Fabulous Chalk Paint

I want to share with you a quick and easy way to make a piece of furniture look fabulous. 

My daughter who has twin girls needed something for more storage in the girl’s room.  I remember that we had kept Kristy’s dresser after she married. So, with help from the hubby, we took the dark stained dresser out of storage and soon the fun began. I have a love for painted furniture (chalk painted). If you are not familiar with chalk painted pieces, it has a similar look to milk paint. You can distress the chalk paint to give it an antique look. I like to finish with soft wax over the painted surface.  I also make my own chalk paint. (Cost a lot less)

  To view my chalk paint recipe; click on link below:

Chalk paint

You will need:

• Chalk paint
• Paint brush
• Soft Wax
• Sandpaper (if you want a distressed look)
• Clean cotton rag

Guys, I got so excited about this project....  I forgot to take a before photo,but I believe you can see from the photos just how dark the piece was. I first removed all the hardware and set aside. Not sure if I would use the old hardware on the piece. Take a clean cloth to wipe clean.

Paint first coat of chalk paint on the piece. Let dry. (I was outside on my deck, so my piece dried very fast) If you are indoors wait 15-20 minutes for the first coat to dry.

 Paint a light second coat. Let dry 30-60 minutes.

 I usually only paint 2 coats but with the dark color and not going to distress I actually painted a third light coat.

Softly sand areas where natural wear would occur if you want a distressed look. (I decided not to distress this piece)

I'm in love with the final  results!

My daughter wanted blue or yellow handles and pulls. We found these at Hobby Lobby. So we got both colors!

 I could spend all day at our Hobby Lobby! Hubby would not be happy with me because I can find way to much to buy....

I hope that I have inspired you to start your own chalk paint project. Would love to see photos of your before and after projects.

Hold still

This took me just a little while to get into, but after about page 75 I was so engrossed I didn't want to put the book down. The back cover has praise from the authors of "Once was lost" and "If I stay", if you liked these, you will love this book. 

I want to see the photographs Ingrid took... I want to see the photo's that Catlin took... I want to read ALL of Ingrid's diaries.... I want to see Catlin's treehouse.... Can you tell this book captivated me?!?!?!

Did the inside of her treehouse look like this???
2nd Picture
Does the outside look like 
this?????

Am I even close?!?!?!?!

I would love to see what the author created brought to life. Movie?? Yes, Please. 

I also have to say I loved the music references, the poetry, the drawings. This is an artists' wet dream of a book!! 


We are following Catlin, after the loss of her best friend, Ingrid. Ingrid who we find out was messed up. Ingrid who committed suicide. Catlin goes through the stages of grief: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and eventually acceptance. She is mostly in a state of blaming herself. Why didn't she tell anyone about her friend cutting herself??? Why didn't she tell Ingrid she was beautiful? Why didn't she stick around when the going got tough? Why did she just look the other way?

This is a beautiful story and no where near as depressing as you would think. 

You should probably read it!

Quotes I loved!!!

" There is an indescribable feeling that comes from being desperately in love with a song."

"My best friend is dead, and I could have saved her. It's so wrong, so completely and painfully wrong, that I walked through my front door tonight smiling."

"There is a secret here. Somthing private being exchanged between photographer and image."

"My treehouse is finished. Actually, finished might not be the right word. I'll say this instead: my tree house is complete."

"An expression that's hard to pin down- part longing, part sorrow, part hope."

After

Props to Amy Efaw. This author made me root for a girl who dumped her baby in a trash bag and feel empathy toward her. Before reading this, I would have said "send her to jail, try her as an adult, who cares about her!" But after reading it, I care about the girl. This author did her job. She made me feel exactly what she wanted me to. 

Enter Devon: above-average, smart, atelethic, goal-oriented 15 year old girl. Everything is going for her unitl one day while babysitting she meets a guy. They end up doing the nasty, which is Devon's first and only time, then she decides she will never talk to him again. She is ashamed of herself. She vowed she wouldn't be like her mother-no sex, no relationships until way later in life. She has goals for her future. Something happens after she looses her virginity, she inverts, she starts lying to everyone, including herself. Months go by and she notices herself not feeling good, dragging. She will not admit IT to herself. One night while her Mother is working, she gets sick. So she thinks. She has stomach problems, but not really. She is pregnant and at this moment she is in labor. She panics. She cuts the cord with fingernail clippers. She dumps the baby in a bag. She takes IT out. She goes to sleep. No one knows. Only someone finds this baby screaming, and IT lives. The police eventually track it back to her and she ends up in prison. Will she be considered in trial as an adult or Juvienile? What will people say about her? What is going to happen to her future?


This is another book that I will chant "READ IT, READ IT, READ IT!" 
Seriously, this one doesn't feel like a Young Adult book, this has relevance. This book matters. This book opened my eyes and changed my opinion. Do I like it that the girl dumped her baby off? NO! But, I do see what was going through her mind and can't help but feel sorry for her. Good people can do bad things.... Should she be punished? Yes. Like an Adult? No.

Sidenote: I am not endorsing baby dumping!!! There is no excuse for that. I really don't understand why these mothers wouldn't at the very least find a hospital or orphanage or somewhere/someone to give that innocent life to instead of just leaving it there to die!!!!

See me

well, at this point I'm beginning to wonder if Nicholas Sparks just writes the books to be made into movies? As usual, the story is good, but his way of telling it is just...ok. I 99.9% of the time prefer his books as movies (with the exception of The Longest Ride , which was fantastic).

This one had more of a mystery-romance vibe going on, so it veered a little different than most of his other books that I've read. All in all, I enjoyed it. I'm not raving about it, but i wouldn't try to deter anyone from reading it either. 

Honestly, I think i enjoyed the side character of Evan and Lily more than Maria and Colin at times.....
And, I never get the 'who-done-it' right, but I guessed this one pretty early on :) Bonus points for me.


Spoilers ahead:
I would have liked more details of the actual case that causes all this ruckus...instead of Maria's day to day work and pervert boss. Just gross. 
That epilogue really drew me in. It would have been awesome to have a few more of those Stalker perspectives throughout. 
Also, this one didn't have a ton of cheesy moments, which is great!

3 stars

The sky is everywhere

"My sister will die over and over again for the rest of my life. Grief is forever. It doesn't go away; it becomes a part of you, step for step, breath for breath. I will never stop grieving Bailey because I will never stop loving her. That's just how it is. Grief and love are conjoined, you don't get one without the other. All I can do is love her, and love the world, emulate her by living with daring spirit and joy."

I connect with the book whole-heartedly. I find the above snip-it to be so incredibly true. I feel like the author is writing about something she knows about. I feel it from her heart. I feel it in my bones.
This one was emotionally hard for me to read. I lost my brother of 16 years, October will be 8 years. He was my best friend. He was such a joy in my life. I understand the character's in this. You will do anything to find a moment's relief. It is consuming. It is your own personal tear-filled hell. 

" I try to fend off the oceanic sadness, but I can't. It's such a colossal effort not to be haunted by what's lost, but to be enchanted by what was."

"I don't know how the heart withstands it"

Me either. But the point of this book I believe is to keep pushing forward. That those we love are not as far away as we think they are. My only complaint with this book, is i do wish there was just a smidgen of sprituality/religion in it. I know it's not for everyone- so i guess i understand her reasonings as to not put it in. I think I'm just a religious person and without Jesus in my life I know my situation would be just about unbearable. But, I have something to believe in. I believe in life after death, heaven. I believe I will be reunited. 
(Don't send me to the chopping block people, it's just my belief and i'm not trying to sway anyone)



Also, don't let this top half of my review fool you. The book is actually fun. And, pretty much lighthearted. It has an uplifting love story that's not cheesy and a cast of characters you will love.
This is definitely in my top 10 of the year. I 100% want everyone to read this. It is beautiful!!

Seafoam sensory

Sensory bins seem to be at an all time high right now....and for good reason. There are so many teaching possibilities. For this one, we were learning about the ocean. Easy enough. You can make the foam with equal parts dawn dish soap and water....for the extra fluff add 1/2 cup of cornstarch. We added a few drops of liquid watercolors to make it the pretty blue. We had a few fish and sharks to add, along with some seashells. Orbeez are another great add on. 

After our bubbles ran out we moved onto watercolors. Easy enough to find seashell printable online or in coloring books.

 My girls really like this book, with all the flaps. They also really enjoyed listening to baby balluga.

 Can't you just smell that salty air??!!!

Vampire Diaries Tour!

With the sad announcement that this season would be the last season of Vampire Diaries, I figured I had better get my toosh down to Covington, GA to do the tour!! It was all of an hour and a half away from my home, so my birthday was the perfect excuse to go.
Got to say, I had a blast. (Hubby had a pretty good time even though he is sooo not into the show)
Going to the tour definitely inspired me to go back and re-watch all the seasons! I forgot how much i loved the first 2 especially!

Vampire Stalkers is the tour to do! These ladies know their stuff.



Anywho, thought I would share a few pics.

The iconic courthouse

We did eat here, at the Mystic Grill....but, it is not anything like the one from the show.....

Kissing in the same spot as the famous Delena kiss!!!

at the lockwood fountain 

My husband hates this pic! But, I had to be drowned a la Carol Lockwood. 

These signs are so cool. FUN FACT: they change the square out with whatever mystic falls event is going on with these flags/signs. 

Bonnie's house

Mask from the Masquerade Ball episode.

I can't wait to do The Originals Tour! (Done by the same company)


#teamdamon
#tvdforever

Wowza, what a book!!!!!

WHAT JUST HAPPENED?!?!?!?!?

no really, did that just happen?!?!?!?!?!

Watch out Spoilers probably ahead...

I'll get to that wtf moment in a bit, I guess I should start from the beginning...
So basically this 7 year old kid, Ethan was abducted from his family. It has been 9 years and they get the call that Ethan has been found. He is coming home. This poor kid lived with his "abducter" Ellen for a while and then she decided to dump him of at a kids' home in some bum-fu@! town where there are "no questions asked".

Okay, this pisses me off.... I digress

He lives there a while. Screws some girl named Tempest, decides to leave and go live on the streets and at the zoo. Did I mention this kid is only like 13-15 during all this.

So, he gets to go home and be with his famiy now after 9 years of not knowing who he is. He "meets" his mom, dad, younger brother and 6 year old sister. Yeah, she was born just a year after he was taken. Also another kinda pisses me off moment. But, she turns out to be too darn cute to get mad at. So, I let this one go.

Ethan's Brother on the other hand was pretty awful to him. He is angry that Ethan doesn't remember anything. He is angry at him for living in his space. He is just angry. This kid made me sick. Up until literally the last page I hated him. But, he turned out to be right. Don't ya hate that?!?!?!


So, I had a range of emotions reading this. I was happy for the family at first, I was sad for Ethan not being able to fit in, I was mad at pretty much every character at some point or another.

I read this book because I am a huge fan of Lisa McMann. Her Wake trilogy was easy to read and just awesome.
I am still a huge fan.

Even after this wtf ending. I can't believe it. I thought maybe Ethan would run away or Blake would try and kill him or something. But, I DID NOT SEE this coming. Holy Hell!

4 stars






Content: A lot of F-Bombs were dropped. Not suitable for probably under 15??

Because I am furniture.....

This is disgusting, disturbing, horrific and sad
yet so beautiful and honest.
So deep and moving,
So heart-wrenching.
How terrifying it must be
to be terrified of your own Father.
How mind-f*&^ing it must be
to want any attention from him,
to be jeaouls of your sisters rape,
to desire to be beaten
or yelled at
just something to know he knows you exist.
How powerful you must feel
knowing you are the reason he was sent to jail,
how powerless you must feel to know he is now out.
You are no longer furnature.
You exist, you have a life.


If you have never really read any books with verse/poetry to tell the story, this might be a good one to start on. It's super quick and easy to follow. I still feel like I read a story, not just a collection of pretty words. This is not like that. My heart breaks, because you know this sort of thing goes on all over the world. There are so many people who are left so powerless and feel like they have no way out- I am so glad this one ended on a good note. 
Try this one out... but be prepared that it is a sad story.

Book review: The dressmaker

Look at this cover!!!! It's gorgeous right?
I was really expecting a romantic, titanic tale with some rich designer or something. This was pretty good, but it wasn't that....

In a nutshell this is a fictional story trying to answer why did only one life-boat go back to rescue overboard passengers from the titanic. Alcott really focuses in on one boat in particular- Lifeboat #1, the Duff-Gordon's boat. 
I am warning you I think I am about to go on a "Kristy Ramble".

This book was very informative, like spitting out facts (even if they were fictional). I later found out Alcott was a former journalist and she definitely wrote this book like a journalist... I hope that makes sense. 

Also, this thing needed to make up it's mind. Are you a romance book? If so, there needed to be a lot more! If not, there needed to be less. 

I needed more emotion! You were on the Titanic for cripes sake! Like I said, everything was just so factual, so robotic. The sinking, the imaginary-read-between-the-lines romance, the court case. 


Decent, but I am now on the lookout for a good Titanic story.

3 stars
Peace out lovelies.

Ice ice elfy

Bumblebee is back. This was super easy and got a wow reaction.  Unless you want a wet elf, I would freeze it in a Ziploc bag.

Taylor's thought process : elf went swimming and froze?
The atmosphere was cold last night and froze him during his flight?
Someone trapped him in a pond and he had to come here to de-thaw?

This would be great if you have a kid into the movie frozen!!!! Elsa did it! ;)

Send me some of your creative and easy ideas! We all get by with a little help from our friends.

Merry Christmas!

Fire & Flood

I really enjoyed this one! It has a very Hunger Games-ish vibe going on, but not so much to make it just a repeat, copy-cat. The race for a cure gave it so much varying meanings and the added pandoras were very interesting. I am frothing for #2!

Spoilers ahead:

I really thought "Guy's" character was way older in the beginning....Just the way she spoke of him, made me feel like he was 40 or something. So, for him to be 19 kind of put me off for a second there. But, after getting to know him, I really enjoy his story-line and can't wait to see what else he knows! 
I'm nervous for all the competitor's, especially one's like Guy, who have a hidden agenda.

I really liked the Pandora's, such a cool idea.....except the human one.... that was odd. I feel like this is going to become an issue in later books. 

I'm curious where the next leg of the race will be. And, who will win the cure? Or is there even a cure?

I am bothered by Tella's family...why did they not communicate with her about this race? I know they didn't want her to go, but it just seems like something very big to hide completely. I guess hindsight is 20/20 right? I'm wondering if Tella's grandmother is going to be brought up more? She just felt important. 

I really liked Guy, but that name?!?!?!? Sort of odd. 


Oy. I have so many feels. I can't even. I just need the next book. N.O.W. 


4.5 stars-Highly recommend. Super fast paced, fun read.