{pineplace}

Dollar Deals

2012-03-02T09:00:00.000-08:00

More Micheal's Dollar Bin finds.

I mentioned the knob pulls and keys I found at the Micheal's Dollar Bins in a recent post. I also picked up these flowers at the same time and again, had no idea what I would do with them but knew something would come to me eventually.

And so, the other day I decided to do something with them.

First, I cut wording out of vinyl and stuck it to white canvas. I sprayed it with some black spray paint randomly and then pulled the lettering off to expose the white canvas. Once dry, I added the flower to the center with hot glue. Seriously, 10 minute project. Love Dollar Deals!

More Faux Canvas {I'm still in love}

2012-02-29T09:00:00.005-08:00

I blogged last week about the new technique I found for creating pieces that look like canvas. In that post I created a subway sign and loved how it turned out. Then I started to wonder how a picture would turn out.I found this picture on the internet. Love the simplicity of it. I used the same technique as before. The foam insulation piece cost me under $4 at Home Depot. What a huge piece of art for just pennies!

I think I love it more than the subway art!

Road Trip

2012-02-28T09:00:00.004-08:00

I took a hiatus last week from blogging.

Our family took a road trip.

And I do mean road trip.

To entertain myself during the thirteen hour drive I played with the camera on my new 4s iPhone Santa brought me for Christmas.

{yes I was a very good girl last year}

This phone has a 8 megapixel camera and took amazing pictures.

especially since most were from our moving car!

Then I started playing around with the way cool Instagram app.

It lets you put cool filters on all your pictures, and add borders and other fun stuff.

That is how I got all these cool pictures...this one makes my finger look bizarro...

I was trying to be productive by making 'to do' lists as we drove.

We got to return to see our very first home. Isn't it cute?

Can't believe how our lives have changed in the 14 years since we left this place.

I would love to see your Instagram pictures.

Post them at the Pineplace fan page on Facebook.

See more Instagram pictures and what inspires Jeanne Oliver here.
Or what inspires Kimberly Taylor at around the table at BLACKBERRY FARM.

Or for a really good time participate in the photo-a-day challenges over at The House of Smith's!

Dink-In Around

2012-02-27T19:21:00.001-08:00

I saw some drawer pulls and keys in the dollar bins at Micheal's and thought they were cute.

Had no idea what I would do with them but brought them home just for fun.

After dink-in' around in the garage for a bit, this is what I came up with.

Dink-in around is just fun!

Happy Monday!

Announcing the Winner of the Valentine's Day Giveaway

2012-02-20T09:00:00.003-08:00

Congrats to Melissa Dillon for winning the Love Month Subway Art Sign!

{Entering multiple ways does pay off!}

Faux Canvas {I am in love}

2012-02-17T09:00:00.000-08:00

So, I have mentioned that having a graphic designer as a husband comes in very handy, right?

So when I see things in stores, online and in my head he can make them happen...and tweak them to fit my tastes. Someday....someday soon I hope...I am going to learn to do some of this on my own, but for now I am lucky to have a willing husband.

I saw a wooden sign like this on Pinterest but decided I wanted it to look like canvas. My husband designed this and printed it {the fact that he works for a commercial printing company comes in handy too} I stuck this to a piece of insulation with spray adhesive and painted around the edges with black paint to make it look like canvas.

I love how it turned out!

Love Jars

2012-02-15T13:51:00.000-08:00

I loved this idea I saw on a television morning show a while back.

Meant to share this earlier but as a fore mentioned, Valentine's Day really seems to sneak up on me.

I just took empty spaghetti sauce and jam jars, wrote letters with hot glue and spray painted over it.

Combines two of my favorite things: spray paint and hot glue!
Don't forget to enter to win the Love Month Subway Art! A $39.95 value!
See this post to enter!

Happy Valentine's Day {and a giveaway}!

2012-02-14T09:03:00.000-08:00

Hope everyone has a great day today!

An Instagram pic of what my Valentine sent me:

This is my first ever Instagram picture and I am vowing to take more. This post inspired me to start 'finding the lovely' in my every day activities and I am posting to her challenge today.

To celebrate on this day we celebrate love, I decided on a giveaway. To one lucky winner will go a 'month of love' subway art board.

To enter, just do one of the following:
1. 'Like' the Pineplace fan page on Facebook
2. Become a follower of this blog and leave a comment letting me know you are
3. If you are already a follower, leave a comment and get your friends to do the same. If they mention your name, your name goes in the drawing again!
4. Blog about the give away on your blog

The winner will be drawn at 9:00 am Pacific Time on Friday, February 17th.

Here's to Love Month, y'all!

Cabin in the Woods

2012-02-13T11:05:00.000-08:00

A few weekends ago we were able to take the family to visit my parents who are building a 'cabin' in the woods. It is actually more than a cabin, it will be a beautiful home with huge exposed beams and enough room to fit our ever expanding extended family. We look forward to making many happy memories there. For now though, just my parent's travel trailer that they currently call home, sits on the property...well. and this little old building.

It is an old woodshed built with logs from the property. It was there when my parent's bought it and I often wondered why it was built? My dad added the deck and redid the roof on the right to hold his building materials. Did someone actually live in there? The outhouse in the back makes me think maybe so. Was this humble abode enough for someone to call home? It makes me think about how very little we really need to survive in this world, in this life.

So peaceful and serene in the snow. Snow makes everything so quiet, muffles every sound, even our voices sound quieter, gentler.

At dusk I walked around the property and visited the treehouse we started last summer. Quiet moments and a deep breath...these are the things that center us, refresh our minds, our creativity.

Ceiling Tile

2012-02-10T09:00:00.000-08:00

I found this metal ceiling tile on a junkin' trip months ago.

Got it for $25, came from a hotel somewhere in Asia, I believe. I knew immediately what I wanted to do with it...but for some reason it took me {as previously mentioned} months to get around to it. I absolutely love it and don't know why I did not take the {seriously} 15 minutes it took to hammer a couple brads in the wall, hang it and put pictures on it with magnets, sooner!

Baby Shower

2012-02-08T09:00:00.000-08:00

My girlfriend is becoming a grandmother! Now, she is a few years older than me but even so, if my daughter has a baby at the same age I had her {22} I could be a grandma in 5 years! In today's world, that is pretty young to have a baby but I am so glad I started when I did. I am married to the man I want to spend the rest of my life {and the next} with, so why wait? It left so many doors open for me. When I ended up losing a couple of babies and having a 5 1/2 year gap between my 2 and 3 babies I was still plenty young to keep trying and even have another so he would have a buddy and still wrapped up my birthing years before I was 35 {when I would have been considered 'higher risk'}. Had I waited to get started I probably would not have been able to have the last two. And don't even get me started about how nice it is to still have energy left to raise them! I can already feel how much more difficult it is to keep up with the younger ones now that I am older. But, as usual, I digress. How did I get on that tangent? All I really wanted to do today was share a few pictures. I hosted the baby shower for my girlfriend's son and daughter-in-law at my home but they did all the food and decorations. I didn't get many pictures, the lighting was not good, but wanted to share the cute things they did.
Congrats Jake and Danielle!

Valentine's Decor

2012-02-06T13:00:00.000-08:00

Valentine's Day always sneaks up on me! We have two birthdays in our family the last week of January and so February 1st always takes me by surprise. I realize there are only two weeks until Valentine's Day and I don't have any decorations up. Maybe that is why I have collected so few over the years, I add just a few touched around the house. I found these candle sticks at Goodwill for 99 cents. They were gold, I spraypainted them white. The frames are filled with vintage Valentine's I printed off from online.

Five dollar vase on clearance at TJ Maxx filled with miniature pink ornaments.

Love this funky heart tree with the red rimmed dishes my Valentine gave me for Christmas.

And a touch of pink...

Happy Love Month!

Rugs?

2012-02-03T09:00:00.000-08:00

Was roaming IKEA the other day and found these $4 rugs.

I thought surely I could use them for something more fun than laying around on the floor.

I had also purchased a pillow form for just $3 because I am always looking for cheap pillow forms and realized they fit perfectly in the 'rug'. I thought they would make cute pillows (I am a sucker for pillows). Before creating the pillow though, I felt they needed just a bit more. So I cut some fun stuff out of vinyl and stuck it to black felt to use as a pattern and cut around it.

Then I hand-stitched them onto the rug.

I did a another quick handstitch around the rug and had myself a pretty amazing pillow (I thought).

So for about $7 each, and minimal time (it only took about 15 minutes to stitch on the image and around the pillow) I had largish pillows for my couch!

Winter Subway Art

2012-02-01T09:00:00.000-08:00

Whipped up a new Subway Art sign to chase away those winter blues...

I will be honest, I am a little tickled about how it turned out. Love the white and gray.

But also love the gray and black.

Both are available in my Etsy shop.

Basement Boutique-March Date Announced!

2012-01-30T13:40:00.000-08:00

Happy Monday all!

Just a quick post today so you can mark your calendars!

The next Amy and Amber Design Basement Boutique is:

Saturday

March Twenty-Fourth

10:00 am-3:00 pm

Amy and I are both busy getting stuff gathered up for this event!

We are beyond excited with some of the great pieces we have already found.

Be watching posts at MY BLOG for update pictures.

Enjoy your week!

New Addition to {pineplace}

2012-01-28T12:00:00.000-08:00

We are excited to announce that we are expanding our offerings. We are now offering subway art on canvas! We are starting with these two gems inspired by two of our favorite places: New York and Paris! Actually, we have only been to New York, but will be traveling to Paris this Spring (I can't believe I just got to write that!)

We present the Paris Subway Art Canvas

and the

New York Art Canvas.

Both are made from high quality canvas and the lettering has been printed directly on it.

They are stretched over a wood frame and measure 16x42 inches.

Canvas subway art sells for hundreds of dollars online and at high end design stores.

We are proud to be able to bring them to you for substantially less.

Please go to my Etsy shop to order.

Happy Travels!

Seventeen Years

2012-01-26T12:03:00.000-08:00

Seventeen years ago today I gave birth to my first child and my only daughter. At the time, eighteen years seemed like plenty of time to teach her all she would need to know to survive in the great big world. It even seemed like it might be enough time for me to get use to the idea of letting her go and be in that great big world. Now with one, just one, of those eighteen years left I want to shout from the rooftops that eighteen years is not enough.
In honor of her birthday, today I post about her room. I enjoyed peeking around her room and seeing the nuances of what makes up her. Her essence fills the room with all that she loves, all that she enjoys, all that she is.

I have always felt she is an 'old soul.' As her love of vintage emerged, I was not surprised.

She loves cities, especially New York.

She has written in notebooks since she was a little girl. I find them all over the house, she has lots of huge ideas.

Music is a huge part of her life and she loves playing guitar...

...and the Beatles.

This is my favorite picture. She has written three novels and self published them. If you look close you can see all of her editing markings. She will work at it until she 'gets it right.'

She launched her new blog Words of Mine this month.

Happy Birthday Madi, I love you!

It's Going to Be A Good Life!

2012-01-24T12:01:00.000-08:00

Love the song Good Life by One Republic!

Inspired me to create this canvas the other day, just for fun.

I also placed it in my Etsy shop, along with several other items,

since I have neglected my shop for far too long!

Stocked up my Etsy shop the other day.

Click here to check it out.

Thanks for visiting!

Dinner Fixins'

2012-01-23T12:00:00.000-08:00

You didn't think this post had anything to do food, did ya? Those of you who know me well know I sustain my family with food only because it is needed for survival. Otherwise I would do away with the whole mess of it...planning it, buying it, preparing it, cleaning up after it. All a huge time sucker and money sucker! But this post is not about my ill feelings towards cooking, so I digress. I usually have some sort of centerpiece in the middle of my family's dinner table. In all honesty, it is a pain because we have to move it off the table every night for dinner. In fact, I have been known to say, 'Let's all just eat around the island tonight,' even if it means Mom and Dad have to stand, because I am being too lazy to move the centerpiece. Then a thought struck me! What if I used the centerpiece to hold everything we need to set the table and it can stay right where it is? What is the saying...'Necessity breeds invention.'

Okay, so I had to add a little greenery that has no function other than to make it look nicer. We may have to move that before we set the table, I think I can handle it...maybe...or maybe we should just eat around the island...

More Dining Room

2012-01-20T12:00:00.000-08:00

Realized in my last post I did not share pictures of the table part of the dining room.

Happy Friday!

Blank Slate-Dining Room

2012-01-19T12:00:00.000-08:00

To the dining room for today's blank slate.

Before:

The two bottom shelves have family pictures and photo albums.

I don't love the look of the photo albums, but cannot bring myself to store them.

'Sorry kids, no more enjoying family memories, doesn't work with Mom's decor!'

So, they stay.

After:

The baskets I scored months ago, clearance at Fred Meyer's.

Been sitting in a corner ever since.

Love them here.

Added wooden letters I had left over from another project.

I have already told you of my love for the ampersand sign.

Here I put it on a platter, on clearance from TJ Maxx.

My sweet husband gave me these sweet red rimmed dishes for Christmas.

This little spoon was mine as a baby.

I really didn't think I was that old.

Guess I stand corrected.

Scored these dishes at the Dollar Store.

The. Dollar. Store.

Blank Slate-Another Corner

2012-01-17T12:00:00.000-08:00

On the 'blank' slate today...

another corner.

This time in the Front Room

At Christmas I filled it with this tree.

Before:

After:

Thought I would add a touch of color with this red chair I bought for $10 on craigslist.

The books are from around the house.

The plant from Goodwill for $6 and the container for 50 cents (I added the vinyl).

I have more to reveal in this room but having new curtains made by Amy (of Amy and Amber Designs) before I do.

Blank Slate-Familyroom Cozy Corner

2012-01-15T12:00:00.000-08:00

On the 'blank' slate today.

Familyroom.

Specifically this corner.

Before:

After:

Can't tell you how much the outlet/cords in this this picture bug me!

Made this pillow for the Amy and Amber Basement Boutique and was so glad when it didn't sell.

(I may have priced it a bit high :-)

Got this burlap bag from my mom (she bought A LOT of corn this summer for our camping trip).

When I saw this picture in Pottery Barn I was inspired to use it.

I think my favorite part of this setting is finally finding a use for the great suitcase I found last summer.

In the Pacific Northwest we spend many moments cozied up under blankets.

Nice to have a fun place to store them.

Blank Slate-Hallway

2012-01-13T12:00:00.000-08:00

For today's blank slate we visit the hallway.

Before picture:

After pictures:

I kept the wreath I had at Christmastime because I am still feeling...'woodsie', might be the right word? Akin to the 'natural Christmas' I was feeling a few weeks ago.

The pots I found at IKEA for 49 cents! (I added the numbers).

The string spools were just kicking around the house.

I added the pinecones to the candlesticks and lantern, to add more 'woodsie'

Blank Slate

2012-01-11T12:00:00.000-08:00

Once the Christmas decorations came down I found lot of blank spots around my house. From talking to a few friends, it seemed to be a common theme. Truthfully, I am not sure what happened to all the decorations I had before Christmas, ya know?! If I know myself, they have shuffled around to other spots in the house, since robbing Peter to pay Paul (just in the decorating sense, of course) is one of my favorite things to do. It felt good really, a fresh start, a blank slate. So the next several posts are going to be my 'before and afters' as I re-spruce up my space.

Up first, the mantle.

Before pictures:

After pictures:

One stroke of genius I had (I use the term loosely) was to turn the metal basket on its end and use as a DVD holder. My favorite pieces are the two signs I made out of kitchen cabinet doors. They were old nasty oak that I whitewashed and stenciled. 'Wonderfulness' I saw somewhere and liked the sound of it. 'Expect good' I must have heard somewhere before, not sure, but it popped into my head when I was sitting at my computer trying to think of something to put on the other door.

I like it so much it is my only New Year's Resolution.

Expect good things to happen.
Expect good in others.
Expect good of myself.
expect good.

Subway Art-Thank You!

2012-01-09T12:00:00.000-08:00

This Christmastime {pineplace} created more Personalized Subway Art Signs than ever before! We wanted to say thank you to all of you who ordered them for your friends and family. We really appreciate you taking the time order a heartfelt, personalized gift and hope that they enjoyed receiving them as much as we enjoyed creating them. Just a few of those we created:

If you would like to order one for yourself or as a gift visit Our Website. If you would like to order one as a gift, simply place the order and write: 'Gift', with the receipents email address and we will notify them that a Subway Art Sign has been ordered for them and get the information from them we need to create the sign.

Our Soul Is Escaped As a Bird Out of the Snare

2012-01-08T12:00:00.000-08:00

For Christmas this year my daughter decided to give hand-made gifts. She came to this decision all on her own, which I will admit, did my heart good. In the past we have 'required' this of the kids. We have asked that they make at least one or more of the gifts they give to help them really put their heart into giving and help them feel the true Spirit of Christmas. This year though...well, we hadn't really said anything and were just hoping to get the 'gifting/shopping/craziness' done before Dec 24th showed up on the calendar (how many of you have had the stress dream of having to take your college finals and realizing you have forgotten to go to class all semester replace by it being Christmas Eve and you realize you have not bought one, not one, thing for Christmas? I have and it is reoccurring!)
So, I was truly excited when she told me she had decided to make all of her Christmas presents. Some of the gifts she ended up giving: framed her brother's football jersey, burned her Dad's vinyl records to CD's, a video/picture montage set to music of our family's 2011 memories (this was my gift, yay!) and for one of her friends she made this:

Her friend loves birds and found this scripture that made the perfect gift.

(Do you see the typo? We decided it gave it character.)

I thought she did a great job designing this...I would like one for myself...maybe I'll make me one!

Mirror...Mirror

2012-01-04T23:46:00.000-08:00

It really is true, one man's trash is another man's treasure...or one woman's junk is another woman's find! I have had this mirror for nearly 20 years and have been kicking it around from house to house...and room to room...

Here it is in my garage ready for a new paint job to put in the Amy and Amber Basement Boutique. I painted it Krylon Seabreeze and really did not think it would sell. I don't know if it was the temperature in the garage or what but the paint bubbled in a few places and gave it a funky almost fishskin texture. It sort of grew on me, felt it made it look more vintage...but not sure if someone else would see it that way. I had my answer when just minutes into the boutique one of the first ladies to walk past it grabbed it up.

Does my heart good to see it have a second life because one woman's junk became another woman's find! Enjoy!

Happy New Year!

2011-12-29T19:34:00.000-08:00

Enjoying my time with family and friends, hope you are doing the same. Looking forward to some fun things in the New Year, including ramping things up for another Amy and Amber Basement Boutique! Will keep you in the loop on great new finds and when we decide on a date.

Happy New Year!

Pictures from our Puzey Family Christmas Dinner on our new farmhouse table.

The best 'things' at Christmas, are not things.

NOEL

2011-12-23T12:00:00.000-08:00

I have had some inquiries on Pinterest about the NOEL lettering above my kitchen cabinets, so I thought I would share. These were a Costco purchase probably 5 years ago or so. They originally looked like this:

I definitely was not loving them with my vintage Christmas look, a bit too flashy. I thought about keeping them in storage but then my old standby thought came to mind...spraypaint! So, I spraypainted them white and now I love them again and they fit with my vintage Christmas look.
Merry Christmas...it's almost here!

Real Trees

2011-12-21T12:00:00.000-08:00

We still buy a real tree every year.

I know more and more people are going to fake trees and it is logical. No mess, you probably save money in the end, depending on how much you spend on your real tree each year. I just can't do it...pine needles clogging the vacuum and all. Christmas is not logical. I love the smell of pine and the tradition...weird as it is...to drag a dead tree in from outside and dress it up for Christmas. I was very happy with our pick this year. We have done it all for getting a tree, even tramping through the snow one year Griswold-style and cutting our own out of the forest (ugliest tree we have ever had). This year we made it real easy, we went to Fred Meyer. Yep, Fred Meyer and found the freshest, best-shaped, most fragrant tree we have had in years and...it cost us just $20.

Probably what I am most proud of here is that I let my 5 year old put all the balls on the tree and I have not moved one...not one! And instead of the ruffled burlap tree skirt I really want around the tree I have the Christmas Village and train the boys love to play with (they use their Matchbox cars to pretend they are visiting each others houses)...instead!

Christmas Porch

2011-12-19T12:00:00.000-08:00

Kept the front porch simple and in step with my simple vintage Christmas theme this year. All live wreaths and swags with just a few touches of burlap and lanterns.

My favorite thing is the burlap Christmas banner. I found some green burlap that I stenciled with white lettering. I sewed it onto some of that great stuff that comes on Pottery Barn packages, natural cotton twill I have learned it is called. Lanterns and candles are from IKEA, super fun and easy decor!

Featured at Millwork Outlet

2011-12-16T12:00:00.000-08:00

Just a quick post today...to share I am featured on the Millwork Outlet website under their 'Projects' button. They featured my Farm Table that I posted about earlier this month...actually there are a few posts.
My Initial Attempt
Finishing Up My Project
Dressing It Up for Christmas
Thanks Millwork Outlet, it is great being neighbors with you and I have told lots of friends about you!

O Christmas Trees

2011-12-14T10:12:00.000-08:00

In deciding to have a much more natural and vintage Christmas this year, I ended up not using about 85% of my Christmas decorations (which felt really good in a lot of ways actually). The kids were thrilled when I told them they could use all of the decorations I wasn't using to decorate their bedrooms. It was quickly determined that there were enough 'rustic pine trees' for them to each have one in their rooms and they could decorate them anyway they wanted. I was a little surprised by their excitement really and surprised when even the teenagers got into it. This is what developed:

First Up, the 5 year old's tree:

I love the oversized angel on top and his eclectic choice of ornaments!

Next, the 8 year old:

The stuffed animals around the tree is so sweet!

He went further than just a tree and decorated his dresser too.

Next up the 14 year old:

I was very impressed with his coordinating decorations and lights.

And finally, the 16 year old:

Who went for the huge 'Whoville' ornament look.

They all love having their own tree to fall asleep with each night and I am glad they each got a chance to express their individual tastes, which I am going to be honest, I do not let them do in the rest of the house! To see the rest of the house Click Here!

Linking to the Thrifty Decor Chick Tree Party!