Guestroom Dogwood Tree

Ugh.  I am so sick.  So incredibly sick.  I am a mom - I'm not supposed to get sick...right? I've been stuck in my bed for two days!  It's been terrible!

But onto other, more exciting things...

I painted another tree last week in my aunt's guestroom.  This time it was a dogwood tree.  It is one of my favorite trees and  I enjoyed painting it very much!  Dogwoods are a sign of life after a long winter and they make me think of my grandma :) She loves them and has one that desperately needs cut down because of termite damage, but can't bring herself to cut it - one more season of bloom, maybe.  I can't blame her. It's huge and it's pink.  Beautiful.

Anyways, my aunt wanted a white dogwood, so I painted this white dogwood on a light blue wall.  I like it a lot, but I don't love that the blooms don't pop off the wall as much as I wanted them too.  Oh well.  She's happy, I'm happy.

Here's how it went!

ps - sorry about the sideways pictures.  I don't know what the deal is and I wish I could rotate them!

Joeli's Tree

I'm not a one-trick-pony, I swear!  I really can paint other things besides trees! I just have always loved them so much and have such a connection to them (I have been known to hug a tree now and then), it's natural and easy for me.  I enjoy it very much.  

This particular tree was painted today in my nieces nursery.  She totally would have loved a blooming pink tree, but she is the first born and this nursery will be used again and a little brother may not appreciate it quite as much. ;)  So we decided that a simple leafy green tree would be just as lovely and sweet.  

You can click on a picture for a larger, fuller screen image :) 

They are going to put shelves on three of the branches that I made extra level - well, as level as I could do free-handed! 

Add in some pretty vinyl butterfly decals and you're all set!   

Aunt Jessie loves you Joeli!  I hope you really enjoy your new tree!  You can tell me later...you can work on napping during the day and holding your head up on your own first :) 

Ooopsy - Spring! Sorry about your timing...

So, I was in a funk this spring and never posted about my Spring Blossom tree!  Now, I've moved onto summer without sharing with you my pretty tree at all...so here's some pictures!

Here's the links again to the other seasons:
Fall Leaves Tree
Winter Snowball Tree
Summer Apple Tree

And here's a brief how-to...I'm not a teacher by nature and don't do this sort of thing well!

Don't sit under the apple tree...

With anyone else but me...
I am WAY behind on my seasonal hall tree!  But I finally got it up-to-date by grabbing my cousin who was in from out of town to help me.  She is an aspiring artist, so I could totally trust her and she did great!  I cut out all the pieces, made the starch concoction, gave her a brief how-to and let her do it!
Here's how it turned out :)

I think it's really cute, very happy, and will last me through most of the fall! Yay for apple trees!

Here's the links to my
Winter Snowball tree
Fall Leaves tree

I just realized I never posted my Spring Blossom tree - well...stay tuned!

Finished dresser turned kitchen island!

Wahoo!!!  It's finished!!

And it cost me less than $100!!

Here's the link to the before pictures and a few along the way, so that I don't overwhelm the post :) 

I am so pleased with how it turned out!  After weeks of deciding on the kind of top that I wanted and then deciding that it was WAY out of my price range, I put my head together with a wonderful man from church who is  a carpenter and this is what we came up with!  I love it!  It is pine, so it's a little soft, but I've polyeurothaned it at least 5 times and let it cure for several days before attaching it, and it seems to be just fine! Yippee!!

A close up of the front with my mis-matched knobs!  I am repeating this sort of thing with my kitchen cabinets that I hope to start painting very soon :)

After some thought, we decided to make the top several inches wider than the island itself because it would have been a tight squeeze on the backside to fit two people. Conveniently, I now have room for a towel rack tucked away on the underside.

I added some cute gingerbread supports to help the backside of the top, and a washable 'tile' board since the kids (and hubby) will be eating there and probably kicking it and getting it dirty.  Not that I see a need to, but I could use dry erase markers on it, so that might be fun :)  My DH put casters on it, so it can roll if I need it to!  They lock, thankfully, because Levi enjoys pushing it around. 

Here it is! All that's left is finding a couple of inexpensive counter stools!  I have to finish this project as inexpensively as I can - it's a game, ya know?
I think it's happy in my kitchen :)  I know I am :)

I shared this post at 

   

also HERE  (I couldn't get the button at this blog to work.  I'm new at this!)

Be sure to click the button (and link) and get lots of great ideas from lots of other wonderful people!  There are so many things to look at and get inspiration from! 

Kitchen island

I am in the process of making a kitchen island for...well...my kitchen.    

I put a call out on Facebook for a dresser if anyone was getting rid of one and voila!  A friend of mine gave me an old changing table that she was willing to get rid of because her kids are long out of diapers! Yay!!! 

The evening I got it, I started demolition - because I was SO EXCITED! I ripped the changing pad supports off, took the knobs off, and made sure I could get the top off because I wanted a nice BIG top on it for my kitchen.

Levi decided that he wanted to help me rip it apart! Such a big helper :) 

I next sanded it down because it was slick veneer covered particle board.  It needed something to stick to.  My primer wouldn't even stick to it unless I sanded it.  I hate sanding.  I guess it's worth it now...  

I had Mike attach some casters so that I could move it around my kitchen if needed - Good Call! Except that Levi knows it moves and pushes it everywhere unless the wheels are locked.
I also popped the back off because it was like a thin piece of construction paper.  Okay, maybe it was a little stronger than that, but not much.  

Measure and measure and measure and then wonder how in the heck did I measure wrong???

 It all worked out.  

I was going to do a bead-board backing on it, but after getting so steamed at the home store because of the customer service I received (or didn't...I mean, why can't I get any help around here?!! I've got an 18 month old with me and I need some help!), I ended up with this faux tile backsplash. It is slick, it wipes off easily (which I'll need with the two young kids), and it can be written on with dry erase markers...perfect! It won't be seen much because the pattern I painted is so distracting :) 

 I finally settled on my design.  My mom has this vintage box that she keeps the crayons in at her house.  I really like the pattern, so I took a picture, and printed it out. I then drew a grid on it and then with chalk I drew the grid on my cabinet.  

Then I took a really really soft lead pencil and drew the image onto the cabinet.

Then I started painting!!

I have this really cute striped cabinet in my kitchen already that I matched the colors of with my paint swatch wheel and headed to the Home Depot and bought sample paint containers in each color.  I love that I can do that!  It makes me happy and is working out great for my project! 

So here is where I am so far!  I've moved it to my kitchen, unfinished, to decide if I want to distress the cabinet, or tone it down a little.  It's beautiful and I love it, but it's a little wild...but it matched my striped cabinet perfect...I don't know what to do. 

I'm also anxiously awaiting by top!  A dear man from church is a carpenter and is building a top for it!  How sweet is that?!  Very sweet :)  I can't wait to have it completely finished!  I'll keep you posted!

Did you come here first?  Here's a link to my finished product!

Glamour Puss Salon Wall Mural

My friend and hairdresser just opened her own salon!  I am so proud of her!  She is a great friend, artist, and by far the best hair dresser I've had.  So I wanted to help spruce up her place and she let me paint the walls!  A pretty good trade for several free cut and colors :)

Here's how it went:

She has this really fun purple high heel chair and I told her I had to paint a purple branch above it!  So fun!

Thank, Angy for letting me paint your walls :) I hope that you really enjoy your new shop!!

Maybe someday I'll figure out how to rotate my pictures so you don't have to tip your head to view....