Baby Onesie

I made this cute little Onesie today. I used my handy, dandy Cricut Explore Air 2 machine!!I am loving this machine!! I have lots of projects in mind to make. Here is a photo of the Onesie and my Etsy shop if you want to check it out. Not much in there YET... I will work on getting lots of my creative and crafty things in there.

Secretary desk re-do

I bought a secretary desk from an antiques warehouse called Vintage Finders Warehouse. It is located right near me and it is a fascinating place!!! This is also the place where I buy all of my Dixie belle paint. I got some Vintage Duck Egg and Lemonade Dixie Belle paint to re-do this desk and the chair. I started painting the chair first. I came across this cool brass thing embedded into the leg of the chair while painting. Here is a LINK to the history of this symbol and the company who makes the chair. Super cool to find this!!

Here are the before photos of the desk and chair...

This was a fun project UNTIL I got to the inside of the secretary. Oh my. If only the tiny little shelves were able to be removed.... I needed tiny little elf hands with tiny little elf paint brushes. What a pain. I got it done though. I do like the outcome. This is where my Cricut will live so I can make cook craft projects more off than I do. I love my Cricut but when I have to pack it up and store it away in my closet each and every time I use it and vice versa for unpacking and assembling everytime... I just don't take it out as much as I would love. I have lots of projects that I have created and saved the the Cricut just waiting to be made. :) Here are the after photos of the chair and Secretary.

I love the desk and I am now off to find a piece of furniture in my kids bedrooms to paint. :)

Laminate topped dresser re-do

Oh wow!! Never want to do this again!! Check out this... I was told that with chalk paint, you do not have to rough up the laminate before painting. That you can paint ANYTHING. Well, not so. This is what happened when I painted the laminate without roughing it up. I tried to paint a 2nd coat and it started to take up the paint. I took a cloth to it and it all just started coming up like nothing at all.

I did not have a problem with the drawers. Thank goodness!!

The before photo is awful. Haha! We dumped all his stuff onto the top and I didn't feel like cleaning it off before taking the before picture. n I could see all the lines from the sandpaper on the top. I used an 80 grit because I didn't feel like the 320 was roughing it up enough. I should not have done that. The paint stuck to it like glue but looked terrible after. I then used a 320 grit to sand the paint smooth and then repainted with a black chalk paint. I used a Polyacrylic to seal up the whole dresser. A friend stopped by while I was still doing the Poly and it dried before I got back out to it. there were drips and splotches that dried white and not clear. I was not happy. I repainted the top with the black chalk paint again, the next morning. I then used a black Annie Sloan wax to seal the top. I was done with the Poly. It tends to foam up and if you do not get all the foamy parts to smooth out before it dries, it dries white and looks terrible. This was a super cheap dresser that my son has had. I just wanted to make it took decent and not as ugly as ugly gets like it was. I want to buy him a nice all wood dresser to re-do and get rid of this one. This will tide him over until them. :)

The blue paint is the Dixie Belle paint in Bunker Hill Blue. The black was Dixie Belle's Midnight Sky.

New Chair makeover!

I was driving along after an appointment at the Chiropractor and I saw a few wood chairs sitting out on the sidewalk waiting for the dump truck. I quickly turned the van around and pulled into the driveway. I know that the area where the chairs were placed is considered public domain and it is free for anyone to grab but I figured I would ask anyway. I got out of the van and walked up the front door and rang the doorbell. When no one came to the door I peeked over at the front curtain-less window and noticed that the house was completely stripped clean and empty. This house must have been sold and people were dumping anything they found in it. I felt safe to just take what I wanted. I found 2 chairs that were not too damaged and still in good condition. These pictures are of one of the chairs. Super ugly and dirty. I cleaned it up with some TSP and then used Dixie Belle chalk paint in Midnight Sky. I did two coats and then distressed on the edges. I used a black wax (Annie Sloan) and loved the matte look of it. I was told that on a chair it would be better to use a polyacrylic so I then put on a matte polyacrylic. I was not as happy with the finish. Kind of wish I had left it with just the black wax. Live and learn. I will use only the wax to finish the next one. It did come out nice though. What a difference! Dixie Belle paint is a local Florida company. Supporting the Local business!!

Distressed chair results

This was my first attempt at distressing anything. I think it came out OK. Here are some pictures along with a before and after. I used Valspar clear wax and Annie Sloan black wax. I did NOT use chalk paint. I used a regular satin wall pain by Glidden in Pewter. This could be why the wax did not seem to stick to the paint the way I had seen it done. I will definitely use a chalk paint on my next project.

Started a new hobby recently. I painted my daughters bedroom and noticed that her chair was old and ugly. I painted the chair and now I think I want to distress it. I used a regular pewter Satin paint but since I sanded and primed the chair the feel is almost chalky. I will sand some areas to rough it up a bit and make it look antiqued I am going to use Valspar (from Lowe's) clear wax and before it is dry, I will use the Annie Sloan black wax to distress it. I am super excited about this project and how it will turn out. I took some pictures after I sanded the chair down. It actually looked better than before it was sanded. I will add before and after photos after I am finished with it. I do have a picture here of my DD's room before and after.

So much to tell!!! Jamberry, Essential oils....

I am still loving my Jamberry business!!! www.kcrewfive.jamberrynails.net if you want to check out my site. I have a contest going on in my FB page too. www.facebook.com/kcrewfive. Essential oils.... I have just discovered you! I had heard so much about them but was a little scared to try them. I have a 5 yr old and a dog. I did a ton of research and decided that DoTERRA and Young Living oils were the only ones I will use. DoTERRA is 10% pure and certified organic and the Young Living is 100% pure and has been in business 20 years and were the ones to start this whole OE craze. :) I had been sick for almost 4 months straight. It was one thing after another. A cold, bronchitis, strep throat... then I would get it all over again. I was getting sick with viruses while on antibiotics for something else. I was tired of it and my chest hurt from coughing and my kids were sick all the time. I thought that there has to be a better way than all these meds we were taking and only getting better for a short time before we were sick again. (we would feel well for maybe 2 days at a time.) A friend told me about EO's and I decided to try Thieves after researching the best ones. I have a diffuser and I diffuse it 3 times a day in the house and I do it in the bedrooms while the kids are in school. I also use Purification. I have been using Raven and Breath Again for my coughing and breathing. I think it has been 2-3 weeks now and no more sickness!!!!!! Seriously, we are rejoicing!! I feel better and I can breath again and now, maybe I can get ot exercising and doing my C25K again. (I have to start all over but maybe I can finish this time without getting sick). My husband had a bad looking, infected cut on his arm the other day. (Saturday is when I saw it). He didn't know how he got it. It looked bad. I wish I had taken pictures because the difference after EO's is AMAZING! I looked up what the best stuff for cuts would be and saw that Lavender and Purification (Young Living) would be good for it. I put a drop of each onto a cotton ball and dabbed lightly, my husbands cut. I only used the purification a couple times and mainly used the Lavender. I did this a bout 3 times on Saturday. My husband told me on Sunday it felt better. I forgot to look at it. Monday I looked at his arm and there was NO CUT and it was light pink and closed up completely. My husband told me that a stick started to pop through his arm on Monday morning and he pulled it out and his armed was completely healed by Monday night! He said the cut had been there a few days and it wasn't until I started dabbing the EO's on his arm that the stick just came to the surface and after it was removed his arm healed so fast! he was amazed too. (He is a builder and things like this happen to him a lot, getting pieces of wood in his arm and not knowing when it happened) I signed up with Young Living just for the wholesale discount. Here is my member # if you are ever interested #2047862. (www.youngliving.com) I do not sell it but wanted the discount. :) I recently heard about (completely by accident too) people having testimonies of their eyes healing with EO's!!! I read about an 87 yr old man who was completely bind in one eye and going blind in the other and was able to see again a few months later! I have never had an eye appointment (since I was 3 or 4) where the doc said my eyes were better. NEVER> They have always either stayed the same or gotten worse. I am going to try this stuff from DoTERRA called Immortelle and just dab a bit under my eyes (ON THE SKIN) just above the cheekbone. I have a doc appointment in a few months and we will see what he says. I read many, many, blog posts and testimonials of the same , that peoples eyes got better and they no longer needed glasses! Wouldn't that be great! My husband wants to try it too. His eyes are not that bad but we will see if they get better. (I have seen him squinting lately.) I told my friend that sells DoTERRA that is this works, I am signing up under her just for the discount. :) Here is what is in the Immortelle. This is a therapeutic grade Oil just like all DoTERRA and Young Living oils. Frankincense: Very anti-inflammatory, as well as anti-infectious and incredibly healing on deep levels. Frankincense soothes the skin and nerves, protects against microbes, has been shown to be anti-cancerous and anti-tumor, and can be used on warts, moles, age spots and more. 2.Sandalwood: Protective against UV radiation, is skin regenerative, anti-infectious, anti-tumor and a natural tonic and astringent. 3.Lavender: Incredibly soothing to irritated skin and burns (including sunburns), reduces inflammation and allergic reactions, and is anti-everything (anti-fungal, anti-tumor, antimicrobial, and more), as well as soothing dry skin. 4.Myrrh: Myrrh is shown to be anti-infectious, anti-inflammatory, antiseptic, antitumor, and a natural and safe astringent and tonic. It's great for chapped skin and skin infections. 5.Helichrysum: This incredible oil within Immortelle essential oil is fantastic for eczema and psoriasis, as well as tissue regeneration, pain relief and many kinds of healing. It's even known to be protective against the sun. 6.Rose: Highly revered, and expensive, rose oil helps stop the breakdown of collagen (which is what leads to loss of elasticity and wrinkles). It prevents scarring, promotes healing, increases circulation, and more. It's one of the best oils for the skin. So BONUS!!! You can get great skin at the same time! I can't wait to get mine next week in the mail and start trying it. I will report back to you all what my results are. Note: I am not a DoTERRA rep and even though I did sign up with Young Living, I do not actively sell it. I am still in the learning process about EO's and I know I have a ton to learn. But, Man, Do I love this stuff already!! I just make sure I use only the good stuff (You get what you pay for) and that I use very little, especially on my kids. One drop and some coconut oil as a carrier oil go a long way!!