Birthday Presents for my Mommy

So my moms 50th birthday is coming up. She loves Queen Anne Chocolate Covered Cherries and of course everyone gets her some, so I wanted to get her something different. Well just so happened I was at walmart and they have all their valentine presents out. Amongst all the stuff I found a display of Hershey Kisses chocolates, my favorite are the kisses hugs and as I was looking for some for me, when I found a limited edition CORDIAL CHERRY KISSES. I just new she would freak when she saw them so I bought her a bag. Later on that day I was at the Bulk Barn getting some valentine candies for cupcakes when I came across Jumbo Chocolate covered Cherries and I'm not kidding when I say jumbo. These things are like 2 inches around! Well keeping with the cherry theme I bought her some of those too, except who wants to give a gift of chocolates in a bulk barn bag so I needed to come up with something else thats when I got this bright idea.

 

Thats right Mason jars. My mom loves mason jars she even collects the older ones. The best thing is its reusable and they keep everything fresh. I wanted to jazz them up a bit so I had previously bought a new pad of scrapbook paper for another project I'm working on (which I will post about later). Inside this great cardstock scrapbooking paper pad was an assortment of tags for gifts, cards, recipe cards and you name it. Here is a look at it

Anyways, so I took a piece of border and wrapped it around the centre of the mason jar and secured it with scotch tape. Then I picked a tag I liked that matched with the border and labeled it with what was in the jars.

 I got so carried away with labeling the mason jars, I labeled jars in my pantry and my jars on my kitchen counter. They are perfect........................SIMPLE, FUN and FANTASTIC.

Finishing Piece

For Christmas this year Craig's sweet grandparents wanted to buy us something for our house. So when they heard we needed a newer stove they insisted they buy us one. They always make sure there grand children are well taken care of, nothing makes them more happier. So they told us to pick out which store and the stove. So it took us awhile but we found this beautiful stove at Future Shop in Orillia. We got it on Friday. It's perfect and now it matches our other appliances in our kitchen

Our next project in the kitchen will be replacing the counter tops, the sink, putting up a back splash and replacing the floor. I'd also like to see if we can fit a small island in. We could use the extra counter space. Note in the pictures I found this great cream coloured baskets at Dollarama for $2 a pc. So I bought 6 for the top kitchen cabinets. So great to organize Kane's bottles and sippy cups, also the salt and pepper and seasonings we use on a regular bases.

2 Work in Process Rooms

Lately we have been working on the entrance to our home and the bathroom. It seems to be taking forever but I keep telling myself it will be worth it in the end. Here is some pics of them before.

The Entrance:

In the entrance I would like to do the following:

1. Remove the wood paneling
2. Replace the light fixture
3. Paint it to match the living room, dining room and kitchen.
4. I'd like to paint the risers, all the trim on the stairs white and the steps and railing black (we would like to replace the railing but its not in the budget right now)
5. Replace the front door, and the window above
6. Add a big mirror
7. Find artwork for the biggest wall

The Bathroom:

In the Bathroom we would like to replace:

1. The flooring
2. The vanity
3. The lighting
4. The tub surround
5. The glass sliding doors
6. The window
7. The mirror
8. Paint the bathroom a bright welcoming colour
9. Paint the shelving behind the door
10. Replace the accessories ex. towel bars and toilet paper dispenser, with something more updated

So now that we have started the bathroom and entrance this is what they currently look like

 I have removed all the wood paneling and have the first coat of plaster on. I am waiting to patch the hole in the wall where the door handle had previously gone through. I am guessing that is why they put wood paneling up there.

 I have found this great rug for the front entrance. I paid $10 for it at Walmart and its 3' x 4' perfect for the space and matches the rest of the house colours.

 The bathroom has had all the wood paneling removed, 3 coats of plaster and one coat of White Buck paint. We still have to use this space for our daily rituals so its not getting done as fast as we would have liked. We do have our new toilet, vanity and flooring waiting to be installed

I chose to paint the shelving black and add my set of 3 wicker baskets and of course Kane's bath toy basket.

 I bought this mirror from my mom and dads neighbour when she was having a yard sale. I paid $25 for it. It use to be gold, but I spray painted it out in a high gloss black. I am either thinking about placing it on my front entrance wall where the previous owners paddle coat rack hung or placing it above the vanity in the bathroom. I am still undecided but I'm sure once our projects move ahead, it will find its home.

Newest Addition to our Family

So this morning we got a new kitten. We haven't picked a name yet, Craig wants to call him Smokey but I want something different

 So the cat was suppose to be a christmas present for me, and the cat likes Craig better, what is this!

UPDATE!

Kittens Name Re: 

We finally settled on a name, Muggins!

MY $6 CURTAIN PANELS

My entrance way is quite large and rather open. Above the front door is a window, which the previous owner was kind enough to leave her curtains, but I never did like the shiers she chose for up there. So I was debating on what I wanted up there or even if I wanted anything. The picture below shows you my entrance, I haven't finished it. but I have removed the wood paneling of the wall so far. As you can tell the shiers are a little to country ruffly for me. So I just happened to be at Giant tiger when they had these great embossed black shier curtain panels that were 96" long. Too long for what I needed but they were perfect, so I cut them down to size.

 And here they are now. Just what it needed, still allows the light to come in but is updated and definitely my style. Not only did I get these great curtains, I had enough fabric left over to make a curtain for my bathroom and for the door in my kitchen.

 Also I made these two great pieces of artwork with $2 frames from the Dollarama and white card stock. I taped the fabric over the white card stock I had in my craft cart and put them back inside the frame. Perfect artwork for my bathroom. How sharp!

MY INSPIRATION BOOK

So this is my inspiration book, I started this a long time ago, it's just a compilation of pictures, paint samples, samples and flyers that I would someday like in my home or love the feel of. I bought this purple flexible binder for a dollar, I simply used printer paper or lined paper and stapled or taped or glued (basically whatever I had) to add to the paper. At the dollar store I purchased 10 pack of plastic page protectors. of course I used more than just one pack, but the great thing about this book is you can expend at anytime, you can buy bigger binders or even have several binders broke down into sections. My inspiration book is broke into rooms all over the house. The best thing is when I'm stuck about how to decorate a room, I look back to my inspiration book and pull it from there.

 So this is the first page and I made my cover page full of inspirational words that I want for my home.

 This is a magazine article that I cut out because I loved the colours of this living room

 These pictures actually belong to the same home as the living room picture.
Beautiful, it definitely matches our style

 this is for my dining room and kitchen

 Our living room

 Laundry room and Mudroom

 Master Bedroom, I even stayed with the same colours i chose, just need some artwork

 Sorry for the glare but I'd love to do a romantic Indian theme for my guestroom, so it's like your on holidays when you come to our house

 Bathroom Ideas

 Kane's room

 Even ideas for the exterior of my house, I might even plan my garden in this book too

This book has been a great idea! I even got my Mom doing a book of her own, except hers is better than mine, but so is her house. My cookbook is also a binder with page protectors the idea even came from my Mom. It's amazing because if you get ingredients on your recipe it just wipes right up and you don't ruin your recipes, its sooo easy to clean I recommend every woman have one, they even would make great gifts.