Fruit and Veggie Hanging Wall Baskets

Hey there! I wanted to share today about the baskets hanging on my new chalkboard wall. 

As I mentioned yesterday I was inspired by these awesome baskets I saw on Pinterest eons ago.

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These are still for sale I think if you go through the source under the picture. But I wasn't thrilled about the price at $43 each.

So I searched some local stores until I found something that might work. 

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These were purchased at Crate & Barrel for $12.95 each. Plus these smaller baskets aren't as deep as the ones I originally wanted which is good since they are behind my kitchen side door. So for $40 (including tax) I bought 3 of them. 

Another feature I like is that they are hanging from hooks so I can take them on and off the wall whenever I like to use them! 

I bought these 1 inch Brass Cup Hooks from Home Depot in the hardware isle. This is them after I quick sprayed them with some metallic black spray paint I already had in the house.

They don't screw very deep into the wall and these baskets are holding some pretty heavy items so I also bought some anchors.

After marking where I wanted the hooks to go I drilled holes according to the anchor's packaging with the correct size drill bit. Then I just pounded the anchor into the wall with a rubber mallet (a hammer would work just fine) and screwed the hooks in by hand! You could see the yellow anchors so I quick touched them up with some chalkboard paint and went over the hooks with it too. I wanted the hooks to just blend in with the wall since they didn't come in a silver like the baskets and I didn't have that color spray paint in the house! ;)

I love having these baskets on the wall! I don't have a lot of counter or pantry space so any extra storage is always welcome!! 

To finish off the space I just hung a little hook on the wall and hung my apron from it, I think it looks so cute now!! I can't believe I left this space empty for so long!

I also promised yesterday to share how I wrote so nicely on the wall even though I have awful  handwriting. I just happened to see this trick on Pinterest after having just finished painting my chalkboard wall, perfect timing!!

CLICK HERE to be taken to the website and get step by step directions. So easy and I couldn't believe it actually worked for someone like me. My handwriting is seriously that bad people. 

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Chalkboard Wall

Hey guys! I'm so excited to share the project I started 2 weeks ago in my kitchen!! It was just one of those things where I thought of it on a Friday night and by Saturday morning was right in the middle of it!

I now have a chalkboard wall!

I have always wanted to frame out a chalkboard area in that section of the half wall to the right of the kitchen table but just never made it happen. 

Well 2 weeks ago after finishing my new book, Inspired You, I stood in my kitchen feeling very inspired to do something to my home. I spend so much time on furniture that sometimes I just want to be able to work on my home and my  things, you know?

Well after debating making a chalkboard for the hundredth time  and wondering what I'd then do with my grandma's cigar table it hit me. Make the whole wall a chalkboard!! I was sooo excited about this idea when I realized I was going to have to get Scott on board. I cautiously made remarks all night hinting that I had an idea I needed him to let me go with and when I finally came clean he calmly (a little too calmly actually) told me he trusted me. When he got home from work the next morning I had already taped, trimmed out, and painted the whole wall with 1 coat!! I couldn't help myself once I realized I had all the supplies I needed right here in the house!! 

I made sweet little bunting to hang on each end of the wall...

and I wrote out the fruits of the Spirit below the pass through to the living room.

Scott suggested I write "All that brings joy" above the pass through which at first I thought sounded self obsessed or something but after a moment I realized how perfect it was. It's not written there as an advertisement for my blog, but as a reminder of what my blog is all about. Enjoying all of the things God has brought into my life that bring me so much joy.

My favorite area is in the far corner by the kitchen side door. 

These baskets are something I had wanted to do here ever since spying this on Pinterest:

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I will share with you tomorrow exactly how I did it and for cheap!!! :)

I'll also share how I wrote everything on the wall so beautifully even though I have the worst handwriting in the world. And no, I didn't hire my sister in law to do it for me, although that thought did cross my mind...

Here's a shot looking towards the other side of the kitchen.

I hope these pictures do it justice, it's so cute in person and I just love walking in my back door now!! I also love the fact that when you walk in the front door everything still looks the exact same as before, you have no idea what fun is on the other side of that wall!! ;)

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Touch-Ups

Hey there! Hope your Monday has been as wonderfully productive as mine has been! I may be one of the few people out there who loves Mondays. It may have to do with the fact that I don't have a physical work place that I have to go to. But it mostly has to do with the fact that I get to take back control of the house!! Cleaning and grocery shopping and meal planning OH MY! 

So while I was feeling ultra productive today I decided the scuff marks all over the stairs were going to get taken care of! We repainted everything in this area of the house 2 years ago and I touched up the stairs and had them looking brand new. Then I vacuumed them telling myself I would be super careful....but over time I got less and less careful and those beautiful stairs were looking awful.

So I broke out the paint that we used on pretty much every white surface in our home :) I only painted over the scuffed areas and it blended in just fine. Just 10 minutes per coat and now my stairs are back to looking beautiful again! By the way, I will only be using the hand broom and dustpan on these bad boys from now on!

Ugh. Sorry, lighting was an issue today. And probably will be all winter:( 

I'm really hoping to do something fun with the stairs this year in my Christmas decorating like this...

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Or this....

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So getting them looking fresh and clean now will give me a little head start come the day after Thanksgiving!!

The Lost Key

See that key? It's cute isn't it? So cute and small and.....easily lost.....

Let me start by telling you about last spring. My grandma wasn't doing well and she had just been told by the doctors that this was the end. I went to visit her that night to sit with her and watch some Wheel of Fortune with her probably for the last time. (oh dear, I didn't mean to get emotional but I'm there) While we sat she asked to see pictures of what furniture I was working on. She was so sweet and supportive and excited for me. She then told me that she wanted me to have her antique secretary desk. She'd always wanted to have it refinished and never got around to it so now she told me to paint it how I like and sell it. I thanked her profusely but told her I was NOT selling it. I promised her I would paint it and give it to my little sister. She and her husband were closing on a new house very soon. That was the last conversation I had with my grandma.

As you can imagine this secretary desk now has a very special place in my heart. 

I've been waiting and waiting to get it done for my sister while we waited for the house to close and then to pick out a color and then for my life to settle down a bit. And thank goodness the time has finally come! I bought the paint last week and excitedly brought the desk into my office to get started. I looked on my desk for the key....I looked on my bulletin board for the key.....I looked in every drawer in my office for the key....

It was lost.

I thought, "I will find it. I'm sure I put it somewhere very safe..." Days went by, no key. I was getting nervous. Very nervous. And I didn't dare tell my little sis who knew I had already gotten the paint but mysteriously wasn't telling her how it was going!! 

We skyped for her birthday last night. I almost told her a number of times...but kept biting my tongue.

This morning while drinking some milk at the counter I looked up and saw my kitchen cabinet. The one with the bowl in it where I put my extra car keys and house keys. I thought, "Maybe?!?" Sure enough. It was there. Such a safe place. Such a Duh! place. Relief washed over me, then excitement that I could finally start on my grandma's desk :)

And no, I never told my sister. So I expect to get a call from her about 1o minutes after I post this ;)

I promise to keep it right here from now on, Sarah!!!

Ups & Downs

As you might have noticed I was feeling good earlier this week about life. I won an amazing giveaway to start the week. My Halloween Costumes were a big hit around here and in blogland. I had a number of people contact me about client work and purchasing furniture on my Shop! page. All was good in my world. 

But isn't it funny how quickly your mood can change? 

I never heard back from anybody about purchasing furniture or doing their client work. Halloween is over and costumes are yesterday's news. I'm having a very hard time using the Milk Paint I won earlier this week. My house is a mess. The kids and I have colds and motivation to work on anything is hard to find.

I keep wondering how on Earth I have done such a complete 180 in just 4 days.

But I don't think I'm alone on this. (At least I hope I'm not!) So I'm doing what I can to gain back control. I'm getting some dishes done and putting away laundry. My sick son who is home from school decided he couldn't take the mess in the basement and cleaned it up. (I wonder who he takes after?;) I'm baking some pinecones so that I can do a relaxing craft later on.

I may have some huge hopes and dreams about my future but the only way I can get there is to take it one day at a time.

A Thank you and a Sneak Peak

About a week ago I told you all about the surprise in my inbox. Obviously I was a bit excited about winning a giveaway from my idol Miss Mustard Seed. Any piece of furniture she's ever done is an inspiration to me and on top of that she is a wonderful Christian woman. 

Last night at dinner I excitedly told my family about how I had started on a secretary that I would finish with my new Milk Paint but I was still waiting for the UPS man to show up with it!! Sure enough after dinner as I went out to the car I saw a big box next to our side door that we never use!! Yay!! 

I took a picture of the box 'cuz I'm a dork and Marian (aka miss mustard seed) had written on it so beautifully but I couldn't figure out how to blur my address so you don't get to see it, sorry! ;) 

I did take pictures of everything inside it this morning when I had some light though! I'm telling you it was like Christmas morning searching through that box finding little packages like this!

And this is also dorky...but just knowing that my absolute hero had sent it to me herself was enough to make me giddy :) And the fact that she had sent way more things than I expected was just too much to take!

 Drawer Pulls from Vintage Skye

Clay Tags from Freckled Laundry

German Glass Glitter

And of course...

Her Book!!

Signed to me!!

Her new line of Milk Paint!!

And I forgot about the letters of my name already all sparkly with german glass glitter and magnets on back! I may have gotten teary eyed by the end, and Scott may have rolled his eyes...

But anyways!! Here's a sneak peak of the piece I've gotten started on! The outside of it will be painted with some of my new Milk Paint!!

I just want to say thank you so much to Marian for her kindness and generosity :)

Sometimes You Feel Like a Nut...

I love fall. I love the changing of the seasons, I love that back to school feeling, but mostly I love all of the holidays. In my opinion it just gets better and better with each one, Halloween, then Thanksgiving, then the mother of all holidays, Christmas!! I'm already looking forward to it, shhh don't tell anyone.

But of course, first comes Halloween!! I was invited to a costume party this year and after some convincing got Scott to agree to go ;) We've never been to a Halloween party together!!! And if you know Scott you know he's not a dressing up/costume kinda guy... 

So going to the party like this was a pretty big deal!!

He graciously agreed to wear this costume when I showed him how funny it would be :)

We just had to escape the house without our reading aged son seeing our backs ;)

My good friends who invited us went as the characters from CLUE. Love them!!

Everyone there had awesome costumes, I'm already brainstorming for next year....ahem, I mean if I'm invited again that is ;)

I didn't have time to take pictures while making our costumes because I was in a bit of a hurry. But I'm proud to say I made them in ONE DAY! 

I started with a trip to the fabric store. The blue and red fabric I used is 100% polyester and has a little stretch to it. The white stripe is just a regular cotton blend and the black letters are felt. Oh and the white letters are iron ons....I'll get to that later.

I got 1 1/2 yards of the blue and red and that was plenty. I started with the blue fabric folded over hotdog style and measured around Scott's hips to see how wide I should make it. Once I decided on that I cut off some extra fabric along the long open end and then pinned and sewed along that long edge. That left me with a long tube of fabric. 

I then sewed along the top open end about 6 inches on one side and then 6 inches on the other side leaving me with a hole big enough for Scott's head to come through.

To make the arm holes I started on the side that didn't have a sewn edge and just cut down about 8 inches. I had him try it on with just one arm and decided he needed a few more inches for his big muscles ;) I think he ended up needing about 11 inches for his arm openings. On the other side I measured down 11 inches and sewed up and down at that point to secure the stitches. Then I just cut off the fabric and stitches above that to the neck, making the other arm hole.

Next I had Scott try it on and decided where to hem it. I went with a length right below the knees. It was at this point that our friends came over and walked in on me on my knees with pins in my mouth hemming my husband's dress....awkward ;)

To make the white stripe down the middle I took the white fabric and folded it over hotdog style and sewed up the side again making another tube of fabric. This one much skinnier obviously. I then turned it right side out and ironed it very flat. I attached it to the blue "dress" with pins and sewed it on. I then took a stripe of red fabric 2 inches wide, pinned it over one of the edges of the white fabric and sewed it on.

To make the Peter Paul piece I cut out a piece of red fabric (the one below is blue because it was one my costume) and positioned some iron on letters from the fabric store. Then I pinned it on and sewed it.

Next I ironed on the funny saying onto the back...

Okay, obviously Scott's was the funny part.

To make the words ALMOND JOY and MOUNDS I googled the candy bar and then while looking at the picture free hand drew out the letters on paper. I cut them out and pinned them to my black felt and then cut those out. On my costume I sewed them on with a zig zag stitch down the center of each letter, but this was time consuming and annoying so for Scott's I just hot glue gunned them on!! Worked like a charm.

I wasn't loving how the shoulders looked on me and wanted to make it "prettier" so I just took some scraps from Scott's blue fabric, gathered the shoulders of my costume and tied bows around them.

They aren't perfect, the red fabric was pretty stretchy and so while sewing it onto Scott's costume it would stretch and then not lay flat, very annoying. And my free hand drawing capabilities are very limited, so while those letters are each a little miracle for me if Scott had done them they would have been perfect. Saylavee!! :)

Sometimes you feel like a nut..

Sometimes you don't!!

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