Thursday, April 29, 2010

Best DIY Projects of April

First of all, thank you for coming to my party!!! I am so glad you are here.

I cannot believe a month has already passed since our last party!!!

Have you been busy completing projects this month?!


If you follow my blog, you know I have been crazy busy finishing my master bedroom.


And of all the projects I completed in April, my $25.00 vanity that I got at the antique mall was
my absolute favorite!
Click on the picture below if you want to see the post about how I refinished this piece.
(Warning: impromptu video of me looking like doo doo and talking about my "find" at the antique mall included in that post.) :)


Now I can't wait to see all of your fab projects!

There are just a few rules to this party.
1. One entry per person. Pick your best DIY project (related to home decor or home improvement) in the month of April to share with us.


2. Be sure to add a link back to this party in your post using my party button or text. Doing this is "blog courtesy" to the hostess. I was surprised (and a little sad) that about of a third of the bloggers who linked up last month did not include a link back to my party.


Beneath My Heart




3. Make your best effort to visit 3 to 5 other blogs and leave comments on their post. I am a big fan of encouraging others through comments. We all love it when people visit our blogs, don't we? So go spread some bloggy love! (Note to my sister: you do not have to link up to this party to be able to leave comments. Everyone who visits the party can leave comments.) :)


4. Be sure to add the link to your actual post, not your blog address.

Now for some good news!


Everyone who links up to this party will be entered in a great giveaway to win a FOB Keychain!!

My friend, Norma, has a cute little Etsy shop called,

Luv-N-Charms.


She's the one that made me this adorable keychain...

And then she sent me this one....

It has my blog name on one side and my name on the other. She even added a little "bling" to the keychain too.




I don't know how I ever lived without one of these key chains. It just slips right on my wrist and makes it easy for me to carry my keys at all times. I love how I can carry my son in one arm, my groceries in the other, and have my key chain on my wrist. Then I don't have to search for them in my purse anymore. Love it!


The winner of the giveaway will be able to pick from all of the great color choices Norma has in her Etsy shop, and she will even personalize your keychain for you!



If you don't win the giveaway, you can still visit Norma's Etsy shop, Luv-N-Charms and look around at all her cute creations.


The wrist bands only cost $11.50, and that includes shipping! I don't know about you, but I think that is a great price for a teacher gift or graduation gift!


As a former teacher, I can tell you first hand that I would have LOVED for one of my students to get me one of these key chains!

Now let's get to the party!!!




Connecting with me and my blog

Isn’t blogging fun?!

I cannot tell you how much my blog has blessed my socks off!!

The best thing about blogging is connecting with my readers. You guys are awesome!!!

I cherish every single one of your comments. Each time comments show up in my dashboard, it’s like Christmas morning! (So keep them coming…hint. hint.)

But there are other great ways for us to connect as well.

First of all is through twitter.

image

I used to think that twitter was so stupid. Why would anyone want to follow my random acts during the day? And why would I want to follow anyone else’s?

So, I started following a few other bloggers just to see what all the fuss was about, and I still thought it was stupid. I would get their tweets on my phone and it would say, “Just finished breakfast, now I am off to the grocery.”

Honestly, I thought.. “who cares?” (Boy, do I sound mean or what?)

But then I discovered TweetDeck and I don’t think it’s stupid anymore. It’s actually a blast. It’s a great place to quickly communicate with your blogging buddies. You should see some of the hilarious “tweets” that the Thrifty Decor Chick writes. She cracks me up. You can also find out about great posts and giveaways throughout blogland on tweetdeck, and so much more.

(I don’t follow tweets on my phone, just tweetdeck.)

If you want to download TweetDeck to your computer, click HERE.

I use twitter to announce my posts, giveaways, and also give “sneak peeks” of projects I am working on.

If you would like to follow me on Twitter just click on this button in my sidebar.

image

I also just started a Beneath My Heart community on Blog Frog!

It’s still new to me too, but so far I am loving it.

image

Every now and then, I will post topics to discuss in my community. Anyone is welcome to join in the discussion.

Today, I will be asking your opinion on whether or not to paint my fireplace mantle. Click on my BlogFrog button in my sidebar if you would like to share your opinion.

I am looking forward to getting to know you in my community!

And of course, don’t forget Facebook! Have you joined my page yet?

image

I use my Beneath My Heart facebook page to also announce my giveaways and give “sneak peeks” of my projects.

I am hoping to spotlight some other great bloggers on my facebook page as well.

You can click on my facebook fan page in my sidebar to join.

Well, you might just be on “Beneath My Heart Overload” if you do all of the above suggestions, but I sure would love to get to know my readers even better.

Check ‘em out and see what you think!

REMINDERS:

The Parade of Homes is still going on at Poppies at Play!

I don’t know about you, but I have had an absolute blast touring all of the homes on parade! It’s been great to take a sneak peek in the homes of other inspirational bloggers.

There’s two more days of fun left, so click on the button to check it out!

image

And don’t forget about my linky party!!!

I will have the linky system up tonight around 9:00 p.m.

large april

I can’t wait to see all of your fabulous DIY projects!

And I’ve got a cute little giveaway for the party too!

Have a blessed day!

Traci

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Wednesdays with Wanda

For those of you who are new to my blog, you may be curious about the title of this post.

Wanda is my mom’s name, and she was the greatest Mom a little girl could ever hope for.

She passed away this past September after a short 7 week battle with gastric cancer. My heart was so full of so many emotions, and I had a huge need to talk about and write about my precious mother on my blog.

The support I have received from my blog through the comments and emails of my readers has truly helped with the healing. You have BLESSED me beyond measure!

I began writing about my mom each Wednesday to help keep her memory alive for me and my young sons. I wanted them to be able to read stories of their “Nana” and remember what an amazing person she was.

All of my Wednesday with Wanda posts, and the posts I wrote while she was still living, can be found under “Mom” in my side bar labels.

I have shared with you how Mom loved to write. She wrote in her prayer journals, in her Bibles, in letters and note cards to others, for our local newspaper, and even a couple of magazines.

I treasure her writings!

I wrote about the note I “found” from Mom the night before her funeral that brought me such peace.

image

It was my first Wednesday with Wanda post and is very special to me. If you missed that post, I would love for you to click here to read it. I think you will enjoy it. :)

There is something indescribable about Mom’s handwriting. Even more than pictures, her handwriting touches my heart, and I feel so close to her when I read it. It always shows the beauty of who she was.

I found this little card that Mom sent my boys in the mail after babysitting them one day.

Mom always sent cards and letters “just because”. She didn’t need a special occasion to show and tell us how much she loved us.

This little card to my boys sums up the “essence” of who my mom was. Cute. Loving. Creative. Thoughtful. Precious.

IMG_5399

I wanted to frame this and place it somewhere where my boys could see it often.

I took an old frame I had and spray painted it black. Then I hot glued the glass to the inside of the frame.

IMG_5397

Since I wanted the card to look like it was floating, I hot glued the card to a second 8 x 10 piece of glass leftover from another frame.

IMG_5400

***Be sure to hot glue the card to the 2nd (back) piece of glass so the card won’t “slip” in between the two pieces of glass. (I didn’t take a picture of that step.)

IMG_5402

I just put a dot of hot glue in each corner to hold them together. It may not look pretty from the back, but it looks great from the front.

IMG_5405

I also wanted to frame a picture of Mom with my two oldest boys that they took at Grandparent’s Day at school.

I had a frame, but not a mat, so I decided to use some material to create one.

I laid the cardboard backing on top of some off white material I had..

IMG_5390

I folded the material over and hot glued it to the back.

IMG_5391

Then I centered the photo on top of the material and popped it in the frame.

IMG_5393

I think it turned out great!

IMG_5394 IMG_5396

The boys love seeing the picture and the card from Nana. Although my 8 year old, Luke, began crying this week when he saw the picture because he said he misses her so much. But then we read her precious writing on the card and it began to make him smile.

Mom’s love always had a way of making things better!

IMG_5408

I miss Mom so badly I can hardly stand it, especially as we draw near to Mother’s Day.

She would have loved seeing my blog featured in the “Parade of Homes” this week. We would have talked about it for hours! Oh, how I miss her sweet voice!

I am so thankful that she took time to write me and my family her precious letters of love. I will treasure them always!

Thank you for stopping by, and have a blessed day!

Traci

Monday, April 26, 2010

Before and After pictures of my master bedroom.

You have to see this to believe it!

My master bedroom has undergone a major transformation.

When looking at my bedroom on the Parade of Homes yesterday, I was feeling a little insecure that maybe it didn’t look as good as I had hoped.

But when I looked back at the “before” pictures of my room, I cannot believe how far it has come.

I love my new bedroom. It truly feels like a master retreat when I walk in the room.

Here’s the recap of where I began:

I had a cherry bedroom suite that I sold on Craigslist for $700.00. One of my kids puked on my comforter (seriously), and I had to throw it away, so I didn’t even have a complete bedding set. I really hadn’t done much to decorate the room except throw some pictures up on the wall.

Here is my awful “before”…

IMG_5728

And here is the “after”

IMG_6324

I did not change the wall color or the window treatments. Those two things can cause a lot of stress. :) I knew I wanted the walls to be neutral, and I liked the way the curtains matched the color of my fireplace.

I think the wall color is called Navajo White by Porter Paints. We painted it five years ago, so I’m not real sure.

The curtains I got at Homegoods a couple of years ago for $8.00 a window. It was only $16.00 for all four panels! You can’t beat that price.

See how much space the king sleigh bed took up? I had it up against that wall because it was the only place it would fit. I tried moving the bed in front of the window one time, but it looked horrible. When you walked into the room, all you could see was that HUGE footboard. So the bed remained on this wall…

IMG_5729

When I tried the four poster bed in front of the window…I loved it! The bed was my mom and dad’s bed, so I didn’t have to purchase a new bed which helped a lot with my makeover budget. And it’s a king bed, so we were able to use our same box spring and mattress.

IMG_6323

One of the things I didn’t like about the layout of our old bedroom was that you saw our tv as soon as you walked into our room. So one of my goals for my makeover was to find a piece of furniture to hide our tv in.

IMG_5730

Now our tv hides in this black armoire that I got at a habitat store for 40 bucks.

IMG_6365

It was missing the back, so my husband added one.

IMG_5884

He also built some shelves inside to add more storage, so the total project cost us about $90.00.

IMG_6006

We removed the ugly ceiling fan from the middle of the room.

IMG_5731

The fireplace was the hardest thing to accessorize, and I am still not crazy about it. All of the items on the mantle were things I already had.

IMG_6333

The picture of the boys was a 16x20 wall canvas that I won last year in a giveaway at Reluctant Entertainer! It has been in our foyer for a long time, but I decided to frame it and put it on my mantle.

Believe it or not, I already had this frame that I wasn’t using and it was a perfect fit! The frame was gold, so I painted it black and wiped off the edges with a wet paper towel right after I painted it so the gold would show through.

I love the way it turned out! I took this picture last year on the road directly in front of our home. I love those boys!

IMG_6326

The bed used to be against the only “solid” wall in the room…

IMG_5732

…now my new dresser resides there. The dresser used to be green, and I bought it at an antique mall for $210.00. It was the most expensive purchase for my room.

IMG_6373

The little lamp was a $10.00 purchase at an antique mall. The mirror frame was $4.50 and the blue vase $1.00, both from Goodwill. I got the wall mirror at Lowe’s for $25.00. It isn’t exactly what I wanted there, but it will have to do for now. I am still looking for a mirror or something else to put there.

IMG_6340

But I love what the mirror says…

IMG_6343

Here is the “before” view of the other side of the room…

IMG_5735

The “after”…

I love watching tv from our cozy (dare I say romantic) bed.

IMG_6362

Another “before”…

IMG_5736

“After”…Look at all that floor space!

IMG_6403

The accessories on top of the armoire are things I gathered from other parts of my house. :)

IMG_6406

Here is another picture of my bed with my lamps all lit up…

IMG_6394

I was having a hard time finding lamps for my room. I knew I wanted lamps made of glass, but I really couldn’t afford them.

I found these lamps at Garden Ridge for $24.99 a piece, plus $9.99 for each shade. They were exactly what I was looking for. I almost got them, but since I didn’t have much money left in my budget I decided not to.

The next day, I was talking to a family member who told me about some lamps she saw at Garden Ridge that she thought would be perfect for my room. (She follows my blog.) :)

It ended up we were talking about the same lamps! She felt like that was more than a coincidence and told me that she felt led by the Lord to buy them for me. What a blessing!

I just absolutely love them!

IMG_6369

I was going to put a skirted table on this side of the bed, but couldn’t find any material that I liked. I’ve had this metal side table for years, and it was currently living in my den. I decided to save some money and use it in my room. It actually works pretty well.

I didn’t want this side of the room to look too “weighted down” with bulky furniture, so this piece keeps it kind of “light” and open.

IMG_6378

The large pitcher on the bottom of the side table was a $5.00 find at Goodwill. It was an ugly tan color, so I spray painted it white!

I love my new lamp on my ($25.00) vanity too!

IMG_6316

I don’t know if I ever mentioned that I bought the white coverlet and pillow shams from Sears. It is their Country Living brand. I got them on sale for a little less than $100.00. The tan pillow was my mom’s. I wanted to make some pillows with some blue in them, but had trouble finding material I liked.

I bought the frames on each side of my bed for $2.00 at the habitat store and painted them black. I printed the pictures off of my computer from Vintage Printables.

And of course, my favorite addition to the room is my chandelier that I purchased at Lowe’s for $145.00! I am so glad I splurged! Every girl needs a little “bling” in her room, right?

IMG_6348

Here is the breakdown of my $700.00 budget:

$145-chandelier from Lowe’s

$90.00 – armoire

$210.00 – dresser

$25.00 – vanity

$25.00 wall mirror

$100.00 Country Living bedding from Sears

$36.00 Brown burlap/velcro bedskirt

$4.00 frames for both sides of bed

$10.00 – small lamp from antique mall

$25.00 _ (approx) miscellaneous accessories from Goodwill

$20.00 – two sets of white king pillow cases from Walmart

________

$690!!!

I did it!!!

IMG_6325

And I love it!!!

If you missed any part of this makeover, just click on “Master Bedroom” in my sidebar labels, and you can see every project I did these past few months for this makeover.

Thank you so much for all of your comments and encouragement throughout this whole process! I promise you that I would have never taken on this makeover if it weren’t for this blog and everyone who reads it…so THANK YOU!!!!!

A couple of announcements…

Don’t forget that this Friday is my second linky party…

large aprilI will have the linky system up around 9:oo p.m. Thursday night.

This is a chance for you to share the best DIY project that you completed in April. Please keep the projects related to DIY home decor or home improvement. Only one entry per person, and be sure to link your post back to my party.

If you don’t have a project to link up, you are still invited to come by and view everyone else’s. And I like to encourage everyone to visit at least 3 to 5 blogs and leave comments for others. We all need the encouragement! :)

Also, be sure to stop by Poppies at Play today to see the next four homes on their Parade of Homes! I have loved visiting everyone’s lovely homes!

Click on the button to join the parade..

correct-paradeofhomes

I am linking my master bedroom makeover up to these parties:

Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch

DIY day at A Soft Place to Land

Before and After Party at Thrifty Decor Chick!

Have a blessed day!

Traci

P.S. Check out my sister’s new fab blog!

Love it. Love her.

image

Related Posts with Thumbnails