Monday, March 25, 2013

A Sneak Peak at the Basement Colors

Here I am behind on my blogging again. Crappy me. I'm telling you - work is hectic! So, while I work away... here's a sneak peak at the new basement colours. Remember the layout (here) - take a guess and tell me in the family room / office, where do you think these colours are going?


Behr.


Remember we have wood barn doors going in and the red couches will be moving down there. Hopefully it will all be painted soon... in the meantime, keep guessing. :o)



Tuesday, March 19, 2013

A Snow Day with Hankers

I was going to really do a post today called "I Could So Get Used to This..." you know... working from home. Don't tell anyone but I kinda worked in my jammers all day because it was a SNOW DAY! Usually I just take the day off but work is so hectic right now!

In real life I work in a marketing department and lets just say our largest trade show is less than three weeks away. That means I am on marketing overload and also going to Vegas for my third time very very soon! I know you're probably thinking - lucky her... but in reality I worked almost 80 hours in one week last year. And, when I got home I slept for 17 hours straight... it's exhausting!

Anyways, that's not the point of today's post. Today's post should be about Hank. So here are some pictures of his little snow adventure in the backyard today...








That's our little man... being all cute and stuff. He is so photogenic... I love him - most days! :o)



Friday, March 15, 2013

The Secret Pinterest Board | Favorites Friday

It's been forever since I've spoke the words "favorites friday" - I feel so proud of myself. {insert cheesy grin} Now, don't get too excited - or do. I'm going to expose my favorite pins on my "secret" Pinterest board - to build. Don't tell the hubby though... he doesn't realize there's a honey-do list online for him too. :o)

Anyways, here goes. The five top pins on the secret "to build." board:


1. This mirror is to die for. I want, I want, I want. This would look fantastic in our foyer with a chair on either side. Gahh!


pin for your home.


2. I want built-ins so bad. I would put them everywhere if I could. Then again, I'm afraid that afterward I would regret them and find things "too busy". I've thought of putting some in the basement in two different rooms. I know for sure I want them in the living room upstairs on a small wall separating the living space from the stairs. The dark background finishes them off perfectly. Dreaming.


a thoughtful place.


3. Of course this mantel is on the honey-do-list. I wrote about it here. And, I thought it would have been done by now. But, when we move down to the basement - game is on. This bad boy will be in the living room. Oh. My. This mantel and the built-in above... Heaven.


sweet something designs.


4. These numbers are amazing! When we redo the exterior of the house... yes ask me, what part of the house aren't we going to redo at some point? Anyways, what was I saying? Oh yes... these are perfection.


remodelaholic.


5. This barn door is where it's at. And... it's going in the basement. Or at least something similar. If you haven't heard... I wrote a little about it here and I shared the full plans here.


unknown - pinterest.


There you have it. A little sneak peak into the world of my secret Pinterest boards. I also have a board called "stuff." and another called "products & blog.".  Now that I confessed... your turn - what are your secret boards?



Thursday, March 14, 2013

Alphabet Prints | New in the Etsy Shop

I. am. alive. This week has been such a blur that I knew I needed to get on here and say hello. I promised a week (okay maybe two weeks) ago that I would post about the new items in the Etsy Shoppe. Truthfully, I was hoping to have more but if I wait for that I may never be able to share them with you... so here they are... introducing the one and only... Alphabet Prints from moi.


The Giraffe


Giraffe Alphabet Illustration for Nursery, Playroom or Children's Room


The Vintage Car


Vintage Car Alphabet Illustration for Nursery, Playroom or Children's Room


I have so many other designs up my sleeve and I'm also working on each letter of the alphabet. You can order from my "Pick me. Pick me." color selection or send me your custom color.


Pick Me. Pick Me.




I'm hoping to eventually add these to my craft show collection - well someday when I actually attend a craft show. But, for you they are available on my Etsy Shoppe. And get this, they're printable. So, you pay me, I send you a file and you print it however you want, whenever you want, wherever you want. No shipping needed.

Sounds good right? I only ask that you keep them for your own personal use. Please don't share or use in your business. Besides they're super cheap at only $10 (this pricing was on March 14, 2013) <--- just in case! :)

Anyways, I'm calling this week short. Today is my Friday and if we don't venture off somewhere tomorrow I might just be back with something more exciting? I'm not sure if that's possible these days - total loss of creativity with such a busy schedule. Boo.

Anyways, I missed you guys and I'll try not to be so long next time!



Monday, March 11, 2013

My Sweet Savannah | Another Great Blog


Oh. My. You need to see this house. Okay and blog too. They say don't judge a book by its cover, but every time I stumble upon a new blog I instantly look for the "home tour". If I fall in love, I'm sold. Welcome your latest stalker! And lately, I'm stalking My Sweet Savannah. And she is definitely sweet enough to share her home with us. Take a peak:


front porch.

kitchen.

dining room.

living room.

girl's room.


boy's bathroom.


Isn't it amazing? I love, love, love everything about it! For the full tour - stop by here. As well, she has a giveaway on today for some canvas letters I am totally in love with. Go see - canvas letter giveaway.


burlap letter giveaway.


See. Aren't they amazing? Go check out My Sweet Savannah. And don't yell at me when you get lost in her blog for a few hours. :o) Oh.. and if you're bored make me some of those letters!! Okay that was bossy... please make me some of those letters?



Thursday, March 7, 2013

Surprise Mustache Birthday Invitations | Freebie

Okay, I suck. I told you I'd be back last night and I wasn't. So, you can have this as a freebie. I was going to just post it and tell you about it, but nope, I'm the sucky blogger that didn't pull through on her words... so free stuff for you - the old surprise mustache birthday invitations are yours for the taking.




Well, at least the front is. I can't really create a back that will pertain to you, but I will give you the details so you can create your own... sound good? Good.

So it was a week or two back when some people decided we should throw some other person a surprise shindig. So, we kind of are and I kind of made some invites. Yup. I went with mustaches. Isn't that the in thing? Anyways, here's what I made.




And, here's the graphic for you. You can have it and make whatever you want out of it because I'm making it extra huge (8.5x11)...




Oh, and here's the back of it...




To create the back of the invite I used:

background color: #bfbfc1
regular font color: #ffffff
dark grey font color: #666670
font: Myriad Pro

Now, if you'll excuse me. I need my beauty rest... the big day is fast approaching.







I've been out partying again :)

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Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Progress in the Basement!

I so don't feel in blog mode this week. There's just so much going on. Job changes (not for me - darn it!), renovations, surprise shindigs (I will share the invites soon) and I'm debating taking on another business adventure in tea. That's right... you heard me right. Tea. Anyways, while I plough through another week in the cube, this is what we've been up to.

A quick before and after of rough plans... I didn't really feel like measuring it out or putting on all the details... but you get the idea.




As for the progress... excuse the pics... nobody said renos were pretty (even to capture)?


Before (Wood ceilings, dark walls... enough said.)





Destroy (Bye bye dungeon.)






Rebuild (Look how bright it is... yes those first pictures were taken in daylight too!)









Voila?

Okay, no voila. We are trying to hire in a mudder (mudder not a word... as if?) to do the final coats and then it's paint, lights and floors. We will be in there by spring and then a whole lot of stuff will happen. Like furniture purchasing - hopefully? I'm dreaming of a white couch for upstairs. (I don't have kids... I can dream in white!)

That is it. I have so many posts waiting to be shared with you so I will do my best to get motivated and back on here again tomorrow night. Besides there's been a new addition to the Etsy Shoppe... take a peak if you'd like. I will definitely do a post about it soon.

Until then... I'm going to think about tea again.



Friday, March 1, 2013

Chocolate Chip Granola Bar Recipe | Pin Attempt

Wow! It's been forever since I've done a pin attempt. As an attempt to eat healthier and cleaner, I decided to make my own granola bars. I mean seriously... how could I give up the treats? So... Pinterest I went.




And not too far down on the clean eating. board I found them. I knew I had wanted to make these before. Don't they look delicious?




Chocolate Chip Granola Bar Recipe


4 tbsp unsalted butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
2 cups plain granola
1 cup rice cereal
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips 

Option: use 1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips and 1/4 cup peanut butter chips instead.

Line a 11x7 baking pan with wax paper and grease. In a saucepan, combine butter, honey and brown sugar over medium heat. Stir until butter is melted. Bring the mixture to a boil, then lower the heat to medium-low and simmer until the sugar is dissolved (about 2 min). Add the granola and rice cereal and fold until evenly coated. Spread mixture into pan and press firmly. Sprinkle with chocolate chips and gently press them with a spatula. Let it sit until cooled and lift out of pan and cut into bars.





Mmm! Deliciousness. 

Okay. Confession... those bars you see above... ya they didn't stick together like that. While these granola bars, or should I say piles, are absolutely delicious... they fell apart. So, they sat in a container and were eaten by the handful. Still made my tummy happy though. So possibly a pin attempt success?


Rambling

Okay, so a little more rambling. Geesh... I can't get it out of my system this week. 

First. I'm hoping to head to Ikea this weekend to pick up some great stuff for the house... I have a list of things I want to make and share and I must get to it! As well, I need some picture frames so I can take pictures of my next item that is hitting the Etsy Shoppe! {Super Excited}

Second. Wish me luck. I applied to be an affiliate of an amazing clothing company I recently fell in love with, right now I've been pre-approved and I'm in the "interview" stage... I'm so nervous. I have plans for the blog and this company and I'm keeping my fingers crossed. 

Lastly. (That's a word right?) I bought the domain www.themarthaanne.com! I don't know if you noticed, but I'm super excited. One more step in the right direction! :)
That's it. Rambling. Over.
Have a great weekend out there!




I shared this at Sew Can Do - Pinterest Challenge.