the RED BED reveal: before and after pics!

Here we have a cold, sad, naked pine sleigh bed. Practically sanded down to the nails. Believe it or not, this is the beginning stage of "Plan B". I deleted my pics of "Plan A" in a fit of frustration and dishonor. Sorry.

I found the headboard and footboard at an antiques store for $55. I found the side rails from an online company for $250. I sanded and stained the entire bed a lovely shade of deep reddish brown. And then found out too late that I had used way too much stain. Way too much. As in four months later it was still tacky. 
So we sanded. And sanded. And sanded. I think my lungs will forever have reddish brown stain particles floating around in them. My husband and the Mouse were also great helps, so my thanks goes out to them too. We sanded the daylights out of that bed frame. No trace of deep reddish brown. And then we primed the surface with a special conditioner so all the wood accepts the stain evenly. 
On went our first coat of stain - a very light coat this time. We were very careful. We followed the directions explicitly. Staining, letting it set, wiping the excess off. It started out all right..... but after a few light coats...... wait a minute. Oh no....... something is wrong. It's not all accepting the stain evenly. Not even remotely! 
By the third coat, it was so mottled it looked ghastly! Horrible! MAYDAY! MAYDAY! She's going down...... yes, she's definitely going down. I don't think we will ever know what the problem was or why the wood turned so ugly. SO. UGLY.  
Enter "Plan C". That's when I decided paint is my friend. Paint has always been my friend and I should have remembered that in the first place. Stain bad. Paint good. I went and got a high grade primer, a high grade paint, and picked out a lovely Martha Stewart "barn red" color. I did have to sand the entire bed down yet again - ugh. I HATE SANDING! But then after wiping everything down I immediately started applying the primer. I painted more than 2 full coats of primer.
And here we are at the cutting in stage. Oh, if I had only known the FITS these slats were going to give me, I would have taken the entire thing to the dumpster. But I suppose there are some things we don't know for our own good. 
Here we are with the first coat of red finished. I went on to do 3 coats of red on the entire bed, and a 4th coat of red on the slats. If I had to do it over again, I would take entire bed to an auto body shop and have them spray the dang thing until it yelled for mercy. Seriously. But after all that work, and countless words I cannot repeat, it actually did turn out pretty darn cool........
So finally.... (drum roll please).... here is the Big Reveal. Looks pretty super fly, eh? I was definitely pleased at how well it looks in our room. It looks cozy. It looks cheerful. It looks happy to have a new life. And it's probably really happy I'm not hating it anymore.  
It took me a while to get used to how high the mattress is... I'm not so sure I'm sold on that. I would like to see more of the headboard. I may need to make a box springs adjustment, like use bunk boards instead. That would bring the mattress down a good 5 inches at least. What say you? Agree? Disagree? Comments? 
But for now I'm just really warming up to the Red Bed. And every time I go into my room I'm liking it more and more. 

You know, people always equate the color red with romance, or high energy, or anger. I'm SUCH a lover of red! But those things have never been what I see in red. When I see red, I see warmth, I see CHEERFULNESS. To me, red is the most cheerful color. It makes me so happy. And when it's paired with yellow or turquoise, oh gosh, what a winning combination. So, so cheerful :)
So "Plan C" worked! The 3rd time really was a charm. My project is done! Now I can turn the Christmas music on, make up some hot cocoa, and breathe an amazing sigh of relief. And cheerfulness :)

~ I've made my bed and now I'm going to lay in it ~

a Shameless Plug and more anticipation of........ The Bed

So did everyone enjoy listening to Straight No Chaser's wonderful version of "the 12 Days of Christmas"? Did it work? Everything that gets on here is kind of by the seat of my pants, so I'm hoping it played and everyone had a wonderful laugh. It's still in my side bar if you want to see it again. I just ordered their Christmas CD on Amazon yesterday and I'm anxiously awaiting it's arrival! 

See above? My 3 different notecard sets? All in colorful sets of 8 cards packaged in a lovely gift box? I am shamelessly plugging them because a little bird (named Jamie Bernards) told me they make great teacher/friend/self/hard-to-buy-for-family-member gifts. Who knew? A set of cards is $20 and shipping is free. You can purchase them through my Wild Child Arts store on Etsy (scroll down on the right side bar), or of course you can just contact me too. Etsy says I have one of each but just so you know, I have multiples of every set. A plethora, if you will. 

Word on the street is, many of you seem as anxious as I am for my INFERNAL BED FRAME to be done. Well, it's DONE! And after it being such a nightmare (don't worry - you'll get the whole story - oh believe me, you'll get it. with pictures. in spades) I'm now trying to decided if I love it as much as I thought I would, or if I will hate it forever ;) In any case, it's taking it's last few days to dry before we finally bring it inside and get it all set up. We're aiming for Saturday. So stay tuned - same Bat time, same Bat channel :)

Yippeeeeee!

Okay, so here I am with my adorable boys, celebrating my birthday. I'm wearing my new tie dye tee shirt, but of course you can hardly see it because my husband and boys got me 3 bottles of diet Coke and 5 bags of Ruffles for my birthday! LOL! Too funny :) We had a great day - a really busy day! But with a TON of birthday love sent from near and far. THANK YOU EVERYONE! I'm going to take a few days to catch up on the gazillion errands and chores I need to do - and hopefully finish that INFERNAL BED of mine once and for all! WHAT bed you say? Oh you'll see. Youuuuuuuu'll see :) 

happy birthday to ME

happy birthday to ME

happy birthday DEAR MEEEEE.....

happy birthday to ME

:)

Magnet Board Tutorial

Remember me telling you I would have a tutorial this week? Well here it is - it's WAY cute and it's right in time for holiday gift giving! These are simple-to-make magnet boards.
Here are your materials, all of which can be found at craft type stores. 

• 12x12 metal sheets with holes in the top approx. 2" in and 1" down. 
• However many decorative magnets you like. 
• About 12" of ribbon (I'd say no wider than 1") 
• 2 decorative brads to secure ribbon through holes. (you can omit brads and tie a simple knot if you'd rather) 
• Mod Podge glue and sponges to apply it.  
• Decorative paper, vintage wall paper, fabric - the choices are many - to cover the magnet board. At least a 13x13 piece. I chose a tea towel I had because I wanted the crocheted ends to hang off the bottom edge of each board. 

Test your magnets with whatever material you choose to make sure the material is not too thick.
The rest of the directions are pretty self-explanatory. Cut your paper/fabric to size making sure at least an inch will wrap around the back. Cover your metal sheet with a good amount of Mod Podge.
Center your paper/fabric to make sure it is centered and comes out even. This took me a few tries since I was using fabric and it needed to be stretched a bit. Then make sure you work from the center out, securing the paper/fabric to the metal sheet, and getting out all air bubbles or wrinkles.  
Wrap your material around the back and secure it with Mod Podge on the borders of the metal sheet. Since I was using fabric and there was some stretching involved, I secured the edges with clips (and used the weight of my paint bottles) until the Mod Podge had dried.

Now you're ready to thread your ribbon through the holes from the back. You will need a screw driver or an awl to pierce the material. Roll the ribbon and pull it through. Decide how much ribbon you want at the top, and how much you want it to hang down the sides. 
Cut ribbon, secure with the decorative brads (or tie your knot) and hang them! How totally CUTE are they!?!?! And of course, I must give all credit to my friend Rochelle (who's dipped rice crispie treats will be our next tutorial) for this adorable craft. She's The Queen of all things crafty and/or yummy and I bow down to her frequently :)

~ Happy Thanksgiving ~

I am very thankful for my country, and for all my many blessings.

Best Buddies Ever

Okay I can't stand it..... are they just too cute or WHAT. This is my oldest son, the Red Power Ranger, and my niece, California Surfer Chick. They are both 22 years old. They are only 6 weeks apart. They are best buds. I absolutely *adore* them. And I've had them on my mind a lot because they are spending Thanksgiving at Surfer Chick's home. I'm sad the Red Ranger could not make it home for Thanksgiving... sniff... but I am so happy they could spend time together at California Surfer Chick's house. Especially because I know my sister-in-law (Sister-In-Crime) will be making a traditional Thanksgiving feast. And if you remember correctly, I am still trying to get over the trauma of a recent high school anatomy assignment and will not be cooking any type of fowl in the future. We are having pizza.
Just LOOK at how cute they are! They should have been born twins - they are attached at the hip even though they are going to different universities. They are two peas in a pod. They have so much fun together. They look out for each other. They dispense advice to each other. They shop together. They laugh and cry together. They expel heinous amounts of gas together. 
It has been so much fun - no, it has been a true JOY - to watch these two grow up. Here they are at the Cheesecake Factory. This was the time when California Surfer Chick ordered "the Chipotle Burger - but please hold the chipotle". We love to remind her of that :)
Here they are "helping" with Thanksgiving last year. I think they were burning something.
Here they are "doing the dishes" after our Thanksgiving feast. It's true: the Red Power Ranger has a great butt. 
This photo was taken when they saw each other again after being apart for nearly three years. So cute!
And needless to say, these two have many adventures together. I am thankful for them both. They are not only awesome kids, they are awesome people. I love them with all my heart. And wish for them many, many more adventures together :)

XOXOXO

Spotlight on 3 Etsy Artists

Is this not the most adorable set of crocheted items for play? I fell in love with Crafty Anna's Cute Colorful Crochet store. Talk about eye candy! After coming up with the most creative ideas for imaginative food play, she has painstakingly made extremely affordable patterns with directions, so you can make fun sets of crocheted toys children will love. She does not sell the finished sets, mind you - she sells her copyrighted PATTERNS, simple enough for beginning to intermediate crocheters. Stop by her Etsy store so you can see for yourself, what colorful, creative sets she has invented!
I knew I would get your attention with this little guy! This is Charlie. He's just a small bird, but as you can see, he has a LOT to say! Enter Brainiac the Art of Matte Stephens, and you enter a world of soft, pleasant colors, quirky but endearing characters, and unique retro style. Matte sells both his original gouache paintings, and his very affordable prints here in his Etsy store. His work could easily stand alone, or would make a fantastic grouping of several.  Go on one of his "family vacations" and see the wonderful cast of characters he has created for all to enjoy! 
Okay, now seriously. You didn't think I would forget my precious diet Coke did you? When I came across these ingenious ornaments cut out of diet Coke cans, there was no way I couldn't spotlight them! They came from Jenn's Recycled Things. They are backed with a foam backing - no sharp edges - and hooks are included. And they are so fun and affordable, how could you possibly go wrong? Of course other products are represented as well (Dr. Pepper earrings anyone?). Just a very fun idea to represent one of our favorite obsessions during the holidays :)

Please let me know if you would like to see more Etsy spotlights in the future. And definitely let me know how you liked the ones I just featured! I enjoy spotlighting others' creativity, so if you're all for it, I'd be happy to continue periodically. And of course you can always visit Etsy yourself - but I warn you, it might be days before you come up for air!