An Awesome Find!!

Check out what my husband found for me!!

In his line of work he comes across a lot of junk – but every once in a while he finds something totally awesome!
I am loving this dresser – it is so cute! It is going to go perfect in my front room {if I ever get it finished!!}

I love the fun yellow color – the fun lines – the design – the handles – and the extra storage!! Behind those cute doors are 3 more drawers! Do you know how much junk this thing will hold??!!

And it even comes with a matching side table – SCORE!!

What fun finds have you guys come across lately? Anything super awesome?!

Reminder -

Sorry that I am not featuring anyone today – I have been crazy busy and even though I am thinking about you – I just didn’t have time to put a great post together – but please go to my Every Creative Blog Party and take a look around at all the talent and add your blog to the list!!

Projects of Memorial Day Past (aka–red, white and Blue!)

With Memorial Day right around the corner –

I am putting on my grungy pants, mustering up my courage and climbing up into storage to pull out these babies:

Fabric Memorial Day Wreath

$9 America Ribbon Wreath

Wish me luck! Why are crawl spaces always so scary??

Five Fabulous Bloggers

Thanks to Trop50 for sponsoring my writing about fabulous bloggers. This year Trop50 is granting 50 Fabulous Wishes. Click here to enter for a chance to win $1,000 to celebrate a friend with a refreshing attitude about looking and feeling fabulous!

I have a lot of favorite blogs – so many my reader is always bursting with so many awesome things – but today I wanted to tell you about a few blogs you might not know about – If you aren’t reading these five blogs – you should! They are just bursting with creativity!

Number One! Oopsey Daisy

 

I love blogs that are fun and whimsical and that is what I get when I pop over and read Oppsey Daisy by Alison. She is completely darling and has so many fun ideas – She thinks they are daisies among the oopsies but I think she has a lot more talent then she lets on! I love her tips and tricks and the way she loves to share ideas in her Wowzer Wednesday editions.

Number Two! Positively Splendid

Amy really and truly is Positively Splendid! She has so many darling ideas and you can’t help but smile when you read her blog. She is running a really fun summer series on her blog right now highlighting fun summer ideas and treats. She also has really fun giveaways! She is also really fun and whimsical and has a lot of awesome pictures and tutorials to help you along the way.

Number Three! Sew Dang Cute

Tam at Sew Dang Cute is just that – so dang cute! She is an awesome seamstress and has sewn so many cute things. She is the creative mind behind “Crafting with the Stars” – She loves to decorate her home, make cute clothes for her kids, tackle DIY projects – and she also cooks a little! 

Number four! Creations By Kara

I love Kara’s blog – Creations by Kara – because she is always baking up something yummy and sharing the recipe with us!  She has so many yummy ideas – she also loves to decorate her home – and right now she is busy making darling little girl things because she has a new baby girl! She also has a “Look What I Made” Linky Party on Wednesdays where she loves to share ideas.

Number Five! Craftaholics Anonymous

Linda over at Craftaholics Anonymous is so creative! I love seeing all the fun things she comes up with and I love when she posts her ideas – she also loves to share ideas and will post her readers too! Sharing is caring and I love that! This is one more girl that can do it all – she crafts, cooks, sews – and is super cute to boot!

I hope you will go visit these girls and love them just as much as I do! What five bloggers do you love? I would love to know!  And speaking of creative blogs, remember to Link up your creative blog here!

P.S. Don't forget to enter the 50 Fabulous Wishes contest for a chance to win $1,000 to celebrate a friend with a refreshing attitude about looking and feeling fabulous. I was selected for this Tropicana Trop50 sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective, which endorses Blog With Integrity, as I do. I received compensation to use and facilitate my post.

Time Management

I don’t know if it is the fact that it has rained almost every day for the past week – or what but I am really struggling --- I don’t know why but I have been evaluating a lot of things lately and feel I am lacking in so many areas -

You know how some people would use their one and only wish for money? I would use it for time.
(don’t get me wrong – a huge wad of cash on my doorstep would totally rock) but really – having a couple extra hours every evening after I put the kiddos to bed would be totally awesome!

It would be awesome if I had 9:00 (2 extra hours) and then 10:00! I could get so much done and still get my bootie to bed at a decent time – because you know when I have to make extra time – sleep always goes first. sadly.

Between my 21 month old and my 6 month old; breakfast, lunch, dinner – in-between feeding; helping my husband with his company; dishes; laundry and all the other cleaning chores (that get neglected more than they should); church responsibilities; trying to be a good wife, mom, daughter, sister, neighbor – person; yard work, babysitting, sleeping – not to mention social time, blogging, crafting and personal me time –and I should probably throw in some exercise - I always feel like I am lacking somewhere.

I need some time management skills -

And trust me – I am not sitting around watching TV, eating candy and wondering where the time went. Unless you count the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and the bowl of M&M’s I have on the table that I keep snacking on – (hence why I should exercise!) while I take a couple minutes to type this up! 

I know I am not the only person who feels like this -

and I know there are people out there who are time management masters!

How do you guys manage your time? How do you get everything on your list done?
What are some of your best kept time management secrets?

Help a frazzled girl out, will ya?

P.S. Remember to Link up your blog here!

Oh SNAP!

I am pretty sure you have all heard about the totally.awesome.can.hardly.wait.for.it creative conference that is coming to Salt Lake in April – but just in case you haven’t… you will definitely want to keep reading because this is one event you will NOT want to miss!!

The cute girls behind SNAP have set up an amazing blog with all sorts of features, press ideas, helpful advice and of course all things conference to keep you informed.

Who are these cute girls? Check out their darling selves here. They are some of my very favorite bloggers – and a total wealth of knowledge!

These girls are hard at work creating a few different tracks to keep every creative attendee happy! They will have four: 1) modern handmade 2) contemporary craft 3) events 4) DIY and home improvement.

Are you convinced that this is one event you cannot miss? What if I told you that on top of everything else – Queen Bee Market is going to be there! Start saving your pennies now!

You can register here – and I hope you will because I would love to meet you all and spend a few days talking about all things creative!! If you buy your ticket before September 15th you can get a fun little discount!

P.S. Make sure you follow along with twitter and facebook so you are up to date on all things SNAP!

Riverwoods Gift Card Winners!

Sorry guys – I meant to get this up yesterday but then life happens!

The first winner is:

Who just so happens to be:

 

And our second winner is:

Who is:

and I just noticed they each want a different gift card so it works out perfect! email me girls to claim your prizes and have fun playing at the Riverwoods!

Making a House Our Home: Part 7 {Entry Way}

I am changing things up a bit – well actually I am changing things up a lot!

I decided that instead of showing the befores, durings and afters – in a big long row – I am going to show the before, during and after of each space. Then you won’t have to wait quite so long to see the afters!

I’m not sure why I started doing it the other way – Sometimes I am crazy!!

Here is the before in all her glory!

And here is the after!!!!

So much better right! Right!

You wouldn’t think that you can do so much to such a small space – but we did!
First things first – we got rid of the iron rod railing -
and we cleared out all the funky yellow tile.

Don’t you think it is strange that the light switch is behind the door?
So did we.
Who wants to fumble around behind the door with your baby, toddler, diaper bag, purse and grocery bag in the dark for the stupid light switch?
We did not.

So we cut a huge hole in the wall from the light switch to the ceiling, over the door and down the other side.
I wish I had a picture so you could see the huge mess – but just pretend this wall is all chopped up!

We built up this pony wall and ran all our electrical into it.

It is so nice being able to open the door and have the light switch right there.
One switch turns on our outside lights –
and the other switch turns on the new chandelier light fixture that we installed.

We also installed a light switch/outlet combo on the other side – I love this! The light switch is wired to an outlet outside so I can plug in Christmas and Halloween lights and simply flip the switch inside my house to turn them on and off – It is the best! I also use the outlet to plug in Christmas lights so I can light up the pony wall!

I love our pony wall!

It keeps the cold and heat out the rest of the room because it acts as a barrier.
It also keeps unwanted visitors out of my home. When I open the door and stand between the door and the wall all they can really see is the pony wall. I can also invite people into the entry way and I don’t have to worry if I have a hot mess behind the wall because they can’t see it!!

And I can decorate it cute to boot!! So fun!

Another improvement we made was installing hardwood floors but that another post in and of itself.
There was also only one stair from the entry way to the living room. It was so hard to step up. I could just imagine my pregnant self tripping up all the time.
So we took it out and built two stairs – and it is so much better!

I definitely don’t feel like I am lunging up my stairs anymore.

I love the way our new entry way turned out.
We made just a few simple changes but it seems more practical now -

 

I have been thinking a lot about this space – and have some more changes planned for it.
But for now, I am happy with the improvements we made.

Do you have an entry way?
What do you love about it?

Did you miss a part? Catch up here.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6

I am linked to WhipperBerry and TDC before and after party and you should too!