Plastic Pot Makeover

My mom was filling all her pots with flowers and plants, as she does every year, when she took a look at one of her old plastic pots. She decided it either needed to be trashed, or handed over to Yours Truly for some much needed love. She asked if I had any idea how to spruce it up, and give it a new life. Uhhh, only my favorite thing to do!! I mean, did she even need to ask?! I grabbed that puppy, threw her in the van, and when naptime came, I got down to business...

I mean, what CAN'T spray paint fix?! This was one yucky pot...

So first thing I did, was grab the hose and clean 'er up a bit. Once she (don't know why I'm talking as if this is a human, but just roll with me) was good and dry, I sprayed some primer on her, I mean it.

Just wanted to be sure the gray spray paint would adhere. Probably not even necessary, especially since the gray paint was made for plastic, but I did it anyway. Never sprayed a plastic pot before;). I didn't worry about spraying the inside, just the inner lip - I figured the dirt/plants/flowers would hide most of it.

At this point, I still didn't know what direction I was going with it, as far as jazzin' it up. I knew I wanted to add their house number on it somehow, but didn't know exactly how. Then I had a vision. I sprayed some white satin spray paint all over a large rectangle-ish shape, then I grabbed my painter's tape and covered that shape with paper and tape. Then I sprayed the gray spray paint all over. Are you with me? Confusing, I'm sorry. Basically, I thought I'd paint their house number on the pot, but wanted the space to be white.

I removed the paper and tape, and then decided to make a navy border, to match their shutters. I taped out another rectangular shape with painter's tape, and just used my navy acrylic paint that I had on hand. I stenciled on their house number with pencil first, and filled it in with some red paint I had. But I wanted it to match their front door, and it was TOO red - their door is almost a browny-red, like a maroon. I added some brown paint to my too-bright red and got the EXACT color!

When it was all dry, I sprayed it to death with some clear top coat spray paint. I've used this on my DIY coasters, and they don't bat an eye to even the largest amount of condensation (Iced Tea on a hot summer day in Maryland - trust me, I've tested it...and again, giving my projects human qualities - what is UP with me today!?), so I'm assuming this will protect the paint job from rain, watering the plants, etc. I think it will.

I took it to Mom and she LOVED it! She had no idea what I was going to do with it, she thought I'd planned on just spray painting it a solid color, so this was a surprise. The navy and red are perfect against her house.

So the lesson here, folks, is ALWAYS think spray paint before you trash! It can work wonders, and save you some serious cash! (WOW - just totally made a rhyme there...I'm pulling out all the cheesy stops today, aren't I?!)

Happy spray painting!

Rendi Giveaway!

Oh MAN am I excited! First giveaway...EVER!! And not only that, but it's an awesome one too!

You may know my girl Jessie over at Rendi. (I did a review a few months ago on my tag that I just L-O-V-E).
Rendi sells home decor and gifts that are totally customizable - and therefore SO meaningful. Here's a little info about this very cool company...

Rendi’s products give you a new and creative way to CARE for family and friends. Rendi means “you make” in Italian. YOU MAKE your life reflect the values you hold most precious. Doesn’t that really mean our relationships? YOU MAKE a gift – a one-of-a-kind, personal gift that you’ve given from both your hand and your heart. Every Rendi photo frame and every home and wall décor sign is made from 100% recycled wood right here in the U.S.A and are completely customizable.  Rendi products also come with an amazing income opportunity!  Supporting American jobs. Protecting the environment. Crafting products of unique design. Gift wrapping for free. Free photo upload. Telling your story. CARE-ing for others. Creating opportunities for women to make a better living and a better life. For Rendi, it’s the heart of the matter.

Love it! How could you NOT want a Rendi piece, right!? So here's the very popular Picture This! piece that we are giving away...

If you're the lucky winner, YOU can customize your very own piece! Beautiful piece to hang in your home:)

Here's how to enter! Good luck!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Sunshine Award!

WOW - do I feel like a special lady this week! Not one, but TWO of my blogging buddies have awarded me The Sunshine Award! Thank you SO much, Brooke from Get Outta My Head Please, and Lauren from The Well-Crafted Home for this honor. This award is given from bloggers to “bloggers who positively and creatively inspire others in the blogosphere.”

Here’s how the award works:

First, thank the person who gave you the award and link back to them.

Next, answer the following questions about yourself.  Then, choose 10 of your favorite bloggers and link their blogs to your post.  Be sure to let them know that you are nominating them for the award.

Last, be sure to copy and paste the award to your blog!

Here we go!

1.  Favorite color- Goodness, that's tough. So many I love...I'd say robin's egg blue if I had to pick.

 

2.  Favorite animal- Dog, I guess? Not really a big animal person, but I'm a sucker for puppies;)

 

3.  Favorite number-  4

 

4.  Favorite Drink-  hmmm...depends on the time of day. Morning: COFFEE!! Daytime: Arnold Palmer (half lemonade/half iced tea), Evening: love my glass of wine!

 

5.  Facebook or Twitter- Facebook, considering I don't have a Twitter account! Between the blog, FB, and Pinterest, I do NOT need another addiction! ;)

 

 6.  Good book or good movie-  Nothing beats a great book you can't put down.

 

7.  My passion-  decorating (obviously - hehe!). Consumes my life - I literally go to bed thinking about rearranging furniture and what projects I can get into the next day!

 

8.  Giving or getting gifts-  Giving, absolutely!

 

9.  Favorite day- Friday, if we're talking days of the week. Favorite day of the year would be Christmas, no question!

 

10. Favorite flower-Toss up between sunflowers and hydrangeas. I grew a garden of sunflowers growing up, and my room was decorated (every inch of it!) in sunflowers when I was a kid/teenager - I just love them! But now, can't get enough hydrangeas.

So that's a little bit about me...and here are my favorite bloggers (in addition to Brooke and Lauren!) for you to check out! (Note to these bloggers, do not feel obliged in any way to do this if you don't want - I know you're busy ladies! Just wanted to share with my readers the ones I always visit!)

1. Mom4Real
2. Fox Hollow Cottage
3. reFresh reStyle
4. Stellar Junk
5. From My Front Porch to Yours
6. live.laugh.rowe
7. Simply Klassic Home
8. Debbiedoo's blogging and blabbing
9. 20 Minute Mom
10. First Home Love Life

Have fun checking these awesome ladies out! Well worth your time:) And thanks SO much again, Brooke and Lauren! XOXO

Yard Sale Mirrored Tray

Oh, how I love a good yard sale! I get such a thrill from finding old stuff and making it new again...to the tune of a couple bucks! That's exactly what I did with a gold mirror I picked up for $2 a few weeks ago. It wasn't the prettiest thing, but I knew I needed it. Didn't know if I was going to spray it a funky color, make it a chalkboard, hang it on a wall, use it as a tray...or what. That's the beauty of yard sale finds - even if you don't know what you'll do to it or with it, for a couple bucks, you can go for it! And now I have a sweet little tray on my dining room table. Perfect spot for a pitcher of our hydrangeas...

Here's what it looked like when I picked it up at the yard sale:

I covered the mirror with paper and painter's tape to protect it from the spray paint (fortunately, the paper slid right between the mirror and gold rim, so it worked out well!).

Took it outside, sprayed that bad boy, and was left with a pretty white tray!

Not bad for 2 bucks and a few minutes at naptime today! Ah, spray paint, I never tire of you;)

Oh, and look what I noticed as I was standing in my kitchen this afternoon:

Ha! Looks like I have a thing for hydrangeas and white pitchers, huh?




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A Day at the Farm

I was invited recently to attend Green Meadows Petting Farm in Ijamsville, Maryland for Media Day. The farm was closed to the public, so we got the inside scoop on all the farm has to offer. My husband took the day off work, so the five of us got to spend a great family day together. We ALL had a blast! As we arrived, we were taken back by the size and beauty of this farm. Having three young kids, we do our fair share of visiting farms, especially during pumpkin pickin' time;), and this is by far the nicest (and cleanest!) one we've been to. As we pulled up, we were welcomed by the marketing and event planner, who pointed us in the direction of a photographer, Regina Benbow, for some fun pics. They had a bunch of props for us to play around with for the photo - giant milk bottles, pitchforks, overalls, plaid shirts, hats...it was a hoot! At first the kids were just going to do it, and I looked at my husband, and without even saying a word, he read my mind! We threw some things on too, and left with a (hilarious!) souvenir to remember our day at Green Meadows...

My scanner's on the fritz, so this is a photo of a photo and doesn't do it justice - Regina is awesome and so sweet. In person, the pic is so crisp and clear...and it's proudly displayed on our fridge;) She will be there every weekend, selling her photos for $5 a pop, and not only that, but every person who gets their photo taken will be entered into a drawing for 4 free tickets to the farm! Not a bad deal:)

From there, we headed down to see the hens and roosters. Here's where we realized what an awesome farm this was - instead of just looking threw the wire at them, the fence opened up and our guide told us to go on in! They encourage close up experiences with the animals, and want to educate their visitors about each and every one. I can tell you they definitely stand by their word! Paul and I kept looking at each other with the "Wow! Didn't know that?!" look on our faces. Like the color of chickens' earlobes determines what color eggs they'll lay. Did not know that! It was an extremely educational trip...for us AND the kids.

Our Reagan was in her glory. That girl is SUCH an animal lover - she was always the last one petting the animal and hanging around.

Then off to the Dairy Barn, where I was stunned. There was a HUGE cow standing there, and the guide helped everyone milk it! What a cool experience. Again, learned something interesting: cow's milk comes out 102 degrees.

You can actually see the milk in that shot with Noah!

Then, in the same barn, a few cows were just hanging out...like hanging out. For the kids to just go up and sit right next to, and pet...as if it were a dog or something! This is all new to me, folks. Like I said, every other farm I'd been to, it's very restricted, so this was all so SO super cool.

Again, Reag in HEAVEN. ;)

Onto the goats after that. The kids got to feed them - so fun! But instead of just sending the kids off with food, our guide asked them to look at their eyes and notice that they are rectangles. I never knew that! So I made a point to check them out, and they are wild! Once again, more learning going on. As a former teacher, I was totally digging this farm.

In addition to the animals, this farm has a lot of very interesting architecture. You know I was checking out all the buildings and rustic charm it has to offer, right?!

Just beautiful.

From feeding goats, we headed on over to see DAY OLD PIGGIES!!! Baby piggies have GOT to be the cutest things on the planet.

Look at that poor worn-out mama pig in the back;)

We also got to see an enormous tortoise and equally huge rabbit, baby chicks, horses, wallabies, zebras, buffalo, and more. We saw eggs incubating, got to feed llamas, watch a pig race, and were treated to a tractor pulled hayride. My 5 year old could not contain herself - she would have gone on a dozen more hayrides if she could!

To end our trip, we were given free ice cream (YESSSS!!) and encouraged to stay and hang out with the animals til our heart's content. (Everyone gets a free ice cream with a paid admission throughout June, which is Dairy Month).

Never thought we'd get Noah off the wooden tractor. That boy and his wheels.

The weather was unbelievably gorgeous too - Maryland gets some scorchers in June, but we lucked out with a freak 80 degree day. It was perfect.

I knew the kids enjoyed themselves, that was clear, but any parent knows the real sign to a successful outing is this sight from the back of the car:

Thank you SO much to all the friendly, warm, inviting people of Green Meadows Petting Farm - our family had a fabulous time, learned a TON, and made memories we'll never forget!

*****
For more information on Green Meadows, or to find one nearest you, check out their website here and their Facebook page.
For more information on Regina Benbow Photography, check out her website here and her Facebook page.
*****


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Our Early Bird

Our son has been an early riser from the minute he was born. He even woke me at 5:30am with contractions and made his debut before 8. Mornings are his thang. Doesn't matter if he goes to bed at 7 or 10 at night, he will rise with the sun (which is odd, considering he has blackout curtains and his room looks like midnight no matter what time of day it is;). I'm not gonna lie, I don't enjoy starting my day before 6am, but I had a realization the other day when we were having breakfast (ok, he was having breakfast, I was getting the coffee going as fast as I could). These mornings with him...they're not gonna last forever. I'm going to blink, and he's going to be in bed until noon, asking to borrow the car and never be seen again until curfew. This tiny little boy, who sits in the very same spot at the kitchen island, morning after morning, and props his Lightning McQueen blankie on the island top right next to him - he's going to grow up.

So I got the camera out. I snapped away. I wanted to capture this brief moment in time. A time when I still have to pop his waffles in the toaster and dust them with "powered shhuugar." A time when I still have to pour milk into his favorite blue sippy cup and hand him half of a Flinstone vitamin. A time when it's just us, for an entire hour, before the rest of the house awakes. A time when he has Mommy's undivided attention, and doesn't have to compete with any siblings or errands to be run. A time when we count the coffee scoops together, and share a smile in the comforting routine of it all. A time when I can take in all his bed-headed beauty and funny personality without one distraction...

I know there will come a day when he's too cool for Spiderman plates, Toy Story cups, and Lightning McQueen blankies. And early mornings with Mom (or Dad - he does do his fair share too! ;), will be a distant memory. But for now, he's still this sweet, innocent, playful little boy, and as much as I grumpily stumble out of bed when I hear his first call for "Mommy" in the wee hours of the morning, deep down I know how insanely lucky I am to be woken.

It won't be this way for long, I'm going to try and remind myself each day.

So while it's here, I'm going to pour that third cup of coffee and try my best to soak it all in.

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DIY Baby Stats Frame

I get asked about baby gift ideas a lot. I totally understand why - I mean, when a baby is born, especially one born to a close friend or family member, you want to do something a little extra special. A good friend of mine had a baby recently, and I was in the same boat. I wanted to make her (and her sweet boy) something special. Something one-of-a-kind. Some people might think that in order to accomplish that, it would get expensive, or you'd have to be Miss Crafty McCrafterson to make it not look like something a 6th grader made in Home Ec class. The Naptime Decorator is not one of those people;). I have learned that you can certainly create something very lovely and special, where you don't have to be a crafty expert, and you don't have to spend a ton of money. This is one of those kinda projects...my favorite kind:)

I was perusing the aisles in Michaels (I know, when am I not, right?! ). And I found myself gazing at all the adorable stickers - you know, like for scrapbooking, etc? There are TWO entire aisles devoted to stickers, people. Every holiday, occasion, event, party - there are stickers for it. So when I stumbled upon these super cute baby boy stickers, and right next to it, letters in baby boy colors (which happen to be the exact colors of my friend's nursery!), my mind went racing. Suddenly I got this vision in my head! I grabbed some, headed on over to the frame section for a plain white frame with a mat, and got this!

For those of you who swear you aren't crafty, you don't need one crafty bone in your body to pull this off. If you can peel some stickers, you can make this! Here's what you need:

That's it. A frame (make sure it has a mat, if not, pick one up), and some stickers. I picked up the letters so I could include the baby's stats - birthdate, weight, length. Before I went sticking everything on there, I sort of pictured how it all would work. I realized I had to use all uppercase for his name, because they only give a couple of each letter, and the colors would not alternate correctly if I used the lowercase. Does that make sense? I didn't want two letters in a row to be the same color, you know? So I checked out the uppercases, and I was able to alternate, and not have two of the same colors next to each other. Once you've eyeballed it out, peel and stick - DONE!

Hmmm...now what could I put in the frame? I hadn't met the baby yet, so I didn't have any pictures...but Facebook did! I did a little snooping, and found a picture of his big sister holding him. Downloaded it onto my computer, uploaded it onto Shutterfly, a little cropping and turned it to black and white, and suddenly this photo went from this...

to this...

LOVE! Amazing what a little photo editing can do, right? I think it turned out cuter than I had pictured it in my head! ;)

So there's a gift idea for the next baby born in your life that anyone can make. It's not difficult, it won't break the bank, and best of all, it's meaningful...the best kind of gift! :)



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