The Final Giveaway Winner and A Big Announcement!

I can’t believe that this is my last giveaway!

I want to thank everyone who participated!  It has been a joy to make these little gingerbread families for each of the winners.

My boys have done a great job helping me announce the winners each week, but for the final giveaway, I wanted to do it myself!

Here I am with the last, lonely little giveaway bag.  There were about 20 more names added to this week’s bag.

And the winner is…

 

CONGRATULATIONS, GINA @ Shabby Chic Cottage!  I will be contacting you for some information.

Thanks again for participating and leaving such sweet comments on my blog.  I have read EACH and EVERY  one of them!

Now, if you didn’t win, you may be interested in my

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!

HERE IT IS…

I am offering my Gingerbread Family Ornaments for 50% off during the month of August for all of my wonderful Beneath My Heart followers!

I just opened my Etsy shop a few months ago, and I haven’t sold any of my ornaments…yet!   So I thought this might be a way to get my business going. 

When you place your order, just let me know in the NOTE TO SELLER section what  names you would like on the ornament and how long it needs to be.

My listing is for a family of four, but I can make it as long as you’d like.  I tried to take pictures this morning of longer families, but they didn’t turn out good and I have to take the boys to a movie this afternoon…I promised!

So here are some pictures just for you to look at to get an idea of what each family would look like.  Of course, these are not personalized, but they would be for you!

Family of three…you can see the detail on the ornaments best in this picture.  The others didn’t turn out as good.

Family of one…great for a couple expecting their first child!

Family of four…

These make ADORABLE gifts for grandparents.  The longer the ornament, the cuter!

The gingerbread men and boys are decked out in green polka-dot bow ties, and the women and girls are sporting pretty red polka-dot bows on their heads.

Since my Etsy listing is for a family of four, I will adjust your Paypal invoice to have it match your order (if you are ordering a smaller or larger family.)

Any questions, please contact me at beneathmyheart4@gmail.com.

Blessings,

Traci

Outdoor Wednesday & Last Chance to Enter my “Christmas in July” giveaway!

Hello!

Today is the last chance to enter my “Christmas in July”giveaway.

I cannot believe we are already at the end of July! 

My, oh my!

I am giving away one last Personalized Gingerbread Family ornament.

If you win, I will put  your family’s name (however big or small) on an ornament like this…

If you would like another chance to win, become a follower!  All of my followers’ names are in the “bag” for this final giveaway.

You can also click on my “Christmas in July” button in my sidebar for more information about my ornaments and how to win.

Now to do something different, I decided to join Outdoor Wednesday for the first time hosted by Susan at A Southern Daydreamer.  Click on the picture below to join the party!

A few weeks ago, in the early morning, my boys and I caught a glimpse of a beautiful sight in our back yard!

Yep, deer!  A beautiful Mama deer and her baby were right outside our back door.

They pranced out of our backyard and onto our land on the other side of our fence.

Then the baby took off across our field.

Mama went after her little baby.

They quickly crossed the road and took off through the bushes.

This is why I LOVE where I live.  We get to enjoy little surprises like this quite often.

We have a big fat raccoon that likes to get in our trash if we leave it out.  That would probably make some people mad, but it cracks me up!  And of course we have rabbits, birds, and squirrels galore!

I love sharing our land with God’s beautiful little creatures!

Have a Wonderful Wednesday!

Blessings,

Traci

Not-A-Corner Hutch

****This is an older post that I am linking to Furniture Feature Friday at Mustard Seed Creations. Go check out the party!

And then be sure to head over to the Thrifty Decor Chick for her Before and After Party!

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Well, I got it finished girls!

The reason I love participating in Metamorphosis Monday each week is because it causes me to GET THINGS DONE!

I announced on my blog last Monday that I would be re-doing my hutch and posting it this week. So I knew I had 7 days to get it finished. It wasn’t easy, but I did it!

Now one of the projects that I had on my “to do” list can be checked off!

I’ve turned my corner hutch into not-a-corner hutch.

Here’s what it looked like before…

It had to be put in the corner because of the large back. I left the doors open because the “genius” that designed it didn’t take into account that the doors hit the wall every time you opened and closed them. So I just left them open all the time!

Here it is pulled out from the wall for me to paint the first of two colors that I applied to our den walls. (That’s another story!)

This is the large back that protruded from the hutch making it impossible to sit flat against the wall.

So my very handy husband took his SKIL saw and cut the back off.

Now I wanted the hutch to look like a cross between these two pictures from Ballard Designs’ magazine:

I like the color of the picture above, and the style of the picture below resembles mine.

There is bead board in the back of this entertainment center.

So Mr. Handyman added bead board to the back of ours.

Oops! I have to back up and share how we added some detail to the sides.

Notice how the sides of the doors have a 3-grooved trim piece. (I just totally made up that name!)

I wanted that trim piece to continue on the sides of the top part of the hutch, just like the brown entertainment center in the Ballard Designs’ magazine.

We tried to find a trim to match at Lowe’s, but it had 4 grooves in it. Then Mr. Handyman got the bright idea to just cut the 3-grooved piece of the upper doors off to use as the trim piece.

Am I making any sense? He cut off the part we needed, sanded the rough edges, took the hinges off, and nailed it back on.

Then it looked like this…

There was a small gap that he filled with caulk so it wouldn’t be noticeable once we painted it.

Next, I put two good coats of white paint on the entire hutch. Trying my best to wait until it dried real good before I started sanding.

Next, I used a fine grit sanding sponge to sand all the edges. This took a little while and my arms were sore the next day from this step!

Then it was time to glaze.

I have had many people ask me what glaze I use. It is Valspar Mocha Glaze (and this is the Valspar white paint I have used on all my furniture makeovers). I love both of these products.

Glazing is a very scary step for me. I am so nervous that I will mess up all the hard work I have done so far.

But it never has. This is my third project using this glaze, and they have all turned out wonderful. (You can see my other projects if you click on “furniture makeovers” in my sidebar.)

I have applied the glaze with an old cloth, with paper towels, and with a sponge brush, but this time I used a sock!

The sock worked good because it was like I was applying the glaze with a cloth glove.

I just put a big glob of glaze on the sock and start spreading it over the piece. I worked in sections. First, I did the middle section of the hutch. When it was covered in glaze, I got a damp paper towel and used it to wipe the glaze off. I know it sounds crazy, but it works for me. I continued these steps in sections all over the entire piece of furniture.

If I want to leave more glaze on, I just rub lightly with the paper towel. If I want more of the glaze off, I press harder when I am wiping it off and usually get a second wet paper towel and wipe off even more.

The glaze is very forgiving. I add and take off glaze as I desire to get the look I am after.

I put the original hardware back on for now, and here is what it looks like..

What do ya think?

I love it! It’s exactly what I wanted.

Please forgive the accessories. I will definitely be changing those! I just wanted to get some stuff up there so I could post this on Met. Monday like I promised my followers.

This is the flat screen from our bedroom. We will be getting a larger flat screen someday…

I sat the TV on a white shelf just to give it more height.

Now I need to get curtains for this room!

Any suggestions?

I am so glad this is finished.

Now head on over to Between Naps on the Porch for more wonderful Met. Monday posts.

****I’ve also posted this on DIY Thursday at A Soft Place to Land. Go by there to check out other DIYers!

Traci

Time to Announce the 4th “Christmas in July” winner!

These are my last two giveaways…

I had 9 new followers this week that were added to both of these bags.

I had A LOT of comments on Wednesday’s post that were added to this week’s drawing.

I want to assure those of you that put my button on your blog that your name was added again to each of my giveaway bags.  Thanks so much for doing that!

So I am estimating that there are close to 100 names in today’s bag!   Wow!

Let’s get to it!

My sweet little helper today is my youngest son, Eli.

This week’s giveaway got the BEST SHAKIN’ EVER!

I finally got him to stop before little pieces of paper went flying everywhere!

He reached in the bag…

NO PEEKING, ELI!

Got it!

Congratulations, Mrs. C @ Happenings@Home!

(Ironically, we have the same “flower header” on our blogs!  What are the chances?!)

I will contact you to get the information I need to make your sweet little gingerbread family.

Thanks again to everyone for participating!

Gotta go!

Traci

Look what I made! I love it!

I have been dying to share this cute little project with you.

I got the inspiration from Ballard Designs magazine when I saw these cute little magnetic boards hanging above a desk.

I thought they definitely looked like a project I could create without the expensive $39.00 a piece price tag! (That’s $120.00 for the set, ladies, ouch!)

So I stored the idea in the back of my head.

This past week at work, my sweet boss, Mandy, asked me to help her re-do her office.

I teach music for a wonderful Mom’s Day Out program 2 days a week. My boys are there with me, and I absolutely love the chance to get out of the house and do something “different”. I have been blessed to work there for 4 years. It is at a wonderful church, and I truly love working in God’s house. I have never considered it “work”, but an honor to serve those precious little children and their families!

So when Mandy asked for my help, I was thrilled. Of course, she was thinking I could help her organize her materials and supplies, but I was thinking of painting the walls, hanging pictures, lamps, rugs, etc.! Oh the places my mind goes…

Well, I did talk her into painting the walls (since 3 of the walls were beige, one was blue, and there was a hideous flower border on top!)

Now I immediately thought about those Ballard’s Designs magnetic boards for her walls. It was a great opportunity to try out my idea.

I went out and got my materials and look at the result…

I LOVE THEM! And so does Mandy!

I’m going to add a cute little monogrammed “M” to the middle board.

What do you think?

They’re magnetic, so you can hang cards, notes, or pictures on them!

I had so much fun making them, that I decided to add these to my Etsy store. Do you think they will sell?

So I will be making lots of different kinds for my store in the next couple of weeks. Of course I will have to find some great PINK material for little girls (or big girls!) to add to my shop. I also want to make one covered in burlap! Love it!

Wouldn’t these be great for offices and dorm rooms?

I will let you know when I get them on Etsy to sell.

I will be selling them for less than HALF of what they sell for at Ballard Designs!

Leave a comment today and your name will be entered in my 4th Christmas in July giveaway for one of these…

Click on my “Christmas in July” button in my sidebar for more information about how to win.

***I am linking this post to DIY at A Soft Place to Land. Go over there to check out other great projects.

Have a blessed day!

Traci