How do you paint picture frames?

 Ok, I know I'm cheating! I should be posting final pics of the dresser I finished, BUT, it requires some man power to carry that heavy beast in the house so I can stage it to take pics and my hubby is BUSY! I guess that happens when you're in Residency... :) BUT, today I had a sweet friend ask me if she could paint over a black picture frame. Funny, I did JUST that the other night.

 I found this pretty picture frame and it was Black with GOLD trim. Not quite what I wanted. I wanted it to be robin egg blue, so I did what any girl would do and painted it.

 Then I glazed the detail in a walnut glaze.

 I also accented the cracks.

 It now hangs in that random cut out by our stairs. ;)

Our house is always changing. AND I LOVE IT! xoxo

*** Answer to the title, before painting picture frames rub down with vinegar to remove all grease and dirt. Prime with kilz primer, and paint. You can then antique it with sand paper and glaze with a gel stain. ;)

A little peek

 I had to give you guys a little peek at the dresser I'm finishing up today. I l-o-v-e it. Whoa is me.

 I'm really hoping it sells fast, otherwise, I KNOW this one is staying.

 I planned on keeping it, but when I started sanding the top, I HAD to stain it and 3/4 of the furniture in my house has a stained top, so I decided to sell it. But I really love this one. It's another one perfect to my taste..

 I antiqued and did a light glaze to make the scroll work and features pop.

Beautiful stained top.. Oh boy. I think I'll start having people fill out adoption forms for the furniture they buy. Ok, that's a joke. But really, the day it's NOT hard for me to sell my furniture, is the day I've lost my love for it. Much love, hope you enjoy. ;) I'll post the rest of the pics when I'm done!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

 This is our first Christmas in Portland. I've never experienced December without SNOW! It's crazy! The kids and I had fun setting up Christmas this week.

 This mini Christmas tree is special to me. My husband and I used it as our Christmas tree the first couple years we were married and living in my parents basement apartment. ;)

 We made these cute Christmas banners at a Relief Society activity last year. I love it!

 Our Christmas tree! Can't wait to fill it up with presents. Too bad my almost 2 year old daughter takes down 1/3 of the decorations EVERY day. Little stink!

Our mini Christmas village. My mom has a HUGE one, it makes me smile. I can't wait to see my family for Christmas! This is the LONGEST I've EVER gone without seeing my parents, and it's only been a couple months. I don't know how people go longer than that. I miss them so much! Merry Christmas everyone! Hope your holiday season is amazing!

Kaitlyns nightstand

 I have a minute, so I thought I'd post this nightstand before I forget. ;) I keep saying I'm not going to buy small pieces of furniture, but when I saw this nightstand I fell in love with the hardware. FLOWER hardware!! It had to be mine and it had to be pink. When Courtney saw it, she loved it too. I was so happy when she said she wanted it in pink.. This nightstand was meant to be hot pink. I didn't take a before pic, bad me! It was just blah brown.

 Normally I would antique it, but I've seen Kaitlyn's room and none of the furniture is antiqued, so I wanted it to go with the rest.

 However, I HAD to rough up the hardware, just a little.

 Seriously, cutest hardware EVER! This is PERFECT for a little girls room.

I hope Kaitlyn loves her new pink nightstand. ;)

Courtney's Red Dresser

 Before. I have been dying to paint this dresser! It has been raining and raining here, so what did I do? Sanded in the rain, it wasn't that bad. It was kind of fun. I like the rain though. Then I got the first coat of paint on. The next day was Thanksgiving and I woke up with a numb arm and a pinched nerve in my neck. GRR. I was literally out of commission for 4 days. It's getting better, SLOWLY. Blah! Dang neck! Anyway, here it is! I hope my friend Courtney LOVES it. I painted it specifically for her. I want it to be perfect. Courtney has a HEART OF GOLD. She has 5 kids, and she's so tender and sweet with them and makes it look effortless.

 After! I really wanted to decorate it and make it look pretty before I posted after pics. But with a neck on the fritz and a husband on a busy rotation, this is what you get. ;)

 I love the two toned look and the rubbed bronze handles just complete it. I wanted this dresser to have a little more masculine feel. Originally I wanted to paint it a brighter red, but Courtney's hubby was a little iffy on that, ha ha. I was also going to glaze it, but I love the white poking through and didn't want to take away from that.

 Love the white with the wood.

 I'll have to have Courtney send pics of this in her room all decorated! I finished a hot pink nightstand for her daughter today. I'll post pics of that tomorrow. Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

What I've been up to...

I have 5 pieces of furniture in my garage just waiting to be painted. However, it's been raining a lot, and I don't know about you but I don't like to sand in the rain. Waiting and watching for a bit of sunshine to start painting again. Until then, I've been working on getting my house ORGANIZED. This is a HUGE undertaking for me. When my husband and I lived in a 900 square foot apartment with our son, I was so organized, because I HAD to be. After that, we bought a 2200 square foot house and we filled it up and became less organized, now we're renting a 2300 square foot house and I do NOT want to get less organized. So, I'm on a crazy quest! If you have great organizing ideas, send them my way!! Here's a few of the projects I've been up to...

 Whenever someone goes upstairs to use the bathroom, Jake and I both cringe and apologize profusely for the mess, ie. the kids bath toys. I just couldn't figure out what to put these toys in. Don't ask me why, is it really THAT hard? I hope no guys missed the toilet and peed on the toys. LOL

 Solution, a $1 basket at the Dollar Store. DUH Tonya. Sigh...

 This has been a LIFE SAVER. I waste so much time searching for papers, and we have MOUNDS of papers. So I grabbed an expanding file folder, labeled each section and in the papers we need to keep went. I bet I'll save 10 hours a year looking for papers bc of this thing. And now you can see the counter next to the sink. Haleluia!

 Under the sink. It explains itself...

 I bought 2 $1 buckets from the Dollar Store and in went the similar cleaners. This isn't beautiful, but does under the kitchen sink ever look beautiful? At least I can find stuff now!

 The other day I made up a list for Costco, the next day I was in a hurry to go and couldn't find my dang list anywhere! And of course, ended up forgetting things that I needed (and yet somehow still spent $200, oh Costco I love you and hate you!) Now, I know where my list is. I bought a stack of little notepads at the Dollar Store, stuck magnets on the back and there they are.. One for Costco, one for the Grocery Store.

 My laundry room, and yes it's laundry day, so the washer is running. Before you couldn't even see the tops of my washer and dryer. So embarassing! I cleaned up the whole room, organized it and now it's a functioning laundry room. Yay!

 There's counter space... Who knew???

 I got Emery's room completely organized. I started with her armoire. Her shoes are now organized according to size and season. No more digging through baskets trying to find which shoes fit her and which don't. THere's a basket for her hair things, a tight basket, a diaper cover basket, and a basket full of jammies she hasn't grown into. (the drawers are full).

 Her dolls now have a home in a large basket.

 The rest of her toys are in a large basket from Target.

The nightstand is now full of diapers and wipes.
Next up Lukes room, and as always, I'm STILL working on the Bonus Room. Believe it or not, it actually got worse. Progress, progress.. Until painting returns yay for organizing! Share your best/favorite tips with me!!

Peek at what's next..

 I am drooling over all the detail yumminess on this dresser. When I die, I'm going to request a casket just like this. Okay, that is oober creepy. Forget that I said that. ha ha

I picked up some BEAUTIFUL dressers today. A tall dresser, long dresser, nightstand and mirror. I'm so excited to finish these! Here's a peek until I'm done. Please be patient with me! ha ha I have a LOT to do, like always. ;)

Skinny Jeans!

 I have MAD LOVE for skinny jeans! When I was in Utah last, I searched for a light pair of skinny jeans. I have a few pair of darks and a few pair of blacks, but I can never find light ones! Today on pinterest I was thrilled when I found the solution. Here's a super simple tutorial of how to turn your flares into skinny jeans.
1-Turn jeans inside out, lay flared jeans on bottom, skinny on top, line up the crotch.

 2-I lined up the inner seam of the jeans

 3-Pin up to the knee where the skinny jeans are.

 4- Sew, if you can sew a straight line, you can do this.

 5-Right above the knee meet up with the original seam.

 6- Cut off the excess. You're done! I sewed 5 pairs of jeans in 45 minutes! And I can barely sew. ha ha I'm so glad I held onto all of my expensive pairs of flares. So happy to have new skinny jeans!

Tada!! Ok, so this blog is for painting, but sometimes I'll post things I absolutely love, like food. ;)