A Year Worth of House Updates in a Blog Post

This initial goal of this blog was to show our friends and family what we have been up to and our house project updates... let's be honest, that didn't quite happen. Now this blog is a combination of our life, house updates, my projects, and whatever else comes to mind. Sorry if I bore you but what else can you do in South Dakota when its butt-cold-freezing and you don't have to work this week. So I thought I would try to find some before and after house pictures and put some pictures of what the house is looking like now. You know it's bad when you and your fiancé spend your Saturdays at Mendards dreaming up projects for a house.

House Before Exterior Paint (Woof-Diggity)

 House After Exterior Paint (and 7 stitches in my toe; that's another story)

Here are some interior before and after photos. Sorry for the poor quality in some of the pictures (hint hint, Sean, new camera?!)

Living Room Before

Living Room After

Basement Before (check the ugly fireplace)

Basement After (check the awesome fire place)

Isn't that truck neat? It was my great-grandfather's that he brought with him to America from Sweden in 1912. It still has the White Star Line stickers on the side. 

Fire Place Process

I am so lucky my dad and Sean are so handy; they did the whole renovation themselves! 

Misc. Finished Areas of the House

Breakfast Nook

Chalkboard I made for Sean's Husker (gag) room

Who's a great fiancé? I got Sean an autographed photo of Rex Burkhead. 

My craft room. I need an updated picture that shows the whole space. I was so lucky that my parent's had put new countertops in their kitchen this spring so my dad made me a workbench with the countertop from their island. 

Clark Griswold putting up Christmas Lights in shorts. 

House Divided. (Go State!)

 

Soup Can Up-Cycle

So yesterday was freezing cold and I didn't feel like going out and doing much so I worked on stuff around the house. Since it was a chilly day, I decided to have grilled cheese and tomato soup for lunch. When I was cleaning the soup can out, I thought, "I can do something with this," so I did. This is what I ended up doing.

As I was midway taping the can, I thought I should take pictures as I go for a tutorial. So here is the tutorial...

1.) First things first, you need a can or some sort of vessel to put tape on. (I'm thinking about doing the same thing to a wire pencil holder that I use to throw my thread scraps in as I sew). I will say, I think cans will work best because they are a straight cylinder and are not graduated. 

2.) Clean your can. I washed mine out with water and then poured some water and white vinegar in it and let it set for awhile (to get the soup smell out). 

3.) Gather up all your washi tape or decorative tape and just start taping around the can. 

4.) Your can may not be the perfect height to evenly fit all your rows of washi tape so you may have to trim the last piece down or do what I did. I taped the last piece and there was some overhang, so I went around and snipped around the overhang (snip in towards the can). Then it is much easier to fold the tape over the bottom and it doesn't create folds. The picture does the explanation more justice. 

5.) You're Done!! You can add some embellishments to jazz up your can. I used a sentiment from a Unity Stamp Co. Stamp of the Week (week 38).   

This was a fun little project that really didn't cost me anything, since I had it all on hand. And it takes like 5 minutes, maybe, to create. 

I also created this set of coasters for summer to match our deck furniture. I think they'll be perfect to set a nice cool beverage on come summer. I just used washi tape and Unity Stamp Co. Stamp of the Week (week 25). I stamped onto thin computer paper and then used Mod Podge to adhere it and seal it to cheap 12 cent tiles. (I like that the computer paper gives it a tissue paper appearance because its so thin). 

Cold Chilly Week.

Well it's been a cold chilly week here in South Dakota and I haven't been scheduled to sub all week so I have been working on stuff around the house. Here is a card I created yesterday for the Unity Stamp Co. Challenge. Unity Stamp Co. is seriously my favorite brand of stamps; I love their sense of humor! (My old blog had more of my projects with their stuff, but I just need one blog, otherwise I'm way too scattered.) Isn't this stamp just a hoot and a half?! I love it!

In big news (for me), I did 8 loads (yes 8!) of laundry. If you know me, you know I HATE laundry. But now that I am caught up, I vow to do laundry every Monday and Thursday. I even made this neat weekly cleaning list yesterday. Come May, I am going to be the BEST WIFE EVER! 

Speaking of Best-Wife-To-Be-Ever, I even made Sean scotcharoos yesterday. Many may not think it's a big deal, but I really don't like them at all so I made a pan just for him. 

St. Patty's Day Garland

Since our fireplace has been complete, I love making banners or garland to decorate the mantle. Here is a little tutorial for how I made my St. Patty's Day garland.

Step 1: Choose your paper. I just went through my scrap bin and pulled out a bunch of green patterned paper.

Step 2: Cut out circles with a die-cut machine, punch, or by hand. I am lazy and hate cutting so I use my Cricut.

Step 3: Sort circles by color or just throw them in a pile. I'm a little OCD, so even if I am going to do a random pattern, I still have to sort them.

Step 4: Sew together. You can hand sew or use a sewing machine. Again, I'm lazy so the sewing machine is a much easier option. I sewed a circle and then pulled it about an inch or so, DO NOT cut the strings after you sew each circle (that is what holds the garland together).

You can also use a zig-zag stitch to sew your garland pieces to a piece of ribbon or twine. I did a variation of that for my Valentine's Day banner.

Word of advice: DO NOT let your garland get tangled. I spent about an hour trying to get mine untangled last night. Not fun.

Once you finish sewing the circles, you are done!

(You can also see the finished fireplace; I will post before and after pictures sometime)