Chalkboard Frame!

Did'jya notice the new look? The new Background? The new header? I LOVE it! I decided yesterday that I was tired of the dark, wintry look and I needed to freshen things up a bit! So I gave the blog a makeover! Its like a whole new blog. And I luuuurrve it!

Ah, yes. The reason for this post :). So, I have been wanting to make a chalkboard for the girl cave for a while now. A few weeks ago, the lovely Amanda Carver of Amanda Carver Designs (who happens to share my hometown) tipped me off that a local estate store had a pile of giant frames for $5 each! I procrastinated in going to look at them but fortunately when I got there, there was still a huge pile of these babies!

I took the glass and the photo out of the frame. I still have the picture....anyone want it? It really doesn't mesh with our decor...

I had my hesitations about chalkboarding glass. I just knew it would scratch when you wrote on it. And I had fears about the glass shattering. But I really wanted it done in time for my Expo on Sunday (the next day) so I went ahead and did it. And it seemed like all was well! yesthatwasforeshadowing...

We (little seester and I) painted the frame white. We were initially going to do two coats, but i kinda sorta fell in love with the distressed look of the gold showing through. So we stopped at one.

 By the way, I really like the way it looks against the girl room walls. :) That's where it will live. I may do some empty frames like this too. Because I really like the look. We will see!

 I liked it so much that I made seester hold it up for me to see. I was trying to decide about the second coat people! Not forcing under-aged girls to hold things against the wall for hours...okay maybe it was only minutes. Whatever. Here's your five minutes of fame little seester!

 Love the gold edges. and i don't even like gold!

So we put it back together in a slightly ghetto way and I gave it the initial rub-down of chalk. LOVE it! Its going to look fabulous hung up!

And here she is with all of my Expo stuff the night before. 

Now to address that foreshadowing....She held up great all through the event. and as I was lugging all my crap to my car I let the corner of the frame bump the car. and you guessed it. BIG. FAT. CRACK. right down the center of my lovely. So I need to cut something to the same size and re-chalkboard it. Not a huge deal. but sad nonetheless. I have the cardboard backing. Has anyone tried to chalkboard cardboard? I should probably get plywood or something. At least a thick foam board. Either way, I love it. And I am very tempted to just hang it crack and all until I find time to re-do it. Cuz that's how I roll!

Master Bedroom Tour!

So I just wanted to share with you guys my favorite room in our house! Its filled with meaningful things and everything is so clean and crisp and pretty. And its the MASTER BEDROOM. Huuuuh-llooooo! It should be the favorite one of the favorite rooms in the house! Here is the view when you first walk down the hall and look into it.

Michael got me the bedding as a surprise right before we moved into this house. I fell in love with it at TJ Maxx and he went back and got it! What a sweet hubby I have :)

That frame and easel in the corner is from our wedding. I was originally going to hang it on the wall but I like it so much on that little easel that I plan for it to live there permanently! The Sconces...Ross for $2!

This was an old, ratty, nasty piano bench that the previous owners left here. I wish that I had taken pictures of this process. It was pre-blog. Anywho...I painted the bench part white and my mom helped me cover the top with that lovely green and white damask print. I LOVE damask. We use it as a nightstand.  That fish is from Jamaica on the honeymoon. Aaaand that book is where my husband leads me in a devotional every night. Streams in the Desert. You should buy it. Really..he reads it to me every night after we pray and before we sleep. I am blessed :)

Wedding photos. Love them! And those frames are only a couple of dollars at Wally World. They match the oil rubbed bronze in the room perfectly. Also, that candle is our unity candle from the wedding!

This dresser was a housewarming gift from Michael's Mom. We did not own a proper dresser when we first got married. It was very necessary!

Love. love. LOVE. the vinyl wall quote and moulding. I do. I am pretty darn proud of how it turned out. You can see how I did it here.

The Jewelry Armoire was a Christmas gift from my parents. So glad to have it!

I used left over fabric to make those cute little wall plaques. Again, this was pre-blog. But they were SUUUPER easy. Maybe I will recreate them sometime. The headboard was a housewarming gift from my parents. Also something that we did not have. Its nice. I love it! It matches our style so well!

Yeah that fan to the right...we can't sleep without white noise. We have tried. It doesn't work. So the fan is part of the decor. I guess I could have moved it for the pic. Just keepin' it real peeps!

This is probably the barest that the towel hook ever is. We used to keep it on the bathroom door but the hallway/doorway to the bathroom is teeny (I'll show you sometime) and it just wasn't working out. It just so happens to look great in our room!

I hope you enjoyed my favorite room! I am off to snuggle in that bed right now! Night loves!

Monogrammed Plate

So, I have been really wanting a pretty little white plate to monogram for quite some time. Last week I went to Estate Specialists downtown and stumbled across this gorgeous scalloped plate. And it was only $1! So I snatched that puppy up and brought it home. I actually used it for my event on Sunday to hold my business cards!

My friend Priscilla also wanted to monogram a plate as a wedding gift for her father. So after work the other day, she ran home and grabbed the little bebe boy and we got to it. There was even a bag, yes a bag, of cake made by Linda Hall! It was delicious too. :) I mean, who can craft without cake?

So, the initial plan was to use a sharpie to write the letters on, and then spray the plate with clear glaze to seal it in. And then I remembered our monogram stamp that I am in love with and decided to give that a try. We had pretty silver ink to use and all. How lovely! Easy peezay, right?

 So I stamped it. And it was missing spots of the stamp. Wiped the plate off. dried it. inked the stamp. tried again. Oops! Stamp slid. Wiped the plate off. dried it. inked the stamp. tried again. It was crooked. Wiped the plate off. dried it. inked the stamp. tried again. Parts were not touching. This repeated about 30 times, I kid you not. But I really liked the silver and I didn't want to give up!

Finally, I caved. I got sick of it. So I outlined it with a fine point sharpie, wiped the silver out, and filled it in. It was not quite as pretty as the silver, but it was still workable. I didn't hate it.

So I grabbed our can of this wonderful stuff (love me some Krylon!) and got to spraying. Whew did it stink!

Here's what I got: 

 From a distance, it looks awesome! Crisp and pretty.

Up close you can tell, the ink spread a little when I sprayed it. But oh well. Who will be looking that close anyway? Perfection is impossible anyway! Life is too short.....Or I am just unable to redo it. Oh well. It is pretty and monogramed and I love it. However, I don't think I recommend using a sharpie. Paint would have been better. There's always next time!

My First Bridal Expo

I am so excited to announce to you guys that I am now officially a licensed business! I now operate under  Love is in the Air as the stationery division! I do custom wedding and personal stationery as well as monogram design. You can view my website by clicking here. Anyway, last Sunday I participated in my very first Bridal Expo. Here's a little of my display!

 More on this cute frame very soon! I love it!

 I also have a really fun project that involves this cute little plate to show you!

 Love is in the Air makes the most beautiful cloth flower bouquets I have ever seen! I love them!

 Just a few of Linda's cakes and her lovely decor!

I am so thankful and excited to be starting this journey. I can't wait to see where the Lord takes it. I have always dreamed of starting my own stationery business! 

Basement Reveal Part 3: The Girl Cave

Oh this room! I have just been dying to share! Honestly, it has just not been prioritized down here since its not a main living space. But just to preface, I will be using this room for my crafting room and also for the office of my new business (more on that later!) so of course it had to be super fun and girly! Michael even let me pick the color all by myself. Its called Sprinkle by Valspar. What an amazing name for a color! I have no words I love it so much. So on to the eye candy!

We decided to just keep the drop ceiling that they had in there. It would have been a lot of work to drywall it. And honestly it doesn't bother me. And yeah..the lampshade on the ceiling is also not staying. I was trying to be creative with a fun light fixture on the cheap. I don't love it. It will go on a lamp. But for now its hiding the exposed light bulb. Fail. And that little glimpse of a frame that you see around the corner...I will blog that soon! So fun!

This is the main part of the room. Soon, there will be a desk that takes up that entire end wall, some artwork and possibly shelves. Its going to be phenomenal. I. can't. stand. it. Iamsoexcited!

A beautiful, sunny window and chunky trim that Hubby put up!

This is the view from where my desk will be. It really is a great room. I can't wait to show you guys the decorating process!