Monday, March 26, 2012

Clothing Swap Inspiration

I'll be honest, there hasn't been a lot going on in the forms of house updating in the last week.  I have a big girls ministry event coming up this Friday and most of my free time will be devoted to getting ready for that.  I'm pretty excited - we are hosting a clothing swap for the girls.  I've never done an event like this so I'm learning as I go.  The girls were actually the ones who suggested this idea and I thought it was really great.  What a great way to get new free clothing and a fun way to meet new people and hang out.  I also think it gives a glimpse of the first church in Acts - where everything was shared and everyone had what they needed.  I totally had no idea how popular clothing swaps were but after googling and pinteresting (is that a new term now?) I came across a ton of info.  Check out some of these great clothing swap ideas:

Aren't these shopping bags adorable?  I absolutely love these, from the Hostess with the Mostess.


Becky has some great tips on how to organize everything for your clothing swap over at Organizing Made Fun.


Clothing racks are not cheap, believe me I've searched - I love these diyed ones from Design*Sponge.  This would even be cute for your home!


And the mack-daddy of all swappers - The Swapaholics.  I had no idea something like this existed, but I think it's really cool.  These ladies host huge swapping events all over the place and their site is full of swapping inspiration, ideas and info.  If you are thinking about hosting a clothing swap - this site is a must read.


So I'm busy in swap preparations this week, I hope I can share some more things with you this week that we are working on, we have lots of other ideas woven into this one night.  I hope everyone has a wonderful week!  Thanks so checking in with us today!



Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Choosing a House Color

I don't know why, but this has been such a hard decision for me.  Originally I was really leaning towards a nice sage green but as time as gone on my mind has changed and now I'm leaning for something darker.  The more I see houses painted darker shades, the more I like it.  I think it would really change the look of our house and help give it a little more modern update.  So last weekend I decided it was time to start nailing down a color and off to the store I went to pick up some samples.  I picked three and here is where we are.


I feel like these pictures don't really do the colors justice.  To me each color is a little bit more subdued looking in real life and not as vibrant.  As you can see I was really excited about checking out the colors so I just did one quick coat, another coat will definitely darken up the colors some.  The color choices are as follows:  Stone, Sharkskin & Kendall Charcoal (all Benjamin Moore).


This picture gives a little bit better idea of what the colors are actually looking like.  We have two different sidings on our house (there was an addition at some point).  To be honest, I'm still not exactly sure what I like the best.  The new trim color will be white, I'm thinking white dove by Benjamin Moore so bye bye to ugly mustard gold trim.  I'm pretty sure the shutters will be black (we are thinking of getting all new shutters but we have got a lot to do before we get there).


So here we are, I thought maybe looking at the colors individually might help me in making a decision.  




So tell me, what's your favorite??

Friday, March 16, 2012

Random Friday Thoughts

Total Randomness -

1. March Madness Anyone?  We are huge fans of the tournament around here, even taking over our entire living room for the wall of integrity.  Yesterday was an terrible day for my picks, hopefully I can redeem myself today.  This is the only time I watch basketball, except for the occasional NC State game so obviously I'm an expert when it comes to choosing the winners.



2.  We bought some paint samples for our house exterior this week, we have been wanting to get this house painted since moving in almost a year ago - can't wait for that.  Of course now I think the pollen is going to postpone the painting for a few more weeks but we have a ton of prep work to get to in the meantime.  More on that next week.

3.  We are right in the middle of our Crazy Love study.  God has challenged us throughout this study and its been awesome.  This week we looked at giving leftovers to God with our time, money, giving, prayer, worship and life.  We read the parable of the sower and had asked the question - which soil are you? We looked at Malachi 1 and learned how God feels about us treating Him as an afterthought. This was probably the toughest week so far as it really challenged us and how we live.  Our last question of the week was:  If you find yourself living an apathetic, lukewarm life - what are some things you can do to change and increase your love for God?  Here were some great answers:  Serve - this could be something as simple as giving someone a ride but serve someone every single day.  Give generously - this brings about joy in our hearts.  Pray for your enemies, put others before yourself, forgive someone, talk to someone about what God has done in your life, confess and repent of sin, let go of something.  All of these things will bring about a change in your heart, allow you to learn about God, grow closer to Him and increase your love for Him.  One of my favorite quotes of the week: "It's not about us being perfect in ourselves; it's about adopting a posture of obedience where we let go of everything we have and joyfully cling to God.  Though we fail, our passion, love and commitment to God are never in question."

4.  All of a sudden it's 85 degrees, what just happened?  This is not a complaint, I really love the spring and summer.

5.  One of the weirdest things ever happened this week - Silas went to sleep.  Ok, I know it's not the weirdest thing ever but if you know Silas you know he is anti-sleep, will fight it to the end and has an overabundance in energy.  One day this week I noticed it had gotten quiet, really quiet and when I looked over at Silas he was fast asleep on the floor.  My mind is still blown from this event.

Have a wonderful weekend!!!

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

A Striped Silhouette

I have a fun project to share with you today!  So ever since I saw all of the adorable silhouette projects on pinterest I have been dying to make one of my own of my sweet little boy.  The thing is, I just haven't set the time aside to sit down and do it and instead, I've just been pinning and imagining a sweet little silhouette of Silas in my head.  Then, along comes the Pinterest Challenge and lights a fire under my behind.  So today I'm joining the ranks of great bloggers across the Nation who are taking on their pinning addiction and actually doing one of those really fun projects.  

Let me just tell you that this was one of those projects that I thoroughly enjoyed from start to finish and was super easy - and this is speaking from a person who is terrified of painting anything on a canvas with a tiny paintbrush.  I'm loving the finished product:


First, let me share my inspiration - here is my original Pin from the lovely Christina, aren't these adorable?


So, after checking out her lovely tutorial - I set off to decide what my silhouette would look like.  I decided to paint stripes on my canvas, mainly because I wanted to hang this up in my living room and it's in desperate need of some sort of color and pattern.

First thing was painting the stripes - now, I debated here on whether or not to paint the entire canvas white first and honestly- if I had to redo it I probably would.  But, since I tend to be impatient when working on any craft project I decided against it and went straight for the stripes.
I just used 1" painters tape and totally eyeballed the whole thing (because I'm impatient and didn't want to spend time measuring).


Once my stripes were taped on I used a little craft paint and painted over the canvas - I ended up painting two coats for better coverage.  


Then I got nervous because I was so convinced I would pull away the tape and reveal a giant mess.  But, to my surprise, it wasn't! And, actually looked pretty good.  It wasn't perfect - but the small imperfections are barely noticeable (especially when hanging up).  Next, I sighed a breath of relief knowing that I would not have to start over.


Ok, now for the silhouette part.  I needed a good profile picture of Silas to pull this off so I caught him at a good time when he was enthralled with Phineas and Ferb and took a quick shot of him before he realized what was going on - otherwise I would have never have gotten him to stand still for that long.  To enlarge it, I didn't use any fancy software I just uploaded it to my computer, pulled the picture into a page file and increased the size to fit a legal size document and printed it - simple.


Next I just cut out his profile, found the place I wanted it to go on my canvas and used a few pieces of painters tape to keep it still while I traced it.


And, then I had this:


This next part was the second scariest part for me because for some reason black paint makes me nervous plus I hate using a small paint brush, I'm just not skilled with it.  But, I just took in nice and slow around the traced line, using my paintbrush to outline the entire silhouette with my black paint.


These were the brushes I used, in case you were wondering.  I used the foam brush to fill in the larger area.


After a while my confidence in skinny paintbrush using was increasing and I was able to pull away with this - (this was my first coat and I did end up applying a second). whew.


And now he has a little spot in our living room to call home.


So cute right?


I love the stripes and the pop of color but the thing I love the most is my cute little Silas and this project just makes me smile every time I walk into this room.


Thanks so much for joining me today!  I'm joining up with the Pinterest Challenge and heading over to check out all of the other great projects that will be linked up!  Make sure you check out the awesome hosts projects: Sherry, Katie, Cassie & Erin.  

This project was so easy and fun and has totally inspired to get to working on more pinterest projects I have been procrastinating about.  So what about you?  Any pinterest projects looming in your pin boards that you are ready to tackle?  Have a great Wednesday!

Linking Up Here:

Monday, March 12, 2012

Organizing All of That Laundry

So we are back in the laundry room today and talking about organization.  After installing our new shelving we had a ton of space for storage and we are still trying to work it all out.  Before now our laundry was all over the place, in different rooms, piled in closets - we were having issues.  So when installing our shelves we knew we wanted to create a designated laundry sorting station that would be organized, easy to get to and out of the way.  So we decided to use the space underneath our shelving for our laundry sorting.  Only thing is, we had some beat up laundry baskets - that were overflowing (especially since we now have four people living here).   This wasn't working for me..


So we went on a search for new laundry bins and this is what we ended up deciding on: Crate & Barrel's Folding Bins - and we love them.  For one, it looks so much better and two, they are large enough to handle all of the laundry coming through this space now.  Now, these things were not cheap.  We searched so many different stores - even the discount ones and we couldn't find something that we liked at a lower price, this style bin was even more expensive at one discount store.  We decided that our current laundry system was driving us absolutely nuts and investing in something we liked was worth it - and it definitely has been.  This space is also an open space in our house and the main way to exit to the backyard so having our laundry hanging out all over the place was a little awkward.  At least with these bins everything is tucked away and hidden much better.


Laundry is no longer piled up, scattered and taking up valuable space in our little home.



So now I'm on to deciding on something for the actual shelves.  Everything is organized and labeled but the mismatched bins are driving me crazy.  For now it's all good but I'm definitely on the look out for something a little more streamlined and pleasing to the eye for this open storage.  So stay tuned, I'll be sharing what we do soon!


Hope everyone had a fantastic weekend!  Don't forget to go and enter the giveaway at Sew Gloried!  

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Sew Gloried Giveaway

Sew Gloried is hosting a giveaway featuring one of my necklaces along with one of her rustic signs! Check out sew gloried to enter for a chance to win!  Giveaway lasts until March 31st.


Friday, March 9, 2012

Random Friday Thoughts

Ok, another installment of random thoughts - just what everyone has been waiting for this week.

- I'm not going to lie, we have had a bit of a rough week around here.  I have a new appreciation for parents with teenagers.   As I have shared before, our 15 year old niece has come to stay with us for a while and it's been quite the adjustment.  Something I'm learning though is you just have to take it one day at a time.  Somedays are awesome and some well...just aren't - but I'm thankful for the good and rejoice in the small things.  I know all of those small things will begin to pile up and big things will soon take place - God is faithful.

- Speaking of God, last weekend we hosted our big Disciple Now event for our entire youth group.  It was an amazing weekend for our students.  We had a great speaker - Dave Edwards, who came to share God's truth with the group over the weekend, we had great college students leading small groups and great parents who joyfully opened up their homes for a place for all of our students to stay together.  We had students accept Christ for the first time, students make decisions about their faith and students who accepted the call into ministry.  God is so good.
We were reminded that for every Chapter 40 in our life (which is a time of frustration and trouble) there is a Chapter 41.  When Joseph was in jail without any hope in Chapter 40 of Genesis - He is restored and renewed in Chapter 41.   When the Israelites were set out to wander for 40 years because of disobedience, on the 41st year they are given the promised land.  When Jesus went head to head with his enemy for 40 days and nights there was a 41st day where He stepped forth and emerged ready to conquer sin and death.  What an awesome reminder of the journey of our life with Christ.  Chapter 41 is coming.

- Another cool part of the weekend - I got to meet a fellow blogger!  It just so happens that one of our students is cousins with Emily at Practically Pink and she came into town for the weekend to spend it with us!! I was so excited to meet her and so glad she got to come and be a part of Disciple Now.  How fun!

- If you have a toddler please invest in a washable bathroom rug - preferably one that can be quickly thrown in the washing machine.  Poop in the tub-palooza #2 occurred this week - so glad I could just throw that rug in the wash.


- Silas has started saying so many different words lately - words like gug (hug), biraffe (giraffe), ice (yes), gock (clock) and excavator (j/k) - why is that in every first words baby book?  It's so fun watching him try out new words, you can just see his brain thinking away.  Also in his new bag of tricks is turning the tv on and off - this is really mostly fun for him.

Have a fantastic weekend!!

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Closet Organization Update

We are going to take a break from all things laundry and talk about a little closet update.  We've recently added more organization to our master closet redo so we thought we'd share the current status of this space.  Also, with all of the freshly painted doors and walls back there things are looking even better.


Let's take a peek inside...


It has come a far cry from this:


First, there was lots of painting
Walls: Olympic Silver Lake
Trim, Shelves, Door:  Olympic Off the Shelf White
Floor:  Olympic Steeple Gray - Darkened


Then came a lot of purging, simplifying and organizing -
So here is the before shot of my side of the closet, honestly there really wasn't much of any kind of organization going on in here and I really needed to do a major purge and clean out.


Here's my side today!  With the help of a few more itso storage cubbies and bins I have plenty of space for organizing all of my t-shirts, scarves and such.  I also love these new clothing hangers (from Homegoods) - they really do save space and I love the uniformity.  



I also picked up a little shoe stand at Target for cheap so now my shoes aren't piled on top of each other.


Here's Justin's side before.  He also had a couple of plastic drawers and all of his shoes were piled in that middle opening - if you squint you might can see that from this picture.


Now he has a nice neat spot for storing all of his things plus the side by side storage bins provide a shelf for his shoes.



The top shelf got a little love too...


One large itso bin for bulky sweatshirts and sweaters.


Justin's shelf needed major help.


Much better right?  These are the same itso storage cubes but with doors instead - helping to keep everything neatly tucked away and out of sight.


Our little closet door got a little face lift with some white paint and a cute new little knob.


We picked up this little knob at World Market on sale for $2.  I love this little added detail.


We are loving our simplified, organized and clean closet.  Simple living is something that is totally starting to take over our lifestyle - which if you know me is huge because I am known to hold onto something forever for the "just in case" moment.  There really isn't need for five different black shirts and ten pairs of flip flops, we found it to be just waste.  We are hoping that we (I) can continue to keep things simple - especially when it comes to our home.

 

So anyone else starting to get the spring cleaning bug?  

Linking Up Here:
Chic on a Shoestring Decorating