The Purple Pea

Today's Mantra

noreply@blogger.com (Kristina at The Purple Pea) — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 16:42:00 +0000

Pinterest. Where Have You Been All of My Life?

noreply@blogger.com (Kristina at The Purple Pea) — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 03:48:00 +0000

Maybe I am behind on the times, {and nine times outta ten I am} but Pinterest is my new obssession. I can spend HOURS just poking around and pinning things. Doesn't even have to be related to anthing; if I like it, I pin it.

Here are a few things I've been loving

Who else is totally addicted?? Come find me! I'd love to see what you're pinning.

Click here!

Link: Making Clean Lines on Textured Walls

noreply@blogger.com (Kristina at The Purple Pea) — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 01:46:00 +0000

Y'all. This is GENIUS.

If you've got textured walls {just like I do} please, I beg you, go check this out.

Allison over at House of Hepworths has save my life. Go check it out

How is your Spring going? Are you repainting and of your rooms this season?

Knock Knock

noreply@blogger.com (Kristina at The Purple Pea) — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 04:00:00 +0000

Hello hello!

It's true! I live! I am so happy to see all of your smiling "faces" I hope you had a lovely holiday season and that your New Year has brought nothing but love and happiness.

I have been a busy girl the past few months. I've decided to start a little business (yet to be revealed!) I've become a avid yoga junkie and the majority of my friends have had a baby. I'm not even joking. But we all love babies right?

2010 was not the best year for my family. We had the death of my brother Brad, and Gabe's grandfather Rob. We also had a lung cancer scare with my grandmother in August and a ovarian cancer scare with my Mother just last month. I am happy to report both are doing well and cancer free!

Just because I've been out for a bit, don't think I don't have my eye out for yummy redos! I have found some real treasures over the past few months and I can't wait to share them with you!

Current view as we speak:

I'll be back!

Much Love--Kristina

The Hutch: A Update and the Finale

noreply@blogger.com (Kristina at The Purple Pea) — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 17:42:00 +0000

Hey guys! Thanks for sticking with me! Life has thrown some unplanned things my way and I'm working through them. Just wanted to say that you are loved and appreciated :)

Moving on.

You may remember, awhile {and I mean awhile} back I was asking your opinion on a few hutches. I think we decided on this one:

And you may remember these doors I bought from a salvage store?

My parents, who are from Tennessee, were kind enough to drive down to Texas to help me build a hutch. It was a HUGE job. It was cold outside and I was sick. So essentially, my parents did almost all of the work. I sat and entertained everyone. My Mom is a framer {as in custom picture frame work} and has mad measuring skillz and my Dad can do anything, so between the two of them, they had this down pat. I wish I were skilled enough to be able to tell you the exact measurements and how to build it {I'll leave that to Anna at Knock-off Wood who is amazing by the way}

Here are a few during pictures.

Here is the upper part of the hutch

The big scary saw I wasn't allowed to use. It has crazy kick back and would launch wood into that garage door behind it.

I thought I was pretty funny here. This was my perch for most of the project.

My Dad was teaching me how to use the miter saw. It was really intimidating.

Here are the two completed pieces sitting in the garage.

And here I am standing next to it. I'm not even sure why we decided I needed to pose next to it. And why I look drunk?

But let me tell ya, this b**ch is HEAVY. It took two grown men to get this into my house. My husband underestimated the heaviness of this thing and assumed I could carry it. No, no, no!

Are you ready to see her all beautiful and finished?

*************************************************

Tada!

I actually ended up flipping the reclaimed cabinet door and using the inside of the doors as the outside. I have yet to put any sort of hardware on her tho. I'm a little nervous about commiting to something cutsey or too bland. When I see it, I'll know.

You may be able to also see the bead board detail on the back of the shelves. Remember when I bought that roll of bead board wallpaper? Yep! I used it on this project! I'll type up something soon and show you how I did it. It's easier than you think!

Weekend Recap

noreply@blogger.com (Kristina at The Purple Pea) — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 16:58:00 +0000

I'm not exaggerating when I say I was consumed by this tiny little quilt all weekend. My first one ever too! What did you do?

The Beginings of Your Own Watermark

noreply@blogger.com (Kristina at The Purple Pea) — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 21:00:00 +0000

I’ve gotten several requests about the watermark I add to my photos. I don’t like having to add it, but it’s required. I'm going to show you how to make your own and divide this up into two parts since I like to be detailed.

I struggle with branding all the time. Since I’m not a big name blogger, I like to change things up sometimes. Should I use a logo? Should I not? Should I use a color scheme? Do I use pictures? Do they have a copyright? What is a copyright? Ugh, I know right?

So I came up with this watermark last year and I really like it. It’s functional and clean and easy to read. It doesn’t always match whatever shenanigans I’ve changed on my blog, but it stays consistent with my taste.Do what you love and forget the rest.

This is your corner of the internet, do what YOU want to do. When it comes down to it, it’s your blog, so do whatever feels right.

We're going to use a free online editing tool from Aviary. You'll love it.

After registering with Aviary, you’ll click on the first button on the left that says “Image Editor” or “Phoenix” as Aviary has so cleverly named it. {All of Aviary’s editing applications are named after birds. How clever!}

Click “Launch Phoenix”

Once the editor pops open, you can select either a new document or open an existing file and find the image you want to use for your watermark. If you don’t want to use an image you can just open a new document. Here is the document I'll be using.

For starters, here is a screen shot of the tool bar located on the left hand side. This is how you’re going to make your pretties. P.S. You may want to click on the image so you can see the little icons.

I’ll go one by one to show you what exactly these tools can do.

#1. Selection Tool: This is going to be the button you click when you want to move anything. Whether that be a layer or clicking on other button. If you are trying to do something, nine times outta ten you need to have this tool selected.

2. Transformation Tool: When this is selected you can resize or rotate your image. Click on it. See the handles on the four corners that you can resize? Keep in mind that if you click on another button it’ll ask you if you want to keep your changes. So it’s sorta hard to mess up with this one. Tip: if you hold down SHIFT while you click and drag it’ll keep the image proportionate to its original size. Try it and you’ll see what I mean.

#3. Square/Circle Selection Tool: This is for selecting {duh!} But if you want to say, crop the dirty laundry pile out of your photo, this is the tool you’ll use. {We’ll be using it for our project} On a side note—you can again use the SHIFT key to make a perfect square.

Oh, but I wanted to explain what “Feather” means.

When you feather something it’ll create a faded edge. Think of using feathering on a picture as KidNPlay is to the fade.

People may still use it but it’s not popular and it's a sign of someone inexperienced using a editing program. {I mean that in the nicest way!}It's a dead give away.

#4. Lasso Tool: This tool makes selections. Selections are the marching ants you see when you use the square/circle selection tool {and this tool too}. This means whatever is selected {or marching ants} is the only thing that will be effected by whatever you do. So this lasso, for example, is freehand, which means there is nothing to guide the cursor {ie a square, or circle} and you can moce it freely to create whatever shape you’d like.

#5. Magic Wand: This is one of my favorite tools. It’s called the magic wand, because it can pick out certain areas and select it. Like this:

#8. Shape Tool: I wish I could transfer all of the info I know about Photoshop {aka PS} into your brain. Because the shape tool {along with Paths} would blow your mind. But, in a nutshell, use this tool to make objects. Like arrows, or hearts, or boxes, etc. whiling using pivot points in the shape.

#9. Font Tool: The sweet thing about PS is that you can’t just start typing and expect it to show up on the screen. You’ve got to select this tool in order to type anything. You can pick the size, color and font type {which is pulled from your PC, so you can use any font you’ve downloaded}

#10. Smudge/Blur/Burn/Dodge Tool: I don’t even know how to start to explain this tool. It does so many things. One day, when you’re just messing around in Phoenix, click it and see what happens.

#11. Color Pallette/Stamp Tool: This is a place where you can select colors for anything from font type to bursh color. The stamp tool is a cool tool to uise but I’m not going to dive into the hour long explination I don’t think you want to read

One last thing and we can get going. The ‘layers’ window. This is pretty important to keep an eye on at all times. I’ve labeled the most important parts. The actually layers {the eye balls make then turn on and off. Makes them visible or not} The new layers button is itty bitty on the bottom, along with the Layer Filters and Trash button.

Here are a few pointers for what you mess something up or can't get something to “go”

-Check to make sure you have the layer you are supposed to be working active and awake {eye ball is showing}

-You don’t have the selections tool clicked

-Or you have a rogue selection somewhere you’ve forgotten about or is really tiny to see. {hit Ctl D}

A few sort cuts you’ll appreciate:

Ctl Z is Undo. Use it often.

Ctl D deselects anything you have selected. {Get rid of the marching ants}

Hold SHIFT down while dragging to stay straight and even

And Control – or Control + will zoom your project in and out.

I know this is a lot of information to take in. Click on the pictures and get familiar with the buttons. I promise you, you'll be glade you did. Next up! How to make your water mark!

To Be continued...

Hello, Ladies!

noreply@blogger.com (Kristina at The Purple Pea) — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 02:19:00 +0000

After hours (and hours) I think I finally have this place the way I want it. Come out from behind Reader and let me know what you think!

Guys....

noreply@blogger.com (Kristina at The Purple Pea) — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 05:44:00 +0000

I'm here. I'm alive. I've been working hard for weeks trying to design a new template. Unfortunately when you migrate said template onto your blog there are a lot of things to fix.

It's 12:43AM and I've been hammering away at this for about 5 hours now. So please forgive the mess {and weird links} It'll be like new before ya know it

And the Winner Is....

noreply@blogger.com (Kristina at The Purple Pea) — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 18:18:00 +0000

After a visit to random.org, the results are in!!

Anita from Going A Little Coastal ! You are my winner! Congratulations and thanks to everyone who entered. Maybe I'll have to do another one of these soon!! I hope everyone had a great loooong weekend :)

(Anita, pop me a email with your mailing address.)

Seriously?!

noreply@blogger.com (Kristina at The Purple Pea) — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 00:44:00 +0000

Remember the jewelry holder giveaway ends at 12 noon tomorrow!! Only 8 people have entered so hurry it up!!!

A Giveaway

noreply@blogger.com (Kristina at The Purple Pea) — Fri, 28 May 2010 19:12:00 +0000

Hi everyone!

I know you are looking forward to the three day weekend. I hope you don't have to work on Monday! If you do, this will cheer you up!

a less elaborate version of my frame jewelry holder. Remember this?

Does this look familiar?

I'm a delighted to host my first giveaway! And I hope you love it as much as I do!

There are only two rules:

1. Leave a comment telling me what your weekend plans are and;

2. Be a follower

That's it!!! I'll be using Random.org to draw a name on Tuesday, June 1st, 2010. Make sure you enter by 12 noon, because I'll be announcing the winner shortly after. {Also, please make sure your email is listed in your profile so I can get ahold of you}

I'll ship where ever you live! So if you're outside the U.S. please feel free to enter. And tell your friends!!! Handmade by yours truly, this jewelry holder is adorable way to display your jewelry. It'd even make a great gift!

Happy Friday!

Hardware Gadgets!

noreply@blogger.com (Kristina at The Purple Pea) — Mon, 24 May 2010 20:19:00 +0000

Today I'm going to share with you two essential tools if you're ever going to consider redoing any sort of furniture {or cabinets for that matter}

The first thing is called a hardware gauge made by Hillman. You can get this at any local hardware store for about $2.00, but it will be the best thing you've ever purchased! Let me show you!

My dilemma was that the screws that came with the hardware were too short for the drawers. But I couldn't just use any screws. I needed to make sure that the new screws were:

A.) Long enough to go through both the drawer face and the drawer

B.) The appropriate size to be screwed into the hardware properly

This is where my hardware gauge came in handy. It's got a ton of measurement guides. Everything from pipe guides to a thread guide {you know, the thread on screws} Using my handy-dandy guide, I measured the drawer to see what length would work.

After measuring the length, I used the guide to see exactly how wide {or the gauge} the screw was using this part of the guide. Kinda neat huh?

Now, I have all of the information I needed to go into Lowe's and find the screws that would fit! Easy peasy!

The other great gadget I ran across were these drilling guides for cabinet drawers/doors. After poking around online, looking for the perfect pull handles, I learned a few things about handles and pulls. They are usually {unless we are talking IKEA, because IKEA is never "standard size" anything} a standard size. Mine were three inches from one hole to the other.The great thing about these guides? Just hold your handle up to the guide and viola! No guess work or measuring!

After that it was a piece of cake. I just decided where I wanted them to go and marked and drilled!

These are really invaluable for me. I am notorious for trying to measure and straighten then all of a sudden everything is cocky-wobbled and sideways :( Or my favorite thing to to is eyeball it. Not good!

And that's that!

Here is where you can find the cabinet template

Here is the drawer template

And here is the Hillman Hardware Gauge. If you don't want to order it online, I found it at Lowe's near the picture hanging hardware.

Eeep! Another one!

noreply@blogger.com (Kristina at The Purple Pea) — Sat, 22 May 2010 23:53:00 +0000

*claps*How exciting! Go take a look!

Guuuuys!!!! Jumps Up and Down

noreply@blogger.com (Kristina at The Purple Pea) — Fri, 21 May 2010 13:12:00 +0000

First off, I'd like to welcome all of the new faces. I am tickled pink and thrilled that you are joining us!

To celebrate my 100th follower, I'm going to do a little giveaway. I know, I know I've never done one before but I think you'll really like it. Here's a hint: you've seen it here on my blog and *I* make it {can I be any more vague?}. More to come on that later.

Today I wanted to share a few Pea features with you. First, Kristin at My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia is featuring The Purple Pea on her blog. Kristin's wonderful {and I mean WONDERFUL} kitchen redo was the straw that broke the camel's back for my kitchen makeover. No more hemming and hawing after I saw hers. Her kitchen was the ultimate inspiration for mine. If she could do it, so could I!

If you haven't had a chance to go visit, please do. She really has some great ideas {as in making her cabinets appear to be taller!}and some revamps that we all would droll over {like this desk. (if it ever disappears from your guest bedroom Kristin, you know where to find it)}. She's a girl after my own heart!!

The second Pea sighting is from Someday Crafts. Michelle is a busy full time Mom who has started her own collection of "someday" crafts. I think we all have a list along those lines. She's always has oodles of links to some pretty amazing craft projects. My favorite part of her blog? Her link parties. LOVE link parties! I just spent the greater part of a hour looking at all of the links. Maybe I should get back to work....

Please take just a moment to go visit these two lovely ladies and leave them a note to let them know you stopped by.

P.S. Stay Tuned!! By request, I'm going to be doing a two part post on how to make watermarks for your photographs! And you won't need to purchase Photoshop!! Thank me later. ;)

Have a great weekend y'all!!!!

How To Make: Over Cabinet Lighting

noreply@blogger.com (Kristina at The Purple Pea) — Tue, 18 May 2010 03:27:00 +0000

With the revamping of my kitchen cabinets, I knew that I wanted things to be lighter. And I do mean that not only with the paint color, but actual LIGHT. I only have one "window {which is really a door} in my kitchen. So any natural light is scarce.

{source}

I'm a fan of under cabinet lighting {a lot actually} but I am not a fan of exposed cords. And with my current set-up, there is no way I can have it to my liking it unless it's hardwired. Oh, and I have a thing with the light's color {hi, yes I'm colorblind} I cannot stand white light. I like yellowy glows or basically anything Reveal. I know, I'm fickle.

Since my original choice is out the window, I decided to do OVER cabinet lighting. You know, for some ambiance {I'm pronouncing it Oom-be-on-sss} I'm sure you can't tell from the daytime pics, but my kitchen is pitch black at night.

With some careful planning, I figured out how to make it work. And 9 times out of 10 so can you.

See the red arrows? Those are the two locations where there was a outlet. My microwave is for one and the other is my fridge. EVERYONE has a fridge right? Maybe not all have cabinets over them, but you can still make it work.

So here's what you'll need:

This is a Spade drill bit. You can use one of these or anything that can make the appropriate size hole {step bit, forstner bit, etc} My Spade bit is a 1 inch but it really needed to be bigger. Oh and also, if you can afford to get a electric drill, please do. The rechargeable drills have zero power and are for putting IKEA furniture together and hanging frames. Electric drills = you'll thank me later.

Rope lights. I found mine at Walmart for about $7.00 for a 12 foot set. They are also connectible. I ended up using one on the left cabinets {we'll call them the "fridge cabinets"}and two on the main cabinets {which we'll call the "microwave cabinets"} You can also find them at Lowe's for a bit more. I understand they also have LED ones if you are worried about conserving energy. Who isn't, right?! {I guess that would be me} Maybe take a gander at Home Depot too.

Get ready, because we're going to drill into your cabinets. My husband kept asking "What are you going in there?" Boring through your cabinets is a truly horrible noise.

Don't laugh. This is the best I could do in Picnik. This is where you'd drill. The key is to drill so the rope can go thru without being seen. So my first hole would be thru the cabinets over the fridge because that's where the first outlet is {again, this is the one that I think most people can do, because everyone has a fridge that needs an outlet}

Here is the result of a too small spade bit, so make sure your bit is a tad bigger than the rope lighting.

Here is my set up now. I wanted you to see how I set it up and how it all fit together. By the way, I am a huge fan of timers. I set up almost all of my lights in my living spaces on timers. And these were no exception. I just adjust the timers with the time change and they come on exactly when they need to. I'd also love a Clapper but I think I'm too young for that still.

So you can see, the extension cord is coming up through the bottom hole and it is going out the hole at the top left of the cabinet where the rope lights are plugged in.

Drill a hole through the side of the next cabinet and top of the center cabinet.

You can do this if your cabinets are all one level as well. Matter of fact, it'd be easier that way. Once your holes are drilled, I painted the inside of the holes just so it wouldn't be so obvious.

Ta-da!

Not too bad huh? AND I don't have to worry about turning them on or off. The actual rope light doesn't get hot either. It's nice to have a dim light that you don't have to turn off while watching TV but you can still see in your purse. I'm sure you can appreciate that.

The Kitchen Redo: COMPLETE

noreply@blogger.com (Kristina at The Purple Pea) — Wed, 12 May 2010 20:05:00 +0000

Last we talked I was slowly but surely ~~self mutilating my wrists~~ painting my kitchen cabinets. Well, lo and behold, I'm finally finished!

Lets revisit my kitchen...

Before:

Horrible builder grade cheapy cabinets.

As I expressed before, this was HARD. But in the end, it is completely worth it. Take a look!

After:

These are the cabinets that were routed and glass was installed. I'll teach you how to do that soon.

Overall, this was the biggest project I've tackled and it was time consuming. I used the same technique as my craft room table. But I am a million times more happy about my kitchen that I ever was before. I'd love to install crown molding and replace the back splash at some point. But I sort of want a break from mini-renovations for a bit.

However, I've got some tips and tricks to share with you!

Stick around for:

How to light the TOPS of your cabinets

Tips and tricks for hardware installation

How you (yes, you!) can have glass fronted cabinet doors too!

I'm going to be linking up to:

P.S.-Thanks for sticking with me even though I've been sporadic. Just know I try to post only useful or interesting information and try to keep the clutter out. In other words, I don't talk to fill the silence. I want your stay here to be as helpful as possible, so please let me know if you ever have any questions. I love emails!!

noreply@blogger.com (Kristina at The Purple Pea) — Wed, 12 May 2010 19:10:00 +0000

Hi everyone! Look who's here! I know, right? I'm going to post kitchen pictures later on today. But I just wanted to write a quick post letting you know what has been going on in my world lately. I just finished the kitchen last weekend. It has taken me 8 weekends and 4 weekdays to finish. I did it solely by myself, so I don't think it is that bad. Plus, I've been hooked up to a heart monitor (all is well tho!) and have a knee injury as we speak. So that has set me back a bit. I got a Cortisone shot this morning that hurt to holy hell.

Thew got bit by the neighbor's dog last week after our walk. I was talking to our neighbor and Thew wandered over to their closed fence gate and the wienie dog bit him through the fence. I thought *my* dogs were supposed to be vicious?? Poor guy. It's my fault for not giving his leash a yank to come back to me. Blood was everywhere. This was my first dog altercation (and hopefully the last) I stayed calm tho and his nose is healing nicely.

I'm sorry, But Now I've Gotta Talk About It

noreply@blogger.com (Kristina at The Purple Pea) — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 18:05:00 +0000

I've always had a fascination with miniatures. And by that I mean little tiny versions of normal things like this:

How can you not just want to put this in your pocket? It's so tiny but it looks so real!

When I was about 11 or 12 my Dad built me a dollhouse. We bought it at Joann's, but he took months and months to put it together. It had hardwood floors and wallpaper. It was absolutely beautiful and the time and care he put into building it for me really showed.

It sort of looked like this one:

I swear I'm going somewhere with this

Anyway, I ran across this blog recently and thought it was so adorable, I subscribed through Reader. The attention to detail is AH-mazing.

This morning I was perusing through Reader's recommended sources and I was noticing a common theme:

Dolls.

And they ALL looked disturbing and creepy. Or like Anime {which is also equally distributing and creepy}

I could not for the life of me figure out why in the world Reader though I wanted to read about this. And then it hit me, since I subscribed to the little bear blog, Reader thinks I'm into dolls! And WTF is this? It looks like a alien doll.

So I'm poking around one of these sites because now I'm freaked out but I need to know what is going on. Did you know, there is a market for these?

Doll wigs?

To go on the weird doll heads!!

This ones seems very Emo to me.

I guess you could classify this the same as playing with dolls when you're a kid. But this seems very bizarre to me. If you were to really dig around, there is some disturbing doll "accessories" out there. I swear, I didn't try to find it!

Thanks a lot Reader for eternally corrupting my childhood memories of playing Barbies.

P.S.- The kitchen is coming along nicely and almost near completion. I can't wait to show you all of the tricks I learned and the final reveal! But I'm sure you all are familiar- by the time you get home from work you're just not that into touching up cabinets or installing hardware. So it's a slowly-but-surely process. Soon!!

P.P.S.- I'm going to Nashville on Friday for their monthly flea market and then onto the Main Street Festival in Franklin where there are always great vendors. Unfortunately, I'm only there for two days, but I'll be sure to share my finds when I return!

Closer

noreply@blogger.com (Kristina at The Purple Pea) — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 16:06:00 +0000

I'm Fairly Certain, If I Knew Then What I Know Now: Repainting My Kitchen Cabinets- Part Two

noreply@blogger.com (Kristina at The Purple Pea) — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 03:11:00 +0000

If I was a religious person, I'd be praying to god right now. I'd say "Dear Baby Jesus, please save me from myself. XO Love, Kristina"

This is how I left my kitchen tonight. I know you're thinking "Oh, it looks like it's almost done!" You'd be right if only I didn't have another coat to put on all of the doors, and then I have to rehang the doors and Polycrylic them.

My body is screaming at me to chill the F out. My right hand is dead. So dead that I'm dropping things out of it. I don't need to hold that glass of wine anymore..boom, my hand fails me and wine goes everywhere.

I'm not a drinker either but this whole project makes me want to become a lush and start smoking again. STRESSES. ME. OUT.

The to top it all off, I decided to take my trusty Jigsaw to some of the doors I want to make into glass doors. Seems fine until I decided to purchase a Router. Routers are totally up my alley, but what isn't up my alley is when the bit comes loose and nearly destroys the front of my cabinet door.

I here I am. It's 10:06 PM on a Saturday night. I'm typing with my left hand, I'm looking at a empty wine glass and SNL isn't even new tonight.

Pray for me.

I'm Fairly Certain, If I Knew Then What I Know Now: Repainting My Kitchen Cabinets

noreply@blogger.com (Kristina at The Purple Pea) — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 02:52:00 +0000

I've taken the past three days off for this. That's Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. I've given myself 5 whole days to repaint my kitchen cabinets. I've aggravated my Carpal Tunnel so bad in my right hand that I *have* to wear my little brace a night or I'll wake up in pain like I've never experienced. I've popped a few Advils and am having a glass of wine as we speak.

Let's revisit my kitchen.

Here she is in all of her cluttered and messy glory. We're not here to judge are we y'all? No, because I bet your kitchen isn't as tidy as you'd probably like it to be either. I'm just keepin' it real. Where's my maid service?

The thing that is so bizarre about my kitchen is the crappy-cheapo oak cabinets and then the black granite counter tops. I mean, that sort of cancels each other out right?

This was the state of my kitchen at 9:30am on Wednesday morning. I can say that as of today (Friday night) I've successfully, sanded, primed, caulked and two coated the majority of the cabinets and their doors. All 35 of them.

If I knew then what I know now...I may have thought twice. ;) Stay tuned for the next chapter of of kitchen cabinet drama.

Loves Me, Loves Me Not: Fabric Flowers

noreply@blogger.com (Kristina at The Purple Pea) — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 13:00:00 +0000

Something I really love are these cloth flowers everyone is making. They make them into pins, or sew them onto bags or pillows or even use them in their hair. I've tried my hand at a few of these and really enjoy making them.

I decided to share a collection of a few of my favorites:

Have you ever made any fabric flowers? If you have, how do you fashion them?

Untitled

noreply@blogger.com (Kristina at The Purple Pea) — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 12:00:00 +0000

The Dallas Flea: A Review

noreply@blogger.com (Kristina at The Purple Pea) — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 16:58:00 +0000

This was my first year attending The Dallas Flea and have heard a lot about it through the grapevine. There has been a lot of hype about it n local publications and from {or shouldn't} be disappointed.

Yeah... I was wrong.

This is the only picture I took before Shanen, Desiree and I went in. It was in the old Sears factory building {on Lamar Street in Dallas; building history courtesy of Desiree} so you can imagine how much space there would be for a true flea market.

We paid our $5.00 to go in and started to take a look around. When we got to the end of the hallway we realized that, where we had stopped, was the end of the "flea market". Don't get me wrong, there were some cool vendors there, but when a necklace was $400.00 and it was 40% of for The Flea, it kind of losses it's bargain luster.

I felt like I wanted my $5.00 back. I am ALL about supporting local people and their goods and it was a cool venue for them all to come together, but please don't tell me it's a flea market kind of environment, charge me, then have $50.00 burlap pillows and $4.00 cake balls.

Overall, I had a fabulous time with my friends, but I don't think I'll be attending next year. Kinda a bummer.