A night of fun!!

I was recently invited to attend a bloggers night at our local DownEast store.

It is located in the Tucson Mall.

The store is trying to drum up some business and since I have been a long time customer of DownEast clothing, I was more than happy to attend.

DownEast offers many selections of modest clothing for not only women but teenagers as well.

If you like to layer like I do, then this is the place for you!

The clothes are relatively inexpensive and, in my experience, last a good long time. :)

DownEast also carries a big variety of accessories and jewelery....

OOOoooo! I love the lacey T! I have it in pink! :):):)

This is my friend, Rainey, (L) and the "big boss" (R) who came from Phoenix to attend this fun night.

They gave us a $25 gift card to spend too!

Here's Ragan finding things for me to buy for her with it! haha!

If you ever get a chance to shop at DownEast, you will not be disappointed!

another makeover

I have an old file cabinet in my preschool room that holds all of my lesson plans

and other important things that I need to keep at hands reach.

Well, this summer as we painted the preschool room,

 I got to thinking that this old guy needed some paint too!

So...... I emptied it, and dragged it out to the garage.

I removed the hardware and sanded it quickly with a very fine sandpaper, then wiped it down with a damp cloth to remove any dust or dirt that might be on it.

I picked this "oh my gorgeous!" color to spray it with.....

 A couple of cans of spray paint later and, WALLLL-AAAA! It was transformed.

I looooove how it turned out!

It looks so happy in the preschool room!

(Incidentally, I turn the file cabinet like this so the kids can play with magnets on the side of it.

It's like an extra magnet board in the room!)

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to find something else I can paint with this fabulous color! :):):)

a DIY chalkboard table

One of my favorite things to do is write on chalk boards.

I know, I know, that's a strange admission.

But, I just like the feel of the chalk and the fun of being able to erase and re-write.

Here in preschool we use small chalk boards to practice our writing of letters and drawing of shapes.

The chalk is easy for their little hands to manipulate and the erasing helps in building the muscles

that will help them write with pencils later on.  

Well, the time came that I needed another preschool table.

I had a rather brilliant idea (if I do say so myself) to have the mister build me one....

BUT instead of having a "normal" top, I wanted to paint it with chalkboard paint.

It works so well that we use it exclusively as a chalkboard table.

I let the kiddos stand around it and doodle to their hearts content!

AND....it was so easy to make!

Craig cut out a regular old piece of plywood the length and width that I requested.

He framed it and supported it with cut 1"x4"s.

 He attached the legs, which we picked up at Lowe's, and I painted the top with chalkboard paint.

I masked off the edges when I painted, and then after it had dried for 24 hrs.,

I masked off the top and painted the edges.

Every couple of years, I touch up the paint using the same technique.

Chalkboard paint comes in a spray paint option, as well as by the quart or gallon.

You can use the chalkboard paint on anything.....

walls, doors, cookie sheets (for a cute magnet board!), etc.

 It's so fun!

Hello!

Pardon my ever so long absence.

I have been toying with a little change up with the ol' blog here, wondering if I should make another one for just my projects and keep this one separate for family. But, I decided to leave everything like it is, and keep on keepin' on---if you know what I mean! :)

Things have not slowed down here and I have so many projects and make overs that I can't wait to share with you.

PLUS, I have been doing some frequent loitering, on and about the Pinterest sight. If you feel like following me there, click here! It's so fun!

Talk to you all again soon~

What a busy couple of weeks!

I've been absent because of several factors, but I will blame most of it on the fact that we

 have been painting the whole house.

I am now of the opinion that huge painting jobs are better left to the professionals.

We have two more rooms to finish before we pronounce it finished, but at least now we can see the end. We came to a good "stopping point" and I set out to do some other things that required my attention.

During this time, I ordered a case of apricots from Bountiful Baskets.

When I got home and opened the box, I discovered that about a third of them were moldy.

I was pretty disappointed. However, I was determined not to waste the rest and I knew they wouldn't wait for me too much longer. I hurried and made up a few batches of apricot-pineapple jam.

MMmmmm! It's yummy.

I also loaded up my dehydrator, thinking about how much I looooove dried apricots.

I put the dehydrator in the preschool room so as to not be disturbed by the sound,

shut the door and forgot about them.

For TWO days.

There was no happy ending for these apricots.

I also have been using the "you know what" out of my new toy....

It's an Accuquilt GO! fabric cutter! :)

I was given a very generous gift card to JoAnn's from my preschool mommies this year for Teacher Appreciation Day. (I was so surprised and touched! :):):) Thanks again!!!)

Craig also subsidized this purchase.......in the name of Mothers Day, of course! haha!

I have cut out so many shapes that I should have enough to have quilt top going until the end of time!

I can cut up to TEN layers of fabric at a time! Cutting out a quilt top takes just minutes! There isn't a lot of measuring...just layer the fabric on the die, put the cutting mat on top and crank it through the machine.

I love it so much.....

I could marry it!

hahaha! :)

Multi-tasking.

There used to be a time when I could have several projects going and

be able to finish them all in a timely manner.

That ability has somehow, strangely and inexplicably, left me.

It must be my advanced age of 40-something...(yes, it's finally time to stop pretending I am 29),

 or the fact that I am in the throws of dealing with my fourth teenager,

 or I have developed some sort of "project ADHD".

Since deciding to stay in Arizona, we thought it might be "fun" to paint the inside of our house. We had previously painted the bedrooms but the monumental job of painting

the rest of the house has been procrastinated.

We have VERY high ceilings, and it just seemed like too big of a task

for our resident princess and yours truly.

Craig generously offered up his services and we dug in. We did get most of it done before he left for his latest track meet, but there is still so much to do. The trouble is, now I want to do other things instead of painting, but I HAVE to get this project finished now, or it just might stay in its present state forever.

And, that is a prospect that makes me feel just a liiittttlllle but crazy.

So yesterday, I was doing some touch up when I happened to walk past a mirror and saw this.....  

A big ol' smudge of paint in my hair.

Then I remembered a conversation that Ragan and I had

a few months ago while coming home from school.

Enjoy....

(Ragan) "Mom.....have you been painting today?"

(Me) "No, Why?"

(Ragan) "You have something white all in your hair."

(Me) "What? Where is it?! Can you get it out?"

(Ragan) "It's on the underside of your ponytail. OOoooo, I don't know if I can get it....It's a lot."

Ragan reaches over to touch my hair

(Ragan) "OH.MY.GOSH!!!"

(Me) "What?!? What is it?!?"

(Ragan) "Mom. You have a HUGE chunk of gray hair! Actually, it's WHITE. Here, let me pull one out so you can see."

She, (not so gently) plucked a hair and handed to me. Sure enough, it was white. Actually, "translucent" was probably a better word. Miss Clairol and I had an early morning meeting the very next day.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I just walked past the mirror again. This time, it looks like I have a little "crazy" in my teeth. As soon as I get that out, I start painting again. ;)

A new lamp....for under $10!

I spotted this cool looking lamp at the GW store a few months ago.

I was dying to get at the make over, but we have been so busy wrapping up

 the end of the school year that I just barely was able to do it.

Now be patient with me as I explain what I did......

I seem to have lost all the pics that went along with the explanation.

I unscrewed the top where the bulb goes. It just unscrews. No tools needed. Once that was done, everything just kind of slides apart....but I left it all connected since I knew I probably couldn't re-connect all the wires if I wanted it in all separate pieces. (make sense??)

I masked off the plug, bulb holder and cord.

Then I painted it with spray paint. It is a Krylon color called Watermelon.

I got a little bit of over spray on the glass, but it came right off with a little W-D 40.

(Sprayed it on a rag then wiped the paint off.)

After it was dry, I slid it all back together and screwed the top back on.

Easy, Peasy, Lemon Squeezy.

 I bought a new shade with a 40% off coupon.

While the cellophane covering was still on the shade,

I traced around the inside of the small part where the fabric is now.

I carefully took the cellophane off the shade and taped it down on a piece of paper to give it more stability. Then I cut it out. I pinned it on some fabric, and cut 4 pieces.

Then, I used clear craft glue to adhere it to the shade.

Using a tooth pick, I smoothed the edges down,

 making sure to clip any threads that may have come loose.

Finally, I glued some fancy ric-rac around the top and bottom.

I love how it turned out.

It's going in our guest room.

The guest room that we will put together after we're done painting our whole downstairs....

which is taking far longer than I want it to.

Right now, it just looks like we turned our house upside down and shook it real good.

Clutter and mess.

The very two things that make me really cranky.

Oh. And it's getting hot.

Make that the THREE things that make me really cranky! ;)