Yes, We're in the Mafia

Last night I threw Robin a birthday party. My good friend Traci's birthday was yesterday, so we made it a joint party! It was also kind of a house warming/summer kickoff type event. And you know what that means!? Our house remodel is done!!!  You have no idea how much of a relief it is:) I will be posting pictures soon of the transformation! Now to the good stuff.

The party was Mafia themed. That's right. Here are some great moments captured on camera.

The Ladies.

With the addition of a few late comers and...Steve? Steve. You're attire isn't feminine enough to qualify you for appearance in this photo.

Robin, Luke, and Kyle. Luke is making me a tad uncomfortable...

Nate (wearing his best dress shoes:), Charlie, Robin, and Steve. Again with the leg lift...they were taking too many pointers from the ladies.

The whole crew. Yep, we're cool like that.

My attempt at hurriedly decorating a birthday cake. Luckily Traci and Robin were both turning 27:) And those are roses. Not blood. Don't judge me.

Me, Leslie, and Traci. Don't you love our guns? This is probably the only time you'll ever see Leslie holding one...that's because it's of the water variety:)

One more smile for the camera to end a great night!

About 11 or so, we decided it would be fun to go down to The Rope (local bar pretty much in my back yard) and shoot some pool. You should have seen the looks we got when we walked in.  Everyone loved it so much that they started playing swing music for us to dance to :) It was quite fun. I definitely recommend a costume party. Consider our house warmed.

Painted End Table

My little sister was saying the other day that she really needed another end table for beside her bed. So, me being me, I said I had one that I could paint for her. Yes people, I do this to MYSELF. Her bedroom is is Yellow & Gray, so I decided to paint it to match.

Here is the BEFORE:

Not anything fancy...Robin's mom just gave it to me:) It's unfinished wood. Bella likes to pose in my pictures...

And here's the AFTER:

So pretty, right? So here's how I did it:

1. WIPE it down! Really well. If you miss some dirt, the spray paint will not dry well and it will look speckle-y. 

2. Use a spray primer. I used Rust-O-Lium, but I actually prefer KILZ. If you want to be super lazy, Krylon makes a "No-Prime" spray paint, but I think it's still safer to use a primer.

3. Krylon white spray paint! I love it! It gives GREAT coverage. Make sure to do THIN coats. It's better to have to do more coats than have drips.

4. I taped off some random lines on the top and alternated painting them black and gray.

Like so.

5. Painted the front section yellow.

6. Added yellow dots to the far right gray section.

7. Polyurethane. Because I used acrylic paint (it was what I had), I decided it needed a topcoat. This will prevent chipping, scratching, etc. They make spray versions of it, but I had a quart of brush-on so that's what I used.  

TA-DA! Done. It only took about 2 hours, but that's only due to spray paint drying time.

P.S. If you love reading my blog, go ahead and hit the FOLLOW button! I'd pretty much love you for it! Not even pretty much. I just would. 

A crap-ton of projects

Oh man peeps. I have had about a million things going on in my life this month. I have so many, SO MANY I TELL YOU projects in the works...hence the absence from blogging.

We are remodeling the upstairs of our house this month and trying to do it very quickly! I have set us a deadline of May 29 Robin's Mafia Themed Birthday Party and I am sincerely hoping it's done. Today is actually Robin's birthday. I got him a tie. I know it's boring, but the man is impossible to shop for. So he gets a nice green striped tie.

Here are a few random things that I have been up to lately:

This is a painting I did yesterday. It's for a dear friend that is moving to the Dominican Republic to teach! So she will always remember our beautiful mountains:)

I lettered this chalkboard for some good friends that opened a new restaurant (Punky's Smokehouse BBQ). I used chalk markers...they're the bomb.com. No smears!

I painted this mural for my sweet friend Lacee. She is having a baby girl in a little over a week!

This is also her changing table. I just painted it pink and then mod-podged some fabric and trim on the top and front. SO cute in the nursery!

A dear friend and I were forced into volunteered to help renovate and revamp the 3-5 yr. old sunday school room at our church.  It is a "Colorado Cabin" theme...so cute.  This is the only picture that I snapped, but it came out stinkin awesome! These are the tree stump tables that I painted in various stages of completion. I'll try to post some of the finished room soon. 

I finally sat down and got a sewing lesson from my mom! A friend had given me her old sewing machine, and I had never even opened it until this past week. I have so many projects requiring spray paint at the moment, and when it snowed last week (in May, I might add) I decided it was time! This pillow was the byproduct. For a tutorial on how to make it (It's a removable pillowcase type thing...washable!) visit THIS SITE. 

My mom was the mastermind behind the ruched embellishment, and I think I would be horrible at explaining it, so...I won't;) Sorry, but if I tried, you wouldn't get it anyway. I'm that bad.

These are my new dining chairs (sitting on my turf. I know you're jealous)! That's right people. I am going to have a dining room! I give you permission to do a celebratory dance move. Go ahead, you know you want to.

This is what they looked like BEFORE:

I only have 2 done, and I have 6 more to go...some aren't pictured. If you look closely you can see the finery that is the palm tree fabric. Why did I ever think they needed a makeover? For a tutorial on reupholstering chairs, visit VINTAGE REVIVALS. Which is coincidentally my favorite blog ever. The chair in her post is a lot more difficult (not just a seat) but I think she gives some good pointers.

So this is just a sneak peek at the scheme of my soon to be dining room:) Stay tuned for the final product! 

I made this wreath for my mom for mother's day. I think it turned out cute and was super cheap. Plus it's homemade...mom's love that crap. I'm pretty sure she still has stuff that I made her from the 2nd grade. 

I just took a wreath form that I bought at a thrift store ($.25) and wrapped it in cream colored yarn ($3). Then I added hot-glued fabric rosettes on it (which I made out of scrunchies from Family Dollar), and then stamped 'happiness' on some cardstock and glued that on the bad boy too. Super easy!

Also, I started a pantry redo. This is the before shot. Please excuse me while I go cry in the corner.

I haven't finished it yet, so this is all you get for now...but let me just tell you...IT'S AMAZING!!

WHEW! I told you I have been busy! 

P.S. If you love reading my blog, don't forget to hit the follow button! I'd pretty much love you for it. Not even pretty much. I just would. 

Winner, winner, chicken dinner.

But this is so much better than chicken dinner. Does it taste like chicken? No. It tastes like the BEST MOST EPIC GIVEAWAY EVER. EVER. And I want to be the winner. I might even get Robin to cook me some chicken.












That's right peeps. Mandi from Vintage Revivals could come HERE and help give my house a makeover. Talk about exciting.

Our cute little house.

Our Turf. For which my blog was named.

Oh, and Bella.

So my dearest Mandi, This is the room that I want to makeover.

Our future living Room AKA Mandi's project!

There are 4 big pieces of furniture in this one little corner...

You might be thinking to yourself, "Self, why does this woman's bedroom look like a thrift store?" Well until our bedroom gets moved upstairs, none of this furniture has a home. Some might see it as crap, but I know that if you are a fan of Vintage Revivals, you will fully appreciate all of its' potential!

You also might be confused because it looks like a bedroom. Well, it's about to become my living room.  For lack of funds to renovate the upstairs, our bedroom took up residence in the living room. This pushed our living room into the entry/what we think should be a dining room. Don't ask, this house is weird. That's what you get when your home was built in 1882:)

Upstairs in progress! Hooray! 

On to all of the crap  treasures that I can't wait to redo/use in this makeover!

Can you say gorgeous!?!

Thrift store- $20

My mirror collection just itching to throw itself on a wall.

This sweet trunk! 

Goodwill- $10

My copy-cat-ed-Mandi's-credenza credenza

See the post HERE.

It's being under-utilized and stuffed behind other furniture.

These absolutely amazingly vintage chairs! I also have the table in storage.

This makeshift bookshelf I painted.

Great pair of chairs just begging to be painted and reupholstered. 

The Bee (Thriftstore)--$10/each

This desk. I love the detail on the top (part of it's covered, but you can see the twisty's on the right)

Thrift store--$20

I'm planning on sticking this in my craft corner. What? Did I say craft corner?! I never thought the day would come!!

The following are pictures of our current living room, just so you can get an idea of some of the things we have to work with. 

See the brown throw pillow on the right? This is what it's hiding...

That's a patch the size of Colorado. Hole under it courtesy of Bella. 

She has since grown out of that phase.

Reasons Mandi would love coming to see me:

• Buena Vista, CO is beautiful.  What an amazing destination!

No, this is not from a magazine...I snapped this baby.

• I do hair. Mandi, I will hook you up!
• I need some major motivation! My house could be uber awesome with your help!!!
• I have some TO DIE FOR CRAP that could be fantastic
• I don't have any super cute kids to bribe you with like some of the contestants, but I am an aspiring mother. So this is what our future baby might look like...

"Pick my future mom!"

Wow. Kinda scary...but truly not as bad as I thought it'd be. Do you see the facial hair on my husband? 

I guess maybe it would have been better to just give you the puppy eyes...

Bella says "vote!"

So what is your job is in this whole shebang? voting! Polls open Sunday, May 1st. Click on the Epic Givaway button above, find my link (#86, which coincidentally means trash) and there will be a star below it for you to cast your vote. 

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!!


Voting Instructions!


1. Click on this big yellow button below.







2. Scroll down to the end of the page (you will see a bunch of thumbnail pics--those are entries) and find my link. I'm #86 Winner, winner, chicken dinner. 
3. Click on the [*vote] symbol below my link! It's that easy! 
You will know your vote has been counted when the page refreshes.
Again...THANK YOU SO MUCH!!

Eyebrows

I find eyebrows fascinating. They can completely change the look of your face. Brows frame your eyes (which apparently are windows to your soul...shouldn't your soul have pretty window treatments? Wow, that was cheesy). I have a few friends that I force to come get their eyebrows shaped by me. (You know who you are;) I love doing it because they leave my chair looking like a totally different person. And it makes them think I'm a total rock-star. Which I am of course.

Now if I could just get them to come see me before they turn back into bushes.