Mod Podge Wall Hooks

I cannot make a trip to Hobby Lobby without checking out every clearance isle. It just so happens that every isle is a clearance isle, which is why trips to Hobby Lobby should be solo trips. I made the mistake of taking the monkey boy with me on my last trip, and as miserable as it was, I was still able to come home with a few good deals. I was only able to hit one of the yellow tag isles (not to be confused with the measley 50% off isles) We're talking big savings. Huge savings. Even for cheapos like me.

Here was my find of the day for a whopping $1.36 each. (normally $3.99 each)
I bought 8.



Yeah, so they're a little boring, but look at those smooth lines and flat surfaces. What could be more perfect for a little Mod Podge Project! Better yet, one the kids can be a part of. And Ashley has been telling me she needs wall hooks for her jackets for what...a year now?? I took the kiddos back to the Hobb and let them pick out scrapbook paper for their hooks, a few embellishments to finish them off and VOILA!



I made these guys for the den in the basement. These pictures really don't do them justice. I used textured scrapbook paper, and the black is all sparkles.





And of course, these are Ashley's creations. Again, it's hard to tell, but both patterns are textured paper.







The monkey boy made this one with a little help from monkey mom. The letters on the ribbon are sliders and can be moved to any position. Alex LOVES this!

Transformations

Challenge #1: Out with the 80's

This bathroom is a very good representation of what the rest of our house looked like when we first moved in four years ago. Had I documented the REAL transformation from day 1, you'd see iradescent blue and pink wall paper with 8 inch flowers lining the remainder of the walls.
Gag. Me.
The wallpaper was one of the first things to go when we first moved in. Now we are left with brown, brown and more brown.

Here's a before...had I thought about documenting this prior to starting the project you could actually see the cabinets ON the walls, but hey, I've started and that's what matters, right? So here we have floor to ceiling (very low ceiling I might add) cabinets, in 1980's honey oak brown. Extremely well made cabinets, with MUCH potential. I had already removed the top cabinets in this picture so you're seeing the inside. The bottom cabinets have already been removed as well, but I realized I should probably get them in the picture for good measure. (Check out that awful hardware and hideous wall paper!!)

I decided paint wouldn't be enough for this small space, so I decided we needed to remove the upper doors to open up the bathroom a little. Mark added the beadboard walls and trim, spray painted the brassy hardware black and I sanded, primed and painted everything. I ended up using two coats of primer and two coats of paint. I used Behr Cottage White in Semigloss. For the doors and level surfaces I added Paint Easy to the paint (not to the primer) to eliminate any brush marks. This added more time and effort because I really had to watch for drips, but the finished product was soooo worth that extra effort. Brush marks?? What brush marks??



Instead of buying a new TP holder to replace what appears to be the original TP holder from the 80's, I had Mark spray paint the wood pieces. Instead of leaving good enough alone, I decided to use a little toile scrapbook paper and some Mod Podge to finish off the look. I'm still not sure about it, but it will do for now.



Everything on the shelves were items I already owned but dressed up a little. EXCEPT for the black metal frame. I found that at Hobby Lobby on the clearance shelf for $4.76 (Normally $13.99). The tall candle was a candle that I've had for 10 years (I think it was a wedding gift) and have never used, I wrapped it with a 12x12 sheet of scrapbooking paper and added a the green ribbon for a splash of color.
The black metal piece on the top shelf was something I bought at Hobby Lobby a few years back, it was antique white and framed...the frame was chipped. The 8 year old removed the frame, and Mark spray painted it black.

I am currently working on fixing up a serving tray that I found at Goodwill which will be added to the shelf to add in a little color.

Next on the agenda is a new drop in sink, bead board walls and popcorn removal. Yeah, I probably should have done the popcorn removal FIRST, but where's the challenge in THAT??

Blog Design

Here are some of the Blog Design tips that I have found VERY useful....

• Create your own scrapbook backgrounds - @ Kevin and Amanda
• Navigation bar - an incredible video tutorial. - @ Pixel Boutique
• Add a signature to every blog post - @ Kevin and Amanda
• How to use a cute font for post titles - @ Kevin and Amanda
• Photo Editing - Download Gimp (It's FREE, It's AMAZING!) - @ Gimp
• How to get a 3 column template - @ The Cutest Blog on the Block
• How to change the font - @ The Cutest Blog on the Block
• How to make a favicon - @ The Pixel Boutique
• How to make a button with a grab box - @ The Cutest Blog on the Block
• How to remove border lines in your header - @ The Cutest Blog on the Block

(I really feel like I should carve out a little corner on my home page to dedicate as a shrine to Amanda because of the ginormous amout of time I have spent on her site. She is A-mazing!  Seriously. Amazing. I have actually caught myself on several occasions with jaw hanging open while reading her stuff, no joke.)

About Jamie

Hi there!  I'm Jamie, 32 year old mother of two kiddos. Ashley, my down to earth glamour girl is 13 and Alex, my spunky motor mouth boy is 8.  I'm happily married to my very best friend, Mark who works from home for Apple Computer.  I work part time as a CAD Technician in the Land Surveying field and really enjoy what I do.  In fact, most days I actually look forward to working.  Outside of work I enjoy thrifting, photography, yard work, thrifting, home improvement projects, geocaching and thrifting.  Yes, I have a bit of a thrift addiction, but like I tell my husband, it's OK, I'm SAVING us money!  Fortunately, he agrees and appreciates my nack for finding a good deal.  I was raised by thrifty mom, a mom I swore I'd never be as frugal as... and while I'm not as frugal, I'm pretty darn close.  I have been blogging for about 9 years now, but just recently decided to start a new blog documenting my adventures in updating our 1980's honey oak home in a smallish town just north of Austin, Texas.
I am already discovering all of the fabulous pay offs that blogging my home improvement projects provides.  I have met some incredibly talented ladies and have found so many SWEET craft ideas that I can't wait to tackle...not to mention my fiendish need to create JUST so I can document.  Now that was something I didn't expect!   


Why Soul Snacks? 
I have found that I'm happiest when I'm creating. I believe creating is essential to the human experience and in essence, feeds the soul.


Thanks for checking me out!

Pool Update

Post #401. So, I'm trying to come up with a funny way to include my latest endeavor of chopping down a tree (ie: POST)...but for some reason it's just not that funny. I'll 86 the atempt at humor and just cut to the chase.

The pool guy came out today and spray painted the shape of our pool in the precise location...which we are just exstatic about...so that the machinery and worker guys can come dig our swimmin hole tomorrow. It turns out that the edge of our pool came about 6 inches from a 8" diameter oak tree. Sad as it is, it had to go. After borrowing the "chainsaw-on-a-stick" from Grams' house and being lectured on making sure someone was watching me work (in case I chop off a limb or something, there has to be SOMEONE to acurately tell my story to the Darwin Award folks) I found myself on the second story deck, atop the ladder, reaching for the ridicuously high branches of this 20-ish foot tree. Once I figured out that I couldn't hold this thing up, AND pull the trigger unassisted, I employed my darling daughter to assist me in my attempted suicide. Picture me, on a second story deck, on ladder, holding the middle of the 10 foot chainsaw-on-a-stick, while I yell "NOW" and she pulls the triger. Yeah, probably not my most intelligent stunt, but hey, we got the branches down that we were after and managed to avoid injury.
But that was just the beginning.
We made our way down to the yard and pondered what we were about to embark upon...wondering if this is a job that maybe we should just leave for Mark...in fact those were my darling daughters exact words.
Nah, we can do it.
Up goes the chainsaw-on-a-stick, me in the front, child labor in the back...
"NOW!"
Slowly, the chainsaw-on-a-stick works its way through the "what appears to be a not so big limb, but is actually quite huge" limb, and eventually, a massive limb comes crashing down with an incredible thud! Mind you, this "limb" is probably ten times bigger than the TREES at our last house. Ashley and I look at each other with a look as if to say "HOLY CRAP"...although neither of us speaks a word. We just stand there with huge eyes wondering what on earth we've gotten ourselves in to.
We spend the next 15 minutes cutting it in to smaller managable pieces (once again me in the front, child labor on trigger duty), and wow, we're done with half the tree. At some point we realized that looking up in to flying shards of wood chips probably wasn't the best idea, so we dug up some protective eye gear and got back to work.
We went through two massive limbs, and an 8ish foot tall trunk in about 45 minutes, including clean up. I was so proud of my girl, never once complaining, even with her friend Ava staring in horror, shock, or possibly just complete pity.
What a good girl I have, she even helped drag off the logs without me even asking.

I think I'll reward her efforts with a pool. I think that sounds fair, don't you think?

Dad, I can see you shaking your head in horror as you read this. I promise, I won't do it again. ;)

Bathroom Remodel Back in BLACK!

So, now that school is over, and I have time on my hands, I decided to tackle the master bath cabinets. It's funny, our bathroom remodel has been complete for quite some time now, but in our minds it hasn't been 'complete'. It's incredible what a little bit of paint can do. Our cabinets were all 80's and the rest of the bathroom up to date. Something had to be done. Sooo, after half a quart of Sherwin Williams Black, a nice little sanding block to antique a few edges here and there, and some bronzy spray paint to cover the ugly 1984 brassy handles, we have a kick ass bathroom. Next is the powder room cabinets and then I'm on to the kitchen. Somebody stop me!!!

Rock On!

Some pictures of my latest project designed to prevent runoff from washing my beds away...and hopefully once I add plants will be asthetically appealing as well.