Hello!

Hi there! Sorry, it's been a while. It's been a long week and the weekend always goes by too fast especially when hubs works all day Saturday and we are booked with plans Sundays. The past week has been crazy spent shopping, getting ready for Easter, then L had the flu and that was a huge, HUGE mess this weekend! So I know I have been MIA for quite a while now and it's probably because I am too busy to upload pics and then write a blog or because I have had so many projects going on around the house to tidy up, make our house a "home" and feel more cozy all while watching a little toddler destroy the clean house in the process. Here are some of the things we've been working on...

I started working on a project that we have been wanting to do for so long now... our old ottoman needed a facelift. I bought some awesome fabric that I got a great deal on and I taught myself how to do it the right way thanks to YouTube and Pinterest! I decided that I would do the ottoman two separate patterns and use the excess fabric for pillows! No sew pillows at that. I sure as heck am becoming a great home maker, aren't I?

Here's the Blog - DIY OTTOMAN & PILLOWS (No Sewing Required)

After that was done, I decided to move onto our basement! We need to give it a huge facelift and make it more a family room, playroom, entertaining space. Our basement was like any other; dark, dingy, old, cold, and creepy especially in the dark! So L and I made a trip to Home Depot and grabbed some bright, fun colored paint, called my brother and painted away!

BEFORE:

(don't even look at that mess of a storage room we have... it will get better!)

*This room we haven't touched yet. I need help with some ideas that are inexpensive but will still make this room more efficient. Playroom/Family room/Entertaining area? HELP, we are so lost on whether or not to finish the room, leave it unfinished, etc. Look at those hideous 3x painted over concrete floors... HORRIBLE.

AFTER:

 Aren't these the cutest little window covers ever? DIY from an old pillow case! Grab some liquid stitch, some chip clips and you're good to go! VOILA!

(Ok, so maybe that messy storage area doesn't get better... It's a mess still! Oh well!)

*And after I did all of this hubby changed out all the lightbulbs down there for LED lights so it's nice and bright! 

YAY!

Oh, and I was getting tired of waiting for my dad to have a day off work to come help me hang my new basement door so I did it myself. Again, all thanks to the Diynetwork website and youtube! 

I also needed a facelift on my master bedroom! New painted wall, as of a few months ago, new paintings I did myself and new comforter and sheets! Bright yellow and grey... So warm and cozy!

A little added decor to the kitchen.. :) Thanks Pinterest for the idea, I doodled, painted the inside and grabbed an old frame. Free and easy!

Then there's the front porch that's in need of some warmer weather so we can plant flowers into that awesome built in planters box. For now, we will decorate with a chalkboard barn window and my handmade WELCOME sign!

And of course Lennon picked out light up eggs at Target last week. In my opinion, they're the tackiest  

things in the world. If you know me, you know I HATE themed decorations that aren't handmade and cutesy. These are tacky, bright and terrible. Thankfully, Easter is this weekend and we can take them down ;) But I did redo my mantle, took all the pic frames off for now and just have a couple of things going on up there. I still need a large new mirror instead of the last name picture frame but we are working on it!

Okay, so crafting set aside for a while...

Great news, L decided randomly one night that she didn't want to wear pull ups anymore. I have been attempting potty training on and off since November of last year and it hasn't been working. We were in pull ups 24/7 which was a huge expense but I just didn't want to go back to diapers and have her think she wasn't a "big girl" anymore. I was so shocked that she came up to me and asked for undies, we put them on and since Thursday night a few weeks ago & NO ACCIDENTS. Fingers crossed & knock on wood it stays this way. I am SO SO SO proud of her right now! I can't believe my little toddler is in undies and they're so cute on her little butt. :)

Also, we are going up north this week for some R&R and family time. It's much needed after being cooped up in the house the past couple of weeks! I can't wait!

After we return we are planning a weekend hotel trip to the waterpark with Lennon again. We took her to the waterpark a couple weeks ago and she had a BLAST! We couldn't get her off the water slides to even eat dinner. When we did, she threw a temper tantrum, so we ate dinner at the restaurant there and headed home. It was so fun we are planing a whole weekend there soon!

Well, that's all for now. Until next time...

XO, K.

DIY Ottoman & Pillows [No-Sewing Required!]

DIY REUPHOLSTERED OTTOMAN 

(NO SEWING REQUIRED! WOOT - WOOT!)

So, here's where we began... A terribly made ottoman that came with our sectional. Seriously, what kind of furniture company takes pride in the fact that their ottoman is made from CARDBOARD on top to support what, magazines? ...  I mean seriously, it supported nothing, not even our feet. The entire top caved in whenever something was put on it. So, after months of it sitting around in the basement I decided to do it over myself. 

I bought:

34"x34" sheet of 1/2" plywood (Home Depot rocks at cutting things for you!)

Fabric - I used this one from JoAnn Fabrics  for the top when I had a 50% off coupon!

Liquid Stitch from Michaels

Needles & Thread

Pillows 

Buttons 

You'll also need scissors, tape measure, staple gun, drill and screws.

Well, here's where we began. This is the top once I took off the fabric, batting and crap cardboard on top. I left this as is, I added the plywood later as it was used as the top! 

Once all my fabric was off and staples were pulled out I made the top of the ottoman first.

I drilled holes (you can see them if you look close) for the tufting (that I never ended up doing!)

I'm not sure why I didn't get a photo of the process of this... OOPS!

But, here's a photo of the top batting, foam and it sitting on top of the frame of the ottoman base. 

I literally laid the batting on top of this plywood, stretched my fabric and then used a staple gun. So easy! 

It turned out better than I could have imagined. So proud of myself! :)

So, I set that aside and made the base. 

This was the more irritating part but pretty easy once I got my pattern down!

Again, I used the actual batting from the old ottoman that I was able to save. 

It worked out great! 

Then once all sides were covered and stapled down I had to sew my two pieces of fabric together. I cheated a bit, I used liquid stitch first and then just added stitches to make it look nicer! (It's so not the best sewing job ever but it works and no one can tell once it's all put together)

Once my fabric was sewn and dried good I ironed it to smooth it all out and began laying it on the ottoman, stretching and stapling! I stapled all of it down and then I was done! 

Once the bottom was done I flipped it over with the top of the ottoman plywood side up and used a drill with 2" screws to attach them together.

Here's the underneath once it was done:

These feet were from the original ottoman, I was able to reuse them even though I still want to buy really nice thick wood ones! Eventually!

I may have over-stapled, what do you think? Oh, well!

Small touches to the ottoman, I didn't want to sew anything on my own so I folded the corners over and added stitches by hand to make it look nicer. (It's dirty of course... thanks to the toddler that lives here!) :)

DIY NO-SEW PILLOWS

So, when I had leftover fabric I made pillows... and get this, I didn't sew a damn thing.

Liquid stitch is my new BFF. Who knew this stuff was so amazing and didn't tell me?!

I used liquid stitch and chip clips. Amazing combo, let me tell ya! 

So, first grab your pillow and then measure your fabric to ensure it will fit! I used 2 of these from JoAnn's, they're so soft and perfect size.

(This is the only pillow I had to sew the two pieces in the middle together. I ran out of fabric!)

Again, just like the ottoman, I used liquid stitch to hold together and then ran some stitches with thread by hand to reenforce it and make it look nicer.

I let the glue dry for about 20-30 min. before stuffing the pillow in. It worked great!

That was easy wasn't it?

We've been using the ottoman and pillows for over a month now and no tears, rips at the seams or anything at all! They are holding up great and everyone loves them!

Happy crafting!

XO, K.

Wandering Around

Lately I have been taking a break from reality. I have been slacking on reading blogs, writing blogs, making my Pinterest to-do lists, and so much more but it's paid off. The past couple of weeks have been hectic! First things first, my hubby got a promotion! Yippee! He's been working longer hours, leaves home before L wakes up and gets home after she's in bed... it's been exhausting for the both of us to say the least. By the time he's home I am ready to throw in the mom card and go to bed. I think it's safe to say we both agree that we needed a break. Saturday our best friends got married and we had an awesome time eating, drinking, dancing... and drinking... oh, drinking... that's on the list already. We did a lot of that! It was a blast and I couldn't have asked for better company. All of our closest friends were there and we really enjoyed the night out. We need more parties like that... Who wants to go off and get married, again? :)

This past week I have really been working with L on her name... letters in her name. So far she knows L, e and n on certain occasions but the n is only a few days in the making! I am so, so, so proud of her! All thanks to my mom for giving me advice on how to get started learning letters! Oh, and she rocks at writing an L too! Yay! 

Last week I also had a job interview thanks to my dad who blabbered about me and how awesome I was at my jobs I've previously had. Partially, I felt obligated to set up a face to face interview to make him happy, but a little part of me was hoping to get a good offer too. I was going into this with an open mind to say the least. I rocked the interview,  surprisingly! The entire interview went better than I thought it would. I was doubting myself a bit due to the fact that I hadn't been working in a while,  and I lost all professionalism when all I do is play with a two year old all day and wear yoga pants. Which by the way, I wore to my interview too. Seriously, under a sweater dress but nonetheless I wore those yoga pants partially because none of my dress pants are comfortable and there was no way I was putting on heels when I could wear comfy leather boots. The interview went so well that she offered me a trial run to see how I would like it and then a full time position with unlimited opportunities in the future. I thought about it for a day... then turned it down. I feel as though my husband and I both value me being home with our daughter too much to take a low paying job that's not what I am passionate about doing for the long run. I value my life home with my little L too much to give it up for something that's not what I am passionate about. 

So here I am, home again and making the most of it. Since I have been absent from blogging I have been letting my mind wander about what it is I want to blog about next. Truth is, I thought about a lot but nothing really stuck with me. I guess I have been too wrapped up in my daughter, learning letters and her name, our names, our address, etc. and all the fun things I have learned about teaching a child who's brain is just a sponge at this age soaking it all in. I guess in time I will learn what it is I want to do, write about, make a purpose for this blog but as of right now I will let my mind wander away, thinking about the endless possibilities of writing a children's book, learning to knit and redoing my basement to make it cozier... updating the little things around the house and playing with my daughter. 

Until next time I blog about random nothings....

XO, K.