So a couple years ago when I first got here I bought a nightstand on Craigslist for $5. $5 people. I bought it to use as a side table actually. And I did. But only for a short while. Then it’s been this extra piece of furniture laying around.

This is what it looked like when I first got it ::

I posted it here before – I painted it green. Which was nice. But to be honest, I ended up hating it. So after it sat in our garage forever (along with a sofa table still waiting for some attention) I decided to try again. This time I used a slightly different method than I’ve shared before.

1.) I sanded. As per usual.

2.) I primed (oil based primer-trust me, it’s the best) – using a cheap-o brush. I got sick of trying to clean my nice brushes – so I bought a $5 pack of 6 brushes.

3.) Here’s where I did things a bit differently. I added something called Flotrol. It just helps lengthen drying time a bit so you get a much smoother coat. You add it to the paint, and I loved the way it worked.

4.) I painted a thin coat of my latex paint with a high quality brush – I like Purdy. It doesn’t matter what level of gloss of paint I use because my protective coating is gonna give me the end finish. Then another coat until it’s well coated. Keepin’ it thin, so they don’t get goopy or brush strokes.

5.) After that dries nicely – it’s time to use a Polyurethane finish coat. I like it to be nice and glossy.

6.) Then I added new hardware and ta-dah! I’m done!

Here’s the finished piece ::

I’m probably going to try to sell this bad boy on Craigslist. I bought it when I had the perfect spot for it – now I don’t and while not huge, we have very little storage here.

Now on to the list of other pieces I want to do…

Today I wanted to share with you how I made the adorable lil cupcake toppers I used at my sister’s Sprinkle. They turned out so cute – and were SO easy ::

I am just going to copy the directions I followed on one of my favorite blogs, Homemade by Jill. She did a great job, and I loved my results – so here you go!

How to make printables from Picnik :: (click read more)

So it’s been a few weeks now…and thanks to all the holidays, I’ve been distracted!  So I have all these pictures now, and I’m ready to share! So here’s a little glimpse into the “Sprinkle” I threw for my sister.

The cookie favors – Sugar Cookies with Royal Icing

 Guess the Jellybeans!

Here’s the spread! Well, halfway set up. SO much food!
I love the lil pennants we used on the table, and the paper lanterns!

Here’s the beverage bars! I had purchased an oversized circle punch at Hobby Lobby while it was on sale.
I then used this fabulous template from MarthaStewart.com. Click here to check it out.
I’ve used it with doilies for our wedding candy bar,
we’ve used streamers ruffled around the letters for a bridal shower, and a few other things.

This is hard to see – but we used mason jars for our glasses. Then wrapped twine around the mouth, and used paper straws
with small flags on them that say “Sprinkled with Love”. They were totes adorbs.

And of course I had to make some cupcakes! I’ll have to share with you how I went about making the cupcake
toppers – they were way easy and I didn’t even crack open the ol’ Photoshop!

Here you can see the lanterns I hung in each space – the entryway, living room, and above the food table -
they totally worked with the theme! Loved them!

And here’s the beautiful Mama opening a gift!

We had a great time – and Easton will be here real soon! Should be an exciting New Year for our fam!

my sister’s baby “sprinkle” was this past weekend -and I’ll post pictures from that soon! I will wait to hopefully get my sister’s photos as well – which are better of individual things!

Here’s one of the onesies::

As one of the things I wanted to give her – I decided to hang some cute lil onesies as a decor but also a gift! As I said in my last post, my friend Erin sent me a link to a great tutorial for onesies. But here’s what I did.

Here are my supplies::

One of my stencils – notice the inside “floaty” pieces – they were a little trickier to place, but this one came out great!

Then I ironed on and got painting ::

Then I let them dry – heat the paper back up and TA-DAH! Here are a few of my creations ::

I also made a onesie with a house on it – and lil pants with a house on the bum. I got this idea from Erin bc I thought she’d appliqued a onesie like this for her son – but that’s when she shared with me the freezer paper painting which is how she did her house. But Id already started on this – so I finished it this way!

I also made a little baby “snuggler” – and a personalized taggy blanket!

Apparently I forgot to take a picture of the completed “snuggler” – this is it in-process

So fun to get some things made and all set for my lil nephew before he gets here!!

So my darling sister is prego with number two – and the first boy we’ve had in our world for a while!!  So it’s a great excuse to get sewing on some things His name will be Easton – and I can’t wait to meet him!
I have gotten a few other things for Easton – but I’m in the process of making several things for the lil guy!

My sister requested a personalized gown like this ::

So I’m working on that, and a couple baby blankets – one with the fabulously soft rosette minky pattern ::

And a few other fun things! One of which, I’m stealing from my lovely friend Erin! But I can’t give them away quite yet

I also am so sad that I’m not with my family this Thanksgiving – but am also thrilled that my in-laws are actually really fun to be around and I for real love them. Not lots of people can say that!

So I hope your Thanksgiving tomorrow is full of great time with family and lots of yummy food!

So I know I said I’d add a tutorial about my sunburst mirrors – and I will! But for some reason the pictures I took along the way the first time are no longer on my camera. Sad face. So alas, that will have to wait!

For now, I wanted to share something I had done a while ago – that is in our LOVELY guest room that is waiting for many of you to come visit Just saying…

I wanted a bench to go in my old apartment that was cute, little, and could add some decorative elements to my small space. So I found a project done on one of my favorite blogs, Young House Love, and wanted to try it for myself. All they did was found an old bench, recovered and repainted it, and it ended up so fabulous I just had to try it!

I also want to add that Jeremy does not like it. Why? I dunno. He thinks it’s pointless. I get that its not the most important piece of furniture in our home – but its nice to have now in our guest room for folks to sit on. So it stays. AND – it I am in love with it. So I win.

So – I forgot to take a before picture (waaaa – waaaaahhh). But I found this one of a similar bench that looks very close to what mine did before.

So I started by searching endlessly for fabric I loved, that also wasn’t too girly. I was looking for a particular design, and like always, remained quite picky. I finally found it online at Ballard Designs – which is primarily furniture – but has some GREAT fabric! To check it out, click here.

Anyway – so I found the fabric there, and then got to sanding the base. I used spray paint, and probably would recommend using a brush and some latex paint – but it probably wouldnt have been so bad if I didnt get impatient and paint too thick – so it dripped a bit. But nothing major.

So after it was painted (for such a small piece this was a quick process) I lined up the fabric on the front of the bench seat – using the pattern on the fabric as a guide. Then I folded it around and stapled it to the back of the seat. After the paint dried, I simply screwed the seat back into the base. And tah-dah!!

I love it! Quite simple – but totally cute. I think I just love the fabric so much that it makes it special to me!

All for now! Hope you had a wonderful weekend!!