My pretty secretary desk

I have had a ugly little secretary desk for about a year now. I got it at Goodwill and I knew I could bring it to it's true beauty. I have been putting it off it. I don't know what I was waiting for. I am funny that way--sometimes I keep things not looking good for a long while so I can appreciate them when they look pretty! I am so weird that way. I like to appreciate what I have fully.

The kittens think everything is a potential toy!

I am so happy with this little desk now. I think it is just adorable!

When I bought it it was not adorable. I think my husband really thought I had lost it. He couldn't figure out what I liked about it!

I think everyone can tell how me it is now. I love the feminine look!

I love my crafty area more and more. It is just feminine all the way around now.

I like the lace technique on the drawers. I put the edge of the lace on the bottom drawer. I have used the lace technique a lot--can never get too much lace!

Someday when I have extra money (lol--like that ever happens!) I want to get some crystal knobs for it. That would up the pretty factor. Maybe my garage sale going Mom will find me some:). I had one cute one to give the look a try...

Yes, that is what I want for it next...pretty knobs!

I am in stenciling mode--so did a little stencil in the corners. Pretty!

I added an keyhole applique from Do it Yourself Chic  I think it is perfect for this desk!

I love that I can hide all my stuff in there, and the Wifi stuff too, and nobody sees it. I love hiding places!

Thanks for stopping by and letting me show off my little desk!

Have a great day!

Edited : A lot of people have asked--I have a brief tutorial on the lace technique in this post

Old Fashioned Pinning

I get so much inspiration from bloggers. Honestly I am sure that is one of the main reasons most of us blog...besides all the other good things about blogging!  I do the pinning thing...but wanted to do a board of the projects that are in my mind I want to do soon. Some people I have asked for permission to print something off their blog for my own personal use..but if I used a picture of yours and I didn't ask..please forgive me and let me know. I only use it for my own personal dreaming of projects I want to make for myself.:)

Here is what I made to put in my crafty room (formerly called the sun room) to inspire me to look forward to what I want to create next!

I think this looks pretty:) and it inspires me too. You can see I have very feminine taste. I realized after looking at this I like lots of fabric and lace.  I can't to wait to get working on these projects! I got this board at Goodwill a couple years ago. It is hinged so I can easily open it and change out my projects to do as need be.

Since my last post it was my little Grand-puppy Lacie's birthday. Nobody throws a puppy party like my daughter Janae.

She brought over Lacie's birthday outfit so I could make a hat to match. It has become a tradition that I make the first hat for each of her fur babies.

As usual..Duke was ready to party!

Janae and Lacie both looked so pretty.

Everybody had a lot of fun!

You can see the whole party on Janae's blog here.

The kittens are growing every day and bring so much joy to our family. Everyone, including my husband, is totally smitten with these kitties. Janae has her 3 living with her now so we just have Phoebe and Fez and we enjoy them so much!

I have been working on painting my secretary desk--as soon as I get pictures taken I will post it. It looks lovely!

Thanks for visiting!

Girlie Lamp Makeover

I am having so much fun with making my girlie accents for my crafty room. I am really liking my new lamp that I just finished!

I have had this lamp a long time. It looked fine in the entryway of my old house. But the new house is lighter and brighter...so I needed the lamp to transform!

I always liked this lamp. It has a nice shape. About a year ago Janae got a lamp at Home Goods that I love. I couldn't afford to get one too but I used it for inspiration for this one.

Here is the one Janae got...

I love the roses around the bottom of the shade.

So when Chantel and I went to Thrift City the other day we found a bag of roses for 35 cents. Probably thrown around a table at a wedding or something. They were white..and I liked them, but thought they might look pretty pink.

I dyed them and they came out really nice. They took to the dye quickly--I only had them in a couple minutes. I would have liked them a little lighter. A little dye goes a long way!

I  painted the lamp white and rub n buffed the details.

I used the old lining from the lampshade to cut out and sew the new fabric for the lampshade. I didn't add a lining to the new lampshade because I like seeing the frame. I had thought of not putting fabric on it at all and just letting the frame show. I hot glued the flowers on, and some lace trim.

I just love the new look of my little lamp!

It looks pretty wearing a Tiara too.

I did another little project yesterday too. I took a frame that I liked and went well with my old paint colors...

and I turned it into something I love, that go with my new paint colors!

I love the details on this frame. I also painted the mat, and used the lace technique to soften it up.

Creating makes me happy! I was pleased with these 2 girlie projects.

Thanks for visiting..and Happy Creating!

Feeling like summer

Today has been such a beautiful day, I can feel summer coming!

The dogs are happy to have their girl, Chantel, home during the day.

My phone died the other day and I made the "leap" and got a smart phone. I don't think it was very smart of me though, because I haven't seen it since.

The day was so beautiful..I spent a lot of time enjoying our yard.

The kittens thought it was a beautiful day to play.

Then they figured a nap would be good too.

Our dogwood tree in the front yard is still heavy with blossoms.

The kids and I had one of our favorite things for dinner--fresh blueberry and strawberry crepes. YUM!

We had such a gorgeous sunset to end a beautiful day!

This is just my favorite kind of day. I hope we have a lot of days like this this summer.

Thanks to everyone sending your good wishes to Phoebe. She is doing just great!

Thanks for visiting!

New Tablecloth and Kitty Scare

Yesterday Chantel and I went to our favorite thrift store. On Mondays and thursdays everything is half price and we find the greatest things! They have a great selection of name brand clothes and they are so cheap. I got barely worn (maybe even never worn) Tommy Hilfiger pajamas for $1. We got a lot of clothes--and with this growing family it is so helpful to our barely there budget!

My favorite thing I got is a lace tablecloth. It was marked $4.99 and so I got it for $2.50. It was an oatmeal color and had coffee stains on it. I had saw on several blogs that you can bleach these types of things so I figured it was worth a try. I put it in the washer and bleached it for 3 hours. Then I put it in oxyclean for 2 hours. I figured if I ruined it I wasn't out that much. It turned out beautiful!

It looks handmade. Whatever it is the quality is very good. My Mother says it reminds her of her Grandmother.

How fun it is to be able to find something like this for so little money!

A few days ago we had a little kitty scare. Warning...the picture below is not one of my usual cute kitty pictures. One morning Chantel came running into my room saying in panic, "Whats the matter with Phoebe?" Phoebe side of her face was swollen up HUGE. After reading on the internet I knew she was just too little and she had to go to the vet. I didn't spend all these sleepless nights to let something happen to these babies! The vet said that she had a small wound..probably from the claw of one of her siblings. Somehow bacteria got in there and it swelled up quick. I told her we are not rich people, and she was so nice to do a quick procedure of draining it and gave us some antibiotics. She didn't charge that much. I think she was happy we rescued these babies. Here is Phoebe after she shaved and drained it---it quickly got huge again.

My poor baby phoebe! She had a 105 degree temp.  But now with antibiotics she is doing so much better. She is almost totally better now.

If you visit my daughters blog you have already seen this next photo but I have to post it too. I can't believe how good Janae is at taking pet photos! These kittens don't sit still for a second so I really don't know how she does it. Janae ended up keeping 3 of the kittens and we kept 2. So they are all in the family. Janae took her 3 to her home now and I have to say I really miss them. I know they couldn't have a better home though. They were born on Cinco De Mayo, and so next year we are planning to have a big Mexican food birthday party for them:)

Walgreens was giving away a free 8x10 so I ordered this and I am going to frame it. Wouldn't that photo be a cute hallmark card?!

I am loving that it is summer break and the kids and I are just having lazy fun days. I have several projects in the works--can't wait to finish them and show you!

Thanks for visiting!

Let's all go to the Dairy Queen....

I have been craving a DQ cone all day! Janae took this portrait of her dogs, and our dogs this afternoon in our old Dairy Queen wagon and I think that is fueling my craving.

Janae is so amazing with her animal portraits!

We had a lovely Father's day! We went and visited my Dad this afternoon.

We spent some time enjoying his pond and his fish.

We had our favorite family dinner...which I hate to admit is deep fried steak and cheese. (a type of fondue) Could you get anymore unhealthy?! We only have it on special occasions..and it is always so delicious.

I knew Jerry would be happy with this unhealthy meal for his special day:) Janae got Jerry a fishing license. Chantel got him some strawberry plants for his garden and a glow in the dark fish cave for one of his fish tanks. Wyatt and Gage got him a tropical plant he has been wanting. Jerry was so happy with all his gifts. Celebrating being parents is one of our favorite things to celebrate..we are so proud of all our kids!

Gage gets giggly happy with every bite of fondue! I feel blessed that Gage can eat steak..a lot of special kids can't. Eating is one of life's joys for Gage!

I am just loving my David Austin Wildeve rose bush that I got last year. These roses are gorgeous! My Eden climbing rose that I got this year is starting to have buds--I thought it might not until next year..but I am pleasantly surprised! I can't wait to have beautiful blooms on that one too. Roses seem to do so well here..despite all the rain. I guess there is a reason we are the city of roses!

I hope that everyone had a great Fathers day. Our relaxing day full of fattening food was just perfect for us. I still am craving that Dairy Queen cone though! (chocolate dip would make it extra good) :) Wanna go with me?

Thanks for visiting!