Piano Makeover

My piano Makeover!  Four years ago we inherited Vic's parent's piano that was as beat up as they come.

We 1st left it in the garage so we could refinish it, but it was too intimidating so we finally brought it inside & I always hated what an eye sore it was.  When we moved to Indiana I was determined to leave it in the garage until I refinished it so there it sat the last 9 months. Last week I went to visit teach a family & the little kids were so excited to show off their piano talents that I realized it didn't matter how ugly my makeover turned out to be, I wanted our piano in the house.  I originally planned to sand it down & apply a new stain, but after I started sanding I realized that would take a lifetime so I settled for spray paint!

 Here's a close up of how beat up it was!

 Yup, that is a star engraved right on the front.

I had a really hard time finding someone that didn't pull the entire piano apart so I thought I'd do a quick how to of how I did it.  I read all about spray painting on the All Things Thrifty blog, did a light sanding, taped off the keys & petals, & then primed it with 4 cans of primer.  I can't believe how much better primer covered everything. (You can see in this picture I practiced my final look on the bench first as I was nervous!)

 Then I spray painted it my final color & it looked like a brown blob. I played with the idea of glazing it since that is so trendy right now, but I already had the stain that matches my other furniture so I decided to save $20 & use that. I am happy I did as it gave it a very different look.

 To get that streaky wood grain look I had to use sponges & press down with 3 fingers for every stroke. My hands were very sticky with stain, but I am very happy with the outcome.  Had I known it was going to turn out so well I would have followed the advice to put wood fill in all of the deep gashes & chips to have given it a sleeker  smooth look, but I'm just happy it is sitting in my house without sticking out like a sore thumb!

Where is baby?!

I am 40 weeks today!!! So why am I still posting? ...because I am one of those unlucky girls that get to go over EVERY time! I hate knowing people that had due dates after me & they are already holding their sweet little baby. It's so not fair!! I went to the doctor today & I've started to dilate, but doesn't want to induce me for another week. I can't imagine having to go an entire week longer. yuck. I am officially ready for the baby to come now! I finished my last day of work, did all of my errands, did all of the laundry, & cleaned the house. Now I have nothing to do, but sit & wait!! This is not the most flattering picture, but it is the only profile picture I took this pregnancy. It is a week ago at 39 weeks. I have been busy doing lots of little projects that always seem to take longer than they should! We loved this little moses basket for Tommy & used it a ton as a travel bed everywhere we went. I didn't want to spend another $50 so I decided to recover it to make it girly. Many times I thought it wasn't worth the money, but I'd already bought the fabric so I kept telling myself I had to finish! I'm happy with the results & can't wait to see a precious girl in it!

Then I figured I'd finally get around to finishing Tommy's letters. I painted these circles & put them up before he was born, but I never got around to ordering the vinyl lettering for it so here is the final project after a year!

...and now I can finally post a picture of his finished nursery. (Still no finished room for the little girl to come, maybe next year!)

I love when I see tiny little flowers on headbands for newborns so I decided to make a few of those too. Here is Tommy as my poor model :)

I made MORE bows! haha, I'm obsessed now. It is so much fun to make them! I thought these were fun because you can pick any outfit, go to the fabric store, find a bolt of fabric that matches, & only buy an inch or two for 30cents. Click HERE for the tutorial.

I was so in love with these bows that I made a bunch more & have been enjoying wearing them in my own hair!

Silk & tulle bow Tutorial

I just learned how to make this gorgeous hair bow & thought I'd share :) First cut 3 circles of silk each slightly bigger than the other. Then cut 6 slits almost to the center to create 6 petals. Then shape the petals by cutting the corners off each petal. It'll look kind of square & definitely doesn't need to be symmetric. Now cut 6 strips of tulle a bit longer than the length of the silk circles & tie 3 of them together like below: Then burn the edges of all of the silk flowers to look like this:

Now Layer them biggest silk, tulle, middle silk, tulle, & smallest silk. You can either hot glue or sew them into place. I just used hot glue. Then trim the tulle down to just longer than the silk & burn just the tips.

Add some pearls in the middle & you are done! I can't wait to make a bunch more colors! Here are the few I've done so far: (the purple one is just round circles layered on top of each other with tulle & silk)

St. Patrick's Day Treat

I was reading Holly's blog & saw THIS post and was inspired to make my own St. Patrick's Day treat for a few lucky friends & the girls I visit teach. (I changed the words a little for the girls I visit teach.) Below is a picture of my 'pot of gold' Hershey nuggets & Rolos bag & what I wrote on the inside. It's fun to make friends smile with little treats like this so by sharing I hope it inspires you to make a fun little treat for someone out there :)

April Update: SLC, Seattle, & Idaho Falls Visit

I feel like my head has been absolutely spinning the last month. Last month for Relief Society I organized a baby drive for the hospital. We all got together & learned how to make these adorable booties (plus another 2 baskets full!) I also made some for my sister-in-law's upcoming baby & some in bigger sizes for Tommy. They are so simple, quick, & cute. We made them to be given to every baby born in the Twin falls Hospital.

Then we had people sign up to bring stuff to donate. Each basket had at least 3 outfits, socks, pacifiers, wipes, diapers, & a receiving blanket. I guess because I am a perfectionist, it took me forever to get them all wrapped up cute in the baskets. I wanted to make sure each basket had the same amount of cute outfits, etc. Anyway, I could hardly walk through my kitchen for 2 weeks! These baskets are supposed to go the moms that come through the hospital and have absolutely nothing.

We drove down to SLC to visit my grandma. I love this lady more than any other. I look up to her in a million ways. What I love most about her is her ability to host & make everyone feel welcome & spoil them with love, games, & treats. Also, I think it is great that she respects mine & other religions so much when she doesn't go to church herself. It shows a lot of maturity & love for others when you can show admiration for the different beliefs. Here she is with little Tommy. I think they look alike. 

The next weekend my mom came here & then for Easter we drove to Seattle to visit my brother & his adorable family. Here is a picture of us getting ready to eat Easter dinner. It was of course yummy. I don't remember having twice baked potatoes before, but I loved them.

A bit blurry, but here is my egg from the egg dying. My brother was afraid we'd have too many eggs so he only let the girls dye 1 dozen.... so I only did two, one of which got covered in stickers by the girls :)

These flowers helped bring the Easter spirit. I love fresh flowers. I really should invest in buying them more often to have around the house. I always hope that Vic would just give them to me all the time, but after 4 years of marriage I guess I should figure that isn't about to happen!

Our family right before the big hunt!

Here is a sweet picture of Kara & Tommy in their Easter outfits. My brother's girls always have the most adorable dresses, hats, shoes, & matching gloves! Tommy's cute sweater came with blue pants, but looking back I guess I should have paired it with khaki pants to be snazzier.

Here are the girls doing their hunt.

Here is Tommy checking out his goods. He was very interested in his basket & the bunny sticking out the top. Also, he loves his new rattles the Easter bunny brought :)

It is always a big mess emptying out all of the eggs & baskets, but SO much fun!

...a cute picture of Tommy with his Uncle Ben & Aunt Becky (6 months prego with another girl!).

I didn't take specific 4 month pictures of Tommy, but I happened to take this right around it. I love his personalized towel that our neighbor made for him.

Vic was in Idaho Falls for business so we got to have a super short visit over there & cram in as many visits as we could!!! I started with lunch with my high school girly friends & their kids. Can you believe there are so many kids piled around us. We are getting OLD! ... but I must say I think all my girls are aging BEAUTIFULLY :)

Tommy got a new hat while waiting for Vic doing a business meeting in Pocatello. Isn't it cute?!

After lunch my mom made dinner for us & my step-sister's family. She has twin boys only 4 months older than Tommy. Here are the 3 of them smiling up at Vic. Her boys are rolling all over the place so I had to be quick to try to get this picture of them!

Next we visited my grandma Hill's house & my dad & step-mom met us over there for a quick hello. My dad LOVES grandkids, it's cute.

Then we raced home to see Vic's brother that hasn't been home for 2 years from the Navy. Here is my handsome boys on the way out the door. I love "little man" clothes for babies!

...and a final snapshot of us by the door. Tommy will stare at the camera almost every time, but if someone isn't behind it he won't smile. It's fun to see his wide eyes caught on camera though.

After all of that travel, working full time, doing spring clean up around the house & yard, & training for the triathlon next month, I am exhausted! Tommy goes to bed at 7pm every night & on Monday I just fell asleep with him & didn't wake up until 7am the next day! I wouldn't trade it though. Traveling, being with my sweet boys, playing games with family, & working out is the life for me :)

Fall Crafts

I went to my mom's house for the weekend and my sister, Katie, and I made these sparkle pumkins. They were so easy & add such a fun sparkle to my front room! We just brushed on Elmer's glue & then covered with Martha Stewart glitter. Here is my baby pumpkin set.

...and here is the bigger pumpkin set.

Also, I've been trying to figure out my camera. I still have lots to learn. Here are some pictures I took at the park.

And here are my step-sister's twin boys (about 3 months). They are just too cute & precious! ...and definitely an arm full!

Backyard Makeover

This spring I decided to do a major makeover to our backyard. It all started with the fact that Vic promised me a gazebo with outdoor couches, but I was trying to figure out how to have that, an area to BBQ, & a table in the shade... so this is what we wound up with!

Here is an upclose shot of our wall that took a million loads of dirts, bushes, & plants. You can hardly see the bushes because my flowers are growing so well!

Here is the BEFORE PICTURE taken from the existing deck.

And here is the AFTER PICTURE

Here is how ugly & plain the back of our house looked...
...and the much improved back of the house!
I couldn't play with the backyard & not touch the front so here is the BEFORE

...and here is the AFTER picture.

And last, but not least.... I am so proud to say that the only thing I did for this garden was cut up the grass & put in the retaining wall around the outside. Vic did all of the tilling, planting, & weeding. He loves vegetable gardens & I told him it was all his. I didn't think he'd really do it & he had a late planting start, but it's growing good & I'm so proud of him!