Canvas painting

We enjoy being crafty and creative to the extent that I am capable and do you know what we have come to love around here?

Painting canvases!

My boys are both incredible painters {if I may say so}.  Seriously, they are so good at swiping dots into masterpieces!!!  And it's easy and cheap to make for presents or new decorations around the house.  In fact, several rooms in our home have handmade canvas paintings.  I will also add that painting is extremely fun and relaxing to do yourself.  Get an extra canvas for yourself and paint with your kids -- or alone in the evenings!

Here is what you'll need:
*a canvas or two {or however many you want to create}
*acrylic paint.
*a cheap set of paint brushes.
*some newspaper {for laying the canvases on}
*a good attitude and a sense of humor

An easy way to let your child paint is to simply "dot" the paint into a pattern on the canvas.  I usually just do 4-6 dots across and the same down and let the boys swipe the brush as they wish {"aaaaasssssss yooouuuuu wiiiissshhhhh"...come on!}

We made a few paintings for Christmas presents and just recently made two for our new nephew/cousin that should be here in July.  The boys wanted to do something special for him and this was a great way to let them be creative and help decorate ;)

Here are a few that we've made:

Side note: you can add little things to make them more personal or special.  Cutting out a letter or animal {say, a bird} from scrapbook paper and using mod podge to glue it on is so cute!  You could use white paint and add a hand or foot print.  The list goes on and on...just have fun and don't be stressed about the paint :)

For my bedroom...

I love this print. You can find it here, on etsy. I think I'm addicted to looking for great prints on etsy. So. much. time. wasted.

But, really, I think I'm going to buy this and hang it in our bedroom. Patrick and I, since always, have told one another, "you're my favorite thing." And it's true. He is my favorite thing. And my favorite person.

I have the perfect place for it in our room. And I think it would be divine to see it every day, just for a sweet reminder: Patrick is my very favorite person, and I am his.

I love that!

Kitchen love..

I love really fabulous, cute things. I love them even more if they can go into my kitchen! And the thing is, anthropologie has some really fantastic things floating around their site.

And when I say "fantasic", I mean "I should have these things absolutely immediately."

Just take a look for yourself!

The cutest of this dish towel is beyond words...and there are birds on it.

How could you not want to bake with then sweet babies?
This bowl! Mainly, the one on the bottom. With the red swirls. I.love.it.

I kind of want to order 12 of these and make them my new curtains. I would also settle for one or two to hang on my stove...
This is not all that I enjoy! There is so much to look at! But, alas, these wonderful things will not be in my kitchen. I'm sticking to a budget around here. Someday, maybe, but not today...or really this month. :)

By all means, though, browse around yourself, you'll be glad you did.

Kitchen deco...

So, I've decorated my green kitchen. I'm by no means a good decorator, but here I am exposing my sense of style to the blog world. The bare green was starting to get to me, so I needed to get on the decorating ball before I felt like I was cooking inside a green bean.

Let's start with the plates. Joy of all joy. I love these plates. When they were arrived at my house (I may or may not have been waiting anxiously, by the door, all day for the UPS man to come) and the box was open, one of the plates was cracked! The horror! I emailed heliotrope right away and they were so awesome to send me another one to replace it. Thanks, heliotrope, for making my decorating dreams come true!

Anways, Target only had three plate hangers. Now I must wait until next week to hang the fourth plate. Impatience is a strong quality of mine. So I obviously hung three plates today.


I made framed art, on the cheap, by cutting up a (beloved) dish towel I had. I bought black 8x10 frames at Walmart (for $3) and got to it. I'm pleased with how they came out. Although, if I could change one thing it would be that the frames would be smaller. Oh well.

While at Walmart, I was browsing the sheets. And then I saw them. Stripped sheets. In the very colors that I wanted to make curtains. So I bought a full sized flat sheet (for $6) in this lovely, colorful stripe. I just had to cut, measure and sew. A bonus: some of the edges are already done because it's a sheet! Brilliant, me!
Here is a expanded view of the eating area. I have not sewn the curtains yet. Maybe I'll have time tomorrow.


And here is the kitchen window with curtain. The trim work is brought to you by the fine workmanship of Walmart sheet makers. Plus, I wanted you to see this badly enough that I didn't even do the dishes in the sink before taking the picture. Real life, baby! And there you have it!

Wall art

Love, love, love these paintings. I found them at heliotrope. It's a store in GA and they had some GREAT things! (I got the song bird plates there) They are a little over my budget right now, but I know just where I would hang these babies!

Song birds!

So, we painted our kitchen. Wait. First you should know that I have the most incredible and patient husband. Okay, now I was telling you about the kitchen.

It use to be dark brown. It made the kitchen look so small! I went to Lowe's and picked out a yellow that I thought would look great. We primed and painted and I didn't love the yellow at all. I mean, it was nice. But it wasn't - it.

I've been agonizing over the color of our kitchen for weeks. We went to Home Depot tonight and I found a color I really liked. When it came out a lot brighter than I hoped, the wonderful woman added more color to it to make the paint darker. You know what? It's perfect!

Now, it's a big step for me. My kitchen is now green. Note: it looks quite lime in this picture. I don't think it looks lime in real life. Although, I'm still in shock. Don't listen to a thing I say about color.

Oh boy. That's your sneak peek. I'm not sure if I love it yet. It makes me nervous. But it makes me really excited all at the same time. I immediately got online to see if I could find something to decorate and put on these grassy walls. Of course I found a thousand things I like. But these plates, well I had to have them...I love little birds. Plus, these plates incorporate all the colors in my kitchen. I think they'll be a great addition to the walls. I also have a cloth napkin that I got years ago (and now I want several, but alas I only have one) that I'm going to cut into squares and frame. Instant art!

I'll keep you updated on this crazy color and the decorations that go with it. Until then, I think I need to recover from the shock. I can't believe I just painted the kitchen pea green!!!

Wanted: Interior Decorator

I have been sensing my decorating style changing since we've moved. I have an awesome idea of what things will look like in my head and then I try to do it and I fail. I can never get it just the way I want. Also, I would need a lot more money than I get per month (for decorations and such) to do this transformation. If only I had someone to tell me what to do, for free! :)

Anyways, I think I'm going from a "country" style to a more vintage, cozy, classy style. And I decided to start in our bedroom. First, I went to Ross and got a mirror and a few picture frames. I bought a few prints in Paris of, well, Paris and framed those, along with a few edited pictures from France. I'm liking where I'm going with this theme.

I've had my eye on this comforter from Macy's. I liked the blues and patterns and thought I should add some color to our bedroom. I've been waiting and waiting to buy it and it's on sale. I was going to get it online, but I went to the site yesterday and it was regular price. Boo, Macy's! Since I was out today, I thought I would stop by the local Macy's and see if it was on sale there. Yes, it was!

I looked at it and thought about it. I contemplated waiting. I made nice with the sales lady and talked to her about my new decorating ideas. I bought it.

Even though it was on sale, it was a little more than I would like to pay. When she was checking me out, I asked if there was another discount she could offer me. When she suggested a credit card, I kindly declined and told her we don't use credit cards but I would still like a discount. She walked away and came back with a coupon for 15% off. "I found this in the back. Let's try it." Awesome and it worked! Not only did I get the sale price, but another 15% off that! I love that I'm not afraid to ask for something better! The worst they can say is no and it's always worth it!

Anyways, now all I have to do it paint the bedroom and hang everything on the wall and our bedroom will be complete. For a mere $230 (this includes the paint price) I have changed our room. Now, all I need is a queen size iron bed frame and I'm done! :)

P.S. I took the "What's Your Decorating Style" in Real Simple. To find out your style, go here and take the quiz!

New (to us) table...

As I previously mentioned, a friend was giving away her dining set and we gladly offered to take it. We're doing good so far on dining room tables. We bought our first one at Ikea, which is now in our rental house. Our second table was a hand-me-down from Kent (previously from Jason & Cindy) and lasted us a while and saw us through a lot of family meals, holiday dinners and parties galore :) It now resides with some friends. They live up the street, so we can visit it if we miss it.

Our third table, also a hand-me-down, is more of a "grown up" table if you ask me. Our friend gave us the matching buffet too, which is wonderful and we're very thankful. There are a few bumps and knicks on the table and chairs, but it's in good condition. The only thing we had to do was reupholster the chairs.

Patrick is a whiz at handy things like this and took this little project and ran with it. I must say he did a fabulous job reupholstering! We picked out similar fabric (we had no clue! ha!), so the before and after are pretty telling. I'm so pleased with our new dining room set!

Oval table, six chairs and a buffet...
Close up of the buffet...

The before and after of the chairs...
Cute picture of my baby, for good measure... (Patrick put this hat on him)
My men. So precious! Also for good measure...

Being crafty...

Since we don't have much of a "theme" for the nursery, it's been hard to think about what to put on the walls. I wanted something that would match somewhat with the quilt and bummer we got from ::sigh of contentment:: Land of Nod.

(The mentioned quilt and bumper that I love dearly!)

I decided in my head about two weeks ago that I would make something to put on the walls. After thinking about this a little longer I realized how silly that was seeing that I have a low artistic ability. Either way, I went for it. I wandered around Michael's with an idea and no direction. The helpful (and I assume artistic) associate was kind enough to point me in the right direction and gave me some helpful advice and encouragement. The best thing she said, "He won't notice this thing until he's probably 5. And then, he won't care much." I suppose she was right. I'm honestly doing this more for me and the desire to make the baby's room precious.

Moving on. I bought a blank canvas and some acrylic paint pens and went to town. I used a piece of cardboard for my rough draft and then worked up the nerve to put it on the real thing. I'm pleased enough with how it came out (as in enough not to redo it) and notice the little mistakes here and there. But little hand made mistakes are really not mistakes, but personality and love :) (please agree with me...)

(The said purchased tools)

This little canvas painting will go over the crib (I think) and I'll be sure to post some pictures when the nursery is all said and done. Oh, and Benjamin is the name we've agreed on. Benjamin Patrick McBride. I love the way it sounds and even like Ben as a nickname. When it came down to it, we agreed on three boy names and Benjamin was the only one we could see fitting our little guy.

Christmas time is here....

Over the weekend, Patrick and I put up our Christmas tree. On Friday the guys went shooting, so I took advantage of the time alone and put up our Christmas decorations. On Saturday, we went to the farm and searched for the perfect tree. It took a while because I was slightly picky about the size this year. It appeared and we chopped it down and carried it back to Patrick's truck.

I love decorating the tree. It's always been something Patrick and I enjoy doing together and it's a great tradition to carry on through the years. We make hot chocolate, listen to Christmas music and talk about our ornaments. From our very first trip together (as in, the honeymoon), we've bought a Christmas ornament. So there is one from Europe, Cape Cod, Texas, Tortola... you get the idea :) It always makes for a fun time to remember those trips and the awesome things we've done together!

Anyways, here are some pictures of our tree decorating time!

Patrick bringing the tree in...

Please don't make fun of the fact that I look like the hunchback of Notre Dame. I just love decorating the tree and stood in a terrible position for the picture :)
Patrick is also enjoying hanging bulbs on the tree...apparently.
Bringing in the hot chocolate!
The finished product!
Us, sitting on the couch, admiring our freshly decorated tree...
A final picture. Looking at the tree from the couch. I really should have stood up to get the whole tree :)

Creative me...

I like creating things, as I'm sure most of you know. I'm not wonderful at creating anything, but I think I can create a lot of things well. So, I took it upon myself to make baby shower invitations for my friend's shower (that I am hosting).

Ah. I have never hated my computer, until today. I am not computer savvy. I am not a techie, if you will. I am a low maintenance, email checking, internet browsing kind of gal. I don't use these extra programs often. I use Word to write things, make a few things and that's about all.

I used Word to create the invitation. I think I should have taken an "idiot's guide to making things in Word" tutoriol before attempting the craziness of inivation making. The Final product (after about three different ones) is, sadly, being printed on regular paper because it's Sunday afternoon and nothing is open. Oh well. People will come anyways, I hope :)

Also, I would be more than happy to share the glory of my first baby shower invite, but I have no clue how to put it on blogger. If anyone does know how, I'll gladly accept advice and then attempt the attachment :)

Kitchen fun!

Are you so tired of reading about my kitchen? It's really my favorite place in our house. I love being in there and I love what I can do in there. I think it's true that the kitchen is the heart of the home.

My kitchen cart came yesterday. I had no patience in waiting for Patrick to get home from work to assemble it, so I did it myself. I took a short break to go to a spinning class, then came home and finished up. I'm so pleased with how nice it looks in our kitchen. It's also very nice to have organized, handy cupboards. Everything is where I want it (for now) and I'm very excited about that!

Here are some pictures of the cart residing in it's new location!

I love how it's the perfect size for this location. Plus, I had just the right things to go on top! Yeah!

An open cupboard view. It's nice to have my small appliances within grasp. Before I would have to go to the hutch or fight my way through tupperware to get to them.

I think I'm done for a while. I've pretty much finished what I wanted to accomplish this year...haha...just kidding. However, throughout this week I have organized the kitchen, office, attic, guest bedroom and all the closets in the house. I'm so thrilled to get this year off to a very clean and organized start. Here's to a whole year of cleanness and organization!

Back to the kitchen...

I put the cabinet doors back on. I agree with all your comments and appreciate your willingness to be honest. It was a fun moment in time, but it really didn't achieve what I wanted in the kitchen: clean, clutterless, functional organization. (that's not too demanding, right?) So I rearranged a few cupboards and I am looking forward to a new kitchen arrival tomorrow: a kitchen island "cart".

Patrick and I have been talking about adding another "section" of cabinets and counter top to the kitchen. Currently, there is one little "section" of cupboards that about a foot wide and has one cupboard and one drawer. It's not too helpful, but I need all I can get so I use it. Beside this section is an apple table. The previous owners left this thing when they moved out. I've kept it there because I didn't have anything else and it provided space to put things. The table has two little stools that have been great for climbing on and getting into the higher cupboards :) Needless to say, I don't love this area of the kitchen and it's not helpful at all.

On Saturday, I spent hours at Lowe's looking for drawer and cupboard organizers. I wanted to get a few wire backet "drawers" for the cupboards. I bought some and came home to install, when I realized that nothing fit (I even measured before I left) the right way. Discouraged I returned everything and realized that I had spent almost $200 to organize two cupboards and a drawer. I knew there had to be a better way. So I searched online for some ideas.

To install a larger "section" of cabinets in the kitchen it would cost $150, plus the countertop. Total with all the fixures and such would be $300-450. I didn't feel like this way the most efficent or wise choice that this point. Sure, we save up for house maintence every month, but to toss it all into this small section didn't seem like the best option.

Then I found the kitchen carts. I felt like this would be a great option if it had a few major things: Drawers, cupboards, storage area, flat surface on top for extra counter space and the correct dementions. I looked at a few stores in Indiana and found one larger one with only drawers and then several very small carts. I looked a few sites and found this one:

Not only was this little beauty on sale, but is being shipped for free! I love the little open area in the center. A perfect place for my essential baking items that are out on a daily basis. Also, having this cart grace the presence of my kitchen offers me more room to keep all my kitchen things in my, well, kitchen and not in the dining room hutch. I'm excited to see how this thing looks in my kitchen (it's coming tomorrow!).

So, I got the cart for $237. I felt like this was a decent splurge. I didn't get the biggest and best, but I did get a very quality item that meets all my criteria perfectly! I can take this thing with us when we move, or leave it for the next family. Best of all, the little section of cupboard will go in the basement for much needed storage space and the apple table will make it's way to the attic guest bedroom! What a perfect way to save money - using things we already have!

So many things...

Ok, since one of my 2008 "goals" was to get more organized, I must have convinced myself that "organized" meant re-doing our bathrooms and moving everything else is the house around. I'm sure Patrick must be scared to come home because everyday I find a new project.

Let me start here: The upstairs bathroom. It's pretty big and use to be three shades of green with a frog border. It was like that when we got here and I saw no need to start on it right away. Well, boredom struck and it was the best option for change. Here are some pictures of the transformation...

I had to tear off the border, then clean the walls, then start painting. This was quite a chore!

After I had the bottom painted and the top trimmed. To save money, I just used colors we already had from painting the bedrooms.
Almost done! The last thing I did was the trim...which I really should have done first.
Tada! I'm not really sure I like the "red" in here. It matches our shower curtain, but came out a little more mauve than I would have liked. The lighting makes a huge difference (the Guest bedroom looks a lot more brick reddish)... We'll see.

Moving to the downstairs bathroom. I don't have any before pictures to show you, but I'm still thinking of ways to make this newly blue room and pleasant place to sit...

New blue, called Pale Flowers. I really like the color and it helps this small bathroom feels less bland, for sure. I bought the cute pic at Michaels and also bought new towel and toilet paper holders, for a fresher look.

Now I just need something for the wall by the sink, just for calming sake. This blue can be pretty overwhelming if you don't tame it!

Lastly, and most importantly, my biggest struggle. To door, or not to door... That is the question. I saw a picture of Martha Stewart's kitchen and she has cupboard's without doors! Sure, she's Martha and can do anything and it looks good. Sooooooo, I thought since I'm Ashley I would try it and hope it looks good :) I wanted to open up our little kitchen (the kitchen is by far one of the toughest rooms to organize and keep practical - I'm in it all the time, so I need to to be functional over cute), but this question arises: Does open in this situation also mean cluttered? I want open, but not to sacrifice the organization (hello, purpose in doing all of this!). Be honest and let me know what you think. Patrick hates it, but it's growing on me....

Waaaaaaay before. This is a picture from when we first looked at the house. Notice all the doors on the cupboards, please.

Couldn't find too many kitchen pictures. Not a great one, but serves it's purpose.
New Kitchen without cupboards. Maybe I should put one back? All? I just don't know.

A little closer look. What do you think?

I suppose I should busy myself with things outside of the house for a while, or we may not have much of a house left!