The Liebster Blog Award

When I started blogging about a year ago, I never imagined it would evolve into such a wonderful outlet for meeting people that share the same passions I do.  Last week, Sweet Ava Kate received The Liebster Blog Award by two bloggers, Kari @ A Grace Full Life and Megan and her crew @ Our Pinteresting Family.  Both of these ladies have amazing talent, if you haven't discovered them yet you're missing out!  I am humbled and honored, as this award is given to bloggers that are just starting their journey and recognizes their creativity.

The Liebster Blog Award promotes blogs with less than 200 followers, as a way to get their names out there.  Apparently, Liebster means 'beloved or dearest,' but it can also mean 'favorite.'  

As a Liebster award recipient, I now have the opportunity to pass this award on to five other bloggers.

In order to accept this award, the recipient must do the following:

                                            1.  Thank the person that presented the award.

                                            2.  Link back to that person(s) blog.

                                            3.  Copy and paste the award to your blog.

                                            4.  Present the award to 5 bloggers with less than 200 followers

                                                    (bloggers who you think deserve this special recognition)

                                            5.  Let those deserving bloggers know by leaving them a comment.

AND THE AWARD GOES TO:

Angie @ Flibbertigibberish - First of all, I have known this funny lady all our lives, she is my sweet cousin.  Her stories about raising four children will keep you coming back for more.  I love her creativity!  In honor of our recent holiday, I will say her tutorial on how to dye Easter eggs using thrift store neckties is truly my favorite!

Susan @ Mad Sky Designs - My dear friend!  Our girls became friends through pre-school and it was instant friendship when we met.  She is an amazing person and extremely talented with stamping and card making.  Her homemade cards are magazine worthy!  

Laura @ Elegant Nest - I just met this sweet lady and she has graciously sent me design tips, as this is her specialty! She once had a business designing and creating hand painted shoes!

Allyson @ Cupcakes & Candy Canes - She's a crafty christian blogger with a huge heart!  She's currently busy planning her wedding!

Jena @ Involving Color and Home - Jena and I have something in common... we LOVE paint!  We found each other through a common blogger and I'm so glad we did!  

Thank you to Kari and Megan for this award and to all my readers for your encouragement!  

I look forward to continuing this journey and seeing what's to come!  

Laundry Room Accessory

I've been putting this simple project off for too long... and now I know why.  Soon after I finished the cloth napkin wall art, I was visiting my favorite store (you know the one) and came across this cute striped towel on clearance for $4.  I didn't know why I was drawn to it at the time, but I decided to buy it anyway.  When I got home, I realized... it was the perfect match to the wall art in the laundry room.  I seem to do that often, buy things not knowing what I'll do with it, but then later find the perfect spot or idea.  Does this happen to you?  

 I've had this cute double knob piece for over a year.  I found it at Hobby Lobby and haven't seen one since, so I'm glad I picked it up!   At one point it hung in the laundry room, but it lacked color, so I took it down.  After reviewing all the colors in my new towel, I decided Krylon's Avocado would bring it to life.  The knobs would not remove easily, so I taped around them and gave it 3-4 coats.  My sweet boy "reading" in the background, I didn't have the heart to ask him to scooch.

I'm so glad it dries in 10 minutes because I was anxious to get it on the wall and see how it looked in the room.  

I'm not crazy about these next two pictures, this room is hard to photograph, so bear with me.  

Hopefully you can get an idea of the room in this shot... sorry, tight quarters!

Isn't fun?  I love the color.  My washer and dryer are hooked up wrong, washer is on the right, dryer is on the left.  We thought we could switch it when we first moved in, but dryer duct poses a problem.  :)  Makes doing laundry a little awkward, but I've gotten used to it over the years.  I like to have a hand towel close by after stuffing dirties in the washer, so this is perfect.

Oh, by the way, if you didn't guess... my favorite store is Home Goods!  :)

I'm linking up to:
Tuesdays Treasures @ My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

Thrifty Decor Chick's Before and After Party
Latest and Greatest Friday Link Party @ Days of Chalk and Chocolate

  

You Can Find Me Guest Blogging @ Days of Chalk and Chocolate

Hi everyone!  Hope you all had a great weekend!  I wanted to take this time to welcome my new followers and thank you all for your encouraging words.  They mean so much to me... truly!

I'm so excited to be guest blogging at Days of Chalk and Chocolate.  Thanks to Jenny for asking me!

If you haven't visited her blog, you must!
She is a super sweet lady, has great tutorials and has featured several new bloggers... like me!
I'll be back soon to show you some new projects I've been working on.  

Spring Mantel

Yesterday I shared a very impromptu project with you... my non-inspiring mantel.  Well, not anymore!
After deciding once and for all to paint it white, I can tell you I have had more fun dressing it up!  

So, without further ado, here is the new and very much improved mantel, dawning its Spring colors!

Sorry for all the pics... can you tell I'm excited?  

 I was very much inspired by Angie's mantel @ Beneath the Magnolias.  When I saw the pitchers, old books and fresh boxwood (my favorite), I knew I could create my own version of this with things I had on hand.

Fresh boxwood from the front yard adds to the Springy-ness!  

I had to spray paint the other candle holder to match, it was a dark bronze color, 

both were found at a local resale store a few months ago for under $5.

I've been dying to do something with the old windows I purchased at a local antique mall!  

When I look at them, I can't help but think about where they came from, I'm fascinated with their history.

So, one more time... the before (last years mantel)...

and after:

  I'll be linking up to:

Home Stories A to Z
The Girl Creative
Creatively Living
Savvy Southern Style
Uncommon Designs
Between Naps on the Porch
Spring Fling Link Party @ Thrifty Decor Chick

Impromptu Mantel Makeover

As I was looking through all the Spring linky parties for inspiration, I realized I couldn't really achieve the look I was going for with a wood stained mantel.  Here's my attempt at our mantel last year.
See what I mean?  It's just not doing it for me.

Everything I gravitate towards has a white mantel and mine was holding me back.  So guess what I did?  Yes!
I painted it white.  I was tired of thinking about it and just did it!  I used an interior alkyd semi-gloss enamel; it will take a good 24 hours to dry, but when it does, I can't wait to play!  I don't have the color of the paint because it is a custom manual match, but for those of you interested, here is the code:

Here's the before:

Here's a close up of the different types of trim they used and let me tell ya, this was REAL fun to paint!  

I used a sponge brush to get into all the crevices and a sponge roller for the top.  Both worked really well to minimize brush strokes.  After about two hours of painting, here she is in all her white glory.

YAY!  I'm so excited!  I'll be back tomorrow to show you my new Spring mantel.

Are there projects in your home that you keep putting off and one day you finally decide, "today is the day, I'm tired of talking about it."  Today was that day for me and I couldn't be happier with the results. 

Linking up to: