One Project a Month...

I am determined from this point forward to do one project a month.

I'm not talking about little projects, I do plenty of those a week.

I am talking about large remodel type projects.

Why?

Because we are moving in a year and I gotta get this house ready!

Upon blog hopping and hearing what family and friends have said, its apparent I need to "upgrade" some things. Others are things I think someone in the market is going to look for.

I am going to try and do this all on a small and I mean really small budget and show you exactly what it cost me, exactly what I did (before and after photos) and then let you be the judge!

Since January is over, well almost over I'll start in February!

Here is my tentative list for getting this house ready to sell...

February - Laundry

March - Main Bathroom

April - Yard

May - Master Bedroom

June/July - will be spent vacationing, yeah!

August - 2nd Bedroom/office

September - Master Bathroom

October - Kids Bedroom

November - Kitchen

December - Living Room

Depending on the circumstance these may be done out of order... or even in the same month as another. Why paint the bathroom and bedroom the same color in a different month?

So now I need some advice before I get going. What do I need to do to sell my house. Things you had to re-do to sell yours, things you want to see in another house. Things you think should be done anyway or things you think are a waste of time.

Examples would be "I don't think paint colors should be dark, or teal" and My grandma would put it, in regard to my main bathroom.

Or maybe even switching out all of the light switches and outlets that were previously painted white... yes, the last home owner painted cream colored switches white to look more "updated" Needless to say they have peeled the 3 years we have lived here and now look ridiculous, so yes we are replacing them!

Give me your feedback, I am eager to hear!

Spray Painted Shoes?...

Why not!

I've seen a few tutorials floating around about painting your shoes, never thought anything of it until I saw the one over at Made. Hers are orange, bright and spunky, I wanted mine to be similar. I scoured my closet for shoes that I really didn't care about, just in case it didn't work out. And way way in the back under a huge pile of shoes, I found these.

Nothing wrong with them right? Except for the fact they are a little too small and yes I still wore them, before I got a better pair.

I had some left over aqua/teal spray paint from a previous project and thought it would be the perfect color for my "new" shoes.

I know most people craft when their kids (if they have young ones) are sleeping or at school. I try for the most part but sometimes that doesn't happen. In fact I tend to craft from the moment I wake up, with large breaks in between for caring, feeding, cleaning and whatever else us moms do, to the moment I go to bed. So my supplies are usually out, all of the time.

Anyhow, I painted these back when it was warm out, warm weather means I let my children run around our backyard and sometimes that equals my son getting into my business.

He thought painting his hair was fun!

The final product

I actually think they look really good. And as you can plainly see I goofed in some spots and it ran in others. But honestly who's lookin that close?

Spray Painted Shoes!

* EDIT... Mandy @ SugarBee asked how they were holding up. Well so far so good. I didn't expect them to stay perfect forever. I have noticed that the more I wear them the more they kind of wrinkle, esp where my foot bends near my toes and I have chipped some paint off from sliding my foot against the other when I took a step. After 10 or so wears they are holding up, but like I said, I don't expect it to be long before they chip off a lot more. Thanks for asking, I'm sure it helps all those who are undecided about doing a project like this.

Babies On The Brain...

**I've got a little catching up to do. I went out of town for Christmas and basically missed everything in the blogging world since the beginning of December. There are so many good ideas out there I can't wait to go through them all.**

I have had babies on the brian for some time. No no, not for me, I still have a wee one and have plenty of time before I even think about having another. The i've been thinking a lot about babies is because everyone I know is pregnant, which means everyone (who isn't on their 2nd or more child) is having a baby shower. This would include my sister in law and many many of my friends.

I wanted to share a little gift idea I had for my sister in law and for one of my friends for their new arrivals. My sister in law a girl and my friend a boy. I imagine as spring approaches I will be making many more gifts to give and I will posts those as they come along.

Anyhow, my sister in law had her shower in December and since I live states away, I was unable to go. I had planned a few months in advance what I wanted to do and hoped it would work out, to my surprise, it did and I am super pleased.

I wanted to go with a bright, cute candy theme. I grabbed some white onesies and white socks and died them 5 different colors (I died some for my little one as well). I let them sit in the dye bath for at least 4 hours, I wanted them BRIGHT!

After, I rinsed and vinegar-ed them to set the color. Once they were dry I rolled them up (socks inside) like little cupcakes, put a rubber band around the bottom and put some tinfoil liners under them...

Here they are in the box. I made coordinating hair clips to put on top. Apparently I didn't have any green ribbon... odd!

I figured 5 onesies and socks weren't enough so I made her some binky clips to match.

and because I was in the crafting mood, I made some other cute hair goodies as well.

So continuing with the "candy" theme. I wrapped the binky clips and hair goodies in tissue paper and ties the ends off with colorful ribbon, like a hard candy.

All the items in the box ready to go...

I wrote her a cute note (not pictured) with lots of puns about the baby being a "sweet treat" and so forth. I was giggling inside as I was writing it. Sometimes I think I am too funny, I'm sure many of you feel the same way about yourself.

I had these cute labels that I wanted to use and they matched my colors perfectly.

Sadly the gift arrived the day of the baby shower, after it had already happened. However Aisha was nice enough to give me a call as she opened it. I think she was delighted!

The same week I had sent her gift, I had another baby shower for a friend. This one I was able to attend. I decided I would keep it a little more simple and just make a few binky clips. I almost kept two of them for myself because they were do darn cute!

I wrapped them up the same way and added a little note. I was amazed at how many people actually made stuff. I think its cute and personal to make things to give away and to me means a lot that someone actually took the time to make something rather than just buying it. However I, on many occasions have been the one who bought something... last minute. I vow from now on to make an effort to create something!

So if you have a baby shower coming up, challenge yourself to make something HANDMADE for that little bundle of joy. I know you can do it, so go for it!!