The painted house.. so far anyway!

Hello all,  I know it is Tuesday but my brain is still living in the weekend.  Lounging in the back yard, soaking up some sun and admiring all the painting and gardening I accomplished.  That's right, accomplished!  I am one of those 'too many things on the go at once' types.  Somehow I always have ten things on the go and nothing finished.  Well, for now my list is a little bit shorter.  It was bound to happen sometime right?  As you can see the dollhouse received some attention.  The outside of the house I painted a basic antique cream.  I have shutters to put on the windows for a touch of colour.  The roof, believe it or not, is done with scrapbook paper!  I found it wandering the isles of Michaels one day.  It was a kind of unevenly corrugated brown card stock that I thought might just work.  I wasn't completely sure how I was going to make it work when I first saw it but I ended up glueing the paper to the roof and painting it a very dark gray.  The pictures may not do it justice but I think it worked out great.  I am quite happy with the overall effect so far. 

Aside from the dollhouse I finally got around to painting my bathroom.  The people who owned the house before us had painted the walls a bright, urine yellow colour!  I can't even tell you how gross it was.  I considered taking before pictures but then why subject you all to that kind of visual torture.  I'm guessing the original intent was to mask any "mishaps" near the toilet.  Hey if you have boys around you know what I mean!  Still, I figure making the whole room look like pee kind of defeats the purpose.  Now, however the walls are an off white with just a teeny tiny hint of green, so today there is a green and cream theme in there. 
It is so much more soothing and easier on the eyes, which is important in a room don't you think?

So, add to all that some gardening, cleaning out the garage, playing with my son and general house work and it is no wonder it has taken two days to post about it.  Now if only I can keep finishing the things I start I will thrilled with myself.   Oh who am I kidding.... I'm going to go take a nap!

Have a great rest of the day everyone,

Kibbygirl

I almost kissed the postlady today!

Ohhh boy did I get some great treats in the mail today!  First there was a tiny package that held my ebay purchase of two wee dollhouse 'glass' hens.  They are the cutest.  I have to get moving on finishing my dollhouse so they can be shown off apropriately.  The other package was much bigger.  Recently I participated in a Secret Garden Swap hosted by Sarah of My So Called Junky Life.  My swap partner sent the most fantastic box of goodies.  I almost cried it was so beautiful!  There were little goodies everywhere along with the most beautiful teapot and cups.  Cream coloured and perfect.  Really, it is exactly what I would have picked out and it is going on the self over my sink with my other cream pieces.  See... perfect!  Then there are the tags, the lace, the fabrics, the glitter, the angel, the soap, the lotion, the paper bird, the ornate key, the earings and the sweetest vintage picture.  Whew,  I can't even tell you how much I love it.  Thank you so much Lee!  If you visit her here and see her style you will see why I was so lucky to have her put my present together.

Hope everyone is having a beautiful day,

Kibbygirl

working hard with givaway prep

Well, the Spring Fling party has started and I hope you all are getting your names in there for the loads of giveaways today.  There are several every hour all day today so keep at it and keep checking back with the four main blogs I listed in yesterdays post.  I am working furiously today to prepare lots more things for my Etsy shop.  My contribution will be $50 to spend there.  Best of luck to everyone!!  I am off to check out this hours prizes.

Kibbygirl

p.s. I couldn't resist adding this picture of my boy after the teams 2nd place win in the provincial finals this past weekend.  :)

Spring Fling Giveaway day

Just a quick reminder that the Spring Fling is this Tuesday, April 13th and four prizes will be given away every hour on:


SITSgirls

Tip Junkie

Skip to my Lou

Today’s Creative Blog

Over $10,000 in prizes will be given away and it will be EASY to win! already giving things away. Don’t miss out on all the free stuff!
 
 

 
I will be participating along with many,many others.  It all starts at 7am Eastern Time.  Come join the fun and check out all the great stuff being given away.   
 
See you all tomorrow!
Kibbygirl

A few new projects and a free pattern

I hope everyone had a great Easter weekend.  We sure did.  The weather was beautiful and boy did we take advantage of it.  I was especially thrilled because I was able to hang up my laundry outside for the first time this year.  It's one of those little things that make me happy!  Now that the sunis down and my boy is in bed I can sit at the computer and share some of the things I have been working on.  I really do love wandering the web and visiting peoples blogs.  There is a whole world of creativity out there and I feel blessed to live in a time when we can all share it. 

One of the projects I was looking forward to doing was a plaque for our front door.  I wanted kind of a Pottery Barn, typewriter key look so I used a font I got at Lettering Delights that is part of a halloween set.  I found a plaque with a fruit picture on it at our local ReStore for 50 cents and I painted it black.  Actually I painted it an light cream colour first since I wanted to 'antique' it a bit which I did around the edges.  The garden tag was from Terry Conrad Designs.  I subscribe to her email list and this was one of her gifts to her readers.  She makes the most beautiful stuff.  Last is the bird and that I found at The Graphics Fairy.  Over all I think it turned out pretty great.  I can't wait to see it hanging on the door.  Do you think my husband will notice when he gets home?  No, me either! 

I have also been playing around with some gift tags.  I have so much extra paper and bits of, well, everything that this seemed to be a good way to use some of my supplies up.  Its something easy to do while watching Amazing Race or The Big Bang Theory with the boys too.  I am one of those people that find it hard to just sit and watch tv, I have to be doing something.  It is how I get lots of my crafts done! 

Speaking of crafts, or technically writing about crafts, here is a pattern for miniature shopping bags.  I actually clipped this out of an old Martha Stewart magazine eons ago.  I have tried making some bags and they are actually pretty easy.  The original instructions were to enlarge the pattern for a real gift bag but the mini ones work great.  I glued mine on to some cardboard so it is easy to trace and holds up over time.  You can use any patterned paper or graphics that you like. The possibilites are endless. 

I will be linking up at The Graphics Fairy for Brag Monday!

and

Have a great night everyone,

Kibbygirl

Spring Fling and some new friends

Good morning everyone,

I have two new followers I would like to welcome.  First off is Vonlipi from Vonlipi's Favorites. Like many of us she is a thrifter and she is a fellow canadian!  She writes about her adventures and experiences and I am tempted to tell my husband about the fried lard she showed on her bog.  If I do though he might just run out and scour the country side for it! 

Next the Romantic Pansy stopped by and liked my blog enough to follow. Thank you, thank you.  She is a crafty girl and has an etsy shop with lots of her cute items.  If you get a chance pop over to their blogs for a visit. 

If you haven't heard about April 13th's Spring Fling giveaways you are going to want to!  I am participating along with many, many others.  Here are the details straight from Today's Creative Blog:

To celebrate our new communities on the BlogFrog, the SITSgirls, Skip to My Lou, Tip Junkie and Today’s Creative Blog (the Chic Chick gals) are hosting a Spring Fling!
We will be hosting a giveaway every hour on all 4 of our blogs on April 13th from 5:00 am to 8:00 pm (CST). Which will total over $6,000 worth of products given away in one day!
Yep that’s right it’s going to be an entire day of FREE products from Tip Junkie Mom-preneurs. Everything will be over $50.00. This is a great time to stock up on all your wish list items for yourself, Mother’s Day, birthdays, and even Christmas.
More details coming. All I can say is SO MANY GREAT PRIZES! This is no April Fools Joke.


Sounds pretty good right!  I can't wait to see who all is participating. 

Have a great day,
Kibbygirl

A warm welcome and

I want to start off with a warm welcome to a new follower.  She is the writer of the blog My Reality.  Like many of us she has a love of dollhouses and shares pictures and stories of her many dollhouses.  I like her saying of " I never met a dollhouse I didn't like!".

I would like to welcome Dee.  I couldn't make the link to her site work so Dee if you could update me I would be happy to let my readers learn more about you.

I also wanted to share a picture I found on the site The Fashion Doll.  It is a site for Barbie sized dolls and all the extras that go along with them but todays feature was a modern bedroom that I thought would be so cool for a dollhouse that had a modern theme.  There are so many details that caught my eye including the closet doors, the tea set on the bed and the over all black and white theme of the room.  The whole thing would make for a very fun dollhouse bedroom!

Last but not least I found a home for my wee home.  I have put it on top of a bookself in our bedroom.  This way I can see it all the time!  It is not nearly done but I have been playing around with it lately, so here are some pictures of it so far.

Kibbygirl

Another cool giveaway, the start of a spring display, and some minis

Good evening everyone,

My son is having a sleep over tonight so I thought I would blog while I had the chance, and the energy!  I found another great giveaway for you.  Shaunna at Perfectly Imperfect is having a 100 + follower giveaway celabration.  She has put together a very nice package of things for the lucky winner including vintage napkins and handmade soaps.  She has a really sweet blog to so pop over sometime. 

I made a great find the other day when I was bumbling around some thrift shops.  For two dollars I got a bag of miniature settings.  I'm not sure how I will use them all yet, but I consider them a sweet find.  I especially like the round table with the tea service. 

Lastly I wanted to show you all the start of my spring display that is over my kitchen sink.  It is hard to tell from the pictures but there are some eggs that I painted cream in the large vase at the back.  I want to get some nesting type stuff to help fill it.  The bird I found at Michaels for just $2.95.  It has a crackled finish that is also hard to see in the pictures.  The wee nest beside that is from the dollar store.  There were a couple in a pack but they were bright yellow so of course I painted that as well. The brown speckled eggs were a part of the original package too.  I am not sure what else to do with this so if any of you have suggestions I would love to hear them. 

Kibbygirl

Giveaway

Book Giveaway Time!
Three lucky CRAFT readers will each receive a copy of the book, Sherri Haab Jewelry Inspirations. Enter by march 29th. Here is the link for that contest.  Good luck to everyone.

Kibbygirl

Door plus poster = great art!

I am so impressed with myself!  I not only finished several projects that had been waiting patienty for me, I finally got some pictures on to the computer so that I can show them off.  I have had all these ideas knocking around in my head so it is nice to clear some of them out.  Trust me, I can use the room.  :)  So, without further ado, here they are.

This is a long cabinet door I got at Ikea in the seconds section. There was nothing wrong with it but it was all alone and without any of the hardware.  I found it years ago but I saved it knowing I would find a way to use it.  The poster I got at Michaels a while back and I love the shabby chic feel of it.  I have been seeing all these modge podge projects in blogland and some thing clicked.  I am planning on having my husband 'help me' put it up over the bed.

This is another modge podge attempt.  The plaque I bought at our local ReStore for 25 cents and the picture I printed out from the computer.  The plaque was originally a plain basic pine so I painted it and applied the picture.  This is going in the kitchen of course.

I decided to save a cardboard tea canister thinking I would get creative with it and this is what I came up with.  I wrapped it in wallpaper, then glued on a ribbon and topped that with a flower I cut out of another wallpaper scrap.  The top which isn't in the picture I just painted cream. 

I also cut tags out of various wallpaper bits.  I can tell you I will never run out of tags now!

Last but not least I painted some dollar store jewlery pendants an antique cream and used them to frame some miniature flower pictures.  These too have a shabby chic feel to them which I relly like. I made a few different sets.

Thanks for checking out my latest creations everyone.

Kibbygirl

march break

Good morning everyone,

It has been so warm and beautiful around here that sitting at the computer for too long seems wrong  so I have been getting done what I need to and running outside to join the kids who are off school for march break.  The temperature yesterday said 21 degrees at one point.  Awsome!  I took advantage of the nicer weather to drag some larger things, like a bookshelf, outside to paint.  I have been on a bit of a painting spree lately but sadly I am no where near done.  Most rooms in our house need a good coat of paint but that will come bit by bit.  One of the hardest parts of painting is the decision making!  What colour for the wall?  What colour for the trim?  What about the accessories?  See I am a frequent mind changer I have learned to stick with fairly basic colours when it comes to the big stuff so that I can change everything else when the need strikes.

Right now, as I try to motivate myself to get ready for a family gathering I see flurries start to fall.  Ahh Ontario weather!  I suppose it makes me even more thankfull for the past couple of days worth of sunshine.  Since I don't have any of my projects to show you yet I will leave you all with a picture from one of the boys recent basketball games.  It is a terrible picture but I love it because it shows what great team spirit they all have.  The raised arms are their way of silently cheering for a team mate when they are making a foul shot.  Each of the kids on this team are truely supportive of eachother, in the good games and the bad.  It makes me thankfull for each and every one of them.  Wouldn't it be amazing if we all treated each other that way?  No tearing down, just lifting up. 

Have a great weekend,

Kibbygirl