Free Compliments Poster!

What a wonderful way to start the weekend with some kind words for someone!

My favorite...

"You are like a big hug."

Enjoy your weekend!

Goldfish Garbage Bags!!

These garbage bags would be pretty fun to use when cleaning up from your next party!! :)

Aren't they a hoot?!?

C.R.E.A.T.I.V.E!!!

WOW, The things some people think of...

I think this will be my next project!! ;)

It might help kill some time while Tim is gone.

Cutest Cupcakes!

Wouldn't these cupcakes be a fun addition to any Backyard BBQ or Summer Picnic?!!

These are the kind of bugs you WANT at your party! :)

How CUTE!

Seriously, how cute is this
"gumball reading timer?!"

What a fun way to let your kiddos know how long they should read their book!

A LOT more fun than a boring, old kitchen timer!! :)

Street Of Dreams

This weekend, my friend Amy and I went to Street Of Dreams (also known as Street of Screams in the interior design world, lol!). To be honest, I had mixed thoughts. First, there were only 4 houses; all of which were beautiful but definitely not as "glamorous" as what we've seen in the past (a sign of the times, I think). It was a great location (about 2 minutes from our house), on a small lake. BUT, there is a huge concrete operation-type plant that also shares the lake with these homes. So, each and every home on the lake shares a view of a quaint/cute little lake and a not so lovely concrete plant. There were a LOT of dark colors used and a lot of faux (yuck) finishes used. And, I was shocked to see a ton of 12x12 tile! I thought the trend was getting away from smaller tile, but street of screams proved me wrong. Some of the things I liked were, painted white woodwork mixed well with dark woodwork, some of the window treatments were great!! They weren't heavy/gaudy like in many of the past years. And the lighting fixtures in some of the homes I really liked! As far as tile goes we saw a lot of this...

I like it best used on a backsplash. But we also saw it on a whole fireplace wall, I thought that was a little much. Overall, I'd rate Street of Dreams a 6 (on a scale of 1-10). Hopefully next year will be a better year. :)

Yummy New Recipe!

I tried a yummy dessert and wanted to share the recipe with you!! Jen, (my brother Jon's girlfriend) made this for us at the lake this weekend and it's so easy, and super delicious! AND, it's no-bake... PERFECT for these hot summer days when you might not want to heat up the house with your hot oven. Enjoy!

Jen's Peanut Butter Dessert:

1 1/2 C. Crushed Graham Crackers

1/4 C. Sugar

1/4 C. Melted Butter

2 T. Peanut Butter

Mix together and pat into bottom of a 9x13 pan.

Save 1/2 C. for topping. Freeze 15 min.

8 oz. Cream Cheese

1/2 C. Peanut Butter

1/2 C. Sugar

16 oz Cool Whip (2 of the regular size containers)

Mix cream cheese, peanut butter, and sugar until creamy. Add Cool Whip. Spread over crust. Sprinkle remaining crumbs and chopped reeses peanut butter cups on top. Freeze. Enjoy!

Play Rooms!

I thought there wouldn't be anything better to go along with this fun new blog background than some fun pictures to go along with it! :)

One reason why I'm so in love with kids' play rooms is because they're usually cheery, bright and fun! Below are some great examples of some fantastic play rooms... Enjoy!

Aren't these ABC walls GREAT?!

The pictures in this playroom include photos of cousins that live many miles away, although they may be far apart they're always close at heart.

Aren't these jars are a great way of storing things!?

Before and After!

Before paint color...

After paint color!

About 1 month ago, I was approached by a local realtor for some help with an exterior paint color. The house had been on the market for 2 months and it's a great floor plan w/awesome finishes inside so they figured it needed a little exterior facelift. Selecting a new color was a little bit of a challenge because the existing stone had a lot of orange in it. But,TADA! Now it has a great, warm-toned exterior color that compliments the stone... no more monochromatic boring-ness! :)

What a difference a good paint color makes!

Quote

Happy Tuesday!

Picture Love.

The one thing that "makes" this room are the awesome pictures above the sofa.

Aren't they great?

Love this idea!

Jessica's Baby Shower!

Today the cousins (June, Chrissy and I) hosted a baby shower for Jessica at the lake! We had a great time!!

The shower was a "rubber ducky" theme...

 June, Me, Jessica and Chrissy

We served Cupcakes and Ice Cream Sundaes with all the fix-ins!

The Ice Cream Sundaes would't have been as yummy without my mom's homemade hot fudge - DELISH!

Dacia (Jessica's Sister) made this cute Curious George Baby Blanket for baby Easton!

Have you seen these "new" diapers?! Aren't they a hoot?!? They look like little jean shorts - Jaxon is modeling them for us... lol!!! :)

I think he could be in a GAP ad! :)

Joslyn and Boomer!

TILE!

Now that I have been working in the "tile industry" I have a new love for tile! Especially in bathrooms! My new favorite tile to use in a bathroom is carrera marble (the marble w/a white background and grey veining that runs through it). It is such a clean, fresh look to a bathroom! The trends are DEFINITELY walk-in showers with hinged glass doors. Mosaics are popular on the floors of a shower - a lot of times you'll see a "pebble" mosaic (looks actually like pebbles) and 1x1 mosaics are popular on the shower floors as well! Enjoy some of my favorite pictures of TILE I've found so far...

Loving the fresh/clean look of this bath!

 WOW, What a STUNNING shower!!

A popular shower floor application. Generally, mosaics are popular on shower floors b/c they come on a mesh-mounted sheet (which you need in this type of application for the drain system).

This is an interesting way of accenting with a 1x1 mosaic. I probably would've done it differently, but this is a good way to show what a mosaic is. They typically come on a 12x12 mesh mounted sheet and can be very expensive.

Again, more carerra marble (countertop/floor) and glass mosaic on the "feature wall" of the shower. I'm sure the glass tile on the back wall of the shower cost this homeowner a pretty penny. :)

I know there isn't any tile in the bathroom shown below, but there is the carerra marble (countertop) I was talking about! :) BEA-UTIFUL!

Now, onto fireplaces... I LOVE the 1x1 mosaic they used around the fireplace in the 2 pictures below... 

Isn't it GREAT how they tiled up the wall in this fireplace application?! I LOVE THIS!