Top 10 Posts of 2012

Hey Friends!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!! Can you believe it's time to take down the tree & get ready for the new year? We usually wait until after the new year to take down all of our decorations, but for whatever reason, I'm thinking about parting with them sooner this year! I'm anxious to put everything away & get my house back to normal. Anyone else with me?

Since the end of the year is upon us, I thought I would put together a quick post to recap the top 10 posts of this year. I actually had three recipes that landed in my top 10 this year (thanks to a Pinterest Superstar friend), but decided not to include them in this recap. If you are interested in the recipes, you can easily find them on my recipe page in the navigation bar above.

So, wiithout further ado, here are the Top 10 Posts/Projects of 2012 according to Google Analytics....

Master Bedroom Closet Makeover

Beadboard Backsplash, Corbel Love, & A Few Kitchen Updates

Laundry Room Makeover {Take 2}

Tip to Keeping Cut Hydrangeas Looking Fresh

DIY Button Covered Monogram

My Hair....Your Questions Answered.

My Craigslist Dresser Makeover

Easy & Inexpensive DIY Window Boxes

How To Paint A Rug Using Vinyl Flooring

My Sister's House: Coat Closet Turned Entry Nook

Thank you to all of you who support this little ole blog of mine! I am blessed to have you visit me week after week!

I'm always looking for ways to better this site for y'all & would love to write/blog about things that you guys enjoy reading, so if you have any suggestions for what you would like to see in 2013, please leave them in the comments section below!

Thanks so much for stopping by!! Hope you all have a great weekend.

Wanna see more of my projects from this year?! Check out my Project Gallery by clicking HERE.

Linking up here....
Top DIY Projects of 2012 at Southern Hospitality
Weekend Wrap-Up at Tatertots and Jello

Don't Miss Out - DIY projects, home decorating, crafts & more by checking out my subscribe page

Merry Christmas 2012

Merry Christmas Friends!!

I just wanted to drop in today to wish you all a Very Merry Christmas, and let you know how much I appreciate each & every one of you!! Thank you SO MUCH for reading this blog & for all of the sweet comments & emails you send my way!!

I hope you all are having a WONDERFUL day!!!

I'll be away from the computer for the next couple of days to spend time with my family & to recuperate from the holiday! I hope that you all will take some time off as well....you DESERVE it!!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!! Talk to you all real soon!!!

Happily Ever Before & After Week 14: DIY Bathroom Makeover via Four Generations One Roof

Happy Friday Y'all!!

Can you believe that Christmas is just FOUR DAYS away?!

Are you cool, calm, & collected at this point or are you FRANTICALLY trying to finish things up like me? I mean seriously, I just got our Christmas cards addressed last night! I'm hoping to drop them in the mail this morning with the hopes that they will arrive to our friends & family by Christmas Eve?! Fingers crossed!!

Anyway....

Are you ready for another Happily Ever Before & After feature?! I have another fabulous room makeover to share!

By now, it's no secret that I am a big fan of Jessica from Four Generations One Roof......I have already shared her family room & her dining room in this series.  A few weeks ago, she revealed her new bathroom on the blog & like always I found myself picking my jaw up off the floor. The room was absolutely stunning & she had even sprinkled a little bit of Christmas cheer throughout the room! Perfect for this week's feature, don't you think?!

Here is a look at her bathroom Before.

Hello 1970's!! Don't you love that pink tile & tub?! This was actually Jessica's bathroom as a kid & was original to the house. It had recently become her husband's bathroom & from what I've read on Jessica's blog, her husband wasn't digging the pink color scheme. So, it was time to get to work!

And here is a look at Jessica's bathroom After.

WOW!! 

Yes, this is the wall where the pink tub once stood! Can you believe it?! I LOVE that new mosaic tile!!

Trust me when I say....there is LOTS more to see in this room!! So, PLEASE head on over to Jessica's blog to check out the rest of the space!! CLICK HERE.

Looking for more room makeover inspiration?! 

Be sure to check out my "Happily Ever Before & After" Page.

Gotta makeover that you would like to see featured in this segment?!

Email me: tdiehl2005 (at) yahoo (dot) com

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you all have a great weekend!!

I will be taking some time off next week due to Christmas! I'm not sure how many days I will be away from the computer, but I sure you I will be back at some point!! I hope you all have a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! Enjoy the time with your families & take a few minutes to remember the reason for the season!!

Don't Miss Out - DIY projects, home decorating, crafts & more by checking out my subscribe page

  

What I Wore: Ruffle Skirt (Little Spud Boutique)

Hey Friends!

I've mentioned a time or two that I really love blogging, right?!

I have met so many wonderful people over the course of the last two years. I have also had the opportunity to work with some really fabulous sponsors & Etsy shop owners. Many of these people I consider to be friends even though I haven't met them in real life. When you exchange emails with people on a weekly, and sometimes daily basis, REAL relationships develop. Truth be told, I talk to some of my "internet friends" more than I do a lot of my real life friends...sounds crazy, but when you spend hours on the computer each day its bound to happen.

Anyway....Raygon, one of my "internet friends" & owner of Little Spud Boutique, contacted me a couple months back & asked me if I would be interested in doing a review of one of her FABULOUS ruffle skirts on my blog. Since I love clothes & ADORE anything with a ruffle....I quickly responded to her email & said "I would LOVE to!"

This is the lovely skirt that showed up at my house a few weeks later. Isn't it the cutest?! Raygon gave me the option of a few different colors, but I decided on taupe.

I like the fact that it's pretty neutral & that I can pair it up with just about anything. The skirt is made from a soft, flowy stretch fabric which makes it super comfortable & light weight. It also has an elastic waistband which stretches all around for an easy fit. Cute & comfy?! SIGN ME UP!!

White Sweater - Gap

Necklace - Silpada

Skirt - Little Spud Boutique

Boots - Target

I thought for this post I would style the skirt a couple different ways & give you some ideas of how it can be worn. The next outfit is one of my favorites with a simple white collared shirt, black belt, black heels, and a trendy bubble statement necklace.  

White Collared Shirt-New York & Company

Ruffle Skirt-Little Spud Boutique

Black Bubble Necklace-Our World Boutique

Black Heels-Shoe Department

Black Belt-Kohls

This last outfit was one that I just kind of threw together, but I really like the black top paired with the taupe skirt and thought I might as well give you one more outifit idea! I just added a simple necklace & my black heels to complete this look. I think it works great for a dressy occasion....perhaps a Christmas party or even New Years Eve?!

Black Top-

Necklace-Silpada

Ruffle Skirt-Little Spud Boutique

Black Heels-Shoe Department

Big thank you to my friend, Mandy for taking these photos! Didn't she do a great job?! I also want to thank her for letting me borrow the two Silpada necklaces for these outfit posts....she has a great collection of jewelry! :)

I should also mention that Little Spud Boutique has ruffle skirts for little girls as well! So cute!

Linking up here....

(I was not compensated for this post, but simply given the product for review. All opinions are 100% my own.)

Don't Miss Out - DIY projects, home decorating, crafts & more by checking out my subscribe page

Quick & Easy Taco Soup

Hey Everyone!!

I thought I would share the recipe for one of my favorite soups with you today!  This recipe was one that I actually got from a co-worker a few years back. It has become a favorite for our family!

My mom made the soup last Sunday for our weekly football gathering & I since I had been wanting to share the recipe here on the blog anyway, I thought this was perfect time! This soup is so delicious & so easy to put together. If you are having a house full of guests this Christmas, this recipe would be a great option! It makes quite a bit & it always seems to be a crowd pleaser.

Ingredients:

2lbs ground chuck/beef
1 medium onion (chopped)
2 cups water
2 pkg taco seasoning
2 pkg Hidden Valley Rach Dry mix
1 can stewed tomato
1 can Rotel
1 can black beans
1 can pinto beans
1 can red beans
2 cans white corn

Directions:

Mix all above ingredients. Do not drain beans. Cook and bring to boil, then let simmer 45 min-1hour. Top with mexican shredded cheese & sour cream (optional.) Serve with tortilla chips.

Let me know if you give it a try!!

I would love to know your thoughts!!

Enjoy!!

Linking up here....
Grace at Home at Imparting Grace

Don't Miss Out - DIY projects, home decorating, crafts & more by checking out my subscribe page

Shaken

I don't know what to write today.

Nothing blog related seems important.

I can not get past what happened at Sandy Hook Elementary school this past Friday.  I know there are SO MANY tragedies that happen on a daily basis throughout the United States and throughout this world, but this one....this one has shaken me to my CORE.

Perhaps it is because the victims were so young & so innocent.

Perhaps it is because my oldest is close in age to the victims & I CAN NOT fathom being in the shoes of the parents who's babies were taken from them.

I can not imagine having to take their Christmas presents back to the store.

I can not imagine waking up on Christmas morning & not having their excited spirits & smiling faces filling the room.

I CAN NOT imagine the pain that the parents are feeling because the pain that I feel, as a bystander is unbearable.

Yesterday, as we were getting ready to go to church we dealt with the same difficulties we deal with EVERY Sunday as we try to get out the door with our two children & make it to church on time.

The kids were being uncooperative, as usual....not wanting to get dressed.....not wanting to get their hair combed. It's so easy to get frustrated.

But yesterday.....

Yesterday, I was just thankful that I had two children to get ready for church.

I took time this weekend, I'm taking time today, and I may be taking more time over the next couple days to just take a break from the hustle & bustle of everyday life.....to spend time with my children & my family.

Life is precious and we never know when today will be our last day.

To the people of Newtown, Connecticut.....
Our thoughts & prayers are with you all. We share your pain. We are mourning with you.
We will remember the lives of the teachers & of your precious babies. And we will pray for strength, comfort, & healing.

I wanted to leave you with a beautiful poem that I read on Facebook over the weekend. It helped to give me peace & I think it will do the same for you.

Twas' 11 days before Christmas, around 9:38

when 20 beautiful children stormed through heaven's gate.

their smiles were contagious, their laughter filled the air.

they could hardly believe all the beauty they saw there.

they were filled with such joy, they didn't know what to say.

they remembered nothing of what had happened earlier that day.

"where are we?" asked a little girl, as quiet as a mouse.

"this is heaven." declared a small boy. "we're spending Christmas at God's house."

when what to their wondering eyes did appear,

but Jesus, their savior, the children gathered near.

He looked at them and smiled, and they smiled just the same.

then He opened His arms and He called them by name.

and in that moment was joy, that only heaven can bring

those children all flew into the arms of their King

and as they lingered in the warmth of His embrace,

one small girl turned and looked at Jesus' face.

and as if He could read all the questions she had

He gently whispered to her, "I'll take care of mom and dad."

then He looked down on earth, the world far below

He saw all of the hurt, the sorrow, and woe

then He closed His eyes and He outstretched His hand,

"Let My power and presence re-enter this land!"

"may this country be delivered from the hands of fools"

"I'm taking back my nation. I'm taking back my schools!"

then He and the children stood up without a sound.

"come now my children, let me show you around."

excitement filled the space, some skipped and some ran.

all displaying enthusiasm that only a small child can.

and i heard Him proclaim as He walked out of sight,

"in the midst of this darkness, I AM STILL THE LIGHT."

Written by Cameo Smith, Mt. Wolf, PA

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.” (2 Cor 1:3,4)

“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those who are crushed in spirit.” (Psalm 34:18)

Dollar Store Decorating Week Recap & Linky Party

Happy Friday Y'all!!

This week has been SO FUN! My friends and I have been sharing our ideas for decorating using dollar store items all week!  It's been so cool to see all the AMAZING ideas that everyone came up with. Who knew that such fabulousness (that is totally a word) could come from the dollar store?! 

Now it's YOUR turn to show us YOUR ideas... I can't wait to see what y'all have to share!! I know there are gonna be some GREAT ideas coming out of this link party!!

Just in case you missed any of the posts from my friends this week, let's take a minute to recap so you can see them all:

The Pennington Point | The Shabby Creek Cottage | Kids*Stuff*World | The Cottage Market

Makely School for Girls | Imparting Grace | Graphics Fairy DIY | Love of Home & Family

Now it's YOUR turn! WOOHOO!!! Just link up your decorating ideas/crafts using dollar store type items. Please don't link to any kind of shop. Make sure to visit other party goers to join in on the fun! 

Dollar Store Tray Chalkboard (Dollar Store Decorating)

Hey Friends!!

I'm so excited to be teaming up with Gina from The Shabby Creek Cottage & six other bloggers this week to bring you loads of Dollar Store decorating ideas for Christmas! I am one of two bloggers sharing their dollar store creations today! Karen, from The Graphics Fairy is also taking part in the series today, so when you are done here, you will want to be sure to hop on over to Karen's blog to see her fabulous creation! Ummmkay?!

I have been so inspired with all of the chalk art popping up around blogland & Pinterest over the last few weeks, that I just had to get in on the action! What do you think of my dollar store tray turned chalkboard?!

I originally saw the idea to turn these dollar store trays into chalkboards on Pinterest. I loved the shape of them & thought they would be a great way to display a little chalk art in my home this Christmas! So, I went to our local Dollar Tree & snagged the oval one for my project!

(Source)

I grabbed some chalkboard paint that I already had on hand & gave the center section of the tray a good 3 coats. Once the chalkboard paint is applied, you have to wait 24 hours before writing on it. 

I could have very well left the frame, or the outer rim of the tray silver, but instead I decided to paint it. I just used some craft paint that I already had & brushed it on with a small paintbrush. 

Originally, I thought I wanted the frame to be off white, but I later decided to go back & give it a couple coats of blue paint instead. That's the reason the first picture & the picture you see above differ! I'm just a little fickle! :)

Then, I went to PicMonkey & created my graphics for the chalk art! 

I thought I would go ahead & share these graphics with all of you today just in case you wanted to replicate this little sign! Just right click on the image above, save it to your computer, and print! :)

To transfer the image onto the tray, I just used some tracing paper that I already had. This particular tracing paper was purchased at JoAnn Fabrics. It's a multi-color pack, but I used the white tracing paper for this project.

If you've never used tracing paper before, you basically just put the paper down on the surface you are transferring your image to, place your graphics on top & trace! Simple as that!!

After all the tracing was done, this is what I was left with....

Because I used the white tracing paper, it already gave the look of chalk! Basically all I had to do was clean up the chalkboard a little bit & then go back & fill in the gaps/open spaces in the lettering.

I saw this little tip HERE.

To get a finer tip on your chalk & write prettier, just grab a pencil sharpener & sharpen away! This worked like a dream!! I'll definitely be sharpening my chalk from here on out!! So much easier!

Filling in the letters....

Like I said above, I did go back & re-paint the frame of the tray after all was said and done. I wasn't sure where I was gonna display my chalk art when I was first starting this project. However, when I decided to hang it on my cream wall in the living room, I knew the cream frame wasn't going to work.  So, I grabbed some blue paint that I had in the garage & my small paintbrush and got to work re-painting the outer rim of the tray. The blue just looks so much better against my cream colored walls! Don't you think?!

Well, what do you think?! Do you like my little chalkboard?

Have you made any chalk art this year?! 

Have you made any dollar store crafts this Christmas?!


Tomorrow we will be wrapping this series up with a linky party!! That's right...we want YOU to join in the fun!! So, make sure you come back & visit tomorrow and have those decorating ideas ready to link up! If you link up with just one of us, your post will be seen on all 8 blogs! Woo Hoo! It's gonna be FUN!

Wanna start from the beginning and see all of the Dollar Store decorating ideas from this series?! Be sure to check out my friend, Lisa's post from Monday!  Grab a cup of coffee & enjoy clicking through all the links!

Don't Miss Out - DIY projects, home decorating, crafts & more by checking out my subscribe page

Book Page Christmas Trees {Tutorial}

Happy Wednesday Y'all!!

I've had several of you inquire about how to make the Book Page Christmas Trees that were sitting on the shelf in my JOY Christmas Mantel/Vignette. So, today, I thought I would take some time & show you how you can make some Christmas Trees of your own! :)

Supplies:

An old book

Cardboard

Wood Skewer

Pinking Shears

Ruler

Hot Glue/Hot Glue Gun

I first wanted to say, that these little trees were a Pinterest discovery by my mom. THIS PIN was our inspiration for the project. And apparently, they are somewhat of an Anthropologie knock-off....you can see their version HERE. The only difference between the our version & the Anthropolgie version, is about $48.00. YES, that is how much Anthropologie charges for these little cuties! But considering we made ours from things we already had on hand, that pretty much makes our version.....FREE!!

The second thing I want to say, is this little crafting project actually took place at night at my mom's house, so the picture quality is not the best....I apologize in advance! Okay, enough with all of the disclaimers....are you ready to get your craft on?! Here we go!

First, you are going to need to cut out some cardboard templates. Our largest template was 4" & our smallest template was 1". We decreased our templates in size by 1/4" from 4" all the way down to 1" (3 3/4", 3 1/2", 3 1/4", etc.) Does that make sense?!

Next, you will need to grab some old book pages (9 pages thick) & begin tracing your templates.

Once, all of your templates are traced, grab some pinking shears & begin cutting them out.

This is what we had when we were finished. Make sure that you keep all of your book pages separated by size, so that you will be able to identify them easily when putting your tree together.

Once all of your book pages are cut-out, you will need to assemble a base for your tree. Since our largest book page was 4", we cut our tree base at 3 3/4", so it wouldn't be seen.  Once the base was cut out, poke a hole in through the middle.

Then, you will need to grab your wooden skewer (the kind you would use for shish kabobs), & stick it in the hole. Secure it with a little hot glue.

Once the hot glue is dry, you can begin assembling your tree. You'll start with the largest book page cut-out (4") and work your way up the tree until you get to the smallest cut-outs (1"). You'll add three book pages to the skewer.

Then add a small piece of cardboard.

Add another three pages and another piece of cardboard.

You will keep repeating this pattern until you run out of book pages. You will want to start "fanning" out the pages as you work your way up the tree. (Not as shown in the picture below. This picture was taken as we were first learning to make the trees. At first I was just alternating the placement of the three sheets of paper, but you will need to actually fan out all three sheets every time you add them to the skewer.)

When you run out of book pages, you will more than likely have excess skewer showing. We just broke ours off. Then, to cover the top of the skewer, we just cut a small piece of book page (again with pinking shears), folded it a bit, & hot glued it to the top of the tree.

And that's it!! You should be left with a ridiculously cute Christmas Tree! :)

If you wanted to make your tree larger, you could do a couple different things. You could first, use this tutorial & just double the amount of pages you cut out. For example, instead of cutting each size 9 pages thick, you could cut them 18 pages thick. Or you could just increase the size of your cardboard templates. So instead of your largest template being 4 inches, you could start at 5 or 6 inches instead. If you wanted to make them smaller, decrease the number of pages or start with a smaller template. Make sense?! I hope so!

Now get busy & start making some trees!!!

As always, I really appreciate you stopping by to visit me today!!

I hope you all have a Wonderful Wednesday! Happy Crafting!! 

Linking up here....
Quick & Easy Christmas Decor at Inspired By Charm

Don't Miss Out - DIY projects, home decorating, crafts & more by checking out my subscribe page