After just a little love...

... I have an amazing vintage spice rack.

My brother (the artist) found this spice rack at a friends family garage sale. He is in art school and he never knows when he will need something cool for an assignment. I'm not sure if he paid for the spice rack or if he simply picked it out of the would be GOODWILL pile. I do know... it had $5.00 written on the front of the glass window in grease pencil and that I spent the next almost 3 months begging for him to give it me. I offered him anything I could think of because I had to have it. I'm not sure if I caught him on a good day or if he truly knew he would never use it for anything... because he finally gave in.

I am thrilled he gave it to me because this is one of my favorite things in my house and is one of those things that I know I will have forever!! I'm so sad I do not have before and after pictures of this one... this spice rack was such a mess when I started to clean it up.

It was beyond dirty, rusted in places and had dried spices in all of the jars. It was a brown color with the paint chipped off in several places. There was a cross bar of wood glued onto the glass front that made it look like a window.

 Here is the short version of what we did...

We removed the glass from the front and took the whole thing apart so we could paint it. We cleaned up the hardware and the glass, spray painted the whole thing black. We cleaned the bottles by running them through the dishwasher and bleaching the plastic sprinkle caps. We spray painted the spice jar caps black and just waited for everything to dry. We put the whole thing back together... minus the cross wood from the front and there you have it! Quick and easy!

I filled the bottles with my favorite spices and just used round labels for the names of the spices. I thought about printing some cool old labels to go on the front of the bottles... but I liked the look of the old glass so much I couldn't bring myself to cover it up.

 

I have more projects coming up that could use just a little love... come back and check them out. 

Chalk it up for easy gifts!!

My best friend and I set a $30 limit this year for our Christmas gifts. We have done this the last few years and it's been great! We are both people who tend to go a little over the top with gifts... so this way we can save money and we are forced to get creative! This year I decided to make Amy a chalkboard for her kitchen. With a baby on the way... a chalkboard for grocery lists, to do lists and fun baby things couldn't be a bad idea... right?? 

Here's what I did...

 To keep under my $30 budget I found myself at Michaels for a frame. Because it was Christmas season I found a great coupon for half off any frame including the sale frames. I got a black simple but very classic frame! My mom had some left over chalkboard paint I could use and sent me home with the roller too!!

  

You can always paint the insert or the backing of the frame. Or you can cut and paint a piece of Ply, Veneer, MDF... any thin wood really. Just remember to keep it really thin because you want it to fit in the frame and still be able to get the back of the frame on. My dad cut the piece I used with a little hand held saw... my parents have the best tools!! I painted it with a bunch of thin coats of the chalkboard paint... maybe 4 or 5 by the end of it.

I let the piece of wood dry and I put it in the frame placing the back on next. Oh and by the way... this frame did come with a piece of glass too... I took that out and saved it for a future craft project.

Boyfriend was running to Lowe's one night and I asked him to pick up a half-moon dresser/drawer pull. I wanted something cute to hold the chalk. He picked out a great one!

 A couple of screws later and this baby looked awesome!!

I bought a pack of chalk and a couple of cute baby things to hit my $30 mark... and AMY LOVED IT!!! She set it out for her hubby to hang the next day!! 

I love budget Christmas gifts... it's a great chance to make your friends something you know they will love. Try this one... it is super easy!!

Magazine basket or ... not?

I am a big fan of antique stores, thrift stores and anything flea market and garage sale! I love to find things that have been forgotten or packed away for years in a basement or attic somewhere. A couple of nails, some paint, some overall TLC and you have something pretty amazing that has been brought back to life. I enjoy being hands on for these projects and most of the time my mom and/or boyfriend are involved... sooo a little quality time with them is pretty great too!! A project or two with a purpose... how can that be anything but awesome??

Clearly, I love shopping for things I can fix up. But, I also love finding the occasional treasure in great condition that doesn't need any work. This is one of those... be still my heart items that I stumbled upon and felt like I walked away with the retailer practically giving it to me! It's amazing how happy a basket can make me and my house!!


I found this magazine basket and knew it would be perfect of my standard 3-6 wine bottles I usually have around my house. I had my fingers crossed that the bottles would fit, but for $5 bucks I was taking this baby home and using it for something!! I love the way the wine bottles look in it. I can have a couple bottles or a bunch and this basket is the perfect size for any and every combination. I love the divider down the middle and the handle in the center.

Quick tip: Wine preservers are great!! It's the perfect kitchen accessory to have if you drink or cook with wine. I can have one glass and pump the bottle (sucking out the air) to keep it fresh until I want another glass. This will not keep your bottle of wine good forever... but it will prolong the taste a lot longer than putting the cork back in. I got my wine preserver at bed bath & beyond. It came with the pump and two of the stoppers.

My sweet boys

I love these little guys. They are my buddies and they make me pretty happy! They try my patience... and make me laugh! They are the perfect combination to each other and the best fit for me. They are my little shadows which makes it so easy to catch their super cute moments with the camera!!

- A little blurry but sooo sweet!


- Sweet puppy love!


Love these faces!!

I'm in love!!

I live for my kitchen most days and everything in it... and I swear it's the little things!! Boyfriend and I went shopping one day at one of my favorite stores (Cost Plus World Market) and I came across these little cuties and I had to have them! Who knew something so small could make such a big impact in my kitchen!!



I LOVE THEM!!

SNOW '10

I live in Atlanta and have lived here my whole life. Being born and raised a peach does not lend itself to very much snow in the winter. Well... it hasn't in the past anyway. This year year however, has been our exception. We have seen two pretty major snow days ... and several flurry filled mornings this winter. I love snow!! I hate being cold but really really do love snow!! It is so pretty! I had to go outside and take some pictures... I could hardly believe how much snow had fallen and better yet... that it was sticking!! Snow never... ever sticks in Georgia!!


Walking around in the snow taking pictures!


So calm and quiet...


My cute puppy Bailey in his snow gear!!