Totally Lauren Amber

Laundry Room Reveal

2012-03-13T21:58:00.000-07:00

I finally have a big reveal from my long list of new house projects. It's not the most exciting room in the house but the LAUNDRY ROOM is finally 100% done. It has actually been complete for awhile but I just realized that I never took pictures of it completed...I really must get better at taking pictures and putting them on the computer quicker than I have been doing the last few months. The laundry room looked like the rest of the house when it closed, dark colors on EVERY surface...walls, ceilings, doors, casings and baseboards. Yuck! There were also a few electrical issues and a hole in the wall that needed to be repaired. This is what I had to work with.

I saw this picture on Pinterest and instantly knew that I was going to move the cabinet in my laundry room up and add a shelf above my washer and dryer. My inspiration photo (below) belongs to http://camerasandchaos.blogspot.com/

We fixed the holes, tackled the electrical, painted the ceiling, walls, baseboards, framework and doors and moved the cabinet up almost to the ceiling. I think it has about 3 to 4 inches between the top of the cabinet and the ceiling now. Once that work was done the new washer and dryer was delivered and it was time to decorate.

Justin added the shelf for me and we added eight hooks for coats and bags on the back wall. This is a walk-thru laundry room and there is not much space so we had to make the most of the tiny area. One door goes out to the garage and the other into the main area of house. It is a SMALL space but we needed an area to keep everything that comes in and out of the house with us daily.

I started organizing and arranging everything as soon as the shelf was installed.

Here is a close up of what is on the shelf...basket for items that need to go to the car, laundry detergent and fabric softener in juice pitchers so I don't have to lug the huge containers in and out of the cabinet every time I do laundry. I also have one basket for change that I find while doing laundry, the bigger basket is for anything that comes out of the pockets and the big container is for dog treats.

These signs are at least 5 years old from Kirkland.

The ironing board hangs on the back of the door that opens to the house and the large hooks for bags, backpacks and coats are to the right. The picture frame is to the left of that door and provides hooks for extra keys. I have to find some cute pictures to put in the frame.

This is a holder for outgoing mail and more hooks for keys. It is from The Container Store.

This is it...the laundry room reveal...

This is what the laundry room looks like most of the time. Reusable grocery bags in the basket waiting to be put back in the car, folded laundry on the dryer and keys, purses, school bags coats and sweatshirts on the hooks.

Check back soon. I'll be posting pictures of how the inside of the cabinets are organized. I'll be linking the new laundry room to a few of my favorite link parties this week.

I participated in the Pinterest Challenge from BowerPower and a few other link parties found on my link parties tab too.

Locker Hooking Rug = Complete

2012-03-13T09:25:00.000-07:00

A few months ago I posted a sneak peak of the rug I was working on for Ms M's bedroom. It has been finished for at least a month now but I kept forgetting to take pictures of it. Here is the rug in it's finished form. These pictures were taken at night but you get a pretty good idea of what it looks like.

The rug isn't completely flat but I think once I wash it a few times I will be able to manipulate the shape a little bit and make it flat....at least that is what I hope happens.

When I moved the rug to take pictures of it Ms Baylie thought I was showing her a new place to rest.

Here is the rug in Ms M's room.

Bloglovin

2012-03-06T13:58:00.000-08:00

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

TLA is on Bloglovin! Bloglovin has a cleaner look than Google Reader and I am enjoying reading ALL the blogs I follow through it right now.

Board and Batten in the Bathroom

2012-03-01T09:49:00.004-08:00

I thought I was going to have a board and batten bathroom reveal for you today but I ran out of caulk and couldn't finish the project. I'll finish the caulking tonight and paint tomorrow. Hopefully by the end of this weekend I'll have the entire bathroom done and that would mean that I have one room in the house 100% complete. Here are some pictures of the bathroom up to this point.

This is the bathroom the day the house closed.

BEFORE

We removed the baseboards, large mirror/medicine cabinet and all the towel bars and primed over the green walls. The orange chalk line on the wall is where the Board and Batten will start. The top 3/4 of the wall are now blue and the bottom is white B&B.

DURING

New baseboards were added, Board and Batten is up, new mirror frame is in place and shelves have been added (for apothecary jars) around the sides of the mirrors.

Still DURING

I know I keep saying this but hopefully I'll have a BIG BATHROOM REVEAL for you by next week.

Updating the House TO DO List (again)

2012-02-26T21:08:00.003-08:00

We are accomplishing quit a few things around the house but not even 1 room is 100% done yet. I can't have a BIG REVEAL post with before and after pictures until I have the finishing touches completed. Here is an up to date TO DO list (anything in green is currently in progress). Another big accomplishment this week is getting the internet hooked up. YES! I finally have internet again so I can now post from my computer instead of from the phone...more posts will be coming soon. Thanks for your inquiries about the house projects. Hopefully the updated to do list will hold you over until the pictures are posted.

2-26-2012 Update
~~Remove wall between dinning room and family room~~

~~Remove big screen TV built in wall in family room~~

~~Take down wall paper and wall paper boarder~~

~~Remove wood bamboo looking things on dining room ceiling~~

~~Remove old ceiling fans~~

~~Move one cabinet in kitchen up to allow for built in microwave~~

Have micro shelf made

~~Build and add tv area to family room~~

~~Add toy/game/dvd storage closet in family room~~

~~Move Laundry room cabinet up~~

~~Add shelf in laundry room~~

~~Add hooks in laundry room~~

Paint laundry room cabinets

~~Prime Entire House~~

~~Paint all ceilings~~

~~Paint baseboards~~

~~Paint trim around doors~~

~~Paint doors~~

~~Paint Kitchen~~

~~Paint Ms M’s bedroom~~

~~Paint extra bedroom~~ still have to paint the ceiling

~~Paint hall bathroom~~

~~Paint master bedroom~~

~~Paint master bathroom~~

~~Paint hall to bedrooms~~

~~Paint hall near dinning room~~

~~Paint dinning room~~

~~Replace base boards in dinning room~~

~~Paint New baseboards in dining room~~

Add new baseboards in hall near dinning

Paint new baseboards in hall near dinning

~~Paint kitchen~~

Paint Living room

~~Paint family room~~

~~Paint laundry~~

Paint garage

Add lights in garage

Epoxy garage floor

Add garage shelving and storage

~~Replace hardware on doors~~

~~Remove bathroom towel rods~~

Replace bathroom towel rods/hooks

Paint kitchen cabinets

Replace kitchen counter

Replace kitchen knobs and drawer pulls

Replace hall bathroom drawer pulls and knobs

Replace master bathroom knobs

Add kitchen back splash

~~Add Board and Batten in Family room~~

~~Paint Board and Batten in Family Room~~

Add Board and Batten in hall bathroom

~~Add Bead board and shelf to one wall in Ms M’s room~~

~~Paint bead board~~

~~Remove old closet shelving in Ms M’s closet~~

~~Remove old closet shelving in master closet~~

~~Add Elfa closet system in Ms M’s closet~~

~~Add Elfa closet system in master closet~~

Build Extra Closet in Master

Add Elfa closet system in new master closet

~~Reconfigure extra bedroom closet~~

Replace ceiling fans where needed

~~New lights in hall~~ decided to keep old lights

New dining chandelier

Stain Master bathroom cabinets

Stain hall bathroom cabinets

~~Remove master bedroom carpet~~

~~Replace master bedroom carpet~~

~~Remove tile in dinning room~~

~~Remove carpet in family room~~

~~Install wood floors in family, hall and dinning areas~~

New outside front lights

Paint Outside of house

Paint trim and garage door

New front doors

~~Replace hooks in bathrooms~~

Move and replace old pool fence

Remove some plants

Plant new plants

Add more grass in backyard

Remove weird wall that divides yard

Landscape extra area on side of house

Grout between stone on fireplace

The "During" Phase

2012-02-16T10:17:00.000-08:00

We have so many projects going on in the new house that it seems like nothing is really FINISHED. When I look at the BEFORE pictures it's hard to believe that it's the same house but we are definitely in the DURING phase right now...no AFTER pictures yet. Here are a few pictures to keep you up to date on the progress that is being made.
Just getting started on decorating the bar area...

Fresh paint on the shelves in the extra bedroom (these are semi decorated now)...

The big project last night was the Board and Batten. I'll have this and the TV niche area all painted by this weekend...

Beginning of the black and silver frames on the gallery wall...

The vanity and desk area is almost complete in Ms M's room (new lamp for sure)...

Master bathroom is coming along but I still have to paint around the lights in the ceiling and work on few finishing touches...

It seems that toys take over the house (this is just the beginning). Organizing the toys in baskets for the new toy closet in the family room...

I hope to finish up a few projects this weekend and post the BEFORE and AFTER pictures soon.

Construction Dust and Wood Floors

2012-02-01T08:07:00.001-08:00

The floors are done and so are most (most not all of them) of the construction and messy projects. The dust is out of control and of course it really shows up on the dark wood floors. The boxes that I keep brining in to unpack are not helping the dust issue either. Luckily I have little Ms M...she loves to push the Swiffer all over the house. If she notices that I am about to clean with it she takes over. Oh, if you think it looks like n episode of Hoarders in the back ground that is just how I unpack.

Floors and Baseboards

2012-01-24T18:37:00.001-08:00

The floors were finished and the baseboards are in the process of being completed this week. Its really starting to come together. Here is a sneak peak.

Updating the House "To Do List"

2012-01-23T21:32:00.000-08:00

We have crossed a few more things off of the to do list for the house. Here is the update...

New House To Do List:

~~Remove wall between dinning room and family room~~

~~Remove big screen TV built in wall in family room~~

~~Take down wall paper and wall paper boarder~~

~~Remove wood bamboo looking things on dining room ceiling~~

~~Remove old ceiling fans~~

~~Move one cabinet in kitchen up to allow for built in microwave~~

Have micro shelf made

Build and add tv area to family room

Add toy/game/dvd storage closet in family room

~~Move Laundry room cabinet up~~

~~Add shelf in laundry room~~

Add hooks in laundry room

Paint laundry room cabinets

~~Prime Entire House~~

~~Paint all ceilings~~

~~Paint baseboards~~

~~Paint trim around doors~~

~~Paint doors~~

~~Paint Kitchen~~

~~Paint Ms M’s bedroom~~

Paint extra bedroom

~~Paint hall bathroom~~

~~Paint master bedroom~~

~~Paint master bathroom~~

~~Paint hall to bedrooms~~

~~Paint hall near dinning room~~

~~Paint dinning room~~

~~Replace base boards in dinning room~~

~~Paint New baseboards in dining room~~

Add new baseboards in hall near dinning

Paint new baseboards in hall near dinning

~~Paint kitchen~~

Paint Living room

~~Paint family room~~

~~Paint laundry~~

Paint garage

Add lights in garage

Epoxy garage floor

Add garage shelving and storage

~~Replace hardware on doors~~

~~Remove bathroom towel rods~~

Replace bathroom towel rods/hooks

Paint kitchen cabinets

Replace kitchen counter

Replace kitchen knobs and drawer pulls

Replace hall bathroom drawer pulls and knobs

Replace master bathroom knobs

Add kitchen back splash

Add Board and Batten in Family room

Add Board and Batten in hall bathroom

~~Add Bead board and shelf to one wall in Ms M’s room~~

~~Paint bead board~~

~~Remove old closet shelving in Ms M’s closet~~

~~Remove old closet shelving in master closet~~

~~Add Elfa closet system in Ms M’s closet~~

Add Elfa closet system in master closet

Reconfigure extra bedroom closet

Replace ceiling fans where needed

New lights in hall

New dining chandelier

Build additional wall closet in master bedroom

Stain Master bathroom cabinets

Stain hall bathroom cabinets

~~Remove master bedroom carpet~~

Replace master bedroom carpet

~~Remove tile in dinning room~~

~~Remove carpet in family room~~

~~Install wood floors in family, hall and dinning areas~~

New outside front lights

Paint Outside of house

Paint trim and garage door

New front doors

Replace hooks in bathrooms

Move and replace old pool fence

Remove some plants

Plant new plants

Add more grass in backyard

Remove weird wall that divides yard

Landscape extra area on side of house

Grout between stone on fireplace

House Project Updates

2012-01-18T10:27:00.000-08:00

I know that you want to see some pictures of the house. A million different projects are going on at one time so nothing is 100% finished but I have a few pictures to show you a tiny bit of the progress.

Ms M's closet has been painted and the Elfa closet system is installed. I put many of her clothes away last night too.

This wall/partial wall thing is gone now.

The lodge pole/bamboo looking ceiling has been removed and boy did it brighten up the room

Dining room in the "during" phase

This 1990'sish TV wall unit is gone and the southwest boarder has been removed too. Yipee!

Chalk line for board and batten in the hall bathroom


This is what the laundry room looked like when the house closed.

It is almost finished now...new paint everywhere, cabinet moved up, shelf installed below cabinet, hooks behind doors and washer and dryer have been delivered and hooked up.

Ms M's room when the house closed.

New bead board wall in Ms M's room...most of the decorating has been done in her room since this picture was taken too.

New House To Do List:

2012-01-12T15:02:00.000-08:00

Here it is...the TO DO list for my new house. The progress seems to move fast and then slow down to almost a stopping point before it picks up again. We have been working hard and I have crossed off all of the jobs that are completed so far. I'll update the list as more things are completed.

New House To Do List:

~~Remove wall between dinning room and family room~~

~~Remove big screen TV built in wall in family room~~

~~Take down wall paper and wall paper boarder~~

~~Remove wood bamboo looking things on dining room ceiling~~

~~Remove old ceiling fans~~

~~Move one cabinet in kitchen up to allow for built in microwave~~

Have micro shelf made

Build and add tv area to family room

Add toy/game/dvd storage closet in family room

~~Move laundry room cabinet up~~

Add shelf in laundry room

Add hooks in laundry room

Paint laundry room cabinets

~~Prime ENTIRE house~~

~~Paint all ceilings~~

~~Paint baseboards~~

~~Paint trim around doors~~

~~Paint doors~~

~~Paint Kitchen~~

~~Paint Ms M’s bedroom~~

Paint extra bedroom

Paint hall bathroom

Paint master bedroom

Paint master bathroom

Paint hall to bedrooms

Paint hall near dinning room

Paint dinning room

~~Paint kitchen~~

Paint living room

Paint family room

~~Paint laundry~~

Paint garage

Add lights in garage

Epoxy garage floor

Add garage shelving and storage

Replace hardware on doors

~~Remove bathroom towel rods~~

Replace bathroom towel rods/hooks

Paint kitchen cabinets

Replace kitchen counter

Replace kitchen knobs and drawer pulls

Replace hall bathroom drawer pulls and knobs

Replace master bathroom knobs

Add kitchen back splash

Add Board and Batten in Family room

Add Board and Batten in hall bathroom

Add Bead board ad shelf to one wall in Ms M’s room

Paint bead board

~~Remove old closet shelving in Ms M’s closet~~

~~Remove old closet shelving in master closet~~

Add Elfa closet system in Ms M’s closet

Add Elfa closet system in master closet

Reconfigure extra bedroom closet

Replace ceiling fans where needed

New lights in hall

New dining chandelier

Build additional wall closet in master bedroom

Stain master bathroom cabinets

Stain hall bathroom cabinets

~~Remove master bedroom carpet~~

Replace master bedroom carpet

~~Remove tile in dinning room~~

~~Remove carpet in family room~~

Install wood floors in family, hall and dinning areas

New outside front lights

Paint Outside of house

Paint trim and garage door

New front doors

Replace hooks in bathrooms

Move and replace old pool fence

Remove some plants

Plant new plants

Add more grass in backyard

Remove weird wall that divides yard

Landscape extra area on side of house

Grout between stone on fireplace

Happy about Home Depot

2012-01-10T16:32:00.001-08:00

I'm so excited...after spending 3 hours at Home Depot this morning I was able to purchase what I need for board and batten in my family room and one bathroom...and a bunch of other stuff for other house projects too. The nice Home Depot lady even cut most of the pieces for me. This afternoon I painted 2 bathroom ceilings and unpacked a few boxes at the new house. A lot of progress will be made by the end of the weekend...I'll post pictures soon.

I have been...

2012-01-05T14:00:00.000-08:00

Christmas came and went with a Blurrrrr! We had 5 Christmas gatherings/celebrations, 2 performances, 1 dance performance, preschool Christmas parties, 2 cookie exchanges, Polar Express vacation, a trip to the cabin and our house finally CLOSED...all of that in addition to all the normal activities and work between December 16th and December 31st. The holidays were fun and a little hectic this year. I'm glad they are over with so that we can get the new house in order and finally move in. After a few LONG months of waiting to buy a house that was a short sale my plan was to get in there and start working the minute it became MINE, not stopping until everything was finished. WRONG! I never imagined it would take this long to close. Or that it would close a few days before I was going out of town for two back to back trips and a week before Christmas. I did get in there with a few helpers and clean, knock out a wall, start knocking out a second wall and empty one storage room full of boxes to the house before everything house related was put on hold to enjoy the holidays. Now that we are back house projects are on the top of my TO DO LIST and I seem to be spending all of my time over there...since Monday I have primed 2 bathrooms, one bedroom, a hallway, most of the ceilings and unpacked and organized almost the entire kitchen. CONSIDER THIS A WARNING: many house related Before and After (picture overloaded) posts will be showing up on Totally Lauren Amber in the next few months...I'm excited for everything to come together and to show you how everything progresses. I think you are really going to like it!

Melting Snowman Sugar Cookies

2012-01-04T22:51:00.000-08:00

We made sugar cookies that look like melting snowmen.  I stumbled upon this idea on Pinterest a few months ago and just got around to had the opportunity to make them. These were some of the easiest cookies that I have decorated in a long time and they came out pretty darn cute.  Here is a simple run down of how we made them...

 First make the dough, cute out cookies using a circular shaped cookie cutter (mine had a scalloped edge) bake and let the cookies cool before frosting them.  

 After I made the frosting I put it in squeeze bottles so Ms M (3 years old) could decorate her own cookies with me.  Remember these are MELTING snowmen so the frosting is supposed to look messy like it is melting.  As soon as the frosting is spread over the cookie I had Ms M put a marshmallow on top of it for the snowman head/face.  

We let the frosting and marshmallow dry for a bit and then decorated with more frosting for the eyes, nose, scarf, arms and buttons.  

I put each snowman in a colorful bag and Ms M passed them out to her friends at school. Yummy!

Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T15:07:00.001-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope your day is spent making memories with family and friends.

Pending (again)

2011-11-22T15:40:00.001-08:00

That's right!  After patiently waiting since submitting an offer at the end of July the house is finally PENDING.  The short sale process takes forever and I'm so glad that it's almost over.  The inspection and appraisal were today and we are all set to close on or before December 16th.  I can't wait to get in there with some cleaning supplies, paint and a lot of tools.  Here are a few pictures of what it looks like now...I have a 4 page list of the changes that will begin to take place once I get the keys.  

Looking through the dining room into the living room

part of living room and entry

family room with fireplace and built-ins on the left

entrance and part of courtyard

Hall to 2 of the bedrooms and the office...can't you just see it with a big gallery wall of photos

Wall of storage in the office/craft room

cute niche with floor to ceiling shelves in one of the bedrooms

 I can't wait for the house to close and the construction to begin.  The DIY posts and before and after photos will be posted as we work on all sorts of projects to make this house a home.  

Onesie Sugar Cookie Tutorial

2011-11-14T12:05:00.001-08:00

I love frosting sugar cookies.  I shared cupcake and gift box cookies for Ms M's 3rd Birthday party, fall leaf cookies and Christmas light cookies for our Breakfast with Santa.  The frosting part is actually pretty basic and I'm always trying new recipes for the cookies but they always turn out...and everyone enjoys them.  

I was asked to make cookies for the favors at Jenn's baby shower.  I made two different shapes.  I'm using the cookies that are shaped like a baby onesie for the tutorial.  

(sorry for the strange spacing in this post...I'm not sure what was going on with it) 

I baked the cookies and let them cool completely.  

 I make frosting using powdered sugar, milk and vanilla.  I never measure any of the ingredients for the frosting.  I start with it thick and add milk as I need it.  I don't usually use bags for the frosting...I prefer squeeze bottles.  The small ones are from Pampered Chef and the big one is really for candy melts.  I put the thick frosting in the smaller bottles and the thin frosting, that I will use to "fill in", in the larger bottle. 

Using the thicker bottle I make an outline of the entire cookie (or just the part that you want to have in the color you are working with).  As soon as I have the outside line I use the thin frosting to fill in the area completely.  

 I wanted to add a second layer to these cookies so I let the first frosting color dry.  This took a few hours and then I added a pink outline layer using the thick frosting.  

 Once the second frosting color was dry I put each cookie in a bag and attached a cute ribbon to keep the bag closed.

The cookies looked cute on display at the party and they tasted yummy too.

Pink Baby Shower

2011-11-02T13:41:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I had the opportunity of hosting a baby shower with some fabulous ladies. Here are some raw pictures from the event.

The adorable mommy to be Jennifer

pink plates and napkins

Everything pink on the tables

Beautiful roses all over the house

The adorable cake

This is the biggest diaper cake any of us had ever seen...it was brought to the shower in 4 sections and was taller than the mommy to be.


Sugar cookie favors in the shape of onesies and ducks

The baby shower was a success. Everyone had a great time and Jenn got great gifts for her bundle of joy. We can't wait to meet the baby.

Happy Halloween

2011-10-31T21:45:00.001-07:00

Strawberry Shortcake (aka Ms M) hopes you had a fun and safe Halloween!

Roloff Farm Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-27T05:00:00.000-07:00

This is a post from October 2010...We had such a great time at the Roloff farm (just outside of Portland, Oregon) I thought I would share the post again.

Last week was Fall Break and we went on a trip to Portland, Oregon for a few days. We spent time in the downtown, visiting Pumpkin Patches/local farms, antique stores, Saturday Market and eating at the local restaurants. The best part of the trip was our visit to the Roloff Farm. Not only was it exciting to meet the family from the TLC show Little People Big World but the pumpkin farm was fabulous. It is the BEST one that I have ever been to.

This is how our day went:

As soon as we parked and walked up to the entrance we were greeted by Matt. He was talking to everyone and taking pictures with anyone that wanted one (95% of the people were taking advantage).

We bought tickets for the wagon farm tours, as we walked out of the door we saw Jacob. Just like on the show he is much quieter than his dad but happy to talk to visitors and take pictures.

Then we checked out the pumpkins. There was one area where you could pick your pumpkin off the vine or another area where you could just "pick" your pumpkin up from the grass field.

We also made our way to the petting zoo

and saw the dog, Rocky, wandering all over the farm.

We went on the wagon tour. The tour was awesome (our driver was Mueller, a family friend and he is often on the show)! We saw everything that you could imagine or that you have seen on the show. Here are some pictures from both tours.

The house and some of the vehicles...

Men's Crisis Center...

Amy's gazebo and the fire pit area...

Swamp fort...

Western town...

On the 2nd wagon tour we got to get off of the wagon and explore the Western Town and visit with the Roloff Grandparents...

Matt's newest project, the Ark and the animals...

Little Ms M decided she wanted to participate in the pony rides.

She went around and around on a pony named Chief when suddenly Matt appeared on his Ranger and took a picture of her with his phone. He said something like this, "I hope you don't mind that I took her picture, she just looks so cute."

We went back to the area with the pumpkins and picked small ones they had to fit in our luggage to take home.

We also took a lot of photos in the TALL chair...

We were just getting ready to leave and Amy came out of the house. Just like Matt she talked to everyone and was available for photos. Amy talked and danced with Ms M.

Overall I give the Roloff Farm, the wonderful family and friendly staff an A+. We had a great time and I don't think the experience could have gotten any better.

If you are going to be near Portland in October you should make the the Roloff Farm a destination on your places to visit. You won't be disappointed.

Outdoor Tuffet

2011-10-24T16:11:00.000-07:00

(Gum Drop Pillow)

I have to admit, I'm not much for patterns. I like to figure things out on my own and pretty much wing it, but when I saw the Amy Butler Gum Drop Pillow pattern I had to buy it.

How can you not love those Gum Drops???

I bought the pattern and outdoor fabric and made two of the Gum Drop Pillows (Ms M calls them Tuffets) for my back patio. I couldn't let the extra fabric go to waste so I made some coordinating pillows too.

If you plan on making these you will need to purchase more fiber-fill than suggested. I used double the amount and they are so firm that I can sit on them.

New Blog Design

2011-10-22T09:19:00.000-07:00

Did you notice the improvements around here? I've been thinking about changing the look of my blog for awhile and I found the perfect person to do it. Kim from Seven Thirty Three did all the design changes here. Check out her blog and view her portfolio...you will be amazed at all of the creative blogs she has designed. Her prices are reasonable and she could not have been easier and FASTER to work with. I submitted the form and my blog design was completed and installed in less than a week. I love my new blog design...Thank YOU, Kim!

Sewing Progress - Elite Tote

2011-10-20T05:30:00.000-07:00

I have been sewing and sewing and sewing Elite Tote bags for some of our upcoming boutiques. We have just under 70 bags that will be sold this fall and winter. My mom is finishing the last 3 or 4 today. Here is a glimpse at the completed purses all lined up...

I'll be posting some additional pictures in the next few weeks. Check out our website and blog to see when we will be selling these bags and for other information.

Painting a Bird House

2011-10-19T05:30:00.000-07:00

One of my friends is cleaning out her house because she is moving to Sweden and she thought Ms M might want this little house to play with.

As soon as I saw it I knew what we were going to do with it. A few holes on the sides, a hook on the top and some primer was all it needed to do to get it ready for our project.

Ms M was excited to begin. We painted her feet for one side and her hands for the other side and then I let her do the rest.

She painted all the sides, the door, roof and even inside the drawer.

Once she was finished we let it dry over night and then put an outdoor clear coat on it for protection. Check back for the a picture of what it looks like finished...I'll post it hanging in the new spot at our new house.

Fall Cookies

2011-10-18T14:20:00.000-07:00

It's just under 100 degrees in Arizona so it doesn't feel like fall but we made a few sugar cookies to get us in the mood for cooler weather.