"It's Pinterest Challenge time"-Winter Edition

I'm singing.......
"It's Pinterest Challenge time"
"It's Pinterest Challenge time"
......to the tune of "It's peanut butter jelly time" over here! HA! Any of you ever get that song stuck in your head?!?!  I blame my hubby, 2hotty (AKA my hubster, Scotty)!  He use to annoy me with it all the time and before I realized it I was singing annoying everyone I knew......even while at work.  Quite embarrasing if you ask me!

 If you're brave enough you can watch the YouTube video below:

Hello!! Your Welcome! HA! That just woke me up.  Do I enough need my coffee now?!?!

So now that you have peanut butter & jelly on your mind, go ahead and fix yourself one (I'll wait) and come on back so that you can read all about the item I challenged myself to tackle from my PINTEREST account. 

Most of you are probably here visiting from Katie and Sherry's blog (HI FRIENDS!).  Those two stunning ladies came up with such a great idea didn't they?!?!






It was perfect timing if you ask me.  You see, 2hotty and I moved into our new (FIRST) abode just five months ago and we've been SO busy cleaning, painting, DIY'ing, and most importantly still UNPACKING!! Yes it is a never ending job.......even five months later.  Recently I had discovered some of our wedding "stuff" in a box that I unpacked last week.  Our wedding was almost five years ago!!  WOW....time sure does fly!  Some things such as our wedding candles, guest book, and wedding cards gifted to us by loved ones were discovered in this box.  I had absolutely no idea what to do with them besides shoving them all back into the box and moving right along.  The cards especially.  They were all over the place.  Do I keep them?!?!  Do I look at them, give them a big squeeze, and then toss them in the trash along with the moldy leftovers from last week?!  I had no idea.  I then remembered something!  I remember I had pinned this a long time ago:



IT'S BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It's a book of her wedding cards all in ONE place!! Don't you just love Pinterest!
Before I show you how I made mine I want to say one thing.  Well a few things.  Before attempting this I did not have a tutorial of how to do make this.  The pin only linked to the website and not the actual tutorial.  So I kinda went out on a limb and guided my own path.  Which is kinda the point right?!?!  Put your own spin on it!  I later did discover the actual tutorial by searching on the website just in case there was one.  And I found it. Womp Womp! Oh well. Here is the LINK if you are interested!!  It is very detailed and GREAT!  I will use her version to make a Christmas card photo book (you know picture cards you get from family and friends that you don't have the heart to throw away!) to put out every Christmas.  My version has some pros and cons and I will point them out as I show you.

Here is what my finished project looks like:

I used two wooden frames instead of cardboard as the front ande back cover.  Which is good and bad.  The good: It's a bit sturdier and won't get bent out of place, therefore protecting the cards a bit more.  I also like that it is a frame as you can add a picture of the occasion that you are making the book for (such as baby shower, birthdays or even Christmas photo cards that you want to save each year!) or even a beautiful poem, etc!  The bad:  The largest binder ring that I purchased did not fit when everything was in place, therefore I had to substitute in a piece of ribbon to keep the cards together which I don't really care for but it is what it is (Now I will be on the look out for a bigger and badder binder ring.....that is if they even sell them. Anyone know?!?!)! AND a drill is needed to put a hole through the wood frames so that may be a problem if you don't own one. Other than that I love the way it came out.  I think it works perfectly for my wedding cards and now I can showcase them on a book shelf or what have you! If you are interested in my version then keep reading!

So first thing is first.  Gather all of your materials:

* 2 wooden frames (found at Walmart in the craft section): $0.97 each

* Wooden letters: (Walmart craft section) $3

* Binder rings (If you can find some LARGE enough otherwise skip!) $2 (for a pack)

* Glitter (Real pretty colors at Joanne's or Michaels)

* Ribbon

* Thumbtacks

* Glue

* Acrylic paint

* Drill

First you'll want to put holes through the frames using a drill.  I enlisted in 2hotty to help me with this step while I held the frames in place:

***You want the bottom frame to be smooth side out so its like a book!

Yes 2hotty is wearing a Dunder Mifflin shirt!! (shout out to all The Office lovers!)  and yes it took him four beers to drill two stinkin holes into a frame.......

.........as he walked around grunting like Tim the "Toolman" Taylor! Boys and their toys I guess!

Next you'll want to paint your wooden frames in the color of your choice.  My wedding color scheme was tiffany blue and chocolate brown. I had a metallicy blue on hand so that is what I chose for the frames:

I glittered up my wooden letters:

Let everything dry for a bit before messing with it.  Or you'll have glitter and glue everywhere!!! I may or may not be speaking from experience. Impatient this one I swear! 

When dry, glue the letters onto your frame.  Now wait AGAIN!! I know....I know...patience will be your friend at the end......I promise!

I gathered all of my cards and picked out one that I liked and popped it into the front frame:

and used a piece of leftover burlap to the bottom frame!  Use a hole puncher to punch out holes to the top left corner of your cards and attach everything together with your binder ring or a piece of string/yarn/ribbon (whatever you have on hand really!) in place. 

Now you'll want to wrap your ribbon around the entire thing.  Cut out a piece long enough to make a bow in the front. To the back, I just pushed down thumbtacks (you can use a hammer and lightly tap them in!) to keep the ribbon in place:

Flip over and you have yourself a pretty sparkly wedding card book:

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and if you have any questions leave it in the comments below.  I'm off to scour all the links to see what everyone else has challenged themselves to make!!  I may be sitting in one place "oohing and aahing" for a very LONG time!! I love pretty little DIY/crafty/yummy things!!  Tootles my poodles!

Have a great hump day everyone! 

xoxo

Joanna D!!

Ace is the Place!

So..........
We meet here again.
Did you score a free quart of paint from Ace Hardware over the weekend?!?!?
This lucky lady did.  Woot! 
Actually I scored two.  The gentleman behind the counter also gave my husband one (regardless of the "one per household" rule!!
Double "Woot Woot"!!!

If you did make it to Ace, you would've found out that its flat enamel only!!  Not so ideal for a front door makeover like I was hopein. Shucks!! BUT.........

I'm excited to make something over anyway!  This something happens to be my new desk I picked up at St. Vincent De Paul (for 25 bucks!!!) right before we made it to Ace actually. Well the desk isn't "new new" per say but it is new to me and will fit in perfectly in my office that I like to call my "diva headquarters".  I can finally blog like a real blogger........you know in an actual office and from an actual desk, and not from my couch while watchin episodes of The River or Alcatraz!!  Oh heck who am I kiddin I'll probably only use the desk to pay our bills.

It really needs a bit of TLC first........like some wood filler and a new coat of PAINT!!  You know kinda like them Desperate Housewives do it. A little bit of botox to fill in the cracks or in this case a bit of wood filler.......and a spray tan to make em look orange bronzy or in this case a new (FREE) coat of paint to make the desk look pretty again!!



We have three bedrooms on the first floor, one being our master bedroom, one being the guest bedroom, and the last one being my office/dressing room/makeup room.  One of the first things we did the very first week we moved into our house is paint all of the bedrooms.  Great right?!?!  No not so great!  That meant I had to pick out all of the paint colors in one weekend.  I'm indecisive and also want perfection.  Do you know how hard it is to narrow down a paint color when you don't even have a color scheme in mind?!?!  Ya I was in panic mode but eventually decided we would paint one room a "boy" color and the other room a "girl" color that way we wouldn't have to paint the rooms again!  The room I took over as the "diva headquarters" will ultimately be a baby girls nursery (that is we ever have a little girl).  I wanted it to be frilly and girly without actually painting everything in the room PINK if you know what I mean!  So I went with a light aqua color. 

The swatch on the right is the wall color, matched to Benjamin Moores Innocence. What a perfect name for a future nursery, no?!?!  The color I chose for the desk is color matched to Benjamin Moores, Silver Streak. 

I know what you are thinking........."but Jo the two colors next to each other aren't very girly".  You just have to trust me on this one......I think it will scream "GIRL" (or for now "DIVA") when I'm done with the entire room. Well I sure hope so.  Otherwise I will be doing the screamin!!  You see I have a vision.......but sometimes my "vision" back fires and instead of looking hot -  it looks like a hot mess.  HA! Lets just hope I know what I'm doing and it works out for me. Crossing my fingers (and toesies!)! 

What color did you choose?!?!  What item will you be covering with free paint?!?!  Anyone have to choose paint colors in a hot minute?!?  Ya not so much fun.  You should have seen me at Ace.......I think we were there for a half hour.  2hotty kept tellin me, "hey if you don't pick a color, they'll run out of cans and if that happens don't cry to me"!! Isn't he so sweet!  Bless his little heart. Ha!

xoxo JoAnna D.

Ace Hardware Paint Freebie

Have you heard about the free quarter gallon can of paint (from the new Clark + Kensington line) that Ace Hardware is giving away?!?!?  I haven't until about five minutes ago and I am tickled pink (or whatever color it is that I chose. HA!).  I came upon this BLOG (so the cook said) where she spilled the paint news with all of her readers about the freebie. I thought I would "color the world" with this tidbit of info too (well color the blog world!). It is this Saturday, March 3 at your local Ace Hardware store. Apparently each store gets about 40 cans to give away. CLICK HERE TO PRINT YOUR COUPON.



I may not have allot of fancy stores in my town..........but we do have an Ace!!  Yippee! That doesn't always mean that I'll actually be able to snag this freebie.  I'm sure they wont have a flippin clue what I'm talking about when I show em my coupon!  That's small town for ya! I can just picture it now:  Me: (giddy and big smile handing the coupon to the cashier) "I'm here to get my free paint".  Cashier: "Say what there pretty lady!"  Me: (opposite of a smile) "Oh never mind.".  It's happened before at our local KFC.  I use coupons.......get over it! Let's just hope that's not the case.  I have faith......cause mamma needs a fresh coat of paint slapped on the front door (and maybe even the garage door.).  Something fun and inviting!  Something antiboring (you know....opposite of me!) and I'm sure a quart of paint will do the trick! (Check out the blog mentioned above and her fabulous door!!  That's what I'm shootin for.)  Oh and after you high five the cashier and walk away with your freebie.....come on back cause I wanna know what color you chose and what project you'll use it for!

xo JoAnna D.

Keepin It Real

I love it when other bloggers share their day to day lives with their readers.  Why?!?!  Well, I'm a bit nosey and like to see the dirt (literally)!! I wanna know that their house is just as messy as mine is, that sometimes they fail at DIY projects just like I do, and that burning chocolate chip cookies doesn't just happen to me but to them as well!!  It's nice to be able to relate to them and perhaps even reassures me that I'm not the only quirky (and maybe a bit weird/annoying/and everything above that is equal to those words. HA!) gal out there!!  So how about I take you on a little behind the scenes tour of what life has been like for 2hotty and I these past few weeks!! Is that groaning I hear?!?! Oh heck I don't blame you.  Its not very glamorous.  Its actually nothing worth reading about. (oh the irony). HA!

These last few weeks I had shown some pictures of my little Valentine day display I conjured up for all my lovely guests to see when they walked through my front door.  This is what I revealed when it came time to publish my post:

But what you didn't see was that everything around my little display was a hot mess!! I literally would have had a panic attack if someone truly did ring the door bell at that very exact moment when I was taking pictures (mainly because I was still in my PJ's and not wearing a bra!  Whoa....that came out of left field didn't it.  TMI.....sorry!!).  My first thought would be to hit the floor and army crawl it to the kitchen........but then again they would totally see me attempting this through the front window since we have yet to install any blinds or curtains!!  How is that for a visual (braless and all. HA!)  Shucks! 

Here is what my "couldacalledmeandwarnedme" guest would have seen if I did in deed open the door:

There's a green bucket (with icky nasty water) on the kitchen floor from when I frantically cleaned the bathrooms (which was a long overdue task btw! eew!), some tools and a level sprawled out on the floor from our closet DIY (which is still in progress......and has been for like two weeks now! Oui!), wedding albums that I thought I lost we found in our coat closet (such a miracle we made it out alive after cleaning that thing!), and debris (hooks maybe?!) and a red tupperware lid (and yes I have no idea where the bin actually is!) leaning against the wall.  Yup makes the Valentine decor look extra fancy doesn't it?!?! HA!  And this is JUST the entryway........you should see the rest of the house!!

A few weeks ago it had snowed a few inches (I had shared our little winter wonderland adventure a few days ago).  It kinda was a bit of a shocker since we've been having such a mild winter.  My first reaction was to get out there and enjoy it before it all melted away.  This is the exterior of our house with a fresh layer of snow on the roof.  I know, I know.  It looks a bit boring, no?!?!  The exterior is on the good ol' to-do list this coming summer:

But a whole bunch of "nothingness" isn't exactly what you would see if you were to actually walk up to the front porch!! What you don't see in the above picture is what we are trying to hide behind the bushes:

Yup that is our Christmas tree. (I'm officially embarrassed!)  It kinda blends in right?!?!  HA!  That's what 2hotty keeps tellin me when I nag on him to get rid of it.   I think he believes it will decompose into dirt before Spring. (Keep dreamin my 2hotty.....keep dreamin!)

Oh and the tree isn't all.  HA!!  If you were a guest of mine you would have to step over the Christmas wreath too:

And yes it still has a red ribbon on it covered with snow.  (If that isn't lazy I don't know what is!)  This is exactly why we don't have many guests coming over these days. So classy right?!?!  Wait don't answer that.......I have a reputation to maintain living on a golf course and all (I'm so being sarcastic here!!)!!

Since moving into our new abode last October we clocked in allot of hours driving around going from store to store.  Some days its a hit, others its a miss (hate those days. Boo!)  Don't get me wrong I do love me some shopping but it gets very tiring sometimes.  Especially considering I live fifty miles from any real shopping.....you know the "real stores" like TJ Max', Marshalls World Market, and Michaels!!  Some of my Faves!  If I just want to "pick up" a few things at any of those stores, it would require two hours in drive time alone!  It's OK though......not the end of the world.  Just means that I get to spend more quality time with the hubster, giving us a chance to talk about whatever it is that we are working on that weekend or just plain ol' life in general.  It's a pretty scenic drive too:

I know that eventually 2hotty and I will expand our family (someday........).  And that one day these leisure rides will get a bit more complicated than just the typical, "Hey you wanna go to Madison today?" Which pretty much happens at our convenience now.  As much as the frequent long drives get on my nerves somedays (mainly because projects take longer to finish) I know that one day I'll miss em (sigh)!



One thing I absolutely have 2hotty do for me before we hit the interstate is a quick stop at my favorite little coffee hut:

It's not your schmancy "Schtarbucks" coffee but its really good none the less and a perfect treat for the drive ahead!! I've said it before and I'll say it again.......This JO needs her cup of JO before attempting anything (even if it is just shopping)!! They serve their coffee with a chocolate covered coffee bean and I LURVE them so much.  I think its the beans that keep me coming back for more:

Sometimes we buy a small bag to take home to eat during the week.  We forgot to take them inside the house after getting home that day.  I ate them like they were M&M's that next Monday morning!! I'd say they were more like M&M's on STEROIDS........I was pretty peppy at work to say the least:

If you ever get into a car with my 2hotty the first thing I would do is hand you some ear plugs.  The man likes to sing and he can get a bit annoying!! I'm serious!!  Between his singing and weird random comments you may or may not have a painful migraine and a vein protruding from your forehead in a matter of five minutes.  How's that for talent:

He usually changes the lyrics of a song and adds in his own.  They may or may not be appropriate (I'm leaning more to NOT appropriate!)  Hence all them coffee beans I must inhale to keep me sane and tune him out!! HA! 

I usually take pictures of the scenery or make my shopping list in the car as 2hotty sings along to songs from the 80's (Well more like 80's meets gangsta rap! HA!):

After hours and hours of shopping (and driving) we get home and unload (and usually plop on the couch soon after)!  The kitchen table usually looks like this 90% of the time (the other 10% (when its clean) usually means my mom is on her way over):

The bags remain there until one of us gets a chance to put em away.......if lucky most likely by the next weekend!!

If we do stay home on the weekends, we try to make it casual. We'll grab a movie from the Redbox, invite some friends over, and make some "drinky drinks" for all of us to sip on. Coming up with different drink concoctions is one of my husbands favorite obsessions!
Last weekend 2hotty and I celebrated Valentines Day at our favorite local restaurants.  Its hip and modern......pretty much the bombdiggity (ya I did just typed that!)!  On the menu we noticed they had a 'Bloody Mary' drink using bacon vodka.  YES BACON VODKA!!  I think 2hotty had died......gone to heaven....came back........and then died again!!  One of his favorite things (bacon and vodka) married together in perfect harmony. PURE BLISS I tell ya!
To my surprise he passed on the drink (he tought it would be too filling right before dinner) but that didn't mean he couldn't stop thinking about it.  The very next day we scoured the liquor store up and down (LITERALLY) until one of us found it:

Oh Happy Day!! The shoulders may or may not have been "dusted off" ala JayZ at the very moment the bottle was spotted.  They had only one kind and they spelled bacon.....Bakon.  Whats up with that?!?!  Maybe its European?!?! Who cares we bought it anyway! It cost twenty-six dollhairs and to my hubby it was worth every penny!

We gathered all of the ingredients needed:

Apparently it requires everything but the kitchen sink!  We have horseradish, celery, cheese (Wisconsin cheese only!), spicy pickles, picked green beans (my moms!), worchteshire sauce (sp??can never say that word let alone spell it!), pickled mushrooms, slimjim..........and a can of beer (Wha?!?!).
Oh and Zing Zangs bloody mix is the only way to go.....hands down (Its really good!):

It was delicious and the bacon vodka was a hit!!!  It tasted more salty if anything.....not really too "bacony"!

Cheers to a messy house, lots o' shopping, road trips, friendships..........and bacon vodka:

I guess you cant drink a Bloody Mary without a beer chaser (well according to 2hotty)!! Its the way they serve them at the bars around here:

The next vodka he wants to purchase is Loony Vodka (I think?!?!)......I guess it tastes like Fruit Loops.  Totally up my alley........(not because of the flavor but becuase of the name.....loony like moi!).  Disclaimer: We do not need to attend any AA meetings.....but thanks for being conserned.  We do drink occasionally and not (too) excessively.  My only real excuse is........I'm Polish and we like our "drinky drinks"! Mmmkay. HA!

This is our friend Chris.  If you've been reading my blog since the beginning than I'm sure you've seen him on here once or twice.  We call him cupid (because he's the reason why 2hotty and I met in the first place).  I met him in college in Zoology class!! Many call him Dr. Chris!! Yup that's right, he graduated from chiropractic school not to long ago............A shout out to Chris' chiropractic girls (I heart you for reading my blog! <3).  Did I mention he's single and ready to mingle?!?!  (Sorry Chris you can kill me after I hit publish!! HA!):

This is frumpy ol' me. It's probably what I look like most of the time these days.  Bad hair day.....check!  Makeup melted off.....check!  Wearing comfy football t-shirt........check!! Creepy "I'm about to drink this in one gulp" face......check! This girl looks like a HOT MESS.....BIG OL' check check check.
  Hence the black and white photo (because if it were in color you would be blind right now......you're welcome!):

This year I made 2hotty a Valentines day card. Is it just me or are the greeting cards getting wicked expensive these days?!?!  Common, paying five to six dollars for a card that says "You're my sugar daddy and I cant wait to pour caramel sauce all over you" is such a rip off!  Oh wait that's what I wrote in 2hottys card......I mean: "To a wonderful husband, I love you!"!! :0)  Seriously though, I wasn't about to fork over my hard earned dollhairs for a stinkin card that was ganna get tossed in the memory box for eternity anyway!! Can I get an Amen.......sista!!

 This is all I could come up with:

Ya not my best work......but it was fast and cheap (just the way I like em!! HA!)!! I found the girl silhouette online and decided my studmuffin would appreciate a picture of my face instead of just a headless women holding up a sign. I'm sure he thought it was French for something dirty (I can just make you guess can't I.  HA!)  Just keepin it real!!  I also bought him some cologne (Bvlgari Toniq......yummy, sexy smell!) and made him a pork chop dinner.  I overcooked em.....the story of my life! Can a girl just get a break for once.....palease!!

2hotty did buy me a card though (sucka!) and it was sweet.  I bet he just went "eeny meeny mony mo" and picked the one his finger pointed to (I know him oh to well......right hunny?!?!):

He knows I'm a visual person and love me some pictures. It had a golden retriever puppy and kitty cat on the front of the card.  So adorable!!  That image was all I needed to melt my heart.  Browny points to my boytoy!  I want a puppy so freakin bad.  We are waiting though.  Crossing my fingers (and toesies) that it happens come this Fall. (Papapaplease......with a cherry on top!!) Those tulips above........Ya I bought them for myself the day after V-day when they were fifty percent off.  Some may call me cheap.........I say bless your little heart!! :-)

This is what they look like now:

Ya looks like something outta of a sci fi movie.  Killer tulips on the loose (well more like killed tulips)!! :0)

So that's it.  This is my so UNglamarous life. Nothing too special.  I have a messy house, live in the country therefore I have to drive fifty miles to shop at a decent store, make my own valentines day cards because I'm cheap like that, love me some bacon vodka, and kill my plants.......occasionally!! It may look like a BORING life but it is my life (as we know it now!).  Now let me live through you.  I wanna know what day to day life is in your neck of the woods.  Give me the juice, the scoop, the dirt, the nitty gritty.......like Real Housewives of New Jersey nitty gritty!! I bet you don't kill any of your plants like I do.......fabulous, gorgeous people like you don't do that!!  I heart you all!! <3

xoxo Joanna D.