Thifty Decor - My first attempts.... =0)

Well I managed to get some projects done this past weekend and take some pics. They aren't anywhere near as fabulous as some of my thrifty decor blog counterparts but I'm pretty proud of my first attempts. So here we go:

1) We're re-decorating my daughter's bathroom and within a VERY tight budget. We used a can of paint to do the walls that I originally bought for the kitchen. But after attempting a small area and realizing the lighting in there made it look like pea puke I decided against it. But it looks great in my daughter's bathroom. We're going for mostly black, white and green but we're going to highlight a few decor things in the bathroom with the other colors. My daughter's color inspiration was a little stuffed Victoria's Secret dog she got for free last christmas. I used a old picture I had from years ago and pertyed it up!

Before

After

The damask looking print in the middle is, get this... a folder! Yep, a .92 school folder we picked up at Walmart. The black print in the middle was actually printed in brown so I colored over it with a sharpie marker =0) The white mat around it is a textured poster board I bought at Michael's for around $3. I'm actually using the other half of it to mat another picture too. You know how big them poster boards are! We painted the frame black with acrylic craft paint and... TA-DA!!! Total Cost : about $4 (considering I already had the frame)


2) Ok, so my sister gave me the idea for our nursery theme. After she thought of it she was mad at herself for not doing it herself for my neice. Hehehe... Sorry Christy. It's Dr. Seuss... DON'T YOU LURVE IT!?! We figured we could get a start on it early since it's "gender friendly" and believe me, I didn't waste any time in getting my shopping on! First off, Pottery Barn Kids is the only actual store (besides Ebay) that sells the Dr. Seuss nursery stuff. Well, it would be great to be able to save some time and go buy up all the goodies there to decorate but let's be honest. I'd rather save $MONEY! Soo... I flipped the switch on one of my talents and made it myself.

Dr. Seuss Art Work @ Pottery Barn Kids

Price $70.00 EACH!

My version

Cost: Approx. $6

I purchased the matching 8x10 picture frames at GW for $1.99 each. They were already black so I didn't need to paint them. The drawings were copied from images I found on the internet and then colored them colored pencils on some sketch paper I bought at Micheal's. A whole sketch pad for $1. The white mat around the pictures are also from a acrylic paint paper pad I bought a Michael's for $1. The paint paper is real stiff like cardboard almost so it has a different texture and stands up a little bit. I just used an exacto knife to cut out the middle. And again... TA-DA!And what did I save.... drumroll.... approximately $221.00 AND they were made for our baby boy by his momma's own hands! Priceless.

Ok, ok, enough of my fasicination with thrifty decorating. I just can't help it, it's become such an addiction! I'm hoping to get everyone as hooked as I am! My sister is my next victim... *insert evil laugh*...

Have a Blessed Day, Kim

P.S. I've added a picture of Daddy and Uncle Leo painting the nursery in my previous post.

It's a Boy!!!

Yes, we're having a boy. Big Daddy was so excited he did the arm yanking "Yes!" almost knocking a hole in the wall and then rubbed the sono tech on the back and said, "Thank You". Uh hello!?! What about your overly sized wife who is laying on the table with your son ACTUALLY in her belly!?! Hehehe... He was redeemed, he helped me off the table and gave me a quick kiss through the large joker sized smile that was affixed to his face. Hehehe... He's now officially talking to my belly button like it's a direct portal to the baby's ear! Saying, "Can you hear Daddy?" It's too cute for words. I'm sure when he starts to be able to feel the baby move his hand will be super glued to my belly. Baby Jacob is developing perfectly and weighed approx. 11 ounces on sono day. It looks like he's sucking his thumb or hand in mouth on the second picture. =0)

The nursery is also finished with the painting, thanks to Daddy and Uncle Leo (Sissy and Bubba also helped a little bit).

We had a marathon make over weekend and knocked out alot of projects. We got one wall painted in my oldest son's room, a few items hung on the walls in my daughter's room and my daughter and I knocked out a few craft projects for various rooms. I scored an AWESOME deal last week on an armoire for the baby's room for...wait for it... $40!!!! It got a pretty decent sanding job by my oldest son and I will be revealing it as soon as Big Daddy finishes the make over. And my daughter painted her ENTIRE bathroom all by herself!!!! Lots of fun remakes to show off. I'm telling I'm hooked!!! The NEW items in the store don't even appeal or excite me anymore. I'd MUCH rather find something cheap that needs some TLC and make it my own. It's so fun and you feel a sense of pride when your done. I think it's because you took something that cost a $1 and made it look like it cost $25 and it has your own personal touch! Best Hobby EVER!!!!! And I'm telling you it all started with this fabulous lady... http://thriftydecorchick.blogspot.com/! Thrifty decorating heaven!!!!

Every body head on over to my wonderfully, beautiful sister's blog to wish her a HAPPY BIRTHDAY tomorrow and while your there check out her cake blog. She's amazing!!! I can't wait to see my baby shower cake!!! She does such adorable, creative cakes. If you want one for your next special occasion let us know. She did our wedding cake (beautiful) and Andrea's baby shower cake (adorable)!

Mascara Alert... Put on your prayer hat and say a word for my SIL's friend back in her home state of Iowa. Her friend lost her son just a few days after his 18th birthday to a tragic accident. My SIL just returned from Iowa and said it was one of the hardest things ever to experience. Kiss and hug your kiddos EXTRA hard tonight.

Have a Blessed Day, Kim

4 DAYS TO GO!!!!

Ok, I guess I'm so excited about the sonogram on Friday that I'm skipping days of the week. I could have sworn today was Wednesday!!! Geez... Can Friday just get here already!

I was wondering does everyone have horrible nightmares and bizarro dreams when their pregnant? I know I've read in all my pregnancy books that vivid dreams are common but horrifying nightmares that jolt you out of sleep, heart pounding and shaken up enough that it takes minutes for you to realize it was just a dream? And are the tears you launch into at that realization tears of relief or build up from the nightmare you just lived through in your sleep!?! That's the last time I'll eat Fried Chicken for dinner. Damn devil bird!!!

Speaking of Fried Chicken, I stopped into Brookshire's to get a few grocery items and saw a long line at the deli. My nose drew me that way and I discovered Fried Chicken was their deal of the day. The smell was enough to make me salivate and almost drool on myself and when I saw that box of crispy juiciness I couldn't resist. Of course in my pre-pregnancy days I would have went for the 8 piece mixed so I could feast on a large fried chicken breast and not feel so guilty because it was white meat. But since Big Daddy is a dark meat man I grabbed a box of Dark, Hot & Spicy and figured what the hell. So I rushed home did my 40 min pregnancy yoga DVD (which I love by the way) jumped in the shower and ran in the kitchen to make my plate. Fried Chicken, a salad with ranch and corn on the cob, YUMMY!!! About two bites into the chicken something wasn't feeling right. I thought to myself, the flavor is good what could be wrong. Then I realized OMG! eating this is making me wanna hurl! All of a sudden my mind filled with thoughts of chicken skin and flesh. I wanted to gag, but you know me I ate it anyway because A) I thought the visuals would go away and B) I was too lazy to make something else! =0) What the heck, I usually LOVE Fried Chicken. Should'a stuck with the white meat now I'm ruined for quite a while. Baby Jacob must have liked it though because he/she was doing some serious kickboxing last night.

This baby sure ain't shy about knocking the crap outta me. I get used as a punching bag atleast 5-10 times a day. I'm not complaining though, it's just reassurance everything is ok in there. =0)

Big Daddy told me yesterday to make a list of things he could do this weekend! Uh, what?!? Yes, ladies read that one again and envy me...=0) Of course that was followed by his statement of, "I wanna get everything done before football season starts." My husband and his sports, I swear he's an addict. Are most men like this? I think the NFL Network logo is emblazoned onto our TV screen. During football season he's planted in his chair, eyes glued to 52" of pure visual cocaine for him. Lord help me. He's already making plans to perch our little one on his lap and attempt to make him/her a fanatic too, boy or girl. They will experience the greatness of the Patriots!!!! Good thing my due date is on Super Bowl weekend. =0) Anyway, so the brain is turning... What can I add to this list? I hope he's not sorry he asked. I'm sure he meant things I can't do like painting and lifting/moving heavy objects. But I can't help but wonder, you'd think he notice if I slipped dishes and laundry on that list? Puh, what am I thinking. Of course he would!

Have a Blessed Day, Kim

Thrifty Decorating is HARD!!!!

Ok, so Big Daddy and I had our own little spray paint party yesterday! Although, he didn't seem half as excited about it as I was. I mean, are you kidding!?! I know what you're thinking spray painting and pregnant is a NO NO. That's why I lounged in a chair many feet away from the garage while Big Daddy most likely killed a few brain cells spray painting away in the garage. I know he's the greatest, Thanks Babe. I'd have to say, I wasn't as pleased with the Chalkboard spray paint as I thought I'd be. Of course it didn't help that I failed to read the directions and with my excitement uncontainable went ahead and scratched it with the chalk I was using. =0) I intended on writing new phrases on it for the holidays but I think I've ruined it. Curses... and I've decided that although Flat Black spray paint looks great on a metal rooster it does not look great on a frame or say, shelves. Is it supposed to have black soot on it when you're done? Ugh, so those items will be getting a once over with either glossy black or a glossy coat of clear. So my (our) first attempt at thrifty home decor didn't turn out as great as I planned. But hey, we're learning right?!?

(Pay no attention to our messy garage or to the decorated Xmas tree in the background. I was extremely lazy last Christmas. This was in the nursery until about two months ago. When my 5'2 mother decided to carry it through the house and out into the garage. Gotta love mom... muah!)

(See that chair on the far right. That would have been my spot. It seems kinda pointless but I could at least scream to Big Daddy ever once in a while to make sure he wasn't passed out from the fumes.)

We did do a tad bit of rearranging with the wall decor in the house too. I've decided I officially hate hanging things on the wall. I managed to knock two screws and those plastic screw anchor things into the wall. Yes, I said INTO the wall. Like I made a whole the size of the tip of my finger and they fell down into the wall. Big Daddy came in to find me almost in tears from frustration, trying to hold a 10 pound mirror up to the wall and a huge hole that I was desperately trying to hide before he saw it. Not so good. Of course his first question was, "Where's the level?" And of course my answer, "I don't know." It wasn't like I would have used it if I would have anyway, he should know by now I do everything the hard way! Uh, Duh! So he takes over and still with all his measuring the left corner is still lower than the right. So I wrapped tape around the nail to make it bigger and Wa'la... it's beautiful. Now I need opinions on my table top decor. I don't have much for decorations and tried to use what we had in the house. We tried painting one of the gold charger plates and well... that didn't turn out so well. So I was thinking about adding a big "J" for our last name to this one but is the gold just too much? Any suggestions? (Oh yeah, and please excuse the finger prints all over the mirror.)

Anyway... again not so good decorating weekend. We are doing a porch face lift. Add some plants, chairs and I'm going to tackle painting our U-G-L-Y brass light fixtures. So pics of that to come. Oh, and we may get the nursery fixed one of these days. Being that I'm already 5 months I guess we better get on the ball.

Our sonogram is Friday, I'm super excited. I feel confident it's a boy but Big Daddy seems to think we're going to get a surprise pink announcement. We'll see. Although I've been saying "He" for months now I hope if it is a girl I didn't give her a complex! =0)

Ok, and I'm being brave and posting a picture of me looking not so pretty. But I told you about my weekend so you can see why! I LITERALLY (this was not staged) had a craving for a pickle last night. So I go to the kitchen to fix dinner and have a pickle. And when I opened the freezer to get out the Turkey for dinner I saw the Chocolate Chip Cookie Ice Cream (YUM!) and so then I wanted that. But I still wanted my pickle. So yes, I did it. I figure why not, I had pickles and Ice Cream. I almost thought my mind was playing tricks on me and then realized had I not REALLY wanted this I would most certainly throw up at the thought of it. And to my surprise, it wasn't bad. Sweet and Salty is never a bad combo!

PS. I've added some photos to my previous posts.

I told you I sucked at blogging...

OK so my goal for this weekend was to get the nursery cleaned out and post a before pic. Well... I got the nursery cleaned out...but I forgot the before pic. =0( Let's just say it took me ALL day Sunday and it involved moving a fully decorated 6.5 foot Christmas tree out of the room through two rather small door ways and a LONG hallway to the garage. Where it has found a resting place until this November where I'll drag it into the living room still erected, lighted and decorated and save myself the hassles of trying to reach around, bend and stoop to decorate a tree at 8 months pregnant! Ah... yes, you could say I'm lazy. But hey.. the room was empty last December and taking it all down just seemed like such a chore. =0) But anyway, I did purchase the paint for the nursery (Yellow Begonia... whatever) put have yet to get started painting. This weekend was full of half a*s projects. Where you start something realize you missing something and can't finish it. Gotta love it.

(Nursery AFTER cleaning. Yes, it was MUCH worse than this. As you can see on the left, I've already started buying diapers. I have to think BFF Andrea for that fantastic idea!)

Ok, this is going to sound really cheesy BUT I am stoked! I bought one of those inflatable family pools at Wally World that is just big enough for me to get my Shamu size rear on a floatie and maybe get some color on this Elmer's Glue colored skin I have. I mean come on, I gotta try something and don't they say tanned fat looks better than ghastly white fat?!? Of course I haven't got to try it out yet because we had a small flood at our house on Sunday and the water had to be turned off for the majority of the day. I was not a happy camper! I may attempt to get it up today since it's supposed to be as hot as the sun's surface here in Good 'ol Tejas the next couple of days.

BTW, go on over to my SIL's blog to get the recipe to the most delicious French Silk Pie you've ever tasted! It is to die for... Christy knows she ate the last piece sitting in the driver's seat of her car with it still running in my driveway! As Alexa stood over here drooling and hoping she'd share!

Have a Blessed Day, Kim

Showing off a little bit...

Our Beautiful Bunch!

My two gorgeous children. I can't believe both my babies will be in High School this next school year, 17 yrs old and 14 yrs old. Just in time for us to start all over again. =0)

My beautiful neices. Yes, my sister and I have done it again and managed to have babies within a year or so of each other. 6 total grandkids by December for our parents! We're what I would offically call a large family.

Cutie Patootie, 4 months old

Kenz, 8 years old

KK, 13 yrs old

And my incredibly handsome nephews whom I miss so much that are in FL. Two of the sweetest, most polite boys you'll ever meet. Muah!!

Big Boy, 4 yrs old

Little Man, 3 yrs old

Ok, so I'm not a great blogger

I don't post often. Ok, so I've only posted once =0/ But I'm going to try to do much better. I guess my life just isn't that interesting but boy is it about to be! Well maybe busy is a better word than interesting? Anywho... my goal for this weekend is to take a picture of the spare (soon to be nursery) bedroom in it's current state. Which I must say is quite embarassing (just wait till you see the pictures and you'll see why) ever heard the saying Christmas in July? I figure since I'm starting my second trimester and between my wonderful family and friends I have accumulated quite a bit of stuff that needs to start to come together to form what will Baby Jacob's room. Not to mention since I discovered Thrifty Decor Chick's Blog (Thanks Sharon) I've been transformed into one man's trash is another man's treasure woman and have a few projects I need to tackle for the nursery. I figure I'd be held accountable if I put it out there for all to see. I'll also attempt to get the sono from 12 weeks up so y'all can see Baby Jacob. (Side Note: I would love to abbreviate names and stuff like all my fellow bloggers do except I think there is just something a little not right about using "BJ" for Baby Jacob. Or is that just my twisted mind? )



On a completely different subject, I have been craving Taco Bueno Bean Burritos daily for the past few weeks. And I must admit I have indulged myself on a few occasions. Well after yesterday, No Mas! I decided to check the nutritional information on the Internet. Mostly because my last craving hit at 3 am and I wanted to know what I'd be feasting on at such a late hour when I sent my husband out for a fix. To my dismay I determined my beloved simple bean burrito contained 604 CALORIES!!! Ruined my whole day... I'm one of those people that will never eat it again. I mean I haven't touched fettuccine Alfredo since I found out MANY years ago that Olive Garden's Fettuccine Alfredo had 97 grams of fat. Good thing Whataburger's whatachickn' is a slightly better option and my second most desirable food craving. =0)



But for now I ate too much trail mix and feel like I'm about to pass into diabetic coma so I'm going to find the nearest bathroom so when I do I'll land on dirty cold tile instead of dirty carpet.



Have a Blessed Day!