2010 April | Beneath My Heart

Best DIY Projects of April

April 29, 2010 AT 8:55 pm 21 Comments

April 29, 2010 By 21 Comments

First of all, thank you for coming to my party!!! I am so glad you are here.

I cannot believe a month has already passed since our last party!!!

Have you been busy completing projects this month?!

If you follow my blog, you know I have been crazy busy finishing my master bedroom.

And of all the projects I completed in April, my $25.00 vanity that I got at the antique mall was
my absolute favorite!
Click on the picture below if you want to see the post about how I refinished this piece.
(Warning: impromptu video of me looking like doo doo and talking about my “find” at the antique mall included in that post.) :)

Now I can’t wait to see all of your fab projects!

There are just a few rules to this party.
1. One entry per person. Pick your best DIY project (related to home decor or home improvement) in the month of April to share with us.

2. Be sure to add a link back to this party in your post using my party button or text. Doing this is “blog courtesy” to the hostess. I was surprised (and a little sad) that about of a third of the bloggers who linked up last month did not include a link back to my party.

3. Make your best effort to visit 3 to 5 other blogs and leave comments on their post. I am a big fan of encouraging others through comments. We all love it when people visit our blogs, don’t we? So go spread some bloggy love! (Note to my sister: you do not have to link up to this party to be able to leave comments. Everyone who visits the party can leave comments.) :)

4. Be sure to add the link to your actual post, not your blog address.

Now for some good news!

Everyone who links up to this party will be entered in a great giveaway to win a FOB Keychain!!

My friend, Norma, has a cute little Etsy shop called,

Luv-N-Charms.

She’s the one that made me this adorable keychain…

And then she sent me this one….

It has my blog name on one side and my name on the other. She even added a little “bling” to the keychain too.

I don’t know how I ever lived without one of these key chains. It just slips right on my wrist and makes it easy for me to carry my keys at all times. I love how I can carry my son in one arm, my groceries in the other, and have my key chain on my wrist. Then I don’t have to search for them in my purse anymore. Love it!

The winner of the giveaway will be able to pick from all of the great color choices Norma has in her Etsy shop, and she will even personalize your keychain for you!

If you don’t win the giveaway, you can still visit Norma’s Etsy shop, Luv-N-Charms and look around at all her cute creations.

The wrist bands only cost $11.50, and that includes shipping! I don’t know about you, but I think that is a great price for a teacher gift or graduation gift!

As a former teacher, I can tell you first hand that I would have LOVED for one of my students to get me one of these key chains!

Now let’s get to the party!!!

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Connecting with me and my blog

April 29, 2010 AT 5:00 am 6 Comments

April 29, 2010 By 6 Comments

Isn’t blogging fun?!

I cannot tell you how much my blog has blessed my socks off!!

The best thing about blogging is connecting with my readers. You guys are awesome!!!

I cherish every single one of your comments. Each time comments show up in my dashboard, it’s like Christmas morning! (So keep them coming…hint. hint.)

But there are other great ways for us to connect as well.

First of all is through twitter.

I used to think that twitter was so stupid. Why would anyone want to follow my random acts during the day? And why would I want to follow anyone else’s?

So, I started following a few other bloggers just to see what all the fuss was about, and I still thought it was stupid. I would get their tweets on my phone and it would say, “Just finished breakfast, now I am off to the grocery.”

Honestly, I thought.. “who cares?” (Boy, do I sound mean or what?)

But then I discovered TweetDeck and I don’t think it’s stupid anymore. It’s actually a blast. It’s a great place to quickly communicate with your blogging buddies. You should see some of the hilarious “tweets” that the Thrifty Decor Chick writes. She cracks me up. You can also find out about great posts and giveaways throughout blogland on tweetdeck, and so much more.

(I don’t follow tweets on my phone, just tweetdeck.)

If you want to download TweetDeck to your computer, click HERE.

I use twitter to announce my posts, giveaways, and also give “sneak peeks” of projects I am working on.

If you would like to follow me on Twitter just click on this button in my sidebar.

I also just started a Beneath My Heart community on Blog Frog!

It’s still new to me too, but so far I am loving it.

Every now and then, I will post topics to discuss in my community. Anyone is welcome to join in the discussion.

Today, I will be asking your opinion on whether or not to paint my fireplace mantle. Click on my BlogFrog button in my sidebar if you would like to share your opinion.

I am looking forward to getting to know you in my community!

And of course, don’t forget Facebook! Have you joined my page yet?

I use my Beneath My Heart facebook page to also announce my giveaways and give “sneak peeks” of my projects.

I am hoping to spotlight some other great bloggers on my facebook page as well.

You can click on my facebook fan page in my sidebar to join.

Well, you might just be on “Beneath My Heart Overload” if you do all of the above suggestions, but I sure would love to get to know my readers even better.

Check ‘em out and see what you think!

REMINDERS:

The Parade of Homes is still going on at Poppies at Play!

I don’t know about you, but I have had an absolute blast touring all of the homes on parade! It’s been great to take a sneak peek in the homes of other inspirational bloggers.

There’s two more days of fun left, so click on the button to check it out!

And don’t forget about my linky party!!!

I will have the linky system up tonight around 9:00 p.m.

I can’t wait to see all of your fabulous DIY projects!

And I’ve got a cute little giveaway for the party too!

Have a blessed day!

Traci

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Wednesdays with Wanda

April 27, 2010 AT 10:09 pm 22 Comments

April 27, 2010 By 22 Comments

For those of you who are new to my blog, you may be curious about the title of this post.

Wanda is my mom’s name, and she was the greatest Mom a little girl could ever hope for.

She passed away this past September after a short 7 week battle with gastric cancer. My heart was so full of so many emotions, and I had a huge need to talk about and write about my precious mother on my blog.

The support I have received from my blog through the comments and emails of my readers has truly helped with the healing. You have BLESSED me beyond measure!

I began writing about my mom each Wednesday to help keep her memory alive for me and my young sons. I wanted them to be able to read stories of their “Nana” and remember what an amazing person she was.

All of my Wednesday with Wanda posts, and the posts I wrote while she was still living, can be found under “Mom” in my side bar labels.

I have shared with you how Mom loved to write. She wrote in her prayer journals, in her Bibles, in letters and note cards to others, for our local newspaper, and even a couple of magazines.

I treasure her writings!

I wrote about the note I “found” from Mom the night before her funeral that brought me such peace.

It was my first Wednesday with Wanda post and is very special to me. If you missed that post, I would love for you to click here to read it. I think you will enjoy it. :)

There is something indescribable about Mom’s handwriting. Even more than pictures, her handwriting touches my heart, and I feel so close to her when I read it. It always shows the beauty of who she was.

I found this little card that Mom sent my boys in the mail after babysitting them one day.

Mom always sent cards and letters “just because”. She didn’t need a special occasion to show and tell us how much she loved us.

This little card to my boys sums up the “essence” of who my mom was. Cute. Loving. Creative. Thoughtful. Precious.

I wanted to frame this and place it somewhere where my boys could see it often.

I took an old frame I had and spray painted it black. Then I hot glued the glass to the inside of the frame.

Since I wanted the card to look like it was floating, I hot glued the card to a second 8 x 10 piece of glass leftover from another frame.

***Be sure to hot glue the card to the 2nd (back) piece of glass so the card won’t “slip” in between the two pieces of glass. (I didn’t take a picture of that step.)

I just put a dot of hot glue in each corner to hold them together. It may not look pretty from the back, but it looks great from the front.

I also wanted to frame a picture of Mom with my two oldest boys that they took at Grandparent’s Day at school.

I had a frame, but not a mat, so I decided to use some material to create one.

I laid the cardboard backing on top of some off white material I had..

I folded the material over and hot glued it to the back.

Then I centered the photo on top of the material and popped it in the frame.

I think it turned out great!

The boys love seeing the picture and the card from Nana. Although my 8 year old, Luke, began crying this week when he saw the picture because he said he misses her so much. But then we read her precious writing on the card and it began to make him smile.

Mom’s love always had a way of making things better!

I miss Mom so badly I can hardly stand it, especially as we draw near to Mother’s Day.

She would have loved seeing my bl
og featured in the “Parade of Homes” this week. We would have talked about it for hours! Oh, how I miss her sweet voice!

I am so thankful that she took time to write me and my family her precious letters of love. I will treasure them always!

Thank you for stopping by, and have a blessed day!

Traci

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Before and After pictures of my master bedroom.

April 26, 2010 AT 11:24 pm 78 Comments

April 26, 2010 By cyndi 78 Comments

You have to see this to believe it!

My master bedroom has undergone a major transformation.

When looking at my bedroom on the Parade of Homes yesterday, I was feeling a little insecure that maybe it didn’t look as good as I had hoped.

But when I looked back at the “before” pictures of my room, I cannot believe how far it has come.

I love my new bedroom. It truly feels like a master retreat when I walk in the room.

Here’s the recap of where I began:

I had a cherry bedroom suite that I sold on Craigslist for $700.00. One of my kids puked on my comforter (seriously), and I had to throw it away, so I didn’t even have a complete bedding set. I really hadn’t done much to decorate the room except throw some pictures up on the wall.

Here is my awful “before”…

And here is the “after”

I did not change the wall color or the window treatments. Those two things can cause a lot of stress. :) I knew I wanted the walls to be neutral, and I liked the way the curtains matched the color of my fireplace.

I think the wall color is called Navajo White by Porter Paints. We painted it five years ago, so I’m not real sure.

The curtains I got at Homegoods a couple of years ago for $8.00 a window. It was only $16.00 for all four panels! You can’t beat that price.

See how much space the king sleigh bed took up? I had it up against that wall because it was the only place it would fit. I tried moving the bed in front of the window one time, but it looked horrible. When you walked into the room, all you could see was that HUGE footboard. So the bed remained on this wall…

When I tried the four poster bed in front of the window…I loved it! The bed was my mom and dad’s bed, so I didn’t have to purchase a new bed which helped a lot with my makeover budget. And it’s a king bed, so we were able to use our same box spring and mattress.

One of the things I didn’t like about the layout of our old bedroom was that you saw our tv as soon as you walked into our room. So one of my goals for my makeover was to find a piece of furniture to hide our tv in.

Now our tv hides in this black armoire that I got at a habitat store for 40 bucks.

It was missing the back, so my husband added one.

He also built some shelves inside to add more storage, so the total project cost us about $90.00.

We removed the ugly ceiling fan from the middle of the room.

The fireplace was the hardest thing to accessorize, and I am still not crazy about it. All of the items on the mantle were things I already had.

The picture of the boys was a 16×20 wall canvas that I won last year in a giveaway at Reluctant Entertainer! It has been in our foyer for a long time, but I decided to frame it and put it on my mantle.

Believe it or not, I already had this frame that I wasn’t using and it was a perfect fit! The frame was gold, so I painted it black and wiped off the edges with a wet paper towel right after I painted it so the gold would show through.

I love the way it turned out! I took this picture last year on the road directly in front of our home. I love those boys!

The bed used to be against the only “solid” wall in the room…

…now my new dresser resides there. The dresser used to be green, and I bought it at an antique mall for $210.00. It was the most expensive purchase for my room.

The little lamp was a $10.00 purchase at an antique mall. The mirror frame was $4.50 and the blue vase $1.00, both from Goodwill. I got the wall mirror at Lowe’s for $25.00. It isn’t exactly what I wanted there, but it will have to do for now. I am still looking for a mirror or something else to put there.

But I love what the mirror says…

Here is the “before” view of the other side of the room…

The “after”…

I love watching tv from our cozy (dare I say romantic) bed.

Another “before”…

“After”…Look at all that floor space!

The accessories on top of the armoire are things I gathered from other parts of my house. :)

Here is another picture of my bed with my lamps all lit up…

I was having a hard time finding lamps for my room. I knew I wanted lamps made of glass, but I really couldn’t afford them.

I found these lamps at Garden Ridge for $24.99 a piece, plus $9.99 for each shade. They were exactly what I was looking for. I almost got them, but since I didn’t have much money left in my budget I decided not to.

The next day, I was talking to a family member who told me about some lamps she saw at Garden Ridge that she thought would be perfect for my room. (She follows my blog.) :)

It ended up we were talking about the same lamps! She felt like that was more than a coincidence and told me that she felt led by the Lord to buy them for me. What a blessing!

I just absolutely love them!

I was going to put a skirted table on this side of the bed, but couldn’t find any material that I liked. I’ve had this metal side table for years, and it was currently living in my den. I decided to save some money and use it in my room. It actually works pretty well.

I didn’t want this side of the room to look too “weighted down” with bulky furniture, so this piece keeps it kind of “light” and open.

The large pitcher on the bottom of the side table was a $5.00 find at Goodwill. It was an ugly tan color, so I spray painted it white!

I love my new lamp on my ($25.00) vanity too!

I don’t know if I ever mentioned that I bought the white coverlet and pillow shams from Sears. It is their Country Living brand. I got them on sale for a little less than $100.00. The tan pillow was my mom’s. I wanted to make some pillows with some blue in them, but had trouble finding material I liked.

I bought the frames on each side of my bed for $2.00 at the habitat store and painted them black. I printed the pictures off of my computer from Vintage Printables.

And of course, my favorite addition to the room is my chandelier that I purchased at Lowe’s for $145.00! I am so glad I splurged! Every girl needs a little “bling” in her room, right?

Here is the breakdown of my $700.00 budget:

$145-chandelier from Lowe’s

$90.00 – armoire

$210.00 – dresser

$25.00 – vanity

$25.00 wall mirror

$100.00 Country Living bedding from Sears

$36.00 Brown burlap/velcro bedskirt

$4.00 frames for both sides of bed

$10.00 – small lamp from antique mall

$25.00 _ (approx) miscellaneous accessories from Goodwill

$20.00 – two sets of white king pillow cases from Walmart

________

$690!!!

I did it!!!

And I love it!!!

If you missed any part of this makeover, just click on “Master Bedroom” in my sidebar labels, and you can see every project I did these past few months for this makeover.

Thank you so much for all of your comments and encouragement throughout this whole process! I promise you that I would have never taken on this makeover if it weren’t for this blog and everyone who reads it…so THANK YOU!!!!!

A couple of announcements…

Don’t forget that this Friday is my second linky party…

I will have the linky system up around 9:oo p.m. Thursday night.

This is a chance for you to share the best DIY project that you completed in April. Please keep the projects related to DIY home decor or home improvement. Only one entry per person, and be sure to link your post back to my party.

If you don’t have a project to link up, you are still invited to come by and view everyone else’s. And I like to encourage everyone to visit at least 3 to 5 blogs and leave comments for others. We all need the encouragement! :)

Also, be sure to stop by Poppies at Play today to see the next four homes on their Parade of Homes! I have loved visiting everyone’s lovely homes!

Click on the button to join the parade..

I am linking my master bedroom makeover up to these parties:

Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch

DIY day at A Soft Place to Land

Before and After Party at Thrifty Decor Chick!

Have a blessed day!

Traci

P.S. Check out my sister’s new fab blog!

Love it. Love her.

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Tagged makeover, master bedroom Filed Undermakeover, master bedroom, room makeovers 78 Comments

Parade of Homes (and Master Bedroom Reveal!)

April 25, 2010 AT 11:52 pm 79 Comments

April 25, 2010 By 79 Comments

I am so excited to be participating in a blog Parade of Homes sponsored by Poppies at Play!

For those of you who are visiting my blog for the very first time, let me introduce myself.

My name is Traci, and I am a stay-at-home mom of four boys. I am married to a wonderful man who loves the same things in life that I do. We love sharing in this adventure called “life.”

I was an elementary teacher for 6 years before my first son was born, and it is hard to believe I have been at home with my boys for the past ten years. What a blessing!

I started my blog in March of last year after my mom kept encouraging me to. I am so glad she did. It has been a huge blessing in my life! My blog is dedicated to my mom who passed away in September of last year after a short battle with gastric cancer. Her love and her faith in God has changed my life forever. (You can read about her story by clicking on “mom” in my sidebar.)

Over the past year, I have been fixing up my house one room at a time. I just recently finished our master bedroom, and I am so excited to reveal it today!

I am not an interior decorator. I have no degree in design. I have just used the inspiration I have found in blogland this past year to decorate my home. :)

So welcome everyone to my

ol’ Kentucky home!

I like to call my home the “House of Thrifty Finds.” Almost everything in my house is from Goodwill, garage sales, or hand-me-downs. I will point my thrifty treasures out to you throughout the tour.

As you enter our home, you will see this vinyl saying that my Mom helped me put up last August.

Directly down the foyer is our kitchen and eating area.

I purchased the hutch for $75.00 at a garage sale and painted it black. You can read about that project HERE.

The white buffet on the left side of the picture below is a $55.00 find at Goodwill that I painted. You can read about that project HERE.

I love this view of my curtains through the mirror. I made the curtains from drop cloths, and I absolutely love the way they turned out. If you want to see how I made them, just click on “drop cloth projects” in my sidebar.

Our biggest renovation in our home has been the kitchen. Last fall, we tore out the soffit above our cabinets and created new, taller cabinets. You can see the complete DIY renovation by clicking HERE.

I love the glass cabinet doors and the open shelving my husband created above the microwave.

The bead board cabinet doors added to the cottage style I was striving for.

We also installed recessed lighting inside the glass cabinets and underneath the cabinets. You can never have enough light in the kitchen!

On the right side of the kitchen, I made some cafe shelves like the ones I saw in Ballard Designs catalog. You can see the tutorial of how to make them for yourself HERE.

Our master bedroom is
right off of our kitchen. I have been working on our bedroom for a couple of months now, and I am so excited to finally share the finished product.

I renovated our entire bedroom for less than $700.00, and I will be sharing a ton of Before and After photos, plus the break down of my budget, tomorrow. You won’t believe the difference, so be sure to stop back by and check it out!

Here is the view as you enter the room…

The bed was my parents, and I painted it black. I made the brown bedskirt from burlap, and I think it turned out beautifully.

I was so excited when I found this little vanity for only $25.oo! It fits perfectly beside my bed. It just needed a little TLC which you can read about HERE.

I have enjoyed accessorizing with items that are special to me, like the picture of my mom and me when I was a little girl and a decorative bird that was my mom’s.

The chandelier was my “splurge” for my room. I got it at Lowe’s and I love the way it adds a little romance to the room.

This black dresser was purchased at an antique mall, and I painted it black as well. (Can you tell I like that color?) :)

Here’s the view of the other side of the room.

I got the armoire for $40.00 at a habitat store! It needed a little work (like it was missing a back), but it works perfectly for our room now. Our tv hides in there! Click HERE to see that project.

Our master bath is really small, but can you believe it was actually smaller?! We renovated it a couple of years ago by knocking out a wall and making it a little bigger.

My husband did all the work in our bathroom. He is quite the DIY man!

One of my favorite “rooms” in our home is our covered back patio.

I love watching my boys play in the back yard and enjoying lots of cookouts with friends and family out here. Those are some of life’s sweetest moments!

See that red door in the background of the below picture?

That door leads to the guest house we built over our detached garage.

My husband built our guest house, and I got to decorate it. A winning combination!

We didn’t really have any money to decorate the guest house, so I had a ball shopping at Goodwill and garage sales. I am one of those people who think it is FUN to decorate with thrifty finds!

My hubby built me these amazing cabinets! If you want to see how he made them, click on “cottage cabinets” in my side bar labels.

I got this cute little coffee table at Goodwill for $6.50 and painted it white. It fits perfectly with the room. I also got the chair for $6.50 at Goodwill and covered it with burlap.

If you would like a complete tour of our guest house including the bedroom and bathroom, click HERE.

Well, that concludes my tour!

Thank you so much for stopping by, and I hope you enjoyed your visit.

The next house on the Parade of Homes tour is Beth from Stories from A to Z. Her house is beautiful and so is she…inside and out!

Just click on the #3 button below, and it will take you there.

Enjoy the Parade!

Have a blessed day!

Traci

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Tagged bathrooms, guest house, makeover, master bedroom, My Kitchen Filed Underbathrooms, guest house, makeover, master bedroom, My Kitchen, Uncategorized 79 Comments

Cute Baby Shower Idea (and some announcements)

April 22, 2010 AT 6:11 am 34 Comments

April 22, 2010 By cyndi 34 Comments

On Sunday, I went to a baby shower for my precious cousin, Whitney. She is pregnant with her first child, a baby girl!

My Aunt Pat, (Mom’s youngest sister), hosted the shower at her home.

Like a goof-ball, I forgot to take my camera, but I did snap a few pictures of the decorations on my phone.

How cute is that tu-tu around the punch bowl?

My favorite little decoration was these adorable little baby booties my Aunt Pat made with styrofoam cups.

Aren’t they adorable?!

Of course, I had to have a tutorial!

We gathered around the kitchen counter as Aunt Pat showed us how she made them.

First, cut the top off of the styrofoam cup.

Then cut two slits in the cup about an inch apart…

Push the middle section between the two slits back…

Then fold the sides over the middle section…

Secure the pieces with a staple and glue a little pink or blue ribbon on top of the staple. Aunt Pat put some netting in the bootie to hold the candy mints. Too cute!!!

Thanks for the demonstration, Aunt Pat!

I just had to take a picture of these strawberries…you don’t even want to know how many of these I ate! :)

And I had to have one of these too. They were “melt in your mouth” good!

There were beautiful pink roses that greeted us when we walked in the front door..

A cute little vignette with Whitney’s framed baby shower invitation…

I wanted to steal this bear! Shhhh…don’t tell anyone…

A few baby decorations hanging from the chandelier…

And look at one of the presents Whitney got…

My mom’s cousin, whom we all call “Baby Doll”, ordered this from one of my sponsors, Red Letter Words. It was absolutely beautiful!!

It was a wonderful baby shower and such a blessing to celebrate this very special time in Whitney’s life!

************************

I also wanted to share an announcement with you.

Monday I will be participating in a blog Parade of Homes at Poppies at Play!

I was so honored (and a little intimidated) to be invited. I don’t really feel like my home is worthy of being in a parade of homes, but I had to take advantage of such a wonderful opportunity.

I am trying to get my master bedroom renovation finished in time for the Parade. My home (3 rooms) will be featured on Monday, and the Parade will c
ontinue throughout the week. I hope you will join me!

Secondly, be sure to mark your calendar for my second linky party, “Best DIY Projects of April.” It’s next Friday, April 30th!

That’s only one week away!

I hope you can come!

Have a blessed day!

Traci

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Tagged crafty project Filed Undercrafty project, Uncategorized 34 Comments

Wednesdays with Wanda

April 20, 2010 AT 11:30 pm 17 Comments

April 20, 2010 By traci 17 Comments

This post will not be a tear-jerker…I promise.

I know my Wednesday with Wanda post last week was an emotional one. Thank you for all of your sweet comments and emails. You have no idea how much they mean to me.

Thank you for celebrating my son getting his new hearing aids with me. It was such a bittersweet day. If you missed last week’s post, which for me was one of the most special ones I have ever written, you can read about it HERE.

Since I made so many of you cry last week, I decided to share something not as emotional. :)

This week, I wanted to share with you something Mom had written in the front of her Bible.

It is a list of scriptures to “call upon” when needed. I have found it very helpful to me. I thought maybe you would too. If you find yourself today in any of the situations listed below, I want to encourage you to take a few minutes today to read the corresponding scripture that goes with it. I pray you would find comfort in God’s living word.

When there is sorrow…Call John 14

When men fail you…Call Psalm 27

If you want to be fruitful…Call John 14

When you have sinned…Call Psalm 51

When you worry…Call Matthew 6:19-34

When you are in danger…Call Psalm 91

When God seems far away…Call Psalm 139

When your faith needs stirring…Call Hebrews 11

When you are lonely or fearful…Call Psalm 23

When you grow bitter or critical…Call 1 Corinthians 13

For Paul’s secret of happiness…Call Colossians 3:12-17

When you feel down and out…Call Romans 8:31-39

When you want rest and peace…Call Matthew 11:25-30

When the world seems bigger than God…Call Psalm 90

When you want Christian assurance…Call Romans 8:1-30

When you leave home for labor or travel…Call Psalm 121

When you prayers grow narrow and selfish…Call Psalm 67

For a great invitation and opportunity…Call Isaiah 55

When you want courage for a task…Call Joshua 1

How to get along with fellow men…Call Romans 12

When you think of investments and returns…Call Mark 10

If you are depressed…Call Psalm 27

If your pocketbook is empty…Call Psalm 37

If you are losing your confidence in people…Call 1 Corinthians 13

If people seem unkind…Call John 15

If you are discouraged about your work…Call Psalm 126

If you find the world growing small and yourself great…Psalm 19

While writing this post, I have been reading through some of the scriptures written above and listening to Amy Grant’s newest CD, Somewhere down the Road, which I love.

And my heart is filled to overflowing…

May you feel God’s presence in your life today.

Blessings,

Traci

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Tagged Mom Filed UnderGod's blessings, mama's boys, Mom, Uncategorized 17 Comments

I found a side table that I love!!!!

April 18, 2010 AT 11:45 pm 49 Comments

April 18, 2010 By cyndi 49 Comments

Okay, I am feeling really brave today because I am sharing a video of me with you.

I found such a great deal that I had to share it with you “in person”.

(I took this video from my phone, in my son’s room, late at night, and I’m looking pretty rough. I must really love you guys!) :)

Here is what the vanity looked like when I walked into the Antique Mall…(insert bright light from heaven and choir of angels singing)…

Here is what the top looked like when we brought it home. I loved it despite it’s flaws…(we had started sanding it a little already)…

My hubby helped me sand it with 80 grit (coarse) sand paper to get some serious work done on top…

Then he sanded the whole top with 120 grit sand paper, and then smoothed it out with a 220 grit sand paper.

Now, I apologize for not taking pictures of the next steps. I was so excited about this project that I truly forgot. But I will tell you what we did.

I wiped the dust off the top and applied two coats of Miniwax “Dark Walnut” stain with a clean cloth. (Be sure to let it dry in between coats.)

Then I cleaned the bottom half of the piece with a wet cloth and a little bit of Murphy’s Wood cleaner.

Then I put a coat of Minwax Polyurethane (satin finish) all over the entire piece with a large sponge brush. Be sure to put on a thin layer.

When it was completely dry, I lightly sanded the top of the vanity and applied a second coat just to the top.

And here it is….(It looks orange-y out in the sun, but it is really a dark brown.)

The drawers work perfectly even though they have some big scratches on them, and I love the way they look. The scratches give the piece so much character…like there is a story behind every scratch.

And here it is in its new home…aaaahhhh….

Doesn’t it fit just perfectly?

I may put a mirror over the vanity…I haven’t decided yet.

The top turned out silky-smooth! I got that mirror picture frame at the Antique Mall too for just $4.99. I thought it would add some more “bling” to the room.

I love the details on this piece….the engravings, the cute little round feet…

One more reminder…$25.00!!!!!

Seriously? You can’t beat that with a stick!

So can you tell I love this piece? Hope so!

I am sooooo close to having this room finished. I am mostly looking for some lamps and some material for pillows.

The “big reveal” will be coming soon….

I am linking this party to DIY Day at A Soft Place to Land!

And Home is….@Reluctant Entertainer!

Be sure to mark you calendars for my next linky party.

All you have to do is link your favorite DIY project (related to home decor or home improvement) that you have completed in the month of April. One entry per person please.

If you don’t have a project to post, then just come and hang ou
t at the party and check out everyone else’s great projects. :)

I will be posting more details about the party this week.

Have a blessed day!

Traci

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Tagged furniture makeover, makeover, master bedroom Filed Underfurniture makeover, makeover, master bedroom, Uncategorized 49 Comments

Lisa Leonard Giveaway Winners!

April 16, 2010 AT 4:21 pm 8 Comments

April 16, 2010 By 8 Comments

Hey ladies,

A Big Fat

Thank You

to everyone who entered this fabulous giveaway!!!

Lisa was gracious enough to give you the chance to win TWO giveaways!

I used the Random Number Generator to pick the winners.

The first winner of the family crest necklace is #92…

Holly Days Closet said…

My favorite is "be still necklace"
Holly

The second winner of the $40 gift certificate is #115….

jakiesmom said…

i love itty bitty hearts
[email protected]

Congratulations!!

Ladies, please send your email address to me, Traci, at beneathmyheart4(at)gmail(dot).com.

But if you didn’t win, and you have had your eye on one of her beautiful pieces,

you can get a 10% discount off of your entire order by entering the code: “my heart”.

And if you need your order by Mother’s Day, be sure to place it by April 28th!

One more thing…

I made a new button for my next linky party…

“Best DIY Projects of April”

I will be explaining the party again next week and will make a button with a text box if you need it.

Have a blessed weekend!

Traci

P.S. I found a desk for my master bedroom makeover that I absolutely LOVE and it was super inexpensive! Can’t wait to share it on Monday!

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$4 Artwork for my room

April 15, 2010 AT 6:39 am 26 Comments

April 15, 2010 By cyndi 26 Comments

Well, you know that I am trying to accessorize my master bedroom on the cheap, so today I stopped by the Habitat store and picked up a couple of frames.

They were only two dollars each, so I spent a whopping $4.00!

They are matted for a 8 x 10 picture which is exactly what I needed.