Relay for Life 2012

This upcoming weekend is Relay for Life Santa Clarita Valley and I will be participating for the 3rd year in row.  Cancer seems to have touched every person I know and for me it is no exception.  I have lost family members, friends, and sadly know friends who have lost little ones as well.

This disease does not discriminate.  It cares not for age or gender, social standing or wealth, race or religion. It cares not whom it touches or in what way.  It cares not if you’re ready for the fight. Cancer will be the aggressor and you will find yourself at war with your own body. 

I want to find out why this disease is so powerful.  I want to help those who are feeling powerless to it.  I want to stand and fight for all who cannot. If I can help, even in the smallest of ways, I feel I am talking a stand.

I walk for those I’ve lost. I walk for all who have triumphed. I walk for the millions of families who have suffered great losses.  I walk for the parent who has lost a child too soon.  I walk for the child who has lost a parent too soon.  I walk because I want to be a part of a cause that benefits us all.  I walk because I am still standing. Shouldn’t we fight if we are still standing?

If you would like to make a donation please visit My relay for life page.  Even a small donation can make a big difference to someone who is fighting a HUGE battle!

Our Little Team Members- Relay for Life 2011

Thank you for your support!

Things aren't always great

Things have been a little bit rough as of late.  I haven’t written any blogs recently because I haven’t really been in the mood.

Sometimes the pressures of life are so much that you begin to feel like you really can’t handle them anymore. Yet you find the strength to go on because you really have no other choice.  Unfortunately my stress manifests itself in physical ways so I find myself ill whenever things are rough.  I know that ultimately things will be better and that whatever is best for me will happen.  It’s not always what we want but what we need. I must trust in this theory because things can’t always be bad.  At least I hope not.

I’ve been keeping myself busy preparing for a yard sale and majorly cleaning house.  Maybe if I de-clutter my life I can make more room for clarity move in.

For now I will stick to praying for the answers that will lead me down the right path.

The blossoms on my apple tree serving as a reminder that life does go on.

Every space needs a good chair

The last couple of days here in the mountains have been beautiful and a lot more like summer than spring.  As I sit here by the window, a summer-like breeze is blowing in and I find myself wanting to do nothing but relax and enjoy the fresh air streaming in.  I love our snowy mountain winters but I long for days like this where the temperature is perfect and I can forget I have things to do for at least a couple of minutes.

My rug.  It was a super great find!

I have been working hard and the office is just about finished.  I had really been looking for a good client chair to put in there and found several things online that caught my eye.  Target had some great ones but at $295 I just couldn’t justify the money, Urban home had one I loved but it didn’t match the rest of the décor, and my search at Home Goods turned up nothing as far as chairs go but I did get a great area rug. My friend, Alexis (girlrural.com) said I should try Overstock.com, which was a fantastic suggestion!  I found the prefect chair 5 minutes into my search, in my price range, ordered it with free shipping, and 4 days later it was at my door.  I am so glad I took my friends great advice and waited until I found something that was perfect.  I absolutely adore it and it matches my color scheme amazingly!

The chair with the pillows I made
a few weeks ago.  It's perfect!

There are only a few more things I need to do and then my office, for the time being, will be complete. I am working on some curtains now and I can’t wait to do a few before and after pictures of those.

As always you can check out my store, www.sweetpeasbutterbeans.etsy.com

Until next time, cheers! Thanks for stopping by!

Work and Play

The family and I took a day away from doing projects this past Monday, and went for a fun family trip to Disneyland.  As all parents know, it is very difficult to make it through an entire day without some sort of breakdown but amazingly there were none. The kids were happy and having a great time so mommy and daddy had a great time too. It was truly a fantastic day together.

The next day it was back to work and I spent the subsequent days this week finishing up an order for a set of letters with a Princess theme.  These were a big challenge for me.  When you are painting specific characters, especially the Princesses, it is so important to paint their faces correctly.  If a face is painted incorrectly, then the other details around the character don’t really matter.  Your eye will constantly be drawn to the incorrect face. 

After painting and repainting the faces several times, I think I achieved my goal. I’m happy with the result and my client is so it’s a win, win.

No time to stop, I have several other orders just wanting for a coat of paint :o)

As always you can check out my store,www.sweetpeasbutterbeans.etsy.com

Until next time, cheers! Thanks for stopping by!

Another fun one!

As you can probably tell I am a huge fan of DIY and whenever I have the opportunity to create something fun, I do.  Sometimes these projects cost less then buying them at the store but I admit that sometimes they cost more.  If I chose a project that is a little more costly it is usually because I love the fact that I can make it exactly to my liking, which is always best. Most days of the week (between cooking, cleaning, kids, and painting orders) I set aside some time to do these projects and today was no exception. 

Supplies

I was at Target a few weeks ago and I was looking for some magnetic boards to hang above my desk.  I saw a few but nothing that I really loved.  If I was going to pay $8-$10 a piece for some boards I wanted something that would look great.  I did not make a purchase that day and instead came home to check out my favorite websites and get some ideas.  Luckily I found a great one and the next time I ventured out I knew exactly what supplies I would need.

I first sought out some fabrics at the local fabric store and found lovely patterns.   I bought a yard of each (price depends on what you choose) but I could have easily bought ½ a yard and had plenty. You will want a thin fabric so that the magnets have no problem sticking.  I then purchased 3 cookie sheets from the dollar store ($1 of course), white poster board ($3-$4 for a 3 pack), ribbon ($1-$4 for a spool), and some magnets ($3 a pack).  You will also need a hot glue gun, glue sticks, and a drill, which I already had on hand.

Poster board to give the back a more finished look

First, I cut out the fabric 2 inches longer and wider than the cookie sheet and ironed it to remove all of the wrinkles.  I placed my fabric design side down and put the cookie sheet on top of it.  I wrapped the fabric around the cookie sheet and hot glued the edges of it down.  (Be sure you are gluing to the topside of the cookie sheet so when it is on the wall the bottom side is your magnetic surface). After I finished gluing the fabric I cut out a piece of poster board that was the size of the inner part of the cookie sheet and glued it down on the edges of the exposed fabric to give the back a finished look.  Lastly, I drilled 2 holes in the edge of the sheet (be careful not to catch the fabric in the drill) and pulled ribbon through to hang them.

Finished product and I love them!

The result, perfectly adorable magnetic wallboards that were completely customized to fit my style!

As always you can check out my store www.sweetpeasbutterbeans.etsy.com

Until next time, cheers!  Thanks for stopping by!

Snow Day

Hello Mr. Snow.  Pull up a chair and make
yourself comfortable.

Today was a snow day up here in our mountain town and I was very grateful Mr. Butter Beans was able to make it home to spend the day with us.  It really hasn’t stopped all day and it is supposed to continue through the night. This is very strange for California in April.  Usually by this time of the year it is getting very warm and many days are even pool or beach weather. The hubby and I played with the kids outside and even did a little project this afternoon. 

A great friend of mine purchased an antique record player case (record player not included) and was using it as a filing cabinet.  After a while she decided she didn’t have much room for it and generously gave it to me.  It had already been primed and for a while it sat in my basement while I tried to figure out what I was going to do with it.  While working on the office project I was trying to figure out a place to keep all of my paint.  I decided this piece would work out well because it is great for storage. 

Before

I usually paint furniture with an actual bucket and brush but yesterday I was at our local hardware store and saw some spray paint the was aqua and I really liked it.  I figured “why not paint the cabinet with it?” and purchased a couple of cans. It was pretty quick and easy to coat and I just adore the color.  Seeing as it is an antique, it seems as though it had a very thick oil based stain on it at one time.  No matter how many times I spray it, the stain is still coming through. It really doesn’t matter though because it gives it a very charming “worn” look and I think its great!

After- Pretty Aqua

As always you can check out my site www.sweetpeasbutterbeans.etsy.com

Until next time, cheers!  Thanks for stopping by!

What do you do when you need a wall?

Mr. Butter Beans and I have been very busy in the basement the last couple of days.  I set time aside each day, between painting orders, to work towards reaching my goal of a functioning space.  It’s turning into quite a long project be it is coming along well.

Before- Mr. Butter Beans hanging the track

Now I do apologize for the pictures today because there is a lot of junk in the way but you can get an idea of what we were going for here.  The basement is a large “L” shape and we are a portion as the office space.  Anything and everything that was in that part of the room has now been shoved to the other side.  As of now said “anything and everything” is headed for destination unknown but I’m working on it. We decided we wanted to partition the room with some sort of a divider but we were a little conflicted as to just how we were going to make this happen for a small amount of cash.  Ikea is a great place to go when you just can’t figure out how you are going to do something.  All of their items are very versatile and can be modified to fit just about any space.

In our search we found a system that was perfect for our needs.  It is a long metal mount with 1 or 3 tracks (we chose 3) which can be mounted to the wall or ceiling.  You then purchase rolls of fabric that can be cut to any size, which act as curtains.  You install a metal track with wheels to top of the fabric curtains and they slide on the rail. While this sounds extremely complicated it was extremely simple and made a huge difference.

After- Cluttered but you get the idea :o)

We effectively separated the office from the rest of the basement and we did it all for under $200! The best part to me…I can bring the kids down with me to watch a movie, while I get some work done, and I can slide open my “wall” to keep an eye on them.  It works out fantastically! 

As always you can check out my shop at
www.sweetpeasbutterbeans.etsy.com!

Until next time, cheers! Thanks for stopping by!