Mother’s Day cleaning

Posted on May 14, 2013 by Tarah

I hope y’all had a great Mother’s Day! I had breakfast made for me, watched a movie with my 2 little boys, giggled with my sweet little girl and they gave me a beautiful new purse. It’s stunning and has purple accents! I love purple!

While I know most mothers relax on Mother’s Day, I suddenly felt the urge to do a “mother’s day cleaning” of the banisters of our stairs. I have been going up and down those stairs, noticing them getting dirtier and dirtier. I rarely have that “urge” so I ran with it. However, after going through the cleaning supplies, I found that I didn’t have any “all purpose cleaner”.

spray bottle
2 cups warm water
1 cup distilled white vinegar
2 TBSP dishwashing soap

Directions are very simple – mix it all together in the spray bottle. See, very simple.

I started cleaning with a paper towel, the graduated to a sponge and followed with a paper towel. Now, there’s a before and after picture. Don’t judge. Remember, I have 3 young children that go up and down these stairs at least 50 times a day.

I found a few “recipes” for this all purpose cleaner. I just went with the one I had all the ingredients for. Cottage Sweet Cottage is the one I chose to use. Big Box Detox also has one that’s similar. Any of these will work. I think it worked very well and I love my clean banisters

I finally used the white vinegar for what it SHOULD be used for instead of, I don’t know, plotting to seriously injure my husband.

Uh no, Pinterest.

Posted on April 30, 2013 by Tarah

Y’all, it’s been exactly ONE month since we had an “Uh no, Pinterest” discussion. And when I say discussion, I mean, I (or Heather) talked and y’all laughed. That’s how this relationship works sometimes. I think it’s great.

Are you ready? I guarantee you’re going to think “uh no” as well.

Source: thekitchn.com via Tarah @ on Pinterest

If you have lego decor in your home, you might … need to rethink your decor. Legos are kids toys, not for your kitchen utensils. Also, the beer bottle opener? Yeah. THAT goes with your legos.

Source: oddee.com via Tarah @ on Pinterest

This might be the most uncomfortable looking chair I’ve ever seen. And really, does anyone still have “those useless tapes” laying around? I know I don’t, and let me tell you I had my share of those bad boys. Milli Vanilli, New Kids on the Block, all the best of course.

Source: paulagold.tumblr.com via Tarah @ on Pinterest

I’m all for redecorating. I love me a good furniture makeover. Note – a GOOD furniture makeover. This looks like it belongs in Rainbow Brite’s bedroom, or a what I’m sure someone sees during a good high. And don’t act like you don’t know what kind of “high” I’m talking about.

Source: designlike.com via Tarah @ on Pinterest

I simply have no words. Really. I don’t. I can’t even think of something nice to say about this pin.

I changed my mind. I do have words. Uh no. Just don’t do it. Your family will look like Chia pets mated with pineapples.

Source: thebestwallpaperplace.com via Tarah @ on Pinterest

Let’s rehash my thoughts on glitter. First its glitter pantyhose, now a wall … in your child’s nursery? Look at that crib right against the craft herpes wall. Your kid could eat that right off the wall. Kids do things you would never imagine. They touch everything. They lick things. Your little girl is going to grab some glitter off that wall and put that in places … I shudder to think. Just don’t do the “awesome” wall (shout out to my BFF, who finds this AWESOME).

I think we needed an easy going post today. Not much thinking, gives you laughter.

A self-interview {Tarah}

Posted on April 25, 2013 by Tarah

The wonderful ladies at Texas Women Bloggers are kindly holding a “self-interview” link party. Since it’s the middle of Thursday, and I’m not being crafty or domestically active, I thought I’d jump on the wagon.

1. What part of the state do you call home? The FW of DFW – we all know it is the better part of the DFW anyway.

2. How long have you been blogging? Really actively blogging since July 2012

3. Why did you start blogging? What had happened was …A DIY conference attended by friends turned into THIS very blog.

4. What do you hope to get out of the Texas Women Bloggers community? Its always fun to have more friends, and even better if they’re Texas friends!

5. Where do you see yourself in 5 years? In 5 years, we may or may not still have this blog. BUT I will still have 3 children (they’ll be 10, 8 and 7 – holy cow.) and maybe my husband will make it another 5 years (I kid. maybe.)

6. If you could choose an actress to play you in your life, who would you choose and why? Well, honestly? Melissa McCarthy. I’m not even joking. If you guys have ever seen her show, Mike and Molly, that’s totally me and my husband. TO a T.

7. Name 5 things on your Bucket List that you hope you’ll check off before you die? I’m simple – travel to NYC and Chicago, run a marathon, visit all 50 states at least once, learn to swim like a pro (okay, not a pro, but decent), and keep my house clean (haha!)

8. If you could be known for one thing, what would it be and why? I have a huge passion for children who are placed in foster care. I also have a huge passion for drug exposed/addicted newborns/children and preemie babies. I have no doubt most of my friends know this. It all holds a special place in my heart and I like to help others who need someone with that experience.

9. Describe one “wow” moment in your life. When a judge gave my husband and I a seal of approval for our first child. I looked at him, then Jody and then realized that I was then a “mommy” permanently and no longer “pretending” to be a mommy to children who needed one for a certain amount of time.

10. If you could “be” anything (no consequences, no fear), what would you “be”? I would love to be someone that has no worries, whether it be money worries, family worries, etc. But alas, that will never happen.

Pinterest Party – April edition

Posted on April 23, 2013 by Tarah

I’m sure we all have a Pinterest Party hangover …or better yet, a craft hangover. That’s a thing, you know? Much like Whitney’s new term she coined “#craftworldproblems”. And yes, before you ask, we DO find ourselves very entertaining.

Facebook fans – you should recognize this picture of the Pinterest Party – April edition sneak peek!

We made the trip down to Heather/Whitney’s aunt’s house again. It’s just such a pretty house and we can all spread out. In all honesty, I wasn’t sure if I was going to go, but alas, my husband was able to “make it happen”. I brought some half-started projects, 2 projects to start and then 2 little baskets to paint. Whitney has a whole nursery to decorate and Heather is a our Silhouette bitc…. I mean, worker. She didn’t really have a list of crafts after she just came off of a big week of meetings for work out of town. She did make everyone some really cute name plaques after she went outside to the “scraps pile” from the house remodel that was going on.

These two beauties were made by Paige and Ashley.

Paige was having her sweet fiancé paint their front door black this weekend while she was gone. She knew she was going to be returning with a yellow wreath so the door color needed to showcase. Heather showed her how to make the cute little fabric flowers, then we helped her with the idea of stringing “HELLO” across the center. Its just too cute!

Ashley’s wreath is the oval shape. HobLob has these cool oval shapes, in case you want one. This wreath has a super sweet story behind it. Those little rosettes down the side? Paige made those for Ashley’s wedding last year for her table number frames. Ashley spent Saturday morning ripping them off the frames so she could continue to use them in her house on the wreath. Add on that green burlap ribbon and she has a winner!

Remember that field trip to Maison Blanche Paint Company? This is Heather’s take home door. It was painted with wrought iron, then Aunt Toni took the silver leaf to it. (Note – AT is a fan of this silver leaf. This is the second time she has used it and it gets EVERY.WHERE) The leaves were there glacaged part of the piece. I think it’s beautiful, even if it is that pesky silver leaf.

SPEAKING of silver leaf – Aunt Toni’s project. These letters are the cardboard/chipboard material that you can get at HobLob and JoAnn Fabric. She used some Maison Blanche Robin’s Egg to paint the letters, then took the silver leaf to them, followed by some Maison Blanche dark brown wax. If you look closely, you can see the Robin’s Egg color peeking through. Also, note the little “specks” in front of the letters. It’s glitter’s ugly cousin – silver leaf. Its floats in the air and gets every thing it touches.

Paige recycled a can that Aunt Toni had saved. She painted the can Annie Sloan’s Old White, added some ribbon then added this really cute fabric flower. Very simple!

ANNNNNND these fabric flowers. Oh these fabric flowers. They became “the craft” that everyone had to do (like these). Well, everyone but me, you know because they’re made of fabric and I don’t “do” fabric. Anyhow, I watched these little flowers become a quick addiction for them. As you can see there was quite a few made, and that’s not counting the ones on Paige’s wreath and can, or the ones on the “name” plaques that Heather made us all (you can see those in the very first picture collage).

Stay tuned for the Pinterest Party recipe post and Whitney will be showcasing all of the nursery goodies she made. Baby Benjamin is most definitely going to sleep in a super cute room!

Any thing you see in the collage you want to see more of? Let us know!

DIY Cupcake stand

Posted on April 18, 2013 by Tarah

More wedding ideas, y’all!!

Lindsay picked out a plain ol’ cardboard stand that she was just going to buy. She didn’t want to make a big fuss about it, just get something that no one had to work on. Here’s the thing, it came with a price. That price — $36. THIRTY-SIX for CARDBOARD, y’all. Cardboard. Uh, no. Not for my friend. Not going to happen. I made a DIY cupcake stand!

Enter the Dollar Tree. Have I ever mentioned I love Dollar Tree?

Supplies:

round cake pan
pizza pan/round cookie sheet
2 candlestick
super glue
cardstock/scrapbook paper
ribbon
mod podge
hot glue gun

I took the pizza pan and traced the cardstock on the inside ring. It wasn’t exactly perfect, but there were going to be cupcakes covering it. At that point, I didn’t let it bother me. I put some mod podge on the pan, then cardstock and finished it off with mod podged over for a topcoat. I did the same thing for the small round pan but turned it upside down.

I obviously did more than one, 3 total actually. They were drying … all together on the floor.

It was time to add the ribbon on the edging. I believe the ribbon is 1″ thick, and it was perfect. Burlap ribbon was tricky, as it tightened together. BUT I saved it and it looked fabulous.

Exhibit A on saving it!

Get your super glue out, take the stickers off the bottom of the candlesticks. I put the super glue around the top of the candlestick and set off to dry. Super glue is the ONLY glue that will work. Don’t bother with hot glue. It won’t work.

After the candlesticks dried, I decided to do a little extra by adding a burlap skirt. This wasn’t exact on the length, but I wasn’t going for a “perfect” look. It was a bit rustic and I think it turned out well.

And sadly .. I apparently didn’t take a picture of them in action at the wedding. However, I got a picture of one of them when I recycled it for Savannah’s birthday.

Also … a Two-fer.

My sweet boys carried these signs down the aisle. They definitely brought some comic relief after the bride and I were stressed out a little.

DIY wedding invitation design

Posted on April 17, 2013 by Tarah

I spent the most of January through March helping plan my BFF’s wedding. Remember that pallet project? Well, we did a whole lot more.

Lindsay, the BFF, admits to not being crafty. I can attest that she is good at a lot of things, and crafts are most definitely not her “thing”. When we sat down on the Saturday before her wedding, I worked on a few projects. She sat, cut fabric squares for her guestbook project and her hair piece for hours.

Before all that, we had to decide on herDIY wedding invitation design. I told her I’d design them and we could make them for much cheaper than buying them. We did a 3 piece set – the invitation, RSVP card and map card.

She found a design that she liked, but we altered it. Her “theme” (if that’s what we call it) was burlap and lace with purple. I had this awesome idea to take lace and use it as a stencil on the back layer of the invite. I should have taken a picture of that FAIL. It was awful.

THIS is the layer that was to have the stenciled on lace. It was a great idea …in my head.

The design of the typography

I think they turned out quite nice. We found some 1″ burlap ribbon online at Save on Crafts, the purple ribbon and paper came from HobLob when it was on sale, of course. Everyone knows that you NEVER pay full price at HobLob.

The complete set

This wedding was most definitely a huge DIY project. I have a few more projects to share from the wedding. Also, here’s a few projects around the house I’m about to get started on as well. Now that it’s FINALLY spring in Texas, it’s more comfortable to go outside. So some painting can be done. I don’t paint in the house unlike other people *coughWHITNEYHEATHERcough* I’m far too messy for that.

Pin there. Done that. – Killing my husband edition

Posted on April 4, 2013 by Tarah

Pin there. Done that. is back, y’all!

Source: fitsugar.com via Tarah @ on Pinterest

My husband was struck down with what we thought were allergies. I just happen to be on Pinterest perusing and this pin popped up. I thought to myself “Great! I can be all sympathetic and help him.” For those who don’t know, I’m probably one of the least sympathetic person in regards to my husband being sick. The rule is he typically gets 24 hours of sympathy, and then you need to stop your whining/moaning/belly aching.

Back to my moment of sympathy. He was about to go to sleep. I told him to stay awake long enough for me to make this to try. I ran to the kitchen and started gathering the ingredients. I had everything but apple cider vinegar. I’ve been really good about keeping my pantry stocked. I guess I just lapsed on this one. I’m okay with finding substitutes for recipes, so once again, I used my Google skills. The substitute – regular white vinegar. Oh I have that! Did it and didn’t think anything of it.

I took it to him, he drank it. A little reluctantly, but he drank it.

This was on Saturday or Sunday. I can’t remember.

He’s said a few times since that he thinks that maybe I was trying to kill him. That would have been too easy.

Sooooo … last night he was discussing this drink with my mother. When he mentioned I used regular vinegar, she immediately had a look of horror on her face. Then looked at me, quickly letting mknow that apple cider vinegar and regular vinegar are most definitely NOT the same, especially for drinking/ingesting.

This obviously did not sit well with him. He started googling. And googling. AND googling some more ….

“Did you know that you made me drink something that cleans appliances and … VAGINAS?!?!?!”

Yes people, I tried to kill my husband by ~~forcing~~ allowing him to drink something that would clean a lady’s vagina.

The moral of this Pin There. Done that. story – it’s probably not best to substitute some things.

Real Cheap Housewives of Texas

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