Monday, April 27, 2015

Where have I been?!!!

Happy Monday, my friends!  Over the last few weeks, I've been consumed with planning the Father/Daughter dance for 168 2nd grade Brownies, working on our children's musical at church, keeping up on my Etsy shop, and then the usual->being a mom and wife!!!  I know you all can relate!!!!! (BTW, my house has been majorly neglected lately, so I have a lot to catch up on today!!!)

The poodle skirt I wore to the dance was made for me by my Grammy about 25 years ago!!!! She made a red one for me and a blue one for my twin sister!  I think I need to dig out a picture from when she gave them to us! (No, it doesn't fit like when I was 12...I have it unzipped a few inches!!)





It was a ton of work to plan an event this large, but I had some amazing volunteers that night and it all came together!  Someone reminded me during the dance to just stop and look around and see how much fun everyone was having....that's what makes it all worth it;)




Have a fabulous week!!!
:)Jamie

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Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Buying New Furniture

(Un)Happy Tax Day, my friends!  I was an Accounting major in college and considered doing taxes for a living.....um.....well, I kinda had a change of heart along the way!!!! More about my life story later!  Today I want to share about our recent experience of buying new furniture for our family room.

Our home was built in the late 90's with lots of honey oak, berber carpet, brass fixtures, etc.  So we are slowly updating and changing (as the budget allows).  As much as I'd love to immediately start sanding and painting every inch of trim and builtins and moulding to a beautiful, fresh white....we have decided to wait.  We think it's better to have a professional do it, and it IS NOT CHEAP!!!  There are higher priority needs, which leads me to the title of this post: Buying New Furniture.

We had purchased our previous family room furniture when we got married almost 12 years ago.  It was sooooo comfortable and deep and large, just perfect for our previous home that had a big great room.  But it was stained, worn, difficult to keep clean, and pulling apart underneath the cushions.  And we were so over the swirly pattern, giant ottoman, and broken side tables!! Time for a change. Here it is, just days before the new set arrived:

SOFA & LOVESEAT:
For the sofa and loveseat, we decided on something different, something durable, a little less cushy (yet still comfy), but easier to clean.  It's the Pembroke from La-Z-Boy. Who knew La-Z-Boy made other furniture besides recliners?!!!!  The best part is the spill & scratch resistant leather-looking upholstery.  We chose the Renew fabric, which is actually fabric adhered to leather, so it has the warmth and softness of fabric, but the clean look of leather {and much cheaper than leather!!}. We also selected the brushed nickel nail heads.



CHAIR & OTTOMANS:
For the chair, we chose a fabric upholstery with a fun, more modern design to tie in with the paint and decor.  The ottomans (which convert to trays) are a nice, soft fabric, same as the pillows.

DESIGN:
Oh, and I forgot to mention that La-Z-Boy sent a designer to our house for free to help with selecting everything!!!  She created a design board for us at our final meeting, which made the whole dilemma of "choices" much easier!!! I am horrible at interior design and decor, so I have a huge appreciation for any help in this area!!!

SIDE TABLES:
These must be discontinued from La-Z-Boy (or at least their website), but here they are on Amazon.



At first, I had a little buyer's remorse because the sofa and loveseat were so very different than our previous ones.  I couldn't get over that they were not as big and cushy.  But now that I've had a chance to sit on them more, I can definitely say they are comfortable.  Almost like memory foam in that they take a few seconds to conform to your body.  And I'm LOVING that I can take a cloth to wipe them off!! (We moved the old furniture into the living room, so it's still around if I want to escape from the TV and craziness and rest for a bit!!!)

The lamps are new too. Found them online at World Market.




We tried to tie in the dark espresso colors from our kitchen cabinets into this room.  Next up will be pulling up this old berber carpet and laying down some wood floors!!!!!!!! :):):)



Note: This is not a sponsored post.  All reviews and opinions are my own based on my own experience.

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Monday, April 13, 2015

Free Printable Bridging Certificates

BROWNIE . JUNIOR . CADETTE . SENIOR . AMBASSADOR . ADULT
FREE PRINTABLE Bridging Invitations HERE

-->BROWNIE . JUNIOR . CADETTE . SENIOR . AMBASSADOR . ADULT
FREE PRINTABLE Bridging Invitations HERE




NOTE: If the link to any of the following certificates says that the item is no longer available, please message me via Etsy if you would like to purchase it (be specific in your description of the item).  It's possible that I'm updating it or that it has temporarily sold out!




Daisy to Brownie-style:

Brownie to Junior-style:

Just added!  Junior to Cadette-style:


In order to keep these printables FREE, I do not offer customization.  Please visit my Etsy shop for custom order inquiries and price quotes!

Girl clipart by https://www.dailyarthub.com and https://www.etsy.com/shop/PaperiePixel


For your personal or troop use only.  Professional printing okay.


 Jamie My Fashionable Designs
Etsy | Blog | Facebook | Instagram 




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Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Free Printable Birthday Gift Tracking Sheets

My daughter's 8th birthday is right around the corner (yikes, I better get planning that!!!) and it got me thinking about the invitations and thank you cards that go along with parties....and all the gifts!!! One of these times I'm just going to say no gifts, please!!!  Until we do that, I'm sure the gifts will come rolling in (Does that sound bad? Hey, you know how it is with kids and parties...it sadly brings out the greediness in them all;)!!!)!!

Anyway....here is a set of gift tracking sheets (one girly, one boyish) that can help with thank-you notes and maybe could be added to a scrapbook or tossed in a memory box. Enjoy!






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Sunday, April 5, 2015

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter to all from my family to yours!!!!











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Wednesday, April 1, 2015

New Organizing Free Printables

Happy April, my friends!!! Here is a set of free printables (an updated version of the set I posted at the new year).  This set includes an owl-themed Weekly To-Do, Food Journal, Meal Plan/Shopping, and Brain Unload.  Enjoy!



Background by RacoonGirlDesign
Owls clipart by Giftseasonstore
Food clipart by Digistockdesign
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Friday, March 27, 2015

How to Turn Old Greeting Cards into Wall Art

Yesterday, I took on the giant task of tackling my 7 year-old daughter's bedroom. I did some maaaaaajor cleaning and purging!!!  Girls have so many trinkets, knick-knacks, treasures, etc. (whatever you want to call them)...A.K.A. clutter!!!  Anyway, I found a box in her closet that I haven't unpacked since we moved into our house almost two years ago.  It was labeled "Mya's Memory Box."  There were greeting cards from her birth through her 5th birthday, preschool artwork, and even Kindergarten papers.  I was especially bothered by all the room these Ziplock bags of greeting cards were consuming in the box and in her closet.


Soooo......keeping with my latest Hexagon Punch obsession, and not willing to toss them all in the trash, I knew we needed a compromise.  How about displaying them in a unique way?! Greeting cards for little girls are gorgeous!!!!  Many are sparkly and metallic with princesses and castles and butterflies!  All the things that represent my little Mya!

Supplies I used:
11x14 canvas panels from Walmart (similar HERE)
Hexagon Punch, Circle Punch (use any size or design you wish!)
Old greeting cards



For the first one, I just cut out circles and layered them onto the canvas:


The second one took a little more time since I used the hexagon punch and tried to space the punches out evenly.  I started from the bottom and worked my way up.  It's easier than you might think to space out the pieces....I'm usually picky about these kind of things, but I found it to be very simple once I got the first row down.



I just used a couple Command strips to hang them up on the wall!! I may decide to paint them with a clear coat of poly or Mod Podge so the pieces adhere more permanently.  For now, I'm curious to see how long they will last with just the glue stick.

I wrote the name of the person who gave Mya the card on the back of some of the pieces.  I may never look at them, but I just felt like I needed to write them for memory's sake!!!

Now on to my son's bedroom......yikes, what project will I get into next?!!!
:)Jamie


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