They Always Start Out Small...

Since school has been out, I have barely touched my computer. What a weird feeling!

Speaking of school, I am going to brag on myself for a second. I managed to get 4 A's and a B!! The B was in my college algebra class, the only class I have ever previously failed in my college career! I got a 101 on my geography final that I was so worried about, and that paper that terrified me? I only missed 2 points! But even better than an A on that paper was my professor's comment.:

"You made an excellent decision when you changed your major to English. This is where you belong!"
That seriously made my year.

Okay, I'm finished!

 I have been so busy over the past week or so with crafting, getting ready for and celebrating Mother's Day, a band banquet, hubby's birthday, watching Criminal Minds 24/7 (my gift to Petrie... not myself, of course), a surprise engagement party for dear friends, Petrie's family birthday dinner, and going through the inlaw's house for a MASSIVE upcoming garage sale that I haven't even had the chance to blog!

But have no fear... I'm back.

And with pictures, to boot!

I do, however, have a bit of annoying news. Because of my own lack of decision-making skills, my Vintage Vision project that I elluded to here is not yet complete. I'm working on it, though! It's about 85% finished! I promise! And I am super excited about it! Like all of the exclaimation points? Me, too!

Okay, I don't know if this upcoming story is just the case for myself or if it plagues others as well.

My oh-so-loving hubby has a nickname for me.

He calls me "Distracto".

I kid you not.

I guess it's because I get distracted while on task? A lot? Take my housecleaning for instance. I have to have a whole day to get anything done. Why, you ask? Because anytime I start something like, say, the laundry, I often get distracted while processing the loads. I may have to suddenly use the restroom, then I realize how dirty the bathroom mirrors have become. After I clean the entire mirror/sink area, I take the trash to the big trash can. Realizing that it has become quite full, I decide to take out the entire apartment's trash. While putting another bag in the can, I suddenly become aware of how dirty my stove looks, or how many things have accumulated on the bar counter. So, of course, I go through the entire stack of papers, shopping ads, coupons, junk mail, etc. Sometime during that process, I get super bored with it all and remember that I had laundry in the dryer. I go out to the laundry room on the deck to process the loads and I realize all of the sudden that my husband has the perfect nickname for me. I realize that I never put another load in the washer. Doh! I shake my head at the lost time and start all over again.

I'm seeing a lot of similarities between me and the "mouse":

Similar to my housecleaning, my crafty projects usually start small. I then change my mind about color, style, or purpose. My indecisiveness is irritating at times. However, even though the projects usually take a bajillion times longer than intended, they usually turn out better than they would have originally.

Take my latest project for example.

I had decided that this picture wasn't really doing it for me anymore. The photo is from my trip to Lake Crescent (yes, Twilight dorks, it is the same one from the books... I drove to Washington state with friends in 2008! Ultimate dork over here.) and had been in my bathroom for some time. I decided to be a little crafty with this frame instead of putting another photo inside.

I grabbed some scrapbook paper from my stash and went to town. After deciding which one to use, I trimmed it to fit the frame.

And then... ta-da! Looks great, right?!

Then, I put the frame back where it I had it before.

And it hit me.

I have a cabinet for the misfit things, much like the island for the misfit toys in Rudolph.

CRAP.

This picture is so embarassing. I just threw everything on top that I didn't want to deal with, completed tax crud included. Like all of the random cords? And the top half of a hutch that's sitting on the ground? Sigh. Now that I had a cute frame, I had to do something cute with this space. I looked around to see what I had to work with and came up with a few things.

And the end result?

Totally loving every bit of it!

My new tagline is:

"Burlap makes everything better!"

(A play off of the Braum's ice cream commercials.)

Almost everything in this picture has been thrifted or garage saled. The cabinet was $20 at a church garage sale that I purchased a couple of summers ago. I have yet to redo it, but it's on the list! I'm going to keep it white, but it needs a bit of work. The candle was a gift in a set, the "Together" sign, brown bottle, and cup and saucer were thrifted (the last being a very recent find), the burlap and flowers were on sale at Hobby Lobby a million years ago, and the frame I already had. Not too shabby, eh?

Let's just say that I am beyond please with how my small project turned into a decoration redo,

turning a drab space

into a fab space!

Linking up to these parties:

Craft Catwalk

Meet Me Monday

Time to Shine

Tutorial Tuesday

Trash to Treasure

Good Life Wednesdays

Wandering Wednesday

Free For All Friday

Feature Yourself Friday

Frugal Friday