Painted Interior Cabinets: Pinterest Challenge Spring Edition

The Pinterest Challenge (Spring Edition)  is here!  It's time to join in on the pinterest project party fun.  Last challenge I was a guest host (still crazy to me) and put together a diy fabric ottoman.  The Pinterest challenge is just a fun way of getting all of us to stop pinning and actually doing!  I love it.  This time around Sherry and Katie have two new awesome co-hosts Emily and Renee.  Make sure you stop by their blogs to check out their projects and link up with them!

Ok, so on to my pinterest project - painting the interior kitchen cabinets.  Here is my "pinspiration" - I'm  sure lots of you have seen this cute photo and even pinned it yourself.

This project is from Elsie and Emma over at A Beautiful Mess.  Isn't is so cute and fun?  I want my cabinets to look like this.  Challenge accepted.

Ok - first confession.  I'm not as finished as I would have liked to have been.  I do have the painting completed just not the cabinets filled yet.   But, I'm getting ahead of myself - let's take a look back (way back) to the original state of our kitchen cabinets when we moved it.

Not pretty.  Almost immediately the first thing we did was paint our kitchen cabinets.  We love them now.  They are obviously not new but way better.  We have debated so many times on what to do with this kitchen.  Do we gut the whole thing, leave the cabinets and just replace the countertop - the questions loom.  The longer we live here the more we lean towards not gutting the whole thing.  We do however want to replace the the countertops, add a backsplash, take down that weird middle piece over the window, etc.  We just don't want to over upgrade our small house.  So, those questions are for another day.

Here's the secret behind those painted cabinets - they are totally crazy half primed on the inside.

This was one of those - I'll get to it one day things.  Well, the one day has finally come.  

Here's a glimpse at the bottom cabinet - that shelf is old and grody.  Don't freak - I had it covered with shelf liner but removed it to clean and paint.

So, the color choice.  I wanted something fun but not too crazy and something that would be a pretty contrast/background for my dishes and kitchen gadgets.  This pretty navy/indigo color by valspar wonderfully named "Jazz Club" totally won.  I also loved the quality of this paint - it went on really smooth and nice.  I did do two coats but my cabinets were totally weird and half primed so I went into this knowing that would be the case.

I love using a foam cabinet roller when painting cabinets - the interior was no different.

This is my first coat before edging it all out.  Its a little brighter here (this is during the drying phase).  Paint almost always dries a little darker - and this paint is no exception.

The actual painting of the interior of the cabinets was actually really easy and quick.  The worst part about this project was pulling everything out and having your kitchen all over your house while you are in the middle of this.  

So after two quick and easy coats we have this.  I.love.it.  I love this color, I love that our cabinets feel finished now, I can't wait to re-stock them and organize them - I could go on.

Oh, here's the bottom shelf.  I love the pop of navy down there.  Now I need to find a really fun and pretty cabinet liner for the bottom.

I go by and just open the cabinets up for no reason now to just see the insides.  This totally makes me want to replace a few doors with glass doors so I can easily see inside.

I still have some white touch ups I need to do and of course - actually filling the cabinets back up.  But for now I'm in love.

Thanks so much to Katie, Sherry, Emily and Renee for hosting the pinterest challenge!  

Thanks for stopping by today!

Adding a little More Curb Appeal

We have been working, working, working on this little house of ours and because of that this little blog of mine has been neglected a bit.  The cool thing is - I have a bunch of projects to share coming up - so I'm excited about that.  One of which is our finished patio!  I can't wait to share how it turned out.   Pretty much as soon as we finished we had a monsoon roll in so I haven't been able to get any good after pics - looks like it might be a good day for taking some after shots - so stay tuned.

One of our goals for this spring is to get our yard cleaned up, neat and pretty.   We shared some in our painting the house post about how we have begun adding some character to our yard with new plants and mulch and a new walkway.  It was definitely time for some color though.

I have to brag a little and say that I have the sweetest husband ever.  I went and grabbed a yellow rose bush to plant in the front and also some veggies and herbs for our side bed.  A few days later Justin came home with a lot more herbs and four more rose bushes.  How sweet is he?  Look how pretty they are....

I hated the exterior of this house so much when we moved in - from the paint choices to the landscaping.  I love it so much now.  Look how far we've come...

It doesn't even seem like the same house.  

I also have a little side plant bed that was nothing but weeds when we moved in...and pretty much has stayed that way for the last two years.  It has been driving me crazy and I needed to do something about it.

I started by getting rid of the weeds and adding soil.  We actually added some soil in from the patio dig out a few weeks ago.  I also purchased some garden soil to supplement as well.  A little poking and tilling around was needed to break up the ground a bit and prepare it for planting.  This pic below is how its looked for the last few months.

I planted some of the veggies and herbs I had and I'm still working on getting the rest in (between patio building and major downpours).  I opted to make this a veggie and herb garden as opposed to a flower bed.  This area gets lots of sun and I love that its right outside the kitchen door (perfect for grabbing some fresh herbs while cooking).

Some of Silas' little seedlings have even made it in there.

Oh, I planted a blueberry bush too - does anyone have any pointers for growing blueberries??

We spend a lot of time outdoors so all of these little updates are so exciting to me.  The patio post is coming soon!  Also, tomorrow is the spring edition of the pinterest challenge.  Remember when I was a guest host in the winter?  Yeah, that was crazy.  I have a project I'm working on for that and hopefully will be finished before tomorrow so I can share!  Can't wait to see what everyone has done this time!

Anyone else working on prettying up your yard?  Share with me!!

Have a great day!

Building the Patio - Choosing Pavers

Its definitely time for an update when it comes to the patio.  Things have been moving rather slowly around here - well at least when it comes to patio building.  Over the weekend our goal was to pick out, purchase and lay down the patio - that however did not happen.  Seems as though choosing a paver took a little longer than originally thought and then loading them and unloading them took longer than expected as well.  Its just the way projects go sometimes.  So, I don't have a finished patio to show you yet but we do have pavers.....

As you can gather we actually have two different kinds going on.  I wasn't necessarily planning on choosing a paver and a brick but when I saw this brick I really kind of loved it.

Its called Old Towne Blend by Pavestone.  I love the variation of colors and after some deliberation we all (Me, Justin, Mark and Buddy) decided that it would be a nice accent.  

Now, on to the main paver.  Originally I was just thinking of going with something really plain.  I didn't like square and I didn't want anything that would be rough and leave an uneven surface (its surprising how many pavers are bumpy...who wants to sit on a bumpy patio?)  But everyone else wasn't feeling my decision.  So we kind of went back and forth several times.  

After finding the brick and agreeing it would make a great accent I was really liking this square paver - this one is Nantucket's Yorkstone Tan Variegated.  The variation of color is really nice and it has a slight texture to it.  Its plain with a twist I would say.

We have been playing around with patterns this week - we are kind of liking this.  Honestly, I'm sure we will re-arrange and arrange again before we decide on the final pattern.

Slowly this week our plan is to start moving the pavers from the front yard to the back (something we haven't started yet).  This patio job is a ton of work from start to finish.  Everything is heavy and labor intensive.  I'm so thankful my toughest job yet was choosing which pavers we wanted.  Man, that was difficult/I'm kind of spoiled.  Someone has to make lunch though right?

 Hopefully we will have a finished patio by the end of this weekend!  Can't wait to share the finished project with you!

So have any of you guys ever started a project and have it take way longer than expected?  Do you have trouble choosing your project supplies sometimes?  Share with me!

Have a great Wednesday!!

PS - You can check out our previous patio posts here:  Building a Patio Part One, Patio Part Two

DIY Silhouette Necklace

I'm so excited to be participating in Kelly's Mother's Day Handmade {love} Series!  I'm the third project out of ten coming your way!  Yesterday Jamie at Roubinek Reality shared a really sweet DIY Ruffled Kitchen Towel.  She has awesome and easy to follow instructions - go check her project out!!

So today I'm going to share a fun and easy Mother's day gift idea - a sweet little silhouette necklace.  I'm all about a silhouette - I love the vintage charm.  I wanted to come up with something that anyone could do and uses easy to find materials.  This really is easy, I promise!  Ok, let's get started!

Supplies I used:

- Balsa Wood Shapes

- Craft Paint

- Pencil

-Silhouette Stencil

- Sharpie Markers

- Small Nail (for making a hole to hang)

- Jump Rings

-Jewelry Chain

Jewelry Clasps

-Diamond Glaze or some other finish

The first thing you need to do is paint your Balsa wood shapes with craft paint - simple.  Balsa wood is a soft wood and its found in most craft stores.  I found the pre-cut shapes at Michaels.  I decided to use two circles and to add a little heart for an accent.  

  

After your paint is dry its time to trace your silhouette onto your pendant.  I simply found a profile of my son on my computer and shrank the size down to fit and printed it out.  Then, I cut out the silhouette to make a template and traced around the template with a pencil onto my pendant.  Next, I simply used a black sharpie to trace around the pencil.  *Here's a tip - a fine tip sharpie will work even better for outlining your silhouette.  After you have your outline use the regular tip sharpie for filling in.  I ended up filling in a couple of coats to get it dark and as even as possible.

Now you need to make your hole so you can use this as a pendant for your necklace.  You can either drill a hole or use a small nail and lightly tap it into the wood.  Its super soft wood so it doesn't take much to make a hole.  

After that, the next part is sealing and finishing it all off.  I decided to use diamond glaze- since I had it on hand and I like the glossy, hard finish it gives...Oh, also it dries super fast.  You could totally use a glossy modge podge or even a clear coat spray paint sealer - just use what you have.  

After your finish coat is all dry the last part is just assembling your necklace together.  I used a couple of jumprings to attach my pendants onto my chain.  Round nose pliers work great for opening and closing the jumprings.  Don't let this part intimidate you if you have never made jewelry - its so easy!  Jumprings can also be found at any craft store - even at Walmart.

And finally, you have a cute little silhouette necklace, ready for gift giving.  Mine came together pretty quickly.  I had a few minutes here and there to paint, cut, trace, gloss, etc.  Don't let handmade projects seem time consuming - usually I'm doing one little step at a time throughout the day when I work on a project like this instead of trying to carve out a chunk of time.  It works for me!

Thanks so much for joining me today!!  Tomorrow Jaime at Raising Up Rubies, will be sharing another great handmade mother's day gift idea so make sure to check it out, I can't wait!!  

Have a great day!

Be The City - Missions Week

Its turning into that time of year when I tend to start feeling overwhelmed.  We have a huge summer coming up with vba, summer camp and three mission trips - all of which we are so excited about (PS - we are going to Panama!).  We also have various events leading up to the summer that we are in the midst of planning and working out final details.  Friday night I'm hosting a girls night for our high school girls and we are making shoes for Sole Hope.  I can't wait to share about it!  We also have a Middle School Dinner Theatre this weekend and our big Senior Salute Celebration is on the horizon.  So, lots and lots of plans ahead for our us personally.  Also in the meantime we are attempting to complete our patio project as well as some others things.  And! Coming up next week I'm part of a fun Handmade Mother's Day series hosted by Kelly.  So excited!

Ok, now that you are all caught up on my life (you're welcome for that) let me rewind a bit and share about a recent student ministry missions week we did during Spring Break.

So during our students' spring break this year we decided to host a missions week doing projects here in our own city.  Our week consisted of a vbs for a local community, packaging food for our town's crisis ministry, sponsoring children and taking them to a fun museum and working at our local food bank.  We do a lot of events, retreats and things with our students but this was one of my favorites.  Ok, here comes a big photo dump.

We had such a sweet time hanging out with the kids we had for vbs.  We played games, made crafts, ate together and shared Jesus.  Justin and I were humbled and excited to see teenagers give up their spring break to serve their community.  I know sometimes teens get a bad rap and older generations worry about the future generations.  There are some awesome, loving, giving and generous teenagers being raised up.  I'm so excited to see what God does in their future.  

 Next, we took some time to buy a whole lot of rice and beans and then packaged them up for families in crisis.  We have a great Crisis Ministry here in our town that does a lot for our community and we were glad to be able to help a little.  I love that Silas was able to come and help too for this.  He loves our students and they are a great example for him.  He couldn't wait to jump in and help package food.

During the week we also were able to take a group of kids from our community (that our church is ministering to) to the Marbles Kids Museum.  Its a really hands-on, interactive and fun museum.  Not only do we have a great group of teenagers who took the kids but we have a great group of adults who sponsored these kids for the day.  Our adult classes at church gave a special offering so we were able to do this.  It was such a blessing all around. 

 Our last day we spent volunteering at our city's food bank.  Justin and I have worked at food banks all over the country on various mission trips but have never been to our own.  We loved being there and I have to brag - our city has a really organized and well run food bank who feeds thousands of people all over our state.  We packaged, boxed and organized food for them that day.  We all now know the difference between a yam & sweet potato...I think.

Thanks for letting me share a little bit about our students.  We are so thankful for what we do and to be able to serve alongside of them.  

Hope you guys are having a great week!