Craftadoodle

Our New House Before and After

2011-01-29T15:08:00.000-08:00

OUR FIRST HOME

My husband's job transfered to another city so we needed to find a place to stay. We looked into renting but we couldn't find a 3 bedroom apartment less than $750. Which for some of you that is cheap but we knew how much family members were paying for a house mortgages and they were paying the same or less so we thought that we would look into buying a house. We couldn't get a house because my husband hadn't been working for his job for 2 years. We looked into government rural development subsidized loans and we qualified but couldn't find a house in their boundaries. We decided to look into some other options and finally we found a bank that would qualify us. So we went and looked at houses. Most of the houses that were in our price range we either built in the 70's and needed updated or only 1000 sq feet. This house was a foreclosure and was a little more than we wanted to pay but we thought what would it hurt to ask less. My husband wasn't sure about it because it was a foreclosure and needed some work. But I really liked it because it was a newer house and was twice the size of the other house in our price range. Well we asked 6,000 less and they took it. We got a really good deal but we had a lot of work ahead of us. Welcome to our house. I will show and tell about some of the things we changed. There are before and after pictures so I hope you enjoy. As you walk through the front door you step into the living room.

Updated Outside

We are going to add black shutters.

BEFORE LIVING ROOM

The pervious owners took the rod iron spindles on the banister. The bank had to bring it up to code so they just screwed 2X4 on to the post. We had to get 35 new spindles. They turned out beautifully. Also there was a built in shelving unit but they took the molding off so we just pulled it out. We are going to put a nicer shelves in there eventually but for now we just have an empty space. They also took most of the lighting throughout the house.

AFTER LIVING ROOM

BEFORE LIVING ROOM

AFTER LIVING ROOM

BEFORE OTHER SIDE OF LIVING ROOM

They kicked a hole in a couple spots in the walls so we had to patch them and paint the whole house.

AFTER OTHER SIDE OF LIVING ROOM

BEFORE KITCHEN

The kitchen and laundry room were probably the area that took the most work. The previous owners took the countertops, appliances, and sink. We heard from some neighbor that they had a flood in the laundry room and it ruined the floor and walls in the laundry room. They put in new flooring but it is not very good stuff and looks terrible. We will replace it soon. But we did replace the counter tops and we did beadboard backsplash. We got all our appliances for 500 bucks. The fridge was to big for the area so we had to remove the sheetrock and replace it with thinner stuff. We also had to run a gas line for the stove. We also got new light fixtures and new handles and knobs on the cabinets.

BEFORE KITCHEN

AFTER KITCHEN

BEFORE KITCHEN

AFTER KITCHEN

BEFORE MAIN BATHROOM

We changed the countertops to match the cabinets in the kitchen. We replaced the mirror and got rid of the toilet cabinet.

BEFORE MAIN BATHROOM

AFTER BATHROOM

BEFORE NURSERY

AFTER NURSERY

BEFORE BEDROOM

AFTER BEDROOM

BEFORE MASTER

AFTER MASTER

We got the ceiling fan for $3.00 at DI! I am still thinking of ideas on how to decorate this room.

BEFORE MASTER BATH

We changed the counter tops.

BEFORE MASTER BATH

AFTER MASTER BATH

BEFORE LAUNDRY ROOM

AFTER LAUNDRY ROOM

Winner of the Contest Is....

2010-11-06T17:56:00.000-07:00

The snowman quilt had the most votes. So those that voted for the quilt, your names were put into a hat for the drawing. Drum roll please....

The winner of the contest is...

Diane

I also decided to giveaway another one to a new follower. The second winner is

Nancy from http://flatrockcabin.blogspot.com/

Thank you for all that participated. Check back for more giveaways.

Collection of Projects

2010-10-26T06:48:00.000-07:00

Sorry it has been awhile since I have posted anything. This does not mean that I have not been craftin', I just haven't had time to post them. Because there are so many crafts I wanted to compile them into one post and have a voting contest. I have never done a contest before so we will see if this works. To be part of the contest you will have to look at each project in this post and decide which one is your favorite. You must leave a comment voting for your favorite project and also become a follower if you are not already. The project with the most votes, those people will be put into a drawing to win either the candy corn or flag. The candy corn and flag are also in the contest so you can vote for them as well. The contest ends Nov. 5th so tell all your friends. Let the contest begin!

1)Candy Corn

2)Flag

3)High Chair Redo (I love the older high chairs because they fold up flat. But it was ugly and needed a redo.)

Before

After

4) Girls Room Decor

5)Baby Boy Quilt
6)Halloween Boo
7)Welcome Pot
8) Vinyl Flower Magnets

9) Christmas Ornament
10)Distress Entertainment Center (Sorry about the quality of photo. It's the only one I had from my phone.)

11) Car seat cover redo (Sorry I don't have a before picture, just know it was wearing out and old looking.)

12) Wall Decor

13) Christmas Snowman Quilt

Halloween Crafts

2010-08-15T13:06:00.000-07:00

Halloween is just around the corner and it is time to start thinking about great party and costume ideas. This year at our family reunion we had a halloween party. (There is a reason why we don't celebrate halloween in July. It's too hot for costumes! Guess we weren't thinking about that.) We just thought the kids love dressing up and we never get to see everyones costumes because people live so far away. Well, I love making costumes. I always like our family to have theme costumes. Well this year my son really likes toy story so I thought this would be a good idea. I will post more in depth instructions of how I made each of the costumes later but here is the final product. Sorry it's not a very clear picture but you get the idea.

My aunt came up with the following ideas for a halloween party. She did a great job and it was a lot of fun. This was the menu.

Hand and Cheese Sliders-Really was Ham and Cheese Sliders.

I had never had this before and it was really good. I thought it was prefect for halloween dinner because the sandwiches look like bugs are crawling on it. (just poppy seeds) You can find the recipe at http://thegirlwhoateeverything.blogspot.com/2010/04/ham-and-cheese-sliders.html/.

Mummy toes- just little sausages in a biscuit and Brain Matter and Chips- Chip and Dip.

For dessert was apple slices and you got to dip them in carmel then in your favorite type of candy.

When it comes to decorating for a party one of the easiest things to decorate with is candy. I went to the local thrift store and found different size jars for .75 cents and filled them with different types of candy. Here are a few of the different tables we had decorated.

This last picture was not only our decorations, but our craft. The little kids decorated the little jars with tissue paper and mod podge, then cut a little face and tied a ribbon to the top. They were cheap and easy craft for kids. One of the days the women got to paint their own wooden BOO. There is a store in Utah called wood connections that has tons of wooden crafts. My aunt order a bunch of BOO's for us. We sanded, stained, painted, glittered, then sprayed a clear gloss on them so the glitter wouldn't come off. They turned out so cute.

Then the last thing that makes a party fun is games. There are tons of games out there on the internet and in books. Just remember to keep kids ages in mind and they will have a great time.

Princess Tea Party

2010-08-15T12:43:00.000-07:00

For our family reunion this year we had all sorts of different activities one of the activities was a princess tea party. I was in charge of this activity. I was inspired by Skip to My Lou blog. She has some darling witches shoes. I thought why not just change them a little and make them into princess shoes. They turned out so cute and fit right along with my other decor and party

favors. If you would like you can view her template at http://www.skiptomylou.org/2008/10/28/paper-witch-shoes/.

If you are planning to host a princess party here are some ideas of things to do. First off most girls love getting their hair, nails, and make up done. I set up a table just their size and decorated with jewelry and big mirrors so they could see what you are doing. I had tons of pictures of different hair styles to choose from. I had another table for make-up and nails. The girls loved it. While I was preparing lunch, the girls got into their dresses and played "Pretty, Pretty Princess". For lunch we had princess crown shaped sandwiches and grapes, waffle cookies, jello, carrots, and pink lemonade. After they were finished eating we headed to the palace for story time. We read some princess books and then headed to the ball. The little girls just loved dancing around. They looked like they were in princess heaven.

Bean Bag Toss

2010-06-14T07:54:00.000-07:00

Sorry I haven't posted for a while. I have been a little busy doing crafts for family reunions and for cub scout day camp. The theme this year was circus circus. We had stations like juggling and bean bag toss, climbing wall, soccer, cotton candy making, bikes, magic tricks, archery, marbles, and puppets. Here are pictures of the bean bag boards we cut and painted.

Card Table Tent

2010-05-17T22:06:00.000-07:00

The projects continue of not turning out the way I image them. This was a fun and easy project but because of short supplies it did not turn out as well as I would of liked. I started with 4 panels of 29X36 and 1 panel of 36X36. But I didn't have enough gray to do the spiky things so I thought I could cut some off the bottom and put grass. But it look weird with too much grass so my husband suggested adding the water. But then I couldn't make the door look right and etc. The spiky things were floppy so I added cotton and they stand up a lot better. Then I add magnets to the door so it can open and close easily. After is was finished and was tired of changing things, I decided that my boy still loves to play in it and that is all that matters. Here how it turned out, my card table tent!

Making Modest Swimming Suits

2010-05-17T21:52:00.000-07:00

I have been looking for a swimming suit that covers my body but is not one piece. When I put on one pieces my hips are wider than my upper body and it just pull the swimming suit all weird. So I went shopping to find a tankini, but they all showed my love handles. I walked by Motherhood and (no I am not pregnant) but I thought that they might have some long enough. Most of their swimming suits were wider but this one was tighter fitting but it showed my chest. It was the best that I could find in my price range and I thought I could get fabric to cover the hole. Went to get fabric and it was 13.99 a yard. I decided to go to DI (a second hand store) to see if they had any old swimming suits. In the little girl's section I found the pink swimming suit. It was prefect too because it was all ready hemmed so it look nice and neat. I used the back of the little girls swimming suit and cut to the size I needed and tack it in three spots. I think it turned out pretty good.

Barbie Clothes take 2

2010-05-10T21:41:00.001-07:00

Still not good enough to sell but I am getting better. My husband is so goofy sometimes. I took multiple pictures of the doll so I could get good lighting and stuff like that. He asked me, "Why did you take so many pictures, did barbie blink? What a goof ball!I really liked this dress. It went together really quickly but the back was a little short for velcro so I had to a small strip in the back so not quite there yet.

I think this is my favorite so far. It was a lab coat but I took it in, made the sleeves short. The problem with dress is, because I took it in the jacket is a little harder to get on. So children would to have to have adults help and that's no good. Second thing that went wrong the dress was to plain when I finished it so I add the ribbon and it's not attached very well. When making barbie clothes I have found that adding the details first it's much easier.

Quiet Book: Page 14 and Printable Patterns

2010-05-01T15:48:00.000-07:00

Page 14 of Quiet Book

Quiet Book: Page 13 and Printable Patterns

2010-05-01T15:46:00.001-07:00

Page 13 of Quiet Book

Quiet Book: Page 12 and Printable Patterns

2010-05-01T15:43:00.001-07:00

Page 12 of Quiet Book

Quiet Book: Page 11 and Printable Patterns

2010-05-01T15:40:00.000-07:00

Page 11 of Quiet Book

Quiet Book: Page 10 and Printable Patterns

2010-05-01T15:39:00.001-07:00

Page 10 of Quiet Book

Quiet Book: Page 9 and Printable Patterns

2010-05-01T15:30:00.002-07:00

Page 9 of Quiet Book

Quiet Book: Page 8 and Printable Patterns

2010-05-01T15:27:00.000-07:00

Page 8 of Quiet Book

Quiet Book: Page 6 and Printable Patterns

2010-05-01T15:26:00.000-07:00

Page 6 of Quiet Book

Quiet Book: Page 7 and Printable Patterns

2010-05-01T15:25:00.000-07:00

Page 7 of Quiet Book

Quiet Book: Page 5 and Printable Patterns

2010-05-01T15:19:00.000-07:00

Page 5 of Quiet Book

Quiet Book: Page 4 and Printable Patterns

2010-05-01T15:16:00.001-07:00

Page 4 of Quiet Book

Quiet Book: Page 3 and Printable Patterns

2010-05-01T15:10:00.000-07:00

Page 3 of Quiet Book

Quiet Book: Page 2 and Printable Patterns

2010-05-01T15:09:00.001-07:00

Page 2 of Quiet Book

Quiet Book: Page 1 and Printable Patterns

2010-05-01T15:03:00.001-07:00

Page 1 of Quiet Book.

Quiet Book: Cover and Printable Patterns

2010-05-01T14:57:00.000-07:00

Quiet Book

2010-05-01T14:38:00.000-07:00

First and last page of the quiet book.

Page 2-3 6-7 10-11

Page 4-5 8-9 12-13

Coming soon are the printable instructions and close up pictures.