New Puppy and Her New No-Sew Bed

If you follow me on Instagram, you've seen a lot of the newest member of our family- Mia Sofia the chihuahua/minpin mix we got a few weeks ago. She is the sweetest most lovable little girl which is good because I wanted a daytime companion and my daughter wanted something to play with, dress up and sleep with! We all got our wishes!

We spend the day together and she gets all excited each afternoon to go get Abby from school!

And, these two sleep together and we take pictures almost every night. They are so cuddled up. Abby wanted a dog to sleep with her since I get to sleep with "Daddy and the cat. No fair!" Her words. So much to say about that. She can have the cat!

Onto the bed... we bought a boring bed at Home Goods, but found us moving it around the house a lot. So, I decided to make her a bed using a simple bed pillow and cute fleece from Fabric.com. 

When we had a Boston Terrier for 6 weeks 2 years ago, I made a bed using fleece and stuffed it. I quickly learned dogs like to find out what's inside their bed and remove it! 

This time I bought 1.5 yards of fleece and a standard bed pillow. I cut 2 pieces of fleece with about a 3" border around the pillow. Then, I simple cut 2-3" strips around all 4 sides of both pieces of fleece and using knots, tied the top piece to the bottom piece of fleece. The pillow is safely housed inside and I can wash the fleece anytime it needs it. 

Super simple and about $15. I love projects like that! Our super spoiled dog now has 4 pet beds and I think the fleece pillows are her favorite!

New Blue Dining Room

Over the New Years holiday, my husband and I tackled a little home improvement- we updated our dining room. I honestly love it more than I should. It is just a room and a room we don't use often, but it sure does make me smile to walk past it. 

This is a recent picture of the room before we painted it blue. When we bought the house, this room was beige along with all the others. We had it painted Crushed Seed by Dutch Boy 4 years ago, added hardwood floors three years ago, and had updated the chandelier earlier this fall. I had a red dining room in my old house and loved it for a long time. However, this room is open to my living room, kitchen and hall way and the red just didn't match the other rooms as they have evolved. 

The paint color we selected this time around is Smoked Turquoise by Glidden. We had the color mixed into Behr Marquee which is a one coat paint and primer in one. A little piece of advice, P&P in one is meant for only one coat. Doing touch up here in there paints on like a second coat and doesn't match up. It added darker spots that looked greasy since it was gloss on gloss. So, two full coats have to be pained. Lesson learned the hard way!

Another little tip, cleaning baseboards as you paint is genius! Everything wipes really clean. Cleaning wall outlets with baby wipes is not genius. I electrocuted my finger when the baby wipe got the outlet wet. I felt the current run through my hand before I jumped and screamed. It was quite scary!

I love that this room is lighter and brighter. I didn't realize how much the red brought down the light level in this area. It matches the blue drapes in the living room really well and creates the cohesive look I was wanting.

The light fixture was installed earlier this year and is 16 lit mason jars from Pottery Barn. I've loved it for years and used a little extra bonus money to splurge on it. If we ever move, I feel certain it will move with me. The map on the wall is Texas territories from long ago. It was in my husband's office, but matched this room better. ;) We bought the drapes at Target. I came really close to buying orange drapes, but am glad I went with a pop of orange instead.

I bought the mirrors at Ballard Designs when they were having a big sale pre-Christmas. I love the light they reflect and they remind me of leaded glass or stained glass. I love me some vintage leaded glass! The fun little buffet table accessories I have collected over the years from various places.

Finally, my dough bowl is filled with river rocks, straw balls and my new gold antlers. My family works on a deer lease and they find antlers on the property regularly. I snagged a couple of them and spray painted them gold. I love them and love that they were practically free!

I need to find a new runner for the table and we are installing crown molding later this month, but I just couldn't wait to share my new dining room!

I promise to blog again this month.... we have another big home improvement project coming up in our living room! 

Nostalgic Christmas Gift Idea

 I am always looking for inexpensive Christmas ideas to have on hand for hostess gifts, thank you to church workers, my daughter's team of teachers, my hairdresser, etc. I have done Peppermint Sugar Scrub in the past and wanted something new this year. Pinterest to the rescue!

I don't ever remember my Mom simmering this on the stove, but the smell is pure Christmas of my childhood. Funny how a smell can take you back!

These were super simple to make and thanks to Amazon, inexpensive to buy many of the ingredients in bulk. I highly recommend making a batch of these and you'll be ready for the many little pressies needed over the next few weeks.

Supplies:

Clear Gift Bags- 20 for $3.47 on Amazon
2-3 cinnamon sticks in each bag- $12.92/1 pound bag on Amazon
2 T cloves- $17.99/1 pound bag on Amazon
1 orange
2/3 cup fresh cranberries

If you are short on time and not making a lot of these, you can easily find everything at the grocery store and bags at Hobby Lobby or Michael's. This bulk purchase should make about 20 of these bags and cost less than $2.50/each.

Directions:

Mix everything in the bag and add a cute little tag with a merry message and directions to the recipient. I added a fun little graphic from a free printable I found online. Thanks Mrs. Craft Berry Bush!

I tied the bag shut and tag on with red bakers twine and then added a simple ribbon. Both were found at Hobby Lobby.

Happy Gift Giving!

Craigslist Stalking Pays Off!

Look at this beauty- a 12 foot long church pew! I have wanted a long church pew in this space for about 6 years and would check on Craigslist every so often. Then I started checking daily! And a few weeks ago- I hit the jackpot. But, my pew wasn't this pretty when I met her....

She looked like this.... her previous owner used her in the backyard for potted plants. She was dirty, oh so dirty. I cleaned her with rags, swept her, vacuumed her and even sanded off layers of dirt. While living in the backyard, she became home to thousands of ants. I have sprayed and laid out traps for days and each morning I sweep up a few hundred more DEAD ants. 

After cleaning it up well, I sanded off most of the turquoise paint. I knew I wanted a more neutral color and that with Annie Sloan paint, sanding all the way wasn't necessary. Here is a clean and sanded pew ready for paint.

I ended up using an entire quart of Annie Sloan graphite on this project. It was so dry and just sucked up the paint. Plus, did I mention it is 12 feet long? Phew!

After two coats of paint, clear wax and my electric sander, I fell in love!

It is the perfect size for my big long foyer! Plus, we love storing backpacks and purses on it, and other things we need for the next day. It is on the way to the front door or the garage which is super convenient.

I added a quilt that used to be on my bed and a few throw pillows I was storing under the guest bed. I am imagining a lot of seasonal decor on the bench too! Can't you see a little Halloween doll sitting on here or a collection of Christmas pillows?

 There you have it- my long lost find on Craigslist that I just love!

To see more Annie Sloan projects I've tackled, click here. Or, to see the making of the gallery wall behind the pew, click here. 

Homemade Pumpkin Spice Latte Syrup

I love making little food gifts. I love fall. I love mason jars. I don't love coffee or the infamous pumpkin spice lattes, but that didn't stop me from making 40 jars of it this past week. 

It smelled like fall in my house all day! I love that this syrup is full of real ingredients including canned pumpkin.

Here is the easy recipe from According to Elle.

Newest Home Improvement Projects- Paint and Lighting

We have had a busy month making some home improvements I've wanted for years! This was the month to get it done!

First, remember my Annie Sloan red kitchen island? Well it isn't red anymore....

I painted it Annie Sloan cream and used a little bit of dark wax on it. I love it! The red was fun, but it didn't stand out like the cream does in comparison to the other cabinets. Most people never even noticed it was different. It is high contrast now! 

We also finally painted an accent wall in the master bedroom. We went with Antiquity by Sherwin Williams at 75%. It is a great apple green color with a hint of gold and matches the bedding perfect.

I love the warm green against the old rustic star above my bed.

Finally, it was time to upgrade our lighting. My black french country chandelier received a big upgrade and it now matches the pendant light above my sink....

I bought the mason jar chandelier from Pottery Barn and my sweet husband installed it!

It is so me and provides a lot of light in that room which was needed! The up lighting of the chandelier just wasn't bright enough especially when crafting or sewing at night on this table.

I'm happy with these changes and feel like my house really represents my style. But, I'm not done. I have two more paint projects, another kitchen cabinet upgrade and a major foyer project coming! Stay tuned!

Abby's Kindergarten Luncheon

Hello! Long time no blog! I haven't had the time or desire to blog this summer, but have a couple of fun posts to share with you before summer wraps up. Later this week I'll share my 3 big home improvement projects, but today we are all about Abby's kindergarten luncheon. 

We invited 5 of Abby's friends that are all starting kinder next week over for lunch. She has known these kids most of her life from preschool and church. When they first arrived, I gave them all 2027 shirts representing the year they will all graduate and we went outside for pictures.

Back inside we sat down for lunch with only these six little ones in the formal dining room which had been decorated for the occasion. 

The dining room buffet table includes a chalkboard, apple and bell that I had on hand. I also bought a dozen globe stress balls on Zulily months ago and had the balloon topiary gifted as leftovers from a friends birthday party.

On the other side of the buffet were these adorable cookies from my friend Kelly who owns Cookies by Kelly. They were the perfect sweet touch after lunch! 

 The center of the table had lots of fun school supplies including my favorite globes from my office. I made the "ruler" runner on the table from a piece of white fabric my Mom hemmed and a black sharpie marker.

I decorated the windows with bunting from Modern June and a chalkboard bunting from the Target party section. 

Each place setting was decorated with a yellow crayon cup, a plain red paper plate with a felt stem and leaf hot glued on and the cutest napkins! I found these in the $1 spot last year and I just wrote each child's name on the napkin.

Inside the kitchen, I set up a simple lunch buffet and made it fun with another chalk board banner from Target. The little ham sandwiches were still in the oven when I snapped this picture. Along with those we served chips and dip, fruit salad, and had lunchables for the special kindergartners. I also had water, tea, lemonade, and a variety of juice boxes and old bottled sodas.

I served everything on my favorite stove top cover!

We had one little game planned for the kids. They went on an alphabet scavenger hunt. They had classic brown paper sacks where I had written the letters of the alphabet. They each started with a sack and then moved to the letter station.

At this station they dug through plastic magnets to find their letter and found the matching flashcard. Both were placed in their sack and it was taken to the toy station!

Here each kid dug in the bucket to find a toy that started with the letter sack they were holding. The kids had lots of fun looking for something with their letter and often worked together!

 After playing a little while longer, the kids left with these little packages of writing utensils and their own globe ball. I bought these notebooks on 90% off after school started last year! If you plan to throw a party like this next year, I recommend shopping in the next few weeks. Supplies go cheap fast!

These sweet six kids are some of my favorite little people in all the world and I'm so glad we could celebrate their upcoming big day together before we all go separate ways! As you can tell from their little signs, they have big futures ahead of them!

 

I found lots of ideas for this party on Pinterest. Check out my Back to School Party board here. 

A New Season

I can't believe that I am writing this post... I think the season of running two blogs and trying to keep up with everything is coming to an end. I have loved blogging and I've loved following lots of blogs, but I just don't have time.

I don't get excited to blog anymore. It is becoming another task and frankly, I don't need another task. I don't want to blog when I should be working or doing laundry or spending time with Abby. Summer is coming and we have less school and more playdates. I also have more work, both professionally and as a volunteer.

I hope to blog every now and then- when I have a new recipe to share or a new craft that I'm proud of. But, I won't be blogging twice a week for sure. I will leave this blog live for archived projects and recipes. I always dig through the blog when meal planning myself!

If you want to stay in touch, you can find me on Instagram daily and on Pinterest often. You don't have to have an account, just click on the links and look around. I will keep posting lots of personal pictures on Instagram and sharing my daily #annaisgrateful. Of course, my Pinterest page will be full of recipes and crafts! Feel free to follow me if you are on those platforms.

Have a great day!

Toe-Tally Awesome Teacher Gift for under $15

I feel like preschool teachers get pretty excited about summer! It is the reward for a long hard school year, so I like to celebrate summer with Abby's teachers each year. Last year, I did pool bags filled with summer essentials (details here) and this year I decided to go with pedicures!

I bought everything at Wal-mart including the plastic Aladdin mason jars and the pedicure goodies below. I spend about $15 on each teacher!

I then stuffed the cup with cotton balls and the goodies. I found a handful of cotton balls on the bottom and then the pedicure pieces and then more cotton balls looked the best.

Finally I added a ribbon and a tag. If you had a bigger budget, a gift card for a pedicure would be a nice addition.

So excited to have teacher gifts done for the year! May goes by so fast and there is so much going on- it is nice to be ready!

May Desktop

Have a great month!