My 2011 Favorites

I can't believe another year has flown by already! Sheesh.

Anywho, I know I haven't had this blog ALL year long but I've seen a lot of people doing end-of-the-year recaps of their favorites or most popular posts or whatever. So here's my 12 favorite blog posts/projects from this year...meaning, mid-april till now :) Oh, and I would do a countdown, but I just can't pick a favorite! UGH, I just LOVE all my projects!! Does that make me conceited or narcissistic?? Oh well, it's my blog and I can brag if I want to  ....right?!?

In NO particular order ;)

Manly Tablet Cover

Refashioned Shirt and Skirt

Statement Necklace

Melted Crayon Garden

Chalkboard Door

Braided T Shirt Bracelet

Yarn Word Art

DIY Halloween Costumes

The best yarn trick ever

Toilet Paper Tube Art

Interchangeable Flower Headband

Mod Podged Plates

So there you have it, my favorites from 2011 :) Can't wait to see what 2012 brings!

Wishing everyone a prosperous and safe New Year!!

Much Love~
Meredith

Goodbye 2011

The last day of the year is here. Doesn't it always seem to go by too fast?!?

2011 was a pretty good year at our house...

*We celebrated our first wedding anniversary
*I started this blog :)
*We completed several home improvements projects that have been on the to-do list since we bought the house
*We put ourselves on a serious budget and have made huge progress towards eliminating debt
*I was offered space in a local boutique to sell my handmade items
*Mr. Perfect completed all his "training" that he's been doing for the last 15 months at his job
*We have had lots of good times and created more memories

Not too shabby right?

I have a feeling 2012 will be even better for us! ...just an inkling ;)

Today we are going to do something fun (movie or bowling) with the kiddo as a reward. We recently started a new discipline system and seems to be working! YAY!! Tonight Mr. Perfect has to work (he bartends on weekends) and I have the kiddo with me. I think we are going to watch some movies and have a spa party!! Should be a fantastic day to end the year :)

Hope everyone enjoys their New Year's celebrations and starts off 2012 in a good way

See you next year peeps!
Meredith

Custom Goodie Tins

This year for Christmas Mr Perfect and I decided to give tins filled with baked goodies to some of the adults in our families. We have TONS of nieces and nephews and our own kiddo and each other to buy for and let's face it, we aren't made of $$$.

I bought these tins at Wally World for $3

Cute, but they needed something.

Enter...chalkboard paint!

Paint the lids...

And then write everyone's names on them :)

Fill with goodies and make everyone smile. Easy Peasy!

Much Love~
Meredith

Manly Tablet Cover

Manly Tablet Cover

For Christmas my mom bought my dad a Toshiba Thrive {lucky dog}. I sewed him a very manly cover for it. I used a leather looking vinyl I bought at Joann's. I wanted to use leather, but I'm not sure where to buy leather around here, so knock off leather it is. I did use a leather needle to make sure my machine didn't throw a fit. I also used heavy duty thread to give it a better look. The inside is lined with felt so his screen is completely protected from scratches. I think the word he used on Christmas morning was "perfect". Yeah, that's right, perfect. {smiles}

Whatcha think? I'm happy I could sew something for my dad. I've given handmade gifts to most of my family members, but the guys are always the hardest. Hopefully he keeps using it :)

Much Love~
Meredith

I had a VIRUS!

UGH!! My computer has had a virus for almost a week! Not happy that it happened, but my parents are wonderful tech nerds and fixed it YAY! No fear my friends, I have quite a few projects to share :)

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas with friends and family! Not everything went as planned around here, but it was still a great holiday :)

Stay tuned!
Meredith

Inappropriate followers

I'm not sure if anyone else out there has problems like this, but I need advice if you do...

In the past month I've gotten 2 followers that are obviously spam. Their profile pictures are completely inappropriate and I don't want them displayed on my page. I've blocked them individually when I've seen them appear.

So my question is, can I prevent this from happening in the first place?? Is there a security measure I can put on my blog to prevent such things from happening?

HELP!!

Much Love~
Meredith

Painting Knock Off

I don't want to steal other people's creativity, so I'm going to make sure I give proper credit for this one. I saw this painting on Pinterest and thought it was oh so perfect for my new orange living room and very darling. I had to recreate it on my own!

The Elephant's Trunk

And here's my version!

I pretty much love it! {swoon}

And in case you didn't notice it yesterday, it looks just great with my new orange bay window and ombre curtains

Much Love~
Meredith

Painted Curtains

I recently painted my living room. We've been in this house for 2 years and it's never been painted. It's actually never been decorated or designated as any specific room. It's just been this unfinished eye sore of a room you see as you walk in the house. Ugh. Image a long room with one long wall, two walls that are huge archways that take up most of the wall, and the last wall is mostly a giant bay window. One archway opens into the dining room and the other the entryway. It's basically just a pass-through room. What do you do with these kinds of rooms?? I have a piano in there that can't go anywhere else in the house, so that's stuck. It has to go on the long wall. I can't have any sofas in there because where would they go?? SOO frustrating. Hence the reason I haven't done a thing to that room the last 2 years.

Ok, on to the point of this post {tehe}. I painted the room. The long wall is an orange, the side walls are white and the wall around the bay window is also white. The alcove the bay window is in is orange. We think it looks nice without being overwhelming. So I've seen several pins of painted curtains that I really liked. {didn't even know you could do that!}

I took a full size flat bed sheet that I got for $5 from Wally World and cut it down the middle and hemmed the split. Then I taped out my stripes on a drop cloth

Of course I painted them next :) I was going for an ombre effect on them. It turned out so-so

Then hung them up! I'm not totally sold on them. The paint didn't end up completely even which infuriates me. It's not noticeable when its dark, but when the sun is shining through them, like it does allllll day long, it's very noticeable. I wanted to take them down and scrap the whole project as a big fat FAIL, but Mr. Perfect wouldn't let me. He said I had worked too hard on them. Still not sure if I should listen to him or not...but for now they are staying....I guess...maybe...

I hate when things don't go exactly as planned. Oh well.

Much Love~
Meredith

PS. See that painting over there? Look a close up on that beauty tomorrow ;)

Fuzzy Coloring Page Thingy

I don't know what they are called. You know those coloring pages for kids that are black and fuzzy and you color in the lines?? My mom bought this giant floor book filled with those things for my kiddo. Most of the pages tear into small individual sheets that have birds and monkeys and kid things on them. BUT, there was one, that looks like a kaleidoscope, stained glass window type design. It's huge, the size of the book. My kiddo of course tosses it aside. Can I have it?? She says sure!

I used her markers when she was at school...sshhhh. I used colors that are in my dining room (navy, lime and white) and my living room (orange and white). It's going to hang on a wall in the living room right next to the opening to the dining room to kinda tie the two rooms together. I dig it. I'm going to frame it...black frame, white mat.

Too juvenile? Mr. Perfect doesn't mind. I like it.

Much Love~
Meredith

Christmas Mantle

I don't go all out and decorate my entire house for Christmas. I also don't do a million Christmas crafts. I work full time, and quite frankly don't have the time. I do put up a tree and decorate my mantle though.

That's as good as it gets around here hehe

I made this wreath last year for Christmas to hang on the door. I really liked it. The problem was (I've talked about this before, sorry) it melts in the doorway! It's made with hot glue. The heat between my doors melts the glue, the beads fall off and my felt droops. It's a huge mess. So sad. But, it looks fab on my mantle!!

Not sure why that bottom leaf looks bluish..It think some light is reflecting back from the mirror and shining through the thin felt. Hmmm...mysteries...

I like this one better than the winter wreath I posted about earlier this week. Too bad I can't put it on the door

Much Love~
Meredith

Tablet Cover

My best friend on the planet, Jamie, turned the big 30 on Monday. She's officially in her 30's while I still have another 5.5 months in my 20's HA!


Last month when Rebel Roxie Rose opened and my products went in their store, Jamie drove over an hour to their store for their grand opening. She bought a tote bag of mine! She's such a great friend! I'm so blessed to have been her friend for the last 25 years. Anywho, she hinted that she would like a matching cover for her Toshiba Thrive. Hello birthday gift!

Please excuse my super crappy cell phone pictures. It was night time, and I had to take them quick, the cell was all I had.

I didn't have very much of the fabric left that the tote bag was made out of so I had to use small pieces. Then I added the embroidered bird on the front flap. I think it ties the front to the back a little better, and makes the front not so plain. It really was stinkin cute!! Hope she enjoys it. From what I hear she carries the tote bag to work every day :)

Much Love~
Meredith

A Winter Wreath

My bro-in-law has been giving me grief over my fall wreath on my door. Seriously, the DAY after Thanksgiving he was wanting to know where my Christmas wreath was. Sheesh, cut a girl some slack would ya??

So I had a lack of creativity on this one. I'm not entirely happy with it, but we're gonna roll with it just for the sake of having a wreath on the door :)

I used the crochet snowflakes I made a couple weeks ago.

I also used the wreath trick I wrote about last month. It took me approximately 6 minutes to wrap this whole wreath! Woot!


So that's it, a winter wreath!

Much Love~
Meredith

Felt Flower Tutorial

I had a request to show how I made the flowers I put on my fall wreath

Start with a strip of felt about 2 inches wide and the length of one of those felt sheets you can buy at the craft store

Fold it in half and hot glue just along the edge

Then make cuts about 1/4 inch wide along the folded edge. I cut about 1/4 inch from the hot glued edge.

Roll it up and hot glue the end

 Turn it over and fluff!

To make the ones that look like these...

....cut the slits at a slight angle

I also tried one where I gradually make the slits wider as a worked down my trip. It turned out like star looking flower.

They are pretty stinkin easy to make. And seriously take like 5 minutes tops.

Experiment!

Much Love~
Meredith

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

via

10 Things I am thankful for:

*The most loving supportive husband a gal could have

*A step-daughter, who at times I clash with, is still a blessing

*A great family who would do anything for us

*A nice place to call Home

*Bills that are paid for and a cushion in the bank account :)

*Chocolate

*My puppy dog...she sure makes me smile

*The one person who is always your friend no matter what...Jamie

*My general health

*The internet, because I would be bored without it

What are you thankful for??

Hope everyone enjoys the day. Spend it with whomever you call family!

Much Love~

Meredith