DIY Weekend Overload

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September 11th, 2011. Ten years since one of the worst attacks on American soil in our nation's History. It was lovely to drive around today and see so many flags flying at half mass and posted in yards around the neighborhood. Our thoughts were definitely with those who lost their loved ones today as we remembered where we 10 years ago.

This weekend was lovely for Kev and I. Friday we went to the Rascal Flatts concert. It was amazing. Sara Evans and Justin Moore were their opening acts and the music was just fantastic. I had forgotten how great music is live. 

It poured for the first 15 minutes we were there. We had lawn seats and hunkered down under our big blanket. It lasted about 12 minutes before the rain finally started to seep through the fabric and our pants got soaking wet. The whole crowd was drenched but no silly rain storm was gonna stop us crazy country music fans. A little cold and wet, we rocked it for 4 hours while all three acts worked their magic. 

Thanks to Mom and Dad Ford for the tickets. We had such a blast and are so happy we got to go. You guys are awesome.

 

 

Truth is: We didn't get home until 1:30 in the morning because they had I-15 down to 1 lane for construction (which will continue through 2012) and we were driving at about 5mph's, so Saturday we slept in until after 10. 

We ate breakfast then we were off for the usual Saturday adventures. We were on our way to Austin's Football game when we stopped by a garage sale that was wrapping up. The lady had the few items left listed as "FREE" so of course we had to look around.

We took home this vintage couch (I think she said it was from the 70's). You're probably thinking didn't they get another chair last week. Yes we did, we BOUGHT a chair last week for the living room. So this FREE one found its new home in our guest bedroom in the "library nook" (which is mostly the chair next to a bookshelf) but it looks so cute and it's very comfortable. 

It rained at the football game also. Seems like the rain is making its way back to Utah.

We had some great DI finds this week at both the Provo and American Fork stores.

We got three great deals for three great weekend projects.

The Table on top was $2.00. The Hallway table was $4.00 and the Picture Frame was $2.00 Total = $8.00

Kev and I spent the yesterday night and this afternoon finishing up our weekend projects. 

Now if you didn't see my facebook post from Saturday afternoon I will quickly tell you the story about the nicest thing anyone has EVER said to me. We met Rebbecca, a very nice women who was our cashier at the Provo DI. She sold us the $2 picture frame and somehow we brought up the last thing we bought at that store, which we paid $3 for and how great of a project it was. (See THIS blog entry from our project in July.)  I showed her a picture of the screen photo holder we made and she said: "Well you're just a true ETSY girl." Seriously smiled for HOURS after. (If you aren't familiar with ETSY visit their website here

It's where talented, crafty people sell things they make. I mean Really talented crafty people that I don't feel I am even close to being as crafty as them. At least not yet. 

Now for the Projects.

Project #1: Table for Laundry Room 

I have sketched out this AWESOME design of some great things I want to add to give my laundry room a cozy little feel.

The laundry room isn't very big so I had to "downsize" my BIG ideas. I wanted a table where I could fold, iron and put our "Pocket Findings" jar but after measuring the actual space I found I was only gonna get a table that was a couple feet long and wide. 

Lucky for me, Kev and I are excerpt finders and found the perfect DIY table... For $2.00

Right away I had it all planned out in my head of how I'd make it my own. (See Below)

$2.00 DI Table

Primed

Spray Painted Brown

Table top Covered with Fabric

Put Together Again

Final Product

 It turned out just how I imagined it and we only spent an extra $1.50 for 1 yard of fabric and $3.24 for a can of brown spray paint. Total Price for Laundry Room Table $6.74. Awesome.

Project #2: Hallway Table

This wasn't really a project per say.... More of a great find with project potential.

Our hallway was looking really bare. No pictures and just a lot of open boring space. I really wanted a hallway table to put a few pictures on but everything I found at garage sales or KSL was too wide for our hallway. We found this table at DI for $4.00 It is solid wood and only about 6 inches wide which could not be more perfect for our small hallway.

We will probably remove the bottom wood beam and need to still hang pictures on the wall but the table was a great starting off point to making the hallway come together. 

Project #3: Homemade Wall Hanging  (My Favorite Project Thus Far)

Sadly our bedroom has been the most neglected room in the house as far as home decor goes. With all of the great finds we have come across to decorate our home, we haven't found anything for the bedroom. I really wanted a large piece of artwork over the bed (its a HUGE wall) but nothing we found matched our colors or was even close to what I imagined. I saw a few homemade wall hangings on Pinterest and thought I could make some thing like that.
And that is just what I did: 

 

 

 Coolest thing ever right? I know, I know... My skills are pretty amazing. I love this country song and the lyrics totally fit our little life so I thought it would be perfect for our room. I painted the background purple to match our comforter and used a black sharpie to write it out.

Total Cost for Project $2 picture frame, $2.98 foam board, $2.98 sample size paint bottle, $0.98 extra large sharpie and the fabric flowers were made from leftover fabric =  Total $8.64

Kevin pointed out that we have another small wall hanging by our window that we got at the church book store that is nice (but a million other people have it) and we paid $30 for that. He said my artwork is way better and ONE of a kind. Literally :)

This weekend was such a blast doing all of our little crafts.

Even Kev got crafty this morning making a CTR shield for the primary lesson he taught.

 

His skills are pretty awesome too.

I have decided that my next "WANT" is a sewing Machine. I've had good luck so far with all the projects we've done using super glue and the glue gun but I have decided it's time to get serious and bring out the big guns in the craft world. I will probably start saving up my monthly Kyla fund to get one or possibly (if I can wait that long) try to get a bunch of family to go in with Kevin  on a sewing machine and all the sewing materials for my birthday. But like I said, that's 3 months away and I have a lot of things I am wanting to make! 

Hope you all enjoyed your weekend. 

What things do you and your family like to do over the weekend?

Thanks for reading <3

PS: I would love for anyone with Sewing advice to share. Best machines, tips and secrets :) 

Birthdays/Labor Day/DIY Obsession and New Food

I definitely meant to write more last week so I wouldn't be cramming everything we do into one post, but as it usually goes I was busy beyond belief. So here I am, middle of the week and sneaking in a blog before Kev gets home and we rush off to the gym only to come home, make dinner, do some cleaning and go to bed to wake up tomorrow and do it all over again.

Sometimes I think why do I so love writing this silly blog. Is it just for me and my posterity??  Is there anyone out there reading it??

Well here's the last week.:

Thursday was Kevin's birthday. We both worked but were able to be home early to enjoy a Birthday meal fit for a King. Ribs (that cooked for 5 hours), potatoes (famous Funeral Potatoes) and my first attempt at homemade rolls (which I have to admit were pretty amazing).
We were joined by about 20 of our good friends that evening for ice cream cake (again homemade) and mingling. It was so wonderful to have so many people in our home. It's such a blessing to be living in a place where we can entertain lots of people. One of my favorite parts about being a housewife is getting to make dinner and entertain for friends! I was in domestic heaven.

Friday we snuck away from reality for the night and stayed at the Ellerbeck Mansion in Salt Lake. The home was built in 1892 and has an old vintage style theme throughout the entire place. Our room was cozy and we enjoyed relaxing, sleeping in and having a delicious meal in the morning.

We stayed in Salt Lake for the afternoon stopping by some garage sales, took a drive around The U, and walked through Pioneer Park to see all of the vendors at the farmers market. We walked through the Gateway Mall, which was mostly torture for me as I went ga-ga over all the lovely fall fashions coming out at places such as Forever21, Anthropologie and Urban Outfitters. I am saving my cash however for when H&M opens their first store in Utah. I am so excited. Hooray for fall clothes. We picked up a bottle of Peach Balsamic Vinegar at Mountain Town Oil Company, (Check out there website HERE. They have some great stuff) We got the bottle of Balsamic Vinegar and a pouring top for FREE thanks to Kevin's Grouponing deals. We ended our excursions in Salt Lake at a lovely lunch at Tucanos Brazilian Grill. So yummy. (Except for the Quail Egg Kev tried and the Chicken Heart I took a bite of.. Not our favorites!)

We stopped by a few DI's on the way home, mostly to get our weekly fix but ended up coming home with this beauty.

Tell me you don't want her in your living room. This was such an awesome buy! My mom has wanted this EXACT chair for years but never bought it because, well, look for yourself here - Would you spend that kind of money on a chair?  No offense to Pier1. I love that store with my whole heart but $379 for ONE CHAIR is a little steep. I couldn't believe no-one had snatched this baby up when we had got there late in the afternoon. It's in great condition and it looks amazing in our living room. (Now the chair is just waiting for my mom to come and enjoy it.. Time for another visit Shelleylee?? I think YES!)

Sunday was my sweet brother Hunter's 20th birthday. I say WAS instead of WOULD HAVE BEEN because it's still his birthday even if he's not here to celebrate it and I still celebrate it. I bore my testimony in church expressing how much I love my dear brother, how much I miss him and how thankful I am for the knowledge of eternal families. I know Hunter was having an amazing day in heaven so I am so grateful we can all still celebrate and remember him here.

Our primary class drew pictures of Jesus and wrote how they were going to remember him throughout the week.
Kevin and I like to show off our drawing skills to the 6 & 7 year old children.

Kevin's Jesus

Kyla's Jesus

The rest of Sunday was very relaxing. We set up our tent in the backyard for a little "Labor Day" camping but that only lasted until about 5:45 am when we both woke up in pain from sleeping on the hard ground.
Monday we slept in again (It's nice to sleep in once in a while) and then headed out for a few hours in the sun. We played a mean game of Frisbee Golf in Provo where Kevin beat me by two little points. I think I would have had him if I hadn't had to scale a 20 foot tree to rescue my captured Frisbee. I still have a few pine needle scrapes on my arms.
We had lunch at J Dawgs in Provo. Those polish dogs are so good and I am sure we make a point to stop by every time we are in Provo. We walked around the mall for a while, picked up a present for our niece Lucy, who's 2nd birthday is on Friday, and ended up at the gym for an hour before we headed over to Aubrey and Daniels for ribs (again). Aubrey did a great job on the meal and we are so glad The Hedlunds (still weird) live close so we can have dinner with them once in a while.


Yesterday was back to work and the grind of things. We went grocery shopping when we got home and did an awesome job of spending only half of our bi-weekly food budget. I am so proud of Kevin and I as we get better every month becoming smarter, healthier shoppers. Last night we had pasta, shrimp and salad for dinner. I tried out our new Balsamic Vinegar in substitute for a regular salad dressing and it was AMAZING!

Recipe:
1 Bag Salad - Spring Mix (I used Half the bag for two of us)
1 Cup of frozen mixed berries (I let them thaw for a little so they are cold but not ROCK solid)
1 Handful of chopped Onions
1/2 cup of Feta Cheese
Topped with Peach Balsamic Vinegar
Mix together and enjoy a little, health bit of heaven.

Honestly this is one of my favorite salads ever. Give it a try and let me know what you think.

Wow. I can't believe I did it. Kevin still isn't home and I'm wrapping this blog up.
The only other thing I can really think to add is my RIDICULOUS OBSESSION with Pinterest. I cannot get enough of all the incredible idea's and crafts people do! I probably spend a good part of my day browsing pinterest. While I'm on hold with Dr's offices or Social Security I am oooing and awwwing over all the talent, ideas and creativeness there is in the world. Pinterest has sparked so many ideas for me to make our home have just the right Kyla touch. My next projects are the Laundry Room and Bedroom and I have some wicked awesome ideas.

That's all for today. Rascal Flatts concert on Friday (Thanks to Kevin's parents for his birthday) I am so excited!

Love you readers.