I stayed up until midnight last night, finishing up a couple of pieces to take to Lucketts on Thursday.  I had a babysitter this afternoon, so I went shopping and went to an auction.  I have two completed makeovers and a bunch of cool things to share, but I got home too late to snap pictures of any of them.  What’s a blog post without eye candy?  So, this post is all about pictures.  These are some random photos I took during a shoot for the June issue of Cottages & Bungalows magazine that will be hitting newsstands soon.

At Blissdom in January, I met one of the coolest ladies I know…Traci from Beneath My Heart.  She comes from Kentucky, the state where I was born.  She sounds like it, though, and I don’t.  She became “home base” for me during the conference.  If ever I found myself alone, I would call Traci to find out where she was, so I could join her.  Traci and her sister even gave me a ride to the airport when it was all over.  In addition to being a really nice person, Traci is very talented when it comes to budget makeovers AND she gets it all done in a house of boys.  Not sure how she swings it, but she does…and her hair always looks perfect doing it.  With all of that said, it is my pleasure to have Traci here today.  She’s the kind of person (and blogger) I want

I received a ton of questions about waxes following my Waxes 101 post.  I thought I might.  Let me say first of all that I am not a wax expert.  I’ve been using furniture waxes for a few months, but my use of waxes exploded with my use of Annie Sloan’s Chalk Paint and I just had to share it.  Simply put, wax is what I’ve always been looking for in a top coat.  It’s easy to apply, it give a wonderful antique/hand rubbed look to a piece and it won’t yellow over whites.  Now, I’m hooked and I’m not sure I’ll ever use poly again.  To see how I apply waxes and which ones I like to use, you can check out my Waxes 101 video tutorial.  Which waxes do I like?   There are two waxes I love equally.  The first one is Fiddes & Sons and that may be the

A part of having a beautiful home is creating a space that appeals to all of the senses.  It looks great, feels comfy and inviting, sounds soothing (or lively), and smells yummy.  I love the smell of fresh baked cookies, homemade apple pie and soup bubbling on the stove, but if I cooked like that every day I would weigh 300 lbs.  I love scented candles, but my preschoolers are into blowing out any candle in sight…like it’s their birthday.  So, I was very intrigued by Scentsy products.  I took on Independent Scentsy Director, Janet aka The Flameless Hussy (Isn’t that a riot?), as a sponsor.  Flameless candles are a smart idea.  You get the yummy smells without the baking, without the weight gain and without the fire hazard.  I think that’s what we all want…deep down.  Are you interested in trying out Scentsy in your own home?  Well, this is

 I love having a clean house.  I used to be very OCD about it, but realized I was not very fun to live with and I needed to change.  I still have to fight that compulsion at times, but I have relaxed a lot…especially with kids. Keeping the house clean with two preschoolers in the home can sometimes feel like a losing battle.  I mostly share “my” rooms that are kept relatively toy-free… …but the family room is another story.  My husband is a youth pastor, so we get lots of hand-me-down toys from church families.  I also find great toys for super cheap at yard sales, so we have a lot and we don’t have a dedicated play room.  All of these toys inevitably end up all over the floor… …along with shoes, clothes, cups, bowls, books, gold fish, crayons, all of it.  I’ve struggled to find a good balance

When Cat sent me an e-mail about sponsoring my blog, I was really excited.  Her stuff is so cute and can be used for marketing, decorating, entertaining, holidays, gifts…lots of stuff.  In her online shop, she sells fondant stamps… (She made a custom one for me with my logo.) …self-inking stamps… (I have one to use in my decorating books.) (And she made a custom one for my tags.) …personalized gift wrap… …embossing kits… …and more!  All of it is personalized and customizable.  The best part?  She’s offering a giveaway of one self-inking stamp and one fondant stamp, so there will be two winners!  Interested?  Here’s what you need to do to participate… Visit Baby Jewels and leave a comment letting me know which self-inking stamp and/or fondant stamp you would like if you win.  That’s it!!  The giveaway ends Sunday, April 10 at midnight EST.  Two winners will be

The last two days have been exciting around here.  I spent most of the day yesterday getting my space at Lucketts stocked up for the Design House weekend.  (I’ll share more about my space in another post.)  Yesterday, I also did some shopping (bought stuff for my space and a dough bowl for myself) and picked up some bamboo mats I had ordered to use in my spaces at the Lucketts Antique Market this May.  I had them rolled up in my office, leaning against the wall and then my bare wood floor in the dining room came to mind.   “I wonder if one of these could work in my dining room…hmmm.”, I said to myself. “Hey hon!  Can you come help me with something?”, I yelled through the house. When my husband hears that sentence, he knows it usually means moving furniture around.  He was a good sport and helped me scoot