long, and 2) Enough that it’s dirt-cheap…I buy it and turn it into a project.
7) How much time should I expect to spend per visit?—I hardly ever get in and out of Goodwill with much to show for it in less than 2 hours. But I almost always have all three of my children with me, which means multiple bathrooms trips, toy aisle browsing, and usually at least one nursing session with the baby. If you’re on your own, an hour of happy browsing could produce some pretty incredible results.
8) Don't shoes gross you out?—Shoes can be tricky for the germ/other people’s feet averse. I’m not really one of those, but I only buy the ones in great condition and have a big, fat can of Lysol waiting for them when I get home! : )

Here's a portion of my GW shoe collection. This is just a glimpse of my master closet makeover if you want to see more.

9) Where do I go?— Wherever's closest. Don’t assume that, because you live in a small town, your GW isn’t worth checking out. I find almost all of my best treasures in two small-town stores.
10) Can I actually expect to find anything decent?—Yes! It’s amazing what you can stumble upon right in the midst of the kitsch and the appliqued jean jumpers. And if the shoes didn't convince you, let me treat you to a few more of my favorite 100% (including shoes, bag, and jewelry) Goodwill outfits:

Have I talked you into give thrifting a shot, yet? It’s quite the thrill when you score that mint condition Marc Jacobs skirt (it’s right there in the bottom left corner of the collage) for $4.

You'll be hooked in no time!

Just please don’t send me your therapy bills or leave me nasty comments on my blog if you end up as addicted as I am! : )
Speaking of comments, I’d be tickled practically any other color but pink if you’d stop by and say, “Howdy!” at Five days…5 ways and/or Secondhand or Bare Bottom!

Guest Post with Marie from Lil Pink Pocket!

2011-08-23T10:18:00.000-04:00

Hi friends! My name is Marie and I blog over at Lil Pink Pocket. Come visit me and say hi while you're there! I'm so excited to be guest blogging here today! I'm a wife to my best friend and stay at home mommy of two adorable little girls that keep me busy.

In my free time I love creating! I'm a do it yourself kind of girl and I'll try to do just about anything at least once. I love all things fancy and beautiful, but live a thrifty lifestyle and can't find it in me to pay full price for anything. I'm excited to share some of my most recent projects and a tutorial with you.

Dresser Makeover

Green to Coral Shoe Makeover

Little Girl's Room

Children's Table Makeover

Lima Bean Wreath Tutorial

Here's what you need:

Styrofoam wreath (you know I love to be thrifty so use a 40% off coupon to get it)

baby lima beans - 1 16 oz package was perfect for a 12 inch wreath

hot glue gun and glues sticks

spray paint

ribbon to hang

Start by gluing beans around the inside back of the wreath. The beans have a straighter edge on one side, glue that edge along the back of the wreath on the inside circle and outside circle.
Continue gluing to fill in entire wreath. I found it easiest to put the glue on the wreath about a 2 inch radius and then add the beans.

When the entire front of the wreath is done and glue completely dry add a couple coats of spray paint. I used Krylon Ivory in a glossy finish.
Add ribbon and I also added the cute letter I found at Hobby Lobby for $3. I also might use this for other holidays by just changing the ribbon and adding other embellishments.

And that's it! I absolutely love how it turned out and I hope you do to! If you make this project I'd love to see it! Come stop by Lil Pink Pocket follow me and say hi! Enjoy!

Feature Yourself Friday

2011-08-18T23:30:00.000-04:00

Bless my little heart I was too busy fist pumping to remember FYF! Whoops!

Okay pretend I didn't admit that.

But seriously? Yeah. I know.

;)

I'll make up for it with.. Um. Pinterest love? Yes.

Swoon. I could spend all day on there.

Okay buddies.. party hard!

Welcome Lisa from Before Meets After!

2011-08-16T11:10:00.000-04:00

Hi FOTF readers! I am so excited to be guest posting for Rachelle! Her blog is amazing and I get a lot of great ideas from her. She needs some extra bloggy love right now so make sure you send her a quick note of encouragement! I have one of my favorite projects ever to share with you today! you can visit my blog, Before Meets After, for even more too!

I love garage sale-ing. I love going through people's things and finding something I KNOW can look good.

I found this dresser at a garage sale. It was your typical UGLY brown boys dresser from.....let's say from 1988.

It even had those horrible handles that should be outlawed!

I got home and was so excited to show it to the hubbs. He immediately wondered why I even brought it home! This thing is a beast! It weighs a ton, but it's built very well with dovetailed drawers.

But he's not complaining now :)

I chose to paint this Duck Egg blue, a chalk paint by Annie Sloan. No sanding, priming, etc. I put only 1 coat on it and it looked amazing! After it dried, I waxed it with a clear wax.

I distressed it using my 5 in 1 Purdy tool.

When you open the drawers, there's even a sweet little surprise inside! They are lined with scrapbook paper that looks like vintage newspaper articles!

I just love this piece so much!

But of course, there's no such thing as a perfect DIY project.

The hardware on this piece gave me so much trouble :(

It was an awkward size so I decided to fill in the holes.

I then found these for half price at Hobby Lobby.

They only look like they have 2 holes, but it's the best hardware invention ever...they only have 1 center hole!!!

So other then hardware, I could turn pieces over pretty fast. But I guess it would be TOO easy then!

I hope you like it! It's for sale so click on the store tab for more info.

I'll leave you with another Before Meets After.

A real beast turned into a beauty!

After looking at this post, I realized the color looks really off. It's more of a light turquoise color!

And don't forget to enter my giveaway for a necklace from Crissy's Crafts!

Guest Post from Amanda from Kuzak's Closet!

2011-08-09T09:56:00.002-04:00

Hi! I'm Amanda from Kuzak's Closet. I am a professional organizer living in the San Francisco Bay Area with my husband and our little pooch named Harper. I started my blog at the end of 2009 where I share my latest recipe, organizing advice, fashion tips, and tons of before and afters.

I love to help my clients organize spaces within their home like closets, kitchens, bathrooms, children's rooms and much much more. Today I want to share how I organize my makeup with velcro but before I get to that I wanted to give you a taste of what my blog is all about...

Home Organizing, (Kitchen Makeover with Before & Afters)

Day in the Life Posts (Moving Day with a Client)

DIY Projects (Easy Fall Wreath)

Trash to Treasure

Recipes (Baked Sopressata)

Organize Your Makeup With Velcro

Velcro is my #1 tool when it comes to organizing my makeup. In the house we are living in I am lucky to have a lot of drawer space in the bathroom vanity so I set up an easy to use makeup drawer. You could also set something up in a cabinet. All you need is velcro and inexpensive containers.

Walmart carries white drawer organizers in packs of 3 for only $0.99 so I picked up about six sets in a few different sizes. I like these because they are inexpensive and if they get yucky you can throw them in the dishwasher. You can find velcro in any craft department, I like to use the velcro dots because they are perfectly sized and precut.

Measure out the drawer and plan where you want the organizers to go before you use the velcro, once the velcro is attached to the drawer it is not easily removed. Once you have each drawer mapped out, place both of the velcro pieces to the bottom of the organizer. The bottom of the velcro once it is attached should be sticky, once it is applied, firmly place them in the drawer. Doing it this way you can guarantee your velcro dots match up. After they are attached you can pull the organizers out at anytime and then simply reattach the velcro when you put them back.

See the velrco on the bottom of the bin and on the bottom of the drawer...

I also like to line my drawers to add a bit of pizazz! This is a junk drawer from my client's house

that I turned into a little piece of makeup heaven, isn't it pretty!

The Lifespan of Makeup...

It is important to sort through your makeup every month to get rid of the products you are no longer using and toss products that are out of date. If you are wondering how long you should keep products around, here is a guide I use...

Mascara : Every 3 months.
Eyeliner: 1 year unless you use it with water, then it should be tossed after 6 months. Be sure to sharpen your pencils after each use to keep them clean.
Foundation: If you use your fingers to apply it every 6 months, if you use a sponge every 12 months. Remember to wash your sponge out each week and replace it every three weeks.
Cleansers & Moisturizers: Most of these products contain fatty acids which means they should be thrown out after 6 months.
Nail Polish: Every 12 months, remember to store it in a cool dry spot. The best place is actually the fridge.
Blush: Every 6 months.
Makeup Brushes need to be washed every 2-3 months.
Concealer: Up to a year.
Eyeshadow and Pressed Powder: 2 years.
Lipstick: 2 years if stored in a cool place.
When in doubt sniff it out! If you don't remember how old something is try smelling it, if it smells funky you know it is time to replace it.
The clock on your makeup begins when you open it. I suggest storing a sharpie in your makeup drawer so you can write the date you started using on the bottom.

Thank you so much Rachelle for having me guest post! Fingerprints on the Fridge is one of my favorite blogs for inspiration and I always look forward to seeing what you all are up to on Feature Yourself Friday so keep up the good work!

Yay! Thank you so much Amanda! You rock!

Feature Yourself Friday

2011-08-04T22:00:00.001-04:00

Why hello there friends! Is everyone else baffled that July is long gone now and it's AUGUST?! I know! Trust me, I know. It was a glorious 75 degrees today and I swear I could start to smell fall in the air. But that could be because I want it..bad.

Anyway.
Oh yes! Thank you for all the emails for guest posts! I'm going through the emails and just going by who sent one first and I will get through all of them. Can't wait.. YA'LL ARE THE BEST!

Want to know what else you're 'mazin at?

Gallery Walls..

Coolest rocks evvah..

And awesome furniture makeovers..

Just to name a few! :)

Guest Post by the famous Mrs. Nato!

2011-08-03T10:17:00.000-04:00

*i have to hijack real quick and tell you how amazing mrs. nato really is. She lets me call her and ask the same questions over and over and over..even at 2 am when she's at a club. Just kidding, she doesn't club..or does she. Bwahaha. but really she's been my heaven sent through this whole mess that I call life. and I heart her. A lot. I asked her and her sisters to adopt me into their clan. Still waiting for the paperwork. Besides being amazing at telling me over and over that I'll be okay, she makes me laugh, the kind of laugh where you snort..and it's always in public and people stare. Enjoy her. I sure do.*

hey friends,
my name is jami nato. i craft. i'm married. i have some kids. i cuss sometimes, but i really love Jesus.

here is my family. we are perfect. we have no flaws and we wear 50's clothes everyday.

ok kidding. we only wear 50's clothes every other day.

let's stop talking about me and talk about rachelle. do you love her? one of the strongest women i know. and funny too. she has a lot going on right now and needs some encouragement and love. because she is walking through some pretty rough waters. let's all try and shower her with a little extra love the next couple of weeks.
*************

alright, i have no transition from that to the sweater pillow tutorial. so ya...

anyway, i saw these glorious sweater pillows on the mighty intranet for sale. wait, what? no tutorial plus you want me to buy things? pshhhh, ruuuuuuuuuude. so i had to be creative and figure it out. and i also had to convince my husband that some of his brand name sweaters were looking pretty ratty. because really, they were. and then he was like,
hold up, why do you want my sweaters so bad?
i caved and told him i just had to make a sweater pillow. now picture rolling eyes from said husband.

so here's what i did. i mean, it doesn't look exactly like the flower pillows i got the inspiration from so i'm going to try again because i used way too much sweater. shwhatever, who cares. and they kind of look like pillows i've made on here before. but, double shwhatever. go with it.

sweater pillow tutorial

1)steal a sweater from your husband. cut it into 1 inch-ish strips. the longer the strips, the better.

2)find a pillow in your basement. if it's square(which it probably will be), sew the corners back, like so. (again, super jimmy rigged because i didn't want to buy a round pillow).

3) start on your flower. the center, i just folded it until i thought it looked like a bud of a flower. at first i sewed this part into the pillow. then i just kept sewing around every so often. but this got too time consuming. i got out the hot glue gun. much easier. i just glued the fabric down as i went. um, jimmy rigged to the max, but uhhh-mazing.

you can see how i folded my strips of fabric so that the rough edge of the cut shows.

4)keep going tediously around the pillow. towards the end, i just layed the strips flat because it was faster and it still looked cute.

5)cover until you get to the back. cover the back if you want. or don't. i did, but man, i got crazy in the back and it looks hilarious. it's the thought that counts, right?

now you could definately sew this. i just jimmy rigged it with hot glue because i hate sewing.
so go with it.

ok, ready. set. go cut up your husbands sweaters!

They call me mellow yellow.

2011-08-02T20:41:00.000-04:00

My super sweet friend Diane (shop owner of Something Diane Made) sent me the cutest gift the other day! Oh my gosh ya'll.. It made my day.

Enjoy my instagram quicky.

And a pretty one with a lovely one of the little holding it..

Whats that? A classic photo bomb. Yes, yes it is.

First off it has polka dots and it's yellow. Can it get any better? Yes, yes it can. With a teal zipper and flower and gray interior. Holy smokes! It's gorgeous. I love it.

The best part is the SIZE of these things! It's a tad bigger on the clutch side which is perfect for a momma on the go. It fit, my cell phone, my wallet (which is big and fat because I'm a semi-hoarder don't judge me), my sun glasses, keys and some ponies.

That's awesome eh? OR you could fit a travel wipes case in it I think. It seems about that size. But this Momma doesn't have any itty bitties that use wipes anymore even though sometimes they need them, I'm always that mom that forgets to have anything to clean faces off.

I digress.

But it would be cute for a diaper bag so you could keep YOUR stuff in it and not have to carry a diaper bag and another purse, that was my biggest pet peeve back in the diaper days. This fits in both, and fits on your wrist. Love..love love that.

But there's a ton of cute ones to choose from and they're on sale for ONE MORE DAY ya'll. For an awesome price of 20.00 with free shipping. Holla!

Make sure you stop by.. tell her I sent ya and check out her lovely assortment of purses and get one while they're on sale! The price goes up a bit once the sale is over and then that shipping deal goes back on.. So! Get them while they're hot hot!

Purse purse buy a purse!

Guest Post with Erin from Erin Dietrich Photography!

2011-08-01T09:00:00.000-04:00

Hey Y'all!

{I can't believe I really just said that!}

I'm Erin,

from Erin Dietrich Photography.

{my website needs massive updating & remodeling so check us out on Facebook for our latest work! I'm embarrassed & can't believe I even just linked that to my website!}

I'm a Wife, a working Mama, a Photographer & a wanna-be blogger!

I'm based out of Myrtle Beach, SC

but born and raised in NY.

But you can check out MY BLOG if you want to ~~stalk me~~

& figure out my life story! ;-)

I just love Rachelle!

She has become one of my facebook/blog friends.

The type that you feel like you've know for years,

but you've really never even met in person?

Ya, that kind! ;-)

I ~~secretly~~ stalk her blog.

I think her and the girls need to come to

Myrtle Beach so I can photograph them & she can

decorate my house.

Sound like a perfect plan to me! =)

This is my first "guest post" so please,

bare with me and don't laugh at me too hard.

My daughter is going to be TWO soon.

{so sad}

And her Birthday Party theme is going to be

"Lemonade & Sunshine!"

I didn't want to do the "typical" girl birthday party themes,

like Princess, Dora, Barbie etc.

{Not that there's anything wrong with any of those!}

But I like to try to come up with "unique" themes.

So about two months ago,

I was walking through the "summer" section at Target.

They had a little Lemonade stand sign & banner.

{you can see them in the pictures}

I thought to myself,

"Omg, this is SO CUTE!"

Then a little light bulb went off in my head.

I thought to myself...

"This would be such a cute theme for Brynn's 2nd Birthday Party this August!"

Then the wheels started spinning!

My husband built this AWESOME Lemonade stand for this shoot & for her party.

{It is SO HEAVY, I'm pretty sure it could withstand a tornado or something}

I think it turned out SO cute, he did such a good job!

{Thanks Babe!}

Have you ever built a "serious" lemonade stand?

Let me teach you how!

{Please excuse my husband & daughter's outfits in these pictures. She made that visor at school the day before & would not take it off!}

My husband came up with how to create this all on his own.

It actually wasn't that hard.

So buy a bunch of wood, some screws, spray paint, paint & sand paper!

Isn't his little helper cute?!? ;-)

Before we painted it!

I spray painted the whole thing.
Then we took sand paper & sanded some spots to give it the "old" look.

It was very easy.

♥

Ok, I think this is hands down my favorite shoot I've ever done yet.

Not just because the sweet ~~baby~~ toddler in it is mine either! ;-)

I did Brynn's 2nd Birthday Shoot

{I can't believe she is going to be 2 so soon already!}

*TEAR*

I wanted to keep these pictures a surprise until her Birthday invitations went out,

but I just couldn't control myself.

I love these images way too much to keep them a secret

for another couple weeks! ;-)

I'm so excited for her Birthday party in a couple weeks!

But until then...

ENJOY THESE PICTURES!

P.S. This lemonade stand will now be available to use for YOUR shoot, if you want to book a styled shoot similar to this with me! ;-)

& last but not least, her invitations....

P.P.S. Come check out Erin Dietrich Photography Facebook Fan Page too and be sure to enter our H-U-G-E37 vendor giveaway that's going on right now!37 vendors, 37 prizes, 37 winners!XOXO

Feature yourself Friday!

2011-07-28T22:21:00.000-04:00

First off the winner of the Word Whipped giveaway is #46 The Clayborn Family

So thankful to wonderful sponsors and friends who want to host giveaways! We have another good one coming up soon! :)

I put a little shout out on facebook, but because of the lack of...er..blogging on my part I'd love it if a few of you would be interested in Guest Blogging!

I'm just not ready to come back full time right now.
Instead I stalk pinterest for things that make me think..and smile..and cry.

Boo. I know.

But I don't want the blog to come to an end. While I take my little sanity vacation I'd love to have some fun posts, so if you're interested email me at {fotfblog@aol.com} and we'll hook somethin up!

Let's get to the party shall we? We shall.

Rock on, buddies!

Love.them.

2011-07-19T09:00:00.002-04:00

Just wanted to drop in today and show you the people that make this place run smoothly even when life hands you lemons...and it takes you weeks to edit one blog post because your mind doesn't want to work right.
Yes.. These people-- I heart. Not just a little, but a big puffy pink heart them then multiply that by one thousand.
That's a lot.
Wont you hop on over and say Hi to them?

Feature yourself Friday!

2011-07-15T12:22:00.000-04:00

Talk about losing track of time.

It's FRIDAY? When did that roll around? I had a meeting last night at 8 so by the time I got home and crashed, 10 pm Feature Yourself Friday was a dream floating around in my head, as I was snooooozing. Then my lovely children slept until 11 this morning. I think they knew their mama needed some beauty sleep.

I feel refreshed.

Well sort of. When I get too much sleep I feel way more groggy. Does that happen to you? I got the sleep cycle app on my phone because I've heard good things but I've yet to try it. It's kind of magical and wakes you up when you WONT be tired and groggy.

This just went to no-where land didn't it?

Want some more randoms?

Talk about twins right? And, when did this child get so big? Um.. she's supposed to be 3 not 13.

This little gal is a pirate. Can you tell? I don't know what says pirate more, the eye patch, tattoo or flowered dress.
But, she does get 100 points for popping out her sunglasses lens and using a headband to fashion a eye patch. Atta girl. How can I be mad about broken sunglasses when you use mad DIY skills to use your imagination? Awesomesauce, baby.

Okie dokie.. time for me to wake up, and you all can party hard. Sound good? :)

Word Whipped {Giveaway}

2011-07-09T22:00:00.001-04:00

Why hello friends! I have a treat for you tonight! Surprise surprise!

The lovely Holly from Word Whipped contacted me not to long ago asking if she could give away a little sumthin' sumthin' from her shop to Fingerprints readers. Of COURSE I jumped at the chance.. She has some ah-mazin signs that I know you..you..and you will love.

Like the ever so popular Keep Calm ones

Giant typography goodness

and something special for the babies in your life.

Seriously amazing work!

Want to know what's in store for you today? Well let me tell you!

She's giving one lucky winner a 50.00 credit to her shop! Woo-to-the-hoo! That'll get you some cute signage for you home, that's for sure. ;)

Let me tell you the ways to win why don't I.. That's what you're all lookin' for right? Alrighty...

1.) Head on over to her shop Word Whipped and let me know what you'll be buying if you win

2.) Check out her Facebook page and Like it, make sure you tell her who sent you!

3.) Tell me your favorite thing that you've done this summer so far. I'm in the summer mood! :)

*Please leave a separate comment for each entry to make random.org's life a bit easier, also giveaway open to U.S Residents only.*

Feature yourself Friday!

2011-07-07T22:36:00.000-04:00

Hey Ya'll! Did you have a fantastic 4th? I sure hope so! Mine was great-- I can't wait to tell you about it..Hopefully this week. :) Good things buddies..good things.

First I have a few giveaways that I need to announce the winners to..

The winner of the E-mealz 3 month subscription is Erin @ A Bird and a Bean

And, the winner of the Bei Fiori store credit is Susie Q @ A work in progress

Please shoot me an email ladies and I'll get you in touch with the people for your loot..whoohoo!

{Fotfblog@aol.com}

Now how about some eye candy?

Loving these boutique style kids clothes! Adorable.

Phenomenal bracelets..so simple and still adds a punch.

Very cute little kids garden!

Alright-- your turn! Show the goods!

Feature yourself Friday!

2011-06-30T22:09:00.000-04:00

Ello, ello. Welcome to yet another fun Feature Yourself Friday mates!

Yeah I don't know about that accent either, just go with it. ;)

No features this week, I'm running super late putting this up and I'm currently held up at my Dad's house watching my kids eat too much junk food and drinking....gasp..pop. I know, Grandpas are evil like that. But.. how about something cute? Eh?

Eh.

Source

I could eat him. With a spoon, doesn't even need extra sugar.

Okay party on peeps! I'll work on getting these sugar high children to bed. ;)

Reason 101 why In His Grace rocks my socks.

2011-06-29T07:00:00.001-04:00

Remember my friend Chrissie the lovely shop owner of In His Grace?

Yeah, I've talked about her once or twice. I love her items and TODAY I'm telling you why I love her even more. Well, she's giving 25% of her proceeds in the month of June to Amy and her Husband John who are trying to bring home this gorgeous little buddy.

Gosh he's cute. Edible really.

That's Davis. And he deserves to come home to his Mommy and Daddy!

So, there's two more days left in June-- if you've been planning on snatching something up from In His Grace, NOW..NOW NOW NOW is the time to do it! :) You get something lovely, of course and you help Davis come home. Which is awesome, you can help him come home.

So, why don't you head on over.. Take a look around and see if anything catches your eye. I know it will, everything is just.too.cute.

Pst! She also has a blog!

And, if you want to follow along with the Jupin Family check out their blog right here :)

And, read more about Davis here! :)

Grab This!