Oh How Pinteresting!

We all know about my obsession with Pinterest.

So let's get down to business, shall we?

Here are some of the latests things I've pinned on my boards.  You can click the Pinterest banner to the right to see all the other goodies I've found.  I love followers and I love to follow back!  The more you're connected, the more deliciousness you will discover!

Mama Shall Have a Retreat

Everyone who loves builder grade mirrors, raise their hands!  Yeah... I thought so.  What a brilliant fix, right?  I LOVE the shelving in the middle.  And the moulding at the top is such a nice touch.

From hometalk.com

Mama Shall Have Style

I am forever on the search for great mother's jewelry.  I'm not a huge necklace person, I tend to gravitate towards bracelets instead, but this caught my eye.  I really like the inscribed message and the setting of the stones.

From etsy.com

Mama Shall Have Babies... Lots of Babies

I am loving these upcycled dressers!  I'm really regretting getting rid of our old one now.  What a perfect idea for hanging dress up clothes or doll clothes.  So easy too, even a non DIYer like myself could pull this off.  I like the IKEA mirror on the side too.

From 4.bp.blogspot.com

 Mama Shall Have Parties

With four girls, we have serious birthday planning to do through out the year.  I love how simple this decoration is.  And CHEAP!  Dollar store hula hoop and crepe paper and you're set!  This may or may not be making an appearance at shindig for a certain soon to be 3 year old very soon!

From housingaforest.com

Mama Shall Have Organization

Sigh.  Organization is a unicorn for me I think.  BUT, if it were to exist, it probably would in this form. I love how uniform and simple these canisters are.  MUCH better than my current system of clothes pinning shut the brown sugar bag and stuffing it between the peanut butter and a bag of rice.

From justpleasedaspunch.blogspot.com

Mama Shall Eat Well

For an avocado lover, these look divine.  Avocado and cream cheese wrapped in a puff pastry and baked?  Come to mama.

From loveveggiesandyoga.com

Mama Shall Celebrate

I'm loving all the inspiration (ha!) that Pinterest is providing for holidays.  How adorable are these little Valentine's?  I've already got the idea and supplies for our Valentine's this year (thank you Pinterest), but I'm definitely keeping these in mind for the future!

From thirtyhandmadedays.com

I'm linking up today with the Vintage Apple.  Come join in the fun!  Grab a button and link up!

Happy Pinteresting!!

IKEA Spice Racks As Bookshelves - Things I Learned

As you saw in the pics of my girls' redecorated room last week, we put Pinterest to good use by taking someone's brilliant idea of using IKEA spice racks as bookshelves.

I had been wanting a wall shelf of some sort for the girls' books, because up until this point we have used a standard bookshelf and the books always looked like this:

Ok wait.  Actually they never looked like that.  Clearly I cleaned before taking this picture.

ANYWAY.  Bottom line, I was sick and tired of books being haphazardly thrown every which way in that bookshelf and longed for the on the wall version like they sell at Pottery Barn Kids and Land of Nod.

But who has $400 for a bookshelf right?

Enter the brilliance of Pinterest and IKEA.  I had found my answer.

So.  Now what?  Well, it was a labor of love getting those little spice racks from this:

to this:

Here are a few tips and ideas I picked up along the way.

1.  Each spice rack requires assembly with little to no instruction, which I understand is the norm for IKEA.  Fortunately, these were pretty much a no brainer, even for a non DIYer like myself.  Mobilize your troops and get to work.  Most of it is pretty simple, even for the littlest of fingers.

2.  Proper DIYers would probably have painted every part first, before assembly.  I was too impatient and I'm happy to report you cannot tell that these were painted after the fact at all.  I also did not bother putting any sort of lacquer or poly on these, nor did I sand them.  So far the paint has held up well to the wear and tear.  If you want a more polished finish you might add this step, but I didn't find it necessary.  I just slapped regular old room paint (the same paint we used on the furniture) on the racks with those cheapy foam craft brushes you can get at Hobby Lobby.  It took 2-3 coats.  2 for the shelves, 1 for my fingers.

3.  If you notice in that picture with Princess #4 putting in the shims, the racks come with standard wall hanging pieces already attached.  Hubs and I knew that books would be heavier than spices (obviously) so we knew regular old nails wouldn't work.  We bought drywall anchors like the ones below.  Now here's the big tip:  THESE DO NOT WORK.  After 4 racks fell under the weight of the books, stripping the hole in the wall in the process, we trekked back to Home Depot and picked up the hardcore metal butterfly anchors.  I didn't get a pic of them, unfortunately, but you will need them.  Especially if you're going to be housing heavy board books.

4.  Make sure you do your measurements and mark exactly where you want your racks to hang - ALL of them, before drilling your first hole.  This was difficult for us since we were hanging so many and trying to keep them centered and evenly spaced.  One thing we didn't consider too carefully was how high we were going.  My little princesses can't reach the top books without a step stool, which I would have rather prevented had I paid better attention.

Overall I'm really pleased with how this project turned out.  Like I mentioned before, the paint has held up well, as have the racks themselves.  Since using the metal butterfly anchors we haven't had any fall off the wall.  They don't hold quite as many books as I was thinking they would and I would actually like to add a few more to an adjacent wall, should I ever work up the energy to take this on again.  In all we used 13 racks.  We hung 9 on the main "book wall".

Then we also put two on the wall by Princess #1 and Princess #2's beds, just so they'd have some space that's reserved just for their own books.

Hopefully, if you're considering trying this anytime soon, these lessons I learned will help you out some.  I'd love to see pics of your completed project, so when you're done be sure to let me know!

Are You Inspired?

I've written before about my love for Pinterest.  I'm telling you, it is without a doubt the best time suck evah.  Thanks to the inspiration from others, I've become a decorating guru, I have all sorts of parenting tactics to try and I've made at least 3 meals that hubs has requested to be in permanent rotation.  I have become a master at knocking off good ideas.

So, if there's anything I love more than being inspired myself, it's seeing others inspired as well.  My awesome friend Jess and I came up with a fun little idea.  She explains it all in detail on her blog but basically, we want to see what inspires you and how you've recreated it!

(of course, this is all just a ploy to see more creative ideas so I can knock those off too.  *wink*)

It's alot more fun if lots of people participate, so jump in!  Grab the button below to put in your post and get ready to be inspired!





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PS.  We're debating adding a Mr. Linky so everyone can easily find inspired posts from others.  Good idea?  Let us know!

I Like The Sound Of Free!

Are you a procrastinator like me?  Who hasn't even thought about Christmas cards yet?  Go on, raise your hand.  So, here's the deal:  Shutterfly.com is offering bloggers fifty photo Christmas cards for free, just for blogging about their site and sharing their products.

FIFTY FREE CARDS!

Um, sign me up please!

I'm super excited about this.  I love Christmas cards.  I love giving them and I love getting them.  Friends, family, my vet - it doesn't matter.  I love them all.

I'm not the greatest though, at getting my act together.  First of all, getting photos worthy of a card is sweat inducing at best.  We have a family photo shoot set up for this Thursday and I've been stressing about it for a month.  A MONTH people!  Two words:  FOUR KIDS.  Yeah, you're breaking into a sweat just thinking about it too, aren't you?

But then, once I have the pictures in hand, I have to decide what sort of card I'd like to send.  Traditional?  Inspirational?  Timeless?  Quirky?  Whimsical?  Have you been to Shutterfly.com and checked out their cards?  The options are endless.

Right now I'm really liking this How Holly Story Christmas card:

It's got the right amount of photo openings for our family, and I love how I can add a couple lines about each of the girls.  It's a little more traditional looking than I usually go for, but it's definitely a top contender.  This is a flat card option, which is nice and simple.

I'm also loving this Joy Wishes Folded Christmas card:

If we can get the right family shot of all of us, this might be a keeper.  No pressure, right?  And with this one I love that if I'm a little behind in getting the cards out, it would sorta work for a new year card too.  See, look how practical that is!

Finally (I'm totally digressing from cards here), have you seen Shutterfly.com's calendars?  

I have to tell you, these suckers are the best.grandparent.gifts.ever.  Seriously.  What do your parents or in-laws really need that they don't already have?  A calendar full of pictures of your adorable children of course!  We do one of these every year for our parents and grandparents and they are a huge hit.  HUGE.

So, I've got a big decision ahead of me.  Which card to choose?  Hmmm... it's going to take a bit to decide.  I suppose first I should survive the photo shoot.  Deep breaths....

In the meantime, do you want to spread the Shutterfly.com love and receive 50 free cards yourself?  Check it.  It's too awesome to pass up!

Oh Happy Day!

Today is Friday and I think that calls for a little Friday cheer!  Need a smile on your face?  Here's what's putting a smile on mine:

Williams Sonoma Mulling Spices

I wish you could smell through the computer.

Go to the store, grab a can of this and stick your nose in it.

Inhale and enjoy the fall goodness.

Birthstone Ring from ABDesigns on etsy.com

A mom of four should definitely have a mother's ring, no?

But four stones on one ring or four rings on one finger, it can get overwhelming.

I discovered this little gem while perusing etsy and now have it on my Santa list.

I've been a good girl this year.

My 10 year College reunion next weekend

Wait.  I'm not sure if that's smile inducing or a trigger for nightmares.

I'm in denial that it's been 10 years.

I hope I don't get a big zit on my nose or something.

Yoda ears and baby pictures

Nothing brings happy like looking at baby pictures of my loves.

Can't believe this one now has hair past her shoulders and has spent the last few days showing me the "letter she's working on".  

It's the letter H, by the way.

The Library

Free Books.  What doesn't make you smile about that?

Now if only they would put a Starbucks in the lobby.

That, my friends, would be perfection.

My friends, what is making you happy today?  Let me know what's putting a smile on your face!