Christmas Chronicles {Instagram}

I lost my Christmas spirit this week, somewhere between expectations and reality. Or maybe it's just perspective.

The month started on a great note. I was super-excited to start decorating, creating memories with the boys and crafting my way through the month. But I under-slept, over-worked, neglected my health and had too many deadlines. My blessings turned into obligations and my opportunities became just another demand for my attention.

Why is it with Christmas, to have a memorable season, to celebrate to the fullest, we expect so much of ourselves? This weekend I'm going to quietly remember the reason we celebrate, soak in the love and wonder of our three little boys, and remember the big picture.

Join me?

Hot Chocolate Station

I'm super excited about decorating Christmas this year! We were in between homes last year and enjoyed Christmas with our families while the decorations stayed in storage.

This year we're staying home and as soon as December 1st came I wanted to be setting up the tree and pulling out the boxes!

I waited until December 2. That's restraint for ya!

I've never set up a hot chocolate station before. I like hot chocolate, for sure, but I didn't think I needed to tempt myself or my small kids with sugary drinks... But I was putting away groceries and reorganizing a few things in the kitchen and this kinda just happened.

First I decided to put the candy canes and marshmallows in jars. Then the hot chocolate packets went in another jar. I added a small jar of sugar and a jug for cream in case someone's fixing a decaf instead of hot chocolate. I added a couple mugs, put it all on a tray and slapped the picture onto Instagram.

Then I added some Epsom salt snow, red ornaments and a cute tag to an antique jar and some other stuff moved around too and I ended up with this.

It was the unanimous winner of the which-do-you-like-better contest on Facebook, and I love the red!

What about you? Do you set up a place for all the add-ins for your hot drinks? Do you prefer hot chocolate or coffee? Tea? I hope you're staying warm this winter!

Two Little Somethings {DIY Art}

Tonight I have two little ideas for you. They happen to live in our bathroom, but they would work in other places in your home. If you took our little bathroom tour earlier today, you already got a peak at them.

So let's start with the sign.

Awesome chippy piece of fencing + black paint pen + blue acrylic paint + paintbrush = beYOUtiful sign. It didn't end up being centered, but that's ok. It doesn't have to be perfect to be beYOUtiful, right?

Next up is the clock.

This was your average brown wooden clock. It wasn't expensive and in all our moving, the three had popped off. I glued him back on but there's a little residue you can see--somehow I'm feeling the need to justify why I painted a clock! So yeah, the wood tone just wasn't making my bathroom seem happy, so I painted it white, took some sandpaper to the edges and tacked a ribbon on the back. Now the clock hangs from a hook and that makes me and my bathroom happy!

So there you have it, two small, simple, easy things you can do to pretty up your place!

And because I felt like having some fun with PicMonkey, here's a collage of the last 10 days. If you've missed anything, just look at the sidebar with the posts from October.

Our New Faucet

Sometimes there are big things to blog about; sometimes they are small. Today I want to share with you a new faucet my husband installed in our rental home. I know in the grand scheme of things a new faucet isn't a big deal, but I'm all about celebrating the little things!

As you might have seen from earlier posts on our kitchen, it's bright and white, functional and organized but clearly done on a budget. The cupboards are particle board, the counters are laminate, and the backsplash is chalkboard paint.

Here's where we were before. Nothing wrong with our faucet, though it did leak a little at the base. I've just been spoiled by a gooseneck faucet for several years at our old home in Iowa. I missed being able to fit large items under the faucet, missed the pull-down spayer (even though we had a separate sprayer) and I missed the built-in soap dispenser! I know, first-world problems.

I bought this faucet a few weeks ago. It's a Delta Savile Stainless 1-Handle Pull-Down Sink/Counter Mount Kitchen Faucet. It's at Lowe's for $189. When I bought it, full-price was $199, but since the box was damaged I got it for $180. I would have probably picked out a cheaper faucet, but I ran into the Delta rep when I was browsing... and he's good at his job! I felt good about my choice and the discount helped, but what really sold me was that three people told me what a great faucet it was as I was buying it--the guy in the faucet section who approved the mark-down, the Delta rep who said he just installed it at his mom's house and was saving for one for his home, and the lady at the check-out register raved about her faucet too!

My husband is so very handy! It didn't take him long to take out the old faucet and install the new one. 

Yup. I love it! Love that it's taller, love the pull-down sprayer, love the built-in soap dispenser!

What about you? Any small changes around your home that are making a big difference?

(No, this isn't a paid post. Delta doesn't know I exist! Just love a pretty, functional faucet!)

First Week of Summer

Hello and good evening to you, my dear friends! #namethatmovie

It's Insta-Friday, time for me to update you on our life (mostly) this week, according to Instagram. If you want to follow me on Instagram, I'm gibsongirl726.

Here we go!

 

1. My cute little cuties! #squinty

2. Look who's trendy today! #youcantseemystrappywedges 

3. Happy belated birthday celebration at Sabbath School! #itwo 

 

1. Now each of my little guys has jean shorts from holey pants! #smallvictories #mending #sewing

 2. This is happening! #shortsfrompantswithholes #sewing #mending

3. My curtains were high-waters. Now they're ruffle-licious. #icansew #kindof

 

1. Good morning! #onmywalk #notamorningperson #pretty #mtvernon

2. My walk today. #pretty #smellsgoodtoo #humid #sweaty #buggy #gladimdone #helloicedlatte

Family outing! #lemonberry #frozenyogurt #woosterohio

1. Josiah is getting to be a cute little talker! #ilovethisboy #twoisnotterrible

2. What is with boys and bugs? #ilovethisboy #gladitsplastic

3. Cauliflower is yummy! #mykidsareweird #ilovethisboy

 

 Spoiled rotten.

1. "Siah in." #hardtogetthelaundrydone

2. My oldest brings me happiness. #imeanflowers 

 3. The house that Jack built. I mean, Jonathan. #hefreaksoutwhentheygetclosetoit

4. My little worker! #whyihavekids #justkidding #notreally

5. My early morning snuggler. #latergram

6. Josiah and his friend Abby. #latergram

  

1. Flowers from my walk, blue ball jar from Walmart. And I learned it's spelled 'mantel'.

2. Weekly update #mantel #daisies

1. My view. #familyouting #ilovesummer

2. At the pool! #firsttimethissummer

3. Playdate! 

I hope you have a great weekend! We're headed to Michigan for a couple days cabin camping, then a week-long missions orientation. I'll be sure to keep you posted via Instagram-gibsongirl726.

How to Fake-Upholster a Wingback Using Staples and Hot Glue

 You guys! I did it! 

Ok, truthfully my chair not completely finished. Don't tell anyone! I ran out of hot glue. 

And, oh yeah, there's another one to fix.

I've had these wingbacks for about 17 years. Ok, months. Not quite two years. I know, because I had to sneak away from my little baby Josiah who was still nursing to go pick this set of wingbacks up. They were a craigslist find for $35. Both--not each! I wasn't thrilled with the mauve but thought I'd get around to covering them right away. Well, my little guy turns two today and I'm still working on this project! Does that ever happen to you?

So at first I wanted to reupholster my chairs from drop cloths, a la Miss Mustard Seed, or sew proper slip covers with the drop cloths. But then I thought I was way out of my league. My sewing machine and I don't get along THAT well. 

So then I started seeing (because I was looking) all of the posts on painting over upholstery. Bingo! Except, no, it sucked. If you care to scroll up two pictures, the chair on the left suffered from this experiment. I used the right tools and thought I followed directions, but not only did it take forever, but it made a huge mess, ruined my spray bottle, cost a lot more than I wanted it to (paint + fabric medium), and left my chair crunchy! I'm glad some people have success with this method, but I did not.

Somewhere between pins on upholstering box springs with staples and DIY desperations, I resigned myself to spending a little more money to save my basically ruined chairs. I bought 5 yards of duck cloth in off white for $30. My one chair did not use all of it, but I'll need a couple more yards to finish chair #2. 

I also invested in an $8 stapler and a couple packs of staples.

Working in sections, I'd hold up a length of fabric, eyeball the measurements, cut off a section on my roll of cloth and tuck/staple it in.

 

I learned pretty quickly that the staples only stayed in where they met wood, so I resorted to using my hot glue gun in those places, and where I didn't want the staples to show.

For instance, in the photo above I stapled the first layer of cloth around the rolled arm, then hot glued the flat section on top of it. I also glued the section of white cloth next to the brown but stapled the edges of that front flap under the chair and behind the legs where it would be tucked under another layer. 

I worked on this project for a couple hours at a time as I could. It took three days for one chair.

 I'm sure the second chair will be faster because of the learning curve, but be prepared to invest several hours of your time for this. 

One technique I learned was to staple the under side of the flap of fabric (here it's the back of the chair), then flip it over and pull it tight. One more strong, stapled, hidden seam!

On the back, you saw how I stapled the top and this shows how I stapled the bottom. In between those steps I tucked and glued the left and right edges, as I had already stapled the side panels and I needed to cover everything up. The hot glue worked very well on this material (duck cloth) and isn't visible at all. It's also a pain in the neck to pull off if you make a mistake! Not that I would know... {ahem}

 See, all pretty and hidden! I need to spray a few wrinkles out of my fabric. I also plan to scotch guard these like crazy, as there's no way to wash the fabric and I have three little boys can be messy.

  

The cost of this project is still pretty sweet when you end up with two pretty chairs! Let me break it down:

2 chairs on craigslist - $35

10 yards duck cloth - $60

stapler + staples - $12

hot glue sticks - $5

Total = $112

Oh, look at that, a before/after shot that isn't spliced together!

 

 What have you pieced together and totally loved lately??