I have to admit to y’all that I have illegal tendencies. I haven’t been arrested yet, but sometimes I fear that my prying eyes may get me in trouble one day. [Read more...]
A Little Love Affair
16 May posted by
Today I have a little love story to share with you. I fell in love with my husband many, many years ago! Back then, this was us:
Go ahead, get your laughs in now!
He looked like Axl Rose to me, and that’s all it took to make my perm and hairspray lovin’ heart to go pitter patter. If you told me that one day I would marry this guy and have two boys, I might have believed you in a puppy love kind of way. But, never in a million years could I have realized how leaving one rose on his windshield would lead to the wonderful life and family we have together. We will be celebrating our sixteenth wedding anniversary (and 24 years dating) this weekend. Believe me, those numbers are as shocking to me as they are to you.
But, I wouldn’t be totally truthful if I didn’t tell you that my heart strays occasionally. It happens more than I like to admit. This is my affair: [Read more...]
Glidden’s My Image Inspiration – Use a Favorite Photo to Pick a Color Palette
9 Mar posted by
Do you look through magazines and catalogs and find yourself wishing you knew the color of the room you are drooling over? Or do you have a favorite photo and want to build a room’s color palette around that photo? Wish no longer! Now you can easily do both of these things and more. Glidden has a new tool called My Image Inspiration which allows you to upload your own image and get color suggestions based on the photo.
I took the tool for a test drive using my laundry room inspiration mood board. First you upload a picture from your computer, or choose an image from your Facebook album. (If you need more inspiration there is a photo gallery that you can browse and select one of their photos to use.) [Read more...]
Glidden’s My Colortopia Widget – How to Pick the Perfect Paint Color
24 Feb posted by
I admit it, I’m a color snob. This is not to say that I don’t love color — quite the opposite. But, I am particular about the colors I choose for my home. I have specific desires for an emotion that I want each room to invoke.
Our bedroom must be restful and relaxing:
Glidden Limoges Blue #A1948
Our kitchen has to be cheery and sunny:
Glidden Orion #A0835
And our living room has the perfect balance of warmth and comfort:
- Glidden Thyme #A0948
As an artist (I majored in illustration), you might think that picking colors comes easy to me. Actually yes and no. I can usually narrow down the color family that I want for a room, but finding the exact shade, hue, and saturation can be tough. I am drawn to colors that are bold, but when they are large scale on the walls, I find them to be overwhelming.
This is why I’m in love with the new My Colortopia widget from Glidden! My Colortopia asks a few simple questions about personality, mood, design tastes, etc. Within minutes, it dishes up a suggested palette to explore.
When I took the quiz, I was rewarded with these suggestions:
Powder Blush 70RR 65/053
Rosy Mauve 10RR 22/178
Black Mahogany 70RR 07/100
Imagine my surprise! This is the color palette of our mudroom! Light neutral lavender on top of the chair rail, a medium lavender-mauve on the bottom, and the bench is a warm mahogany color.
Why don’t you try taking the quiz for yourself?
- Pick up a few similar paint swatches. Stick them behind the light switch cover or beside the window and door trim in the room. Try the swatches on different walls and different times of day. A color that looks good on a sunny wall may not look so great on a shady wall.
- After a week, do you still like the swatches? Which is your favorite?
- Whoa now, don’t purchase a full gallon yet. Now is a good time to pick up an 8 oz. tester of the color. Paint a 2′ – 3′ section next to the trim in the room and repeat on different walls in the room. (If you are fearful of painting directly on the wall, pick up some white poster board to paint on instead.) Live with the paint squares for a few more days to make sure you truly love the color.
- If you aren’t quite ready to commit to painting your wall, go ahead and buy some poster boards and paint the swatches on the poster board and hang or prop them up in your room.
- A few things to keep in mind while you are looking at a color. Be aware that the color may change as the seasons change. Winter yields brighter and cooler colored light in our home because the trees are bare. In the summer, our light changes to a greener cast and less harsh lighting as the trees fill out with leaves. Personally, I wait for summer to roll around before choosing any colors in the green or yellow family. That insures that they still look good with the light reflecting off the leaves and into the room.
If you follow all these steps you are sure to find the perfect color for your room!
If you are still nervous, try asking the Colortopia Team (a group of highly trusted design bloggers!)
Now, go ahead and purchase that gallon of Glidden paint for your room!
You may be interested in these posts for more tips on painting like a pro:
Best of luck on your color adventure! I’d love to see what colors My Colortopia picks for you! Send me a photo or upload it to my Facebook page or Google+.
Disclosure: I have been sponsored by Glidden brand paint to write this post but the thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.
Trick or Treat Bags Using Elmer’s #GlueNGlitter and Recyclables
14 Oct posted by
My kids like to raid our recycling bin. They make the most imaginative things out of milk jugs, strawberry pints and toilet paper rolls. In fact, my five year old has been making his own Halloween costume from paper bags and tape. So, when #CollectiveBias sent out a challenge to make trick or treat bags with Elmer’s Craft Bond Glue Spots and Elmer’s Foam Board, I knew right where to head for supplies: Walmart AND the recycling bin! I hereby invite you to join me (and my escort) as we gather the supplies for this project.
Materials:
- Paper grocery bag
- Newspapers (look for black and white with lots of text (fewer pictures)
- Elmer’s Craft Bond Spray Adhesive
- Clear packing tape
- Elmer’s Foam Board (White and Orange)
- Black posterboard
- Elmer’s Craft Bond Glue Spots (pop-up medium)
- Elmer’s Glue-All Multi-purpose Glue
- Scissors
- X-acto knife (with a new blade)
- Cutting board or surface
- Metal edged ruler
- Grommet and Grommet kit
- Hammer
- Sharpie pen
- Men’s old t-shirt (rope or ribbon)
- Googley eyes
- Pom-poms
- Other craft supplies
- Large letter printed out on letter-sized paper (first initial of your child’s name. I used Garamond Bold.)
Instructions:
Start by removing the handles from the paper grocery bag and then cuff the top of the bag by rolling it under two times.
Pick out two sheets of newspaper (I used the obituaries. Truly Halloweeny don’t you think?!) and bring the paper bag and newspapers outside and spray them with spray adhesive.
It is important to wrap the paper bag with the newspapers as soon as possible for a maximum bond.
Wrap the bag neatly like a present with the newspaper. Use clear packing tape to tack any loose edges down. Also add a strip of packing tape to the inside of the bag cuff for extra support for the handle (should your child bring home pounds of candy!)
Take out your sharpie pen and draw lines in a spiderweb pattern on the bag.
Set the bag aside and collect the orange foam board, x-acto knife (with a fresh blade), pencil and the letter print out.
Set the letter on top of the foam board. I usually line the edge of the letter up with the edge of the foam board for less material waste.
Press firmly with the pencil as you trace around the letter. When you remove the print out you should see an indented outline.
Using the x-acto knife, cut out your letter shape. Use a metal ruler to cut straight lines. If your knife starts to tug and pull at the foam board, put a new blade in.
Clean up any ragged edges with the x-acto knife.
Use a few Elmer’s Craft Bond glue spots to affix the Elmer’s foam board letter to the bag.
To create a little spider, glue two pom-poms together with another glue spot. If you have black twisty-ties you are good to go aren’t you special, you don’t have to color them. (I only had white ties so I colored them with the black sharpie.) Wrap four twisty-ties around the middle to create the spider’s eight legs.
Use another glue spot to glue the spider to the bag.
Print out a bat silhouette downloadable template and layer it on top of black poster board. Cut out a few bat silhouettes.
Use a glue spot on the center of each bat to glue them to the bag. Fold the bats wings up for more dimensional interest.
Add stickers (or pre-punched paint chip stars using Elmer’s Glue-All multi-purpose glue) to the bag.
I incourage you to decorate your bag anyway you like. Bust out your craft supplies for inspiration.
If spiders and bats aren’t your thing. How about spooks and spirits?
To add the handles, follow the directions on your grommet kit. 1. Punch a hole in the bag at the top of the bag using a hole punch. 2. Insert a long grommet through the hole. Lay a short grommet on top. 3. Hammer the grommets together using the metal rod tool that came with the grommet kit.
Cut off the sleeves from a t-shirt. Cut two 2.5 – 3″ wide strips. Then stretch the sleeve loop in opposite directions. This will make the shirt material roll.
After you have stretched and rolled the sleeve loops, cut them at the seam. Then thread each end through the grommets on the bag and tie a double knot on the inside of the bag.
Now gather up your little trick-or-treater and give him this unique candy collection bag! My sons’ had the biggest smiles on their faces. Definitely worth the effort to make these bags.
This eency weency spider is my favorite!
Way more personalized than these generic plastic pumpkins, don’t you think?!
Which one is your favorite? I can’t decide, because I love them equally as much. Spook or Spider?
Eeeeeekkk, we can hardly wait for October 31st!
Disclosure: This project has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Elmer’s #gluenglitter #CollectiveBias #CBias. The ideas and opinions shared in this post are purely my own from my own crazy creative head.
Follow up: Well, my youngest loves his bag so much that he told me, “Mom, we should decorate every side with a different holiday.” And that is exactly what he did today during quiet time. I just want to stop time and keep him five forever!
