Ceiling medallions

I never knew how difficult it is to get a good picture of the ceiling! Well, I guess it's just not something one usually does! :) You might be wondering why I'd want to do it in the first place, but I really do have a good reason!



(A little disclaimer: there is a part of the ceiling between this room and the hallway that I am working on, so it doesn't look good there yet!) Okay, ever since we installed this chandelier last spring, I thought it would be pretty if it were accented by a ceiling medallion. I found a couple of websites that sell them, and the price range is wide. The main price difference seems to be based on size. I saw one in a picture that looked as big as our entire dining room ceiling! (For an equally massive chandelier.) Now, according to one website, you add about four to six inches to the diameter of your chandelier (or ceiling fan) when you choose the size of a medallion, so mine doesn't need to be very expensive or very big...

These are some of what I think are the best of what I found at Gallery 84...




Maybe one of these...

The shape of this medallion is rather unique~ the design is really pretty.



This next one is probably second in the running. It is affordable and similar to my favorite.




Some of them have fancier edges to them, too.



This one below reminds me of frosted cupcakes...it's kind of growing on me! But maybe that's just because I didn't eat very much for lunch! :)


But the only one that really seems like the right one is the medallion pictured below...



I love the simplicity of it. The "carvings" in it don't seem as harch, instead it looks more delicate. The down side is it is more expensive than the others. ALL of these here, including my favorite, are under $100, which seemed like a lot to me, but after looking at another site, seemed comparable in price.Which one would you choose? Would you get one you didn't like as much or put out the extra money for one you really like? (Or just keep looking?)

I am so relieved it is the weekend! I am pretty sure I say that every weekend, but well, I guess it is true every weekend! :) Hope yours is fantastic! :)

P.S. Oh, and you guessed correctly~ my next tassel IS a Valentine's Day tassel! :)

Already seven!

We celebrated another birthday here on Friday! Gracie was very excited about turning SEVEN years old! :) We had cupcakes and juice with her classmates in the afternoon, which was fun. Later, her cousin came to spend the night and we all had dinner at Canyons.




We sang "Happy Birthday" and ate the chocolate cake she'd asked me to bake...




Then we went home so Gracie could open her gifts, which she both quickly and with great excitement!




And you can't see it very well, but she's wearing one of her gifts~ a tutu that the Southern Domestic Goddess made...so cute on her! :)

We had such a fun evening! The girls were having so much fun, they were giggling and whispering most of the night...our girls crashed last night, though! And by then, they were EXHAUSTED! So...my "baby" is seven. It's so hard to believe!




Here's a little Happy Birthday banner (of course!). Actually, I made it a few weeks ago and hung it up for Rose's birthday. I chose colors they both like so I could use it for both her and Gracie. I didn't show a picture of it then, so since it's back up again, I wanted to show you...




And I am so disappointed with how unclear the letters look in a picture. I noticed after making the banner that the white letters don't show up as well on the light blue paper and the yellow paper, but it didn't look this bad in person...
I still would rather show it to you than not! It is much easier to read in person, but I still might want to fix those letters...(But the above picture does give you a mini peek at the "new" yellow paint color on the wall.)




Before I sign off, I wanted to show you what I'm working on now... I'm starting a new tassel. This one has a "theme"...can you guess what it is?




If any of you would like to make your own tassel, here is the link to the tutorial I used at Betasseled. It is a great tutorial, and she makes it so easy to follow! :)

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! Ready for Monday? No, me either! :)
Have a good night!

A random post

I just got home from having dinner with my best friend. I'm serious about this~ friends are like medicine! And this is true about Amy. I get to our favorite restaurant (Azteca!) feeling frazzled and a little down, and I leave feeling like I've had a makeover! Only it's an internal makeover. :) And those are really the best kinds, aren't they? :)

And I don't know why, but when I get home from spending some time with friends, I have SO much energy! I'm kind of buzzed right now, but not from drinking anything but Diet Pepsi...which of course considering I practically inhaled three tall glasses of the stuff could account for some of the "buzz" of energy I am feeling right now. But I really believe it's also from being around someone who cares about you, and knows you. You can relax, be yourself. And boy, was I. I moaned and groaned about things that were making me feel cranky, and then it's like I left it all there at the table. And poof! I am a new person. Well, not really. If only it were that easy. But I do feel way better now. This is one of the precious gifts of friendship. Thanks, Amy! :)

Okay, you know how I was "done" with the tassel I finished last night? Well, I was organizing my ribbon today and found some cute pink ribbon that just happened to go perfectly with my tassel, so I added it. I wanted to show you a better picture of it anyway...





I know I showed you essentially the same tassel last night, but gee, ain't it "purdy" with the pink ribbon on it now? Okay, and there is something you need to know about me and crafts. If I am able to do one even somewhat successfully, it is cause for celebration. I'm like a mama with her baby~ "See this picture when..." and "Look at it here!" My husband teases me just with all the pictures I take of a single item sometimes~ "Oh no, I think it blinked." He cracks me up every time he says it...

Oh, and I bought a new kind of coffee tonight at the grocery store. I just made myself a cup, even though I really don't need it after all that soda. Even though I'm guaranteed to get absolutely no sleep at all tonight. But as a fool returns to his folly, so go I. But oh, a cup of hot coffee after dinner is so irresistible! :)



Tully's is somewhat of a local brand. They have coffee shops in Washington and some other nearby states, and their coffee is good. Even their drip coffee is delicious, mild enough that you don't have to add their entire container of cream to tone it down! :) This flavor roast is unique, a little different, but good. :)

Well, I hope you are all doing well tonight! It's so close to the weekend now. Am I the only one who feels like this week was really L-O-N-G ?!? Tomorrow's my youngest daughter's birthday, and we're gearing up for a big ol' celebration or two. One in her classroom and one with our family. It will be a great day, and she is feeling SO much better now, so she will be able to really enjoy it. :) I haven't forgotten to give you all the link to the tassel tutorial I used, but once again it's too late and time to call it a night! I will remember next time, I promise! :)

Finally!

Okay, so much for this little craft being done by Sunday! Sunday morning I stayed home with Gracie (who was sick), while my husband and other two children headed off to church. The neat thing is I can listen to our church service on the radio at the same time I would listen to it if I were there...but anyway, I started cleaning house, and well, I just never stopped until it was time to call it a night. The good news is my house is clean. The bad news is I am so behind on all you fellow bloggers are doing. :) I have been so remiss in visiting you, and know I have much to catch up on! :)

I did finish my craft, though! Can you believe it took another trip to the fabric store?! In particular, the tassel making section...I was having an unbelievably difficult time finding medium length fringe, and last night this is what I had...



But although this is technically a better taken picture, the tassel itself lacked something. It lacked another layer of fringe, which I hadn't been able to find, so I improvised and used more ribbon!







I am not happy with these pictures I got tonight, and think I will have to post another better picture of it tomorrow in the daylight! I just wanted to show you a picture of it tonight, since I kept promising it was almost done! I have a link to the blog that had the tutorial for this and will share that next post. (When my husband can help me with linking my site to the tutorial...I'm still new to that.)

The painting in the dining room is going well. I actually went back to Lowe's for another gallon of paint and gave it a fourth coat. I think the primer they mixed for me was too dark of a gray for my paint, and now I'm much happier, and I am really loving this color! It's SO cheerful, like liquid sunshine! :) I am still finishing the touch up, and there were two areas we had to texture some new drywall we'd added. I have these areas primed and am painting them now, and when this is done I will show you pictures!

I hope you are having a great week! Have a blessed night! :)

Where has this week gone?

This week has just flown by! Do you ever have weeks like this? Between this painting project in my dining room and a little one sick, it's been a bit crazy around here! But I am glad to say I have about finished with the painting, with some touch up left. Do you remember what I said about the ceilings, thinking it would seem easy after all the other (more difficult) ceiling projects I'd done? Well, after painting five coats of paint on the ceiling~ yes, five~ I am feeling SO done with anything having to do with the ceiling! (At least for now!)




The reason for the five coats of paint is that the first color I put on the ceiling was the light, light shade of same yellow I put on the walls. It was pretty, but I wasn't sure about it. I did a coat of yellow on the walls and knew it wouldn't work to have the light yellow ceilings. Then I rolled Valspar's white paint, but it was too gray of a white. Their "Ultra White" is a much better white. Living in the Northwest, we see enough gray~ I don't want it in my dining room! :) Now the ceilings are a sparkling white, and the walls are one shade brighter yellow than before...Still not 100% sure I love it, but I think it's growing on me. I have painted a lot of different colors since living here, and have rarely loved a paint color immediately. I give it a week or two, and if I still am unhappy with it, then I know it's time to change it! :)


I haven't been able to finish my "secret" project yet. I removed the part that wasn't working and bought the craft item I needed to finish though!





Tomorrow is Sunday, which means I will have some time in the afternoon to finish this up. (If all goes well!) If I do finish it tomorrow, I'll try to swing on by and show!

I hope your weekend has been a fabulous one so far! :) I'm excited to visit you all in the next few days, and catch up on all you have been up to! Have a great night! :)

Crafting gone wrong!

I would show you the craft I should have finished last night, but I have been experiencing technical difficulties! I put it all together, and it should have been a done deal, but I'm not quite satisfied with it.There's something...missing. So it's back to the fabric store again! There is a little hint...

And I thought since you are being so patient with me~ I know it often takes me longer to finish things than I anticipate~ I will give you a couple other hints...





I am going to the fabric store at least by Wednesday, so I should have the completed, much better, product by the end of the week! :)

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You know I've said it before~ I love to paint rooms! I love to watch how colors change the whole environment of a room. There is nothing like that first stroke of a brush, when the color is just as you imagined it would be! :) And so I'm excited to be heading on to our dining room and little breakfast area now, trying to work my way to the kitchen. The kitchen is do for quite an overhaul beginning in the next few months, so I want everything else done and ready before then!

Right now, we have a buttery yellow called "Sunglow" in the kitchen/dining room, but I am yearning for a slightly deeper yellow. I am really quite partial to Valspar paint (aka American Traditions), and love how they now have pint sized sample cans. At just over four dollars a pop, I can afford to pick a few colors to try out. (And without wondering what I am going to do with the colors I don't like.)




So I did try a few, and found I liked the paint color just one shade darker than what we have now, named "Honey Glaze". Now this might seem silly, but sometimes just doing a shade different can make a huge difference. The only thing I don't like about this color is that it's dark enough that, "for best results", I have to use tintable primer first. (Ugh!) But they tell me that I will have to paint less coats on the walls if I do. Our whole house had to be primed when we moved here because the people before us painted latex right over oil without priming first! Uh-oh! I am just glad we realized this before we painted, not after! So tomorrow I will be priming the walls and painting the first coat of the ceiling, which is going to be just a tad bit yellow. I have never done this before, but I didn't want to paint the ceiling boring old white like I always do. I mean, we don't have the popcorn ceilings in here anymore, so I can live a little dangerously! They recommended I have a pint of the yellow paint mixed into a gallon of white and see if that works. Supposedly, this will still give the effect of heightening the room without making it feel like a cave. We shall see...but I'll tell you, after painting popcorn ceilings as well as removing the popcorn from ceilings, painting a "normal" ceiling just doesn't seem so bad now! :) So I am looking forward to seeing how it all comes out!




The middle color in this sample sheet is what we have now; the one to the left of that is what I'm doing now! (I know the paper is crumpled, and doesn't look very good, but it gives you a better idea of the color!)

I will show you the room when I finish, I promise! Sometimes I have a hard time doing this because I'm embarrassed of all the other oddities of the rooms, but I'm going to push past this embarrassment and show you my progress! :)

This house sure has been an interesting experience. Sometimes it's been disappointing and more work than we thought, but lately I have been thinking how blessed we are to have a house we can call our own. It wasn't always the case. I have to be honest, though, that sometimes it has felt a little overwhelming! It's also easy to get discouraged with our progress, and to forget the way things looked before we moved here! When I look at old pictures, I'm almost horrified at how it used to be, and SO glad it's feeling like a real home. :)

Well, I hope you have a good night!

A new magazine and a fun kid's craft

I love magazines, as I'm sure is quite apparent from the above picture! And what could be better than a new magazine to read? Maybe one that is called Romantic Living?

Two sisters, one who'd started the blog Vintage Vavoom, have decided to start their own e-magazine called Romantic Living~ the first issue to be published this March! I have seen some of their beautiful pictures on Vintage Vavoom, and know that this is going to be a wonderful magazine! Did I mention that it is free, and all they need is an email address for it to be sent directly to your inbox each month? I cannot wait! :)

Here is the link to Kelli and Maureen's new blog, also called Romantic Living. From there, you can find out more about their new venture as we wait (me only semi-patiently!) for their first issue. To receive your own e-copy, simply email them at romanticliving@sbcglobal.net...Take a look at the pictures I was telling you about~ if you're like me, you'll be counting the days until March! :)

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Now, on a different topic, do you remember the "itty-bitty" craft I found to do with the kids? Well, since it's Valentine's around here (and has been for some time) we made these cute little fellows...




My son let me "borrow" the ones he'd made for a quick snapshot! Smile, guys!





Isn't he adorable?





My son even let me make one of his eight! (I liked this craft as much as my kids did!) I put it in the mailbox my husband and I share for him to find!




Put up the flag...and because the box of Junior Mints wouldn't fit inside the mailbox , propped them up against it instead. My sweetie was a happy guy when he found these! (Especially the candy!) :)


And look what I just found...




Gracie gave me one of hers, too! How sweet is that? We are getting such a kick out of this whole mailbox thing! It's going to be hard to put them away on February 15th. I have so many cute little things tucked away for my family that I can't wait to surprise them with!

I will be showing you my other fun craft in the next day or two, hopefully tomorrow, but we'll see! We're having a big ol' work day here, with my husband and I swapping "honey-do" lists for the morning! The lists can have up to five things on them, and I have already done the first on his list. (Worked on my part of "THE BUDGET".) Oh, how I dislike THE BUDGET. I even dislike the very words. My husband told me to call it whatever I wanted to then. But it's no use. I would just hate that word, too. :) No, but seriously, as much as sometimes trying to redo and decorate a house on a budget seems like trying to fit into a sweater three sizes too small, it's taught me patience. But that's another word I don't care for! Ha!

Well, I hope you have endured my blathering! Have a fantastic weekend, you all!
*Edited to add: In order to see the beautiful pictures I told you about, the right blog to visit to see these would be Vintage Vavoom~ the link is above. I'm sure they will have other pictures on their new blog, too, but the ones I saw were on Vintage Vavoom. Hopefully you are not completely confused now! :)

Rainy day...

It's been "one of those days". It's been a combination of things today, you know how it goes...Our weather has changed from cold and snowy to windy with constant rain. You'd think living here in the Seattle area, I would be used to this, but I don't think I am anymore! I say this because when my husband and I got married, he was attending grad school in Maryland, so we lived there for the first four years of our marriage. One thing I miss about it was the sun! The summers were really hot and humid, but the winters were so sunny, even though it was usually very cold! Now I don't miss the enormous bugs or the humidity, but oh, that sunshine! Our first winter back here, I couldn't figure out why I felt so well, "down"! But I really think now that I had acclimated to the way things were in Maryland and all this gray was really getting to me! The weird thing is, it's been a long time since we've moved back here, and I'm still dreaming of sunny places!

SO...it's rainy, and what's a girl to do? (Besides buy a raspberry hot chocolate from Starbucks!) One thing that always, and I mean always, brightens my day (and my outlook on life) is a really fun craft. I found a great tutorial to help me with something I have been trying to make. All I can say is, it is SO much easier when someone who knows what they're doing explains it, versus "going it alone". :) I also found an adorable little craft to do with the kiddos! (And I mean itty-bitty little!) I will be showing these two crafts to you in the next few days...

What do you do when the winter weather has you feeling gray? Aren't you glad it is getting closer to Friday? We are more than half way there! :)

No way!

This was my initial reaction to winning a giveaway that Memoirs Of A Southern Domestic Goddess held a while back. I've never really won anything before, unless you count when Bally Fitness let me know I had "won" some free gym time. (To encourage me to sign up for membership, I think.) Although, truth be told, they sent everyone this, so I don't think this counts... Anyhow~ the gift was $20 toward anything in her Etsy shop, and since I'd been drooling over her fabulous tutus, I didn't have to think very hard about what to buy!




I was so excited when it came in the mail this weekend! I just love the cranberry and cream colors together, with the pretty rose she'd added to it.




Thank you so much, Southern Domestic Goddess! The tutu is absolutely gorgeous! If you like this tutu, be sure to check out her Etsy store site at www.chicksinthesticks.Etsy.com/~ She has many other crafts available, and all of her creations are amazing! :)

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Okay, and here is a little craft that I finally finished up recently...







I got this idea from the July issue of Romantic Homes magazine, and had to make a little trip to the craft store. It wasn't until the fall that I really started working on it. (Summer time is so busy!) I tweaked and added and removed from the original, but it is essentially the same idea. The original one in the magazine had glitter on the large starfish, which was really pretty. I was just going for a simpler look. Romantic Homes recently shared the directions for making this Jeweled Starfish in their November issue, on page 6, which will be nice when I make the next one. They had good ideas, such as using primer, (oops!) and Spray Mount adhesive before sprinkling the glitter on. I just thought I'd share all this extra info in case someone wanted to make one, too! The embarrassing ending to this story is that I only finished this little craft right before Christmas! Removing all that popcorn off the ceilings really took front and center stage this fall! (And boy, am I ever glad that is over! ) I have a few other ideas for more starfish creations...

Well, I hope you are having a good week! Have a great night! :)