Pinners Conference Utah.

I think it's time for this mommy to have a few days to herself before baby #3 comes and what better way than to spend a few days at Pinners Conference Utah this weekend.

So... What is Pinners Conference and Expo?  Pinners Conference is two great events in one. It's a conference featuring 100 Pinterest-based classes taught by the best presenters in the nation. And it's also an expo with nearly 300 top businesses providing beautiful options in the worlds of DIY, crafts, cooking, self-improvement, photography, party planning, scrapbooking, holiday, beauty and fashion and all sorts of other great things! Guys, it's PINTEREST in real life! 

This year some of my favorite Pinteresters/Bloggers are speaking and teaching classes!  Heidi Swap, Ashley Reeves from AshleysFreshFix, Megan Moore from TheBeautySnoop, Natashia McLean from CanaryJane, Jordan Page from FunCheapOrFree and even my sweet friend from high school, Amelia Edwards of SutterSisters. 

I am so excited to get the chance to go and mingle with these fabulous ladies and so many others.  How great is it that the awesome team behind Pinners Conference has brought together all these amazing and talented ladies, speakers, bloggers, crafters and creaters to one place for us all to learn and shop from! 
Did you know that Pinners Conference isn't just in Salt Lake?  This year, Pinners Conference made its way through Texas, Arizona, Utah and Georgia.  Be sure to follow Pinners Conference and Expo on Facebook Instagram and Pinterest to stay up to date on next year's schedule, speakers and shops. If you're in Utah, be sure to put Pinners Conference down on your to do list this weekend. The even runs Friday November 4th from 10am-9pm and Saturday November 5th from 9am-6pm at the Salt Palace Convention Center in Downtown Salt Lake.
General Admission is $7 for Exhibits and Shopping and Class Passes can be purchased for $15-$29. Purchase your tickets here or get them at the door! 

Hope to see you there! 

Calling ALL Pinterest people!!

The time has come.

The boxes are put away, we are settling in to our new home and it's time to decorate.

Except, I have NO idea where to start.

I have been in and out of Home Goods, Target, Hobby Lobby and done my fair share of web browsing and CANNOT decide what to do in my home.

The only thing I've bought are curtains for the dinning room, which I love but there are 5 areas of the house I NEED to focus on.

Living Room:

Walls - There are 2 HUGE walls that I just don't know what to do with. 

The couch isn't centered on either wall, because it's a corner couch, so I think that's throwing me off.

Coffee Table - I am looking for a square, low to the ground with rounded edges coffee table but I don't know what color to go with. Our couches are a dark brown with a hint of burgundy. 

TV wall - The TV is tucked in a corner. We originally thought about mounting the TV to the wall but then were worried about cords etc.

However Hunter has started pulling himself up on the stand and we are afraid he is going to pull the TV over. 

We would also like to "hide" all of the consoles and DVDs. 

Suggestions?

Entry Way:

I am definitely thinking a collage wall with a few photos, a mirror, some quotes framed and maybe a giant initial.

I also want to put a table with a lamp and maybe some flowers.

What do you think?

Stairwell:

There is a huge open wall going up the stairs. 

I originally had no plans for the wall since I am going to be decorating the wall under the stairs, but a friend who came by suggested that I put photos along the wall.

 Hmmm. I don't know.

And the ledge? I don't know what to do with at all? 

Flowers? Photos? Another Mirror? Help!!

(I couldn't find ANY photos of ideas for the ledge under the stairwell window)

Dining Room:

My biggest focus for the dining room is a rug.

I bought a rug at Ross that was priced really well and I loved it but once I got it home it just was NOT the one.

Where do I find a good rug?

I would eventually also like to get a bench for one side of the table and two upholstered chairs for the heads of the table. 

All in time! 

Mud Room:

It's really just a small hallway by the garage that leads to the half bathroom and laundry room. 

I would love some hooks for coats and some baskets for shoes 

(since we are going to be a NO SHOES house) 

and maybe a few "important papers" containers, a calendar, and a cork board? 

There are LOTS of cute ideas out there so I just gotta find whats right for me! 

These rooms are definitely my main focus right now.

I still have the laundry room, master, two spare bedrooms, and basement.

Is it normal for me to be feeling this overwhelmed with trying to make my home pretty?

Aw. 

Where is my money tree!?

I am really excited for garage sale season to be right ahead of us! 

I always love finding a one of a kind piece for a great price. 

I'd love to hear suggestions or see photos of ideas or things you've done?

Where are places you found things for you home?

x0.

Kyla.

(I do not own these photos. They were found on Pinterest)

DIY Weekend Overload

Front Door Banner

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 :)